Thursday 26 November 2015

A terrifying day

It is 3.30pm, blowing a fierce gale and the day becomes dark, the power goes off and the only radio is in the car and it's telling us that the fire is heading our way buffeted by 60km winds.
Brian had filled the fire unit on the back of the ute and headed off in the direction of the fire. This is what farmers do, they rush off to help contain the fire front as a back up to the CFS. (Country Fire Service)
I high tailed it home from work and felt less panicked once I got here and brought the cows down from the hill, confining them in a paddock close to the house yard, hosed down the pigs and watered the garden.
We have a fire plan and have needed to action it in preparation three times in the past three years. Usually I'm here alone as Brian heads out to be closer to the fire to be useful. I'm proud of him doing that and wouldn't want to hold him back, but it also leaves me feeling vulnerable.  So I keep very busy going through the routine in readiness. We stay in touch with our phones and he listens carefully to ABC radio for all the news of where the fire is heading. He also gets the first line information as he's there in the thick of things.
I packed the car with a change of clothes for each of us and my laptop. This time I packed only one pair of shoes each. It is interesting to learn just what we throw into the car when an emergency strikes, often realising how crazy some of our decisions were when we unpack after the threat has passed. Last year I packed four pairs of shoes, my filing cupboard contents, laptop and other random stuff.  We in our community laughed afterwards about the stuff we all packed.
Yesterday afternoon was another one of those most horrific experiences that put the fear of life and terror into us all. The sky was black and the wind was roaring. Small pieces of black ash embers blew all around and were landing in the dry grass, on the verandah, everywhere.
Contact through Facebook to friends in various directions keeping each other informed and promising to phone each other if they see the fire front approaching. I can't put into words how comforting this contact is and was grateful when a distant neighbor offered to bring a fire unit over to help me out if the need arose.
Huge relief to hear Brian's ute coming down the road with a unit full of water and hear that he had decided it was time to stay and protect us instead of going back out again.
Yesterday we survived, but many homes, farms and stock didn't. And two people, perhaps three, lost their lives.
Today is a day of appreciation for all that we have here. To walk around doing my chores with a renewed sense of gratitude.



  A few days ago I added a link to Rhonda's "Down to Earth" blog. Then yesterday I was treated with a mention on her wonderful blog.  Read what Rhonda blogged about here.
I feel overwhelmed and very excited that some of her readers have come to visit my blog and left comments. It feels like I have met a new bunch of friends who think along similar lines to myself.
One comment from Liz who offered advice about my earwig problem in the vegetable gardens;

Have you tried letting your chickens go in there? Maybe if you had a pile of damp mulch off to the side it would tempt the earwigs into there which the chooks would then find. It might take a while, but might be worth a try. (Of course the chooks will need supervising too, being generally pretty destructive things!)

Her suggestion got me thinking during the night and so this morning I chased four of the girls into the raspberry patch where they got to work scratching and gobbling up earwigs from under the mulch.
Thanks Liz, I'm not able to let the chickens into other newly planted areas as yet, but your idea about having some mulch off to one side where the earwigs will learn to take shelter is brilliant. Once they have the habit of sleeping in the mulch during the day, I can let the chickens scratch at the mulch without them actually entering the garden and tender plants.
I feel like we may be onto something now.


Home baked sour dough, slathered with honey and Daisy's rich cream. A comfort food breakfast was the order of the day this morning after all the early morning chores were done.

Thanks for your visit and I hope your day is extra special, with plenty to be grateful for.






27 comments:

  1. Hi Sally, I discovered your wonderful blog through Rhonda's too. It's so shocking to see what is happening over your way. I'm so sad to read about lives lost and homes gone and livestock. It's just so devastating.

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  2. That must be so frightening, having embers floating down. Hope it all eventually gets under control without too much more destruction and loss of lives.

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  3. glad you made it through safe, so sad about lives & livestock lost, i remember the horrific firestorms in victoria they showed on tv, couldn't sleep for weeks after that, never seen anything like it. hope they got it all under control
    thanx for sharing

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  4. I came here through Rhonda too. How sad to read about the los of lives and livestock. We now sadly what that is, to have fire.
    If I think it is summer there and we have now -22!
    Wilma

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  5. Thinking of you at this scary time. I hope you are still safe and well. xx

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  6. I found you through Rhonda too and so glad I did. I really like your blog. Your explanation of why you live the way you do (on your homepage) is great reading and so true...what many accept as the "norm" (antibiotics fed to livestock and so on) truly shouldn't be that way.

