Tank Tales and Fan Tales.......

Have I mentioned before that the above ground tank is struggling to fill? It was a conundrum which had us beat for a while. Rick, not one to be beaten, eventually worked it out. The inlet pipe, sticking up just above the tank is actually about 2.5 cm (or 1" in old currency) above the gutter. So if left the tank will never fill and the carport gutter never empty. Meanwhile our underground tank was actually full and more rain was promised. Rick had a brain wave and decided to pump the water from the underground tank to the above ground one. Brilliant move as it turns out as we no longer have to prime the pump everyday.

And then we noticed wet patches appearing around the sides of the tank! A couple of emails to the manufacturers later and it was explained that the tanks are fully tested before they are sent out and this can sometimes happen when the tank is filled too quickly. We've no idea yet if these damp patches will compromise (rust) the steel reinforced mesh inside the tank walls. That's another conversation for another day...

The Doors

Have been a wee bit of a challenge but I think I may just be starting to get the hang of stripping them. Though it seems to take me a very long time I think the effort was worth it.

The very first door finished and hung... ok so it doesn't yet have any furnishings BUT this is our very first door and Rick did a splendid job with the architrave.

Only another 8 left to do!

Deb has been a total star as usual and in between all the things she does (very busy lady) has helped Rick finish off his shed. It looks like it has been there all the time. Just needs to have the gutters connected to the fire fighting water tank and a floor of some kind done and it will be up and running.

And then I spotted it was already being tried out for size by Dora and Landy

The plan, I'm told, is for the big shed to be cleared ready for carpentry work to begin in ernest. 

Spinning Yarn

I've been very slowly working my way through a bottomless bag of wool (it seems never ending) and found I had some very short bits of staple. Deb suggested I used the Spinning Groups Drum Carder and blended some of the longer staples in with the short.

It was a brilliant idea which has worked very well BUT I managed to injure myself in the process and wasn't able to walk properly for about a week. I know the mind boggles doesn't it. 

The drum carder needs to be clamped to a table to hold it steady and the only old table I had was very low. Rather than sit on the floor I used a very low stool and must have lent at an odd angle to work the machine, whilst holding the table steady with my legs. Oh dear... I spent the week not moving very far and feeling quite sorry for myself.

Rick to the rescue. Rick was brilliant and made me a table out of bits of wood left over from the house build. What an absolute star. It's fantastic and works a treat AND I have room to do other crafty things, I am a very lucky girl.

The Weather

It's been raining and thankfully our tanks have been slowly filling up...... very exciting.

We have had a couple of really cool mornings but once you start to move around and get a hot drink inside you and of course rug up it is very comfortable here.  It seems the louvre sections of the roof are working really well. When the sun does shine it comes well into the room. We have noticed on the days when the floors have been warmed up in this way we don't have a need to light the fire in the evening. The heat sink works.

And with the cool mornings anything which can seasonally drop a leaf has and we made this discovery in one of the trees.

Not quite sure whose nest it was maybe one of the wagtails, which are also known as fantails here.

Very different from the Willie Wagtails in the UK. These little fellas are much bigger and really dance they way around as they chase the bugs. The tail is fanned out and waved about very enthusiastically, they hardly pause for breath. The other day we noticed one dancing on the outside shower wall carefully picking off the bugs and spiders as he went.

The Veg Patch

I'm still sorting out the veggie patch, determined to grow as much as I possibly can this season. There are still 5 butternut squash (pumpkin for those this side of the planet) on the vine and they are ripening albeit slowly.

The big bed now has brussels sprouts, carrots, beetroot, sweetpeas, turnips, broadbeans, peas and English Spinach. The parsnips have still to be sown. There is garlic in abundance and I've got a bag of Desiree potatoes ready for chitting and then planting.  It is very exciting.

And then there is Tess, who I think I have introduced before. We think she perhaps gets a bit lonely with her family out at work and school all day. She she takes herself off and visits the neighbours for a bit of fuss and attention.

Last night we got a text from her boss asking if we'd seen her. She had paid a visit but had disappeared off (I thought home) about an hour earlier. She had missed home completely and trotted off to visit someone else. I thought I'd best check she wasn't here so had a quick look outside to find her curled up by the front door! 

A real mixture of news

On the water front

I think I may have mentioned before just how laid back and trusting people are here, even so we are both still quite surprised some three months after the plumbers have fixed up the house and there is still no sign of a bill!  Not complaining mind just saying.  However not all is rosy on the water front and it has been a wee bit of a learning curve working out what works best with the system. We are very lucky to have a hot water system which has been programmed to deliver different temperature water to the ablution areas and the domestic areas. In the laundry and kitchen the water is set to reach 70c and the bathrooms it gets to 50c..... excellent no chance of scalding yourself in the shower then. And we can read what the temperature of the water is in the hot water service.... fantastic and very handy as it turns out. Cloudy days mean the roof mounted solar water heater is not heating the water so we have to turn on the hot water tank heater... or suffer a cold shower!

Since the second water tank was installed and connected to the gutters the pump looses power and has to be primed. It's no joke if you are all soaped up in the middle of a shower, the neighbours have been treated more than once to Rick dashing out in my dressing gown (a very fetching lilac and because he couldn't find his own) to prime the pump! Many discussions with the plumbers and a few sleepless nights the thought is this will improve once the second water tank fills up.

