August '14 and the vines are budding

August '14 and the vines are budding

Hmm, the vines in the backyard are budding, as of the 11th  of August.

interesting

Alcoholery and Portable Vineyard Spring 2013

Alcoholery and Portable Vineyard Spring 2013

Down here in the Austral Spring the Alcoholery and Portable Vineyard Spring 2013 report is that August and September rains have encouraged good growth in the vines.

As of this week, the pots have are healthy apart form some insects eating away at the baby Pinot pots, the failure rate on the pinot 2012 cuttings is over 60 percent, dang.

Repotted 2011 cuttings- six with one fail.

Vintage 2013

Portable Vineyard Vintage

Kids helped out with the Harvest for the Portable Vineyard Vintage this year, the pressing was a single handed affair.

result 7 liters of Pinot Noir and Shiraz blend- about 20-80%, and about 23 liters of the Foxey Garage Grapes

Pre pick

Closer to Picking 2013

The backyard grape vines of the portable vineyard, IMBY, are set for vintage!

Pinot about 19 Brix
Shiraz close to 22 Brix
Garage Foxy Grapes about 22 Brix too

Looks like picking time this week or next!

Oh lala

2013 Vintage to start soon

Looking through the shrubbery, I was SURPRISED to see that verasion has been and gone in less than two weeks as far as the Shiraz and Pinot are concerned! I was going to post on that, but breen busy and lax.

Today I thought I better do a sugar level test and most of the varieties are at 15 Brix or about 8 Baum,  getting there, close to what I want in my Portable Vineyard Backyard Wines- that is 12% Alcohol or better; that is, I need 22 Brix or better!

Vintage should be in less than two weeks if this is the case, end of February.

Shiraz

Shiraz

Pinot

shiraz

Shiraz

Pinot

 Today a large Carrawong(?), a crow sized native bird, bigger than a magpie, was scouting the vines for morning tea.... Not happy, may have to re-organise the whole yard, net the lot of them in one go rather than this poor attempt to keep them away.

Summer starts in the Portable Vineyard

Summer preparations in the Portable Vineyard

Two Fruitful Shiraz rows to left [east] and Pinot at right, barren Shiraz center.

This week, the portable Vineyard has been rearranged, expanded even.

Last years cuttings, and older ones too, have been re-potted.

Pinot

The nine Pinot potted vines are fruitful, mostly, but I think there will only be a liter or two of wine to be made- added as usual to the Shiraz. The four three-year-old cuttings are to be re-potted as soon as new mix is found, at a cheaper price! There surviving year old cuttings have been re-potted into small nursery size plastic containers, and arranged under a potted vine [13].

The Shiraz.

It seems that the Shiraz, in the pots anyway, have not all produced fruit!

In fact, 18 are barren this year! A three year old cutting was found to bear a bunch, so that was re-potted this week, so there are now 16 fruiting, as well as the original 6 planted vines.

The pruning and re-arranging of the growth patterns of the potted vines- trellis wise- may have not been such a good idea now. By not leaving two older canes in place, there is instead a profusion of canes, and not all with fruit.

At least the orphans from Harry are going okay, some with bunches too.

The Shiraz vines have been sorted into fruiting and non-fruiting.

Garage Foxey Grapes

These are bountiful again, growing over the pathway, many bunches!

Portable Vines Pictured

Pinot and a profusion of growth

A Portable Vineyard!

3-yr old and 1-year old cuttings

Young Pinot

maybe...

Ideas of planting in the yard are stirring- not sure #2Son will like the idea of not being able to ride his quarter-pipe down the yard- but he does not use it that much anymore anyway.

So there are about forty six Shiraz now plus the new new ones [21], and thirteen Pinots [and13]

UP AND DOWN

What can you do?

Looks like I am over blogging or the lack of motivation for doing it. A fair comment would help, like as in, "yep". But the stats say otherwise, so I have to rack my brain... But for this blog, really?

