A near escape

30.7.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Amazing, three days of dry sunny weather. It has even been enough to activate hibernating contractors and plans have been made to do the drainage behind the house as the first step to waterproofing. Geoff has built the internal wall and is now worrying over the fireplace plans. It is not simple, like everything else.

It is possible now to get a better mental image of our spaces inside the house and I am now trying to visualise how to do the place up. The brick corbelling on the front corners is very dramatic and set up the tone for things.

OTHER NEWS

There was real drama yesterday when the school bus that was taking kids on a trip to the snow caught fire and exploded. Bo’s eldest son, Morren, was on the bus but thank goodness the teachers acted promptly and got all the kids off the bus safely. The bus burnt to a skeleton of metal and the kids had to wait in the cold on the mountain pass until another bus came.

Morren was pretty shaken but also fed up because he never got to the snow and his new ski pants got burnt. It is actually very rough for the Dixon Creek School kids. They were all affected by the 2009 bushfires and are already having nightmares about fires.

signs of spring

28.7.2011

BUILDING NEWS

It has been dry for two day! Despite the freezing nights the builders have arrived early every day and have almost completed all the arches. It looks pretty special. It is hard to keep up enthusiasm even with the progress because it is a home we need right now not looks.

Edd is still trying to sort out the roof. Numerous phone calls and discussions have still not resolved all the issues but we may be getting closer. When the roof is on we can get the glazing and the whole place will be dryer. We think we can put lids on the chimneys and sky light wholes fort the time being. It doesn’t seem to matter how much energy we expend each day we never get through all the things we really should get done.

OTHER NEWS

Tuesday was too wet for builders so we used the day to go north and pick up lucerne bales. The animals are thrilled about this. The sheep refuse to eat our normal hay but love the lucerne. The cow just eats everything and is putting on weight now she is up in the old vineyard. The strange thing is that so far there are no lambs! I wonder why the pattern of 20 years has changed.

India is coming to stay here tonight because Al is flying interstate for work and there is still a male tenant in one room of the house he has rented. The man is supposed to leave at the end of the month, which will be a great relief. It is not that anyone thinks he will do anything wrong it is just that we are making sure the chance does not arise and at present he is taking up badly needed space.

On the bright side our vegetables in the raised bed are fantastic. We have nearly eaten all the swedes and are working our way through the broccoli. The green cabbages will be next and then the cauliflowers. This at least has been a tremendous success. Now that we are out of the cheese making season I am knitting whilst I wait for the weather to improve. Already there are many signs of spring.

The wattle and cherry blossom have bloomed and the buds on the deciduous trees are swelling. It is such a relief after the difficult winter. Amazingly I have seen the two gold fish in the house pond. After the fires all the burnt treated pine fell into this pond so we moved the fish elsewhere in case they got poisoned. Two fish evaded capture and look perfectly healthy so we were probably not right about the amount of toxicity around. This is good news for all of us.

A fantastic party

20.7.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Rain, rain, rain. Mud too, so building crawls forward very slowly. Geoff and Glen have now only got two more arches to do and then the inner wall and fireplace. That is only a few days work if it would just stop raining! Edd is still struggling to work out how the front roof goes and we cannot start anything else until these tasks are complete.

Mean while I have found a company making light weight dome shells in Australia that might be suitable and affordable as accommodation replacements for our host farm business. Al left room for domes on the flattened area between our house and the ruin gardens in his master plan.

OTHER NEWS

We were all busy last week helping Al move his home and office into a rented house and then prepare for his 40th birthday party. The house needed quite a lot of cleaning and Al had a huge task trying to get on the phone and Internet for his office up and running. In addition to this he found time to build a pizza oven at the back of the house.

Someone must have the ear of the Gods because on the day of the party it stopped raining and we were able to light a fire pit on the front lawn and the Mexican band could play outdoors under a market gazebo. Bo brought over enough salad to feed all of Warburton and baked a mega birthday cake. India worked hard at making pizza after pizza and Carolina and I danced all night, mainly (on my part anyway) to keep warm!

The party was a huge success and a good way to start life in the new place. Edd and I went back next day to pick up the tables, chairs and beer keg and found that Al and family were absolutely exhausted. They had all slept outside in the tents so that their guests could have the beds! We sent Ti to buy chips to go with the salad for lunch as he still had the energy to walk.

Once the party was over the rain started again. I can see that in some ways Edd and I are well off. Living in one small room at least we can keep it toasty warm where as Al’s house is larger and much harder to keep at a bearable temperature. Our exhaustion is self-inflicted because we have been up late every night watching the Tour de France but, what a way to go.

Finally we have an Australian winner. My next ram will be called Cadell.
Yesterday was pretty miserable but India and I spent most of the day shopping for her school shoes. Then we baked a chocolate cake, as it was the true date of Al’s birthday. We had all planned to have tea at Bo’s restaurant but everyone was too worn out to risk another late night.

