Fire refugees and other difficulties

It may be true that problems come in threes.  It started when Al cut his finger on a bread knife and had to go to hospital for surgery.  Then our friends from NSW came to stay and we had a frustrating time trying to help them with all the problems they are facing as fire refugees.  If you have not been in this position it would be impossible to comprehend the scale of associated problems.  I don’t think Edd and I were able to help much despite hours of effort, but our friends were courageous enough to share a few laughs.

The day after they left, we woke to find it had rained heavily overnight.  This was good.  As we began our farm-work though, we noticed that all the animal’s troughs that we had left with clean water in the evening before were now thick with red brown mud.  The dust storm had been brought to ground and almost all our water supply has been polluted!  Luckily, we have a tank where our cottage used to be and this one is not connected to any roof so has remained OK. At least we have some water to wash, cook and drink with for now.  We are not the only victims. The Yarra river and various swimming pools have also suffered, and the pools have had to close.

At least the rain has helped green grass come through and reduced fire danger here. Our NSW land is not so lucky.  Fires have flared again further north and yesterday a large water bombing plane crashed in that area and the crew were killed.  As far as we can tell our land and our friend’s home have not been burnt out. The roads are closed with fallen trees and the air there is heavily polluted, so we all have to keep away until conditions improve.  Our friends had no water left when they escaped from the fires.

 My vegetables are now dirty with topsoil from the Mallee but at least I have a reprieve from constant watering.  Yesterday the temperature dropped, and it was actually quite cool.  I even had to light the stove at night to get hot water!  I have no idea how we can prepare for the school camps in these conditions. The pool is full of mud and it is difficult to plan anything.  

Our goats are coping well.  They thrive in the searing heat and find shade in the rough areas where they eat blackberries. During the day we sometimes catch a glimpse of the herd far away on the hill, but they come back at night and when it rains.  The kids were born early last year so we have been able to drop down to once a day milking.  In the evening they come in for a feed in the bale and so we can make sure they are all safe before nightfall. Two of the goats will be fifteen years old this year, I am surprised they have lived so long. They look fit too.