Rats in the Belfry

 This area is so quiet at night. When possums scurry across the roof they will always wake you up. At least they are not lingering. They have a destination. Rats are a different story. They are trying to make a home. It has happened from time to time but never has it been above the bedroom. Two nights ago it was the ensuite and last night it was even closer.  Constant chewing, gnawing and wrestling with some nice silvery material to line the nest. A well aimed ugg boot seems to quieten the ruckus. I got into the roof cavity this morning. I did not even have to climb all the way up. Right in front of the hatch cover is a scat line showing a rodent roadway.  I neatly applied a row of rat nap to become a scat trap. At the same time I launched a throw sack towards the ensuite area. Now I need to catch some zzzz's.

rat scat

this reminds me that heater needs maintenance

Abro De Sapto

 It seems when you get a bit older the government will give back some of the tax they have taken off you.  You have to ask your accountant to press a magic Sapto button at the time of submitting your return, so now we can have $3200 back. I know, I am ducking flying pigs here.  I am not sure why you have to ask as I think we could have got it the previous year.  As well, I am still on the trail of the elusive health card. Why does that one take months and the Sapto is a check box? 

Clean Out

 It can't be called a Spring clean, maybe an almost Spring clean but a lot of paper has just gone into the bins. Last week two bins were needed for paper and a lot of it was shredded which can block up the bin quicker. There were files there going back 20 yar. I read somewhere that shredded paper was good for landfill as it promoted bugs. This week is no different two more bins filled with paper, mostly magazines and old stamp albums. I also notice the pesky possums are back now that the tree has lemons again. Why would the gnawing of lemon rind leave red marks? Unless there is some bleeding going on. I need to get a few off for the sidewalk market.

lemon chews still on the tree

Maintenance

 We tried to turn on the cooktop at Willie and it is dead. The serviceman does not want to know about it. He came for the oven one time but this is a totally enclosed electronic box and he is not going near it. So between visits for hospital checks, we have procured another cooktop, still in the box.  We got back here late and just as you would like to have a sit down, a fitting under the sink springs a leak and water is going everywhere. Good thing this did not happen when we were away for three days.  What is the collective name for plumbing pipes?  as this was a tangle of pipes. The leaky hose goes to the dishwasher and I bet the tap that isolates it has not been turned for 27 yar, because we could not budge it.  My fingers don't work the way they used to. Eventually with some pliers that were too big, the tap moved.  When it rains it pours and sometimes inside. I won't mention how we have heating trouble as well.

still time for exercising

Christmas Stagger

 I don't mean the imbibing type of stagger although a few frothies, bubblies and winos have gone down in the last few days.  We are having a Boxing day lunch with a full on clove hitched ham going into the oven any minute. I have only been eating lunches for the last few days and not needing anything much til the next day.  I also opened a late Christmas present to find a set of six glasses designed for martinis that should also be suitable for the espresso style. These have a large footprint so something else has to go. I sorted thru 50 yar of accummulated glassware.  Mostly they all started out as sets of six but now are down to one, two or three.  All these have been tossed, as well as some way older stuff never been used in 30 yar.  I must have removed at least 20 glasses and there was no Kondo spark issuing off them. Must be time for a drink.

Santa's Big Box

 Just when we thought all the preparations were done, Santa must have left a couple of large boxes for us overnight.  There were sheets, covers and pillow cases everywhere and suddenly a whole stack of extra washing was needed as it seems you cannot make a brand new bed with brand new sheets out of the packet. They all must be washed first. The mattresses were packed in that air tight vacuum system they all seem to use these days. Stand back while the packaging is slit and the expansion unfolds.  We still have the small matter of no bed to put them on yet.

