Evening all,
Another cold blustery day in the deep south. A day of average happenings and the usual chores. Ilan and Lynne returned along with Walter a new helper as well as a trailer of gear with a shipping container to follow. Ilan is hobbling on a crutch after a ton of slate fell on his leg. We had a superb piece of roast beef rump for community dinner along with roast veggies and yorkshire pudding. Other than that not a huge amount to report. All is good.
cheers Simon
Day 160 Nubeena Wednesday 6th July 2011
Hi Folks,
The wintery day promised yesterday arrived today. The mercury struggled up to 9 and by 4pm it was between 5 and 6. This was accompanied by blustery SW winds and some good showers. The weather was such that even the hardy ducks retreated to the lee side of their house with a couple even inside. The goats are using their sandbag bunker. They don't have much choice since the door is closed on the chicken house. They get in there and cause general mayhem knocking things over and chewing on the boards in the walls. I have changed their tethering arrangement a bit with a long rope strung up in a tree at one end and a sliding wire cable at the other on their collars. It means they walk closer together and seems to give less tangles. However knowing them I am sure they will find a way to break it. The disappearing chicken reappeared this morning. I tried to keep my eye on here while she was eating but lost her when i wandered off for a couple of minutes. She has the smallest of all the combs of the girls so is easy to ID. It is still a mystery where she hangs out.
The electricity has been on in the cafe for 2 days in a row now and i just checked the lights are still on.
Not much else to report. We both were painting today amongst other chores.
Our tea group has shrunk down to 4. Suzanne prepared an excellent veggie lasagne and home made bread which we washed down with a glass of red. I bought a bottle of port at BWS yesterday and i think it is time to celebrate winter by partaking a sip.
so on that note
goodnight cheers Simon
ps did anybody notice my deliberate mistake with yesterdays month?
The wintery day promised yesterday arrived today. The mercury struggled up to 9 and by 4pm it was between 5 and 6. This was accompanied by blustery SW winds and some good showers. The weather was such that even the hardy ducks retreated to the lee side of their house with a couple even inside. The goats are using their sandbag bunker. They don't have much choice since the door is closed on the chicken house. They get in there and cause general mayhem knocking things over and chewing on the boards in the walls. I have changed their tethering arrangement a bit with a long rope strung up in a tree at one end and a sliding wire cable at the other on their collars. It means they walk closer together and seems to give less tangles. However knowing them I am sure they will find a way to break it. The disappearing chicken reappeared this morning. I tried to keep my eye on here while she was eating but lost her when i wandered off for a couple of minutes. She has the smallest of all the combs of the girls so is easy to ID. It is still a mystery where she hangs out.
The electricity has been on in the cafe for 2 days in a row now and i just checked the lights are still on.
Not much else to report. We both were painting today amongst other chores.
Our tea group has shrunk down to 4. Suzanne prepared an excellent veggie lasagne and home made bread which we washed down with a glass of red. I bought a bottle of port at BWS yesterday and i think it is time to celebrate winter by partaking a sip.
so on that note
goodnight cheers Simon
ps did anybody notice my deliberate mistake with yesterdays month?
Day 159 Nubeena Tuesday 5th July 2011
The diminishing tribe, Back Row, eminent newly shorn blogger, lovable red headed golliwog, Suzanne (UK), Front row, Lian (Taiwan), Johnny (Wales)
Zamberlan's Baltoros (L) Vioz (R) exciting hey?
Good evening,
Winter settled over Tassie today on our day off. We farewelled Lian with the usual photo session and headed towards the airport. 30 minutes up the road I casually asked Susan, "Have you got Lins bag?". For a moment I thought she was joking and her acting skills were improving as she said, "Damn I forgot it" However they hadn't, she was for real so we turned about and met Johnny in the van halfway back to retrieve said bag.
