cool

Tis Hot, but now Cool

Swapped the far one back to front door so there are FOUR fans blowing cool air down passage to four bedrooms.

Follow up here now 3 Jan, rest of night could be highly informative...

See how slow it cools down overnight 2-3 Jan

With the added fans forcing air down the hall from outside and out through the bedrooms

With the added fans forcing air down the hall from outside and out through the bedrooms and through cracked open widows, and possibly up the still unblocked chimneys, the house cooled at a faster rate than the prveious night. Th eovernight temperature declined to about 20°C, so could have left the fans on til morning.

The only bummer was I did not, the poor neighbor over the road had his car stolen. Weird it may be, I actually dreamed someone had gone and bashed in my vehicle windows so  I had to borrow my mum's old car!

diy or not

Expensive month of Sundays really

Blue moon month of Sundays anyway.



About.
You know, 5 weegens worth of pain suffering success and lack of adulation. 
Had some money left over after tax and pension pay out adjustments and trying to be...cheap. And it is only the start of the financial year...
PS: a Lotto win paid for itself, only, like, the ticket entry....



Whinge needs rants wants and had to be dones...




Ideas/Tasks	DIY?	Follow up	Bargain	success	cost
new 55" LCD 3d smart tv	no	no	blank	blank obviously	yep...
Fix the windscreen of the family car	no	Yes	Yes	Yes	250
Kitchen spout and taps [FAUCETS for the yanks]	yes	Yes	No	Yes	75
Shower head	yes	Yes	No	Dunno	22!!!!
Shower taps	yes	Yes	No	Dunno	43
cracked window pane in Piano room*	no	Yes	Yes	Yes	110
Laundry window pane **	no	Yes	Not really	Yes	110
Front door Side Light Window panes***	no	Yes	Spose	Yes	180
New computer	yes	Tomorrow	Nearly	Hope so	~500?
Fix memory in this computer	yes	Tried	No	No	90
Expand memory in gels pc's	yes	Tries to	No	No	a/a
MCC annual	no	Yep	No	yep	###
Car rego	no	Had to	No	Yep	150
Phone/net/mobiles	no	Had to	Nup	Spose	250!
Water	no	Had to	Nup	Spose	445!!!!!!!
Power	no	Had to	Nup	Spose	450!!!!!!!!!!
Service the car	no	Should	Wont be	Will see	Argh
Girls' new pc's or tablets	no	Maybe	Should be	Could be	Argh
#2son's birthday pressie- acoustic geetar?	tes	Will have to	Hope so	We'll see	Cheapo soonish!
Windows7 64bit, usb3 4port for nu pc	yes	Yes	Yeah	Hope so	110
Plastic stakes for portable Vineyard Pots	yes	Hmmm	Maybe	Hope so	Dunno yet
fix shed lights	yes	have to	no	hope so	dunno yet

 Used the modern way to pay bills, amazing the frequent flyer points accruable doing it that way. Just wish I flew more instead....

*****I finally noticed the OTHER DAY- Cracked and nearly falling out, fixed after too many years!!!!!!!!! Bloody kids fault too!

So the start of Spring was four really nice warm days. Fingers crossed for next day or two...

  

Gross Fishing

Cleaning and Gross Fishing

This is not that it's really a family oriented blog good and bad bews etcetera.
[And this is a late post addon from an earlier one...]

If you know about this, you know I get cross with the shower sometimes. Like: When the plug hole is PLUGGED by child hair (or even the grey, ok). Or when the drain gets grown into by roots of grasses or vines or trees.

The last few weeks, if the shower is going at full steam (hahaha..) the footwell starts to fill.

Not again!

Pull the wad of hair from the plug hole...?

Not filling due to that pitiful wad of [LONG!] hair.

Need to do something else, check that the drain outside is not overflowing. Again.

NO!

Hmmm.

Today. Half naked and ready for a shower and while the blockage is on my mind I streak outside to grab some speaker wire from the Alcoholery.

