Thread: Embarrassment

Originally Posted by Ausfree

Banjo, the problem with that idea (as I see it) is if you concentrate on getting Karen better, all you are doing is going back to square one, you will be just the same.
Now is the perfect time to say "RIGHT, THIS IT, I AM GOING TO SEEK HELP, IMPROVE MYSELF AND WHEN I SEE KAREN SHE WILL NOTICE A DIFFERENCE". I feel that if Karen see's a POSITIVE AND PERMANENT change in you, she will feel a lot better and that will improve your situation dramatically.
Mate, all you are doing at the moment is talking, talking, talking and feeling sorry for yourself, TIME TO ACT,MY BOY,TIME TO ACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah i'm being posative & i'm going to get help for myself , I just need to get back home for it as my docs down there..Cant just drive down & back that easy for me other wise i would of made an oppointment to get a referal ..But as soon as i'm back down home i will be at the docs..If i could just drive down there & back with no worries i wouldn't need the docs in the first place unfortunatly...I have stoped texting Karen & just give her a quick ring in the mornings to see how she is & how the kids are going...
Karen has a docs appointment on friday & is going to get a referal to see someone & then after some visits i mite be able to get back home & start to get the help for myself....

Yeah i am feeling sorry for myself this is the first time i have ever been away from Karen & the kids & i am trying to survive on my own , its not that good panic a bit & having trouble trying to eat right dont have the fasilities to cook everything dont want to go over to the house cause i feel realy uncomfortable there & dont do anything there anyway.....

I'm realy bored here & i cant go for a drive as i would be wasting fuel & cant aford to get more.....so only going out if i realy have to...

Originally Posted by banjo

Well couldn't get online lastnight having trouble with the internet key thing..Which sux because i signed up to MSN so i could chat to the kids so couldnt do that lastnight..

Went out yesterday & got some petrol in the car & went to the shopping village to get some pipe cleaners to clean the tips of the tattoo guns..
While there i ran into one of my sisters & was chating to her for a little bit then came back here.....

Getting bored lots & walking around alot just doing nothing The internet is bad here so cant jump online much which sux cause that passes the time chatting to you guys...

Not going anywhere today though...

Maybe there are hotspots you can access from your car. One guy I know gets on the Macdonalds net hotspot sitting in his car outside of Macdonalds. Lots of hot spots around here--and I would think a few near you.

I cannot recieve the net at home--get a message similar to "wireless hotspots not available," when I start my laptop at home--we do not have mobile phone, but have been told we have poor mobile reception.

But our local Library has a hotspot that is free, and I know and use others. For the price of a coffee--I do not drink much caffine-- I can get several hotspots around here, plus a few free ones.

Banjo, how far away from home are you???? You make it sound like its quite a way!!!!!

Originally Posted by Ausfree

Mate, I feel your pain, my first wife passed away at the age of 27 in 1974, leaving me with two children aged 6 years and 12 months to raise. Still haven't got over it!!!!

Thanks mate,

Not the best, but we just have to live with it.

Fortunately 6 years was long enough to get me hooked on Land Rovers (although it's probably genetic! )

Originally Posted by banjo

Yeah i am feeling sorry for myself this is the first time i have ever been away from Karen & the kids & i am trying to survive on my own , its not that good panic a bit & having trouble trying to eat right dont have the fasilities to cook everything dont want to go over to the house cause i feel realy uncomfortable there & dont do anything there anyway....

Last Thursday I talked to a elderly man who chooses to live in his light ACE van. Because he does not like gas, he made himself a little wood stove from a 4 liter paint can with the bottom cut out of it and Triangular holes in the side--maybe 2 inches each side of the triangle, one down the bottom and two triangular holes 2/3 of the way up. Inside this is a Milo tin with holes in it but I did not look at these holes. And he puts sticks into it to heat his Cast Iron frying pan [and presumably a billy-can but did not ask him whether he had a billy can].

I have also seen other portable open fires made from a couple of truck rims. If my memory is correct--One on the ground to hold the wood facing the bowl of the rim up, and one upside down on top of it to hold heat in, and wood was fed in to the fire through the axle hole. A billy or frying pan could be placed over the axle hole to heat food. These rims had holes in them which let air get to the fire. Would not be usable during total fire ban, but could do a lot of cooking at other times-- and seemed to me to be a good Idea.

You would need to get a frying-pan--often very cheap from an op-shop, or you can find them by kerb-side shopping during Council Clean-up days. Or even use an old hub cap without its crome as a frying pan-- it has been done. Use pliers as the handle to remove the hot hub-cap and food from the fire. And you would want to make yourself a billy--3 liter Pineapple juice tin, or similar size tin--often this size can can be seen in bins at back of fast food shops. With coat hanger wire cut and bent to make a handle. for your billy Big Nail hammered or punched through it to make hole for handle near the rim.

