Monthly Archives: August 2016

Bungendore, NSW

A cold start to the day, but beautiful

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So it was one of those mornings.  Bloody cold with a layer of ice on  the puddles.  It came as a shock to the system.  This was primarily as it turned out that one of the electric heaters, (the oil radiator) had tripped its extension lead again (IKEA extension leads have a trip switch in them) and wasn’t working.  We keep it on minimum all the time to take the edge off the overall effect of not having any heating.  The house was 6°C (43F) but it seemed colder today for some reason.

So the best thing seemed to be to wrap up (now I have found the box my merino wool tops and padded trousers are in: the stuff I used on tour)  and go for a walk with the camera in tow.

Reflections in the road quarry where you turn off for our track
Reflections in the road quarry where you turn off for our track.

This was taken at 7:20am… The sun was just starting to come over the hill to the East and but it would be a while before it started to warm life up.

A beautiful but cold start to the day
A beautiful but cold start to the day

This is the ‘quarry’ that is used to repair the road.  It has filled with water over the winter.  Ironically it is at the top of the rise and has no natural feed into it!

As far as my walk today takes me. This is one of the 'fields' along Spring Creek Road. We sometimes see cows or sheep in here, more often it is kangaroo that are grazing the field.
As far as my walk today takes me.

This is one of the ‘fields’ along Spring Creek Road. We sometimes see cows or sheep in here, more often it is kangaroo that are grazing the field.  It is also as far as my walk takes me today.  Crutches and cameras don’t mix!

As far as my walk this morning takes me
As far as my walk this morning takes me.

The road: Spring Creek Road in fact.  The post box is at the end or rather start of it still some distance off!

A beautiful but cold start to today
A beautiful but cold start to today

There was a slight hoar frost which had yet to burn off.  There was also ice in the puddles and water from vehicles traversing the road was still freezing at all the dips.

Reflections in the road quarry where you turn off for our track
Reflections in the road quarry where you turn off for our track

Back at the pond that is our turn off point.  I should really have shown you our gate.  We don’t go through it, we go around it.  If you go through it, you have to traverse a ditch.  Go past it and beyond the tree, and turn just before this pond (only about 50 foot further) and you don’t have to traverse the ditch!

Reflections in the road quarry where you turn off for our track
Reflections in the road quarry where you turn off for our track.

The sun is beginning to warm life up now and is nice!

So as life happened today (3 loads of washing now that the washing machine is back up and running due to having a sewage outlet again), I decided that there was a chance I wasn’t going to be able to get it all dry, so having done the usual chopping of kindling first thing in the morning (Stuart gets the stuff small enough for me to either make into kindling or to be burnt once the fire is going), I had sorted it all into 2 piles.  The shorter kindling and small logs for the studio building and the pot belly stove.  I was using the studio as a back up for getting the washing dry if needed because the stove gives out so much heat.  As it turned out, there was no need and most of the washing was dry by the end of lunch!  OK some had been on the line since about 8am, but the some had only been out there since 11:30am.  So, another fire was lit, after it was cleaned out.  The pizza oven.

The pizza oven (please don't ask me what is behind it.)
The pizza oven (please don’t ask me what is behind it.)

They are a big thing here in Australia, along with the standard BBQ (we have one of those as well, plus the old oil drum split in half as well as the original hot plate that the lady who set up the horse ranch back in the 70’s used.)  As you can see I have no shortage of outside fires!  The pizza oven was waterlogged, so it was a case of lighting the fire and letting life dry out slowly.  I kept it just warm for most of the morning, until it had dried out.  Then I got it hot enough to make some lunch on.  OK most of it we had with our evening stew, but 20 minutes in the pizza oven and it was cooked and browned lightly on both sides.  I turned it over half way through because scones usually take 12-15 minutes, and I wasn’t sure how warm the oven actually was.  It was cooked to perfection.  I simply used 8oz self raising wholemeal flour, 2oz marg, 1 tsp baking powder (I have no yeast or sourdough culture yet) and enough almond milk to make a moist dough.  Spread it out on a small baking tray and put it into the oven, raised off the surface by 1/4 inch using the existing metal rack left behind (new as well!).  20 minutes later and…

The first baked goods...
The first baked goods…

OK, its a crap photo, but it was taken in the tablet rather than my camera and the light was harsh at 1pm in the middle of the day.  It was a touch ‘short’, so broke easily, but scones do.  I’m not sure how hot I managed to get the oven, but with a wire brush it should clean up nicely on the base (it was standing in water because no-one had put a bucket over the chimney and much rain had gotten in).

A beautiful end to the day.
A beautiful end to the day.

Sunset.  They don’t last long here, so I have to be very fast given I was in the house when this one started.  But it was a nice end to the day ignoring the Battle of the Somme crossed with Ypres happening to the left on the picture.  More on that in the  next posting!

Australia, Bungendore, NSW

Progress, of sorts (pictures)

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OK, I have you some pictures of the progress that was made late yesterday afternoon.

None was made today.  I wasn’t surprised.  The morning was way too wet to do anything, and the afternoon was best described as drying out.

So my current grey water (no solids, no tissues etc) solution which allows me to get the washing done (if I can dry it – tomorrow is forecasted to be very sunny), have a shower, do the washing up, and use the toilet for no.1s minus toilet tissue down the toilet.

So the current solution is....
So the current solution is….

This leads straight down the hillside into the paddock.  It’s far enough from the creek and our bore water as to not be a problem (apparently).

The Original Building
The Original Building

The original building houses the other toilet but there was an issue.

The drainage from the kitchen sink stops here!
The drainage from the kitchen sink stops here!

This is the drainage for the kitchen sink.  That is where the pipe work stops.

The broken pipe from the old toilet
The broken pipe from the old toilet.

This was the cause of the no using the old toilet despite it flushing.

The fix that now means the toilet can be used
The fix that now means the toilet can be used

Easily fixed though.

Where the old toilet's sewage outlet runs to...
Where the old toilet’s sewage outlet runs to…

Following the sewage pipe you end up at the old septic tank, but it has sadly been filled in with concrete.

The old septic tank. It's missing its lid, has be concreted in, but there is enough still there to use it for short term use. It did originally seep out through the ground.
The old septic tank. It’s missing its lid, has be concreted in, but there is enough still there to use it for short term use. It did originally seep out through the ground.

However, there is an upside.  1m (3 feet) has not been filled in and this means there is enough space for the toilet to be used occasionally.  But the outlet is the original overflow and that is straight out onto the mountainside.

The old toilet (it has since been cleaned).
The old toilet (it has since been cleaned).

This is the old toilet.  It’s actually surprisingly clean, the staining is due to the minerals in the water.  I have since cleaned it us a touch more!

The original toilet. At least I don't have to use that!
The original toilet. At least I don’t have to use that!

On the bright side, it is a better option that the original dunny which is now missing part of its roof.

That's also the original bucket and I have no idea as to what the saw is for!
That’s also the original bucket and I have no idea as to what the saw is for!

The old bucket is still there, clean inside I will add, but I have no idea what the saw is for!  And the bucket would be better off under the toilet seat!  Another bright side, is that when it is raining, and I need a no.2, I don’t have to go outside with a spade and hack away at the hillside trying to find 12 inches of soil to dig a hole in that is far enough away from a creek to be safe.  I can simply change buildings, even if both buildings leak, one more than the other.

So as you can see, progress has been made, of sorts.  It is still all relative!