Well, I had put together a new PC, and add W8 to it, and not unhappy or happy- it is working but I am not using it as the office workhorse, the old W7pro machine is struggling, and with Office10 too, and so be it, it loves to freeze up, thus the new machine. But dislike the keyboard- until right then -when I noticed I had changed it out today... [it's dusty. Why?] Conventional Home-End etc at last- boy that previous KB annoyed me. I wondered tonight why it was bloddy dusty- remembered I actually swapped 2nd son's unused KB over, "so there- be happy Tone". Marvined meself...

I told some one the other day I was "slow", the usual reply- then thought, No, actually, I  am not!

I swap from okay to upset and back- and that is not because of the hardware here. Slow means even-ness to me. I am not.

One is the government wants to cut the carer's [my] pension, so it looks like I really will have to leave the kids alone with their big sib and their aunt for days or weeks at a time, so to make ends meet, by flying off to find oilpatch jobbies for a few grand a week rather than a few hundred a week.

Another is the MS medical treatment regime- self administered shots- "Choose a different place for each day of the week"- really? Really. The spots still hurt a little a few days later- I thought it would be a little like a blood test prick on the thumb- Oh No....

The list goes on- But I am happy to say I am still waking up and walking and talking- probably too much shite tho. Health wise: At least my left eye has a bit more going right- nearly back to what it was- I cannot look sunwards anymore- I was thinking "only need one sun-glass lens", that was how bad it was!

The kids are growing up, and the gels like to see how fast I am shrinking... The 2nSon wants to best me at drinking games- "Oh No we don't!". The eldest child lives a shadowy life beyond my reach [and control?] but touches base now and then- I am told not to worry- he is fine- I wish he had gelfren to bring home to show off to us [hint, wink?]

That's the other thing- Fails. I failed to tighten a wheel on a trailer the other month after getting the tyre repaired. The owner was a bit pissed off to see the wheel going past them down the highway. No one hurt. Me- Still alive, but now doubting meself. I tried to adjust the their pool lighting too, and managed to turn AUTO on and not able to put MANUAL back on- bludee heck, gotta leave those poor people alone!

After losing the second pair of reading glasses in two months, the worry may be increasing- I definitely had them today in a safe place so I could do the garden... The kids can't find them either.

The car is pissing me off- had the front wheel bearings replaced the other week, thinking- "Bearings- twenty bucks each and time a bit extra?"
 NO.
NEARLY "FOUR HUNDRED BUCKAROONIES MATEY". THANKS! Sticker shock, glad I did not try to do it myself after all as: Bugger me!Two times a new spindle-hub-bearing [and removal of old hub by a machine] and then and then- STOP, I am complaining- it's a safety thing, and it's only money... Sounds quiter as there was an exhaust tie missing- but today I though it sounded like a HOLEY MUFFER- by gott I am gettin' wound up now.. shshhsshsssshhsh...

I think I am getting ahead, and then it's BILL time again. AND BLUDIE Chrissy too! Power and gas and water and shire[county] taxes are not going up normally with inflation, I reckon anyway. But MORE. Maybe the sickening spiral of costs begetting costs has occurred!

Nevah feken endz!

Waiting to get on an oil;patch wellsite job after two applications put in by a recruitment company.
Nothing- unless some one else wants Chrissy off and then I might get a look see in.  I bbought a new laptop just for the new career- it's getting dusty.

The kids are doing well with minimal parental supervision or bitching or what ever, the withdrawal room should be padded up by this time next year though.

Three teeners... Oh, now they want to play any old vinyl records I may have- Oh boy. "You got any PinK Floyd we can take away and play" and then what? Actually, only Dark side of The Moon, on CD t'ank fek.

The Portable backyard Potted Vineyard is looking okay, but Not especially fruitful this year- about 40 shiraz pots now, so I should be happy. I think I've mentioned the lawn mower needed a new motor... Plus the new window glass... Plus Shite goes on forever. A nice bottle-brush native shrub had decided to grow over and then start falling on my orange tree in the back corner of the block- well- it went through the mulcher today [where I may have lost my reading glasses] after i cut it down last week. Tarn would have been mortified at the Extreme Pruning, but dear- you can't help.

