Ms Fifikins

We moved up north 5 years ago.  Actually it has been 5 years and 3 weeks now. Not that I’m counting!

This wet season has been particularly wet. Over 12 inches of rain so far this February. The roads south are cut and supermarkets have either brought supplies in by barge or plane. Supermarket shelves are still pretty bare. It would appear the milk from dairy famers in this area goes south before coming up here again. It shouldn’t surprise me as it is usually cheaper to buy oranges from North and South America than local ones.

We even had our intertubes cut off this week. We have only one cable coming up here and it was flushed away. Can anyone spell monopoly? Apparently they were able to divert until they can fix the cable, or find it or something, but still…

But instead of googling ark plans (how big is a cubit after all?) and working out if I could put a generator in with a server and satellite intertube access…

When we moved here I had high hopes of growing my own bananas. Must do that. But Bunnings doesn’t sell banana plants. I have got coffee and japoticaba growing though…When I moved into this house 3 years ago I also thought it would be cool to put a fish pond in. That is in the pipeline…

One of my preparations for the fish pond has been toad eradication. We are humane… MIML™ and I have it down to a fine art. He comes over in the evenings. He has one plastic bag. I have another. We both have torches. We spot the buggers, I catch them with one bag, we make sure they are toads and then they go into MIML™s bag. Again we place them in a rather large vase and again confirm they are toads before bagging them again and placing them in the deep freeze. It is the most humane way to kill them. They then go out with the rubbish on Fridays.

So far this year we have frozen 57 of the buggers. And also seen more frogs in the yard. With this rain and soft ground, and the fact that the old septic has caved in, we are planning on putting in a frog pond next weekend. Watch this space!

Oh and for those wondering… Here are some snaps…

Toading in the rain!

A rather large one! All hail the hypnotoad!

It is ironic though. We are cut off from the world by floods. Melbourne has had its hottest day ever (46º!) and they are battling bushfires. And we can’t even beat New Zealand in the cricket…

I don’t think Gershwin ever visited Cairns in the summertime! Jasper made a comment yesterday about our ‘Hot Summer and our Cold Summer’ in Cairns. When I quizzed him further he said that we have our hot summer in summer and our cold summer in winter. Maybe he is right. Some people say that you put up with the 4 months of wet for the other 8 months of the year.

I actually love the wet. I planned on going to bed half an hour ago, but then the heavens opened and the music of a tropical downpour commenced. Having a tin roof helps, but the rain through the leaves and puddles of water having more water spraying into them really adds to the symphony. We even got a bit of thunder tonight.

I tried to snap some shots, but I think the darkness won. Here goes anyway:

The view from the deck

The other end of the deck. At least the flash hides the mould on the white posts!

Under the deck the drains have overflowed and there is muck everywhere.

Water, water everywhere…

Aprés moi…

Don’t ask why the chair is in the garden bed. I think the mower man put it there. The back yard is pretty much under water at this end. Front yard will be too, but there is no light out there to see. The council put out a map last year of the safe places to be in case of tsunmi. We are one street back from safety. Hope the same map applies to flood waters.

I was thinking last night that I haven’t got my cyclone kit prepared yet for the year. Need to get some batteries, find the transistor, get a new torch, stock up on bottled water and baked beans. Oh and have an extra bottle of gin in there!