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Sun 28 Jan 2024

A nice pano I saw on the way into Bundy today.

Wed 31 Jan 2024

Remember a couple of issues ago I erected an 8-meter post with the intention of cutting it to the right height later, but then I got a great idea?

Well this is the great idea, an observation deck with internal access tower.

And in fact I wasn't happy with even that height, see those two darker grey patches on the front posts?

They are cold gal paint over welds. I have extended the height by about another two metres.

Yeah I know, a bit crazy eh? But you see Geri is away at present and this is what happens when I'm left on my own without any adult supervision.

I've always wanted to build a "folly", and I think this qualifies.

I confess that I do worry a bit about the wind loading on such a structure. In a cyclone it would be history, but then again so would the entire house, and we don't get cyclones this far south. There is always the chance of local wind events though.

So maybe my folly will turn out to be just that, but then again I've been lucky all my life, no reason to think that won't continue but if any readers have experience with such things please advise.

Thu 01 Feb 2024

Got some more done on the folly today.

That tall part is a weatherproof access tower, there will be an internal ladder from the loft (the room below that with three openings for windows) to the observation deck (AKA the poop deck) inside this tower.

The RHS poking out from the main structure shows the extent of the final deck, 600mm outside the main part. This not only gives me more room to place a couple of deck chairs but also allows me to easily pour boiling oil on any attacking zombies.

Sat 03 Feb 2024

Remember that long narrow window that used to be down near ground level? Well now it's way up on the folly.

And that giant hole where it used to be will become a large picture window with louvres to allow better air flow through the house.

Sun 04 Feb 2024

Wed 07 Feb 2024

The driveway is finished and it looks great.

Tue 13 Feb 2024

Another big thing today. Four new 5000 gal (22700 ltr) water tanks arrive.

The first two are for the new house that should be installed in a month or so.

And the second two are for me.

Note how they just push them off the truck. And they pretty much land exactly in the right spot. They do however almost always need to be rotated to align the inlet, and I help the driver with that. Then he drills the holes for the outlets and loosely fits the hardware, I'll finish them off later.

When plumbed in this will give me a total of about 100,000 litres of storage which historically is way more than I need, but with the planned extension of the garden, and two new large roofs (my extension and the new garage), I figured we should have more storage. But that's another $5000 and we're hemorrhaging money like there's no tomorrow these days.

I just console myself with the knowledge that we are investing in our future. Everything we buy will form a practical part of the lifestlye we want to have, there are no useless baubles so common with modern-day purchasing and no mindless consumerism (well maybe just a little bit). Everything is a hedge against what might be coming down the pike in this increasingly expensive and distopian world.

Fri 16 Feb 2024

A pleasant surprise, some pumpkins are growing near the workshop.

I didn't plant them, so some critter must have pooed out a seed or something.

Pumkins are one of nature's super foods so I'm well happy to have them growing. I actually hate pumkins in any solid form but do really like pumpkin soup, so if any reach maturity and we manage to harvest them before the local wildlife does I'll be well pleased.

Sat 17 Feb 2024

One reason that Geri is away a lot is that she has a family member that is very sick, we're talking induced coma in ICU sick, and she's been bedside daily for weeks now.

I guess this person is my family member now as well and I have been down to the Hervey Bay hospital a few times to support them.

She's on the mend now though and has been transferred to a lower level ward in Maryborough, so both Geri and I have been spending a lot of time in that town, and we love it.

We don't sit bedside all day, and anyway there are visiting hours to abide by, so we have time to explore the town. It's well known for its interesting archtecture and general "old fashionedness" so there is plenty of Canon (sic) fodder, although these days I mostly use the Panosonic 2500.

Sun 18 Feb 2024

We're still here in Maryborough.

While walking around we discover the "Cistern Chapel", public toilets that have been extensively decorated. The men's is not that spectacular but the womens is, and after a quick check for occupants by the attendants us blokes can go in there and have a look.

Actually these days I suppose all I had to do was say that I identify as a female and just walk in. I never thought of that.

Then we go into the old theatre.

Another thing that Maryborough is famous for is that it was the home of P L Travers, the person that wrote Mary Poppins, and there are references to that around, including this statue of the famous nanny herself.

That's her on the left.

And note my somewhat unkempt long hair. For 20+ years I've had a #2 buzz cut, but Geri has persuaded me to grow it long like I had it back in the 70s when riding bikes, most notably my trusty old Honda 750-4.

Man that was a nice bike.

But I digress, the hair is getting longer and the beard is getting shorter, all in all I'm told it makes me look younger and I admit that I am looking pretty good for a 40-year-old eh?

Tue 20 Feb 2024

My QUUB circuit boards have arrived from China and I stack a few together to give the idea of where the name came from.

The QUUB has it's own website these days if you are interested in such things.

But the design you see on this website is way different to the above photo as it has grown significantly since then.

I'm not doing anything with electronics at present, too busy building and other things but part of the work I'm doing on the house will be a total refurb of my office, and that will have provision for electronics and programming work. I do still wonder as to my reasons for wanting to do such work these days, after all there's no real need to at a practical level, but it's something I've always loved to do, also it will help to keep my mind sharp and that's important.

Thu 22 Feb 2024

Back in Maryborough. I spotted these interesting patterns in a tree.

Comments

Date  ::	31 Oct 2024
Name  ::	Robert
Location  ::	Sydney
Comment  ::	Rob, Love the Crows nest observation deck!! What's the 360 view from up top??
Date  ::	01 Nov 2024
Name  ::	Rod
Location  ::	Perth
Comment  ::	hmmh, crows nest, long hair..... Just need the hair plaited into a pony tail and an eye patch and you've got the makings for a fancy dress party Rod
Date  ::	02 Nov 2024
Name  ::	GRAYnomad
Comment  ::	Arrrrgh, where's me buccaneers? Geri is always on to me to go the full pony tail route, it's not long enough yet but maybe, I used to back in the 70s. The view is good, not quite 360 though due to the access tower although when the deck is done I will be able to see around that as well. Maybe I should go higher eh? One plan is to sit up there at night looking at the stars with binos.

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