The social media user reported a harrowing few moments when they thought their little dog would be taken as a meal by a large bird of prey.
“A whopping great hawk tried to snatch my little black dog,” the noticeboard contributor posted.
“Luckily, my daughter’s blue heeler went after it before it managed to grab her.
“Keep your little ones in!”
Road sharing reminder
The Mathoura Rural Fire Service brigade has shared a very handy reminder this week, as we start to see more heavy vehicles and ag machinery on our roads.
With harvest under way in our area, you’re likely to be sharing the roads with a few more trucks than normal.
You might also encounter harvesters and other large machines as they move from farm to farm.
The best thing to do it to stay alert, slow down and given them space as needed.
Most will be accompanied by pilot drivers, who will give you early warning that you may need to move over to allow the machine to pass.
But there may also be times your first warning is seeing the wide load up close.
HSC exams done
The 2025 HSC exams officially came to an end last week, when 4,300 students across the state completed their food technology exam.
Over 17 test days, close to 75,000 HSC students sat more than 400,000 exam sessions in 123 different subjects, running across more than 750 exam locations.
This year’s exams included the assessment of new syllabuses in geography, software engineering, and computing – with the latter two examined online for the first time.
Marking is now well under way, with more than 6500 markers assessing responses from more than 1.2 million exam papers.
This includes a dedicated team of Deniliquin High School staff.
Students will receive their HSC results and ATAR on Thursday, December 18.
Before then, they’ll celebrate all their hard work with the traditional Year 12 formal, which will be held next Saturday, November 22 at the Deni Town Hall.
Rural futures grants
Passionate community advocates in rural and regional NSW have an exciting opportunity to bring their creative ideas and programs to life, with applications now open for the 2026 Royal Agricultural Society Foundation Community Futures Grant program.
Now in its 12th year, the program empowers rural and regional communities in NSW by funding projects or initiatives that create enhanced economic and social benefits for the community and its members.
The 2026 program will deliver increased funding, providing up to $30,000 to selected projects that are community-driven, reflect the needs and priorities of the local people, and demonstrate strong potential to create lasting impact.
Applications for the 2026 RAS Foundation Community Futures Grant Program will close on Friday, December 12. Applicants must be residents of the rural NSW community the project will benefit.
To learn more or to apply, please visit www.rasf.org.au.
Weather rollercoaster
How are you coping with the rollercoaster ride that is our weather at the moment?
Hot and sunny one day to icy cold and gusty the next - we can’t keep up!
And according to the forecasts, it’s not going to change any time soon.
A sunny top of 28℃ is predicted today, with a similar top temperature and clouds tomorrow, followed by two windy days with top temperatures dipping back down to the early 20s.
And how about the start to the week?
It’s hard to believe it’s November and almost summer when you have temperature readings as low as 2.5℃ when you’re getting up for work on a Wednesday morning.
Hopefully Mother Nature settles soon, and before long we’ll all be complaining it’s far too hot.
In the meantime, make sure to take care of yourself, as consistent and sudden changes in temperature are thought to contribute to illness.
14°C