29th May 2014
Barry finally got around to building a workbench as an
addition to the shelving in the garage but has only achieved approximately 85%
of it as he requires some more wood. He
then moved on to replacing the bottom framework of the shed door which has
rusted out so that the sliding door can be moved with relative ease. A morning check of the veggie patches has
revealed the start of the broccoli producing heads and significant progress
from the tomatoes, spuds, .
carrots, lettuce, broad beans, capsicum and peas. We have already been eating young lettuce
leaves, spinach and radishes.
28th May 2014
Barry replaced the shelve which is also the top of the
cupboard under the wall oven, making sure that it is level in both directions
in readiness for the electrician to wire up the new oven. This really irritated Barry as meant paying
someone to insert three wires into the appropriate receptacle and tighten three
screws. Basically the reverse of how he disconnected
the original oven, but in the event of an insurance claim it has to be done by
a qualified electrician plus it is the dubious law. However, the new oven is now in place and up
and running and already produced a great joint and a load of choc chip
biscuits.
29th May 2014
We pulled the oven back out and put some felt pads under the
front two feet to tilt it slightly backwards as the sliding shelf tends to
slide out when you open the door. We
left it out on a table and Barry removed the shelve that was above the original
wall oven and made another and fitted it just above the new oven as it is not
as tall as the original oven.
30th May 2014
This job was completed today which conveniently lowers the
cookbooks that go on that shelf by 5cm putting them in much easier reach of
Merry and avoids making a front panel between the oven top and the original
shelf. He also fitted some wooden strips
to the side walls to anchor the oven in place and can’t be pulled out without
removing screws.
1st June 2014
Barry sanded the newly exposed strip of wall in the alcove and
repainted the whole alcove so that it finished the job off with everything
matching. He also sanded and painted the
alcove under the kitchen bench alongside the sink which used to house a
dishwasher many years ago. This area was
missed for some unexplained reason when the kitchen was being painted. We do not require a replacement dishwasher
whilst Barry is well and able.
2nd June 2014
We bought some hardboard to cut up and use for the formwork
in the shed which took care of the afternoon, but the soil within the formwork
still has to be levelled which may mean removing some soil.
4th June 2014
Barry finished removing soil from the shed and finished the
formwork, and also added some pavers to the side path from the gate to the
driveway as this still has to done gradually as the pavers become available
from other areas that we are changing. This involved fitting them round a cap
over an underground valve for the reticulation system.
8th June 2014
Over the last few days Barry has continued in short spells
removing soil from the original fish pond hole to make it deeper to allow for
the thickness of the cement when it happens.
Despite it being a rather dull overcast day we spent the afternoon on
the Spalding Park Golf Course (which was the course we were members at when we
lived in Geraldton before) to watch the last eight or nine groups of the final
day Pro-Am tournament. This also allowed
us to re-unite with some of the people we used to know at that time although we
will not be playing club competition membership fees are out of our league,
plus Barry’s rigid right wrist doesn’t help him much.
8th June 2014
Richard arrives in Geraldton this afternoon for another of
his so-called rest-and-recreation spells but as yet is not aware that I have
organised a cement mixer for the coming weekend.
12th June 2014
We collected Nigel’s trailer and purchased a trailer load of
sand for the cement program that starts tomorrow, and a suitable piece of wood
to finish off the side of the garage work bench.
13th June 2014
We collected the cement mixer soon after 12.00 noon which
gave us an extra afternoon included in the weekend deal. It is normally $50 per
day but is $50 for the weekend and includes Friday afternoon. By 5.00pm Richard and Barry had completed two
thirds of the shed pad which are looking quite reasonable for a couple of
amateurs with fairly cheap formwork and no screeding experience. However it is only a garden shed to
accommodate some shelving on a now reasonably level solid floor, some garden
tools, mower, edger, whipper sniper, etc.
14th June 2014
We finished the final third of the shed floor and then dug
out some the grass from the outside of the doorway to the edge of the paver
path where it passes the patio, installed some of the form work ready to put in
a concrete path tomorrow.
15th June 2014
The shed floor, and the pathway to it, are now complete
despite looking rather non-professional, but are still way better than what was
there before. Richard also cut down two
out of three bottle brush trees down to chest height and placed on the front
verge ready for the council pick up in a week or so time. The next door neighbour will be going out
there to grab the larger pieces of the trunks for his outdoor fire.
16th June 2014
We returned the cement mixer and then took a load of soil
and rubbish to the tip and returned Nigel’s trailer. Whilst Barry was at the tip emptying the
trailer Richard started to savagely prune the remaining trees in the back
garden and now there is nothing left above chest height. Meanwhile Merry is in Perth having her 6
monthly check on her throat at Sir Charles Gardner Hospital she had the
pleasure of staying with Sue overnight, yesterday (Garon is in Singapore) and
will be with Ann and Ashley tonight and return to Geraldton tomorrow.