Progress on the farm

20.7.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Geoff injured himself yesterday and was not able to work today. He is absolutely essential at this stage as he is the only person with arch building skills. Once again we had a rainless day with out much building progress. Edd is still discussing the steel roof of the solar room with metal work people. Yesterday he went to see the works near Shepparton that did all the framework for our sheds. It is not all sorted out yet.

OTHER NEWS

On the farm we had a day of big achievements. Melissa and I inoculated the goats and sheep at milking time and then five men from Eaton Vehicles arrived for a second working B. They picked up all the old wire and rubbish in the vineyard and adjacent paddock so that after lunch we were able to take Donna and Sharron up the road and put them in this area.

They have reduced their paddock above the dairy to a muddy swamp and they were having difficulty coping. Now they are in a much larger area with a dam and t-tree to shelter under. Sharron can now run around in circles getting rid of her surplus energy with less risk of injury.

The men also got the steel ramp from the big polyhouse and helped us put it between the dairy and the shed. This is so the goats can get to the dairy without getting muddy feet. All the goats hate getting their feet wet so they will be delighted with this change. All in all this is one of those days that one feels as if we might be getting on top of all the problems. We are so lucky to have had this help on a dry day when we were able to get so much done.

19.7.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Yes, guess what? It is still raining. Fortunately not as often as yesterday and our student is able to work out doors again today. Edd has taken the trailer and gone north to pick up bales of hay and lucerne for our long-suffering animals. This will take him all day but the builders seem to be coping on their own. Today they are putting the blocks above and around the first two arches. It is very slow work but I think the result is worth it because I love the shapes that are emerging.

OTHER NEWS

I was woken by the telephone ringing at 5am this morning. It was my mother wanting to discuss issues in the will she is writing! I am not sure this is a good sign and I do hope I do not have to make a dash to the UK just at the moment. We are having another go at sorting out passports, just in case. Actually Mum sounded really good and strong and I am so proud of her for being so on top of all her affairs now she is over 90.

Today once the animals were fed I retired into the dong to do domestic chores. I needed to bake more bread but this took longer than usual because I had to open a new sack of flour. The sacks are quite large and heavy. They fit perfectly into the big plastic drums we have but that is only once you have bashed them into a round shape that will fit through the top. This is always a battle.

To add to the problem we were also out of oil and I needed to start a new can. The cans have a plastic pouring devise that fits down for travelling and then has little rings that can be used to pull it inside out for use. This can fought back and the rings and lid pulled off the pourer covering the floor and me with oil. The floor and all my clothes were already covered with flour from the flour sack battle and the resulting mess took longer to clear up then the bread took to make! We ended up with pasta and salad for lunch as time ran out.

I have completed the cardigan I am knitting for Sylkie from the wool I have been spinning. I have not been very productive this year and so far it is the only thing I have knitted. To be fair it is in fine wool and needed a lot of stitches. I am going to knit a matching hat next.

its raining in my heart and everywhere else

14.7.2011

BUILDING NEWS

It is unbelievable. Today it was dry everywhere except here at the end of Steels Creek. After two dry sunny days mud rules once more. Geoff has phoned up to say that he is not building here tomorrow so things are at a dead stop. On Friday he built the first two external arches but there were only two frames so they have had to wait for them to set before they can move the framing on to the next pair of window arches. It could take weeks at this pace.

At least we were able to use the dry days to stack up all the building and other rubbish in the skip. There is still lots of old wire and burnt things left from the bush fires and it always feels really good to get rid of piles of mess. I had been collecting all the plastic off the blocks and the cement bags and putting them in chaff bags but I really had to get them off the property before they biodegraded and released all the waste again.

OTHER NEWS

We took bedding and some bricks over to Warburton for Al today. He and Ti were in the house he has rented in the main street setting up the office ready for work on Monday. The bricks are to build a pizza oven to cook food for his birthday party next week. Some how I feel that this might be rather too short a time frame but who am I to say? I was actually more concerned that he had some warm stuff for bedding as the nights are freezing.

We all feel very upset about the events in our family life this week. Most of us like to consider everyone’s point of view and needs. Up until now we have always managed to sort out problems peacefully and look after all the members of our family when they need help or support. We are on totally new ground when someone behaves in a way that makes this approach impossible. Once a mother, always a mother. I cannot be relaxed if any of my children are having difficulties.

