Tank Day 2017

The long awaited arrival of our water tanks was an exciting day.  Placed on the concrete slab that held the recently demolished old shed, it was all hands on deck.  Friends, neighbours, even blokes who provided the compulsory traffic management got in on the act!  Fuzzy's trusty tractor, modified by MOTH to provide leverage and strength with an old mattress, came in super handy too.

And if you're curious to see the fun-times in action, here is a 2 minute video that covers roughly a 2-hour period showing placement of the second tank.

Internal update 2014-18

The reality that a house is never really finished is a bugger, yet slowly but surely improvements are being made.  There's still the odd internal strawbale wall yet to be sealed, cupboards built, overhanging eaves lined, front porch tiled and architraves painted.  

Internally, the central kitchen/meals area is all-but complete (except for the range hood that still - @ March 2020 - is unfinished)

Before...

After

full height cupboards on far wall yet to be built

and the long-awaited light fitting - hic, the wagon wheel - 

finally went up in 2018!

Time flies... 2014-15 update

Oh yes it does!  A couple of years down the track and we're making progress. 
Let's begin with external changes:

May 2014 - the driveway is formed

and rockery

May 2015 - the drought has definitely broken

& earth works have levelled some areas

rockery

second driveway

pathways around house

and the lower deck was extended - all in time for K1's 18th birthday

Home Sweet Home

Moving house is always a big day... and thank goodness we had the sense to hook up with our favourite removalist - big shout out to Pinder Tower for smooth moves.  Another blesssing is it happens to coincide with the school holidays, plus with MOTH and I on leave, it was great to have the week to unpack our 60+ boxes of goodies that have been stored for up to 4 years.  It was just like Christmas, re-discovering some old favourites and taking the opportunity to do a big toss out at the same time.

A week later, our end of the house (and probably AC's too) still looks like a bomb just hit.  Slowly but surely we're making our way through the mess.

Anyone in need of tea chest packing boxes, please let me know, plus we have enough bubble wrap to start a business!  Between us we also have sufficient gear to open an Opportunity Shop... I reckon a garage sale is in order.  

This is the spare bedroom... where we toss everything we can't find a home for yet and/or don't want anymore. The door way is now blocked!

L-l-l-love our aubergine carpet!!!

I have been busy purchasing items on eBay and jaunting around the countryside to collect everything.  K1 and I disassembled and reassembled 2 Ikea bookcases within 24 hours, both are now being used in wardrobes. Lucky K2 has acquired a massive desk and leather chair so he's set now.


The doorbells I ordered from the US arrived the other day so MOTH's next task is to create a plate for all 3 to sit on.  In the meantime, knock hard and/or text before arrival.  I can tell you for sure the thick walls and double glazed windows are doing a fine job. We can't hear a damn thing that's going on outside!!!

Today the final piece of house was put in place  -  the front door!  Jeez MOTH and Fuzzy work well together.


















Our internet connection is finally available (phew... some of us were breaking out in a sweat... not mentioning any names) but we're struggling with the crap Optus service on our mobile phones.  Voice calls are impossible. Not happy Jan!

The early days of living in a new home take some patience.  It's a whole new environment, like getting used to different showers... the Methven rose feels like rain and there's no cold spots so it's quite nice, but will require some getting used to.  The house needs to warm up too, and mid winter is not the easiest to deal with at the best of times, so we're having to use oil column heaters to keep the chills away. Everyone is having fun with the Insinkerator too.  Anything that's edible can be sent to the worm farm (waste water treatment system) so all our food scraps, tea bags, egg shells all get munched up. yum yum

Well, some of us are returning to the real world of paid jobs tomorrow so I'll bid you adieu, guten nacht, farewell... for now.

Drive-in...

Rick has been doing a mighty fine job of shaping the driveway, with the added bonus of tidying up a good chunk of the overgrown and messy areas near the entrance and fenceline.

Wow... what a difference a few days with the excavator can make!!!

Despite the fact we have a huge amount of rocks scattered all over the place, and Rick has worked very hard to dig up each and every one of them, we needed more and took delivery of 2 truck loads, along with extra topsoil.

 We have hot water now which is really noice!  Carpet is being installed on Tuesday so we've been frantically working to finish all the painting jobs in time.  MOTH invested in a bewt 10ft ladder so that he could reach the highest points of the rendered walls in the loungeroom as they needed sealing before the carpet was laid.  The ladder also came in handy when a smoke detector started chirping today.

PS: Nama & Fuzzy got to move in yesterday. It's our turn next weekend. 

woo hoo... house packing this week

Are we there yet?

The moving truck has been booked for 6th July... trusting that everything will be in order for us to physically access the property with a removals truck.  Rick and his excavator are due to start work tomorrow, and using the power of positive persuasion, the driveway will be ready in time!

It's all hands on deck every spare minute of the day until that time.  Floor coverings are booked to be laid a few days prior to moving day so the last of the painting is being done... and yes Dr Paul, your suggestion to use a roller with head specifically for oil based enamel paint was a brilliant one.  You could have mentioned it earlier tho as I've only got 5 doors to go (after today). 

Today I painted 3 doors in record time, with ease and much less paint and pain!  May I also say to anyone interested... that painting enamel in the middle of winter, especially when the temp was 6 degrees celcius when I arrived this morning, is not recommended.  The paint gets quite thick and gluggy, but oh that roller made is so much better.  I even bought a pack of 10 replacements to save me from having to clean them... ha ha

and BTW, having a door makes going to the lav so much more clandestine!

With Rick arriving, MOTH needed to finish digging the utilities trench (taking services from the shed to house) and hooking up some final connections, as it will be covered up this week.

Fuzzy also showed me the collector tank under the house.  This is where all stormwater will first be gathered, then initially, re-directed to the overflow.  Once our water tanks are in place, the contents will be pumped across to the storage tanks for general use at the property. Refer to post dated 17/03/13 for more info.

The tank is tucked up neat and tidy under the lower balcony.

Here's the fancy steps along the side entry between garage and house and the closed off porch from two angles.