Well it's been a very busy couple of months - probably a thousand words not written and a million or so thoughts many best left forgotten - I have no idea at all where the time has gone - I seem to be both perpetually busy and tired, without a lot to show for it.
There's a few positive things to say at this pre-Xmas time.
The Baptist Church in Diamond Valley has been putting on free dinners on Monday evenings for those impacted by the fires. We've been to a couple and more recently attended a Xmas function there.
Out of the blue or perhaps more accurately the black, I had a visit from Shane who lives with his family in a van at the top of Bald Spur. He's been driving past for months and decided just as a gesture of goodwill and solidarity to drop in with half a dozen beers.
A couple Wednesday's ago when it was 30+ in the shade and I was fortunately sitting in the relative cool of the van on an international conference call, when a bloke who's name I think is either Jimmy or Robbie from the first house in Mitton's Bridge Road dropped in to see if I was OK and needed to be cooler. "Just drop in if you'd like", he said and noticing I was on the phone was gone!
Can't complain about these neighbours!
Finally at least for the moment - here's a link to the latest hous construction photo's. The boys have finished for the year. A bit behind schedule but we're pretty happy with progress.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Nossida/HouseBuildingToEOY#
We are having a quiet Xmas and hope that yours is everything you you wish for - Cheers Q
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Bricks - Brickies & A Retaining Wall
Bricks Waiting for a brickie!
Lance marks the spot 
"The Brickies" - father Pete & son Jai would have to be classic exponents of their trade. Pete has been laying bricks for 49 years and there's only one way to do the job - his! I'm very impressed with their effort.
"The Brickies" - father Pete & son Jai would have to be classic exponents of their trade. Pete has been laying bricks for 49 years and there's only one way to do the job - his! I'm very impressed with their effort.
A Bit of a Coincidence??
A Visit from Melbourne Water - 48 Hours after I had turned my back on my neighbour, I was working on my PC when there was a loud knock on the caravan wall. Had to be a visitor, practically nobody I know would knock.
Turned out to be a polite young fellow wearing Melbourne Water colours, who said that they'd received a complaint and were obliged to investigate same. Appears that someone had complained that I was carrying out roadworks which were having a detrimental effect on the Diamond Creek some hundreds of metres away. When I suggested that perhaps the complainant might be my neighbour as she is the only one in cooee who can (a) see my roadworks and (b) has the Diamond Creek running through her property. Not surprisingly, the Melbourne Water chap was unwilling to name any names.
I explained that essentially what I had been doing was replacing an old culvert which had been destroyed by the combined activities of Vic Roads, Vic Police & the Australian Army, post bushfire and offered to show him the photographs I had taken showing the damage and location. He was keen to see my pics and asked if he could have copies of two of them. I immediately emailed them to him and was pleased to have him say that he'd take a couple of photos of the new culvert and indicated that it would be very unlikely if I heard any further from Melbourne Water.
I went back to work.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
A Mixed Bag of a week or two
The end of the Pool Saga!
A 21 tonne excavator operated by Daniel who looks about 19 is working along side me but his progress is fantastic. At the end of the day there's a pad for the house and a trench for the footing for the retaining wall. Before he's finished for the day Daniel relocates several truck loads of soil to create a berm along the HK road boundary. In two hours he's done about 10 times what i've done in two days with the Kubota and saved me about two weeks of effort. 
I finished at 01:00 thinking I'd done 99% of the job and here I am at o6:30 next morning still deconstructing (Derrida where art thou?). Finally finished at 11:00 which means that it took me about 7.5 hours to pull it apart. I don't think that it took me that long to put it together. Still it's all in the back of the LR and will shortly be at Cait's.
A Bloody Great Hole!
A 21 tonne excavator operated by Daniel who looks about 19 is working along side me but his progress is fantastic. At the end of the day there's a pad for the house and a trench for the footing for the retaining wall. Before he's finished for the day Daniel relocates several truck loads of soil to create a berm along the HK road boundary. In two hours he's done about 10 times what i've done in two days with the Kubota and saved me about two weeks of effort. 
What Drives this woman?
We have lived here for a bit over 15 years and during all that time one of our next door neighbours whilst constantly claiming to want to be a good neighbour has seemingly made it her business to make our lives a misery. Her dog has killed our chooks. She has complained about the blackberry which has grown along our common fence whilst having acres of blackberry of her own which has gone unchecked since her husband died a few years ago. Her inability to maintain a clear area along our common boundary made a significant contribution to the loss of our house. Through all this and much more I have steadfastly maintained that tolerance and understanding will eventually overcome her territorial demands. Most recently I have been keeping an eye on her place and checking that anybody on the property is entitled to be there. I have also offered to cut down the dead trees adjacent to our boundary and arrange for our local CFA to supervise it's burning. This offer was declined.
And to the point of this. Recently seeing that she was on site and having lost the details of Blaze aid fencing contractor which she wanted to use I approached and asked if she could again provide the information as I had found a supplier of second hand pine poles and wanted to know how many would be required. She agreed to provide this and then said that she had recently seen a copy of my business card and was I intending to run a business. I said yes, forbearing to mention that I have been running a business from home for about 5 years and wondering where this was going. Ever optimistic I thought initially that she might be interested in my Garden design consultancy but soon learned that she was actually concerned about how many clients I might have and where they would park. As we were standing in the government road which provides access to three properties I suggested that they could park pretty much where they liked provided they did not block access to our respective private access roads. She continued this line of questioning and asked agin whereabouts they would park to which I responded that if necessary they would park in an appropriate area which I would provide.
Her response was that she had moved to the country for peace and quiet and I was about to spoil it all, presumably with all the traffic and visitors I might attract. I remind the reader that my business Little Wood Consulting is a Garden Design Consultancy. I should be so lucky as to have three people a week turn up! I was absolutely gobsmacked and when she repeated her assertion that I would spoil the peace and quiet of her country existence, I said "... that is crap! I'm out of here and turning on my heel I walked away seething.
I am completely over this woman and for only the third time in my life have decided that she is a person with whom I wish to have absolutely minimum contact and preferably none! I simply do not understand what drives her but I am reminded of one of the several interactions between Mr Winston Churchill and Lady Astor in which Lady Astor says. "If you were my husband, I'd poison you" to which Winston replies, "And If I were your husband, I'd happily take it!"
A Bit of a Panic!
On Sunday I was moving crusher dust from the delivery piles to the tank pad that Sean had cleared for me when I decided to check the diameter. I was a bit surprised to find that it was about a metre short of the 10.1 m required. Monday was spent rectifying this and by nearly 6:00 pm I'd done and had enough. The level wasn't too bad but I thought it probably wasn't as good as the installers would require so I called my friend Richard a landscape architect and asked if he could give me a hand with the levels the following day. He agreed to bring up his laser level the following morning which I thought would give me a day to rectify any misalignment.
Panic set in when I called the tank supplier to ask for an extra day and discovered that I was two days out and the installation team was on route. Richard arrived at almost exactly the same and instead of having time for "white with two sugar" was immediately cast in the role of levelling supervisor as I shaved and moved and crusher dust from one area to another. I guess it could have been a disaster but in fact he did a terrific job and with the levels set he departed coffee-less to his next appointment while the tank construction team got on with the job.
It looks terrific and I am most grateful to Richard and the boys from STS Tanks.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
21/10/2009 We Are Rebuilding - At Last!
Michael our builder has been saying "two weeks" for about 8 weeks or thereabouts, so when he said on Monday that they'd probably start on Wedesday, frankly I didn't really expect anything to happen.
Barking dogs finally got through to my brain which was focused on actually trying to earn an honest day's dollar with IBM, so I walked up to the home paddock to see what they were carrying on about. To my surprise there was movement at the station and the boys from Edgebuild were sliding from the tray ... they weren't really but everyone is allowed a bit of doggerel now and then.
Actually they'd set out the levels and were painting in guides for the excavator who was going to start in the morning which meant I had to remove the swimming pool.
Well it's now 01:12 and I've done 99% of the job - the rest can wait until sparrow's. I'm going to finish this beer and try for 4-5 hours sleep. The excavator with enormous machine arrived on Wed afternoon and is starting work at 07:00 so I have to get cracking before then!
It's been a busy and tiring day but what a ripper! The other good thing is that my second client has committed!
Bed beckons - and I'm already asleep - Cheers!
Barking dogs finally got through to my brain which was focused on actually trying to earn an honest day's dollar with IBM, so I walked up to the home paddock to see what they were carrying on about. To my surprise there was movement at the station and the boys from Edgebuild were sliding from the tray ... they weren't really but everyone is allowed a bit of doggerel now and then.
Actually they'd set out the levels and were painting in guides for the excavator who was going to start in the morning which meant I had to remove the swimming pool.
Well it's now 01:12 and I've done 99% of the job - the rest can wait until sparrow's. I'm going to finish this beer and try for 4-5 hours sleep. The excavator with enormous machine arrived on Wed afternoon and is starting work at 07:00 so I have to get cracking before then!
It's been a busy and tiring day but what a ripper! The other good thing is that my second client has committed!
