Today the new posts for the automatic gates went in. That's the last thing we need an outside contractor for, we can hang the gates ourselves. At the same time we'll be hanging two small gates in the barnyard, taking one big one down, and putting in new fasteners for three.
The timber has arrived for the bargeboards for the chook house. These are boards that protect the ends of the roof beams from weathering and rot. The old bargeboards have rotted and split and come off (taking the damage instead of the beams) and these new ones will help the 50 year old structure remain sound.
The composting toilet has arrived, and the old office has now been cleared and we can start pulling up the carpet and scraping up the disintegrated black foam underneath. We did this when we put new flooring in the kitchen and bathroom, this is about 1/3 of the area so should be quicker. The flooring guy came and looked at the room and we are now awaiting the quote.
After six months without overflowing, the washing machine has started again. Still no idea why, or why not when it doesn't. What the tradies call an "intermittent fault", the hardest kind to trace.
I remember one story of a motel room that was considered haunted because when the guest went to have a shower they could hear faint music but the source could never be found and it stopped when they came out of the shower. Turns out that there was a wire that was frayed and was sitting almost touching the copper pipes of the shower and when the hot water turned on the pipe expanded and touched the wire, and the wire powered the radio in a seldom used room next door.
I have applied for another part time job at the hospital, this one is two hours on weekdays (4pm to 6pm) and two eight hour days (10am to 6pm) every second weekend. Those hours will work well for me now. It's worth about $500 a week. Add May Shaw at $220 a week and I can cut Woolies right back if I get it. There is, however, someone acting in the job at the moment and they will always have the inside running. So I am hoping for the eligibility list.
Mae is doing really well, almost ready to transition to once a day feeds. She drank 5 litres of milk tonight and I think I hit her maximum. I will give her one more week of 5 litres at night and 2 litres in the morning before just doing 5 litres mid afternoon and pushing the calf muesli twice a day. Once she is eating 1kg of muesli a day she can start weaning off the milk.
The pantry has worked out really well. For some reason we've added a piece of furniture and yet ended up with more usable floor space after the rearrangement. The pantry itself is very useful, now everything is easily reached and easily found. Some of the space that has been made in the old cupboards now holds things that were sitting on benches but can be in the back of the deep cupboards, like the blackout kit and the supply of microwave meals for Geoff's lunch.
We'll be voting on Saturday in the state election. Then as soon as that's done we have to vote in the local government election. Both caused by politicians thinking of themselves first and the public second. Sigh. It seems that most of the people who want to go into politics maybe should be the ones we avoid.
The bale covers are perfect for the job, keeping the rain off the bales and stopping the wind from stripping the hay and blowing it away. This is the yard next to the feed bunk, a corner fenced off with solar electric fence and giving me room to work without having to fight cows. You can see in the foreground how muddy things are where the cows are walking. Each day I rake up the hay you see scattered on the ground from pulling off the bale and that gets fed too. There is almost zero waste with this system.
