It continued to rain on and off all night. The minimum temperature was over 10°C which was a vast improvement on the frosts we have had for the past fortnight.
The grass has already shown signs of coming to life with significant touches of green.
We spent the day indoors watching motor racing on the TV.
Another wet day.
I did get round to doing some sewing that had been waiting for a long time. It's much easier to do when you have space to work in.
I had rigged the electric bucket to collect the rain water off the awning. After a bit of paddling round late in the evening, I got both tanks filled.
Still raining. We got up early so that we could to get to Tamworth at a earlier than on our earlier visits. Because it takes an hour each way and we like to get home before dark there isn't a lot of time for shopping around unless we leave before nine.
We had a very busy day visiting many potential suppliers and getting lots of good information about things we need to buy. We have pretty much made up our minds on hot water service, gas stove, shower, and vanity. We need to select floor coverings for the dining room, hall, kitchen and bathroom.
One of the places we visited was another kitchen company who offered to send a salesman to Barraba who will help us choose among the various options and who will then give us a free quote.
The rain had gone away and the day was clear and bright. We have had about 50mm of rain over three days which will please the farmers and the gardeners. I haven't put in the new rain water tank yet so I didn't collect much. The grass is looking decidedly better for the rain and the sun and it looks like it might just get to be a proper lawn eventually.
I was up early to put a new fan motor in the Motley's bathroom. When we got back from Tamworth last night one of the lights didn't work and I eventually found that the fan motor had failed and gone short circuit taking the fuse and the lights in the doorway and the bathroom with it.
I did several loads of washing, using the occasion to calibrate the water consumption of the washing machine. I had been puzzled by the amount of water we have been using, 120 l/day, (we use about 50 l/day when we are on the road and about 20 l/day when we are in the bush). The washing machine at 90 l/load accounts for some of the difference but not all of it.
I also chopped some kindling and carried some firewood up to the stack near the back door.
One of our volunteer Self-containment Inspectors had completed the written test and it had been sent to me to mark and to do the oral test by phone. It's really heartening to have so many people prepared to make the scheme a success. I heard from Phil at Headquarters that one of the staging points for the Mt Gambier Rally will be restricted to certified self-contained vehicles as there are no facilities there. This is really good news because all the members of the club will see that authorities are accepting the scheme.
In the afternoon, I went to the Samin's to borrow the telephone line again and all the outgoing emails are gone.
Another clear and sunny day. I had disconnected and drained he hose to the Motley expecting another frost overnight but when I came to re-connect it, no water would come out. Apparently my draining wasn't good enough and there was ice in the hose. I fixed it but got blue hands doing it so I'll have to find a more effective way of avoiding the problem.
We put the fire in and had a cosy afternoon and evening.
We had seen an ad for a "Homemakers Auction" in Tamworth so we went to town again to check it out. This guy buys new stuff cheap in Sydney and brings it to four towns in the district for Sunday auctions.There was nothing there we wanted so we don't have to go to town again on Sunday.
We did buy a bedroom suite, a stove, water heater , a column heater with a timer for the bedroom, and a firewood bucket so the day wasn't wasted.
I got caught by the brown bombers overstaying the perking spot by a few minutes and that added to the days expenditure but we are doing well and will still beat the budget I set for the project
Because we were back late we went to the RSL for dinner. There weren't many people there and when we went to the dining room there was one other couple having dinner. We invited ourselves to their table and had a very pleasant chat with them. Jean won a couple of chickens in the raffle so we will have to do something about a fridge.
It was very cold again overnight so we slept in until the frost was gone. I did some chores and veged out a bit in the afternoon.
In the evening we went to the Wine Club dinner as guests of Vicki and John. It was at the house of a property owner 15 km out of town. Everyone was very welcoming and we were invited to Join the club. The dinner was excellent and there was lots of nice wine to drink.