Home Improvements

When my wife & kid were away I managed to carry out the following home improvement projects:

1. Repainting of walls (inside and outside of the house) - the landlord was too stingy to cover for this but agreed to keep the rental rates the same for the next 2 years. The paint job will be carried out by my driver.
2. Relocation of A/C to the play area/computer desk - in preparation for the hot season, I had the idling second room A/C relocated to the area that my wife and kid spends the most time.
3. No more "dripping pee" hot water! - adjusted the settings at the pump so that hot water could be continuous & strong in the bathroom. Changed the hose that was crumpled (limiting water flow) as well.
   

Not related to home improvements: one day after Hari Raya Haji my ex-driver dropped the following dish off for my dinner. It is curry lamb! I remembered last year he also gave us curry lamb after mutton and beef were handed out by the mosques during Hari Raya Haji (Hari Raya Qurban in Indonesia).

This will be my final post before I leave for my 2 week vacation in Cairns tomorrow. We be back after Christmas, see you after that and have a very Merry 2008 Xmas!!

2009 Wish List - Wii, Clavinova or Oven

Tonight my wife sent me her wish list for 2009 in Palembang. The options are:

1. A Nintendo Wii
2. A Clavinova Electric Piano
3. An Oven (for baking)

I have been trying to figure out whether our LG TV had the capability to play Wii because it does not have any S-Video Cable slot! I looked up the internet and here's what I found:

No S-Video cables required!! We only need a normal video jack, audio left and audio right jacks (that all TVs have).

As for the Clavinova, I am trying to find a second hand one that will last us another 2 years but I doubt Palembang has any used electric pianos.

As for the oven, our house will not have enough capacity to support an oven. We are only limited to 2200W for the whole house. Currently we can't even turn on 2 air-cons + the microwave at the same time. This will cause our breaker to trip.

Seems like the Clavinova will be our likely choice but I will still need to look around for the piano.

Green Fingers (Part3) - Our Garden After 2 Months

Here are some photos of our flourishing garden after a whole month of rain almost everyday.
Our papayas are growing very big but still a bit greenish.
Our four angled beans are creeping on our fence.















Below are some long beans and four angled beans in drums.

Green Fingers (Part2) - Growing Your Own Food

In my previous post "green fingers", I mentioned about the plants that I was supposed to take care of. After a few weeks of regular watering and with the help of rain in the evenings, the plants started to blossom.

The four angled beans (winged beans) have started to twirl up the sticks onto the fence. Even the "excess seeds" that were planted by the side of the gardens and drums started to grow.



But the pride of the garden is still the lady's fingers (okra)! Even the yellow flowers looked lovely. Tomorrow I shall harvest them for my dinner.



My wife planted these mini cucumbers below....they have grown bigger as well. The papaya tree that was planted 1.5 years ago finally began to fruit. Let's see if in a few more weeks I can have some papaya to eat.....

Green Fingers

Since my wife went for her vacation in Australia, she left me some plants to be taken cared of. They include four angled beans, ladies fingers (okra) and some flowers.

Here's a photo of a matured four angled bean (or winged bean). Last year the plants were flourishing and those beans used to be one of our staple diets.

We realized that our plants have been dying a few months ago due to "moth-like insect attacks" and also the lack of sunlight (shaded by our guava tree). Therefore, I had to chop off most of the "infected" branches and also those that were shading our new plants (stopping photosynthesis).

I also did some transplanting from a nursery pot to the side of the fence. Added some branches from the guava tree that I chopped off for the four angled beans to creep and grow.

Here are some shots of my newly re-planted garden:



I am no green finger but hope that I could sustain these plants at least until my wife comes back...ha ha ha!