Had a nice barbecue with a few friends today. Beautiful weather. I have to go to work tomorrow, Sunday, to rig a roof crane for Carols by Candlelight. I could have skipped the job but I'm interested in seeing the Jita crane and what that's all about. Looks like an upside down Jimmy Jib in the press kit.

Work still pretty slow, but yesterday I did the load out for Australia's Got Talent and tomorrow I load in for Everybody Dance Now, another contestant type show. I'm booked to do the whole run of this show, swinging the Techno.

I wish I could say I was headed up to Sydney to work on the big one up there, but it doesn't really look like it's going to happen, what with me being booked on this next one every weekend and a few three and four day runs. Would kind of make it hard to get away, but you never know.

The grass I planted in the backyard has come up, I have almost all the wood from the foliage part of the big tree split and mostly burnt as well. The tree guys were astonished to see it gone, they are supposedly going to come this week and cut the rest of the stem down. I gave him a severe caning the last time he showed up for how long it's taken.

He completely blew off the last day he was supposed to have come, it should have been long since finished, but it will still be done in time to plant some clumping bamboo down by the fence on the other side of it in spring, to try and get some privacy back. What with our tree almost totally gone and the one that overhung Karl's house gone, our backyard has become pretty exposed to the neighborhood and I can see and be seen by a lot of houses I don't want.

Soon the weather will break and I can finish the chicken coop and greenhouse. I've decided to fence in the area below the greenhouse site and I think we'll run the chooks down there as well as have some garden area. Still very much a work in progress....

The retaining wall guys did show up after all, Monday morning. They've been hard at it through the rain for the last two days, the backyard is a thick stew of mud. I actually watched one of them ski down the hill with a bucket of concrete in his hand. The posts are much longer than I thought they'd be, they stick way up. I was thinking of cutting them all off and capping them, but maybe we'll leave them long for handrail posts.(there are no posts in the picture, it was taken at the end of monday)

It's really taking shape, despite the fact that it's hard to go anywhere near because of the mud. I'm really looking forward to them finishing so I can get started cleaning it all up and replanting stuff. They have all the posts for the greenhouse and main terrace walls, they just have the wall below the trampoline to set posts for, and the rest is installing timbers. 

The solar guys have FO'ed until my electrician finishes updating the breaker panels. They had mounted the inverter to the outside of the house, but it was fortunately pouring rain and it was soaked in an hour or two, with water absolutely running through it. Being a several thousand dollar line item, I had more than I could handle seeing it so wet, and we renegotiated to move it inside. I think the convo went something like this....

"..it is waterproof..."
"but is it rated for UNDERwater use?"
"you're right, we can move it inside if you want"

Looks like I'm back to work rigging already, got a few shifts in town this week. Taking it easy going back to work, my back is finally starting to feel better. 

Ages and ages. I finished the last movie a couple of weeks ago. It was a great experience, for the first time in a really long time I was doing a completely new job. It was pretty hard on my ego, I was at the bottom of a department again, but I used the experience as an opportunity to practice humility. I'm not sure how it came off : ) I think I was okay at it, but I did lose my patience a few times.

Everything has to end and begin again. Hopefully the next beginning isn't too far off.

Friday we got our new solar panels installed. I said thirty, but there are actually 26, unless there's a few they didn't tack up there yet. They aren't hooked up yet, we're having electrical done on the house as well and that won't be ready until at least the 23rd, so end of the month. The guys will be back Monday to mount the inverter and patch everything together. Be a good birthday present maybe.

Haven't heard from the retaining wall guys yet. I'm itching to start building the platform for the greenhouse and I can't do it until they finish.

I just had a bad thought. The greenhouse was originally to go above the fish tanks (which are now unarguably a deck) to also take advantage of the latent heat coming from the house grey water. Up on stilts it will be freezing inside! Maybe I'll have to build it on the ground. In fact I will.

Which makes the chicken coop trickier, as I was going to put that at standing height under the greenhouse, letting onto a fence surrounding the stone fruit trees.

