Pre Christmas 17 & 18 December 2011

It was a quasi dress rehearsal for Christmas - without the cooking and potential stress of course

Justin, Mad  & I went to the house this weekend (Fraser had too many things to do back in Melbourne, he's a social butterfly that boy)

The scaffolding is all gone now - and the roof looks great.  Not brand new, but well kept, and the finials are dark and straight now also

We arrived on Friday night (Mum was looking after Fraser) and had takeway from the bakery again.  Was quite warm, but nice and cool in the house.  Non eventful evening, hadn't brought any dvds so sat and chatted/read

Went for a long walk by myself in the morning - and bought some supplies from the IGA on the way back. Also went and bought some fruit from Diane's new fruit & beg shop -looks good, and ordered my turducken.  James had said it would only take 3-4 hours to cook - and we could check with a meat thermometer.

Read the newspaper for a bit, and then when we were ready to get to work decided to start on the bathroom - sugar soaping the walls/ cupboard, bath etc Had to particularly scrub the bath as it was quite filthy.  There was also a lot of reddish dust perhaps from Daniel pulling up the floor for the toilet and drilling through the walls/bricks for the pipes etc

just starting

staged shot!

Mad came and helped me too - after having slept for hours.  Ahh teenagers!

Gordon the roofer came by also - to show us what he'd done and he also got down the signed lead roofing cap - the original roofer signed it in 1882, and then someone else in 1901, and then again in 1991. We said that Gordon should sign it too.   Looks like its been painted over a few times so you have to look at it from a certain angle in order to see the writing.  We think that we'll strip the paint off in order to better see the writing - but then Karen said that the writing might have only been scratched into the paint, and that if we stripped it we might lose it - so we'll have to have a better think about it.  That said we plan to mount it in a 3d frame.

roofing cap

clsoe up of signatures on roofing cap

Original Gordon dropped by also - and commiserated on all of the mess in the garden, Justin's ruined path etc.  He'll tidy up for us and mow the grass again -as it's getting a bit high, and we certainly don't want any snakes lurking around.  He confirmed that the side tank was probably not empty as Justin surmised - as there was a stop cock up the top which we hadn't turned around.  Justin wants to empty this tank and then take it off the slightly leaning stand -a s he thinks it could be potentially dangerous

Got to the bottom of the other (back) tank mystery also - The roofer Gordon turned the tank tap on quite hard - and then we saw water bubbling up outside the kitchen window.  The plumbers must have disconnected the pipe to the back tap near the well, as that tap doesn't work anymore - and just left the pipe open - as it is emptying near where the new pipes have gone for the kitchen ie near where the water used to pour out of the kitchen sink at the back of the house.  So I've left a message with Daniel to come and fix it

A P & A came around  3pm, and Karen, Mark & Zoe a little bit later

So we downed tools soon afterwards

Karen had brought some pre dinner nibbles/antipasto and we had that with some wine up on the veranda - very relaxing. - and A & M went for a 10 km run down the road and back - given that we now have a usable shower

antipasto on the verandah

cold beer after a long run!

Bruce also dropped by again -asking if we wanted a Christmas tree- as he had a "spare".  With an offer too good to be true we gladly  accepted.  He initially said that he'd leave it by his back door - but  ended up walking it down to our place - which we all thought tremendously funny after a few wines. Took a few photos of this walking Christmas tree

Christmas tree's progress

onto the front path

receipt by Justin

Wandered down to the pub for dinner - and of course had a good night. Asked Enzo where we could get ice for Christmas day  (for drinks etc )   - and initially he said that he'd fill up a large esky with ice for us, and then said he had a spare fridge and freezer that he could drop around for us to borrow on Christmas Day! I was chuffed.

So - first night with a flush toilet, and I didn't even need to go during the night - what a waste!! But it's there if we need it!! Woke up during the night - too much quiet?  and took a while to get back to sleep again.


Bit rainy on Sunday

intrepid me off to get The Sunday Age

More weeding out the front - need to look our best... and didn't take too long.  Robert - head of the Lions club came and said hello.  Also more waterning -as as although it had been raining in some parts of the garden it was hardly wet

Meanwhile the girls decided to make and then sample some home amde icy poles - (maker a Christmas present from Karen)

home made icy poles (Christmas present from Karen)

More sweepinng inside - so much dust....

Justin was also getting domestic and decided to start polishing - first the old organ which was looking a bit sad and dusty, then the bookshelf and finally the stairs and banister - all looks great

some spit and polish?

