I've been flat out since moving into our new house. I've been learning new skills almost every day. I've learnt how to prepare and varnish timber, how to paint, how to install wiring into walls, how to make a wooden letter box, how to repair an electric domestic water pump. The list is endless.
I've installed heated towel rails, mounted a Big screen TV on a wall and connected it to my home network, I've set up a home theatre system, installed a water purification system and tweaked the water supply system for better pressure. I've carted gravel from one end of the property to the other, assembled shelving units, painted floors and hung shower curtain rails to name but a few. Every day there is something new.
The water pump for the domestic supply and sprinkler system stopped working three days ago. It's a brand new pump and the biggest and most expensive in it's range due to having to run the sprinklers at full flow in the event of a fire.
A bit of research showed that the pump was not getting enough power and the voltage drop on start-up was causing it to not run. The addition of an extra large starting capacitor did the trick. (something else I've learnt).
I thought I heard a slight tinkling noise from the pump when it was restarted so I spent an hour today removing the pipework from the front of it and letting the system back-flow. The theory was that if there was anything loose in the pump it would be flushed out and I would see what it was. I didn't detect anything coming out with the torrent of water that poured from the open pipe, so I put the pipework back on, not an easy task as it's of a very large size.
I had just finished getting it all back together when I noticed a stainless steel nut sitting beside the pump housing. It didn't belong to anything I'd been working on but it did look exactly like the sort of nut that belonged on the end of an impeller shaft! Bugger.
I phoned the agents for the pump and asked the service manager whether there were any 10mm stainless locking nuts inside the pump. He said there was and it was probably the lock nut for the impeller. Tomorrow I'll strip the pump and refit it. :(
I've still yet to paint my workshop, something I urgently need to get done so I can get my hoist installed. In the meantime I have yet to find a home for all the "stuff" laying around in boxes.
Sarah and I splashed out and bought a new TV and home theatre system last week. It was part of the original plan to have the TV on a big canter-levered arm that allowed us to view the TV from either the lounge or our bedroom at night. It took me over twelve hours to set everything up but it works like a charm. The electrician had put just one TV outlet socket on the wall behind the screen. I installed another seven cables into the wall in order to get everything working.
The technology of these new systems is amazing. If I insert a DVD or Blue-Ray movie into the home theater system the TV sees what I've done and automatically changes channels and plays the movie. The TV also "talks" to my home computer network and can play any movies I have on the computers in my office, along with viewing pictures and playing music files, which it then sends back to the home theatre system. It sounds complicated to use but most of the functions are intelligent and happen automatically. Such as plugging a USB stick into the TV and it again changes to that channel (the USB input) and loads and plays the files. Fun fun!!
Both Sarah and I have been suffering from colds for the last few weeks and I must say it's knocked my health around a fair bit. I've lost a lot of my energy and some days I feel like I've been hit by a train. It can take until midday before I feel well enough to function properly.
I hope it doesn't last. I think the steroids have a big part to play in it all. I dropped the dose from 25mg to 20mg about ten days ago and I've not had a good day since in contrast to how great I was feeling a few weeks back.
I attended the Hutt Valley Motorsport club's annual prize giving last night. (I was told I should attend) I took away five trophies, all for Hillclimb and sealed sprint events. Not a bad effort considering my state of health during the 2009 year!. One person commented that had there been a trophy for racing hospital beds I would probably have won that too!
Well that's enough of a ramble for today, I have a stock take to do this weekend and a garage to organise. Wish me luck!
..Ron
Friday, March 5, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
A really quick post :)
The big move to the new house went really well. A huge thanks to the McCalls, Anthony Futter and Tim Sutherland for there invaluable help.
We absolutely love the house, it's location and the new life style. To stand out on the deck on a still clear Saturday night and take in the peacefulness, the serenity was truly awesome.
A huge thanks to Rob, Marty and Keiran for a great job on building our perfect home.
