Training Log Archive: Mess Engineer

Couldn't sleep this morning and gave up 4:30 am and drove to work. So 11 1/2 hour day which is getting increasing normal in the lead up to turning on our Italian machine for the first time at the end of this month.

Driving home on Pacific Highway behind a car with a rear passenger wheel either so buckled was oscillating about 50 mm or his wheel nuts were broken so it was about to fall off. Had to go via Raymond Terrace as Morpeth Bridge closed again so reported car details to Police.

Anyway ..... walk half way around loop of estate. Distance a guess. Still didn't get to my planned run.

Standard part of Weekly Routine Wednesday 6 am to 7 am. Was well up on distance midway but dropped off to the end. Not sure if I am coming down with something as a bit headachey ... Partner has been sick in last fortnight so been lucky to avoid it. Will decide later if going to do my planned run after work to make up for no Street-O.

No Street-O alternative training run tonight as didn't leave work until after 5 pm and it was raining heavily.

Standard part of Weekly Routine Tuesday 6 am to 7 am.

C • Thank you! 3

Double lap around back boundary. Includes one stop to push over leg diameter 4 m tall dead paperbark and two small dead trees approx broomhandle diameter. Mozzies were out in force.

Raked over Fire Pit and exposed still red hot coals in the centre - nearly 2 1/2 days later.

Standard part of Weekly Routine Monday 6 am to 7 am. Went to bed at 6:30 pm last night in attempt to get a very long sleep to recharge for the work week ahead. Felt physically better this morning.

Got home late again as materials arrived to resume cutting labels again plus lots of meetings.

Turned over ash in Fire Pit over 28 hours after I last put any wood on ..... and it is still red hot (more than enough to burn me!) just below the surface. Raked over the coals to allow it to continue to smoulder.

From Wallalong Fire Pit

Also played chasey with my male dog and worked him right up. Yard was never big enough at Cardiff to allow this activity.

Requested photos for RJ of the size of the monster vines climbing trees down the back. Thick as my arm.

From Wallalong Gardening - Part 2

From Wallalong Gardening - Part 2

7:25 am - 8:05 am Fire Pit had burnt down sufficiently to allow more space on top but still red hot.

From Wallalong Fire Pit

Piled remaining sticks on to finish it up and it re-lit quickly by itself. Started to spit which then went to 20 minutes of heavy rain when I retreated inside.

From Wallalong Fire Pit

9:20 am - 10:00 am Rain stopped. Chainsawed up three stumps next to Fire Pit to make them light enough to chuck on. Continued picking up sticks in the meantime.

10:00 - 10:40 am Three double wheelbarrows of leaves raked up by Partner from the surrounding area to finish the task off. Will shovel out the ash next weekend.

From Wallalong Fire Pit

3:25 pm - 4:55 pm Weeding the "strip of weeds" we call a driveway. Minor interuption by mobile phone call from log reader! :)

For readers of my trivia I have backdated explanation for Wednesdays Night Event.

Crashed into bed at 7:30 pm again last night but woke up at 3 am so watched videos until 5 am. Got another 40 minutes sleep but now waiting to go and vote at 8 am prior to starting bonfire which will fill in remainder on day (and will mean I can't leave the property).

8:55 am - 11:00 am 20 degrees but slightly windy. Burning pile of stumps, logs, branches, sticks in Fire Pit again. Whilst waiting for it to burn down sufficiently, to reapproach without getting toasted, picked up sticks around the yard. Arm hairs singed a bit but that what happens when you wear a t-shirt. Burnt approximately 1/2 of the pile. New picture but effectively identical to all the previous ones.

From Wallalong Fire Pit

From Wallalong Fire Pit

Break for lunch and to let Fire Pit burn down as it was full well above the brim with coals.

11: 55 pm - 1:00 pm Continuing to load Fire Pit and fill in time picking up sticks around the yard.

Break for drink.

1:10 pm - 1:45 pm Fire Pit continued .... down to about 1/4 of original remaining. Partner was raking leaves and picked up a little dragon lizard of some kind. Photo for leepback and mapgirl.

From Wallalong Wildlife

From Wallalong Wildlife

Break as coals and ash in a cone probably 0.5 m above the top of Fire Pit. Will have to let it burn down to see if I can fit any more on otherwise will have to let it cool down over Sunday and shovel out prior to next weekend to start again.

2:45 pm - 3:15 pm Loaded up more onto Fire Pit but will have to leave one last pile for next week unless the ash goes down a lot overnight.

C • in heaven 2

Around back perimeter and through middle of bush searching for staghorns / elkhorns. No new ones to report. Found another 2 dead paperbarks which were added to remaining burn pile. Still finding little 1 m square spots I haven't stood at before so there is still hope for another find.

Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6 am to 6:30 am. Started slightly early and ran slightly overtime.

Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6:30 am to 7 am. Close to giving up at the end.

After 4 months of concreters working 10 hr days and 6 day weeks concrete foundations for my Italian machine completed. Time required going to ramp up for next 2 months to get it running.

Partner getting Fire Permit for Saturday / Sunday (rather than wait one more week until out of Permit Season) so I can keep myself amused burning my stick / branch / stump mountain.

For tinytoes .... got your stainless steel items aligned and sticky taped to a business card. Have bent this morning. Call me to arrange pickup and debate whether my interpretation of 12 mm matches your 12 mm.

C • *** 2

Up next culdesac and bed. Crashed into bed at 7 pm straight after this to attempt to get some sleep.

Standard part of Weekly Routine Wednesday 6 am to 7 am. First half was hills and got 1 km behind. Second half was flat so got to catch up. At end I realised my gym top was on inside out! Thats what happens when you dress half asleep.

Note for tinytoes/rockman. Spent 2 minutes experimenting with bending your 3 mm stainless steel wire into a variety of shapes on a plate bender. Very very physically easy and should be able to bend up 6 hooks (or whatever) simultaneously to get the angles all identical. Talk tonight.

Was fairly stressed from work activities when I arrived but running in the dark proved a good distraction.

Night Orienteering is my least favourite as I suck even more than usual.
At least I had a headlight this year which proved much much better than a hand torch.

This was my most challenging Night event to date with my first Speers Point being easy in a park, then second Jesmond being Park (OK) but then Jesmond bush where I got TOTALLY lost and had NO IDEA.

This time ALL BUSH so was very apprehensive and contemplated skipping event. Strategy was to stick to tracks at nearly all times which would be slower but getting lost like last year would have been much worse.

Start to 1 via north track until start of cutting. Then west to 1. Not confident at this stage.

1 to 2 returned back to main track, then north to first west track then along track to 2 (yes added a lot of distance)

2 to 3 back along track (which I couldn't find on way out). Ended up south halfway down main track cutting. Back on main track and around to 2nd cutting to get to 3 on southern side. Going OK.

3 to 4 via main west-east track. Macey overtook through bush after 2nd cutting and I contemplated doing the same but thought he would just steam ahead and I would get lost so continued up main track to junction with southeast-northwest track. Been to 4 gully at least 2 or 3 times before in daylight but it seemed further in dark.

4 to 5 basically went north and it was 2nd creek junction I found OK.

5 to 6 conservative north to track, followed track west then compass south. Ended up about 15 m too far east before seeing people run past who lead me to it. Then ran into a tree stump (revenge for killing his Wallalong brothers) which I thought was the end of my run as I lay on the ground yelling a four letter word.

6 to 7 east to water tanks, followed track south to nearby track junction then backtrack 20 m.

7 to 8 get lost in this mess of convaluted tracks in daylight but managed OK. Runners overlapping with lights everywhere. West to mess of tracks then track whilst constantly checking compass south to car wreck. Discussion with Bob Gilbert confirmed in right spot.

8 to 9 west checking compass to next parallel track and track junction. Then west compass walk to 9.

9 to 10 north-east to return to track. North to mess of tracks. North to track fork and then compass east to 10. OK.

10 to 11 Compass east to track. Then down to track to south side of control to track junction as attack point. Then north bearing up to meet up with mapgirl looking for same control on the short course (her control 7). Been in this creek looking for controls on several previous occassions.

11 to 12 Went back to control 8 first since I knew where that was. West to track/creek junction. Decided against following creek down so went north first to track and then followed track down to 12. A minute or so looking around the car wreck until I found it.

12 to 13 East track back to main then mainly south along the track. Easy run home.

End result ... happy to complete course and not get a DNF. Using compass and attackpoints saved me. Finish time was acceptable and improvement on last years last or 2nd last placing. Thanks to Colin for course setting. But ultimately Night Orienteering still least favourite.

Upon driving home stresses returned and didn't get much sleep as couldn't turn mind off. Brain all mixed up with images of O-maps and multiple Engineering pipework drawings all night. Making it through Thursday is going to be a challenge .... just need to make it to weekend for a recharge.

C • pipework nightmares 2

C • Was it.. 2

Standard part of Weekly Routine Tuesday 6 am to 7 am.

Standard part of Weekly Routine Monday 6 am to 7 am.

Apparently my little Owl is a Southern Boobook. About 30 cm (wingspan assumedly). Habitat covers all of Australia. My Mother photographed one in South Australia about 10 years ago and we cross compared the pictures. Although her pictures leave mine for dead as has a great big zoom lens versus a little mobile telephone.

