Rain!

Well it has rained in Brisbane over the last two weeks so my garden is surviving. It is typical summer rain with some quite fierce storms in the early evening. There have been a few serious hail storms. Unfortunately the rain is not falling in the catchment area for the dams so we still have water restrictions in place.

This drought has been the worst in 100 years of weather records, and all the politicians are finally starting to address two of Australia's biggest concerns. Firstly, it is one of the driest countries on earth and we have been wasting water for 100 years. Secondly, the land has been abused and a lot of it in poor condition. Areas which should never have been farmed were cut up into farming blocks and the trees were cut down causing massive erosion and the topsoil just blows away.

I am concerned that when the weather turns and we have good rain again, they will all forget about those two issues and find something else that is topical and in the media. Anyway, for now Peter Beattie, is considering some plans to reuse grey water and pipe water from the coast out to the west. Could work.

Personally I would like to have a rainwater tank so that when it does rain I can save all the water that runs off the roof. Then I could water the garden whenever I wanted and feel better that I am not wasting good drinking water on the plants. It is a tradegy that children in parts of Africa and Asia have to drink out of polluted puddles and we flush our toilets and hose our yards with pure drinking water.

She Who Must Be Obeyed

This is the little furred being that moved into our house a couple of years ago and is now in charge. Dogs have masters - Cats have staff.

Hawaii! View from our Hotel Room.

Wow! I seem to have been able to post a photo. There will be no stopping me now.

News from Brisbane Headquarters

Well summer has come to Queensland all at once and we skipped Spring this year. Again! Temperatures are soaring up in to the mid 30 range (thats in the nineties for farenheit people) and we have had our first bushfire close to the city for the season. On Thursday fires to the west in The Gap and surrounding areas threatened houses and covered the city with a pall of smoke.

Most of Australia is on water restrictions and we had to turn off our sprinkler systems. Now the only garden watering is after 7pm and before 7am with a hand held hose. The hose must have a trigger operation so you can't put it down and walk away, leaving the water running.

Car washing can only be done with a bucket, not that that worries us because we are very lazy about car washing. I expect to lose a few of my favourite plants if we don't have good rain soon. The tree ferns are already browning off and the Azeleas will most likely be the next to go.

Given the above, I was surprised to find on the home page of the Brisbane City Council the announcement of the release of the "Flood Report" and what to do in flood conditions. If only!

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:STANDARD:1310499342:pc=PC_2031