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Mon 11 Sep 2023

The new deck area is coming along nicely, plus I've added more cladding and even a window in what will be the utility room. (Spoiler alert, that window will be moved a LOT higher in a few months.)

There's an old dead stump that has to go. It's from a tree that was hit by lightning some time ago and although I cut the tree down at the time I saw no compelling reason to remove the stump.

Now I do, and the best way I know to do that is burn it out.

So I start by cutting a deep cross hatch into it.

Then I pile some grass over the stump, give the lot a liberal dose of diesel, and set it alight.

Here I'm mocking up the roof and gutter to see if the way I plan to do it will work.

Three hours later.

The place looks like a junk heap at the moment, that can't be helped much I suppose but it is getting on my nerves.

Tue 12 Sep 2023

I've made up a water level in an attempt to get the fall right on the gutter.

It's just a length of 1" poly with 1/2" CVT (Clear Vinyl Tubing) on each end so I can see the water. This is an old trick and really useful if you can't afford a good laser level that can be seen in daylight. Another reason to use this technique is to take a level from two locations that are not in line of sight with each other, say on opposite sides of a building.

Thu 14 Sep 2023

It's taken a couple of days but I finally decide that the stump has burned down enough.

So I douse it with a lot of water, way more than is probably necessary but a fire like this can smolder for a long time under the ground and even pop up somewhere else. I want to make sure it's really out.

Tue 19 Sep 2023

Still looking at properties with our friends. This donga is on a nice piece of land, it's not the main residence but could actually be where Geri and I live if this all goes ahead.

I have to say though that it is not that inspiring, this shack I mean, the property overall is great. But really, with all I have going for me on my current property I can't see myself living in this crappy, boring, and unfinished shed on someone else's land.

Mon 25 Sep 2023

I've decided to sell the quad. It seemed like a good idea at the time but I can't really justify owning it and really don't have a lot of use for it either.

It sells in just a few days.

Sat 30 Sep 2023

This house was recently moved to a block not far from me. It will be interesting to see what they make of it.

Wed 04 Oct 2023

I'm getting right into greeting card making these days, something I've always wanted to do and as Geri makes cards that has given me some incentive to get back into it. I say "back" because I did have a range of cards for sale wway back in the 90s.

We have a few outlets for the cards but no display units and they are so expensive to buy that I decide to make my them myself.

They are just store-bought boxes glued together and to a "leg" I cut from MDF. I use hot glue and it seems to hold well but I'm not a fan of the stuff as my experience has been that it doesn't stick well.

We have to start clearing a few trees from around the house, and in one case a tree that the house is around.

I'm fairly competant at tree cutting but these are above my pay grade so we're getting some quotes. One of the arborists wants some photos of the trees in question, so I send him these.

Trees #2 and #3 are of a size that I would normally be happy to drop myself, but not when they are this close to the house.

Tree #4 is massive and also dead. Because it's dead it cannot be taken down from the top (because the arborists can't be certain of how sound the wood is) and I'd rather it wasn't just cut because when it falls it will take out a few other trees. But that can't be helped, it's way too dangerous to leave it standing.

And tree #1 is actually growing up through the roof of a storage area. Yeah I know, who would be stupid enough to build around a tree eh? At the time the area was just an fenced-in enclosure, but I kept adding to it and then roofed it in and now the tree is part of the house. This will have to be removed from the top.

So how much will this all cost? I'll tell you in the next chronicle but let's just say that it's a good thing I sold the quad.

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