Reaction Time

Today I had a study of my body's reaction time.

Today it didn't rain.  Actually to clarify, it didn't rain until about 2.30 and then it rained in that weird on off rain that it has been doing for the last few weeks.  Blinding sun and then tropical rain and then back to blinding sun for a few minutes.  It meant that I was able to get out and whack some weeds; lots of weeds.  There is an area just across the causeway, that is supposed to be maintained by the council.  If it gets too long you can't see around the corner and it is dangerous.  Our council has way too much on it's plate at the moment so it has been getting very long.  The grass had now got to the stage that it was chest high.  I went out (valiantly, I must say) to slay it.  

I quite like that kind of work.  It is hard work and you sweat buckets.  It needs enough brain power that it stops you from thinking about anything else and it achieves something very tangible.  Perfect work!  You can put the earphones in, crank up the ipod and sing as loudly as you want because no one is going to hear you over the noise of the whipper snipper.  

Now I have noticed that any time that I start yard work I get joined by the birds of the area.  If I am mowing, then I am joined by Butcher birds because they eat the smaller wildlife that are thrown up by the mower, mostly small (or bigger) spiders and little lizards and thing.  If I have the Weed Whacker then I am joined almost instantly by several Kookaburras that hang out for bigger stuff like (Stop reading now Brian!) big spiders, bigger lizards and toads.  So I am out there in the brush and suddenly this brown snake whirls around and makes a striking motion toward me.  Now I about went in my shorts, yelled and leapt backwards about a metre.  I was then further surprised when a kookaburra then landed beside the snake and went to grab it!  Right about the same moment, we both realized that the said snake was really only a stick that had made 'snake' movements when hit by the cord.  I laughed with relief.  The kookaburra actually looked embarrassed.  Now I was happier about being fooled when I knew that the poor bird had been fooled by the motion of the stick!  That said; had it been a snake, my leg guards and steel toe working boats would have been more than a match for any snake, but that is not something I want to spend any time trialing!

We now have another long weekend and then I go back to work.  I don't know what it's for.  Most people are calling it May Day but I am pretty sure there is some formal reason for a holiday but who knows!  We are staying in town and doing little things with friends.  Levi still wants to camp but until it stops raining, that is out of the question.  I am not going to risk being near the creek if it rains.