Rain, Rain Go Away!

 

Eric shot this beautiful photo of the full moon rising above the ridge from our front verandah. All the wind and rain has dealt a terrible blow to so many Victorians and we feel particularly sorry for the Echuca Community.  They were still awaiting the peak as I typed this, 10 days after the rain began. We were so keen to purchase there, and now feel we've dodged a bullet. We're hoping the news is good after all the effort to create the sandbags and levee but how do you keep positive if you are on the wrong side of the wall? We registered 70mls in the rain gauge here over the 3 big days and it continues..... 

The only damage we found at Kate's place was the material of the cover over the second vehicle in the carport has given way after what looks like many years of good service. It revealed a gold car with club registration and on further investigation its a 1967 Ford Cortina Mark1. We'll have to ask Kate more about it when we next chat, but in the meantime we purchased a new cover the next trip to town. 

Very little of interest on the property market again but we have had a note from one agent who thinks she has one that will suit us. Its in an area we like and we are interested, but she can't tell us anymore yet, so we wait......  All the rain and heightened water levels gives us good information about where in town we don't want to purchase, although there doesn't appear to be any flooded properties to date. Can't say the same for Apex Park on the banks of the Ovens River. Amongst the play equipment is a Yogi Bear and he has become known as the local floodwater indicator. In recent events he has had a life jacket and even goggles and snorkel attached in readiness. Meanwhile, Eric was been riding solo on the local roads while my knee recovers. It was slushy initially but then we had some beautiful days of sunshine to dry them up. 

My brother Col and Beth stayed with us on Monday night. They had been in Sydney manning a booth at the MindBodySpirit Festival over the weekend. Both looked very tired when they emerged from the car but one of Eric's home-cooked meals and my chocolate cake around a cozy fire helped them relax. There's nothing nicer than waking to a sunny morning with bush on all sides and birdsong all you can hear; all quite a contrast to the buzzing streetscape of Darling Harbour. We drove in to Wangaratta for an early lunch then they set off for home. It was lovely to see them and share the pleasures of Kate's place.

As the week unfolded I was able to get back on my bike and have managed a few rides that avoid the steepest climbs. Eric got a little over-adventurous midweek and tried riding through water that crossed the road. All good the first time so he repeated it, only to dip the front tyre into a concealed pothole which sent him over the handlebars again. No broken wrist this time thankfully; a much softer landing in the mud and water than last year's effort onto the nature strip. 

Kate's patch of broad beans got smashed in the heavy rains so I have supported them and discovered there is a second vacant bed, hidden behind weeds, just waiting to be planted out. Even though we probably wont be here long enough to reap the benefits, I couldn't help myself. I planted some vegies into pots as well, so now we have a mobile patch to take with us. Everything has to be well fenced here to protect them from the wallabies and eastern grey kangaroos. While it is so green everywhere they rarely venture into the garden, but as it dries out in the coming months I'm sure they'll be looking for tender young shoots on the peas and silver beet. Meanwhile we are enjoying young broad beans, the ones without the grey inner pod. We're still regularly seeing echidnas and birds to add to our growing list of locals. They'll help keep the ants and insects at bay.

On the weekend we took a drive out through the beautiful and very lush King Valley, ending up in Whitfield. The blue hills were draped in clouds and all the waterways were full. We ventured up to Powers Lookout but the higher we climbed the mistier it became so we decided to leave that to a sunnier time of the year. We drove by farms growing walnuts, hops and berries as well as cherry orchards and vineyards. On the return journey we dropped into the King Valley Brewery for a taster. Clover the dog definitely enjoy the car trip.

Play rehearsal was so bad last week that I was having doubts about it ever seeing the light of day. I don't think I was the only one. Thankfully this week it seemed to run more smoothly and next week the script should be finalised, which can only help. During the week I took to the cat puppet to make it less cute and more on the feral side. It now has a grubby tummy, nasty scar across its face and only one eye! It was too wet down at the Mullinmur Billabong where the play will be presented so rehearsal was held at Ian's place in Crisp St where we house-sat when we first arrived. It was good to see Eric (the dog) again. Returning home we invited Catherine and Harrie over for drinks, they now own most of Kate's original property and live in the first house she had built here. 

We checked out Benalla this week after the river level had receded. Sandbags were still evident at a number of shopfronts in the main street. It rained again while we had coffee and everyone was talking about it with a sense of dread. They are sick of it! We took Clover  with us and everywhere we stopped people wanted to pat her, she's a chick magnet but the chicks tend to be of retirement age. Apparently Whippets are particularly popular; dogs aren't usually welcome in shops but the manager of the clothing store invited her in as she owns one as well. The owner of the coffee shop wants one when she retires. I have to say she has a lovely nature and sleeps most of the time so very

easy to care for. 

On the way home we returned to the Winton Wetlands to check out the water level. Its phenomenal how much has collected there in recent weeks.  I tried to take a photo from the same position as last visit to contrast the levels but it is actually not very telling.  You can see better a little better in the bottom image. Where the water is lying was dry last visit. 

The rain just kept on keeping on and I needed something other than baking and knitting to keep occupied, so I decided to mend some small holes in the flyscreen of Kate's home. I hope she likes them. So much rain following the sunshine meant the grass has grown vigorously. Eric tried to start the big ride-on mower between showers but without success. Harrie had a look at it too and couldn't offer any suggestions, so later in the week we had to get the mower people from Benalla to take it away for repairs.

I didn't think I would ever get to say this but my picture features on page 3 of the newspaper this week! 'How could that be?' I hear you asking,  but maybe its not what you're thinking. The Wangaratta Chronicle features the picture I drew for the 'One More Mile' community engagement project associated with the Festival of Jazz and Blues which takes place this weekend. And my picture is not so much a feature of the image but just manages to scrape into the bottom margin, I definitely recognise the brolga silhouette in front of the setting sun. It was being displayed on the windows of the office of Helen Haines MHR, Indi. Eric's picture is on display on in the windows of the Council Offices. The installer is David Godkin, one of the other puppeteers.