I went with the kids on a Long Weekend for the point of being on a beach, nearly, with them. The hired holiday house was just a dune away from the ocean. Shared with my little bro and his family  and two or three other couples. Nice weekend. And it was near my favourite flat water sailing place too, a perk I thought. they had a boogie board and two surfboards, I had three wind-surfers- a beginners for the kids on quiet days, and two slalom/wave boards for me on the --wind---? on the win---, THERE was NO wind for three bloody days, and the boards were too small according to the resident expert... The new family tent for 6 from Aldi fitted Three Comfortably, apart from the HARD GROUND.

See. Don't like it.

Up and Down.

constant surveillance

Disease and Constant Vineyard Surveillance...

Dear me and Gosh

So it is the start, for the backyard grape vines, the start of the growing season!
Two days ago I found yellowing leaf edges on the new leafs! And drying out ones too. Diseases?

I am trying to "count the chicks" I suppose, watching out for the flowers on the vines.
It does not look like a great amount of grapes production this year.


The plan to cut back on how many canes grow each year on each vine maybe a bit outlandish, if there is only a few bunches per vine...

And if disease prevents the flowers forming...

I went down the street to the local plant nursery as some help required. Returned half an hour later with the evidence she [a North American?] lady needed to help me out with, from an old [looking] "plant growing advice book". The advice she gave was- I better get the Wettable Sulphur spraying program started asap for the required prevention activity.

Today 5 Oct

Advice day 4 Oct

That would have started straight away if the wind was not blowing the proverbial off it's dainty chest.

And it still is, so that is not helping my small apprehension. From the above pics, you can see not advisable to spray for two days now, and it did not help on the 4th that it was HOT...

Flowers forming

Flowering time in TPV

I am a little confused about this. I thought there would be quite a few more branchlets forming before any flowers would arrive, because there may be less fruit from what I can see!
Maybe I am being a little pessimistic, as it is only the first week of October, and we have had plenty of rain as well as watering and feeding and spraying them...

Speaking of, there are a few degraded leaves, even a few yellowish ones today, so I will have to get the mildew sprays out so to avoid last years cockup!

Garage grapes

Shiraz

Pinot Noir

Shiraz

Shiraz

Last years cuttings Shiraz

Last years cuttings Shiraz

Last years cuttings Pinot Noir

It's raining again

The rain Page here has been updated again. And again- fancier?

I see that the rain pattern appears to be changing IMBY since the mid 2000's. Of all my hobbies started since kids arrived... it has been pretty satisfying to see what goes on IMBY and locally and regionally.

Playing with my excel graphs of monthly recorded rain IMBY [not daily- I think it would have to be re-arranged and not going there as yet...] it looks like the three cycles of rainy/drier has been changed since I have been recording it in the backyard.

Would you agree, or want to see more data? The  B.O.M. has a lot, maybe if you want you can see if it tallies up as far as a trend change goes. Fair warning, nearest weather data collection to us lies a few kilometres from away.

With a Muttley-like smirk or chuckle, or hiding embarrassment too, but, um, ah, am I right? Am I right?

Besides the 16month moving average cycle, it is the average over time that is also interesting. The drought in SE Australia looks to me to have ended maybe the first half of 2008 or earlier by my records?


At least IMO, these last few years of data shows me that it is heading towards a wetter climate here in SE Oz. IMBY IMHO that is!

Having weather station is nice to have- automation of data collection is a boon, what?

But I am not going down the road of temperature collection, as too many variables may affect the data collection, and I maybe should have started that at the same time as the rain recording, cos I do have and have had a MinMax mercury type thermometer since 1983... The many thermometers I have never agree anyway*...


I hope moving the rain collector gauge won't affect the data a lot, but that was a self imposed OH&S thing! In any case, I wanted to eliminate extra splash from the roof or nearest trees, but I do not think that has happened.
*marvined? Also, have to update that page- the magnificent measurement obsession has got some new additions!