I found a dead possum in one of the water barrels. Be perfect to throw in the planting hole if I end up moving the citrus trees while the wall is being done.

Uncle Wally rebuilt the stone barbecue in back. It's really stunning. I couldn't have come close to affording it if he hadn't done it, the materials would have cost as much as the labor, which certainly would have been dearer elsewhere as well. I can't use it yet, not until the 24th, which tails nicely into birthday striking distance for me, so the inaugural use will surely be my birthday party.

I'm not totally without prospect for work, I think next week (or maybe the week after?) I'll set about doing some rigging. Maybe.

Where were we.....?

My mom visited, a long time ago. I got a big tax return from filing my back taxes in the US. We spent it all over Christmas, I did all the usual holiday work, did some more Flycam gigs. Did that MFB course, worked a day as a Safety Officer. Mostly doing entertainment rigging. Never did do any work with that shopfitter.

Everyone's good, kids are good, Liam's being a bit of a pain. We still think he's feeling shorted, but he's been openly rude and uncooperative quite often. Not the majority of the time, although he seems to not get more than an hour or two without kicking over a nest. Kai is spending a LOT of time on the computer, but I got him off it today for a few hours and we went for a walk. He is polite for the most part, but his hearing is affected by hyperfocus on screen time. Zoe is pretty amazing, very sophisticated communication for a 2 year old. Still can be a pain as well.

We got a quote to get most of the old tree cut down. An electrician is coming to update the power system. We're getting a solar PV system installed.

Today Kai and I installed an on-demand water heater. It's always a slightly offputting sensation to cut a big hole in your house. It felt like that time I installed the skylight in my bathroom. Turned out okay I think. I still want to put a sheet of cement board behind the heater, but that's another easy little day job. I'll have to start looking for a new manifold. I want to replace all my plumbing with PEX, to make upgrades easier and get rid of that water hammer once and for all. I hope to get the gas on-demand tied in and backed by a couple of evacuated solar tubes and then tie that whole mess to a radiant floor system. Still have an off-peak electric tank for the time being.

We're getting a landscaper to quote for retaining walls in the backyard and some garden beds. We still have the chicken coops AND the greenhouse to build back there as well. A lot of work to do.....

Haven't sat down to write anything of length for a while, but I won't just let the blog be forgotten forever. I started it over ten years ago, but obviously I've had more prolific periods....

Finished that St. Kilda job, that was a great paycheck and a great place to be working inside all winter. Easy commute. Could have earned a few more dollars but lowballing my hourly made me the 'first choice', even though I was the last call.

Finally got on the books with the film crewing agency in Melbourne, not that I really needed to, but I'm getting to the point where I don't want to leave any stone unturned when it comes to money. I got a job the first week or two that paid my dues for the whole year, so already worth it.

I just got back from two weeks in Queensland training with Keir Beck, who is a stunt rigging bad ass. I'm proud to say I was in his first ever class and will have one of the first rigging certifications he issues. It was a really great experience, I had a whole bunch of fun learning how to fly people and stuff all around and climb almost anything. Money well spent, although Jo still calls it my holiday.

I only have Flycam technocrane work this month so far, although supposedly the week after next I start with a shopfitter doing some work for him. I did get a call from one of the stagebuilding companies I worked for last year, the summer music festival season starts pretty soon. I won't be doing too much staging this year, too heavy on the body. Next week we're on a crew filming one of the broadway type stage shows in town.

I won't be able to do safety officer work this summer either. Although I got my Cert IV in OHS, I still need to take an MFB course and the f@%&ers scheduled it for the week I'm working and won't offer it until there are five more participants. So I might have to bribe some people or wait another year.

A week or two ago I started my Cert IV Builder's course, which is a stepping stone to getting that builders licence. It's pretty easy so far, just time consuming.....

In what is becoming a once a month update........

Well, started a new building job down in St. Kilda, that will go until the end of June. It's been a good experience so far, I've of course always loved buildings, architecture, woodworking, carpentry. This combines all of that. There is just so much more going on in that industry than film that I have no choice, even if I didn't like it as much as I do. Every tradesman I work with is flat out going in four different directions and have been so for twenty years.

