Laundry shelving

We bought a flat-pack shelving unit to go into the laundry last xmas, but it has taken a year to find the time to rip out the crappy and broken shelving and install our new free-standing shelves.

[before (left) and after (right)]

Of course, the old shelves were cross-nailed to the wall with four inch nails rather than being screwed to the studs.

By the time the shelves were off I had dozens of nail holes to fill. it took three layers of plaster to smooth out the mess—so I needed to repaint the whole wall.

Once the wall was painted (a terra-cotta colour called "tawny copper"), the flat-pack shelving needed modifying and reinforcing to fit around the water-heater.

Now that it is done, all the tools which were stacked on the floor are on shelves. It isn't pretty but it holds everything, it is sturdy, we can use the sink and open the back door.

[tools which were on the floor (left) are now on shelves (right). The clothes racks will hang off hooks on the front of the shelves. The kitty-litter is still on the floor, but now we can get past it to the sink and out the door.]

Adding Links Using Classic Template on Blogger

Blogger / Google really want to make it difficult for the average Jo/anne to personalise their blog, like we have here—even just to run their blog. It is now hellishly difficult to add links if you are using Classic Template (perhaps only on a Mac?).

This is what I see if I go to Page Elements to edit the Links widget:

No widgets! To get the widgets to re-appear you have to:

1. Design>Edit HTML>Copy existing HTML
2. Old Templates>Revert to Classic Template
3. Customize Design>Upgrade Your Template
4. Select Template [Watermark]
5. Edit HTML>Paste existing HTML
6. Page Elements [widgets re-appear]>Links [which you can then edit]

Of course, there is nowhere online that sets out these six steps, but trial and error eventually led me to the discovery that this will make the widgets re-appear: fraught trial and error, since there is the ever-present danger of loosing everything in your blog.

Having gone through these six steps again I have added a few more links. Thanks to J. for the two great mid-century design blogs. The others are bookmarks I have accumulated looking for materials for the house. I will add another batch when I am feeling particularly brave!

Crafty Renaissance

Recently I had purchased for me the one 70's item I had been lusting after for such a long time. The macrame owl! A wonderful lady I work with purchased this magnificent orange owl from an op shop in Heathcote. Perhaps the CWA needs to get good with macrame and ditch the scones! This gorgeous owl came with two others of darker hues which haven't found a place yet but I claim this bright species for my orange and red study. Happy now!

Macrame Owl from Heathcote

My second piece of beautiful craft to add to my study has been a more personal and special item. My gorgeous sister made a Halloween gift for us. It now has pride of place on my shelves above my desk so I can admire it everyday. (judging by the cat hair on it I am not alone!)

Crochet To Rock Your Granny!

Mushrooms and Fungus

Here are six different varieties of mushrooms that were growing in our yard on 16 May of this year. I think this was almost every variety we have seen. But, if I spot others I will add then to this post. And as I identify them, I will add their names. At least one of them—the yellow one—is probably not indigenous to the Dandenong Ranges.

UPDATE 30 Dec 2011:

UPDATE 19 Jan 2012:

Who Wants a Naked Phone?

We don't! And Milstar wants us to have a decently-clothed phone too. In fact, they want to make everyone's phone "just about the most fashionable item in [the] home"—just about. So get a 70s "Dress-a-phone" today! (Tardis and Guide-dog required).

The Nesting Magpies Show

Our Maggies built their nest at eye level, about twenty metres from the house, directly in front of the kitchen window. So, for the last two months, we have been able to see their every move. The nest in huge, so it was quite a while before we could see the chick(s) that we could hear so easily. But then, in no time at all, we could see the fledgling(s) on the edge of the nest, flapping their wings, getting ready to leave the nest.

It is still not clear to me whether their is/was two chicks/fledglings: M. thinks two, I only got to see one. But since I can't see twenty metres without my glasses and I often don't wear them, I have been prepared to take M. at her word.

Anyway, this morning one of the chicks/fledglings left the nest. As I write, this fledgling is sitting, very awkwardly, in a thin and low branch of a tree (closer to the house). There are three other Magpies feeding it, one of which is the youngling from last season. None of the three older Magpies are returning to the nest to feed or care for any other chick, and so, if there was a twin (we have been calling them "the twins" for a few days now) it has died.

I wondered whether the youngling from last season was the second bird M. has seen in the nest, but she is adamant that it isn't. And, until we can have a look under the nest without disturbing the fledgling, there is no way of discovering whether a chick fell out or died and was pushed out.

I will try to get better photos of the whole family of Magpies. Unfortunately, the nest is too far away to take a happy snap any better than the above with my new digital camera, but now that they are out of the nest I should be able to do better.

Birds that Visit, Birds that Stay

[Australian Magpie—drenched and bedraggled after a storm]

There are lots of birds here, unlike the last place we lived.** And the longer we live here, and the more time we spend in the garden, and walking around the neighbourhood, the better we get to know the residents and the more chances we have had of catching a glimpse of occasional visitors.

As a way of keeping track of all the birds, I thought I would start a list and post photos as—of if—I can take them (and replace crappy photos with better ones as I can). The order and the numbers are taken from Ken Simpson and Nicolas Day's The Birds of Australia: A Book of Identification, 2nd ed. (1986); but I also used this site to identify birds. For visiting birds, I have added the month of the visit. (When my coz J. visits in November I am hoping he can correct and extend this short list!)

124. Pacific Black Duck. (Single visit.)
339. Galah. (Occasional visitor.)
343. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. (Regular visitor.)
354. Australian King Parrot. (Regular visitor, spring.)
366. Crimson Rosella elegans. (Resident.)
401. Southern Boobook. (Irregular visitor.)
409. Tawney Frogmouth. (Irregular visitor.)
424. Laughing Kookaburra. (Regular visitor.)
465. Blackbird. (Single visit.)
608. Red Wattlebird. (Regular visitor.)
749. Australian Magpie. (Resident; nested.)
753. Australian Raven. (Regular visitor.)

Also, a sparrow or finch of some description. (Resident.)

[Pacific Black Duck]

[Galahs]

[Sulphur-crested Cockatoo]

[Australian King Parrot (male)]

[Crimson Rosella elegans]

[Crimson Rosella elegans (juvenile)]

[Tawny Frogmouth]

[Laughing Kookaburra]

[Blackbird]

[Australian Magpies]

[Australian Ravens (calling but invisible in our Eucalyptus regnans)]

* * * * *

** Where we lived previously we only had two types of birds that were long-term residents: pigeons (aka, the flying rat or avis rattus) and Indian Mynahs. There were also two types of visiting birds: the Common Blackbird and the Wattlebird. I spent years throwing things at the pigeons, removing nests and cutting down roosts to try to get them to nest and roost somewhere else—with only moderate success. We got to like the Mynahs (Heckle and Jeckle) who took turns in scrounging food from B. The Blackbird would regularly throw leaves and twigs out of the garden beds onto the paths, and we only occasionally got to see the Wattlebird.

**There are a few birds that we have seen very close to the yard, but not in it, such as Indian Mynahs. The most interesting of these, for me, was 182 Buff-banded Rail which I saw on the path a few doors away. Of course, in the National Park—which is just around the corner—I have seen lots of birds that don't appear in the yard …

[Last updated 15 October 2011]