Training Log Archive: Mess EngineerIn the 31 days ending Oct 31, 2010:
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Sunday Oct 31, 2010 #
7 AM
Gardening - General 2:00:00 [3]
shoes: Gumboots
6:50 am to 8:50 am. 3 more wheel barrows of dirt to fill pothole at rear boundary. Arms were well and truly stretched by the time got wheelbarrow down the end. 10 more wheelbarrows of dirt to finish filling 'very minor' watercourse.
Dug up two more blind snakes in the process. One was very big about 1 cm diameter and 30 cm long (shown in photo in bottom of plastic garbage bin prior to letting go in our leaf pile).
The other was about the same size as the first one we found a few months back but must have been accidentally clipped with the shovel when I was digging as he wasn't very lively and later died. I left him out for the kookaburras hopefully to make use of.
Definitely snakes rather than legless lizards as they had little forked tongues. Break for swim in pool with step-son and his family who were retrieving the step-grandkids who stayed overnight.
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| From Wallalong Gardening |
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| From Wallalong Wildlife |
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| From Wallalong Wildlife |
10 AM
Note
This would make Street Orienteering a bit easier on the legs but battery wouldn't last 45 minutes and I am sure macey and steveo would still out run me.
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| From Wallalong Gardening |
6 PM
Walk - Home (with Partner and two dogs) 30 [1] 1.0 km (30 / km)
Several laps around and throught the back 3 1/2 acres with the dogs off the lead happily sniffing logs and chasing imaginary creatures.
Saturday Oct 30, 2010 #
6 AM
Gardening - General 1:05:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
6 am - 7:15 am 3 Wheelbarrows of logs and branches from around 3 1/2 acres boundary path (put there a few weekends ago in cleanup). Cut old car tyre from back yard in half to dispose of in bin (few sparks cutting through steel tyre cord but OK). Cleaned pool. Stop for breakfast.
8 AM
Gardening - General 6:25:00 [3] 10.0 km (38:30 / km)
shoes: Gumboots
8 am - 10:10 am Decided to work on track maintenance for back 3 1/2 acres mowing / widening 'untouched' areas along boundary fence. Had to keep push mower up high and cut grass, and then expose the zillion sticks to pick up, before mowing again. Filled the entire fire pit to overflow with sticks starting from empty. Break for drink. 10:20 am - 10:35 am More sticks. 10:35 am - 11:20 am Moved 10 wheel barrows of dirt from accumulated stock pile down the back to fill in a large pothole on one of our tracks. Break to drive to Morpeth to get hot chips for step-grandkids lunch. 12:20 pm - 1:25 pm 2 more wheelbarrows of dirt to fill another pothole which has been repeatedly annoying me / tipping me over when wheelbarrowing stumps along south boundary track. Then 10 more wheelbarrows of dirt to start filling in 'very minor' watercourse to stop ride-on (future) bottoming out when I mow here. Stop to drink over 750 ml of water - sweaty! 1:35 pm - 2:05 pm 5 more wheelbarrows of dirt to watercourse. Dug up another blind snake/legless lizard that was the same size/diameter as a worm but very pink. Could only just make out the scales on its skin but could see the eyes on this one.
Getting too muggy and sweaty so joined step-grandkids in pool. Water was very very cold. Also rode kids electric motorbike around gravel drive and boundary tracks which was fun. 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm 10 more wheelbarrows of dirt to watercourse. More drink and another quick electric bike ride but battery too flat and I am too heavy. 4:35 pm to 5 pm 3 more wheel barrows of dirt to watercouse. Total in very minor' watercouse now 10+5+10+3 = 28. Probably need another 5. Total wheelbarrows for day 28+10+2 = 40. Reckon each trip was about 200 metres return so approx 8 km just in wheelbarrowing today excluding everything else. Probably only used up 1/3 of dirt stockpile. Worn out so called it quits for the day.
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| From Wallalong Wildlife |
Friday Oct 29, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Cycle 30:00 [3] 11.2 km (2:41 / km)
Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6 am to 6:30 am
Gym Mayfield - Class Cardio 30:00 [5]
Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6:30 am to 7 am. In the last 10 minutes Instructor decided to take us outside and run up and down 3 stories of car park stairs 5 times and do laps of the oval which finished me off.
