Did the Weather Bureau really just mention Western Victoria and Drought in the same sentence....

Of course it was probably my imagination, I can't find the specific reference anywhere, but I'm sure I saw, in Ballarat's The Courier, a mention of Western Victoria and Drought.

Not "rainfall deficiency" / not "dry" but actual sodding drought. They used the word. I was so shocked and surprised I forgot to bookmark the report. Not shocked about the drought bit - we're living it. Profoundly shocked that somebody in Melbourne had dragged out an atlas and a compass and figured out there was a "west" in Victoria. I guess it's possible somebody got lost on a driving holiday to Gippsland but even then, it's a big detour and it must have come as a hell of a surprise for most people to discover a) there is Western Victoria; and b) it's a bloody big area. Imagine how amazed they are going to be if they find out how much of their grain comes from out here. 

But looking at:

https://www.afac.com.au/docs/default-source/bushfire-seasonal-outlook/spring-2024/afac-seasonal-bushfire-outlook_spring-2024.pdf

The seasonal bushfire outlook is suggesting we're all gonna die.

No. Shit. Sherlock.

This has been a particularly dry year, after a desperately dry year last year, and a few years in which we struggled to get to summer with full tanks, water in dams and anything other than dying and dead surroundings.

Now the native bush is dying off - you can visually see it. It's not just dead / dying grasslands, there are dead and dying gum trees and wattles everywhere. 

Bushfire fuel in other words. 

Looking at our local yearly rainfall:

2024: 492.6 mls (up to November)

2023: 805.9 mls

So not only is everything dead / dying - there's a shortage of water to fight fires with when they do hit. 

Needless to say it's going to be a shit of a summer, after an absolute shit of a year.

Pavarotti the Goat

About 4 years ago now, early one Sunday morning we went to take our dogs for their normal morning meander around the paddock, only to realise we were being watched by 3 faces from the verge on the side of the highway.

Three beautiful male goats, their ears still bleeding from where the tags had been removed had spent the night up against our fence, drawn we assume by the sounds of us feeding the alpacas, sheep and pigs the night before. Luckily they'd remained safe on the extremely busy highway, although how we've got no idea.

Then there was the problem (we thought) of how we were going to get them off the highway without incident, as my partner made it to the front gate only to find them standing in the middle of the road, at the bottom of the ridge that would mean any of the grain trucks that hurtle down the road wouldn't even see them until the very last minute.

But the boys took one look at him and ran towards him, following him straight down our drive to our house gate, following him and the cart of hay from there through to the paddock, and into the pigs holding yard.

Nobody claimed them. Some utter piece of shit had obviously just dumped them. They were tame, hand raised we'd guess, their dehorning had been botched and they were desperately thin with overgrown toenails and in need of some care.

They've been here ever since - last thing in the world we needed or wanted. They've been a joy and a source of constant amusement with only occasionally proving to be right pains in the arse. We named them the "Three Tenors" and now we've only got 2 of them.

Pav was always slightly different from the other two. He was quieter. More cuddly. More inclined to get himself into trouble. We've had to extract him from a few hazards, we've had problems with the botched horn, we've always had to trim his nails more than the other two, and he's always been a slightly different shape and perpetually hungry. Which made his sudden refusal to eat a couple of weeks ago a bit of a shock. After initially investigating if he might have urinary tract / stone problems, it then became apparent that his rumen had shut down. Long story short, we tried all the suggested methods of getting it to kick back into action, but there was something underlying going on, and within a week or so, he still couldn't eat and was starting to show signs of weakness. So we had to intervene and he's now buried with the elderly alpaca, Pascoe, and pig Billie, who we've also lost this year. 

It's going to be "one of those years" as everyone, including us, shows signs of age. It's been a hard hard year already and we're not looking forward to how it continues to play out, although, touch wood, so far, everyone else is upright and looking okay. And we're watching, oh boy are we watching.

Electricity Providers

We have a grid interactive system on the farm. Solar panels and a battery on the house and EV. Grid backup for that system in case of need (still got to work long hours in front of computer equipment), plus there are pumps, sheds and various setups around the place that are grid connected still. We have got standalone solar setups wherever possible, but with the lengths of electric fences and stuff that has to keep ticking over, the electricity bill is always there. And to get rid of bottled gas we've replaced the oven / cooktop with an electric / induction combo.