I've been really apprehensive about the future health of the building industry, given our experience with the American housing industry and it's colossal flop over in the last few years. Australia is luckily in a bit of a different spot. While all the same warnings and provisions do exist here, specifically in Melbourne there is a huge influx of residents from all points and an ongoing shortage of housing.

So I've bitten the bullet and I'm moving forward with taking steps to become a fully licensed, registered and insured builder. Today I bought a rather expensive (but comparatively good deal) set of the latest building codes, and I'm planning to enroll in a distance learning program before the end of the tax year. Given my experience with training programs in the last two years, this is perfect for me. I should be able to slam through it in about four to six months. This in addition to the work I already have booked as a Techno Tech through the end of the year, and the work people have already asked me about signing into also before the end of the year.

Li got his cast off the other day, and we've already forgotten about it. Honestly, I've never seen anybody convalesce like him, except maybe me. He didn't even slow down when he had had it on for only a week, and another karate parent was astonished the other day when I told her he'd had it on for a month and a half. During that time he attended all his karate classes. We went on the prep tour of his school today, the new building will be awesome.

Zo is sick. candle nosed and coughing.

Kai is doing well. Listening much more. Almost well behaved. Could conceivably be a big help within six months or so.

Jo is getting into her busy mode, there's frozen food stocked up in the freezer so we don't starve in the next couple weeks.....

Been absolutely forever since I posted.

The end of the concert festival season finished with a bang. Had a brush with the force of gravity, got my CERT IV in OHS. Took a First Aid course, poured that concrete and started stripping the forms. Dad came for a visit. Had a couple of Techno jobs with Flycam. Kai and Liam both moved up to a new belt in karate. Booked a whole bunch of carpentry work. Zoe started talking a little bit. Jo got a magazine contract and we bought her a new computer. Last weekend Li broke his elbow after falling off a trampoline! Since I last posted I've baked thirty or forty loaves of bread. Bought a couple of new arborist saws. Booked a few pruning jobs. And that's just about all the info to bring us up to date.

Had a crazy hard week last week. From Sunday morning to Wednesday night was 56 hours of work. I tailed off sharply on Thursday, as I wasn't able to get out of bed.

Friday was slightly more useful, and after the boy's karate yesterday I was finally able to get the last two bits of formwork finished, ready to pour. The last bit of work is to tie up the steel for the stairs, which is already cut, and clean all the dead leaves out of the tanks. The pump truck, and two concretors are scheduled for next Saturday.

I was going to take an OHS class the week after next, but there are two more festival concerts for the summer series, and I think I'll push it for a few weeks and milk out the work. I'm in the hole already, and the concrete will be a couple thou.

Well, I've started nailing subs down to hard dates Dad. We should be stripping concrete forms when you get here.

PS-I talk to everyone else on facebook.....

Such a long time. Over a month ago. Well, it was busy. I had a lot of work on and then as soon as it got quiet, the kids went on school holiday for the summer. I had some money at some point a few weeks ago, and it's begun to dissolve like sand through my fingers. I'm hammering my Roth though. I've almost doubled it's value in the last ten months, and I've diversified, made a bit more, and reinvested back into original investments that have hit a trough. Wish I had more to put in, but I'll settle for building on what's there. Can't have that money for a while. = )

Lots more work starting to fill the pipeline now that all the straggler adult Aussies are back on the job. I'm waiting for a cabinet shop to reopen so I can order some stuff. I have a couple of tree jobs in the next few weeks, and scheduled maintenance of the Technocrane @ it's new "hopefully not secret" headquarters. Then a bunch of game show dates, and hopefully some more rigging training in the next few months.

I've spent some time in the garden cleaning up, though the wandering jew has me almost completely defeated. If not for the heat of the sun it would have covered the house already, and it's a huge hassle to even begin to clear. A single broken stem can root and spread again. Chemicals work, but I've seen the chickens eat it, and we eat the eggs, so....

