changing colours

1.4.2011 BUILDING NEWS

The weather gods are looking on us kindly this week and steady progress continues. He first wall with glass on the north side is almost complete. Geoff made the bond beam above the doors yesterday. We have probably made a mistake and raised the doors off the floor when they should have been directly on the concrete. This has meant block cutting to get the block levels to match up and means we may have to raise the floor slightly! Bother.

On the plus side Peter has been over with his thoughts on glass decoration and we were very impressed by his illustrations. He thinks we could colour all the twelve quadrants of glass under the external arches in a pattern of shapes that repeats but gradually changes from warm colours in the eastern living side to cooler ones as towards the western bedroom end. He wants to put semi circles of colour in each central lower corner so that they radiate beams of coloured light into the house as the sun moves along.

The other local artwork I would like to have in the house is some metal work from Justin, my friend’s son. He does amazing sculptures, gates and screens. He made the outdoor iron screen for Bo’s restaurant and the ants wall panels inside. When we searched through the ashes of out old house I found the latches from the doors, so I could use these as a model for new ones. The other thing I would really like is a special iron gate door for the entrance to the back passage. I have also just noticed that Al has designed a window screen for the main bedroom west-facing window so perhaps that could have metal work too. I will have to be careful not to get carried away by dreams.

OTHER NEWS

The new raised garden is now complete and planted out with seedlings, thanks to all the help I have had from Dave, David and Edd. Luckily the metal shade frame is about exactly the right side and it is now holding up a net to try and keep off pest and dogs. The first four goats are mated and it is a lot more peaceful now the bucks are moved. The only snag is that they are now down wind of us!

I have begged family to help me with a working B on Saturday rather than give me birthday gifts. I hope this works because we need a gang to move the chicken shed and chooks so that we can get a new mob and have enough winter eggs. The poor chooks have been in the same two orchards since the fires! Our usual practice is to move them to fresh ground several times a year but for a long time this has been impossible.

I also need help with the front garden fence. Now the season is changing the kangaroos and deer come out of the forest and graze in paddocks and closer to houses so the threat from these big raiders is increasing daily. Living off the land takes quite a determined effort in our valley.

sailing

28.3.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Perfect weather, and steady progress. We finished oiling the windows on Sunday night so the first task this morning was wrapping them with a shrink-wrap roll we purloined from the brewery. The idea is to protect them from the weather and falling mortar. All the walls and windows have to go in before the roof is poured so it is worth taking the extra care to protect them.

Geoff and mate spent today setting them up in position supported by leaning poles and setting in the steel work for the walls and pillars on the internal front wall. The blocks are now all neatly stacked so that they can start putting them up when they get here in the morning. After this only the internal dividing walls and arches need to be put up before the roof is poured!

We measured the hot water cylinder and luckily by making the slightly bigger arched door it is possible to get it into the back passage. I assume that the mezzanine floor it stands on will be made of wood. Geoff helped Edd get the cylinder off the ute and tonight Dave has brought his big machine to try and lift the stove off. I am afraid to watch. I hate moving heavy things and it is even worse when they could be damaged!

OTHER NEWS

We had a great a day sailing on Sunday. Edd arranged for us all to have a training session so that we can take out the wooden boats. The kids all feel the need to move on from the access dinghies. Bo came with her kids and Al brought Ti and India. Bo spotted an advert for a cheap boat that we all hope to get together and buy. It is called Gael Force, which is very suitable.

We were lucky that it was such a calm day. Ti and Morren took the sabre out on their own for most of the afternoon. Edd and Al found a second sabre and India got some other smaller craft. Bo and I took turns at baby-sitting and sailing access dinghies. I rather enjoy them especially now I have learnt how to get some control. It is nice to know that they do not sink or tip over and I could get everywhere the others went with out any hassle.

Back on the farm we are well into mating season. Our sleep is broken through out the night as the goatlings express their desire for male company. Every day some of the young does are confined in the yard to guard against under age pregnancies. Today the first of the older goats, Dot and Cindy got their visit to the buck but not before we had moved him and his house to the small croft by the gate. At least his own randy daughters cannot get near him now.

My big task this week is to smarten the garden up a bit because we have a large Permaculture course from Ceres coming this weekend. My winter bed is almost ready to plant out and a bit of mulch will work wonders elsewhere. The zucchini and cucumber crop is almost over and is due to be replaced with spuds but it will probably still look about right at the weekend. Not really, but we might wing it.

