SOME of the headlines in a local paper last week was wards to remain.
We voted on this very important change last year.
Before the vote there was nothing. Just you have to turn up and vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
No explanation of why, no explanation of what the wards are.
Nothing until just recently have we seen anything in our papers or mail boxes.
Our council should have a real good look at itself after this.
At least the vote went the right way.
More blocks needed
WHILE our Murray River Council is having a long hard look at itself, it would be a good time to let more blocks in our Moulamein district be allowed to get built on.
They have to get rid of this rule about the size of the block that you are allowed to build on.
Our district needs more people. They want to come here. They want to develop our district.
Building blocks are as rare as rocking horse at the moment.
I was going to go property developing years ago with a mate. We found the perfect river block to do it with. Sent in the real estate agent to see if she would sell.
“Probably” was the answer. Close enough for us. Off to the shire to get it started.
They told us they may look at it in 15 years or so. That killed that project.
There is plenty of room here for development in our Moulamein district as well as other towns in our council. Plenty of people that want to come here.
There is only one thing in their way – bloody red tape.
It is stopping our district from going ahead.
I know people who own river blocks here that cannot build a house because of stupid bloody rules.
I see our council has some community meetings coming up soon to get our ideas on how to get our local area going.
The one at Moulamein is on Tuesday, February 8, at our Moulamein Heritage Village Jeraly Woolshed from 7pm until 9pm.
I might just have to go to that one.
Good birds
I FINALLY got a good look at my very elusive Australasian Bitterns.
But I pushed the wrong button on the phone camera so they were a bit out of range before I could get it going.
I got a dodgy video of them, then the bloody phone went flat.
The young feller has got one of those drone things so at least now I know where their nest may be.
We will get a photo before the rice season finishes.
I grow Bittern-friendly rice trying to encourage the rarest water bird in the world to land here and have a bit of hanky panky on our banks to make more of these rare birds. If my rice was a wetland, they would give me the water to help these things breed. I will keep working on that.
There are at least two there at the moment, but there is a shortage of females this year so this feller may be doing the job on more than one.
\Where do you get a job like that? On the down side, it does mean more than one mother-in-law.
But, being a rare water bird, we can only hope he is doing the job on them as well.
I just got a shiver up my spine from writing that.
Bowls
BOTH teams were away at Murray Downs last week.
Division one managed one rink up but down on the day so we stay in 4th place.
Division four got their two rinks up and I think they have hit top of the ladder. Well done.
Let’s hope our division four does not get nose bleed from being that high up. Get to training team.
We are both in the four at the moment and it would be good to stay there.
The Happy Hooker and his mate Mark did not keep their form up from last week and went down with the help of their other two team mates.
We have a new Happy Hooker in our club with Kerryn and her team getting up over John Caldwell’s team.
Kerryn and her team had a rough start to the season, but they are kicking goals now.
Next week, division one to Swan Hill and division four at home to Racecourse.
Our friend, COVID, has already kept three of our team members at home.
At least one will be back this week, one still out and it depends on the results for the third.
Rice
WE top-dressed last week. This week we have heads in the first sown paddock.
The rice is going through the stage called microspore at the moment.
PI (Pinacol initiation) last week meant the head had just emerged at the bottom of the plant.
This week, microspore means the rice head is moving up the stem and forming.
This is the most critical time for rice as a cold snap can kill the head and cause sterilisation, which happened last year.
So far so good this year and no cold nights predicted for the next 10 days.
Under 14 degrees at night starts to do damage.
By the look of the next 10 nights’ forecast, there could be some record crops around.
Deep water is the secret at this stage.
If the head is underwater while it is developing, the water stays around the 17-degree mark unless it is bitterly cold like last year then even the water cools down.
Rain
THE weather is a bit mixed up at the time of writing.
We were going to get loads this week, now we are getting bugger all.
We wait for the next exciting chapter in our wild weather forecasts.
River levels
THE Edward is still around 3200 megalitres at Moulamein and is rising.
With what is coming down our Billabong Creek as well as the extra flow in our Edward, the fish should be on the move.
I had a couple that threw a line in on our Billabong Creek for a short time.
They were happy with their three cod.
All undersize, but they were excited about the next couple of years when this Subway cod will grow to legal size.
