Time to think

12.2.2011

BUILDING NEWS

For once we are thrilled that nothing is happening. Nothing much that is. Yesterday Edd borrowed a truck and fetched the second hand bricks. By luck he found that double donga Dave was back from a holiday and was willing to unload the bricks from the truck with his big machine.

He arrived here with a large bucket attachment on the digger and whilst I was wondering how he was going to move the pallets with it, he flipped the bucket over and exposed two long prongs perfect for the job! After that everything went perfectly and we did not have to lift a single brick by hand. That task is for next week when I have to start sorting through the stacks of our old bricks.

Edd is looking into all the aspects of stage two. Waterproofing seems the largest issue and definitely the most expensive. A quote has come in that fits into the shock and horror category. But we kind of expected that we had been a bit optimistic about how much that would cost.

Now that I can walk onto the slab I am beginning to plan the interior fittings. P showed me some amazing glasswork he had done today and I had a glimpse of how architectural art could turn what is basically an underground car park into a home of character and beauty.

We know a young man in Yarra Glen who does the most fantastic work with metal. How I would love some of his work in the house. I would love him to do the door over the fire and a metal gate for the back passage entrance. The only issue is getting past the cost factor. We are not really in the habit of treating ourselves to luxuries.

OTHER NEWS

Yesterday I spent some time in my private jungle in the small poly house. My rubber plant and some of the other plants needed larger pots. The bananas are huge and the coffee bushes are thriving in this environment. I should have tried the tea bushes in there as even with my rabbit guard the one remaining plant is struggling outdoors.

Josh sorted out the lemon grass and lotuses but I need a bigger pond for the water chestnuts. This year I have put the chilli plants outside but I think they actually did better under cover. The snag was that they kept getting bugs that spread to other plants. The yams grew fine but were all dug up and eaten by rats or possibly mice. They must be very palatable because they even got eaten when I put them on a table that I thought was safe.

I have a lot to learn about jungle maintenance.