Red Wine Vintage 2011 Pigeonholed

I mean Red Wine Vintage 2011 LABELED
Three takes and done

Well, I bottled the blended Red Wine Vintage 2011 vintage of Shieaz and Pinot Noir, the whole NINE yards bottles.

As there was some special oil used to protect the wine whilst in vitro while maturing, 'cos I like 12 months bulk aging prior to bottling, I had to sacrifice the last bottle.

For tasting and to have with some cabonara penne!

Well, it was Good, thank you, and I will enjoy sharing the bottles of the 2011 special blend over the next couple of years with family and friends for sure. Smooth and tasty, not as peppery as it was freshly made last year. Slightly tannic, short lived, and nice nose, not sweet.Rounded and warming At 12%, the Red Wine Vintage 2011is perfect. IMO.

Eight left over

Setting the label up was a bugger, as I only do it once or twice a year, and the previous year's label was lost... But I had saved the 2008 label, so changed it up, and printed it off the laser first- by mistake. Then printed it in colour on the ink-jet. With the sheet upside down, as per laser... In the end- you can see, done.

Saturn and Me

Having a Go
Saturn Observation

I read a blog- Bad Astronomy. And another
This week there was a recommendation. See The Rings Of Saturn!
Oh boy, this weegen, okay then! Some backyard science again!
Tonight (14 or 15 Apr 12) he said, is the best view, if you have a good telescope, of the Rings about midnight. As Earth is between the Sun and the planet.
Dutifully I waited, and as usual, oh shit, it's midnight and ran around looking for the gear. Set it up in the dark IMBY, with a laser light.
The gear is cheap. About eighty bucks at the post office a few years ago.
But I have seen the moons of Jupiter with it, and Lunar seas and Mountains and craters, so the Rings of Saturn should be a go.
It did take a while, but no rings. This Year. For Moi.
Alas.

The cheapness extended to me too- there was only one medium power eyepiece. I could not put my hands on the rest of the eyepieces of the set! Preparation....
But I think, it maybe too cheap, as there was awe-full distortions, like colour distortions, which reminds me of cheapo binoculars I have had in the past, not glass but plastic lenses.
Ah well, I did try.

Ever tried to really catch a planet in a telescope?
They are bastards!
They move!

Looking for the Rings Of Saturn

Bugger, getting the dang gear to find Saturn was hard enough, then to try to focus in? Oh, the marvined factors; Bad neck and back this week; street light into the backyard. Ended up using the garden table, garden chair and the garden umbrella and a sack of topsoil to sit on to keep track without visual distractions.

If I had me druthers- I would have picked up a better, but still cheap, reflecting 'scope at Aldi that had a motor and GPS for about three hundred bucks, but hey, that was last year.

Vintage 2012

Almost Vintage 2012... 
The Garage Foxey grapes: Are we ready?

The nice perfumey smell of the IMBY grape vines has deteriorated a little bit like a decaying smell around the garage grapes! Looks like the bees and butterflys are in there sucking that sweet syrup from MY grapes and leaving just husks behind. The birds have tried to get in under the netting to a small degree this year, but not a lot.


This is the usual time for harvest, going back to 1999 at least. The primary school has a Maypole and fete and my dad goes trout fishing at Eucumbene Dam with his brothers. I panic, worry and fumble around for the winery kit. Measure the sugar content, whinge about some diseases erupting in some bunches, scare off the ants.

Pinot Noir

Have to tidy the Alcoholery up, move "spare timber and stuff" A to B, and tools from B to C so I can move out the grape processing gear- crusher, press, SMS/PMS, buckets, vats and snippers...  And power tools from C to D...

Not ready, or excited.

Only because, I suppose, my Shiraz crop failed completely due to mildew.

Foxey 

Anyway, there looks like a nice crop of garage grapes and maybe some Pinot Noir to throw in it. If it turns out okay, great, otherwise... Brandy or rum. At least a couple of bottles.

Should have a home made wine made by this time next week.

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!