24.3.2011

BUILDING NEWS

The internal wall of the back passage is now complete. It has an arched door in the kitchen and two ordinary doors in from bedroom one and two. Edd had lots of conduits to get into this wall so progress was slower. Luckily we only had two bricklayers so we did get some time to deal with other issues. We finished off the oiling job on the doorframes and I unloaded our trailer that has sat for a year filled with scrap wood from the shed building.

Edd has also fixed up the pipes to the tank and put a bolt on the milking shed door. All the rest of the time was spent on organisation and phone calls. G is away tomorrow so we have arranged to drive the Ute down to Dandenong and pick up the hydronic system and wood stove. Never a dull moment.

I am trying to make a model of the free form shower and bath I would like to build. It is a lot bigger project than I have taken on before apart from the waterfall and ponds. I have started the scale model by sticking pipe cleaners into foam and building the model up with papier-mâché.

OTHER NEWS

We have still not found time to completely fill the winter garden bed so I have re-potted the seedlings in individual pots top keep them coping. I think I have worked out the easiest possible plan to relocate chooks and make a secure pen for young stock. I am now trying to sell the idea of having a working B as a substitute for birthday gifts etc to my off spring so that I can put my plan in action.

Our income has somewhat dwindled now neither of us is working, so once again we are having to eat our own produce for basic rations. Last weekend I swapped milk for freshly rolled oats from Heather so I have used them to make chocolate snacks. We have plenty of goat’s cheese but one can get sick of too much cheese.

I remember when we first moved here and our children were always hungry we were not at all fussy about food. All the kids were happy to slaughter a sheep and enjoy the meat. Eggs are such a good stand by. I never get sick of eggs. I can remember once wandering around looking for something to cook for the evening meal and suddenly realising that the field mushrooms had come up. I was so thrilled. It is about time now to look for mushrooms again. We got a few last year so I know that at least some of them survived the fires.

smelly buck season

22.3.2011
BUILDING NEWS

The pace of life swung back towards average today. In fact everything stayed in a middle range. The weather was neither hot nor cold. The sun was hidden by clouds but it did not rain and everyone worked steadily. David H came up and painted oil on the window frames that were delivered yesterday and Edd even had time to fix the pipes that take the rainwater from the gutters on the dairy to the big tank.

At the house site Geoff and a helper continues to build the internal wall that backs the kitchen and eventually got it up to full height. They worked with out needing anything today but I did go and pick up the waste sacks and stuff when a storm threatened. It was awful clearing up the other week once everything got wet and covered with mud.

OTHER NEWS

The young goats have begun coming into season. I have a couple of them locked in the yard bellowing their disapproval of my chaperoning. The bucks have been making themselves suitably smelly for two weeks now and are not going to be at all fussy if the only female that fights through the fence is their own daughter! We really need to put up a better fence or move the bucks but this takes time and we have not seen much of that recently.

I am still getting quite a bit of milk from the adult goats and once again today I made fetta. I made haloumi yesterday but it went wrong. I had to go out in the evening to the dentist with Wayne so I rushed one of the stages and copped the consequences. Oh well, can’t win them all.

I try and put two wheelbarrow loads of something in the new raised garden bed everyday but it is still not full. I am hoping Edd will have time to get skiddy out and fill up the ute back for me so that this process speeds up. I have started to take cuttings from the plants in the lower vegetable garden so that I can preserve my stock when I put chooks in there. I plan to have them moved at the start of April so I will have to get a move on with that too.

family life and cool tubes

21.3.2011

BUILDING NEWS.

The first shipment of windows arrived today and is in Edd’s shed waiting to be treated. Very exciting! Two bricklayers working today core filling some of the internal walls and Edd is struggling to get wiring and plumbing conduits in the right places before the walls are solid. We are both thrilled with the first arched doorway that Geoff has built. It looks even better than I hoped and the uneven colour of the old bricks softens the rigidity of the concrete block work. For the first time it begins to feel like “our house”.

We are all surprised that when the sun shines and builds up heat the cool tubes let in air that feels much cooler. Considering that at present they are just plastic tubes through a wall this is amazing. It must be that behind the house in the trench between the wall and the excavation the temperature is degrees lower than at the north face.