7:10 am - 7:35 am Lugging out more dead paperbark branches found in a spot untouched yesterday. This doesn't count as high intensity but I was stalling starting the next job!

7:35 am - 8:45 am Pulling out yet another stump as tall as me and about 20 - 25 cm diameter. Had to sling it up, and crank the chainblock through full extension, 4 times from two different locations and it was giving way slowly but hanging on to the very end. Went past 45 degrees to the ground and was almost horizontal before it finally gave in (with me jumping up and down on the end like a see-saw (safely RJ!)). Large clump of clay/dirt around root ball meant it was unliftable. Crowbarred all this dirt mass off and it was still too heavy to lift. Sweaty heartpounding work. Will rebuild chainsaw and cut in half later this afternoon.

9:05 am - 10:35 am Push Mowing. Last did this area 3 weeks (26th Feb) ago so frequency not too bad in "growing season". Will be easier next year with the fabled ride-on mower. Looks really good when freshly mowed.

Break for drink.

10:40 am - 11:30 am Yet more push mowing.

Break for lunch and shopping at Raymond Terrace since Morpeth bridge closed yet again.

1:15 pm - 1:35 pm Rebuilt chainsaw with 2nd resharpened chain. Was absolutely amazed how much the other chain must have stretched since I have sharpened it probably 8 to 10 times. I thought it was the bar gradually wearing but had to go from one extreme to the other on the tension adjustment knob.
1:35 pm - 1:50 pm Cut this mornings stump in half. Chainsaw cutting better again back to large sized wood chips and no smoke. Root ball wheelbarrowed to Fire Pit. Top log half to Fire Wood pile for later use.
1:50 pm - 2:20 pm Picking up sticks exposed from this mornings mowing to prevent getting hit in legs, and face, by them next time I mow.

Break for log update. Thinking about comrades out doing the 6 hour Street-O.

C • 6 hour O 3

3:30 pm - 4:30 pm Miscellaneous walking around the back with wheelbarrow and chainsaw "just looking".

Found one dead large paperbark 4 m tall and thick as my leg which managed to push over and the cut up and transported to Fire Pit pile. Cut off one stump at the base as it was part of a dual branch tree and the other half was alive and well.

From Wallalong Birdlife

Highlight was finding my little mate the Owl again! Got within 5 metres of him and then crept forward 1 m at a time taking a photo each time. Of the 6 photos I took 2 came out better than yesterday. He was getting pretty nervous looking at me, turning his head around for a split second looking for an escape route, and moving his feet around on the branch. At the 2 m point he flew off.

From Wallalong Birdlife

From Wallalong Birdlife

Wheelbarrowed chainblock and slings back to garage to return to work tomorrow. Called it a day.

6:50 am - 8:35 am Walking around back 3 1/2 acres with hand saw cutting off every low dead branch I could find, filling multiple wheelbarrows to Fire Pit. Hand saw neater than chainsaw and almost faster since its blunt. Makes it easier to walk through without risking getting eye jabbed out. Also pulled out a few more dead paperbarks.

Break for drink.

8:40 am - 9:15 am Chainblocked out one of the flagpole tree stumps (from last night) and also one larger dead paperbark. Carried flagpole logs down to wood pile for future firewood.

9:15 am - 10:20 am Continued with handsaw removing dead branches.

Break for drink and check on Partner who was mowing front lawn.

10:35 am - 11:20 am Chainblocked out other flagpole tree stump (from last night) and wheelbarrowed to Fire Pit plus returned slings / chainblock to shed (may do more if find other 'potentially removable' stumps).
The Fire Pit is now almost completely surrounded with branches and twigs - may take more than a day to burn off after 31st March.

Break for lunch and charge mobile phone battery so can keep my music going.

12:25 pm - 2:00 pm Continuing to cut off dead branches and mopve to Fire Pit. Getting scarce so harder to find now. Partner continued mowing and I went and finished off the deep spoon drain on the council strip later.

Whilst I was down the back this morning some unknown brown bird kept flying away from me so fast I couldn't see what it was. This afternoon I accidentally got just 1 metre away from it without knowing it and it scared the s**t out of both of us - the bird and me. Turned out it was a medium sized owl which I have never seen before. It kept flying away but after about three attempts I got one camera shot of it looking towards me (top centre of picture).

From Wallalong Birdlife

Also photo of the Fire Pit surrounding area.

From Wallalong Fire Pit

C • nice 3

Welcome to Spain to my little Flag collection.

No gym classes this morning with the Newcastle based holiday meaning gym didn't open until 7 am.

