Release... the snuggie

Here it is, the last day of Summer and I'm breaking out the Snuggie. It's a leopard print and I'm not ashamed to use it - in the privacy of my own home, of course.

It's raining and there's more coming, including flood warnings. Nothing I can do about that except watch the wet stuff come down. Queensland is still trying to dry out and the Outback is getting a soaking - that's La Nina for you: wet one day, damp the next.

Still no writing done... yes, okay, I have a new cable channel to watch which has The Walking Dead, Hell on Wheels and Justified; then there's Fringe, Alphas, Sanctuary and Warehouse 13 - so much stuff. And the TBR pile isn't shrinking at all.

I need to prioritise, get organised, carve out some time (somewhere) to curl up in my favourite chair, put some mellow music on, grab some chocolate and a glass o' vino and just... read.

And since it's going to rain this weekend, me and the snuggie are going to get comfortable. All I need do, is pick an author.

Update

Well, Mother Nature did a good job of watering the lawn this week; all 200mm of rain since Tuesday. I don't think the veggies enjoyed though - a little too much of a good thing.

I finally finished the read-through edits of Huntress: Alone and now I have to find time to sit at the computer to do the corrections - including two scene re-writes. With my Census work, various work meetings and other obligations, it will be a close thing for the end of July. I may have to put posting the book back until mid-August. Not good.

Of course, blogging isn't getting the work done!

Weathering the storm

I'm still here, but work takes precedence.

Although with family visits and other stuff, it's a wonder I managed to read through five books in preparation for some indepth edits.

And now, the wind is howling and it's raining sticks and leaves. We're also experiencing brown-outs and the internet connection is dodgy. Rain and wind will cause it, and the wireless connection is also affected.

The next door neighbour is an SES volunteer and he's just raced off, so something's up. In between the raging winds and eerie quiet, the birds flit from one safe haven to the next, protesting all the way. Even the kookaburras sound a little hysterical - and I don't blame them. Watching the eucalypts bend so much is a little disturbing.

I'm guessing the inevitable will happen shortly - a blackout - so I need to check the battery life in the computer, break out the candles for later, fire up the kettle and drag out the camp stove. Ah, winter; gotta love it!

And now, the new

So I've worked like a... well, worked hard today, taking photographs of the damage, breaking furniture down and tossing out stuff.

It's not like Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania or northern NSW, but it's miserable enough. Now, it's the insurance company and getting new carpet. All week, I've seen the carpet cleaner vans pull into driveways and next time - if there is one - I'm calling them.

I could lament the destruction, but I'm not going to: it's an opportunity to buy new things, and who wouldn't want that? Whether the insurance company comes across or not, I am going shopping and I'm rearranging the office. Then I can get back to work.

I miss not sitting at my desk (it's in pieces for easy shifting), my books (stored up high in another room) and the creative process (too busy with the other immediate stuff of child care and visitors).

I am determined to read a book and edit a book by the end of the month. So far, that's looking like a dream. Come... ah... next weekend? I might just have a chance at it. I'm over Summer; the consistent humidity and heat is awful and I want the coolth of Autumn and Winter.

And gee, only another six weeks to go...

Wrecked

I am wrecked. Oterly and tutterly wrecked. I promise never to curl my lip at the men who dig trenches and lean on their shovels ever again. It is hard work.

It looks like we're going to be hammered again with rain on Saturday, similar to that of Sunday, so it was imperative we initiate some flood abatement methods. That meant digging a trench along the driveway and at the back of the house.

Fortunately, my b-i-l is here and assisted with the shovelling of mud and the vacuuming of excess water out of the carpet - and the shifting of furniture. Because of the continued humidity and showers, the carpet is... damp and only dry in parts. With the weather conditions due to deteriorate, it's not going to be completely dry any time soon. Do I even bother given we've decided to replace it? The carpet is robust and has weathered a number of floodings - the underlay, not so much. Who knew when it gets wet, it smells like dead fish?

I broke the bookcase, so that will have to go. It's made of particle board, and when I tried to move it, the top shifted but the bottom didn't. It broke neatly under one of the shelves. This is my first bookcase; one that has moved house with me for more than twenty years. Heavy, unwieldy, it has hosted my favourite reads for two decades. But now... I don't know whether to keep as a truncated bookcase or buy a new one.

