Digger

You might be able to get a selective herbicide that will take that and leave the rest? Is that whats sometimes known as onion grass?

I found that film a bit confronting to be honest. Yesterday I poisoned a heap of weeds! It’s a start but much, much more to do! After the fires there are millions of plants that are emerging that we don’t want. I probably need to live to 1000 y.o. to get ahead of all the work here!

Do I fear death? No not particularly. Do I fear the pain often associated with death...yes! My real fear of dying is what it will do to the woman I love and who loves me. I fear it will destroy her life too. Then my children and grandkids, how it will hurt them. I know how devastating it will be to lose a close friend and don’t want to bring that upon people I love! Loving another is a big risk and the deeper the love the greater the loss. Would I change a thing....certainly not!

Yesterday I finally moved all my tools up to the container that was donated to me. That allowed me to empty my stuff out of Gaels studio that I’ve been using since the fire. I have numerous fuel containers still to take up there later today but hopefully my things will be safe there until I can replace the shed lost in the fires. I still need a bench to work on but we are not allowed to move. around except for essentials. Is a bench an essential...to me it is! Grin~

The usual things are also missing here despite restrictions on what you can buy, but bum paper is almost impossible to get, tissues are hard though not impossible and things like pasta, rice etc are scarce. I prefer wholemeal and have got a few of those along the way. Ground beef is often sold out too. Word is that supermarkets will restrict the number allowed in the store and you won’t get in until someone comes out. I see that causing big problems and hope I’m wrong. My back won’t allow me to queue! We have “gangs” of people grabbing anything they can get, going in and out a number of times to flout the restrictions and then sending it overseas for a profit. They are partly the cause of shortages here! We’ve had that problem with baby formula here for years as it gets cleaned off the shelves and sent to China as it’s pure as compared to local product. Bread is readily available but as a precaution I’ve bought a few pkts of mix for our bread maker. Haven’t used it for years but ran a trial loaf yesterday. Remembered why we stopped making it! It’s too bloody nice and we eat too much! Looking forward to brekky this morning I must say! Lots of people are grabbing veggie seeds too, in anticipation of any deterioration of supply if this virus shuts down primary production. I’m more concerned about some of the restrictions on prescription medications myself. It forces me to go into town twice as many times for things I need to keep me alive!

I can see cruise ships being a thing of the past after this. Glad we got it out of our system when we did. Being stuck on one of those for months with the infection would be hell on earth! I see Boris has been moved to ICU now...good luck mate! Nothing out of Russia about Vladimir but then bad news about him might cause instability I suppose. Our infection numbers are reducing slightly but any relaxation in rules could see that trend reverse quickly! Fotunately this doesn’t look as bad potentially as The Spanish flu a 100 years ago.

G’day Cappy, I was thinking about you just recently, wondering how you were. Good to hear from you mate! As they call them “underlying conditions”, would see me in a lot of trouble if I get that bloody virus too! Good luck to you my friend and take care of yourself. Best wishes from Oz.

Classy!

I see Putin has tested positive! You'd think these world leaders would have stopped shaking hands weeks ago!

Well they say “only the good die young” so I should be right for a while yet! You’re going to live forever Jim! Grin~

I was hoping to get back your way in a few months but canned that as there’s no way I’m getting on a plane ATM! Maybe next year if I’m still kicking~

Thanks Bob and I endorse your words from our experience so far. We have had a steady stream of volunteer helpers, wonderful people to a person! We are moving steadily forward and are coping pretty well. Still an experience that I wouldn’t wish on anyone but we will be OK and our home will slowly come together again. Best wishes to you and Leilani my friend.

Yeah and it gets difficult being upside down too! Drive counter clockwise? Not getting confused with which water the water goes down the dunny are you?

Keeps you off the streets I suppose Bob..Grin~ Yesterday we had a builder here assessing repairs to and around the house from our insurance company. That wrote my morning off! Then after lunch we had girls from a local health organisation here looking to help. That wrote off the afternoon. Crikey if all the words were dollars I’d be a bloody millionaire! That’s another day I won’t get back! Then there’s the practical side and a group of volunteers are starting to rebuild our burned fences today. It’s a long weekend and the various organisations are flooded with volunteers wanting to help fire victims. However the task of rebuilding this country is huge.

