The aftermath

Song of the day: “Haven’t met you yet” by Michael Bublé. Don’t know where that one came from today, but there you have it.

Yesterday started early after a bad night for me. I hadn’t gotten much sleep due to feverish dreams that constantly made me wake up and then the alarm went off and it was time to start damage control.

After a much needed toddy to start me off, I headed out into the black expanse of ashes to see how far it had gone, most of the mountain beside us, according to the local paper about 4000 square meters, all the way ‘round the corner of. Looking bad from the edge, it felt a bit like I was standing at the end of a wasteland. Hah.

But anyway, that seen (I always want to see such things for myself) I headed up to our stretch of burned land and counted fifteen eucalypti trees that are most likely dead There might be a few more, but since eucalypti are known for getting back with a vengeance even after the worst happens, we might get lucky after all. But whatever, I checked our nursery and found sixteen eucalypti still alive in pots, so as soon as the rainy season starts, we can head up there and replace those that suffered too much damage.

That done we attempted to continue laying tiles in grandpa’s little courtyard, which didn’t go all that well, considering we were terribly distracted by the six or so fire marshals that started to gather at the top of our property to do a proper investigation.

First there was the intense little guy. He was cumbrously shaped, had on black army trousers with a khaki shirt. A black backpack and black horn rimmed glasses under a black or dark green baseball cap. I thought him a little scary, actually. For some peculiar reason he reminded me of an aggressive Adrian Monk in the TV show “Monk”. Luckily he didn’t come over, but started to walk the perimeter, stopping every so often to examine the ground all-suspicious like.

Four other guys joined him, one with some sort of Geiger meter (at least that’s what it looked like) and another with a camera. They all went over the blackened area, and then ended up at where the first fire marshal from the day before figured it had started.

He stood there, examining the site, eying the ground, the scorched trees, and then started to quietly talk with his colleagues, gesturing the way the wind had blown, and how he saw the fire had gone from low to high really fast, etc. etc.

They were there for about to hours, on all fours, scouring the ground for clues with little bags and red flags which they set out to photograph…I think it was the path of the fire, or something. Then they talked some more, getting out of the way when mom an little brother left for the dentist, and then tenant and caregiver who went to a small library in town prior to going out for coffee.

Finally, without a word to us, the fire marshals departed, leaving big brother, grandpa and me home alone to finish up what we could of the tiling and cutting, before we went down into the yard.

There were tomato plants to check for larvae, broccoli, cauliflower, kale and red cabbage to plant, and other plants to water. It was all rather relaxing after the depressing excitement of the morning.

The sun was shining, the wind cool, and despite the persistent smell of smoke still in the air, I really enjoyed it…regardless of the fact that I was about ready to drop dead at around the three in the afternoon, and had no choice but to head up to my cabin for a nap of an hour or so.

Did sleep rather well, and when I woke I was more than ready to cook supper. Supper eaten, big brother and I worked on the lean-to greenhouse some more, getting it done enough that we only need to ad glass and the finishing slats.

Afterwards there was an editing session, which didn’t go well at all, because well, let’s face it, big brother and I were both wired from the long day, the stress of the day before, and the lack of sleep. We got into several fierce discussions about sentence structure, so we decided to call it a day.

As for today: It started off with repairing the trailer for mom and the sibs, which’s mudguards were almost falling off. Of course, to do so, I had to unload the darn thing, which was no easy task in my present state (am in that stage of feeling remarkably weak). But I succeeded, and big brother was almost done fixing the front bar of the trailer, so all in all it was a successful morning.

Next, grandpa and I spent about an hour sawing slats for the lean-to greenhouse, at which time I needed another nap. That didn’t work. First I woke up coughing, and then just when I was about to fall back to sleep, mom phoned to ask something about the pie she and little sister are making together (little sister’s birthday is tomorrow), at which point I gave up and headed down to see how far tenant was cutting the day’s veggies for supper.

As usual, my dogs love a nap, and today, they even went as far as not even getting up when I rolled out of bed and headed out. Lazy eejits. If they sleep sixteen hours a day, I wouldn't be surprised.

Cooked supper, devoured it with more appetite than the last coupe of days, but also less than usual, and then headed up for a quick shower and the blog. Gotta go out to town tonight yet, and I was rank after working in the full sun this morning…not to mention smudged with black soot and whatnot.

Now, with a little luck, we’ll manage a spot of editing before the end of the day, and then I can drop back into bed and pass out. That’ll be a relief for sure. Hah.