Wendy's reading the Blog!

So, there you go. I thought an update might be a good idea.

I have left the toilers to it up there and headed home to Augathella for a few days with Bash and Dotty the wonderdog who, by the way, killed another pig yesterday. I have been crunching numbers to make sure we don't go broke before finishing the castles and it is scary.

Loving the cool nights out here. And not having to wait for traffic before reversing out of the driveway. Miss being able to buy takeaways instead of catching, killing and cooking any food.

We haven't talked much about the team who is building this castle yet. So I thought I'd introduce 'em one by one. On account of Al being the new boss we'll start there. Here he is, the handsome brute. The extra set of arms come in pretty handy at times. Genetic mutations aside, he is always on time, never grumbles and invites us all back to his home for drinks every afternoon after work. I think I mentioned previously that he lives at a nice place with ready refreshments. This comment could be translated more accurately to read: he lives at a pub. And we love him for it. He is also the undisputed boss of tools purchasing. Even Graeme defers to his greater knowledge although he did rebel in a small way by buying a new drill without advice. We all know how that turned out, hey Grayman. Al also provides site security by way of Dee, who can climb two storeys on a ladder. A pretty mean feat for a dog. She has became the object of affection of a black dog two doors up which I think she finds faintly irritating.

I haven't yet got a photo of Captain Ron or Ben so will have to be a bit sneaky as they'll be onto my plan if anyone reads and tells Al his pic is on the internet. Lucky for me, I have zoom lens and they don't know when I'll be back there. Which by the way will be in the next few days. I have lots of painting and cleaning up to do which oddly enough, am looking forward to.

We've scored some rain and there's plenty of grass on the lighter country now. The cows and their near weaner sized calves look fantastic and Bash has finally got the weeds under control after a mammoth battle and many flat tyres. Now, there's the planting equipment to get serviced up and ready to go. We see several broken seed hoses and two flat tyres to start us off. Bash is back to look at the weather, so I'll send this one out.

Photos at long last!!

Kitchen and other Stuff

Hi all
I am trying to do photos, believe me. Spent 1/2 hour on it this morning and the video shop man helped but computer doesn't believe my phone is capable of taking photos.
We are putting external walls on and painting today and I really really wish I could put these bloody photos on. However, we do have a back up plan and I will try again tonight.
It has rained quite heavily for the past two or three mornings and remains very humid - not ideal painting weather but we have put mould inhibitor into the paint which should help.
Ali is out choosing more interior fittings which I am loving. She phoned me from the sale table at KMart - 30% off curtain rods!! Yay. I could imagine her hovering protectively with her wings out over the lengths she thought we needed while phoning me to confirm lengths. She's a true bargain hunter and it is fun to see her in action.
We had a distraught lady come in yesterday looking for her black dog called iPod. Al said he had seen it come in through the back and leave the same way so we sent her sadly on her way. After she left, he admitted it had left under his strict instructions after he caught it chatting up Dee.
The shiny new saw remains a virgin. Marty hasn't shown his handsome face yet - I think he might be scared of the device. He left yesterday after setting everything up to make the first cut. I should be there with the camera and a sheet of paper to record the great moment.
We are still wondering what the garage will be lined with. Hmm. Will it be the same as the eaves? Or maybe hardiflex type stuff.
Trevor is going to save his employers from self destructing. He is busy preparing a presentation and motivating staff to unite and figure out exactly what they are capable of doing and what should be left to others. I am surprised by the poor work conditions and low pay given to psych disability workers. Their work can be difficult and stressful and I believe should be very highly paid as I sure wouldn't like to be doing it. He was last seen doing up a chain of command poster and mumbling about feeling like a school kid.
Al and Captain Ron are toiling along very well - we are in the shade now which has made life much more comfortable.
PHOTOS>TONIGHT

BUILDER WINS ARGUMENT

Hi all
Graeme has won the standoff/demarcation dispute regarding cladding in a very convincing fashion. He sat down, announced he wouldn't be able to carry anything for a while and when asked, showed them a big bulge on his belly. Al made him drive himself straight to hospital where they sliced and diced and sent him home with strict instructions to BE GOOD. Al could have been a little more sympathetic, in my opinion. However he did say that Graeme didn't show too much sympathy when his hernia exploded or whatever they do!

Anyway, Marty has grumblingly agreed to take the job on. Buchaneers and Bash got their heads together and procured a saw which cuts colourbond in straight lines without overheating it as normal wood saws are prone to do. It has not yet had a run, but Marty assures me the screws will arrive tomorrow and we will be into it.

