Wind, Wind, Go Away!

Today the wind isn't so bad and we still have a stiff southerly blowing again!  The last week has seen strong north westerlies before it swung around to the south west.  But it was still a fairly strong and consistent wind.  For a day or so it was the windy summer's nor' easter and I even got in the pool after a bike ride for a very quick swim one morning.

Then the wind swung back to the south again for a day or so and today we again have a blustery south easter blowing.

Pair this with hardly a drop of rain over the last month or so and the accompanying dust with the wind you can imagine what it is like.  It is a waste of time to clean the pool, an hour or so after cleaning, the pool floor is covered with dirt again.  I went and bought a new 'cartridge' for the filter.  The guy says you should change them every 3 years.  I reckon the pool is well over 12 years old and this is only its third new filter cartridge.

In the photo you can see dirt on the floor and on the steps of pool steps.  You have to vacuum at least a couple of times so as to get most of the dirt.  It rises up as the vacuum goes by then settles again after you have put all the cleaning equipment away!

Or you just wait until the wind subsides and you get a clear go at it over a day or so.  It is dusty under the back pergola, it is dusty everywhere.  Headlines in today's local paper are around a 50% chance of rain later in the week.  People using tank water have to wait up to 4 weeks for a tank fill up from the water carting companies.

You can imagine what bike riding is like as well with the windy conditions.  It is great one way then bloody murder riding back again!

Hay Fever is something I used to get very infrequently when I was younger but I reckon I had a slight dose yesterday afternoon.   But at least the weather is warm with mid 20's experienced most days.

But other than the weather and my footy team's great unexpected win on Friday night, it just the same old same old stuff.

We are watching the final series of a TV Show called "Bloodlines".  It has been a great series so we are looking forward to see how it finishes up.  Before we watch each new episode there is a brief summary of it as well as that episode's IMDB 'score'.

Usually the scores are around 8.5 or so but we see the last 2 episodes rate 5.5 and then finally a 4.0.  Now they are not the scores you would expect for an exciting climax to rate.  Last night's episode was a little unbelievable and it got an 8!  I seem to think we may miss the rest of the series the way it is going!

For us there is plenty of other stuff to watch anyway!

Finishing Touches

The first hour or two of Sunday (today) was spent just tidying up those finishing touches for the revamped back yard.  The lantern from Saudi has now gone on display under the pergola.  The colored panes of the lantern really came to life during sunset as the rays of the sinking sun shone through the pergola lighting up the lantern.  It was quite spectacular.

Photo at foot of this post. It's not the best photo in the world but it does give you an idea of how it looks.

The wall hanging lizard has had a third coat of paint, this time green, before being attached to the new back wall.  The three ladybirds in a row have at last found their proper home, also being attached to the back wall.

And if you look closely you will see a green gecko on the brown horizontal paneling of the pergola itself.  A new plant now adorns the back corner near the pool filter cover.  A new swim safety sign has gone up above the pool filter cover and the oversized sun lounge has returned to its original spot!

All of the final fittings took several looks and deep discussion before the final positioning was completed.

Around $60 worth of pool salt and pool chemicals has gone into the pool making everything tip top for the upcoming swimming season.

My footy team took a belting on Friday by a team we beat comfortably a month ago.  With a match against Sydney scheduled for this Friday coming up, it seems that yet again we could be out of the finals race 'in straight sets'.

Last night we attended an evening with several others from the Community Association.  It was held locally at a private home.  Three of the four guys there are all home brewers so the discussion and activity had a certain 'beer focus'.  I may be having a quiet day off the beer today!

Now all the heavy stuff has been finished in the backyard, I have a belated appointment with the Chiro on Monday afternoon.  I think she has a bit of work to do.

Via Kodi, I am able to stream TV from anywhere in Australia so this afternoon I will keep an eye on the VFL footy live from Melbourne while I sit quietly in 'recovery mode'.

And then tonight it is time to complete watching Series three of Narcos, a superb TV series on our Kodi TV Box.

All Done

As the photo left shows, the HardiPlank paneling along the back fence is now completed.  There was a last minute addition of a third silhouette panel (we had hoped to get away with just 2).  Then I had to tidy everything up, replace some pebbles and finally give things a good hose down to get rid of all the dust.

We have totaled well under 10mls of rain for all of August so the accumulation of dry weather dust leaves a film over everything.  The back fence job seems to finish off the backyard nicely and now gives us 100% privacy from over the back as well.  We expect to more than recoup our expenses if we were ever thinking of selling as the whole backyard now has had a further lift.

And then this morning (Friday) I bottled my latest batch of home brew and I still got a 15k bike ride in as well.