I'm working 12+ hours a day getting things sorted, painting and doing a thousand other little and not-so-little jobs. Sarah is much the same, spending her evenings getting the place into some sort of organised state. Personally I think it will take several months before things are fully sorted but that would include the landscaping etc too. We are only a week or two from having the place fully painted and looking complete inside.
Healthwise this is the best I've been in over four years. My energy levels are fantastic. The three days of lifting heavy boxes, fridges, stoves and furniture had no physical effect on me at all. However on Monday I had a series of 'turns'. Probably thirty in total. I'd suddenly be overwhelmed by a strong feeling of deja-vue. Like I'd just landed back into a dream from the night before. I'd feel faint and nauseous for about thirty seconds and then be fine again. I have no explanation for it other than maybe I missed my steroids that morning. Although I'd swear I'd taken them.
I've been fine ever since..
View the latest pics of the house here ...House pics.
Later...Ron
We absolutely love the house, it's location and the new life style. To stand out on the deck on a still clear Saturday night and take in the peacefulness, the serenity was truly awesome.
A huge thanks to Rob, Marty and Keiran for a great job on building our perfect home.
I'm working 12+ hours a day getting things sorted, painting and doing a thousand other little and not-so-little jobs. Sarah is much the same, spending her evenings getting the place into some sort of organised state. Personally I think it will take several months before things are fully sorted but that would include the landscaping etc too. We are only a week or two from having the place fully painted and looking complete inside.
Healthwise this is the best I've been in over four years. My energy levels are fantastic. The three days of lifting heavy boxes, fridges, stoves and furniture had no physical effect on me at all. However on Monday I had a series of 'turns'. Probably thirty in total. I'd suddenly be overwhelmed by a strong feeling of deja-vue. Like I'd just landed back into a dream from the night before. I'd feel faint and nauseous for about thirty seconds and then be fine again. I have no explanation for it other than maybe I missed my steroids that morning. Although I'd swear I'd taken them.
I've been fine ever since..
View the latest pics of the house here ...House pics.
Later...Ron
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Moving House..
The new house is almost finished and Sarah and I move in this weekend 14th Feb.
Last Fridays sausage sizzle and drinks went very well with a few surprise visitors, some I hadn't seen in years! We are planning to have a big house warming party once we are settled in. I'll post the details here once we set a date.
My energy levels are really good now and I'm using my regained strength to do as much work around the property as possible. Today I was securing 'Novadrain' pipework to waratah stakes down into the bush and into a small stream. Much swinging of a sledge hammer and climbing near vertical bush covered slopes left me puffing and sweating but it felt good to be doing such energetic work again. Last weekend I painted the workshop floor and tonight Sarah and I laid carpet in my "man cave" / Office.
You might remember a couple of weeks back I posted that I had a heavy fall in the driveway, a "Face-Plant" that left me with a grazed face and a badly bruised chest. Last week I was talking to the builders about how the steroids can cause sudden muscle weakness and spasms causing me to trip.
We were loading a trailer with rubbish from the building site. Suddenly my legs gave way and I tripped falling heavily against a metal tie-down peg that was protruding from the trailer, almost impaling myself. I say "almost" because to look at the black bruised and grazed circle on my back, it looks like I was shot with a rubber bullet. I think had the peg been a little sharper I would have been in more serious trouble!
I can see that I am going to have to be ultra careful over the next year while on medication :)
.JPG)
My daughter Ashleigh and her boyfriend Gary have been staying with Sarah and I for the last four weeks. They returned to Brisbane yesterday. Was so good to catch up with her, it had been two years since she last visited and so much has happened to me in that time, it's good to have had this measure of health so that we could get out and do a few things. Not as much as I would have liked though as the new house soaked up a huge amount of my time.
...Ron
Last Fridays sausage sizzle and drinks went very well with a few surprise visitors, some I hadn't seen in years! We are planning to have a big house warming party once we are settled in. I'll post the details here once we set a date.
My energy levels are really good now and I'm using my regained strength to do as much work around the property as possible. Today I was securing 'Novadrain' pipework to waratah stakes down into the bush and into a small stream. Much swinging of a sledge hammer and climbing near vertical bush covered slopes left me puffing and sweating but it felt good to be doing such energetic work again. Last weekend I painted the workshop floor and tonight Sarah and I laid carpet in my "man cave" / Office.