Fortunately time was on our side so we made it to the airport in plenty of time for Lian's flight. After our good byes we headed through Hobart to Mount Stuart to our first stop to drop off Maels's package plus some sticky date pudding for Elodie. Our eyes weren't deceiving us there were snowflakes drifting down all of 10 minutes from the Hobart CBD. After a refreshing cup of tea and a chat we headed back into town for the purchase of cleaning supplies. I picked up Suzanne's shoes and Susan went to the bank. It was then off to Margate for lunch with Lin and Joel. A very nicely refurbished large house and some acreage. Unfortunately time constraints and the weather meant we did not get to look around the grounds. We headed back to Hobart but were unable despite many tries to make contact with our new helpexer that we were supposed to pick up.
From there it was the time honoured trek to Sorell to the fruit and veg market, Woolies supermarket, fuel station, BWS, ATM and Heat pizza bar before returning to the resort. A day away from the resort but not really a day off.
I did wear my latest hiking boots out to start breaking them in. I am sure you are all excited to see the pictures of both pairs I have bought here, They are both Zamberlan brand (Italian) The ones on the right are Vioz GT and the left Baltoros. The Vioz ones have a goretex liner to keep them waterproof. Their only drawback is that on the rocky paths here I am kicking the hell out of the toes and they are already looking scuffed. The Baltoros have the rubber protector on the toe. I guess my strategy will be to wear them on rocky paths and dryer days although they are very water resistant keeping the others for really boggy days, Anyway that's the theory. As a foot note i did see some pictures of the Vioz with rubber guards on the toes. Looks like they don't sell them here though.
Tomorrow our forecast maximum is 9! I think some work in the pool building will be in order! The lights and power have mysteriously returned to the cafe area without any known human intervention which is a bit disturbing. Maybe it is the Parsons Bay ghost at work!
Night folks
cheers Simon
Day 158 Nubeena Monday 4th of July 2011
Happy fourth of July,
Today started with Susan rounding up the 2 high jumpers who once again vaulted out of the enclosure (the goats) At least their poop is dry and round making it easy to sweep away unlike the chickens and as for the ducks we won't mention their faeces gees.
I may have exaggerated yesterday about painting a room in a day. Today i did the cutting in and realised that I could still see the previous paint colour through the new coating so applied a second coat. That was basically the day when all the normal chores were added in. Tomorrow we have a day off of sorts. Drive Lian to Hobart Airport, pick up cleaning supplies, deliver Maels hard drive and have coffee with he and Melodie, pick up Suzannes shoes, drive to Margate for lunch and to return Lin's property that she left on the weekend. Pick up Jonothan our new helper and do the shopping on the way back. Somehow I don't see day off there. More like a day of chores away from the resort. If it is a dirty windy rainy day I will feel better about it. Moan, groan, grumble, bitch.
Right that's it, catch you later.
Cheers Simon
Today started with Susan rounding up the 2 high jumpers who once again vaulted out of the enclosure (the goats) At least their poop is dry and round making it easy to sweep away unlike the chickens and as for the ducks we won't mention their faeces gees.
I may have exaggerated yesterday about painting a room in a day. Today i did the cutting in and realised that I could still see the previous paint colour through the new coating so applied a second coat. That was basically the day when all the normal chores were added in. Tomorrow we have a day off of sorts. Drive Lian to Hobart Airport, pick up cleaning supplies, deliver Maels hard drive and have coffee with he and Melodie, pick up Suzannes shoes, drive to Margate for lunch and to return Lin's property that she left on the weekend. Pick up Jonothan our new helper and do the shopping on the way back. Somehow I don't see day off there. More like a day of chores away from the resort. If it is a dirty windy rainy day I will feel better about it. Moan, groan, grumble, bitch.
Right that's it, catch you later.
Cheers Simon
Day 157 Nubeena Sunday 3rd July 2011
Hi readers,
For once the sun shone only briefly today and we had a few showers, which reminds me I better see how much they topped the tanks up being that the pump from the stream is still away after getting caught in the flood. Answer not much. Still no need to panic yet the motel is quiet although we do have 4 rooms in tonight and they are multiple night stays which is good since we don't have to make the rooms up tomorrow, which is doubly good because it is only Susan and myself on duty.
I had my customary wrestle with the goats this morning. They have the uncanny knack of doing exactly what I don't want them to do when I am moving them around. It has got to the stage where I am afraid to carry the 2kg hammer out to bang their stakes in in case the urge to smite them becomes overpowering.
