First day out of our 5th covid lockdown....so I went to Inglewood in the afternoon, took some excess Melbourne plants that were growing in the wrong spot
Was very surprised to see how deep the stump burned down into the ground
Ended up placing a tape measure in it - to try and give a better idea - about 80cm, not including going down into the soft ash
Was pleased to see that the almonds were in blossom
Planted out the Melbourne plants on Thursday morning - including an optimistic self seeded jacaranda and a couple of echiums, and then started the painting in the afternoon.
Had to go and buy a roller handle first, as I just couldn't find one in the shed.
Saw a bottle of bottle of bubbles that I thought would amuse Madeleine, given its spelling
Started off with painting along the edges/corners etc - in readiness for using the roller
And then onto the rolling
Friday, and it was pretty cold in the morning - frost again - was interesting seeing the frost melt on the car
Josh's 4 x boys arrived around 8am to set up the 3 phase electricity connection, and to also start installing the split systems
Unfortunately, Powercorp cancelled their appointment, so we couldn't move to three phase today, but that meant that they could spend a lot more time installing the split systems. They started with the 2 x big rooms first.
I couldn't really start painting again while they were in the dining room, so I went and had a coffee with Denise at Charlie's new place. He'd just opened up a hole in the wall coffee shop the day before - in his dad Ben's shop
It was great! - we sat outside and enjoyed the sun
Back to the house, and pottered around a bit tidying up/ moving furniture/boxes etc (to make room for the excess dining room furniture), and also doing more work in the garden I still couldn't really start painting
The boys also went and got a scissor lift, as the ladders weren't quite high enough
Only thing was, the ground was quite soft and it was quite heavy, and so got bogged, and they couldn't use it. Had to go back to the ladders
And given that I had 4 x strapping young fellas here, I asked them to help me move all of the furniture out of the dining room - to make it easier to get around in there
As it was, I hadn't really filled the green room very efficiently, so having tidied it up a bit in there, I made a lot more space. I got them to put the dining table upside down on the bed, and then put bags/boxes/drawers etc up on that - to make more floor room
That meant that we could also get the organ and the sideboard in there too.
They did have some initial problem with the bookcase - as we couldn't remember if it came apart or not, but it must have, as it physically couldn't have been able to get through the doorway. This was put in the back hallway. And, I ended up with a nice pretty empty dining room
So, they did the 2 x large rooms first, and then started on the bedrooms
And also positioned the units outside
But they are not operational yet - the boys will come back next Friday (when Powercorp comes back) and finish it off
They left around 5.30, so had put in a good solid day's work. I said I'd close the gate for them, and reminded them not to drive straight backwards otherwise they'd end up in Storm Drain. They were very grateful for that - as they had the scissor lift behind them - and it would have pulled the van down after it.
Had a now traditional nice hot bath to warm up afterwards
I had originally thought I'd finish up the dining room painting on Saturday morning before going to pick up the 2nd batch of olive oil, but on 2nd thoughts, I decided to just pack up and go, keep myself clean and tidy
Took a couple more photos of the dining room with the morning sun coming in
And packed up and left for Sedgewick. I was both surprised and thrilled when John told me that my 87kg of olives had translated to nearly 20L of oil. An excellent return, compared to the first batch which we got 21L from 202kg of olives
John did say that this olive oil would probably taste a bit blander than the first batch - as when the olives are not as ripe, they taste more peppery.
Anyway, I almost didn't get out of there
It was rather wet and muddy there too, and on the drive out, I avoided what I thought was a rather deep long puddle, and then got bogged somewhat precariously on the other side of it - on an angle, leaning intowards a rather near shed
I tried calling John, (and went to the house) but looked like he'd already left for his appointment
So then I fossicked around looking for some planks to put under my wheels. Found one and put it under the back one which seemed bogged.
Justin then called fortuitously, and I told him about my predicament - -he advised that the car is actually a front wheel drive - so I moved the plank to the front passenger wheel - and tried again
Was still spinning, and I wondered if I'd get out, or if I'd need to call RACV. Justin suggested straightening the wheel, and really shoving the plank underneath which I did. However I was concerned that I might go into the shed....
Well, I'm glad to say I made it out of there with no further incidents and drove home with my 20 litres of olive oil, plus a box of the wallpaper - so that Justin could see what it looked like- and we could choose matching paint colours
We're getting there, slowly but surely....
