Tag: Pergola

Weeds, Stone and Windows 10

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
I've made a start
I’ve made a start

I have to admit that it is not the prettiest  of things but it’s clean, neat and tidy and since I  don’t seem to be able to grow anything here, clean, neat and tidy seems like a reasonable compromise. That’s only part of the area I am doing, I haven’t even thought of starting in weed central yet. The stone is called Tregalana and is, I think,  20cm. I have two days in Adelaide and I hope to have the backhoe work completed, the area laid out and partly covered in stone by the second day and look at the Hexagonal Pergola that I would like and organise  getting it home. Probably mean a third day with the trailer. That’s not so bad in mid-spring when the days are longer. It means I can go down with John, get what we want and drive back, with John taking a turn at driving. Yes, that would work. The stone for this area will be about two trailers ( about 1.75 tons)  but for weed central, could be a lot, lot more.

I know I said a fair bit about the new Wetlands and the work being done there but I really am impressed with  the way

Another area of the wetlands
Another view of the wetlands

the area is being developed. When it is finished and the  plants have grown it will look nice.

Well that was exciting!! I received a notification that Windows 10 was ready to download on this computer so I went ahead and began the upgrade. By late afternoon it had froze on “32%” and stayed there for most of the day and well into the evening. Using my tablet I found out that 32% was a common problem  and there was really not a lot I could do about it. What I did do was unplug the computer and restart the computer, Windows restored Windows 8.1 and aft5er a few scares it restarted with no problem.  ( HA!!)   I left the  computer alone for a while and went off to help herself. When I came back the machine had gone into “Sleep Mode”, which is normal. What was not normal was the fact that I could not get it out of sleep mode. Again I closed down and went for a restart – not this time, The machine refused to reboot. I tried several things but nothing worked. I got out the copy of Windows 8 and put that in ( yes it had power) and tried to reboot it on that – again nothing. Left it off overnight. This morning I tried again – same result – nothing.  Then I had a thought.  ( don’t be concerned, I recovered quickly)  Some time ago I had a problem with the printer and after trying many things to get it working I hit on the idea of  disconnecting it from the mains – and on re connection, it worked.  I had my doubts that something as simple as this would  work on the computer, but I went ahead and carried out the process of disconnection

Almost....
Almost….

and re connection. Hit the on button and, yes it worked and to prove it I am here. Now here’s the problem, I didn’t  rescue everything and I lost some things – mail being one of these things ( Outlook – go figure) I also have a few programs that are not working as they should and I may have to reinstall them. I think I will give Windows 10 a miss for the time being.   The icon is still sitting there in the right corner but it can stay there for the moment. Once I fix things I’ll stay with 8.1 for the time being.

House, Garden and Dogs

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The good thing today is that the Man finished his food and was looking for more – so I gave him more and he finished that as well. I hope this continues. I have decided to take a run through to the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens. I am looking for some native plants and I would much rather get them there that anyplace else.  I will also check out the vet when I am here. In my last post, I do not know what happened but I did have tags and they seems to have vanished. Perhaps I didn’t save them as I should have. I also mentioned that December can be an interesting month with regard to weather, and according to the long range weather forecasts we look to be heading towards the mid to high 40+c starting next week. True I’m a

I can relate to this
I can relate to this

Northern Hemisphere person but I find the heat bearable, except when there is a North Wind along with the heat. When that happens a 44c day is more like a 48c day because the North Wind makes a hot day hotter. For a while I found this difficult to come to terms with because  in the UK we had a little ditty “The North Wind doth blow and we shall have snow, and what will poor Robin do then?” Here the North Wind blows off the desert and it’s a hot wind not a cold wind. I suppose it sort of like the Wind Chill Factor – but in reverse…

This, in a round-a-bout way, leads me to say why I have not mentioned a lot about my garden of late.  Well, since the storm and the falling down of trees and the subsequent clean up, the place has been a bit of a mess . The wind, to a greater or lesser degree, has never really let up much and as a result, I sweep up leaves on Monday morning and by Monday afternoon you would be hard pressed to measure the work done. Now with a 40+ heat and no wind, I can get a lot done. I can get the place cleaned up and the leaves swept away and I have an idea on how to stop the leaves and bits getting into the covered pergola – and no I don’t mean cutting down the trees (which is illegal anyway). There is a door at the pergola and it’s a wire security door, so yes, I can make sure that it is kept closed and no leaves. Problem – dogs. I don’t need a security door there so I can have that removed and an ordinary door put in its place. The difference here is that I can  cut an ordinary door and install a dog door. Simple  –  problem solved – dogs have access and no leaves and bits.

