SKY WATCH FRIDAY

We had bushfires on the eastern edges of our village in October,2004 that threatened homes before thankfully being brought under control by the wonderful volunteers of the Rural Fire Service and a couple of helicopters carrying those big 'buckets' of water. The sun & the light cast through the smoke were very eery.


If you waft over to the SkyWatch home page, you'll find a gorgeous photo & poem, & links to a host of other SkyWatch Friday posts.

SUNDAY ON THE BEACH WITH ........

......George, his dog, & others....



.....plus a watch washed up on the beach, stopped at 12.05....what happened at 12.05 I wonder?

The photo above is not a recent one...it comes from 30th June,2005, when we had an amazing rain event at Caba. However, it is a fairly accurate depiction of last Friday night, when we had 97mm of rain in about 45 minutes. It was very very scary as our street once more filled to overflowing, yet drivers still tried to find a way through. Because I live near a corner,and because maybe someone had to do it, I went out with my torch and attempted to warn any drivers reckless enough to attempt it.

It is still raining here....and I can't believe how ungrateful I sound in saying that we've had enough.There are many more areas in our wide, brown land that are far more needy.

Wild Weather

Jamaica and Mexico are having Hurricane Dean pass through, but this nameless intense low pressure system is causing havoc on the NSW north coast. Gale force winds and heavy rain have made it a good day to be inside!This is the view out my front window, as the palms copped a battering.The seas are pretty huge apparently, but I haven't ventured out.However, you can easily hear the roaring of the ocean above the wind.

RAIN!

I was going to run out and take a photo of my rain guage, but it's such a cold and wet day, I'm not dashing out there with my camera. But I can tell you we had 68mm in the last 24 hours! FANTASTIC!!

But, do not be alarmed! The pictures I've posted are from an amazing day in June, 2005, when Caba received over 300mm in about 12 hours. It was pretty scary for a while ( that's my front yard ) and the water was lapping at the barracade I'd built across the garage entrance. But then we cleared the drains up and down the street, and the water was able to drain away.However, other streets in town were not so lucky......

As all surfers know, it's the early surfer who catches the wave. Every morning,very early, there is always a posse of surfers ( what's the collective noun for a group of surfers?) beetling up and down the coast, conferring on mobile phones, trying to locate the best wave that morning.