Little House on the Prairie

Not sure what it was about today, but there was a certain" Little House on the Prairie" feel going on!
Not sure whether it was because of this look.......

(Sorry Bill...all your stuff.. I certainly wasn't going to be displaying mine! )

Or maybe it was the sound of the wind whistling through this open piece of ground that is normally occupied with buildings...... 

Or may be it was because of this delivery today.....

Our winter wood pile. Nothing remained of our previous stockpile, just as you would expect.And Bill likes to be organized ( just as you would expect!)

Or maybe it was the smell of Bill's homemade soup cooking, ready to feed some of  our family who came to see us  tonight.

So lovely to see them all and hear their stories of what they remember out there. We have already started some new memories.............just by having them here.

Pooches , mokes and gorgeous boys

Our fire plan has always been to leave.

 When faced with having to make that decision, it wasn't that difficult for us because we had Amy's two little dogs that day and we would never consider putting their lives in danger. I do understand though why many people will not leave their properties when they have larger animals that have also become part of their families.We are so glad we didn't have to contemplate that possibilty.

See what I mean....???? These little pooches frequent our place on a regular basis ( and drive us crazy sometimes to be perfectly honest !). The dog proof fence that Bill had  previously constructed around the rose garden was damaged or had disappeared altogether so Bill (maker of things) dragged out the burnt star pickets that had been thrown in the skip bin, bought a big roll of wire and got busy on this......

It is now completed and the dogs can run around once more.....it was so funny watching them go out there on their first visit back. "What the heck's happened here????"

  We adore these little boys and love it when they come to visit us. Having a ride in the moke is always a part of those visits.... along with looking for frogs!!!

 But sadly there won't be any more rides in this moke again.....

 And Sam's old car didn't fair very well either. Would love to know how the rusty old trailer survived with it's wooden pole holding it up!! You can still see the fire burning in the corner in this photo taken when we were allowed back home.

This is little Trip tonight having cuddles on the couch with his Mummy...

Bill the builder

Oh dear...this is the tree that appeared on yesterday's blog post. Now we know why the 
arborist said "Don't play under this one!

Bill has already built himself a workbench out of pallets from Bunnings and some throw away posts from Mitre10. The pallet one is a bit wobbly but will serve the purpose of having "something to put stuff on". The old sewing machine came from Dad...sadly the workings were all burnt, but now it has a new purpose with some more throw away flat pieces from the hardware shops.

It was easy to recognize some things....the pool table leg that Amy is holding ...not so sure what Bill has found! The gazebo was unrecognizable..it was completely flattened as though it was never there.  

And this little guy is called Bucks, a much loved Magpie supporter given to Bill by Fred and Rhonda on his 50th birthday... he used to be black and white but has obviously been through a trauma of some kind. This how Bill found him....

Sam's old golf card....just one of many paper bits that were found among the ashes and which  are still lying around the place.

And then there were those things that we just didn't recognize......

This little face keeps popping up on our phones and screens.......and reminding us how much we have and how much we have to look forward to....bless his little cotton socks!

X marks the chop....

We have 11 with pink crosses that need to be removed urgently.All are eucalypts. Most of the callistemons, casaurinas, acacias, melaleucas and hakeas need to be heavily pruned back to encourage fresh, new growth. We have a tree lopper coming next week. We should have plenty of wood to keep and lots to mulch.

Looking out the bathroom window this morning I could see this fresh, green growth among the sepia tones.....it's a belladonna lily...so gorgeous.

And I seem to think that our sacred seat will now become the favourite location for future photo opportunities......thanks Jen, I love this photo of us ( oh, actually Don took it didn't he!!!) ...thanks Don !

Gosh I'm really getting the hang of this now....just don't seem to be able to find a particular photo I wanted to put with this one.......I'll keep looking but better press publish before this disappears into cyber space. I'm not very good at finding things once they disappear!

Same but different ...part 2

Bear with me as I post more before and after pics of our rose garden. I have tried to duplicate some views.

 As I blog away here we have the arborist and his recording lady walking the perimeter of the property and evaluating all our trees for recovery or loss. Bill is following him with his notebook and copying down points of interest and importance.

Alongside them is the plumber who has returned to investigate and work on the storm water pipes that take precious water to our dam. It appears as though the heavy machinery that has frequented here over the last few weeks has damaged the underground  pipes. ....not surprising really when we consider the convoys that have been through.

Our gorgeous iceberg rose covered pergola built by Bill and Den. Inspired by a visit to Cruden Farm where there was one in the rose garden.  

You can just see the top of the shed in this one....

 

...but not anymore.

Looking from the gazebo back across the garden...

But sadly no gazebo ....still the garden though....

Bill has just come inside. We have about 11 trees that need to come down urgently and a number that need branches to be pruned. The arborist has said to stop watering deciduous trees and the orchard trees and let them go into sleeping mode ( we weren't watering them anyway). There will be a huge percentage of our natives that will survive  just as we had hoped.  Wonderful!

Same but different

The view tonight.... From same garden bench.
Time to press publish I think.... This is all over the place and I've already lost it in cyber space once!!!!!

A view from our blessed wooden garden bench bought at a garage sale for $5 and which regularly gets blown over in the slightest breeze..... It's refusal to succumb to the ravages of fire will remain a mystery to us.