More Shade

Summer has hit back with a vengeance today.  There is hardly a cloud in the sky and the sun is shining brightly.  It is around the low 30's today, easily the hottest day we have had it for quite a few weeks.

I did the bike ride this morning and what should have taken well under an hour took around 90 minutes.  I was caught up having a chat with a couple of people.  One was a Bellvista resident "Nathan" who works for a neighbouring MP as an advisor.  I was bringing him up to speed with the helicopter issue.  His wife and young family were with him.  He hadn't noticed the helicopters because he is at work all day.  His wife sure let him know they were still a problem!

We are experimenting a little with the gazebo (and the new canopy) in the backyard.  The concrete up the back is great but we miss some shade.  The gazebo has shown us how important it is to have shade in the backyard and beside the pool.

With the share market doing a little better we are considering a permanent structure in the back to provide the shade.  The structure must be under 10 square metres to exclude it from Council building charges.

We get some pretty rough storms up this way and there is always the thought that if a severe storm hits and we have left the gazebo up it could be severely damaged.  Any threat of a storm means the gazebo has to be taken down.

I saw this structure at a display in Maroochydore recently.  This measures 3m x 3m but has all the sides filled in.  For what we are after, we would want the rear gable area 'filled in' but all the rest open.

Click on the photos for a larger view.

You can have it built to any size you want. For example we would prefer it something like 2.6m from the back fence which would set it back a little more from the pool and possibly a little wider e.g. 3.5m.

We would position it 'roughly' in the middle of the area and consider a blind on the 'pool filter' side.  In summer the sun goes down over the back pool filter corner of the block.

The fence there provides shade as the sun gets lower in the sky.  In winter the sun goes down right behind the pool filter, therefore we could get a little afternoon winter sun under the new shade area.

There would be guttering along two sides of the roof which would just open onto the concrete and away through the new drain.

By building something a little 'upmarket' we would add to the value of the property and provide some much needed shade.  We could possibly do something just before Christmas.

I am pleased to report that Trish is feeling much better today but she still is not 100%.  Hopefully she will be fine tomorrow.

This afternoon I can either watch the cricket from India on TV or spend time poolside.  I think the pool sounds a great idea, especially in light of the recent performance of our cricketers!