    The fires you describe sound terrifying...so sad that some have lost their homes and stock. Very sad for those who have lost their homes, can't imagine how that would feel. Stay safe!

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  7. Sally, we too have been through the fire terror but we have had to evacuate and that is when we found out how important a list can be.

    For years I've read prepper/survivalist sites for the self sufficiency information many include. We also watched in horror after the early 2000s Canberra fires where 500 houses were burned and where people had known about the fires coming for hours but then had to leave in a hurry and later discovered that they didn't even have their purse or any ID.

    We wondered how that could happen and what had occupied them in all the hours before the fire finally reached them. With those poor people as an object lesson of how ineffective and frozen we humans become in an emergency, we decided that a good list solves most problems and set about formulating an "Evacuation List".

    The "Evacuation List" now lives on our kitchen notice board in plain sight and it made life a LOT easier when we did have to evacuate. When we got the message to leave ASAP, the first thing I did was grab the passports and put them in my handbag. So ID sorted, I then set about the rest of the list. My husbands first job was to grab the insurance documents and our bank account details. So money sorted. From there it was 3 days clothes for both of us. And yes, I did list how many pairs of knickers, how many pairs of socks and which particular shoes had to be put in the bag. That was especially important I found in that situation. The mind becomes frozen and largely unable to function well in an emergency. With the list the mind just focuses on the list and it becomes easy to work your way down it just like a robot, doing one task and then moving onto the next one on the list.

    Since doing the list, I've heard a long interview with a mental health expert on ABC radio and he explained exactly what we had concluded. Humans do frequently freeze and become dysfunctional in an emergency. His talk really resonated with me.

    Anyhow, back to that list: I also included some hugely important family and personal mementos. A few old photo albums, the hard drive from the computer with more recent photos, an antique family clock. My sewing machine. My favourite spinning wheel and some fibre to work on. A few books, some Sudoku books since we do those before going to sleep each night. My current knitting projects. My best sewing tools that I know I can't replace easily. And of course the pets. Complete with bedding, food, leads etc. And food! 3 days food and some treats (both human and animal) and lots of water (at least 20 litres) and of course, being in Australia and the horrifying possibility of needing to shelter in a car surrounded by a fire, pure wool blankets to shelter under to buffer radiant heat. I have lots of old pure wool blankets and they are purely for fire and evacuation purposes.

    After having to evacuate, we revised the list and added a few more things. Nothing was taken off the existing list. Most of our possessions we had already left out on the basis that it was just "stuff", and stuff can be replaced. Only the precious and important: we defined that as being us, our animals and a few prized things and survival for food and clothes for 3 days. That was (and remains) our criteria.

    I hope you don't have to face the situation again, but I do strongly recommend formulating an evacuation list. An Emergency plan is not complete without one in my opinion.

    Regards

    Fran

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  8. That is my worth nightmare Sally, so glad you are safe. I just read Fran's comment and I'm thinking I should write a list. We are not in a high risk area, but you never know. I do keep the ute packed with water, first aid kit and spare clothing anyway. I just don't know what we can do for all the cattle and chickens that can't come with us, some would surely get burned :(

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  9. Many thanks for all of your comments to express your concerns. Each and every one of them really means so much to read your empathy and caring thoughts. These last few summers have been horrible for us in South Australia, but we are not unusual as fires appear to be happening more frequently everywhere. Fran, your comment is full of good sense and I'm now determined to write up an evacuation list, as well as put important papers, passports and photo CDs into a box that is easy to grab. I would find it very difficult to leave our livestock and poultry more than losing my home. Of course the dogs would be the first to jump into the car.

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  10. I am so glad that you are OK. i read your blog last week (and have fallen totally in love with it) just before the fires flared up. And have been worried about you since. It must seem strange to you that total strangers are hoping you are OK. I am relieved that you made it through, and very saddened at the loss of human and animal lives. Hang in there!!

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    1. Such a thoughtful comment Rebecca and thank you. There were many people who were impacted far greater than me and there are many stories I have listened to in the past few days. All of them were spine chilling!

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  11. Wow, your post really gives an insight into what it must be like to be in the line of the fire. I'm very happy to hear it ended well for you, but saddened to hear about all the others who lost lives, loved ones and their animals and property. I really like your blog and am thankful to Rhonda for directing me to you. Best wishes.