Funnily enough the main stay of the paint I am using to "refresh" the house across the road is the colour "kid leather". Maybe it is prophetic. I almost managed to finish a complete bedroom in one working day not bad considering I brush painted the ceiling. The motel has accumulated many cans of paint over recent years however of the paint suitable for inside we have a small amount of a nameless colour we have used in the sleepout, a bit of stuff currently used in the motel which I don't want to use and about 60 litres of kid leather in 3 batches. 2 of which are the same and the other slightly different so the house will end up looking rather the same through out in the main living areas.
Susan has been painting in the office and observed today that it looks as if the walls in our unit which were wood panel have been painted with undercoat. Looking at them I have to agree. For some reason some of the beading and the beams that hide the seams in the hard wood ceiling have been painted with ..yup you guessed it kid leather. To say the painting is rough would be an understatement. In fact i would have to say the general standard of painting here as performed by helpexers is diabolically bad. I remarked how good the painting was in our original room and Susan commented "yes it was done by tradesmen" Therein lies the drawback of the helpex syatem. Most helpers are young and do not have the skill level required for many jobs. There are some advantages in being old. Chief one is to be able to recognise when you have reached your level of incompetence or even better the limit of your competence.
We had another good community tea tonight all 5 of us. Suzanne once again hit the spot baking a loaf of bread and making burgers from pork and beef mince. We also had the leftover soup from the drumming last night.
All in all a pleasant day of modest achievement.
Night folks
Cheers Simon
PS I think I better get some pictures for tomorrow to break the monotony of the writing.
For once the sun shone only briefly today and we had a few showers, which reminds me I better see how much they topped the tanks up being that the pump from the stream is still away after getting caught in the flood. Answer not much. Still no need to panic yet the motel is quiet although we do have 4 rooms in tonight and they are multiple night stays which is good since we don't have to make the rooms up tomorrow, which is doubly good because it is only Susan and myself on duty.
I had my customary wrestle with the goats this morning. They have the uncanny knack of doing exactly what I don't want them to do when I am moving them around. It has got to the stage where I am afraid to carry the 2kg hammer out to bang their stakes in in case the urge to smite them becomes overpowering.
Funnily enough the main stay of the paint I am using to "refresh" the house across the road is the colour "kid leather". Maybe it is prophetic. I almost managed to finish a complete bedroom in one working day not bad considering I brush painted the ceiling. The motel has accumulated many cans of paint over recent years however of the paint suitable for inside we have a small amount of a nameless colour we have used in the sleepout, a bit of stuff currently used in the motel which I don't want to use and about 60 litres of kid leather in 3 batches. 2 of which are the same and the other slightly different so the house will end up looking rather the same through out in the main living areas.
Susan has been painting in the office and observed today that it looks as if the walls in our unit which were wood panel have been painted with undercoat. Looking at them I have to agree. For some reason some of the beading and the beams that hide the seams in the hard wood ceiling have been painted with ..yup you guessed it kid leather. To say the painting is rough would be an understatement. In fact i would have to say the general standard of painting here as performed by helpexers is diabolically bad. I remarked how good the painting was in our original room and Susan commented "yes it was done by tradesmen" Therein lies the drawback of the helpex syatem. Most helpers are young and do not have the skill level required for many jobs. There are some advantages in being old. Chief one is to be able to recognise when you have reached your level of incompetence or even better the limit of your competence.
We had another good community tea tonight all 5 of us. Suzanne once again hit the spot baking a loaf of bread and making burgers from pork and beef mince. We also had the leftover soup from the drumming last night.
All in all a pleasant day of modest achievement.
Night folks
Cheers Simon
PS I think I better get some pictures for tomorrow to break the monotony of the writing.
Day 156 Nubeena Saturday 2nd July 2001
Evening listeners,
I am reminded tonight of scenes from old black and white movies where the colonials are being sent crazy by the constant jungle drums. So it is here this evening as the beat thumps from the confines of the shed. God knows what the vibration is doing to their minds! It is the last night of the drumming workshops and being light on for labour Susan has been running around like a madwoman making the soup (curried pumpkin delicious) and bread for the masses. My suggestion that she give the cafe 20 or 30 dollars from the takings to make it, fell on deaf ears.