A Bang in the Night

After a long day of driving yesterday I was out of it last night and slept thru. Hooray. However, around midnight something hit the roof.  Debbie went searching around but found nothing to see and this morning we did another search until I saw that a support stay for the TV aerial had snapped and was laying across the roof. The main aerial was still up but we had two early warning signs. When the maintenance man was up there two weeks ago he said the aerial looked dodgy.  Last week we noticed that the free to air was not working.  So I took photos to see if there were any obvious breaks in the cabling. We had that aerial replaced seven yar ago and it has rusted clean thru and is now waving around ready to come down.  Shows you what a seaside environment can do and that spot is the most weather exposed we have got.  Mind you we hardly use the air waves for TV these days but we did get the TV man up there at short notice to replace the entire thing. Hooray. Now qwe have aerial supremacy.

before

after

even later

new wave antenna

Maintenance

 We have had the gutters cleared in previous years but it seems that the top story was never included. This time we had the ropes attached and the jetpack lifted up in order to blast those gutters clear.  Birds and tennis balls seemed to be the main blockages.  Also the fall is shallow right at the top. No doubt there will be a downpour soon which will test things out. The laserlight also got the treatment where a type of fungoid likes to grow.

Ordnance Removal

 Across the way we have the Point Wilson depot where large flying objects are stored that usually end in a spectacular way.  They also have some much older stuff.  Around 9:00am the house shook and we jumped.  I went outside and checked all around. Maybe a pelican hit the roof, maybe a car hit the fence. There were at least six more explosions throughout the day. Debbie rang them up and said she would like to speak to the general in charge and they happily rang her back. It will all be finished this week, he said. We can't issue old ordnance so we are blowing it up, he said.  We experienced this at Collendina when the Navy sank an old frigate off shore. The whole place shook when it blew. Water is a good conductor and we can feel every bomb going off.

Shower Show

  We had feedback from recent guests about faulty showers. (that sounds like a TV show)  The shower heads here were removed by the government as being to watery and replaced by ever efficient pinhole heads where a slight fog or mist would descend to moisten the body.  I grabbed the old heads out of his cart when the guy wasn't looking and put them back in the shower a few days later, after we had passed inspection.  Ever since then the water direction seems to have had a mind of its own. So now we have shiny new heads with hose like attachments to aim water where it has never reached before and with a selection setting to choose the right hole for the whole.

old

new

House Construction

 Debbie spied an elderly couple coming thru the front gate and wasn't sure if they needed help or directions. David and Jan (pronounced Yarn) bought the cleared block here in 1997 and built this house in 1999.  David has an engineering background and designed it himself and incorporated all the ideas they were wanting from previous places they lived.  They were happy that we had it now and that we were putting in the maintenance it needed. He said he built it to last and to stand up to the weather.  I was astounded at one story he told.  They had photos of the house which they gave to us so I got a photo off the wall of the old jetty and he remembered when he was seven years old being on a steamer from Melbourne that pulled into the jetty to drop off passengers.  I would say that must have been around 1945. After a cuppa they were off.

Gate Gremlins

The gates here have had a lot of use and a lot of weather exposure.  We got the gate man out here last year who needed a blow torch to, at first expand and remove some hinges, that were rusted up. They were bespoke creations designed for this gate frame so they had to be revitalised and reused.  We got back from our recent trip and this gate was in trouble again, palings askew and the latch hanging off. (break in?) I have tried to selvage this particular piece as it has been carved to accommodate the latch.  The top was rotted so I made a cardboard mould and poured sloppy wood filler in to leak into all the crevices.  Still waiting for it to dry. 

The side gate must be always closed especially during heavy wind or our pilot light blows out. Getting down on bended knee to relight it is a pain. I have straightened all the bent bits that hold this gate. There are two bolts both of which no longer reach their cubby holes to secure the gate. I have put a large washer against one and padded out the top one with an identical panel in wood. If the bolt wont reach then bring the hole closer.  Now I need to wait for a windy test.

deeper hole

lower bolt hole

now it needs shaping

Mainly Maintenance

 We have finally reached the end of the maintenance jobs.  It was around 4 days work but spread over a month long period.  The quality is there but the timing was all over the place. Today the wind and rain have reminded us, Winter is not yet finished, but in some ways it was a good day to get the final paint layers on new doors, door jambs and fences. The paint went on early and was dry in minutes with that wind hitting us.  This house must be 30 yar old but with exposure to the Bay you need to keep one eye on the woodwork.  

