Remember the Chinese curse?

"May you live in interesting times?"

We spent the past few days pretty much picking up and trying to continue preparing for if there was a shift and we had spot fires here. They had sent an alert to residents to be aware of and watch for possible impact but not a full warning for direct impact zone. At any rate, there is still more to do today so that's what I've been doing all morning and will continue to be doing. At least I will go into this labor very fit right??? *G* Mind you I'll be glad enough when things are boring enough I can sit down and just do a bit of crafting at home or go shopping for bubs. (I have been woefully slack in the later department... lol)

The good news is that after briefly raising the alert the other day they then downgraded it last night and through this morning it's stayed there, albeit we're getting a bit of ash from backburns. So Nic is back at work, which I'm less than entirely comfortable with because I'd much rather have him here to help me round up the critters and hitch the trailer if we need to leave. It'll mean I need to get La into the car, hitch the trailer (my main concern - very heavy and difficult for me to hitch) then load the dogs, kitty and as many of the birds as I can cram into carriers in the car/dog trailer with some of our (prepacked) stuff. The sheep I'd have to leave, hopefully they would be able to just move through the paddocks to clear areas as the firefront passed.

To inject a bit of humor, after the thought we might have to call 000 for fire, last night we did have to call 000 for nothing to do with fires! At 2AM, a guy comes pounding on the door to say our cows are on the road and one is hit. Initial 2 am brain fog (...but we don't have cows...) quickly vanished as the potential for trouble dawned (cattle in road+night+morons speeding around tight blind curves+other morons doing the same=BAD) so Nic grabbed a torch to wave people off while I rang the police. The guy left while Nic was grabbing the torch - have a feeling he had tied a few on and didn't fancy getting a DUI. Some minutes after Nic sees a big SUV coming and frantically waves them down before they round the curve. Turns out it's the police - not realizing they passed the crossroad they'd been given as coordinates and are about to plow full tilt into the cows. Eventually the cows got to where they belonged - the gates were wide open, so some idiot must've had a prank. The neighbors who own them are older and apparently didn't hear the ruckus of the cows being pushed through their front yard to the lane to the paddocks! I'm sure they are wondering what happened when they went out this morning and found the erm.... "evidence" of the cows romp liberally splattered all over their front yard! Roadside grass is evidentally a bit richer than the cows are used to...

It's a funny sort of birthday mood today. Still feeling a bit antsy about the fires which you'd think would make it feel just grim and serious but also very blessed to still be here and not in the situation others are in which is a pretty freaking awesome 'birthday gift' in and of itself when you think of it.