& just touching base as haven't seen you guys around so hoping you and your families are safe and sound.

Ok on with today's news as fires around the ACT are causing problems (to say the least) and temperatures are on the rise again (we've got a top of 42oC/107.6oF) tomorrow before it goes to thunderstorms and drops back into the low 20's the following week, people this is NOT normal! I don't think global warming/climate change could be anymore prominent than it is right at the moment, Greta should be using us as an example along with the science!

As always, where ever you are, stay safe!

News and Weather for January 29th

• Another day of dangerous fire conditions for ACT as temperatures rise
• Canberra's Orroral Valley blaze eases after being dubbed 'most serious' threat since 2003 fires
• 'No safe threshold' for short-term exposure to bushfire smoke, new study shows
• Drag queens raise money for Australia's bushfire recovery effort
• Weather Hazards in Australia
• [/url]
• Bureau of Meteorology Weather Across Australia

We're pretty good where we are! Most (if not all) the fires have been contained...and there has been less smoke in the air. The ACT fires aren't close enough to do any damage at the moment. It looks like we may get some rain soon...

Hey glad to hear you're OK sorry for the ping just wanted to make sure ;)

All good! :)

107.6? Wow, that is hot. Global warming is a thing whether people like to admit or not.

Please be safe everyone.

Sending love and hugs.

all good here at the moment, thanks for checking in! our local fire has not quite been deemed contained, but has been greatly subdued by the rain we got here last week (was it only last week? time has been weird lately), so things are much calmer here in the NE. firies are still working on tree clearing after the rain and back-burning, and they're using air-support to keep an eye on any hot spots at the edges of the fire-ground, so fingers crossed we're settling back into 'normal' life...we're expecting a couple of over 40C days here too, so hopefully things stay calm...

wow that is so impressive. Things are going crazy everywhere. Here the earthquakes continue and they are moving to other islands in the Caribbean so I hope everyone can stay safe somehow. xx

The "search engine that plants trees", Ecosia, is trying to help Australia.

https://blog.ecosia.org/ecosia4aus

The more I think of it, the more I feel like the earth is some beautiful animal that's constantly being teased by some (ie us) annoying brat that's poking at it with a stick and for so long it has remained calm and gracious but that kid finally pushed to far and like any animal that's been in the water, it has finally had enough and is shaking that water off it's self to try and be rid of it and that annoying child! It's not just Australia with the catastrophic bushfires this year but the whole world as commented, the earthquakes, the floods, volcanic activity, and now viruses and yet the governments still sit on their collective hands and say "but what can we do?", and "you can't blame this on global warming, besides it will make no difference if we do XYZ". Yet the earth keeps trying to get rid of us and the more we ignore that fact the harder she shakes! I don't know, you probably all think I'm an old fool and maybe I am, but I have come to think that I really hope there isn't reincarnation because I don't want to come back to this hell we've made unless some action, responsibility, and hopeful recovery was actually occurring before I die and I don't see this happening in what's left of my life span, which greatly saddens me for you young guys and deeply saddens me for the world and her animals.

Well seems I'm turning this into a climate debate instead of staying focused on the actual topic, sorry guys.

As always, where ever you are, stay safe!

News and Weather for January 31st

• ACT declares state of emergency as huge bushfire spreads - News only 11min ago at time of Post
• Extreme heatwave forecast to push temperatures to mid-40s
• WA bushfires: Bullsbrook blaze still out of control despite alert downgrade
• NSW bushfires: Three terrifying minutes as sudden change turns calm road to burning hell - THIS IS TERRIFYING TO WATCH!
• Memorial for US airmen after New South Wales crash
• ACT fire could cross NSW border in next 72 hours
• NSW bushfire inquiry to examine role of climate change
• How to volunteer with your local fire service and why it doesn't just mean being on the front line

Holy carp, that video of the fast moving fire is terrifying. wonder where the camera was, I thought for sure it would melt at any moment.

Sending love and hugs. Please be safe everyone.

i absolutely feel you about the shaking Earth, it's frustrating and very worrying. i wish that if one good thing were to come out of these fires is that it shakes up the system enough to start things moving in the right direction. it feels like we're at such a tipping point in history right now, and humanity has the chance to make a major shift, but it means moving away from the focus on money and profit, and working more towards a future where we can use our intelligence and technology to actually make the world a better place, for all of it's inhabitants. i recently came across this great quote by R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), who sounds like an all round interesting dude, and even though it's a quote from the early 80s, it's so on point:

here's a couple other interesting things he's said that are also apt for the current happenings:

i know there are a lot of hurdles that we (as a species) need to overcome, i just hope that we can do that sooner rather than later.

One of the things I'm seeing now, when it's becoming impossible to continue the policy of climate change denialism in the name of $$$$$, is switching to a policy of "there is no solution."

