Concrete, almost a hot water service and bath time in the back yard

A sudden flurry of activity at the new home as our builders arrived and started to finish of the jobs they'd been contracted to do. In addition we had asked them to put in a concrete path and carport. The ground was leveled then adjusted so it sloped gently away from the house and was boxed in. The plumbers were also there to bury the down pipes for the rain water, concrete path to be laid over the top. They had an hour to get it all sorted before the concrete arrived.

Laying the concrete was incredibly labour intensive and involved lots of polishing, smoothing, wetting down and waiting. Dave explained that working the concrete brings the air bubbles up, pushes the stones down and gives a smooth hard surface. It took Dave and John the bast part of a day to finish the job.

Very smart carport with great acoustics surprisingly paw print free!

Rick and I have ordered a second concrete rainwater tank  for the down pipes carport (south side of house) to drain into. This should arrive in three weeks time.

In between Dave and John were doing the concreting they also, very kindly started to level the ground for the new water tank. After a discussion with the Concrete Tank supplier Rick realised more work needed to be done. So he got a shuggle on with the tractor and started to level the ground where the tank will rest.

Well we almost had a hot water service installed but first of all our plumbers got called away on an emergency. After all we didn't have a busted water pipe. Then one of the team forgot to return from holiday... he couldn't get the sack as he is one of the partners. But I think you get the idea of how laid back the team are. And then when all the team were assembled the hot water service, which had been on order for a whole week, couldn't be located! Good grief... we were first told it had to come from Melbourne, that story was updated to Sydney and finally the suppliers sent a van to their other branch at Mount Gambier to collect their one. Meanwhile 'our' one turned up!!

Our plumbers are in great demand and had to go off to other jobs. And so we wait...

Meanwhile the leveling continues

We also needed a 'fire water tank'. As we are in a BAL 19 (what ever that means) fire zone there are certain rules we need to comply with. Like installing a 22,000 litre tank with a petrol driven pump. We are lucky as this will be fed by our bore water. As you can see it's not the easiest of things to manouver into place. Easy the suppliers of the tank, said, borrow our special trailer, back into place, drop the trailer flap then roll the tank off.  Hmmmmmm, not as easy as the instructions sound but Rick did well not to flatten anything in the unloading process... most importantly himself.

We also took some time out from 'house work' as when the temperatures were in the high 30's there is not a lot anything wants to do. First thing in the morning, the coolest time of the day, the birds gather to hunt and bathe. We caught sight of junior Kookaburra quietly churring in the tree, patiently waiting for food.

Then these little Eastern Rosellas had a wonderful time having a bath, really funny to watch.

Sometimes it's good to sit.......