30 October

On Monday we were given a pet lamb. She is 3 months old and was used in a school project. She is very tame and still drinks from a bottle. The other two would not accept her initially, but we put them in two adjoining larger pens and later removed the partition. She is adapting well. We did have another problem though, Anne, the first lamb, got used to stick her head through the fence with the neighbour (the grass on the other side?) Yesterday I added more battens (droppers for non-kiwis) but last night she got through again. I will have to add more wires. As a temporary measure she got a hook around the neck. It works.

Tuesday I didn't feel like work, so I spent most of the day writing a motivation to demolish the little room with the existing second bathroom and fit french doors instead. The bathroom will then be moved into another room. I will submit that to the Historical Places Trust.

The original sarking (lining) of the living room was match lining in Kauri. That is tongue and groove boards. One part of the sarking has been replaced at some stage, and the replacement was in Rimu and not tongue and groove. We stripped that part on Wednesday. We repaired some damaged studs and installed insulation. Then we proceeded to install Kauri boards. Because it is recycled boards (from where we removed the other wall) it is warped and does not fit together easily. I put in a request with Barco to come and help. Sorry for the Starling's nest that has been in the wall. If we can manage to install insulation to all of the wall, we intend to paint the timber, without gibbing it. It might mean that we will have to remove some of the outside weatherboards to install the insulation.

The young guy from next door mowed our grass on the sidewalk on Saturday. He did not do a very good job, so I will be forced to use my lawnmower on that as well. I also cleared the ivy on the gatepost by the entrance. Another job on my "round tuit" list is to cut the concrete on the driveway entrance, it is a little high and sometimes our car scratches when we drive in or out.

Next door they are finishing off the new house, with a timber fence going up between us. Looking good.