There I was. Clancy of the overflow (With apologies to Banjo Patterson)… heading towards the yards…

So Jack raced to wheel them—he was running on the wing,

where the best and boldest kelpies take their place,

And he raced past all the other dogs, and he made those old cows cringe

With his ferocious bark, as he met them face to face.

The old girls halted for a moment, while he swung and faced them off,

But they saw their well-loved paddock full in view,

And they charged at Jack’s deadly gaze with a sharp and sudden dash,

And off into the woody scrub they flew.

Then fast Jack the kelpie followed, where the black plains long and flat, resounded to the thunder of their tread, And Jack’s bark woke the echoes, and they fiercely answered back, as he rounded the mob in a great and daring flash….

And then I hit a patch of cats-head burr.

Let me tell you, those pointy little buggers pulled me up quicker than a cold drink on a hot day. By the time I limped through the patch I had burr in all four paws and it took some maneuvering to sit down and start biting them out. I don’t know where I ended up with more burrs, in the pads of my paws or my tongue. In the end one of the two-legged’s came over and taking pity on me, plucked them out of my tongue.

And the cattle? Well somehow the two-leggeds and their mangy dogs managed to get them into the yards without me. I reckoned I knocked the puff out of them. But I’ll be back you can count on it.