What would Pepper say?

I know Jazz would be up for a new temporary playmate or ten... but what about the old girl?

To donate or offer other assistance for domestic ANIMALS suffering in the wake of the fires you can contact Animal Aid on (03) 9739 0300.

To donate urgently needed $$'s to WILDLIFE VICTORIA, go online here.

To directly support RSPCA staff and volunteers at the front-line caring for animals affected by the bush fires, please donate here.

Can you help further? To support the RSPCA's emergency relief effort in other ways, please complete their assistance form detailing the support you can offer. If they can accept your generous offer, they will contact you soon.

I may yet see if we can take in any animals for people. Will have to see. But I will definitely be donating money for them to feed and house the poor little guys.

SHOP AT COLES THIS FRIDAY!

Monday 9 February


Coles to donate this Friday’s profits to Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund


Coles will donate this Friday’s (13 Feb) profits from its 750 stores nationally to the Government’s Bushfire Appeal Fund in partnership with the Red Cross.

Customers will also be able to donate to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund at all Coles stores. Donations can be made at all Coles supermarket checkouts from today.

Coles Managing Director Ian McLeod said the bushfire tragedy had touched a number of Coles team members, some of whom have lost loved ones in the fire, and a number who have lost their homes.

“Like everyone in the community, we’ve been shocked by the devastation these fires have wrought, and we extend our deepest sympathies to those who’ve suffered loss in this terrible event,” Mr McLeod said.

Mr McLeod said the size of this Friday’s donation would depend on customer support, but could be several million dollars.

“We hope Australians will help us make this Friday’s donation as substantial as possible.”

Coles has been helping ground level relief agencies over the weekend, providing essentials such as food, water and toiletries, and will continue to provide additional local support as needed.


Further information,
Jim Cooper
Ph: (03) 9829 4354

Something in the air

No wonder it felt hotter than a hairdryer on its hottest setting being blown directly in your face whenever you stepped outside last Saturday in Victoria. The scene was absolutely ripe for a fire of record magnitude. But even so, I'd never have dreamed it would get this horrific.

(As a quick aside) I'm so sorry to continue on this one topic for days now. I just can't see anything else in front of me. Even mothering my delicious little LGBB has been a test beyond any previous measure for me in these past days, I don't know quite why it is affecting me so - perhaps I'm still rather shell-shocked a little from what could very nearly have been our own personal loss of property, had it not been for skilful and available resources and a wind direction change (they've said since on the radio that the blaze near us was deliberately swiftly dealt with, given the locale and higher density population - we're not classified as rural like so many of these other razed towns). I'd not been expecting the fire to come quite so close as it did in the time it took. As well, it is to honour the tremendous loss of life, the displacement, the harrowing trauma for the survivors. Thinking of the children and how they will be affected, possibly for life, by what they've seen and heard and endured. Not to mention the adults.

Latest reports in have confirmed that (I thought my ears were imagining things when I heard this on the local Emergency Radio station 774FM report on Sunday):

UNPRECEDENTED weather conditions made it impossible for authorities to predict the extent of Victoria's horrific bushfires, experts say.

The fire danger indices, based on a range of variables and used by authorities and climatologists to determine the intensity of a blaze, reached uncharted levels on Saturday.

A rating of 100 indicates that a fire would be uncontrollable, according to David Jones from the Bureau of Meteorology.

On Saturday, it reached 400.

"The general idea about the forest fire danger index is that it rates the speed of the fire," Dr Gill said. "But when it reaches unprecedented levels, it's hard to know what the relationship with speed and spread becomes."

FOUR HUNDRED!!! We never stood a chance. And still, the facts will not ever fully and clearly demonstrate just how ferocious those winds, the heat, were. Consider also that humidity was merely 3%, or so it was reported yesterday. Virtually zero air moisture. It was simply Nature at its most monstrous, yelling loud and clear. But yelling what, exactly? Just what are we meant to hear? These are the times when my trust and faith is sorely tested.

And the most unfathomable creatures playing God amongst us all.

With 130 people confirmed dead, just fifteen of those have been identified so far. My heart and thoughts go out to everyone still waiting to hear about the people they love and fear for. It's going to be such an agonising wait. Authorities have warned it might take weeks to confirm fatalities.

