Little posy

Angus is such a sweetie…he is always picking me flowers, grass seeds, seed pods from the gums trees and presenting them to me...  “This is for you Mummy, put them in a vase”.  One of my girlfriends suggested that I should definitely encourage this sort of behaviour, as it will put him in good stead in later years…. :)   So we bought a couple of little vases for him. This little posy is one we picked together on a walk around the property.

The Build - Wk 4

Some of the stump holes were dug this week, but the excavator was not powerful enough to complete the task, so another one is now booked for next week…over 100 stump holes to be dug.  On Saturday Phil excavated and prepared the carport site next to the house.  The stumps were delivered and the large celery top pine posts were ordered.  In the meantime, we need to make a decision on the double glazed windows – whether to go for timber, metal or a composite. Not a decision to be taken lightly when the costs will be over $50k.

View from the littlest room (outside the house)

On a recent trip to Canberra all my family and friends joked that I only came to visit so that I could have hot showers and a flushing toilet for a week.  Well they were right about the showers, but I have to say, I really missed the view from our loo…..our own little forest, beats the back of a door anyday! J

Garden Decor

I have never really been the gnome kinda gal and it looks like the neighbours agree.  They don’t do things by halves down here…

The Build - Wk 3

Our builder, Phil Hart from Middle Earth Constructions http://www.middle-earth.com.au/, was on site to commence marking out the site with Graeme.  By the end of the week, we could actually walk around the house layout, imagining ourselves in the space.  Next job for the week was working out how many stumps we need, which was a challenge when you are not used to using house plans…. So far the weather has been good to us and the long range forecast through to the end of March is more of the same - thankfully! We also paid for the 330 straw bales that are currently being baled up by a farmer near Launceston. Luckily the shed is finished!

The Build - Wk 2

The excavating was really taking shape now and to be honest looked downright daunting!  Such a steep and high slope was being created at the front of the house site, which would mean very deep footings to be dug.  Ray estimated that around 1,000 tonnes of dirt got shifted! During the course of the week, Ray battered down the steepness of the slope, but still allowing a good access road in front of the site for the builders, etc.  Once the house is built, we will probably dig another dam and use the fill to make the slope more gentle. 

The Build - Wk 1

Soon after New Year, our neighbour, Ray Green, arrived on site with his digger, dozer and his truck.  First thing to go was the lovely acacia tree, which although not indigenous to the area, was a landmark for where we would build and a tree planted years ago next to the original timber house.

Even though the site only needed to be levelled by 1.4mtrs from one adjacent corner to the other, it seemed like we needed to move a lot of dirt.  With the sloping hill behind the house site and to provide drainage from the springs up the hill, Ray cut deeper into the side of the hill to allow for all of this.  At the same time that Ray was cutting in, Graeme decided to hand pick any appropriate large rocks out of the excavation to be used towards our feature rock wall in the living area.  He found some wonderful flagstones amongst it all.  Also, Graeme set to work in slashing any thistles around the site…of which there were plenty.