I live in the middle of the Great Sandy Desert on the edge of the, as usual, dry Lake Dora.

It is a bigger place than can be imagined from ground level.

Click the image for an enlargement.

xkcd again

We had a new visitor at our little waterhole the other day.

A Sandpiper. I think it is a “Sharp Tailed Sandpiper”

Totally unconcerned by the large potential predator above, completely ignoring the camera clicks, the only reaction came in a sideways shuffle as a dog charged in for a drink of water.

Possibly the least worried bird I have ever met.

I had to think long* and hard about stealing this from Phil

* about 4 nanoseconds

Lip-synching did not cut it for Perth,  Western Australia, fans who walked out on Britney Spears after only three songs at her first Australian concert at the Burswood Dome on Friday night.

Disappointed fans stormed out of the arena complaining they had parted with hundreds of dollars for their tickets to the circus-themed show.

One female fan outside the arena said it was cheap act.

“People are paying for it and have come here so she should sing,” a fan told the Nine Network.

“It was just really bad,” Kathy Wright, 32, told Perth’s Sunday Times.

“She has not spoken. There is no interaction.”

Spears is performing again at the Burswood Arena tonight before making her way to Melbourne on Wednesday for the first of three sold-out shows.

From AAP

From Good Housekeeping, March 1947

Back in the 1800s the Tates Watch Company of Massachusetts wanted to produce other products and, since they already made the cases for pocket watches, decided to market compasses for the pioneers traveling west.

It turned out that although their watches were of finest quality, their compasses were so dreadfully bad and horrendously useless that people often ended up in Canada or Mexico rather than California.

This, of course, is the origin of the old proverb . . .

“He who has a Tates is lost!”

Burgled from a rather thoughtful Randall.

Are you an organ donor? There is a new poll in the sidebar where you can answer.

With Remembrance Day just four days away this is an appropriate Photo Hunt.

I decided to go with just one image from my archives.

The Western Australian State War Memorial.

A couple of weeks ago we went out onto and around our salt lake. While there are many fresh water springs which have served the locals well for the past umpteen thousand years, there are just a few of these special springs.

Medicine waterholes. Where salt water flows from underground. And provides a bath for patients with skin problems and parasites. Oh, and a cooling respite from the daily heat.

This one is called “Wilarri” which means “Moon Water”. There are a number of these holes just here and most of them are round, like the moon.

The person depicted is neither a local nor umpteen thousands of years old. Although he does look like his father.

Cloud increasing is the story of the past week.

After a clear day on Tuesday which heated up to 47.9C, we have had a couple of cooler, cloudy days.

Then today it is sunny with blue, hot sky to the East and nasty black thundery clouds to the North and West. Those clouds are coming this way.

Last week we gained a new crowned head, The delightfully tatty Marty and, for the very first time, we almost didn’t have a dunce. Our resident Nurse was the only entrant to score below 4/7 which is the pass mark.

It seems to be an easy quiz this week as I scored a 5/7

How will you go in this week’s BBC Quiz of the Week?

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Previous Dunces

30th Oct, 3/7, nursemyra
23rd Oct, 0/7, Karen
16th Oct, 1/7, Cybe R. Wizard
9th Oct, 2/7, Rob, nursemyra, healingmagichands
2nd Oct, 1/7, azahar, healingmagichands
25th Sept, 1/7, Daddy Papersurfer
18th Sept, 2/7, Rob
11th Sept, 3/7, azahar, Puddock, Rob,
4th Sept, 1/7, azahar
28th Aug, 0/7, Herr G EaGle
21st Aug, 2/7, Bunk Strutts, Daddy Papersurfer
14th Aug, 2/7, azahar Puddock, sandy, daisymae81, anniegirl1138,
7th Aug, 2/7, silverstar98121, Bunk Strutts, Mrs Eagle, Cybe R. Wizard, Puddock
31st July, 1/7,silverstar98121
24th Jul, 2/7, sandy,
17th Jul, 2/7, azahar
10th Jul, 1/7, gitwizard, Mrs Eagle

Crown Winners (7/7)

17th Octember Buff
26th Octember, healing magic hands
5th Dec. Buff
9th Jan 2009, azahar
6th Feb 2009, archie
20th Feb 2009, healing magic hands
27th Feb, 2009, Buff
20th Mar, 2009, healing magic hands
3rd Apr, 2009, sledpress
17th Apr, 2009, anniegirl1138, Buff, Archie
15th May, Buff
5th June, Buff
4th July, healing magic hands
29th Aug Buff
5th Sept Buff
12th Sept Daddy P
11th Sept, nursemyra
18th Sept, Buff
25th Sept, Gitwizard
30th Oct 2009, Marty

Wednesday evening I spotted this interesting sky.

As I took the photographs I thought, “I wonder if this means a change in the weather.”

That question has been answered this Thursday night. We have electrical storms all around. Including a report of lots of rain 50Km to the East and this included hail hitting a car which was heading for us. Not too unusual excepting the air temperature at ground level was still above 40C!

The wind is rising outside and the growling of thunder can be heard in the distance.