Cam Update Tuesday 23- Thursday 25 January 2024

Well, Cam and some of his team came back to finish off some bits and pieces - as per a spreadsheet I had sent him

Kitchen updates were a fan and downlights, rather than the qasair  rangehood (that didn't fit) - at least it's all blocked off now , - so gunk shouldn't come down the chimney

That said, I received a call from Cam later saying that it had started raining, and he could hear water coming down (electrics and water not a good combination), so we'll need to cap the chimney....(have organised with our old roofer to come up next week and do so  (he'll coincidentally be in town - to replace some slates on the old church). Let's also hope that the fan they have put in is powerful enough - it looks pretty small

I guess we'll get him to provide a "chinaman's hat like this - although when I was talking to him, he found it hard to believe that much water would actually get down the chimney - as there are the chimney pots - which are only about 15 cm across - so it would need to be absolutely pouring for rain to get down - but better safe than sorry

Old photo of the kitchen chimney

Cam and team also - washed down the floors, caulked the splashbacks and attached the side powerpoints - looks pretty fab

And put another powerpoint in the appliance cupboard

Also installed the heater - couldn't centre it because of the drawer

 

Not sure if they put in the dimmers for the lights, or if they put in the switch for the outside light - I'll have to go and inspect myself

They didn't re-attach the hearth surround - Cam hadn't taken it off, so was a little unsure about re-attaching it - will have to ask Chris E to do it (as he'd taken it off).  and we're also not sure about the mantle shelf - whether to put it back or not - don't want it to interfere with the cooking...

Next up was our ensuite - where they also caulked the tiles

And fixed up the drawers for the vanity - this was a big bug bear of mine - so I'm very pleased that its fixed

But I don't think that they fixed up non symmetrical sconce - will need to talk to him again about that

Nor would they have fixed up the scratches they made on the vanity surface....

That long roll of cardboard floor protector was removed, and the floor cleaned beneath it - so nice to see the tessellated tiles again - just have to get rid of that big fridge box in the hallway - but that can only be moved once the floor in the kitchen is sanded....Incidentally, I spoke with the Bridgewater sander the other day, and he said he had us booked in for early February....

Powder room floor was also cleaned up

Doesn't look as though the plastic pipes have been replaced with fancy chrome ones either 

 

However we're not happy with the way that the new (old) door was cut down - panels too close to the ground.  

I suggested that they replace it with the now spare door from the bathroom (ensuite) - but that is 860mm wide, while this one is 900mm wide - so the bathroom door isn't large enough... I then tried looking online at Salvage yards for 2nd hand Victorian doors - but they didn't have any either - 900mm wide seems an unusual size....Our good friend Terry is actually going to fix up the door for us - he'll put in a new base board and make the bottom panels square-ish

The tie rods were installed in the music room and some remedial plastering done.  Cam advised that he'll be back in a few weeks to attach the N (for Nimmitabel) shaped bolts on the outside via a cherry picker

Also looks like they did some remedial plastering - wonder if they did the whole room? 

Cam also got rid of their piles of rubbish out the back

Anyway, a vast improvement - will go up tomorrow afternoon and check it all out in person, and maybe even fire up the Aga - woo hoo

  
 

Bunya Pine log removal Fri 19- Sun 21 January 2024

Had a quick turnaround - back to Melbourne on Thursday afternoon, and back to Inglewood on Friday afternoon with Justin in his new car - Hyundai ionic

Easy drive, nice and quiet, but lots of traffic, and it wasn't even a long weekend 

Leftovers for dinner - and watched Mothering Sunday on SBS on demand - quite sad

Slow start on Saturday morning - Wordle, Quordle etc and read the Age online in bed  

Justin charged the car across the road - didn't take long - it's very efficient

Went and visited Terry, had a coffee and a chat

Back to the house - pottered around the garden - decided I would move the bunya pine logs - which have been in the same position for years - hot sweaty work - had to watch out for snakes (didn't see any) too - had to cut back/pull out the long weeds

Chris Mc arrived late afternoon (was wanting to sell his car - here in Melbourne)

Made a nice dinner - baked pumpkin in the air fryer, cheat crispy roast potatoes (par cook in the microwave, toss with seasoned flour, then bake in the BBQ), seared zucchini etc.

