Tuesday, February 10, 2009

I'M NUMB

I'm still being disconnected frequently but in the wake of what's happened this week, it's not a big deal.

On Saturday, I had 15 birds sheltering under the apple tree. If I went out to check their water they flew into the heat so I just surrounded the tree with containers of water. They almost burrowed into the grass to stay cool. My eyeballs felt as though they had dried up after trip to rescue a cutting in a pot in the corner of the yard. That corner was like the Sahara desert, I could see waves of heat rising.

If my eyes were like that in just a few minutes then I feel for the firefighters out in it for hours. I have nothing but admiration for the men and women who put themselves in harm's way. When the fires are out, the images will start to crowd in and they'll need a different courage to continue with their lives. They all deserve the respect of the entire country.

12 comments:

Jayne said...

I'd almost welcome the heat mirages back to wipe out the horror.
So very, very sad.

Brian Hughes said...

Not a good week in the annals of Ozzie history, Witchy. I only hope they catch the idiots who started it, although I can't imagine what sort of justice they could possibly metre out to them that'd make ammends.

GreenSmile said...

All of a sudden, my tolerance for being vague about exactly where in Oz my blogging friends may dwell is unsatisfactory. Guys like Davo don't always answer right away on the best days...now there's nothing to do but hope they show up.

And me whining about too much snow...I better shut up.

Middle Child said...

Its unbelievable that it can be so calm around my house, and quiet but not all that far away really so much tragedy is happening

R.H. said...

There's no birds around here at all. They seem grounded.
Meanwhile I'm tickled to hear that Miss O'dyne has climbed onto a train and will soon be joining that other old heiffer Miz Panz in “Larrikans End”. And hey, poor town, what a sight that'll be. Formidable? Oh my golly!- most formidable pairing since Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney!

River said...

Brian, if the idiots are caught, they should be made to get in there amid the mess they've made and help with the cleaning up, aiding the people they've harmed, rebuilding for the homes they've destroyed, etc etc etc. not only for this, but for every fire in their area for the rest of their lives.

R.H. said...

Just shoot them.

JahTeh said...

Greensmile, I'm in bushfire Victoria but Davo is in the neighbouring state of South Australia and as far as I know is okay. This is a mad country, cyclones and floods at the top end and flames and drought at the bottom.

Jayne, I can't believe the way whole country towns disappeared.

Fleetwood, can you imagine looking at a wall of flame 30 metres high and coming straight at you but ahead of that is the radiant heat. That's what got to me, that things weren't burnt, they were melted.

Therese, it's still touch and go in a lot of places and it all depends on the wind.

River, that would be an invitation to a lynching I'm afraid. The police are being very careful with the investigation, they want to be sure they have the right bastards.

Rh, the feathered ones are back in force, they know the hand that feeds them.

Link said...

Its pretty peaceful in this neck of the woods, with a nice sprinkling of rain that I am sending south--nothing but a heavensent drenching is going to put those fires out--unfortunately.
'
A little bird told me that Ms O'Dyne has landed safely at Larrikin's End.

Davo has been writing snail mail reasonably regularly, but its been a while. He'll undoubtedly be a feeling a little friskier with a bit of cooler weather.(not that I've ever met him as to know what his his normal level of friskiness. But God knows caravan's are hot at the best of times.

I've been designing underground houses in my head with a little help from google. I've just realised that one of their biggest (deep breath) drawbacks is airlessness--generally. For an air sign this will never do. So now I'm onto ingenious ways of ventilation but I haven't actually come up with anything.

Ah, more rain. South,south go south (fill my creek, and then go south).

JahTeh said...

Caroline, you need one of those venting things at the top but I'm like you, I need to see sky. In an emergency I'd like to know it was there.

Anonymous said...

No, with a venting thing at the top the fire would suck the oxygen out.
Having enough space to provide sufficient oxygen for the short time you'd be in there would be the go, I think.

JahTeh said...

Helen, you're right about the oxygen and I think a lot of people will be building something like this even if it isn't in the building code. Anything that shelters against the radiant heat.