Sunday - Not Bloody but very wet and Windy

The Week just gone

It has been blowing and raining, sometimes simultaneously, although most often at 20 minute intervals for most of the week. Still I'm not complaining, the dam is very nearly full to overflowing and I suspect that by the end of today it will be.

On Wednesday evening was just heading out in the LR to attend a lecture by Rob Gordon on managing post bushfire, when our builder Michael phoned to say rather apologetically that he'd costed the project and despite having stayed up to the wee hours couldn't get it below $430k.

I took a deep breath because I'd been hoping that it would be more like $350k which was within reach of the likely funds available. We agreed to meet on Friday morning when he would go through the numbers with me and make some suggestions about possible changes.

I'd been planning to go sailing with Ian on Friday but this needed to be addressed.

Taking my life in my hands I drove up the road to Kinglake and towards Whitlesea through fog the like of which I haven't experienced since I was riding my motorcycle from Woollongong to Campbelltown after a night shifts in the University computer centre and had to ride along the white line on the edge of the road so I could tell where I was going. That was in the mid-seventies so it's been a while and I was very glad to have four wheels beneath me and the white line on the edge of the road. Instead of the 31 minutes that google maps told it would take it was about 50 and I arrived just before the scheduled starting time of 7:00 pm.

Rob is a very easy to listen to speaker with a great deal of empathy and a self-deprecating sense of humour. It was an excellent session highlighting that most people had probably moved from the adrenalin fuelled immediate response phase to the cortisol driven problem resolution phase, where most energy is focussed on getting things done. A sense of humour is mostly absent and anger and frustration often just below the surface, and you are a bit fed up with people telling you how lucky you were to have survived! Hmm - he's been looking inside my head.

The solution - recognise that this stuff takes time, take support from your community and time out for yourself.

So on Friday after talking with Michael and giving him the go ahead to finalise the quote I went sailing with my mate Ian. A great afternoon.

Saturday the 6oth

It's been blowing a gale - literally. Weather Bureau warnings for 100+kph winds for yesterday afternoon and beyond, materialised a little earlier than expected and threatened to blow what little hair I have left on my head to Bass Strait. It was actually a perfect day to be planting my Lomandra confertifolia spp. ruginosia ("seascape"). I haven't got anywhere near enough but even my 9 or 10 plants are displaying their eponymous and characteristic rolling waves, particularly with the wind at the strength it is. I'd put a picture in here but it's pouring with rain and there's no way to keep the camera dry.

As we had been invited to Shona's 60th, Ros had arranged for a hot shower at Cathy and David's. A wonderful experience, I haven't shampoo'd my hair and beard for weeks. Not quite enough water in our little camp shower and even when it's sunny, I'm too much of a wus to use cold water.

Shona and Ros used to work together at the Epworth hospital for about 10 years and we've been in loose contact with her and husband Geoff since Ros left. It was a 3:00 pm start which I initially thought a bit odd but it turned out to be a very good idea, particularly as I was able to start the afternoon with a glass of (bugger the French) - Champagne. People came and went throughout the day and we eventually left at about 10:00pm after having talked and eaten and

eaten and talked with a host of people, most of whom where relatives from NZ, great bunch of people or like Ros, former and current nursing colleagues. It was a very pleasant experience and we even got to sit on the chairs and around the table that Shona & Geoff have donated to us. Not forgetting of course a couple of chests of drawers from daughter Penelope's boyfriend, ( I think Mike).

As we drove home, it became obvious that the wind had not abated, with many dead branches strewn across the road and I wondered aloud whether or not the tent would still be standing. It was but only just. The temporary walls erected by Jan were even more temporary having ripped and blown out in several places. So I again lowered it to half mast and re-tensioned all the guy ropes before falling into bed with the rain hammering on the caravan roof. Almost forgot, our new friends Tony and Barbara had called around while we were out, with details of the shed suppliers they were using and had carefully tucked it into the space for the external light switch near the caravan door.

Was a bit late to call last night so after we eventually rolled out of our cocoon this morning and Ros went shopping for breakfast, I called to say thanks and was invited around for a coffee and to have a look at the shed components which had arrived yesterday.

So that's where I'm off to next. - Cheers.

Oh Where Oh Where has my little brain gone..

