STOP PRESS | Power stations may choke during this long hot summer

The Australian Energy Regulator, which monitors the electricity wholesale market including demand, has warned there could be blackouts if the weather is hot and wants people to go easy with their air conditioners and use of dishwashers and washing machines.

Air conditioners burn up around 40 per cent of power consumption. If the power grid struggles the regulator would issue a directive for compulsory load shedding.

That means shutting down power supply to different areas, including Orange, for several hours at a time on a rotation basis and that would lead to blackouts.

Mt Piper generates 15 per cent of the State's power and was supplied by six coal mines but is now down to only Springvale and coal is being imported from the Hunter or somewhere to keep its generators going.

If there's power shedding the first areas to be turned off will be mainly residential so save what power you can because we don't want to be running around with candles and hurricane lanterns.

The metropolitan media has been having a field day with the misuse of emotive words describing the disastrous bushfires.

'Unprecedented' is a popular example but the Cambridge dictionary describes it as meaning 'never having happened or existed in the past'.

That, of course, is wrong as bushfires have been part of our environment for hundreds of years.

The present fires although destructive are'nt the worst we've had. These included the Black Saturday fires in Victoria in 2009 when 173 people died and the Ash Wednesday fires in South Australia and Victoria in 1983.

'Apocalyptic' is another description used by the media but it means 'showing or describing the total destruction and end of the world' and despite how bad the fires are, it's not yet the end of the world.

Farmers despite drought are an innovative lot. Former Paroo Shire engineer Alan White was also Cunnamulla Show Society president and in drought a few years ago came up with the novel idea to save the annual sheep show that was doomed because of a lack of woolly jumbucks.

He challenged farmers to make cardboard or mechanical replicas so the 40-year-old tradition of having a sheep exhibit could be continued. He wanted the cockies to re-invent the merino, corriedale or border leicester. The challenge to make the replicas was a genuine attempt to save the sheep exhibit and the rules were pretty simple. The sheep couldn't be a drawing, had to resemble sheep and had to be movable.

Graziers had lost up to 80 per cent of their flocks and only had breeding stock in poor condition when the show came around.

But everyone was happy building their sheep that helped them forget about the miseries of living in drought for a day and at the same time filled the sheep pens.

The replica sheep were judged just like the real thing and prizes included a 'trip around the world' that was a tour of a mulga paddock and a trip down the Warrego River in a punt, provided the winner took their own oars.

It was an excellent way to raise people's spirits and give the district heart to overcome the devastation the drought was causing.