Oliver looking over the couch

shingle day

A friend who works in the commercial side of the road building industry made it possible for us to get the stones for the glasshouse... we are very grateful.

The condition was that we had to pick it up this week as he is tied up for a while after that.

No problem... two trips in a hired tandem trailor (able to hold about a tonne of shingle) to the pit did the job. One pile is larger stones, and one pile is smaller ones... the reasons will emerge as the project gets underway.

The stones are stored until needed - I think there is a surplus but there is a hen house to build so the design for that might be altered to use the materials on hand.

the coolest wee dude in our lives (so far!)

Oliver showing very good taste

Look at this wee cute guy chewing on an extremely tasteful CD!

glasshouse 2

Sam and I had a dig around for an hour today, clearing the site for the glasshouse and shifting the potatoes (carefully!) so that they wouldn't be where the building will take place.

The slight slope will make it challenging with the foundations with something like a 40cm drop to contend with. I have an idea of how to do it, so we will see...

I had some useful conversations with staff at Bunnings - a great chap in the paint department gave me pointers on the importance of getting the foundations and framing right to cover for freak winds - he has made his own glasshouse (but not using river stones!), and a chap in the buildings supplies department was helpful on the quantities of wood etc for the foundations - especially the spacing. Consequently on Saturday I purchased 7 metres of 100x100 timber (H4 grade) and some pre-mix concrete which we worked out would cost about the same as buying cement and driving to some place to purchase the builder's mix to make the concrete. We also purchased some boxing timber and the first roll of wire for the sides of the house (more on that another time). One of the problems with having timber for underground faoundation is rotting. While the H4 treatment is the answer, when wood is cut up as I will be cutting much of it into 60cm lengths, the untreated cut surface is exposed. I have had to purchase a fungicide spray to put on these surfaces. Buying tanalised timber for the foundations and framework goes against the grain somewhat - I would love to not be able to use any nasty stuff that takes away the clean-green thing I am trying to so with this project. But the cost of using other materials - macrocarpa for example is prohibitive. The concession is that no plants will be planted in anything having contact with these materials... as far as I can make out I will be able to keep these poisons out of the food chain.

I'm keeping an inventory of expenses and will publish that as time goes by.

The windows attached to the fence are part of the plan. They are stored against the fence until needed. I now have three large windows (like the one pictured) for the sides and a door with attached frame - half of these were gifted, including one frame with double-glazed glass in it - this will be used on the shady south-west facing side of the house. The windows pictured were gifted by Glenn & Anthea Livingstone from just up the road. As a gesture of thanks for the windows Anne and I will be making a donation to the Samoan folk at St Paul's Trinity Pacific in the city to help with people affected by the recent tsunami. Nancy and Allan Morgan contributed the double-glazed window and we will give them a plant voucher for their new garden in thanks. These donations will appear on the inventory as costs - I'm a great believer in honouring people's generosity as a way of encouraging people to be generous - sometimes paying it forward and sometimes paying it back in kind.

Next step: surveying, the holes dug, boxing and foundations placed.

I also scored some sheets of iron for the henhouse (next project) - I was driving past a skip full of old iron off a house roof and asked the guys of the stuff could be salvaged. I managed to find four good pieces that would fit in my vehicle. Sam and I went back for more a little while later with the trailor, but the skip had been picked up. What a waste!

Mart's glasshouse

I am about to start on the glasshouse I have designed, trying to use as many recycled products as possible to keep the costs down and save the world. I am not sure about the saving the world bit, but I think it will feel better eating tomatoes and lettuces from the glasshouse knowing that the place they grow in was made with as many re-used products as possible. Here's the site...

a week away in Hawea

a few pics from the Hawea trip... including a tree, fern and lichen from Haast Pass, Lake Hawea looking into the western reaches, and on the way home Lake Pukaki with Mt Cook (Aoraki) looking rather splendid .

Oliver 5 months

The little chappie was having some fun at our place yesterday - swinging on a bouncer thing very pleased with himself...

and a few days before he had a play with Moby the cat!

a new toy

It has been almost 21 years since I purchased my last stereo for $800 - an un-inspiring Goldstar thing, but at least it had separate components so that I could upgrade when possible, or necessary. the CD player lasted 10 years or so - the turntable was always poor, and the amp, God bless it, stood the test of time even though it was very limited. The speakers had been replaced with old trusty large wooden Akais from the rack days of the early 1980's.

Finally, thanks to a kind IRD return I have been able to upgrade. Good old Bob Brown's Hi Fi shop in Christchurch (http://www.bobbrownshifi.co.nz/) had a lovely Bose unit at an affordable price and I installed it yesterday.

What a contrast in sound!

I have yet to give it the full on blast it deserves, but a new day has dawned and I am thrilled! That it also runs DVDs and provides the sound for the TV (that I hardly ever watch) is just an added bonus.

Walter Brueggemann quote

A Love Affair With More - Walter Brueggemann
Though many of us are well intentioned, we have invested our lives in consumerism. We have a love affair with 'more'---and we will never have enough. Consumerism is not simply a marketing strategy. It has become a demonic spiritual force among us, and the theological question facing us is whether the Gospel has the power to help us withstand it.
Source: Christian Century, March 24, 1999, via Ministry of Money newsletter