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Sun 05 Nov 2023

Out and about north of Gin Gin today. Off to the range again as it happens and that seems to be when I get most of my photos...for now at least.

I clocked this wreck on the way north but couldn't stop then so remembered where it was and had a look on my way home.

And some modified versions.

Thu 23 Nov 2023

We've temporarily fixed the turkey problem in the Zen garden by enclosing the area with weldmash. It's all just propped up with star pickets for now but I'll do something permanent later.

Now that this is a turkey-free environment we can do nice things in the garden, like build a fish pond.

Mon 27 Nov 2023

The kitchen and hallway area are mostly roofed now, and it's time to start on the lounge room. I load some C100 purlins onto the roof, these will be the main rafters.

I do everything by myself, it can be a struggle at times and is often slower for sure, but even if I had a choice that's how I like it anyway.

Wed 29 Nov 2023

It would be great to be able to lift heavy objects on/off the ute, so I've bought a crane and made a jig that allows it to be fitted to the tray and easily removed.

Its first job is to lift the tool box into place.

Well that worked, let's try something heavier.

Hmm, good. How about 250kgs of fly press?

Yep, no problems. I'm calling this a success for now, the goal is to have it lift 400 or even 500kgs, that might be a stretch but we'll see.

Tue 12 Dec 2023

We've changed our mind about the placement of some things and need the area that Dave worked on reecently to be modified a tad, plus a few more trees need to be dropped.

We start with the one he couldn't do last time because it was too close to the workshop and the root ball might have come up under the building and cause all sorts of damage.

So I chainsaw the tree to a point where it's almost ready to fall, and Dave pushes it over with the side of his bucket.

Then he carries it away and deals with a few more trees.

We've decided that the new tanks will go next to the workshop, so that area needs to be modified a little bit. And also I now want the garage pad to be at the same level as the previous tank pad.

This creates a heck of a lot of spoil but I have a plan for that, it will be used to build up the driveway.

All done, there is now a very large area that's all at the same level.

I park the cars in the space that will be a garage before too long.

Wed 13 Dec 2023

Some more views of the garage pad and driveway.

There was also a lot of spoil from the new tank pad area, so I got Dave to build up a platform outside the workshop. There is a huge area there now and I'm tempted to extend the workshop on to that, we'll see, I already have a large shop, dunno that I need any more...said no bloke ever.

Fri 15 Dec 2023

The new area has been track rolled by the digger but I usually like to compact it more with the Cruiser. So far it's been too dry to compact but we had some light rain yesterday so I make a start on doing that.

Unfortumately I get a little too close to the soft edge of the driveway and the dirt gives way, the Cruiser slowly starts tipping over but stops before it gets to a critical point.

For a second there I had visions of it rolling over entirely and that wouldn't be good.

I don't think there is any real danger of the car tipping any further and anyway there is a small tree there that would probably stop it going all the way. Nevertheless I belay it back to the ute with some ropes to be on the safe side and phone a neighbour who has a winch on his 80 series. By chance another neighbour turns up as well, so he helps with the rigging.

All good. Well that was fun.

Thu 21 Dec 2023

Geri experiments with some edging in the fledgling food garden.

We like it but really this is supposed to be a more natural-looking area of food-bearing trees so we'll probably remove the bricks and put them to better use.

Two of the trees we've planted to start off the food forest. A mango and a lemon, both transplanted from the other side of the house.

Fri 22 Dec 2023

I've put some lights in the fish pond.

Mon 25 Dec 2023

Home alone on Christmas day as Geri is with family. It doesn't worry me, I've never celebrated such things anyway.

This is the area that will become the lounge and dining room. Get a load of all those DVDs, I've been buying them a lot lately as I like to own my media, not rent time on some streaming service or whatever. Fortunately most people are the opposite and they are getting rid of their DVDs, so I get them real cheap.

I'll just chill out today and maybe finish the new roof over my office container.

Tue 26 Dec 2023

And here it is all finished.

I didn't quite have enough roofing of the same colour so the last little piece is slightly different. At the time I didn't think it mattered, and really it doesn't, but it still gets on my OCD goat every time I see it.

Here we see a side view. The new roof does nothing in terms of water proofing, it is just a tropical roof to help keep the heat down. I will probably add some insulation under it in the future.

Fri 29 Dec 2023

We've had quite a lot of rain and that has highlighted some low spots in the new earthworks.

If I do extend the workshop this will need to be dealt with.

This is more of a problem though as there will be a garage here and I don't want water to run into that.

Comments

Date  ::	25 Oct 2024
Name  ::	Rod
Location  ::	Perth
Comment  ::	You could always extend the fishpond
Date  ::	25 Oct 2024
Name  ::	Robert
Location  ::	Sydney
Comment  ::	Looking forward to seeing the garage being built, needs to be large, say 4 cars size!!
Date  ::	25 Oct 2024
Name  ::	GRAYnomad
Comment  ::	Hi guys, still here then? No the fish pond is large enough for the 7 fish we now have. Yes it will be a 4-car garage, but for once I won't be building it, a local shed place is.

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