Friday 5 February 2010

House repairs


Picture taken March 2005

I haven't been doing much stitching since I arrived home. We had more water into the house while we were away, so my primary 'creative' focus has been to organise repairs to the roof.

It's going to be a major job! The builder gave me a list of things that I need to do, so I've organised plumbers to fix blocked downpipes, arranged the chopping of the offending trees (and a couple of others that were termite infested), looked at paint combos (to spruce outside the place up - the worst bits cannot be seen in the picture, but they were last painted when the house was built 16 years ago), made decisions to get a couple of skylights installed at the same time, etc. It's hot work but a lot of fun. We won't know the place when we are done.

I probably went too far with the tree pruning, to be honest. All the shrubs that have offended me over the last 4.5 years got the chop. They are the ones at the back of the veranda that you can see. I've made way for some citrus and mango trees (just one mango tree). I will be off to buy self-cleaning Alexander palms for around the swimming pool, too.

Lucy & Harry don't know what has hit them, either. The house has had a good cleaning, so they are not allowed inside until I have enjoyed (for long enough) the dog-hair free zones. LOL.

Happiness & laughter to one and all,

Felicity

7 comments:

CindyMae said...

LOL, had to laugh about the dog hair thing as I can totally relate! LOL Good luck with your repairs!!

Anonymous said...

Wow you are busy! Your home is going to look super after all that is done :o)

Unknown said...

Oh the joy - builders!! And dog-hair free zone?? Whatever next, Bonnie is looking at me in disbelief :-)

Alberta said...

House repairs don't sound like fun but oh, if only I lived closer, I'd love to give you a hand in the garden! Can't wait for the snow to leave!

What zone are you that you have mango & citrus trees? I'm 2A and hope our apple tree makes it through another dry year.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the house repairs, and ever more good luck in keeping your dog hair free zone LOL. I've been fighting a losing battle with cat hair for years.

Felicity said...

Brisbane has a humid subtropical climate (Koppen climate classification Cfa) with hot, humid summers and dry, mild winters. From November to March, thunderstorms are common over Brisbane, with the more severe events accompanied by large damaging hail stones, torrential rain and destructive winds.

The city's highest recorded temperature was 43.2 °C (110 °F) on 26 January 1940. On 19 July 2007, Brisbane's temperature fell below the freezing point for the first time since records began, registering −0.1 °C (31.8 °F) at the airport. Brookfield is closer to Ipswich so we get colder and hotter temps.

Brisbane's wettest day was 21 January 1887, when 465 millimetres (18.3 in) of rain fell on the city, the highest maximum daily rainfall of Australia's capital cities.

From 2006, Brisbane and surrounding temperate areas have experienced the most severe drought in over a century, with dam levels dropping below one quarter of their capacity. Residents have been mandated by local laws to observe level 6 water restrictions on gardening and other outdoor water usage. Per capita water usage is below 140 litres per day, giving Brisbane one of the lowest per capita usages of water of any Western city in the world. As of 2010, Brisbane's water storage was just under 70% with water restrictions relaxed slightly. Fortunately, we put in water tanks a couple of years ago. They are full after this morning's rain.

Unknown said...

Wow sounds like a lot of work! I hope you will share with us pictures as you go. Its too bad we missed each other with your trip to Germany and my flight to Wyoming.