The what-not is doomed - also particle board - and the top, glassed in piece is squashing the soaked bottom part. (I don't know what the proper name for it is, but I'm guessing it's usually used for the storage of dining-ware.)

The good news is that only four books perished - some Betty Neels of my mother; I'm hoping I can replace them for her.

I've yet to get to the back storage area... that is going to be ugly because I know I stored stuff in cardboard boxes. It can wait, the outside is more important.

So. I've been kept busy, especially with the kids I'm looking after at the same time. I currently have three under ten, one teenager and four adults - two of whom are unable to help out. All leave tomorrow.

It feels like it should be later than the middle of January; I've been on the go since before Christmas. No writing, no reading, no work at the museum.

My youngest sister is arriving on Saturday with a ute to cart away the wreckage; my oldest sister is coming Friday night to help with the back room and furniture moving. We'll have a couple of kids again, too, for the weekend.

Sigh. I need a day off... Maybe next month.

Water, water everywhere...

I know Queensland is being deluged by buckets of rain and so there's flooding all over the place, but... we got hammered today.

The heavy, tropical rain started at 5.30 am and did not stop until about ten o'clock. Needless to say, the drains in the backyard, and three out on the street didn't cope.

It has temporarily stopped, but we're expecting more. Which is really bad because we've been inundated by water. The carpet is a mess and I've spent some significant time this morning sweeping water out. Since the next couple of days are also going to be rainy, I'm not hopeful of drying stuff out any time soon.

Still, I have no choice but to persevere in mopping up and digging alternative trenches to funnel the water away from the house. Since the drainage problem started with the villas being built next door, I'm returning the water to their system.

I am grateful to my neighbours on the other side who came when I called for help and worked so hard to shift the water and also help with the trenches. John works for the SES so he knew exactly what to do. Yay!

For now, I have to get back to mopping. Oh... joy, it's started to rain again...

Fritzing

Internet is fritzing, and has been for the last ten days. All the rain we've had sinks into the ground and affects the lines - happens every time we get a lot of the wet stuff. In fact, it's so humid we have a misty morning. Noice.

Not so good for my patience and I usually just say 'to hell with it, I'll blog tomorrow'. And that, probably, has something to do with having a Nano hangover.

The creative well has run dry, also on the fritz - for the moment - not a short story or novel idea in my head. I can't even remember three-quarters of the stuff I wrote for Nano; but I no complain. It's there, written down and backed up, waiting for January.

In the meantime, I'm working my way through the TBR pile and out prezzo shopping. And this afternoon, I'm taking the aged parent to HP. Should be good.

Force of Nature

I've finally finished the second edits of Huntress: Sacrifice. I now have about nine days to put in the corrections and do another edit. At the same time, I now have nine days to finish writing the webpage for the local museum before it's supposed to go live. Bah, who needs a weekend?

* * *

Is this cool or what? It's lightning within the Icelandic volcano whose name no-one but an Icelander can pronounce.

I actually hunted around the 'net to find out why volcanoes can generate their own lightning, but the discussions varied from "I dunno" to the idea that the eruptions cause mesocyclones, thus generating the conditions for lightning.

I'm guessing no-one has managed to get close enough to take the readings they need to solve the conundrum.

While a lot of people seem bent out of shape over this (my sister is stuck in Paris... whatever shall she do?) it provides an opportunity for all those clever engineers to create an ash-proof engine. Remember Dante's Peak with that yummy Pierce... ah, the helicopter? Or 1991 when Mt Pinatubo went up in the Philipines? How is it we still don't have a totally weather-proof engine? That aircraft are still so fragile? The peeps who develop an engine unaffected by ash clouds, or smoke, or ducks could probably name their price.

Maybe Virgin Galactic have the right idea and we should leave terrestrial airspace. Just pop up outside the atmosphere and then down again. I have visions of it...

Elemental Elements

I went another round with the weather tonight, and I must ask: why does this happen when I'm feeling, well, second hand?

We've played host to family for the last few days, so it's been late nights and... way too much of the vino.

