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Been meaning to post some pictures of the kids for ages, but a request from the lovely ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kaths has gotten me off my arse. ( 16 pics below the cut... )
kaths has gotten me off my arse. ( 16 pics below the cut... )
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Got to say, I'm pretty impressed with how our house goes in the heat. On any of the warmer days, say 30+, the temperature inside will sit anywhere between 4-6 degrees lower on average. But on the really hot days, like yesterday when it reached 40, at one point we were 11.5 degrees cooler inside than it was outside.
On many of the hot days I'll actually leave two or three windows open around an inch. The house heats up a little more than it would, naturally, but it helps drop the internal humidity down by a fair whack, stopping the house from feeling as muggy.
In other news, our first power bill was $60. Given that we haven't had the solar panels up all that long, that's not too bad. Bill would have been about $330 without. That said, $30 of of bill was GST. Yes, they charged us GST on the full amount of the bill, then took off the money from the power buyback. I thought that was a bit cheeky.
As far as I can tell, our power usage appears to be about 75-80% the NSW average. Not too bad, and that's before we've swapped out lights for lower power ones. Mind you, beyond that I'm not sure how much more we can do. Most of the equipment is turned off at the power point, and is usually only on when it's being used. That said, I do want to get the stove top shifted over to gas, and at some point we may look into solar for water heating. We currently have electric water heating but the unit can be converted to work with solar as well.
Given the way power costs are going up in NSW, may well look at building a shed to house batteries, and getting additional panels set up to take us off the grid. But that'd be a fair way off, for all sorts of reasons.
Will be interested to see how our power bills look in the winter. Less sunlight, more lights on. Hopefully the fire will save us some cash, and the house will continue to show how good its insulation is.
On many of the hot days I'll actually leave two or three windows open around an inch. The house heats up a little more than it would, naturally, but it helps drop the internal humidity down by a fair whack, stopping the house from feeling as muggy.
In other news, our first power bill was $60. Given that we haven't had the solar panels up all that long, that's not too bad. Bill would have been about $330 without. That said, $30 of of bill was GST. Yes, they charged us GST on the full amount of the bill, then took off the money from the power buyback. I thought that was a bit cheeky.
As far as I can tell, our power usage appears to be about 75-80% the NSW average. Not too bad, and that's before we've swapped out lights for lower power ones. Mind you, beyond that I'm not sure how much more we can do. Most of the equipment is turned off at the power point, and is usually only on when it's being used. That said, I do want to get the stove top shifted over to gas, and at some point we may look into solar for water heating. We currently have electric water heating but the unit can be converted to work with solar as well.
Given the way power costs are going up in NSW, may well look at building a shed to house batteries, and getting additional panels set up to take us off the grid. But that'd be a fair way off, for all sorts of reasons.
Will be interested to see how our power bills look in the winter. Less sunlight, more lights on. Hopefully the fire will save us some cash, and the house will continue to show how good its insulation is.
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The Red Polo Gallery next door is closing down. Very sad about this, and sad for the owner, Ian, who is a lovely guy. Just one of those bad timing things - a handful of things went wrong at once, car troubles, rent going up, and so on. Any one of which was survivable but all hitting at once has meant he has to close his doors.
There are two other galleries in Cooma, but what I liked about Red Polo was that, apart from being right next door, he was actually doing interesting stuff and taking some chances with interesting and different showings. The other two galleries are very traditional, not a bad thing, but nice to have some real variety. The other sad thing about this is that the other galleries may possibly see Red Polo closing as proof that staying safe is the best option.
In other nicer news, we have so many insects around here! It's very cool. Today while I was out working in the backyard I found a nice big caterpillar, so called Lex over to look at it. The back yard always has at least four or five butterflies hanging about, so I was able to remind Lex about the butterfly lifecycle. One of his favourite books is The Very Hungry Caterpillar so it's nice to be able to show him insects that he has a familiarity with.
And while I was putting out the washing, there on the clothes line was a cocoon, so had to go in and get Lex to show him that.
We keep getting a variety of small beetles in the house, so most days I'll get Lex to carry a beetle out of the house in his open hand. Though he manages to keep missing it when they extend their wings and fly off.
There's also a nice variety of spiders. Was very happy with the Christmas Spider we had outside the ensuite, but it's since moved off.
There's a big variety of cockroaches, I just wish we could keep the buggers out of the house. Wouldn't mind if they were native, or could do Buzby Berkley musical numbers like in Joe's Apartment, but sadly they're just annoying. I have a lot more tolerance for the native variety than I do for the imports.
We also have at least three different species of ants in the back yard. Little ones, bigger ones, and little ones that bite.