5 PM
Project - Shed Fitout / Organisation 1:30:00 [0]
shoes: Gumboots
In current project at (real) work demolishing and clearing out area for $600 k foundations for new $6.5 million machine installing early March 2011. As a result had some redundant pallet racking which I was allowed to take home on salvage. Another person also wanted to take it but I, being the production project co-ordinator, 'won out'. 'Mysteriously' some-one (unreported) repeatedly ran into it with a 3 tonne forklift overnight whilst it was disassembled on the floor bending the very heavy duty steel and fracturing it in two places. So I cut the four 3 metre uprights in half and managed to make a reasonably decent (but still bent in places) frame by chucking the three most bent bits away. Ended up being 2600 long x 830 deep x 1500 high with load capability of at least 1 tonne. Only JUST fit disassembled in station wagon diagonally across with front seat all the way forward and packed up against passenger door. Probably will make a firewood bay storage out of this. Put together pallet racking outside my shed so I could wipe all the dust and debris off and also file down the cut top edges which were razor sharp from drop saw. Later disassembled and put in shed. Will have to decide what kind of heavy duty shelf material to eventually buy.
6 PM
Gardening - General 20:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
2 single wheelbarrows of leaves, raked up by Partner, moved to huge pile down the back. On way home dropped off at Coates Hire to enquire about the price of hiring a mulcher to chew the pile up but they said no-one rents them in Newcastle anymore as all customers basically wreck them.
Thursday Oct 28, 2010 #
6 PM
Gardening - General 1:10:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
Moved yet another 5 double wheelbarrows of leaves Partner raked up during the last two days. Also arranged a ride-on lawn mower salesman to bring out an example ride-on for a demo on my actual block in the coming week or two.
Wednesday Oct 27, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Cycle 55:00 [3] 19.6 km (2:48 / km)
Standard part of Weekly Routine Wednesday 6 am to 7 am. Cruisy pace saving energy for this afternoons run.
4 PM
Orienteering - Street race (#02 Cameron Park) 44:58 [5] 8.0 km (5:37 / km)
shoes: Big W $40 Cheapies
8.0 km according to http://www.geodistance.com/?id=65414 which I am pretty happy about as I was pushing hard especially for the last 0.9 km! (Routegadget Link) Route 1K 1H 3C 2K 1J 2C 3D 1M 3H 2D 1N 2M (18:40 keep going!) 1R 1S 2F 1P 3E 1U 2H 2J 3F (10 minutes to go so no time for 2A-3A) 1A 1B 2G 1E 1T (getting late s**t run faster!!!!) 2E for 27 Controls / 46 Points in 44:58 (yes 2 seconds to spare!). Best was 62 so 74.2% which is a good start for year. Lost 30 seconds on 1T as I was reading the clue for1U by mistake. Really really like Gregs style of course setting with lots of controls and lots of choice. His Irrawang event was my favourite last year and this will probably be this years favourite (15 events to go so time will tell).
Tuesday Oct 26, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Weights 55:00 [3]
Standard part of Weekly Routine Tuesday 6 am to 7 am
4 PM
Gardening - General 1:40:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
40 minutes for 3 double wheelbarrows of leaves raked up by Partner during the day. 60 minutes for solo raking and 2 more double wheelbarrows of leaves to give a '2nd coat' to the area I started on Saturday.
Monday Oct 25, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Cycle 55:00 [5] 25.0 km (2:12 / km)
Standard part of Weekly Routine Monday 6 am to 7 am. NEW RECORD. Started dead on 6 am and with yesterdays rest day decided to go for gold. At my fitness level this mark is going to be hard to beat unless there are no hills in the class at all. 1 km was added in the last 2-3 minutes supposed cool down period.
6 PM
Gardening - General 1:00:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
6 double wheelbarrows of leaves and 1 single wheelbarrow to finish moving all the raked up piles from Saturday afternoon.
Sunday Oct 24, 2010 #
Note
(rest day)
Rain enforced rest day. On a positive the Pool level was up 15 mm overnight ... will check level again tonight (if the rain stops). Since its raining run out of excuses not to finish off my tax since I am seeing an agent tomorrow afternoon. So far looking horrific ... tax outstanding totally destroying my ride-on savings account. UPDATE 5 PM. Forced to venture outside to feed dogs and pool now up 30 mm. Would need to keep going like this for another day or more before it will start to overflow (reverse of last fortnights problem)
Saturday Oct 23, 2010 #
Note
This is the sight I got up to this morning (photo doesn't do it justice) (and the area I was raking leaves). A slight misty fog, with sun rising behind the trees, with prominant rays of sun breaking around the trunks. Stood there for a minute or more just looking.
Also attached is our bearded dragon returned again. We saw him sitting on the grass from our bedroom window and when we went down there he had scarpered up this tree. Each time we walked around the tree he would try to hide by moving around the branch so he was on the opposite side. Weird. When he released him last time on the log pile you could touch him and he wouldn't move. Now he is 5 m up in perfect safety and he wants to hide ?