The fruit trees are still young, but there is evidence of progress. My espaliered apple and pears are growing like mad, I got a bit creative without being ruthless enough and I'm sure there will be branches that will have to be removed at the end of the summer.

Lots of raspberry canes. I can't remember whether I'm supposed to cut the canes every two years (I doubt it, I wouldn't have bought the more complicated of the two) or every year, and when?! So I'm sort of edging there and not letting it go crazy. I think the blackberries will come back in the same spot and they'll mix.

The banana came back around from the hail damage I've two shoots, one twice the size of the other, unfolding new leaves every week.

All the weeds are trimmed back from the formwork, anticipating a concrete pour. I'm going to get one tree job done and jump straight on it. Tree job is for Alex of course.

Sitting at home for a last hour or two before I drive into the city for the load out of U2.

As has become the normal, it's been a long while since a post.

I've been very busy with work, I'm working with a company called Flycam Australia now, as a rigger and Technocrane operator, so it seems I'll continue to operate the techno well into retirement, every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in!

The crane work is on a show called Millionaire Hot Seat, and then today I'm doing some kind of national IQ test show. The last couple of weeks I was climbing towers for a Flycam rig at the Melbourne Cup, which was pretty fun. The weather was awful but the prospect of actually making enough money for once, for the time spent working was enough to keep me happy all through the rain. I also like large events that I have an All Access pass to, there's something humanly satisfying about bypassing huge lines of people.

The Waterloop is now completely plumbed, and by the middle of the month the weather should be consistantly nice enough that we can get serious about pouring concrete. I've started thinking about the next phase, which is to get the reeds in and get a greenhouse up over that part of the tanks I want covered. It looks like maybe a greenhouse kit might make sense, but I'm torn, because that is proportionately more expensive and might not be exactly what I want. But I want whatever goes there to be flash enough to bring the backyard up a notch. The planning for other projects is starting to bleed in around the edges of this one.

We lost power in a couple of rooms during the huge rainstorm two weekends ago, and I haven't been able to pinpoint the problem. I'm going to have to get a pro in for this fix I think, and those guys are expensive, so it might set me back a bit, but it needs to be done.

Went to the Victorian Microbrew festival @ Fed Square yesterday with Brad, posing as a bartender to get into the trade tasting. It started an hour earlier.

The beer was very good. I'm not really made for marathon drinks anymore, but I held up well. Got home around ten last night. The good thing about only tasting 100 beers is that I haven't skulled enough to get a hangover.

Today I'm watching Liam in the morning so Jo can take Zo to get her hearing checked out, no cause for alarm, just something we're following up on. I might take Li over to Chadstone and pick up a new iPhone4. Ddn't really get any work done outside yesterday, but I finally have all the parts. = (

Got the inlet plumbed, the bit that will eventually be entombed under the top step of the new patio. I'm a little torn about whether to put a sump box halfway back to the house to handle the pipe size transition. I go from a stormwater/sewage 50mil to a pvc 50 mil, which are of course not the same diameter or fittings.

It's high enough above grade that it probably won't overflow, the bulk of the water will be absorbed into the beds in time. But still, I think I might not want an open box that periodically fills with grey sewage under the deck. I think I'll put a sani 90 instead, with a bung that goes to greywater hose, which I can run to the base of the bananas (which are very sad at the moment after the harsh winter). Worst case scenario, I can always either cut back the flow from the house by using fewer sources, or install a flood barrel.

Today will be the day I cut into the stormwater pipe and install a diverter, although it obviously won't run to the beds until after the concrete goes in.

The apples and pears (not the stairs) all have new leaves and are looking pretty good. I'm kicking myself for not spraying bordeaux this spring before leaf burst though, the leaf curl I had on the peach last year has spread to the nectarine and possibly the cherry. Next year no question I will spray. I guess I just keep thinking if I give it time it will build resistance and shrug it off because I don't use any pesticides or anything there must be a natural balance somehow right? Wrong apparently. Looks like shit. I'm going outside...

