Rain, rain, go away....

It seems that we are about to be drenched....again. For the third time in a month. Thanks very much ex-tropical cyclone, east coast low, and now we seem to have something called an "upper level trough and associated upper low" developing off the Queensland coast.

On Friday afternoon, I was stuck in a pretty big storm at the school where I work. High winds, trees blowing down, flash flooding through the school grounds, it was all happening. I had students working in the school library with a few kids and I couldn't get there from the admin block (at most, 5 metres away) to check they were okay. I had a few moments of anxiety about getting us all home safely. Fortunately it passed over and we were able to make it out with a few detours to get past the fallen trees on the access roads and motorway.

Now another downpour is on the way. I am praying that this one is over with by the time work starts for me again on Thursday and that the students will be able to travel safely to work over the next few days with their other supervisors.

But I just want to say that we have had enough rain for now. That is all.

Drying out

The rain and wind finally ended last night. We seemed to get a bit of tail end rain and wind activity here after everyone else was saying the rain had stopped where they were.

It's really quite still here now, which feels a bit strange after two days of being blown around.

Now for a few days of full on humidity, when what we really need is some dry breezes to make the house feel less damp.

It seems like the ex-cyclone is finally about to head out to sea south of Sydney. That's some weather event!

Praying for those who are still facing flooding. It doesn't seem as bad in Brisbane as they first thought. But further north in Bundaberg it is still very bad. I always think river flooding is a cruel thing. By the time the water arrives, the sun is usually shining and there's hardly a cloud in the sky. Flooding makes sense when it's raining, but when the weather's fine it just seems wrong.

Image from here. This is about five minutes' drive from our house. But the water has all gone from that spot this morning!

Still here

It's only raining a little bit here now. Just passing showers now rather than the steady and heavier rain we had all yesterday afternoon and evening.

But the wind is still VERY strong. Last night I could see the glass on our sliding doors bending during the stronger gusts. Freaky. Our power is still on, and no trees have come down here, but our bins are out waiting to get collected and the lids have blown open and some stuff has escaped. We moved the sun lounge from beside our pool into the garage on Saturday night in case it got windy. Lucky we don't have both cars in there otherwise there may not have been room for it.

I am thankful this morning that the detailed flood reports are out for the Brisbane suburbs and my parents' home is on the "unlikely to flood" list. Some lower lying homes in the next street to theirs will probably end up with some water through them though.

Anyway, for an ex-tropical cyclone, I have to say this still feels rather cyclonic....

Photo from here.

There's a bit of wild weather going on here....

It's raining hard outside. It's so windy that the rain is blowing horizontally. Lots of trees bending in the breeze outside. There are tornado warnings out for the rest of the evening. We are up on a hill so it's windy but we're not at risk of any flooding where we are.

They've just issued a flood warning for Brisbane and Ipswich. But they are not expecting it will be as bad as 2011. I'm praying that my parents will be okay. Perhaps there's been a bit more rain in the local creeks near their home this time compared with last time. But the ground isn't as wet as it was before the last flood happened. They only had water to the floorboards last time. I think they will be okay, although knowing what their anxiety levels are like, I'm pretty sure they'll head for higher ground. Last time they went to my brother's place until the danger was past. He's moved into a lower lying place since then, though. His new house didn't flood in 2011 but some of his backyard was underwater.

The weather seems to be moving pretty quickly to the south, which is good news (although not for our friends in the northern rivers and mid north coast of NSW). At least the rain will be gone from here after the next few hours. There are flood warnings all the way down to the Hunter now.

Who would have thought a week ago that a little old category one cyclone in the Gulf of Carpentaria could wreak so much havoc all the way down the Queensland coast?

Raining!

This is bloggable because we've had hardly any rain for weeks.

Looking forward to seeing the lawn start to green up again.

Too much time inside....

...results in kids who whinge and fight with each other lots more than normal.

On the positive side, our house is much cleaner now thanks to the rather wet long weekend here.

But I've had enough of the rain. We need to get some washing dry. Looks like there's some good news there though. From this evening's weather forecast, it appears that Mr East Coast Low is heading further off shore, leaving some wild waves behind that I can go and look at tomorrow when the kids return to school.

Praying for fellow blogging buddies in Western Australia who seem to have more stormy weather coming in tomorrow.

Cold and wet

Looks like we have a rather wet weekend coming up here.

Perfect baking weather. I just made a pumpkin fruit cake but forgot to take a photo of it before I cut it up and ate a piece. Disappointing. It looked very good because for once, I'd remembered to put foil on it while it was baking to stop it from overbrowning on the top.

It's not such good news for healthy eating habits though. It's the sort of weather that always makes me crave sweet stodgy food and enormous roast dinners.

It's also perfect weather for putting together a solar system diorama that's due in next week at school. We cheated and bought a kit from Lincraft so it just needs to be painted and put together. This weather is also great for putting speeches onto palm cards for the public speaking competition at school.

I'm really looking forward to the day when homework can be completed with a great deal less parental assistance than it currently requires.

Ironic

As the rain has been pouring down here for the past four or five days, our shire has been hit with water restrictions because of a breakdown in the pumping station.

They are telling us no external water usage is allowed until it's fixed and that we should take shorter showers and use our washing machines less.

