On the way to a century

"If you can keep your wits about you while all others are losing theirs, and blaming you. The world will be yours and everything in it, what's more, you'll be a man, my son."

Rudyard Kipling

25 years ago yesterday Kym was watching the cricket on the telly at Woden Valley Hospital waiting for something amazing to happen when all of sudden she produced Mitchell. He's been a blessing and a joy ever since. Cricket has definitely changed (thanks Cricket Australia for alienating the public!), but Mitch keeps ticking along and making us proud. Good one, Moo...

Put the cricket back on

Mitch, Chelsea and Fur Baby Ella

Quick - call security

"Bears find themselves at the spot where two deep-seated but contradictory human impulses collide: the desire to feel protected from unforeseeable danger and the longing for unspoiled nature."

Bernd Brunner

When Oskar came into our lives we started looking around for a companion for him. Yep, arranged marriages aren't dead in some cultures. So we happened on a badly treated girl called "chocolate". She was chained up in a dustbowl, fed only occasionally and most probably beaten. To say she has had some issues would be an understatement.

But - and she definitely has a big butt - the newly named "Jess" was desperate to fit in to a family role and so she crafted the following personality:

1. Must love soft toys
2. Must bark furiously whenever anything changes (e.g. walk out of the room and come back in with a hat on - Jess will take it upon herself to remind you not to do that)
3. Encourage everyone to scratch butt by sidling up backwards into person and looking up in a pleading way.
4. Eat everything available and more if possible.
5. Be very very affectionate once you're part of the pack.

This created persona has served her very well over the years, and only just lately have the brittle cracks appeared. A few months ago she started to wake up regularly in a barking panic - due we think to her failing eyesight and hearing creating a feeling of unease when she was startled out of a doze. So off to the vet for some Diazepam and once we got the dosage right we got our much beloved Jess back.

We continue to have a few issues when she is out and about. The theory is that despite the fact that she looks like a "fur covered poo", in the dog world she seems to be some kind of supermodel, and all the other dogs want desperately to, er, covet her.

She is not into this adoration and in times past would often swim out to sea to avoid contact. Now that she is a little more land bound she can get a little too aggressive with these potential suitors. So we don't tend to walk her as often (which is fine as her knees and hips are ageing), and we often schedule outings to coincide with quiet times for her sanity.

We think we should maybe have named her "Security", although "Jess" has been a great recovery from her past ("Jessica" if she is either in trouble or has done something wonderful) and her name and personality continue to serve her well as her literal and figurative twilight approaches.

She's our big bear - long may she reign.

The soft focus is a blessing

Dis quiet Australia

"Geography is just physics slowed down, with a couple of trees stuck in it."

Terry Pratchett

We have been reassured this week that all the quiet Australians are OK with the country aflame due to unprecedented fire conditions. Now repeat after us - "Not Climate Change, Not Climate Change, Not Climate Change, ..."  Well, it certainly beats having to whip up a long range policy to deal with any kind of awkwardly complicated change. Denial and therefore deniability - worth a shot if you're a bit thick when it comes to the tricky details.

Meanwhile in Tasmania we have more snow on the mountains! The spring weather throws water and then sunshine at us in equal amounts and if you don't like the weather just wait about 30 minutes. Here is the valley in all of it's glory last night - just wow.

OMG

Shabby old guy

"Now you are finally with me, you are safe now. Don't be afraid of anything. You don't have to worry anymore."

Oskar Schindler

In 2008 after returning from our English adventure we quickly wanted to stock up on animals to surround ourselves with after a drought of two years, because any other way of living just sounds like existing.

We contacted the local vet expressing our interest in any strays, left-behinds, conked out has-beens etc., and settled back to enjoy a few weeks or months of speculation as to what might cross our path.

All of two days later the vet called to say a stray mutt had been found in a highly disheveled state on the streets. He'd clearly been abandoned for awhile, had a few health issues and a fragile mental state. Oh, and he was really cute!

So adorable was this mongrel (later identified as a New Zealand Huntaway) that the ranger had taken him home instead of following procedure and housing him at the pound. He'd also brought him to our vet to treat the various internal and external ailments that such a creature gathers when fending for themselves.

