Happy Christmas!

Frogknotians.Chapter 19.Verse 1;And in the beginning of the year Phoebe, the daughter of Will didst visit with them and though she didst blow upon her horn the Temple of the Moon stood firm. And Nick was called upon to dwell in the House of the Word for many days and it came to pass that he was not called upon to suffer the little children. And lo, so began the Drought of Pain as he discovered that there were a number of other teachers who were, it was decreed, to be called upon first. And it was not good for the pocket of Nick but his toil in the House of the Word didst provide some succour during the Drought of Pain.Verse 2;And in the Third month they didst journey unto the city, yea even unto Brisbane to celebrate the birth of thine friend Jen from the river, who wast three score years and none. And it was good. And lo,in those days Nick didst finally receive word from the Underworld High Commission and they spake saying ‘Thou must come unto us with thy documents and thou shall be questioned and tested before thou canst become a Citizen of our Lands’And in the fourth month Nick didst go forth with his documents as commanded but they didst not look upon them or question him but they spake saying ‘Now thou must be tested. Thou hast five and forty minutes to complete thy test now go forth and speculate.’ And Nick didst complete the test with forty minutes to spare and didst pass it without error. And they spake saying ‘Now go and wait some more.’And at the end of the fourth month they didst finally begin to dwell in the Temple of the Moon and didst leave the House of Will unto the vermin therein.Verse 3;And in the fifth month they didst journey once again unto Eden. And it came to pass that in the sixth month, Josh, the eldest of Nick, didst wed Helena and it was a day of great, great joy and there was much feasting and dancing into the night. But then, whilst still in Eden there came an epistle from the Underworld bearing the terrible news that Jen, thy friend from the river had ascended into Heaven. It was terrible news indeed. Nick and Will wept. Jen will be greatly missed as our lives were the better for knowing her.Verse 4;And in the seventh month they returned unto the Underworld and the Drought of Pain was over and Nick was called upon to suffer the little children once again. But there came another drought, that of Rain and the rivers and dams didst dry up and the plants and trees dist wither and die. And it was not good.And in the eighth month it finally came to pass that the Underworld High Commission didst bestow upon Nick Citizenship of the Underworld and didst present unto him a scroll and some dried twigs. And it was very good.Verse 5;And in those days many visitors didst journey unto the Temple of the Moon, yea even Phoebe, the daughter of Will, and they didst bring water for there was very little thereabouts. And it eventually came to pass that they didst have to call upon merchants to buy water for their dwelling and it was strange for those that once had dwelt in dampness and cold.And in the tenth month Nick didst happily, once again, journey unto Eden to visit with his kith and kin and lo, his carbon footprint was not good.And in the ending of the Year the Drought of Rain continueth and none hath seen the like hereabouts. And with the drought, the scorch-ed earth has begun to burn and the smoke billoweth across the land and the great star shineth down without mercy and surely it feeleth like Hell.But Life endureth. Will shall continue to tend the baby cheeses and Nick to dwell in the House of the Word and we shall journey unto the river for Christmas to be amongst those that misseth Jen the most.And so it is written and so it shall come to pass.Here endeth the lesson.

Oven roasted turkeys!

So...Australia has had the hottest days ever in the last week, record temperatures one day and then records broken the next day. We have seen temperatures in the high 30's here at Frogknot but some places across the country have seen temperatures in the high 40's. We finally decided to go and get a portable air conditioner for Blue Moon but we were a day late deciding and they were all sold out. We have ordered one and hopefully will have it after Christmas, but by then it might be cooler again.This heatwave has not helped the 'firies' battling the fires across the country and for much of the last week we have endured smoke carried by the winds from those vast areas that are burning. Three people have died, including two firemen, and another person is missing and many homes have been destroyed while our Prime Minister thought it ok to go on  holiday to Hawaii.The recent weather has also not helped our drought situation...Stanthorpe is now in Emergency Measures and since the 19th December people in town have being asked to manage on 80L per person per day. Two huge water tanks have been built near Storm King Dam and 35 tanker loads of water are being delivered everyday. At present water is being taken from the Dam and the tanks but it will not be too long now before the town is relying solely on the water being delivered to the tanks.We have had some rain. Our dam has partly filled twice since it first dried up but it is bone dry again. We have one tank that is nearly full and two half full tanks, about 10,000 litres altogether. Rain is forecast for Christmas Eve here, with them predicting 90% chance of 10-20 mls. Yeah, right, after so much disappointment I have just given up hoping.I have placed containers of water all around our plateau for the wildlife who are also suffering in this weather. Tough times not just for turkeys.