Mind you, the sheer gouge that has been the last couple of bills from a standard supplier were horrific. So we looked for alternatives.

Did all the comparison websites, nothing was looking at all interesting or providing that much in the way of opportunities to do something positive about the usage whilst not killing the world in the process.

Anyway, after a happenstance article came across this lot:

https://www.amber.com.au

Their claim to fame:

Save with Cheaper Wholesale Energy

Now I will admit there was a hell of a lot to like about this model.

1. It's disruptive technology. By knowing the wholesale price and being able to shapeshift your usage you can play the market at it's own game. Not for everyone (see below) but if there's something we love it's the possibility of screwing with "markets"
2. Full disclosure. You know the wholesale price in half-hourly increments - and you can see the predictions for 12 hours ahead.
3. Battery / usage optimisation. They work out the best times to pull energy in, to leave our solar generation alone, to use grid inputs when they are cheap, and to use the battery when it's not. They will also sell back to the grid at optimal rates. We can also do all that manually if we want to.
4. They tell you the "green" status of the grid along the way - but this game is mostly about the financials. Which works out to what we want anyway because RENEWABLES ARE CHEAPER (contrary to the utter lies and bullshit coming out of the LNP and their nuclear look at me look at me look at me game).

It's not for everyone. This system is only likely to work really well if you have:

1. Grid interactive system
2. Own solar generation
3. A Battery (they support a range of different types)
4. The ability to timeshift your actions (helps to work from home so you can be careful when you run dishwashers / washing machines / power hungry cooking devices etc)
5. If you aren't putting in some effort, it's highly likely you'll have a higher bill than from a standard provider.
6. It's going to be seasonal, we're going to take a bit of a hit at some times of the year and win at others. (This sort of levelling up is part of what the traditional suppliers do when they come up with their prices plus their premiums). 
7. You are prepared to pay a monthly subscription

We've been running on this system for only a short time now. The first few days were a test of nerves, but it's starting to learn our behaviour patterns and we're seeing real adjustments in our usage levels.  We can see EXACTLY what the next bill is going to be, what our usage is, when and if the battery has been charged, used, sold back and at what prices everything happens. We're aware that this is the worst time of the year - lots of sun but it's low in the sky / our solar system isn't the greatest right now because of tree coverage (although if this sodding years long "rainfall deficiency" doesn't end soon they'll all die out and that's one problem solved...).

The phone app shows you the projected pricing / usage in a really clear, easy to understand way.

Their ongoing "info" emails have been informative, useful and the language is clear enough for somebody like me to follow (he's the grid / electric / whatever understanding person - I'm the one that has to figure out when best to run everything).

The downside - there's a bit of a tendency to doom scroll the upcoming pricing, mildly panic about the WHAT PRICE AT 7.00AM FFS that's ridiculous, what can we turn off, oh hang on the battery....

We've had to adjust the EV charging schedule (bought a hub to help with that). And we've switched power boards around to get rid of the dreaded standby load. General tidy up in other words.

We're not getting rid of the industrial sized coolroom though. There's no way in hell we can afford to do little shopping runs for odds and ends - it's the big haul as much as possible home and use it / bulk buy model that means we're all still eating something... 

Billie

 Today we've said goodbye to our Billie

I remember the day we bought her home, 14 years ago, in one of the small cat carriers. Which she fitted in, with room to spare. Her sister, was a bit delayed, the other piglet originally put aside from us wasn't well and Lillie was being neutered and we'd go and get her a couple of weeks later.

In the meantime we got Billie home, and settled into her new home, layered in straw and made as comfortable as we could make it. She promptly laid down and went to sleep, but when I went back to check on her 15 minutes later I nearly had a fit - couldn't see her anywhere in the shed. Until she suddenly emerged from under the straw and bounced around at me - telegraphing the behaviour of a lifetime. The number of times in the intervening years where she's frightened the living daylights out of us by disappearing from sight, reappearing with no notice and frankly, you don't want to know the slight feeling of panic that comes from the sight of a piggie running straight at you.

