This year has had such a weird vibe to it. Sure, there are always inexplicable goings-on in our society, but some years are weirder than others. Just for one example: The state where we reside has a ban on the fracking of rock deposits to release their natural gas for extraction, and fair enough. However, the off shore wells in Bass Strait appear to be in terminal decline, there’s talk about simply demolishing the rigs where they stand, and soon enough the demand for the natural gas stuff will exceed the supply, if it hasn’t already. Then what are we going to do, doesn’t seem to be a question being asked with any level of seriousness. That seems weird to me.
Faced with such predicaments, the famous philosopher, Alfred E. Neuman, would probably quip: “What, Me Worry?” It’s sound advice, and certainly I do my best not to care for concerns which few others seem all that worried about. Of course, I’d miss the cheap natural gas. We use the stuff for heating water on warm cloudy days. When the sun is shining, the water is heated by the sun’s warmth. When the wood heater is running, water is heated by the combustion of firewood. It’s just those warm but cloudy days when you don’t want to run the wood heater, they’re a problem. That’s when the natural gas comes into it’s own. I guess we can adapt and learn to live without it.
I’m an approachable kind of guy, and so people tell me all sorts of things. Recently, someone I know was waxing lyrical about how cheap oil products were relative to average incomes. The general thesis in this instance, was that there’s nothing to worry about with future energy availability. The core of the argument revolved around the affordability relationship between energy costs and income, which apparently hadn’t changed all that much over the past couple of decades. Sure.
When I was a younger bloke, and first began writing on the interweb, it was really lovely to have dialogue with the many readers in distant parts of the planet. But then it was a horrid shock to also encounter folks who were trolling my writing. In those early days, I became rather upset and duked it out with them, all of them. Except that is when you notice that the dialogue always disappeared. The lovely people probably ran for the hills at sight of such a robust fight! And there were always more trolls looking for an argument than I ever had the energy to deal with.
My energy is limited. Oil is limited too, it’s a finite resource. The theory of Peak Oil is not a new theory, and plenty of people wish it to be disproven. I use oil products too and would like it to be wrong, I just don’t think it is. Finite resources eventually run out, or simply become more uneconomic to recover, and that’s just life. Its also the very definition of the word finite. I joke about Peak Rocks, but in many ways it’s not actually a joke. Look at the efforts we have to expend nowadays simply to recover the large rocks used in projects. It wasn’t always that way. If you doubt me, try splitting a granite boulder, then hauling the large rocks back up the hill – that’s hard work.
So anyway, I don’t have the energy to argue endlessly with people talking rubbish. If a person seriously wishes to conduct a dialogue where ideas are exchanged, weighted and debated, then I’m all for that. Unfortunately, the conversation I previously mentioned wasn’t like that. It really is difficult to know another person’s motivations, but I’ve witnessed groups being de-railed by endless arguing, so I chucked in what is known as A-bomb argument ender: How’s it working out for you buying a house? After all, my mother was single in the 1970’s with three kids, and yet managed on one income to buy a house, a car and enjoy a free University education. I don’t ever recall worrying where the next meal was coming from. My argument ender point being that if energy was so cheap now, how come such options are out of the realms of possibility? That question was met with radio silence, which was the entire point.
Endless arguments bore me. About a decade ago I was a member of a local group which bickered endlessly. The final prolonged argument was about aprons of all things. Then the group fell apart. That was so weird. So now I brush such matters to the side, or put a stomp on them when more people are involved. Good manners never go out of style.
However, there really must be something in the water this year. Recently, yet another friend was talking to me about self driving electric cars and large scale battery storage systems. I’ve heard the discussion points before, and they’re basically a different spin on the meme that ‘technology will save humanity’. I’ve got some doubts there. I’m sure everyone has seen films where high tech killer robots are battling it out with humanity, and in a fictional world, that’s equally possible!
What to do when faced with such beliefs? Well, you know, we’ve lived with off grid solar power using large batteries for fourteen years now. My lived experience suggests that the technology is good, but far out, the mains electricity grid is way cheaper, more reliable and delivers more energy. People don’t generally want to hear that. My friend certainly didn’t, so I asked him instead why he hasn’t got an electric car or battery storage for the house? Boom! Proving there is an approved answer for everything, apparently those things will get cheaper. Yeah, sure. I’ve heard that story before too. It’s worth noting that inflation is a real bummer for that belief.
What, me worry? Is actually my thoughts in the matter. I’m not here to argue with the people I know, or even make bold claims about the future on the interweb. The stories are what I see going on in the world around me, through my own biases. And the work we do around here is just what we do, given what we know and being the people we are. Energy is finite, and arguing might make a person feel good about other issues in their life, but it really is a waste of my finite energy.
It’s been another warm and dry week. Long term readers will recall that the last rainfall of any note fell in late January. It’s been a dry two months since then. Still, seasons change and some mornings cool moist air pools in the valley below the mountain range.
Speaking of Peak Rocks, we discovered a shelf of granite boulders which are a bit easier to split into the moveable large rocks. We mined that rock shelf! Most, but not all, of the rocks were brought back up the hill.
Another section of the low gradient path project is nearing completion. We’ve even spread a good quantity of the crushed rock with lime over the path surface. It’s looking good.
Long term readers will recall that this project commenced at about this same time last year. The path will continue around the uphill side of the shed behind me (in the above image), and then the job will be done. We began the process of making that path on the uphill side of the shed, by placing rocks there.
Much of the soil for the low gradient path came from excavations for a new and larger firewood shed. Those excavations continued this week, but the soil was used to make a much flatter site for the future firewood shed.
The site is now flat and ready for construction.
The weather forecast for April Fools Day is suggesting that the dry spell will soon end. Rather abruptly in this case, with a storm originating in the tropical north of the continent. With the forecast in mind, earlier in the week I decided to clean out the steel guttering which collects rainfall from the roof and directs it into the water tanks. Usually I use a mains electric powered blower to blow all of the detritus out of the guttering. This time, that didn’t work. The tall forest trees flowered a lot earlier this year. At times it felt as though it was raining pollen. The gutters were clogged up with the stuff. A hour one job turned into a day long extravaganza where I used the hose to loosen up the gunk, then either washed it away, or I had to remove the stuff by hand. All up a ladder or standing on the steel roof sheets of course.
All of the water remaining in the pipe system was also cleared out into a garden bed.
The combination of dry weather and autumn has produced a lot of leaf litter. A leaf rake is used to collect the organic matter which gets used as feed for the soil in garden beds.
We continued dehydrating the tomato crop. They’re delightful additions to meals in the depths of winter.
With autumn progressing, I’m having to get up in the dark most mornings. Early one morning, the full moon was hanging just above the trees. It looked pretty cool.
The mandarin’s on the tree are continuing to get larger. In earlier years the fruit was smaller, and I’m unsure whether this is due to the different weather this year, or that the tree is now older.
Sandra has finally come around to enjoying Silverbeet. It’s a great plant and easy to grow and cook with. And colourful.
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 10am is 22’C (72’F). So far for last year there has been 218.0mm (8.6 inches) which is the same as last weeks total of 218.0mm (8.6 inches)