Yes, yes, we were wrong! say the greedy denialers. But, now its too late and we can't fix it...so might as well keep spending your money on our stuff and party!

Or others saying that we can't it fix entirely, so there's no point in even trying. Which is stupid because we can always make a start, make it a little better. The planet's a big place and even if we can't fix it all, we can improve the situation enough to save some species. To get to a point where technology might be just be able to compensate for the crap we've done. But it will never get to that point if we don't even start!

I agree

Today started extremely strangely, I'll try to tell this as briefly as I can instead of writing one of my novelettes but you guys know by now I over explain things. Anyway, I live on a main road so it's busy/noisy with traffic usually, I went outside to empty my cats tray and as I walked to the end of my yard (I'm on a half acre of land) I was suddenly struck that it had gone dead quiet and when I looked back to the house it was submerged in a thick-ish mist that moved quickly enough to envelope me in the few moments it took to turn around, if it wasn't for the fact that a bird was chirping my over imaginative, horror movie and gaming mind would have thought the end of the world had begun! OK that's a bit exaggerated but it was really creepy....Zombies perhaps?? I also know now (my fellow Aussies will get what I mean) there is NO WAY I could live in the top end, we've gone from 2 days in the high 40's to showers last night (and one massive downpour that overflowed my gutters) to rain and fog today so the humidity is horrible, I'm grateful though as it means I'm kissing housework goodbye today! So yes, the weather is NOT normal, it hasn't been for years but this last winter and summer have been so extreme it couldn't and can't be ignored, and if this is just a small taste of the damage being done to the environment what more is to come, and is it now possibly too late?

As always, where ever you are, stay safe!

News and Weather for February 1st

• 'Severe' fire danger returns to southern NSW
• These volunteers are trying to stop Australia’s bushfires from affecting the much-loved quokka population
• If you don't know what a Quokka is check this out!
• ACT enters state of emergency for the first time in 17 years
• Koalas named after the American firefighters killed in the air tanker crash
• Teen charged with deliberately lighting fire on NSW South Coast
• World-first 3D map shows smoke plumes from Australian bushfires as captured from space
• Records broken as dangerous fire weather escalates
• Residents in Smythesdale urged to evacuate due to bushfire threat
• Warnings remain for active Victorian fires
• NSW fires: Fears bushfire-ravaged towns to fall victim to new blazes
• ACT fire will cross NSW border as firefighters forced to retreat from front line

So very true.

Thank you again for keeping us all updated. That video popped my on my Facebook the other day, so scary, if they had been one minute later...... I can’t imagine what it must be like for you all living with this threat.

Those last two quotes are spot on.

I so agree with everything you said.

My children are of an age where they will be thinking of having their own soon and it makes me wonder what sort of world are we leaving for the next generations. I totally agree that Mother Earth has been warning us for many years to start taking more care, but we humans are so selfish, only thinking of our immediate needs; no it’s not even needs, it’s desires :(. Now she’s had enough, with devastating consequences. We have to listen now!

Australia is back on our main news again today, here in the UK, I hope it’s not only because the fires are now threatening the capital. Our news seem more focused on the coronavirus atm. But then we should all be responsible for sourcing our own information now news is so accessible.

Take care everyone xx

Its true how strange the weather has been. Here in Puerto Rico is always hot, yes but the past Summer had the most horrible heat we have ever got. It made it even hard to breathe for me at times, for me it was not normal and its also not normal how our winters are never even a bit less hot. We used to have a cooler weather for December, January, and February but not anymore.

I believe is never too late, why? Because Earth is so amazing and so good to us she continues to give life and reborn over and over again. I know Earth will simply evolve and we have to evolve with her, but we need to learn to respect and love her and be grateful for all we receive from her. Money is man made, wars are man made, and all earth gives is for free but men believe they own everything they lay eyes on and take and take without giving back. I just hope one day all the people controlling all this power hungry world will wake up and stop destroying our world and making us help destroy it.

As always, where ever you are, stay safe!

News and Weather for February 3rd

• Fires create own thunderstorms, with threat not over
• Victoria weathers fire and rain as records smashed in NSW and ACT
• Storm to hit bushfire zone after properties lost (List of Current Fires and Status from Deputy Commissioner Rogers
• Rainfall brings slight reprieve to NSW firegrounds]
• 'Koala massacre': Concerns over reports of killing and starvation of hundreds of marsupials in Victoria
• Investigation launched after 'koala massacre' uncovered in Victoria
• Heavy rain, cooler temperatures heading for fire zones
• Scientists demand federal government act on climate change (Listen to our PM talk more BS than a sewage plant!)
• The Red Cross has doubled its bushfire cash relief
• Weather Hazards in Australia
• [/url]
• Bureau of Meteorology Weather Across Australia

Very very sad, not going to read

Can't bear to read right now. Been sick all weekend but wanted to stop by and send love and hugs.

Be safe everyone.