You might remember a couple of weeks back I posted that I had a heavy fall in the driveway, a "Face-Plant" that left me with a grazed face and a badly bruised chest. Last week I was talking to the builders about how the steroids can cause sudden muscle weakness and spasms causing me to trip.
We were loading a trailer with rubbish from the building site. Suddenly my legs gave way and I tripped falling heavily against a metal tie-down peg that was protruding from the trailer, almost impaling myself. I say "almost" because to look at the black bruised and grazed circle on my back, it looks like I was shot with a rubber bullet. I think had the peg been a little sharper I would have been in more serious trouble!
I can see that I am going to have to be ultra careful over the next year while on medication :)
.JPG)
My daughter Ashleigh and her boyfriend Gary have been staying with Sarah and I for the last four weeks. They returned to Brisbane yesterday. Was so good to catch up with her, it had been two years since she last visited and so much has happened to me in that time, it's good to have had this measure of health so that we could get out and do a few things. Not as much as I would have liked though as the new house soaked up a huge amount of my time....Ron
Monday, February 1, 2010
Life's Good!
Other than a few muscle cramps at night I seem to be completely well.
It's actually kinda strange to not be sick. It all seems normal and at the same time unusual.
An almost deja-Vue feeling. You get so used to not being able to do things, that when you can it's a novelty even when it might be something that's so familiar. For instance.. Who would have thought that being fit enough to spend a whole day painting and sanding would be cause for celebration when in reality I hate decorating!
I've been very precise with my steroid dosage and timing and it seems to make a big difference.
Previously I'd have them at various times of the morning and play with the dosage if I thought it would help my aches and pains... turns out it was the "playing" with the dosage that caused the problems!.
My weight is still climbing but not as quickly as over Christmas. I'm now about 77kg which I'm happy with. However I just need to make it spread out a bit more, as it all seems to want to sit on my stomach :(
I entered in the Port Road sealed sprint the weekend before last. Murray let me use his Rally-Rides car (a very tired Evo Lancer). It had to be one of the worst cars I've ever raced in! I complained bitterly to Muz after my first run and he thought I was joking... (he hadn't driven it on Tarmac) That was until he took it out for a drive!
He returned to the pits after his run, slammed the door, said "good luck buddy" and went back to driving his yellow beast, to ultimately take out second place.
I took my daughter Ashleigh out for most of my timed runs and we drove the wheels off the car trying to post a half decent time. It had a slipping clutch, terrible handling, poor brakes and absolutely no power! In desperation I looked under the bonnet for something to "tweak".
A bit more boost and a tad more ignition timing was all I could do.
I went out for my second timed run without a passenger, hoping that the small weight saving might help. It didn't.. but I thrashed the car within an inch of it's life and managed to post a time good enough to take out 3rd place over-all. This was very much a surprise as there were nearly sixty cars entered and good deal of them were of a much higher spec than the bucket of bolts I'd been sent out in.
The house is really rocketing along now. There's just 14 days before we move in!
This Friday (5th Feb) we are having a few drinks up at the house to celebrate it being closed in and almost habitable. Feel free to drop in after work if you are so inclined! (83 Kaitangata Crescent, Kelson. Turn left at the 'regional park' car-park and then it's the first driveway on the right)
It's been three months since Targa, and Victor and I are in the process of preparing "Thank you" gifts for our main sponsors. Loosing two months to ill health put a huge hole in our schedule.
My apologies to those that have sponsored us and feel we have just disappeared off the face of the earth. Nothing could be further from the truth.
However I really do need to sit down at some point and detail all we learnt and what we did and didn't do right. It seems so long ago, and all a bit of a haze with me being so sick at the time with both pneumonia and pneumonitis. I'm sure if I get the team together and review our videos and pics we should be able to peace together the whole story.
..Ron
It's actually kinda strange to not be sick. It all seems normal and at the same time unusual.
