Demolition - phase 2

Phase 2 involved the carport and the laundry demolition (actually done on 10 July).  A big job as the laundry is not only bigger but also had internal walls and lining.  After cutting the power and water (thanks George) it was all systems go with an even bigger skip than last time but a slightly reduced construction crew.  Some pyromaniac decided to get rid of some of the excess timber by burning it in the BBQ; a fine idea although I don't think the fig tree nearby appreciated the bonfire that resulted.  We also managed to turn water in the stormwater pipes to steam coming OUT of the downpipes! The carport was a much easier affair to get rid of, although the posts were pretty obstinate being set in concrete and bricks.  But finally, the day ended with the laundry gone and the skip full.  Poor Ruby doesn't know what's happened to her home, which is not just a pile of debris! Here's an unpdate on the backyard panorama, nearly 2 months after the demolition, with jungle grass taking over both the backyard and the vegie patch.

A man and his shed

Now that the move is (hopefully) imminent we needed something to store all the stuff that's currently under the house.... hence the shed.  According to the instructions, building the shed is a simple 5-step process - 5 steps that took 2 weekends and about 15 hours!  And required an angle grinder to fix one design fault in the ridge cap whereby it would have been impossible to otherwise fix the roof onto the walls.  The other definite design fault was the fact that the pre-riveted door hinges could not possibly have allowed the doors to close flush with the door reveals because the reveals were effectively smaller than the thickness of the door itself!  But several hundred self tapping screws later, the shed is finally up.  Notice the rustic dirt floor, lined with scavenged pallets.  Never let it be said we don't build quality.  Oh yes, and let's hope we don't get any strong winds over the next twelve months.

Autumn daze

A few warm days rounds out the (end of the) start of autumn, or the summer that never was.  Normally we should still be having the odd scorcher in the first few weeks of the university year.  Instead it's been cold and occasionally (very) damp.  Ruby is out enjoying the last of the sunshine. The end of the tomatoes is near, with the plants dying off from the bottom up, even as there's still a lot of fruit ripening.  I've bottled over 4 litres of tomatoes, and still not sure I've got it right as the bottles seem to lose liquid during the bottling process so that the fruit is only barely covered.  But the bottles are sealing at least, so I hope they'll keep ok.

Quite a few eggplants still, but they're getting to the end too.  I've pulled out the beans and the strawberries, putting in silverbeet for a quick crop hopefully before we have to move.  Potted up a few strawberries to hopefully carry with us wherever we go.  Will plant snow peas when the tomatoes finally finish up, again hopefully for a really quick crop.  Will be sad to not have access to a vegie patch during the renovations, although looking forward to a full 4 crop rotation system when we finally get started again! 

Although there's not much new in the old rose bed, we've redone the bamboo fence to dogproof it, especially as Charlie (Ruby's cousin) tends to just barge on through. 

After.....

And here's the "after" panorama of the backyard:

Demolition - phase 1!

Today was D-day for the garage.  Thanks to the demolition crew who managed to not only destroy the garage but also to not need emergency medical treatment in the process.

Before....

Completed new fencing on 3 sides (out of 4 neighbours) this week, and it seems a good time to take some "before" photos, before the demolition crew gets here this afternoon!

Here's the front

and here's the back

More vegie bonanza

 Finally, the tomatoes are getting ripe, but every so slowly. 
In the meantime we've gotten lots of eggplants - I keep picking them small as they seem to have glossy, taut skin then, which gets wrinkly as they get older.




It's still not been very sunny, and only moderately warm but humid.  Sprayed a couple of times as the caterpillars were chewing holes in the tomatoes, green as they were.  But at least they're on their way now.... the trusses on the grape tomatoes are filling out well and even the beefsteaks are starting to show a little orange tint to them now.  I think the beans are nearly done and the zucchini seems pretty variable in quality but is still producing.