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| From Wallalong Gardening |
Also attached is our bearded dragon returned again. We saw him sitting on the grass from our bedroom window and when we went down there he had scarpered up this tree. Each time we walked around the tree he would try to hide by moving around the branch so he was on the opposite side. Weird. When he released him last time on the log pile you could touch him and he wouldn't move. Now he is 5 m up in perfect safety and he wants to hide ?
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| From Wallalong Wildlife |
6 AM
Gardening - General 7:20:00 [2]
shoes: Gumboots
Haven't raked up leaves by shed for 5 months since we moved in. So today was 'jobs that require no money but lots of time' catchup. 6:00 am to 6:10 am (10 min) Pool Cleaning. 6:10 am to 6:55 am (45 min) Raking leaves south side of shed. 6:55 am to 7:10 am (15 min) Cutting up more lino to fill up bin for week yet again 7:10 am to 8 am (50 min) 5 Double wheelbarrows (approx 100 litres in barrow with 2nd barrow tray on top) of leaves moved to compost pile. Stop for breakfast. 8:20 am to 9:10 am (50 min). More raking and 2 more double wheelbarrows. 9:10 am to 11:15 am (2 hr 5 min) With Partner mowing this area and picking up exposed sticks (8 more(!!!) double wheel barrows of grass and leaves). Break for lunch. 1:20 pm to 2:40 pm (1 hr 20 min) With Partner 5 more double wheelbarrows of leaves from around fire pit and southern side of yard. 4:20 pm to 4:55 pm (35 min) Raking leaves north side of yard ... abandoned due to sudden heavy storm. 5:30 pm to 6 pm (30 min). More raking but everything now soaked so will wheelbarrow first thing in the morning. Lots of trees is really nice but if want to keep it reasonably clear underfoot can be a lot of work. Hopefully much dreamed about future ride-on will either mulch all these leaves up during the mowing process in future or may have to get a catcher attachment for ride-on.
Friday Oct 22, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Cycle 25 [3] 10.0 km (3 / km)
Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6 am to 6:30 am. Delayed start due to new gym ticketing process so not as many km.
Gym Mayfield - Class Cardio 30:00 [3]
Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6:30 am to 7 am.
Thursday Oct 21, 2010 #
4 PM
Walk - Estate (looking for my *@#*! dogs) 2:40:00 [1] 5.0 km (32:00 / km)
shoes: Gumboots
Driving home in a lovely sunny day, feeling good after yesterdays run, looking forward to getting home to work in the yard. Partner not home and arrived in her car 1 minute after I pulled in garage. She had been out looking for our two dogs as she let them out of the enclosure and walked them down to back shed to get a screwdriver and they scarpered in the time it took her to walk in and out of the shed. To make it worse she had taken off the female dogs collar so no id. So my plans immediately in bin. Drove 2 laps of estate and surrounding suburbs with Partner, 1 lap solo later by myself, walked 3 laps of our back 3 1/2 acres, and 2 laps of north neighbours same area, 2 laps of south neighbours same area, and the length of the 184 hectare land that backs onto our Estate. Distance a guess. Gave up looking at 7:10 pm. Well and truly over these dogs so mentally adjusted to the fact they may not come back (and I can't be held responsible for this so even better). Checked back yard at 11:30 pm and still no dogs. At 1:30 am heard a noise and found the two little rats at the back door. Relieved and 'disappointed' at the same time. Didn't get much sleep between 2 am and 4 am prior to going to gym. Anyone want any free fox terriers please advise.
Wednesday Oct 20, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Cycle 50:00 [3] 20.4 km (2:27 / km)
Standard part of Weekly Routine Wednesday 6 am to 7 am. Mix-up with the card reader meant I went from front of the queue to the back of the queue so started 5 minutes behind normal. Was ahead 1.7 km at the 30 minute mark just that was everyone elses 35 minute mark.
5 PM
Orienteering - Street race (#01 Speers Point) 40:29 [4] 7.1 km (5:42 / km)
shoes: Big W $40 Cheapies
7.1 km according to http://www.geodistance.com/?id=65031 (Routegadget Link) Decided to go North first and get the lot and then loop South and get as many as I could. Didn't think I could do the Southern hilly loop out to 3E first. Route 1B 1A 2A 3A 2B (Added about 250 m in between because turned around and went back was concerned it was a trick question so went back to look at the side of the building rather than the front of the building) 2C 3B 1C 2D 1D 2F 2G 1G 2J 1F 3C 1E 2E for 18 Controls / 32 Points in 40:29. Best was 43 so 74.4% which is a good start for year. Turned around at 2J which ultimately was way too early. Had 10 minutes to go at 3C and judged about 1 km to get back but it was less than this. Talking with others afterwards I should have added in 2H 1H between 2G and 1G for 35 points. Anyway start of new season and I wasn't late, felt OK at the end and could have run another km, and new cheap shoes seemed to go OK.