Once back inside safe from prying eyes, I bend the speaker wire into a semblance of a hook and poke it down the plug hole. Deep Deep Deep, and pulled out some hair from the U-bend.
Not so good an Idea Marvin.

Return to the Alcoholery for.... adadadadadadadda dem... [drum roll]
hanger and a pair of pliers

Bent wire to suit. Slip it down the plug hole, and lucky for me the "strainer" piece comes free. Because as I rotate the kludged up hooking device and pull it up.... 

SOME ONE'S PONY TAIL WAS DOWN THE DRAIN

That's just Gross Fishing fore ya!

Ah cassettes cassettes

Remember cassetes?

the old philips type?

and an update

From the the the.... well, years ago, before the CD anyway...

Last weegen or so I was playing some tapes in the old player [1986] and the thing hisses and plays etcetera. I was a little tidly so that did not matter!
Except for the third Test Tape...
What!!! NO SOUND?
Had a look this time, in the little gap at the 'front'.
NO TAPE!!!!
Soooooo, and cos it was a great album, out with the sticky tape, knife and screwdriver and wind up device [a la Bic pen] to repair it... for the first time in  in   in    ages?     Decades even?   A little DIY while ... Why do I still have those tapes? But tried the tape back in the player and it Worked Just Fine Thank You All Very Much. Some of the old tapes are definitely of the mid 70's that a friend passed on to me when he "went religious", and those belonged to his big sister! Later I passed a few on when ever anyone was interested, when the CD came out for instance, but kept ones I Liked A Lot. Among the box of tapes was also compilations made when I was fairly sozzled after parties and still could not hit the sack... Good road trip tapes man!

Then the Walkmen

And this thingo?!? A real boys toy if ever!
I bought the Sanyo walkman style tape player back in  '83 so I could cruise the highway on the Yamaha 250 I had, between cold old Kyneton and Barfold- with some tape or radio music in the helmet.  And later on in the jet when going to work in WA or outback SA or QLD or cold VIC from Adelaide!


Did a few miles with this!


I won a real Sony Walkman Sports in a sailboard race about four years later.

Then when the Discman had to come out before I went to Aber-bloody-deen for a year, wellllll, yeah, well, so I Upgraded With the Duty Free Opportunity as I got on board! Pity the bugger only lasted a few years, I have only just tossed it* NO I DID NOT - a fine little machine, not much bigger than a CD and about 11mm thick. Paired with the Sony Speakers--- was nearly all we needed coping near the Arctic Circle...


I did replace it however, before the Millenium, with another albeit second hand, but still great Sony CD Walkman that only needed AA batteries, not the special battery pack for the first one I had- barstid to charge up etc etc.

This one was plastic and light compared to the first which though small, was heavy.
It did a few flying miles too.

Amazingly enough, none of the kiddies ever played with my musical "boys toys" or tapes in order to test them all to destruction...

Do you remember boys toys and Cassettes?





















*[ie I cannot find it at the moment- check back one day]

yesterday I bought a Decafenated Cofey table

Nah I didn't.

Just like saying it.

But I did buy a laundry basket trolley from a well known discount grocery store- a jermain komponee, but in the end only for the axles and wheels...

What is it?

Well, over here, we hang out the washing out in the sun, usually in the backyard, for the antibacterial solar content and to add vitamin D to our clothes. To save on the naked sunbathing and skin cancer.

Also, to avoid too much exercise in the extreme solar radiation of the southern temperate region of the world by bending down to pick clothes to hang up on the rotating clothes line, we use a trolley to hold the washing basket. You know. After three loads on a Saturday morning [whites first- as they do not retain heat to dry quick enough IMO, then the colours and finally the gothic adornments], my baacckk...

The trolley for the washing basket I bought Tarn many years ago [10?] had also been used as a kart by the kids, too many times. The axles got bent, and the good old black plastic wheels cracked and went missing at the front, a real drag when hanging the laundry and moving it from the inner line of the clothes hoist to the outer wire... You can see by the pic, it is a largish line.

Time for a new one or even hunt one down that was being tossed out as junk somewhere around town at the next Hard Rubbish Week ...