I didn't wake up with a hangover (yay!), but the tiredness of a very late night lingered. Figured an early night would do me, but that was before the mightiest thunderstorm evah.

How mighty? The noise of wind and rain overwhelmed the sound of thunder - and the falling branch into the front yard. Within ten minutes, the water level out the back rose three inches to lap at the back door.

Tiredness fled under the "Oh, shit!" moment. On with the gumboots and out into the water, icy rain, howling gale and bright strobes of lightning. I'm becoming very handy with the yard broom, sweeping the water around the side of the house and down the driveway for the next half hour.

The street drains were simply overwhelmed by the volume of water; the lone car (a 4WD) crept along the street because it couldn't see far enough through the sheets of rain and falling debris from the trees. Storms arrive fast and ferocious here, but are over relatively quickly.

For the second time this month, we've water damage in the back room, and with this storm, damage from water coming in under the front door.

Tomorrow, I'm putting in some remediation pipes. I'm over the neighbour's excess rainwater gushing into the backyard. Sure, according to my weather records February is the wettest month of the year and we probably won't get such a downfall again until this time next year, but climate changes and I'm not entirely confident in the Bureau of Meteorology: they cancelled the severe thunderstorm warning at 5.30 this afternoon - this torrent came two hours later.

What a way to end the Summer...

'sup?

Finally, the rain has ceased for the time being. This morning dawned sunny, right before a sea mist rolled in, a sure indicator of a hot and humid day.

We've had more than twice the monthly average for rainfall and eight days of the stuff out of nine. Everything has that dampness about it that reminds me of England. I'm just about to get someone from Seattle to send me the t-shirt: In Seattle, you don't tan, you rust. Coz, I'm feelin' ya.

I can categorically say: "I am over Summer." I want the coolth of Winter, the bitey mornings and cheek-nipping breezes. I want the scent of burning leaves and mown grass. I want the sun to rise later and set earlier... okay, it's doing that now, but I want it to be obvious. I guess I'll have to be patient.

Edits are on track for Friday - barring any unforeseen screw ups.

Oh, and as for the Super Bowl I watched. Can you say, Cha-ching-ing-ing! Who dat?

Distractions

I don't know why I bother to monitor weather reports. Today is supposed to be worse than yesterday, storms, gale force wind, heavy rain, hail... yet here I sit looking out an absolutely gorgeous still, but chilly, morning with nary a cloud in the powder-blue sky. sigh Maybe it's going to be a 'Melbourne' day - four seasons in twenty-four hours.

So. I'm editing and researching at the same time: American prisons, muscle anatomy, fire-arms, genetics, Asian culture, time zones... and that's the first thirty-odd pages.

I'm the kind of person who is easily distracted by information. I'll be looking up one thing and bam! an hour later I'm reading stuff that has nothing to do with the original question. The encyclopedia is my best friend, and my worst enemy.

There I am, reading up on relative and subjective time and the next thing, I'm reading stuff on the Woollamai Pine. Or searching for prison locations and I find cool stuff on the forests of Romania. What's up with that?

It's a wide and interesting world. Who knows what I'll find as I research the Amazon rain forests. Art? Mechanics? Politics?

Time to get to it; a deadline awaits.

Wet Stuff

It's been raining. Did I mention that? Raining. A lot.

We usually get maybe... 60mm (average) during a normal October, much less during El Nino. (Aussies take note of La Nina/El Nino because rain is not an ongoing event here. We might get weeks without a drop, then a light drizzle, then weeks without a drop.

When the road guttering went in, the nice engineer put in two drains out the front of our house because we suffer from down flow flooding. That is, when they built the houses beside and behind us, the idiots diverted the natural drainage channel from the street behind the construction site straight through our back yard!

Cue the year we had well over 120 mm of rain in two hours. Cue major flood incident through the house.

Anyway. Rain. New drains. Not working! Sure, we've had just under 100mm since Saturday. See? It's been raining. Today, it bucketed; as in I decided to go downstairs and check the drains. Out the back, the household drain had stopped emptying. A right little heart starter, because there's only me. During the Great Flood, I had family here to help.

