Roll on autumn!

Roll on autumn...that's what I say!!! We are having our second heatwave this month and today the temperature rose to 38 degrees Celsius. At least it wasn't 39.5 like it was a couple of weeks ago. I know that our southern states have had temps in the mid 40s and honestly, I really don't know how they survived. It is hard to believe that a few months ago I was complaining about the constant foggy weather in one of my first blog posts last June.

 

Little did I know what we had in store this summer.

 

Fortunately I was able to sit in air-conditioned comfort for a few hours this morning while I took a family member to the doctor's surgery. As we don't have air conditioning in our home because it wasn't really needed years ago when we enjoyed mild temperatures in summer, I really appreciated being able to escape from the oppressive heat for a while.

 

 

 

 

Today I checked the rockmelons around midday to see how they were coping and the leaves were starting to burn so I gave them a little water in the hope that they would survive the day. My husband had saved some seeds from a rockmelon he ate a little while back and, as he does, he saved some seeds and dried them before sticking them in the ground to see if they would grow. We now have at least five rockmelons growing so hopefully they will cope with another day of heat tomorrow before we go back to normal summer temperatures again on Thursday.

 

I lived in Melbourne for a few years when I was young and I got quite a shock during the first summer I was there as all the windows and curtains would be closed and the blinds pulled down to keep the homes cool when the 'north wind' was blowing. As a Queenslander who had never been aware of this phenomenon before, I hated the darkness and the feeling of being 'shut in' that this created and was quite pleased when I returned to my home state and this little area on the Darling Downs where a summer's day over 30 degrees Celsius was a rarity.  Unfortunately it is becoming more apparent that that no longer is the case so lately we have been closing the house up in an effort to keep the house cool.

 

 

Late this afternoon when the temperate was at its highest, I could stand the darkness of the house no longer and went outside to try and catch a breeze and cool down and sat underneath the pecan nut tree for a while as it provided some cool protection from the sun blazing above in the blue sky. Isolated storms were forecast so I was hoping to see some clouds forming in the sky which would bring some welcome rain.

 

Earlier tonight there was plenty of lightning but, once again, the storms passed us by and we only got a few sprinkles of rain. According to Weatherzone we have had 3mm of rain this month and our average for January is 108.9mm. Our driest January on record was 9.2mm in 2003 so I think we just might break a record this year. Obviously we will receive nothing like the 416mm of rain which fell in 2013 which was our wettest January on record.

 

Tonight on the news we were told that 65% of Queensland is now drought declared and it was sad to see the cattle that are so skinny from lack of feed. It is hard to fathom when one remembers that three years ago much of the state was flooded.

 

Still, life goes on and....

 

 

...the spiders keep weaving their webs and ....

 

 

the dahlias which are rarely watered, continue to amaze me with their beauty. I am sure they would appreciate some steady rain like the rest of us. Are you having any extreme weather where you live?