Hi all,
The
weather is still pretty settled, but it is colder in the mornings, and you can
tell autumn is on the way. I go to play tennis at 7.45 two mornings a week, and
it is pretty chilly at that time now; there are clouds of condensation puffing
out of our mouths!
When I
said last time that Jan was busy at work with the installation of the C Saw at
Nelson Pine, well, he is busier now. His hours have got even longer in trying
to keep the project on schedule. There has been no news yet about which
operators will leave Nelson Pine yet; I don't know when the management team
will make a decision on that.
I too
have been busy; NMIT asked me to pick up a couple of extra contracts, which,
considering how quiet everything else has gone, I have done. It will keep me
busy until the build starts in September.
As some
of you will know, I will be project managing the build. I am aiming to wind
back a fair amount of work in the latter half of the year so I have an
appropriate amount of time to manage the process. I think we will be looking at
a labour only deal; I am worried about being affected by contractors going bust
& not having paid for materials, leaving us out of pocket... so labour only
in this market seems safer to me. I will be will be starting price negotiations
on materials just after mid-year, when the recession is really biting. I
suspect we will get some good deals then, when the work has dried up, and the
effect of the tail for all the already planned construction jobs has gone.
To cut
back the work I am stepping off two boards, and not teaching summer school. Not
to mention building a business plan to manage the process (also under
construction). So any suggestions, pointers and hints, please let me know
directly. While I have done this once before, I am always happy to get some new
ideas.
I don't
think that Noot, the digger driver, has managed to get to the site yet to
realign the driveway, excavate the garage & excavate for the water tanks,
but there is really no rush yet. The engineer is currently working on
construction of the garage (which we have already fed-back on) so I think that
is the last stage of the working drawings. The we can submit to council for
building consent. The building consent process is currently only taking 3
weeks! Jan and I are going to tally our existing timber this weekend for our
list of exclusions as part of our tender documents. Then we put the job out to
some local builders for tender.
We made
our Cox's Orange Pippin apples into juice & cider. The cider looks FOUL at
present, but hopefully will turn out to be drinkable!
We still
haven't gotten around to using our voucher for Happy Valley or our voucher for
Wilson's Abel Tasman Experience; we might have to leave the Abel Tasman trip
until next summer as it is getting a bit cool now for larking around in boats.
Jen
Ladley is up in Nelson this weekend and we are aiming to catch up with her
& her folks on Saturday morning, which will be wonderful.
Jen
Cooper was over for a birthday celebration on the 17th, so we had a breakfast
out at Trailways, which was great. We have organised another get-together
session for the week after my birthday - it has been ages since "The
Breakfast Club" met!
I have
heard from both Steph Jackson and Ana Silvia; both are busy, happy and well.
All you can ask for!
We are
also looking forward to the 20 year Canterbury Uni anniversary in July, in
Hanmer. Then it is Wllg at the end of September (26th) for Otto's birthday.
Right,
that's all for now. Take care & alles liebe!
Sam & Jan
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