#2023 Wednesday 27th May 2020

Brrr .... it's still cold!  The weather has gone from summer wear to maximum winter wear in one week!

Kaylia had to come home from school early today .... she has a bad ear ache and just wanted to go to the doctor!  This is very unusual for her.... she has to have very strong pain before it has that sort of impact.

She has a course of antibiotics, some ear drops ..... and some extra strong pain tablets.

The building project is going well.  The main steel beams are now in place ... these will support the upper floor.  I'll put a temporary floor on the bearers and this will give me an easy working platform to work on the upper roof.

Eventually there will be a door from the entry room onto this new balcony.  That will be in the window space at the upper right-hand side.

#2022 Monday 25th May

Brrr..... it's cold!  It's 13 degrees outside with a howling wind and frequent rain. I shudder think of what it would be like in a really cold place.

The storm came and did a lot of damage elsewhere nearby..... but we missed our as usual.  We seem to be in a little sheltered pocket and the winds blow over the top of our valley. 

I'm welding steel beams in place when the rain pauses..... I get a few bits done and then knock off and retreat into the warmth next to the fire. 

#2021 Sunday 24th May

It's 9am and according to the forecast we've already passed the maximum temperature for today and it's just going down from here.  Brrrr..... I'm stoking the fire!  I think our outing today will be a short one. 

#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.