shearing, digging and plumbing

24.1.2011 BUILDING NEWS

What a week! At last it stopped raining and everything started to happen at once. We had some very early starts, 5.30am the day that the sheep were shorn and 7am when the plumbers put the under slab plumbing in the work never seemed over until well after dark. Our plan to have Mike digging footings at the same time the plumbing was done actually worked. Mike got all the large back footing dug before the plumbers started and came and did other jobs for me when he had to get out of their way for an hour. The plumbers said it worked well for them and we were lucky that Mike was so obliging.

The footings are now dug out and today Edd is working in them with a crowbar to straighten out the edges and remove debris from the trenches. The rocks made the ground too lumpy to get a clean cut with the machine so it has to be finished by hand. It is now possible to walk into spaces that will one day be rooms and get some idea of what is to come. The view is good, which is a start.

At midnight yesterday Edd picked Al and his family up from the airport when they flew in from the UK so when jetlag is dealt with we now have our architect back in the right hemisphere. The reinforcing iron has not arrived yet and we have a bank holiday on Wednesday which is a problem but we do hope that the concrete crew will start work at least framing up this week. We will all feel a lot better once we have the slab down and we can get clear of the mud.

OTHER NEWS

The sheep are now fleeceless and wormed but the first paddock of hay cut got a bit wet with a morning shower. This is a very difficult year. The plants like the rain and we are now eating zucchinis and lots of lush basil. The runner beans have slowed down production but I managed to get bags of them sliced and blanched in the freezer, which will be nice for winter.

One great thing is that Mike had the time to dig the footings for the new walls I am building for the garden and he moved all the rocks and mess from the old traffic island. I intend to recycle the rocks outside my new house and make a flat area of grass where they were before so that it is easier to maintain. One rock Mike delicately grabbed with his digger and carefully lifted it over the fence into the medical area of the garden. It was the rock Bo sat on when she sang at the finishing up ceremony for my father and it needed to be in a special place.

My next task is to get someone to help me drag all the old veranda iron up from where we stacked it and work out how many posts I need to put in and where. Then I need concrete footings and I can begin building rabbit height walls. There may be concrete left over from the house footings so I need to get the posts in before the big pour starts. I am used to people asking where to put left over concrete so it seems sensible to have a place ready.

house shape visible

19.1.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Edd and Stevo completed the marking out yesterday working along side of Mike who was still levelling and flattening. Now we can see the shape of the house in pink lines on the ground. The work was slowed because as we dug down we began to encounter rocks. Admittedly they were small soft stones with the largest about football size but it makes digging harder.

Today Mike has started on foundations and tomorrow the plumber is due. Presumably this will make the site look a total mess again. The plan is to pour the slab early next week and at present it is staying dry. We pray that this will last until the slab is down. If this weather would stay it would be ideal because the cooler temperatures would be better for the concrete set.

With the discovery of rocks comes the worry about the damp course. Edd is looking into using a more waterproof form of concrete in case the rocks cause trouble with the damp proofing. That seems a good idea to me. Getting everyone organised is a full time job for Edd. Even though it was cool and over cast it is easy to get sun burnt standing outside all day as he did yesterday rolling out bright coloured strings.

action starts again

17.1.2011 BUILDING NEWS

It was dry this weekend and we have been able to start work again. Stevo found out that our building site was not at all level when he and Edd marked out. Today Mike came over and began to put this right before drains and foundations are dug. Unfortunately one front corner was very low so we have had to move lots more stuff from the site to flatten it. Now we are worried it is getting too low.

Mike reckons he will have finished with the levelling bit by lunch time tomorrow so we will need Stevo again to complete the marking out. We then have to find the plumber. He did not answer our phone call at the weekend. John has ordered the reinforcing iron and it should be here by the end of the week. If all goes well we should be able to do the slab next week but after all the delays I will not believe it until I see it.

OTHER NEWS

It was actually a really good working day today. It did not rain, blew dust everywhere or get too hot! Not many days like this so I got stuck in to my garden project. I have now moved all the rocks and bricks from my new bed area and have put in a string line to mark where the fence will go.

