storms, termites and damp proofing

4.2.2011

BUILDING NEWS

The concrete team were back yesterday preparing for the slab pour. The pads between the foundation trenches had to have sand on them to the correct levels and then the whole thing had to be covered with plastic damp proofing. They got most of the job done and began to organise the reinforcing iron on top of the plastic.

Whilst this was going on Edd and I went out to look at second hand bricks. We still have loads of bricks left from our old house but many are brittle because they got over cooked in the bush fires. Finding matching bricks is hard but John our concreter suggested a different demolition place and we found some reasonably suitable ones there. Now we have to find a way of transporting them, bricks are very heavy.

We have had some rain over night but so far it is not catastrophic. Worse news is that the cyclone in the north is pushing down here and thunderstorms and flash floods are forecast. Edd hopes he can get trenches and barriers dug today to funnel run off storm water away from the house site. The concrete team has just arrived so we will all do our best to set up things to survive storms.

OTHER NEWS

Cyclone Yasi is now well in land and so far the friends we have heard from have been spared property damage. Yasi passed midway between the large towns of Cains and Townsville. Several small towns have been devastated and once again the banana crops have been destroyed but there are no reports of any lives lost. This is wonderful because the storm was category 5 and had winds of nearly 300k an hour.

Firstly everyone was warned and then people were encouraged to spend the night in shopping centres that were designed to be safe. The power went out over large areas and today the sewage and water supplies are not working. Trees are down all over roads and rooves are blown off so people still have huge problems to deal with. We know only too well what it means to loose ones house and everything else so we really feel for those people.

Now the price of sugar and bananas will sky rocket and after all the floods we have lost much of Australia’s food crops. It looks as if we will have problems with food prices generally. I am trying to get more edible crops planted so we are hunger proofed. The crops we planted earlier are amazing. I have enough excess to take baskets full to the restaurant most days.

This morning we have awoken to swarms of termites. These insects are everywhere and are thick on some areas of the donga floors. Once they land they drop their wings and presumably start looking for a place they can use as a base to eat up the house! Never a dull moment!