Fires

I haven't posted for a while. It has been hot. So hot that it has exceeded any temperatures that we have had before. Over 40° in Beechworth, even 42°+ in Beechworth. Between 38° and 42° for 2-1/2 weeks. Some of the plants in the garden have died in the constant scorching dry heat, the kiwifruit vine is all burned over the top as are other trees and vines. The grass is almost white it is so dry and crackly. Even some of the weeds have shrivelled and died!

We knew it was on the cards.......we've learned from 2003, and 2006. It was bushfire weather. An open invitation from the hot wind and the sun on a total fire ban day, and a power line went down at the six mile, and kaboom, up in flames. The power was off for over 21 hours on the hottest day and night of the year.

So we sat on the verandah under severe ember alert, with buckets of water and mops ready, and watched the fire trucks go through Silver Creek up the road to protect Stanley where the fire was headed, to protect the fire lookout on Mt Stanley, vital to fire communications throughout the state, to protect the pine plantations, and to stop the fire whipping around and heading for Beechworth. In town the shops were closed as they had no power, the hospital was evacuated as their generator wouldn't work properly and everyone either battened down as per their fire plan or evacuated down the hill. And the fire trucks raced up and down the road. They have been going constantly since early Saturday evening at 6:10pm when the power went off, and still 5 nights later they are driving up and down the road, but now thankfully they are doing containment work, and whilst we have a lot of smoke, it is 'safe' smoke from back burning.

Our black worms have suffered from having no power, (so no water as the pumps are too large to be run easily by a generator) for nearly a whole day and night. We have lost some, sure, but nothing like we anticipated because of the scorching temperature. They need time now to recover.

What we weren't prepared for was the horror, the mind blowing devastation, the extreme wipeout of the fires closer to Melbourne. We could never be prepared for that, not even after the Ash Wednesday fires or the fires of 2003 and 2006. What can be said.....nothing! How can words describe, how can words help? There are people there who have just had their lives ripped to shreds. Prayers, messages of love and support, money, donations of goods and services, we can only do these things to try and help in the trauma. I think we are trying to help ourselves take it all in, there is no way we can understand just what those people have been through. But they could have been us, or our neighbours, our animals, and our community.

There are a lot of people wanting to do things to help. If you would like to make patchwork quilts (or just 12-1/2" squares for a quilt) or 12" knitted or crocheted squares in either wool or acrylic (not mixed) please send me a message and I'll let you know the details of who is coordinating and joining blankets and quilts together and getting them out to fire victims.

I'm putting a pattern here for the knitters who would like to make trauma teddies, which can be given to the children. This pattern was given to us many years ago by friends in the CWA, and it is tried and tested and makes the best trauma teddy I have seen. Once again leave me a message for info on getting them to the kids if you need to.


TRAUMA TEDDIES PATTERN

8 PLY YARN AND SIZE 10 NEEDLES (or 3.25mm a size smaller than normal so that stuffing doesn't show through)
MAIN COLOUR—ANY BEAR COLOUR—FOR HEAD AND PAWS +
TROUSER COLOUR, JUMPER COLOUR AND SCARF COLOUR (they look good if a different, bright colour is used for each).

Cast on 10 sts in main colour. Knit 10 rows. Change to trouser colour and knit 30 rows.
Make another leg the same. Knit across all 20 sts and work 16 rows.

Change to jumper colour and knit 24 rows.

Change to main colour for head and also change to stocking stitch. Work for 5-1/2 inches (14 cm) and change to jumper colour, continue rest of Teddy in reverse order.

Stitch down the sides of the head. With jumper colour pick up 8 sts either side of the neck join and knit 20 rows. Change to main colour and knit 10 rows for paws.

Sew Teddy up leaving opening to crotch. Please stuff Teddy with clean, healthy toy filling. Foam rubber is not recommended as babies chew it. Then draw a thread around the neck. Sew diagonal top corners for ears. Sew happy face on Teddy.

Scarf: Cast on 75 sts and knit 4 rows. Cast off. Tie scarf on Teddy and sew on back of neck.

Teddies being sent overseas also require little bags. Material: 2 pieces approximately 10” x 13” (about 25cm x 33cm), with a drawstring at the top. Please use one cord at the top as it is better than a double loop. It should not be much longer than the opened bag with ends knotted together, but please, no other knots. It is a good idea to include a name tag in a seam of the bag for the child’s name to be written.