Reticulation Misadventures

I think this post could be subtitled, "Bloody flippin' hardware store!!" - it's been one of those days.

The one thing I most wanted to get done this weekend was to fix the retic, before the hot weather really sets in. I wasn't too upset about it breaking in the first place - it suffered a few puncture holes when we were forking Sand Remedy into the sand before mulching. At least it got injured in the course of actual productive work :D

So, it needed mending. Pretty simple really - just need a new bit of pipe and two joiners. Of course, I knew Bunnings wouldn't want to play along. I even said to the guys at work last week, I bet we'll go there and look *everywhere*, and they won't have the right bits. The reticulation section is my least favourite part of Bunnings. Of course, it's always kinda funny to see the twenty or so other lost souls also peering hopelessly in to the shelves trying vainly to find the correct thingymajig for their doowhatsit.

(I should warn you at this point - this is going to be a somewhat long, ranty post)

So, we got to Bunnings, and it started well - we took back the two "lifetime guaranteed" showerheads which our unique plumbing system managed to explode, and got cash for one, and store credit for the other (since we only had one receipt). We then spent a significant amount of time wandering around, deciding what to get with our store credit, since the retic bits and bobs are pretty cheap. So here are our spoils:

Wooohoo.

Anyway, reticulation aisle. They, of course, didn't have the right bits. Oh, they've got plenty of one-inch joiny bits. Bits that join one-inch pipe to one-inch pipe, and bits that join one-inch pipe to smaller pipe. Elbow bits, threaded bits, barbed bits, all the little fiddly bits. So, would it kill them to actually stock one-inch pipe?!?! I mean, what are you supposed to do with all those myriad joiny bits WITH NO SODDING PIPE TO JOIN?!?!

So umm.. well, I won't recap on the whole process, but we bought some joiny bits in the hope that we could mend the problem with just joiny bits and no pipe. When we went out to do just that, we found the joiny bit we'd bought was about 5-10mm too short to work. Goddamn.

Fabulous Mr Bon went back to Bunnings to try out some other ideas, and came back with a bit of smaller pipe (19mm), and two one-inch to 19mm converters. So we fixed it! And I took a photo:

And then, we decided to turn the system on to make sure the join didn't leak. And what do you think happened next?!

....

NYARGH!!!! Another leak just a few centimetres to one side of the one we'd just fixed :(

And there was another one about 1.5m away. Bloody hell. No chance of fixing the second one with the 19mm pipe trick, as it was too close to a 3-way joiny bit. So the retic isn't fixed, but if I'm a very lucky Bon, then tomorrow Mr Bon might pop over to the retic shop and buy some one-inch pipe.

So, that's the retic saga - I'll try not to blather on too much about the rest of the weekend. I did have a very productive couple of hours at the end of the daylight hours, helping out one of my orange trees. This little tree struggled with the first hot day of the season, because it hasn't been in the ground too long and isn't well established.

So I treated it to lots of bokashi juice, worm wee and seaweed extract once the day cooled down, and today I gave it the standard Bon's place citrus treatment (this only happens every now and then, mind you).

Stuff the little tree got:

Wetting agent (liquid)

trace elements

activated zeolite

spongelite

Sand Remedy

granular wetting agent

blood & bone & potash

mineral fertiliser

sheep manure

chicken manure

lupin mulch

Whew, sounds like a lot, doesn't it? But the sand here is pretty crappy so it takes a lot of work. Seems to have worked well for the other trees, and the lupin mulch especially breaks down to make beautiful soil :)

Looks a bit happier now, I think. I know it still looks droopy, but that's just the way this tree likes to grow - the leaves themselves look a lot perkier now.

I was going to throw in a picture to show how the vegies are going, but I might save that for the next post since this one already has plenty of pictures.

Dog training went really well :) Tess was a bit sloppy with her obedience, partly because it was so darn hot, but the main thing was that she was quite social with the other dogs which is fantastic to see!

I have some new books I'm also very keen to blather about, but I'll hold that in until next time :D