Wildlife Wednesday - horses on beach

I know it's crazy, but I have an incredible fondness for seeing horses on my beach. Seeing them doesn't happen all that often, although I often see the hoofprints and curse that I've missed them again! I think for me, it's the ultimate freedom to be galloping along the shore, wind in your face, you and your horse loving every stride.

I've never seen that though I dream of it!

I've never ridden on the beach either. When I had horses I lived inland and there was no beach to ride on. I rode in paddocks or along the road, and occasionally at pony club grounds or showgrounds.

Most of the people who ride horses on my beach walk, sometimes they might trot. It's not because it's crowded - my beach is pretty deserted at the best of times. It may be that the people I've seen riding are either kids or older women and maybe they don't want to go flying along like I dream.

One day I saw a kid riding her pony bareback and they were trotting along both laughing with their lips peeled back (okay, so I'm anthropomorphising, but I swear that pony was laughing). It was a glorious sight.

When I was learning to ride (at 23 years ancient, which was embarrassing at times!) I rode a pony who loved water. I was riding with a lady and her daughter (who was maybe 12 and so much better than me!) and it was hot, so she said we'd walk through the dam in their paddock. Sounded like fun to me, I tagged along. Halfway through my horse starts pawing at the water with her front hoof, I'm laughing because she's splashing me and it looks like she's having a ball. Then I look at the owner's face, she's terrified and is yelling, "Kick her, kick her," at me. I wasn't much good at being strong and assertive at this stage, but the terror on this woman's face did something to me and I booted that horse in time to her yelling. Shiralee eventually stopped her pawing and reluctantly made her way out of the dam with me clinging on tight, because this pony wasn't happy now and I knew how to tell that!!

When we were unsaddling, I asked what had happened. The poor owner had temporarily forgotten that I was a beginner and that I was on a horse who was cheeky and loved to roll in the dam. So, if I hadn't have booted the horse out of the water, I probably would have been squashed by a rolling horse as she enjoyed the dam. No wonder there was terror!

Maybe I would have jumped free...but you know, I was so hopelessly unsure of anything to do with riding that I probably wouldn't have known how to get free without being tangled in reins, stirrups, water and horse.

And still, to have a horse galloping along the beach spells freedom. In reality, I'm probably more likely to land ungraciously in the sand and lose my horse to a rip, or be dumped while the horse swims and end up dragged out in a rip myself! Maybe I'll stick to dreaming.

Do you have any crazy dreams about freedom?

Release Day

Release day happened - twice!

Both of my short stories hit the deck at once. Amazing coincidence, huh? Not what I was expecting at all!

So Lucky is out; and so are the cuckold fantasies.

Phallic Friday - sexism

As we start the 2016 Phallic Friday posts, I'm wondering if I should update my phallic symbol...what do you think, does the phallic rock from the Pinnacles in WA have more pizzazz than the local phallic bluebottle I've been using?



Today I thought I'd express my mixed feelings about an incident that occurred in the Cricket Big Bash this week. It's been splashed about in the media a fair bit and I have really mixed feelings about the incident. If you need to check it out, you can see the incident here.

I was watching when it occurred and my first thought was "Gayle's a creep" and then my second was, "wow, not the way to handle that, Mel."

I worked in a male dominated industry for most of my life and I grew up when women weren't given a lot of respect, so I am a little toughened to the way women are treated. So my initial reaction was that Gayle's sleaziness was inappropriate. But this behaviour happens and I think if Mel had have cut him off with a firm but polite refusal, nothing more may have been said. As it was, she reacted visibly and he kept going because he took it as flirting, or that he was 'winning' (getting a reaction from her, making her affected by him).

What he did wasn't right - it's their profession and therefore their workplace, so it should remain non-sexist and non-discriminatory - but until this stops happening, I think women need to stand up for themselves, especially if they're in male dominated industries.

Women should not be walked over, or ignore the smut, or accept it. I mean, a polite but tough put down. Something like, "I don't think that's appropriate" or even, "I hardly think this is the place for those comments". It addresses the issue head-on and stops it being blown out of proportion like this has been.

Yes, sexual innuendo and banter can be harmless fun if the two people know that that is what it is. For a woman who doesn't know that, it can be downright uncomfortable and creepy. It can make you concerned for your safety and your integrity.

When a sleazy comment is left without being addressed immediately, it undermines a woman. I felt Mel lost the chance last night to assert herself. It was left to others to apologise and defend her. It made her look weak, which I'm guessing isn't what she would want. But maybe there's more to this story...maybe he's a serial offender and she was making sure everyone knew that.

Whatever the case, it concerns me and makes me all muddled up.

How do you feel about this issue? (I know Rhyll won't care because it's cricket!)

Wildlife Wednesday - flies

It's summer in Australia and as well as heat, storms, cricket and the beach, there are flies. On the coast there are few compared with inland, but they're still there - sticking to you, lapping at your sweat, threatening to walk into your nostril or mouth, even trying to dart into your mouth while you talk or breathe! Don't swallow one because they hurt your throat and make you gag!

When I was at uni, we collected flies in a fly trap and had to identify them. Yep, you guessed it, I was useless at identifying them...but I did learn that there were different types of flies and I don't think I'd ever paid enough attention to that before then.

So the other day, I drove down to the beach and this green eyed fly came home with me - hopped into the ute and stuck around for the lift. His eyes were incredible and so I spent a bit of time trying to get a good photo because I don't think I've seen a fly with eyes so bright - not for a long time.

Okay, so I looked it up and it says it's a march fly (also called horse fly or green head)...and we do have them here because they like biting me and I'm usually swinging around like a madwoman trying to swat them while jumping from the pain of that sharp stinging bite, but I've never seen one with such brilliant eyes. Lucky he didn't bite me when I gave him a lift! Oh, check this - the males don't bite - As with most biting flies, it is only the female march flies that bite as they need blood to produce the next generation. They use their strong, piercing mouthparts like a needle to extract blood from their mammal hosts. The males have larger metallic green eyes and feed on nectar. Taken from the Australian Museum website http://australianmuseum.net.au/march-flies  Maybe I've always attracted the females for my tasty blood. (Don't handle the larvae, because they can bite too).

The blow fly (up the top) is the fly I most usually see, especially in summer. On a hot day they can get quite sluggish. We also have the little black flies, and the common house flies, but these two were big enough, and nice enough, to pose for a photo.

I hope you don't have too many flies where you are (and if so, I hope they don't bite!).