We sent the hard-hearted Anthony out on reconnaissance and straight away we took delivery of our little man "Oskar" (named after Oskar Schindler). Anthony returned with a stern "He's on a 24 hour trial" to which Kym rolled her eyes in a very familiar fashion. Oskar has been with us ever since - in four different houses across two states - providing us with much needed love, comfort and canine wisdom.

Tiny Man

Early on we had to work on his peculiarities born of trauma - the first of which was an over familiarity with a certain large furry toy rabbit (exit to the bin one overused and exhausted bunny). He initially could only poo when moving on the lead and was prone to leaving a comical trail of nuggets on every walk. On the path to his version of normality he then took to delicately carrying his own (full) poo bag all the way home from walks. Initially he couldn't walk past a storm drain and had to be carried (perhaps an indication of the mode of abandonment?). Amazingly for anyone who knows him now, he didn't speak for many years. Even when whacked by a cricket ball hit by an enthusiastic child he couldn't summon a verbal complaint or whimper. He seemed mute and immutable.

He was ever reliable for a laugh with his antics (or just tics) and he became and still is an important part of the fabric of our lives.

The original bucket head sans guitar

He doesn't have that many tricks left, but his current schtick is to request politely and very calmly to exit the house - then race around in tight circles yipping crazily at his tail - very amusing Oskar.

He is now over 11 years old, very hard of hearing, very slow to move around and get out of bed. He has old man lumps on his body, smells a bit as his mouth hygiene deteriorates, has comically large tufts of fur emerging from parts unknown, and is still loved to bits by anyone who is lucky enough to cross his path.

And still cute.

Oskar

Stop the world

"There may be a great fire in our hearts, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke."

Vincent Van Gogh

Exactly nine months ago we blogged about the terrible fires in our neighbourhood. It was a shocking summer, very stressful and quite a wake up call across this state in respect of the resources available to fight a conflagration not too dissimilar to the tragic 1967 fires. The report on the summer fires makes sobering reading - interesting that little if any of the recommendations have been enacted. The phrase "climate change" or variations on this theme occur a number of times in the report, and we have paragraphs such as:

The summer of 2018-19 was Tasmania’s second-warmest on record, with the mean temperature 1.60 °C above average; and only slightly cooler than the record summer of 2015-16. A feature of the summer was persistently warm days, especially during December and January and few especially cool days.

Lately we have been seeing ferocious early season fires elsewhere as well, in Queensland, NSW and Victoria (and further afield in California and Brasil) and wondering if we are now in the new normal. Although scientists in the field confirm the link to climate change - our Prime Minimal and his spineless team seem unlikely to waver in their view that the best policy approach to large complicated issues including existential threats consist of lack of policy.

Yelling incoherently via 140 character rants seems to have replaced informed debate and our flagship western "democracies" across the globe are mired in dysfunction of their own making - anyone seen a bi-partisan bill passed lately?

So this week we were a little alarmed to see significant fires (230 hectares burnt out so far) within 10km of our property so soon this year!

Oh great.

What is that going to mean for this region when summer officially starts in one month? We shudder to think - but do take care and keep an eye on the relevant sites in your area. Last year we had an octogenerian friend of ours who had absolutely no idea that an out of control fire was within 4km of their suburban home. Oblivious and with no support or plan for the worst. Even a "have you packed a bag" was met with confusion.

In other matters confusing - we are transitioning from a semi-orderly gardening season to a complete shambles in order to enact a 3 year old plan to shift our garden 10m in an Easterly direction (to be closer to the morning sun?). This means that our normal schedule of whacking weeds etc has fallen by the wayside. But every cloud has a silver lining and our darling egg factory workers (Factory Workers?) have been out in force with their own brand of crazy gardening amongst the forest of weeds. Well done ladies and gent - stage one of garden madness well and truly underway.

Something to look for in future pictures is the lack of hoops over the orchard seen in the video below - today whilst pruning, watering and feeding the fruit trees we plucked them all out! Watch this space.