Fortunately, the teeming skies eased and the broad yard broom is a wonderful thing for sweeping water around the side of the house. Once I was happy with the draining water, I went into the street.

And lo, both drains were overflowing. No suction there, nup, nuh uh, zip. Water rushed by the drains and continued down the street.

So, since the household drain wasn't functioning too well, it meant only one thing: flooding in the back room. Yuh huh. Not too much, but wet just the same.

I've been busy cleaning up. It's amazing how much energy being pissed off provides.

And, oh, look, more heavy, dark clouds, ready to squat over the house and dump their load.

Now I know how an ant feels when an elephant lifts its tail above them...

Up, down and posted

So Thursday, the temp peaks at about 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). Today, the temp didn't rise above 12 C (or 53 F). I think the buckets of rain contributed...

A good day to settle down, curl up and watch the Dr Who Season Four marathon on UK TV. Cor... that David Tennant's a hottie!

Anyway, I've worked hard this week to get the book done but it's now posted with all the other works (okay, five other pieces).

I now have a month to get the third book done before Nano, but I think I'll take a couple of days off first. If I can. I've already got a prologue in mind - I think I'll just go write it down, then a have a day off...

Flash, crack, boom

Howling storm last evening, and I'm not a fan of them. It isn't the noise, or the crackling of the air, I just don't like 'em.

There I am, in the middle of editing - and having a right time of it too - and I can hear the rumbling come ever closer. When I looked out the window, one, then a second jagged bolt of white light streaked down.

I didn't want to shut down the computer, but, you know... lightning strike, fried circuits, destroyed work.

So I took myself upstairs, made myself some coffee and leaned against the door to the balcony to watch. Sure as eggs, flash, crack, boom, a streak of pure white hit the house across the street.

I think it took out their electricity, because when one of lads got home, he couldn't get the electronic garage door to open.

We don't usually get storms coming right over the house - the last one was some years ago and hit the house next door; saw that, too. Fried everything in the neighbour's house.

Saxon, mah faithful hound, was near havin' a panic attack. She stuck right by my leg; where I went, she followed and touched. I could feel her tremble and shudder. She didn't settle down for hours.

I think there was another strike on one of the boats in the harbour. It was close by, I know that.

The result is that I backed everything up.

Mother Nature can be pissy and the randomness of lightning strikes means if I hear a storm coming, everything goes onto thumb drives then electrical devices are turned off and unplugged. It doesn't take much, but if the worst happens, I won't lose my work, nor any other device I absolutely need - like the coffee machine (that's essential).

So. Go and back up your work. Right. Now. While you remember.

Let's try this...

I've been a little distracted this week. So distracted, I've had to re-write one scene five times and it still doesn't seem right.

Technical reasons, continuity reasons, cliche reasons, men-in-black reasons and just plain dumb-ass reasons. My characters are getting a little tired of trying different routes to get to the end point. I don't blame them, they want to wrap everything up and live happily ever after. Me, I gotta torture them one last time to reach the word count and the ending.

I need to crack the fundamental barrier to my two protagonists getting together. And it's not so easy when the scene that brings them together is, well, sucky. Maybe the sixth re-write will be the one...

* * *

On the subject of the Victorian fires, the people of Australia have raised more than $AUS 75 million. It's an incredible total and I hope the money not only goes to those who need it, but towards paying for the burn-offs of bush debris during the Winter so this doesn't happen again. (But that's a button I really don't want to push at the moment, except to say that burn-offs aren't "a threat to bio-diversity".)

Okay, back to work...

National mourning

As you can imagine, we're all in shock here in the Land of Aus. We have fires across four states, with the weather about to deteriorate again, and sixty percent of Queensland is flooded, with more rain on the way. The lower half of Australia is praying for rain to douse the fires; the northern part praying for sunshine to dry them out.

That's what this country is about - extremes; but this has been more extreme than we've had in decades, nay, ever.

At this stage, 126 have perished with over 750 houses lost. The death toll is expected to rise as rescue operations reach areas currently too dangerous to enter.

It wasn't as if people were unprepared; they were. It was the fire moved so fast. As one survivor said: "I could see the smoke a couple of kilometres away; then I got to my car and I could see flames."

