Return trip

On the way home, I stopped down by Lake Burrenjuck ad





and arrived home to a balcony flooded with water.

Juniper training, house issues and a night walk

Another Juniper training course in North Sydney. This one was very busy and for 5 days. I learned a lot. I have to say I have a personal preference for Juniper over Cisco as the command line is much easier to drive.



Then when I came home, the builder had finally started on the planter boxes. He had to remove the plants, which he replanted in the garden and in pots, air conditioner and dirt, to try and find the two leaks in the planter box. Unfortunately he caused a earth leakage fault which meant that I could not run more than one light and the mobile phone recharger. The food in the fridge was lost. I first knew when the alarm company rang and said there was a loss of power on the alarm unit. However, the battery lasts a long time. I was impressed. The builder fixed the power problem the next day. I could not have a shower as the hot water, though gas, needs electricity to work.



So in the evening I did another of my weekly walks. This time I discovered a cliff in Sydenham and suffered vertigo. But otherwise I was fine.

Succulents

When I was last down in Melbourne, I was given half a dozen succulents with some instructions that some needed repotting soon. With all the rain, one of them has taken off, doubling in size over a week or two. So I repotted the two bigger ones. I need to get some dirt to repot the rest.

a reply to the anonomous person who left a note in my letterbox

the new hose holder

At the NFF I purchased a new hose holder. I finally installed it.

"the new hose holder" by yewenyi [?]

167 Arthurton Road Northcote

In 1991 I purchased this property. I had the intention of making renovations while living in it. But durting the settlement period I moved to Adelaide. After 18 months there I came back to Melbourne. For a while I house sat a freinds house in West Melbourne, before moving to Kallista. My work friends called me a slum lord, but I also charged a low rent. Since then I have lived in Sydney.

I paid for an architect to produce a design for the creation of three units. However, after getting all the building approvals, it came to be time get the loan. I looked at the amount of money and the profit margins and decided that there was too little margin to cover the risk of rising costs. So I sold the property with the plan and permit. The builder has completed the rebuilding. Here is the result.

new plants

I have never much liked the plants on the south planter. So I chose to replace them. I had picked out two plants to use with Keat the previous weekend, but the nursery had sold the second plant type, so I used ones that are all the same. They have grown to two or three times the orginal size in just three weeks. Though they were small to begin with.

"the plant" by yewenyi [?]

"the before" by yewenyi [?]

"the after" by yewenyi [?]

The new plant

Well, the old plant never look healthy after moving house. Late last week it finally succumbed. So on the weekend I headed off with Keat to wander the nurseries. We started out in Penrith, where is a nursery that specializes in natives. Then we went back to the nursery where she works. There they had some of the plants I was looking at in mature form. This was good and after some more discussion with some of her co workers, I decided on a plant to replace the ones in the south planter that came with the house. I also bought a plant to replace the dead one. This is not a native, but being a climber, it will grow over the privacy barrier and hopefully prevent the neighbors cat from getting onto my balcony. It is the Dipladenia Sanderi Rubra.

"the new plant" by yewenyi [?]

dishwasher drama

For some reason a man from telstra was concerned about me emailing reminders to myself to buy a dishwasher. I wonder how he knew?

And the drama goes on...

I decided to order my dishwasher online as it was very significantly cheaper and I though I would try out this new method.

• LG Dishwasher LD1403W1
• LG Microwave MS2647GR

Here is the drama so far, I will update this post with new info as it evolves.