So lazy today. Everyone left to go to the city, and I just can't get motivated to do anything at all. I have a huge day of work tomorrow, so I don't feel too guilty about taking a day off. It's really about the working at night thing. It throws your rhythm for a few days and for me it has much the same effect as sleeping on a park bench for a day. I feel like a crapped out wino even though I've fed, showered and shaved. I just feel like shit. Hopefully I'll wake up feeling better after another night's sleep. Next month is already a day-heavy schedule and cannot fail to prove sunnier which will vastly improve my mood. Liam and I planted peas the other day. I can't believe the weather, I was in shorts last week and it snowed over in Gembrook yesterday. So screwy.

Did a couple of days on Millionaire with the Flycam Techno, then some various rigging jobs, the last ended a few hours before karate this morning.

Both Kai and Li were catching up on belt grading, and both pulled out an astonishing win today. I was honestly starting to get the impression that neither was taking anything on board, and they both demonstrated excellent kata. Sensei Cameron was back with a new belt himself, and brought much goodwill back to class.

Tomorrow off, Jo and the kids going in to St. Kilda, I'll likely get back outside. I might try and get the plumbing inlet laid for the first tank so we can bury it under the new steps. We have a little bit more work to do on the form shutters, but getting there.

Did that Fed Square thing, that was a fun climb but I ended up needing way more than a 10 metre lanyard so I used a 30m Blue semi-static Edelrid rope I got a while ago. I wanted to climb on it before it got wrecked by using it as a rigging rope. I should really get a 16mm stable braid for rigging, easier to hand than an 11mm.

Swung a technocrane on the footy show for Flycam, easy gig, good money. I'm doing a couple of dates next month with them, but they really don't have enough days yet to drop everything else, though I'd like to.

Did a day last week at the Upwey Garden Centre with a friend, Tom, which wasn't flash money but a really really short commute. I have some dates in October with him, about a week, and in the same vein I've accepted some work @ Trees Adventure in Belgrave. They want me to be an alternate manager, and again, while not crazy money, the hours are reasonable and it's mine for the asking, and local.

I had a short day this morning and was going to get 3 or 4 cubes of bark mulch to put out on the paths, but it opened up this afternoon and it was pouring for most of the day.

Jo and the kids had another mom and kids over for play, so I ended up out in the shed for much of the afternoon. Didn't really do anything.

Jo got about 2k worth of Ikea wardrobes online for $50, so I'll likely have to go pick them up some time this week.

Hoping the weather will be somewhat dry this week, I've got some free time, hoping to get back on the Waterloop.project.

Very long day yesterday that ended at 5 this morning. First we had a giant flag reveal for Virgin Blue's 10th birthday celebration. Richard Branson was there and it's uncanny how much he resembles Don with a goatee. So that was most of the day, the show actually ended around 6 and then it was a couple hours to get punters drunk on free booze out of the way so we could start dropping stuff.

Then a couple hours later, some of that crew went to Fed Square to hang 15 giant architectural glass panels. To say that driving the boom lift in and around those while pulling up and dropping motor chains, power cables, etc was a late night sobriety test would be a massive understatement. I was all thumbs by the end and my speed and dexterity was way below half capacity. But we finished up not too much later than anticipated.

Same thing again for the next two nights, and a bunch of free climbing. I'll wear an extra lanyard so I'm in 3-d space, one 10 metre off the front point and one each 3 metre off the side points. Makes it easy to throw the long one up over and then jug up it, swing out and tie off with the sides.

Tomorrow I have to go sit in on Millionaire Hot Seat and watch a rehearsal.

Got Mom at the airport this morning. She had a good flight. We've been hanging around all day, it's seven and she's starting to fade going to bed. I have a massive day of work tomorrow (Sunday?!!?), I'll be on the road at 5A and probably not back for almost 24 hours.

I set up a nice little potting area just outside her room. She can do some gardening in the front of the house. The back is pretty treacherous at the moment, although now that it's drying out, Alex and I will get serious again about pouring concrete.

My calendar is all shades of color with work. Not a lot of money unfortunately, but plenty of work. And a lot of variety.