The media have stopped mentioning the more awful of stories. Censored stories like the couple who could hear screaming up the street but could do nothing but save themselves. The survivors who drove past cars on fire with the knowledge of people trapped inside. Of blast furnace conditions that evaporated water before it hit the ground. Of the firefighter, trying to save homes and then discovering he'd lost his own home... and family. Of the couple who put all their valuables in the shed, knowing they would lose the house only to return to a safe house, but destroyed shed. The journalist who was on the phone to his wife as all around her burned, of the shock and tears in his voice as he described her screaming and hearing an appalling rushing noise. She survived where most did not. And of a beloved newsreader and his wife who perished in their home. The horror and grief is unimaginable.

There are so many tales of survival, of tragedy and loss. And it's not over. There are still more fires burning in Victoria, in South Australia, in Western Australia and here, in New South Wales.

I can smell the scent of wet, charred wood from the fire a couple of hundred kilometres to the south of here. But it's been raining along my part of the coast, dampening everything down. I feel a bit guilty complaining about the heat when it could have been much worse, and was devastating in Victoria.

Most citizens are pitching in to help, be it with skills, equipment or donations. People are coming together to assist those who have lost so much; the mobilisation of army units, the Red Cross and Salvation Army and ordinary people being there for the victims.

When it's all over, the houses and towns will be rebuilt. The bush will regenerate. But the tragedy will remain with us always.

Firestorm

We consider Australia the 'lucky country'. Where you can do or be anything, if you work hard enough. Sure, it's a land of extreme. During Spring, for example, you can snow ski in the morning and be swimming in the sea in the afternoon. The weather can be perfect or atrocious. Bucketing with rain - as it still is in northern Queensland, or brutally hot, like yesterday in Victoria where in some areas, the temperature rose to 47 degrees Celsius or 116 Fahrenheit.

With those hot temperatures and 100kmh winds, the inevitable happened: bushfires.

North and north-east of Melbourne, the landscape is dotted with beautiful valleys and hills - and townships. As of now, twenty-five people are dead and more than a hundred homes destroyed. The death toll is expected to rise as authorities search through ash and ruins.

Tales of remarkable bravery and escape are all over the media, as is the unspeakable tragedy of people in cars over-run by flames.

Even as I watched the events unfold on the news, the cameraman caught sight of a small fire tornado. Witnesses speak of forty metre tall walls of fire, of homes destroyed in minutes and fire fighters saying that no matter how well prepared, the magnitude of the fire couldn't be prepared for.

One news story about the devastated town of Kingslake:

Kinglake, north of Melbourne, has been among the hardest hit in the Victorian bushfire emergency with six people in the township confirmed dead.

Resident Peter Mitchell told ABC Local Radio the town was at the mercy of fires which swept through it after a wind direction change.

Mr Mitchell said there was no-one to fight the fire because fire crews were already fighting other fires across the state.

He was forced to leave his home to shelter at the local fire station.

"The whole of Kinglake is ablaze, I live a couple of [kilometres] out of town, I heard explosions, by the time I got to the road there were fires everywhere," he said.

"[There is] flame everywhere, trees exploding, gas tanks exploding, buildings on fire, it's very, very, very serious.

"I can't quite see down into the main stretch of town, but there's a lot of flame coming up from there, so I presume most of the town is going up.

"It's worst-case, it's like Cockatoo back at Ash Wednesday."

Mr Mitchell said he feared for the safety of other Kinglake residents.

"We'll be fine, there'll be others trapped, poor souls I don't know."

Denise was heading home from her mother-in-law's house just outside Kinglake when she was forced to turn back as fires bore down on the town.

She was spared, but others were not so lucky. "The whole town is gone," she said.

She said her mother-in-law's house was surrounded by flames. "Everything around us is burning.

"Trees are burning, things are blowing up, there are a lot of houses burnt to the ground. A lot of houses ... It's pretty devastating actually." ABC News

And the headlines go on. I'd like to say I can't imagine what's it like for them in Victoria, but I can. I was in Canberra, 2005, the day a fire took 500 houses in the southern suburbs. My own village lost a dozen houses in 2003. I watched the trunk of a tree in front of our house smoulder with a spot fire before a sibling doused it...