Bo, however, has done well out of the office move. One of the wood work tables would not fit in the new place so Al has sent it over for her to store. It is now acting as a beautiful dining table. Bo had an old round table she found on a tip but it was very unstable and tilted wildly when anyone put weight on an edge. She chucked this table out so Edd and I hauled the top onto the ute. I think it might make a good rat proof lid for the large burnt beer vat that we use to store oats! Nothing gets wasted round here.

foul weather

14.7.2011

BUILDING NEWS

It is foul. The weather, that is. Our brave builders are doing their best to ignore the constant drizzle and have started the brick arches on top of the solar room windows. Yesterday they core filled the pillars and set up their first two bays of scaffolding so they were all ready to start this morning.

Edd went down to Melbourne yesterday and fetched another load of second hand bricks so they have the materials to keep going at the moment. Al wants to have the cut off half and quarter bricks to build a pizza oven so that he can have a pizza party for his birthday. I have ordered a skip for the rest of the rubbish; it has begun sinking into the mud, which is not a good look.

OTHER NEWS

It is school holiday time so yesterday I took Bo’s green eyed monsters to the cinema. Al's X and Ti met us there and the kids conned me into buying an enormous bucket of popcorn. It was so big that when it was empty it completely covered a kid’s head! The film was not as bad as I had thought it might be and I enjoyed the graphics in the scenery. They were beautiful colours and referenced traditional Chinese art

It was Bo’s birthday yesterday and for the next few weeks she is the same age as Al. He came over in the evening to babysit so that Simon could take Bo out. Al's x is going to live in Al’s house and he is renting a place he can use as a house and an office in Warburton centre. Both India and Arden are coming back from Queensland and continuing school down here so he has a busy next few days getting them a home ready.

All the animals are suffering from the miserable weather. Yesterday we got all the sheep in and wormed them and sorted them into two small crofts by the shed. Luckily we are getting more barley from the brewery now so at present we will have to heavily supplement their grass diet. The ewes have been loosing weight and as they are due to lamb I have to try and reverse this trend.

Sharron is really growing and taking almost all her mum’s milk. In some ways this reduces our work because I can hand milk Donna and save us the task of cleaning out the milking machine. The little croft they are in is turning to mud and generally making their life miserable. They have free access to hay in a round feeder but we have brought some lucerne hay to give them something extra each day.

I have abandoned all hope of getting the goats out to graze and they are now living in their bedroom pens in the big shed. We still have plenty of hay bales left and they are looking fatter and more pregnant by the day. I will have to start working out the dates they are due. I am not sure we are really ready for an influx of new babies.

accounts tackled

10.7.2011

BUILDING NEWS

There is a very benevolent spirit watching over us. I have had flu at just the right time and it has kept me inside until all the paper work for our build and our end of year accounts was done. I now have all the finances worked out so we can see exactly how we are going against the build budget. Basically we are over the allowed amount with the brickwork because there are extra features but Ok everywhere else.

However, we have a plan to get back on line with things. The moment I mentioned Stevo to Edd yesterday he drove though the gates. He says he is happy to work with Edd to do all the ceilings and wood work. Not paying for two carpenters will help a lot. If that is not enough I will need to rapidly improve in my rendering skills!

All in all, I feel one hundred times better now I have it all on paper in neat summaries. We have a lot left in our contents budget too and I plan to pay for the artwork in the glass and metal out of that part of the insurance money. There should still be enough for curtains if I make them myself which I always intended to do.

OTHER NEWS

The broccoli is now ready to eat. The above ground grow bed has been so good that Edd suggests we build another one the same as soon as possible. Wombats have added to my rabbit woes. They have made massive holes under the fence and are digging and shitting everywhere in the garden. My father used to complain about moles in his lawn but wombats are like the mega fauna version of this problem.

Bo and kids came over yesterday and we made plans for my day out with the boys. They want to see”kungfu pandas 2” which sounds pretty unlikable. Oh, the trials of being a grand parent! Al has left India and Arden in Queensland where they are having a holiday with his father in law and he has now arrived back in Melbourne. We might even see him for a meal tonight. Luckily I have already baked fresh bread. Our vet student likes the bread and she has been such a great help that I would cook her anything.

On Saturday she got out the horses again and Mossie came to trim their feet. Melissa has combed their manes and tails into beautiful flaxen waterfalls and surprisingly they are already looking fat after a few weeks on the hill. It is absolutely wonderful to have a young person working with them again and seeing them all happy.

Geoff starts the arches

5.7.2011

BUILDING NEWS

We are on the move again. Geoff has completed the block centres to the front pillars and has started on the brickwork that frames the windows. Luckily he enjoys this sort of challenge. Poor Glen has the less romantic job of cutting the bricks to the exact sizes required with a very noisy saw. Geoff says this build is good for him because he is getting lots of unusual experience!

We have also got in contact with Stevo who has been the carpenter we have used for years and he is coming over soon to assess the ceiling and mezzanine floor work. He has told us that it is no use him starting before we have glass in the windows and have got it dry inside. Now, there’s a challenge.

