And Rats to You Too

Last time we were up at Fossils Retreat was the weekend of 13-14 February. We had arranged for a huge skip to be delivered so we could make a start on getting rid of a lot of our three huge piles of demolition materials. As there is plenty of timber (and plenty of nails in it) in the three piles that needs careful sorting (usable/useful/hmmm/firewood) we concentrated on filling the skip with stuff like plasterboard, old lining boards and the like. As we were turning over and throwing off wood to get to the rubbish, I warned Denise of the possibility of rats. When the skip was nearly full, Denise loaded up the barrow with smaller bits of debris scooped in armfulls into the barrow. She had just chucked one armload in when I looked down into the barrow and saw ...


These wee babies (7) were pink and nearly transparent, no more than 2.5cm (1 inch) long. Denise reacted immediately and for some reason did a rather peculiar dance consisting of stamping her feet, clutching and pulling out the front of her singlet and screaming her head off. When she had calmed down and realised none had gone down her front (remembering the mouse episode in the potato tyre), her motherly instincts kicked in. We figured they were just newly born - probably while we were partaking of a long lunch and reading the weekend papers. Sadly, motherly instincts were quashed when Jennifer reasoned that 7 rats were better taken care of now as against in the house in 3 months' time.

Note : They were given 2 'instant death' treatments by Denise. There were no survivors and the wee corpses were reverently covered and disposed of in the rubbish skip

So, now we have three still large, but flatter piles of timber - a lot of matai - to be sorted and denailed (we're looking for helpers who want to develop their arm muscles. This is hard wood). The front gate has been finished and hung after several trials and tribulations. We have two raised vege beds up - one filled with soil and mushroom compost, and have planted lettuces, silver beet and brassicas. We just hope we get some rain in between our next visit.

Twilight, looking south from the front gate of Fossils Retreat

It's Bye Bye to Louey the Fly and a few Other Inconveniences

Things have slowed a little as far as interior renovations are going at Fossils Retreat. We now have a working bathroom (we just need a shower curtain); toilet; all kitchen conveniences including TWO filters from our rainwater tank, and laundry tub and water. Electricity in most rooms. Our builder has started another job, so it appears we only see him on rainy days (or any day Jennifer is there to put a few hours in).
Next trip up, we bring up a permanent queen bed and 'make' a bedroom of one of the front rooms.

Bye Bye to making up and dismantling the rather uncomfortable couch/bed each day. This photo shows our 'studio' living just prior to the new kitchen being installed.

Spent a fair bit of time doing smallish jobs that took a while. Had a good old scrub and tidy up and got two raised vege beds completed. Spent a lot of exhaustive time excavating and sieving some of our topsoil hill and transporting it by barrow to the beds. Well, one bed. A barrowload doesn't go far when you're filling raised beds. We have a good stash of mushroom compost under a tarp nearby - got a ute load full a few weeks ago from the Mushroom Factory down the road.

Bye Bye Louey the Fly. Denise wanted a photo before she scraped the stickers off and cleaned the window. The cracked pane has since been replaced. This is the view above the kitchen sink. The two new raised vege gardens in the bottom panes

The potato leaves are dying off (the ones we planted in tyres with old hay around). Denise was excavating the first tyre with delight when a tiny field mouse ran up her arm and dived over the fence. I'd like to see her if it was a rat ...

Another little job done. Our mailbox finally up. It wasn't that easy as we had to make a whole new little supported shelf for it level with the others. Tansy has just come back from chasing a hare

Follow up on Open Home

We arrived up at Fossils Retreat after work on Friday 29 January at 11 o'clock at night. Breathless, we opened the back door and gazed in admiration at our new kitchen. Drawers galore. Denise immediately had to start unpacking everything remotely belonging to the kitchen and put it away. Ditto the fridge. (We had bought a Buy Now fridge for $120 off Trade Me). We finally got to bed at 2.45am.

Folk started arriving shortly after 11 o'clock. The BBQ was set up, and over the next 12 hours, we had 30 friends and family and neighbours pop in. The new oven worked splendidly to satisfaction (apart from the fact that the symbols in the manual in no way look anything like the symbols on the oven face which can be a bit of a problem if you are looking to fan bake, for example) and the day went well. The weather was brilliant.

One of Denise's daughters made us a beautiful housewarming cake, which was just scrummy and kept Jennifer well satisfied for the next few days.


Cutting Tracey's housewarming cake in the new kitchen

On Sunday morning, Denise sat up in bed at 8.45am and announced 'I can't do a day like yesterday today'. Que sera, sera ... the weather had turned cooler and rainy so no BBQ outside. We had 12 guests on the Sunday which was nice and cozy - all sat around on our couch/bed and assorted plastic picnic chairs admiring the half painted kitchen (the half that the kitchen fittings went on) having a few drinks and a few laughs.

By tea time, everyone had gone. We had plenty of leftovers in the fridge to last the next few days.

No work was done on the place this weekend.