The house grows a tail

Today we had 22 permaculture design course students for a site visit.  This event spurred me to do a very thorough house cleaning and cooking session on Friday.  I was very glad I did the cooking bit.  I made a large cinnamon and pear cake and a big cheese cake and prepared several cream cheeses and other nibbles for morning tea.  Edd met the students who were dispensed across ten cars and did a talk about the ecology of the valley before escorting them up here for morning tea and a house and farm tour.

I had been warned that there were vegans, vegetarians, glucose intolerant people and every other dietary problem in this group but the food disappeared with such speed that no one would have noticed!   It had been a cold wet night but just before everyone arrived the sun came out and the house was flooded with sunlight and winter warmth so (much to my relief it looked great.  Eventually everyone had finished eating and we took them on a tour of the house and surrounding out buildings.

After everyone left the sky darkened and we had a heavy rain shower.  It is so good when the weather is on our side.  Actually, we have been lucky for most of the week. Andrew and his mates have had mostly fine weather and the new west wall is up. It curves round and down so the house now has a tail end which is a big improvement.  The blokes are now using pavers left over from the house build to landscape the enclosed area.  They are really doing a very good job.

Whilst this work has been going on outside I have started working inside on the splash back in our kitchen.  Over the last few months I have been collecting tiles of the various colours I need and Edd has fixed the stainless-steel edging above the granite for me to tile up to. Starting this work was a bit daunting, but I am now underway and enjoying myself.  So far, Edd likes what I have done which is a good start.

We have also got the tire treads back on skiddy.  I tried to help Edd and ended up cutting my knuckle on a chisel that was in use to try and lift the heavy rubber tread over its wheels. Luckily Andrew was able to help Edd complete the job and there were no further injuries. Edd was planning to use skiddy to move a heavy blackwood tree trunk that he wanted to use for timber. Sadly, some friends of Ben came up last weekend and took the tree in question along with the timber for fire wood.  We did not even know they were on our property so Edd is not happy.

We have let friends get the fallen timber for their fires, but they usually come to us first to ask what to take.  We need the timber moved and have enough fire wood for ourselves, so we are OK about this bit, but we wanted to keep the black wood as it was too good to burn.