SCHWOIT

Well it has been an eternity since i felt like blogging or indeed that interested in the Web in general. Yes, my bi-annual dose of internet apathy has struck. This morning I find myself, again, unable to sleep and surfing the web looking at nothing in particular. So I decided I should write this post. Not much has changed in the months since the last update.

The biggest thing is that I have once again taken up ten pin bowling. In fact I am close to life best form. I am still using my trusty old Track Black-Gold Stomp and it is doing the business currently. In fact, often it is over reacting. The ancient Ebonite Grey Wolf is not doing enough and I think it is screaming out for final retirement, as such I do not often bring it out of the bag. Unfortunately with the Australian dollar plummeting at the moment it is not a good time to get a replacement. Hopefully, that will rectify soon and I can update my kit.

The garden is going stronger than ever. In terms of the harvestable plants there are strawberries being harvested at the very least weekly. I have several tomato bushes going strong, all have developing fruit. I am very keen to see what the yellow variety brings. The cherry tomato is starting now to bear ripe fruit. There is quite a healthy bunch of carrots, pumpkin, broad beans and beetroot developing. My capsicum and chilli bushes are beginning to flower so with luck there should be a nice crop coming. Finally on the harvestable crops I also have some lebanese cucumber seedlings in the crates.

In terms of the non-fruit bearing plants the White Bird of Paradise (Nicolai) is still yet to produce a flower. Nicolai though is in a well protected (gets windy here) corner of the outdoor area and so with luck will start to produce one of the most anticipated flowers in our garden. The established standard Birds of Paradise (those already in the garden) are producing prolific flowers with a number of double bangers. Makes the working day go quickly when you can look out at the flowers and bird bath. There is always something to see, unless theres one of the neighbourhood moggies on the loose. Yes, even in the new digs there a constant intrusions of the pussy variety in our yard. Thankfully though they are brief incursions, unlike the old place where they camped in our yard.

I also must congratulate socko who has managed to grow some wonderful Sweet Peas from seed. They are very fragrant and their odour is wafting through the room as I type this blog. socko also takes credit for the broad beans and generally managing the garden when I have not had the time or been bothered.

To all those interested in the drip spikes, I never got around to trialling my fixes before winter arrived. Now that summer is here I may pull them out and give it a go this season.

We have also been to the mecca of Australian motor sport, the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. We were of course cheering on the Holden driver generally, and for me at least, the Sprint Gas/Tasman team of Jason Richards and Greg Murphy. Richards/Murphy were the consistent and always in the top 3 in practice. In fact Jason Richards became the second quickest around the circuit in history, second only to Greg. Unfortunately Jason did not get it hooked up in qualifying and as a result the grid position was back a little. Due to the grid position, and the fact the car was faster than where it was, led to an altercation with Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup tin can with wheels that ended up with damage to the Sprint Gas car, and eventually an early pit stop. This ultimately cost the race win to Lowndes/Whincup in an ugly red/silver F**d. The weekend though was great. It is always good to get away to Bathurst and escape reality for a few days.

Had the pleasure of seeing Greg in person at the motor show the week after. Managed to get his and Rick Kelly’s signature.

Anyway I think that is it for this post. I hope it will not be so long until the next.

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Well I have mixed feelings about the drip spikes now. Seems they get clogged very easily with the normal grit in the pots and this prevents the water from being applied to the plants. I am going to persist with them as I feel that when they work they work well. However, this is an intrinsic design flaw worth sharing with everyone.

My mind is contemplating strategies to overcome this problem, and one that immediately comes to mind is to get some PVC piping the width, and length, of the spike and sit the spike inside the tube. This will keep the soil away from the spike, thus it should not become clogged as easily as appears to occur now. Further, it still delivers the H2O directly to the plants root zone. Sounds like a trip to the The Big Kids Toy Shop is on the cards.

Actually, it will be a bit of an adventure visiting Bunnings Warehouse down here. All the ones I have seen look absolutely huge and I have not set foot in any of them. Definately time to correct that over the weekend me thinks. I need some more RichGro Pro Mix at any rate.

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Well just as I got the ISP and hosting sorted my Mac decided to throw a spanner my way. The MagSafe power connector has carked it.

For those of you not aware of a MagSafe connector it is a great idea with magnets used to hold the power cable in place, instead of the traditional stick and slot approach. This means that is you trip over the cable for some reason, rather than drag the machine with you the magnet will release. It is a fantastic idea.

Mine though has developed a fault with the sensor pins within the connector. There are 5 pins that are supposed to spring in or out and make the connection to the machine. When disconnected all 5 should be out. However, over the past few weeks I have noticed 2 pins are sluggish to reset. In fact they have necessitated the odd tap on a hard surface to coax them out.

That worked well until yesterday morning when one of the pins has given up the ghost. The pin is permanently retreated in the head of the connector. No amount of tapping or prodding sees this pin emerge from its hiding hole. As a result the power cable never connects succesfully and my battery is now 100% drained.

So I am now awaiting the arrival of a replacement MagSafe. Until then I am forced to slum it on the work craptop. An IBM ThinkPad StinkPad T42 loaded with Microsoft Microshonk Windows Winblows XP and a paltry 512MB RAM.

Given Apples track record on prompt delivery the MacBook Pro 17″ should be up and running within days. Just hope their courier services the new area (refer to the Foxtel - Another Bunch of Fools post for that).

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Well I thought it is time to give you all an update on how the latest BlackJack Zucchini’s are progressing. As many of you would recall this plant is my nemesis and I at one stage swore not to grow any more. Needless to say I buckled and bought some hardy looking seedlings on 20th January and decided upon Another Attempt.

These seedlings remained in their seedling tray during the move as I did not want to torture them with a replanting before they journeyed to Wollongong. They were though replanted into good sized containers upon arrival in 5 containers. One container has 3 plants, the other 3 received individual pots. I then put them in two locations within the garden. Both locations share a similar sunny disposition.

All but one of the plants are thriving in Wollongong. They are getting sufficient water thanks to the mild and wet summer we are having. I have though lost 1 seedling, that though looks to have been the work of a bird with it going from healthy to vanished in the space of 24 hours.

So although still early I am relatively confident that the hex of the BlackJack Zucchini may be broken.

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Well before the move I was given about 12 drip spikes to trial in the garden. As luck would have it it then rained for a week, and then I had all the technology failures below to deal with. Anyway yesterday I finally deployed the spikes using some of the collected rain water.

The spike basically connects to a spent PET bottle such as a Coke bottle that is pierced at the base. The spike is then inserted into the ground and lets water out direct to the roots at a controlled rate. There are 9 settings to control the drip speed. I now have deployed the spikes around the garden to a range of plants. All are on the slowest drip speed. Early indications look good with many of the bottles nowhere near empty after 24 hours of deployment.

I will let you all know how it goes over the coming weeks.

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