Tuesday Oct 19, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Weights 55:00 [3]
Standard part of Weekly Routine Tuesday 6 am to 7 am.
4 PM
Gardening - General 1:40:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
Moved 2 wheelbarrows of leaves which Partner had raked up during the day. Filled the pool up level again for 21 minutes (hope I don't have a leak) and this time wrote down a ruler measurement so I can track whats going on. Got my first water bill for this house today and its the first bill that hasn't increased(!!!!) since the move. It has actually fallen despite the higher water use as I am no longer being charged $250 sewer charge since we are not connected (get charged $360 annual fee by Council, plus $60 quarterly service fees, plus electricity for air blower so my 'saving' balances out elsewhere). Spent time down the back 3 acres (with my male dog off the lead) walking around picking up large branches (non asethetically pleasing ones - ie no moss or lichen) and carrying them out the the boundary path for later removal with wheelbarrow. Had to keep calling the little bugger back every 2 minutes so was distracting. Repeated this later after dinner for 40 minutes without the dog which was more productive.
Monday Oct 18, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Cycle 55:00 [3] 21.2 km (2:36 / km)
Standard part of Weekly Routine Monday 6 am to 7 am.
Sunday Oct 17, 2010 #
6 AM
Chore - Clean Pool Filter 1:00:00 [0]
shoes: Gumboots
2nd time I have done this since we moved in. Pool Shop guy said I should do this after superchlorinating the pool to kill the algae ... and when I took the filters out no wonder. Compared to last time when they were a bit dirty this time they were covered in greenish slime which I assume is the dead algae. After putting it all back together and flushing the system with water again vacuumed the bottom of the pool to get remaining leaves. AMAZING RESULT FROM OVERNIGHTS WORK - water now crystal clear, can easily see the bottom, and the horrible chlorine smell has subsided.
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| From Wallalong Gardening |
9 AM
Project - Shed Fitout / Organisation 1:30:00 [0]
shoes: Gumboots
Time a guess - amalgamation of about 3 sessions. Partner and I threw out more stuff until the bin was full (whilst I really combatted my hoarder instinct throwing out stuff I hadn't used in 15 years and survived three house moves). Plenty more junk got stacked up on the shelves in roof level but I will have to ditch that later. Also almost filled the recycle bin with other hoarded cardboard boxes. Floor now 95% clear.
12 PM
Note
Brooks running shoes (with gaffa taped toes holding them together for last 6 months and soles shreaded) now officially dead and in the bin. According to log 65 hours 51 minutes and 51 seconds for 75 sessions and 356 kilometres since started Attackpoint 30th July 2009 but I bought the shoes pre Xmas 2008 I think. Replaced with $40 Big W Cheapies which hopefully will last 1 Street Season.
1 PM
Gardening - General 1:30:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
Time a guess - amalgamation of times with Partner. Work included picking up sticks, weeding garden beds, raking up leaves.
Saturday Oct 16, 2010 #
6 AM
Gardening - General 1:00:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
Survived the windiest night we have had since we moved in. In our old pole frame house we would have been feeling the house moving. Did a lap of the block perimeter to ensure no major trees down (don't want the have to cut up any more 30 m tall 40 cm diameter monsters) and picking up branches to fill the fire pit. Pool was worst state for leaves ever seen despite cleaning it last night. Despite the floods elsewhere in NSW gave up waiting for rain and chucked the hose in the pool leaving it running flat out for 25 minutes (probably 17 litres/min so 425 litres but pool volume more like 65000 litres). Got all the previous owners pool chemicals out but need to seek professional advice this morning.
9 AM
Note
Shopping for (a) Ride-on lawn mowers (b) Pool Advice (c) Pool covers - cost ridiculous so not in next 2 years (d) New running shoes (Only $40 Big W cheapies in budget this year) (e) Food (f) Garage Door Remote Openers
2 PM
Chore - Pool Chemistry 2:30:00 [0]
shoes: Gumboots
Ignored the pool for 4 months (apart from cleaning the leaves) and when water level fell below the skimmer turned off pump for a few days waiting for rain which never arrived. Result is greenish tinge to water (not slime but definitely green). So now (being a pool novice) got some advice on what to do (and got water tested). Not surprisingly chemistry out of whack. So progressively over the day dumped 1 kg of chlorine power (progressively diluted in water) (absolutely stank), 25 kg of salt, 2.4 kg of alkanity balancer (progressively diluted in water), scrubbed down walls of pool and left pump running from 2 pm Saturday to 7 am Sunday (watch out next Electricity bill!) on 'super chlorinate'.
