Christmas Wishes

To the (few)regular readers of my infrequent ramblings/rantings(esp the Yank dog lover & the Yank bikie), and anyone else who visits , a very merry Christmas, and best wishes for you and yours throughout the New Year, this year has been a big roller coaster (emotionally) for me in a lot of ways, so things can only get better????? (lol) Down the back paddock :-)

Kids Birthdays etc

Yesterday saw another milestone in the Gumbo household -the 2 littlest ruggies reached the age of 8 (bit of a miracle considering all of the %*#( that their older siblings etc have subjected them to - lol.)

Perhaps I should throw in here that they were eventually delivered as emergency Caesarions at 4 -15 & 4-17am, the doctors were very concerned that the littlest was not strong enough to survive a natural birth, esp if she was the second child that would have been delivered this way, and all the tests indicated that this was the most likely scenario.

So rather than being in the labour ward as was the case with the first 3 (and it is rather amazing what expletives that women can think up in that room -would rather leave the best of "Bullockies" far behind in the dust - lol),I sat outside the operating theatre door for a llllong time till there was a cry at 415 am, then the extra llllllloooong wait till the second cry at 417. Add to this that there had been a few sessions over the week or so prior (Iwatched the 9/11 events unfold on the tv in the maternity ward over a few days)

So there I was waiting outside, then one of the natal care gurneys came out and was rushed off to maternity, followed a short time later by the second one. It was a fairly long interval between this, and finally being told that all was ( nearly) well all round - there was some concern that "the littlest feral one" might have suffered oxygen starvation for a few minutes, with the result that she was put into specialised treatment for a fairly long time - a period that was distressing to the ex (she hadnt seen the baby at that stage - only a polaroid snap taken by the staff - and was still coming out of the post op shock as well) ,tho surprisingly,I was not as concerned as some of the staff at the time - it was an automatic reaction on their part given the circumstances, but the little tiime that I spent with her in those early hours of her life did not indicate any negative effects, and this was the general consensus of the midwifery staff - but they were initially looking at it as a possible "worst case" scenario - and the treatments (mainly an oxygen rich enviroment) could not harm.

Ironically, it ends up that the littlest feral one is a normal, healthy "tomboy", and her brother has been classified as autistic - something that the ex has never showed any interest in sitting dwn and talking through what thing can be done to enable him to lead a normal life -just a pile of papers that I was supposed to be able to sit down and understand the medical gobblygook after being at work for nearly 11 hrs.

(ps. Kid pic is the two littlest & the next one up}

Side effects

Given the rather large amount of crap that the ex has been sending my way the last couple of months, I was getting a bit stressed (??) lately, and on Thursday night it rather went into overdrive.
Woke up late on Friday morning, still absolutely pie-eyed, and no chance of being able to work, even if I had taken the risk of driving there,but given the boss's attitude, who cares anyway.(I had drunk my weekly quota in one night)

One positive (hopefully long term) possible benefit was that I ran out of cigarette papers early in the piece, and have now managed 3 days with a total of 4 smokes - rather need to cut my drinking back somewhat, but might focus on stopping the smoking first, its an addictive habit that has been part of my life for 40 + years -did quit fr 10 weeks + a few months ago, but then got a load of crap from the ex to sort out, so fell of the wagon big time

Fred -(at 6 mths +)

Been a bit (lot - lol) slack in posting lately but will try to upload a couple of pics of Fred in recent times - last attempt was a dismal failure = I shut the whole system down-bottom pic is Fred at 6 Mths - top 2 are today with Fred in his new home -Kennel that was started prior to the floods, and is not quite finished yet, hes a rough, tough, working dog tho, so can handle it - rofl

Children, breakups , etc

Had the youngest 0ne (The little feral one) on the phone tonight, saying that she would rather spend every weekend here, than every second weekend.

This rather made me take a few (figurative) backwards steps,. as what I can provide them (physically ) is a lot less than their mother should be able to provide them, especially considering that she would have received in excess of $10,000-00 of Govt Economic Stimulas paymentsin the last 8 mths or so - did she piss it up the wall at the pokies like she did with my income, or splurge it on a doomed to failure enterprise with lover boy (who actually owns little more than maybe his vehicle- lol - dont know if she is aware of that little fact)

A while ago, while sorting out some of the debris that was left here, I found a hair dye kit that she had bought, thinking that I would use it to look "younger" than I am - after seeing the results of her hair dieing efforts a couple of times -no way was I going down that path - I'm me as I am right now, 55+ yo, and if you dont like how I appear, tough titties, and look the other way.

Maybe this is the bottom line coming into play, I havent got much to offer my children,other than love and a sense of stability re "home".

