I Love String

Today I love string.

 I love it when it loops around things

 And I love it even more when it goes in a straight line

 And I absolutely love it when it marks out where the stumps of the house will go!

I am however, fickle because my love will not last long as soon there will be a new love.

SIGNED!

Today we signed the contract to supply building materials for our house. All the plan drawings, engineering certificates, submission to council etc etc will probably take about a month.
Then let the drilling for the foundations begin!

The Acid Test

Tuesday was the first trial of the solar power systems capacity - could it run the air conditioner. Well the answer was yes. Was a stinking 38 degrees and it was able to keep the indoor temperature bearable. It used 9% of the battery capacity.
Yesterday I turned on the air con at about 9am. Expected top temperature was 35 degrees. The unit is really too small for the area, plus there is minimal roof insulation and although the glass is shielded from the direct sun, the air temperature is so high that the heat just comes through the glass. Kept the internal temp at a respectable 29 degrees. By the time the system went into resting last night the batteries were back up to 99% charge. You little ripper! System ran the air con and was able to charge the batteries at the same time. It has a 'learning mode' and is able to compensate for changes in power requirements and charging.
So the system should run the air con in the house no worries!

Another Civilisation Advance

This time last year rain was bucketing down. This year it has been HOT HOT HOT. Today it was 35 degrees in OurGunya.

So time for another civilisation advance.

So, how many humpies in the bush do you know of that are air conditioned?

Now we will see what our solar power system is capable of.

GONE!

Yesterday thunderstorms rolled across from the west sometimes passing to the north and some to the south and a few passed over us. By mid afternoon a line of storms approached that looked like they meant business. One storm was coming from the west and another from the north and the weather radar showed that they would meet right over us. And they did!

Lightning leaped all around us, the thunder crackled, crashed and roared echoing around the horizon. Then came the rain in torrents gushing from our tank overflows, followed by the wind which howled, lashed the trees and shook the caravan. To top it all of next came the hail. The lorikeets and king parrots clung grimly to the branches of the trees, facing the rain and wind, a study of endurance.

It was all too much for Cockey and he jumped off his appointed spot and hid beside the bed. The dogs, however just snoozed and lolled around like nothing was happening.  The wind drove the water under the roofing sheets and we had towels and buckets and pots catching the drips.

The storm went as quickly as it came and left a deposit of 50mm in the rain gauge. Quick phone calls were made to neighbours making sure everyone was OK. 
Rain showers continued throughout the night.

This morning dawned relatively clear and the humidity levels shot up as the sun climbed higher in the sky. Jim went to check the roads for fallen trees. There were quite a few down and many branches blown off. It wasn't until he started back to the house that he realised that the glass panel - our 'Night Spirits Totem' was gone, a victim of the ferocious wind and hail. In its place were thousands of tiny fragments of the toughened glass scattered like diamonds among the leaves.Perhaps the storm was releasing the spirits of the bats that were encased in the glass, sending them back to fly under the stary dome of the night.

On the other hand, with all the mining going on at the moment, including a gold mine about 50 kilometres from us, not only is there "gold in them thar hills", but I was thinking of starting a rumour that there are diamonds as well!

Where's Channel 2?

They have been warning us.

The switch-off of the analogue tv signal would start in December in the Wide Bay area. 

We have been receiving digital signals on our little indoor antenna, except for channel 2. Auntie obviously does not have the oomph of SBS and the commercial channels so we settled for spotty analogue channel 2.

Well the date kinda snuck up on us and so on Monday, channel 2 vanished.

Well today we trecked into Bundy and got ourselves a big-ass fringe area antenna.

Lotsa pointing it this way and that and now we have 16 high definition digital channels!

The feral fossil channel surfer is in 7th heaven!

Of Pen, Paint and Paper

Have been fitting painting in around making jewelery the last few months. Due to lack of table space at Ourgunyah most artistic endeavours take place at the local Gallery and at our art workshops.

The last workshop was on drawing a bird in pencil and graphite. Have drawn birds all my life , but Bill's techniques on reproducing an accurate representation of the photo of the Red Kite were a revelation.

Grids and measurements. Now why didn't I think of that! 

The result.

The other piece I have been working on for about 4 weeks is a pen and watercolour study of an entry door on an old bluestone building.

As if all this creativity wasn't enough every Thursday I travel to Childers for some clay therapy. Forgotten how much fun making pottery was. My little owl should be fired and waiting for me.

Naturally all this creativity comes at a cost - no washing, no cooking and no cleaning!