The boys had a respectable karate session this morning despite a late bedtime Fri nite. I took them to the bakery for something special and a loaf of bread. Not only had I missed Kai's Father's Day breakfast (Sunday is greeting card holiday here in Oz), I also worked through and missed Liam's Father's Day lunch. So I got them a treat at the bakery to make up for it.

Jo took them to an indoor playground to meet a friend and I got at the tiles in the laundry room. Finished cutting and laying all of them, I still need to grout and caulk the gaps, install the floor drain, and I think we're going to get a frosted door to match the one in the passageway. When I find the doors I'll get two, as we want to replace the one on the bathroom as well. We have enough tiles that I can do a backsplash behind the sink taps, so I might do that as well.

Monday I'm going to refinish the bartop at Oscar's, and then Tuesday I have some rigging work.

Switched over to night mode for the weekend. I have calls sprinkled all over the weekend. This is the crap thing about the rigging work. It's amazing how busy I get when I get worried about money. I'm literally servicing calls around the clock seven days a week between building work and rigging. . And the pressure is still on to keep moving forward on the work at home. I'm going to get a few more hours sleep before tonight's job. Had a lovely nap with Zoe on my chest earlier, but I'm still tired.

Feeling much better. I'm the only one in the house except Kai that's logging any sleep at all. Today I had a few hours work at Oscar's. This weekend is completely booked with rigging work, mostly at night, but I'll be off for a lot of the week next week I hope. I have all the stuff to start laying tile in the laundry room and Jo is more than ready for that to happen.

I priced a product called Versi-Foam that I sussed out is available here, despite the fact that the foam guy who gave me a monster quote to insulate the house last year said he was the only importer (liar!). It's still pretty expensive, but a lot easier and cheaper for retro-ing the underfloor radiant hydronic system. My alternative is to insulate conventionally, but then after insulating I'd have to cut and fit some kind of sheet goods to keep the f@#king possums out of it. This way I can hit it in one go and have a perfect airseal to boot.

The van is almost totally dialled, I'm still toying with the idea of shelving to get some of the tools up off the floor. But everything fits so well without it, I'm like why bother. I can even carry a full load of tools and all my rigging gear. So no need to unload anything. Eventually I want to rebuild the shed further back and pour a pad and make a carport with a full roll up door in front of it, so I can back in and work out of the van without unloading.

There was more rigging involved. There was no forklift.

But I rigged a dynex line and a couple sets of blocks and we lifted the stairs into place the way the Egyptians would have done it, if they had hi tech line and a ute.

I had them dynabolted in pretty quick and they were pretty much done. It went really fast. I'd look at using a premade stair assembly again, it was very efficient and not much hassle. I went back in today for a few hours to level the top.

I had packed out the web of the I-beam they rest up against at the top, but the ideal position still had a pretty big space, so the offwall stringer ended up hanging off a section of angle iron bolted through the wall itself. This angle will serve as the first (or last depending if you're coming or going) upright for a metal handrail to be fabbed by owner at a later date.

Really was dragging around today, I'm not feeling well. I think I got a touch of gastro from Liam.

So definitely my kind of workweek. A late call on Thursday and then over today. It's the weekend again! Not much rigging work around, no grip work at all for months and I totally refuse to pay the one agency in town to do nothing for me.

Might be time to take some more courses. I'm thinking some kind of rope rescue, or twin rope industrial, or maybe confined spaces, heli rescue? I don't know, I just need something that involves a test and learning something. If there's climbing in the mix, so much the better. I already can't deal with the quiet and that's including the domestic midget screams.

Lucky I've been heating up some construction work. It was a strange day of the week to do it, but I started a building job today. Cut a hole in a wall on the second floor and jambed and hung a door for a stairway that isn't in yet. That was a new experience, I've never had to wear a harness while I hung a door before. The stair is being delivered Monday, it's premade, hopefully there will be a forklift around to put it in or there may be some more rigging involved.