4:20 pm - 5:30 pm Glad the working weeks over and can spend time outdoors. Cut up all of yesterdays paperbarks from boundary tracks and wheelbarrowed to fire pit (about 10 wheelbarrows worth).

Chainsaw beyond blunt when it struggles to cut weak paperbark. Almost grinding its way through leaving burn marks and smoke. Need a new chain as this one has been sharpened many many times.

Also cut down two dead flagpole trees (see picture - no idea how tall this was).

From Wallalong Gardening - Part 2

Will pull these two stumps, and another paperbark one, out on Saturday as have borrowed the chainblock and slings again.

6:45 pm - 7:20 pm Walking around cutting off dead branches with hand saw until it was too dark to see properly.

Not competing in either the Saturday Masters Bush Event or Sunday Masters 6 Hour Street-O. Will have to find cost-free activities at home to keep myself amused.

Got home "early" (meaning on time) for first time in a while. Tale of two afternoons at home. Spent first half eating dinner and watching the news ... wishing the RAAF Jets would disappear and take their noise with them thinking they spoil the peace and tranquility. 2nd half (once they had flown off) down the back loving the tranquility of the bush and the moss and lichens that explode into life after the rain. Beautiful.

5:40 pm - 7:05 pm Hermit Therapy. Walking through the back 3 1/2 acres pushing over dead paperbarks using combination of body weight and momentum. Lost count of how many. Trunk thickness varied from ankle to thigh thick. Some up to 4 m high. Made piles along the 150 m length of south boundary track and will cleanup with wheelbarrow on weekend. Also found two very very tall dead "flagpole" trees which will cut down on weekend. Still finding little areas I have never stood at before ... but no more fern treasures yet.

DIdn't get home until 9:30 pm Tuesday night but dinner was deliciously worth it. And since this candle getting burnt out, and have the Park-O final tonight, didn't set the alarm this morning. Still awoke at 5:40 am but skipped normal 20 km Gym Bike Class.

Newcastle Show Day on Friday will mean normal Gym Bike / Cardio combo cancelled as well but I am probably working anyway. I can swap my days off around so may swap the holiday for Friday 1st of April for "Wallalong End of Fire Permit Season Bonfire Day".

2nd Time running at Hunter River High. Remembered last year got caught with some of the impassable fences so tried not to get caught again ... but this time got caught around some the the temporary fences using for building construction work.

Only about 3rd time running with an automated time recording SI stick. Still more used to the process of having the card in my hand to crosscheck the number as I punch. But carried the control description sheet in left hand to try to compensate.

A bit brain dead from long hours at work so needed the Park-O distraction. Guts felt a bit twisted up and struggled with some pains from controls 10 to 17 so I was running slower but it went away about 20 minutes after finishing.

Thanks to kazza for an enjoyable event. One more Wednesday night to go ... which based on last year means I will be very very lost in the bush at night.

Control Number - Time Split / Time Progressive / Commentary
001 - 0:38 / 00:38 / No issue
002 - 0:57 / 01:35 / Problems finding my way in around fences
003 - 1:57 / 03:32 / Got turned around with fences and I 'think' (not sure) ended up somewhere near 8 so wasted time on an easy leg
004 - 0:54 / 04:26 / No issue
005 - 0:43 / 05:09 / No issue - got caught by this fence last year
006 - 1:34 / 06:43 / Saw control 20 and thought that was it then reread map
007 - 1:08 / 07:51 / Was in right spot but didn't see control. Climbed up sheep loading ramp and then saw it behind grass. Then used sheep ramp to jump fence to go the 8!
008 - 0:41 / 08:32 / No issue
009 - 1:15 / 09:47 / No issue ... tried to speed up now that controls further apart but got stomach pains
010 - 1:11 / 10:58 / No issue
011 - 0:44 / 11:42 / No issue
012 - 2:10 / 13:52 / No issue (saw this off Highway driving to event)
013 - 0:25 / 14:17 / No issue (saw this off Highway driving to event)
014 - 0:57 / 15:14 / No issue
015 - 0:56 / 16:10 / No issue (saw this earlier on way running past)
016 - 1:07 / 17:17 / No issue ... ran north around to get to 17 rather than south
017 - 2:23 / 19:20 / No issue - climbed gate - assume only option
018 - 1:06 / 20:46 / No issue
019 - 0:33 / 21:19 / No issue (time split beat Macey apparently!). Ran past a lost Bob Gilbert on my way to 20
020 - 1:14 / 22:33 / This control again !
021 - 1:07 / 23:40 / I was on south side of wall ... control on North but minor delay and thats what you get not reading the Clue Sheet
022 - 1:52 / 25:32 / No issue - didn't get caught by fence
023 - 0:58 / 26:30 / No issue - saw this control when first parked car
024 - 0:54 / 27:24 / No issue
025 - 0:24 / 27:48 / No issue
026 - 0:57 / 28:45 / No issue
027 - 1:05 / 29:50 / No issue
028 - 0:42 / 30:32 / No issue
029 - 1:15 / 31:47 / A bit of running around fences and looking over them to find it but ultimately it was accessible
END - 0:40 / 32:27 / Went to finish desk station first rather than last station so probably lost 10 seconds ... but multiple other more seasoned competitors were observed doing the same later