Like the night they both went missing and we hunted the area looking for them for hours. Only to return home pigless and bereft - we thought they'd gone for good. Only there was a bag of manure that wasn't where it used to be, and then there was the snuffling noises coming down the drive half an hour later as they both trotted home - very proud of themselves. Which lead to the development of a huge moveable pen and the shenanigans involved in moving it, and them on a regular basis, until they aged and we all agreed they could free range. Which meant our back dam has been substantially altered, the shelter shed out in the paddock is now somewhat more "airy" than it used to be with the back wall obviously considered surplus to requirements, and on the never-ending saga of crazy went.

Until 8 months ago when we found Billie lying in a wallow, unable to get up. Long story short - torn cruciate liagment and not a lot of options. Our wonderful vets gave us pain relief, and then got in touch with the equally magnificent Pam Ahern at Edgar's Mission who provided some excellent suggestions for managing potential pain and building some strength so we've kept her limping along, happy, and eating well, confined to a largish pen though, until this weekend. When the other back leg gave out as well and she was unable to stand. Which meant unable to toilet properly and pigs (contrary to the bullshit myths) are incredibly fastidious and clean creatures. So she was okay with not being able to move much but keeping her clean wasn't possible. Plus it's no life if she can't move at all. So we booked the vets and the bloke with the excavator for this afternoon and steeled ourselves.

This weekend she's eaten all the fruit (she was not allowed fruit to keep her weight down), and himself developed a porridge cake with dried fruit which she bloody loved - and got a lot of over the last few days, until our kind and very compassionate vet came today to euthanase her and the equally wonderful, kind and very caring Jason came down from St Arnaud with his excavator to bury her beside Pascoe the alpaca who died earlier in the year.

She leaves behind a very big piggie shaped hole in our lives, but one that left us with lasting changes in how we see "farmed" animals.

That's her, buried in some straw with her sister.

And her on the left lying down - her favourite position.

And because there's nothing like a bit of embarrassment, she had to be knocked out sometimes so we could do a pedicure on her tootsies. She snored. A lot, when under the influence of anaesthetic.

Cassie, Laverne and the solution to a toppling by the bed issue

Because - here's one of Cassie, enjoying a cuddle, while himself watches his nightly array of YouTube videos or whatever it is that he does over there. She looks smug because she's pretty darn pleased with her nightly routine.

Contented Cassie sitting on himself's lap enjoying a snooze

And Laverne - who turned 14 on the weekend. How I'll never know. The list of health challenges we've had with this dog are longer than your arm, and part of the reason the bank accounts never quite seem to recover. She's been a joy and a worry since the day she arrived. (That's her at the bottom of the photo - enjoying a snooze with her life-long companion Shirley).

Shirley to the top of the photo, who incidentally will be 13 in a couple of weeks, and Laverne who turned 14 last Saturday

Finally - I've been dealing with a bit of a threat to life and limb for me and them for a while now. There's been this stack of books beside the bed, which is also next to their night beds, that teetered, rocked and threatened to tip over onto everyone in the vicinity all the time.

Bamboo spinning bookcase stuffed with books waiting to be read

Allowing for all the problems that go with getting stuff delivered when you live on a main highway in a regional area, this finally arrived last week - after a bit of a wait and a lot of "depot searches". 

Spins on top of a nice little storage cupboard which is now stuffed full of the bits and pieces that had nowhere to live. I can see the books, find them without having to constantly restack, and am now not constantly on wobble in the piles alert. 

(This is not the only MtTBR in the place mind you - this is just the lot that have shuffled beside the bed. Now you can see why I'm hoping to live another 60 or so years (and desperately wanting a few rainy days when I can stay inside and read) ...)

The unexpected benefits of driving an EV

Not posted much recently (it's still as dry as anything in these parts so most of the day is spent just trying to keep everything ticking over), but aside from that, there's been no great insights or observations to make.

Until I suddenly realised over the past weekend there's a bonus to driving an EV that I've not seen commented on - and that's the effect that the quiet / lack of motor noise has on a chronically carsick dog.

