22.11.2010 Building News. At last we have found someone who has done concrete roof before and has put in an acceptable quote. I am very much relieved. Charlie M came over yesterday and has put in a quote for doing the electricity and we keep hearing reassuring comments about how good the plumber is. Al came over today and I had a chance to ask about details I was not sure about. He has obviously thought about all the different bits and worked out solutions, also very reassuring. I guess you could say that today has been a good day.

It looks as if we can get the plumber to “rough in” before Xmas but not do the slab until mid Jan or so. We will be trying to pour concrete in potentially hot weather but we have talked about how to cope with that. Actually it has been really hot this week, plants are suddenly starting to suffer and even I have been for a swim.

Other news …..The dogs very much appreciate the ponds where they can jump in and cool off. Flynn has grown so fast he is now about the same size as Janner but much heavier. He has settled in well and is good with the animals. He is also turning out to be an excellent guard dog. At milking time he stays relatively still and guards the gate whilst Janner dashes up and down all the fences checking that no goat goes the wrong way. Janner takes this so seriously he will not stop for a lick of milk until all the goats are back in a suitable place. Most of the time all this exhausting effort is wasted but sometimes goats do get out and Janner makes sure they are put back even if we are not around.

David H was fantastic this week and helped me clean out a space for zucchinis below where Richard had put the manure. This has rotted down now and we were able to lay some in the new bed. The big event for the day is that Edd’s baby bobcat was delivered from NSW in the morning. We were worried because yesterday the truck driver was stuck for hours waiting to pick something else up and then he had top drive all night. Craig lent us some ramps so we unloaded it and this after noon it did its first work and loaded Edd’s ute with mulch and soil for the zucchini bed. Edd could then back his ute right up to the bed and very little real effort was needed. I just hope that various animals leave the new plants alone!

Dave P has built some really tough gates for the chook and veggie pens. I need to organise hinges so we can put them in place. At present I have to climb over a corrugated iron barrier to water the veggies every day, which is no fun at all. The little maron and aracana chicks have also grown a lot and I think I will have to organise them a larger enclosure pretty soon.

I made cream cheese this week and the feta should be ready to eat now. What I need to do is finish India’s jumper ready for her trip to the UK. The problem is that it is so hot that it is hard to do anything indoors. We have a fan on and a bamboo fly screen letting drafts through the door but it is still hard to get the heat out. The normal temperature in here is 33 degrees C, which is still bearable.