Edd is trying to make a second supporting frame for the arches so that the bricks can set on one whilst they use the other. It looks rather a difficult thing to make to me but Edd is confident in his abilities at this stage. Pity Stevo is not here.

OTHER NEWS

At last I am getting some energy back. I am still coughing but other wise feel a lot better. It has been a real help having the vet student here. She is confident with animals and a big help. Today she has started to sort out the horses. Just un knotting their manes is a lengthy task.

I am gradually winning with the accounts. All the little numbers are retreating, fully tamed into their correct columns and some sort of sense is emerging. It is interesting to see that we spent very little on our last holiday and we are within a chance of staying in budget for the new building.

I feel sorry for Bo who has her boys on school holidays. It has been a terrible week weather wise for them and she had Ti staying with them as well. Her house looks a bit ragged. Sylkie has been having some sort of breathing attacks that have worried us all. The boys get croup but Bo thinks this was more different. She phoned the nurse on call service one night and they insisted on sending an ambulance. Now the doctor has given her all sorts of medicines for emergencies.

I have not been able to be much help whilst I have the flu but hopefully I can take the boys out one day next week and give her a break. Like us she and Simon are doing accounts. Simon was worried yesterday because the new computer he had just brought had swallowed everything. I hope he has retrieved it by now, we will find out because we are due to go and pick up barley from the brewery today.

winter woes

5.7.2011

BUILDING NEWS

The weather has turned against us again and the builders have with drawn to unknown havens. They have constructed the lower part of the concrete blocks in the pillars but the windows are still just propped up. They must have secured them reasonably well because so far they have withstood killer winds and an earthquake. Things are not really going our way this week.

Edd has been trying to confirm the details of the solar room roof. Our engineer has looked at things and so has a steel worker but all we get is more questions that must be resolved. The roof edges and guttering are the problem. The roof is designed to cantilever out over the ends, but I am not sure what drains to where.

Al is away until next week so not much help there.

OTHER NEWS

My flu bug is gradually loosing its hold but for the present I am staying inside and concentrating on the accounts. They got a bit neglected this year and although I booked in all the receipts for each month I did not do the maths. I am a messy account keeper and it takes me ages to get the amounts balancing.

At least I am better of than some of our kids who brought expensive computer systems, paid for some one to use them and have found out at the end of the financial year that there were mistakes made and owe more than they have in tax! All I paid was $20 for a book and a biro.

Each night we watch the tour de France. It is a real landmark in our winter trials. Even the cyclists seemed to be having bad weather last night. We will have to keep a close eye on the sheep from now on. I think that up to six of them could lamb soon.

The goats hate this weather and we are treating several sore feet.
This week we have another vet student here on work experience from Melbourne University. She is a Yarra Glen girl and is a most welcome addition to the work force whilst I recover from the flu. Edd is showing her the ropes today, as he is not busy with the builders.

A new look

1.7.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Yesterday the weather was fantastic. Warm sunny and very dry. All the ground has dried out and life is much pleasanter for all concerned. Geoff and Glen are back on the job and yesterday Edd helped them transport the large arched window frames down to the house site and set them up in the correct positions.

It all looks so different now. I had got used to the way it has been and feel a bit rattled by the change. Al came for a site visit in the morning and we discussed the shapes for the internal ceilings. Once again I have become used to the tall boxes and felt resistant to change. How odd that unconsciously I have already so much identity with the new house in its unfinished form.

I have let Al guide me about the ceiling shapes but I am sticking out for a plane white look that we can do with plaster board and a bit of tricky corner work. Al still feels that there might be acoustic problems but I am very much against using any material that gives off fumes when hot there is very little in the way of alternatives available in Australia.

Today the bricklayers have run out of some vital glue needed to fix the steel rods for the pillars into the slab. I am getting ready to do a transport run down to the city to get some. We have tried asking what materials will be needed so we can get everything on site in advance but it is probably our job to know so this sort of problem keeps coming up. If we were not so busy we might get time to think.

OTHER NEWS

I am fighting off a virus that started with a sore throat on Wednesday. I did a lot of sleeping yesterday afternoon and am back on my feet this morning. Al is feeling a lot happier about his situation and so there is less to worry about there. Today he heads off north on the long drive to take India and Arden up to his father in law in Townsville.

This is one of the wonderful things about Australia. If you are not enjoying the weather, you just drive somewhere else. It has been a difficult time for these Grandkids but I am sure a holiday by the sea in the sun will help a lot. Al and his X are getting legal advise but they still hope they can sort out separate lives with out a court battle, something that is not easy but we all think is for the best.

On the farm the broccoli heads are growing larger by the day and the swedes are big and juicy. The celery has been good this year but strangely the silver beet is slow. The red-hot pokers and arum lilies are flowering and the daffodils are growing taller every day. All the sun this week has brought the chooks back into lay and has increased milk production.