Needless to say, after the desperately dry conditions we've had all winter and spring, predictions of a long hot Victorian summer have done nothing to increase comfort zones in these parts.

Fire preparations are lurching into shape, and this year we'll be facing the possibility of a really bad grass fire year with reduced dam levels, and a lot more livestock. So that's not going to be any fun at all. Add to that the sorts of weather predictions that are being chucked around, and I doubt there'll be any relaxing hereabouts until sometime in April next year.

Mind you, if one more person tells me the drought's obviously over then I've got a plan for a spot of stress relief. (Where did I put that shovel, must get out and do a bit of swinging practice....)

We're currently considering where we'll be moving the pigs to in the event of the dangerous weeks to come - it will have to be somewhere where we can quickly protect them if necessary and/or allow them to run if things get really bad. Which is an interesting challenge given they are absolute buggers to move when they don't want to move! Then there's the Alpacas, who you can move, as long as you don't mind a bit of a sprint around the paddock at the time. Not my favourite activity at the best of times, but when it's 40 degrees....

Given all the talk of "good seasons" and too much rain in the Southern parts of Victoria, I'm assuming that people don't get out much. There is a distinct difference north and south of the Divide - we see it all the time when we haul up and down the Highway.

But out here it's as dry as a chip - and has been all winter. We've had a long, freezing cold winter with very little rain and a long, hot dry Spring already - with temperatures soaring again on Sunday. Neither of our dams are close to full - one is down to around half capacity.

They are talking about the vague possibility of a sprinkling of rain on Monday, so let's hope like hell. We're just this side of mildly desperate for some.