4 PM
Walk - Estate (Solo with two dogs) 30:00 [1] 1.5 km (20:00 / km)
shoes: Gumboots
Up the next culdesac and back with a delay in between talking to some-one mowing their lawn about their John Deer ride-on and whether they would recommend it (since we checked them out this morning).
6 PM
Walk - Home (with Partner and two dogs) 30:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
2 laps around, and through, the back 3 1/2 bush acres mostly for the enjoyment of the dogs sniffing around and going crazy digging under logs etc.
7 PM
Project - Shed Fitout / Organisation 1:00:00 [0]
shoes: Gumboots
Trying to sort out remaining junk on last 1/6 of floor area. Boring as hell but trying to force myself to finish.
Friday Oct 15, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Cycle 30:00 [3] 10.2 km (2:56 / km)
Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6 am to 6:30 am. Cruisy pace.
Gym Mayfield - Class Cardio 30:00 [3]
Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6:30 am to 7 am. More sweat but no tears.
Thursday Oct 14, 2010 #
6 AM
Note
(rest day)
Clean the pool in off-peak power time prior to going to work. Will see what the afternoon holds when I return. UPDATE In afternoon scrubbed bottom of pool with broom to dislodge buildup of leaf slime and rigged up pipe so pump could still work overnight with evaporated water level below skimmer box. Where is all this rain that was going to happen this week? Partner and I measured pool dimensions as going to look at pool covers on Saturday to reduce ongoing the water loss - alternatively get gutters/rainwater tank put on cabana next to pool so can direct more water into pool. Never had a pool before and my reasons for not wanting one are getting confirmed. Other than that took the dogs down for a 'leash free' explore of back 3 1/2 acres. Lots of wallabys but the dogs didn't chase them tonight.
Wednesday Oct 13, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Cycle 55:00 [3] 20.7 km (2:39 / km)
Standard part of Weekly Routine Wednesday 6 am to 7 am. Going senile. Can't remember distance but it was above 20 km.
C • 20% 2
5 PM
Orienteering - Street race (Warmup 2 - Waratah) 29:15 [5] 5.0 km (5:51 / km)
shoes: Brooks
Distance a guess. Route 1K-2B-3B-3A-1G-2A-2D-1A-2C-1B-3C-1F for 22 points RouteGadget (same as last week and not the 25 points I originally added up and put on display damn it). Compared to maceys 34 this makes it 64.7% so not terrific but the hills generally kill me compare to the speedy guys. Tossed up including 2G at in the original plan but dropped the idea as didn't think would make it around if included this. Original plan after 2C was to head home via 1C but I still had about 7 minutes left so decided to face the killer hill up to 1B and try for 3C. This is the fourth time in a Street Event (including Practice runs) I have had to run up to the top of Braye Park and clue 3B was a bit painful in my oxygen deprived brain as there were 3 concrete memorial type features in the centre of the roundabout which I had to check out.
Tuesday Oct 12, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Weights 55:00 [3]
Standard part of Weekly Routine Tuesday 6 am to 7 am. Gum around left lower wisdom tooth been driving me crazy for last 4 days. Treating it but no improvement as yet. Eating on one side of mouth only which is putting me off.
4 PM
Gardening - General 1:40:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
Desperate to get out in the sunny afternoon. 4:10 pm to 5 pm. Partner decided to spend 3 hours today mowing the HALF the back lawn (with manual push petrol mower) around the trees and septic tank discharge sprinklers and had made a mountain of a pile of lawn clippings (I had been letting this grow as was going to use the area as a manouverability test when get Ride-On suppliers out for a test drive ... but I was told I was too slow in organising it). Took 5 double wheel barrows (normal 100+ litre wheelbarrow with another old wheelbarrow tray on top) of clippings to the pile down the back and finished off mowing a small unfinished area. 5:30 pm to 6:20 pm Picking up twigs exposed by mowing and getting a few logs from the back 3 acres down to the bonfire pile.
Monday Oct 11, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Cycle 55:00 [3] 23.6 km (2:20 / km)
Standard part of Weekly Routine Monday 6 am to 7 am. Bike Number 4. Still struggling with motivation and effort was somewhere between cruising speed and trying hard. High distance because I started dead on 6 am so had about 3-4 extra minutes.