Bushfires are a part of this land, even devastating fires. But the tragedy in Victoria is appalling.

Today, the heat continues in my State of New South Wales and living on the coast is no guarantee of safety. We're as prepared as we can be, though no fires threaten our area - it doesn't stop some asshole from thinking how nice the flames look...

Bitey

Bitey weather here today; normally, the temps in the low to mid- teens (Celsius), but today, it barely reached nine degrees. Oh, and the rain. Not a lot, but constant. Overall, one might say a miserable day; not me. As Billy Connelly says 'it's not miserable weather, just different.'

So I fired up the laptop and then left it alone to watch War of the Worlds, yes, Tom Cruises version (he plays a shocked - if initially cowardly - survivor really well, followed by one of my favs, Mr & Mrs Smith. It has all I need: Explosions, sex and misunderstandings.

The delivery man also turned up so I have Tanya Huff's Valor's Trial, the hardback, two weeks early from Amazon and so I don't have to wait a year for the paperback. Whoo-hoo!

The bitter weather is set to continue, but there's nothing like curling up in front of the heater with a good book... except curling up in front of the heater working; yeah, I'll send out the last two tomorrow.

We've also had a change in the wildlife cavorting around the backyard. The blue tongues are hiding, probably because it's cold and they're cold blooded, but I did notice some new, small diggings. I figured it was another rabbit (last year's died under one of the camellias), but... it's not. The droppings are different.

According to my Park Ranger brother, it's a Bandicoot! I don't know what type because they're nocturnal. I shan't be hunting for it either; I like indigenous species living in the backyard. Rabbits are feral.

So... work... or book? Work... or book? No contest really...

Summer? What Summer?

Now, you see? It's Summer. SUM-MER! So why is it 14 degrees Celsius and bucketing with rain?

I don't mind the cold temperatures - I'm a winter baby, after all - but I do mind having my work interrupted by the backyard flooding - twice! The current rainfall pattern is an inch an hour this morning, and on top of the rain we've had in the last week, it's no longer soaking in.

I've been out in mah wellies redirecting the flow of water, using a broom to sweep it down the driveway and hoping the new drains can cope. It's guarranteed the previous, single, inadequate drain would not have coped at all and the bottom level would be awash.

It's making me paranoid and I cannot work with one ear listening to the heavy rain, wondering if I should just check downstairs.

Ah, well, there's always tomorrow. Oh, look, the rain's heavier, time to go.

Rain, rain, rain

Wow. When La Nina wants to play, she really plays!

Yesterday it bucketed with rain, as in 156mm worth, or six inches. Me? I was stuck in traffic. A twenty minute drive - in dry weather - took ninety and as I'm crawling along the highway, I watched the under-road drains be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of water, the frantic pulse of the windshield wipers try to keep visibility and listened to the local DJs tell everyone that it was raining, there was flooding and to stay at home.

Local farm dams overflowed, water washed across the roads, streets and parks flooded and... cars inevitably broke down. It was a amazing and I regretted not taking the camera with me. I was, after all, heading into town to get the car fixed. One of the brake cylinders is leaking - not much, but enough to fail the registration check.

It's been a good coupla decades since this type of weather has descended and it was fun, rather than scary. Though, once in town and watching the rain, unease crept in. For nearly an hour, I kept an eye on the rain. If it was like this at home, de house, she be flooding and my elderly parent would not be able to cope. My neighbour is a part of the local emergency services, but he, like so many others, was out rescuing and sandbagging. He wasn't home.

So, I went back to the mechanics - because I was late, they worked on another car - got the keys, made another appointment and headed home.

The rain eased off and by the time I got back to the Bay, had all but stopped. When I checked there was only fifteen millimetres in the rain gauge. No wrath of La Nina.

Today is sparkly. The sun is shining, the sky is painfully blue and the roads are dry. Gotta love a country of extremes. As the New Zealanders say, "There's no bad weather, only bad clothing."

Still, I got plenty of work done. Cut six thousand words with more to follow, so I'm on track for 120k. All it took was reducing a character to a bit player.