Termite Trail

Never saw such a long one … this large Eucalyptus near Winstandly Road bridge across Bulimba Creek near where I live. This tree looks to be one of the oldest in the area, just be going on its girth as it’s at least a third wider/thicker than the nearest other ‘big’ trees. Wonder how old it is?

The mud-covered termite trail goes from a large fork near the ground to the canopy, possibly about five metres or 15-16 feet.

Makes you wonder whether the whole tree is impacted. Or whether the nest up top will one day proved a kookaburra family a nesting hollow.

Lego: Bosley & Co, 15

15. The Bunkhouse

Finally the day arrived when Bosley felt ready to put together the bunkhouse. He now had all the necessary elements stored here and there, and there was no reason, not even inclement weather, to hold off any longer.

He, Drew and Dan and Dan’s trusty four-wheel drive moved the components of the shadoof to the garage. While Drew helped Bosley put the shadoof together, Dan fetched the front beam to tie the side walls together and support the roof over the garage.  

Drew and Dan between them managed that hiccup without Bosley’s input, though none were happy with the lack of control over the vertical movement. “Which is the bit that does the lifting, after all,” Drew said.

“Hmm,” Bosley said. “Think I’m going to need a lever. Have a holiday, Dan. It’s back to the drawing board.”

Dan went away and a little while later returned with Nin Wiz and the most northerly wall balanced on the truck. They stood it ready. Went back to fetch the south wall. Bosley and Drew took the shadoof arm off the upright frame and threaded a lever handle onto it. Stood the contraption back up.

With Nin Wizard supporting the walls as they were raised, the work proceeded so smoothly that Drew quite forgot to take the snapshots they’d decided on. He only remembered when Bosley said, “Stop. Wait.”

“What?” Drew said.

“I’m not happy about that window hole,” Bosley said. He pointed.

“We only have windscreens and French doors in our window store,” Dan said.

“Fine,” Bosley said. “In making do, we’ll invent something better.”

“We’ll sling a tarp and sleep up here,” Dan said. “I like what you did in the corner.”

Next morning, while Dan, Drew and Nin raised a further two courses of bricks on the walls so that people wouldn’t hit their heads on the ceiling, Bosley invented his preferred front window using a glass door on its side and a few modified blocks.

After re-installing the shadoof, the front wall was lifted into place.

Then the furniture, with Drew back on the drag-line.

“Let’s celebrate!” Trish called. She brought a stack of cups and mugs while Tim followed with the bubbly. They admired the bunkhouse, Bosley & Co’s first permanent dwelling, and partied into the night.

And after they went to bed, nobody got any sleep, Nin Wizard so busy with his build.

Clatter bang rattle! Something fell a long way down.

“What was that?” Dan grumbled.

“You’re all right,” Drew said. “Sleeping in the bunkhouse. I’m just lucky it missed me!”

Next morning, they one by one climbed the two and a half ladders to compliment Nin on his new abode, and exclaim politely over the corner-post that had clattered all the way to ground-level.

Nin shrugged. Ran out of magic, he indicated. Only Trish stayed to plan the new bathroom annex and her and Nin’s share-garden, and have a cup of celebratory tea.

Eleven Weeks

Is how long I’ve lived in my new apartment.

You’d think there would be nothing new left to discover, but you would be wrong. Yesterday, while checking the height of the powerpoint above the fridge, I found a tap!

Tap? (Faucet I think you say in the US) But a tap up there? This is in the kitchen, in the place/gap left for a refrigerator?

No, wait. Some fridges come with ice-machines, I suppose they need a water supply.

And I suppose by giving residents these little luxuries, the designers and owners thought they could pull the wool over their residents’ eyes where ventilation is concerned.

Ventilation is a problem. In this apartment, the laundry is in a cupboard along the middle of the corridor. At one end of the corridor is the master bedroom and adjacent bathroom, and at the other end is the multi purpose room and so-called powder room. All three wet areas are provided with a ceiling fan.

The impending trouble is mold. Already there is often a smell of it in the laundry. I’m probably meant to run the laundry fan 24/7 but it’s noisy and uses a lot of electricity.

There is a Dry cycle on the aircon that I’ve used once, which is something to test out further. I’d like to know, though, whether and how the air in the apartment circulates? (I might wend to renew.com.au later to find out more about that.)

There are aircon vents and overhead vaned fans in the main room, the bedroom and the MPR. There’s no aircon vent in the corridor and it’s only possible to isolate the main room. The obvious solution is to run the aircon in the whole house to ventilate the corridor.

Without being sure that that will send air into the laundry. Because the laundry doors are bifold. Leave them closed for style and beauty? Leave them open for utility and inconvenience as they protrude into the corridor? Still can’t be sure. Air flow around obstacles is a mystery.

I’m seriously thinking about hiring a shed in the shed room, taking the laundry doors off and storing them in the shed.

Transforming Paintings

A thing I’ve been experimenting with is turning remaindered practice paintings into little books … seeing if judicious ‘analogue’ cutting and pasting can transform random images.

There was a left to right movement in this scrap … the two pages bound by ribbon had to stay loose from one another (ie not glued) or the whole booklet would’ve buckled.

Where are we? Help! I’m sliding … Uh oh where are we? Some kind of underworld?

is that a golden gate I see in the distance?. Maybe we can get there crawling …Turn the corner, quick …

In and out of the trees, I don’t feel safe in amongst all the vegetation. What’s all that gold doing to us?

Told you we changed. Let’s go already, it’s the wide blue yonder.

Guess we didn’t all get wings.

Lego: The Orrery (42179)

The contents of Bag One of the Orrery, a Lego Technic set. Couldn’t wait any longer with building it, after having it in the house for over a week. I’ve been fascinated by orreries for a good few years.

‘An orrery is a mechanical model of the Solar System, in this case with the Sun, Earth and the Moon. More planets would’ve been good, but can maybe added later. I’m pretty sure some clever clancy will invent some add-ons.’ from This Wikipedia article which also shows a good selection.

Putting together the build so far took me about two hours of fiddling. My fingers not as young as they were nor the brain running them, lol. I’m still very doubtful about the position of the little blue piece parallel with the diameter, where the directions were unclear about its position. If there does turn out to be a hiccup, I’ll know where to look first.

The first Orrery I saw, and knew what I was looking at, was in the Sydney Powerhouse Museum at Ultimo, the Strasbourg Clock. Not sure if it is a replica.

One of the most intricate orreries I’ve read about featured in the science fiction Revenger series by Alistair Reynolds. That one featured hundreds of planets, mostly small to smaller, called the Congregation, in what was left of the Solar System.

Don’t worry, some time far in the future. Great premise, though. Above, the second book in the series. That orrery, I seem to recall, was a navigation aid.