the heat returns

January 28 2014

The temperature has
started to soar again. There is a fire near Warburton where my eldest son and
his family live but the CFA have sent over helicopters with water bombs and are
trying hard to get it under control before the wind change this evening. My
eldest grand son, Ju is doing a wonderful job with the whipper snipper clearing
up any long grass the mower could not reach.  This helps for fire protection and has the added benefit of
making the place look much better. He is working in the heat of the day so I
can only conclude that he must be desperate for cash. I am desperate to get the
long grass down but I have still tried to get him to rest in the cool of the
house.

It is a day of total
fire ban so Edd cannot use the angle grinder or welder to work on the tank
roof. I am trying to make a hard cheese but even that is challenging once it
gets this hot. Yesterday I filed all the receipts for the last few months and
logged them in the account book so I can always go on with the paper work
between visits to the cheese room. Bo was over last night with her family for a
swim and BBQ in the ruins. This is becoming a regular event because we all
enjoy it and find it relaxing. It is a very apt way to deal with a hot summer
evening.

My mother in the UK is
much on my mind. The family in the UK report that she is rarely able to
communicate with them on anything related to the present as the rest of us
experience reality. My sister has sold her house and is sorting out her
belongings. I am so sad that we have to do this whilst she is still with us,
but I am sure that selling the house is the best thing to do because mum has
not been able to live in it for over six months and will not go there again. Houses
deteriorate fast in the cold of an English winter if they are left empty.

My niece tells me
there has been another bout of storms with more floods and high winds. When A
was there trees blew down across the roads and this has happened again and cut
off my sister’s phone.  Yesterday I
saw photos on the Internet and it looked bad. I am glad all my family is now
safely back in Australia.

water on our minds

January 21 2014

The send off party for
my grand daughter was terrific. It was a hot night with a full moon and all the
young people played like dolphins in the pool for hours. All the food we
provided was eaten and a lot of Simon’s beer went too. It was one of those
really happy times that show you can have fun even in a heat wave. Lots of the
young people spent the night in the donga and I lost count of bodies that
required breakfast next day.

This week we are more
normal summer temperatures with the heat being below rather than well above
blood temperature.  The priority,
though, is still water. Bo helped us get the dregs of water from the big new
concrete tank by the shed after we used the bulk of the water to fill the pool.
We really needed the tank empty because it has no roof and was pretty grim
inside. It is now all clean again and ready for a roof to be put on.

I was hoping someone
would know an easy, cheap roof solution and just do it,  but once again the only affordable way
seems to involve Edd making struts by welding metal pipe and then us putting on
corrugated iron.  Mean while we
have no water supply for washing clothes or cleaning up in the dairy. This
means no cheese making, so Edd has spent today devising a cunning and extremely
complicated system of pipes and valves so that we can run water down from the
old tank that used to supply the cottage before it burnt down.

The complete plan
involves circulating the water in this tank using a solar powered pump into a
head tank on the stand that Steve made. This way we will have a head of water
and regain a good gravity supply to the house.  At least that is our end plan.  All we need is 68 hours a day and a bit of help.  Tomorrow someone is delivering us a
truck full of water so that we can test Edd’s latest work out.  Water is expensive to buy in and it is
lucky that in normal circumstances we get enough from the rain and the storage.
It will really help if the water at the shed is drinkable as it has really good
rain water catchment from the big shed roof.

Bo has brought her
kids over most days to swim in the pool and ride the little pony, Charlotte.
Today Bo gave Charlotte a good wash and got her looking very smart until we put
her back in her paddock and she rolled in the dust. The chooks take a great
interest in all we do and do not seem worried by ponies or mowers. The big faverolles
rooster nearly died of heat last week. I thought he was dying so I put him in a
tub of water with two bottles of frozen milk for 20 minutes. Rather to my
surprise he has made a total recovery and is strutting round the yard on his
feathered feet as if nothing had happened.

A time of miracles

January 15 2014

We are all waiting to hear what Wayne thought about meeting his family and so many relatives in the UK. A took him round and introduced him to various cousins but the big event was meeting his own half brothers for the first time. Looking at the photo one can only conclude that they were all pretty happy about this.