Today, I went to the dump for the seventh time and was pondering life and such things. The dump here is quite an experience. Nothing like the adventure of my Toowoomba days where I would sometimes snavell a fabulous little art deco table with only one leg missing (a restoration project) after risking life and limb crawling through all sorts of horrible festering waste. NO, the dumps of our modern world are very different. They have this huge cement pit and a bigger shed built over it. There, about 15 feet down, we see the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life minus steel bits (Sims Metal recycling), plastic bottles (PET recycling), green waste, copper, anything useable. Not a single interesting thing here. It has all been diverted for reuse which is truly a wonderful thing. I just feel a bit let down, is all. Anyways, there is a youngish girl there every day. She drives a D6 (just in case Cameron is reading this) back and forth over the crapola until it is squished into a kind of stew which Theiss then cart off in very secretive looking white trailers to a destination unknown. Maybe they just let it dribble out along the roadside? Where do they go, I wonder.

While tossing out my crap, the fellow in the next bay and I struck up a general conversation. He is a heavy haulage contractor who carts impossibly large pieces of machinery over railway tracks (approx $10000 to cross a single set) and under power lines (he couldn't even begin to imagine how much these cost to disconnect, move aside and reconnect). He has shifted D11's from Melbourne which prompted me to tell our little story of dozers and Melbourne. We moved on to road accidents and like the rest of the trucking community, he was aware of the details of Kym Lonergan's fatal accident and sympathises with his family even though he never knew him. It is a tight knit community, I guess. The thing he feels sets abnormal load carriers aside is that they get to stop and have a beer at sunset and the other operators have to keep driving. The down side of that is that he has to travel to Darwin tomorrow with a load and trailer and police and wide load escorts with either 26 or 56 tyres - at 80km an hour provided it isn't too hot then he slows down. Apparently it gets pretty boring. If it gets too hot, tyres start to blow and at $500 odd a pop that's not a good thing. I hope he gets there okay.

I'd better go. Trevor is cooking a beef and mushroom pie with his special potato mash and if it's as good as his curries, I will be a happy girl.

Oh, the house. Ali (NOT AL) chose beautiful colours for the exterior and I have purchased all the paint and started preparation for painting. While Graeme is away I shal let loose with the airless sprayer. He goes a funny colour and changes the subject whenever I mention the paint spraygun. I think I scare the poor man sometimes but he is very patient. Not to mention ill and I shouldn't be saying inflammatory stuff or he'll pop open again.

More roof please

And now it's Tuesday evening and Bash is here. He brought the mutt too. We are debating what to have for dinner - probably Thai. It is his birthday tomorrow so we won't make him go up on the roof. It's been bloody hot, no clouds to speak of and we drank all the cold water (I'd guess about 30 litres on site today). The crane man came in today and lifted all those heavy panels in quick time. We stood them on their edge and just put a sling at either end. The crane has no slew but swivels from the middle. He had about 1/4 of an inch on one side and a tree on the other and didn't hit either. Nailed up some insulation to protect the sheets from rain and tomorrow the plumbers from Party Plumbing will put the roof on. That would be Marty and Paul. Graeme, showing his usual care, has started considering the windows and where they might be and whether the louvres will be in them (broken) or packed separately. We also have something to sort out with the frame makers which involves the Engineer who happens to live in Cairns. I see those $$$ floating away into the sky as it involves the word 'certified'.

We are also pondering why there are so many framing screws left over. There was a good map for putting the frames together but no instructions about how many screws are required. Not a problem - now we'll be doing it under a beautiful shady roof.

I don't know if I told you about the crane incident the other day. I was puttering along Slade Point Road minding my business when my windscreen splatted and scared the absolute s**t out of me. I last passed a truck crane and thought it had something hanging off it but after a couple of trips past where it happened, I found the culprit - a foot long piece of 4x4 hardwood. It had glass embedded in it and my windscreen has the same colour wood embedded in it. A match.

Didn't see hide nor hair of Dulce today although who can blame her - we had a diesel motor running for three hours in the driveway. If you're out there, it is nearly over - we don't expect to need much more in the way of heavy vehicles except when the last load is delivered.

And last but not least, thanks heaps to Ned who whipper snipped and mowed our very messy footpath and front yard. We can see all the snakes and rubbish now and I don't worry about tripping over!

Yeah yea yeah. Photos soon. I just have to figure out how to bluetooth 'em to this computer.

More roof please

And now it's Tuesday evening and Bash is here. He brought the mutt too. We are debating what to have for dinner - probably Thai. It is his birthday tomorrow so we won't make him go up on the roof. It's been bloody hot, no clouds to speak of and we drank all the cold water (I'd guess about 30 litres on site today). The crane man came in today and lifted all those heavy panels in quick time. We stood them on their edge and just put a sling at either end. The crane has no slew but swivels from the middle. He had about 1/4 of an inch on one side and a tree on the other and didn't hit either. Nailed up some insulation to protect the sheets from rain and tomorrow the plumbers from Party Plumbing will put the roof on. That would be Marty and Paul. Graeme, showing his usual care, has started considering the windows and where they might be and whether the louvres will be in them (broken) or packed separately. We also have something to sort out with the frame makers which involves the Engineer who happens to live in Cairns. I see those $$$ floating away into the sky as it involves the word 'certified'.

