some minor problems

22.10.2012

I have been too busy to blog. The weather is gradually warming and drying and once again we are able to spend all day outside working on the farm and garden. We have lots of lush thick parsley and the first lettuces are almost at eating stage. The snow peas grow almost visibly and the beet root double in size when no one is looking, over night!

The last two goats kidded on Friday, but Sari hid with her babies up in the Ti –tree, and despite Edd and I spending several hours looking we did not find her until first light next day. She and her babies were fine, but Edd and I had worn out every joint struggling up and down uneven paddocks for hours in the dark and we took a day to recover.

The weekend before we had a better time with Friends visiting from NSW. Prue had an art exhibition in Melbourne so we all met up there and then came back to the farm for the night. We have not seen Prue and Merv for years so it was absolutely wonderful to catch up again. The sun even came out and made everything look good too. I am so enjoying time spent with friends and this house is a lovely space to entertain in.

Now that we are over the main struggle to build we are getting time to sit back and realise just how lucky we are. This place is a dream home for us. I never dreamt we would one day live in anywhere so amazing. We still have lots to do. Last week the plumbers, electricians and the stove man were back trying to sort out the Essa wood stove. The problem had been with the pump that sends the cold water in when the heat is up enough. It had been working too soon and staying on, so the stove was continually cooled by cold water. This meant the wood did not burn right and everything blocked up.

Once it had been adjusted it worked really well and boiled a kettle in a very short time. We now have to bleed the radiators again as when they were drained they developed more air locks. We were told to have a hot fire all day to clean the stove out but not try to bleed the radiators when the pump was on. As a result, by the evening the water started to boil again. I had to get all the wood out of the stove quickly to stop it boiling over. This was the same night that I was searching for the lost goats, and Edd was at a choir concert so I had a fairly busy time.  I am hopeful now, though, that we will get the whole system working well and I will be able to have hot water again.

These are all minor problems; our real concerns are for other family members. Bo had Simon and Morren at the doctors this week and Al still has a lot of issues to get under control. Josh seems to be surviving but is working hard. He spent one week in Albany at the hearing clinic there and decided he liked the town. He gets sent to lots of different clinics where he works on his own, so he is undergoing a crash course in his new profession. I have not seen Wayne for a few weeks but He is still studying his Arborist course as well as working full time so he is pretty busy.