Still here.  Going strong.

Dear readers, the temperature is blessedly cool today in the national capital (Canberra, Australia) and the bushfire smoke has cleared somewhat.  We expect the smoke to return this evening when the wind changes.  In the meantime, the terrible gloom that descended on the city has lifted and people are in good spirits.  So are the animals.  A flock of silvereyes visited our garden.  One was lucky to enough to find a small praying mantis but its best efforts to dispatch it were defeated.

I give you this enormous fly as a token of my appreciation for all the support and kind words you have offered.

giant fly

To the bastards who defrauded our credit card, causing our mobile phone plans to lapse, may you rot in hell.  We were lucky to be able to fix this problem quickly (being still in our home with power and internet connection).  It is not outside the realm of possibility that this type of misfortune could also have befallen some of the many evacuees that are currently on the road and reliant on their phones for bushfire updates and news of family, as well as reliant on their cards for purchasing essential supplies.

The fires are creeping closer but are still quite a distance away.

Please excuse my tardiness in responding to comments, and don’t worry as we are safe and intend to stay that way.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

41 thoughts on “Busily Chillin’”

    1. They will do an inquiry. It will probably say more controlled burns are needed. Also cattle should be allowed in national parks. I can see it coming. But controlled burns are really expensive to do. There will need to be a lot of resources applied with a very short window of opportunity. Who pays?

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      1. I wonder that the indigenous will get a voice – cool burning and local knowledge and management? Yes, the current method is so expensive. You and I will pay of course (not Gina)

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      2. I think there should be a market for/greater investment in services to the environment. Then there might be many more jobs for indigenous Australians and many others. I was thinking about a post on this. It can’t be a new idea. I should look it up.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Interesting – i read a quote today from C.S. Lewis who was saying, paraphrased – those who try to be original will never succeed, best to speak the truth no matter that it has been said before in other ways. Say I say.
        I think industry must contribute to land management in much stronger ways.

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    1. Thanks Lois. Warming up again on Friday. Hope they throw everything at those fires in the meantime. That alpine region is tinder dry.
      Re the card. I suspect it was probably one of those dark web thingies. I wonder if the crooks targeted numbers from people in bushfire areas, who might not have noticed because they are in a communications blackspot. Goodness me, didn’t realise I was being punny but I will go with it.

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  9. Canada deployed more firefighters to Australia this weekend. Our Foreign Minister said, “ if more help is needed we will do our best.” During our wild fires of 2016 fire fighters came from Australia.
    We thank you!

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  10. The card thing happened to me a few years ago. There was a rogue credit card reader at the local supermarket, nasty bastard. I’m glad you’re getting a day off and I hope it’s a sign of things to come. ❤

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      1. We have four at Advice level all around the Fingal area in the northeast. All others are listed as No Alert and are either controlled, contained or Patrol. As we have a few hot days coming up I think they will be patrolling hot spots for a while. No significant rain forecast.

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  12. There is a special place in hell for those who scam and rob from people who are already victims of a disaster. I’m glad you got it straightened out quickly! And even more glad that you are getting a breath of fresh air for a change.

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    1. I hope it was only a small scam just targeting us, but know one says anything about where the breach might have occurred. The timing seemed just too coincidental though. My air purifier has finally arrived.
      I’ve managed to get out into the garden once or twice. It has been so nice to escape the confines of the house.

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    1. We are going fine here, Sarah. There is much doom, gloom and coughing in our little city though. We may be a small jurisdiction, but our government seems to be doing all it can, with the help of other jurisdictions, to ensure we are as well prepared to meet the fire if and when it comes. Such a lot was learnt from the mistakes of the response to the massive bushfire that hit the city in 2003.

      As for the credit card, it was just a small scam affecting only a few people. But, yep, bloody bastards.

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  15. Oh the damn looters and exploiters – may they be eaten by giant praying mantis. Not nice, but who cares? Sorry you had to go through all that because of a scumbag criminal. Hope all is sound for you now.

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    1. Thank you, Amy. We are still fine. Today has been a bit of a dodgy day. There is a fire on the other side of town and fires in the broader region have flared up again. An air tanker crashed today in the mountains to the south. This has been a truly horrendous summer.

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