And the Street-O presentations were held so I got to be presented with my self-constructed 'Time Management' award. No toblerone for uninterupted attendance this year due to my two events away in Italy for work :(. Just as well I bought a toblerone whilst in the Airport to compensate!

Standard part of Weekly Routine Tuesday 6 am to 7 am. Up at 4:30 am again so can kick off work engraver prior to gym. Also taking Italian Machine installer out to Scratchleys at 6:30 pm so won't be worth driving home .... so todays going to be a long one.

C • not worth driving home... 5

Standard part of Weekly Routine Monday 6 am to 7 am. Went to work at 5:20 am to kick off engraving machine again. New week begins again!

Partner reported ANOTHER frog in our toilet. But he was gone by the time I got home.

We let the last one go (just over a week ago) over 100 m from the house so I can't believe he made his way back into the septic tank and then up the pipe again.

7:20 am - 8:00 am Picking up dead broken paperbark branches and similar down the back. Found another set of tree ferns! These had 4 to 5 individual ferns clustered together and were about 2 metres up in the air clustered around a knarled twisted vine. And like the others .... now we know its there you can see it easily from the boundary track.

From Wallalong Gardening - Part 2

From Wallalong Gardening - Part 2

Every fern we have found has been based on a vine ... assume gum trees and paperbarks shed their outer layers so they can't get a foothold. Really happy about this as it is the first "new find" in over 6 months so there is still hope to find more little treasures despite all the hours and hours and hours I have spent down the back block.

8:00 am - 8:25 am Down the back cut down another dead flagpole (straight up with no side branches) ironbark and managed to "throw my weight around" to get stump out without chainblock. Also cut out two dead paperbarks and removed stumps similarly.

Break.

8:35 am - 9:05 am Cut down 2 more dead paperbarks but one was as thick as my leg so had to use chainblock and slings to pull out stump.

9:05 am - 9:20 am More sticks and branches until Partner (sick at moment) was up and about to show newly discovered fern prior to going out food shopping plus hardware for job at real work.

C • pedantic - moi? 6

12:40 pm - 1:05 pm Mowing perimeter 'potential slithering zone' around house at Partners request. Wrong time of day to do this job!

1:05 pm - 1:25 pm Stacking fire pit with collected stumps, branches and kindling ready for end of Fire Permit Season start of April. In last month have compiled a mountain of sticks in 2-3 metre radius stacked around circumference around Fire Pit.

1:25 pm - 2:35 pm Walking around the back block 'looking up' seeing how many paperbarks were actually dead and then cutting them down and pulling out the stump. Paperbarks relatively soft so easy to cut and break. Despite 'looking up' no more ferns found.

Getting tired and hot. May clean out pool "from the inside" if not too cold.

7:25 am - 8:20 am Loaded up a stump which I couldn't remember why I hadn't tried before. The main dead half cracked off leaving some behind. Upon looking at remainder realised the nearby live offshoot was coming off this beneath the ground so I left it alone ... must of realised this last time around. Also managed to dig around last nights stump which cracked off at base and after multiple attempts chainblocked from the ground. Getting sweaty already.

8:20 am - 9:10 am Largest stump (of the previously cut dead flagpoles) pulling. Had to sling up twice from different trees.

From Wallalong Gardening - Part 2

When out of ground almost too heavy to lift. Had to tip wheel barrow up underneath it first.

From Wallalong Gardening - Part 2

Also my unattended dog came down to visit! So he got a wheelbarrow ride along the track which he didn't seem to appreciate. Drenched in sweat so came inside to change clothes and let heartrate subside.

9:25 am - 10:45 am Low Intensity work to recover. But still sweating anyway. Weeding entire length of back driveway. Given up totally on front driveway as too many weeds ... need to poison it.

Break. Upon coming inside Partner pointed out a smaller green tree frog that was sitting outside up against the side of the back screen door frame. Must be 'John Greens' little brother 'Jimmy'.

From Wallalong Wildlife

From Wallalong Wildlife

11:00 am - 11:45 am Pruning hedges at front of house whilst waiting for work colleague to turn up with the ute for firewood.

