geoffadams.net

Will the Treasurer and, for that matter, the federal governement, ever get it?

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello says there is no point in Australia reducing its greenhouse gas emissions when China and India are such major global polluters.

"There's no point in Australia meeting its emissions target - and we are on track to do so, and I believe we ought to do so when we're less than 1 per cent of global emissions - if you're going to have major emitters such as China and India, which are increasing every year the emissions by more than the total of Australia,"

Which is like saying it is not worth me turning the tap off while I clean my teeth because industry uses heaps of water anyway...my little bit is just isn't worth doing.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1777278.htm

Does today's announcement of the Victorian governments approval of the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere, mean that all our problems are over? Not according to the ACF. At least the state government seems to be a little more switched on than their federal conterparts. Even with the recent announcement of a huge (biggest in the world) solar power station to be built near Mildura, the fed's just don't see the point.

Geoffles recently pointed out an article on the difficulties of "pitching" environmental concerns. While I agree many of the population are self-interested, I would argue that we are also currently very materialistic. It may come down to purely economic arguments to get the plebs and the powerbrokers to take action.

In the meantime, here is an economic argument everyone can understand... Did you know you could save as much as $100 a year by turning your electrical appliances off at the powerpoint?

Just back from the scanning room with more blury images for the parents to be to croon over. Here are the feet on the right. Sarah suggests that they are her feet.

This was the 'twenty week scan' where absolutely everything is measured. I had the feeling that if I had asked for the specs, I could have come home and produced a scale model.

Bean was a little shy today and did not wish to show its face. Even went so far as to hold up its hand and role away! (check the gallery)

Everything looked fine, parents to be glowing and grinning madly.

Sarah is feeling much better than early on. The old morning sickness is actually morning, afternoon, evening, night, early morning sickness. Much nausea, not so much vomiting.

The tummy is growing in front of our eyes. The jacket Sarah was wearing yesterday no longer buttons up at the front today - she managed one button yesterday!

Time now for the dad/photographer to creep out and capture those same shots as every dad/photographer before him. I rather liked this shot. There are a couple of others in the gallery.

Some major furniture rearranging was undertaken a couple of weekends ago. Bean now has it's own chest of drawers and space for sleeping arrangements. Luckily, even the printer is wireless, as there are all sorts of goodies in strange places around the abode.

Enough rambling from me. Time for a restful holiday on the beach.

meet Bean Adams...this shot was taken at around nine weeks. Bean is now almost 17 weeks. We hope to have a clearer shot of Bean by the beginning of Feb 07 when it hopefully sticks its head out. Bean can be reached at bean at adams.net.au

Thought it time I sorted out some of the feeds for this site. After some hunting, I discovered some kind soul had developed an RSS module for Gallery2 (the one thing I missed following the upgrade from G1).

I have added some relevant feed links to the sidebar to enable choice for readers. Enjoy.

If those poles look heavy, just try moving them! It was all hands on deck for the raising of the frame weekend. An amazing effort from everyone involved, we were very lucky to have so many willing helpers. We began with a flat piece of ground and by the end of the weekend, we had a very recognisable three dimensional structure.

The big challenge was to work out how we were going to lift the rather large trusses on to the posts that are about 2.5 metres high. In the end we opted for the partial dismantling of the trusses to make it easier to lift. They were made about 150 years ago by hand and are all joined using traditional mortise and tenon joints. Even though it made it easier to lift the main part of the truss, putting it all back together the next day was still interesting.

The ridge beam went up during Sunday afternoon. With fewer people, we had to think laterally. More ropes and ladders, they were up in a flash.

It was amazing to see it take shape over such a sort time. The next step is to install the rafters and collar ties, followed by the purlins. Now that the posts are up, we will arrange for the laying of termite and damp protection.

It was great to get the main part of the frame together, the next few steps I can we can do on our own - until to bricks arrive!

Thankyou so much to everyone who came along and lent a hand, it makes a big difference to have such good thinkers and doers at times like these. In order of appearance; Rex, Robbie, Tim, Jesse, Ako, Geoffles, Marieke, Penny, Spencer and Barbie.

To keep informed of the next workparty, subscribe to the works calendar RSS feed. Also, don't forget to check out the photos on the works gallery.

Excitement was withheld until we actually sited the 12 tonne truck with all the goodies onboard. It is amazing to have it all sitting there, waiting for action...from us.there was quite a list:

• 6 red gum roof trusses from a 150 year old woolshed in Deniliquin,
• 6 x 250-300mm matching round poles (roughly 6m),
• 6 x 200mm square posts from Station Pier (6m),
• 6 rafters (4m),
• ceiling lining 70m2,
• plenty of purlins ,
• 3 collar ties (5m), and,
• 12metres of ridge beam!

a huge thankyou to Richie for organising all the goodies and driving all of it to the block.
Now all we need are the doers and thinkers to make this three dimensional thing we have been talking about.

Our next major job is to start constructing the frame, hopefully as soon as next weekend. It all depends if we can muster enough humans to assist.

Muddies have been ordered and made, delivery will hopefully be in about a week, wow.