disaster

21.4.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Disaster! After all our efforts it rained all night and when the concrete pump arrived the men refused to drive over the stone Edd had just put down to get close to the building. We then had to have at least one load of concrete fill returned and abandon work.

This is really bad. We have now lost time and our budget is bulging. Edd is very depressed. We were hoping to have an Easter holiday rest feeling we had met targets and had earned a break but this is not to be. The pump drivers also complained that they did not like our scaffolding. It is the new stuff we brought which I thought was perfectly legal. We will have to totally rethink this part of the build.

I assumed that building equipment like pumps was designed to cope with building site conditions but obviously this is not so. Perhaps most places now have the concrete drive put in first. Perhaps we picked the wrong pump people. We loose hundreds of dollars just for the pump even before we pay for the wasted concrete.

OTHER NEWS

The new chooks got bold enough to make the first steps to freedom today. I have been leaving grass just outside the tunnel exit (that Edd made from a tin bucket with the bottom knocked out and a trap door added) to try and lure them out. We needed this devise to get the chooks through a fence into the lower veggie garden. I arranged a series of round tree logs as steps and this worked well. Most of the chooks got down into the garden, had a good feed and then returned to the safety of the shed. I expect they will spend more time out tomorrow.

When the builders had all gone Edd used Skiddy to move some logs that were blocking the way to the washing line gate. This is the quickest route to the new food forest and the next job is to get in mulch and compost round the plants. At least Skiddy copes in all conditions. I am hoping that Edd will be able to use the tractor and back the trailer in under the clothesline with the mulch.

In theory there are some younger people coming to give us a hand this week end. I could really do with extra help. I have put my name on list for bushfire relief help many, many times but have not got lucky very often. I would love to have Wwoofers again but we do not have a proper place to care for them yet. I do not think the vermin in our donga would go down very well.