26 February 2012

Not much to report this week. I spent time to move our junk behind the new wall, and have the two remaining sheep grazing there now. Billy the goat  got moved back to the neighbours, he was eating too much of our grass.

We had a rainy day, and I started work on the new bathroom. That is inside work. I removed some of the sarking boards. It takes some time. I use an angle grinder to grind away the heads of the nails, and the pull the board off. Otherwise it would just split up. It does leave an ugly burn mark or groove, but when we reuse it, we use the backside. No dating evidence yet. I was hoping to find some newspaper or something inside the wall.

I also visited our local museum. They have the original map of the farmland allocated to Jackson. It was 400 acres and was awarded in 1865.

We started painting the new wall on Saturday, and got halfway before lunch. We stopped and when I went out after lunch, we had a slight drizzle. We packed up and had a lovely sunny afternoon. Just our luck.

Anneke and Matt visited today, Sunday. They were in Hamilton for the official opening of the Tudor gardens, for which Anneke made the sculptures. Anneke made us a lovely colouring and drawing of the street view of the house, as it should be. Now I have a lot to aspire to.

19 February 2012

We have had our old ewe killed on Monday. Thursday we processed it. The wood band saw does not really work on meat, the blade keeps dropping off. The meat is a bit tough, but we are tough people. We also got given a Snoek, or Barracuda in Kiwi speak. Kiwis only use it as bait fish. The Snoek pie went down very well, and was enjoyed by many friends.

We had one day with a little rain, and I decided to start work on the new dividing wall between the new to be kitchen and the new to be bathroom. It involved only moving the computer and wardrobes. Material will have to be bought.  

I also spent time on the half built partition wall. I started planning the carport ans store room to go behind it. Then I realised the target was only to get the wall finished. That reduced the amount of work by about 70%.
The frames are secured now, and the iron sheets are getting there. I expect a few teething problems, but nothing that we cannot handle.

I know, it looks terrible! Keep in mind it will be secured properly and water blasted and painted. hopefully I can add a new photo next week, or the week after. There is a door lying in front of the tip up door. The other door also has a story to tell. I took a lot of pain to make the frames true vertical. Then I fitted the door, it didn't fit. Why? The top of the door is 1000 mm wide and the bottom is 1050. Now the whole door will have to be taken apart and rebuilt. All the material used so far are from the demolition of the shed in Hamilton.

12 February 2012

Another week. Monday we had a public holiday, no work. Ha ha, no such luck. I sanded the wall to be painted and replaced a few rotted weatherboards. Tuesday I had to go to Hamilton. I was summoned (is that right?) for jury service. That happens on a random basis. Lucky for me I did not have to go again. Tuesday I completed the sanding process. Then we started painting. First of all, an undercoat of mismatched paint, and secondly the final colour. It was quite a job and very hot, especially in the afternoons. Up on the scaffold I was on my own, but up to chest height Elna did the brush work. It saved a lot of time. You have to paint all the corners and crannies by hand (with a brush of course silly!) and then paint the remainder of the board with the roller. Well, we rushed in and finished at 2:30 pm on Friday, at the heat of the day, on most likely our warmest day. (26deg)

The Bay window and all of the wall on that side is painted now, as well as up to the gable end. That is the wall that will be covered by the veranda. Rebuilding the veranda will follow after the hiding wall is finished.

Ben sent me an email and told me to take Saturday off. I did. I only built a new pen for the sheep, mowed the lawn, tidied up the car. And yes, we had a complaint from the tenant in Cambridge and went over there as well. Easy day.

Now, there is still a half built wall in the back yard.

See ya!

5 Feb 2012

Monday saw the sand being delivered, a whopping 8 metres of it. We had to put some sand down in Cambridge, and we took 5 trailer loads over. Good exercise. Apart from being in Hamilton for two days, I shifted some sand: "Playing in the sand pit." It is looking better now, but far from finished. Saturday was a day off.

The frame is for the sheep.