Milking the goat!

And because it's a blog about goats...

Venus catching a bite to eat before we turn one section of the veggie garden over to the chooks for the winter...

School morning

BJ and I get to his school a little early after dropping the big kids off at the station.  Sometimes we read, listen to the radio, chat or this morning I decided to photograph the sun rise.  See the tree to the left and the fence line?  That's  the school playground.  Great view from school :)

One misty morning...

was up in the paddock feeding the cows and horses and enjoying the views when walking back down the hill.

Nearly 4 months on

This is what's left of the forest area beside the goat paddocks.  It wasn't burnt as badly as the forest across the road.  I ran through this when it was on fire to get home.  They blocked our road so before I could do anything, Little J took off out of the car and sprinted up into here because it borders our place and the road our road is off.  I parked the car and tried to follow him.  It was so eerie.  I remember thinking, my god, this is like a nightmare or am I in the middle of a movie?  I wasn't scared though.  Weird.  I was pretty relieved by this point because we'd had phone contact with Big J.  Until that phone call, I 100% believed that there was no way he could have lived through the fire.  When Little J and I had left, the fire was already on the edge of the other side of our road.  We had seen it rush down the hill and the flames were as high as the trees.

That rushing fire was no more by the time we got back.  Just everything 'on fire'.  I was worried that Little J might have a tree fall on him.  They were cracking and falling all over the place.  But he made it through ok.  The smoke was so thick I could hardly see.  I thought I would come out at the top of our paddock but as I reached the fence, the smoke cleared a little and I could see the goat house which was still intact although the trees right beside it on fire.   That meant I was down much lower.  Then I heard Little J calling out to Big J and him answering - the relief was overwhelming at that point.  Then I could see the roof of our house and that gave me such a shock.  I couldn't imagine how it was still standing there like that. 

We found Big J collapsed on his front with a fire pump and a hose and still trying to connect it to another tank so that he could start on the goat house.  Really, I understand super human power now because that is what saved our place.

thinking about getting up

thinking about getting up, originally uploaded by radmama.

Lazy dog! One of the kids woke him up and he started to work his way out of the kennel and then fell back asleep when he got to this point!

Iphone

3 metres from the house

3 metres from the house, originally uploaded by radmama.

The fire tore up here beside our house. You can see where Big J had the fire hose directed - right at our fence line!

Potato Gnochi

BJ is my dream kid.  He loves to cook.  He is teaching himself so he can take over cooking duties from me.

Wood shed

It's waiting for demolition.  It's so ironic to look at it now - the immediate area around it is covered with the long trunks of trees felled in the weeks after the fire.  Enough fire wood to fill a 100 wood sheds.

Jackie came home from the vet

About 2 months after the fires.  Very different cat.  Quite and shy, unwilling to leave the house.  Shriveled and hard little areas where the soft velvety pads were once her paws.  Her paws make little click noises now when she walks across the timber floors.

Another month and she now loves to lap up the sunshine outside.  Not a wanderer anymore.  A homebody.  She avoids jumping down from anything or does so very gingerly.  Not a flashing by cat anymore either.  She loves a pat and cuddle much to BJ's delight.  He had never been able to catch that cat before!

Recovering

 

The tree ferns are all green again and growing madly.  You can see them in between the burnt trees.

 

It still makes my guts twist every time I walk outside and look up at the blackness and the wreckage across the road and on the hill in front of us.

But the grass is growing and the ground is green.  And rebuilding is happening in some places.  I was amazed to see an almost all built brand new school at Kinglake West a few days ago.