Approximate 12:10 pm - 1:10 pm Loaded up work colleagues ute tray full of firewood from 2 fallen trees. Only fit about 1/3 of the cut up pieces ... not including the big 40 cm logs. Plenty remaining for step-son or other interested parties. Also used his chainsaw to cut off two side roots on the stump currently working from the other night. Will return to this again soon.

1:40 pm - 2:10 pm Dug out 2 side roots that had cut off with colleagues chainsaw. 2 attempts at loading it up to absolute 3 tonne limit ... both unsuccessful.
2:10 pm - 2:40 pm Resurrected still blunt chainsaw and cut off another 5 side roots. Another 2 attempts at loading it up .... both unsuccessful. Soaked in sweat and heart rate high. Was ready to quit but wanted to succeed based on effort expended and the fact I had all the chainblock gear there.
2:40 pm - 3:40 pm Looked around to find another tree big enough to secure the pulling slings to. Found another one at 90 degrees to first so tried loading stump up from different angle. Finally success!
Check out the large number of side roots had to cut off on the photo.

From Wallalong Gardening - Part 2

Including the hour digging the other night spent 3 hours getting this one stump out.

From Wallalong Gardening - Part 2

But all the remaining 'multiple failed attempt' stumps will be like this .... only two options .... leave them in place or work like this digging up to expose roots and keep cutting them until it gives in.
Maybe not worth it but will continue occassionally if looking for a physical challenge.
Quit for the day and shower.

Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6 am to 6:30 am. Not sure why it was easier today (different bike 22) but the extra didn't last into next session.

Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6:30 am to 7 am. OMG!!! Got broken within the first 5 minutes. Never sweated so much in this class. At one stage when lying on back cycling legs in air then got up and could see exact slimy sweat imprint of entire body left on floor. At the end she split the class in two (about 8 to 10 people per side) and we had a tug of war. I was on the winning side on both occassions .... imagining the other team were a bunch of tree stumps ? Who said Gardening doesn't count for something ?

6:20 pm - 7:05 am Dead tired after a long 12 hour day and a long accumulated week. Went to work at 5:20 am to activate an engraving machine using to make several 100 signs for new machine (it takes about 2 hours to generate 4 signs then needs resetting for new signs) prior to the hour at the gym. Didn't get out till after 5 pm either. But also accumulated frustrations so wanted to get some "yard therapy".

Wheelbarrowed borrowed slings and chainblock from garage to down the back. Was going to pull out three 'flagpole' stumps where I cut the dead top off a month or so back.

First one I had sling about 1 metre off the ground hoping for more leverage but got too much as cracked off at base. Will have to dig around it tommorrow and resling from bottom to pull out sharp shards sticking up. Second one pulled at base and it came out fine. Third one ran out of daylight (and energy).

Hope to have a full productive weekend to distract me from ongoing challenges at real work. Work colleague should be turning up to take a ute load of firewood from the previously chopped up 2 big trees. Colleague is a huuuge bloke (many times stronger than me) so I may get him to help with a few tasks since he is bringing a chainsaw.

And welcome to France to my little United Nations Flag Collection.

Another long day.
I hate leaving after 5 pm as the traffic up New England Highway gets bumper to bumper for 15 km.
Raining at home means no Mega Gardening stress reduction tonight.

Standard part of Weekly Routine Wednesday 6 am to 7 am. Hopefully leaving something in reserve for the torture of maceys "King Edward Park" Hills tonight.

