Winter is in full swing down here at present, and our wood-burning stove in the lounge is the only heating source we have in the entire house, so it's a joy to see the fire roaring inside it on days like today.
-
The Finnie family in Blighty, December 2021
-
Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering together -
The Gathering -
Baptisms at The Gathering -
Preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen -
Soup Kitchen Welcome To 2022 lunch
-
Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng -
Thankful Thursdays -
.JPG)
HOPE Home Based Care Team -
Gathering Ground -
Staying fit as a family -
The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Ever since the first drought we experienced here in the Cape back in 2004 I've kept a regular eye on the levels of Cape Town's dams. I like to note how much the levels have gone up or down and get a feel for what might be happening with the next round of water restrictions. Our latest drought began back in 2016 with a normally dry summer followed by a very dry winter, a pattern which repeated itself right up until winter 2020 when the local dams finally hit an average level of 100%.
After several years of persistent and sometimes frightening drought, Cape Town's dams sit at a collective 100.1% full with Theewaterskloof our biggest and most important dam sitting at 100.5% full. Given that it was down to just under 20% just over a year ago that is an amazing turnaround and a huge answer to prayer.
This winter has been the wettest and coldest in all our years here and there's more rain predicted which is fantastic.
Hopefully our drought can finally be banished to the dustbin of history.
He has now been re-homed and will grow in to yet another spectacular Jade plant to join the many others already growing in the garden.
I do like the variegated nature of this one, the contrast between red and green is quite striking.
Read more about Jade plants here: Jade plants and Trees.
The best part of this is that we're in the middle of a cold front which means more rain is due over the next 24 hours and there are more cold fronts expected later in the month, all of which will bring more rain and fill the dams that bit more.
Whilst this is good news, it doesn't mean the drought is over and we can go back to old habits with water. Cape Town's population has grown by over half a million people since 2015 which puts a huge stress on the water supply.
Eli was off with a friend for his birthday, celebrating in Montagu, and Joel had his long time buddy Sean over for a couple of nights so we were able to decamp to Kalk Bay to enjoy some down time.
We have to thank The Gathering for allowing us the time off and for stepping up and leading in our absence, you guys rock!
Thankfully the storm held off until a while after our Soup Kitchen so everyone would have got back to wherever they stay safely.
I have to confess to the fact that I am really struggling not to write a ranty piece about the ineptitude and inconsistencies of the SA govt and their ham-fisted approach to the coronavirus, but I shall resist and rather talk about our garden...
After neglecting things for far too long I finally got around to some serious pruning and a number of other jobs over the last few days, including moving our dilapidated swing seat from the front garden to the rear.
September 1st is known as Spring Day down here and I always think that this is one of the Cape's cruelest jokes, though to be fair it was a warm sunny day. However on Sunday it gave way to more rain which is due to return with a vengeance this evening.So after an average August and a wet start to September, with the promise of a lot more rain over the next few days, our dams now sit at a respectable average of 65.9% full.
We still have to be conservative with our water usage and the restrictions still seem to be a long way from being lifted, but we are at least heading in the right direction for the first time in three years.
As a severe weather warning goes out around the western Cape this afternoon, I thought it would be good to revisit the issue of the Cape's three year drought and what it actually means for those of us living here.Our drought seemed to be a popular source of conversation in Blighty as I was asked countless times about it, especially as it had hit international headlines a few months ago as Day Zero was scheduled to happen within days of that news breaking.
Suddenly the clouds rolled in, the sky went dark and an almighty thunderstorm unleashed itself right above us. Thank you Lord!After a few minutes of messing about in the rain enjoying its cooling touch (it was 35°C just after lunchtime), we grabbed every available bucket and got busy harvesting as much rain as we could. In the end I reckon we got about 200Lts, which isn't a lot but it will keep the loos flushing for a while longer. 😃
It was fun to watch Eli revel in the rain and even funnier to see him get pelted by the brief hail storm.
It's great to see Eli fully committed to his football. He's loving playing for De Beers AFC and has done incredibly well to become a mainstay of defence in the Under 12s team.Being Brits, we're used to football being in foul weather, but we find it highly amusing (and a little pathetic) how so many cry off at the first hint of rain. Eli wouldn't dream of missing his football practice, no matter what the weather was doing! Some of those kids, or rather their 'soccer moms' need to get a life.
Today is the shortest day of the year (so you lovely northern hemisphere peeps get to say goodbye to the sun tomorrow 😉) which means the sunrise was unusually late and this gave me the opportunity to get two lovely snaps of it. This one was taken from our drive as I was about to take Joel to school. By the time I got the camera I had probably missed the best of it but the sunrise still looked pretty cool.
The South African Weather Service has put out a severe storm warning as they predict the worst storm for 30 years is about to slam in to the Western Cape.The municipality has ordered all schools to be closed for the day tomorrow and people are generally being advised to stay at home. So sadly we're cancelling our Homework Club tomorrow afternoon and our home group in the evening.
"On Friday 3 March 2017, a local disaster was duly declared and promulgated in the Provincial Gazette".Finally the City of Cape Town is getting serious about our two year old drought!
It's good to know too that they are now targeting the highest water users and visiting their properties to issue fines. Sadly however, it's all too little too late, they should have been taking serious action six months ago.
Three wild fires are raging locally between Sir Lowry's Pass and the Schapenberg which is right on our doorstep.The emergency choppers have been out for most of the afternoon doing their best to douse the flames but the wind is really vicious and they have now been grounded.
The pic here is looking from outside our house up the Schapenberg and it really is looking bleak.
We've taken a big step forward in recent days in terms of harvesting as much of our grey water as possible.The first picture shows the attachment for taking water from our bathroom to the garden, it's just waiting for the hose to be connected.
The pics below are of our slightly Heath-Robinson method of harvesting the water from our washing machine and dishwasher.
The last 24 hours or so have been horribly wet and cold but mornings like this make it worth it. I took this earlier this morning whilst walking Rosie in our local park.
Sadly despite all the rain of the last couple of weeks our dams are still desperately low and we need some serious downpours before summer begins.
The non-return valve has been fitted. Hooray!In fairness, once the municipality had been convinced that our sewage problem was of their making they acted well and reasonably swiftly to install the valve.
Hopefully this will be the end of sanitary products etc. winding up in our garden when the storm drains burst and flood the sewers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
