Seedlings in the long grass

I finally got back over in the reserve and figured out what the lines mown in the long grass were for. They've planted more seedlings! The mown areas were intriguing to start with because quite a lot of the original seedlings, the ones planted years ago by the church group doing good deeds in conjunction with the local council, the ones that get burned down every year either by the pyros or the firies (hazard control of course), the ones that continue to grow up every year after being burned to the ground ... the ones that never get above four feet or so because they get burned down every year - a lot of the original seedlings had been mown down! No doubt, tough little things they are they'll come up again. At least some of them.

So, mown stripes & seedlings mown down, and now they have planted more! In the long grass area. You know, the long grass area you can see from Ellsworth Drive. The area you see burnt every year. Hmm. It's all still green right now, there's been enough rain to keep the grass growing and everyone knows the grass isn't dry enough to burn. Yet.

The question that keeps playing in my mind is - did Council even tell the local Firies they've planted in there again? Do the Firies know? What happens when the grass dries off and a couple of grass fires happen? Will the Firies just come over and put them out or will they do their usual and burn all the long grass in one go as hazard reduction? Along with the four foot saplings and the new seedlings.

Of course, being the cynical thing that I am, I wonder about the part of the Council. The points they've gained in the carbon neutralising race, by planting all those seedlings, do they lose them again when they're burned down?

You know the Council doesn't have a fire management plan in place.

I give the seedlings, generously, a year. Someone else I was talking to gave them 3-4 months.

Tregear on Google Street View

Playing with Google Maps and Street View and found out it can be embedded not. If you haven't found it yet go to google maps and if there is street view available a small message pops up and when you click on it you enter street view. Play around or read help to figure out how to navigate around. When you have the view you want click the little chain / link on the top right and you can copy and past some code to either like to the view or embed it in your page. This is what the school looks like on the street view.


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Rows of grass

Haven't figured out why, but council mowed strips into the grass in the reserve .... yet to be investigated, I'll write whatever I figure out...

Upset from Fire

I seem to have upset someone with my previous post. So, firstly, I'm sorry it's taken so long to respond, I haven't logged in for a few days. I'm not going to publish your comments because I think you may have unintentionally revealed too much about yourself and my publishing them might result in your privacy being breached more than you'd like. Secondly, it was never my intention to cause hurt, that being said it's all too easy to do so by being too light about a subject. But, being light about a subject is a rather Australian thing to do, especially when it's a scary subject. It's a natural defense. We all do it. I'm sorry you feel you copped the rough edge of it on this occasion. But it was a scary subject, everyone thought the fire was caused by a vandal, they were scared for the fellow and his kids and they were scared for their own homes. I know the person I was talking to was scared enough that she couldn't sleep most of the night. She kept getting scared there was going to be a fire bomb come through her front window. It wasn't until next morning that the other story started circulating. If it isn't true then it was a defense against the fear too.

So, when I read through my post again there's one bit I would change. Instead of "... by the next morning, someone had found out ..." I would write that "by the next morning people were saying". I agree that saying 'found out' makes it sound like someone knew something real, and I am now acknowledging that it is all word of mouth and passed through a few people before I got it so it is just as likely a theory someone made up.

The other point is that I doubt very much that it's actually incriminating, otherwise everyone who's ever been the subject of a bad news article would end up in gaol! And who knew you or any more than a half dozen people ever read this blog! I'm sure the cops or the magistrate or the psych involved in all this don't read my blog, and they are all intelligent enough to recognise that post for what it was, which is a post about something scary that happened in Tregear, that is identified in the article as being word of mouth, and probably badly worded to top it off.

I know that happenings of the last few days have been shocking and traumatic for you. I can't really imagine all of what you are feeling, but I think you are probably taking on way too much and you probably think who else is going to do it, and you're embarrassed and defensive and wanting the think the best of the fellow involved and not give up on him. But I can tell you that in a quiet suburb such as this, something as hugely visible as a house fire doesn't remain private business. It's impossible for it to remain private business. People could see it for a long way, people close up were scared, and they are all talking about it. I also know it will all blow over and no one will care very much at all in a very short time. If anyone actually said anything that put the blame on the kids you'd be well within your rights, and with a whole suburb full of backup, to tell them they are morons. No one I could think of would have anything but sympathy for all the kids involved. Their lives are going to be changed by this, in one way or another, probably in lots of ways. I know I have nothing but sympathy for all the kids. We all just want to live a quiet life without too many stresses, but most of us end up going through something traumatic sometime.

I hope everyone, those who witnessed and were so badly scared by it, and those who were all involved, can relax and enjoy what they can of the silly season without anything else going wrong!

Bit early yet, but Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!

House Fire

It hasn't come up in the Tregear news alerts yet, but a house up on Nella Dan was burnt down night before last. Someone a few doors up from it told me. She was woken by the noise and jumped up to call 000. It took some time to work out what happened, but apparently a bloke was living there with his kids and no one knew for sure if they had got out for a while. Somehow, by the next morning, someone had found out that the fellow had taken his kids over to his older daughters place and left them there, and then come back to poor petrol all through the house and torched it! He left. He wasn't suiciding. He's been arrested and gone to court and it's said they are going to psych assess him. At least one person is of the opinion that he didn't want to clean up...

Now for those of you who weren't involved the other night you've seen it here first! It isn't coming up on the Google news alerts, and it isn't on the rss feeds from the local papers. It might be on the police news site, but I can't get the site to load. I know it wasn't on tv...

Quiet lately

I've very neglectful of my this blog lately. All I can say is that work has ruled my life and when I get home I'm so tired I don't want to come near the computer. And it's been very quiet lately. There hasn't been any fires in the reserve, no fights that I can hear, all is well. I'll see what I can write about again soon. Maybe go take some more pics...

Today

Ducks in the reserve heading towards Debrincat. They were quite a long way off so this was the best I could get without totally freaking them out.

And those mornings when I'm up way too early playing on the net this is what I see out my back window.

The Reserve

A fair bit of rain today and yesterday even if it isn't very heavy. Good for the new plantings. I've been meaning to get back down to the reserve to find out if they are still ok but I haven't had time. I start work late today so maybe I'll have a look before I catch the train.

I saw a small truck with a crane driving through the reserve a couple of days ago - he was picking up dumped cars. Good move, doesn't happen quite often enough, but good move.

Regenisis

Welcoming! "We might ask if we can take your photos"..."Only if I can take yours".


Gorgeous-and-knows-it kept us company all morning.


These are 3 of the staff from Blacktown Council and our nearly finished planted area.


Putting the display back up again after the wind blew it down.



Newly planted. Good luck for you future.

Native Geraniums

Geranium homeanum. Only about a cm across, sweet as. Identification thanks to the Botanic Gardens, and they have a great pic on the interesting way the seed pods open: http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/science/hot_science_topics/Ecology_of_Cumberland_Plain_Woodland/woodland_plants/geranium_solanderi

Yes it's Geranium, not Pelargonium. I've named the pics wrong, and maybe I'll fix that one day, but not this morning! Don't pull these out of the reserve.

ps, this came in the mail.

"Tregear Reserve Community Bushcare and Regenesis Tree Planting Day. RSVP Thursday 13 November, 2008 on 9839 6283" (yeah, I know that's today - I forgot until just now). Meeting in Tregear Reserve, Wilkes Cres, Tregear (Behind the softball fields) 15th November, 9am-12. Council staff will be there to talk about the new group, provide a tour of the reserve and carryout a community planting. They will provide all tools, materials, supervision, technical advice, and light refreshments. Wear enclosed shoes, a hat and sunscreen.

Have a good one..