50 days on and still Burning! Are you?

As reported in earlier stories, a major Bush Fire, caused by a lightning strike, began burning in the rugged Victorian Highlands back on December 1^st last year.

Because of the recent environmental conditions, there has been a heavy build up of combustible fuel on the forest floor and because of the continuing drought this has been tinder dry, and just waiting for a spark to set it off. These conditions, along with the inaccessibility of the area, have enabled this series of fires to continue on for so long with no real end in sight.

In my earlier articles I have been discussing the negative results of fire, but in this one I would like to discuss fire itself. (I am not negating the destructive power of fire here, simply emphasizing the positive side!)

Although destructive, fire does also bring new life in that it removes the dry grass and other debris from the ground and forces the grass and other plants and seeds, many long dormant, to grow again and put out fresh new shoots. We also see this with Eucalyptus trees. Whilst some tress are totally killed by fire, the native Eucalypts usually recover, only now with less competition.

So whilst Fires do often cause great damage, they also do some good. However it is the fire itself that I would like to draw your attention to now. A fire releases a lot of heat and energy but also needs lots of input in the form of fuel to keep it burning, otherwise often all what you get is a large flare up which quickly runs out of fuel and heat and energy, thus just as quickly fizzles out. The above bushfire has had and still has plenty of available fuel to keep it going, but what about you?

I don’t know about you but sometimes I feel great and start a project with great plans, dreams, and energy, only to see it fizzle out for some reason or another. Sometimes it is a lack of time. At others a lack of energy, due to a change in the weather conditions, or for some other reason!

Some of these things we have no control over but others we do and it is in regard to those things we have control over that I wish to focus on.

As we cannot change or even properly predict the weather, there is little we can do to control it, but sometimes we can prepare against it or even work with it and use it to our advantage, rather than allow it to work against us in our desire to get our objectives done. Likewise with our own energies! If we know we have a draining job ahead of us we should plan ahead before time, conserving our energy levels, and even building them up by paying attention to both our diet and to our sleep habits etc. We can also make sure that we have all the necessary tools and recourse needed lined up and ready before hand.

We need to take care of these things plus , make proper planning otherwise we will be like a lot of spot fires. A quick flare up, lots of heat and energy displayed, but with little real end results to show for it!

Yes there are some things in life that we can just loaf or bluff our way through. But there are others where we shouldn’t even start until we have prepared properly for and counted the cost off. This is also scriptural. See Luke 14: 33- 38.

What about you today? Are you in the habit of starting something without proper planning, just to see it flare up and fizzle out, or are you like the fire above, still burning months later?

50 days on and still Destructive.

Way back on December 1^st last year, a lightning strike started the first of a series of fires burning in the rugged Victorian Highlands. As it is too rugged to get to, apart from Aerial fire bombing, the on ground fire crews have been unable to get safe access to these blazes and have had to wait in large part, till the fire reaches an area where they have a chance to stop it.

By now these fires have largely joined together and have burnt over a million Hectares, an area larger than the greater Melbourne area. Because of the rugged, inaccessible country the fire is in, without a major change in our current heat wave and masses of rain all over the area, there is little hope of putting the fire out, just in controlling and containing it to where they can safely access it.

Although 39 houses have thus far destroyed, thankfully there has only been one human life lost to it so far and that in an accident rather than the fire itself, but it has cost the lives of countless animals, both domestic and wild, causing massive damage to the natural habitat and environment, let alone the cost to the economy.

From the start, there have been up to ten and a half thousand men involved in the effort, working in shifts, just to control and contain at the moment. With crews of fire-fighters coming from New Zealand, Canada, and the US of A.. Plus all the local residents who have stayed home and defended their properties whilst waiting some, even still do so, at the cost of their wages and sometime even their future employment. So whether you judge this fire (Series of) as an environmental or economical disaster, it has been very, very costly.

Although there was more than one fire and possibly more than one original cause, the first fire was by a lightning strike in a remote area impossible to reach and full of flammable material built up over many years.

The warning herein our every day lives is to be very careful in all that you do and say and to avoid any lightning strikes from you or an deliberately lit arguments from others, whether part of your group or complete outsiders who just like stirring up trouble.

The above fire can not be put out unless it comes into open country. As long as it remains in rugged country, it will continue to burn. Either till it reaches the coast and runs out of fuel, or we get the massive rains promised this weekend that will dampen it enough for Air Bombing, and so that Ground Crews can get safe and effective access to the edges.