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    1. I'm so glad Rhonda directed you too Dawn. Your thoughtful comment is much appreciated, thank you. :)

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  12. I'm so glad you and Rhonda discovered each other!
    We too were impacted by the fires, thankfully we and our home are ok. I had my car packed early in the day before the wind changed, just in case. I am so thankful I did this while not being in a panic. I also took some comfort in knowing a few things from a CFS chat I went to earlier in the year, I felt ever so slightly more confident, whilst also being s**t scared. The CFS hold information sessions around the area targeted at women, especially those in your position where the man goes out to help and the woman and childre are at home. I believe it is called Firey Women, perhaps it's something for your readers to look into.

    Kelly

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    1. So glad to know you made it through safely Kelly. You were closer to the front than we were and homes in your area were burned, so I heard. I'm definitely going to one of those sessions "Firey Women" next time they have them. Thanks for your great comment.

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    2. Yes, I heard that you know my neighbours :-) I'm glad that we were all ok on our road, cows included!

      -Kelly

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  13. I too found your wonderful blog through Rhonda. It resonates with me as until 10 days ago I lived in a small country town of Freeling on the edge of the beautiful Barossa Valley. We moved to the coastal city in the south west of Victoria to be closer to family and friends as we are retired and age is catching up with us. I will miss all the goings on in the region but will be able to still live the lifestyle through your blog. Freeling was impacted terribly by the fires and many of my friends have lost their homes,shedding,crops and livestock...some are traumatized but all are safe. I will look forward reading many more of your comments on your blog that will certainly make me feel right at home. Thank you! Heather.

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    1. Your comment brings tears to my eyes Heather. The small community of Freeling has been very badly affected and my heart breaks for their losses. I can't imagine the horror of some of those stories that will be told and remembered forever.

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    2. Country communities are a resilient lot they know how to pitch in and get things done...As I comment here hay is being delivered to those in need and people from all walks of life are offering their services from fixing water services to just cleaning up. The Aussie spirit is certainly alive and well and the community will be stronger for it. Heather.

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    3. So right you are. There is so much food being cooked and delivered to families that at one stage the co-coordinators had to ask people to stop cooking! Hay is coming in from all over the country and Blaze-Aid volunteers will be arriving to build fences and help out again. Good Aussie spirit indeed.

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  14. I've popped over from Rhonda's. Such a frightening time for you all. Todays weather would have you on high alert again! Its going to be a long, hot summer, I reckon.
    We had the Ash Wednesday fires in '83 and lost 16 lives in the district, harrowing for the farmers who lost farms, houses and livestock. Id just begun work at Dalgety's and had to outfit men from socks snd boots upwards who stood in the only clothes they owned. I cannot remember how many boxes of bullets we sold, used to destroy burn livestock. And tonnes and tonnes of fence posts! Horrible!
    I look forward to having a read of your blog. Stay safe and take care of yourselves,

    Joolz xx Millicent SA

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    1. Joolz, your comment gave me goose bumps all over. Yes, another day with all of us on edge.

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  15. I came across to your blog from Rhonda's, which I have read for a very long time. I spent all weekend reading every single one of your blog posts Sally, and have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your "simple" life! I especially loved the post about your three week shopping trip compared to another's fortnightly shop. Fabulous pictures of your way of life teamed with great words. Keep up the good work, I will come back to read regularly. Melanie in Melbourne

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    1. Thanks Melanie. So glad you're enjoying my simple little blog. :)

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    2. Such a scary time for you and so sad that lives have been lost. Wild wires aren't something we tend to worry about in the uk (except rarely). Terrifying to think you could lose everything.
      I'm glad you think my idea might work! Yay to making a helpful comment lol!

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    3. Liz I've just this minute come in from re-organizing some of the hens this morning. I opened the fence up to let them come and go as they please into the raspberry patch as it was too time consuming shepherding a few of them through the garden gates and to prevent them going into the newly planted vege patch. ALSO inside the young vege patch I moved a log, that was sheltering squillions of earwigs, over to the other side of the fence which is the chook yard. They (earwigs) have all run under that log, but their end is near as I plan to wait until they settle there and then lift the log whilst calling "chook, chook chook" to the girls who will come running. :) Devious plans for drastic times!

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