Had a visit from Darren @ Bay Building as we wanted to move the soon to be rebuilt laundry from it's original spot to fristly by the back wall ,and then we decided that it would look good squared up a couple of metres away from the vegie bedsas per below.

And speaking of the vegie beds - the tomatoes that i'd planted a couple of weeks agao with Susan have crumbled into the dust, the potatoes are still there, and a couple of hardy brocoli? beetroots have also sprouted, but it's all lookign a little sad.  I  had also brought a couple fo herbs from home - lemon grass, &  oregano which I planted in there - we'll see how they go...

wheer we plan to put the laundry/wood shed (note not much happening in the vegie beds)

Wraps lunch and gingerbread cake

what a feast!

And more plastering work in one of the upstairs rooms

Alex has been skimming

Followng on from his polishing, J fixed up the wood burning stove, as there were a couple of little bits missing.  He used that stove cement that i had bought a while ago, and "glued" the missing piece in, and used a bendy piece of metal tas a base for the other missing bit.  Hopefully it will work, and I will be able to use it over Christmas!!

fixing the stove in time for Christmas

After the others had left, Mad decided to start playing the electronic piano, and then of course Justin wanted to also... They weren't so  much taking it in turn as demanding to play it while the other was still playign it.  Luckily it didn't end in tears.  I did also point out that theyorgan was available to play on the other side of the room - however maybe that's not as much fun - as it doesn't have all of accompanying sound effects etc

electronic Mozart

I wanted to wait around til, 5pm for the annual Inglewood Christmas party - to
make an appearance, go and chat to people etc

So we wandered acrossa and poked out heads in the hall as per below

inside the Town hall

Chatted to a few people - saw Robert the Lion Club president again manning the saugage sizzle - so introduced him to Justin & Mad. 

Also had a chat with Shareena, the bride, and with Don (who caretakes the hall and who had let us up there to take a photo of our house).  Don introduced us to his daughter Robin - who was visiting from Mackay - she said she had never been inside the hosue - and wondered if she could one day.  So I invited her then and there - no time like the present.  so we went back and I showed her around.  She also told us of a ghost story from her own house in Inglewood - dark shape in a top hat and tails, her brothers had seen it too.  MAd thought that was very intersting

Anyway, had to leave by 6pm or so - as Fraser was by this stage home alone and probably wondering when he was going to get dinner.  "Luckily" we didn't win the door/raffle prize,as Justin had thought that wouldn't be the done thing...If we had won we could have donated it back


view from the verandah



3 December 2011 Anniversary

I wanted to go up for a quick day trip to check the works before payment re the plumbing etc .

Susan came up with me for the ride - and of course we chatted the whole way there.

Wandered around the town first, and saw that there were a couple of new shops - a children's toy/book shop, and a small art/postcard shop etc which had some postcards and fridge magnets of the house - bought a couple.  Had a good chat with the lady who ran it.  Also saw that a new fruit and veg shop was opening in the next week

Went and had a chat with James the butcher after this - to enquire about a turkey for our Inglewood Christmas.  He told me about his success last year with a turducken (boned duck inside a boned chicken inside a boned turkey) - said it looked great with the 3 coloured meats when you cut it through - and also the taste is delicious!  So I'll probably get one of those.

picture form the internet

 He also showed us his modular bathroom - self contained bathroom unit - which you buy off the shelf and then plaster and paint over the outside to make it look like a proper room.  Could be good for our room over the garage.

image from the internet

On the way up, we saw his collection of mainly vintage motor bikes, including one like Steve McQueen's in the Great Escape, and a fancy Harley etc.  Susan was impressed as her grandfather had tinkered around with motor bikes and she had recognised some of the names

With all of this chatting, Susan wondered how we ever got any work done when we were up there

And speaking of work, once we got back to the house, I saw how much more work was required in the garden.  It was unfortunately still a mess - as there was a large pile of dirt, and large pile of gravel leftover over from the plumbing job.  Yes, Daniel had refilled the holes and trenches, but it must have been loose filled as opposed to packed as there was plenty left over.  I guess we'll use this leftover dirt to even out the ground in other places

However, on the plus side the toilet had been installed, and we now had running hot and cold town water which was rather exciting.




