Bits and Bobs

Merry Christmas, dear readers!

So – I’m taking some time out chilling after a lovely morning and lunch with the family on this perfect Perth Christmas summer day.

Being born in the northern hemisphere, Christmas in summer will always feel wrong, despite it being an almost perfect day – clear blue skies, 30 degrees and light breeze.

That said – I did get up early and go for a run to take full advantage of what we have here. 

So – a nice 5k run completed before breakfast – was pretty warm already but I felt ok.  Mixed it up to run along the beach on the way back – was actually ok on the hard sand just on the break line at low tide.

I’ve tried running on the sand before and unless it’s low tide, the sand is so soft and running (or even walking) is exhausting!

Anyways, was a beauty of a morning and I was very happy with my decision to get up and get moving.

I figured I should take advantage of this, because we are moving!

I’ve spent the last few months decorating this house and it’s now on the market – hopefully it’ll sell quickly in the new year as we have this new project.

A wooden cedar pole house in half an acre of garden nestled in the jarrah forests and backing on to national parks some 30km to the east up in the hills from from the beach where we are now.  A tree change, as they say.

It’s a bit of a project house as it’s been unoccupied and neglected for years, but it’s in such a good setting and has enough potential to make it worth taking it on.

We’ve been up there a few days already, taking some things that we dont need from here and stashing them in the house.

I spent all day on Christmas Eve on the roof cleaning out the gutters (its a bushfire risk) that hasn’t been done for 3 years.  Was 32C and I was pretty wiped spending all day on the roof.    YOu can see the state of the gutters in this pic.  And note the lack of guttering on the upper story – the previous owner took them off because reasons, and now all the joists for the tin roof are heavily weathered and a bit rotten and need sorting before I can put the gutters back.  Sigh.

Of course, I found more jobs once I was up there – guttering and downpipes need fixing..nothing major, but it’s more to add to the list.  At least the gutters are clear now.  I chickened out at the front of the house – the front deck is already 2m off the ground and the roof another 2.5 over that – standing on the edge trying to flick leaves off without any safety gear was something I didn’t want to do.  I’ll borrow a harness and get that done asap tho.

Once we have the fences in so the dogs cant escape, we’ll be moving in and the renovations can really start in earnest.

I’ve been keeping running – my right ankle has a nagging injury – achilles tendon or the bursa that runs under it on my heel, but it’s not too bad.  Fitness is improving to the point where my VO2 Max is beginning to hit the green zone finally!

It’s been lovely weather and there’s nothing better than going for a quick paddle in the ocean to cool the legs and feet before the final kilometer run home.  I would go further in but I dont fancy running home with wet jocks and the nude beach is waaay down the end of the bay!

 

The other thing I’ve been doing is picking up my camera again – its been a long time since I took any sunset photos – but the last few weeks have produced some amazing skies.

I’m pretty pleased with these!  Enjoy!