Sunshine and Wattage

It's been a period of mending nets, and this is therefore a short post. At least the rain has gone and the sun is out in Nimbin.
Last weekend there was a joint birthday for several friends at Tuntable community hall - this was our first time checking out the premises (confusingly separate from the community run Tuntable cafe) and I have to say, they've done really well at creating a social space that everyone can use - airy, spacious, and subdividable.
Meanwhile, our solar panels were wired up and are now delivering juice to the grid.
The tomato and chili plants continue to deliver.
The mandarines are about to ripen.
The overnight temperatures are falling fast now, and we've been firing up the wood stove in the evening all this week. some component has snapped off - but Vanessa recommended a boilermaker to us so hopefully we'll get it fixed up properly next week. The stove issue has come on top of a spate of hardware issues - broken washing machine, broken bread machine, storm damage to gutters (fixed singlehandedly!), broken car stereo, and ISP issues (in the sense of being unable to work for hours at a time).
Other news:
All our classes are off for 5 weeks for Easter break.
The drainage trench below the retaining wall is (finally) finished - but I still have to build a swale above the wall, put some 75mm ag-drain in the trench and gravel over the top.
Friday was spent with Rob from two doors up, drilling and poisoning the invasive camphor laurels at the foot of the garden. They are a pest, but they do smell wonderful. When they're gone (we'll cut them up after they die and dry up, in three weeks or so) our balcony will have a view to Sphinx Rock - there will be photos of the new Northerly aspect in June or July.
As a reward for our industriousness, we spent Saturday at Shelly beach, just North of Ballina - we have a new default spot behind the flags under the shade of a beach tree (though not a beech tree).
It's been a long week at work, and Easter meant less daycare for K (hence the babycinos). Also, C has been putting in long hours on a complex piece of print work, so it's been a time of little sleep. Proper service should resume on the blog front next week.
I can't let the Pirate Bay verdict go by without comment. My comment is this: Cory Doctorow is correct when he suggests the best way to make money in a world of infinite cheap copies, is "give cheapskates the tools to spend their time promoting... [content], and stand by with a commercial item to sell to the rich, busy people". Locking people up for publishing links won't hold back the tide.