you're a blight on my life...!

My tomatoes are dying.
Remember the beautiful green mass that was our tomato patch?
It is no more.
Melbourne had so much rain in the past couple of months- it was the 5th wettest year on record, and I think most of that came in Jan/Feb. So, it mightn't have been so bad if it was a rainy, rainy winter, but it was a year's worth of rain in a couple of months... and since I've read somewhere that tomatoes aren't great fans of water on their leaves, and to water them from the ground... well, I don't think they're too pleased.

We weren't this bad, but it was pretty wet. 

At first it was like; YAY! 

Now it's like: Booooooo...

So, between what I assume is blight (I have no idea, I'm making stuff up here), and birds eating my tomatoes when they're a day or two off ripe (despite having rigged up my strawberry-saving AntiBird system) I'm feeling a bit sad about my tomatoes. I know, it's autumn now and they're probably not meant to actually last that much longer, but there were just so many more we could have eaten. Here's some photographic evidence, and a new Anti-Bird system I'm trying out.

 

Ok so this looks like a bit of a mess, but basically the whole right side of my tomato patch is sort of dying, and the left is not as bad but still pretty bad and there are foil flags hanging everywhere to scare off blackbirds. Also there is basil. Much basil.

 I had to move my raspberries from on the wall of the veggie garden because I couldn't reach their tops any more. The big one is the one I actually got fruit off in its first year, and the smaller one is the one I thought was diseased and was going to die but actually looks really good now. The big one is probably 30cm off the roof-line now.

 

The rest of my garden. Some very sickly capsicums that didn't want to grow, zucchinis gone mad (and with rain spots on their leaves), lots of lettuce, spinach, leeks, a mess of spring onions, rhubarb and the tomatoes in the background. Did I plant too much? Possibly. 

As promised, a new Anti-Bird system. I wanted a picture with his front paws on the wood wall, but he always takes things too far. Then I armed him with which looks like a really serious knife but is actually a mini spade. But he looks ferocious all the same (or would like to think so, anyway). Can you tell he only holds things in his mouth out of duress/because I ask him to?

Meanwhile, every time I go into the garden, with or without Mallei, the kitten meows and squeaks and climbs the screen door. It's so pathetic, and she's so mewy and cute. I had my camera with me this time so I took a little clip of her. She didn't climb the door today though, just squeaked. This is pretty much the only time she meows- sometimes she just opens her mouth, and no sound comes out. This is when she wants food, or cuddles, or something I don't understand. It's only a minute long. Also there is Mallei, looking bored with his bird-protection duties, and me saying "Hey dude" and "Stupid tomatoes". Please excuse the sound of building in the background, and also enjoy the sounds of Australian bird life, if you're not from around here. There are crows, and magpies. 

not the barramundi!!!

Reading about the post-cyclone devistation, one news site breaks down how towns have been affected. Eg:
Townsville: 85 per cent of city is without power. Minor structural damage. Debris strewn across streets. Storm tide in Townsville was 2.3m
Carwell: Around 60 properties have major structural damage, 100 have "medium level damage" and 50 have minor damage.
And so on...
The town where the cyclone was expected to hit hardest is Innisfail, remember? So, keeping in mind that this is the destruction, houses have been wiped out, flooding, etc... this is the first line of what the news article has to say about the damage at Innisfail:
Innisfail: Some 8,000 baby barramundi killed at a barramundi farm at Mourilyan. 

And then goes on to talk about "Town was isolated by floodwaters. Roads strewn with debris."(source)...

I just find it strange that the first line about this town, is in regards to some baby fish.... Nevermind houses, flooding, debris.... Some baby fish were killed. Are they so desperate for a mortality figure (as nobody has been reported dead yet. Someone on Facebook commented that the morning news reporters almost looked disappointed by the fact yesterday morning.) that this is what they come up with? I'm no fish expert, though. Maybe these fish are vital for our eco-system or something. Really, I think people just like catching and eating them. Ah, turns out they're QLD's most important commercial fish. Even so... I don't think that, in the grand scheme of things, it's the most important piece of information.
Who knows. Maybe it is.

{via}

my father's optimism

I just called my Dad and his partner S, who are bunkering down up in Townsville, in preparation for Cyclone Yasi.
Dad started the call by thanking me for the call.
Well, duh, Dad. It's not like I'm doing a favour. I'm your damned daughter checking if you're ok.
Although he probably hasn't heard from my brother. But that's ok.
Then, of course, because they were still alive (um, Em, the cyclone is still over the ocean and won't get to land until some time this evening.), I had a bit of a cry at my desk here at work. And because I was worried.
Dad told me they'd moved all the electrical things from the 'downstairs house' to the 'upstairs house' (theirs is a typical 'Queenslander Style' house, built for flooding and sea rises, so the house was originally up on stilts, but somebody filled in the bottom section and built another house under there, kitchen and all.)
He said he wasn't worried about the rising sea tide, though reckons it'll be 'lapping at their door' downstairs..
"So long as the roof doesn't blow off, we'll be right. That's the main thing."