#2020 Saturday 23rd May 2020

Wow... a significant post! 2020 posts in this blog...... and it's the year 2020!

We're due for a big storm this weekend.... the forecast is for 130km winds.  I'm sitting on the verandah at 10am and I can hear the neighbours around preparing for it. My preparation.... after securing the sheets of iron outside (materials for making a raised garden bed) will be to have lots of firewood ready so we can keep snug and warm.

The looping control is mid-phase....  Kaylia has tested it out and realizes that it's serious.  She will only have 4 dvds today. 

#2019 Wednesday 20th May 2020

"looping" is driving me crazy! Our management strategy has fairly well confined it to her bedroom.... but I can still hear it loud and clear.

I had a nice surprise today..... the Western Power guys came to cut down a dead tree on the verge.  It was a threat to the power lines. 

They did a good job and we scored a lot of firewood!

The building is progressing well.  The first of the beams which will support the upper floor went up today..... photos tomorrow. 

#2018 Saturday 16th May 2020

The looping control strategy is still working but Kaylia is working hard..... she's had 5 'fails' this week and will only be able to have 5 Dvds when we go to the op shops this afternoon.  She has also developed some sneaky ways round the restrictions...... such as a low voice mumble...... or a high pitched squealing.  The latter is a problem!

Naomi is thoroughly enjoying the vegie gardening that began due to covid.  We now have 8 raised beds.... 5 in the flat area on the kitchen side.  I've begun making beds using the discarded roofing iron.  We get lots of ideas from YouTube videos. 

If you look carefully you can see our 3 hens.  They're real characters..... each one has deformed feet so they are unique and special. 

The building project is going well. I'm finding lots of cheap or free steel..... the end result will be really strong.... much stronger than needed.  Once the post I'm working on at the moment is erected I'll build a steel framework between the four posts to support a floor area between the two buildings. 

#2017 Wednesday 13th May

Kaylia is in the middle of a therapy session at the moment..... she loves these sessions.  We have put in place a strategy to control her "looping"...... this is part of her autism which has been driving us to distraction!  Fortunately she is really keen on collecting DVDs..... so she starts the week with a possible 10 DVDs from an op shop on Saturday..... and everytime she does the looping, she has a DVD taken off.  It works!  She is down to 7 today.  We can see her struggling to control the urge.

This weird machine is my latest acquisition to help with the house renovation...... I'm doing a lot of cutting of steel and this bandsaw does the cutting while I get on with something else..... and the cut is perfectly square!  I then weld short lengths of steel into the 6 metre lengths that are needed for the 9 posts...... and the umpteen 4 metre lengths needed for floor and wall supports. 

#2016 Tuesday 5th May

A very happy Kaylia at breakfast

#2015 Sunday 3rd May

Kaylia is loving being back at school...... and it's very good for us too!  We are so appreciative of the staff at school.... the way they encourage the potential of the class members is really good.

At home Kaylia is still a self contained person..... she spends most of the time entertaining herself in her room. ..... and the bath is a big thing for her. 

The weather forecast is for a big storm tonight.  So it's good that we finished the roof this morning. I had to remove about a quarter of the bungalow roof so that the new roof frame could be built.... so it would not have been good if the new roof was not in place! 

#2014 Wednesday 29th April

It's a big day.....   Kaylia started back at school and she's very happy!  She accepted the "home school" without complaints...... and when she was given the choice of continuing to work at home or to go to school, she seriously thought about it but decided to go to school.

This morning Alby and I fixed roof sheets for the first stage of the project.  The area between the house and the bungalow is now covered.

The next stage is to extend this roof over the bungalow.  Two tall posts have to be constructed to support the roof.