Obscure music

I'm after Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers, from the Nutcracker Suite.

That should be easy to find. Indeed, when I picked up the handful of LPs setting next to the computer waiting for me to copy them or put them away somewhere, there it was.

Except it's not right.

I have a midi-version that reminds me of a carousel. It has that sort of organish sound that carousels have. There's a short sectionthat is quite distinctive. The LP track doesn't that tone, obviously, and the particular passage isn't as obvious.

Not quite as easy to find :(

Dogs & horses & snakes

I don't think tiger snakes have the same firmness as a python.

The museum has an interesting exhibition visiting at the moment It's a Dog's Life: Animals in the Public Service. Not just dogs, but all sorts of animals that are useful -- horses, turtles, dung beetles.

A lot of war time animals. Two pigeons received medals for bravery, one of them was on display (stuffed). Two stories of dogs who were regimental mascots (one who was picked up from the streets in Egypt, when one of the men returned home in 1942 he smuggled the dog in with them, three years later quarantine inspectors found the dog and shot it). Light Horse, of course, of which only one came home; the others were sold, mostly.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/music/mshow/s684709.htm
http://www.lighthorse.org.au/Pershist/farewell.htm

Huskies. Camels. A cavalry saddle with all the equipment hanging off it. A draught horse harness on a wire model.

Interesting in its own right, but as it was National Science Week, they had an open day with demonstrations, like the fruit dogs quarantine dogs, who work at the airports & pigeons, which I missed, and snakes.

The fruit dog was fun to watch. When he found something, he pawed and nosed at the bag, then sat down and looked up at his handler. The handler goes "Where?" and the dog put his paws on the bag. Then he gets his treat.

Of the snakes, one of the tiger snakes was a sub-species found on Bass Straits islands, which is less aggressive (apparently because they have no natural predators). Quite laid back as snakes go. The guy going the talk says that they had trouble milking one, because it wouldn't open his mouth, but they don't have that trouble with the regular tigers, which he then demonstrates, by jumping across the pen to a snake that's right in front of me, jamming a stick with a crossbar onto the snake's neck and grabbing it just behind its head. Then he starts waving it and a jar around, showing how they milk them. (He didn't have to be quite so close to me, did he?) He shoves the tail end out, so some of the audience can have a feel, then has a better idea. He gets the quieter one and offers that for a feel. "Put your hand around it, to get a good feel for it." Where the pythons feel like a firm muscle around bone (like lower leg, at least mine), the tiger was softer (like an arm). Of course, that's a datum of one. Need to handle more before a definite conclusion can be reached.