• Sunday 13 Jan, Mr Dishwasher (the office's term for phil) calls to advise that I will recive my dishwasher on Monday 14 Jan at 2-3 PM.
• Monday 14 Jan, Mr Dishwasher calls to say he could not pick up the dishwasher as the paper work was not ready. He advised that I called the office.
• I called the office. And arranged a new time, for Thursday 17 Jan.
• Late Monday 14 Jan. Mr Dishwashe calls to adise he can install it at 7AM Tuesday 15 Jan. I agree.
• Tuesday 15 Jan. Mr Dishwasher called from the warehouse. They do not have any dishwashers of this model in stock. Nor do they have my new microwave. Suggests I call the office again.
• Spoke with the office again. they are very pleasant and helpful. He checked. There is an delivery from LG due tomorrow. He went away and checked and confirmed it contains my two ordered items.
• Wednesday 16, the new Mr Dishwasher, Lou, called. He is coming around tomorrow at 11 AM. Will call if there is trouble again by 8AM.
• Thursday 17 Jan. It's 8AM. I started my mobile doing a backup to the PC at about midnight last night. It is about 10% complete. Blast. Log onto the web. No message from Lou. This is a good sign. Waiting for 11 AM.
• Thurdsay 17 Jan. 12:00 PM. Well he was meant to be here between 11 and 12. So I called at 12. He is leaving Bondi. So I pop down to the monger of fish and get some fish, chips and salad.
• 1:00 PM, He is here. Like all, he does not like the curvey stairs. He groans when he sees the arrangement. It takes him 1 hour and 45 minutes to install the dishwasher. He drills 2 hoes in the cupboard. Takes off the lid of the dishwasher to make it fit. it still sticks out at the front. And the man I asked when looking to select the model, said that they are all the same size. I think he lied. He also installed about 1 foot of copper pipe. But now it works and after this I will put in the first load.
• On the down side, they did not have the Microwave. I will speak to them about this. As the warehouse is in Botany, I can probably pick it up directly from the warehouse.
• The first load worked fine. No problems. :-)
• Fri 18 Jan. I am at work, just after 8AM. A man calls from appliances on line and says he will be at my place in half an hour. Well, it's a bit sad that I am not there. So we rearrange the delivery. Monday, anytime to my work.
• Mon 21 Jan. 7:15 AM The microwave delivery man calls, says he will be at my work at 8AM, it is raining. At 9AM I call him. He says he could not find the address. I confirm it with him again. He will come tomorrow.
• Tue 22 Jan: 12:56 PM. Well I have received the microwave. I was beginning to wonder where they were. But the man called 15 minutes before and then still cold not find the place. But it's sorted and I have received my box. Well the box is a little water damaged. Hopefully the microwave is in working order.
• Tue 22 Jan: 8ish PM Installed the microwave. it slides around a bit in it's hole. Put a cup of water in and pressed the go button. It became warm. Good so far.
  

Click To Play

the aftermath: Well I have used both the utensils now. I am happy with both. The microwave is so much smaller than the previous one that I am worried if things will fit in, but they do and it fits in the hole. The dishwasher is working well. I am happy because it has a hidden heating element. This means I can put top shelf only stuff on the bottom shelf. Good for the big bits of plastic.

Lighthouse - Proteaceae Adenathos

Well I cut out one of the plants in the planter box and replaced it with another native. And then it rained lots, over 5cm. So the plant is very happy.

"the new plant" by yewenyi [?]

Bucket of Meterology

According to the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) we have had 0.6mm of rain since 9AM yesterday. But according to another BOM (Bucket of Meteorology, conveniently located on the north balcony) we had about 1.5 to 2.0 cm of rain. (unfortunaltey the Bucket of Meteorology is a somewhat crude and not calibrated technology.)

rainfall

According to the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) we have had 9.8mm of rain since 9AM yesterday. But according to another BOM (Bucket of Meteorology, conveniently located on the north balcony) we only had about 2-3 mm of rain.

a day of gardening

Well I spent my first weekend gardening since moving to Sydney. The plants are all trimmed, the worm farm has worms in it again, we discovered lots of mondo grass and the plants are removed from growing through one of the air conditioners. I've planted two new plants. One is a Westringia Wynyabbie Gem, a house warming gift. The other a Party Pink High Society Pandorea to climb over the southern pagola.

"where there's smoke..." by yewenyi [?]


"City Lights" by yewenyi [?]