Porepunkah Master Plan
I’ve written my submission to Alpine Shire Council on the draft master plan for Porepunkah. The full text of the submission is online here.
I’m not optimistic it will be given much attention given my last two experiences, which were shabbily summarised, poorly acknowledged and probably filed in the bin.
On the positive side though, it’s an election year and the council works program, which they admit has been delayed, appears to be cranking up. Funny about that.
Driest May on record
Bright and Porepunkah have just experienced the driest May on record, according to my own observations and information that I’ve been able to uncover from the Weather Bureau.
I recorded 9mm for the month at Porepunkah, which seems to tally with the Bureau’s figure for Bright. The historical long-term average for Bright is 108mm and the lowest previously recorded was 12mm.
My data suggests that May was also colder than average. This is not surprising for minimum temperatures, given the clear skies at night.
I recorded an average minimum of 2.4 degrees and an average maximum of 15.3, compared with long-term averages for Bright of 3.9 and 16.5 respectively. Read more
Degree of Guilt
I came to Richard North Patterson’s “Degree of Guilt” after reading “Conviction” and “Balance of Power”. The reverse chronological order possibly explains my lack of enthusiasm for this novel.
It’s not as though the books form a series, although some characters are the same, it’s more that Patterson seems to have matured as a writer with his most recent novels.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with this book; just that I found the narrative sometimes stilted and the plot less credible than later works.
There was a greater tendency to dwell on personal lives that contributed little to the story flow. Read more
Post Captain by Patrick O’Brian
Following my enjoyment of Master and Commander, by Patrick O’Brian, I couldn’t resist some further reading in this excellent series.
The second novel, Post Captain, treats readers to more of the same brilliant narrative, daredevil action, political and military intrigue.
Captain Jack Aubrey has fallen on hard times and has to constantly avoid his debt collectors and court bailiffs. The merry-go-round he rides on to achieve this is fascinating and laughable.
It’s peacetime, so he ultimately flees to France with friend Dr Stephen Maturin, who also doubles as a spy for naval intelligence. Read more
Nasty fall
I had a nasty accident on Friday night. I was descending the stairs with an empty coffee cup in my hand when I stepped to avoid a toy, lost balance and stumbled down.
The last thing I remember is crashing into the baby gate at the bottom. I think I must have then deflected into the wall, hitting my head on the edge, and then crashed heavily onto the tile floor.
Juliet fortunately heard me fall and called an ambulance. They patched me up at Bright Hospital and on Saturday morning the doctor sewed four stitches. Unlucky to fall; lucky not to cause more serious injury.
Ovens River barely flowing
Here’s a picture that will strike fear into the hearts of South Australians and everyone else who relies on the Murray River for water.
It shows the Ovens River from the old bridge in Porepunkah. We’ve been here more than eight years and it’s the first time I’ve seen the river not flowing its full natural width at this point.
The Ovens River is one of the Murray’s major tributaries, so this must be a concern for people downstream.
Here’s a link to a picture in my galleries, taken from the same spot, and showing the river in its normal state.
Snoozing toddlers
I’m biased, but I reckon these 17-month-old toddlers are the cutest! Margaret napped on James’ shoulder yesterday during their morning stroll.
Go Puppy!
Regular readers will notice that I’ve added a Get Puppy logo in the sidebar. That’s because I think Puppy is the best "small" operating system out there.
Most people only need a computer to browse the web, write letters and access email. Puppy does all that and more from a 60MB install disk and takes up 256MB on a hard drive.
It now has new features to easily install extra programs and themes.
To support Puppy I’ve established a marketing web site called Puppy Power. I welcome people to try the distro and leave their comments. The main Puppy forum is the place to go for technical support.
Puppy runs from RAM, which makes it much faster than Knoppix and its clones, and doesn’t interfere at all with your hard drive partitions. It’s ideal for a Windows user wanting to test Linux without the risk of dual boot.
Managing change on the land
The ongoing drought and confirmed climate change are realities that pose a significant challenge for modern Australia.
This country was built on gold and wool, commodities that come from rural areas. I can’t quote the exact figures, but I believe that something like 50 percent of people lived in the bush at 1900 compared with about 20 percent today.
The number of farms has diminished as machinery has improved and economies of scale have changed.
The drought has lingered in most parts of the country for 10 years, with some occasional teasing rain. Read more
Cross-country cycling
I ran 11km this morning into Bright and back. I pulled up sore after the Feathertop walk, so this was my first run since last Tuesday.
I did extra walks and bike rides in the interim, including a cross-country cycle adventure yesterday up and down pine forest tracks with Dude. He did well to make it up the hills, even walking part of the way, at age nine.
We headed up Roberts Creek Road past the tip, then followed Quins Gap Road to the Apex Hill intersection. From there we went bush along Quins Road and forest tracks, coming out Nursery Road past the sewerage ponds.
There are some great views from the higher points looking down on Bright and the golf course.
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