I read in a post recently about blogging stats and the effect they seem to have on some people. I have sort of followed the old adage on this “There are lies, Damn Lies and Statistics” and to be truthful I have not the foggiest idea on how to use them. I am really not interested and don’t want to know anyway. People come – if they like what they see they will perhaps stay, or at least come again,  if not, then they will go – what else is there to know?   I think if you start to consider only what other people want then you are no longer doing what you want and as I see it that’s when it’s time to ask yourself if this is really why you started doing this in the first place.

RFDS Aircraft
RFDS Aircraft

Last week we put up the Christmas Tree in the church. This week – today in fact – we are about to put up the Christmas Tree at home.  There is always a family dinner at Christmas – although, there is a Family Dinner every Sunday. John comes over and Andrew, Trish and the girls are here, so we have a full table each Sunday. Not quite sure what the arrangements are for Christmas but I know there will be no one here this Sunday, mainly because I will be on duty with the RFDS at the Carols in the Park. Close to midnight before I get back home. Finish at 10:30 but by the time we  clean everything then pack and put everything away. Long afternoon – but fun.

Pergola, Aloe and noxious weeds.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
20130524_193855
This is part of the covered in pergola that I am working on

I have already started packing the things I want to take with me to Adelaide – remembering that I will be away for a week. I had intended to come back on the Thursday afternoon but I have decided to stay on and go visit Alan who has been moved to a facility in Hackham West. Once everything is finished I’ll go over and see him for a while. North Adelaide is at one end of the city and Hackham West is at the extreme end of the other side of the city. It takes nearly two hours to get there so it’s not just a quick jaunt.  By distance it’s not great  (29 klms) but it is through some to the busiest areas of the city and  with all the reconstruction and delays, the South Road is not my favourite place.  My hotel account is paid until Thursday but I’ll pay  Thursday/Friday and come home sometime on Friday afternoon. So this time they have not changed the dates – I have.

I have been working on my little area at the pergola and there is still a lot to do, but in order to continue, I needs an electrician to move  an electrical point. No, it’s not just a question of moving the point from one place to another, there is a lot involved and part of this  means shutting of the mains box, cutting cable and installing a new point where I want it and then put the mains back on again.  I will attend to that when I get back from Adelaide. It’s not a five minute job. And no ! Me and electricity are not the best of friends.

I have, for the moment, three (3) dogs. The husband of one of our friends is going into hospital and they asked us of we would take their dog for a few days. Naturally I said yes, rather than the Kennels, The oddest thing is that my two, rather than being slightly put out, merely ignore the stranger and I think they pretend he’s not there. The little man is curled up on the chair in my room,  Chienna is with herself and I have the third dog under my desk. I think it might be a their version of     ” if we pretend he’s not there perhaps he will go away.” Or it could just be that since he has been here before,  (Yogi) he’s lost the novelty value he had the first time.Aloe_descoingsii

Handle with care

We found out what the “things ” I have growing out front and they are Aloe descoingsii. So, I dug one of the smaller ones up and replanted  it it in a nice pot with potting mixture and fertiliser. We’ll see what happens to it. Still not sure about it and these spikes bother me  just a tad, but I will try with it and see how we get on. The good thing is that it it does not survive – there are lots more of them outside. Turns out they are quite an interesting plant – and I just thought they were some kind of noxious weed  :o)  This, I suppose, gives you some idea of my plant knowledge – not to mention my gardening skills.

Easter is here.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed with the information from the carpenter and I had really looked forward to seeing that area completed without too much effort from me. However, that’s no longer the case and I guess I will just have to get over my disappointment and get on with other things The covered  pergola is 23.5 feet wide by 26 feet long. It is 8 feet high at the house dropping down to just over 7 feet at the far end. A rise of six or more inches is just not acceptable. I am advised that to comply with regulations  there needs to be a clearance of at least 6 – 7 inches.

At the moment, because of the unusual heat and the winds, my hay fever has been playing up. This sort of caught me by surprise since I  only have to go through this rotten feeling in spring – I don’t expect to have to go through it in Autumn (Fall)  that’s just not fair and not playing the game. I am not impressed  :o) According to the news this is the hottest start to April in 40 years.

A lovely lady, whose writings I follow, was talking about the Sunrise Service at the end of Holy Week and whilst we have not had this in Australia, I remember it from our church in Scotland. The minister conducted the service and at the conclusion we  walked from the church to the church hall where we had breakfast. Later on  at 11am the Easter Service began and the church was generally packed. Our little church of 34 people here in Whyalla has no minister, mainly because we cannot afford one. The three elders run the church from week to week and every three months our interim-moderator comes up from Adelaide to administer the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Within the Presbytery (which comprises some 96% of the landmass of the State(Bigger than Texas)) there are only two ordained ministers. Were we to lose one of them, we no longer have a Presbytery because it requires a minimum of Two Ministers for it to be a legal meeting under church laws. We are always on the verge of collapse, yet we survive, somehow.