Wednesday...26 February 2014

I have renamed this town. I am now going to call it Windygo!
Even on a nice clear day it is windy. To be fair the wind can sometimes be a nice gentle breeze but mostly it is a fairly strong noticeable blow. We are constantly putting our awning in and out in anticipation of a good day only to have to bring it back in when the wind starts banging it and making it billow which in turn rocks our van badly. Right, that's my rant for today!
We went into town on Monday so that I could get a haircut and as we were leaving the shopping centre we bumped into people we used to work with back in the North West. Actually they still work there but now live over here and commute to the West on a FIFO roster.
Went out to their place on Tuesday just out of town where they have some space around them. Most enjoyable.

Sunday...23 February 2014

Still waiting for Himself to run out of little projects to do for my brother. A bit worried given the state of things, we could be here for another three years and still not run out of things to do!
Another note to self, when buying property for ourselves, avoid anything listed as a renovators delight or plan to renovate with a very large caterpillar or for a bit more fun, several sticks of dynamite!
On Friday nights we go to Himself's brothers place for a family get together. This is always a relaxed occasion with great conversations and general chat. Somehow it always ends up being late-ish when we head for home again. And on Sunday nights the same group meet at the local RSL club for dinner.
We also went out to dinner last night, to a friend of my brother's and got the royal treatment. Roast Lamb, with all the trimmings, how lucky are we? A tasty night with good food and great company.
So I have had a seriously lazy weekend interrupted only by eating and sleeping. Maybe I will get used to it eventually.

Wednesday...19 February 2014

I'm bored! Must be getting near moving time again.
There is a wild weather warning current for our location for later tonight. If the wind blows hard enough I may be moving without having to hitch the van up! Not a fan of severe thunderstorms with only the thin roof and walls of a caravan between me and the elements. I am much braver with a few bricks around me and a solid roof over me. There goes another nights sleep.
I have personally closed the book on both Tasmania and the chance of us buying a base any time soon. It would seem I am the only one interested. C'est la vie!

Saturday...15 February 2014

It is raining. Not your loud noisy banging on the roof sort of rain, but a nice soft gentle rain that I think you would need to stand in for a while to actually feel wet, but nonetheless it is raining. I am sure there are gardens all over the place that will be happy with any water they get. It will also wash some of the smoke out of the air from all the bush fires of the last couple of weeks, so no complaints that other things cannot be done because it is wet.
Today both my sister and her daughter are having wedding anniversaries. Must be the season for it, I had one of those myself a few days ago!
No more line dancing to get into my brothers house. After a concerted effort, much of it by Himself, most things have now been placed where they were always intended to go and the house is beginning to look like a home. Yesterday the carpet people came and laid carpet in the family room which is a vast improvement over the two different unfinished surfaces we have been looking at. More stuff has gone to the tip. The brother is getting better at doing that without going into meltdown and can see the benefit of thinning out his possessions. Apparently this will make room for new stuff!
I have no need to accumulate possessions. I am much happier with less and only keep what is being used in the here and now rather than keeping things for 'in case' or 'one day', so I have to work at getting my head around people who hoard stuff they will probably never use, but feel the need to have it in case they will find a use for it one day!
So the house is nearly done....next the sheds!

Wednesday...12 February 2014

There's a bear in there.....
Lots and lots and lots of them. There are bears, tigers, lions, teddy's, rabbits, a dog and a chook!
Today I was invaded by stuffed animals, by the bag full, dozens and dozens and dozens more of them. My brother is a collector of the famous Charlie Bears and assorted other stuffed beasties as he sees fit. The men left here with a loaded trailer heading for the tip, they were gone forever and eventually returned with the trailer just as full as when they left. They came home past the other property and bought with them my brothers much loved collection of stuffed toys. Apparently these are not your average stuffed toy. No folks, these are genuine Charlie Bears, enough of them to make any collector drool. My brother sees them as his children's superannuation. My husband and I see them as a grown man's folly! Time will tell which of us is right. Amongst this was an entire pride of tigers. Seven in fact, (most of them near life size) and one lion which does seem somewhat out of place in the pride.We think the life sized blue heeler is to keep the rest rounded up and contained to the front room where they are expected to take up residence.
And a chair as well.......
Another part of today was a trip to the woodwork store to purchase a large bottle of super dooper wood glue which has been used to repair four out of the six chairs belonging to the brother's dining setting. They have not been coping well with the dry weather and the upgrade to being in regular use.
We followed all this activity with a night out at the nephew's restaurant/bar in town. The company and the service and the dinner were superb. I really enjoyed the evening, even though I disgraced myself by accidentally pouring water into another person's wine glass! Never mind, someone had to be the butt of everyone else's laughter. The bottom line was we all enjoyed ourselves and that is all that mattered.

