starting again

29.6.2011

Today we have a treat in store. We are driving down to the glass works to see what is happening with the windows. Peter says he has already done some and he is pleased with the results. I love the workshop because of all the colours and textures of glass on display. It is such a wondrous material. In our old house the corner of Edd’s fish tank made a rainbow of light on the brick floor when the sun shone at the right hour in winter. I once had a photo of one of the grandkids catching a rainbow in their hands.

Our windows also tell the story of the rainbow but they also symbolise hope of an era of peace in our new home. One of Sundays permaculture group said that the new building resembles cloisters in an abbey so perhaps the coloured windows will add to the feeling of a sacred place. To me a home is sacred. It should protect the family who live in it and give them the space to lead meaningful lives.

28.6.2011

BUILDING NEWS

At last it has stopped raining! Unfortunately we also have no builders and it seems an awful shame not to be seizing this window of opportunity. Edd rang everywhere yesterday trying to contact Geoff and just when he had accepted failure, who arrives at the gate but Geoff himself. This was fantastic because not only could we organise work to start again but also they helped get the fire insert off the back of Edd’s ute and into the house.

This is the first of our homes internal organs to move in. Very exciting. We think that it may be easier to take the ute and a trailer to pick up the bricks in two trips rather than borrow a truck. Edd has begun moving more of the recycled bricks from our old house to the building site ready for use. We need to mix the bricks from the start to get an even balance of colour so we need all the bricks on site before the front arches can be started. On the other hand the materials are all here to start the fireplace.

OTHER NEWS

Our spirits rise as the mud dries. We are all very tired after many sleepless nights but basically we are still all heading in a positive direction. India has now done her year eleven exams and Josh has also done well enough to keep going on his course. Today the kids have orthodontist appointments so soon I have to drive them to the bus so they can meet X in Lilydale and she will drive them the rest of the way.

At least this has meant a late start, as I do not have to get them to school by quarter to nine. The weekend was very busy. On Saturday there was the market and looking for bricks and on Sunday we had a group of 25 permaculture students for a site visit. Luckily the sun shone this time and everyone could relax a bit.

25 people are a lot to manage in an open area. When this happens Edd talks to the group at one end and I talk to a group at the other. I am not sure if the middle section gets to hear anything. One just hopes that people position themselves to get what they want from the experience. At least when they sit down for lunch in the ruins we can pass the photos and written information around everyone.
We are always impressed with the people who come and really enjoy having them over.

our impossible week

25.6.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Yesterday the truck came to pick up the scaffolding material. This time they did not send the forklift but sent only one man with a crane truck. This was not helpful because Edd had to help him with the loading and then the truck got bogged. Our plan had been to get off early and look for second hand bricks before picking up the log fire insert from the city.

When we finally got off we only had half a day left so we decided to just do the fire job. Everything fitted on Edd’s ute so that part was easy. The company would not take a cheque so that bit was hard. We did ask them about how much we owed when we rang about collecting the stuff so it seems pretty slack that they do not communicate with special payment needs at that point.

The good thing was that on the way there we passed two very exciting shops selling Indian and Asian doors and furniture. I did have the time to check them out and was thrilled to find all that they offered. I will now measure up square doorframes in the house and keep an eye on what would fit.
Having failed to check bricks out yesterday we decided to do it today. We have found some suitable second hand bricks just off the western ring road. Now all we need is a truck to pick them up.

OTHER NEWS

This has been a totally impossible week. We did eventually get Josh off on a plane to Perth but this involved another 4am start, and guess what? This time when I woke just after 2am with the dogs stirring it was Al and India arriving to spend the night here.
India took my bed and Al slept on the floor because Arden and Josh already had all the bed space in the small donga.

Next morning India was totally all in so we put her back to bed for the day and got the school to reschedule her year11 exam. Al had to dash off to work because he had important meetings. I took Arden to school and Edd (who did the 4am run into the airport with Josh) started on the animal feeding.
Really, our whole family has just muddled through this week’s series of dramas in a state of total exhaustion. It has all been very upsetting. I find it really hard seeing people I love so upset. On the plus side the shortest day has now been and gone and the year has started moving back into the light.

The Low-lying paddocks around Yarra Glen are all flooded and have been on and off for weeks. Today I noticed one sheep in the Herbert’s paddock and it had a young lamb. This is significant because our sheep lamb about three weeks after sheep in that paddock. Thank goodness for the working group this week. With their help we have now moved the horses away from the sheep and onto the hill.

some welcome help

22.6.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Nothing happened today. Sue is busy for two weeks so we will have to wait for her to be ready to do the rendering on the parapet. We have to get more bricks on site before Geoff can start the front arches. We always seem to need more of everything than anyone estimates.

