It's raining! It's raining!

News of the bushfires:

http://abc.net.au/news/2003/01/item20030113082707_1.htm

Man-o-man!

whoa. i didn't realize it had gotten that bad again.

i will do my utmost best rain-redirecting twirl for you all. we may need to call in piffka and her herbal smudges.

It's surely been a bad season for bushfires. Woke up the other morning with the smell of them in the air.

It's so sad! All the poor little critters!

Last year, I think, the Okeefenokee
Swamp (a wildlife refuge and a nature habitat)
caught fire and so much of it was burned. Every
day we could smell it all the way in northern
Florida. I have been wanting to go there in the
fall/winter for photography purposes, I only
hope that when I get there... there is enough
left to photograph, or maybe it would be great
looking to photograph the devastation left.
It is strange to have the wildfires in the winter.

Babs

There's certainly be enough around Sydney to photograph. The bushfires of Christmas 2001 devastated a great part of the magnificent national park to the south, which was just starting to recover from the previous bushfires in 1994.

The bush needs good rainfall to recuperate, and all 2002 was in drought. There was very little regeneration, as we saw when we went south in early December. Then the bushfires came through again, in some areas. It's all so stark and ghostly, black and twisted, and no sign of life at all. So sad! There must have been a huge loss of wildlife.

Does somebody need some herb smudging? I tried to go to the link but it said they were closed for a few minutes.

Okay, everybody, take off your clothes and.... wait... JUST kidding! :wink:

<digging around into bag of tricks>

All I can think of is to concentrate really hard on Antarctica. That's where the rain will be coming from... that Ross Ice Sheet is melting anyway. Should we try to find that Native American rain dancer again? He did a really good job before.

37C is waaaay too hot - I just can't imagine it. I hope, hope, hope it starts to rain for you soon.

Yes,yes!
We need all the rain-inducing help we can get! All rain dances & twirls, herbal smudges, whatever, much appreciated! Thank you for offering.

(sniff, sniff ... can still smell the smoke from the fires, but thankfully the temperature appears to have dropped a little. I now have all the doors & windows open ... Ah, blessed fresh air! ... now for the predicted rain)

About one minute of heavy rain in Melbourne (my home) this morning. Then it just disappeared! : ... A cool change predicted for this afternoon. In the meantime, iit's;s predicted to be 37 C ... Heat, smoke & wind. What a summer!
The city is covered in smoke (blown in from bushfires in the country areas) & there have been huge fires in the national capital (Canberra) - see link below:

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/19/1042911273067.html

Wow!

Msolga, those are heart breaking articles.

On nimh's Kaliningrad thread, Walter was talking about the flooding in Great Britain and Germany. People dying there becaue of too much water.

Mother Nature can be a real bitch at times.

"Mother Nature can be a real bitch at times."

Yes, Dianne. But maybe more contrary than bitchy? This is really unpredictable stuff.

The good news is that the smoke seems to be starting to clear with the cool(ish) change where I live - some relief for asthmatics & older people, me & my poor bewildered cats ... But it looks like a scorcher in the country areas again tomorrow. As for Canberra - more fires from surrounding areas are possible tomorrow.

IT'S RAINING!!!

Just had to tell you all.
It rained all night here in Melbourne. Still coming down steadily & another 12 or so hours of rain predicted.
Not enough to break the back bone of 12 years of drought, of course, but it looks, feels & smells FANTASTIC!

:


~

When was the last time you had a memorable rain? Maybe it is a gift for the nude peace rally?

BillW

The last time? Hmmmmmmmmmm, not too sure. Probably the day I began this thread. But it didn't last nearly long enough!
Actually, we've had naked women doing rain dance things (& more planned, I think ..) so maybe it's THEIR influence?
Anyway, it feels just wonderful!

Well then, keep on protesting. I'm stilling trying to figure out if it's the peace thing, the rain, the dancing, the protesting, or the nakeness that "feels just wonderful!"

BillW

All of them

:wink:

Still raining!
I hope the country bushfire affected areas are getting their share!