Daniel had also put in the laundry sink




and put in  a new shower head underneath the supersized old one.  I guess the old one wouldn't work properly - would use up too much water etc.  Or maybe the old pipes are so rusted that the water just wouldn't get through. It's also a bit sad, but I'm actually looking forward to sugar soaping the kitchen and bathroom walls when we go up next time -as it was just too hard previously without any running hot water



And the roof looked fantastic - Gordon had done a terrific job with the slate tiles, the straightened and newly panited finials, and the chimneys. I called him and said how pleased I was.  He's been wonderful, and wants to come up and show us exactly what he's done when we're up next.  Seems to be a real perfectionist.  He'll also show us the original roofer's capping ridge which was signed and should be interesting.




But, back to the garden, unfortunately nothing much was happening in the vegetable beds - most of those seeds that I had planted seem to have failed  - obviously no one has been watering them to give them a start, but there has been some rain...

The seed potatoes that I'd got from The Royal Melbourne Show have come up, and so have a couple of little shoots (interdeterminate at this stage). 




I also planted some tomato seedlings that I'd brought from home. Hopefully they'll survive.  Susan and I watered them in well, but it had become a quite warm and sunny day (had told Susan that the weather is always better after the Great Dividing Range) - and we were just in t shirts, and we certainly had sun hats on. We also did lots of further watering around the garden, fruit trees, lemon trees - looking rather healthy if I do say so. However the protea which I had quasi-saved a couple of weeks ago looked dead - quite decidedly brown, while when I had replanted it there was a skerrick of green left.



I saw that the new tap in the front had lots of small plants coming up around it  and they didn't look like weeds - but I couldn't figure out what they were - eventually  surmised that they were pumpkins! - as I'd scattered the seeds from Nin's Halloween pumpkin there - somewhat ironic that they're growing there and not in the vegie boxes.   Oh well, I can always transplant them



Susan and I also very much enjoyed the mulberries in the back garden - as some of them were ripe and delicious - sort of like a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry - except on a tree as opposed to a cane.  However you had to make sure that you ate the dark/black ones as these were lovely and sweet, the red ones were still tart and sour.



I also had a visit  from our first bride Shareena who came with a a lovely thank you gift hamper for us.  It had a bottle of Zibbibo, some biscuits, nuts chocolates etc

And so our lightening visit came to an end - we'd toured the town, chatted to quite a few people, had a sandwich on the verandah, a drink in the pub, did lots of watering, a bit of sweeping (quite a mess inside) and ended up at the viewing site up from the Botanic Gardens. I'd wanted to show Susan how encircled by bush Inglewood is

Fri 18- Sun 20 November 2011 :- Up in the roof

Rain! Although it stopped pretty much after the Great Dividing Range

Arrived up there on Friday night after Mum kindly agreed to look after the kids for the weekend

Stopped in at the Fish & Chip shop/Bakery - and immediately saw a couple of familiar faces :- Jamie Nevins, and James the butcher.  Both told us what a good job the roofers are doing what hard workers they are etc.  In fact various other people also told us the same thing over the weekend, so when Gordon called a few days later, I told him of the good reports I had received.  Jokingly told him I had spies everywhere providing me with unprompted reports.

So got a couple of burgers for dinner and on to the house.  It was still light so had a bit of a look around.  New slate tiles on the front of the roof.  Various plants that I had carefully planted no where to be seen.  Either died or trampled etc. I was a bit put out that the special protea that I had bought from the plant show with Carolyn appeared to have been squashed by a scaffolding bottom piece.  The totem tennis which I had by the back door was also gone

But the biggest difference was all of the digging... Daniel had put in a new pipe for hot /cold water so had connected it up to the water meter, and had to dig through Justin's new path, under the central concrete path (had to up lift a panel) across to the other un-made path and then around to the south side of the house to hook up with the bathroom and the soon to be installed new hot water service. He had also pulled up all of the unsightly above ground metal water pipes and installed a brand spanking new tap at the meter in the front

Justin's slightly runined front path

water pipe under the removed concrete panel



digging for the pipes



And then there was  a massive hole at the back where he had been looking for the sewerage connection.  He'd called me earlier in the week to say that despite the Coliban Water plan there was no actual connection there. And he dug and dug and kept looking.  In the end Coliban Water agreed that there was no connection - and said they would pay for his wasted hours.  It was certainly a huge mess around there - not helped by all of the rain and mud

massive hole in the search for a sewerage connection

lots of clay

Our shoes became absolutely caked in sticky mud/clay which was rather difficult to get off.  This weekend we certainly segregated our shoes into inside and outside shoes.

