I allow Clare to roam around in the evenings. There are so many foxes on the property - you may trip over them when not careful enough. When she recognized an intruder she runs away and returns about five minutes later - pretty exhausted but happy to have chased away our enemy. Yesterday she didn't return. I was waiting then shouting and whistling. Nothing. I thought - take it easy. She will come soon. 2 hours later I decided to go to bed. It's impossible to find a black dog in the black night. So I postponed the search for the next morning. I couldn't find sleep. Where the hell is she? Has she jumped into a sheep paddock? Is she now in a savage frenzy? Killing one lamb after the other? In the morning we went to our own property and she spent the whole time watching neighbors' sheep. As soon as she started to move into their direction I jelled at her to let it be. All those emotions now relieved? I rolled from one side of the bed to the other. Somehow I must have been falling asleep because at 1 a.m. I suddenly awoke by the barking of Clare! But the noise didn't come from the front it came from the backyard! I rushed outside and there she was: all the time caught in the back. The gate was left ajar so she was able to go in but not able to get out. And this stupid dog didn't utter one single word when I was looking for her. We both spent the rest of the night pretty relaxed.

Spotty - the daughter of the White Leghorn "Elke" and the New Hampshire rooster "Jo Cocker", hatched by the Bantam Leghorn "Anna Teresa" in January started to lay eggs. The colours are a mixture between brown (New Hampshire) and white (Leghorn) and the sizes are like the eggs of the foster mum!

On the left the eggs of my Isa Brown hen (above average, I acknowledge), on the right the eggs of Spotty. She really has to improve to keep up with the other ladies.

"Icy dawn greets South Australians
Friday July 6, 2012 - 12:00 EST


Frosty start for most South Australians -
The day has had an icy start across many areas of South Australia...

...The mercury dipped to -4.9 at Renmark in the Riverland and temperatures also went below zero in the state's south-east, across the Barossa Valley and in the mid-north.

Adelaide saw an icy start, below 1 degree in the northern suburbs and 1.7 at the airport, where there were several morning flight delays.

Airport officials said aircraft needed ice removed from the wings, a process Adelaide was less prepared for than some other capital cities.

Olivia Wirth, from Qantas, said it was a very unusual problem to have faced in Adelaide..."