No. As mentioned the discount store had special on this weegen, so early Satdee I hot footed down. In the car, and picked one up. And extras that I did not need when I left home. Hate that.

The new one was not as solid as the old one. Weak even! square tubular, thin, would not last!

Hmm. Marvined again?

Nah! $20 well spent!

Swapped the axles and wheels. Man the new wheels are Nice.

Talk about a Transformer!

Tossed out the old wheels, the remaining pair of. Stored the old axle, and the new now not to be used new frame and gear- in the Shed.

Rollin' 'long jus fahn, thankyee.

I think I got it

I think I got it

gaffer tape or duct tape- gotta love it

the kids [and me] kept closing the fridge without closing a drawer...
and overloading the little shelves too...

diy glow plugs left me glowing

diy glow plugs left me glowing

Battery?

The last few months, avid followers would know I changed the work/windsurf transport van battery because the bloody thing was slow to turn over and start chugging. Well, the last week it has been like that again, and I blamed the cold. One hint was to use 'Aerostart'  in the air intake to make it start. Another relative said DO NOT DO THAT, it's the glow plugs! Marvined again! Should have RTFM, at least!

Whoops.

Glow Plugs?

Well, a call two days later to a service centre suggested that the glow plugs were buggered or the relay to heat them was gone if white smoke was erupting from the anus of the bloody van. Bloody vehicles.

Hmph! well, to replace the plugs looking like sixty dollars a piece for Mercedes recommended types, forty for another type. And probably four hundred for a new relay or only two hundred for a substitute.

Ouch! $775! And service charge too? Oh no thank you! 

Pulled the pin plugs out, what a hassle! And the relay was removed too. An hour or so of time...

Expert advice.

Three places were visited. The service guy I have used before said I could probably DIY. Mmm. Went to merceded service centre- new quote- still the same. The cheapo relay was available though if I needed it... Next store could get the plugs for about twenty bucks, two days to wait. Great. The next place was only fifteen, two days to wait also. 

I could wait! Good old Repco! They said replace the lot even if one was okay...

Went to the auto electrician with the relay- and with a hand lens he could say nothing was wrong with the board [as an aside, you might have a diesel too, but with a nuclear explosions EMP- you will be buggered too, like I say, an aside..], so there was all that money saved... if the new glow plugs he recommended to get worked okay... 

He also showed me how to quick test- grab some jumper start cables, spit on a suspicious glow plug end, connect it to the battery and if no steam- buggered! Do not put a good one into your pocket right away...

Two days wait.

Went to the wrong store. 

Embarrassing as the last time with the new tyres!  

Had to drive away, and park 50 yards down the opposite side of the road!!! 

Picked five plugs up for seventy five dollars thank you very much! 

Home for the last DIY stretch

And swore and banged knuckles for an hour or so putting the bastards back in the engine. Dropping shit on wet ground, argh! Lucky it was only cool, and not freezing! Plastic tarp was spread after the first dropsy! And a fencing wire kludge to pry the fallen thingos from tight spots in the engine bay the next time. I do like my tool collection this week, no new purchases required!

Happy at last

Fingers crossed. key in and turn for-

First start, brmm !

Ha life, bloody hahaha, a winner today! nyah nyah nyah

diy glow plugs left me glowing

Called de Gasman

marvined again

but killed two birds with one gas man...

walking in to the yard, noticed cover on gas water heater looking worse than ever

pulled it off to see how bad the rust was. 

the cover fell OFF. 

not funny dude.

some DIY?

wired it up, but the wind blew the gas out at the same time

OH OH

tried to relight the bastard.

no go- FAIL

3 kids and me and NO SHOWER

buttons stuck or broken?

 no leaking gas tho

bugger- WORK time

later- call a gas man- immediate response!

around less than 5 minutes

CANNOT buy a new cover for less than half the price of NEW UNIT?

wow, hmm, the credit card maxed already...

can we relight it?

no

call de boss- 

"use more effort with pliers, swing OFF IT!"

relit

Ahhch, Bach, es goot

can fold a cover up too? be back in 15? 

OK!

