By Wednesday afternoon everything we owned was packed up, secured, and we were settled behind a strong wall in the centre of the house, locked inside. Our bathroom is in a corner, refurbished from a verandah and not safe at all. We did fill the bathtub with water, and lots of buckets...
All the donated 'New Beginnings' Kits were under the dining table, and in plastic crates.
The next morning, after the worst of Yasi had passed us by, Mr E and I went under the house to a safe corner (the winds were still very strong and stuff was flying around the yard) and untied the bbq. We boiled water on the bbq burner, and cooked up bacon and eggs. The power was gone so we had to use foods that were perishing.
We repeated this at lunchtime and cooked up a pan of mexican mince to make nachos.
By the next morning (Friday) we had to throw out so much spoiled food. I'm glad we got to use some of it this way.
By Thursday night the power was on again in half the town - we were in the blessed half. I started to put things back together in the kitchen so we could at least eat during the following days of clean up, while Mr E and Sam put our mattresses back in the bedrooms.
The view in the backyard...
We were so blessed to only have tree damage. The pets are fine, as they were locked inside with us through Yasi, but the dog next door went missing in the hours before the storm and has still not been found. A sad but familiar story. :-(
We drove up to the hill at the top of town and looked over the region...
You won't be able to spot it (but I circled it and you can click for a large photo) but we could see the river for the very first time since we moved here. That's how high it had gotten - higher than when the floods went through in December. We were just told that the highway either side of the river has all been ripped apart, so no access for supplies for a long while.
All that water will flood country Queensland again. :-(
The supermarket in town lost nearly all it's cold stock in the power loss and as our town had not yet fully restocked after the floods last month, we now have empty shelves. So many will have had to throw away spoiled foodstuffs, and there was only so much to go around at the supermarket. We are going to be very cautious with what we use until supplies arrive again. The river was over yesterday and roads cut off. It will take a while till life is normal once more, but we are BLESSED that we have homes, water and drygoods, and our lives.
Those in Tully, Mission Beach, Tully Heads, Innisfail, Cardwell....so many do not have this, not even in it's simplest form.
Pray for them
Pray also for our friends in the US who are battling their own weather disaster with blizzards and ice storms.
I don't know what your thoughts are, but I agree we are experiencing global warming, and this planet is only going to get more and more weather crises. What are we leaving to our children and grandchildren? I shudder to think.
~~~~~
This morning I had to use the last of the apples, and didn't realise till later that I was using the last of the self raising flour....
..and baked cinnamon/apple/currant muffins with the last of the homemade yoghurt.
I don't have any baking powder so will need recipes with plain flour. How can I make baking powder, do you know? I might have ingredients? **(Thanks to those who shared the recipe for baking powder! I don't have cream of tartar so will have to shelve that idea)** We do have bread flour so I can bake some loaves as we need them.
Now to start unpacking the sewing room, begin lunch (baking olive focaccia breads), and finish washing the blankets. Mr E spent yesterday cutting up fallen trees at the school, and today is starting the clean up around the house here.
It's raining again and lightning storms are predicted, so a quiet night inside will finish our day.
I'll do Show and Tell tomorrow. :-)
Hugs
Jenny
xxx