luminous fungi and earth moving (old post)

15.12.20011

BUILDING NEWS

Frank arrived early this morning and the back fill of the house began. It was amazing to watch the huge machines work within inches of the walls moving vast amounts of earth really carefully. I was surprised at how much they got done in just one day. They have even got the first layer of polystyrene insulation foam in. They dug a trench for this after they had filled the earth in and just slotted it down.

Better still all the rubbish at the front of the house was carefully sorted and the real waste trucked behind the house for burial. Richard also arrived early and has worked hard on the rendering. Edd and Josh got up at the crack of dawn and moved all the stuff from behind the house so Frank mobs could start and guess what? I did more grouting.

Just when it looked as if everything was going to plan we noticed that the glaziers had not showed up. This is really bad news. Why not? They left yesterday complaining madly that Yarra Glen had run out of meat pies but surely people do not stop work over that!

After a few phone calls the boss man turns up with his poor wife instead of the labour team, but by this time the day is nearly over and it is really hot. They did get some of the front panels in but the coloured glass and the rest of the double glass were in the too hard basket. We think we have extracted a promise to come back on Monday but it looks very dodgy.

OTHER NEWS

I have lost all interest in the aesthetic side of our building project, and can now only think of features that make it liveable as soon as possible. Our thoughts are dominated by worries about our family and really nothing else counts for much. How does one deal with these times? Is it better to aim at distraction or just acknowledge the situation as it really is? I suppose that I see my role as being on standby for whatever is needed. Other than that we must work as hard as possible on the house, which will give us the resources to be more helpful.

On a lighter side, Josh has found a magnificent growth of luminous fungi on the big gum tree stump. We all trouped out for a viewing last night and a neighbour with a good camera took photos. Josh had taken some shots the night before but we all felt they could be better.


14.12.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Today the glass started to go in. A team of guys arrived in the morning and unloaded the glass and then some stayed on to put it in. they were a bit of a Laurel and Hardy act at each other all day. Richard, Edd, Josh Stevo and I helped when needed but mostly got quietly on with our own jobs.

I began work on the snug floor because no one really needed to go in there and Josh took his turn at the waterproofing. It was a good job he did because Frank’s gang arrived this afternoon and announced that they will start earth moving tomorrow.

Some big machinery arrived tonight so they are obviously in earnest.
Richard has nearly rendered almost all the kitchen wall and Edd helped Steve put in the laundry doorframe and the last of the architraves. Things really are changing now and it is hard to keep up with all that is needed.

OTHER NEWS

Yesterday the chook run door opened and the chooks got out. Unfortunately the fox noticed before we did and several are missing. Josh and I picked up stragglers all day. The buff Orpington was badly injured so she is on her own in an old beer drum where she may or may not recover but is at least safe from being pecked to death by her former friends. Chickens have no empathy for any of their mates who show weakness.

I moved the sheep out of the earth moving area. This was an easy job because when they saw me they followed me to the gate and went through of their own accord once I got it open. We also need to move the buck but that is harder as he has a sort of shelter that has to move with him. Then there is the fence! We probably should have moved that too. Oh well, we still have two hours of daylight.

I am rather relieved that the hours will soon start to shorten again. The sun now sets over Mt Everard but in mid winter it sets to the right of our own hill, which is a huge difference. We tend to work outside until dark so by the time the hour changes we are pretty worn out by all the extra activity.

resignation

March 26 2013

Edd is off at work today, but he has resigned, so he will be home working on the farm more next term. He was told the job was for two days a week but there is so much paper work that it actually involved a lot more time. He is worried too, that the work will not achieve very good outcomes the way it is set up.

Since he began this job he has been under enormous stress so I am relieved that he is getting out. Now that we are living in a proper house again and the huge pressure of getting re-established has died down we both feel able to relax and as a result the stress of the last four years has started to find expression. We are not coping as well as we would normally do with all the issues that come up and our health leaves a lot to be desired.

Luckily, we get talks starting this week about posttraumatic stress and how best to deal with it. This is one outcome our community achieved by getting funding through the fire committee I worked with last year. I have now stopped all the committee work I was doing because I just do not feel up to it. We have big things to sort out here too. I turn 65 in a few days time and we need to have sorted out our pension scheme by then.

Stevo is doing great things. He and Chrisco built the new water tower last week. Getting the tank on top was challenging, especially as I was needed to work the winch. I usually get as far away as possible when dangerous task are attempted. It was a bit scary but the tank is now strapped on top of the tower and all we need to do is plumb it up so that we get gravity feed to our house.

This week Stevo has started on the wall to install the wood heater in the donga and next he will do the barn walls. We are all getting set up to cope with winter. I have been working in the laundry doing the tiles. All the splash back is done, but I have enough tiles left to put some on the walls too. I will need the doorframes on before I can do this so that I can tile up to them. There is a lot more tiling to do but I decided to start in the laundry because it was the least important area to get right and I had lost my confidence.

