News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 67
The photo below shows our back yard taken 4 weeks apart.
A month ago lovely and green and soft lush grass, today, brown crunchy dead grass.While our proverbial dome is sitting over us making sure any showers around dont fall on us, North Queensland has been dealt a deadly blow with the monsoon at the end of January and early February delivering 1443 mm over Townsville (and 2171m in the catchment area) causing major flooding that they are calling a 1 in 500 year rain event!
Meanwhile here we had in the same period only 21.4mm rain.
The floods up north have seen people lose everything and far wider consequences as the monsoon moved to the west and floodwaters moved down to the cattle properties with stock losses estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands as cattle were swept away and had nowhere to go.
Our son, his partner and 2 of our grandchildren were in the area that flooded when the Ross River broke its banks and they had to evacuate.
They lost everything underneath the house, including their car which at the time had a flat battery and couldnt be moved.
The water rose so quickly he didnt have time to wait for the battery to be charged up and put in the car so they had to leave it in the driveway.
It too is a right off. Then the rain stopped finally and a new problem arose, mould. Homes up there are covered in it, to the point that there is even mushrooms growing in carpets in houses.
The family is safe though but it is going to be a long recovery for people up there. So Mother Nature is showing her might and leaving everyone wondering what she has in store next.
Last year when hubbys cousin came over from Canada, the suitcase she was using was smashed during the flight over.
It was a fibreglass suitcase (but we think it was more like a plastic) and somehow the corner was missing and there were big cracks up one side of it.
They were waiting for the luggage on the carousel and she was called to the side and shown the case which needed tapping up with gaffer tape just to get it from one flight to another and then to our house.
We needed to dismantle the case to put it in the bin but I said to hubby to keep the wheels off it…you know one of those it might come in handy sometime items!
Well we have this big planter box out the front of the house and when it rains we have to lift the big heavy pots out to put them out near the edge of the patio to get the rain, and I came up with the idea that maybe they might work on the planter box.
Hubby wasnt so sure at first. We measured them up, but the centre part meant they would be difficult to attach, so out came the dremel and I cut out all but the outside so theyd fit flush to the legs on the planter.
Hubby screwed them on and it worked well. Might not be the flashest wheels on a planter box but it has made life a lot easier to move around with the plants still in it.
Now all we need is some rain, as that was the purpose of doing it to begin with.
So there is a repurpose for all sorts of things. Even suitcases!
Well the Christmas School holidays are over and after roughly 6 weeks all the kids are back at school now for another year.
First day for most was Tuesday 27th January and the rest went back on Wednesday 28th.
It depends on what year you are starting as to when you go back. Even the youngest began back at kindy/day care but as he likes to call it school. Only one of the grandies that goes to school in the pictures is still at primary school, the same school his Dad went to.
So that will be 2 generations that have started and finished at the school. It kind of makes you feel old seeing them going into high school as you have memories of them being born and so tiny…….now look how big they are!
But they are loving school which is great to see….all going back with big smiles.
Wonder what the year ahead holds for them…..big things Im sure.
My daughter-in-law was looking for something to do while she is home raising their two babies. She decided to help a friend out and make a birthday cake and icing it. They loved it and so the adventure began……..cake baking and decorating.
Usually she makes butter cakes but its turned into a mini business now so she will also make chocolate or whatever the customer wants.
All her friends get her to make their kids cakes including smash cakes. Totally self taught she was doing well but is now taking some classes to become better. Last year she entered a teapot cake in the local show and on her first entry she won first prize!
Shes very creative and her designs are different and that is what makes them unique. I think shes got a big future ahead doing her cakes.
9 little ducks went out one day, over the fence and not too far away. Our resident wood ducks had been missing for a little while and we eventually discovered why. The neighbours dam had become the home of the mummaand dadda duck and they had decided to have babies.
They have had ducklings on our dam a few years ago but we suspect a fox may have been responsible for their demise.
This time the neighbours dam became home while they grew until they wereold enough to venture further afield. Was a wonderful sight to see all nine of thempecking round in the back yard. Now they are here most of the day and are becomingused to us without taking flight.
At first the parents would round them up but last few days the parents seem to have left them to their own coming and going.
I love living in a rural area, and its wonderful to see the birds and animals with their babies.
