House update and The Naracoorte Show

Brad was on a mission to finish the walls before his holiday began at the end of the week. As the wall took shape so did our thoughts on the actual wall heights. They are low enough now to let in more natural light but still high enough to hide our blushes and not to shock the neighbours (for which I am sure they will be grateful), when we shower.

The stones were quarried locally and when you take a closer look they hold a beautiful treasure trove of natural history. Shells and ocean flora and fauna trapped and hidden for thousands of years, slowly turning into what we now call Paddock stone.

It is hard to imagine just how old this shell is and fantastic it wasn't damaged in the quarrying.

Once the wall was complete Rick could crack on with finishing the verandah louvres. With much contorting and grimacing later it was a job well done. They look fantastic and the angle and distance the blades were finally set at seem to work well. This week has been really hot and sunny, temperatures in the 30's already and even without the ceiling insulation finished it is still fairly cool in the house.

The Naracoorte Show

The 151th Naracoorte Annual Show was held at the weekend and the Naracoorte Spinning Group were to be represented. In true laid back fashion anyone who wanted to be there to set it up and stay and spin were welcome. Requests were made for skeins and balls of yarns, home knitted items, well infact anything which had been homemade to be taken for display. Up to this request I was still very undecided if what I'd managed to spin could be turn into anything recognisable. Slightly shamed by the fact that Deb had already spun and knitted a beautiful alpaca and wool snood/scarf I was persuaded to make something, with just two weeks to go it had to be pretty simple.....

So here it is my very first attempt at spinning yarn and knitted into a Japanese Knot Bag, which I even lined with Calico. Very rustic looking but a clever pattern as it is knitted in the round the only seam is the base.

This is our Spinning Corner. We had four very different wheels there in total, one was set up for anyone to try their hand at spinning. We had people of all ages having a go.

Alison in pole position to chat to passersby.

I thought the display was amazing, from wall hangings to finely spun and knitted throws, jumpers, beanies, scarfs, dolls, felt, all hand made some even hand dyed. We also had bags of many different yarns, loads of different skeins and balls of yarn.

Isabel and Jan catching up

It was great fun and I was amazed just how many people stopped to chat and tell their stories. Jan did a fantastic job getting people to give it a go, from Littleies who couldn't reach the treadle to the Biggies who always wanted to try. Some were brilliant at it straight away.

It's a 1st!
Just before leaving for the show I got a call from one of the girls saying she needed Sweet Peas, so I grabbed the bunch I'd picked the day before and Deb and I headed off to raid her garden.

At lunchtime Isabel congratulated me on getting a first, I had no idea what she was talking about. It turned out that there would have been only one entrant for the Sweet Pea class at the show. Isabel realising this rang around and 'conned' three of us spinning ladies into bringing in Sweet Peas and duly entered us all for the competition. It was hilarious that we managed to win 1st, 2nd and 3rd with mine and Deb's bunch coming 1st!!!!

Our prize winning Sweet Peas

The first time we'd entered anything like that

A picture's worth a thousand words.....

or so the saying goes
where the time's gone these last few weeks.... goodness only knows...

With two weeks worth of news/happenings to report on I will try and keep this brief.....

As the house progresses to lock up it seems there is more and more demand for our input. Which is great fun as well as being slightly stressful at times with unexpected requests sending us scurrying around doing research or trying to source what ever is needed. Sometimes after a couple of sleepless nights we come up with a more creative way forward.... as with the outside shower.

It turned out there was a rare mis-communication between the builders so after a flurry of waterproofing activity in the outside shower it was ready for Brad the Stone Mason to build the walls.

Ricks trumpet!

Rick got going with copper pipes, brass fittings and the welder and created what was first thought to be a trumpet!
It is infact the pipe work for the outside shower, it's going to look wicked once it's been polished up. Brad is setting it into the wall along with a beautiful chunk of River Red Gum for us to attach the pipes to. Unique and perfect for us.

Both the Paddock and Mount Gambier stone are porous so once the walls are completed they will be sprayed with a silicone mix. Sealing the stone and allowing the beauty of it to be seen and us to shower without causing problems with the structure of the house.

Much gyproc action in the house and we have rooms! YEAY!!

The long awaited Louvres arrived from Perth and we set too fitting them. There are three sections in total and were set to 30 degrees.... but the supports the struts were to be slotted into were set at a slightly different angle. Hmmm.... much chin scratching later and we decided to increase the space of the blades to compensate.

Fingers crossed this works out as it will be a devil of a job to do it again.

Rick was Chief Fitter and me the Goffer which worked out very well. Only challenge for me was the wind picking up speed when I picked up the really long blades. It had a wee bit of a helicopter effect.... eeek!

News Flash
Rick has since been promoted from Chief Fitter. There was much mirth this week when he received a letter addressed to Rear Admiral Rick C. Brilliant.......but he hasn't let it go to his head.

There has been an outing to Mount Gambier to check out tiles for the kitchen and wet areas. Luckily we both like the same things so getting what we like and keeping within our budget looks to be the biggest challenges.

The Veggie Patch

Is still doing well despite the strong winds doing their best to flatten the broad beans. Jack and the Giant would have been proud of stalks! Unfortunately I need to climb into the 'no dig - no trample bed' to pick the beans, hay ho. The second crop are thankfully a lot shorter and already producing beans.