OTHER NEWS

We have booked a ticket for Josh tomorrow morning, which means another early start. It is impossible to contact Tiger airlines directly. The phones are too busy and the web site lacks any relevant information. Josh is now missing his intensive course at university but there is nothing we can do about it, volcanoes being well out of our control area.

The good news is that a volunteer group actually turned up today despite the miserable weather and worked hard to clear the fallen trees and wire so the horses will be safe on the hill. This group consisted of six adults from Eaton Vehicle Group and included people with very useful skills, so we got a lot of work done.

With all these people and Josh and Arden here I am spending a lot of time cooking. I made three loaves yesterday but in the evening Beni came over with a bottle of wine and we managed to eat the first loaf before it had time to cool. The next loaf went on breakfast and a packed lunch for Arden and we ate the rest with our helpers at lunchtime. I have made another three loaves this evening.

I actually feel very privileged to have so many people around. Yesterday the rain leaked in near the desk again and our donga is hardly comfortable or even warm. I guess you really find out who your true friends are in conditions like this. Josh has been really helpful, and Arden always does every job we ask him to do. They are both pretty good blokes to have staying. I will really miss Josh when he leaves tomorrow.

a bit of luck

21.6.2011

BUILDING NEWS

We have been amazingly lucky. Last night was terrible with high winds and torrential rain but in the morning it cleared and we were able to core fill the parapet and move the scaffold in dryish conditions. Once the work was done the doom, gloom and storm descended again but at least we can get into the house now.

I have been inside and it looks a long way off from being any thing like a habitable dwelling. We really do need a house when the weather is like this. I so long to sit by a warm fire and relax.

OTHER NEWS

No sleep last night. Josh went out to say goodbye to his friends in my car and at 2.30am his friend Scott phoned us to say that Josh had left an hour ago and forgotten his mobile phone. I went out side but there was no sign of the car so all I could do was wait and worry until Josh got back between 3 and 4 am having realised about the phone and gone back to fetch it.

By this stage there was no point trying to sleep because Edd and Josh left at 4am to get to the airport. This was a wasted effort because his plane was cancelled due to volcanic ash. All they could do was come home by which time I had to get Arden up and drive him to school. All in all it has been an exhausting day.

20.6.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Edd is working hard to get things rolling again after our short break. He has organised for the parapet blocks to be filled tomorrow and we are hoping to pick up the fire insert on Friday. He has also contacted a stonemason on the peninsula who knows where to get the limestone we admired on a wall on the beach.

I have been looking at the situation with bricks. Edd has counted the number of bricks in each arch and it looks as if there will not be enough recycled bricks from our old house. We have cleaned out all the local demolition spots so it would be good to look at places in town, maybe another job for Friday. The builders will need all the bricks ready so they can start the next stage when the scaffold is removed.

My next task is to organise a skip. The waste is building up and the storage sacks will start to biodegrade if I leave them much longer. There are high winds forecast for tonight and more bad weather, nothings seems to be going our way at the moment.

OTHER NEWS

These conditions are so hard on the animals. We are hand feeding them all and now have recycled brewery barley from Simon, which all the stock enjoys. The goats and sheep are now visibly pregnant and the calf, Sharron, is larger and plumper. She walked into the electric fence whilst we were milking her mother and was most put out at getting shocked. She blamed her mother for this and Donna was most put out at the unjust accusation.

mission accomplished

17.6.2011
BUILDING NEWS

We now have chimneys. Next step is to move the internal scaffolding and core fill the sidewalls. Geoff still thinks we should render the parapet before we add the solar buffer zone. One problem. It is still raining; this is far from ideal for the tasks just mentioned.

Al and I have discussed covering the whole top of the building with a tarp or plastic so that work can continue inside before the water proofing is done. The waterproofing needs to be put on a perfectly dry surface and the chance of getting one in the near future looks depressingly dim. If we were able to put the glass in the windows and a lid on we could be totally weather proof fairly soon. This would add extra expense but we would get a house to live in sooner which is rapidly becoming a priority.

OTHER NEWS

Edd and I got home plus tables and chairs on Wednesday evening after an easy drive home. We made a dash up to Kippa Ring (north of Brisbane) using mostly the Newel Hwy. The journey took us two whole days because it was dark about 5pm and we stopped for the night just before 8pm so that we could get an evening meal and settle into a motel.

Everywhere was pretty booked out in Kippa Ring because it was the Queens birthday weekend. Strangely lots of the restaurants were closed for the same reason. Strange policy for tourism. We found a berth in Scarborough beside the sea in a sort of automatic building. Edd collected a key and then we had to try and work our own way in through a series of locked system that would have done a top security prison proud. We totally failed to get our car into the park the first night but next day we were more awake and began to work out the systems.