Oh, and while u r back here

look at the stove top inside...?

Yep!

All goot, tankuse.

except...

Waiting for the bill...

Oh DEAR, fencing wire no help this time

Noice cover Marv!

out with the old

in with the new, after 12 months on the bench...

Notta so good

Successes, Failings and successes this week

In black and white: the kids, the cats, the cars and me.

Celebrated Tarn's fifty-first birthday quietly this week with the three cheeky little monkeys. May have a pizza with her dad Friday. Mine soon enough.
[new addition- at bottom 22-5-12]

Family Car

Finally found the problem with the windscreen wipers not wanting to work on the family vehicle. Or, there was a short in the tailgate wiring. The wiring loom passes through lots of holes in the car body, and the auto-electrician I had to see in the end, spotted some bare wiring, on the loom from the car side of the tailgate, not exactly where it passed through to a protective tube, but further inside by a few cm/inches.

Ah backhgh, That Was All!

Mark the car sparky just wrapped some tape around it and we put it back together. Thirty three buckaroonies though, and a 40 km drive. Self findable?

Patience and money, patience OR money?

The Van

Then. THEN... Well, Back then... Last week actually, the van really started to play up.

The battery would not turn the engine over after a cold night. A few times the last month. New one purchased. STICKER SHOCK!
THEN...
There was definitely a wobble from the front tyres, booked in for new tyres. Went along to the wrong tyre garage. The guy at the right one said he had just sent some-one to where I had just been. That was funny. Until the STICKER SHOCK hit me again. There was bare metal showing on the old tyres...

The kids

Gel#1b managed to drop my old fluorescent  desk lamp and broke the tube. New one. And a ballast. And a bit of maintenance.

Gel#1a needed new globe in her bedside lamp. A few nights later spilt red coloured drink all over the old flowery carpet. At bedtime. Her sister's bottle of course. Another late night.

Son#2 was picked up on his job so he could Drive rather than pedal, and as I put the bmx in the back of the wagon, the front wheel dropped off...........!!!
Another front tooth nearly lost? The first one he lost is going to cost an arm and a leg and more to replace. I may have to mortgage his phone and bike...


And the beer, a wheat milk stout, I started to brew last week, does not want to ferment at all. I wonder why- fed it some DAP...

Then...

The white cat left us a smelly reminder this week. We could not track where he had left it. Was it the junk room, cos he fled from there today? No. It was left on some power cords right next to the fermenting beer vat in the laundry...

Me

Trying to buck myself up and it looks like I am losing out more. My credit card is starting to cost me too much ie I am living it up tooo much (?), and employment advertisments are depressing around here- like they know the person they want EXACTLY, like my skill sets are not upgradeable to even an assistant librarian?

I want to vacuum up information, but that is not cost effective either. Who else around here likes to know about and share shit about archaeology, geomorphology, astronomy, geology, oilfield news... No-one.


A fail for my 50th birthday present though- last year my family [sibs n folks] gave me a voucher for a Ballon Flight over The Big Smoke to be taken by May this year, so I was reminded by my eldest son to get a move on and book it. And guess what? I tried to early this week and was told "The company went belly up before xmas, and no-one was told"- so much for the customer is always right?



Cathartic? I have to tell myself that I do like myself, to smile and to vent and rant more.... Make more friends?

Books

I am really enjoying 'guns, germs and steel' by Jared Diamond 1997.

A new Plonking Addition
For my 50th a matching barrel for the 40th, to put the Garage Grape Sherry into!

one win this week

figjam! 


Nuts in the works nearly cost me 65  buckaroonies!!!

As we were getting the car off to school, as one of the passengers could not take two bags to school, the dew on the windscreen stayed put. The wipers did not bother to operate. This was not funny dude, at nearly 9am on the way and so hard to see!

Deary me! Got out and wiped it down anyway, sped off to the drop off and came home in a Huff. Went through three fuses in a hurry! Bugger! Something Else To Worry About This Bloody Week and bought some more fuses on the delivery run. Same thing back home. Marvined again.