Bed beckons - and I'm already asleep - Cheers!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Breaking Ground but Not Bones
Breaking Ground
The title apropos of nothing in particular has recalled the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk's .."Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread!" There will be a context shortly, but to the title and its real meaning or at least what I meant when I wrote it.
We have ordered our 110,000 litre tank and of course need somewhere to put it. There are very few flat places at 2335 other than where we intend to put the barn so on Thursday, our excavating friend Sean arrived with his excavator and created one. During the dig we discovered that a large area in the centre of the tank pad was quite squidgy. It was a bit like standing on clay coloured jelly and probably the closest thing to quicksand that I've seen. If you moved your feet up and down, they just sank deeper. Created a bit of a panic about whether the effort had been in vain until I rang the tank guys and discovered that it would be OK provided I used crusher dust rather then the initially recommended sand. Mind you that silver lining had a cloud, I don't know what 13m2 of washed sand costs but that volume of crusher dust added another $1,740 to the cost of the tank.
It's still a positive outcome because even though it's only for the tank, there is at last some building activity! Sean also interred a couple of large drainpipes to channel our overflowing dam water under the 2335B road. I reckon we're contributing kilolitres of water to the Diamond Creek. It augurs well for a dam if I can get the required permit.
NOTE TO SELF - GET ON WITH THE PERMIT APPLICATION!!
More Breaking Ground
After conversations with a number of people about insurance payouts I decided to have a very close look at the policy document and under the section headed "Additional benefits", discovered that in addition to sums for, architect costs for a new dwelling, tree replacement, clean up and rubble removal and site clearing there was a a formula for rental payments for up to 12 months. I had previously spoken to the assessor who had told me that we were not eligible for either clean up costs or rental and had taken him at his word. Bastard never even bothered to mention the architect or trees. Turns out that he was wrong and from my perspective the insurance company less than ethical in handling of our case.
I called our insurance case manager and put my findings to him. His response was that the case was closed and he would have to retrieve it from archive in order to review my claim. After a week having heard nothing I called again and was more than a little pleased to discover that we were in fact entitled to a sum slightly in excess of $40,000. I forbore from asking the obvious question although in writing this with John Fane on the radio in the background, I wonder if perhaps it would be worth raising the question publicly as I'm sure I'm not the only one who has inadvertently been contributing to the profits of the insurance industry. I'll ponder that for a bit.
And now to the Not Broken Bones
A significant chunk of the insurance money has gone to the purchase of a new Kubota tractor. My old Kubota went along with everything else on the 7th and the new one in addition to being more powerful and quite a bit more technically advanced, comes with a front end loader, mid-mount mower and a backhoe. I elected to upgrade the bucket to a 4-in-1 which also allows objects to be picked up, not have the mower and replace it with a slasher when I discovered that it would cost about the same as repairing my old slasher. I also decided to get a post hole digger and finish up with the all singing all dancing small farm tractor.
It was delivered by Bruce from Yarra Glen Mowers and Tractors, a very pleasant and helpful chap and I spent a couple of hours after work day learning how to drive it and began the relocation of a large pile of roadbase and turning it into a new road across the drainage pipes. I felt very pleased with myself.
Thursday Evening was very pleasant if a bit on the chilly side. Newly married friends from Nth Warrandyte, Jenny and Grant came for a Thai dinner which we bought from Tikki at the general store in St Andrews. Grant and I found ourselves standing around the fire with Willo listening to a very detailed explanation of the many and varied levels of one of the adventures on his game computer. We were both fascinated by the never ending stream of information in vivid detail which he recounted, barely pausing to draw breath. So much enthusiam is truly amazing and infectious.
On Fridayday I started constructing an access road up to the tank pad so that I could move all the crusher dust.
I'd completed about two thirds of it, when adding another bucket load of wettish clay loam to the growing pile I discovered that no matter how careful one may think one is being there is always the unexpected ... with bucket raised, I dropped a rear wheel into a soft patch which slewed me sideways the front wheel hit the pile of clay and I discovered what the point of no return was. My reptilian brain leaped into action and screamed get out of here you idiot but fortunately the umpteen times I'd rehearsed this eventuality on my old tractor, kicked the thinking part into action and extracted the required memory. With feet flat on the floor and my hands gripping the steering wheel we slowly toppled over and came to rest lying sideways on the ROPS. Man was I pissed off as I reached up, turned the ignition key off, unbuckled my seatbelt and clambered out of the seat.
Ros was out so the first thing was to get the tractor back on its wheels before she got back. After a quick check over and discovering no apparent damage I removed the back hoe and then realised that I couldn't lift the bloody thing. Off to get the Landrover and see if it could help. Nope not high enough and no winch either. Bit of a bother because I didn't think that there was anything it couldn't do.
Fortunately my neighbour Graeme arrived, having driven past and nearly getting home before realising that the tractor was on its ear. With the assistance of his trusty Bobcat we moved the back-hoe and then lifted the tractor to its more usual upright position. With my grateful thanks Graeme went back to his Friday afternoon's work and I set about trying to work out how to get the back-hoe back in place. Nearly forgot to mention that Ros came home while Graeme and I were getting the tractor back on its feet and was very relieved to find that Willo was in the van watching a video.
Back hoe back on and back on the job although for a while very carefully and with a new shorter approach road!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
What a fabulous Weekend
Thursday evening did not augur well for the weekend. It began raining late in the afternoon and continued for many hours. It wasn't particularly heavy at least for the first hour or two during which with the aid of a quantity of diesel and petrol I was able to get a campfire started and well ablaze before Peter turned up for a bbq which we had been planning to share with a couple of other horticultural chaps whose names shall remain like themselves not present. We wandered about the place showing Pete what had survived and what I planned to do with the dam paddock - an English park with deciduous trees and swathes of exotic and native colour. The house paddock, a mostly native garden with rock pools and stream inspired by Gordon Ford and the chap at this year's garden show who made billabongs look deceptively simple and whose name will not spring to mind. And finally the top paddock which is to be a nursery of trees both native and exotic. a lifetime's work - just as well I've got another one.
Despite the blustery showers, behatted, jacketed and in excellent humour we made disparaging comments about our colleagues inability to help empty a bottle of Pepperjack while we stood warming and smoking ourselves - what is it with bloody smoke! - in front of an excellent bed of glowing coals and and flaming logs of Chilean Poplar.
Our hardy, hairy bushmen interlude over, we retired before saturation to the caravan where Peter prepared an excellent salad while I nuked a couple of potatoes before dropping them on to the back of the barbequeue grill and danced between raindrops a fantasy I've maintained since childhood as I cooked our meat to pink perfection, opened another bottle. Dan's WE3 Cab merlot - not Pepperjack but not bad either.
The dinner and conversation were most enjoyable but eventually the rain and our world changing ideas came to an end and Peter drove off into the night and a couple of weeks of well earned break from lecturing at NMIT.
Celebrating St Andrews
The posters had been around for weeks but I hadn't really taken a great deal of notice and wasn't particularly engaged until asked if I could help set-up. I have a deal of respect for people who are prepared to add to the normal chaos of their daily lives by volunteering to work towards rebuilding communities which have been significantly fire effected. It's a generally thankless task and I had chosen to not get involved beyond the odd helping hand.
It was a bit of a surprise to discover that the event was to be held only about a kilometre away and had a whole range of activities and events for the whole community. I spent a fair bit of the day on Friday helping various of the organising comittee's members get stuff done. The weather is fantastic. They are a great bunch of people, most of whom I have not previously met, although we all live within about 10k from each other and have lived in the area for many years. Their enthusiasm and fears about success and failure are plainly visible as we work to get set-up. They've put so much effort in, I really wanted it to be a success. By the end of the day we are all pretty stuffed and I leave hoping that the night will be quiet for those staying on site.
The night is very windy but not as bad as it has been over the last few weeks and the morning is cool and cloudy. I skip breakfast having had an enormous dinner including two completely unnecessary serves of icecream the previous evening, and head off down Nink's road to the event site. The wind has done quite a bit of damage but spirits unlike some the tents are not damaged.
A bunch more work - I was only going to spend an hour but it turned into two or three and I went home desperate for some sleep. Ros & I had a quick lunch, checked the program and decided to get there about 4:30 ish. Sleep came in minutes not a snore to be heard by either of us!
Showered, dressed and prepared for whatever the weather could throw at us we drove down Ninks road where I caused a bit of drama by stopping to take a couple photographs. The road is only just wide enough for two vehicles and I'd reduced it to a single lane for about 4 minutes and of course there were cars wanting to travel in both directions. Nothing will stop a determined photographer!
We arrived and began the meet and greet which lasted until we left, very close to midnight. It was a wonderful evening. Old and new friends, met and mingled, ate and drank, listened to short speeches and danced and listened to a variety of live music which went almost continuously all night. There were hundreds of conversations, a few tears, much laughing and jokes none of which have been remembered or will be recorded here. As I spent much of the evening enjoying myself by taking photographs I've decided to let the pictures tell the rest of the story.
