LJ70 Build Thread!

[StarCruiser]

Sounds like a decent guy who's offered you the job. I'd take the short term and keep looking, after all, he said to do it. And if you get him out of a hole by welding up his canopies, A, it gives you some more practice, B, it gives you a local that then knows you and C, it can springboard you into a more suitable job. Sounds like a win win situation to me, go for it! [emoji3]

 

[StarCruiser]

Err, Ben, I've got to ask, how come you've got a freezer full of Cane Toads? Have you turned into a one man Cane Toad removal unit? But why the freezer? I can imagine the screams if I did that here and Lynn reached in unsuspecting for the Sunday joint…

 

[fridayman]

... reached in unsuspecting for the Sunday joint…

I sometimes miss Sunday joints. And Friday joints. And Saturday joints... I reckon its risky having cane toads in the fridge if you're into joints.

 

[StarCruiser]

How did I know that was on its way…[emoji4]

 

[fridayman]

Walking out into the back garden with a torch I was amazed to see dozens of eyes staring back at me!

Bloody cane toads!

So the freezer now has another 13 toads in it.

I'm going to toad proof all the fences and gates before Lexi gets here and keep removing them each night and hopefully by the time she gets here we will have a toad free garden.

I've found when you pick them up they start spitting their poison at you from the glads either side of their mouth.

So I'm sure an inquisitive puppy investigating them would get a face full of it.

Congrats on the move up here. You should pop over for a braai sometime - a braai is like a barbie but I use hardwood not gas i.e. we have a beer, chop some wood, a beer, a swim, a few beers, chop more wood, a beer, a swim, a beer, steak & beer, boerie & beer, chops & beer, a long nap. Vegetarians are welcome to come and watch.

We've also decided to get a pup so I've been stepping up my war on terror, I mean cane toads, this morning. I use Hop Stop, a spray that you can get at Bunnings, which first anesthetises the bugger then kills it. Try not to get it on anything else including your lawn! And make sure you can find the toad when it karks it as they really stink a few days later.



We pick Kobe up in 10 days.

 

[AndyCook]

Lots of updates, good to see you are busy and getting lots done. Sounds good having a job to get going on and could lead to better opportunitys with a local reference.

My neighbour was on a trip round northern Australia in a Hilux camper and ended up helping a campsite owner on a cane toad hunt, sounded hilarious

I am sure lexi would learn quickly the toads are bad news

Tasi wedding plans sound great


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Ben]

Thanks guys.

Their in the freezer as I read its one of the most humane ways to kill them. Last night I only found 3 in the back garden, the night before that was 6, so I'm definitely seeing their numbers drop.

Going out at night with a torch and a rubber glove on one hand. I just walk around picking them up putting them in a plastic bag. Then I put the bag in a tupperware box and pop it in the freezer with the other toad boxes.

I'm emptying the freezer of toads on Tuesday morning which is bin day. I will get a pic of all the corpses and have a count up before they go in the bin.

I dont like the idea of killing animals but they are an invasive pest and they have been causing huge amounts of damage and deaths to native animals since being introduced from South America.

BBQ sounds good Fridayman, maybe when you've got Kobe, he looks very cute! We could bring Lexi over and the pups could play together.

Regarding the job front..................................

Its looking like I will be going back to being a carpenter.

There is a lot more work available for carpenters than specialist TIG welders and amazingly their paying a lot more money!

I've been struggling to find companies willing to pay even $30 an hour for TIG welders. Where as carpenters are averaging $40-$50 an hour.

Theres also many positives to being a carpenter over a welder. Timber is a beautiful, natural, clean product, where as metal is dirty, sharp, hot, creates fumes when welded and it would inevitably involve being in a hot workshop as opposed to getting to work outside in the sun!

It will also be much easier for me to sub-contract/be self employed as a carpenter rather than a welder. And that means getting a brand new 70 series and being able to claim back all the expenses of that against my tax, much easier!

So yesterday I did my health and safety White Card training and test online. Once I have the card I will be able to work on building sites.

I've just applied for 8 carpenter jobs, so fingers crossed something comes off next week as I've decided not to take that other temporary job so that I will be able to go immediately for any carpentry interviews I get invited to.

 

[Shayne]

I would put the dead toads around the outside of the fence , a similar method works to keep seagulls away

 

[StarCruiser]

Dear god they would pong.[emoji33][emoji33]

 

[Ben]

Dear god they would pong.[emoji33][emoji33]

Definitely!

And very quickly in this tropical climate!

 

[Ben]

No toads could be found in the garden last night!!!

 

[Shayne]

Wildlife will recognize the smell of death and avoid for much longer than the couple of days you might smell it .

 

[StarCruiser]

No toads could be found in the garden last night!!!

No, they've all gone to Iceland…

[emoji6]

 

[Ben]

3 nights toad free now!!!

 

[StarCruiser]

There'll be more where they came from unless they stop bonking and by all accounts they're pretty good at that. [emoji4]

 

[fridayman]

3 nights toad free now!!!

No such luck here. I'm still killing about 5 per day which I suppose is better than the 10-15 I was getting in the first few days.

 

[Ben]

How open is your garden?

Our back garden is pretty well enclosed but there are a few gaps around the gate and along one section of fence, not big enough for me to worry about the dog getting out, but certainly big enough for toads to get through.

I've bought a roll of plastic mesh which is about 2ft high. My plan is to screw that along the gate and fence and hopefully that will mean no more toads can get in.

 

[Ben]

Toad Exterminating & Up-Cycling.

Heres some pics of some of the toads I caught last week.

You can see the gland where the poison comes out of in the pic below. Its the round thing behind the eye.

Today was bin day, so this morning I removed all the toad boxes out of the freezer.

It was difficult to get a head count as they were all stuck together, but I'd estimate 20-25.

In preparation for little Lexi arriving I needed to make sure all my fruit and vegetable plants are high enough off the ground so she wont be able to get to them.

I looked into buying raised planters or tall pots and they were very expensive.

So I had a think and decided to do some Up-Cycling.

A quick search on Gumtree revealed lots of companies locally who had free pallets available.

So we nipped out and got a load.

had to remove a few pieces from 4 pallets.

First one almost finished.

Dropped some old plastic crates I already had, in the top.

They were perfect as they already had holes in the bottom for drainage.

Bit more building.

Lined the crates with weed barrier material.

Added some compost.

Transplanted my strawberrys.

In the other one I've planted carrot seeds and I'm germinating some capsicum and tomato seeds which I saved from last nights dinner, which will go in the other crate.

After seeing how ridiculously expensive dog beds are in pet shops and due to the fact Lexi will probably chew and destroy one anyway, I decided to make her one using more pallet wood!

Picked up a cheap $10 piece of pet bedding from Kmart.

Made a wooden base for it to go on.

Set a stop up for the saw and cut a load of pieces of wood to go around the sides.

Screwed them around 3 sides, added a few more bits of wood and gave the whole thing a quick sand.

Hopefully it will survive a teething puppy, but if it doesn't is hasn't cost anything apart from a few hours of my time.

We got a pic sent to us from the breeder of little Lexi and compared it a previous one to show how much she has grown!

 

[Shayne]

No such luck here. I'm still killing about 5 per day which I suppose is better than the 10-15 I was getting in the first few days.

I wonder if night lights attract them or more specifically attract the insects on which they feed .

 

[fridayman]

We have quite a large yard and no fence at all. I'm finding the toads under the house where the water tanks are. The tank's overflow runs under a concrete slab and I think that the toads have bred under there. So yesterday I've blocked off the holes so hopefully I will make some progress now.

The dog bed is cool.