Happiness is a basket of freshly picked pods on a glorious sunny spring day

Adventures

Dimboola (over the border in Victoria) were hosting a Swap Meet (like a UK car boot sale) and Dora needed a good run. On normal roads Dimboola is about 2 1/2 hours drive away, it took us a little longer as we headed off across the corner of the Little Desert for some of the journey which was great fun. At times we had no idea of where we were, the newly acquired map of the area and freshly updated Roger (the GPS) didn't help! But using Ricks instinct and which side of the car the sun was we some how manged.

Beside a creek somewhere on the west side of the Little Desert 

No idea what the shrub is but loved these tiny spring flowers

This beautiful Goanna ran across the road in front of us and shot up the nearest Gum. Very impressive tree climbing skills.

On the way back we went through this dear little town. The sign declared there was once a population of 92 which today has been reduced to 10.

Fred thinking all his birthdays have arrived at once with this rather impressive bone.

Cladding and other exciting happenings

It was all go at the block this week with builders, plumbers and sparkies all on site at the same time. People busy every where.

At long last the cladding is in the process of being fitted and the house at least on the outside is beginning to look complete.  By the end of the week the outside shower had been 'tanked'. Waterproofed to the uninitiated and ready for Brad the Stone Mason to work his magic with the paddock stone shower walls. It was really good to see the bright blue insulation being covered. The house has quite a presence on the block but now seems to blend in a lot better with its surroundings.

The colours we have chosen reflect the weather, which was a great surprise I think looks quite amazing. On dark stormy days the house also looks dark and stormy, beautiful.

The sparkies set to and sorted out the the next stage of the electrics. It is quite a challenge trying to imagine exactly where the most useful place to have power points, lights and light switches will be. Luckily they are quite a laid back lot and we've been told we have until the gyprocing to change our minds.

The not so laid back plumbers needed to know exactly what sinks, taps, showers and bath we had ordered. Which sent us into a bit of a frenzy because up to then we hadn't actually ordered anything. Eeeek. Luckily we knew what we wanted and by the end of the day everything was ordered and details emailed to the plumber. We have been left puzzling what the rush was all about as we haven't seen or heard from him since!


The large piles of sand (our soil which is fantastic for drainage and building houses on but not so good for holding onto nutrients, poor plants- I digress) have been shifted to level out the verandah areas. This has made the area much safer for the lads to fit the cladding and the covering for the underside of the verandahs. As we have a BAL 19 fire rating we have to make sure no wood is exposed to possible embers. Hence having to clad the eaves with a fire retardant material.

Don't mention the doors! The jury is still out on the difference between fire rated and BAL rated, everyone I have spoken to seems to have a different version. So far the difference seems to be a certificate... hmmm... so we're currently no nearer to having doors, oh well I guess it will happen in the fullness of time.

And I have finally managed to track down and have a chat with one of the kitchen chaps. He turned out to be a cabinet maker who actually makes all the cupboards on his premises. It was wonderful to talk to a craftsman who truly loves his trade. The workshop was something else, hand made cabinets crafted from all different types of wood. I am keeping everything crossed that the kitchen he quotes us will be within our budget range.

Penny
Rick has managed to get Penny going and from the colour of the smoke coming out of her exhaust she was in desperate need of a long run. Penny's tires are enormous and very heavy, too much for the poor thing to be carrying on her bonnet. So her bonnet has been swooped with Dora's (Dora didn't seem to mind) and as a result Penny seems to almost skip along. Rick, Deb and I all had a turn at the wheel driving a small circuit on the roads .She is very much easier to drive than Dora, no double de clutching, thank goodness and the steering is surprisingly light.

Making friends with Penny.

 Rick and I took her for a spin to one of our favourite conservation parks, Fairview. It's a good drive out and there is some four wheel driving when we get there. Penny's insides have yet to be finished as you can see from the window winders having a rest! But at least we had floors.

Fresh new growth sprouting up from the base of the fire damaged shrubs

And spring flowers in abundance everywhere.

Fairview didn't disappoint, proudly wearing her spring colours, new growth and flowers every where. We even found a small flock of the Red Tailed Black Cockatoos feeding on their favourite Stringy Bark seeds. I didn't managed to get any decent photos of these beautiful shy birds though. It was such a lovely drive, really good to see the seasonal changes and I think Penny enjoyed it to.

The Hammock

At a sale a wee while ago I saved a lot of money (womans logic) and purchased a hammock and stand. Saturday was a gorgeously hot day and I was lulled into thinking that the warm weather had well and truly arrived. Time to get the hammock sorted. It didn't take long to erect the frame and tye the hammock to it. But it did take quite a long time to get the hammock the right length. I carefully got into the hammock and found myself laying on the ground...... Fred was delighted to find humans on the same level as him!

 

Deb to the rescue again suggested tying knots in the ropes which worked very well. I just need to find away to stop the fabric cocooning you once you're in it. Very comfy though especially when you're off the ground!

Veggies

The weather went from beautiful warm sunny days and bright blue skies to rain threatening clouds and cold. To everyones delight it did eventually rain. But the rains where accompanied by not so delightful ferocious winds which have laid a lot of crops flat. Including my poor old broad beans and peas. Hay ho.....

I may go on about this again and again.... but it is such a lovely feeling growing and picking your own veg AND a wonderful bonus to find how amazing they taste. It really makes you wonder what process they go through and how old shop brought veggies are by the time you buy them.

Deep joy.

A huge thank you to Rick for the lovely artistic photo's......