Well, response from far and wide about my very first Owner Builder article has been very positive. Thanks for all ye kind wurdz and support.
Building Diary part 2 is in the can and should hit the streets any day now (issue 167 - October / November 2011). This installment details the design process that we went through while working out what to do with our house. It's a little more heady than the first article but I think it important to share what we've learned. So, if you can, get down to the newsagent and help support my favorite periodical.
I've been working away furiously on the next piece and will let you all know when it is off at the printers. Meanwhile, I lie in wait for Dana to arrive home from work, so that we can head up bush tonight and survey whatever damage happened during the wild storms this week.
We also have to acid wash the work of the 'new and improved' rocklayers who finished up all of the rockwork last week. We are under way again...yay!
More on that coming soon.
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Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
What's in a name part 2...
My recovery continues well. I am moving about heaps more and now able to be up and about for a fair part of the day. Still needing a few lie-downs here and there but onward we march (or trudge, in my case). Yay...
Dana and I had long planned a couple of weeks in Broome for her birthday. Unfortunately, I was still not quite strong enough to endure the cross country flights, nor the bone rattling sight-seeing days. As we'd already booked the tickets, we decided that Dana should still get the break from work and meet up in Perth with her old mate Julie and do the tour with her. Boo...sort of. Instead, I redeemed my flights for a shorter and more manageable trip to Sydney and surrounds. It was time to show my face to the world again!
So I trundled off to a work trade show in Sydney (Integrate 2011) to poke around and give some old colleagues a bit of curry. More seriously, it was a good opportunity to do some serious networking and I came away with several good leads for contract work. While in Sydney, I also caught up with a couple of friends and missed some others. Next time, Phil...;( On the upside, I spent two nights with my wee nieces, Caitlin and Jessica, my brother Nick and his wife Shirley who'd helped us collect rocks over Xmas.
Next stop was Moss Vale to catch up with my mother and see her new house. With a few renovations, it will be utterly perfect for her. Unfortunately, the poor dear has had a fun run with health herself. Not content with two full knee replacements two years ago, she'd also had a hip replaced recently. (With a few renovations, she may well bushwalk again...:).) We sat and talked for hours on many and varied topics and I thoroughly enjoyed the all too short stay. Amusingly, we compared our pharma collections and techniques for getting shoes and socks on or off whilst we are mobility challenged...it's the small things in life that make it fun! Chin up, Ma.
Final leg of the tour was visiting my other brother Danny and his wife Sue on the 5750 acre permaculture farm (Mulloon Creek Natural Farms) that they live and work on near Bungendore (not far from Canberra). With views to rival ours, a fantastic setup and ongoing learning and research opportunities (The Mulloon Institute), I can sure see why they like it there.
Anyway, the main point of this post was to eliminate some confusion over the name of this 'ere blog. One of my partners in the crime of playing with very fancy and expensive electronics for rich folks with more money than sense (who I shall call Adam, because that's his real name) said that he'd enjoyed reading my 'bodgy' blog. To him, and all the other smartarses, I can categorically state that "bogie is not bodgy, nor are our construction techniques." We are to live in Strath[bogie] - geddit?
Hence, I am updating the title block to eliminate any future confusion amongst those who find themselves a little challenged by the English language as she is wrote. :)
.
Dana and I had long planned a couple of weeks in Broome for her birthday. Unfortunately, I was still not quite strong enough to endure the cross country flights, nor the bone rattling sight-seeing days. As we'd already booked the tickets, we decided that Dana should still get the break from work and meet up in Perth with her old mate Julie and do the tour with her. Boo...sort of. Instead, I redeemed my flights for a shorter and more manageable trip to Sydney and surrounds. It was time to show my face to the world again!
 |
| rocks in NW WA are much bigger than ours |
 |
| ...and very colourful too |
So I trundled off to a work trade show in Sydney (Integrate 2011) to poke around and give some old colleagues a bit of curry. More seriously, it was a good opportunity to do some serious networking and I came away with several good leads for contract work. While in Sydney, I also caught up with a couple of friends and missed some others. Next time, Phil...;( On the upside, I spent two nights with my wee nieces, Caitlin and Jessica, my brother Nick and his wife Shirley who'd helped us collect rocks over Xmas.
Next stop was Moss Vale to catch up with my mother and see her new house. With a few renovations, it will be utterly perfect for her. Unfortunately, the poor dear has had a fun run with health herself. Not content with two full knee replacements two years ago, she'd also had a hip replaced recently. (With a few renovations, she may well bushwalk again...:).) We sat and talked for hours on many and varied topics and I thoroughly enjoyed the all too short stay. Amusingly, we compared our pharma collections and techniques for getting shoes and socks on or off whilst we are mobility challenged...it's the small things in life that make it fun! Chin up, Ma.
 |
| gorgeous ready made garden |
 |
| with a north facing deck |
 |
| fruit trees and maples yet to bloom |
Final leg of the tour was visiting my other brother Danny and his wife Sue on the 5750 acre permaculture farm (Mulloon Creek Natural Farms) that they live and work on near Bungendore (not far from Canberra). With views to rival ours, a fantastic setup and ongoing learning and research opportunities (The Mulloon Institute), I can sure see why they like it there.
 |
| imagine waking up to this... |
 |
| ...and breakfasting to this |
 |
| NO, it is not a humpbacked cow...look closely |
Anyway, the main point of this post was to eliminate some confusion over the name of this 'ere blog. One of my partners in the crime of playing with very fancy and expensive electronics for rich folks with more money than sense (who I shall call Adam, because that's his real name) said that he'd enjoyed reading my 'bodgy' blog. To him, and all the other smartarses, I can categorically state that "bogie is not bodgy, nor are our construction techniques." We are to live in Strath[bogie] - geddit?
Hence, I am updating the title block to eliminate any future confusion amongst those who find themselves a little challenged by the English language as she is wrote. :)
.
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