Sunday Oct 10, 2010 #
9 AM
Orienteering - Park race (Minor - Tocal) 56:36 [3] 7.2 km (7:52 / km)
spiked:48/50c shoes: Brooks
Two Map course. First Map 30 Controls for 4.5 km. Second Map 20 Controls for 2.7 km. Happy to make it under an hour but didn't hang around the see the overall range of times. No major mistakes despite the 50 (!!!) Controls with the only over-run about 10 metres. Partner came and did 2.2 km Green course in 30:10 and enjoyed herself so that was a bonus. Clipped side of head on sign at the nominated fence crossing between 5 and 6 which hurt but no major damage. All sleepy now in the afternoon and need a siesta.
1 PM
Project - Shed Fitout / Organisation 40:00 [0]
shoes: Gumboots
More junk cleanup with the dogs wandering around inside the shed whilst Partner zoomed around clean floor on her 20 year old roller skates (with dogs following which was quite a sight). Took photos but she won't allow me to share :)
Saturday Oct 9, 2010 #
7 AM
Gardening - General 4:30:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
Felt totally down and unmotivated today (bringing home frustrations from work). First weekend in ages awoke without a plan of jobs. Times all approximate as wasn't ticking off items off list. 7 am to 7:25 am Experimenting with chainsaw sharpening tool I finally bought yesterday. Chain cutting angle isn't in chainsaw manual so took a guess and it must of been wrong as cut terrible. Tried again and got it right later. 8 am to 9 am Filling Step-sons 3rd trailer with stumps for another Stockton Beach campout. Again sharpened chainsaw with new grinder tool so we could cut off the main side roots so they would stack better and fit more in. Majority of big stumps now gone. 9 am to 12:15 pm Chainsawing 2 fallen trees (last few cuts) and miscellaneous logs by wood pile with a few more stops for sharpening chain. Some regions of wood pile have only been there a month and already have whiteants in it. Now out of pre-mixed fuel and out of my personal interest level. Partner came back from a week away 12:15 pm so stopped work and bludged rest of afternoon.
6 PM
Project - Shed Fitout / Organisation 1:30:00 [0]
shoes: Gumboots
Partner wanted to inspect progress from her week away as she wants to be able to rollerskate around shed floor. We swept up a lot of dust and cleaned out 'segment cuts' in floor with scraper and vacuum cleaner. Got pile of junk down the the last 1/6 of the floor area. Brought dogs in with us and closed the doors so they could wander around with us whilst we 'worked'. Not motivated by this task either at the moment.
Friday Oct 8, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Cycle 30:00 [3] 10.0 km (3:00 / km)
Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6 am to 6:30 am. Knew I was in trouble when legs hurting just walking into the class. Cruisy pace with no intention (or ability) of making records today.
Gym Mayfield - Class Cardio 30:00 [5]
Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6:30 am to 7 am. If I thought I was tired going into class its nothing compared to how smashed I felt coming out. Upchuck reflex was coming in a various stages as body protesting. Started us on sprints which finished me off after Wednesday and later put us on a rope climbing machine which was a total killer.
Thursday Oct 7, 2010 #
6 PM
Project - Shed Fitout / Organisation 1:20:00 [0]
(rest day) shoes: Gumboots
Sorting and stacking lengths of 'useful one day' planks of wood. Sweeping up last weeks circular saw mess. Not feeling too inspired by the cleanup activity versus the building activity. Legs feeling yesterdays 22 km on the bike and 5 km run.
Wednesday Oct 6, 2010 #
Note
Someone told me the 'legless lizard' I had a photo on here was a whip snake and I should have killed it. Googled 'whip snake' and it doesn't look anything like it. The closest I could find was http://museumvictoria.com.au/bioinformatics/snake/... which is a blind snake.
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Cycle 55:00 [5] 22.5 km (2:27 / km)
Standard part of Weekly Routine Wednesday 6 am to 7 am. Bike Number 4. Tried to beat last weeks mark of 24.3 and was frustrated to fall short. Last week I was only 0.5 km up after 30 minutes but they later had 15 minutes of speed work. This week I was more than 2.5 km up after 30 minutes (or 6 minutes ahead) and I was flying but the instructor threw in 15 minutes of hills towards the end and even in the last 10 minutes I still thought I may make it. 606 kJ used up .... hope I have energy left for a fast run with the return of Street-O tonight YAY.