An almost deja-Vue feeling. You get so used to not being able to do things, that when you can it's a novelty even when it might be something that's so familiar. For instance.. Who would have thought that being fit enough to spend a whole day painting and sanding would be cause for celebration when in reality I hate decorating!
I've been very precise with my steroid dosage and timing and it seems to make a big difference.
Previously I'd have them at various times of the morning and play with the dosage if I thought it would help my aches and pains... turns out it was the "playing" with the dosage that caused the problems!.
My weight is still climbing but not as quickly as over Christmas. I'm now about 77kg which I'm happy with. However I just need to make it spread out a bit more, as it all seems to want to sit on my stomach :(
I entered in the Port Road sealed sprint the weekend before last. Murray let me use his Rally-Rides car (a very tired Evo Lancer). It had to be one of the worst cars I've ever raced in! I complained bitterly to Muz after my first run and he thought I was joking... (he hadn't driven it on Tarmac) That was until he took it out for a drive!
He returned to the pits after his run, slammed the door, said "good luck buddy" and went back to driving his yellow beast, to ultimately take out second place.
I took my daughter Ashleigh out for most of my timed runs and we drove the wheels off the car trying to post a half decent time. It had a slipping clutch, terrible handling, poor brakes and absolutely no power! In desperation I looked under the bonnet for something to "tweak".
A bit more boost and a tad more ignition timing was all I could do.
I went out for my second timed run without a passenger, hoping that the small weight saving might help. It didn't.. but I thrashed the car within an inch of it's life and managed to post a time good enough to take out 3rd place over-all. This was very much a surprise as there were nearly sixty cars entered and good deal of them were of a much higher spec than the bucket of bolts I'd been sent out in.
The house is really rocketing along now. There's just 14 days before we move in!
This Friday (5th Feb) we are having a few drinks up at the house to celebrate it being closed in and almost habitable. Feel free to drop in after work if you are so inclined! (83 Kaitangata Crescent, Kelson. Turn left at the 'regional park' car-park and then it's the first driveway on the right)
It's been three months since Targa, and Victor and I are in the process of preparing "Thank you" gifts for our main sponsors. Loosing two months to ill health put a huge hole in our schedule.
My apologies to those that have sponsored us and feel we have just disappeared off the face of the earth. Nothing could be further from the truth.
However I really do need to sit down at some point and detail all we learnt and what we did and didn't do right. It seems so long ago, and all a bit of a haze with me being so sick at the time with both pneumonia and pneumonitis. I'm sure if I get the team together and review our videos and pics we should be able to peace together the whole story.
..Ron
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Ouch!!
Tuesday afternoon saw me successfully attempt my first "Face Plant" manoeuvre, complete with much pain and blood, and in the following days a bruised and battered body.
While walking down the gravel driveway at the new house I had stumbled slightly on the loose stones and rather than just fall over like most people would have, I decided to run forwards and let my legs catch up to my falling body.
Unfortunately my legs didn't move quick enough and all I succeeded in doing was hitting the ground face first at running speed. I failed to get my hands out in time, they somehow ended up being ground into the gravel while pinned to my chest. The impact was huge, it felt like I'd been hit in the face with a length of timber. I picked my self up, and dusted myself down. Blood pouring from my face, I was convinced I'd done some serious damage.
Luckily I just suffered a couple of shallow grazes to my face and some sort of bruised muscle in my chest. I thought I must be getting old! I've never had a fall like that before. I mentioned it to the doctor today during my monthly hospital visit and he said it would have been caused by the steroids weakening my muscles. I'll go with that explanation ;)
The appointment with the doctor went well, I had a chest X-ray beforehand and he was pleased with the result. My lungs now look completely normal. I'd figured as much as I haven't coughed in over a month now and I haven't had asthma in weeks.
I told him that I'd been playing around with my prednisone, splitting the daily dose in two. Taking 20mg in the morning and 10mg after dinner. This seems to help with the back pain I sometimes get in the early hours of the morning as their effect wears off. He said that he had no problem with me doing this, even though strictly speaking, steroids should be taken in the morning. Dosage drops from 30mg a day to 25mg as from tomorrow and then next month it will be 20mg. Tapering off over the next 12 months.