OTHER NEWS

Al and Edd  took the boys sailing this week and once again the weather was great. Bo had to work and I stayed on the farm with Arden and looked after the animals. Bo and dog joined us for a BBQ lunch . Bo is going to lend Al the spare van until his car woes are sorted out.

We heard some of the story of Al’s terrible week, but he seems to be holding his head above water against impossible odds. He and Bella have a relationship that has always been a rather rocky road and it seems they have hit another bump. Bella is telling everyone they have separated but so far there is little evidence. All we can do is give them our love and support and hope something works out that allows them both happiness.

Josh has pneumonia in Perth and I worry because he is on his own over there. We talk on the phone and he sounds reasonably cheerful. My Mum also sounds a lot more at ease too. Judy has now returned to her own family in Yorkshire and mum has paid help with daily living whilst she is recovering from the fall. She has decided she needs to make her own plans for the future like my Dad did, rather than let anyone else decide for her.

Too much happening

183.2011

BUILDING NEWS

I am so glad it is Friday evening. This week has been much too long and far too full of events. Edd and I are getting to the stage when we are too worn out to sleep and that’s bad. But, we have a fantastic crew of brick layers who are working at an amazing pace and despite everything our new house is rising rapidly.
The weather was pretty good this week, which was a great help. Edd levelled around the site with Skiddy late on Monday once the ground had started to dry out. I t was all levelled and compacted for Tuesday morning when once again, right on schedule, Boral delivered the next order of concrete blocks. We are so glad we brought Skiddy. It would have been impossible to do the work by hand.

The large back wall was built last week and half filled with concrete and this week the internal wall of the back passage is taking shape. The window makers came up trumps and Edd picked up two arched doorframes on Wednesday. One is now incorporated into the back wall and the old bricks are in place around it as a frame between the render and the wood. It took a few goes at the design before we all felt happy but the results are most satisfactory.

Our main problem resolves around plumbing. Charlie sent Pat round and he has helped Edd get conduit in for the wiring but we are having a problem working out where the pipes for radiators and other stuff goes through the walls. I remembered too late today that the stove would need pipes going from it to carry the water to the rest of the hydronic system. At least we have not core filled the internal wall yet so we can do some modification. We have arranged to pick up the hydronic system next week and we hope that when we can actually look at all the components it may become clearer.

The big windows should also be ready next week but we are worried about how we will deal with them. Apparently they are extremely heavy and need to be placed exactly where they are to be used. This will cause problems because they need to be in place before the concrete roof is poured so that means they will be out in the weather. We are not at all sure how we will deal with this. Maybe we need glad wrap!

OTHER NEWS

I feel so deeply for the Japanese people who are homeless in freezing weather and terrified by the dramas unfolding at the damaged nuclear plant. Self-pity for our own losses is an area we have had to avoid but one can release some of the feelings in empathy for others who are having things so much worse.

On the home front things are not going smoothly. Josh is thousands of miles away with pneumonia and Al has had his bank account hacked into and his car has developed big problems. He complained when we spoke to him that he was having a horror Monday. Things have to be really bad to have one of those on Tuesday. Bo is getting cooking lessons from her chef so she can fill in for absent staff, and Wayne has flu and is not well enough to have his dental treatment this week.

I am having a better time with unexpected help arriving at opportune times. Dave P came over and put the pieces of my grow box together for me and Rosemary and a friend helped me staple waste plastic from the building site as lining for the walls. We even started to fill the box. I will need to get on with this because Dave also brought a box of beautiful winter vegetable seedlings that will be perfect for planting out once the filling is done. Perhaps we will get some nice vegies this winter after all.

we grieve for japan

113.2011

We watch the news in horror. The scenes after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan are worse than most of the stuff Hollywood dreams up. Last week I was worried about the people here but this puts it into perspective. We are told that now 90 percent of Queensland has been given disaster area status and there are many farmers in Victoria who have to wait weeks or months to get back to work on their land but I realise it will be much worse in areas of Japan.

It was pointless to sit in front of the news channel on TV waiting to see if Japan’s nuclear power plants melt down and the morning weather was perfect so we headed up to Sugar loaf dam for sailing. The conditions there were the best we have had so far and for the first time Edd and I got our access dingy to go where we wanted it to go. It even went quite fast! Bo came up with her kids and we all had water fun followed by lunch at her place.

