Got the paper at 7am as per normal, and then went to the butcher – James and bought a top side roast on his recommendation for our lunch with Jan & Peter. ( Frank and Penny were supposed to have come, but didn’t make it)
Then walked across to the Nevins office – to see if Jamie was there – as I’d invited him around for a drink last night – saying we were home – but then we went to the pub....bad form on my part – he didn’t say if he went or not.
Back home for breakfast – and Mark was up having a coffee – so joined him
Gordon and the bobcat bloke – Darren came around 8am
The bobcat was great – ripping into a dead tree and then pulling the stump out. Then Darren commenced on the box thorn and made short work of that too.
He also bulldozed some geraniums near the house in order to cut a 2 metre swathe for the scissor lift to get rid of the bees. – and lastly flattened out everything that he had ripped up. Took some hours. At the end of it he asked if he could have a look around the house – so I showed him around. He told us that people hid money etc behind the 13th step (I asked whether from the top or the bottom), top of the cupboard, behind the wallpaper etc. We’ll see. He also told us how he had been cleaning out a well once years ago and that there were old softdrink bottles in it. Took them to a dealer and got a lot of money for them.
He also bulldozed some geraniums near the house in order to cut a 2 metre swathe for the scissor lift to get rid of the bees. – and lastly flattened out everything that he had ripped up. Took some hours. At the end of it he asked if he could have a look around the house – so I showed him around. He told us that people hid money etc behind the 13th step (I asked whether from the top or the bottom), top of the cupboard, behind the wallpaper etc. We’ll see. He also told us how he had been cleaning out a well once years ago and that there were old softdrink bottles in it. Took them to a dealer and got a lot of money for them.
Anyway, whilst he was bobcatting, Mark, Karen and I were doing other stuff in the garden. I was doing more weeding etc, Karen was moving the mulch and spreading it over where we’d weeded at the front, and Mark was doing more chainsawing etc.
Rachel (from the pub) kindly dropped by at some stage with her 2 kids and gave us a couple of articles from the internet – about one of the workers brought out to work on the house.
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| 1895 :- Carl Gustav Joachim with grandson Rudolf ( father-in law of William Garland who built Nimmitabel) |
Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy today – but we worked on regardless... what troopers.
Justin and Alex were inside doing the hallway. J ended up calling his Mum and Peter to ask them to get some red paint, as he didn’t feel like going back into Bendigo for it ( it had been mixed up wrongly?)
Jan & Peter arrived around 1, (bringing the right red paint with them) and we showed them around. Jan couldn’t get over how much work we had done in the garden – of course all of the chainsawing and bob-catting had helped. Peter was also stumped as to what the chimney like projection was in the kitchen – as it doesn’t seem to serve any purpose. More buried treasure? He also suggested that the room on the ½ level would have been a servant’s room, as there was no fireplace.
Karen had gone up to the shop earlier and bought some more supplies-and then made a couple of lovely salads to have with the bbq roast. Lunched around 1.30 or 2 (had to wait for the potatoes to cook through properly. Once again had a lovely time – and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Went for a walk around town with Jan and Peter after lunch, and they left mid afternoon.
The scissor lift was dropped off around 4 or so – the bloke spoke to Justin and showed him how to use it in case the bee bloke didn’t know how. J thought it was quite fun, and he and Mark drove around the garden with it. The kids then wanted to get in on the act and they climbed up also. They also extended it upwards (relatively high)
The bee bloke came around 4.30 or so, and was surprised that we had been given such a large scissor lift machine, as expecting one half the size. This then made it very tricky to manoeuvre into the first bee hive position at the back of the house – having to circumnavigate the 2 x mulberry trees, a tap and the well. Luckily Mark was there to saw off some branches with his chainsaw, as we would never have got in there otherwise. It was also very tricky backing out from there too.
So, he did all 3 hives – and luckily no angry swarms emerged. He was of course all suited up.
During lunch Peter had told us a story about a drunk Irishman who had decided to move a hive on his roof after having a few drinks. Not surprisingly the story hadn’t ended well.
Karen, Mark and Zoe packed up all their tools etc and left during this – they were both fantastically helpful and fun – we were sorry to see them go.
It was dark by the time the bee guy left, so we turned our minds to dinner.
Thought we’d try the road house past the motel – and had some pizza there. Was quite good.
Home and to bed
Home and to bed
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