My internet has been somewhat unreliable over the past few days, hence the lack of posts. I had several ideas but have shelved them for tonight as I would simply like to say to everybody in north Queensland who is in the path of Cyclone Debbie, “Please take care and stay safe. We are thinking of you and praying that you will be safe”.
Today was hot and sunny until about 2pm when the cloud rolled in heralding the approaching storm.
We had a couple of hours of rumbling thunder and some rain but no lightning strikes, hail or wind damage which occurred just slightly to the north and west of us.
Most of the activity had gone and the sky had lightened up just before dusk when I looked out of the kitchen window and caught the most amazing view. I grabbed my camera and captured this shot before the moment was lost.
Here in Australia we have had a long, hot summer. There is no other way of describing it.
National mean temperature above average
Australia’s ninth-warmest February on record
February was a warm month for Australia and the ninth-warmest February on record. The national mean temperature was 0.92°C above the historical average, with the monthly mean maximum temperature 1.43°C above average and the monthly mean minimum temperature 0.41°C above average.
This month was the warmest March on record with a mean temperature anomaly 1.70°C
We live in a relatively high rainfall area and I have written before about the challenges of getting the washing done, and more importantly, getting it dry. I do have a clothes dryer but choose to use it as little as possible. Apart from the power required to run it, the wear and tear on your clothes is significant and can result in substantially shortening their lifespan.
Despite the high humidity and showery weather, I needed to do the washing today. Much like women of previous generations, I spent the day doing the washing. However, I was not slaving over a scrubbing board and copper. I was kept busy trying to make the most of the intermittent breeze and small snatches of sunshine.
I hung some of the smaller items on the airer.
I had to race out and move it under the verandah every time a shower of rain started but I did manage to get it dry.
The rest of the clothes were hung on the line under the verandah.
I also did the ironing from the washing I did last weekend. When the atmosphere is so damp, I do not like to put them away in the cupboard until they are absolutely dry.
I use the portable dehumidifier in the bathroom and close the door. Within a couple of hours the room and the clothes are warm and dry.
I also have a portable rotary clothesline and in the cooler months I hang washing on it and the airer and set them up in the lounge room in front of the fireplace.
There are many options for drying clothes. What are your creative solutions?
Like much of the east coast of Australia the weather has been quite wet here for a couple of days. While the rain is very welcome, it brings its own set of problems. Our heads are in the clouds – literally, the humidity is off the scale and everything is damp to touch.
The condensation of the door of the refrigerator has now created a pool of water on the kitchen floor.
The prospect of going to bed and climbing into a bed where the sheets actually feel damp was not at all appealing. So, I have put the portable dehumidifier in our bedroom for a couple of hours before we go to bed.
It is easy to move around and is really efficient. If you issues with damp rooms or live in an area with high rainfall and humidity I would highly recommend a dehumidifier. We bought this one from Moisturecure in Port Macquarie. We had quite a bit of trouble sourcing one about 8 years ago, however, they are much more readily available now.
Do you have a dehumidifier? Is it worthwhile?
Slippers make an appearance. BRRRR!!
I have safely negotiated the very wet weather here and am home from work.
There are 4 days of no work stretching out in front of me and we have no particular plans. We would like to spend time in the garden but the inclement weather may well put a dampener (so to speak) on that idea. There are, however, plenty of other things that we can work on so I am sure we will not be bored.
I hope you have a relaxing break and don’t eat too much chocolate!
My apologies to all my readers, and especially those of you who are new here but I don’t have any new and exciting content tonight.
As the title says, we are watching and waiting as Severe Tropical Cyclone Marcia inches towards the central Queensland coast. Even though we are about 650km south of where it is expected to cross the coast around 7am tomorrow, we are already feeling the effects of this system. The wind has gradually increased since midday and we have recorded over 90mm of rain in the past 15 hours.
The cyclone has rapidly increased in strength today to be rated as a Category 4 system and is expected to be a Category 5 with winds of up to almost 300km/hour by the time it reaches land. This presents a very real risk to life and property.
This is serious and extremely dangerous. Please do everything you can to stay safe and ensure the safety of others.
Regular posts will return soon.
It is the height of summer here and over the past 4 weeks we have been blessed with warm to hot days (27 – 32C) and intermittent showers and storms. The rainfall has been over 100mm in the last fortnight. Your can almost hear the vegetation growing and everything is green and lush.
Unfortunately, the weeds are loving the weather and thriving as much as the plants that are supposed to be growing.
Since we live on an acreage, we are never going to have a pristine garden but I do prefer not to have it overgrown with weeds so it seems to be a never-ending battle to keep them at bay. The Duke tends to use a combination of whipper-snippering, glyphosate and simply pulling them out. The glyphosate is banned from anywhere near the vegetable garden but unfortunately it has been a necessary evil on other parts of the block.
I recently received some information from my friend, S, over at My Life is A Balancing Act. Although she hasn’t posted this on her blog, I think it is worthy of a mention.
Super Effective Weed Spray – Cost: $2.50 for 4 litres weed spray
It sounds easy and even piqued the interest of The Duke.
Before I rush out and buy a bulk quantity of vinegar I decided to test it out. There is no shortage of places to try.
This is a patch of the weeds in what can best be described as the future garden bed in front of the verandah.
We have planted several hibiscus shrubs that are the beginning of the new plantings and there are some old shrubs which will need to be removed but there is a lot of bare earth which the weeds are really enjoying!
I had 1 litre of white vinegar so made up a 1/4 mix of the recipe and filled a small spray bottle.
I sprayed weeds until I had used up all of my mix so now it is just a matter of waiting. According to S, I should see wilted and dying weeds within 24 – 48 hours.
I will be back on Saturday with an update on this project. If it shows signs of being successful, I will be looking for somewhere that I can buy a bulk quantity of vinegar and also buying a backpack sprayer as S suggested because my hand is exhausted from just spraying a small area of weeds.
After a long summer that seemed it would never end, we finally have autumn in abundance.
The past week has seen the minimum temperatures drop to single digits and our maximums are only in 16-18C range. That is a drop of about 10C from a fortnight ago.
Casserole and vegetables was an enticing option for dinner. I made this in the slow-cooker a couple of days ago.
The feather doona is on the bed and the fresh blue/white cover has been swapped for a patterned plum-coloured one.
organised castle 