The link to the pictures which are available for viewing or downloading on Picasa is http://picasaweb.google.com/Nossida/SACBRACelebration?feat=email#
I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them.
With the Celebration of St Andrews, the SACBRA committee have done a fabulous job in beginning the creation of a new feeling of community.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
SAD or BAD!?
If I lived in the Northern hemisphere I might have recently been suffering from SAD (Seasonally Affective Disorder). However I think it might more likely be something like Bushfire Angst Daily or Building A Dream or who knows?
Truth is I'm not quite sure where I've been. Rob Gordon would suggest that I'm in the "Cortisone Phase" of a post traumatic experience but again I'm not so sure.
I know I've lost a house and a bunch of stuff that I'll probably never replace and a cat that I might, but at no point in any of the time since Feb 6 have I felt particularly traumatised. In fact I've mostly felt nothing in particular. Of course in daily life, I've been angry, upset, frustrated and happy and relaxed and also just blank. Having been diagnosed previously with depression and still on medication for same, I have sometimes thought that it's like being depressed but with a purpose ie all the same symptoms but with energy or focus which prevents one from just sitting. I've pretty much decided that it would be useful to talk to someone as I suspect that it's a long embedded ability(?) and desire to survive by "managing" or controlling my emotional and physical wellbeing and environment.
Perhaps none of or all of the above as well as a degree of frustration that at the age of 60 once regarded as nearly venerable and a time for reflection and relaxation one has been prematurely reborn with a new beginning, life and a new bloody mortgage.
My head has been pondering the preceding for most of the last month as well as taking on a new role at IBM which has demanded a very steep learning curve and a recognition that there have been a number of outstanding actions that I haven't been able to get to grips with like responding to mails, actually putting drafting pen to paper for a couple of garden designs including my own and updating the blog. I've mostly just been rolling along making sure that I eat and drink and generally remembering to take my be nice pills.
I'm not going to attempt to fill in the blanks since August. It would if possible, take too long and anyway a bit of a mystery is probably no bad thing.
That said, here's a few things that have or haven't happened yet. The dead pine trees are still dead and despite 100Kph winds and my fervent wishes, refuse to fall over. They are obviously not taking any notice of the council's arborist who has declared them dangerous.
I finally had the ailing "Big Dog" Fergal given a quiet send off at the local vet. Poor old bugger couldn't even scratch himself and that's no life for a poor bloody dog.
We've moved the caravan to enable the building of a barn. My builder Mick has given me a whole bunch of trusses and roofing iron from a house he's demolishing. Its a great gift and will significantly reduce the cost of a barn.
We've survived foul winds and a bit of rain. The dam is now overflowing for which I am grateful, but I hate to see it flowing across the bottom road.
We've had a new gas heated shower unit delivered. Ros is very happy.
I've ordered a 110,000 litre from Pioneer for delivery in mid-October.
Council has approved the house plans and yesterday we signed the contract with Mick & EdgeBuild his company. He reckons it will take about six months so we will probably be in the house in April 2010. Ros is very pleased. She's starting back at work tomorrow at the Austin one day a week. I am very pleased with both of these events.
Truth is I'm not quite sure where I've been. Rob Gordon would suggest that I'm in the "Cortisone Phase" of a post traumatic experience but again I'm not so sure.
I know I've lost a house and a bunch of stuff that I'll probably never replace and a cat that I might, but at no point in any of the time since Feb 6 have I felt particularly traumatised. In fact I've mostly felt nothing in particular. Of course in daily life, I've been angry, upset, frustrated and happy and relaxed and also just blank. Having been diagnosed previously with depression and still on medication for same, I have sometimes thought that it's like being depressed but with a purpose ie all the same symptoms but with energy or focus which prevents one from just sitting. I've pretty much decided that it would be useful to talk to someone as I suspect that it's a long embedded ability(?) and desire to survive by "managing" or controlling my emotional and physical wellbeing and environment.
Perhaps none of or all of the above as well as a degree of frustration that at the age of 60 once regarded as nearly venerable and a time for reflection and relaxation one has been prematurely reborn with a new beginning, life and a new bloody mortgage.
My head has been pondering the preceding for most of the last month as well as taking on a new role at IBM which has demanded a very steep learning curve and a recognition that there have been a number of outstanding actions that I haven't been able to get to grips with like responding to mails, actually putting drafting pen to paper for a couple of garden designs including my own and updating the blog. I've mostly just been rolling along making sure that I eat and drink and generally remembering to take my be nice pills.
I'm not going to attempt to fill in the blanks since August. It would if possible, take too long and anyway a bit of a mystery is probably no bad thing.
That said, here's a few things that have or haven't happened yet. The dead pine trees are still dead and despite 100Kph winds and my fervent wishes, refuse to fall over. They are obviously not taking any notice of the council's arborist who has declared them dangerous.
I finally had the ailing "Big Dog" Fergal given a quiet send off at the local vet. Poor old bugger couldn't even scratch himself and that's no life for a poor bloody dog.
We've moved the caravan to enable the building of a barn. My builder Mick has given me a whole bunch of trusses and roofing iron from a house he's demolishing. Its a great gift and will significantly reduce the cost of a barn.
We've survived foul winds and a bit of rain. The dam is now overflowing for which I am grateful, but I hate to see it flowing across the bottom road.
We've had a new gas heated shower unit delivered. Ros is very happy.
I've ordered a 110,000 litre from Pioneer for delivery in mid-October.
Council has approved the house plans and yesterday we signed the contract with Mick & EdgeBuild his company. He reckons it will take about six months so we will probably be in the house in April 2010. Ros is very pleased. She's starting back at work tomorrow at the Austin one day a week. I am very pleased with both of these events.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Sunday - Not Bloody but very wet and Windy
The Week just gone
It has been blowing and raining, sometimes simultaneously, although most often at 20 minute intervals for most of the week. Still I'm not complaining, the dam is very nearly full to overflowing and I suspect that by the end of today it will be.
On Wednesday evening was just heading out in the LR to attend a lecture by Rob Gordon on managing post bushfire, when our builder Michael phoned to say rather apologetically that he'd costed the project and despite having stayed up to the wee hours couldn't get it below $430k.
I took a deep breath because I'd been hoping that it would be more like $350k which was within reach of the likely funds available. We agreed to meet on Friday morning when he would go through the numbers with me and make some suggestions about possible changes.
I'd been planning to go sailing with Ian on Friday but this needed to be addressed.
Taking my life in my hands I drove up the road to Kinglake and towards Whitlesea through fog the like of which I haven't experienced since I was riding my motorcycle from Woollongong to Campbelltown after a night shifts in the University computer centre and had to ride along the white line on the edge of the road so I could tell where I was going. That was in the mid-seventies so it's been a while and I was very glad to have four wheels beneath me and the white line on the edge of the road. Instead of the 31 minutes that google maps told it would take it was about 50 and I arrived just before the scheduled starting time of 7:00 pm.
Rob is a very easy to listen to speaker with a great deal of empathy and a self-deprecating sense of humour. It was an excellent session highlighting that most people had probably moved from the adrenalin fuelled immediate response phase to the cortisol driven problem resolution phase, where most energy is focussed on getting things done. A sense of humour is mostly absent and anger and frustration often just below the surface, and you are a bit fed up with people telling you how lucky you were to have survived! Hmm - he's been looking inside my head.
The solution - recognise that this stuff takes time, take support from your community and time out for yourself.
So on Friday after talking with Michael and giving him the go ahead to finalise the quote I went sailing with my mate Ian. A great afternoon.
Saturday the 6oth
It's been blowing a gale - literally. Weather Bureau warnings for 100+kph winds for yesterday afternoon and beyond, materialised a little earlier than expected and threatened to blow what little hair I have left on my head to Bass Strait. It was actually a perfect day to be planting my Lomandra confertifolia spp. ruginosia ("seascape"). I haven't got anywhere near enough but even my 9 or 10 plants are displaying their eponymous and characteristic rolling waves, particularly with the wind at the strength it is. I'd put a picture in here but it's pouring with rain and there's no way to keep the camera dry.
As we had been invited to Shona's 60th, Ros had arranged for a hot shower at Cathy and David's. A wonderful experience, I haven't shampoo'd my hair and beard for weeks. Not quite enough water in our little camp shower and even when it's sunny, I'm too much of a wus to use cold water.
Shona and Ros used to work together at the Epworth hospital for about 10 years and we've been in loose contact with her and husband Geoff since Ros left. It was a 3:00 pm start which I initially thought a bit odd but it turned out to be a very good idea, particularly as I was able to start the afternoon with a glass of (bugger the French) - Champagne. People came and went throughout the day and we eventually left at about 10:00pm after having talked and eaten and
eaten and talked with a host of people, most of whom where relatives from NZ, great bunch of people or like Ros, former and current nursing colleagues. It was a very pleasant experience and we even got to sit on the chairs and around the table that Shona & Geoff have donated to us. Not forgetting of course a couple of chests of drawers from daughter Penelope's boyfriend, ( I think Mike).
