the sick and the cold

11.9.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Our dry spell has ended and we are back to winter weather with hail cold and lots of rain. Dion does not seem to be getting on with the roof very fast. He quoted to do the job but now it seems he needs us to get machinery to do all the lifting. He brought over the heavy front metal beams on a trailer yesterday. We were very lucky because Al was here and he managed to unload them with rollers and a crow bar. Edd was in bed very sick and not able to help.

Edd got chilled working with Stevo on Friday and has not felt well since. Today Stevo worked alone putting up the bits of wood that hang from the metal bond deck on the roof and support the arched inner ceiling. The ceiling frame is made of light timber that can be shaped but it needs cut out supports at the edges.

The back of the house has not flooded after these rains because Gary’s floor acts as a barrier, but the back walls are still damp despite the first sealing coat that was put on. The rain can blow in through the front and so the kitchen floor is now covered with damp saw dust.

With Edd and the goats sick I have had no time to continue with the floor grouting but I did get off on Friday shopping. In Clive Peter’s bargain centre I BROUGHT THREE STOVE HOODS, TWO 90CM STAINLESS SPLASH BACKS AND A DOUBLE UNDER BENCH SINK! This all came for an incredibly cheap price and most of it fitted in my car along with the food shopping and three twenty litre tubs of barley from the brewery.

Al has talked me into granite bench tops instead of stainless steel and he has ideas how I should have the cabinets. At present kitchen cupboards seems too remote a prospect to worry about. I thought if I got the stainless steel splash backs I would have something whilst I think about tiles as I have no clear idea about them either. I would actually love to have ones like I had in the other house but they do not make them any more.

OTHER NEWS

Bindi is still alive and has started eating, though she still is not well. I thought she was lost at one point, as she would not eat at all. I offered her seaweed meal as a source of trace elements and she ate about a cup full, which I felt helped. We have more goat woes because the teenage goats keep jumping out and getting into the wrong queue at milking time. I have dragged round every gate and unused piece of metal I could find and redesigned barriers.

The dogs are also being teen age and have started to chase sheep, so they have to be confined and taken for walks several times a day. I am rather over young animals. At least I have now got the kids and lamb into pens of four so that feeding them is much easier. Stevo helped me build the extra pen because Edd is still too sick for work.