The usual early-morning walk with the dogs but cut short – my new ‘very cheap’ cross-trainers from Aldi began to chafe left big toe.
Fergus came over and we loaded the last of the shed ivy into the trailer – off to the recycling depot tomorrow. Finished encapsulating the asbestos roof with Cromseal Fibroseal Primer and now must wait 7 days for it to cure before applying the topcoat. Hired a spray gun from Kennards to do the inside, as the primer was watery. Returned the gun then off to Bunnings for a bag of cement – mistake! The parking area was choked with DIYers. However, we got the cement and some pesto basil seedlings.
For anyone with asbestos roofing or cladding, Cromseal is a practical solution. The product encapsulates the asbestos with a hard seal and I was surprised how quickly the primer set. Too early to give this a recommendation but there is good information on http://www.crommelin.com.au/index.php. The alternative was having the asbestos removed and replaced with steel – very expensive.
Finished the daylight hours refurbishing our timber extension ladder (linseed oil), some hand watering, checking on any new frog eggs (Yes!), several glasses of Shiraz while enjoying the azaleas, a steak and salad and an hour of podcasts.
Today’s Podcast
Should ‘Shiraz’, as in a glass of red, be capitalized? Is this a generic name for a wine variety and now a common noun? My Macquarie Dictionary (1985) is specific about ‘Shiraz … a popular red grape variety grown in Australia’. Word auto-correct capitalized it. I checked “Capital Offenses” at Grammar Girl and her opinion is ‘yes’, so it remains capitalized.
Grammar Girl – Quick and Dirty Tips For Better Writing is a short twice-weekly discussion on grammar and covers both American and British English grammar. Often humorous, always useful. The link is http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com
Today’s Blog
The Good Life Down Under: The continuing adventures of Margo and Jerry.
I discovered this when searching for tomato preserving recipes. Well worth a look. Margo and Jerry are farming in Victoria and their adventures are instructional.
I have since abandoned the idea of making tomato concentrate – the USDA recommend ‘pressure canning’ whereas I thought our old Vacola boiling water equipment would suffice. Too risky and the highly recommended Presto pressure canner is $350 – that’s a lot of spaghetti sauce from Aldi. The only other product we would make is soup and Woolworth’s have excellent Thai Red curry soup for two, at $3.50. Home preservation lost its attraction.
Margo and Jerry carry on undaunted at http://margoandjerry.blogspot.com/
My Friends Ken and Linda
Ken wants to move to a warmer location. I saw one place near Tenterfield – which I thought would be great to visit – hence my recommendation. He and I passed through Tenterfield last year on our cycling-camping-4WD tour of northern NSW and it was charming. However, 600 hectares, river frontage and a two-bedroom eco-cottage did not tempt them.
In today’s The Weekend Australian Magazine there is a de-commissioned convent in Clifton, Queensland (south of Toowoomba). A ‘Bed and Breakfast’ with lots of space and I can see he and Linda making a success of this. Ken has strong Buddhist contacts and could successfully organize retreats catering to the various followings (we once hosted a weekly Zen sitting in Canberra). And that part of Queensland is booming.