• What a year of rural living. Three high floods, a haystack explosion 100 meters from us, and a mouse plague. lol, It is ALL cleaned up inside and even the renovations from the damage fixed up and we are now in a lovely position to enjoy the benefits instead of the yucky bits of rural living, :-). We saw a dozen Emu in the paddocks today, black swans nesting, I can begin walks instead of just cleaning for exercise tomorrow :-)

 Living in the country as we do, I cannot protect against forces of nature but I can make sure I have a great roadside assistance program. 

The haystack explosion was caused by the farmer harvesting the hay while it was still damp.  It composted in the centre and generated so much heat it exploded outward, burst into flame as soon as it came in contact with air. It was like a fire ball forking outward. 
I thought it was a lightening bolt. There was a boom over our heads and a flash like lightening went into three of my neighbours homes, We were protected by the big maple tree in front of the house, it hit the tree and sent the foliage flying, it crashed branches out of the maple trees and sent them flying everywhere. Then the haystack was on fire. It had exploded from inside apparently. It was very dramatic. I had never seen a haystack explode before. I heard they could do this.
It gave me an idea for a scene I could use in my Australian novel.

I illustrated this post with a gift card of Mirinatwa Gap,  Grampians Victoria, created from the original oil painting by myself, Kathy Shell.  Art & Art Print Gifts can be viewed & purchased from :-
Kathy Shell

I rang my next door neighbour today and he is still catching mice in his home, just as my neighbours were when I laid down the mouse bait, taped up the gaps and left my home for 6 months last May. For the first time ever, I am not looking forward to returning home, Spring cleaning is going to be a full time event. I packed all the soft furnishings into sealed before I left. I hope I will not need to dump anything and need  payday advance loans to replace my furniture.

My daughter checked on the place 6 weeks ago and removed some dead mice form inside and outside and placed fresh mouse bait.... I hope she will check it again soon and my neighbour is going to air the house before we come home.

For once in my life, I regret owning a home...I would prefer to live in my fiber glass,

MICE plagues are making their way across parts of central Victoria, causing havoc for farmers who can't access bait.
Many central and northern Victorian farmers have reported that Mouseoff bait is virtually impossible to buy because of the high demand across the state, in particular in the Wimmera and Mallee.

Do you have any pics of mice invading your farm? Send your pics to emmas@bendigoadvertiser.com.au

The Victorian Farmers Federation has meet with Agricultural Minister Peter Walsh to ask for state government assistance to assist producers and communities control and manage the mouse plague, which the industry believes to be the worst in 20 years.

The federation will ask the government to help with economic assistance, access to chemicals and public health warnings to help control the spread of mice plagues.

VFF farm business and regional development chairman Peter Tuohey, a farmer near Pyramid Hill, said mice numbers were increasing and causing problems in certain parts of the district.

“The floods have certainly increased the number of mice around,” he said.

“Where crops flooded and there was no harvest there is plenty of grain around for the mice to feed off.’’ Mr Tuohey said the VFF was trying to seek bait from a Western Australian company to help Victorian farmers, and control mice numbers before rural towns were affected.

Buloke Mayor and Donald farmer Leo Tellefson said mice numbers were higher in areas recovering from flood.

“The mice are thriving. There are various pockets across the shire,’’ he said.

“Between Cope Cope and St Arnaud there is a stream of them just going across the road.’’

Cr Tellefson said he had heard reports of mice starting to eat each other, a sign of plague proportions.

“Farmers are spending enormous amounts on mouse bait and it’s getting very hard to get,’’ he said.

Boort farmer Neil Beattie said mice problems were in patches across the Loddon shire, but worse further north towards Quambatook.

“It’s probably low to moderate here but it’s getting worse,’’ he said.