17th June 2014
Merry returned home from Perth in the afternoon in time to
catch the worst of the storm that was moving in on Geraldton. Her bus had driven all the way through stormy
weather.
18th June 2014
Richard cut down the remaining palm tree in the front garden
so it is also without anything above chest height except the pile of debris on
the front verge waiting for the council pick up. Barry had a video consultation at the local
doctors’ clinic with a specialist in Perth and arranged for another biopsy as
my PSA has risen above 6 once again.
This will take place in September at Armadale Hospital
19th June 2014
The root ball of the palm tree has also now been dug out
thanks to Richard along with a few remaining remnants in the front garden and
is now removing the final offending tree stump in the back garden. We drove out to a local permaculture nursery
and Richard treated us to some new native plants to start re-establishing the
garden to suit us rather than numerous tenants’ attempts. This will be the last of the exercise that
Richard will gain as he returns to Perth tomorrow in readiness to fly back to
work in Gove.
20th June 2014
We spent a fair piece of the day returning the shed items,
such as shelving and garden equipment, back into the shed which clears the
patio. Although the new floor is not
perfect it is a vast improvement on the loose blue metal chips that were there
originally. This has allowed us to arrange things in a much better order that
gives us more room to move. We have started to use our broccoli which are not
tight heads like the ones in the shops but taste good and are much
fresher. The cauliflower and beans don’t
appear to be doing much, other than producing huge plants, but the carrots and
potatoes are looking good at this stage.
Lettuce, radish and capsicum are really good and in use whilst the peas
are progressing well
23rd June 2014
We have finalised our collection of unwanted clutter, such
as the old oven, etc, along with the tree loppings can claim that we have the
largest pile in this area of Geraldton.
Whilst taking Foxy for her morning walks it has become evident that this
council clean-up is actually a community swap meet and the council dispose of
the leftovers, much of which has been scattered in the rummaging where it had
been tidy piles. We noticed the same
arrangement existed in the Melbourne area which seemed to coincide with our
visits to Garon and Sue when they lived there.
25th June 2014
Much to Barry’s surprise, as a result of one phone call, we
have sold our sea container for what we wanted for it, and it will be removed
next week.
26th June 2014
Barry removed all of the posts and plastic lattice screening
plus the shade cloth covering the sea container in readiness for the
removal. The lattice and shade cloth
will be used to replace the current wooden lattice and shade cloth cover over
our bedroom courtyard which is in poor condition due to it being over fifteen
years old. The lattice from the sea
container screen is only seven years old, plastic and rot proof.
29th June 2014
Barry spent a large part of the day fitting out a sheet of
chipboard with appropriately spaced screws to mount his most used tools on,
usually called a shadow board but Barry doesn’t like the shadow idea. If you use the tool and put it back where you
got it from you don’t need pictures to help you. If you can’t put them back when you have
finished with them, don’t use them, is his theory.
29th June 2014
We dug over the small front garden now that the palm trees
have been removed along with some scruffy Geraldton Wax trees that were never
looked after by the tenants, and have planted most of the native shrubs and
trees that Richard bought us in their place
2nd July 2014
The sea container has now been taken away by the new owners
leaving ample space beside the house in which to park the caravan instead of
across the front of the house. Barry has
moved part of the collection of green waste that the local council was supposed
to collect a week and a half ago with no sign of it happening soon. It gave Barry room to manoeuvre the caravan
to its’ new position although he still had to use some of the road as well, but
being very quiet traffic wise didn’t
present any problems. The van is now
ready for Jack to use as his bedroom next week when he and Rory visit with
Richard, and now that it is clear of the front of the house allows a lot more
light into the two bedrooms that were previously covered and therefore they will
also benefit from the late afternoon sun warming the rooms now that it is
winter.
3rd July 2014
Barry has made and fitted the two doors for the toilet
cupboard which obviously covers the display of toilet rolls, etc, but it
doesn’t have the originally intended panorama picture across them as yet. We still have to work out the best way to
achieve that without parting with a small fortune.
5th July 2014
Surprise, surprise, the council workers have arrived this
afternoon and removed the huge pile of green waste from our front verge along
with others in the street which has improved the overall look of place. However, they are yet to collect the general
rubbish, much of which has already changed hands. Hopefully it will happen sometime Monday or Tuesday
morning so that it has gone by the time we return home from Perth in the
afternoon with Richard and the semi-adult kids.
8th July 2014
We are now back home in Geraldton with Richard and the kids
after the long drive back from Perth with a stop for lunch slight deviation
into the Pinnacles to let them see the rather unusual area.
