We've been framed!!

Yes, we finally have a frame up for the shed. After the downpour we've had this week, it was doubtful as to whether the frame would go up this week or not. Thankfully, the weather has held off and the shed guys came out and have got the frame up in one day. They will be putting the walls and roof on today and the guttering on Friday. This is why we decided to get someone else to put the shed up - they can do it faster than what we can! We are planning on lining the shed this weekend and hopefully have it in a state to move into next weekend.

The little portable gas cooktop that James got for his birthday has something wrong with it. We've been using to cook our "dinner in a can" on Mondays and Tuesdays when the pub isn't open for dinner. Even though we do have a gas cooktop and oven in the caravan, they don't work properly so we've been using the portable cooktop. However, it's not putting out much of a flame and takes ages to heat up. Oh well. Once we move into the shed we will be able to use the big gas oven and cooktop that Uncle Ian and Aunty Margaret have lent us. We've missed being able to cook in an oven. We never realised just how many foods out there need an oven! That's why the good old "dinner in a can" has been great - and even yummy, if you can believe that!

With the cold weather we've been having, we certainly haven't missed having a fridge. We've been using the esky to keep some food and drink in and keeping it outside. We do have a large gas fridge and once we move into the shed we'll be able to use that.

As you can probably tell, we're looking forward to moving out of the caravan and into the shed.

Building has started

Well, the slab has now been laid for the machinery shed and building is due to start tomorrow (Tuesday, 25 July). On the weekend, we spread out the crusher dust into the three bays of the shed that will have open fronts and out the front of the shed, just so it's not so boggy driving in and out. We also spread out the sand next to the slab where the water tank is going.

We've started moving things like the insulation that is going into the shed and wood for the fire up to the machinery shed site.

We've had a brief respite from the weather - only down to zeroes and ones of a night - and have had a heap of rain which has been rather nice for the dams.

We're still getting quotes from various companies for windows, doors, frames and roof trusses. Because we have to have, according to our Basix certificate, timber frames and double glazing on our windows, this quote is proving to be pretty expensive.

There's movement at the station

Yes, that's right. Today, the concreter is coming out to form up for the slab on the shed!! Council is organised to come out and inspect that formwork tomorrow (Tuesday) and the slab and footings should be poured on Wednesday - finally. Council should then hopefully inspect the slab next Tuesday and it'll be ready for the shed guys to come out and erect the shed after that. All things going well, we should hopefully be in the shed within the fortnight - that's according to James' and Tracey's timetable mind you!

Lovely James bought Tracey some nice "icebreaker" thermals recently and boy do they work. Not quite as nice as having full time heating, but it sure beats freezing your arse off on those chilly Canberra nights/mornings when the temperature plummets to minus six and you have to go outside for a pee at 3o'clock in the morning! With the price of petrol at the moment (we're thinking of investing in a petrol bowser and strapping it on the back of the ute), it's costing a small fortune to keep the generator going to have the little blower heater blasting. Some mornings lately the frost has been so thick it looks like it's snowed. We've been parking the cars in the "caravan compound" between the caravan and a large tree and covering the windscreens and bonnets with doonas. They get tucked into beddybyes each night now just so that they don't freeze up in the icy cold. We've already had one instance of the commodore seizing up when either the thermastat or the water pump froze!

The horses seem to be handling the change really well. They've gone from nice luscious grassy paddocks and warm stables to paddocks with no yummy grass and lots of serrated tussock. We've been buying those large round bales to hay and putting them out each week with a mineral block for them to lick to get their nutrients. We're also having to hard feed each day as well. We're still using the float as a tack room and feed shed. But they love having a 150 acre paddock (we've fenced off about 50 acres 'cause of really deep gullies in them) to run around in, and boy do they run. It's great muscling exercises for the young ones. James is riding JD these days and he's going really well, except sometimes he doesn't really want to move. He's a bit tubby and lazy (JD that is, not James) but James gets those spurs on and suddenly JD finds that he can move after all.

Unfortunately, one note of sadness in all this was that poor little Spud dog went to sleep for the very last time last Thursday (6 July). Spud had his MRI the day before and it showed that he had a large brain tumour and several lesions on his brain as well as a tumour on his spine. Because of the size of the tumors and the number of lesions they determined he was inoperable. We managed to spend some time with Spud to say goodbye and he was a bit more responsive and even got a bit excited when we put his collar on him. We didn't want to hold him while they put him to sleep - we didn't want this to be our last memory of him - so we left the room. They wrapped Spuddy up in his blankie that we took up there for him and brought him out to us. We brought him home and buried him in a nice sunny spot between the shed and arena and we're going to plant a lovely big tree as well as some potatoes on his grave. Why potatoes you ask - well, his name was Spud!! He is already missed and it's a shame he won't get to be in his new home, but we take comfort that he is in the great big paddock in the sky chasing as many kangaroos and mice as he wants!!