I thought the electric motor may have buggered up. Rang around the car dealers, the mechanics and auto electric specialists and they did not really want to know me when I mentioned "secondhand?" parts. God knows that I had to buy the full kit (Motor and arms) from Ford! A DIY was pretty much cheaper I thought.

Called the local wreckers and he said he should have three motors on the shelf. I said great, I will be there soon, and how much? Sixty five dollars was the correct answer! I'll be there asap!

So we went out to the wreckers, at closing time, after [another hassle]. Then at the wreckers, unfolding the wallet at closing time, (and he did Not have any motors on the shelf anyway!)...

I had an idea.

As the bloody car is usually parked at night more or less under a bloody gum tree, maybe the gum nuts had gummed the works up!

Got home, got the tools out and pulled the covers off to repair the dang thing...

Gumnuts jammed the wipers. Ten minutes. Kept me money. Jammy bastard Me.

Torn and Taunted Carpets

When you see a van
After having a thought

I was torn about whether the carpets should be professionally Dry Cleaned,  "electro cleaned" or Just Left For Another Day. How long ago was it? And, like, the central heating air duCKs too. Another time.

Cos let's face it, getting a few rooms done is expensive when the chore is contracted out.

Oh, what about--- no, can't get it done from off shore, bugger. Banking IT stuff yeah, but carpets... Well. Unless they flew over there...

The hired carpet cleaner for a DIY job is not bad, and the friend's cleaner was okay too, but... that real deep clean and those first steps across freshly cleaned carpet in bare feet...

Anyway.

As I was backing the van out to go to work, and thinking, "how long since the last professional carpet clean? Maybe I better..." and was taunted by a weird sight.

Around the opposite corner drove a Carpet Cleaning Van...

Sorry, I thought it was worth writing up.

BBabby BBaboom BBBox

New DIY for the Living room Sound System
Let's see how many trips to the hardware store this time.


Two weeks ago, I was sick of the fan making a noise in the surround sound theatre thingo. A quiet peice in the movie or between songs through the apple tv, and the hum rattley type sound. It was worse than ever. This is the story of fixin and makin, with six trips to the stores and one internet order, sound stuff for the lounge. And Music Room

Right!

So I spent two hours pulling the subwoofer box and dice apart to constituent particles. Almost. Did you know that it needed 20 bloody little self tapping screws to hold the back plate on? No? Well, now we both know. And I do not want to pull it apart again! I removed the trouble-some little electric motor that had a loose axle, went to the electronic barn down town, and they ordered in a new on. Yep- it was in the catalogue!
A week later, I spent an hour putting it all back together. And it worked! Yay me!
With a modification: I spliced in wire to the sub-woofer in order to add a Bigger Speaker or driver, because after replacing my old stereo system woofer driver speakers with updated types, as one had gone bung, there was a spare 20cm/8 inch driver hanging around. See below, it is twice the size of the one in the silver subwoofer box next to it. And it worked too! But it does need a new enclosure...

After fixing the surround sound theatre thingo last week, I have got a new bee in the bonnet.

Therefore, This Week I Searched For Sub-Woofer Box Designs. OF course!
The internet is a woeful time waster... But plucking a design out was not that hard, and so next thing was... Wood panelling.
Thick 1" plywood or flooring type particle board type?
The plywood was lying around, not to the the size specified, but dang it, the woofer is only 20cm!


Bzzzzzz... Hiked around down town for bits and pieces- wood, screws, connectors. I think This Will be my crissy pressie from D&PD!

oh oh! The panel is too small?  Crap crap crap- wait, wrong one. That was the side!
On with the plan. A frame to be glued. Glued? Okay. Here we go.

Here's the work area. Obviously, I need to clean out the shed one day so if it rains, and there is another bee in the bonnet- it will be a dry bonnet... It was bright and warm, but fun. But it did rain a wee bit Sunday, so I was very squashed up in the shed with the drop saw at one stage.

Some tools not used for yonks so needed to be re-vamped- some WD40 here and there. And more... The drop saw kept giving no quite 90° angles. Because there was some gum on the plates, the same colour as the plates! Argh! And the power button. Hmph.