This is going to make it quite difficult for those who need to clean up post-flooding.

Bit wet

Bit of an understatement.

I found the above photo here. We live on a hill so we're pretty safe where we are, but we overlook where this photo was taken. Lots of rain this morning but it has stopped for now.

Made it to the hairdresser

There was a break in the rain late this afternoon. God was kind to us. The creeks and rivers around here are filling up though.

And there is more rain coming. The next few days might be pretty soggy.

Resisting posting about Carpe Diem article...

...because it seems as if everyone else in blogland is doing so. If you want to read it, it's here.

So I tried to think of something else and you guessed it....I've got nothing.

It's pouring rain here. Really pouring. Flooding is likely. Trying to decide whether it is heavy enough to cancel our haircuts this afternoon.

Other status updates:

Me: I spent the morning baking because it's cold and wet. Pumpkin scones and pumpkin fruitcake. They look yummy. Now to resist eating too much of either of them.

Aidan: Getting his school holiday homework done. He has to do a Powerpoint presentation about his holidays. I'm trying to convince him that sound and animations on Powerpoint won't save a bad presentation. I think he could get up there and say the holiday consisted of us begging him to get this done.

Liam: Building Kirrin Island and Kirrin Cottage out of Lego. I've already photographed a rather large Lego castle this morning (I'll try to add a photo of this later).

Rosie: Now in bed, but spent the morning unpacking all her toys that I'd carefully tidied away yesterday. You wouldn't believe how much time toddlers spend doing this until you have experienced it.

Rowan: Due to wake up for a feed any minute.

Hope everyone else is enjoying today.

Hot hot hot

Can't move. Can't think. I feel grumpy. Don't know why I'm bothering to post...can tell you now this one isn't worth reading.

Just dragged Rosie and Rowan up to the ukulele shop to sort out the loose tuning peg. The guy has to order me a new one. Forty minute round trip in the car to find that out.

Now Rowan is unsettled. My own fault because I didn't wrap him when we got home. I thought it was too hot. He'll need a feed now.

Hoping I'll be able to have a swim in the pool when everyone is calm again. That should improve my mood...

Wet, wet, wet....and cold!

Who would have thought that I would be wearing jeans and a scarf at this time of the year where I live?

The kids weren't happy that they had school swimming on today. Aidan had his school jumper on for the first time in months this morning. The rain seems to be easing up a bit now so they might still go to the pool (they are running out of time to schedule make-up sessions for wet weather), but I can totally relate to his not wanting to get into the outdoor pool today. Liam's class goes to another pool that is indoors so it will be interesting to hear if they went or not.

And I am feeling blessed that a few people handed me down winter outfits for newborns. I didn't think I would need too much warm clothing for Rowan since he is pretty much going to be a summer baby (singlets and short-sleeved bodysuits make up much of his wardrobe) but currently the Bonds Wondersuits and long sleeved suits are getting a workout, and he is wearing the singlets underneath. And at the moment he is sleeping wrapped up in a fluffy bunny rug.

Unbelievable. And very unseasonal.

A very big storm is about to hit

Chris has gone out to pick up Aidan from a birthday party about 15 minutes away.

Praying that he'll be home before the storm arrives. And that there's no hail. We want to sell the car he's driving in sometime in the next few weeks. Hail damage is not what's needed right now.

Tonight

For dinner, we're having pot roasted chicken with cider and apples. With mashed potato and beans.

Followed by golden syrup dumplings for dessert.

Followed by a game of Scrabble and another Mad Men episode.

A day to stay inside. It's very cold. Not used to this kind of weather where we live.

A storm is on its way

As I was typing that last post, I heard some very loud rumbles of thunder.

Better go and save the washing.

Hooray for the cool change!

It has finally arrived. With a bang. A lovely thunderstorm has just passed over and I think the temperature has dropped by about ten degrees.

Here's to a cool evening....

But I will say there is nothing better than sucking ice cubes (best with pieces of fruit frozen inside, we had strawberry flavoured ones today) in the middle of a heatwave.

Hot, hot, hot....

Too hot to think.

A cool change is not due here until Monday afternoon. The forecast temperature for Brisbane tomorrow is 35 degrees. Might be slightly cooler here but not by much.

And our pool is still on chemical overload to fix up the algae problem so we can't swim in it until tomorrow. I want to get in there right now. Night swimming is fantastic after a day like today.

CNN stuff-up

I found this on the ABC's Cyclone Yasi blog. Hmmm.

Sensationalist journalism in the cyclone TV coverage

Who would have thought?

I was watching Sunrise this morning as they covered the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi. Not for long. Their reporters became irritating quite quickly. I saw far too much of them telling people it wasn't safe to be outside as they were driving around amongst fallen trees with one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand filming with the iPhone. Then barging into homes unannounced and apologising for it after they were already inside. I'm guessing some of this behaviour will be making Media Watch.

So I switched channels back to the ABC for less hysteria.

But unfortunately, I then missed this little gem as someone from the Sunrise crew was checking out a flattened banana farm: "and here are the infant bananas that will never get a chance to grow...."

Hilarious. Although the damage done around Mission Beach and Tully is no laughing matter.