Possum Galore
A life ‘Down Under’!
Improvements.
So...in the last week we have had 87 mms of rain with 58 mms in one night. The result of this means we have gone from having about 3000 litres in our tanks to now having about 12000 litres. The dam has come up about a foot too.
While I have been at the book cave Will has been busy working on the deck extension.
The upshot of having four broody hens means that we finally have 9 new chicks in the 'Chickery' with Pacha, our Arucana hen. Five of them are from her own eggs, two black and three grey chicks. The other four chicks, one black and three brown are from eggs laid by our other hens.
Today we were visited by this grumpy fellow.
It's too darn hot!
However, storms rolled in tonight and we have already had 18 mms of rain but need lots more!
Some like it Hot...but I don't!
So...our weather station here recorded an outside temperature of 39.7 degrees today. It was still 27 degrees outside at 10.00 pm tonight and the inside temperature in Blue Moon was over 30 degrees, even with the breezeways and double doors open.
So we have come outside and are hoping to sleep on the deck in our tent inner tonight.
I don't know if it was because of the heat but the cicadas were still calling at 10.00 pm. They usually go quiet at sundown. Thankfully they have stopped now at just after midnight. I can hear a few frog calls, the whirring of the fridge (as the doors to the house are still open) and the occasional thump or footsteps from our furry, nocturnal friends on the deck roof.
There is very little breeze but hopefully we can get some sleep at least.
Not so alarmed.
So...the fire nearby has been downgraded. There is nowhere near as much smoke as the first day but the wind is taking it away from us. There was another day of planes and helicopters yesterday but they all disappeared by mid afternoon.
It was all just a little too close for comfort. Let's hope we get some decent rain soon.
Fire Alarm!
So...summer has not even started and yet we are at the start of a heatwave. Today the temperature was nearing 35 degrees and heat means extreme fire danger.
The morning was pretty uneventful but we do have six new chicks in the 'Chickery' with Pacha which is very nice.
I stayed inside cleaning the kitchen cupboards and the fridge while Will was out doing the washing.
Just after lunch we could smell smoke which was alarming since there is a total fire ban here at the moment. We went out to the rocks and saw a plume of smoke just over the next hill. It was very alarming since the wind appeared to be carrying the smoke our way.
We set about clearing all the leaves and branches from the roof on Frogknot and cleaned out all the gutters. Then we raked all around the house to clear potential fuel for any approaching fire.
We even cleared the whole side of the dam nearest to Frogknot of any combustible leaf litter. We packed the cars with our important belongings and clothes ready to leave if the situation got worse.
The Queensland Fires website showed this...
Planes were flying around monitoring the fire and looking for spot fires, we could hear sirens wailing and eventually a helicopter turned up to water bomb the flames. We popped out to the rocks a few times to how things were going. Jenny next door said Dave had gone over there with his bobcat to help clear fire breaks and she said he felt that we were lucky with the wind direction and that as things stood we were not presently in danger.
By 6.00 pm I was completely exhausted after being out in the heat of the afternoon frantically trying to do what we could to lessen the risk to the houses.
We went out after dark, again to the rocks, and could see the glow of the fire over the next hill and it was very smoky which did not bode well, but since then the wind has changed again and we can no longer smell smoke.
To top the day off, we were inundated with flying ants tonight, perhaps because of the heat today or because it is a full moon tonight. I have never seen so many as there were tonight.
Here are some of the pictures from a very troubling day.