I loved chopping the hinge mortises. It's a very satisfying thing to have a super sharp chisel and do it by hand. If I was doing thirty doors, or even three or four, I'd set up a router, but for one door it's a wank, you can have them done with a chisel in the time you choose the right bit and collet.

It hung alright, I've learned to be almost happy with the mistakes I can see at the end of a task. It shuts, it's level, plumb, etc. It's never perfect though. And I was careful to make all the phillips screw heads line up they same way. Still, at least I'm progressing to the point I won't say out loud what I thought was wrong. Drives me crazy though.

I had to pack up and leave when it got dark. I didn't get a chance to fit the lockset, I'll do it on Monday. I'm loving the van, everything's locked up in the back and I'm not worried. I want to get a decal that says it's for live snake transport or something ominously subtle, and stick it on the window.

Please let me find the strength to resist!!!!!! This thing is awesome!

Downrigged two self raising roofs today, in a huge warehouse. Somebody was demoing a super hush hush stage show with some kind of aerial action and some big animated something. That's all I know. Picking up the rest of the pieces tomorrow. Hopefully kicking off a new building job at the end of the week or maybe next week.

It's been a beautiful day. We made an attempt to get outside, but most of us were in pajamas until 11.

Finally got the passageway door hung yesterday. It's already proving a good winter move, the kitchen and living room can be heated by just the woodfire and it's ten or fifteen degrees hotter than the rest of the house. Still have to rebuild the strike side of the door jamb, but Jo's napping, kids are coming to visit later, etc. I think I'll do it Friday when big boys are at school.

The van got tinted and barred and it's bad asssss. Like a stealth cop car or something. Should be really great as I won't have to unload every night of a job for fear the tools will get pinched.

Next project is laundry room cabinets. I've got a worktable and all the tools set up inside with full dust collection, so it will be pretty quick but still will pull me into next week. I guess I'll start heating up the building jobs outside the house again, as nothing seems to be materializing. As soon as I'm ready to go with something normal TV or film will probably fire off and pull me away. The nature of the beast. No stunt rigging yet.

It's really a good time for the housework, it's still freezing and really shitty weather outside, so unless it's stage work I'm not really very excited about rigging! Of course I do miss the climbing. We had a dry spell in the morning yesterday and I jumped up into the elm tree for a good view of the forest.

Zoe is under her own power and can go from one end of the house to the other in under fifteen seconds. That's an estimate, I haven't really clocked her, but if I don't get some interesting work soon I might. She's worked out how to stand up while holding on to something, but not how to sit down again, so once she stands, she's stuck until she calls someone to help her out.

Unfortunately neither she nor Liam has been sleeping well, which means I'm sitting them during the day for a few hours while Jo catches up on sleep. Li has been a real handful for the last couple of weeks, if he gets into tantrum land because he's too tired, it's all over.

On the flip side, Kai has been an angel. He's really been pretty lovely. His ears aren't working too well, so he has to be asked things over and over, but since I've been home we've managed to keep the TV off more, so hopefully the attention spans will lengthen. He's been playing soccer a few times a week after school and loves it. This morning he did pushups, situps, and stretching, and got me and Li to join him. We'll be like a Japanese corporation soon, with morning calisthenics in the courtyard.

Our neighbor Marnie got a dog. A little yapping white ball of fur. I think she's almost had it with the thing, it's been barking almost nonstop for a month and a half. The main thing is it lives on her porch during the day, which is within sight of our kitchen. If it sees us, it starts barking. It may be a korean breed, as more than once I've fantasized what it might be like to kill and eat it, it's so obnoxious. It's very cute though, I just wish it had a mute button.

Could be worse. At least she doesn't put it outside before we wake up anymore after we complained. She's getting a citronella collar and a trainer for it, which may or may not work, but I'm keeping a noise log just in case further action is required down the road. A neighbor across the valley has expressed concern over the dog as well, so it isn't just because we're right next to it. I understand that she got it for the kids but I saw this situation a mile away when she told me she was getting it four months ago. You can't make people do things that make sense usually, and it's way too early to sell the house and move even if we wanted to, so I guess we just live with it.