Tales From the Box

We have had our eye on getting rid on a few trees over the past few
years. Well thanks to a hefty tax bill we went all out and got rid of
the two dead ones at the front and the massive trees at the back.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from tales from the box

There were three reasons I wanted a house as opposed to an apartment.

to mow the lawn

to make a garden

to have a dog

So when we bought our abode in Warrimoo there was some lawn to be mowed, a garden to be tended, and definitely the yard for a dog to run wild and free. However the house on stilts didn’t offer us much protection in keeping said dog inside purchased land.

So we reveled in other people’s dogs – namely our parents. In January my parents bought this gorgeous little puppy Shaogo – who ran amock on our deck and generally caused a bucket full of mischief. The little slideshow is some pics of her looking sickeningly cute. (By the way if you hadn’t noticed – I have fallen in love with this google slideshow – damn you google and your irresistible goodies)

We have found that since our reno – and the addition of the deck (with the soon to be roof – thanks for the donation myles) these flighty green creatures have been paying us a visit. In fact their has been a plethora of birds. But these little fellas were very friendly and happy to eat the seed i scatted on the deck.

While we were gone some things have happened around here.

The reasons for our lengthy absence are numerous and complicated. In part they can be blamed upon our somewhat incompetent hosting company(mt), and our somewhat incompetent author (me).

The good news is that due to our thoroughly caffeinated but brilliant sysadmin (myles) we are back resuming usual transmission.

We have had rain. Lots of rain. During May and June we had a series of east coast low pressure systems that dumped nigh on 250mms of rain. That rain filled our tanks good. SO much so that one Saturday morning in June, I awoke to what sounded like a bursting pipe. It was our tank overflowing for the first time (filled from nearly empty to full in a few days). The front lawn (i.e. patch) was flooded too.

We have in the interim done lots. Dodging the rain, I have oiled our new deck about 4 times. Though it has been a thankless job, my piece of advise has been to NOT oil your deck imediately. I started and and oil just sat on top. Going contrary to the directions, the best thing was to let the decking board (our choice was merbau) weather for a few weeks then oil away. The oil then is sucked right up and gives the wood a lovely red colour.

Care of my wonderful mother and brother we completed the downstairs painting. After the primer and then three coats of paint, we were over painting white surfaces, ceiling and all. Now we have our directions pointed to the outside of the house. For the record, we have painted Dulux Whisper White on the interior (low sheen for walls and enamel for skirting/door).

Let’s face it – we are all going green. And if you haven’t been swept up in the greenie goodness, you soon will be- either by complying to environmental factors when building any type of home , using cleaner electricity either from renewable/alternate sources of energy or simply using better light bulbs, or from buying a rain water tank and getting some hard earned cash back for your troubles.

We bought a tank. And I am proud of my tank (as said photo demonstrates). We live in a water-conscious world and a tank is small way that I can do my bit to recycle, to continue to keep my small patch of the world green. Seven years of drought and 10 out of 11 years of below average rainfall have changed our perceptions of how we value water.

For me, the water revolution has impacted me marginally. Like all, I take shorter showers, wash the car with a bucket, do bigger loads of washing, but in reality this is a small, insignificant sacrifice compared to the hardships that are endured by those living on the land where every drop is precious, and every drop literally translates into survival. The biggest impact on me personally is keeping the natural environment around me green and lush. Not being able to water my garden frustrates me – seeing trees die that you have planted and nurtured is deflating. Thus a big shiny tank was necessary.

Tank selection is now like buying a new car. A visit to my local tank retailer turned what I thought would be a simple decision into a complicated and highly provoking one. PVC, corrugated, tall, squat, round, square, oval, coated, colour, pump, first flush. These are the tank terms specific to these tank tales.

At the moment, buying a tank isn’t as easy as rocking up with your trailer and taking one home. There is about a 12-15 week wait on most tanks at the moment with some places not delivering until late July/early August.

I chose my tank based on 3 points. Price, availability and flexibility. I purchased a 10,000 litre Aqua Clear Tank, made from Bluescope Aquaplate corregated steel with a galvanized exterior. Aquaplate steel has a plastic lining which prevents corrosion and that yucky metal taste from infiltrating the water. Suprisingly the steel tank was much cheaper than a PVC tank and had a much shorter turnaround than the PVC (4 weeks compared to 15 weeks). The practicality of a steel tank is worth addressing. Most PVC tanks have special mounts for intake, outlet and tap fittings. If those areas don’t correspond to the orientation of your tank, you then end up with a mess of plumbing to solve this.

Tank site is also important. We relocated our shed to use the solid foundation of the shed slab, as well as making use of the location of the slab in relation to the house. Our tank is plumbed underground using a gravity level method, rather than a drainpipe method which runs directly into the top of the tank. Also the slab itself needs to be sturdy. Remember that 1 litre of water weighs 1kg and 10000 litres is 10 tons in weight. Our tank installer recalled some very messy situations where tanks had sunk into the ground because the base was dodgy.

Currently our tank is empty (or near empty). We had the wettest beginning to a year in 10 years while they were completing the building of our house, but since the tank has been completed we have had next to nothing. However our roof will catch 55,000 litres of rain every year of average rainfall. How do I get this figure? For every millimetre of rain that falls on a square metre, 1 litre of water is captured. We get 1,050mm on average a year, thus 55,000 litres.

Our tank stands proud and ready to capture the rain that should fall over the next 8 weeks. Hopefully we can get it full enough to get us through the dry of winter and spring.

In a crazed wilderness called Warrimoo their once lived a man and his wife. They sought to work the land; to tame and subdue it. Over many a year they tore down the spindle and cut away at the jungle that reckoned to invade and destroy their protected home, set aside for relaxation and prosperity.

They built towering structures that cast shadows across the plains, moved volumes of earth to satisfy their hungry delights for transport and technology and changed watercourses to catch and harness the rarified resource of H2O.

Once there was a shed, rusted and ill-formed in its appearance, that stood on a misshapen slab of stone, set down in layers of concrete so twisted that one could see the very work of the gods in its chaotic, sloping form. It had seen the passing of time and been a home to the ants and birds which played from its sheltered vantage.

The man and wife one day looked at the slab on which the shed sat with jealous eyes. The proximity to the house and position in the yard made it a suitable candidate for a watertank.

Thus over 3 days a new slab was rendered for the shed, one more level and more sturdy than had ever come before. It was cut from the earth, paved and concreted. The shed was carried in a military like operation that required skill and precision by the man and wife, brother and father.

The shed now lies upon foundations strong, further down the yard. And the new tank stands proud and strong where there once was shed.