My original idea was to have the iron between brick pillars but I think that if I use posts I could do it all myself. The brick pillars would have needed deep foundation holes but the low brick wall between the poles will only need small foundations, as it does not go above rabbit height. Also it will be easier to fix the old veranda rails to wooden posts.

more rain

14.1.2011 BUILDING NEWS

We woke to a storm with driving rain and winds. Another non-building day. Mike came over after the milking to view the site and talk about digging the foundations. I have decided that it might be best to dig the drains and foundations at the same time so that no one has to drive or dig over the others work. Mike is happy to work along with the plumber and do this so now we have to see if the plumber will work with Mike. They do know each other.

Mike ended up staying with Edd until mid after noon because the floods came right over the Hargreaves road bridge again and he could not drive out for several hours. I was stuck on the civilised side of the bridge and waited out in Bo’s house in Yarra Glen. We watched the UK grand designs program on TV last night. The lady was all inspired about the look and fittings of the house she was building. I do not feel anywhere near that stage. At the moment just having a bathroom with a chair to put clothes on and a towel rail seems the sort of fantastic dream I do not dare to dwell on in case I get upset.

OTHER NEWS

The floods in Queensland, NSW and now Victoria dominate everyone’s thoughts and all the news. Seeing the people on the TV queuing up at welfare desks and picking up second hand clothes brings back our own experience of two years ago when we lost everything in the fires. We really know what they are going through. We are really worried about people living in the country in isolated situations. Like us they will probably be left much more to their own devises compared to the people in the big centres.

We so emphasis with the families who are still waiting to hear if relatives and friends have survived. For us this was one of the worst aspects of the first few weeks after the disaster. I had thought that mobile phones would solve the problem in places that they work but I had forgotten that their charge runs out and if there is no power they cannot be recharged.

At home we are coping with mud and humidity. Everything seems damp and there is nowhere to dry clothes. Today the rain came at us horizontally and blew into everywhere. Flynn had to come back indoors with us as he was getting wet on the veranda. He seems to have slowed down in his growth and is staying at about the same height as Janner. He now has one ear up and one ear down and he is probably as sick of the rain as we are.

weather woes

13.1.2011 BUILDING NEWS

Our burst of activity did not last long. Once again we are defeated by unforseen circumstances and the weather. Queensland floods are of biblical proportions so in comparison our continual rain, seas of mud and humid conditions are relatively tame. However, they are enough to bring all house building activities to a halt and make life miserable.

John the concrete man came today and he and Edd are organising to buy all the reinforcing iron for the building at one time. I heard statements sounding like ”you’ll need to check that out with Doug” which sounded time consuming. Anything to do with engineering usually takes ages. Another thing was that John was on Stevo’s side about weather to do the plumbing after the foundation. Now we have two on each side!

OTHER NEWS

There is nothing useful we can do here. On Tuesday Edd, Josh and I went out. Edd and Josh wanted to choose a new gun and I was keen to visit garden world. Josh is a bit of a plant addict too but this time I restricted myself to food growing stuff. With such terrible weather I am expecting food prices to rise and am increasing our production here. The rabbits are still a problem but everything seems to be growing well in pots and raised areas. The foxes are getting very bold. Yesterday afternoon one walked right past the donga, amazingly the dogs just ignored it.

I was worried that the fox was after our young goats. Foxes often inspect their hunting sites to plan the raid. It is interesting to see that foxes are almost grey now and look very different to their UK cousins. The young goats are about three months old now and still having milk twice a day. The adults were milking well but with the wet weather they are not going out to graze much and the milk yield has dropped.

We have a flock of huge black cockatoos around making lots of noise. It seems true that they come out of the forest when rain is around. Various birds are raiding the fruit trees but I have no nets to protect the fruit at this stage. It does not seem a priority. Brian’s hill has been taken over by kangaroos but the grass is still green and growing and there seems enough feed for roos and cows.

Josh has re enrolled for his Audiology course and is starting to think about the return to Perth. We hope this will be his final year of study. I keep telling myself that by Xmas next year I will be in my new home and all my kids will have finished their education. What we do then I am not even ready to think about yet. If the climate continues to destabilize at this rate we may all have to rethink our plans.

Building at last

3.1.2011 BUILDING NEWS

At last we are getting some action. Today Edd and Stevo are out at the building site with a dumpy level strings and stakes marking out the house accurately.