5 PM
Orienteering - Street race (Warmup 1 - Warabrook) 28:22 [4] 5.0 km (5:40 / km)
shoes: Brooks
Distance a guess and cross checked by scaling pixels of other people Routegadget vs their distance. Route 1F-1C-1B-3A-2A-2B-3B-2C-3C-2D-1D-1G-Home for 22 points RouteGadget. Macey got 30 so my relative score is 73% which is reasonable. Lost 30 seconds on 1C when I was looking on the wrong side of the street (with Tony Hayes doing the same as well). Got trapped by 3C as I hadn't read the map that you couldn't get through and it was an 'island' out by itself. Attempted 1J after 1G but turned back when realising it was going to be a miracle to make it. Was pretty much exactly what I mapped out at the start so judged it well. Only change I could have made was 1E-1A in between 3B and 2C.
Tuesday Oct 5, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Weights 55:00 [3]
Standard part of Weekly Routine Tuesday 6 am to 7 am. Class numbers plummeted to about 7 today after long weekend / daylight saving time change. Every muscle group in my body seemed tired today before I even started.
5 PM
Project - Shed Fitout / Organisation 1:30:00 [0]
Can't believe how much time this is taking. Previous owner left 2 of 4.2 metre rolls of crappy horrible colour lino in shed. They are really really heavy and awkward to move so I cut one of the rolls into 1/4s with circular saw and the other into 1/2. Dumped a 1/4 piece standing upright in bin and will see if I get away with it being emptied today. If so will dispose of a bit each week. Also spent time cutting remaining spacers for between top shelves and working out where to fit 6 metre extension ladder along the wall. Next problem is how to store all my 2.4 metre lengths of 'use one-day' wood.
Monday Oct 4, 2010 #
6 AM
Note
PUBLIC HOLIDAY
7 AM
Project - Shed Fitout / Organisation 5:50:00 [0]
7:10 am to 9:00 am Very boring as general cleanup and sorting out of junk. 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm More sorting. 2/3 of the floor is now clear. Got very bored with it so got circular saw table out and made up some spacers to fill in the 75 mm x 500 mm gaps inbetween each bay to stop items potentially falling through. Trip to Bunnings for supplies passing a bad car accident which part closed the New England Highway. 6:20 pm to 8:20 pm Putting white caps on pegboard securing screws. Attaching several metal hooks to the walls for holding shovels, rakes, extension leads etc. Attaching two powerboards to back of racking uprights which I will connect up with extension leads to double powerpoint in the corner. Find it hard to believe chewed up more than 20 hours on this project since Thursday but at least I will be able to walk around the shed without tripping over stuff and may have a chance of actually finding items.
9 AM
Gardening - Weeding 1:50:00 [1]
9:10 am to 10:20 am More weeding of drive. Just as boring as cleaning out the shed but the rain had made the more difficult weeds come out easily so I thought I better make the most of it. 10:40 am - 11:20 am More weeding. Stopped as work colleague and his wife came around for a housewarming visit.
Sunday Oct 3, 2010 #
6 AM
Gardening - General 20:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
Cleaning pool and checking whether 'minor rain' boosted water level now high enough for pump to run without cavitating. Nope .... may have to leave vacuum plastic hose connected so the filter sucks from the bottom of the pool until it rains some more.
7 AM
Project - Shed Fitout / Organisation 5:55:00 [0]
shoes: Gumboots
6:30 am to 7:25 am General sorting of junk spread across floor. Trip to Bunnings in between. 10:45 am to 12:10 pm. Prototyping first pegboard cutting to width and height plus attaching 3 back vertical stiffening battens to minimise flex in the board. Made it easily removable for the future. Forgot how much of hassle it is to cut large sheets .... just as well I bought all the 18 mm thick shelves pre-cut (the cost saving in cutting down 3.6 metre sheets wasn't worth the extra effort in cutting or transport to and from hardware). Includes time hanging tools in approximate 'first guess' position. Break for lunch. 12:35 pm to 2:35 pm. Pegboards 2 and 3 flowed much quicker as I had all the dimensions and method sorted. Plus 'first guess' hanging tools. Ultimately pegboard will also be secured to back of shed structure in addition to racking frame. Entire arrangement 9 m long (5 bays of 1.8 m) with 5.4 metres of pegboard (3 bays) x 1.2 m high and two 'continuous' shelves at 1 metre high and 2.2 metres high (with extra 1.5 m high shelf on the two end bays) so about 30% bigger than last house ... and it shows with lots of spare capacity (a male incentive for more tools?). UPDATE 6:20 pm to 7:55 pm More miscellaneous sorting.
3 PM
Walk - Estate (Solo with two dogs) 1:20:00 [2] 6.0 km (13:20 / km)
shoes: Gumboots
Clockwise loop around the Rosebank estate going up and down 4 of the 8 culdesacs (not including mine). Drizzle and tiredness drew the walk to a close. Female dog had been tied up all morning so I wanted to give her a walk.
