Bushfires.

There have been very severe bushfires (wildfires) burning for
some weeks now in Victoria, the southern-most mainland
State in Oz.


Yesterday a high-country icon, "Craig's Hut" which was built for the
1982 film "The Man From Snowy River", was destroyed by fire, this
area has been plagued by fires for centuries.

It's always sad to loose an icon but fortunately the Australian bush
regenerates well after fires, in fact the seed pods for some of our
native flora need a fire to release their seeds.

Not so lucky will be many Possums, Wallabies, Echidnas and
Wombats, the birds seem to cope a lot better with only those
badly affected by the smoke dying.

Craig's Hut, which sat high on a bluff with magnificent views that
seemed to go on forever, a sad loss, it will be interesting to see
whether there is a push to rebuild it.

This is the track up to Craig's Hut, it is a very well used one and
offers much easier access than most other tracks which are only
used by recreational 4WDs and National Park Rangers.

This is a recent picture of the rolling mountain ranges that are under
threat at present, there are a few very rough fire trails through these
mountains, most is only accessible by water bombing from the air.

There has been about 600,000 acres burnt out and the fires are
expected to burn for weeks to come yet in some places.

A fellow blogger, Meow did a post on Friday Dec 08 which had a bit
more detail on the fires in general, she is a Victorian so has access
to lots more news than we get in Queensland.

Staying with the fire theme;

BEST LAWYER STORY OF THE YEAR

Charlotte, North Carolina.

A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then
insured them against, among other things, fire.

Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great
cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment
on the policy the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company.

In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of
small fires."

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason,
that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued.. and WON!

(Now stay with me here.)

Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company
that the claim was frivolous.
The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from
the company, which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable
and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without
defining what is considered to be "unacceptable fire" and was
obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance
company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his
loss of the cigars lost in the "fires".

NOW FOR THE BEST PART..

After the lawyer cashed the cheque, the insurance company had him
arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!

With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case
being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally
burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail
and a $24,000 fine.

This is a true story I believe, and was the First Place winner in the
Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.

ONLY IN AMERICA!

This one only has to do with fire for the Husbands who ignore
the principle involved here.

How to justify those expenses...

A woman was walking down the street when she was accosted by a
particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked her
for a couple of dollars for dinner.

The woman took out her bill fold, extracted ten dollars and asked,
"If I give you this money, will you buy some wine with it instead of dinner?"

"No, I had to stop drinking years ago", the homeless woman replied.

"Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?" the woman asked.

"No, I don't waste time shopping", the homeless woman said. "I need
to spend all my time trying to stay alive".

"Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?" the woman asked.

"Are you NUTS!" replied the homeless woman. "I haven't had my hair
done In 20 years!"

"Well," said the woman, "I'm not going to give you the money. Instead,
I'm going to take you out for dinner with my hubby and myself tonight".

The homeless woman was astounded. "Won't your husband be furious
with You for doing that? I know I'm dirty, and I probably smell pretty
disgusting."

The woman replied, "That's okay. It's important for him to
see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping,
hair appointments and wine."




Some people have been unkind.
If I say I want to grow as an actress,
they look at my figure.
If I say I want to develop,
to learn my craft, they laugh.

Somehow they don't expect me to
be serious about my work.