On Sunday we rang up the people we were buying the furniture from and went to see them to arrange a pick up. Luckily they were friendly and helpful and the chairs were even more like the ones that I lost than they looked on the photo. I felt extremely happy about this. Edd was very impressed with the table, which was amazingly unmarked after 25 years of family use.

We then went to Bunnings to buy packing material and collect cardboard after that it was time to explore. We walked by the sea and found the most beautiful fig tree, it was enormous and many branched. I suppose as we were by Deception bay, which is part of Morton Bay that it was a Morton Bay fig. We ate Middle Eastern food at lunch and found a fascinating place serving Indian Street food for an evening meal.

By night we had decided that we had done enough in Kippa Ring area and that our best bet was to pick up the table and chairs in the morning and set off home. We brought maps and considered taking a different route back but in the end the option we chose was to take almost the same route back but do the journey in three days. This way we would get the best chance of shedding rather than gaining stress. This turned out to be wise because floods closed the coastal high way.

Our first day of travelling was beautiful with sun shine and mountains, There was a slight delay due to road works on the mountain that were repairing massive rain damage but we were going in the right direction and the biggest traffic jam was on the other side of the road. We got to Goonwindi in good time and found a fabulous Chinese restaurant and a good motel.

For me the best bit of the holiday was not having to cook in a tiny space, in fact, not cooking at all, and having bathrooms with mirrors and space. Our motel rooms had heaters and comfortable beds. We found the best deal at West Wyalong on the second night at The May Fair motel. This was by far the cheapest, but also the most spacious and best equipped of every place we stayed. It had rained all day so we chose this place because it had under cover parking and the rest was a surprise.

Our final day of travel was in sunshine again and we stopped for lunch at Rutherglen in a winery. There was a courtyard with a fountain and good food. It was also the warmest place we had visited so we relaxed with a glass of wine and tried to forget about the fact we would be home in a few hours.

Back at home we found everything in order. Bo and Josh had made sure our donga was clean and all the animals were well. The goat, Melissa had been sick and Bo had got a vet out who could not find exactly what was wrong but gave her medicine and she recovered. Bo has not dared to tell me what the bill is yet so I suspect the worse. Usually if we call a vet we get several hundreds of dollars in billing and a dead animal so I cannot really complain.

Josh back so we are off

10.6.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Geoff and Glen are back at work and have added blocks to the sidewalls. I am surprised how much this changes the look. They are starting on the chimneys next. The blocks to build these arrived on time but it was pouring with rain and by the time they were unloaded there was a quagmire of mud all over the front entrance from our shed to the new house site. This makes life hard because everyone who comes to our donga gets muddy.

OTHER NEWS

I actually think we are getting off. We picked Josh up from the airport as dawn broke yesterday and he and Bo went through the feeding regime together. At this point we discovered that the goat Erin had developed mastitis over night. This meant a trip to the vet to get antibiotic injections and teat squirters. I have given Josh a quick lesson on how to use the former. Is n’t it typical?

No sick animals for years and then the problems come just as we are about to leave!
We are still going. Next week I hope we will return from Queensland plus table and chairs. I also hope that the long drive will act as a bit of a holiday and give us a break from building woes. Part of the time it is the Queens birthday bank holiday so no one will be working anyway.

houses once had shippons

8.6.2011

BUILDING NEWS

This is an all time low. Icy winds and continuous rain, guess we can forget builders for a bit. Even so, we were run off our feet all day. The paver people came in the morning followed by Peter about glass and Al about architectural matters. (Good on them all for braving our terrible conditions.) In the middle Edd had to take his car to get some work done and we had to fit in care for the animals.

The E-mail to the stove people does not seem to get through in a readable form and the solar tube people have not rung back. Edd rang up John and is trying to organise for the scaffolding to stay and extra week. I just feel like curling up in a ball and waiting for time to pass.

OTHER NEWS

I have nothing good to say about the weather or other conditions today, but at least we got to talk to nice people. The animals are having a rough time. The goats stayed in the shed with full hayracks but poor Donna, Sharron and the sheep had to seek shelter wherever they could find it. I wish the shed had walls and stall so we could bring all the stock inside.

We used to do this where I came from in the Yorkshire dales. The houses had a shippon on the weather side, which was an extension of the house. The animals lived inside for the winter months and were thrown hay down from the loft for feed. In turn their warm bodies protected the wind side of the house. If I could get into a warm dry place with the animals now I would not mind the smells at all. As it is I am just going to write this and then get into bed with a hot water bottle.