9th July 2014
The trip to Perth for medical reasons proved to be useful as
enabled us to collect Richard and the kids to bring back to Geraldton but let
us catch up with our friends, Ann and Ashley, and Colleen, Craig and Abbey, but
not Emma who is on a school trip in New Zealand. Because we went for medical
reasons the cost of fuel was supplemented by the PATS scheme because Geraldton
Hospital couldn’t provide the specialist service. The outcome of the specialist consultation
and breathing tests, etc, was that there is nothing wrong with Barry’s
lungs. There is some evidence that he
has been exposed to Asbestos at some stage of his working life, like most
people of our age, but does not and will get Asbestosis. There is slight hardening of the lung muscles
close the lower rib cage area but basically nothing of any concern and should
last longer than the rest of him.
11th July 2014
We drove up to Kalbarri and arrived at around lunch time so
had a bought lunch in town and then drove along the coast road and turning into
each of the cliff gorge roads and car parks to take in the views and walk down
to the beach were possible. On the way
out from our last gorge road that accesses three gorges we were lucky enough to
have some Humpback Whales put on a show for us, albeit a further out to sea
than we wanted. To cap of the day, on
final stretch of road out from these same gorges we had stop and wait for an
Echidna to cross the road in front of us.
We decided there was too much to do or see for one day so booked a cabin
for the next three nights and returned to home to start packing.
12th July 2014
We drove back to Kalbarri in the morning and unpacked at the
very basic cabin, had some lunch and then drove back towards Port Gregory and
turned off on a dirt road to Lucky Bay.
After passing through squatter type area we picked a track which turned
out not to be the main track to Dune area were the sand surfing happens. We turned out onto the beach to ask for
directions which meant another 3 kilometre drive along the beach and
dunes. We eventually found a high enough
dune to cater for the sand surfing although it wasn’t the area that the tour
operators use. We then ploughed our way
back along the beach until we spotted the main track and joined that although
it wasn’t much better than the beach. On
the way back to Kalbarri we stopped off at Rainbow Valley and dropped Richard
and the kids off to do the coastal walk to Mushroom Rock. We drove round to collect them from the other
car park and walked down most of the way
to the beach (we left out the tricky clambering bit) to get photos of the
Mushroom Rock
13th July 2014
It was more like a spring/summer day while we drove out to
the ‘The Loop’, ‘Nature’s window’ and the “Z Bend” in the National park. We went to The Z Bend first were we did the
photo stuff whilst Richard and the kids made the effort to take the track down
to the river’s edge. Normally we would
have done that trip but since Merry had her radiation treatment she doesn’t
manage that type of exertion too well. We
then drove round to the Natures Window car park and had our picnic lunch before
walking out to Nature’s window from which point Richard and the kids did the 3
hour walk on the ‘The Loop’ track that involve some scrambling, while we waited
at the car and caught up on some reading. We had dinner in the local tavern which
provided some warmth and a decent meal at an almost reasonable price.
14th July 2014
It was arranged to have a 5 hour canoeing trip up the
Murchison River but before anybody set foot in
a canoe a sever rain squall hit town and then settled to steady rain and
wind for an hour and a half so the trip was cancelled. The weather didn’t make any attempt to
improve to the of doing more sightseeing so we packed up and left for in the
afternoon rather than have another night in an uncomfortable bed, and leave in
the morning. This allowed us to collect
Foxy a bit earlier than expected from the kennels we had placed her in because
we couldn’t have her in the cabin, or the National Park. When we collected her we found that she had
obviously done a lot of barking in our absence and her voice was almost
non-existent.
15th July 2014
Richard and the kids went to the pictures as the weather was
still not the best and there is not a lot for kids entertainment in Geraldton.
16th July 2014
Barry dropped Richard and the kids off at Greenough River
mouth so that they could walk along to the sand dunes and do some more sand
boarding. They couldn’t risk swimming as
that bit of coast is renowned for rips, and there was a rough sea anyway.
17th July 2014
We packed up and took Richard and the kids back to Perth a
day earlier than previously planned to give them time to go Paintballing on the
18th. We dropped them of at
Garon and Sue’s place and then went down to Ann and Ashley’s place where we are
staying. Later we returned to Sue’s
place and joined them plus Sue and also Craig, Colleen, Emma and Abby for a
pleasant meal in an Italian restaurant.
18th July 2014
Due to a mix up in the booking they turned up at the wrong
paintball place so we rescued them and took them back to Garon and Sue’s
place. They made fresh arrangements for
paintballing the next day in the right place’
19th July 2014
We drove out to O’Conner to a Waldeck Nursery and bought 8
rose plants.
20th July 2014
Richard and the kids left for Darwin. We met Craig, Colleen, Emma and Abbey again
at The Heritage Rose Garden Nurseries for lunch and to pick up a 'Candy Striped'
rose that we had ordered and paid for, and also picked out another four rose
plants.
23rd July 2014
We took the car up to Herne Hill to the Diesel/Gas agent and
had our gas infusion system checked as it had stopped using gas. It turned out to be a simple but strange
correction, and therefore relatively cheap.
24th July 2014
We returned to Geraldton and a slightly warmer climate.