We loaded all 4 of the dogs up on Sunday last week to take them to the river in Avoca and the lake in Maryborough for a bit of a stroll about. Cassie (the new younger Aussie) likes more exercise than the twice nightly meander around the paddocks gives her, and besides, they all love to meet new people and see new things. Even the old girls who are only up to a gentle stroll about, love the fusses they get from strangers, and the chance to sniff something new.

These trips used to be fraught with complications because Mambo, the nine-year-old male Aussie, has suffered from chronic car sickness from the day we collected him. The first night we had him involved a mad scramble to the vets because he'd thrown up all the way home from Ballarat and ended up dehydrated and very uncomfortable. The rest of the night was spent with me keeping hot water bottles warm for him to lie on (I read something about colicky babies and thought why not - it worked), and then there were the pain killers we had to administer and the sheer panic that we'd harmed our brand new puppy. 

But anyway, he survived that, but has never been able to do more than about 15 ks in a car since then without projectile vomiting and panicking big time. Tried car booster seats to change his view, tried him in the back and front seats, tried all sorts of things - nothing worked.

Until we got the EV - in which he's never shown the slightest sign of throwing up, is happy to be in the car, doesn't whinge when he's put in it (until we get to a 60k zone when they all start whinging to get out and go for a walk), and generally is really easy now to take for a drive. We've been doing quite a lot of miles since the EV arrived with all the dogs and it is such a relief.

The theory is there's no low level engine frequency noise / thingie / something technical himself mutters about. Whatever it is - worth the changeover to an EV at double the price!

But it takes HOURS to charge an EV, when I can be in and out of a fuelstop in 5 minutes

Leaving aside the obvious call of bullshit on the 5 minute thing, the number of times we hear this argument it makes us think it's yet another piece of FUD put out by the fossil's to confuse potential EV owners ... yet again.

Our car has a 420(ish)k battery range.

We charge it when at home - either off the solar system when there is excess capacity (ie when the battery has reached the optimum level to keep the house running in the event of an overnight outage when there is no solar input), or in offpeak mostly.

The home based charging system we have allows us to set the thing up to charge on offpeak rates / overnight, immediately, or from the solar (combinations thereof). So mostly it charges when frankly we don't care how long it takes, we're asleep. Or reading a book. Or having a glass of wine. 

So we rarely, if ever, leave the place without 420ks of driving range before we even hit the first town with an EV charger (20ks away). 

As 99% of our trips are those day to day things like heading to the vets, the shops,  the doctors, the pub, or local events, we've rarely need to stop to charge it anywhere - even when a "to the shops" trip takes around 200ks in total, give or take another 20 or so driving around Ballarat, Bendigo or Ararat (mostly). 

On the occasional longer drive, most of our charging stops are dictated by our need for a loo and coffee. We always coincide a "top up" charge with the location of (preferably) both of those. 

The amount of time required for those charges differs based on the capacity of the charger, but for example:

• A stop at a 50kw charger (typically an Evie in our area) would take 5 minutes to add 30ks capacity.
• A stop at a SuperCharger (typically in the larger towns around here, for example Bendigo / Ballarat) would normally take 5 minutes to add 70ks capacity. (Double that with some of the newer supercharger installations).

I don't know about anybody else, but we plug the thing in and head off. (Although I will also admit we've sat in it and watched a YouTube video once because we could ...). I've never yet had the urge to stand there hanging onto the charging cable, had to wash the fuel off my hands or shoes before I got back in the car, or had to monitor the fill / charge. There's an app that tells us what the charge is up to, and in the event it's getting close to fully charged, warns you to return so you're not hogging a charging station. 

Aside from all of that, because you can wander off, we do. I can't do loo, coffee, stroll to and from the car, and be ready to go in under 5 minutes these days (if ever really). Add another 5-10 minutes because we're not that important and don't mind a bit of a sit around sometimes. It would take longer obviously if you're on a big road trip, in which case, we think a driving break sounds like a good idea.

So that's range anxiety / too long to charge down to yet another example of very transparent FUD.

What's next? Oh it'll probably be BUT THEY CATCH ON FIRE. Look up the stats.