The great Frogknot frog rescue.

So... tomorrow our dam will disappear again for the third time this year. Over the last few days I have watched the pool of water dwindle and the cracked mud return. A few days ago there was a turtle in there swimming about but it has hopefully moved on now.This afternoon I was busy filling up a variety of water containers around the place for thirsty wildlife and noticed that the little water left in the dam seemed to be rippling and moving constantly and then I realised what it was...tadpoles.After the last heavy rain, about four weeks ago, when we had over 30 mls,  the frogs once again went mad singing all night and they were obviously making up for the lack of water in the dam during the spring.Will and I set about collecting as many of the hundreds of tadpoles as we could from the little water that was left, by using a sieve and bucket and have transferred the survivors to the Dulcie Rodgers Memorial Pond, in her old bath tub. We can keep that topped up with tank water and hopefully we will have saved many froggy lives.

Another smoky sunset.

So...the winds are once again blowing smoke from the ongoing bushfires in New South Wales west towards us. This is our third smoky day this week and it is expected to continue until Friday.

Friday the 13th again.

So...yesterday was another Friday the 13th. I had to get up early as I had a day in school booked. It was a very cloudy and dull day for an Australian summer and for once the cicadas were eeerily silent without the sun.The news from the UK of the election result was earth shatteringly depressing and the day seemed to be living up to its reputation.It was the last day of the school year here and the six week summer holiday started on the 14th. I wasn't expecting the day to be too taxing but it was the first time I had taken a prep class this year at the town state school. Their usual teacher was away at her son's graduation.In the end I only had 14 children turn up and it was a doddle of a day, with easy Christmas decoration making, festive stories, games, colouring and construction toys.I did get a phonecall from the office midday to say they had forgotten to inform the usual class teacher that her carpets were going to be cleaned during the holiday and could I clear the furniture into the lino?Er...I don't think that is in my relief teaching job description but after I waved off the elves and goblins I did move all the chairs and tables but left all the cupboards and shelves with all the 'stuff' on for someone else to worry about.We were down at Glen Aplin Hall for the evening for a visit by the Festival of Small Halls. Every year from Boxing Day to the New Year there is the Woodford Folk Festival north of Brisbane and prior to the Festival a few of the acts tour some of the remoter areas. Normally Glen Aplin is not on that circuit but after another Hall dropped out our local committee jumped in and asked if we could fill the space.We got there about 5.30 and the local rural fire brigade ran a BBQ to boost their funds and the local school ran a bar to raise money for the school. Our neighbours are part of a bluegrass group called Too Much Fun and they played while everyone are and drank. The concert started at 7.00. The hall had been beautifully decorated with draped hail netting across the ceiling and empty plastic water bottles and up turned umbrellas hanging from it to represent the rain we so badly need. Again Jenny from next door had a big hand in creating and setting up those decorations.First up was the Dogwood Three, a local trio, who regaled us with three new songs which were instantly forgettable, thankfully. Next up were our friends Penny and Roger who sang 'Hey Rain!' and a few other lovely songs. Blair Dunlop from the UK was the first of the Woodford acts of the night. He was very good but we couldn't always hear the lyrics. During the interval the local CWA (Country Women's Association) provided tea, coffee and a huge selection of cakes. The concert ended with Hat Fitz and Cara who were in a league of their own and had half the hall up dancing down by the stage at the end. They said that it was the biggest crowd they had performed for on their tour so far. It was fabulous to be part of it all and a great end to a notoriously bad day.