My weight is now up to 76kg but it seems to be all sitting on my stomach. 76kg is still light so I need to build some more muscle. I'm glad it's up 7kg on where I was early December, but it's still a gain of 1kg a week and it needs to be reined in or I will be 130kg by year end!
The house is rocketing along now. Sarah has been working on the decorating side of things. I've been working on the water etc, the tank was filled tonight thanks to Jeff Ward and his firetruck.
Over the next week we will have the storm water completed and the waste water system connected ready for the house to have it's showers and toilets connected after the paintings all done.
The deck should be underway next week too. We move in on Feb14th ready or not!
This weekend See's me competing at the Port Road sprint at a totally social level in cars borrowed from Murray O'Neil. I'll share a drive in his "rally-rides" car with Piran Pigneguy and then maybe later go and have a play in the yellow beast that Murray will be competing in.
My car is still gathering dust at the panel-beaters due to my commitments work-wise and up at the new house. There's no way it will be ready for the Mount Vic Hillclimb in March, my favorite event of the year. But I'm not too worried. This year is all about change, our new house to enjoy. The new workshop to play and work in. My new found health to embrace... the motorsport can take a back seat to that any day.
..Ron
While walking down the gravel driveway at the new house I had stumbled slightly on the loose stones and rather than just fall over like most people would have, I decided to run forwards and let my legs catch up to my falling body.
Unfortunately my legs didn't move quick enough and all I succeeded in doing was hitting the ground face first at running speed. I failed to get my hands out in time, they somehow ended up being ground into the gravel while pinned to my chest. The impact was huge, it felt like I'd been hit in the face with a length of timber. I picked my self up, and dusted myself down. Blood pouring from my face, I was convinced I'd done some serious damage.
Luckily I just suffered a couple of shallow grazes to my face and some sort of bruised muscle in my chest. I thought I must be getting old! I've never had a fall like that before. I mentioned it to the doctor today during my monthly hospital visit and he said it would have been caused by the steroids weakening my muscles. I'll go with that explanation ;)
The appointment with the doctor went well, I had a chest X-ray beforehand and he was pleased with the result. My lungs now look completely normal. I'd figured as much as I haven't coughed in over a month now and I haven't had asthma in weeks.
I told him that I'd been playing around with my prednisone, splitting the daily dose in two. Taking 20mg in the morning and 10mg after dinner. This seems to help with the back pain I sometimes get in the early hours of the morning as their effect wears off. He said that he had no problem with me doing this, even though strictly speaking, steroids should be taken in the morning. Dosage drops from 30mg a day to 25mg as from tomorrow and then next month it will be 20mg. Tapering off over the next 12 months.
My weight is now up to 76kg but it seems to be all sitting on my stomach. 76kg is still light so I need to build some more muscle. I'm glad it's up 7kg on where I was early December, but it's still a gain of 1kg a week and it needs to be reined in or I will be 130kg by year end!
The house is rocketing along now. Sarah has been working on the decorating side of things. I've been working on the water etc, the tank was filled tonight thanks to Jeff Ward and his firetruck.
Over the next week we will have the storm water completed and the waste water system connected ready for the house to have it's showers and toilets connected after the paintings all done.
The deck should be underway next week too. We move in on Feb14th ready or not!
This weekend See's me competing at the Port Road sprint at a totally social level in cars borrowed from Murray O'Neil. I'll share a drive in his "rally-rides" car with Piran Pigneguy and then maybe later go and have a play in the yellow beast that Murray will be competing in.
My car is still gathering dust at the panel-beaters due to my commitments work-wise and up at the new house. There's no way it will be ready for the Mount Vic Hillclimb in March, my favorite event of the year. But I'm not too worried. This year is all about change, our new house to enjoy. The new workshop to play and work in. My new found health to embrace... the motorsport can take a back seat to that any day.
..Ron
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