Lockdown 6 : - August - at least October 2021

Well, another post, another lockdown, not as long as the big one last year (4 months?) but long enough.  It started early August, and has officially finished today ie 22 October - however we still can't go to Regional Victoria. 

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 The Premier announced on Sunday24 October that Victoria will become whole again on Friday 29th October - so we will be able to go to Inglewood, and masks won't need to be worn outside anymore (unless in a crowded situation) 

And Melbourne has now officially become the most locked down city in the world....267 days based on the below dates (but we got out of this lockdown 6 a bit early) 

• Lockdown 1: March 30 to May 12, 2020 — 43 days
• Lockdown 2: July 8 to October 27, 2020 —111 days
• Lockdown 3: February 12 - 17, 2021 —5 days
• Lockdown 4: May 27 - June 10, 2021 — 14 days
• Lockdown 5: July 15 - 27, 2021 — 12 days
• Lockdown 6: August 5 - October 26, 2021 — 82 days

That said - things have been still been happening there

I was able to organise a bee man to come and get rid of the 2 hives - in order for the electricians to put the capping on the wires for the split system 

So, he did that, and the electricians were able to put the capping on and pull through the wires etc.  Josh was apparently elbow deep in honey at times as the upper wall cavities between the bricks were full of it.  A couple of his blokes got stung too   

And, while the boom was there, Terry kindly filled in the cracks where the bees had been

Unfortunately, the bee man was not able to get to all of the bees, as there was a 3rd hive on the back wall near the bend in the down pipe. He said the down pipe would need to be removed in order to get to the bees....

And the electricians informed me that the back wall capping was blue - which obviously stood out from the existing dark grey down pipes.  And they couldn't paint it grey because of the bees - all very circular (we still need to paint the white plastic downpipe) 

Around the Kingower side it was red - which is ok

Anyway, it was apparently quite miserable weather - rainy, cold etc - so they went in and turned on the heaters - said they worked very well.

So, that was the heating/cooling...

I'm assuming that we won't need to use the heater part of the split system this year (but you never know) - however I'm sure that Justin (and our guests) will enjoy the air conditioning component this Summer.

While Terry was there, he also told me how overgrown everything was (disappearing paths) - and he took some pictures for me, as I was missing the garden.  Spring is always so lovely there, with the fruit blossoms and other flowers

  

Other activities were progressing inside... 

Ron, our wallpaperer, who was actually also Ron our painter (what a bonus)  fixed up the rest of my cornices and painted them in very similar colours to what they had been in the dining room, and vastly superior colours in our bedroom

He sent the below photos initially to show the proposed new colours against the new wallpaper

The dining room cornice colours had been quite similar before (which we had wanted to keep in the same vein) 

Anyway, we think he did a superb job, and he painted the woodwork and trims, and also sponged off the wallpaper on the ceiling in the dining room and painted it. We thought that was an impossible job, ie Stuart the plasterer thought the wallpaper was probably holding up the ceiling, but Ron said it was very sound, just a few cracks.  We might actually do that in the downstairs green room also - so that we can fix the cracks

Anyway, the dining room is going to look fantastic!  I just need to negotiate with Justin to maybe get rid of some of the furniture...

Below are the almost completed rooms....Ron has to wait for for the servant bells to be reinstated  in both rooms, and the fireplace mantle in the dining room before he can absolutely finish off the wallpapering

Terry and Damo kindly agreed to come and move the furniture out from our bedroom - as  did not have an opportunity to do this

And I also got back in touch with Ian in Bridgewater, as he'd sanded and oiled our verandahs last year.  I got him to do them again

And given that I was not that happy with the tung oil finish inside from a few years ago, got him to do a light sand and polish in the dining room and our room with a different matte finish

He suggested that we replace a few boards in the dining room

Here it is with the oil wet and shiny

And here it is dry - with a matte finish - looking lovely

I was so pleased with his work - that I also asked him to fix up the facsia boards at the front of the house

And he'll also put some quad along the skirting boards, as they don' quite touch the floor in some places, and grit and dirt constantly leaks out from the walls behind them

He also asked us if he could put this up on his facebook page

And, speaking of publicity.....we were informed by a few friends a couple of weeks ago, that our house was in the opening credits of the current season of Restoration Australia....a lot of people are wondering when it will be shown.  We've had to tell them not for a year or so - as there is plenty more work that needs to be done first....

Below are the opening credits - starting with a lovely house in NSW which has some similar internal features as ours  

And we also received a mysterious postcard (an old photo of the house, before we had redone the roof)

It made us smile

 

Split Systems and Undercoating Wednesday 28 July - Saturday 31 July 2021

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

Tried to show how deep it was with the shovel

And the fine ash goes down quite a way also

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.

I'd started painting some time earlier - and although I didn't finish it, was pretty pleased with what I'd done 

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....