Edd and I are thrilled for him. We never even imagined when we adopted him that such a joyful reunion would one day be possible. Back at that time none of us had any idea that we would all have personal computers or that the internet would one day help everyone have contact with everyone else. We certainly live in a time of miracles.

Killer heat wave

January 15. 2014

The temperature is up above 40 degrees       (probably just below 110 if you are in F). This makes life pretty challenging. Yesterday despite all our efforts we lost one of the chickens to heat stroke and all the young trees had to have a bucket of water each, which kept them alive. Bo came over with her kids and my eldest Grand daughter and we all worked for two days to empty and clean the swimming pool. It was dark green and thick but at least it was a place to get relief from the heat.

All the grandkids worked long and hard and Edd rigged up a system so we could refill the pool with water from the shed tank. I had to add three new patches. In places it is more patch than liner but that works at keeping the water in. The pool was damaged in the 2009 fires and some of the liner melted onto the metal walls, it would be a very hard job replacing it because the top joints are plastic and they have melted on!  However, today we have a nice blue pool of water and the grand kids have been swimming.

Our house is staying at a reasonable temperature, which is good because even at night it stayed above 30 degrees outside. Cave living has lots of advantages in extreme weather. Yesterday there was a fire about 15 kilometres away, but we all felt safe with our cave to retreat to. Today we have retreated indoors for the afternoon as it really is too hot outside to do all the things we should do, like get the hay in. We got the first forty bales in with help from Bo and Simon but the rest is still lying in the paddocks. This year we made most into round bales so they will act as mini haystacks and resist some of the weather.

A is back from the UK and is trying to get going again with his work. This must be hard. Last night he said it was 38 degrees in his little house and he was feeling pretty sick. We think Wayne is flying home at the weekend. On Friday we have arranged a pool party as a send off for our eldest grandchild and he will probably miss that. She is off to Canberra to live because she has an opportunity to train for work taking out horses on trail rides.

The news about my mother is not good and she is no longer able to have any conversation with me over the phone.  My sister says that cousin Judy is coming down from Yorkshire so that the family can spend more time with mother giving her support at this difficult stage.  I am glad I was able to live with her for three weeks last year and help her after her stroke when she was well enough for us to talk about everything. I am incredibly grateful to Pip and A for all the time they gave her over Xmas.

Lots of things happenning

January 11. 2014

At last summer seems here and the ground is turning to dust. Our hay is cut but we still have the exhausting task of getting it all in the shed once it is baled. This year we are getting most of it made into large rounds because with JJ and Wayne away we have no one to throw the bales up unto the trailer.

I hardly know where to start with family news, things keep happening thick and fast and just keeping up is hard enough. Fortunately this year most events are positive.  This week JJ was interviewed on Skype for a job he was after and has got it. This will involve a massive diagonal shift of location because his new base will be far NE where he did his first degree. He will also be in relationship distance with Robbie who is studying and working around Brisbane.

Robbie was at a course in Melbourne this week but on Friday she heard that her sister in NZ was in hospital facing surgery and unconscious so unable to sign a consent form. The girls’ parents are living in Korea so it was very difficult to communicate effectively and get the right support system in place. In the end Robbie came back and spent the night here so that she could concentrate on sorting something out. It was lovely to see her again but we would all have preferred a happier reason. At present the sister has been operated on and we hope she will make a full recovery soon. We have never met her but she seems already to be part of our life.

It is a bit the same with Wayne’s new found siblings in the UK.  We communicate by all means possible to try and keep up with all that is happening in the UK. A and Wayne have spent several days together this week visiting relatives and pubs, as far as I can make out. Today A is on the long journey home so we hope to catch up with him face to face tomorrow or soon after. Wayne has now joined up with his girl friend, who has been working in Europe and my sister is back from her holiday and able to take over the role of caring for my mother.

My mother’s health has been a real roller coaster whilst A was there. She stopped eating at one point and just slept most of the time. At least the pain was not keeping her awake. Pip, A’s partner has been doing a wonderful job and seems to get Mum laughing. She says that the teddy bear Bo sent over has been a great success and just what was needed. It can be blamed for all sorts of things. It was so clever of Bo to think of sending her families love that way.