Back home we had time to get the washing in and clean up the building site before the rain struck again. It took about ten minutes to hydrate the ground around the house site and turn it back to a sticky, slimy, hazard. Edd is in despair because he did not have time to clear a site for the next block delivery. I find it hard to get upset about our minor problems when I see on TV how much worse it is for others.

Last week was exhausting with the builders starting early and needing so much done and sorted. We have reduced our evening workload by weaning the little goats and only milking in the mornings. It is much easier just to bring the goats in for a feed at night and the little goats are also getting used to this routine. They all jump up on the bale by them selves but I need to be fairly firm or have dog support to get them back into the yard.

Getting the mass of milk in the mornings means that this is the time to preserve it as cheese. Today I made feta and tomorrow I have a starter ready to do cherve. (Or is it Chevre?). Mostly I can make cheese in between other jobs as it takes all day.
I am more worried about winter vegetables. The rabbits are making life impossible. Yesterday Edd and I fetched some planks from Yarra Glen to try and defeat them by making a raised bed. The planks are treated pine but I have black plastic left from covering up building stuff and I can staple it on to the planks to stop any chemicals leaching from them into the soil.

eagles watch our build

113.2011

BUILDING NEWS

The sun is back, the skies are blue and three eagles soar in the air currents over our building site. Down below Edd and the six members of the brick laying team are flying along and have almost completed the back wall. Edd has inserted pipes for the cool air tubes and is dealing with other smaller conduits.

Already the wall shelters us from all else in Steels Creek and encloses everyone so that only the view of the dam and surrounding hills make up our world. With music playing and things going to plan there is a relaxed almost festive feeling as work proceeds.

I am back on paying bills and answering phone calls. Edd has persuaded the window people to make us two last minute arched doorframes and they are asking about the required rebate. I wish we still worked in inches! Hopefully the next delivery of blocks is now ordered and we can start on the internal walls next week.

My friends Lucy and Ron from Hong Kong helped sort out possible good bricks from the badly heat damaged ones so the builders have a stack of bricks to start with. Damaged bricks seemed to predominate but this is not altogether bad because I now have a stack of them that I can use on the garden walls with out feeling guilty.

Yesterday we found that heavy rain over night had reduced the building site to mud so the man in charge called work off for the day. Edd and I were rather grateful because things had been going so fast that unresolved issues had begun to accumulate. We were able to use the day to buy things we needed, look at the ceiling in a hall Al wanted us to visit and then call in on the office to discuss the remaining issues.

Al had a beautiful sample of marble that he has recommended for my kitchen bench top. It had an old fashioned silky feel which I thought was fantastic and I liked the pale grey colour. We have looked at various ceiling types and personally I still prefer plain white plaster. Barry thinks we may be able to deal with noise and have this effect.

OTHER NEWS

How lucky am I to have friends who are prepared to put up with difficult conditions and visit us. I have so enjoyed the days that Lucy and Ron have spent here. Lucy told me such interesting things about life in Hong Kong that I now wish that she had a blog and I could find out what happened next. She has a great sense of humour so many of her stories were very funny. Edd enjoyed talking to Ron and so when they left we could swap accounts and enjoy it all again.

We took them up into the forest and were so relieved at how much things are recovering. We even went down to the track at the cascades where the granite rocks were vibrating with the force of the falls. Lucy helped me with the animals and we picked blackberries but mostly the men concentrated on building. With meals out and all this activity time went too fast.

visiters from Hong Kong

8.3.2011 YES. INTERNET BACK WORKING AT LAST

BUILDING NEWS

The brick laying crew are going flat strap and the back wall is growing faster than the weeds. Today the lower half of the back wall was filled with concrete slurry and the next lot of iron bars secured into position. Various conduits for electricity and water pipes had to be put in at that stage which was challenging. I avoided the building site and gave the men a free go at expressing the necessary emotions and made cheese with my friend Lucy from Hong Kong.

5.3.20011 BUILDING NEWS

The bricklayers arrived yesterday at the usual unmentionable hour and started building walls! Edd worked with them to put in the special water proofing material and keep the slab edge clean. By the end of the day quite a large section of the back retaining wall was in place, Edd and I wrapped the top of the bricks with polythene to try and keep rain off the water proofing material. We had some help from Ollie who fetched clothes pegs to hold the plastic in place.

