Fires, Banjo, life in the past few months

It's been awhile since i have blogged and what can i say?? well lots actually but time has been a major factor and also the internet working. so where to start? mmm well i will start with my baby (that's Banjo - my cat).
A few weeks ago it seems that he tried to jump over the back fence and got himself "caught" in the gate by his back leg. When i went to bring him in for the night he wouldn't come to me so of course i went and picked him up and he bit me a couple of times and meowed really loud. (now Banjo is not a biter or a meower, so this was extremely strange behaviour for him). Anyway after he did that i put him on the ground and he just collapsed... Uh oh. So i brought him inside right away and tried to make him stand up again and he wouldn't at all. Panic set in and i called the vet immediately. They couldn't find a break but because he was in so much pain they kept him overnight and said they would xray him in the am if he still couldnt' weight bear. So they "admitted" him. :-) The next morning after xray they found out that he has broken his back leg right above his knee. So right now he has a splint on his back leg and is not a happy kitty. Oh dear.

Fires.
We had some bushfires start in the North East of Victoria about 3 weeks ago now, and they are still going. The original fires were started by lightening strikes and there were about 20-30 small fires originally but they were mostly in inaccessible terrain up in our mountains, so with high winds, high temperatures, severe drought conditions and the inability of fire crews to get in to the fires right away we have now got over 700,000 hectares of our bushland that had been burnt and the fires are not out yet. All the "little" fires have now joined into one LARGE fire and 2 smaller ones (but by small i am still talking over a few hundred hectares each).

We have unfortunately had a few fires that have been deliberately lit, that are not helping. If you are interested in looking at the situation a good website is www.dse.vic.gov.au and then click on the fires link and you can look at the PDF maps of the area. I have been able to go up 5 times to the fires, and have actually been to 3 different ones. It all depends where they send us where we go. It gets sooooooo hot during the day (roughly 90-100 degrees F - and that is just the temperature without the fires), that when you are wearing the protective gear it is horrible. So nights are better, and i figured after working 1 day shift i would work the rest at night. :-). So during the day we have extreme heat and then at night we are getting out and trying to keep warm by stoking up small fires and taking a break near their warmth. Strange, very strange. Our strike team is taking a "break" right now and letting a few other teams from the state and other states in to work.

Victoria is known as the most bushfire prone state in Australia because of the amount of mountains, parks and forest that we have. So far we have been lucky and only one person has been killed as a result of the fires. We have had a few serious injuries, and about 30-40 houses burnt but these are good compared to previous fires like this one. If any of you have watched "The Man From Snowy River" then you will have seen "Craig's Hut" which is the hut that "The Man From Snowy River" stayed in on top of the mountain. Unfortuately it was one of the first houses destroyed by the bushfires this year.

My mum went into hospital a week ago for a Total Hip Replacement and is doing really well. We were really hoping that she would be allowed out of hospital for Christmas Day so that we could all spend the day together but the Doctors have said no. so we are going to visit her the day after Christmas.

Well it is late now and i have unsuccessfully tried to upload some fire photos for the past 1 1/2 hours now so i will "edit" this post tomorrow with pictures, hopefully with more luck. :-)