Speckles at the front door

Speckles waiting for me to come out and play.

Opening Christmas presents - part 3

Three greys unpacking their presents.

Opening Christmas presents - part 2

Three greys unpacking their presents.

Opening Christmas presents - part 1

Three greys unpacking their presents.

Christmas day - Speckles relaxing

Merry Christmas Holly

We missed you at the Christmas Eve dinner table – beautiful girl.

Gas wall furnace noisy fan.

Gas wall furnace blower fan air control unit - noisy fan.

This belongs to family friends.

They have two of these gas wall heaters so we swapped this noisy unit for the fan unit in the other one that isn’t used – kids have left home.

Rose black spot problem

Yates ROSE GUN not working on black spot effected rose.

Looking quite sad

Tomatoes doing well.

Tomatoes are springing up nicely.

Al's Kitchen - rice cooker

Finally gave in and bought a rice cooker.



What triggered the purchase was that my older daughter could not get one at her local Kmart so I did the walking and managed to do a click & collect at out local Brandon Park Kmart – so I bought two of them.

Pixie has a new toy

Back home from shopping and Pixie has a new toy from a Two Dollar shop.

Buddha water feature not happy - part 2

Cleaning and testing the pump in the backyard Gazebo area at the wash basin.

Buddha water feature not happy - part 1

The solar pump water outlet flow is like a cyclic spitting?

Had to go up a stepladder which is at the end of a long pole (catch the sun) to remove the solar panel. At the workbench pulled the pump apart and nothing obvious jamming the motor - scratch head.

What are we doing today?

Speckles waiting for me as I go out the front door after a morning coffee.

Auto fill/recycle bird bath - part 4

V380 camera capture plus video clip.

Auto fill/recycle bird bath - part 3

Setup the bird bath in the front yard along with a V380 wi-fi camera to monitor activity and keep a eye on the water level in the bucket. XXX

Moved from the back gazebo area to the front yard.

Auto fill/recycle bird bath - part 2

After several hours of plodding between gazebo area, workshop and garden shed I have a working prototype to demo.

Working prototype – yay

Auto fill/recycle bird bath - part 1

This is the current build with another post to follow with pump details.



Bunnings plastic bird bath for $19

Bird bath auto fill & recycle prototype

 This is for friends who have a regular size concrete bird bath that is currently in high demand and has to be filled daily.

Prototype mockup to auto fill and recycle the water.

Pixie morning sun

Pixie warming herself in the morning sun.

Pixie with new toy

 

Makeshift mini greenhouse

I have plants on the BBQ table under the gazebo that ET has rejected. I am NOT a green thumb but usually have a go to try and revive them - and been reasonably successful.

This table was bought years ago as a BBQ serving table and was seldom used. Been parked next to the carport so lugged it out and gave it a soapy wash down.

Lilly Pilly pruning

 

Workshop PC shutting down?

Totally clogged with dust and sticky junk.

Pixie having a bath

 

She is 12 years ols, when she was younger she would growl and nip fingers lol.

Tomatoes ready for cages.

 

Tomatoes have grown enough so it's time to put in the cages.

Pruning carport rose arch

Forgot to take a photo before I started.

Telstra modem upgrade

 

Somehow I missed this email from Telstra back in October regarding a free modem upgrade?

Currently we are on a free 230Mbps offer for six months and I will not continue that as it costs an extra $30 - happy with 100/40.

Anyway I clicked on the out-of-date link and good thing I did.

Speckles waiting in workshop

 

Speckles waiting for her dad in Al's Workshop

And yes... with some improvement in the weather I'll be off out soon to potter around.

With some improvement in the weather Speckles happy to be out and about this morning.

 

Windows 10 - Camera photos backup

 

Besides all the usual backup procedures I still like to do a manual MS-DOS like backup using the Xcopy command. I have been taking digital photos since the late nineties when I got myself a Agfa ePhoto 1680 camera - it was expensive!

Pixie loves my heated rug

This is what happens when you take a TV break.

New rustic 2-seat bench

Bought this to replace the rotting timber seat.

Planting tomatoes

 

It's that time again and Pixie is here to help.

I prepped the bed and ET did the planting.

Hoeing the chook annex

 

The annex soil has compacted making it harder for Speckles to dig her dusting holes.

Mindy and Pixie

Mindy AKA D9 visiting us on Sunday 7th Nov 2021.

Pixie - do not disturb

 

She had plenty of yard time today.

New park bench

 Follow-up to Bunnings shopping trip.

Going to assemble the new park bench.

Ficus wind damage

Strong winds have toppled both the Ficus shrubs that stand in front of the carport piers.

Alien Resurrection II

 

Pixie getting some TLC.

Bunnings shopping trip

New park bench.

Cleaning gazebo paving

First thing is to clear everything out.

Gardening afternoon

 

Trimming and mowing done.

Toilet cistern repairs

The loo is dribbling water!

Ordered this (click & collect) from Bunnings on Sunday and only got the email OK to collect this morning!

Pixie guarding my throw rug

Pixie guarding my heated rug will I was away - for 30 seconds.

Telstra speed test - looks OK

Reject Shop heaters

Reject Shop selling these 400/800 radiant heaters for $3.75

Bath time for Pixie

ET just gave Pixie a bath

Bathing time - 2 minutes

Drying tine - 30 seconds

Money plant for older daughter

Shelle Shimmer I've done another money plant (Jade) for you with optional decorations and some feed pellets.

Gardening afternoon

After a few days of so-so weather with bloody cold winds off out this afternoon (hello world) to do some gardening, in particular weeding the garden beds along the back of the house - with Speckles.

Fathers Day and not forgotten

Already using the gifts that ET gave me this morning.

Classic Sawhorse - part 4

We have sun and wind this morning so gave it the first coat of 'leftover paint' from another project.

Classic Sawhorse - part 3

With everything pre-assembled to check fitting went ahead to finally glue and screw the legs.