It is great having Bo and family home again. We all had a meal at her house this last weekend. Al came over with India and Arden. India has been riding up in the high country and has started to spin up the wool from the big ram we sent up there last time she was down. She told us that they all waded across the river carrying the ram and were terrified to slip in case he got his wool wet and consequently became twice as heavy! Arden has used up all the money he earned on the farm last time he was here and is asking if we have more work for him. There is always more work on a farm.

march marches on

March 20 2013

There was really good news yesterday. Our friend Beni who is living in the donga has finally solved some of the problems forced on her. We had all just about given up hope, and it was beginning to look as if Beni had no reasonable future at all. I just wish that Al ‘s problems also sorted out. We are all trying to visualise a time when all this upsetting business will be finished with and we can start working at sorting out the mess. I am totally unimpressed by the way it all works.

Anyway, with Beni feeling better we all went out to supper at Bo’s restaurant and had a good laugh telling stories about the time we all used to trail ride together over the mountains every summer. We remembered our first meeting with Beni and the rather difficult horse she was riding. She told us that he was a very well bred thoroughbred who had difficult moments. He came to a bad end one day when Beni was helping muster cattle. She went back to get in a lost bull but the bull spooked the horse who threw Beni, and then fell down from a ridge.

Beni found him with a totally smashed shoulder and knew there was nothing that could be done to save him. A friend arrived in a vehicle, but he did not have a gun with him and drove back to get help. Beni could not bear watching her beloved horse suffering so she took off a stirrup iron and tried to knock him unconscious to spare him pain until her friend arrived back with a gun! We had to be pretty tough in those days!

This week’s animal drama came when the young buck, Banjo, broke off a horn spur. We found him in the morning with blood all over his head and the horn hanging down from his forehead by a small strap of tissue. We had to catch him, remove the horn and clean the wound. He is now recovering but he is being much more careful about butting into things. The bucks are now both very smelly and waiting for the girls to start cycling.

The does are very late this year but the weather is so mild that perhaps they think it is still summer. I thought that the shortened day length brought them into season but maybe other factors have an influence as well.

March 19 2013

At last the temperature has dropped below 30 C and cool nights result in morning dew. Plants everywhere are starting to recover. The fig tree has grown new leaves and the paulownias trees are preparing to flower. In the garden we have a glut of very delicious tomatoes and already the Bok choi and misuna are ready to eat.

We have a young man working here filling the holes in the concrete blocks of the shed walls and putting in steel rods so that the timber above the wall height can be bolted on. Yesterday Steve started to build us a new tank stand. We need a head tank so that the water can flow to the house by gravity. All our water comes from rain, which falls on the shed roofs and collects in low tanks. At present a pressure pump supplies water every time a tap is turned on. The snag with this is that it uses a lot of electricity and fails to work every time there is a power cut. We get a lot of power cuts so we get stuck for hours with out water for cooking or flushing toilets.

We had a high tank before and pumped water up once a week. The good thing about this was that if someone accidently left a tap on we only lost a week’s worth of water rather than several months’ supply! Anyway, we are now putting a similar system back and putting up walls on the barn so that we have a place to store fire wood and better protection for the hay and goats when it rains. We have also got the stove back after it has been repaired. We plan to put it into the donga so that it will be warmer this winter. Everything is now possible with Steve back.

enhancing,connecting, embracing

23.16.2013

We have a helper this weekend. Arden is staying and doing all the jobs that I have put off because they were in the too hard category.  He has pulled out all the bricks that made a path down to the toilet in the ruins and stacked them by the new house so they can be used to build a water feature. This means that the area by the donga will be much easier to mow now. It is important to keep all the grass short because it is still extremely dry and hot and there are fires starting everywhere.

Next he shifted compost from the piles mucked out of the goat shed to my vegetable garden and later if he has any energy left he can hammer in fence posts for a sheep paddock. We fetched the new young ram from Seymour last week so I am keen to move all the sheep onto better grazing. It is fantastic having a young fit worker on the farm again. Edd, Beni and I do our best but we are all limited by age and health issues.

The next job is to core fill the block walls round the base of the goat shed. Once that is done Stevo and Edd can put up the rest of the walls. There is still lots of work needed to get back the amenities we had before the fires but now Edd is teaching two days a week things are going even slower.

I am so glad I resigned from the fire recovery committee. There is trouble brewing over what a logo should look like! I worked with that group for a year to try and get help for people still struggling with big life issues and not having proper housing, I do not think a logo is needed and care even less what it looks like!

Even so, we all had a laugh last night because the words under the logo said “enhancing, connecting, embracing”. Edd felt they were really suitable for this time of year as it is mating season for goats and sheep in the valley. The male goats enhance themselves by spraying their heads with urine and semen (they can’t get to a shop to buy aftershave), but if all goes to plan this will be followed by a lot of connecting and embracing so that we will have a crop of goatlings next year.

Bo and family are now in England staying with my mother. I was thrilled to hear how happy she sounded now that she can meet those three great grand children for the first time. I feel like phoning up every day so that I can share in the experience but I do not think anyone would really appreciate that! We all had a send off party for them at Bo’s house last Sunday. India came because she was picking up our old ram who we are giving to the camp.