This afternoon I am off to the Pool Shop for all the bits and pieces required to get the pool in tip top shape ready for the upcoming swimming season.  There will be the customary two bags of salt and alkalinity leveler along with other chemicals required to keep the pool ideal for swimming.

Currently the days are delightful with clear skies and temperatures in the mid to high 20's.  But with a predominant S/W wind we still get cold nights and it is these cold nights which kill off any water temperature gained from the previous sunny day.

When the S/W winds move around to be N/Easters then the nights will warm up and the pool temperature will follow suit.  Right now the water temperature gets to around 18°.  I find 21° is my absolute minimum for a swim, especially if things are hot after a bike ride.

The footy finals are now underway.  Last night's match was a bit of a fizzer with the top side belting the 4th placed team.  Tonight's game is expected to be closer with my team, which finished second, playing the 3rd placed side.  We go into the match as slight favorites but we will see.  The forecast for Melbourne is cold and wet and not conducive to great footy conditions.

I will be watching of course!

Just About There

Bike Riding each morning has been on the back burner as my latest backyard project gets closer to completion.  But there is a good chance I will be back on the bike tomorrow morning if all goes according to plan today.

As the photo shows all the hard painting, lifting and securing work has now been completed.  The fence posts and the need to work around them has been a bit of a headache.  The levels didn't help either with an approx 15cm fall from left to right.

But Bunnings came to the rescue and cut the smaller pieces I needed for me.  I got on quite famously with the European Bunnings guy who served me.  As it turned out he had moved from IT into working for Bunnings, but I am not sure how that worked.  He too was originally from Victoria and played soccer for Doveton.  He was also a bit of a Kodi fan and was experimenting a little with his home brew.  No wonder we hit it off!

I will be catching up with the Chiropractor early next week as the back is suffering following the lifting and carrying.  Rather than clean up the paint rollers and trays I put them into a plastic bag and headed for the rubbish bin!  As it turned out it was the easiest clean up job ever!

Our back yard is around 12cms lower than over the back as it had to be done that way when the pool was installed and leveled.  There is rudimentary drainage system along the back fence to help with seepage from the block at the back.  Thus the need for border stones and the pebbles along the fence line.  The border stones and much of the pebbles had to moved to ensure the levels were at least reasonable when leveling off and fixing the large Hardiplank panels.  Needless to say there were pebbles strewn everywhere from the task so this morning's job was tidying up those pebbles.

Trish is bringing home a couple of large 180x90cm silhouette panels from Bunnings this afternoon and they will be attached to the back fence when we find the best position for them.  They will be the same as what we already have on the side fence (Click HERE, then 'Back' to return to this page)  Then the wire lizard and the new ladybird wall hangings will need to go up followed by the hooks for the solar lights.

But they are all minor jobs.

As a home brew went on late last week and with a lighter backyard work list today, I managed to get the bottle washing all done ready for a bottling on Friday.

I chaired a Community Association "Public" Meeting on Monday night.  5 of our Committee members were apologies for the night leaving the setting up to basically just two of us.  Trish came along early as well to help with the setting up and everyone was glad she did.  Of course after the Meeting there is a the full report to go online which is also my job.

And finally there is the Community Newsletter draft to have ready for printing 2500 copies off mid next week.  The draft has to be ready by Friday but that is well in hand as well.

Lucky we don't have to get to a full time job anymore isn't it!

Day Of Rest

Yes it is Monday and I am declaring it a day of rest.  Despite it being Monday today, it is a day off for me.  As the photo shows I am putting cladding along the back fence just as I have done to one of the side fences.  It is ideally a 2 person job but with Trish involved with an Arts Centre Exhibition over the weekend, it was left to just me to get this much done.

The task is made more difficult than previously because the back fence slopes from left to right, there are border stones to consider and bits and pieces need removing between the pergola and the fence.  You ideally need two people to maneuver the 6'x3' sheets into place, level them and then screw them to the wall.  The fence has the fence posts to deal with as well which means one sheet needs to be cut into smaller pieces so they will fit.

But I managed to cut two of  the sheets so they would fit around a concrete knob on one fence post, either side.  This time as well, I decided to paint the sheets prior to putting them up.

It was around 26° during the day so it was thirsty work.  When it was tools down it was glasses up and I suspect the ensuing drinks makes me feel less than 100% this morning. I still have the hassle of having a sheet cut into 1x40cm and 1x45cm wide pieces.  This cladding isn't easy to cut unless you have special tools (which I do not). And that is the hassle caused by having fence posts to maneuver around.

Trish's days were extremely successful with heaps of new people visiting the Arts Centre.  The planning group were delighted with the attendance figures and it was an outstanding PR exercise.

I got a brew on as well so I again have a bottle washing day as well as a bottling day sometime this week.  And I have a Public Meeting to chair this evening as well.

So a quiet day today is in store.