Wet yesterday so we went into town to pick up a few things, tools I need etc. Also looked at small trailers and will likely order one today. Our farm trailer isn’t suitable for highway use now. I’ll probably order it today. Recieved a phone call last night to say that early next week we are getting a 20’ shipping container delivered free of charge because we are fire victims. My farm shed will, likely take months to be replaced and ATM I have lots of expensive equipment sitting around unsecured. There are some wonderful people out there, supplier, truckies , all working for nothing. Very grateful!

Great story Marky, more power to him!

98 is a good age Jim but losing a family member is always hard. Sorry to hear mate!

Good luck!

I dropped quite a few on the boundary yesterday until my back said “no more!” I have one more on that boundary to do this morning before it rains but it will have to be cut up and moved as it’s going to fall on my neighbours place. We have a bunch of tradies coming from Melbourne this weekend, a long weekend, to donate their labour to fire victims like us. Wonderful people! I’m hoping to collar a few to take out a dead orchard plus another planting of olive trees. Going to have some good bonfires here in winter!

Doing something similar here myself, yesterday marking up to. 100 fire damaged trees that need to come down. Many more than that have to come out but damage was obvious so no need to mark them. Dropping 40 was a good effort! I won’t live long enough to see it finished. I need to buy a block splitter and metal wedges as mine were lost when my shed burned down. Should be right for firewood for a while~

Our dominant trees in this area are eucalypts Jim. Gum trees as we call them have roughly 840 varieties plus natural hybrids. Eucalypts are hardwood and some are bloody hard, and heavy. The wood I’m cutting is off the property and is mostly Red Box and it’s really heavy and hard, but bloody good firewood!

I split 6 to 8 weeks of firewood yesterday though a few more sessions needed before winter sets in. I also used the tractor to repair damage from heavy machinery to the top drive. At 8am we are meeting here with a. landscaper hoping to get some of the damage fixed.

Heading back home today today after a couple of days in our favourite place (though badly ravaged by bushfires) A long walk on a stunning beach yesterday capped the day off. A couple of restful days has recharged our batteries to head back into restoring our home, also ravaged by fires. We are making steady progress though!

We and our friends had tea at the Mallacoota pub last night and it was really jumping! The noise levels were insane yet I managed to follow conversations well enough to be engaged. At times it was difficult and I had to concentrate, but I could do it! Bloody amazing! These new Signia (Siemens) hearing aids have given me my life back! I’m sitting out on our deck at Mallacoota revelling in all the bird songs, it’s warm and life is good. The place was ravaged by fires at the start of the year but whilst there is damage in the nature reserve that we overlook, it’s not too bad thankfully. Still seeing lots of Roos and the odd Koala. Birds are returning!

I had a good day yesterday! We finally got down to our holiday spot at Mallacoota, a small coastal town recently ravaged by bushfires. It was a relief to find our caravan & annex much as we left it other than a bit of ash and lots of cobwebs outside. This iconic paradise was devastated by fire just after new year and over 100 houses lost! That was the worst loss of any town in this terrible event. We are yet to look around to see the extent of damage here. Hundreds of kilometres of pristine forests were destroyed in the fires and we drove through much of it yesterday. Beautiful trees and flora gone or damaged, though vast signs of regeneration evident in the eucalypts offer hope for the future. What can’t regenerate is millions of unique Aussie birds and animals lost in the holocaust....very sad! The news coverage cannot properly convey the scale of the devastation adequately. It’s immense! Yesterday I was fitted with new hearing aids after a wait of 5 years. That’s the frequency the government requires for replacements. Not being able to hear has been hell for me and those around me! My audiologist and equipment supplier elected to cover the $4,000 gap between my entitlement and what I actually need. So far the results are fantastic and I see my life turning around, We had a small dinner party last night in a small area and I heard pretty much everything that was said to me, and much of what wasn’t! How many of you have trouble when the background noise goes up? In the end it was like I was isolated, but hopefully not any more! 2020 looks like it’s getting better and better! Look after your ears guys as being deaf is horrible!