Preparing for change

I think it's safe to say, our lives will not be the same after this sobering event in our state. A climbing death toll (human lives only, and the full scale not yet realised) stands at one hundred and eight. Although it is in this one small corner of the globe, it seems the group consciousness when something devastating like this happens is wide and far-reaching. I don't know if anyone else can feel it, but a pall seems to have been cast at the moment. A blanket of sorrow and grief, the shock will slowly start to lift over the coming weeks as collective acceptance - the human spirit - sinks in. And it will be a group conscious effort to support not only the victims but everyone who's been affected.

Despite the physical donations, there is something I've been attempting to maintain my focus on: the only non-physical thing I know to do, and that is clearing and protecting All. Nature herself has been thrown into chaos and confusion, with trees dropping leaves in the staggering heat last week only to burst new buds out yesterday because of the flipside cool. I'm looking at birds as they fly around my home here and wonder if they are disoriented. Stories have emerged of possums and koalas and other native animals, usually frightened of humans, traipsing onto verandahs and balconies desperate for the water bowls placed out by caring residents. So I am simply throwing the net wide over all these creatures, great and small, human, flora, fauna, and sending all the positive energy I can muster.

It seems futile, but remember (if you are willing to do anything similar): the positive intent and the trust that it only takes one grain of sand to move a mountain is what counts in times like these.

There is such a strong desire to get in ones' car deliver food for the dogs and cats, toothbrushes, hair ties, combs, clothes, soaps, sleeping bags - this list could go on for pages - however, we've been urged not to deliver items. Rather, money and blood are being sought.

I am definitely going to donate money and blood. There are 20 or so victims (as at this morning, this could have risen) currently in our major trauma hospital in Melbourne on life support. One report I saw claimed the hospital has run out of morphine already. I cannot even dip into the horror of the severity of what's going on there, for it goes only part way to allowing into my conscious awareness the devastation that is yet to be witnessed out there on the ground, in places the emergency services are yet to reach.

If you would like to help but haven't known where or how:

LATEST INFORMATION @ 4:45pm Monday 9/2:
Authorities and radio are requesting that anyone wishing to donate, phone the Red Cross 1800 811 700 to find out the best way and method to do this.
(I think this may be because there is now such an inundation of items that they are trying to streamline co-ordination of donations)

To donate blood call the Red Cross on 131 495

To donate funds, go to the Salvo's website or the Red Cross (or freecall 1800 811 700 within Australia) - both are secure online forms.

Or you can make a direct deposit via the Victoria Bushfire Relief Fund (this is the one I'm donating to and you can check the details here, part of local Melbourne Nova 100's radio station website):

NAB account
BSB: 082-001, A/C no: 860046797

For information on the ongoing fires:
CFA bushfire hotline - 1800 240 667
State Emergency Service - 132 500


I heard someone say this morning that the current state of crisis in Victoria is as if "the end of the world" is coming. Well.... I'd like to gently suggest that, yes, it sort of is. The end of the world as we knew it. How we rebuild from here may make all the difference.

Above all, I hope wherever your loved ones are - whether here, around the country or the rest of the world - that they are safe.

Sixty-six

The number (expected to rise) of human lives lost in Victoria so far. Over 640 homes. Many people unaccounted for, trapped in their towns.

We are safe (completely out of danger, fire is out where we are now). Thank you for your emails and messages. Our fire team up here did a miraculous job. When I drove down the highway (they reopened it today), what I saw made the tears come to the surface. Incredibly, they appear to have saved all homes that were under threat and there are several homes untouched yet totally surrounded by completely blackened blocks. It is the weirdest sight and I cannot imagine the terror of the families within.

My thoughts tonight, though, are with the families still to determine who amongst them are safe. I'm shattered from the grief counselling course. I feel battered about what I'm feeling with regard to these fires, it seems to have layered over the intensity of grouping this weekend with people who were brought together for a common goal. More on that, perhaps, in another post.

For now, there are simply no more words I can say to express the sadness. It brings back memories of Ash Wednesday, at the time a disaster I thought (in my 9 year old mind) would never be topped. It seems this weekend, it has been.

Before I collapse into bed...

As if today wasn't going to be a strain enough, when I left this morning the forecast was "brace yourselves, Melbourne, for our hottest day ever recorded."