Haven't had a really good look at what's hanging out in our trees yet.
Oh, and Lex impressed me the other week by accurately counting the four butterflies that were fluttering about him.
There are two other galleries in Cooma, but what I liked about Red Polo was that, apart from being right next door, he was actually doing interesting stuff and taking some chances with interesting and different showings. The other two galleries are very traditional, not a bad thing, but nice to have some real variety. The other sad thing about this is that the other galleries may possibly see Red Polo closing as proof that staying safe is the best option.
In other nicer news, we have so many insects around here! It's very cool. Today while I was out working in the backyard I found a nice big caterpillar, so called Lex over to look at it. The back yard always has at least four or five butterflies hanging about, so I was able to remind Lex about the butterfly lifecycle. One of his favourite books is The Very Hungry Caterpillar so it's nice to be able to show him insects that he has a familiarity with.
And while I was putting out the washing, there on the clothes line was a cocoon, so had to go in and get Lex to show him that.
We keep getting a variety of small beetles in the house, so most days I'll get Lex to carry a beetle out of the house in his open hand. Though he manages to keep missing it when they extend their wings and fly off.
There's also a nice variety of spiders. Was very happy with the Christmas Spider we had outside the ensuite, but it's since moved off.
There's a big variety of cockroaches, I just wish we could keep the buggers out of the house. Wouldn't mind if they were native, or could do Buzby Berkley musical numbers like in Joe's Apartment, but sadly they're just annoying. I have a lot more tolerance for the native variety than I do for the imports.
We also have at least three different species of ants in the back yard. Little ones, bigger ones, and little ones that bite.
Haven't had a really good look at what's hanging out in our trees yet.
Oh, and Lex impressed me the other week by accurately counting the four butterflies that were fluttering about him.
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There's been so much I've been wanting to write about in detail over the last few weeks, but given I started this nearly two weeks back, detail is obviously not going to happen, so it's dot point time!
( Life and assorted bits... kinda long... some Too Much Information at the end, so possibly want to avoid if you're delicate, a relo, or both... )
( Life and assorted bits... kinda long... some Too Much Information at the end, so possibly want to avoid if you're delicate, a relo, or both... )
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Taking a 3-tonne van's worth of stuff to Cooma later today. I've got it pretty chockers.
( Day to day moving stuff under the cut )
( Day to day moving stuff under the cut )
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Off to Cooma again with another load of stuff and plans to paint more skirting boards, and maybe some doors, over the next few days. The painting is the, comparatively, easy bit. It's the preparation that takes all the time.
Less than three weeks until we shift! I'm spending most of my time at Cooma, or recovering from Cooma, hence me being quiet. No net access.
In other news, MaybeZoe now smiles from time to time, and Lex is using four-word sentences, knows his left foot and hand from his right, and can count from one to twelve - though he prefers to say "two, four, eight," when actually asked to count.
Oh, and the phone at Cooma now works.
Less than three weeks until we shift! I'm spending most of my time at Cooma, or recovering from Cooma, hence me being quiet. No net access.
In other news, MaybeZoe now smiles from time to time, and Lex is using four-word sentences, knows his left foot and hand from his right, and can count from one to twelve - though he prefers to say "two, four, eight," when actually asked to count.
Oh, and the phone at Cooma now works.
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I chatted to our next door neighbour in the art gallery the other day, nice chap called Ian. He basically has a different showing every month, so last month photography, this month contemporary art, and so on. Nice range this month, some struck me as very amateurish, others were very subtle and clever. My favourite was a wall-sized piece that looks rather complex and messy, until you really look at it and realise it's actually subtle and simple.
He's one of Cooma's three art galleries. The others are on the other side of town and are more traditional in nature, whereas Ian likes to have some variety. I like living next door to an art gallery again (used to live next door to one way back when I lived in Armadale).
I spent a chunk of my birthday at the house doing bits of work, and got a phone call from Nick, wishing me a happy "Genesis of the Dalekboy." Also chatted to my old mate Glen, and his awesome wife Carol, and got a call from Tiki as I drove back to Canberra - hooray for hands free! ( Further chat of a mostly domestic nature below the cut... )
He's one of Cooma's three art galleries. The others are on the other side of town and are more traditional in nature, whereas Ian likes to have some variety. I like living next door to an art gallery again (used to live next door to one way back when I lived in Armadale).
I spent a chunk of my birthday at the house doing bits of work, and got a phone call from Nick, wishing me a happy "Genesis of the Dalekboy." Also chatted to my old mate Glen, and his awesome wife Carol, and got a call from Tiki as I drove back to Canberra - hooray for hands free! ( Further chat of a mostly domestic nature below the cut... )
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