Completed project, with port. Apparently the port may be a fraction small. The spares lying around were not up with a 70 or 80mm port. Playing the apple tv through the theater sound system and the new sub-woofer sounds awesome! Ordered a plate amplifier [$179] for a proper sound- means another power supply... It won't be used a lot, but hells bells, you should soon be able to hear it as you pass down the street! Until that is added, it cannot be used with the JVC stereo, I tried, also warned not to, oops, but nah, needs to be amped properly, one thing I cannot be buggered to solder up myself!

Should it be a driver down or as shown. There are some rubber feet on it now, and it is driver down at the moment... With it ramped up, I think it is TOO much, like a click on the beat, as if I have over extended it...

Final dimensions

6ply 21mm thick cut to
34 x 34cm top and bottom
34 x 48cm sides
34 x 48cm front and back

3cm x 3cm  softwood for the internal frame
120 screws. or so.
silicone sealant, all internal
glue
nearly full batten of rock wool
and an amp [ to be added, from here ]

Checking out the BBabby BBaboom BBBox in the music room with the 1988 Stereo System. 

The amplifier for the new speaker box arrived and needed some new wiring after some sound advice [baboom] from a specialist supplier, and deafened the kiddies and probably pd off the neighbors too.

Sounds awesome people, even while only temporarily attached.

 Finished up nearly by 18th February 2012:

See the bass on the SPL! Not 100% loudness either. Adjustable volume and signal output/crossover signal 45Hz to 180Hz and a separate input and output for the stereo system! The house needs to be tuned so the screws and nails do not pop out... Bugger the neighbors and their airconditioners!

On the road again

A Not a DIY Situation
I did try but!

Two weeks ago, I took my lil yacht out to the lil lake for some quiet time. The kids were all out with friends, it was sunny and a nice lil breeze from the northeast. Then it got windy...

You know the rest.

The catch up is that the broken down van had a problem at the repairers too! Poor guy was told by Mercedes that the Mercedes Vans [made in Korea by SangYong] have this special alternator and pulley combination- [the power supply and battery charger unit][BTW- a $1000 special!- that will fit. But they sent one pulley for him to fit because the mechanic knew that that was all that was needed. (3 x that in a sentence! Ha!) It did NOT. Back it went! He finally had to find one made for a Japanese 4WD to fit the "Korean built Mercedes branded vehicle". Cos he has seen this problem before. Wow. Anyway, $300 later, we are moving people. Yay. Cost the repairer quite a few phone calls, but good him. Owe him one.

He also told me that he could fix the sticky buggery hard to shift gear lever too. "Seen it before". Again!

Next time I win Lotto, I'll get it looked at. Like the LCD screen in the family car. Lotto. Later.

Washing machine sluggish

just when things are almost wave free
I mean shoothly sailing

Wham, wham,wham... What the?
The washing machine agitator was Not Agitating very well.
Oh oh.

Hmm. Google the machines problem, and Bingo! Another quick fix, thanks very much!
Although, the Marvin pitch here is that it is Xmas time in Oz Land... The appliance repairers like to have some vacation too, bugger 'em!

Online is cheap, but mail order? The post script will tell you what is going on later.

So far, the 4 little dogs required are only $10 a pack, here in Oz or yankee doodle land, without postage, but as the repair shop should be open Monday...

update Monday
The local appliance repairer [and wife] wanted a bit more than 10 bucks, $42 in fact. Hmm. His wife did say that even a packet of dogs was a bit more than $10, but I got a complete renewal pack- o'ring, dogs, cams, bearing and washer. So I cannot complain that was all it cost. Fifteen minutes later- all done.

Hopefully this means CLEAN clothes without mysterious linty patches in folds...

In fact, it may have been an expensive large machine to start with, but it has cost less than $150 to maintain since 1998! Without the repairers add on too- at @ about $51/hr for at least only 30 minute jobs too I must add- which I try to avoid at all costs- why have a shed of tools getting rusty and dusty, really!

