From: James.Bannan@f369.n633.z3.fidonet.org (James Bannan)
Newsgroups: k12.chat.teacher
Subject: Global Environment Watch
Date: Mon, 09 Nov 92 20:56:12 PDT
Organization: FidoNet node 3:633/369 - City Limits BBS, Boronia Vic

Carol,  sorry I've taken so long to write back but I have been rather distracted.  I hope your grass gets established before the summer. We use fescue grass here as well but buffalo grass is also very hardy in the harsh summers here and comes back well in particularly bad drought seasons.  Only trouble about buffalo grass is not to cut it too short otherwise it browns off.  Victorai covers about 227 600 square kilometres.  i'm sorry that I didn't find this in square miles for you but 1 mile is 1.6 km so 1.
6X1.6 (1 sq mile)=2.56 sq km, So 227 600 sq km = 88 906 squre miles, or there abouts.  How does the State of Victoria where I live compare with the great southern State of Texas, which I might add is actually north from here.
Here's my latest diary as well
DATE:  09 November 1992
.
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT WATCH
.
Global Environment Watch was conceived to link teachers and children around the world to share their experiences and observations of the environment immediately around them.
It doesn't require anyone to be an expert, just prepared to write what they see.
The more we share the more we come to know about the global village of planet earth.
You may find things very similar or very different, or you may just find out more about where you live.  Whatever it is, share it with the rest of us.
.
LOCATION
Suburb of Ringwood; City of Melbourne; State of Victoria; Australia
Latitude: 37o 47 ' South.   Longitude 145o14' East
.
STUDY AREA
My backyard and Ringwood Lake.
.
THE WEATHER
We have been having an extreme mix of nice sunny days and days of rain.  We have had so much rain that so plants are suffering from too much water.  Dams that they said would never fill are over flowing. There has been some flooding around the major river systems of Victoria and New South Wales and I haven't been able to go out and do any fishing.  The general temperature is warmer with days up around in the low 20oC (70oF).
.
THE PLANTS
One of my apple trees bloomed and dropped its petals over about two weeks.  It was interesting to see that nearly all the blooms were in clusters of six flowers, one in the centre surrounded by five others. I wonder how many flowers form geometric patterns like this?  Spring is a very windy time here, I suppose that mother nature makes it windy to help the apple tree spread their pollen from one tree to another.
The rest of the garden is looking great with a bright display of color and designs.  Over the back fence I can see a tall eucalyptus tree coming into flower.  A lot of these trees have red flowers but this one is white.  The honey eaters are going to love that tree.
.
THE BIRDS
I saw a little bird, I think it was a sparrow, using an interesting method to find some food.  It would crasp onto the outside wall of the garage and look into the spider webs under the roof overhang (eaves) for insects and bugs.  Another bird, a starling, has a nest in my roof.  I have seen it daily taking worms.  I climbed up a ladder and lifted a roof tile.  I saw a couple of chicks and by their size it won't be long before they are flying.  The wood duck chicks are growing at a very fast rate.  They wi
ngs had grown to half way to their tail when I last saw them and they had began to loose their down and grow feathers.
.
THE ANIMALS
My worm farm is rolling along.  My worms seem to love to digest soft plant material.  They particularly like chopped apple, cucumber and lettuce.  I give them all the scraps from making dinner.
.
THE MINI-BEASTS
The flies are staring to come out more.  Mainly there are big blow flies.  I also have
seen heaps of "butcher boys".  They roll themselves into an armoured ball when disturbed.  They are not very big, maybe a centremetre for the full grown adults.  They normally are found in decaying wood and leaf litter.  I also found a European wasp in my house.  I had to destry it.  With a young baby they are very dangerous and have been known to destroy whole walls in houses in the area.
Cheers   Jimbo Down Under


--  
uucp: uunet!m2xenix!puddle!3!633!369!James.Bannan
Internet: James.Bannan@f369.n633.z3.fidonet.org