As we drove home, it became obvious that the wind had not abated, with many dead branches strewn across the road and I wondered aloud whether or not the tent would still be standing. It was but only just. The temporary walls erected by Jan were even more temporary having ripped and blown out in several places. So I again lowered it to half mast and re-tensioned all the guy ropes before falling into bed with the rain hammering on the caravan roof. Almost forgot, our new friends Tony and Barbara had called around while we were out, with details of the shed suppliers they were using and had carefully tucked it into the space for the external light switch near the caravan door.
Was a bit late to call last night so after we eventually rolled out of our cocoon this morning and Ros went shopping for breakfast, I called to say thanks and was invited around for a coffee and to have a look at the shed components which had arrived yesterday.
So that's where I'm off to next. - Cheers.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Oh Where Oh Where has my little brain gone..
August 10/2009
It's 23:20 and I've spent most of the evening catching up on filing, sorting out my tax stuff and not submiting my overdue BAS because I have no idea where my ATO digital certificate has gone. They obviously sent it to me because I have the password. Nothing for it but to ask them for a new one tomorrow. It's stuff like this that drives me nuts. I've got a filing cabinet and by the end of the week it will have my stuff in it - hopefully organised so I can find what I've filed and avoid some of this frustration.
My filing cabinet and my desk and drawing table are in the marquee which for the last 3 weeks has been lowered so that I can't get into it easily and neither can the wind. As I think I've mentioned previously we've had some ferocious winds of late and I had little desire to find the thing a a tangled and mangled mess so down it came to half mast or a bit less.
I bought some additional tent guys and pegs 2 weeks ago and this morning after two days of calm (excellent weather for burning piles of branches), in a light drizzle I re-erected it. Of course it wasn't raining when I started but that's Winter for you. Just wish some of the water was getting into the tank. The dam is nearly running a banker so we'll have plenty of garden water through summer and beyond.
The question which seems to be on everyone's lips (not sure about that apostrophe) is, "When are you going to start building ?". Don't have an exact date but it will probably be a week or so after we sign the contract. Last Monday Mick the builder & went to meet with the relevant Council officers to discuss some issues they had with the site plan. It was a pretty cordial meeting and we all left satisfied with the outcome and it only took about 20 minutes. The final plans went in on Friday and I expect to hear from Michael in a day or so.
On Friday evening Ros & I went to share a bowl of soup with Barb and Tony a local couple who survived the fires with their house intact after several hours of strenuous firefighting - they also had a plan and followed it! Didn't save the shed and the forty years of tools and memories that it contained but they did a bloody good job of saving the house. The soup and company were great and after a drink or three and several hours of conversation we drove home to be greeted by the snap crackle and pop of the grass as we crunched our way down the glistening white paddock from the drive.
I've been looking at tanks and barns and bricks and more than a few other things on the net and on Saturday morning after the 100 day breakfast, decided to take Ros to see an Austral brick display in Thomastown. Bit of a disappointment and a drama to say the least. None of them really looked like the one's I'd seen online and the people in the office were less than bloody helpful - didn't even offer to let me look online via their screens, just wanted to tell me what I'd done wrong in logging onto their website. They did at least give us a brochure.
I'd been hoping to see a couple of the bricks I'd found online but couldn't and wasn't able to remember their names so that I could show Ros and she'd say "Great" and that would be the bricks done with. The helpfulness of the staff had made me really grumpy and as Ros was "overwhelmed" by the choice we left but not before agreeing on a couple of possible options.
The 100 day breakfast was a celebration put on by our local CFA as an opportunity for people to get together and have a bit of breakfast and share experiences. We met many people including Jan long time friend, who subsequently came up to the farm for dinner and told me about the big round bales that Ian Chivers from Australian Native Seeds had for sale. They are used to cultivate native grasses and still have many seeds in them as well as ready made mulch. I mailed Ian and confirmed their availability as well as ensuring that I could get the Griffin cultivar of microlaena stipoides, which I came across during an assignment for my horticulture course last year. Only problem is that the bales are near Wangaratta which is several hours drive from here. Have to see how many large bales I can get in a tandem trailer or whether Alan from the Stock and Station Agency in town will pick them up for a reasonable rate in his truck.
Planted a few more Grevillea Gaudi Chaudi, Correas and Limoneum (statice) as well as some of the myoporum (groundcover) and a couple of Eremophila (emu bush) which were looking a bit dry and probably won't survive.
And finally for today - more generosity from the Volunteer Fire Brigades Victora. They are an amalgamation of the two unions who used to represent volunteer firefighters and "..were approached by a number of our sister interstate volunteer firefighter organisations who were keen to provide financial assistance to volunteer firefighters and their families specifically, rather than contribute to the state fund." .... "Contributions to the fund have been received from volunteer brigades in all Australian states, as well as from other organisations and individuals...", including the Herald Sun newspaper raised $471,000, ..." from sale of a photograph showing a CFA volunteer giving a distressed koala a drink of water in the Gippsland fires.".
I received a letter from them on Saturday which contained a very generous cheque that will go a long way towards getting the barn built.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed, you have no idea how much this support means.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Comunication is a wonderful thing!
Um .......
While I was forgetting to write things over the recent past, I had a visit from Tony Johnston, his wife and a couple of young Swiss travellers one of whom Simone was doing a school project on the bushfires. Tony works for ABC Northern Rivers at Lismore in NSW and they had been travelling around the fire affected area and dropped into say hello.
Tony subsequently phoned to ask if I would do a radio interview on his morning program. I agreed and the result is contained in Tony's blog in which he writes movingly about their experience in Victoria . It can which can be found at
http://blogs.abc.net.au/nsw/2009/07/the-victorian-bushfires-new-hope.html#more
I've discovered that I say um a lot more than I was aware of but once again it was a special feeling, being able to say thank you to so many people I will never know who have and are contributing to our recovery.
Power and Glory!
What does this man
and this box
have to do with this 
??
Well - he's Brendan Freeman the local electrician who didn't have a spare moment but found time to install our meter box, sort out SP-Ausnet and make our camp at 2335 feel like the pot of gold!
You have no idea how wonderful it is to be able to sit up in bed and watch TV that isn't going to stop in the middle of the last episode of Foyle's War because the genny's run out of fuel or to have to get up in the nearly sub-zero temperature, struggle to put your boots on and then wander down through the mud and damp weeds, to avoid falling base over apex on the clay and finally switch off the generator before doing it all in reverse to get back freezing to bed.
Thanks Brendan
Just when you thought it was ...
I'm really a bit shattered at the moment - spent several hours this afternoon re-formatting and updating a spreadsheet for work and then somehow managed to delete the bloody thing. It's the second time I've done it recently and its hard enough trying to focus on the detail without stuffing the bloody thing up.
While I was forgetting to write things over the recent past, I had a visit from Tony Johnston, his wife and a couple of young Swiss travellers one of whom Simone was doing a school project on the bushfires. Tony works for ABC Northern Rivers at Lismore in NSW and they had been travelling around the fire affected area and dropped into say hello.
Tony subsequently phoned to ask if I would do a radio interview on his morning program. I agreed and the result is contained in Tony's blog in which he writes movingly about their experience in Victoria . It can which can be found at
http://blogs.abc.net.au/nsw/2009/07/the-victorian-bushfires-new-hope.html#more
I've discovered that I say um a lot more than I was aware of but once again it was a special feeling, being able to say thank you to so many people I will never know who have and are contributing to our recovery.
Power and Glory!
What does this man
and this box
have to do with this 
??Well - he's Brendan Freeman the local electrician who didn't have a spare moment but found time to install our meter box, sort out SP-Ausnet and make our camp at 2335 feel like the pot of gold!
You have no idea how wonderful it is to be able to sit up in bed and watch TV that isn't going to stop in the middle of the last episode of Foyle's War because the genny's run out of fuel or to have to get up in the nearly sub-zero temperature, struggle to put your boots on and then wander down through the mud and damp weeds, to avoid falling base over apex on the clay and finally switch off the generator before doing it all in reverse to get back freezing to bed.
Thanks Brendan
Just when you thought it was ...
I'm really a bit shattered at the moment - spent several hours this afternoon re-formatting and updating a spreadsheet for work and then somehow managed to delete the bloody thing. It's the second time I've done it recently and its hard enough trying to focus on the detail without stuffing the bloody thing up.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow 21/07/09
22/07/09
"They" say that tomorrow never comes - well perhaps it's true but here I am again some three weeks later. Apologies to anyone who has been disappointed with my lack of continuity - I'm afraid that I've not been terribly focused or conscientious over the last few weeks. It has been easier to put it off until tomorrow than find the time to honour what is at least an implicit commitment. If one starts a blog then one is obliged to blog or tell one's readers that its no happening any more. Truth is - sometimes it just isn't happening - I get caught up in living or surviving and blogging takes a lower priority.