We had hoped that the hot/cold water and toilet would be finished, as that had been the plan. However Daniel managed my expectations by sending me a text earlier in the week, saying it wasn't finished - due to the mucking around looking for the sewerage connection.  Oh well another weekend of public conveniences.  There was still I suppose the tank tap (or maybe it's from the well) which worked outside the kitchen, and also the new tap in the front - so we weren't completely dry.  I had also brought a large 10L? bottle of water from home which turned out to be a good thing.

where the old toilet was - and inprpeparion for the new toilet

The insurance people had also cleared away the old laundry debris, picked up all of the flooring bricks, and marked out the square for construction.  We wondered about that, and I called them later in the week asking their plans for the floor - we didn't want a dirt floor.  anyway, yes they'll replace the bricks as per the orginal.


laid out for the new laundry


And Bruce had started on the back verandah poles.  I thought he hadn't quite finished because the bottom of the poles were a good 30cm above the ground with an unsightly metal sleeve holding it up. However this wasn't an interim measure, this was it, and I wasn't happy with it. Didn't really bother Justin.  I ended up speaking to Bruce about it, and he explained that he had to cut the bottom of the poles so high because the rest was rotten.  And he said what good poles they were, we wouldn't get anything like these again etc.  However I didn't like the look of them so high, thought they looked ugly,  He said he had bought replacement poles for them anyway, so he'll put them in for us, as to me a pole is a pole, especially once it's painted.  I felt better after that as it would have niggled at me if I hadn't said anything, and been left unsatisfied

rather high sleeves for verandah poles

Had a relatively easy Saturday, as it rained on and off so doing anything outside was not a good idea. Read the papers, tidied up inside a bit.  Justin also bought some of that expander foam  to fill in the cracks in the brick work to stop the bees from coming back.  So he was scampering around the scaffolding - being relatively careful...

Super fly!

Justin hiding up near the chimney

very cool up there (actually this photo was taken on Sunday - better weather)

nice day - Sunday

Also went up into the roof  to have a look

I don't like ladders.  Or rather I've discovered that I don't really like climbing up relatively high ladders, and then having to hoist myself up through a man hole another metre or so above me...



man hole in the ceiling cavity - with orginal insulation (dirt)





Justin descending the man hole

 Well, I didn't really have to to do it, but rather thought it was something that I should do, or would like to do.  Justin was going up into the roof space and I decided to join him.  He went up first, and he didn't have a problem, and certainly didn't make a fuss, then it was my turn.  Had got our longest ladder, and had to stand on the very top and hope that the ladder wouldn't topple backwards (it didn't).  The man hole is off the hall way, between the going to be bathroom and the other small room.  So I figured even if the ladder swung backwards, it would only go back a metre or two against the linen press and still be upright.  Taking my feet off the ladder and suspending myself up 3m high, with Justin also helping me was a bit hairy.... So, got into the roof space and looked around, unfortunately no hidden or obvious) treasures.  There was a thick coating of dirt on the floor - which were floorboards.  We wondered if it was just dirt built up  over time, but Gordon the roofing guy advised that it would have been the old original insulation which would have been a mixture of clay, straw and perhaps even dung.  Looked in vain for any overlooked treasures, oh well will just have to look harder....


arch way up in the ceiling cavity





a few spider webs in the ceiling cavity - no treasure though


We also wondered about some wires and junction type boxes that we found.  Figured that they were for the servant bells as they went all around the ceiling.  Gordon reckons that they would still be good, and that we could reconnect them within the house.  Thought it could be a funny way to call the children, they didn't really see the humour in it!

junctions for servant bells



Junctions for servant bells #2

 We also saw these pipes which we figured were for the gas lights in some of the rooms.  Funny, the gas we get now is via large tanks - I wonder how these lights where the gas would have come from for these lights?


pipe for gas lighting

 Anyway, to the pub for dinner as per the norm, and we ran into Jamie and his wife,  and James and his wife again - after having seen them in the takeaway shop the night before.  We assured them all that we weren't stalking them. 

Sunday, and although it was a bit overcast to start with, the morning developed into a lovely blue sky day as per some of the previous photos of Justin on the scaffolding.  Once Justin got around to the jacaranda side he saw that the bee hive was still there (most of the bees gone though).  Thought it prudent to knock down the hive - so did so.  Pity that it's been poisoned, would have been lovely to have our own honey!

honey comb which Justin knocked down from the roof

Given that the weather improved, I went back out into the garden, more weeding out the front, and watered some of the drier looking plants.  Also harvested my 6 cherries - delicious!!

