The Catan Dice Game comes with small marking pads to keep score, but you can get the pdf of the score sheet off the Catan website and print it out full size.
By laminating the pages with plastic (yes I know) I could mark the pages and then re-use them.
I did not want to use a plastic pen to mark them but I found a pencil to do the job - Staedtler Glasochrom.
Of course when writing with my pencil I want a nice sharp line.
I found a sharpener that gives a great point. But it has plastic parts.
A warning though do not take it on plane - the change in air pressure causes the ink to leak out. If the cap is on it will fill with ink - permanent and waterproof.
In grade 8, the Canadian teacher did not understand that biro was the Australian term for a pen, after the inventor.
In order to reduce my use of plastic, I am saving my remaining pens for special use. For everyday use I am converting back to pencil.
When I started school, the teacher said that my work was far too grubby and that I needed to change from HB pencils to 4H pencils. I used Copperplate 4H for the rest of my school days.
Now because I like a thick dark line I am using 4B, and 6B pencils.
A friend asked me to look at their radio. The radio was a present from their father for doing well at high school exams, but it no longer worked.
The radio is an AWA Radiola model B24Z first made in 1964. The original power supply was an Eveready 9 volt battery (type 2362), and is no longer available. I tested the radio with a modern 9 volt alkaline battery (6LR61) and it worked very well. So I replaced the battery connectors with new 9 volt snap connectors, I added a cardboard holder for the new battery as it was considerably smaller than the original and I installed the new battery.
These radios have great reception with a five inch ferrite rod antenna internal shielding and an all metal front face. They are a great collectable radio.
So the radio from 1964 - 57 years ago - works very well. I wonder if anything else that man purchased in 1964 is still in working order.
On Mars the rovers carry colour calibration targets. This allows the images captured to be adjusted to the correct colours depending on the light conditions and the colour response of the cameras.
At my favourite hardware warehouse I found a colour calibration card for use with mobile telephone cameras. It is a card with various colour squares and a grey scale and raised ridges. These characterise the light source and the camera response. In the centre is a hole for the colour to be matched.
The card is stored in a sleeve to protect it from abrasion, staining and fading.
The trademark on this card is Coloursmith and there is a mobile phone app to go with it to produce a colour matched paint.
This card could have applications for recording science.
As I wandered through my favourite hardware warehouse, I saw a product new to me - food safe wax.
I have now waxed all the cutting boards in the kitchen and in the caravan.
They were all looking very pale and worn out and they were starting to crack. they look much better now.
As I neared the end of my first packets of double edge razor blades I ordered some more.
I purchased a box of 200 as the price was low. To my delight they contain no plastic at all. Serendipity.
After an prolonged delay the electricity retailer visited my house and replaced the spinning meter with a new electronic "smart" meter.
No instructions were provided with the meter, so I went to the internet. The retailers web site showed a single pdf page for three different makes of meters with confusing terminology and it did not cover what I wanted to know. Next I searched for and found the manufacturers instructions which included some standard definitions.
I learned that IMPORT means imported to the grid so what all the consumers call exporting power is defined to be importing because the terminology all is from the utility point of view. All perfectly understandable except that the information provided by the retailer does not explain it.
On my meter - EDMI Altas Mark 7C - there are tiny arrows in the upper left of the display window.
The big red arrow points to the tiny left arrow - The left arrow means power is being imported to the grid. So when this is showing my solar is making more power than I am using.
The big blue arrow arrow points to the tiny right arrow - The right arrow means power is being exported from the grid to my house. So when this is showing I am using more power than my solar is making.
When I was engineering I was often hunting down the technical data for products and then analysing it. A sure sign of a poor product was a lack of technical data.
I have kneaded my first sourdough loaf - my introduction to mysterious art of bread making.
Solar photovoltaic power is installed. My old meter is soon to be replaced but for now is spins backwards when the sun shines.
400 turns = 1 kilowatt-hour.
Around here it is spring. The local black and white birds - magpies, butcher birds and magpie larks - are intent on protecting their eggs and nestlings. They swoop individuals whom they dislike. They can rip ears and they have blinded people. I have seen a magpie chase a motorcyclist but it could not keep up at 50 km/hr.
They have a particular dislike of cyclists. Wizzing around on my electric bicycle I have found 3 spots near my home where butcher birds attack. Like many cyclists I have modified my helmet with cable ties to protect my ears; I wear safety glasses to protect my eyes.
I divided a native bee hive into two hives on the weekend.
The stingless bees flying around my face can be distracting. So I wore a headnet. I had bought the net for outback travelling. But there was a problem - the net is impregnated with an insecticide which made the bees fly erratically and, I presume, die. I need a different net.
When I opened the hive I found that the hive of Tetragonula carbonaria bees had been replaced by Tetragonula hockingsi. The different species look identical to the naked eye. But carbonaria arrange their nests as a spiral and hockingsi nests are more higgledy piggledy.
Another example of environmental change - hockingsi prefer higher temperatures and used to live to the North of Brisbane.
A photo from a few years ago showing a spiral Tetragonula carbonaria nest.
My favourite radio.
Accurate digital tuning.
Sensitive reception - from Brisbane I can receive all the Australian 50kW AM transmitters. Some I have to wait till late at night.
Good sound - from the 100mm speaker.
Extended battery life - from 4x D cells.
I used this radio when travelling as I can remove it from the RF interference in the caravan power systems.
I have made several improvements to my caravan.
Back in June I installed a Street Library at the front of my house.
There is reasonable passing foot traffic with a lots of services nearby schools, buses, a craft brewery, a playground, and a dog park.
I had lots of good books that I wasn't going to read again. A library seemed a good way to send the books out to new readers. It has become self sustaining with others contributing their own books. When I returned from a 5 week holiday the library was full of books and very tidy.
Children's books are popular and are claimed quickly. In my opinion there are too many thick romance and action novels and if I did not cull them they would choke out other interesting books. When I cull the books, they are given to the Lifeline second-hand shop. If I find a religious or a fad diet book it goes into the rubbish - there is no need to spread lies.
Designing and building the library was a challenge. I arranged the shelves to accept the largest books in my own collection. It is designed to resist sun, rain and vermin. I had to reinforce the fence behind to make a proper mounting. The structure is marine ply with 5 coats of polyurethane varnish. The window is shatterproof, UV-proof polycarbonate. The latch is stainless steel.
To find out more refer to https://streetlibrary.org.au/
This was our home for five weeks. The walls and roof fold to make a trailer. We think of it as a luxury tent.
Garage length - 5200mm
Interior Length - 3615mm
Interior width - 2000mm
Maximum gross mass - 1205kg
To correctly calculate the tyre pressure for a caravan see - https://www.gnschassis.com.au/tyre-pressure-calculator/
Services - water tank, cooktop, microwave, fridge/freezer, hot water, air conditioning, water pump, radio/CD player, 240V socket, outlets, 12V socket outlets, lighting.
Energy sources -
1) 240V 15 amp mains power for everything except cooktop
2) Photovoltaic panel and battery - for water pump, radio/CD player, 240V socket, outlets, 12V socket outlets, lighting
3) LPG (2x4kg) - for cooktop, fridge/freezer, hot water.
Gas lighting was nominated as word of the year yesterday by Mirrium-Webster. When I look it up, the source of the term is nomin...