Likewise in our lives, whilst some problems can be effectively handled almost immediately, some problems simply have to be controlled until they burn themselves out or the problem is neutralized by natural causes.

The thing to do then is to be like the Fire-fighters and local residents. Stay alert, do what you can do and dampen down all the hot spots and put out all the spot fires. As warned this can be costly, both physically, mentally and financially.

So be warned and do what you can to reduce possible, potential disasters either starting or gain access to extra fuel to keep them burning.

50 days on and still on Fire.

Way back on December 1^st last year, a lightning strike started the first of a series of fires burning in the rugged Victorian Highlands. As it is too rugged to get safe access, apart from Aerial fire bombing, the on ground fire crews have been unable to get safe access to these blazes and have had to wait in large part, till the fire reaches an area where they have a chance to stop it. So far there have been over ten and a half thousand men involved in the effort, working in shifts, just to control and contain at the moment. With crews of fire-fighters coming from New Zealand, Canada, and the US of A.

Even though it has burnt over a million Hectares, an area larger than the greater Melbourne are, because of the rugged, in accessible country the fire is in, without a major change in our current heat wave and mass of rain all over the area, there is little hope of putting the fire out, just in controlling and containing it where they can safely access it.

This seems to echo some troublesome situations in our lives doesn’t it? It seems that things are going along okay, although a little bit on the inflammable side but still safe, when all of a sudden there is a lightning strike from almost no-where and everything flares up in to an uncontrollable situation. A situation that you may be able to control with a lot of unplanned and unexpected effort. Or you may even have to call in experts (fire crews) from outside to control the situation.

Sometimes you may not even be able to resolve the problem and you will have to let it largely run its own course like with this fire, which unless there is heaps of rain very soon, will have to run its own course and burn itself out, or at least down, so it can be finally put out.

How are you handling your own Bushfires? Can you control them yourself or do you need to call in outside help? Can you extinguish them safely and quickly? Or do you simply need to control them and ride them out?

Remember it is best to control and extinguish while small before they can cause massive damage. Final questions. Do you try and cause problems or try and put them out?

Are you a fire fighter, or a fire lighter? Walter

Hanging Pots and false economy.

Although a keen gardener I tend to do things on the cheap. Thus since our return to Oz late in
2002 I have begged, borrowed and scrounged various things for the garden. The most noticeable of these would be plants and pots. As I have collected various used pots from here and there, I have picked up a few hanging baskets. Unfortunately, most were without the hangers, or what was left of the chains, was broken.

Visiting one garden place one day, I saw and bought some spare hanging chains (Minus pots.) At first I was happy with my purchase but later I walked into a Reject shop and realized that I could have bought new pots for less than half what I had paid for these new chains.

At first it seemed practical to use these existing pots, but the reality was that it would have been far cheaper to use them without chains, or even throw them out altogether than to make them hangable again.

What about your life? Is their some false economy in it? Is there something that you are hanging onto, spending more on it than it is worth when you should be either side-lining it or getting rid of it all together?

Remember it may not be necessary to throw it away completely, but better to use it for another purpose than what you are currently using it for now.

Again, what about your life? Are you living in such a way that others are getting full value from your input? Or perhaps you need new Chains like my pots?

Humanely speaking it might be false economy, but God sent His only Son Jesus to "re-chain" us, so that we can be used for our original purpose, if we only let Him.

Even though it was not economical, I did replace those Chains and the pots are now hanging and fulfilling their original purpose. Are you? Walter

Only one story but more than one application.

Recently I shared two items with you that came from the one incident. How is that possible you may be asking? Surely with every story there can be only one application?

Not so! Often we may only ever see one application from that which we experience but that doesn’t mean that that is the only way an incident can be seen.

Just because you only see one application doesn’t mean that there are not others, and even less so that others experiencing the same event as you draw the same implications from it as you.

So often there is more for us to experience from every situation than we draw, simply because we are not looking for more. If you are only looking for one thing from every situation then that is often what you will find. You will miss many more blessings simply because you were not looking for them.

I am not saying that you should look for more in everything you do, but rather that you look to see, if there is any more, to be experienced and shared with others.

Border Plants, Rhododendrons and Aussie Native Plants.

At church recently Sunday, the Preacher used an illustration to illuminate his sermon. The illustration was about how the root system of potted Border Plants needs to be disturbed and teased out when being planted out, to get the strongest plants for your time and money.

