More Work ...

March was mainly spent plodding along with the Repairs at DD's.

An important part of this exercise was allowing the Children to Help. 

Showing GD#1 (Miss A) to paint the wall was something she quickly lost interest in.

But GD#3 (Miss P) was certainly not going to miss out -  2 years old and ready to Pitch in and help.

Encouraging her older Sister by example!

And once the Flooring Contractors were finished - It was decided that Grandpa needed help to measure up for the Skirting boards ...

I am sure DH really didn't need the help of a 6 foot long hand puppet but - Sometimes Memories are more important than Measurements ..

(Especially when you always measure twice!)

A Little Weeding

It started off with pulling out some dead Fern Fronds from around the Pond Area.

And from there we started asking "How much do we spend on Reviving The Pond?" 

It's under there Somewhere!

The Fern Rhizomes had lifted the Slate capping on the wall.

And it had really got to the point where it was unmanageable as a Pond - with or without Fish.

Eventually, The Fibreglass Pond was also 'Weeded Out" and we came to realise that this was going to be a much bigger project.

This pipe fed Water to the (Long gone) Evaporative Air-conditioning.

When we followed it into the Roof we discovered that it had been capped with - a Hose fitting.

Better to remove it altogether!

While the Boards were accessible, a trip to Bunnings for some Weathershield Paint was next.

We found the Perfect colour amongst the Markdown Mis-tints.

Time to re-arrange things, 

Fill in the Hole with some new Garden Soil

and Repot the Cycad

We raided the Garden for anything we can use/re-locate here 

and bought some new plants - 

I am trying some I have not been able to grow anywhere else (Hoping they will like the New Soil).

The Moss had been happily growing in the spouting, and likes its new position.

And to finish it off, we also installed some Garden Lights.

I think it a Job Well Done! - (View from Inside).

MAY

Message from DD

"You know I never liked my Pantry, well ....."

Long story short - A Rat had decided to take up residence in the space above the Pantry.  

Amusing itself  over the space of 3 days by chewing through 4 separate Water pipes 

(3 downstairs and 1 upstairs).

By the time they discovered the first leak, water had soaked everything in the Pantry. .

It ran along the Cornices, down the walls, behind Power points,  and under their Floating Floorboards.

Its a big mess but thankfully the Insurance Company said they were covered. 

That is - until they said They weren't covered for "Damage caused by Insects, Wildlife and Vermin."

Looks like we have another Renovation Project ahead of us.

APRIL

The AQC (Australian Quilt Convention) is on at the Beautiful Royal Exhibition Buildings in Melbourne

And Once again I am on deck for White Glove/Quilt Angel Duty.  This Year we had Quilts designed by the Incredible Kate Ceberano.  

- And on the Home Front ...

Spike has a Heart Murmur.  

Whereas he is not phased by it, the Vet said his NT-Pro-BNP levels were Way too high and required an ECG. 

(He wasn't quite so relaxed when he realised that meant GOING to to the Vet!)

AND - We went Up The Wall with Tiling Our Bathroom.

Finally placing the last tile on April 24. 

Tiles - Finally

If I can offer any advise to anyone who is thinking about doing a Bathroom Reno/Rebuild it would be ... DON'T choose your tiles until you are ready to put them down!

Our Floor tiles were the wrong colour and the Wall tiles 'just didn't jell" so we had to start the lengthy process of finding new tiles again.

A week to get the Floor tiles in and down.

DH happily volunteered  to smash the tile spacers and levelling wedges out for me.

Before we make another (costly) mistake, Time to get the Graph paper out.

Working around a window or niche, it is necessary to make sure the tiles flow through and not leave you cutting a 1" tile strip.

We can now order our chosen tile in a size that is going to work.

Progress is slow...

The Bathroom Reno is progressing very slowly with unavoidable delays and necessary distractions. 

But at least there have been times when DH got to play with his toys!

And the rest of it all is literally as interesting as watching Paint dry.

Working against the Clock

 Why is it when you have a deadline everything seems to conspire against you?

First the hinges gave way on the Security door - Easy fix. 

Then a week later the Lock broke OK THAT needed immediate attention.  

While we are at it we may as well replace them all and install the Emergency Key Lock box too!

NOW can we get back to work?

We need help - and even Stowaway Frog offered with his new Frog sized Ryobi Drill.

Fortunately DS#1 was available to help install the waterproof Wedi Boards and then DS#2 was also able to spare us the time to get the Domus Shower base installed.

It was very heavy and being semi recessed into the floor made it awkward to manage.

And with that we have run out of time.  

We had hoped to have the tiles on and be waiting for our Shower screen by now.  

Next week we need to be somewhere else!

December - Week One

And when you think you have all your Ducks neatly lined up...

Enter "Murphy's Law"

It started with my Mother needing a New Phone and Microwave Oven in the same week and the inevitable "I don't know how to use this modern thing" .

Christmas Decorations were - Once again kept to the Bare Minimum.

Distractions, Sidetracks and the Inaccessibility of the Tree and Decorations meant that This was it!

Oh well - There's always "Next Year"

The Bathroom Project saw the Plaster up 

(We were only replastering the bottom of the walls so I was pleased with the finish on the jointing.) 

And it all had to be Sealed and Painted before the Electrician arrived.

He was't able to do everything on our list so will be returning in the New Year.

And just when we were getting a run on the Reno it was Swap tools to deal with some Storm damage.

Our damage was insignificant compared to Others With only unblocking gutters and the Leucadendron needing an extreme Prune.

