Yesterday at work around 1.30pm I was on the quadbike and noticed some weird shapes clouds above the trees, I went up on the hill and saw that there was a bushfire on the mountain behind the farm.
While I could see it was 'only' small, the awful sick feeling you get in the bottom of your stomach, which is probably the age old imprinted 'fight or flight' response showed up.
We called the Rural Fire Service, they had only just been advised, and trucks were on the way, so they didn't know how big or bad it was.
From the farm the fire was around 3kms as the crow flies, not very far on a windy day, but thankfully there was hardly a whisper of wind.
We got the pumps and firehoses out, and had a firedrill, pumping water from the top dam, after much swearing at the pump it finally kicked over and we felt a bit more at ease that we had water at hand.
As a precaution we placed the irrigation lines around the house & barn, and ran the sprinklers. Then worked out what documents we'd need from the house & office if worst came to worse, and backed up the important files onto an external drive. We worked out where we'd move with the horses, and where the best evacuation route was for them.
By 5pm the RFS reported they were bringing the fire under control, they had revised the size from 50 hectares down to 30, and the fire was going up the mountain rather than down towards us.
They had 7 trucks and 2 choppers working on it, as the mountain is covered in dense bush, the access isn't good, so the choppers dumping water helped.
By late last night the RFS reported it was under control. Thankfully.
With the temp today to hit 40 again, and between 36 - 40 for the rest of the week, as Steve Liebman says, we'll be alert but not alarmed.
Stay safe everyone, Australia's a hell of a place, floods, fires, cyclones, all within a few weeks, but you have to love her regardless.
Till next time,
Nothing says summer in Australia like a 41 degree day, where you feel like you've mistakenly opened the oven door when you venture out the front door to get the paper at 8am.
This Australia Day we headed down to meet Mr Mel's parents at his aunts house on the Central Coast for the day. We had a great day, lovely lamb cutlets and prawn skewers on the BBQ, with warm potato salad, and an avocado, tomato & cucumber salad, just delish. This was followed by coffee and a lovely lemon & lime cheesecake Mr Mel's mum made, nice and tangy. We drang verdelho with our meal, always a lovely drop.
We spent the afternoon just chatting around the dinner table, since I met Mr Me's aunt & uncle 3 years ago, I've not really had a chance to chat 1 on 1, it's always been in a group of 20+ family members. So it was lovely to just chat about whatever came up, their family, growing up in Sydney, their parents passing, the passing of a daughter, my family, plans for the future, travel ideas, etc.
Time flew and before we knew it the clock was showing 5pm, so we had to head home. Mr Mel's parents back to Sydney, us back to the Hunter.
When we left the coast it was warm, but not uncomfortable. When we arrived home it was like the temp had been turned up again. We were sweating carrying the esky back inside, and our poor puglet was panting his head off at the gate (soon fixed by a douse with the hose, he headed back to sleep out the heat).
Our home was like an oven, even airing out all night hasn't really, helped, so on went the aircon in the bedroom so we can sleep. It's 10pm and currently 33 deg!
The forecast says thunderstorms tonight then 36 deg tomorrow, excellent, back to work on a stinker!
Life is good here in the lucky country, bloody hot, but very very good.
Till next time,
Finally I got round to sending off the registration form to NSW Fair Trading, to register our additional business name.
We've done alot of the groundwork for the business, registered domains, started researching and sounding out contacts.
So now we just have to wait to see if Fair Trading will give us the name we want! It will operate under our current ABN, so hopefully, according to our accountant, there won't be 'too much extra paperwork'! We shall see!!
In any case, can't die wondering, so we're going to have a go and see what happens. Once we're up and running I'll post something online :)
Till next time,
Happy to report that I am indeed a woos!
The Doc was lovely and happy that I was well informed, and realistic about things, given my age, etc.
He was happy that I'd started on the weight loss slog and gave me a pathology request for a raft of tests.
So I shall be heading to the vampire next week, to get blood drawn, and find out what blood type I am!
Till next time,
Further to an earlier post http://canwedoityepwecan.blogspot.com/2011/01/doctor-here-i-come.html
I'm feeling quite ill about my appointment this afternoon, I think I'm scared about getting bad news, up until the last 18 months or so I'd never really thought about my ability to fall pregnant. And since organising the appointment, I've done nothing but think about it.
I've had dreams of being pregnant, nightmares about not being able to get pregnant, and have felt sick all day today. I know (well more hope than know) it's better to know than not, so here's hoping the Doc doesn't have bad news for me.
Yes I'm a chicken, I know! Shall report back tomorrow!!!!!
Good ol Dr Hibbert, always good for a lollipop for wooses! :)
Till next time,
I just couldn't resist posting this pic of our pug Ollie, taken at the B&B we stopped at overnight at Euroa, on our drive to Warrnambool after Christmas.
Mr Mel, Ollie & I had just had a walk around town, before retiring for the night, we'd left home at 5am and arrived at Euroa at 3.30pm. Ol had been such a good boy, we set him up in the back seat, with a hammock protecting the seat from the onslaught of pug hair (don't get me started)! He had his sheepskin rug to lay on, and after a 15 minute freak out when we headed off, he travelled like an angel. Slept most of the way, apart from the odd scramble to the back of the drivers seat to look over Mr Mel's or my shoulder to make sure we were going the right way! We stopped every couple of hours to let him stretch his legs, have a drink and piddle.
I just love the happy look on Ollie's face, and that he's happy to sit on the bench on his own, after I got some pics of him with Mr Mel, the photo sums him up, our little puglet :)
Till next time,