It was 8.30am. It was already 33ºC and went on to reach 46.something in the city, maxing at 47ºC, nearly 48ºC elsewhere around the state. I phoned Steve from the car and told him I'd leave my phone on silent, on the table with me, and briefly confirmed with him what he needed to pack in the car in case of fire evacuation.

I just had an inkling. Looking at the sky, hearing the forecast, there was a sense of foreboding.

Well, it happened. And I'll give it in debrief point form, for as long as I can muster some energy to record this monumental day:

The sight that greeted Steve over the neighbour's yard

• I got a call from a very Cool Cucumber husband at about 3.30 today, politely advising me he was sorry to interrupt the course but didn't want to alarm me - I wouldn't be able to come home because the highway was now blocked.
• He told me he now couldn't see the hills directly behind our place (less than 1/2km away) for smoke.
• I checked with him that everything was packed and asked if he was being serious here. He said "Yuh.... it's pretty hairy."
• An hour later, he called again. It had worsened. He was outside now, hosing embers off our house and backyard. The wind gusts were blowing in our direction, right from the fire. Neighbours were losing odd plants here and there (we later found out from several people that their hair had burned with floating airborne ash while they were outside hosing down their properties too).
• Steve reported he could see flames as he stood in our yard. He estimated the fire was less than 200m from our home at that point.
• I asked if everyone seemed okay. He said "Yeah, the neighbours have been all great, we're all out here just checking in with each other."
• I sat, distracted, for the next 45 minutes. The group broke earlier than planned, it was far too hot and unsettled outside that window. Like one massive Earthly hairdryer blowing on high in your face as soon as you exited from the air conditioned indoors.
• As I drove closer to the hills (at the foot of which is the valley where we live), the sky was an ominous orange glow. Traffic was being funnelled down one tiny feeder road, the highway having been blocked.
• At this point, I phoned a friend for some good old-fashioned blubbering and swearing. She was ace (thanks Mel!).
• I got home and discovered that my daughter had been turned into a Cling-on during my absence. The water helicopters were droning and low, ferrying big tubes of water time and again from the nearby reservoir into the wild fire that was still threatening homes just across the road from our place.
• I was not expecting the fire to be that close to us, even though it was exactly as Steve described. I just couldn't imagine it til I saw it for myself and saw the flames.
• At its peak this afternoon, there were 13-14 engines attending the haze. Now there are just a couple, it is an ongoing but contained fire. I am certain imminent danger is averted. Or perhaps that is just my mind convincing me it's okay to get some shut-eye...
• I can't stop thinking of the animals. All the native darling animals!
• I feel desperate and sad, as I think so many of us do, when I see the widespread dangerous fires burning across our state. The people, the properties, yes... but the animals. It really makes me so very sad.
• The highway is still blocked. This is not giving me a safe feeling. It means they (the fireys and police still out there, literally one house block away from us over our back fence) don't think it's safe enough. That doesn't make me feel like sleeping a wink tonight! But I am oh so exhausted, mentally, from the exertion of today's learning.
• Steve and I went on one of the most bizarre couples-walks ever, wandering with neighbours who were cautious but not hysterical. They are used to this. We've been here just over a year; many residents have been here decades and see fires like this (and this close) every few years.
• For now, we have been stepped down from immediate danger but have been warned to stay on alert tonight as winds (they've stilled to an eery lull for a couple of hours now so I think we may be okay) might pick up. It tends to be quite blustery here, as the wind gets channelled through the narrow valley.

Something to get used to. The area, the community, the scenery, is well worth the imminent threat - believe it or not. I've never been more proud and felt more love for the community I live in than I did today. So caring and jovial. I feel very safe here, in terms of being looked out for - worlds away, it seems, from the "each to himself, me first" collective attitude of our previous "community".

In the thick of it:


And on a (semi) clear day, you can see forever... Here is the view almost back to normal after the wind changed and the smoke retreated off the hill:



And..... our Foxtel is down. Steve threatened he was was going to be one of those annoying consumers and call them to complain about our signal being down. I slapped him for you, dear reader.

Over and out.

Something to make you miss me while I'm gone

FINALLY. A toilet seat that would literally scare the crap right out of your child.

No more painfully long and laborious toilet training. Problem solved! *crazy stare*