It’s been a while since I’ve been on the tools, mainly due to the weather -- all that cold, rain and mud aren’t conducive to outdoor exertions. But there’s been a particular task weighing on the old mind and today was the day allotted to completing it. Remember the weeds in our lawn? Well, both …
The Bible relates that one of the tasks occupying Adam’s early days in the Garden of Eden was to go about bestowing names on everything. It makes sense: being the first human and all that, he will have needed to start getting a handle on stuff so he could talk about it when Eve showed …
Consider the pig: intelligent mammals with advanced reasoning faculties -- or machines for turning leftovers into yummy bacon, ham, pork and sausages? We've looked at hogs, but what of your common or garden oinker? Like so many of the random thoughts that make their way into this blog, there’s no way we can conduct a …
There's a rock by the side of the King’s Highway not far outside Braidwood which is often adorned with birthday wishes, painted in bright colours with the name and age of the lucky person. The date when this tradition started is lost to history, but it’s always a point of interest to see the latest …
It rained all day yesterday – waves of driving droplets borne on strong gusts of chilly wind, ceasing for short periods and then whipping back through with a vengeance. It started early the previous evening and there was little respite for about 36 hours. Of course, this was a good thing for a region parched …
Living out here in the NSW country, free of the rigid limits of that 9-5, five days a week existence, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between the days. That’s really OK, most of the time, but sometimes you do wake up in the morning and struggle to remember whether it’s a weekend or not. …
Atop a ladder the other day, working on restoring the finial to the gable of the shed – I mean ‘studio’ – I couldn’t help but notice that the roof was in sore need of a lick of paint. It’s a nice corrugated-iron roof, with a gentle pitch, but it’s definitely seen better days: the …
Braidwood owes its existence largely to mankind's lust for easy and unreasonably abundant wealth. As previously mentioned, gold was discovered around these parts in 1851, leading to an influx of adventurers with dollar signs in their eyes, fixated on scoring big and setting themselves up for a life of leisure and luxury. The contrast between …
Back into the bathroom this weekend for some DIY, this time the shower in the shed – or ‘studio’ – where I have my office. We noted months ago that the silicone sealant around the junction between wall and floor was mottling with mould, and it seemed like the kind of simple job that’s within …
Isambard Kingdom Brunel -- what an engineer. This bloke didn't design his way into the history books with just one innovation, or even two -- he just kept coming up with bold new material: tunnels, steel ships, suspension bridges. All brilliantly conceived and executed with due consideration of function driving form and such. It would …
You must be logged in to post a comment.