pass the buck day

16.11.11

BUILDING NEWS

This week is crazy. We have so much going on that it is hard getting my head round it. Gary is amazing. He just keeps working at a steady pace and lets everything else flow around him. He now has a helper and together they are hammering the sandstone into shape and slowly disappearing the concrete blocks. Edd is totally thrilled. He thinks it looks exactly as he wanted.

I am more interested in what is going on inside the house where the plumbing and wiring is also being done. The termite barrier guy apologised for the barrier falling off and he is back today reapplying the orange stuff. Edd and Craig are trying to organise the drainage cell that forms the layer over the termite stuff. I just carry on with the grouting. It is quite a nice job because it is cool and fresh in the house. The builders complain our donga is too hot at lunchtime! It is not even 30 degrees then so we think this is odd.

By evening today the back of the house was once again orange with termite protection and the basics of the hydronic system are plumbed in and tested. The head tank is now in one of the chimneys and the skinny plumber was inserted into the chimney to get all the pipes through the bond deck. Pat has wires looped everywhere and some walls have socket fittings in place.

OTHER NEWS

Yesterday there were two more agendas going on as well as the building. David H came over and built made two new above ground vegetable beds and goat keepers from North of us and South of us met here so we could exchange buck kids. I was rather worried about the latter.

My farm management is not at its peak this year whilst we have been concentrating on the house building. The goats are looking reasonably fat and healthy and have their feet trimmed but our fences and sheds are very make shift with baler twine being a prominent feature! We have brought bucks from both couples before and I was worried that they would not think our set up was up to scratch.

The Banjo, the Pinerock buck kid that was brought down for us is a lovely little boy. He has been shown and won ribbons so we are very lucky to have him. He is white but is not from Saanen parents so he could throw any colour kids. Whilst the buck swap was occurring David managed to sort out the grow beds so I now have the basis of a big new area to grow food which is fantastic.

We thought yesterday was pretty full on, but it was even more so today when another group from Eaton came to do volunteer work. We had a very messy area behind Josh’s donga that was full of fallen trees, wire, and a tangle of weeds and long grass.

By tonight these wonderful people had the area all cleared and everything sorted. The trees are sawn up and added to woodpiles. The wire is back on the old concrete brewery floor and the rubbish is down on the burning pile. I feel much happier now about snakes who have just lost their hiding places.