We socialised until after lunch and then returned to Barraba to prepare for another weeks work on the house. We had had a pleasant meeting with a new chapter and will be happy to visit with them again.
We waited in for the lawn mower man. He rang in the afternoon saying that he had rung in the morning but didn't leave a message because the message bank mentioned a name other than Chalmers (it says "This is The Motleys mobile phone"). He said he would be here at ten o'clock tomorrow.
I did a few chores and we spent most of the day keeping warm in the Motley.
I fell down the ladder when I got out of bed. I only suffered a few bruises. When Jean asked if I was alright, I said "Yes, I'm OK. I thought I'd do that one day."
Tony came to mow the lawn. I moved the Motley up the drive and back so that he could mow under it. He did a good job and the place looks a lot better now.
In the morning, I put the fire in again. It started much better this time and the smell was much less pungent. We spent the evening in the house watching TV on the big screen.
We went to Tamworth again to make some progress in getting the house in order.
We called in to the Elgas centre and decided to buy a big gas heater which was discounted a bit. The deal included two free full gas bottles so it was pretty good value. We will have to get a gasfitter in to do the installation but that was always on the cards. There isn't one in Barraba so we'll have to get someone from elsewhere. We also decided to buy an ordinary gas stove and perhaps a gas water heater as well.
We needed some legs for a coffee tabletop we bought in a Highway Wanderers auction last Xmas. We found a Bunnings and bought some legs. We wandered round a bit and found the kitchen cupboard section which effectively solved our kitchen remodeling problem. I'll have to build them up and we'll have to get a benchtop from somewhere but it will end up a lot cheaper than I had imagined.
Jean walked into town to get the paper and to go to the library.
I went to the Samin's house to borrow their telephone line to send the outstanding emails. I connected to Austarnet by land line but still couldn't send anything. After a bit of fiddling about I found that the set-up needed some adjustment. None of the error messages had pointed out that I was trying to send mail without authentication. When I corrected this, the send worked OK. I still couldn't update the website because of some hidden glitch, probably at my end. In the evening, I spoke to Jeremy and he asked me to email the script to him so that he could check it. Now that I can send mail again, I'll do that.
Tony came again today and finished the grass cutting. He also cut down the cactus and took it to the tip. The place now looks cared for and only needs some rain the bring the green back into the grass. I still have to put in some flowering plants which I'll do when I can get to nursery.
Another bright, clear, and sunny winters day. It was still cold overnight but not frosty. The motley is really cosy if you leave the fan heater on all night.
We had bought a dining suite and two more armchairs from Lorraine and Russell who are moving from Barraba to Yarrawonga in Victoria. Russell gave me a hand to move it all from their place just up the road to our place. We now have just about enough furniture to entertain but I'd rather get the kitchen done first.
We haven't settled on a layout for the new kitchen, laundry, and bathroom yet but we have a pretty fair idea of how we are going to proceed once we have finalised the plan.
In the afternoon I helped our next door neighbour, Elsie May, prune a hedge which had got out of control and was threatening pedestrians walking past.
It looked like the weather forecasters might be right and we would get some rain so I checked the gutters and diverted the water feed away from the tank. I also put the fire in so that we would be cosy.
I also drained one of the fresh water tanks and rigged the electric bucket to get some rain water on board. The house rain water tanks are a bit suss and I won't use the water until we have replaced the tank with a new one. I'll have to prepare a proper level base for the tank before I can put it in.
Jean had asked for a door on the sitting room so I moved the door from the bedroom. It sort of fitted but it needs some adjustment and I'll had to buy a decent chisel and some new screws to finish the job. The door certainly made a difference by stopping a draught from the hall. Because the rain had lifted the temperature, we had to open the window to keep the room from overheating but it was really comfortable with the new armchairs in place of the settee which was a bit big for the room.
We resolved the new layout for the kitchen and we can now get on with the changes. We need to remove one wall and move another one to make room for the new kitchen. I'll get a quote from the local builder before I decide whether to do it myself or not.