He is extremely heavy but we managed to roll him into a wheelbarrow and then into a trailer. We loaded him into India’s van at the last minute after the party for the trip to his new home. The mind boggles at trying to imagine how they will get him across the river to the camp. Maybe on the flying fox? We have not heard from India since she left but we do know there are strong young men at the camp so she will have had help.

Dry and dangerous

11.16.2013

It is still very hot and dry. Yesterday thunderstorms set off fires all over the place. The closest was in Dixon’s creek, just over the hills to the southeast. Most of the fires have been controlled fairly fast but those in the mountains above India’s camp are still going. Sadly two fires fighters were killed last week when a falling tree hit their vehicle. One was a young girl, about India’s age who was having a gap year before starting university. She even looked a bit like India. I so feel for her family.

I have to spend a lot of time giving plants water every day. I do it by hand so that we can use the minimum water possible but it is a real effort. I am just managing to keep the young trees going and the vegetables are a bit protected in their grow beds. At last the tomatoes are all turning red but the pumpkins are not doing so well as they struggle in the heat. Perhaps I planted too many zucchinis and cucumbers and not enough pumpkins.

Yesterday we all went out for the day to Seymour alternative farming expo. We went in Beni’s ute so that we could drop off the wood stove that was in the dairy cottage and get it reconditioned. Beni will need it in the donga for the winter. After that we were free to walk round the show, which was quite large. I had to collect seaweed meal and sulphur that I had ordered from Vitec. Luckily I had remembered to take a shopping trolley with wheels, as it was too heavy to carry.

It was very hot and by lunchtime everyone’s enthusiasm was melting away. I left Edd sitting on a straw bale under a tree and went off to find Beni. Actually, she found me, and then together we found the sheep pavilion that Edd and I had missed earlier. Here we were very lucky and found a young moorit ram for sale, which was exactly what I was looking for. In theory, India is going to pick up our ram to take to her camp and we need unrelated bloodlines. Moorit sheep have brown wool right down to their skin and are fairly rare. I only have one moorit ewe left and some white cross breds.

Edd’s legs were very painful when we got home but his doctor has told him he has a bakers cyst behind his knee which is just what a neighbour said weeks ago. Edd went to see her last night and she explained her method for draining fluid away from the cyst and getting some relief. Edd tried it last night and reports some improvement.

He is now settled into the new job but finds that the paper work is so over the top that it impacts on how much they can achieve. He really likes the kids and says that they are putting lots of effort into getting their work done. They are actually far ahead of the standard that everyone thought they had reached. The high school is starting their visits again this week but unfortunately they can only come on Wednesdays when Edd is working away. I have managed the kids on my own before the fires so I can probably cope again and I have told their teacher that he is in charge of discipline!

bridge over the moat and stone garden

First signs of autumn

11.2.2013

My grand daughter, India, seems determined to fight a fire, so we have all stepped back and let her get on with it. There has been another week of fires through the Gippsland mountains and India and her fellow workers returned after a week away to their camp just the day before the fires started to move again. Luckily the camp had lots of support from the CFA in the form of water bombing planes and fire trucks and the cabin was saved. I am just relieved that it is now in the black and altogether a safer place to be. India has told Al that dead trees falling poses a problem stopping the school children hiking up some trails but they are not coming back for a while. India was quite determined to be in the fire fighting action but this time the fire was burning slowly so we did not worry so much.

The weather is staying hot and dry but now the nights are cooler and there are many signs that the season is changing. We are now turning our minds to preparations for winter. John brought his equipment here last Friday and made footings for the animal shed walls. This only took him half a day so he mucked out the goat shed too and we now have mountains of deep litter in the paddock below the house. We hope that Beni’s son is coming to build the block walls this week and then if we can find Stevo we can put up the rest of the walls with corrugated iron. Once that is done we will have a dry place to store firewood and the goats and hay will be better protected from the elements.

In the garden we still have a glut of zucchinis but finally the tomatoes are ripening and we have plenty of cucumbers, eggplants and silver beet to add variety. I am enjoying the wonderful aroma of fresh basil and garlic in the pesto and there are still lots of strawberries to fill up on. Sadly the hot dry conditions have impacted on the fruit trees and for the first time ever there are no apples or plums. We have a few pears and nashi pears on the new trees I planted beside the fence and the blackberries have survived in the gullies.

The agapanthus and red-hot pokers are starting to fade but the autumn glory sedum are staring to colour up. Now that I have a new supply of shed compost I can get working on the garden and revive things a bit. I have to water everything every evening if I want any garden at all. Fortunately my rock garden by the new house is much less demanding.

Edd is into his third week at his new job. He was due to have his other leg tested at the hospital yesterday but they cancelled the appointment so he is still suffering with very painful legs. He actually felt better after working last week because he spent less time walking around the farm. When he is here he uses the ride on mower as transport. It will fit over the moat bridge and drive right into the house entrance if needed. We allowed for this in the design but we did not think it would be needed so soon!