|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A mob/group/flock/herd of seven feral goats decided to leave the adjoining forestry area to see if the grass was greener in my paddocks. They must have liked the grass because they were hanging around for two or three weeks. They are not very smart and kept getting their little horns stuck in the wire fence. I rescued them a couple of times and just let them go, they didn't seem to be doing any harm. My neighbour mustn't have agreed with my assessment of them because one morning I arrived to find one of them had been shot. I didn't want a stinking carcase nearby so I dragged it with the truck to my bonfire place where it could decay in peace, if not pieces. There are lots of foxes, crows and even wedgetail eagles around, especially during lambing, and I knew the carcase would eventually go. A few days later I thought I'd check on how it was going and was amazed to find nothing left except one tiny horn about five inches long. No other bones at all, no bits of fleece, nothing. Maybe we've had alien visitors! I had hoped to save a complete skull with two dramatic horns to keep for young Daniel. When they visit he is always collecting bones and there's plenty of them lying around. But nothing for him this time.
Meanwhile - the house is progressing well. I am presently doing the internal brick walls, which will create the various rooms planned. I'm beginning to think of them as the infernal brick walls! They seem to be taking forever. But it is my own fault. I designed the walls to have lots of interesting (?) angles, which means lots of not very interesting cutting of bricks with the angle grinder, fitted with a diamond blade. This cuts the bricks quite easily but they have to be clamped down to the work table, one at a time, so that they are held steady. Lots of the finished walls will have the bricks left exposed, so I have to make a good job of building them. I am using facing bricks which have a textured, uneven surface, so they are not very easy to lay. It is the nearest thing I can come up with, to all that beautiful stone that was in such abundance in UK. I could have got a brickie to do the walls, as I could have with a lot of the jobs I'm doing, but I'm so thoroughly disillusioned with lots of the trades people I have employed - not all of them - that, with internal exposed brick walls that I'd be looking at for the rest of my time here, I wasn't going to take the risk. The plumbers that I used to put on the metal roof sheeting - I thought they'd done a good job until I gradually found one or two faults that will have to be done again - this time I'll fix it myself, even if it means the whole job takes a bit longer. Now I know how the old adage came to be - "If you want a job doing well - do it yourself." There's a big shortage of skilled workers in Australia, as I believe too in UK, so they can get away with average standard of work. Of course I'd be the first to admit that I'm a fussy old bugger, but it's me that will have to live here and I know it would irritate the hell out of me if I had to look at a mistake forever. Here's a bit of trivia for you - did you know that besides his painting and writing, bricklaying was a favourite pastime of Winston Churchill? Bet he didn't have to mix his own mortar and clean up afterwards though! Anyway, despite all the stresses, I'm still enjoying the whole owner-builder experience, so it will all be worthwhile in the end.
We have had lots of rain lately. Everything is looking very green and beautiful and it really is a pleasure to come to work every day. Not many people are lucky enough to be able to say that. I have had to install a second 35,000 litre concrete tank, you can see it waiting to be painted in one of the photos. Both tanks are already full to overflowing. Under recent Australian building regulations, all new houses must have a rainwater collecting tank installed, as well as a much higher level of insulation generally. Fortunately, due to the extensive research I did when designing the house, my place more than complies. I can't wait to see if the passive solar design works as well as intended, once it is all finished. Of course it will be rather nice to be actually living there too!