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Fires, drought, flood...you should probably expect an avalanche soon.

Seriously, though, it's good to hear from you. I hadn't seen anything from you in the last couple of days.
Hubby got out of hospital on Friday and is totally 100% non weight bearing on his operated on leg. That and trying to do things like the weekly shop fresh veg etc is more than I can manage. He's hard work at the moment, can't even get him onto the veranda for fresh air because of the step and now a wet sofa! Tomorrow i have to get him to the doctors and back! My vehicle i think. I'll go full 4x4 rather than an AWD SUV!

Our road is badly damaged. Reported unsafe (the SES (emergency rescue services) turned the school bus back! ) I know it is completely washed away just to our left (as in a couple of hundred meters where those dams drain across it). That's usually the worst direction to try. But none of the farm workers or construction workers have arrived this morning and they all come from the right... That's across a huge flood plain (including a lake I've only once seen water in in 4 years I've been here).

Today's fun is trying to shower him in a shower only 1 fully able person can fit into. Perhaps tipsy I can consider not trying to save the water for recycling! That said the borders and trees on the shielded side of the house are actually dry... but I have a good 25cm or more of wet silt to dig out around the electric fence of the chook house before I can turn it back on. It was shorting out badly when I went up at 6am to check on that chook house. We're due thunderstorms today with temps getting up to 30°C. Just to add to the fun!
 
Fires, drought, flood...you should probably expect an avalanche soon.
Plague... of what is anyone's guess. Last year was locus (spelling? ). But seriously there are several insects that swarm and mass breed after heavy rain in Australia... there is a nature bush beetle whose name I can never remember (starts with a c I think) was already calling to each other in the rain last night... rain and they go hand in hand. The next couple of weeks are going to be noisy at night!
 
Plague... of what is anyone's guess. Last year was locus (spelling? ). But seriously there are several insects that swarm and mass breed after heavy rain in Australia... there is a nature bush beetle whose name I can never remember (starts with a c I think) was already calling to each other in the rain last night... rain and they go hand in hand. The next couple of weeks are going to be noisy at night!

Cicadas?

Russ
 
I have a friend who lives in cicada place Chch. My grandparents had an empty section next to them, with long grass. They made a hell of a racket .

Russ
 
I have a friend who lives in cicada place Chch. My grandparents had an empty section next to them, with long grass. They made a hell of a racket .

Russ
Yeah they sure do. The native bush (if you can currently find any) is unbelievably noisy with them. We had thought our old house bad until we went to one NP campground.
 
Hey, welcome to Texas, where every flood ends with a drought, and every drought ends with a flood. :headshake:

CD
I do remember San Antonio used to flood all the time. I always had about six ways to get anywhere because anytime it rained, I knew about three of them would be blocked.
 
I do remember San Antonio used to flood all the time. I always had about six ways to get anywhere because anytime it rained, I knew about three of them would be blocked.
When we lived in the UK, we often had similar problems. In the lake district or Scotland where we lived, there was often only 1 way in and 1 way out. You learnt very quickly what depth and colour of flood water you could and couldn't drive through (these were roads I grew up on). In some places when out was blocked, you could see land lower than you on the other side of the fence that wasn't under water... that just meant that last year's leaves were lining the fence and acting as a pond liner... time to strip off, wade in (to freezing cold water mind you) and locate the lowest point you could reach and pull handfuls of dead leaves out. Then get out and let nature and gravity do their work. The flood would usually subside to drive through levels by the time you had your clothes back on. (I always had towels in the car, and blankets). If it was an under a bridge that you needed to drive, there was only one way to find out and that involved getting wet.

In the south of England, where we lived for 12 years there was a crossroads not far from our home. It meant that there were 4 roads to try. Usually 3 would flood, but the 4th would be passable with care (in a manual that meant slipping the clutch and revving the engine, in an automatic driving with both the accelerator down and the brakes on to ensure that engine revs were kept very high). I learnt very quickly Thai if you couldn't see the central white line on the tarmac road, then you needed to check the depth the old fashioned way... extra long wellies were a necessity. I would often turn up at work in spare clothes that were wet and in wellies...

