mending the pool

March 3, 2019

The first camp group of 20 students arrived yesterday.  For once we are quite glad that there is no rain forecast for this week.( 22 people in wet tents is not a good look.) Edd and I decided that the pool would be essential ,l  but it had developed a leek and was losing water every day to below the skimmer. This meant that it had to be topped up before we could use the filter and that meant big water losses.

The pool liner was badly damaged in the 2009 fires, but I managed to patch it up and we have used it for another 10 years. It was not even new when the fires hit so we have had more value from it than could reasonably be expected.  The snag is that the pool top edge was also damaged in the fires and all the plastic joining pieces melted into place.  Moving everything might make putting in a new liner difficult or impossible. Also finding water to refill would not be easy.

WE are trying for a few extra weeks by redoing all the patches. We fetched some special vinyl adhesive from a boat place at Frankston and lowered the water to expose all the patches.  Once we looked carefully it was amazing it had lasted so long.  There were many huge gashes, but we have repatched them and amazingly it is holding water and being used! I don’t think it will last  much longer though.

Dan and Edd fixed the fencing and moved the horses onto the hill but Indi is still in difficulty because their solar system has stopped working.  They have a small air conditioner and that is the only way they can try and make things bearable for Indi’s last few weeks of pregnancy.   I am happy for her to be in my house, but it is not the same as having  her own place, especially when we have swarms of teen agers everywhere.

The weather is not changing but the animals are.  Twin lambs have been born and at least one goat has come into season.  With help from Dan’s watering efforts we are getting a bumper fig crop too. I have to be quick to pick the ripe fruit or the European wasps move in and eat them.  I have picked the nashi pears because the wasps were eating them too. The snow peas are growing well, and we are getting some runner beans. The only vegetable really thriving is the Warrigal greens plant , a native spinach.  I am getting used to using it in various dishes.

Next for harvesting will be the pumpkins. They have started to die back now and will need moving soon. The tomatoes are still going strong. I am getting lots of small types that are great with salads.  All the young chooks are laying, and we have lots of eggs too. 

The school students are getting in firewood and splitting it for us as well as mending the waterfall pools, digging out blackberries and shifting the huge pile of broken bricks by the ruins. I helped a group find all the tins of paint and sort them out into big batches of colour. They can start to paint the wall by where the bricks were piles tomorrow.