Where does the time go!

Time is flying past so fast I think the days must be getting shorter, we seem to have moved from a 24 hour day to a 12 hour day!

Rick has been doing impressive CAD drawings trying to make sense of the all important louvre roof. It turns out our draftsman didn't pay attention to a lot of detail of our house plans. Luckily our builders have used a great deal of common sense and made some changes for instance to the way the verandahs and roof now work together. At times though we have to be consulted, so far with a bit of creative thinking all challenges have been met.


In the process we have been learning some new building terminology though to start with we did think they were having a lend (or a laugh depending which hemisphere you're in).  So now our roof has not only a bastard valley but also a bastard hip!  Who'd have thought it.




We now have the concrete footings for the north and west retaining walls and the promise from Brad the Stone Mason of an early Monday morning start on the wall.

The 'top hats' sections are starting to be nailed into place ready for the roof insulation which will be closely followed by the roof going on.  Then it will look even more like a house..... Yippeee


Our excitement is only slightly tempered by sleepless nights.  Busy minds whirring away trying to work out the best way to allow maximum sun light into the house for passive winter warming and minimum sun light during the hot summer months. Thankfully Ricks technical drawing skills and mathematical mind have really come to the fore and we think we are slowly getting there. Maybe now moving away from the far more expensive and not so simple rain and sun tracking totally automatic option which however hard we try will probably not fit the 'gap'our draftsman has given us. Towards the ultra simple fixed louvre system which obviously requires no power or thought once it's in place, and it will more than likely be just as effective, though not as rain proof.

Historic Vehicle Club coffee run

We are brand new members of the Naracoorte Historic Vehicle Club and currently our historic vehicles are not in the best of health. So it was a welcome break from the louvre roof challenge and very kind of Jenny and Graham to offer us a ride in their beautiful 1948 Rover. It's in fantastic condition being nearly all original and lovely old leather seats and wooden dashboard, pure vintage. Getting out was a wee bit of a challenge due to the doors opening the opposite direction 'suicide doors'. With a little help from my friends I managed to get out eventually! We met the rest of the group at the Sheep's Back Museum and set off at a sedate pace in convoy to Francis, a nearby town of about 300 residents, for morning coffee.

Jenny & Graham

An impressive line up from the Historical Vehicle club at Francis

It was a grand morning out.

Amazing what's in flower now
The weather is changing all the time heading in the right direction and slowly warming up as the days are getting longer.  The weeds are delighting in the mellow weather and celebrating by spreading themselves as far and as lushly as possible.

The mound of rich soil we'd dug from Deb and Roberts drive is now a profusion of various rampant weeds, the most prolific being the Sour Sobs.  They are pretty yellow trumpet like flowers and related to the Oxalis group and so have Oxalis habits.  You can't just rip these little fellas out... no... they deceive you by, pleasingly,coming away very easily but they have the last laugh as every bibule or part of root you leave behind into another Soursob.... little devils.  And then of course they make themselves very attractive to bees... so it feels twice as bad even thinking of destroying a food source for the already scarce bee not to mention if a poison was used the chance of poisoning bees as well.  Which is my perfect excuse for in the main leaving them be and hoping the bees will also be encourage onto the veggie patch to pollinate the plants there.

Talking of which I seem to have a very dense forest of broad beans all of which are covered in deliciously scented flowers. Note to self not to sow them so close together next bean planting season. And now the peas are also in flower. The strawberries are beginning to flower, silver beet (chard) doing well and the parsnips have finally decided to put on a healthy show. Sadly the tomatoes had to go and are currently rotting down in a fresh new compost pit being made ready to replant the Passion Fruit into.  Poor old Nelly Kelly the passion fruit (seems strange to say that as they hardly ever reach fruiting stage in the UK unless grown in a glass house). I digress Nelly Kelly is looking very forlorn having now lost all her leaves. Recent advice indicated I'd managed to plant her in probably THE worst spot on the block.  I'm hoping she will enjoy the new position, forgive my error and thrive.

The citrus trees have also been struggling, possibly from a combination of the poor soil, lack of protection and bore water being a wee bit salty for them.  So Deb very kindly has once again rescued us these great pots which she'd made out of a recycled heavy duty plastic drum.  Cut in half and painted with terracotta paint they look very neat with the citrus trees in.

I needed to make a birthday bouquet for a special lady this week and to my delight and surprise managed to gather this little lot from the garden. Considering we are two weeks away from spring AND there have been recent frosts I thought you'd like to see what I'd found in flower.  Sweet peas, osteospermum, rosemary and beautifully scented narsissi, for greenery I used a sprig of parsley and carrot leaves. I'm amazed it's so unlike what could be found in my garden in the UK at the equivalent time of year.

And last but not least we have finally managed to strip down the Dunny door to discover it's probably made from Baltic Pine.  Which smelt delicious when we finally got to the bare wood, after a good coating of Linseed and Turps and a quick polish of the doorknobs she was hauled back into position.  I think looking very much smarter.