On one occasion when I lived in the Lake District, the car had recently been in for work on the locking solenoids to the rear doors and I hadn't twice that the child locks had been taken off... I was driving through quite deep flood water when my best friend in the passenger seat casually asked how deep the water was. I just replied deep, wanting to concentrate on keeping those engine revs high and speed low enough but not too low. She asked again... so my little sister in the back opened the car door... how is beyond me but she did, and couldn't shut it again just as we entered the deepest part of the flooding... needless to say it took weeks to dry the car out and I wasn't best pleased because I couldn't move my get to a dry location unlike everyone else!
 
Snapped this yesterday about an hour after dawn. It was the last of the sunshine (no rain for us though until midnight last night when a thunderstorm hit only 4.1mm though. Mild by Aussie standards though my mother has described it as biblical on FB!)

 
When we lived in the UK, we often had similar problems. In the lake district or Scotland where we lived, there was often only 1 way in and 1 way out. You learnt very quickly what depth and colour of flood water you could and couldn't drive through (these were roads I grew up on). In some places when out was blocked, you could see land lower than you on the other side of the fence that wasn't under water... that just meant that last year's leaves were lining the fence and acting as a pond liner... time to strip off, wade in (to freezing cold water mind you) and locate the lowest point you could reach and pull handfuls of dead leaves out. Then get out and let nature and gravity do their work. The flood would usually subside to drive through levels by the time you had your clothes back on. (I always had towels in the car, and blankets). If it was an under a bridge that you needed to drive, there was only one way to find out and that involved getting wet.

In the south of England, where we lived for 12 years there was a crossroads not far from our home. It meant that there were 4 roads to try. Usually 3 would flood, but the 4th would be passable with care (in a manual that meant slipping the clutch and revving the engine, in an automatic driving with both the accelerator down and the brakes on to ensure that engine revs were kept very high). I learnt very quickly Thai if you couldn't see the central white line on the tarmac road, then you needed to check the depth the old fashioned way... extra long wellies were a necessity. I would often turn up at work in spare clothes that were wet and in wellies...

On one occasion when I lived in the Lake District, the car had recently been in for work on the locking solenoids to the rear doors and I hadn't twice that the child locks had been taken off... I was driving through quite deep flood water when my best friend in the passenger seat casually asked how deep the water was. I just replied deep, wanting to concentrate on keeping those engine revs high and speed low enough but not too low. She asked again... so my little sister in the back opened the car door... how is beyond me but she did, and couldn't shut it again just as we entered the deepest part of the flooding... needless to say it took weeks to dry the car out and I wasn't best pleased because I couldn't move my get to a dry location unlike everyone else!
All of that reminds me why, even with the negative aspects of social media at times, a world with the internet is much better than one without. Now, when it so much as threatens to rain, I just work from home. :)
 
I do remember San Antonio used to flood all the time. I always had about six ways to get anywhere because anytime it rained, I knew about three of them would be blocked.

San Antonio has the most dangerous kind of floods -- flash floods. The ground is very rocky in Central Texas, so when a heavy rain storm comes through, the water doesn't soak into the ground fast enough, and gravity kicks in. Within minutes, you can go from a little water crossing the roadway, to three feet of water moving at 30MPH taking trees, livestock, people and even cars and houses with it.

CD
 
San Antonio has the most dangerous kind of floods -- flash floods. The ground is very rocky in Central Texas, so when a heavy rain storm comes through, the water doesn't soak into the ground fast enough, and gravity kicks in. Within minutes, you can go from a little water crossing the roadway, to three feet of water moving at 30MPH taking trees, livestock, people and even cars and houses with it.

CD
It made getting to and from school interesting... some diversions were 100s of miles in Scotland where I lived.
 
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