Hi all,
We are up
to the next stage - our house is wrapped and ready for cladding and windows. We
have a bit of a hold up on the windows at present as the window people didn't
order the glass before Christmas. The builder also didn't think that we might
like to paint the soffit boards between Christmas & New Year either, so we
suddenly had that job descend on us last Friday. At least 75% of the painting
on that is done now, but the remaining 25% is the hard part - the bit where the
soffit boards have been fitted and are VERY high for us to reach (all our
painting gear is at Montrose Drive, in the garage, so I need to pick up the
extension pole for the roller this Thursday when I am in town next).
Jan ran
all the first fit wiring between Christmas & New Year. Now there is little
to do for the electrics until the gib goes on... which won't be until we have
some windows in (so we can get some cladding on - which will be 4 days late as
we have now decided to get the factory to spray on some silicone sealer to
protect the timber - then we can moisture test & the engineers can do a
lintel check so they can sign off their producer statement, so the house is
weather-tight).
The knock
on effects can go on for quite a long time. Hopefully we will still be ready
for the housewarming on 3 April (Easter Saturday). Otherwise we will be having
it in a partly completed house!
The
builders are a good crew though - they are very friendly, pleasant and
accommodating. A nice bunch of people to be living alongside.
Christmas
eve we went to Kathleen & Frits' place to enjoy a wonderful Christmas
dinner that their daughter Amy had cooked. We caught up with John who is back
from Uni, and had a great night, exchanged presents (one of which turned out to
be packaging only, which I had to take back to Nood for the goods themselves!).
Jan & I also had a lunch at the Grape Escape with my family on the 27th,
which was very enjoyable. We had a quiet Christmas day, watched some movies on
the laptop, and ate waffles for two days from one batch! Even the dogs ended up
having waffles to finish them off.
We have
had heaps of visitors at the land. Jenny Ladley came to visit on Boxing Day,
which was fab. She helped out lots and gave Jan raspberries for his impatience.
Magda turned up late in the day as well. Kathleen, Frits, John & Amy came
out for a tour, as did my folks & Tessa. We have also had Gary & Karen
turn up (photo), Megs & Will (who have some news of their own to impart).
We have visited Meg's folks in Ruby Bay - and been shopping in Motueka for the
first time (their New World supermarket is very, very well stocked!).
Our lives
seem to be largely consumed with this building project though. This coming
weekend we are organising more timber to be ripped down for architraves and
decking. We are also seeing a German joiner who has just started back at the
Riverside Community Joinery about getting our living room wall unit made. The
quote we got in mdf was $12k, which we thought was a bit excessive.
We still
need to purchase some lights (already chosen), have the joinery pick up our
appliances and test them in the kitchen joinery, and pick up the plumbing gear
that has been ordered... once we finally have the basins arrive by overland
camel.
Right, I
had best get back to chasing these plumbing bits.
Take care
& alles liebe!
Jan & Sam