The new addition (update lol)

So now I have had the pup for a bit over 4 months, vaccinated, wormed, microchipped him (whish that kids could be done as easily :-) ) and finally got around to actually paying for him the other day - rather broke the bank(2 beers = $6.00 lol)

He was classed as a "chickmagnet " by a couple of women who see him regularly, but it seems that as he grows older, this label doesn't necessarily apply any more - hes not a cute little puppy but still and all, he is shaping up to be somewhere near what I hoped for , other than I might have to change his name to "Herpes" (will not heel{heal} -lol)

He is starting to take an interest in working with the cattle etc, but given the above condition it is a bit of a problem, but we still have a way to go, and I can see possibilities in his prowess.

But when it comes down to push and shove, he is a faithful companion, and that is the main thing when all is said and done.

Flood side affects

Here we are nearly 2 months after the major floods that basically brought the North coast of NSW to a standstill for a week or so, and the side affects are still with us.

I have nearly finished repairing/replacing my fences (the main lines are done - just have to reset some gates etc and find some fill to put around a line of posts on one boundary. This rather pales into insignificance when you consider some people are still to start refencing whole areas of properties. - they have mainly got the boundary fences cobbled up, but have not even started on internal fencing yet.

It was also a big impact on most of the primary production in the region, the sugar cane harvest was just about to start- they were faced with waterlogged paddocks & mud covered cane with a consequent loss of value to the crop, cattle prices crashed badly for a couple of weeks, and there has been a major decline in the quality of cattle available due to the damage to the fodder, the timber industry has been living very much hand to mouth as the logging crews just could not work the bush to provide the logs to the mills.

Thankfully things are starting to return to normal, tho the actual weather patterns that we have experienced cannot necessarily be called abnormal or due to "Climate change" , - rather a return to the weather that was common here in the mid 1970's

(ps -All of the fence in the photo ended up completely washed out + a mile or so of other fences :-) )

After the floods

So now we are in recovery mode, following the floods last week over the whole North Coast NSW and southern Qld.

The flood on the Clarence River system (which starts in the Border ranges to the north, west to the Great Dividing Range, and south to the Dorrigo Plateau) was the fastest rising flood that I have seen here in 36 years, and was also the first major flood event that involved all the tribuartaries to the Clarence River System at one time. Whilst the peak levels were somewhat lower than the 2001 flood (450mm lower at Grafton), the damage bill is going to be astramonical due to the ferocity and rapid rate of rise in the river levels

Reports are starting to come in of people who have lost up to 150 head of cattle,and countless cases where people have lost their source of income for a substantial time, till they can get feed back in their paddocks, repair fences and other structures, andtry to return to a normal life.

Personally, I am one of the lucky ones who has had relativelly minimal losses. I had all of the fences on the lower parts of the property flattened, with the subsequent dramas of juggling cattle into 30% of the place for a week till the boundary fences could be rebuilt (about 700Meters) - still havnt had a chance to check out what is left of half of my internal fences - some of it may be totally gone- and havnt even got to see what damage has been done along the river banks

Still and all, once I had moved the cattle to high ground, the biggest worry that I had was the possibility of losing my electricity supply, as the fridge & freezer were stocked up for a weekend of the ruggies visit( + no pressure pump to put water into the house - lol )

In amongst all of this, we witnessed again the stupidity of a few teenagers who thought it was right to go and frolic in flood waters. A night in the cooler might have made an impression, as that is where they ended up - should have been a week or more though.

Floods etc

Over the last few days, the north coast of NSW Australia has been hit by heavy rains, winds& storms

As I type, there is an prepare to evacuate order being put over the local radio networks for Grafton and low lying areas of South Grafton ( this follows an evacuation order already in place for the communities of Ulmurra & Brushgrove which are downstream from Grafton).

After 30+ years of dealing with flood situations locally (including quite a few as a volunteer with the State Emergcy Services) , this event doesnt come as a total surprise, as it may be the first time in recorded history (including the Aboriginal memories prior to 1788) tha both of the northern and southern areas of the Clarence Catchment have been hit with high rainfalls (one area posted rainfall of 300mm {approx 12 inches} between 8 pm & 6 amthis morning) and cionsidering that the Bush workers were only just getting back into the bush, the countryside was already wet from the rains over the last few months.

It will be interesting to see what legal claims etc will be put to the local council if this does happen as there have been rather extensive developments in the low lying areas of Grafton over the last 20 or so years :)

(ps this have given me a day + off work)


pps as I type an evacuation order has just been broadcast for Grafton & low llying areas of South Grafton

Additions

Last Sunday (19 April) , I finally managed to be in the right place at the right time.

