Still some boxes lying around, but the Man Cave (tm) is habitable. I've done a bit of painting and been testing Dreadball rules again (my son likes the idea of it).
I've actually got LESS shed space now (6 bays from 9) but as it's a single large shed not three smaller ones; it seems about the same. Ooh, and I got a shed fridge (allegedly to help my wife with extra room but we really know what it's for) as well as a better shed TV setup. I've forsaken streaming services and have collected ~900 DVDs this year. It sounds a lot but 20c each from the local dump the collection is cheaper than most wargames! There's about ~6 tables of terrain but they stack on top of each other or are hollow so you only see a few tables here.
The wall is mostly wargaming. It goes painted models, books, unpainted models, terrain.
I guess my LoTR count is ~18 for this year? Down a bit on 466 for 2023 but I blame the move...
The dwarves are genuine but the Shelob is a $5 Toys R Us kids toy, the Riders of the Dead are from a Fireforge sprue and the Heralds of the Dead are 3D printed. In other words, a fraction of what they cost from Gee-Dub. 'Official' Shelob alone is $70AUD.
I have visitors - Australia's most terrifying predator. The magpie! No, crocodiles and snakes are not what a true Aussie fears (although I do keep the screen door shut to discourage slithering visitors). It's being swooped by a feathered fiend! I've been appeasing bribing feeding befriending ours so the magpie mafia now appear as soon as they see me in the backyard and tend to come peek into the house and man shed. Yes, I do have kangaroos (lots) in my backyard. No, I have not seen any koalas - although there is a koala reserve on my back fence. Weirdly enough, there is also a lot of ducks.
I was going to discuss some Dreadball thoughts but kids are impatiently awaiting me to read them their nightly book...
Se ve muy bien su cobertizo.
ReplyDeleteYo vivo junto al mar y aunque hay urracas, la mafia aquí la llevan las gaviotas.
Ánimo con el cobertizo, se ve genial.
Gracias por volver a publicar, se le echaba de menos.
Un saludo desde España.
MM
Seagulls are mostly around dumps. The other major pest here are "dump ducks" aka ibises. There is 0 chance of me encouraging either! At least magpies are at max a family of 3-4!
DeleteMagpies are pretty good at spotting snakes and they tend to squawk and dive bomb them which is useful. They also recognise faces - i.e. they'll avoid visitors and stand near me (also means I'm safe from being swooped in nesting season!)
-eM
Glad to see you're back up! My move to years ago pretty much lost me all my hobby space, but the house is a much better for for the family (and less upkeep - or maybe less urgent upkeep - for me).
ReplyDeleteNice to see you back! The fact that you have a 1,200+ SF shed (down from 1,800+ SF) separate from the house just goes to show how cheap land is for you. I wouldn't be surprised if your shed alone has a footprint comparable to the average British home.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I've been doing quite a bit of work on home upkeep and it adds up like crazy. Last year, I rehabbed the garage electricls and wall storage. This year, we finally repainted, that was quite the pretty penny. Still have to address irrigation and the fencing, but they're relatively easy, but tedious. Then the missus wants water filtration which is plumbing work that I have little experience with doing. I'll need to get smart on brazing properly, so I don't flood my garage. Ah, the joys of home ownership!
Anyhow, I've hardly touched hobby gaming in ages, but I keep promising myself I'll get to it once the house is squared away.
- GG
I don't know if it's available on your side of the Atlantic but use PEX fittings if you can. 100% as reliable as sweated joints, simple and cheap (use the crimped PEX fittings with the crimping tool, not shark bite fittings or you'll pay through the nose). You'll end up saving money as PEX tubing is far cheaper than pipe (again, it's that way in the States, ymmv).
DeleteThanks for the advice. We're installing in the garage, rather than in-wall, so it's probably ok to go PEX, but I just don't have experience with it. Because the run is really short, the main expense would be a set of 1" brass valves and less than 5' pipe. Nobody quoted a PEX solution. Anyhow I have a little time to figure out the details. Thanks again
DeleteThe shed is not that much smaller than my house! (100 m2 vs 160m2). The average house in Australia is 230m2 (2500sq ft) so the ratio shows I have a permissive wife! I think in UK the average house size IS 100m2 so I'm quite grateful despite the 'downgrade!'
Delete-eM