Mar2013_MT MEE NEWS
By Ian Wells
I was complaining in the last edition that the spring seasonal break was months overdue! Well, it was. And when it did come, it certainly came in style!
Here at Kalahari Downs the wind and rain set in on the evening of Australia Day. By Sunday morning the wind was roaring, the rain pelting down and the power situation a brown-out. That afternoon the power expired completely and the phone soon followed suit.
And so we embarked on 72 hours with a single burner stove to cook on, candles and kero lighting, bucketing water from the tanks for drinking, washing and flushing toilets. Contact with the world was by transistor radio. We were soon very smelly, but so was the whole Mountain!
The wind began even before the Mountain was reduced to a diet of cold baked beans. I have heard people who have been through cyclones talk of wind making a deafening roar – and it did that on our Mountain for two whole days and nights. I ventured out on Sunday morning to find that it had forced our garage roller doors off their tracks and blown them in. They were flogging about violently. They were jammed down of course, and we couldn’t get our vehicles out. They seemed bent on destroying the entire garage and contents – and that is where I store my scotch!
So I attempted to drive a couple of pickets and to rope them – although it was almost impossible to stand against the wind. I succeeded, but less than an hour later the ropes had broken and they were off on their wild dance again. “So be it!” sez I, (or words to that effect.)
By Wednesday morning the wind had moderated, but the freezers were becoming a matter of concern. I ‘phoned D’Aguilar Hire from duty, not hope, and was amazed to be able to hire an 8kva generator. That energised the whole house, gave us showers, the stove and even TV. That was just wonderful!
The moral of the story is that every house should have a generator in case of events like our Harvey Lee Oswald.
We have one! But it hasn’t been needed since Joh fought with the ETU, and it hasn’t fired a shot for years. It wouldn’t go – not a big surprise really. The only consolation was that the neighbour’s newish big gold-plated automatic unit wouldn’t go either.
As my leader keeps reminding me – “……if you don’t use it, you lose it.”
In the wash-up, there are tree branches everywhere, a few whole trees down and a few broken fences. Overall, the Mountain seems to have got out of it very lightly – although one resident reports some $35,000 in damage to furnishings and carpets from water jetting through the sliding window tracks.
Meanwhile the grass is growing madly after its long spell, and our dams are flushed and filled with clean water. Oswald netted us about 450mm of very badly needed rain.
I understand that there were some local stock losses following the storm. Sadly, it is common for cattle and sheep to succumb with pneumonia after they have been having a hard time and it finally rains. It doesn’t make it any more welcome though.
In other local news, after a period of delicious uncertainty, the Hall painters have, as I write, begun work on the interior. Pleasingly, Council sent up a pair of maintenance men to ease doors and windows and make minor repairs before the painters started.
By the time that you read this, the inside should be finished and exterior well under way. We do not expect the outside work to impede the normal use of the Hall during March – other than to restrict car parking near the building.
Our new Heritage Committee is working up a small exhibit for the Woodford Museum while it plans for a Mountain presence. The Committee is keen to locate items that may be of interest for exhibition at some time – although it is not yet in a position to look after them. It does however already have a dinky little hand powered Lister cream separator that is in great order, and complete except for the round bowl that sat on top and delivered the milk from the vat on to the float. If anyone could either loan or donate a separator bowl of roughly the right size, they would be treated as a hero. Phone Darcy or Merle on 5498 2273.
CONCERT Sunday 10th March: A reminder that “Sunshine Brass” is performing their concert “Around the World in 80 Minutes” in the Hall on Sunday 10th March. Entry is only $12.00 – book with Kevin Brown 5479 0910.
Our remark in the last edition about Santa returning to the Hall in a ‘knocked up’ condition after entertaining the staff at ‘birches’ has sparked intense speculation, which must be put to rest. Suggestions of pregnancy are nonsense – Santa was merely tired and a little emotional. We can make no comment about the staff who were the subjects of his visit.
And a final bit of gossip. It is rumoured that our very own Squire Tumbridge is dieting, in an effort to reduce his waistline. Watch that space!