Got the boys to cook the pork medallions etc on the BBQ - with a beer of course

Justin had previously cleaned up the back veranda - to make it more habitable - so we ate there too, as it was very pleasant

Another lovely sunset on the veranda

The three of us went for a walk after Sunday breakfast - my usual route - out past the horses, and the dam, up to the white road, and then back via Potters Hill Lane - Justin hasn't done this walk before

I continued with the logs afterwards - as I wanted to complete the job 

And Justin fixed up the light fitting in the bee room - we had needed more screws for the light fittings.  I went and bought some that were seemingly the right gauge, but too long, so Justin cut them down to size, but they still didn't fit properly - so I hunted out some other ones from spare lights,  all good, that's another job done

  

Targetted Yucca removal 12-18 January 2024

 I had a week up here with Helen and the kids  - and Ted - one of Xavier's friends 

Arrived on Friday afternoon and was dismayed to see that the power had been out for some time....hence a stinky fridge, and also that the water was up to the 2nd step in the cellar....- and that might have also been contributing to the smell....

Anyway, cleaned out the fridge and chucked out a whole lot of food

 And also got the pump going in the cellar

Had a quick look in the garden also - kiwis have regenerated.

One of the peach trees has lots of lovely ripe fruit

The grape vines on the trellis are looking fab ( previous years they've been decimated by caterpillars

 And the canna lily has flowered for the first time (that I've seen)

So got to the pool to join the kids and Helen after 4pm.  Stayed til, after 6, was a perfect day, and the pool was quite crowded by Inglewood standards

Helen made us a tasty chickpea curry for dinner - which was nice, and we all watched The Dictator afterwards (unfortunately some inappropriate bits for the kids)

Sunset intermission on the veranda

Took the boys fishing to the reservoir on Saturday morning. They enjoyed it, although no fish were caught (apparently a few bites)

Pool after lunch - the weather wasn't quite as nice as yesterday, although still very pleasant at the pool

Boys climbed the tree - first time that Xavier has been up there

 Late afternoon, the boys emptied out the cellar by hand (had already pumped it - so it was the last few centimetres)

Dinner outside under the tree - vegie burgers and pork ribs from the butcher - the vegie burgers were better than the pork ribs

And then another movie - Ted 

On Sunday, the boys decided that they would start cutting down the yuccas that need to be removed for the garage.  They were very careful - both of the spikes, and potentially snakes.  I also helped a bit especially when some of the branches could have fallen on and squashed the fence (we used a looped hose to direct them away from the fence)

I was on a bindi search also - found some new places for them...

And cut back overgrown shrubs etc (unfortunately forgot to take an after photo).  There is a lemon tree hiding under there

Terry invited us to dinner that evening - with Arlene and David - very pleasant - and delicious food - cheese and biscuits to start, then an eggplant parmigiana, and mulberry cheesecake for dessert 

Monday - and the boys thought they would try and take the stumps out.....

I also made sure that they were well fed and watered - with suitable tradie snacks...We were extremely surprised by how much they achieved

Helen and I dropped in on Terry, and had a coffee, and also picked some delicious nectarines and pears  

Helen also took the boys to Bridgewater to try their luck at fishing there.  No luck, but they did go for a swim in the river

Pool in the afternoon though - and then drinks and nibbles on the veranda

Tuesday, and a coffee with Pauline at Cafe 3517, and then stripping the leaves off the yucca branches and filling Gordon's trailer - if we put the yucca branches in whole, the trailer would be filled in no time

The boys also removed a pesky, rather spiky palm on the nature strip

On one of my trips up the street, I saw that Jerry was working on the corner shop, so dropped in to say hello - up the ladder

Pauline also wanted to make sure that what Jerry was doing wasn't an eyesore from our Bee room - so I took a photo to reassure her - all good

Rachel also dropped by in the afternoon, and brought a yummy pannetone cake that we had for afternoon tea

I also suggested to the kids that they might try carving something out of the yucca branches - easier said than done, but they gave it a go

Wednesday, and it rained steadily in the morning, and was quite miserable weather - the boys went off on scooters once it stopped

 And it surprisingly cleared up to be quite a nice sunny afternoon, so Helen and I went to the pool - was gorgeous, we were literally the only ones there.  It felt so lovely and decadent to have a "private" pool

We invited Terry for dinner - and had chicken tortillas for the meat eaters, and a rice,bean, corn mixture for the vegetarians - very nice

Helen and the kids packed up early on Thursday and left. I did the washing and waited for everything to dry, - also did more yucca frond stripping