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......