Unfortunately it seems very reluctant to fill up even though we have had rain, even one day of non stop rain!! Rick has tried all sorts of things and yesterday flushed the pipes through and hopefully flushed out any blockage which may have been there. Fingers crossed, we now need a decent down pour to test it out. 

The back door saga

You may well remember the months we waited in excited anticipation of the external doors arriving. Which they eventually did only for us to discover the wrong back door had been supplied. Finally the correct door arrived, was duly fitted and coated with special UV resistant sealant. A month or so later Rick fitted new seals to the frames (these were originally supplied to short), it was only then I realised I could still see daylight around the door. Hmmm... correct me if I'm wrong but surely a fire door should actually fit the frame.....

On a closer inspection I realised the door had taken on a banana shape, oh dear. I rang the company who supplied the door and then the local hardware store we got it from and eventually a meeting was agreed for the company rep to pay a visit and inspect the offending door. Which they did yesterday and it seems we are allowed a 3 mm gap but the gap around our door was 7 mm. 15 minutes of discussion later and they have agreed to supply a new one free of charge.

Mice!

We have been warned there may well be a plague of mice this year, something to do with the very long dry season. We know they had taken up lodgings in the shed but I was still very surprised to find evidence of the wee furry critters in the kitchen. 

They had been feasting on our cherry tomatoes and nibbled on a clove of our home grown garlic, obviously on a Mediterranean diet! And left evidence of their wanderings on our cooker... as much as I don't mind them... in the garden... I do object to living with them under the same roof.  This was war and they needed to be evicted... fast.  

I trundled, slightly sleepy, into the kitchen the other morning to find a couple of them partying, they really made me jump, they move so fast! Heading for their nearest exit which happened to be the gap between the window frame and inside wall.... you know where the sill will eventually be.  Without further ado, at Ricks request, I headed into town, sample in hand to find 2 two meter lengths of Meranti sill.

YEAY Mouse escape route headed off and we have the first of many smart new sills

Meranti wood comes in many different colours and by chance this piece (the only sill in stock) just happens to match the cupboard doors. How lucky is that!

The Laundry

Rick has now installed the sink and cupboard in the laundry. We have now two working sinks, which is looking very smart and is definitely worth a celebration.

The view from the loo!

The local carpenter who slabbed our Hill Gum supplied this very smart, and very heavy, block of beautiful Red Gum for the sink for our guest loo. Unfortunately you can't see from the photo the beautiful grain of this wood. I have yet to seal it which will hopefully enhance the amazing colour of this wood. 

A wonderful bonus is the lump of wood cut for the sink to be fitted, which I have now got to feed with Tung Oil ready for using as a... well not sure what yet. Maybe just a thing of beauty to be admired.

In between all these wonderful happenings I've been busy with the spinning wheel. One of the joys of a really rainy day is you can't really work outside. I know being from the Northern Hemisphere I am quite used to working outside in all sorts of inclement weather but here things are different. It's such a great excuse to do some crafty things like spinning. The wheel was obviously in shock from this sudden activity and threw off a nut and bolt which was holding the spool in place! 

And just before the rains arrived we (I use the term loosely here) fitted the all the metal we have to the shed walls and roof. Deb's timing was perfect arriving as Rick started work on the shed and the family building skills once again came to the fore, what a team... I quietly went to put the kettle on for them.

ANZAC Day 2015

April 25th this year was the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings. This year the focus seemed to be more on individual peoples stories which made the people who sacrificed their lives, and not just on the battle field, some how so real and close. Their stories and the horrors of war were shared on the television, radio and local papers and at every commemoration ceremony local peoples stores were read out during each service.

Here, in our household it was a bit of a shock when the alarm erupted into life at 4 am, it was still dark and quite cold, we breakfasted and rugged up and set off into a very misty cold morning to meet with Deb and walk down to the town square.  When we arrived the statue was well lit, officials,choirs and a few chairs were in place for ex-servicemen and dignitaries. There were a few towns folk around and surprisingly quite a few youngsters with their families. We had a chance to reflect in the stillness of pre-dawn on what it must have felt like for those young diggers, what would they have been feeling 100 years ago. Something which I guess unless you have had personal experience of war is impossible to imagine.

Very slowly people of all ages started to arrive in the town square. A dozen members of the Third Light Horse Regiment Naracoorte Troop quietly rode their horses in accompanied by three nurses in the ANZAC nurses uniform, which all added to the atmosphere.

The narrator, a lady from the RSL (Returned Services League) had a beautiful voice and gently guided us all through the service. Local youngsters from all the schools sang, all the services groups were represented and laid wreaths, flowers and poppies. And for some reason lost in time these early morning services are always accompanied by a lone piper, who also succeeded in making the horses a wee bit nervous. As he started his lament on the pipes as one all the horses ears turned to where the noise was coming from.... no doubt wondering what wailing manner of beastie was in pain behind them.

With perfect timing the dawn started to break with the bugler playing the last post, very emotional moment for everyone. Slowly all the stories were told, hymns sung, prayers read, wreaths laid and respects paid. The Diggers and families lined up with the Horsemen and a couple of privately owned army vehicles and walked once around the town square to one of the local hotels.

In exchange for a gold coin donation the hotel was offering breakfast and, much to my surprise, milk and Bundaburg rum. Once the ex servicemen were in out of the cold, lots of people bundled in for breakfast and a drink.  We didn't stop for brekkie but also didn't want to pass up the chance to try a 'Bundy and milk', or in my case just the Bundy. Well it certainly brings a rosy glow to the cheeks!