For some time now, I have been looking around for a pup, but generally by the time that I heard of any that fitted what I was looking for, they were gone.

Sunday arvo, after my shearer friend and family had finally been and shorn the sheep (that in itself being a series of having to cancel for a period of 3 months for lots of reasons from car accidents to rain !!), I slipped up the road to get my mail, and have a couple of beers. Got into a conservation with a bloke and on the way home slipped down to his place and picked up a pup (and no Pita, it ISNT a gr8 dane) He is a Border Collie about 6 weeks old.

Got the little fellow home , and then started to work out what I was going to do with him esp through the week, as I'm away from here from daylight to dark now, and named him Fred.

So now there are two of us going to work each day, and I dont know what my daughter is going to say when she finds out - tho shell probably hug the poor little fellow to death - lol, and life is now a case of watching out for puddles and landmines :)

Bushfires etc update

Recent news has been that the toll of 210 originally posted has since been reduced to 178 _ Still way too many and have yet to see any sorts of counts on livestock, native animals etc but have seen an article where logging contractors & sawmills have lost 10's of millions in machinery,which isnt going to help as the forestry community generally tries to recover some of the timber from trees that have been killed .

Charges have been laid against a person in relation to one of the fires, and the communities around Australia are still donating money and goods to help those who have lost so much.

Fires update

It seems from the news over the last couple of days that the extreme temperatures and winds that were the final trigger of this disaster in our nations south have finally subsided, and even though there are still 4 major fires and a lot of smaller fires still active, they are burning at a level where fire crews can finnally control them - this weather pattern is predicted for at least the next week, and with the resources that are deployed in Vict at the moment, hopefully these fires will be contained in the next 48 hrs or so.

I am not aware of any recent fatalities/ major injuries over the last few days, and the death toll was still 210 last I heard (but there are still people unaccounted for). I have yet to hear a report on deaths to native animals, livestock etc - but would imagine that this figure would run into the 10's of thousands or higher.

Now we will watch and see if the various charities that have had over $100.000.000 so far in cash donations, let alone clothing, food, fodder etc, can do the right thing , or stuff up as was the case following "Cyclone Tracey" in Darwin in 1974, where the people who were supposed to benefit from the nations response got stuff all

Re Climate Change and a few prior blogs

As some of you who read this may remember, I entered this year with the certainty that some close friends& fellow firies were going to depart this mortal realm very soon - unfortunately this has happened, along with the mother of another close friend (and fellow firie) who was a friend to many

Jack was a fairly close nieghbour,with his wife Shirley they ran a small farm with goats, Jack Russells, & Maremmas as their choice of stock- even into their 80's, they were an active part of our brigade - Shirley has been treasurer for many years and both played a part on the fireline till age limited that possibility, but they were both there doing what they could to help in a crisis

Judith (wife of our own "Lanky Yank") was secretary of the brigade for a number of years - was initially thought to be a "Greenie" till we got to know her , then we realised that she was a die hard conservationist - but not one eyed like the leftist greens. She was always keeping the long term preservation of the flora & fauna in the forefront of my decisions with hazard reductions, and continued that with my successor as captain. I think that after a few years, she came to accept that we who raced out and strategically burnt areas of the bush in a seemingly ad hoc manner, were actually being conservationists as well in that we were reducing the chance of a major fire impacting to a large extent on the native plants and animals.

"Shine"- Lover of the land - mother of a very good friend of mine - loved and respected by all in the community that was a large part of her life -even in her mid 80's, when she was finding it difficult to saddle up a horse, took to a 4 wheeler bike to be able to check on her beloved cattle -and help out with the associated husbandry -a genuine country woman.

Fires update and other nature events

Ok - so the fires in Victoria still go on but there was a bit of better news today with a revision of the expected final death toll back to approx 220 - they have been able to trace 70 + of the missing, believed killed to being alive.

Unfortunately the death toll currently stands at 210, which includes 3 firefighters - 2 volunteers and a professional firie who was working out of area to help out. Also there have been a couple of reasonably serious injuries, including members from brigades near me who were providing assistance. (Consider the fact that I live 800miles -1200 kms away from the fire scene and the enormity of the task might become a bit clearer)

On the other end of the continent, we have witnessed major flooding which has isolated communities and properties for weeks, with a number of deaths by drowning and one case of being taken by a croc (why any parent would condone, let alone allow a child to play near or in floodwaters beggars belief - floods are similar to wildfires, mother nature is running rampant and is totally unpredictable and unforgiving - to call playing in floodwaters "a rite of passage"
is akin to letting children play hopscotch in the middle of a major freeway.

