Sunday 1st September 2024

Sunday 1^st September

SHE SAID:

Day 2 of the orchid touring. Today, Evelyn is the navigator & tour guide as she had sussed out lots of places where we should see different orchids.

We met at Dwellingup & headed for Wandering, Williams, Arthur River, & Culbin. Every stop we found orchids. It was a great day out & Jean & Tobias were extremely happy & grateful for the tour. They shouted us dinner at the Ravenswood Tavern, which was lovely of them.

HE SAID:

I had another busy morning around the house and van. One of my van tasks was to check the sacrificial anode and the electric element in the hot water system. Some of the places we have been to lately had ordinary tasting water, which can mean that there is more calcium in it, and the electric element was humming when used, which can also be caused by a build of calcium. The element was caked in calcium and needs a good soak in vinegar overnight. That should help things along, and I'll flush it out tomorrow.

And, in a first for me, I climbed a windmill! There is a Southern Cross windmill at this property that was once used to pump bore water out of the ground. These days it just decorative, but had an awful, loud, piercing squeal at times. The neighbours must have hated it. Anyway, as Varena was out, I grabbed a ladder to get up the first few metres, then used the rungs built onto the frame to get near the vanes and hub, while carrying a pot of grease, some tools, and a rag, to see what could be done. As it turned out, nothing could be done with the grease etc as the hub was out of reach, awkward, and unsafe. So, then I thought that I may as well just stop the vanes turning with some wire. So, down I went, grabbed some fencing wire, and climbed back up and wired the wheel to the frame in two places. No more noise! Hopefully it holds for a long time.

Dinner with Jean, Bill, Tobias, Evelyn was fun, chatty, and very generously, was free for us. It was a good evening.