I think I'm back mostly - and to continue - on Wednesday after lunch we drove up to Ngapla to stay with brother Dig and his wife Lynn. Dig was responsible for preparing dinner as Lynn who works nights supervising a bottling line in the Barossa was still sleeping. After dinner a quick conversation and she was off to work leaving Ros watching tv and the tennis while Dig and I had a few Bundy & cokes and talked about house plans bureaucracy and the nature of humans before hitting the sack. I think his most useful observation regarding our house plans was, "If you like the design just build the bloody thing!"
Dig was well gone to his job in Clare by the time we surfaced, just in time for Lynn to get home. Another brief but pleasant chat before we let the poor girl go off to bed but not before she had most generously given us a dozen bottles of excellent red (Sorry Jim) and two ports of similar quality, to sustain us against the cold Victorian nights.
A meandering trip to the bakery in Eudunda and then a quick return to John and Norma in Kapunda where I had the opportunity to have a look at John's dobsonian telescope. Unfortunately the weather had not been suitable for viewing at night so it may be some time before I see it in action. LR packed, a final lunch and hugs and kisses all round we headed off to visit Ian and his wife who's name has completely escaped my memory.
The wilds of Adelaide only got us a little confused before we eventually arrived and enjoyed coffee and more food than I knew what to do with. Eventually completely sated, we staggered out to the LR and drove south to Morphett Vale and dinner with Strachan and Karol before retiring some time in the morning having eaten to capacity and drained the remains of a bottle of Jack Daniels which had been looking for a good occasion to be emptied for nearly 10 years. considerable number of years.
We got to April 4 and had a most enjoyable 60th with Greg, Sylvia, family and friends.
Originally we had planned to go back to Morphett Vale but by 03:00 it was no longer an option and after a final generous wee dram, bed beckoned.
Next morning after a cleansing coffee, a hot breakfast and some hysteria over Stavros Flatley (check it out on google - I guarantee you'll enjoy it!) we downloaded the pictures from the party and chatted about building the new house, a possible Grampians meeting in August and a bunch of other stuff that has disappeared into the ooze of my brain.
Reluctantly after hugs kisses and a bit of cheek, we left and headed off to North Adelaide to meet Strachan, Karol and Hayley for lunch. Is it any wonder I'm beginning to have trouble seeing my feet! Lunch was excellent and the rest of the day has also largely disappeared except the certain knowledge that we returned to Morphett Vale. I think a sleep was involved somewhere before Strachan and I packed a few useful tools like a router, angle grinder, sander and sundry bits and pieces that he kindly donated to my somewhat depleted tool kit. I was also fortunate to be given a fishing rod to encourage a bit of leisure taking. 2010 is looking good!
Monday morning and it was time to leave a warm bed, eat yet more breakfast, do the final packing and leave Strachan & Karol to a couple of well deserved days off.
The newly "up-chipped" LR which I think now stands for Lightning Rocket behaved very well on the trip back and we made good time much to the obvious pleasure of Angus the dog who was ecstatic to see his good friend Meggy - nearly wagged his tail off.
Since our return and this is really a summary to bring this blog up to date, we have bought some new fittings for the caravan damaged by the severe winds while we were away. Endured another weekend of howling bloody winds and rain which damaged the awning fittings quite extensively, necessitating the purchase of yet more fittings. In the mean time we have rolled up the awning and will repair it when the wind abates in summer or I pluck up enough courage on a calm day to repair it.
Ros & I met with our builder Michael and have agreed the concept plans with a few minor modifications. I've drawn up a site plan for the Council which has all the things we are likely to want to add to the property including a new barn, new tanks, a new access road, new dam, greenhouses, hydroponic greenhouses, a new sewerage treatment system and nearly forgot a new house.
Michael thinks he will be able to start in about 4-5 weeks. I'm actually quite excited at the prospect.
Other good news is that Bronwyn our Global Care Angel has organised a deck to keep our picnic table off the ground. This was installed by a team of volunteers from South Australia - Many Thanks people.
One of our friends, an older lady called Dell who has not been in good health herself has been making dinner for us on Friday's. I don't generally have a lot of time for Christians but the activities of Global Care and Dell represent the very best of Christianity. I thank them all.
A neighbour Graham with a bobcat let me borrow it to move a load of roadbase up onto the flat. I repaid him by running it out of diesel. Fortunately after a bit of a ring around I worked out how to bleed it. Thanks Sean! All I need to do now is get enough fill to make a road so I can get up to the flat without needing to use low range locked diffs on the LR when its wet.
And finally both Phoebe and Angus are a year older - they are now 4 and 6
"They" say that tomorrow never comes - well perhaps it's true but here I am again some three weeks later. Apologies to anyone who has been disappointed with my lack of continuity - I'm afraid that I've not been terribly focused or conscientious over the last few weeks. It has been easier to put it off until tomorrow than find the time to honour what is at least an implicit commitment. If one starts a blog then one is obliged to blog or tell one's readers that its no happening any more. Truth is - sometimes it just isn't happening - I get caught up in living or surviving and blogging takes a lower priority.
I think I'm back mostly - and to continue - on Wednesday after lunch we drove up to Ngapla to stay with brother Dig and his wife Lynn. Dig was responsible for preparing dinner as Lynn who works nights supervising a bottling line in the Barossa was still sleeping. After dinner a quick conversation and she was off to work leaving Ros watching tv and the tennis while Dig and I had a few Bundy & cokes and talked about house plans bureaucracy and the nature of humans before hitting the sack. I think his most useful observation regarding our house plans was, "If you like the design just build the bloody thing!"
Dig was well gone to his job in Clare by the time we surfaced, just in time for Lynn to get home. Another brief but pleasant chat before we let the poor girl go off to bed but not before she had most generously given us a dozen bottles of excellent red (Sorry Jim) and two ports of similar quality, to sustain us against the cold Victorian nights.
A meandering trip to the bakery in Eudunda and then a quick return to John and Norma in Kapunda where I had the opportunity to have a look at John's dobsonian telescope. Unfortunately the weather had not been suitable for viewing at night so it may be some time before I see it in action. LR packed, a final lunch and hugs and kisses all round we headed off to visit Ian and his wife who's name has completely escaped my memory.
The wilds of Adelaide only got us a little confused before we eventually arrived and enjoyed coffee and more food than I knew what to do with. Eventually completely sated, we staggered out to the LR and drove south to Morphett Vale and dinner with Strachan and Karol before retiring some time in the morning having eaten to capacity and drained the remains of a bottle of Jack Daniels which had been looking for a good occasion to be emptied for nearly 10 years. considerable number of years.
We got to April 4 and had a most enjoyable 60th with Greg, Sylvia, family and friends.
Originally we had planned to go back to Morphett Vale but by 03:00 it was no longer an option and after a final generous wee dram, bed beckoned.
Next morning after a cleansing coffee, a hot breakfast and some hysteria over Stavros Flatley (check it out on google - I guarantee you'll enjoy it!) we downloaded the pictures from the party and chatted about building the new house, a possible Grampians meeting in August and a bunch of other stuff that has disappeared into the ooze of my brain.
Reluctantly after hugs kisses and a bit of cheek, we left and headed off to North Adelaide to meet Strachan, Karol and Hayley for lunch. Is it any wonder I'm beginning to have trouble seeing my feet! Lunch was excellent and the rest of the day has also largely disappeared except the certain knowledge that we returned to Morphett Vale. I think a sleep was involved somewhere before Strachan and I packed a few useful tools like a router, angle grinder, sander and sundry bits and pieces that he kindly donated to my somewhat depleted tool kit. I was also fortunate to be given a fishing rod to encourage a bit of leisure taking. 2010 is looking good!
Monday morning and it was time to leave a warm bed, eat yet more breakfast, do the final packing and leave Strachan & Karol to a couple of well deserved days off.
The newly "up-chipped" LR which I think now stands for Lightning Rocket behaved very well on the trip back and we made good time much to the obvious pleasure of Angus the dog who was ecstatic to see his good friend Meggy - nearly wagged his tail off.
Since our return and this is really a summary to bring this blog up to date, we have bought some new fittings for the caravan damaged by the severe winds while we were away. Endured another weekend of howling bloody winds and rain which damaged the awning fittings quite extensively, necessitating the purchase of yet more fittings. In the mean time we have rolled up the awning and will repair it when the wind abates in summer or I pluck up enough courage on a calm day to repair it.
Ros & I met with our builder Michael and have agreed the concept plans with a few minor modifications. I've drawn up a site plan for the Council which has all the things we are likely to want to add to the property including a new barn, new tanks, a new access road, new dam, greenhouses, hydroponic greenhouses, a new sewerage treatment system and nearly forgot a new house.
Michael thinks he will be able to start in about 4-5 weeks. I'm actually quite excited at the prospect.
Other good news is that Bronwyn our Global Care Angel has organised a deck to keep our picnic table off the ground. This was installed by a team of volunteers from South Australia - Many Thanks people.
One of our friends, an older lady called Dell who has not been in good health herself has been making dinner for us on Friday's. I don't generally have a lot of time for Christians but the activities of Global Care and Dell represent the very best of Christianity. I thank them all.