When you are back with Karen and the kids you could use these ideas for camping trips--try them in the backyard as a sort of family barbeque--fun and different. Cook potatoes etc. with skins on them in foil in the coals--or even without foil in the coals. Make damper instead of buying bread--recipes should be on the net I think.

Or if you buy bread try French toast-- crack egg into a cup. rip a hole in the middle of the bread. oil the frying pan--extra virgin olive oil healthiest oil, place bread on pan when oil is hot, pour egg into the hole in the bread wait till it cooks--hope you have a egg turner to turn it.

I could go on but you get the idea.


Aslong as there is not a total fire ban you

Originally Posted by Ausfree

Banjo, how far away from home are you???? You make it sound like its quite a way!!!!!

Maitland . .
& it is far a way for me ......


I have a series 3 so it takes me half an hour to get here from home up the freeway....

Originally Posted by banjo

Maitland . .
& it is far a way for me ......

I have a series 3 so it takes me half an hour to get here from home up the freeway....

Banjo, if you could try travelling by train--and I know that may be hard for you, but it costs only 2.50 from Maitland to cardiff on a pensioner ticket.

Originally Posted by JohnF

Last Thursday I talked to a elderly man who chooses to live in his light ACE van. Because he does not like gas, he made himself a little wood stove from a 4 liter paint can with the bottom cut out of it and Triangular holes in the side--maybe 2 inches each side of the triangle, one down the bottom and two triangular holes 2/3 of the way up. Inside this is a Milo tin with holes in it but I did not look at these holes. And he puts sticks into it to heat his Cast Iron frying pan [and presumably a billy-can but did not ask him whether he had a billy can].

I have also seen other portable open fires made from a couple of truck rims. If my memory is correct--One on the ground to hold the wood facing the bowl of the rim up, and one upside down on top of it to hold heat in, and wood was fed in to the fire through the axle hole. A billy or frying pan could be placed over the axle hole to heat food. These rims had holes in them which let air get to the fire. Would not be usable during total fire ban, but could do a lot of cooking at other times-- and seemed to me to be a good Idea.

You would need to get a frying-pan--often very cheap from an op-shop, or you can find them by kerb-side shopping during Council Clean-up days. Or even use an old hub cap without its chrome as a frying pan-- it has been done. Use pliers as the handle to remove the hot hub-cap and food from the fire. And you would want to make yourself a billy--3 liter Pineapple juice tin, or similar size tin--often this size can can be seen in bins at back of fast food shops. With coat hanger wire cut and bent to make a handle. for your billy Big Nail hammered or punched through it to make hole for handle near the rim.

When you are back with Karen and the kids you could use these ideas for camping trips--try them in the backyard as a sort of family barbecue--fun and different. Cook potatoes etc. with skins on them in foil in the coals--or even without foil in the coals. Make damper instead of buying bread--recipes should be on the net I think.

Or if you buy bread try French toast-- crack egg into a cup. rip a hole in the middle of the bread. oil the frying pan--extra virgin olive oil healthiest oil, place bread on pan when oil is hot, pour egg into the hole in the bread wait till it cooks--hope you have a egg turner to turn it.
I could go on but you get the idea.
As long as there is not a total fire ban you

I mentioned Truck Rim fireplaces above, but over lunch I remembered something else. At TAFE I once made a Blacksmith Forge from an old Truck Rim as a workshop project--never used it though. And it was set up to also be used as a barbecue. But it should work--never organised a fan for it--I was told to use an old vacuum cleaner to provide the air for a fan, but have never needed to use the forge.

I had done a couple of short Blacksmith courses and a Decorative Metal Work course at TAFE [so did some girls who were in my class] but TAFE stopped running these courses. Made myself a Cold Chisel, and later made an Anvil from a Section of Old Railway Track and an Angle Grinder. Others have made lots of other Blacksmith Tools, etc.

A good project to keep you busy once you move back home. You should be able to find blacksmith instructions on the net.

Coke is the best fuel for a forge--I think yo live in the area where you should be able to get coking coal, or get coke easy.

Except for buying coke, and getting hardwood off-cuts from a local builder to get the fire going before putting coke on it, if you have a hand cranked fan it costs you nothing to do blacksmithing. And A bag of Coke goes a long way when used for blacksmithing. Old car/truck springs are very high quality steel for quite a number of Blacksmithing projects.

And you can pick up much good steel from recyclers, etc. But some steel is not that good--broken cheap Chinese goods, made from cheap lowgrade steel, etc.

There are not lots of people doing Blacksmith, but there are some--a fair few of them. Google this banjo, and enjoy yourself, John.