The rest of the day was uneventful, painting continues slowly across the road and in the office. The cafe is still a bit blacked out along with the outside lights.
We could actually use a drop of rain just to freshen things up and wash some of the chicken poop from the roadways. I never thought I would say that in Tasmania in winter.
Hopefully we will both have a peaceful sleep tonight. I don't know what was in the curry we had for tea but we both had weird dreams. Susan dreamt I was doing nasty things to her and I awoke with her knee in my back trying to shove me out of bed!
night folks
cheers Simon
I am reminded tonight of scenes from old black and white movies where the colonials are being sent crazy by the constant jungle drums. So it is here this evening as the beat thumps from the confines of the shed. God knows what the vibration is doing to their minds! It is the last night of the drumming workshops and being light on for labour Susan has been running around like a madwoman making the soup (curried pumpkin delicious) and bread for the masses. My suggestion that she give the cafe 20 or 30 dollars from the takings to make it, fell on deaf ears.
The rest of the day was uneventful, painting continues slowly across the road and in the office. The cafe is still a bit blacked out along with the outside lights.
We could actually use a drop of rain just to freshen things up and wash some of the chicken poop from the roadways. I never thought I would say that in Tasmania in winter.
Hopefully we will both have a peaceful sleep tonight. I don't know what was in the curry we had for tea but we both had weird dreams. Susan dreamt I was doing nasty things to her and I awoke with her knee in my back trying to shove me out of bed!
night folks
cheers Simon
Day 155 Nubeena Friday 1st of July 2011
Hello,
Another brilliant winters day in Tassie.
First off I am not going crazy I saw the missing chicken again today and i have a corroborative reliable witness in Susan. She(the chicken that is)was with her peer group near the tennis court. However when they returned to the pen she didn't. I think she has gone native, probably fallen in with a bad crowd (the scrub hens).
The power was working in the cafe this morning which was weird since I was certain I hadn't fixed it last night but it didn't stay on so that's a weird one. We had the sound of chainsaws at the western end of the block as a crew moved in to remove a very large pine tree. I am not quite sure what the story is there. Other than that a pretty standard day. The painting continues slowly across the road due to people being on days off and the fact we don't have many people. When you have 5 people and need three to run reception 4 out of 7 days it doesn't leave much extra time for other jobs.
We had outr community dinner in Unit 7 as there didn't seem to be much value in lighting up the shed for 5 people! Hada few good laughs. I think we have missed out by not being resident in Unit 7 as it is the party room. Having said that after dinner the others went to the pub and we declined. The Nubeena pub on a Friday night is no place for non bogans methinks. Especially old grumpy ones like me!
Night folks
Cheers Simon
Maybe we will go live in a Yurt!
Another brilliant winters day in Tassie.
First off I am not going crazy I saw the missing chicken again today and i have a corroborative reliable witness in Susan. She(the chicken that is)was with her peer group near the tennis court. However when they returned to the pen she didn't. I think she has gone native, probably fallen in with a bad crowd (the scrub hens).
The power was working in the cafe this morning which was weird since I was certain I hadn't fixed it last night but it didn't stay on so that's a weird one. We had the sound of chainsaws at the western end of the block as a crew moved in to remove a very large pine tree. I am not quite sure what the story is there. Other than that a pretty standard day. The painting continues slowly across the road due to people being on days off and the fact we don't have many people. When you have 5 people and need three to run reception 4 out of 7 days it doesn't leave much extra time for other jobs.
We had outr community dinner in Unit 7 as there didn't seem to be much value in lighting up the shed for 5 people! Hada few good laughs. I think we have missed out by not being resident in Unit 7 as it is the party room. Having said that after dinner the others went to the pub and we declined. The Nubeena pub on a Friday night is no place for non bogans methinks. Especially old grumpy ones like me!
Night folks
Cheers Simon
Maybe we will go live in a Yurt!
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