The drains behind the slab are taking a lot of work because they got filled with rain and we realised that the levels did not work too well. We have just about got them right now and just need to do some fine adjustment before the drains go in. We are totally exhausted.

OTHER NEWS

Today the sun has returned. The grey skies we have been having are so depressing it is a treat to be back with a normal autumn day. It was really cold when I left to go to market but now the sun is up and everything looks so much better.
The little goats have found a way to get out of their new paddock the dogs were a help getting them back in. I am surprised at Flynn who has shown an unexpected aptitude for stock work. Edd is now cleaning the fence line with a whipper snipper in the hope that once free of weeds the electricity will deter the kids from escaping.

In the garden I have been cutting out plants that have died and cleaning up the edges. Everything needs a big sort out now the weather is cooler. We have been too busy in the trenches to tackle the fence issue. This is a shame because we are not getting the winter vegetables planted, as we should be doing.

I have found some dead rabbits and suspect that myxo is around again. Our neighbour Andrew says the wet summer has encouraged mosquitoes and that has helped spread the disease. It sounds a good theory, lets hope he is right as we certainly need more rabbit control. The council helps, but not unless a group of neighbours all agree to work together and a whole section can be treated. Everyone is just swamped with other issues up our way so I do not want to add to their burdon.

3.3.2011 BUILDING NEWS.

The bricklayers did come today but only to check things out and leave equipment for an early start tomorrow. (Well, maybe). Edd was actually OK about this because he still has work to do on the drains. Today he is digging away the earth to the concrete slab and then knocking off the edge to the slit that John cut so that the slab has a perfect smooth edge to fix waterproofing onto.

We are waiting for Martin, a water proofing man who is due to look at things this afternoon. He knows about the use of the sealing materials and it would be really good to talk to him before we start the block work. The Internet has been off now over24 hours, which makes everything harder. We had a power surge yesterday morning and it has not worked since then.

OTHER NEWS

There were not enough tools or space to allow me to work with Edd in the trenches so I have been at work in the garden. The first pumpkins are ready to harvest and the agapanthas need deadheading. The biggest job was tackling the weeds. I had to cut back blackberries and thistles that have started on the bank with hand tools. I have the blisters to prove it!
At least we still have lots of food coming in. The cucumbers are fantastic on the bank and the basil seems to thrive in the wicking bed.


2.3.2011 BUILDING NEWS

No builders today. Edd and I worked in the trenches again. We dug them deeper at the end and gradually the muddy water drained out. At least we know now that they really do go down hill! Edd did an awful lot of digging to achieve this. I got totally covered in mud trying to clean out behind Edd until the water flowed. How could we manage with out gumboots?

Once the drainage trenches were fixed Edd got on Skiddy, (the mini digger) and relocated piles of earth and gravel so that the truck could dump the sand we had delivered up close to the slab. In theory the brick layers come and start work tomorrow, so none of this could wait.
As the sun went down we were both back in the trenches with a water jet borrowed from neighbours cleaning off the ledge the blocks are to be built on. It was caked with mud and other debris but it cleaned off reasonably easily.

OTHER NEWS

Whilst Edd worked on Skiddy I got on the ride on mower (known as the yellow peril) and got the grass under control. It is worth doing this because it limits the area where blackberries, thistles and other weeds can take over. Unfortunately we left some of the fire debris in piles and wherever we did this we have nightmare thickets springing up that are impossible to manage.

It is not even possible to let the goats in and get some help from them because the relevant fences are still not replaced. This year we with the continuous rain there is more grass than our stock can eat. I have not even had time to walk through our bush areas and see what is happening there. The saplings are over two meters high already so there will be lots of changes.

With the sudden drop in temperature and all the wet weather the milk yield has taken a dive. It is a good thing the kids will come off milk at the end of the month. Time is going so fast, the hour will change soon too and we will be back into dark evenings. Bo and family chose a good week to be away. They arrived home yesterday having had a sunny beach holiday in Byron bay. They did ask if I wanted to go with them but I don’t want to leave Edd alone with all this work.

As dark was falling we arrived back at the sheds to discover that the young goats had managed to pull down a large number of hay bales into their bedroom. In fact they were very lucky not to be trapped under the pile. There was no way Edd or I had any energy left to restack the hay so the little goats had top be moved into the front area with their mothers. They get a separate room there but they have forced us into starting their entry into the herd sooner than we hoped.