Friday, April 20, 2012

Smoke gets in your eyes!

Well, the end of the Fire Season has officially ended. And with it has started the big 'burn offs' that happen every year. Over the summer months, farmers and landowners gather up their farm debris such as fallen down trees, wood and ground litter. They make huge big stacks in their paddocks. This is all done in preparation for the burning that starts now. Accross the valley huge fire stacks are blazing away and the thick smoke is drifting over towards us. We monitor the weather sites and watch for any anticipated wind changes. Blow blow blow.... away!! A small consolation is that this big burn off will only last a few weeks. Soon the rains will start and nothing will burn. Frans has a stack of wood and broken trees ready to go. We'll possibly light it this weekend. I'll get out the packet of marshmellows and find some really long sticks!
A wood stack burning about 6kms away. This shot was taken by Frans using his zoom lens.

Yesterday afternoon at about 4.30pm. This is our paddock. You can just make out the cows grazing. You can see our stack towards the front right of the photo.

The fires do make for sensational sun sets!


 
And this is a photo I took when going for an early morning drive yesterday, before the fires. I love poplar trees. Some people hate them and consider them a weed! But I don't. The leaves are changing colour to bright yellow. I'm hoping to plant a few this winter along our fence line.

1 comment:

  1. We are still 10 days away from the end of our fire ban. Can't wait to have a good fire!

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