The drought continues at Underhill

Last weekend I drove my car down to Underhill for the first time in ages. Elaine came with me and put up with all my practice music on the way there and back.

We arrived to find the wreckage of both the snow event about a month ago and the strong winds last week. Geoff had reported about this damage when he went down over the October long weekend but it still surprised us.

The dams are still very low, evidence that the drought is still in full swing even though there has been a little rain.

The pot with waterplants in a semi sunk polystyrene box is doing well and the hope is that the plants will seed and spread to the dam margins.

The two oaks next to the top dam are also doing fine with new spring leaves showing on both.

Terry and Ellie arrived to stay with their van (very comfortable).  So the stay was a mix of lots of chat and then hard work.

The hard work was mostly clearing the drive of fallen twigs and branches then removing the old grey lounge from the shelter, straightening wind-blown carpet and rearranging chairs.

This old lounge was a roadside pick up back in 2005. It was used by the Tyrls for their 6 month stay in Sydney then well used at Underhill where it became a great home for spiders as it fell apart.

Adult's morning sun lounge

Kids cubby house corner

We also spent some time identifying birds. Ellie is quite good at this so it was great to have her help. While it was very difficult to find the birds making the calls we could hear I was able to get a few rather blurry ones that assisted us in identification.

Buff-rumped Thornbill

Rufous Whistler

 We also heard Kookaburras, Yellow Robin and Grey Shrike Thrush. I found a little dragon when I was moving some fallen timber and he stayed still long enough to get a great shot except for the shadow.

A sleep over and a garden hunt

Last week Jen and the girls came for a sleepover. It is always such fun with 4 in my bed. Ivy is allowed to sleep with me. Of course that means Heather also wants to sleep with me but she won't go to sleep without Mummy. So Jen sleeps with me until Heather falls asleep then takes her out to her cot and stays out there. But 4 in the bed is a bit of a squash.

I had the girls the next day anyway so we went on a photographic garden hunt. Lots of aphids on the roses.

The mushrooms on the orchid stump are interesting too.

But the tongue orchids are just about finished.

There are so many colours in my nasturtiums. As well as the ordinary orange ones there are...

Here is a bee on the Tradescantia. Click on the photo and it will be enlarged.

And finally the grape flowers as we went back inside when the wind came up and made me sneeze a lot.

Happy Birthday Rauri and Bob

Last weekend family and a few friends gathered at mine to wish Rauri (Roger) a happy 90th birthday. It was fun to see all my grandchildren playing so well together.

Rauri enjoyed time with everyone as we played chair hopping in the dining room and Janice assures me that he really loved it.

Of course Heather helped blow out the candles.

Alex taught Ivy how to play chess then had a few real games with Rauri.

All kids escaped outdoors to burn off a bit of energy leaving the adults to chat quietly inside.

What a great day. Thanks for coming everyone.

Fun in the bag yesterday

Elaine came to hang out yesterday and I decided, after we'd sorted her quilt that I would like to try making the Japanese Origami bag Kerrie showed me at the weekend.

I used two 16" pieces of fabric for it and have decided that 18" squares would probably make a more useful bag. However, I am please with the outcome. It holds a small bottle of water, my keep cup and my phone in the front (or back) pocket.

A cultural experience for a wet Saturday

Time for Kerrie and I to catch up again so we met at Central Station. Our plan had been to visit the Chinese Gardens but as it was teaming we decided to head for Paddy's Market and Market Town for the day.

First we wandered around the food market absolutely astounded at the beautiful fresh produce and such a variety. As we did not want to carry purchases all day we decided to return later in the day.

We chose an Asian bakery from which to buy our morning tea and tried three things we'd never seen before. Such a lot to choose from.

I bought a dress and jacket for summer but apart from that we just wandered.

There was a school holiday activity going on involving Chinese Dragon dancing. The puppets were magnificent. Later in the day they actually performed but at that stage we could not get close enough to get a photo.

We bought a small fruit salad to share so that Kerrie could taste Dragon Fruit then back down to the food market to make our purchases. We both went home with some beautiful young sweet corn, dragon fruit, and blueberries.

