Peter and Natasha

Written by Peter, on 07-01-2011

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This blog's theme is twos.

With our focus on working for the majority of the time recently, we've spent little time maintaining our block of land. As a result it's become a bit of a jungle. The grass is not only as tall as me in places but full of nasty burrs and prickles, which makes access around the block difficult and uncomfortable. More importantly, snakes are on the move and it's quite a fire risk (not the snakes, the grass). Even more alarmingly, we got a warning letter from the council. Scary. So we booked in to get it slashed.

I marked all the rocky areas to avoid by banging in star droppers to mark the spot. Slow and hot! Then it rained. Then the slasher guy had his machinery wrecked by some rocks and we went on to slasher number two's waiting list. After we came back from a two week holiday he came around and got to work, efficiently levelling the weeds and grass and cutting around the small trees and big rocks. Now we can frolic again without a care.

Not that we have much time for frolickery. In the last two days I've returned to building action. Being a rural location we get lots of flies, spiders and mosquitoes and that puts leaving the windows open on a hot night right out of the question. So I launched into a long overdue job, that of building and fitting insect screens. After months of pondering how to do this I just started doing it and found it quite easy. I was slowed down by a minor equipment malfunction, a hose on the compressor had developed a leak and I needed parts and time to fix it. I've done two screens and last night we went to sleep with the sounds of crickets and frogs, with a light breeze coming in. Quite a relief as we're in the middle of some hot weather.

I've also fixed another window (drip line issues) and filled the large gulf left by moving the window out with some cob. Another thing to mention is that our wonderful composting loo let out a cry for help in our absence in the form of a vinegar fly infestation. These little critters aren't dangerous but they are annoying and can affect the composting. I had to do some emergency maintenance and although they're still there, it's under control. But there is a weakness in the system to find and eliminate. It is however still the least smelly toilet I've ever used, number ones or number twos.

Two much information? 

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Posted by shelley, on 07-01-2011, 1. thanks for the post Thanks for the latest entry.  After originally planning to be building all summer, our project has been waylaid but we are hoping to start in Febuary. Maybe March, gulp. We were hoping to get slab, frame and roof on by April/May at the lastest to avoid rendering in the wet but it's all looking very tight, even with using a professional builder!  We'll keep you posted!  Cheers,  Shelley   » Report this comment to administrator » Reply to this comment...