August 10/2009

It's 23:20 and I've spent most of the evening catching up on filing, sorting out my tax stuff and not submiting my overdue BAS because I have no idea where my ATO digital certificate has gone. They obviously sent it to me because I have the password. Nothing for it but to ask them for a new one tomorrow. It's stuff like this that drives me nuts. I've got a filing cabinet and by the end of the week it will have my stuff in it - hopefully organised so I can find what I've filed and avoid some of this frustration.

My filing cabinet and my desk and drawing table are in the marquee which for the last 3 weeks has been lowered so that I can't get into it easily and neither can the wind. As I think I've mentioned previously we've had some ferocious winds of late and I had little desire to find the thing a a tangled and mangled mess so down it came to half mast or a bit less.

I bought some additional tent guys and pegs 2 weeks ago and this morning after two days of calm (excellent weather for burning piles of branches), in a light drizzle I re-erected it. Of course it wasn't raining when I started but that's Winter for you. Just wish some of the water was getting into the tank. The dam is nearly running a banker so we'll have plenty of garden water through summer and beyond.

The question which seems to be on everyone's lips (not sure about that apostrophe) is, "When are you going to start building ?". Don't have an exact date but it will probably be a week or so after we sign the contract. Last Monday Mick the builder & went to meet with the relevant Council officers to discuss some issues they had with the site plan. It was a pretty cordial meeting and we all left satisfied with the outcome and it only took about 20 minutes. The final plans went in on Friday and I expect to hear from Michael in a day or so.

On Friday evening Ros & I went to share a bowl of soup with Barb and Tony a local couple who survived the fires with their house intact after several hours of strenuous firefighting - they also had a plan and followed it! Didn't save the shed and the forty years of tools and memories that it contained but they did a bloody good job of saving the house. The soup and company were great and after a drink or three and several hours of conversation we drove home to be greeted by the snap crackle and pop of the grass as we crunched our way down the glistening white paddock from the drive.

I've been looking at tanks and barns and bricks and more than a few other things on the net and on Saturday morning after the 100 day breakfast, decided to take Ros to see an Austral brick display in Thomastown. Bit of a disappointment and a drama to say the least. None of them really looked like the one's I'd seen online and the people in the office were less than bloody helpful - didn't even offer to let me look online via their screens, just wanted to tell me what I'd done wrong in logging onto their website. They did at least give us a brochure.

I'd been hoping to see a couple of the bricks I'd found online but couldn't and wasn't able to remember their names so that I could show Ros and she'd say "Great" and that would be the bricks done with. The helpfulness of the staff had made me really grumpy and as Ros was "overwhelmed" by the choice we left but not before agreeing on a couple of possible options.

The 100 day breakfast was a celebration put on by our local CFA as an opportunity for people to get together and have a bit of breakfast and share experiences. We met many people including Jan long time friend, who subsequently came up to the farm for dinner and told me about the big round bales that Ian Chivers from Australian Native Seeds had for sale. They are used to cultivate native grasses and still have many seeds in them as well as ready made mulch. I mailed Ian and confirmed their availability as well as ensuring that I could get the Griffin cultivar of microlaena stipoides, which I came across during an assignment for my horticulture course last year. Only problem is that the bales are near Wangaratta which is several hours drive from here. Have to see how many large bales I can get in a tandem trailer or whether Alan from the Stock and Station Agency in town will pick them up for a reasonable rate in his truck.

Planted a few more Grevillea Gaudi Chaudi, Correas and Limoneum (statice) as well as some of the myoporum (groundcover) and a couple of Eremophila (emu bush) which were looking a bit dry and probably won't survive.

And finally for today - more generosity from the Volunteer Fire Brigades Victora. They are an amalgamation of the two unions who used to represent volunteer firefighters and "..were approached by a number of our sister interstate volunteer firefighter organisations who were keen to provide financial assistance to volunteer firefighters and their families specifically, rather than contribute to the state fund." .... "Contributions to the fund have been received from volunteer brigades in all Australian states, as well as from other organisations and individuals...", including the Herald Sun newspaper raised $471,000, ..." from sale of a photograph showing a CFA volunteer giving a distressed koala a drink of water in the Gippsland fires.".

I received a letter from them on Saturday which contained a very generous cheque that will go a long way towards getting the barn built.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed, you have no idea how much this support means.