Thursday, December 10, 2015

November- an eventful month


 The work has started (albeit very slowly) on the back wall of the house. He doesn't want to rush things and I am not allowed up that high. He is used to standing on a 6 inch wide plank, 13 feet above the ground wielding an axe, chopping competitively, so I suppose I have to heed his advice for once. I have started stripping the wall above the stairs. I think I will have my area finished before his though.

 
All was going well in the house until a storm came by and the lightning bolt hit this ironbark tree close to the house. We scored 14 mls of rain but despite my electricity supply precautions to various objects, we have suffered some damage. The transformer on the power pole had to be replaced, then we started finding out what else was blown up. The TV reception is now useless, despite replacing the signal booster. I think we may have to replace the cabling and the antenna.

I wish we could bark an ironbark tree for posts in a millisecond .
Needless to say, the phone, all existing cables no longer work, despite the best efforts of Telstra. They did manage to get a line in the cable working but that lasted only 2 days, so now they have decided against digging up 800m of cable and replacing it, but to go with a mobile device inside the house connected to the landline. I have heard good and bad about this so we wait and see.

 The good news for November, the plumbers came and removed the woodheater for the floor laying, then afterwards they came back an re-installed it and replaced part of the roofing iron above the kitchen sink where it leaked in a major rain event. They did this 2 days before  we received 95mls in a storm. So we were lucky for once.

This is the floor laying in progress in the lounge room. It is quite enjoyable to have this instead of the red and brown painted timber floors that were patched from the termites before we bought the place.

This is the view from our front door looking towards the dining area. I am now having a break from the house renos for awhile. Been a bit busy doing some Christmas sewing for the children and grandchildren. Will show you some of that after they receive them. Best wishes for a happy and safe festive season, and spare a few thoughts for the emergency workers caring for you all during this time.