A neighbour Graham with a bobcat let me borrow it to move a load of roadbase up onto the flat. I repaid him by running it out of diesel. Fortunately after a bit of a ring around I worked out how to bleed it. Thanks Sean! All I need to do now is get enough fill to make a road so I can get up to the flat without needing to use low range locked diffs on the LR when its wet.
And finally both Phoebe and Angus are a year older - they are now 4 and 6
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Some Have a Gap Year - We had a Gap Week and a bit
A Little History - 7/7/09
Back in 1962 I met a young chap recently arrived from Liverpool and a member of the 1st Alberton Scout Troop. He and a bunch of his mates were camping at Scott's Bottom - I think at Gumeracha in SA. I had been invited to attend by one of their senior members Bob Evans, who was working in Woomera and had been participating in scout meetings of 1st Woomera. To cut a long story short Greg Keegan and I have been best mates ever since.
Last week, Ian Lawrence another of our scouting mates, Greg & I all turned 60. Due to a complete inability to get anything organised in time, I had a quiet and most enjoyable dinner at Mercers in Eltham, on the 25th with Ros Cait,Ben and Ema (Nicco was doing an exam) to celebrate the occasion. We decided we'd have a big celebration in 2010.
Ian's party was on Sat 27 and Greg's on July 4 so we decided to travel to Adelaide on the Friday and stay with my brother Strachan and his partner Karol at Morphett vale and go to Ian's party on Sat, stay with friends at Kapunda, catch up with another brother Digby and his wife Lynn at Ngapla, party on at Greg and Sylvia's and return home on Monday July 6.
We had a few things to bring back so decided to take the LR on a road trip and see how we all coped. Also decided to take Angus the dog as he had demonstrated that travelling in the rear section of the cab was much to his liking. It was an uneventful trip and despite my hip/back/muscles/numb foot etc., reasonably comfortable.
Got up on Saturday morning and after breakfast headed out to the LR to find the front rhs tyre as flat as a pancake. Ros who was already sitting in the cab was removed post haste as I called the RACV .
To my surprise the RACV operator said she couldn't help me but after a pause which was just long enough for me to have almost decided to give her an earful about Total Care and reciprocal arrangements..... she said, " ....but I can call someone who can!". I reckon she's been waiting to use that one for years. She put me through to the RAA operator who said that a service vehicle would be there within the hour. To my surprise he turned up in less than ten minutes and we quickly discovered a common interest in LRs. While he changed the tire we talked about varius marques and he asked if I'd "Chipped it up yet?".
Apparently when the motor was first built in England it didn't comply with EU pollution control standards so LR not wishing for reasons of cost to fit a catalytic converter, detuned it and were able to sell it in Europe. In Australia, all new cars are fitted with cataltytic converters so some bright spark realised that the engine managment system could be re-programmed to improve performance to the original specs. The RAA guy gave me the name and address of Triumph Rover Spares in Lonsdale and reckoned that they'd be able to tell whether or not my model could be upgraded and would also be able to do it.
The good news is that they were only 15 mins away. The better news is that they could do it on the following Monday. The best news is that while Ros was sitting in the cab, it occurred to her that as they are probably the biggest LR wreckers in Australia, it would be worth asking if they had any rear seats and as luck would have it they did. So on Monday morning while they were putting in the new chip in the engine management system, I wandered around the yard inspecting every Defender they had. I chose the best set and about $900, I had a complete set of seats, a vehicle that felt like it was supercharged and the promise that they would see if they could find and put together a set of rear seat belts before we had to return. True to their word we left Adelaide a week later with a complete set of belts and bolts. Very pleasing indeed!
Sat 27th
Began well as above and apart from a little navigational difficulty in finding how to get to the Leicester pub and discovering there was a singular lack of parking at the venue, Ian's 60th celebration was a very successul event. I took a roll or so's equivalent in digital pictures and a grand night was had by all.
On Monday we tracked up to Kapunda to stay with Norma & John. Back down to Westlakes for lunch with Greg, his wife Sylvia and sister Stephanie. Nearly forgot grandson "Jack" Jackson Keegan who of course stole the show. Should probably mention in passing that at this stage, I don't think we'd seen the sun since leaving Vic and some of the worst winds and temperatures in a long time. The company at least was very warming.
That's it for tonight ... more tomorrow - got to go and turn the genny off.
Back in 1962 I met a young chap recently arrived from Liverpool and a member of the 1st Alberton Scout Troop. He and a bunch of his mates were camping at Scott's Bottom - I think at Gumeracha in SA. I had been invited to attend by one of their senior members Bob Evans, who was working in Woomera and had been participating in scout meetings of 1st Woomera. To cut a long story short Greg Keegan and I have been best mates ever since.
Last week, Ian Lawrence another of our scouting mates, Greg & I all turned 60. Due to a complete inability to get anything organised in time, I had a quiet and most enjoyable dinner at Mercers in Eltham, on the 25th with Ros Cait,Ben and Ema (Nicco was doing an exam) to celebrate the occasion. We decided we'd have a big celebration in 2010.
Ian's party was on Sat 27 and Greg's on July 4 so we decided to travel to Adelaide on the Friday and stay with my brother Strachan and his partner Karol at Morphett vale and go to Ian's party on Sat, stay with friends at Kapunda, catch up with another brother Digby and his wife Lynn at Ngapla, party on at Greg and Sylvia's and return home on Monday July 6.
We had a few things to bring back so decided to take the LR on a road trip and see how we all coped. Also decided to take Angus the dog as he had demonstrated that travelling in the rear section of the cab was much to his liking. It was an uneventful trip and despite my hip/back/muscles/numb foot etc., reasonably comfortable.
Got up on Saturday morning and after breakfast headed out to the LR to find the front rhs tyre as flat as a pancake. Ros who was already sitting in the cab was removed post haste as I called the RACV .
To my surprise the RACV operator said she couldn't help me but after a pause which was just long enough for me to have almost decided to give her an earful about Total Care and reciprocal arrangements..... she said, " ....but I can call someone who can!". I reckon she's been waiting to use that one for years. She put me through to the RAA operator who said that a service vehicle would be there within the hour. To my surprise he turned up in less than ten minutes and we quickly discovered a common interest in LRs. While he changed the tire we talked about varius marques and he asked if I'd "Chipped it up yet?".
Apparently when the motor was first built in England it didn't comply with EU pollution control standards so LR not wishing for reasons of cost to fit a catalytic converter, detuned it and were able to sell it in Europe. In Australia, all new cars are fitted with cataltytic converters so some bright spark realised that the engine managment system could be re-programmed to improve performance to the original specs. The RAA guy gave me the name and address of Triumph Rover Spares in Lonsdale and reckoned that they'd be able to tell whether or not my model could be upgraded and would also be able to do it.
The good news is that they were only 15 mins away. The better news is that they could do it on the following Monday. The best news is that while Ros was sitting in the cab, it occurred to her that as they are probably the biggest LR wreckers in Australia, it would be worth asking if they had any rear seats and as luck would have it they did. So on Monday morning while they were putting in the new chip in the engine management system, I wandered around the yard inspecting every Defender they had. I chose the best set and about $900, I had a complete set of seats, a vehicle that felt like it was supercharged and the promise that they would see if they could find and put together a set of rear seat belts before we had to return. True to their word we left Adelaide a week later with a complete set of belts and bolts. Very pleasing indeed!
Sat 27th
Began well as above and apart from a little navigational difficulty in finding how to get to the Leicester pub and discovering there was a singular lack of parking at the venue, Ian's 60th celebration was a very successul event. I took a roll or so's equivalent in digital pictures and a grand night was had by all.
On Monday we tracked up to Kapunda to stay with Norma & John. Back down to Westlakes for lunch with Greg, his wife Sylvia and sister Stephanie. Nearly forgot grandson "Jack" Jackson Keegan who of course stole the show. Should probably mention in passing that at this stage, I don't think we'd seen the sun since leaving Vic and some of the worst winds and temperatures in a long time. The company at least was very warming.
That's it for tonight ... more tomorrow - got to go and turn the genny off.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Good Things Around Us 20-22/06/2009
Jenny & Macca Got Married
I met Macca while doing the Horticulture Cert lll last year. He's a bloody nice New Zealander who came over here to be with the love of his life Dr Jenny. Apparently he's a persistent chap and the two got married at Chateau Yering on the weekend just past. It was a great ceremony with lots of friends and relatives from Australia, Europe and New Zealand, and was followed by a most enjoyable reception and a breakfast on Sunday morning at their house in Nth Warrandyte.
A young Kookaburra and Kiwi get introduced at Breakfast.
These two young characters were keen to get aquainted - a mutually satisfactory experience.
Snapshot of Camp Little Wood & Ducks
- which according to Ros are really geese because they graze on grass. Must get to the bottom of that one day.
Just got back fom a meeting and shot this old fellow in the dam paddock = approx 22:30
just in case there is room for doubt - with my camera!
Cheers! Q
I met Macca while doing the Horticulture Cert lll last year. He's a bloody nice New Zealander who came over here to be with the love of his life Dr Jenny. Apparently he's a persistent chap and the two got married at Chateau Yering on the weekend just past. It was a great ceremony with lots of friends and relatives from Australia, Europe and New Zealand, and was followed by a most enjoyable reception and a breakfast on Sunday morning at their house in Nth Warrandyte.