Struck down again

Looks like we will have a poor harvest for the cellar next year,
the Vintage to be is half gone already- mildewed/marvined- after being warned last year. By Me!

The only up beat for the fortnight, no, one of them, was watching the Queen doco and where They had been and gone- and was glad I was in it almost from the start with Night at the Opera, when I was in 8th year, or Second Form back then... Really really enjoyed taht.

And having a meal and some liqor oot the NuHooseNuHoose meals and drinks- Initiation!
And some more here and there too.

seemed odd after

A family run around
Busy or what? [repost from the family blog but fits anyway]

Last week, we had fish n chips n ChikoRolls midweek at my inlaws D and PD at the NuHoose

Friday, she picked the gels up from school for the weekend because I was off to see my mum, so did not catch her Friday arvo.

At 6 pm. dropped into see my eldest son in The Big Smoke for a coffee and to drop off of xrissy prezi.

At 8pm (late cos had to pick up some flowers!), arrived at Mum and Dad's place, by the sea and  river, not far from a 13 hole golf club!

Saturday, saw Dad off for his trip to help my sister boy and my broinlaw for the Garmin 24 at Redesdale, where the little guy got a third in his division. By the way, it bucketed down and the nobby tyres caused the portable showers a problemo, if you know what I mean...

For the weekend, sat around with Mum, fixed this up and that, installed a new weather station, formatted a slow laptop that they had given up on and hey presto, it just ZINGS along Now! Cos everyone wanted to put something on it for Nana to use, it was very cluttered, and glacially slow that they got another one... Should have taken it home to fix- for meself- but thought the better of it, it would be something the grand-kids can fight over when it rains...

Sunday: Did the leaves in the gutter thing, took dog for a walk once- cos it rained and rained and...Dad gets back and I take off home, with a washing machine for my brothers girl that has moved into a share house in the Big Smoke with mates and three dead laundry machines... cannot believe she has finished study and ready to work in the real world of Nursing. Their place was not too far out of the way, and a simple [NOT] drive home to pick the gels up. And catch up with D and PD again, and collect my gels.

No radar flashes or hidden traffic cops the whole weegen, cos I was Very Watchful of my poor empty wallet...

The point: face to face time with family. Just doing it.

DIY? The DW Failed this time, RIP

Beaten by Time
Tarn's Favourite Kitchen Utensil, gone.

The Dishlex 300 Dishwasher [DW] that Tarn got us for a kind of Moving Into Our Own Hoose Gift, finally spluttered to a leaky halt the other day. Another thousand dollar household item bit the dust. For the last year I have been trying to ignore the fact that white-goods Do Not Last Forever.

For those that know, there are tricks into kludging a dishwasher back into life, With Out Resorting To A Repair Man, once he has let on His Secrets. Bwahahaha.... and- HAHA, it's an easy DIY!

In any case, for the hundreds of buckaroonies I have shelved out for the dishwasher' upkeep and good humour since 2007 or so [?], I suppose I should be thankful it has lasted so long.

True, since #1Son moved away, the thing was not much used- two days worth of crockery and cutlery used by four people only just fills up a 12-place dishwasher. Cooking gear aside. And hand washed.

And if I were back fulltime as a RigPigGeo, it would have been replaced about four years ago as a "may as well get another DW, what's a grand anyway...?"

But today, I bit the foolhardy unlucky tooth, gritted my worn out gums, cinched the belt and let the credit card fly. Because this week [do not smirk, dear reader], we had to wash the dishes by hand...

The DW had really worn out. To prove it to myself, I took it apart to discover that rust and leaky parts do not a happy DW make.

 In ten minutes I found: The hinge on one side was nearly rusted through. The seals had gone. The safety flood switch had been in constant use for a month. Could not track the fault. So I did not find out the real problem. For a call out fee of nearly a hundred bucks---- hmmmm. NO!

The poor old thing. The racks were definitely falling apart and the cutlery crate was a crappy 2nd hand thing, a replacement for a worn out original. The rack wheels had been replaced not that long ago as well!

 I could have kept it for parts, but being thirteen years old- for what? I am not a full blown hoarder, but the parts were not going to fit any new machine. Ever.