New map with 1:3000 scale rather than the normal 1:4000 scale. Macey set an excellent course challenging both mentally and physically with much more navigation attention required than on a usual Park Event. Hills meant I sweated a lot more than previous events and clothes soaked by the end ... although breathing not as heavy and wasn't running as fast due to the hills. 30 Controls meant on average less than 1 minute between controls so struggled to look 2 controls ahead on the map (to immediately run out of each control when punching) so really only looked at next control each time ... rather than thinking ahead. Didn't get stop watch to start on time so just used watch time elapsed from 5:10 pm as approximate guide. Blow by blow account follows :
Control 1 - No dramas as within metres of start and had seen people already run to it! Barely looked at map.
Control 2 - Approached from the correct southern side but 10 seconds of searching for the right gap in the bush. Didn't even see the track on the map until I got into the bush.
Control 3 - No problem
Control 4 - Probably worst time loss 20-30 seconds. Even though I knew the black square was the toilet block I couldn't equate the stairs to it. Flag was folded up against wall so I didn't see it.
Control 5 - No problem
Control 6 - Had to think about the route to get around the "green" but no problem.
Control 7 - No problem.
Control 8 - Found Control 25 first on the way and then stood at the base of the shed going ??? before realising the stairs next to it lead up to the roof of the shed where the control was.
Control 9 - No problem.
Control 10 - No problem.
Control 11 - Didn't see bridge on the map at the time as red circle obscured it but saw Bob Gilbert come out of the control so no problem.
Control 12 - No problem.
Control 13 - Went back up to 11 first and contoured around rather than running down and up again but no problem.
Control 14 - No problem .... turn map over and see what remained.
Control 15 - No problem.
Control 16 - Ran down gully side rather than track but no problem.
Control 17 - No problem as read control description to tell me which side of bush to look.
Control 18 - Ran past Control 2 and track through bush which lead straight to it.
Control 19 - Thrown a bit by map but ran north to edge of lower road and then round the bend straight to it.
Control 20 - No problem.
Control 21 - Map colours tended to indicate there was gaps in the bush rather than doing the extra 50 m to go south down the track. Found no gaps and had to do a lot of jumping downhill to get out of waist deep undergrowth. Should have used track!
Control 22 - No problem.
Control 23 - Never knew this fort was here and it seemed surrounded by impassable "green" but when got closer could see the track on the map .... then found it in reality.
Control 24 - No problem.
Control 25 - Ahaha ... 2nd time I found you.
Control 26 - No problem. Tiredness well and truly kicked in by now.
Control 27 - No problem.
Control 28 - No problem.
Control 29 - No problem.
Control 30 - No problem.
Didn't hang around until the end to see the speed demons time but expect below 22 minutes so I went reasonably well.

C • interesting 1

Long work days as Italian "jigsaw puzzle" machine installation still progressing.
Italian supplier sending a mechanical person out from tomorrow for 5 days to assist. Then in another month will return for electrical / furnace assistance.
Concrete foundations finish by end of month which will have taken 4 months.
Will take 2 months to position, assemble, and align equipment and wire up.
Then another 1 - 2 months to get it to run fully.
So will remain flat out till May to June.

Standard part of Weekly Routine Tuesday 6 am to 7 am. Relief instructor who goes faster and makes us do more reps. Get pushed more, and variety good, but appears rushed and a bit stop-start.

6:15 pm - 7:25 pm Stump digging with mattock and crowbar. Chainsaw so blunt unusable. No where near getting this one out yet. Need to remotivate to pick up activities and spend more time on weekends again. Working longer hours (at real work) and daylight getting shorter so opportunities for fitting in Mega Gardening getting more limited.

Standard part of Weekly Routine Monday 6 am to 7 am. Gym Birthday posters remind me I have been going to Balance Gym for 6 years. Time Flies. Membership up for renewal in April. Charge rate has not changed in 6 years either .... I wish I could say the same for all my other bills!

7:35 am - 8:25 am Stick collection whilst waiting for feral grandkid to get ready.

Trip to Maitland Markets. Nothing of interest ... just time kill.

11:30 am - 12:30 pm Moved 4 Double wheelbarrows of leaves which Partner had raked up during week.

From Wallalong Wildlife

Release "John Green" Frog back into the wild.
Let him go under the cover of leaves of one of our natural staghorn type ferns.
Cute and interesting but .... better out in the real world than on our kitchen bench.

From Wallalong Wildlife

From Wallalong Wildlife

Also release step-grandson back into the wild ... return to Parents 2:30 pm.

Woke up early due to early night. Frog missing from "his" old aquarium (that we were only given on Friday) that we put him in (in the kitchen) for weekend. Great now I have to search house for a frog.

Went down to other end of house to ask Partner (who was sleeping in spare bedroom with step grandson) whether he had the frog .... and there it was sitting on the floor in the 'night light' glow outside their bedroom door. LUCKY!

Returned him to aquarium ... and in the time it took to write this ... he was half escaped again. Will have to cut a piece of wood to make a more secure lid as a 8 mm gap is apparently too large. And clean out aquarium and put some rocks / sticks etc in there.

From Wallalong Wildlife

Few of the cockroaches missing as well but hopefully they are inside his guts rather than escaped too.

C • Bath 2

7:15 am - 9 am Stick collection down the back 3 1/2 acres. Just kept filling wheelbarrow until taller than me. Enjoy the mind numbing task to "switch off" and quietness of no-one else around.

From Wallalong Gardening - Part 2

Break to see if Partner up yet and to assist with step-grandson organisation.

9:20 am - 9:55 am Stick collection.

Break to distract step-grandson with walks, dogs, collecting worms, making hopskotch out of spare pavers .... whatever. Also pre-emptive strike on just slightly green pool, adding 2 litres of acid, since it has totally gone out of whack with the volume of rain.

From Wallalong Gardening - Part 2

11:55 am - 1:10 pm Stick collection / escape step-grandsons racket. 3 mobile phone calls from work meant I didn't get to switch off completely.

