The Bush,  Weather

Summer in the sticks

Oh look… it’s Wednesday.  And you know what I haven’t done for ages? A World Weather Wednesday report!!

It’s been hot in our corner of the world lately… Queensland summers can be notoriously steamy, and the last few weeks have been right up there in the ‘melting bitumen’ department (around that 40 degree Celsius mark).

I may have mentioned the lack of rain, somewhere recently?  Well, at the risk of boring you all senseless, the dryness of the landscape (for all of us who depend on a decent season for our business) has reached that point where ALL we can talk about is whether it will storm and relieve both the heat and return some much-needed moisture to the soil.

Actually, as I check Facebook, I note all my city friends are talking about the weather too!

temp gauge

This is an instagram I took in town a couple of days ago… please ignore the dust on my dashboard!  I was visiting the GP with a nasty virus that has settled into my chest.  The pills seem to be working and I sound a tad less like a barking dog!

We are not the only ones finding the heat oppressive…
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Nibbles, Bubbles and Troubles have been getting lots of fresh water in their wading vessel, and regular trips into the air-conditioning. Lucky ducks!

Violet hasn’t be COMPLETELY immersed in duck ownership though …
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Where there is mustering, there will be Violet.

She HATES missing out on a ride, whatever the weather!
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Sounds a little like my Dad really…

Dash has been entertaining a friend – a lovely young man from a local town who graduated from Primary School last week.  He is two years older than Dash, but the age gap doesn’t seem to matter while he’s out here.  They have been keeping cool with some wii-playing in the air con, and getting outdoors to take on fishing, calf feeding, swimming, bike riding…
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Snake trap creating…

(I know. Thank GOODNESS that one didn’t succeed too brilliantly, other than keeping them happily occupied for a few hours).
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Among my major time wasting activities (along with laundry, cooking, Christmas gift organising and attempted house-cleaning for six residents) has been ‘impersonating a pool boy’.  Those who haven’t trawled the archives mightn’t realise we have a massive inground pool built by my dad about six decades ago.  Which is lovely, except all filtration has been added since and it remains leaf-basket free.  Which basically means I am half the filtration system – skimming leaves and debris from its surface at least twice a day, and trying to prevent stuff accumulating on the floor of the pool which the creepy crawly (pool vacuum designed for a pool HALF this size) has NO chance of getting around.

Then a couple of weeks ago the pool pump died.  And it got hot. Real hot. Chlorine-eating hot.

And my gorgeous clear water…
pool_5015

Yup. Shrek Green …again…

It has been hit with a small fortune’s worth of chemicals and algae inhibitors.  I am hoping some magic will happen overnight and the green will be replaced with clean!

Never mind. I do realise these are all first world problems!  And the kids and men don’t seem to mind the hue of the water – as long as it’s cool at the end of a long hot day out in the dusty paddock.

Late edit: as I type this, we are recovering from a wild storm that put almost 9mm in the rain gauge.  Not drought-breaking, but something to help settle the dust and cool the air a little.

How’s the weather where you are?  Are you yearning for a change?

🙂

BB

10 Comments

  • Tara

    Hot hot hot here too! And just for fun, a slice of humidity! (If you are curious, check out this site: http://www.yr.no/place/South_Africa/Eastern_Cape/Grahamstown/)

    Can you not convet your pool to a salt-water pool? I know that they sell conversion kits in the stores here, you might find something similar over there? They are pricier to set up but after that fairly maintenance free. Apart from skimming, I’m afraid that never ends!
    Tara´s last blog post ..Finally Finished!

  • Colin (HB)

    Ah – swelter box here in Brisbane for the last few days. Last night it looked promising, plenty of lightning and a barrage of thunder, unfortunately the water taps wouldn’t open.
    Great that you DID get some moisture, but a lot more is needed, eh?
    I can but hope that the so-called cool and wet change from the South moves north a bit faster today???
    Cheers
    Sauna-ed out Colin!

  • Lynda M O

    Cool, windy, sunny, rainy on and off. Typical Dec weather. This is our rainy season so I hope our reservoirs fill soon. The hills are greening up just a bit so there’s been some little rain in places but our season hasn’t really gotten underway yet.
    Lynda M O´s last blog post ..Senate Fails to Ratify CRPD

  • Colin (HB)

    Actually Amanda and Lynda
    happens to me also – shows all comments with the same “funny stuff” after you put up your comment. Just look at another blog or switch off, and presto, click back and it comes back to normal.
    I think it is the bloody heat, well that’s my theory.
    All looks good here, but as soon as I press send to this, it will come back as soon as the comment goes through.
    Cheers and just switch on and off – ha ha!
    Colin (Still in Brisbane sauna world!)

  • Margie from New York

    When you posted this on the 18th it was cold here in NY. Then we went to Virginia Beach to visit Johnny Reb’s family and it was 60f,when we came back home on Saturday to old NY it was freezing and we have about 10 inches of snow here on the mountain.

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