I have to keep on telling myself that there are "No Reusable Parts"... Anymore. Not even for the Still...

The white-good marketeers had me by the goolies nearly, but a bit of huntin' round found me a bargain I hope. Funnily enough, I must have had a premonition, because I had only looked around the other day... And it is a cheaper, less economical by water and power use than the last one, but the sales guy said that these days, it is hard to expect the things to last more than five or six years... WTF? Anyway, I was not gunna try the extended warranty shite he was trying to get me to buy for Another Sixty Bucks!?

Five hundred doubloons lighter later, and 30 minutes of bastardising around the kitchen, DADADAAAAA!

And then I had to find a way to get rid of the old machine. The hard rubbish collectors had done our street by last Friday, so I had to ask permission of a contact to leave the thing on the roadside at their place, a few blocks away, where the removal guys had not been...

Dear Dishlex 300, RIP.

FIGJAM- DIY heater done

Squeaking squashed.
Heater all done and Heating

The other week, towards the end of September, mid Spring here, there was an ominous sound coming from the central heating motor, built into a the wall of the other smallest room in the house.

Then later that night- there was a distinct burnt dust and almost a ozone smell like a burnt electrical motor...

Uh oh.

There was no warm air coming out... The motor had cut out.

Next day, I called around the local rural town for a sparky or gas fitter to give me a quick evaluation of the situation and a quote, and no one was available!

Another ring around mid week and finally a bloke was tracked down.

He was able to squeeze us into his tight schedule, and came around at the end of the week. I showed him the cretinous treasonous bstd thing hiding away in the closet.

"Well, you may be able to save yourself some money if you can get the motor out."
"why? How much do you think it may cost?"
"At eighty five dollars an hour..."

So I did it. 45 minutes. Remove covers.
Disassemble the fan unit
The size of the thing surprised me- about the size of a half pound coffee can.
That was all that was needed to heat the house up in less than ten minutes?!

At the the electrical motor rewinding shop, the  felllas looked at it yesterday and I picked up the dang thing today, and irt only needed to be fitted with new bearings. One of the old ones was close to siezed!

Back home with most of my money!
Half an hour later- whrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmm and warmth!

I DID IT!
So thanks Matt for showing me how to save some dough.

Vines on the run penned up.

Chardonnay vines.
Temporary nursery 
This is a modified earlier post

Had to make some place to keep some reclaimed chardonnay vines from my friend back in June 2011. They are about four or five years old, and nearly fruiting. Two pallets cut in half and some long fruit tree cuttings- Voila! 

The photos show the temporary place until some more pots can be found. Seriously- ten to twenty dollars a pot, another 20 of them will set me over budget! 


While the vines from Harry were bare rooted in the recent frosts, I thought I better cover them with the left over soil from the shiraz potting, so I will need some more when I get more pots. 

There were fourteen. As of 12 August. These have been re-pruned to try the Cane and Spur method. Hopefully, the transplant and re-pruning will be a success.

The summer placement. This is not important, can put the pots anywhere! But at the moment, the thought is to set them along the front fence, where I cut down the awful hedge growth. I think having fourteen will make a nice hedge.

The rest of the Vineyard:

Got some more pots- self watering type, now have 12, need another 20 and more soil. Again...

Bud Burst- officially! The Pinot Noir were the first as of this week- in mid August! Even a lonesome leaf- had no heart to prune it! Left it as a cane...

The 14 transplanted Shiraz plants pruned again, no sign of bud burst yet. The rest of the Shiraz, planted and potted, also pruned again.Pruned the rest of the vines again, almost to a spur or two and a 'cane' if possible. The more reading I am doing educates me so much. Looks like an over-cropping was occurring, and with the plants bound in a pot, maybe it will be a good idea to reduce the foliage and canopy.

re-pruned re-cycled shiraz in the little pots

Finally got around to make cuttings and place them in some nursery pots. Bought two bags potting mix, and mixed in 2 shovels of ground calcium carbonate- limestone- and fertilizer into it.