June Snow
The power did indeed go off, for a day and a half. The Moosey garden is completely snow-bound, with much visible damage. The head gardener is partially house-bound, making brave forays outside to uncover prized invisible flaxes. She is not happy!
B-Puss in the Snow
Late Tuesday 13th June
The power has just come back on, just when my little camp stove had run out of fuel for making cups of tea and coffee. The roads are open, the winter sun is streaming down, and my garden is an absolute mess. Average depth of snow - about one foot. Many tree branches are down, both small (Pittosporums) and large (Wattles and Gums). I have been outside many times with dog and shovel to 'rescue' submerged shrubs, working until my hands get too sore. Several of the major pathways and access routes are completely blocked.
Weather Woes
The newspaper is calling this, perhaps over-dramatically, a 'weather bomb'. It certainly struck without much warning, and I pity the farmers who have decided on early lambing. With little warning from the pesky meteorological office there are bound to be casualties. The Moosey lambs are due in September, and I've just been out to feed out to the sheep - their back paddocks are rather grass-less!
We spent hours waiting inside while the tree branches cracked and fell, the snow kept falling, and the cats, frightened, hid underneath tables and chairs. Just this afternoon I've spent the first of many sessions with the bow saw, cutting up and clearing the huge gum tree branches which fell on the back driveway. I strip all the burnable stuff and cut the medium stuff ready for the chainsaw. I feel better now that the clean-up has started.
But so much of my garden is humpy white - there's so much snow! Please, please melt, so my shrubs can straighten their bendy limbs and breathe again!
Snowy Trees
Thursday 15th June
Aargh! Another snowday. The morning roads are icy, and the snow is staying put. However, we do have the power on, unlike some farming friends up country. This morning I've already spent my third session clearing and sawing up broken trees, ready for the chainsaw and the bonfire. My efforts are hardly noticeable. I can do about two and a half hours before I get bored and my hands get too sore and cold.
Looking Down the Back Lawn
Oh dear me, the Moosey journal is going to be so repetitive, over the next few weeks. There will be lots of boring photographs, too, of piles of grounded trees, flattened flaxes, and animals frolicking in the snow. Rusty the dog loves it - he must have a very tough backside! Sit, Rusty! No problem!
Not Grumpy, But...
Please don't think that I'm grumpy, though - I'm just resigned to a lot of slow, tedious nothing-work. I have power, warmth, shelter, good company, good science fiction books to read - and the football world cup to watch on TV if I get totally annoyed with all of the above. And I still haven't cleared out the glasshouse...
Later...
I've done another tree clearing session, making my way along the front of the Hump. If only the trees which block the low winter sun had fallen down! I wonder if I could do some sneaky sawing...
Front Fence Post
Friday 16th June
More sun today, but still large areas of the garden are snowed in. At least the Welcome Garden, the newest area to be nurtured and planted, is now snow-free - though there is one large ugly gum tree trunk squashing some of the newly planted Hebes. Oh well.
I've been sawing more branches in the Hump - I've discovered some huge gums have come down, and there's little I can do before the chainsaw. Olearias and Ake Akes are ripped to pieces, as are some large Pittosporums. Tomorrow, for the very first time (aargh!) I will take my bow saw and secateurs into the Wattle Woods. I don't even know if the paths are treadable. I dread to think how much mess is in there! Will my rhododendrons have survived? Aargh!
Snow Dog
To cheer myself up I have finally bought a Burgundy Iceberg rose. I thought it was called a Claret Iceberg, but no - I have had the wrong wine! And at the nursery I saw Rhapsody in Blue, which is a forum friend's favourite - I've admired his photographs. Stupid me - trying not to be over-greedy, I left it behind. Now I will just have to drive all that way back over there again!
Please, weather, let's have you clear and sunny tomorrow so I can start the Wattle Woods Clean-Up. Yeah!