Yesterday Edd borrowed the 12 tonner from Craig to dig out the house hole to the exact shape and size needed. Our new neighbour, Bruce, who has brought the property where Lynne died in the fires, employed a machine operator to clean up his property. This guy came and drove Craig’s 12 tonner and did the actual digging work, as it was a skilled job Edd did not feel quite ready for.

The house site looks much better now and it will be much easier to get round and do the building work. The next job is for the plumber to come in and put in the under slab pipes so the marking out has to be right. There seemed some confusion about what came first the plumbing or the slab but after a few phone calls to Al in England and Mike the foundation digger we are all agreed about which way to do things.

We have new engineering plans from Doug and now we need to check if John, who is doing the cement work has the current or earlier plans. I am leaving all this communication work to Edd. He can do the man-to-man bit this time. I have still not recovered from our last house building efforts.

OTHER NEWS

The first of the hay is in, thanks to our friends who offered it to us and Josh who helped with the lifting. We are hoping we can get the rest of the hay from other friends who want their land cleared. We have stacked these bales on pallets starting at the centre of the shed and will work back towards the outer wall. Edd is still hoping he gets time to put in a foundation and put the wall up to give us more protection in the shed from the winter weather.

It is really summer now that we are eating pesto again and the zucchinis are trying to take over. I am blanching and freezing runner beans every day that we do not eat them. The snow peas are a disappointment. They do not taste very good at all and are definitely not sweet. On the other hand the lettuces are fantastic so something has come good.

The goat kids are enjoying their new larger pen and are now able to run outside all day. We have to change their diet gradually because they can get sick or die if they get a sudden change. The bigger goats are at last shedding their winter coats and beginning to get the fat, sleek summer look to them. I will not do much cheese making until the little goats are weaned but we have so much else to do now that is a good thing.
The next important thing after hay is to get the sheep shorn. It was too wet before Xmas but is getting to priority status now.

starting a new year

Happy New Year to anyone out there listening.

3.1.2011 BUILDING NEWS

The weather is definitely drying up here even if Queensland is still flooded. Edd has been out with the plans measuring up the house site and trying to get building started.

He thinks the first thing to do is to get Mick here to increase the size of the hole the house fits into and prepare the site a bit better. We also need to move the swales back a bit and fix some drainage channels at the other side of the house site where a sort of creek is trying to form.

Edd has also started to phone up our various trade’s men and make sure they are organised. Our friend Peter has offered to do some special coloured laminated glass if we would like it. He is learning a new technique where colour is laminated in like works of art by a something like screen-printing. Well, that is what I think he was saying.

OTHER NEWS

We have had a very enjoyable holiday period and met up with lots of good friends. Marg and Allan, from Alice Springs, came for lunch one day and Peter and Thea stayed here to celebrate New Year. It was very hot that night but there were so many insects that the beads on the donga door could not cope so we had to shut it. Edd and I had a very uncomfortable night but our friends slept in the loft of Edd’s shed and said it was not too bad there. Peter had the good sense to turn off all the lights as soon as possible, which probably helped.

Bo has had a very busy time in her restaurant and Josh has been working in the kitchens washing dishes and doing food prep, so we have not seen much of them. I took Morren to the sailing club on Sunday and the commodore, Greg, really looked after him. I thought it might be too windy for Morren to sail but he took out one of the little boats and managed quite well. Greg let him drive the rescue launch at high speed, which he adored. Ollie has gone off with a friend to holiday camp so the two boys are having some time apart to ease sibling rivalry.

Mostly I hang out in the garden. Today, I harvested some garlic, runner beans, a cabbage, and kiffler potatoes. I planted out a chilli plant and did more weeding. Watering has become a feature of life again. The goat kids are now in their newly fenced croft and we have put on their collars, with their names on. This year we have gold collars and green name tags. Luckily my notes were pretty good this year and sorting out who was who was simple.

With all the rain we have delayed getting in hay and having the sheep shorn so now we have to organise all that too. That means cleaning out a space in the shed for the hay and arranging somewhere to put the sheep ready for shearing. There is still more fencing that has to be done because we need to complete the fencing round the hill so the horses can go back there again. No time for relaxing yet!