And speaking of Damage - Spare a  thought for this young man who was stuck blocking the road with a Broken Wheel Hub.

The local Bus was diverted and there he sat (for Hours) until a specialist Tow Truck arrived.

Distractions dealt with and underfloor Plumbing completed.

Finally we were able to get the flooring back down  so no more draughts!

 

November

Once again I am playing 'Catch Up' So - What happened in November?

The First Weekend in November is Demonstrating Simple Cake Decorations to the Children at the Whittlesea Show.  

Each year we hope we will get some new Members for our efforts.

At home, we Introduced DGD#2 

(Little Miss H) to Our Fairy Garden.

Looks Like Grandpa is a bit Big to play in here! 

She also Celebrated her 3rd Birthday with a Cat Themed Party.

Her Cake was made by Mum (DDIL#1) from the Iconic Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book.

The rest of the Month was taken up with Renovating the Bathroom. 

It's a Long process if you are to do it right.

Flooring had to be removed to prepare for the Shower Base to be Installed.

When we removed the Tiles from the Shower recess wall we found a Power point or in fact the back of one.

At some point in time a Plumber didn't think that THIS could be a Safety Issue.

Fortunately the Month ended with the arrival of the Electrician and moving the Power Point was added to the list!

No more Procrastinating

When I decided to clean the Shower Screen one day I did not expect to end up with an entire Bathroom Rebuild!

Long Story Short ..

Circa 2003 the new shower base wasn't reinforced properly. 

Over time the waste outlet began to crack, finally giving way leaving us without a shower.

Replacing the Base was not a simple thing* and we have spent almost 2 years trying to work out how to fix it. 

Once we decided that neither of us use the Bath anymore and that the room actually needed a modern update, the concept fell into place.  

We will 'future-proof' it!

DH is VERY good at demolishing things. 

And once that was started there was no turning back.

Just as well. Because, of course, 

we uncovered a whole heap of hidden "Urgh" that REALLY needed dealing with.

At this point the demolition is done, decisions made and now we wait for deliveries.

*Removing Base requires removing tiles which damages waterproof membrane which requires total rebuild of Shower recess AND they don't make that size Base or Tiles anymore. The list went on and on

Overdue Maintenance

DH has been banned from climbing on the roof, but I made an exception this time on the proviso that he borrows the Neighbours Super Safe Ladder!

Way way back we had windows installed on our front porch - to keep the rain out only they don't.

When it rains heavily, the Water comes in via the Ceiling!

The "simple fix" was to put a new cover over the existing roof with a run off that extends away from the windows.

The "Few Hours" Job took almost a week.  

Has it worked?

Only Time will tell!

AND In the Garden:

Weeds in the Garden are a Given. So is Sweeping and Mowing and Pruning.  

Also Bugs, Beetles & Insects.  It is, after all Their Domain.

The Ants are removing Bedding Sand from the Path - One Grain at a Time.

I swept up Half a Bucket last week.

Two Days later they were at it again.

Part of me admires them

The rest of me wishes they would just STOP.

AND - On My Blog:

It has taken almost a Month to catch up on missing Blog Posts. Our Holiday took a lot of work to record.

Fortunately, I am able to backdate them - so there are new posts scattered throughout last year.  These are mainly for my records.

I am currently printing off a hard copy of all my Posts in case of Computer malfunctions.

And after that? - To go through and remove all the duplicate photos from my Computer...

Going Solar

 And One Year rolls into another and The Message came through -

We can do your Solar Panels on Monday.

And with that we had People clambering all over the roof in 30 degree heat.

(They sensibly 'called it quits' when it got unsafe to be working)

So a couple of days later.

(One too hot and one too wet to be on a roof)

These panels went from here …

To Up here!

And today - as I write this it is 36℃ outside and they are already helping pay for the Air-conditioning.

Out of 'Iso'

My 4th December Post finished with "And at This Point We walk out on it all... "

The Idea was that we would come back from our Trip - enlist some help, put everything back into the Newly re-furbished Rooms and then Do Christmas.

Well, That didn't happen.

Nor did it happen After Christmas.

We pottered around with some light stuff we could move Ourselves

And managed to get The Sitting Room all but established.

(Not a bad result for Our 'old' bedroom)

We needed some new Bookcases before we could put everything back.

So when we were Officially Out of Isolation We headed for … IKEA

I loved the banner outside one of the Other Stores - However you read it - It just summed up 2022

Help finally arrived and My New - Hopefully the Last - Sewing Room started to take shape.

And the rest of the house finally stopped feeling like "Someone had Picked it up by the Front Windows and Shook, until everything we owned was a jumble in the bottom."

December - Part 1

By now we have finished all the painting that we could possibly do - for the time being.  

I had got it down to a fine art with a couple of indispensable DIY ladder holsters - which meant I could multi-task!

Every stick of furniture we owned was stacked 

somewhat precariously in places

into the back of the house.

Let the Polishing begin!  

This is also not a DIY job and we were more than happy to Outsource to "Done by Dulux".  

Out goes the old now "Orange" 2 pack sealer

And in comes the Cabots Low Odour Natural Sealer in a Matt finish.

These Guys worked so efficiently we didn't know they were done until they said "We'll close the door on the way out!"

WOW - we could walk on it (in socks) in 2 hours.

And now have our beautiful Tasmanian Oak Floorboards to show off again!  

What a difference it has made!

And at this point we

Walk out on it all.....