Nearer home there has been major floodingto the south of me (Coffs harbour, Bellingen, Kempsey and a few areas south to Newcastle. I am under minor flood alert which is not a real issue to me at the moment - the river was rising on Tuesday so I pulled my pump etc out to high ground (dont need the pump at the moment, the tanks are full and rain is pattering on the roof as I type) ,and the cattle will work to the higher ground if the river does rise towards major levels, so all is well in my world in that respect as we needed this rain now to give us a chance to get some winter feed in the paddocks and some ground water back into the soil.

" Climate Change ???" - Mankind and the enviroment

Over the last week , we have witnessed the savagery that nature can inflict in Victoria, Australia,
with fires of a magnitude that has been equalled to the equivalenty of 660 Nagasaki / Hiroshima events.

Whole towns have been completely destroyed, approximately 200 people are dead and another 100 are feared dead at this stage -most of these towns are classified as crime scenes whilst the police and other specialists undertake the gruesome task of searching for bodies in the rubble, and also try to determine the actual cause of the fire - arson is suspected in some cases ( 1 arrest has been made in relation to one particular fire)

For those of you who have not had access to the dramas that unfolded - consider that one town that was almost completely razed - pop 500 - they expect to recover 100 bodies .

The talkback radios have been full on with comments , critisms , and debate over the causes and management/ mismanagement that led to this whole tragedy unfolding ( and the fires are still burning) , but the greatest lot of bull that I have heard on this was on the news tonight with the Xspurts blaming climate change for this event, and even going to the lengths of obtaining opinions from forestry fire fighters in the US -they might know there flora, but they dont know ours.

The bottom line seems to be the extreme influence that the radical "Green" element has imposed on the management of the Australian "bush", which has led up to the declaration, then basically locking up, of large areas of National Parks - with an ever increasing number of beauracrats & "Xspurts", and a 3 fold diminishing of the staff who were responsible for the on ground maintenance of these areas for the safety of the flora and fauna, and responsible for the control of exotic flora and fauna in these areas - and also their attitude that they can control what someone who owns property adjacent can or cannot do on their own property - perhaps thjey should look back on their own achievements in recent years - 3 dead employees at a prescribed burn + 7 hospitilised for months, properties and livestock destroyed because they refused to allow a backburn to be put in to contain an out of control fire -etc this all in NSW.

Whilst they wring there hands about the possible extinction of the "lesser known double spotted frog " and his ilk , perhaps they should consider that once there were mammoths ,dodos etc. These are now extinct, and thousands of other creatures, and perhaps we are the lesser for their passing, but it must be remembered that we live in the enviroment that is here now -and mankind has made many grave errors over the last200 years or so, which we must endeavour to rectify as far as possible, and endeavour to not worsen the damages done, - but also, we must ensure that the enviroment that we create is safe for us, and the flora and fauna that is a part of that enviroment. Destruction such as is happening in Victoria is unforgivable ,especially when it is known that a few people with "common sense" instead of a degree could see the problem, but were shouted down.

Perhaps I should mention that I am a (volunteer) firie of 30+ yrs experience and count as fellow brigade members and friends a collection of people (including 2 Yanks) who are conservationists, people who are willing to put in the hard yards to try to prevent large scale fires and devastation,whilst also trying to maintain a secure haven for our native friends on and in the earth.

Life, and its strange cycles ??

I know its been a while since i posted anything, but there have been various reasons that overlapped to cause this,mainly the ruggies and trying to get the house done inside (still not finished - had a financial setback and machinery failure at the same time which lost me 6 weeks or so - lol) butalso had the odd issue at work, and a couple of nights on the fireline for good measure thrown in in the leadup to Christmas - wont even mention thefact that my main email address was chokedwith large emails for 5 weeks till I finally found a way to get them in - bloody frustrating.

Unfortunately, todays email offerings was the news that a neighbour and fellow firie had died this morning after a period of deteriating health - this will be the fourth funeral that I should attend since Christmas - but also got the news that another friend and brigade member is also not expected to live for very long - she has a tumour on an artery in her neck.

A couple of years ago saw the end of my fathers direct generation in a period of less than 18 mths, there is only an aunt by adoption, and an aunt by marraige - both a fair bit younger than the rest -left of that era of our family. This string of events did have a consequence in that there was a family gettogether organised for all of my cousins and any children etc who could get together for that weekend - were only3 who couldnt attend out of13 and a lot of the next generation was there as well.

This event was also used as an opportunity to collate the family history - a lot has been researched - but there were gaps even within the current generation (Maiden names & DOB of spouses etc) so hopefully that info is now together and we just have to fill in some of the gaps in prior generations in Australia - Noone has been able to find records on my paternal GGG Grandfather & mother other than their names an area of residence in Sthn England