Drive to Newcastle Airport to allow 5 year old step-grandson to see a plane as he had never seen one (it was the only zero cost / "can't lose interest in 2 minutes" option we could come up with) and to go to Park at Raymond Terrace. Also food shopping.

4:10 pm - 5:30 pm Stick collection / escape step-grandson ... and Partner would have joined me for quiet time too if she could!

Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6 am to 6:30 am

Standard part of Weekly Routine Friday 6:30 am to 7 am

Absolutely wrecked from work this week and didn't get home till 5:30 pm. Step grandson staying for weekend. Too many mozzies for anything other than some cockroach quick collection for frog. In bed by 7 pm.

Weird non-sports topic of the week. Not as unusual as burn / bum PrueD but potentially related!

Immediately upon getting home Partner said I needed to unblock the bathroom toilet.
"Great just what I need upon coming in the door" went through my head.
She was cagey about what she meant and just told me to lift the lid.

In the toilet was a large green tree frog that had somehow managed to swim up the sewer pipe! What a journey. Don't ask how I fished him out. We may keep him for a while. Not the biggest green tree frog ever seen but reasonably large ... still adding to our list of Wallalong Wildlife.

From Wallalong Wildlife

From Wallalong Wildlife

Yesterday our septic system got its 3 monthly service and the guy pointed out a green tree frog inside the tank to my Partner (I was at work). Upon being told this I opened the tank lid when I got home but we couldn't find the frog .... so maybe its the same one but Partner said the toilet one is bigger.

We often hear frogs inside our storm water downpipes but can never find them (and these flow to rubble pit rather than septic tank).

I was going to go down the back for some Hermit Therapy again but large swarms of mosquitos (despite the Aerogard) so it turned into a quick 5 minute trip to turn over some old logs to collect some wood roaches and worms which I put with the frog.

So ..... whats the pet name suggestions ?
Mr Hanky or Kermit don't count. :P

C • Name the Frog in the Bog from my Log 4

C • Another one 1

Interesting article emailed by my Dad. Click link for non blurry image.
Maybe there is hope for old shorties like me yet.
Apparently the "rhythm method" is the key to success ?

From Orienteering

C • Interesting 1

Standard part of Weekly Routine Wednesday 6 am to 7 am. Finally managed to scrape past 20 km. Still a long way off past highs of 25 km.

24 Controls. This time found every control myself as no-one was ever ahead of me ... and this is what I prefer. Started with Mick Kavur and lost him totally from the "rear view mirror" after Control 8.

Last week I started with, and couldn't overtake, Kim Van Netten so she set the pace. This week I was "solely responsible" and I was only 26 seconds behind her time. This proves to me last week was not a result of "following".

Greg Bacon did an excellent job in creating challenging control locations around the lakes making them "somewhat hidden" without verging on "hidden". Great job of distracting me from accumulating work stresses and frustrations of this week.

Only issue ... discovered in post race discussion ..... was I should have ran straight from 18 to 19 rather than around the tennis courts via 20. For some reason read the map as the netball courts being fenced ... but if I looked up from 18 ... at the netball courts only 5 metres in front of me ... I would have seen this was not the case. This shouldn't have cost any more than 30 seconds.

Partner also did the Short Course and had issues with Control 2 (my Control 3) but we walked there again after the course and discussed the map reading problem between buildings versus carparks ... which I have done before too. Only her 2nd Park event (excluding Tocal) so she is still learning.

Last week my time was 34:23 (average of 5:22 min/km) and the best was 25:18. So 100x 25:18 / 34:23 = 73.6%, This week my time was 25:29 (average of 5:38 min/km) and best (when I left) was 18:53. So 100 x 18:53 / 25:55 = 72.9%. So in terms of score effectively slightly less than last week. See what happens next week in the Hills!

Standard part of Weekly Routine Tuesday 6 am to 7 am.

6:35 pm - 7:35 pm Hermit Therapy. Needed a break down in the bush in a no-people no-pressure no-thinking required task. Looking forward to the distraction of a Park-O run tomorrow. Filled wheelbarrow with fallen sticks, whilst listening to MP3s yet again. Chased a very slow rabbit but he got away with no picture. Stopped due to poor light. No more opportunities to "work" until 8 pm!

Heavy duty $200+ Wheelbarrow, less than 6 months old, has two splits in the outer layer of the tyre. Found it as had lost pressure slowly and was getting hard to push. Took tyre off and pumped up at service station and largest split grew to about 4 cm long (inner layer still intact and holding air - tested underwater in pool). NOT compatible size with previous junked wheelbarrow where I kept the wheel and tray. Don't think it will last another 6 months. NOT happy.