Bowlers on fire
IT may have been cold last Saturday, but our bowlers were hot.
We had a win in both divisions for the first week of bowls for the season.
Not only did we win, both division one and division four are on top of the ladder.
Nose bleeds have not been reported yet by being so high, but no doubt some of our bowlers are a bit dizzy from the height of the top of the ladder.
It’s been a while. Well done to all involved. Division one are playing second placed Lake Boga at home to stay in top spot and division four is taking the long drive and playing third-placed Manangatang to also hold top spot.
A big test for both sides.
Murrumbidgee hits 100,000ML a day
AFTER last week’s rain up in our Murrumbidgee catchment, the top of the Murrumbidgee is running at well over 100,000 megalitres a day with Burrinjuck Dam spilling and Blowering Dam at 99.2 per cent at the time of writing.
There is no airspace left to control what comes in with the next rain that is forecast. What comes in, must go out. Interesting times.
I do not know what over 115,000ML in the Murrumbidgee does to us down this end of the Billabong Creek. It is all new to me. The Murray, I know. The Murrumbidgee I am still learning as it hasn’t flooded for many years. It is only a flush at the moment and it goes down again until this week’s rain.
More firemen/women needed
ALL of our local brigades would welcome new members, but the Moulamein Town Brigade also has a Road Crash Rescue Unit (RCRU) in their shed.
They have all of the gear that the big boys have but it is run by volunteers. We have lost a few of our RCRU due to moving out of town or getting too old.
To be a member of our RCRU, you do not have to hang off the tools all night. We always need someone to pass us the tools or hold a torch.
Balranald RCRU has closed so we have to fill in for that gap.
If you would like to help out, please get in touch with our captain, Alesha on 0427 963 683.
If you do not want to be in the RCRU, we still need more firemen/women.
You would be made more than welcome. We meet once a month and you get a free barbecue and a couple of drinks for your trouble.
Sandbags available in Moulamein
IF you need sandbags, please get in touch with our local RFS Unit.
We have plenty of them in our shed and you can have as many as you are willing to fill.
We even have sand at our shed for you to fill them with. They come in bundles of 50, so give us a yell and we will get you some.
But you have to fill them yourself.
Trivia night
THE Moulamein Public School is running a trivia night on Friday night at the Moulamein Bowling Club.
For $25, you get an Aussie finger food dinner as well as a lot of fun.
Tables are a maximum of eight and it will be all Australian-themed questions and Aussie dress up. To book in, call the school on 5887 5208.
Rain forecast again
AT the time of writing, we are going to get wet again this week. Very wet again if the forecast is right.
The shearing shed is full of sheep again to try and get another day of shearing in.
We got a day in last week and another day in would be great. The last record was a month.
That was the year that convinced me to shear in January instead of July. This is only supposed to be crutching and shearing of the ewe lambs as well as the sale sheep.
With the threat of flies, floods or fire, we have decided to shear the lot as crutching just does not work in the rain.
You cannot store enough in the shed for a day. Good time to try the six-month shearing we thought.
We have been lucky with the flies so far. Only the odd one struck, but that can change very quickly with wet and warm conditions.
Turn the tap off, Huey, save it for next year.
River levels
THE Edward at Moulamein is sitting on around 4.8 metres and around 9700 megalitres a day at the time of writing and has just been creeping up slightly for the last few days.
The oxygen levels are going ok at the moment in the Edward at 5.2 per cent at Deniliquin and still 6 per cent at Moulamein.
The Wakool River at the Gee Gee is a bit of a worry at 3.3 per cent, the Niemur River is still over 5 per cent.
Our native fish are fine above 4 per cent. When it gets below this level, they start to feel a bit hung over.
Below 2 per cent they get sick and weak and some of the big ones start to die. While the weather is cool, the oxygen levels should stay at a survivable level.
If it comes out stinking hot while our floods are on, look out. Unfortunately, sometimes black water is a natural event and it kills fish.
But it is mainly when those in charge take over and try to mimic Mother Nature that we have the big fish kills.
We can only hope that the oxygen levels got down to 0 per cent back in 2016 so our native fish were in big trouble.
The carp could not see what all the fuss was about as they fed on dead cod and yellers.
With rain forecast for the whole of eastern Australia, this could make it interesting with Dartmouth now spilling and every other weir being at over 95 per cent. Watch this space.