Saturday Oct 2, 2010 #
5 AM
Gardening - General (Part 1) 2:05:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
I was up earlier than this since my body clock is now set to 4:45 am (regardless of the alarm or day of week) but I filled in time doing work on laptop. 5:45 am - 6:45 am Moved 7 wheelbarrows of leaves that Partner had raked up midweek. 6:45 am - 7 am Chainsaw general clean, maintenance and fitted new chain ready for later. 7 am - 7:50 am Yet more weeding of front drive. Break for breakfast and baby sitting Partners grandchild whilst she had a shower.
8 AM
Gardening - General (Part 2) 2:35:00 [3]
shoes: Gumboots
8:15 am - 8:30 am Filled in time in shed laying out chipboard shelves for sealing whilst waiting for it to be late enough to start chainsaw. 8:30 am - 10:50 am Chainsawing up 40 cm main trunks of 2 fallen trees (still) into 1/2 - 2/3 metre lengths (rollable but not liftable). Have to do this in two cuts down each side as saw not long enough and probably cut at least 15 - 20 segments. Never ever used a chainsaw with a brand new chain. OMG! Unbelievable. The tree that fell only 4 months ago is still 'green' and the saw basically did the job itself - no physical effort - I could basically just rest my left hand and let gravity lower the chain through 40 cm in what seemed about 30 seconds. Unfortunately the other tree has been down for unknown time and a lot drier so the sharpness of the chain didn't last and it got harder again. But lesson is for $31 get a new chain on hand and sharpen regularly. Break for drink.
11 AM
Gardening - General (Part 3) 1:15:00 [3]
shoes: Gumboots
11:10 am - 11:25 am Chainsaw clean out and chain lube top up. 11:25 am - 12:25 am 2nd attempt cutting up remainder but now right at the base of the trunk and its even thicker and chain has deteriorated enough to make it hard work again. Need to invest $80 in a chain sharpener as it only takes about 5-10 minutes making it worth stopping the job to go and sharpen it. Giving up for the day as don't want to reaggravate any issues.
12 PM
Project - Shed Fitout / Organisation 3:35:00 [1]
shoes: Gumboots
12:25 pm - 12:40 pm. Going to seal chipboard with diluted Bondcrete purely because I already had 2/3 of a 2 litre tin from concreting job a few years back and didn't want to spend money on estapol (or wait ages for it to dry). It talked about carpentry on the label and if it can withstand sealing concrete floors I thought it may work. My previous house Garage shelves were MDF and they absorbed liquid from fuel cans etc and swelled up in little mounds. Break for lunch. 12:55 pm - 2:35 pm Sealing shelves 12 shelves x 1800 long x 600 wide for 2 coats is 24 square metres so took a while (only doing the top). Diluted bondcrete looked like white aqua-adhere glue and set with a similar semi shiny finish. Break to watch video with Partner. 3:30 pm - 5 pm Shelves dry enough to fit into beams. Remainder of time sorting junk and planning how to mount pegboard and other supplies from Bunnings tomorrow. Intermittant rain in afternoon but want it to bucket down as not much rain for 2 weeks and pool level has evaporated just below level of skimmer box so pool pump is off as otherwise it cavitates with air. Won't use town water unless I really need to.
Friday Oct 1, 2010 #
6 AM
Gym Mayfield - Class Cycle 30:00 [3] 11.5 km (2:37 / km)
Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6 am to 6:30 am. Stayed on the easy bike 'Number 25' again. Probably move next week.
Gym Mayfield - Class Cardio 30:00 [3]
Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6:30 am to 7 am
4 PM
Note
Came home to find my female dog on her lead but 'tied to the fence'. When Partner came home she asked whether I tied the dog up. Nope not me. It turned out she was tied to the dog kennel but pulled the end clip off. She then jumped the fence but in the process the lead got tangled around the fence and that was as far as she got. Crazy. We can't keep her in even with the dog zap collar as she has now worked out the delay between the warning beep and the zap is just short enough for her to get to the fence and jump it (if she gets it in the first attempt). She then just sits at the back door waiting for us whilst my male dog whines constantly as 'shes out and I am not'.
5 PM
Project - Shed Fitout / Organisation 2:00:00 [1]
Unloaded 12 off 1800 x 600 18 mm chipboard shelves and another 4 shelf beams from station wagon from 2nd trip to racking supplier. Fitted the remaining beams and bolted top and bottom (in a removable way) the entire structure to the rear frame of the shed. Very sturdy. Spent more time planning how it would be laid out. Also bought a new chainsaw chain so ultimately I can always have a sharp one on standby.