We were very lucky during the recent bad weather, to have not really been affected. We are so grateful, it was just heartbreaking to see so many people lose their homes and prized possessions in the floods - I can't even imagine how devastating that would be.
For us, we had lots of rain and wind, but no threat of flooding, and luckily, we kept power for most of the time too.
When we first moved into our house over 8 years ago, we cut down any tall trees around the house. However, we still have plenty of huge gum trees scattered around the yard, which regularly drop branches during storms. But this time, it wasn't a branch that fell, it was a massive tree!
You can see how big this tree is by seeing how dwarfed I am by the root system that just uprooted and tipped the tree over! How scary for this to happen, but thankfully it was right down in the back corner of our property, so no one was hurt, and just a couple of fences were damaged.
The week after the cyclone had passed, Mick and his dad got out there with their chainsaws, and got busy.
We tried to count the rings on the stumps, and it seems this monster was more than 50 years old.
It was a massive job, because not only was it this tree that had fallen, but a number of other trees in our bush had gone down too. But, ever the optimists, we were thrilled to now have oodles of firewood for this winter (and the next few too, I would say!)
And then to make the whole ordeal even more enjoyable, Mick made a massive fire pit at the base of the fallen tree, where they burned off the branches and weeds throughout the day. Then that night, we cooked roast lamb and pork in the camp oven for dinner - absolutely delish!!
And then because the fire was still smouldering on the Sunday morning, I made some damper and we cooked it in the camp oven for lunch - it was sooo good!!
It looked a little burnt on top, but it was just perfect - a lovely crispy shell and super soft bread inside. Smothered in syrup or jam, along with the leftover roast meat and veggies from the night before, it was one of the best lunches we have had in a long time!!
Talk about making the best of a bad situation!! It just goes to show that every cloud really does have its silver lining - you just have to let it shine through ;)
xx
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3 comments:
Oh my, glad nothing really bad happened and you were able to make most of it. The fire area looks cozy.
It's truly heartbreaking to hear of people losing their properties through calamities, but I am happy to know that you weren't affected that much. And though this is an unfortunate event, you seeing the good part of it is a good thing. At least you got yourselves a lot of firewood now, right? That tree is so huge that you have enough firewood for months to come. Stay positive, Cassandra!
Carlene Maysonet
Yes ladies, we were very lucky!
And now even in April, the stump has still been regularly used as a fire pit - we had another camp oven just on Sunday night - roast chicken this time! The stump is nearly gone now, and our firewood stock is looking fabulous.
xx
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