A young Kookaburra and Kiwi get introduced at Breakfast.
These two young characters were keen to get aquainted - a mutually satisfactory experience.
Snapshot of Camp Little Wood & Ducks
- which according to Ros are really geese because they graze on grass. Must get to the bottom of that one day.
Just got back fom a meeting and shot this old fellow in the dam paddock = approx 22:30
just in case there is room for doubt - with my camera!
Cheers! Q
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Some Other Good Things
Wednesday June 17
Well tomorrow finally came a day later, funny how often that seems to occur! I'm able to spend the time writing this because my work normal remote connection is U/S at the moment and I'm waiting for an alternative that one of my colleagues is fast-tracking.
Some of you may remember that few weeks ago I hurt my back - no specific cause just a fair amount of pain which eventually went away, mostly after I had a really good massage from Nicole. Anyway about a week ago I started to get some quite severe pain down my left side from my buttock all the way down my thigh, calf and under my foot which eventually developed a numb spot. I put up with it for a while thinking like most males that it would go away if I ignored it but it was sufficiently annoying and painful for Ros to say that I needed to get my back checked as it was obviously something impacting my sciatic nerve. Saw my GP and was sent off for a CT scan which occurred yesterday. Earliest I can see him is Thursday afternoon so I'm living on panadeine and neurophen and not moving around or sitting or sleeping much. That's just to let you know that I'm a bit over my body even though I recognise that the current situation may have something to do with it.
The good thing is that I'm just going with the flow and dealing with it a day at a time or sometimes its 5 minutes at a time.
Last Weekend
While Cait and the kids were here helping with Ros' shed, mulch etc., Ros got a call from one of our friends we haven't caught up with for a while. Shona a nurse and former work colleague of Ros invited us over for a meal, shower and stay over if we wanted and not to forget to bring the washing. We immediately cancelled whatever we'd been planning to have for dinner and said we'd be there at about 6:30.
It was a fabulous evening, no pressure, pleasant conversation, hot showers a great dinner and several glasses or more of good wine. Eventually drifted off to bed and managed not to sleep for a good part of the night due mostly to the sciatic pain. Woke up in the morning feeling decidedly whacked! Geoff went off for a ride and Shona and Ros went for a walk and coffee and I took some more painkillers and flopped slowly back into bed.
Three hours later I woke feeling almost human and while not pain free, it was not grabbing at my gizzards. We had planned to wander around and have a look at some of the display homes to get an appreciation of what you got for the $$$ but due to the lateness of the hour, we settled for lunch and a quick departure as we had a meeting to attend in St Andrews at 3:00 according to me and 4:00 according to Ros.
While Shona was organising lunch, Geoff took me out to the toolshed and put together a bunch of metric spanners for me. I subsequently managed to leave them sitting on the bench and even though Geoff chased us for about 1500m, I was obviously not focussed on my wing mirrors and he gave up and brought them over yesterday morning.
It was a perfect way to spend the weekend and we were most grateful to be reminded that Kiwis living in Australia have lost none of their friendliness and ability to create and share a relaxing environment.
The St Andrews Recovery Committee Election
We arrived about 10 minutes late (it was 3:00pm) and just managed to find space in the crowded Community Hall. The whole process was extremely well managed and facilitated by a woman from Panton Hill whose name I didn't manage to find out. There were a number of potentially complex issues which were dealt with in a most professional and inclusive manner and at the end we had been through the background and creation process, met all the candidates, added a new one from the floor endorsed the creation of an incorporated body and elected the Committee. This was followed by afternoon soup, tea, coffee, cakes , biscuits and date loaf as well as a multitude of other goodies. All in all a most satisfactory conclusion to what has been for the people involved quite an intensive period of work.
The next step is a public meeting next Sunday to discuss what it is that the community needs.
We came home picked up a few things and I drove Ros over to Cait and Nicco's as there is school in the morning and I don't want to get up too early. Didn't want to stay for dinner as the day was catching up with me and my pills were back at the farm, so Angus the dog who has settled into his role as Landrover guardian and I climbed aboard and dieselled off home.
And finally - Jan phoned up and offered me dinner which she brought up and ate with me.
What a great end to the weekend.
The Building Commission
Last week on Thursday mid-morning I received a visit from a team from the Building Commission, Anne, Kate and Dean their photographer. They were in the process of updating their Temporary Accomodation Booklet and wanted to meet with people like us who were in temporary accommodation on site and tell it from their perspective rather than just some bureaucrat's idea of how it should be.
As our site is very visible from the road they decided to drop in and see if anyone was at home. I had previously met Anne at one of the first Bushfire Standards Seminars that the Commission had presented some months ago and she remembered me because of the questions I'd asked about the barn.
We spent some time talking about our experience and what specific issues I had relating to rebuilding and also living on the site. I talked about the fact that most people including us, even though reasonably insured had not really considered the possibility and costs associated with total destruction of the property and the need to start from scratch including all services. As things stand we look to be anywhere between $50K to $150K short of what it may ultimately cost.
I expressed my frustration despite their best and positive intentions that Council's Planning and Building departments did not seem to be able to agree on apparently simple things like the size of sheds that didn't require planning permits. And when they did, it was something ridiculously small like 10sqm. I can have 50 of the bloody things as long as they are not joined together!
While I was very pleased to be in the process of receiving $50k from the bushfire fund it seemed that it left an awful lot of money for infrastructure/councils etc which didn't seem to have been the intention of the people who had donated it. I'm grateful but another $10-15K in the form of a barn or shed would, together with a relaxation of the current rules about living in same temporarily, would have made our lives a lot easier.
I also raised once again the issue of centrally provided shower and toilet blocks that council seems to be totally disinterested in.
New Logo & Website
I'm sure there were a few other things but they've got lost. Throughout this discussion Dean took a bunch of photos including one of me washing up and also of the general site.
It turns out that he's the creative director of a company called KissChasey and works at www.logoloco.com.au (worth a look) and when he learned that I'm just kicking off the Little Wood Consulting Garden design business, offered to design a logo and business card gratis.
The outcome is fantastic - and inspired me to put it on my website which until yesterday was just a name and one thing led to another so now I have a functioning website which courtesy of Mr Google is "free". It's here for you to have a look at - have to say I'm pretty pleased with the result and would like your feedback - good or bad.
Cheers
Sunday, June 14, 2009
A Reality Check
Sunday May 14
Where have I been for the last two weeks? Hiding is not quite the right answer but it comes close. Mostly I've been feeling tired, depressed and generally being unwilling or unable to hold or perform a coherent thought, sentence or action with any degree of capability. I've upped my medication, thought about quitting work about every five minutes, been more grumpy than usual and have avoided as many issues and people as possible while at the same time feeling like crap because I wasn't getting anything done. More importantly I've been a pain to live with and fortunately Ros has been mostly staying at Cait's where she's doing the full on Grandy thing while Cait is back at work full time for a few weeks as acting manager.
On the day I got fed up with the whole thing and decided to have a chat with my GP, I read an article by Dr Rob Gordon in the Bushfire Recovery newsletter. Rob is a psychologist and one of the top disaster trauma experts in the country. Apparently most of what I've been feeling is a fairly typical transition response which occurs some 3-4 months post event. I reckon that saved my GP about 20 minutes of additional listening and certainly made me feel that there was/would be an end to the current chaos.
I'm not 100% but the direction is up not down - most of the time.
What's been happening around me?
Notwithstanding the black cloud which has probably been hovering over my head these past few weeks and certainly permeating my brain - lots of good things have happened.
A Fabulous Day's Effort!
Cait's Mates - who in no particular order include Nicole & Michael, Angela, Sean & Becca, John and Naomi, and all their respective children numbering about 11, as well as my fellow Defender owner Stephen, came up to the farm and built a retaining wall below the water tank, put in the posts and cross bars for the clothesline, cleaned out and repaired Fort Chook, emptied rocks and bricks out of the old fishpond, picked up a bag full of filter tubes, piled up assorted junk, moved heaps of mulch, began landscaping the front garden, had a ball running wild around the place, sliding down slopes, climbing on logs, riding Hugo's mini-motorbike and finally collapsed around the campfire before dragging exhausted kids and themselves off home. A fantastic effort!
Ros Get's a Shed
One of the things I'd planned to get done during the working bee was to erect the second 10m2 shed that I'd bought from Stratco for Ros. Unfortunately digging the holes for the retaining wall took a lot longer than we'd anticipated so last weekend, son Benjamin and grandson Willoughby arrived and we completed the retaining wall and got almost all of the shed completed on the Saturday before the rain started. I finished the roof on the Sunday and this Saturday I got the door on and doorbolt attached with the assistance of Willo and Cait. Cait and Phoebe also shifted several wheelbarrow loads of mulch and Angus spread it in all the wet and hollow spots. Place is beginning to look quite civilised. Mind you I had to spend quite a bit of time digging trenches to catch water at the low points and direct it over the edge of the slope. Hopefully the next downpour will demonstrate that I got the levels right.
