March 10th
Early morning start at 5.30am. Off to Fairmont Resort Leura for swim. I had a shower and skipped the swim (too tired from yesterday but what a great day we had!) but Linda swam 2km. Bought more batteries at Scotts Leura, picked up Morgan from garage got plumbing supplies eventually got breakfast and then went on net, while Linda went to various appointments. Shopping at the new Aldi store at Katoomba. Meet one of Linda’s friends, Wendy, who had just celebrated her 89th b’day. Her husband Stephan was a lecturer in Physics at Sydney Uni. At 96 he is very mentally alert and a wonderful pianist. Home to bed at the farm at 9.30pm.
March 12th
Shopping again but this time locally at Blackheath. It took 4 hours at the hardware just to get a few bits. They couldn’t understand what I wanted! Still we did give the Isuzu truck a good run, after it had been sitting in the shed for months. Amazingly it started first time! Julia said “thank god for that”! Back home late and sorted out some electrical dilemmas. Nice dinner great lamb chops, veggies unfortunately though delicious were not ready at the same time as the meat. Still it was all yummy! Especially when it was washed down with a good red or irish whiskey, preferably “Bushmills”. After all they have been distilling whiskey in Northern Ireland at County Antrim for the last 400 years! By now they are bloody good at it. I’ll drink to that. Well any excuse really!
March 13th
After a beautiful morning what a stinking afternoon! Gas stove installation going well, all the right fittings, after much ado from the suppliers. Dug up plants positioned plinths for gas bottles. All going well till I discover a huge puddle of water under the sink in the kitchen. Further investigation revealed a completely blocked 5 inch drain pipe! This took several hours to resolve. Pipes had to be dismantled, cleaned and waste disposed of. What a stinking job! The only way to get rid of the stink was to have a deep bath with a 4 finger tumbler of whiskey and dry ginger ale. A pint of whiskey later I was feeling much better. Steak and sausages with veg finished the day. I followed up with more whiskey in bed. Things can only improve from here. Unfortunately I still have to crawl under the house one or three more time’s to reposition the pipe and reconnect the drain.
March 14th
Decided to finish those (adjectival) drains today! So off to Bleakheath to get drain bits to do the job. Home again and eventual success. Drain back together, now we just have to wait for the cement to set. While waiting we finished connecting gas stove but we needed gas bottle. So off to supplier to obtain one. Alas we were one elbow short for the job. It was far easier to create a bend than drill a hole in the foot deep brick wall. Next we broke the wood splitter out of its box and split the remaining logs. What fun to have all the twisted gnarled wood explode in the 7 ton splitter. It certainly saves the old back. What joy!
15th March
Linda left me while she went off to do her 2km swim. I was too knackered to go after doing the drain job. (smile) I sewed on some morgan badges while relaxing on the sun lounge. Completed gas stove and tested it. What joy it works! Fantastic! Plod is getting lonely so will have to take it for a run, some time. Oh dear Linda has come home and I haven’t got the kitchen floor up yet. There will be ructions! (smile) (Linda is not really a tyrant) Tried a new red which went down really well with the 16 year old “Lagavulin” single islay malt whiskey aged 16 years. Even I like it. Very delicious. Just one more before we stagger off to bed. Trip, stagger, hiccough, flop into bed! Drains now merely a memory and not a fond memory at that! Snore, snore, snore.
16th March
We put some tree guards around some kurrajong trees so the cattle would not eat or trample them. Naughty Linda! She dug up alovera plants so the gas bottles could rest levelly on their plinths. Well done. However she did not place them in the trailer for removal but she dumped them under a gum tree in the garden. I think she thought I wouldn’t notice but I caught her out. So I had to put them in the trailer to remove them to the tip. When challenged her excuse was I didn’t want to spread the plants and let them take root in the paddock. I said that was a feeble excuse. Then I put the jockey wheel on the trailer with the u bolts she provided but the trailer collapsed under the weight. The bolts were to feeble. I said “whats the good of these!” I guess she did try but really she is very trying! We do have a laugh.
17th March
Linda off for early morning 2km swim on St Patrick’s day. I stayed in bed trying to catch up on my beauty sleep. What a laugh. I then started preparing the kitchen floor ready for tiling. Linda returned home with a friend, Jo, and stopped me working. So out comes the bottle of red and that was the afternoon gone. Not a bad way to wash the dust out of my palate after sanding the glue and muck off the floor. Again we all had a great laugh.
18th March
After breakfast I sealed the kitchen floor ready for tiling. My goodness, I thought I was on a holiday but this is certainly not a holiday farm! I think I might set up a business in how to do it yourself jobs. Linda has got lots of female friends that need help. (Husbands not around any more). That’s men for you! You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them!
No comments:
Post a Comment