Sunday...9 February 2014

Message received on my mobile phone this morning:

Bushfire Emergency Warning from CFA.

Maiden Gully and surrounding areas.

Seek shelter now.

Check local radio or www.cfa.vic.gov.au

That definitely got my attention!

Apparently we are in the ' surrounding ' area, hence our inclusion in the message delivery.

As I frantically told my half asleep brain to cancel all plans to take a nap, we turned on the local radio and were just in time to hear the announcer giving out the news that this particular fire was now under control and that we could stay put after all. Whew! Spent the rest of the day on high alert. 

All clear here but other parts of the state have fires burning and reports are coming in of stock and property losses. Wonder what the cold light of day will show tomorrow. 

Saturday...8 February 2014

Once again we are the right place to be part of history as Victoria has an unprecedented hot spell. Records are falling all over the place as wave after wave of 40+ hot weather hits the state. For the second time in less than four weeks we have the entire state on total fire ban and warnings of extreme fire conditions similar to Black Saturday (which was five years ago this week). Fingers crossed that nothing nasty happens.
Up north there are three possible cyclone systems that have taken a number and are waiting in line for their turn to play havoc with the mainland. Hopefully none of them will do more than dump badly needed rain to break the drought in Queensland.
Whilst bad things can happen at any time, there is this period every year where Australia seems to hold its collective breath waiting for the worst to be over and life to resume the care free lifestyle that we are so famous for.
We do what we can to keep cool and expend as little energy as possible as we wait for this part of summer to pass so that we can continue our journey.

Wednesday...5 February 2014

We are having a couple of days of nice cool weather which is a welcome relief from the very high temperatures of the last two weeks, however according to my chosen weather station, it is going to heat right back up again starting tomorrow. The cool change arrived in the form of strong gusty winds which have been making our van rock like crazy. I did not sleep much two nights ago as it felt like we were out on the ocean in high seas.
The brother is renovating and we have been doing a series of small jobs to help. Yesterday the glazier came and fitted glass bricks in the windows of the laundry and toilet. They need to return in a few days to finish the job but they do look nice.
We are quite close to a major road out of town and it has a high number of trucks on it. We are also on the same side of town, but not anyway near, the big livestock sale yards. As the trucks rumble past us I can often hear the animals inside and do you know, not all of them sound like they are enjoying the ride!

Saturday...1 February 2014

Today was a hot and lively sort of day.
I grabbed hold of a live electrical switch. Kicked like a mule all the way up my right arm to my teeth! Not in a hurry to repeat the experience. Been quite some time since I got booted. I think I held it just that little bit longer out of sheer surprise that this was happening. It took a couple of seconds to register that I should remove my fingers from the switch. The interesting part was that I somehow managed to do all this without tripping the recently installed required safety switches! The boys tell me I must have held my two fingers in a certain way across the wires to have got zapped and that leaves a lot to the imagination. Who would deliberately give a live electrical wire the two finger salute? Oh well, I live to tell the tale and if all I have to complain about is a bitch of a headache and two tingly sore fingers I guess it is a good outcome. Mind you I did need a good lie down afterwards.
Himself did comment that this will probably give my old mate Ross River a bit of a hiding for a while. For those who do not know, folklore has it that zapping oneself, by whatever means available, has a positive effect on the aches and pains of this insidiously nasty virus. It helps to put the reoccurring aches and pains on hold for a while. It is just that no normally sane person will willingly wander down the paddock to hang onto the electric fence for a bit, and while sticking ones finger in a power socket does not get my personal recommendation, I found treatment by a tens machine to be beneficial. Another one of those instances where the cure is sometimes as bad as the disease!
The hot weather continues, no doubt it will ease off in due course.