Caravan Renovations:
The fairly heavy rain we have recently experienced threatened to collapse the caravan annexe until I took the pump off the tank and used it to drain the water and pump it into the main tank. While this quite a good way of collecting water I was seriously concerned about the structural integrity of the annexe, particularly as we've just begun winter and the pumping is a very manual processs and relied on me being there at the time to prevent a disaster.
A call to Sydney and a quick discussion with Ros' sister reminded me that there are some special struts designed to prevent pooling of water. Somehow this information had got lost and they were obviously just what we needed. Getting them into place was the stuff of which divorces are made. Eventually after dismantling most of the annexe sides, several evil exchanges between Ros & I and a significant amount of frustration, I discovered how to unlock the roller mechanism which enabled us to rotate the roller into the correct position and slot everything into place. It is now a thing of beauty and looks like it will withstand anything short of a tropical storm.
In an ideal world I'd finish this catchup tonight but I'm determined to get some sleep, so that's it for now. I'll publish this and do an update tomorrow.
Cheers
Thursday, May 28, 2009
We Are Back!!
The heading says it all. Ros and I and the two small dogs are back at the farm with occasional forays down to Cait & Nicco's to have a meal, sleepover and shower or just to remind them what a bloody nuisance we can be.
We are pretty well set up although there's a fair bit of work to be done before I'd say we were settled in. The annexe is on the caravan - probably took me four times as long as necessary to get the thing set up properly and then a week of minor adjustments but we're dry and warm despite the rain. I've even devised a scheme involving the fishpond pump about 20m of plastic tubing and a wire to suspend it from which will allow us to capture the rainwater from the awning and feed it into the big water tank. Heath-Robinson would have been proud of me.
Haven't installed it yet - another job for the working bee on Sunday. Cait's organised a bunch of her mates to come and spread mulch, cut up pine logs, dig holes or whatever. People are very keen to be of assistance - its wonderful.
And What About the Landrover?
It's fantastic - just what I wanted - although I'm still getting used to the truck like turning circle. Stephen warned me that it was pretty big and he was right. Things are improving though as I can now negotiate Cait's driveway without threatening the trees. I'm a very happy camper. It's already proved it's worth in helping to shift loads of mulch down to the flat which pretty much becomes awash if there's any significant rain or the fire hose polypipe feed-line from the pump is split after the Grocon guys accidentally ran over it with the excavator is and sends torrent s of water gushing down the hill without me noticing for abut 15 minutes. It was dark and I was admiring the silvery glint until I realised what it was. There's a wet lining to every silver cloud.
Anyway back to the landrover which to date remains nameless but was well worth the wait. Its very well fitted out - only took me a week to work out how to use the radio - actually about three secs after I read the manual!
Speaking of Grocon which I was a sentence or so ago, today I finally confessed to Rhonda that we'd accidentally killed Phil's enormous webber by dropping a load of roofing iron on top of it and then whacking it with the excavator bucket. I hadn't made it explicitly clear that all of the items against the retaining wall were for preservation.
I have to say that apart from the webber and part of the sleeper retaining wall which got crunched by a truck driving a bit too closely, the Grocon guys did a really good job.
Site Improvements
In addition to helping us spread mulch in strategic places and feeding us dinner on Sunday night, our friend Jan and son Charles came up during the week and erected what looks like a mini-big top circus tent that has provided much needed additional protection from the weather.
We've also acquired courtesy of Helen a large pine picnic table complete with attached seats which will be very useful when it isn't being rained on.
The Uphills mentioned that they'd been over to Stratco at Epping
and discovered that they had some sheds at nearly half-price because they were a bit marked. Well the service at Stratco leaves a lot to be desired but the shed was cheap less than half the price of the slightly larger one I got the week before from Mitre 10. I'll pick it up tomorrow and add it to the list of activities for Sunday.
Well it's 23:40 and while there's a fair bit more to say, the genny's been running for long enough and I need some sleep so it will have to wait until next time.
"Adios" - to quote a well Known PM
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Thursday May 20 Back to the Keyboard
A fair bit has happened since the great Chiminea robbery of 2009 - I can laugh now at the thought that some bastard with a broken foot and his mate with an irreparable hernia are being berated by their wives for coming home with a slow combustion stove that doesn't have a door and won't fit in the fireplace ... if only - anyway its gone and I can only hope that there's a child somewhere who will be warmer as a result.
On Mother's Day or it could have been Saturday, Uncle Digby, he's actually my youngest brother and amongst many other attributes a registered builder, announced by phone, his imminent arrival from SA. As you will have noticed I've been a bit slack with the keyboard and hadn't checked my mails for a few days so it was just as well he phoned or we'd probably still have been in bed on a sleepy Sunday morning. Well Ros might have finally got a cup of tea from me as well as her gifts from Phoebe and Angus but she missed out as we leapt out of bed.
We had previously spent some time discussing building issues with Dig when we were taking a break in SA and he'd offered to caste a professional eye over the site, design, council requirements and generally see whether or not I was heading in the right direction. I felt pretty pleased with the design Ros & I had come up with using the draughting package he'd provided. It fitted the old footprint and had most of the things we wanted.
Monday 12
Still it's a long way from being a useful in plan until a builder had caste his eyes over it and provided some initial costings. As I hadn't done much about finding a builder, under Dig's non- too subtle urging I rang a mate in the landscaping design business and asked if he knew any good builders. To my pleasant surprise he suggested one that he'd worked with quite a lot and recommended that I give him a call and mention his name.
Three hours later Dig & I were up at the farm waiting for Michael the builder to arrive. Bit of a new experience for me as I've never had anyone build anything for me before and had only a vague and general idea of the process to be undertaken. Michael was a quiet and thoughtful chap and after the inititial introductions, look at my "plans" and a bit of discussion about siting of the original house, views and construction materials and a quick move in budget estimates from $180k to $250k which still seemed like it might be a long way short of the "typical" $300k- $400k house build, I stood back a bit and let the two builders compare notes, materials and find each others measure.
The first site meeting concluded with an exchange of details and Michael's suggestion that he'd get some concept drawings prepared by a draughtsman that would give Ros and I something to work with and think about.
Both Dig and I feel quite positive about Michael but he takes care to ensure that I will check out other builders that are known to friends and colleagues and get quotes from them once we have settled on a design.
One thing that we have to do is look at construction materials, claddings and the like to get a feel for what sort of options we may have when it comes to looking at ways to keep the cost down. I'm still keen to investigate the Hebel option as it seems to have quite a bit going for it although perhaps not so far as Michael - he seemed fairly disinterested in the product but this may just be due to the fact that he's not previously worked with it so it's an unknown quantity.
The Landrover does not quite cometh
Got a call from Allan - the Landrover has been for its RACV & Roadworthy Check and to his obvious disappointment, they've been pretty damn thorough and there a few items that need replacement/investigation/repair. I'm also a bit disappointed but for different reasons. I'd been hoping to pick it up on Tuesday, but am very happy to wait while it's brought up to scratch. That after all is the purpose of paying nearly $300 for a full RACV 4WD check and requesting a Roadworthy certificate as a condition of purchase. With a bit of luck it'll be ready by the end of the week.
Dig departed on Tuesday after a longish chat and a cup of tea and I got on with working for IBM which I'm finding harder and harder to focus on. I called Stephen to see if he could recommend a good 4WD mechanic as Allan is from Sydney and doesn't know any local firms. He's also going to similarly check with his mechanic in Sydney. As luck would have it, the company recommended by Stephen is the same as that recommended by Allan's former mechanic. That at least is a good sign.
Wednesday Night Ros & I discover that we are not the only disorganised non-perfectly communicating couple in the world. Her sister Sonya and husband Warren have organised different sets of days off so they can bring the van down. Bottom line, it will be here on Friday morning - ripper!
Thursday - one more sleep!
Friday 15
Up bright and early as I have to go to Mitre 10 at Diamond Creek to collect a garden shed. I anticipate that I will need to borrow their trailer but with a bit of a heave ho it all mostly fits in the back of the volvo with the tailgate held down with an "occy" strap. A quick run up to the farm, check that the generator is still there, drop off the shed and then back to Cait's to collect Ros.
Of course everything takes a little bit longer than expected and by the time I pick her up, the Sydney crew have arrived in St Andrews and are sent off to the general store to have a coffee while we hasten through the light fog patches and occasional rain-drop or two hoping that it will hold off for a bit or that the weather forecasters (winds of up to 100k and heavy showers) have got it wrong for today at least.
The rain holds off and after meeting at St Andrews we take the lead to the farm and then watch as Warren's 4wd easily pulls the caravan up the hill to the flat. While Ros & I watch from a distance the van is rolled into position with only a minimum of effort. Obviously done this once or twice before.
The caravan is quickly settled into place and once we have it stabilized, Warren and I start work on the shed which is to consume most of my next three days, while Ros and Sonya organise a cuppa.
It's fantastic to finally have a place to stay at the farm - I am truly grateful.
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