Cool cat

...not really. Toby is trying to cool off unsuccessfully.

It was about 43.5° C from our weather station in the back garden but they say temperatures are down because of the smoke. With a change in wind direction the smoke has cleared here at the moment but I hate to think of people on the coast copping it.

The top picture is from the Arcgis website where I get a lot of my info from. We live in Bathurst on the left (200 road kilometres from Sydney) which indicates how large these fires have become. They take up a lot of the mountainous country between us and the coast. The Blackheath blippers live in the narrow part between the mega fire to the north and the fires in the south which are also causing great concern. The next town to us, Lithgow, is copping it tonight and more houses have been lost.

The lower blip shows only NSW active fires. This does not indicate the problems other states are having today with SA losing more property and lives. The weather report says no rain for a few months.

Thinking of my sister isbi who is trying to save her home in Blackheath and farm in Megalong not to mention my other friends and blippers in the mountains.