Surface Tension means the bottom of these slats will continue to hold on to water, so having cut off the rot, the gap is increasing.  In ten years there will be room for planter boxes if we cut any more off.

Door Man

 We have a new door at the side of the garage. It still needs more work but is lockable and secured.  I assume the old one will be taken away. In the meantime I have been casting around for travel options next year as we need to make up for lost time.  Holidays have been hampered due to covid, ailments and other general mayhem.  I think my skills of being my own travel agent, navigator and travel guide may have lapsed into disuse.  So perhaps it might be time to consider the tour option where the decision making is all done beforehand.

before

after

Hover Search

 Last month we had a helicopter crash near our old beach hangout on Collendina. There was a lot of action trying to secure survivors and wreckage against the incoming tide.  We had the police chopper out again this time buzzing the front of our place obviously on the hunt.  It was a low level cruise slow and steady and there were numerous passes during an hour or so of searching. Certainly got all residents interested. How are you supposed to do some quiet reading with one of those hanging around.

Repair Shop

 Next door to the felting expo was a sign that said Repair Shop.  Now this is not your TV land artisans arrayed on stylish workbenches. There were two guys with a couple of tool boxes and that was it. However they will look at just about anything and give you an opinion for $5.  On our move to this area some 6 yar ago, my record player, that I saved $200 for and purchased when I was 12, took a turn for the worse. In the end it was traded for a similar machine that also was not quite right.  The repairman said he would take a look. When James was here last we were fiddling with trying to get the machine level. There were wood blocks here and dodgy bits there. This time I swapped them out for thinner very stable tiles.  Now things seem to be playing out on an even keel.  I will investigate further before spending the $5.

Sidewalk Shopping

 We have not availed ourselves of the twice yearly rubbish removal that the council provides. It is a personalised service whereby you notify them, pick a week and they will come to your door with your own rubbish truck.  So before we went off to the beach we had to scramble to get the pile moved from the garage out onto the nature strip.  We should do it more often but it takes us a while for the accumulation. I went upstairs to get the phone for a photo of the pile. I swear it was only 10 minutes or so and when I got back down the nicely boxed old TV had already gone. It still worked and I think the remote was in the box. How did they know? I did see a guy watching us put the stuff out. 

cables,keyboards,suitcases,umbrellas,vaccum,trellis,TV

Hard CleanOut

There has been a pile building in the garage for a while now and it is crowding out the gym area so we need to get it out onto the sidewalk supermarket.  A large wooden box has already gone from last week's garden shuffle. The last of the garage cupboards are being dismantled as I type this.  I was there for a while during this process but I had to leave as there were just too many decisions. I don't thing the 'spark of joy' methodology is being used here. It is more of the 'throw it out before hesitating' approach.  There are a number of electrical and tool items that James and Daniel may checkout before the final heave ho.

Cottage Stay

 We have this cottage for three nights but it is way bigger than places we have had at Port Fairy the last few years. This one is two bedroom with a kitchen, living room and separate bathroom. Huge! The other accommodations here must no longer be used. There is something called the Tiny House which can be towed around, as well as the EcoPod which is about the size of a two man tent. Don't do it. It used to be a dairy farm and there are cows in distant paddocks but it is all forest down below and there are water falls we haven't seen yet. There is no internet but we have brought our own. Also no TV but we can watch shows on the laptop. Be Prepared!

The Goose Tree

New Kitchen

Free Carpet Perfect Condition

 We are allowed two council pickup runs per year and I don't think we have done both in any one year so far. We are gearing up for one right now and are giving notice on a few items before they go out into the sidewalk shuffle system. These would suit a beach shack eg like Daniel and Bianca have. So far there are fold up sun lounges, wetsuits and inflatable wave riders, one may need a patch.  We have started the pre pile already ie things that we think others will pilfer which are now outside, like a huge carpet roll. It is a perfectly good rug. It took ½ an hour to make the sign compared to one minute to put the rug out.  There are more cupboards to wade thru yet so we are not ready for the council call.