Now I know a little about plants and such but was not aware of this information about Border plants. I have usually planted Border Plants out as seedlings and rarely from pots so have never been aware of the advantage of spreading out their roots if they were filling the pot when time came to plant them out

However, I did know for instance that not only is it wise to do so to Rhododendrons and Camellias, but actually imperative, if you want your new plant to survive more than a season or two.

Now the above mentioned plants both live for many, many years. If done right, most will outlive the person who planted them. However many people have bought one in a pot or root ball and planted it in their garden, only to see it grow for a season and suddenly the next thing they know, it is dieing and unless they dig it up immediately and aggressively attack it’s root system and spread them out, before replanting, it will die for sure. These plants tend to let their roots grow into a ball within containers and unless they are spread out to get outside nourishment, they curl up into a ball while they inwardly feed on themselves until they kill themselves.

It sounds outrageous to some people to attack their roots but it is what is needed to get them to grow out. Some take to the roots with a knife, others hose off all the soil and then tease the roots out by hand. Either way it is done, the roots have to be vigorously spread out for the plant to reach its maximum potential. With them you have to be cruel to be kind.

On the other hand with Australian Natives, it is best to disturb the roots a little as possible. With most plants, people like to buy nice big established plants. However with Australian Natives it is the smaller the better and it is better to buy small plants in tubes than to buy tall plants in big pots. Because in a couple of years or less the smaller plant will outgrow the larger one and be healthier overall.

So you see, with plants as with people, there is no single rule suitable to all and to get the best out of both you need to know the basic categories and corresponding treatment for the plant in hand. The right treatment to the right plant will bring great results, but the wrong treatment for that plant, although life for others would be death for that plant.

So are you trying to treat everyone equal and wondering why it isn’t working?

Or are you treating them as individuals and giving them the appropriate care?

Likewise, how are you being treated? Are you getting the right care? Or better still, how are you treating yourself? Are you giving yourself the right care?

Do you need to be left alone to grow or do you need a little teasing out to get the best from you?

Or do you like the Rhododendron, need aggressive surgery on your roots to prevent you shriveling up onto a ball?

Where to from here for you? You are your own gardener here: Walter

Border plants Information

At church one Sunday, the Preacher used an illustration about plants to illuminate his sermon. (The illustration was about how the root system of potted Border Plants needs to be disturbed and teased out when being planted out, to get the strongest plants for your time, money & effort.)

Now if there is any one less likely to know about this subject other than him, I’ve yet to meet them. Yet to his credit he is not afraid to admit this and openly did so whilst crediting the information to an expert on the subject.

How about you? Are you likely to listen to information from someone you consider unlikely to know what they are talking about because you don’t consider them personally knowledgeable on that subject? Or are you prepared to at least listen, even if you reserve the right to decide later?

Is it more important for you to know something from first hand information or to learn from someone else who doesn’t know from personal experience but does know where to access it from, and how to pass it on to those in need?

Many years ago one of my Uncles, who was a Chronic Asthmatic, was complaining to Dad about this new young Dr. he had recently been to see. It appears that the Dr. was not overtly an expert on the specific treatment/medication needed and had to look up a book or two to work out what was needed. This didn’t particularly impress my Uncle and he was letting everyone know so. However a couple of questions from Dad brought him to a grudging admission, that maybe the Dr wasn’t that bad after all.

Dad first asked whether the treatment worked. To which my Uncle openly expressed that it was working better than anything he had previously tried. Dad then asked then what did it matter if he had to look it up first? Isn’t it better to be sure, when you are not, before you act? To this My Uncle had no argument and reluctantly agreed that maybe the Doc wasn’t as bad as he thought, and would even improve as his experience grew.

Again I ask, are you more impressed with the Messenger and not the message? Providing that it is correct, does it matter one iota whether it comes via a book or someone else. The important thing is the correctness of the information, irregardless of the source.

Actually, that is not true, the really important thing is what you do with the information you have received.

My Uncle could have disregarded this “New” “Unproven” chap, and gone elsewhere and settled for the same old, not as effective treatment that he had previously been getting. Or he could do what he did, even though not totally convinced; he tried it out and proved it not only effective but also superior to previous treatments.

What about you? Are you prepared to try something different without grumbling, until you know if it works?

As a disclaimer I have to admit that not everything we hear is correct, and we do need to be careful of blindly following every new idea and doctrine on offer, but there are times when we need to heed the advice on offer, despite, in our opinion at least, their lack of experience in that field.

We also need to give credit where credit is due and not to go on whining like my uncle did until Dad pulled him up.

What about you? Are you moaning when there is really nothing to moan about, or will you give things ago and give credit where credit is due? Walter