The help out there

So last night I went and met with Fishman at his home. He lives quite close to me it turns out.
Anyway, I went there cause he had some varnish / colour stain for me to try and rescue the bar counter with.

Whilst there I met his wife (charming) ans his offspring - lovely! I also had to meet his security officer / minder / papvreter eater.... DOG! Damn, it's a mountain of an animal, and only 1 yr old. If he keeps growing at the current rate we could enter him into the Durban July in two years time!

I also was shown some of his handy work, and suffice to say I'm not surprised he's peed off with my bar counter. He does some fantastic wood work, and it a perfectionist in that if it's not right, it's wrong - no grey area! Unlike my bar top referred above, there is no sign of filler / joints / cracking....

He has a sleeperwood bedroom suite which, if you could buy it at a specialist store would retail in the region of ZAR30k! I shit you not.

Anyway, it was great seeing him again, he's a good lad. And we will be getting together soon at my place for a braai. Will probably have Divemaster Dad and his other half there too.

So, I will be attempting a repair this weekend. If it does not work out, I will be splitting the top, and redoing it, a la Fishman!

Salagatle!

I had to post this

Found on the Mail & Guardian web site, Zapiro doing what he does so well.....

Salagatle!

Police chopper

So this morning, before work, I went to a coffee shop. (Yup I know......). Anyway, whilst I was there I got two of my colleagues to join me. We were entertained by a police helicopter that did a landing practice 3 times in a row on the emergency pad in the parking lot. Very impressive, and damn noisy.

That's the coffee shop (branding on their couch!)

That's the chopper as it sat down the first time....

And as it took off after the first landing, backwards and up, up, and away.... only to return twice more...


We eventually had about 4 cappuccino's each (I had at least 5!) and got to the office at 10am! bliksem!!


No loss though, as today being Friday is mostly wasted on internal meetings (none of which we had to attend before 11am), and closing off for the week.

So now I'm here doing this stuff, will attend some meetings later, and hope to be out of here by 2.30 pm.

Salagatle!

I got a nice call

yesterday from a fellow blogger / reader who not only offered advice on how to "repair" my bar counter, but he also offered to give me some of his "stain" to see if I can improve on the final finish. We should be meeting tonight if all goes to plan. Nice. Whilst I'm with him I can give him the 6 pack Windhoek Lagers I owe him.
Thanx Fishman
Salagatle!

And todays sports update....

In France, Italy narrowly beat Romania in their pool match at the Rugby World Cup. It had been expected that Italy would have annihilated the opposition, but it was a hard game, and it was obvious that the two teams are but minnows in the game.

Also in France, Scotland beat France in football. Now there is something to celebrate. Well done all the Scotties.

And in South Africa, the Australians were well beaten by the minnows, Zimbabwe, in their pool game for the Twenty20 World Cup currently underway down here. (It's cricket, for you who might not know). This must rate as the upset of the tournament, seeing as the Ozzie's are supposed to be number 1 in the world for 5 day / 1 day cricket. Well done to our neighbours, the ex-Rhodesians!

Salagatle!

Renamed again

Due to the fact that i am making the burial chambers rectangular, and not the regular shape, it's called a casket, and not a coffin. So, I have, once again, renamed the relevant blog page diycaskets. DIY - because I really think I will be doing the SKD units for export into Africa (mainly) and caskets, cause it's not a coffin, is it?
So, the link has been updated accordingly. And that's all that has changed...
Salagatle!

Testing.....

Fishman
Hey!!!!! It works

If you are interested.....

http://diycaskets.blogspot.com/2007/09/first-attempt.html

Salagatle!

The bar

View of the bar top from the deck, just to give you an idea of the shape.
Here you can see the problem I have....

Ok then, all you clever woodworking types out there.

I need advice. I filled all the not so tight joints, and some holes and chips and stuff with Oregon Pine coloured woodfiller. As long as the top was not varnished, it seemed to match ok. As soon as I varnished the top (clear varnish) not only did the deep colour come out beautifully, but the wood filled shows up yellow! Now what? Do I sand down the offending areas and try to stain the woodfiller parts to match, or do I dig out the wood filler and redo it with a darker option?

Salagatle!

And talking about maintenance

It's time I did some at Mom's place. Although the house is still in very good nick, and I recently pruned her fruit trees, and the grape vines, there are some things which are now needing urgent attention.

For one, this gate, which is primarily for keeping out the draft, and the neighbour hood cats (according to Mom they don't jump over). It's been there for some time, even before my Dad passed, so it's more than 10 years. I'm going to replace the slats, but might use an expanded mesh instead of wood. The draft is not really an issue anymore, as Mom does not sit outside there anymore. And as for the cats, I'm convinced they just jump over. If they don't well, then the mesh will work as well as the slats.

So, work for this coming weekend then.

Salagatle!

Spring is also

a time for maintenance. I know a lot of guys do this in winter, but I'm blown if you think I'm going to brave the cold. Rather take my chances with the rain and stuff.

Anyhow, the decks need resealing, the garage doors / front door, kitchen door, and outbuildings door need to be redone.

As well as the lawns need to be cut back severely, and then watered plenty. The boundary wall is looking evil, so I'll have Witness rub it down with a steel wire brush, and then we can redo that too.

On the left - the product used to seal the upper deck, top floor balcony, and house entrance (outside).On the right, the product used to seal the downstairs (flatlet) deck. I'm not sure why the contractors used different products, however, the final result is similar.

Pic showing Witness (ol' faithful) resealing the downstairs (flatlet) deck. See the difference between the newly resealed (front of pic) and old faded worn tiles (behind Witness).

Salagatle!

Spring is also

a time for fantastic sunsets, and there's no better place to see them from then the deck of our home. Here's a taster:-

It looks smoggy / foggy / hazy, but that's a combination of cellphone quality pics (which are not really this bad) and smoke from the last few veld fires in the area.

But crazy sunsets man. To be enjoyed with an ice cold beer! (Divemaster - that's a beverage enjoyed everyday by millions of South Africans)

Salagatle!

Spring has surely sprung

01 September is officialy spring day in RSA. With the temperatures soearing as they are, it feels like we are into summer already, so I'm a bit concerned about how hot it will be later in the year. But the garden has responded beautifully, and spring has truly sprung!

Salagatle!