We are also pondering why there are so many framing screws left over. There was a good map for putting the frames together but no instructions about how many screws are required. Not a problem - now we'll be doing it under a beautiful shady roof.

I don't know if I told you about the crane incident the other day. I was puttering along Slade Point Road minding my business when my windscreen splatted and scared the absolute s**t out of me. I last passed a truck crane and thought it had something hanging off it but after a couple of trips past where it happened, I found the culprit - a foot long piece of 4x4 hardwood. It had glass embedded in it and my windscreen has the same colour wood embedded in it. A match.

Didn't see hide nor hair of Dulce today although who can blame her - we had a diesel motor running for three hours in the driveway. If you're out there, it is nearly over - we don't expect to need much more in the way of heavy vehicles except when the last load is delivered.

And last but not least, thanks heaps to Ned who whipper snipped and mowed our very messy footpath and front yard. We can see all the snakes and rubbish now and I don't worry about tripping over!

Yeah yea yeah. Photos soon. I just have to figure out how to bluetooth 'em to this computer.

And that House

Yeah, so here I am again. Better update on the huts, hey.

We have 1/3 of roof and ceiling done but no walls which will become a problem if that cyclone brews up and comes back at us. Apparently the lift force on a roof only is pretty big. If it starts to blow we will bolt down there and screw on some extra bracing and stuff to try and keep it all square. We do have insurance but I was really hoping never to have to call on it. Thank God we did - it wasn't required but Graeme thought it would be a good idea. So now I rest easy.

This week has been pretty full on. Hot, humid and draining work. Graeme says the hardest part by far is getting the roof on, from then on you work in the shade and can get a lot more done. We haven't used the crane as recommended by Sala because we tried the first few (100kgs each and 4.5 m long, 50mm thick and they flex in the middle like hardiflex) and they seemed to go up okay. Then we tried the ones on the southern side which are much harder because there isn't as much room to move there and also because the walkway along the verandah is not on that side. I still haven't finished oiling those planks... We will probably relent and use the crane for the rest of the southern side as it is just too hard on our backs and energy levels. And that's just my opinion. I'm not perched up on a scaffold or hunched under the sheet holding it in the right place. That's what Al and Ron do. Ben and Graeme lift and carry the sheets and I help manouvre them into place.

The mob have gone out today to have lunch with Ben and Chantelle who have a pool which in my book is a compelling argument for a visit. But I really didn't have it in me and stayed around the house, reading my latest book which I love also. By Amy Tan, who tells stories of the older living generations who moved from China to America. I keep hearing bloody Dulces voice "I read your thing yesterday. You raved on too much."

So, just for you Dulcie, that is all I shall say on the matter. Home for a drink and what Tman calls 'an old fashioned tea' with vegetables.

I will save the hilarious story of cooking the mud crab for next time.

And there goes the week

Greetings all
It's Sunday. I went rowing today. Well, everyone corrects me right there. Apparently it is called paddling when it's a dragon boat. About 20 of us met at the Yacht Club at 7.45am to put this enormous canoe (do you remember that book from the Dr Seuss series about the bear cubs who went camping and made a canoe out of bark?) into the harbour and then 20 pink people have to climb in it without tipping it over. Lean out Robin. It was a blast and those ladies are a pretty lively bunch.

The idea was hatched by a woman in Darwin who had fought off breast cancer and decided she needed a) something to do, and b) a way of drawing together other people who have been down the same track; so she somehow scared up a big canoe and persuaded various survivors of this battle to get in with her and paddle. They bought pink shirts, practised twice a week and started entering competitions and generally making themselves known. I haven't yet read the literature so this is not necessarily facts, but the gist of the thing. Anyway, it's a sort of support group/fitness exercise/teamwork building thing which works beautifully. They lift each other and push each other and if one of the crew has had chemo and doesn't feel well, they put them up the front to enjoy a ride anyway. By way of a casual question ( only the ignorant could ask such a thing), I asked did all the original members still paddle. What I meant was: had any lost interest and stopped. I realised after receiving the answer that there is not really an easy way to leave the paddlers. They support each other until the very end. It turns out the single paddler who no longer attends has died.

I sort of bumped into this pink tribe on the plane to brisvegas last weekend and talked a bit about Mum and my participation in the lifelong breast cancer study undertaken by kConFab and also about the BRCA2 gene mutation which Mum and her sister and brother all had. They have all had either breast cancer, ovarian cancer and testicular cancer which I believe are related by this mutation.

It was an honour to be with this closeknit group of people. Although I kept hitting the poor woman in front of me with my paddle, she never seemed to get annoyed. I also splashed every one and got out of time.

There was a lone man standing on the rocks who was looking out for the crocodile we apparently rowed past. We also paddled past an overturned boat which I completely missed as well. I was concentrating on not knocking anyone out so didn't see much outside the boat...

Yeah, so sorry Dulce. I raved on again. Not to worry, I promise much interesting stuff next time.