By then we were quite exhausted so walked back to Central and had a late light lunch in the Eternity Cafe. I had been talking about a bag design I had seen online that I wanted to try making. When we were at the cafe Kerrie pulled out a bag that someone had made for her. It is the same design! So I was able to have a really good look at it before I try making one.

Our day ended just after 3pm so that Kerrie could get her train and be back at work for the evening. I just love our days together. We keep finding little things we have in common and seem to be able to just know what the other is thinking.

Climate Change and Global Warming

This great article by Tim Flannery came through on The Conversation today. It has a little video embedded in it that is really worth looking at.

My recent addition of a new solar power system is an attempt to future proof my home and reduce my use of fossil fuels. When batteries become better I'll even consider getting one. Meanwhile I've got myself to Air Con 101 level and am able to program my air cons to come on in the middle of the day and store some of the excess energy I am producing in the infrastructure of my building so that life is more comfortable.

And there are more consequences of the use of fossil fuels (or any fuels unnecessarily) as outlined in another article in The Conversation today about the plight of Pigmy Possums in our alpine regions. That is presumably not the only wildlife to be affected by excess light at night so turn off unnecessary lights at night and save on power and maybe save some wildlife too.

Of course my water tanks store water for me. And today they are being filled by this lovely rain. Hooray!

A short trip to Underhill

Last Saturday Geoff, Ivy, Heather and Ponyo took me down to Underhill for the day. There we met Nathan, Karita and their 9 week old Acacia. Karita's mum Connie was also out from the USA so was down with them.

We had a few chores to complete, the first of which was planting two clumping bamboos that should grow tall and strong enough to use as construction material.

It is a worry planting bamboo but as we are having trouble getting anything to grow Geoff has decided to give it a try. If it gets eaten out then so be it. If it becomes a weed then we will remove it.

A simple lunch of instant sandwiches from our fuel stop was enjoyed by all.

Another chore was to scatter some green manure seeds and cover them with mushroom compost and/or chicken manure. We can buy the chook poo from a local who obviously must have a lot of chooks. He also sells beautiful veges when he has them on his honesty stand.

Geoff is also covering some of the seeds with some fibrous underfelt that we have scrounged in the hopes that it will keep the soil moist enough for the seeds to germinate but is also open enough for the seedlings to grow through.

We are due for rain this week so it will be interesting to see if there is any growth next time we go down.

At last I also got the photos I had meant to take previously of the quilts I had made for Geoff's family from Surrey's shirts. For photos of these take a look at the tab My Quilts 2019.

A great weight was lifted from Geoff's shoulders when he and Nathan were able to fell the last of the Callitris that Surrey and I had planted as Christmas trees for home. The last one had grown enormous and had become quite a fire hazard close to the sheds.

Spending the kids' inheritance - I have the power!

It all started when I was considering the heat issues associated with my north facing back roof - flat and metal! I decided a fly roof of sorts was needed and considered laying brush fencing or shade cloth over it. I even considered a roof-top garden. Then thought an actual tropical fly roof would work. Ah! but what if that fly roof was clad with solar panels. But wait! Solar panels can go straight on the roof as it is at the moment!

Voila!

Although the panels are shaded early morning they use technology to overcome this. I could have even fitted on a few more but because of discrepancy with the layout of the office and the actual installer I did not know that at the time. Even at 6:30am I am producing. The cost of my solar panel roof was roughly the same as adding a fly roof and it is earning me money.

I have kept my old solar system (10 years old) that is mostly on the western pitched roof. When it dies I'll consider what to do next but by then technology will be even more advanced. I have also kept my old working solar hot water system. Again, when it dies I'll reconsider and maybe just use an electric hot water system with a tank closer to where I need the hot water so I don't lose as much heat in cold pipes.

My Solar Analytics software is throwing a wobbly at the moment trying to integrate all these various readings it is receiving but that will be sorted eventually with people coming from each different company and scratching their head a lot over my meter board layout. At the moment my graph reads that I am actually UNconsuming power which is impossible.

To use some of my excess power I have now had air con installed in my lounge room and bedroom. I can heat/cool the rooms in the middle of the day (when the sun shines) using the double brick walls to store that temperature for when I need it in the evenings.

    

Of course I am also feeding into the grid and offsetting my power bills. When batteries become a better/cheaper option I will consider installing one. You never know, I might eventually be off grid.