And, I found my special protea, it had been pulled out of the ground and was near one of the lemon trees, I assume that the scaffolders had pulled it out and had maybe thought about re-planting it elsewhere, but then forgot.  Anyway, proteas are supposed to be tough, and there was still some green, so I replanted it, watered it, and hoped for the best.

Decided to leave after lunch , and was departing the "comfort station" when a lady behind me asked if I'd just come from the "mansion" Somewhat embarrassed, I assented, after all why would someone with a "mansion" have to go to public toilets?  Anyway, this lady was here with her Mum who had lived in Inglewood 20+ years ago - in the Charles Napier Hotel now an antique/2nd hand shop .  She told me how the "old lady" who had lived there was quite interesting.  - as one day the Mum was walking her dog off a leash out the front of Nimmitabel, and the old lady came out with a shot gun and threatened to shoot it - because it was off the leash.  Luckily she didn't.. And this isn't the 1st shotgun dog story we've heard about her either.

So, for our next visit we will be living in the lap of luxury with a flushing toilet, town water - HOT and cold.  A non leaky roof, and perhaps even the replaced mid level windows which Ken was working on. I'm going up there this Saturday for the day with my friend Susan - so will see all then

On the basis of this I've also organised an Inglewood Christmas for us up there.  Us 4, Mum, Helen & her kids, Sarah and her kids, Becky & Elise, and Brian & Clare -  I'm really looking forward to it.  Turkey on the BBQ, decorations around the lower levels of the cypress tree etc

12 November 2011 Scaffolding and a toilet

Once again another lightning day trip visit -this time with my Mum - as Justin was rather busy and Mum said that she'd enjoy the day trip.

The purpose of the quick trip was rather exciting  to us at least - as I drove the ute up  (no,that's not the exciting bit) with a new toilet, laundry sink and mixer tap.

Toliet and cistern just waiting for installation

Un-used by us - chemical toilet in our bathroom



Ladie's toilet from across the road -
maybe the last time we'll go here?



Ladie's hand basin from across the road
as per above - maybe the last time we'll go here?

laundry sink waiting for installation
in the scullery/laundry


Yes, that's right - we're getting proper inside plumbing - I've organised with Daniel the plumber to come up next week and hook everything up - including HOT WATER!!! with a new hot water service.  We may then be able to give Clancy back his camping hot water machine

Anyway, there was a little glitch - I had thought that Justin had forgotten to pack the laundry mixer tap, but he had put it in the ute cabin under some packing sheets.  We unfortunately didn't realise this until 1/2 hour outside Melbourne on the way back.  I spoke to Daniel the next day and he said that was fine, he'd come back anyway to do the laundry bit ...I must admit that I was inwardly berating Justin for forgetting the tap - and was going to call and tell him off.  But then I  reasoned that that would be pointless, so why bother and cause a fight.  Then, when Mum found it I got mad all over again - that he had hidden it under the sheets - and as if we'd look there - why didn't he tell us.  But once again I didn't call. - because what was the point?  So, by the time we got back to Glen Iris - I was pretty much laughing about it...

But wait, there were THREE more causes for excitement :-

1) Three cherries on my cherry tree look almost ripe - yes it's pathetic I'm counting the cherries - let's see if they're still there for our next visit - so that I can eat them

Ripe cherries - and I still haven't managed to focus
on close ups with my mobile phone camera 

2) Excitement #2 was that the fallen down fence has finally been replaced by dark green colourbond

Bit hard to see that the colourbond is dark green - but it is!


l

 And for the final #3 excitement.... The scaffoldng is all up around the house in preparation for the roofers.  The big hive was gone, and I didn't see any bees around the walls either.  However I did get a call from the roofer later in the week saying that the bees were there and he couldn't get onto to the pest guy...

scaffolding looks pretty impressive

from the verandah

south side

Back - and you can also see that Ken has taken
the broken windows from the mezzanine room
 - so they should be fixed up soon too

North side

south side again with ladders for access

north side again with scaffolding going
through crappy old wood shed

Anyway, Justin & I will be up again this weekend (19 & 20 November) and should hopefully see lots more changes. The installed toilet, a new hot water service, hot water to the kitchen and bathroom, plumbed waste pipes (at the moment the ktchen sink empties straight outside the house, as does the bathroom shower and basin!)

We should also see some of the roofing done - ie new tiles put down or a tarp covering what they have done.  Maybe Ken will have replaced the mezzanine windows.  And I spoke to Daniel today who told me that the Bay Building group people were there today rebuilding the old laundry shed - so it's all go go go ....