11.8.2012

We have cleaned out the Esse stove again and so far we have had about four fires in it with out another blockage!  It burns best when there is a big wind outside and the chimney draws well. If we have a fire at night for a few hours it heats the water and radiators, which is helpful now we are back to cold wet cloudy days.

This week we have been moving more stuff from Al’s office back to the farm for storage. Unfortunately Al injured his back and has not been able to move much this week. Luckily, his girl friend is a very caring and unselfish person so at least now he gets help when things go wrong. He tells me that a treatment he had last week has done a lot of good and he can now drive again.

I am still sore after falling over backwards last week. I stepped off the ladder onto a round tube and my feet skidded out in front of me so that I crashed down hard on the brick floor. I am OK if I only take small steps on flat ground but walking up and down the rough slippy paddocks to feed animals really hurts. Recently I have been doing all the walking work because Edd has a bad leg but now we have to share the pain!

The trouble is that with fences, and bridges still missing, it is difficult to set up an easier system for animal feeding. The weather has been so bad too, that it seems silly to fight it and do major works until conditions improves. Today when I drove to the market in Healesville I saw that the flat lands were under water yet again. The ground is totally saturated and all dams filled, so more rain just causes problems.

All this usually changes very fast and we go straight from flood to drought some years. Our new head water tank arrived this week. We had a head tank on a metal stand that was destroyed in the fires but we plan to replace it this year. I like a head tank because then the water flows into the house by gravity and you can still flush the toilets and have a shower even if there is a power cut.

5.8.2012

This house is amazing. It is so easy to keep at a delightful even temperature. When the winter sun shines on a day like today just a small log fire for a few hours at night is all that is needed to keep above 22 degrees. I am still having Esse stove problems.

This week we brought a load of off cuts from kiln dried timber which were well and truly dry enough to meet any expected criteria. The fire burnt for two days and then blocked again. When it goes, it heats the water and the radiators really quickly but is hard to get hot enough to cook on. This week I got it as hot as possible as the book recommended but it still blocked up. It is very annoying.

AL'S LIVING ROOM 

On a happier note we had a great night on Friday when I cooked an evening meal for some friends here. Everyone had a good laugh and it was all very relaxing. I feel so happy now that I have a house again and can sit and talk to friends in a clean comfortable environment. This house is everything I dreamed it could be and much more and my friends seem happy to come here.