News from Nelson - February 2 2010

Hi all,

We are weather-tight at last. All our windows are in, the cladding is just about finished (only some of the trims to complete now), the gib is up and the plasterers started today (there were 12 cars up here and the plasterers wandering around on stilts!). The stairs are in, the woolblock is in all the walls and the joinery plans have been finalised and sent off to the relevant tradespeople. All the internal door handles have arrived, the internal doors have arrived, the fireplace should be here tomorrow, we have signed the contract for the photo voltaics and we have the first fix wiring in for the units on the roof. We have determined our external plaster finish over the blockwork, but have yet to talk to the plasterer about the plaster shade we want. The kitchen has been signed off & all the finishing details determined like the positioning of the handles etc - and it should be on site in a fortnight, just as the painter finishes.

I still need to find someone to make a cowling for the range hood as the one that came with the range hood is too short to reach the ceiling. We also still need to source some stainless steel to go behind the kitchen hob bench to prevent the possibility of the gas igniting the wall! We have finally received the last light shade to go above our kitchen island bench, which we had been waiting for since September, so it has taken quite a long time to get this tiny piece of equipment (it arrived last Friday). Amazing.

Jan has heaps of projects on the go at the moment; since Lew retired in January, the projects are coming through thick and fast. He is supposed to be having a meeting with the Operations Manager about workload, but it has been put back and put back. He isn't too stressed yet, but I am sure he will be as the projects all start to come on line.

NMIT & AUT's classes have started again, and I have some excellent students. I have high expectations of the calibre of work this year! In addition, the South Island Master's Games are being hosted in Nelson in 2011, and I have managed to get the organising committee interested in having teams of my Sports Comms students write a Communications Plan for them in a real bidding situation, and the Master's Games Cttee will sit on the interview and bid evaluation panel. There is nothing like a real situation to really boost student performance, and it will be great for the winning team to put in their CVs. My professional development continues - I am still working on my second-to-last CAT unit, one assignment down, one in progress, two to go.

Fliss has been into the vet to get a couple of benign cysts cut out - one of them was on her toe and was starting to grow, so we decided to get them removed now before it became more serious. The surgery went well and she was back at being a barking door bell on the building site in no time at all.

We head off to Chch this weekend for Warren & Trace's wedding (27 Feb), and will be coming along to Pat's 40th on the Friday night. John F is baby-sitting the house & the dogs while we are away. It should be a great weekend.

We have booked our tickets for Germany - we leave NZ on the 21st of June for Paris, and leave Frankfurt for NZ again on July 14th. We have yet to firm up the trip arrangements, but we want to get a few days in the north of France, then catch up with Andreas & Katrin, Justine & Gareth for a few days, then finish up with a good week with Jan's family. There are some family functions that we will be able to attend, which will be fantastic. As soon as we firm up our plans, we will let you all know.

Last Sunday we were busy with my folk's 50th Wedding Anniversary, which was a great occasion - I think everyone had a blast. Thanks so much for those of you who sent best wishes. I raised a toast to absent friends after reading out your kind thoughts; and Jeremy & Lindsay; your readings had everyone in stitches - thanks for those.

This weekend we had my folks, and friends of theirs (the Pahls & the Kissells) out to visit, & John F & Bon dog, and Paul & Noreen Inwood (Paul was coming up to check the joinery details for the Laundry & our wardrobes). Before that swarm, we had Kathleen & Frits & Magda out to view the progress & have lunch - fantastic vege soup, slow cooked & delivered by Kathleen. The Saturday before, Noreen & Paul Inwood called in, as did Andrew & Jennie, Ella & Maya.

And some very sad news - Megs has lost her Rottweiler Jimmy to bone cancer ...at far too young an age to be losing a doggy friend :-(

Our housewarming is still going to be on 3 April (Easter Saturday), ready or not :-)

Invite attached for you all - let us know if you can make it.

Take care & alles liebe!

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson - February 2010

Hi all,

Windows are in except for the big sliders, and we still haven't finished painting the soffits - I might get some of that done this weekend while Jan is swanning about in Wellington, watching the rugby & going to Street's housewarming.

We had a quality issue with the zincalume; the tension when it was run meant that the leading edge was all frilly so it had to come off, be re-run, and be redone. It is nearly finished now. The cedar cladding has finally arrived, as has the gib, the woolblock and our external doors. The moisture test was great & so was the lintel check. Once the sliders are in and the cladding goes on, then we will be weather-tight at last.

All plumbing gear is here, all appliances, the garage door is ordered, the photo voltaics' contract about to be signed. The German joiner, Michael Bender, from the Riverside Community is making our living room wall unit and all our bathroom joinery, for about $5k all up (a bit of a difference to the $12k quote that we originally received). He has taken a pile of macrocarpa off to start fashioning the bathroom vanity, and Jan has to get the mdf to him for the wall unit. The kitchen is finalised at Cooper Webley, although we still have to deliver the rimu for the work tops to them, once they are ready for it. I have also managed to get all our drawer handles for less than half of the price of the quote, so its all good. We have even got down to ordering the towel rails & robe hooks now, so I think we are pretty much done.

We picked up some outside lights when we were down in Chch on the weekend - sorry for those of you whom we didn't get to see, but we were down predominantly to see Warren & Trace about their requirements for their wedding (27 Feb). We came down on Saturday morning, and Jan had a course to go to on Monday, then drove home in the afternoon.

The drainlayers are here this week getting the septic tank sorted, so that's all good too. And the housewarming is still going to be on 3 April (Easter Saturday), ready or not :-)

Fleur & Neil with their entourage of short people have been out to visit, as have John & Jo, Nikki Rae, Dawnie and Bob.

Tonight we have the NSO BBQ at the Nelson Croquet Club (!), and tomorrow night a BBQ at Dawn's. This weekend Jan is in Wllg, next weekend it is my folk's 50th Wedding Anniversary, then two weekends after that we will be in Chch for Trace & Warren's wedding.

Then we go nowhere until our housewarming. Invite attached for you all - let us know if you can make it.

Take care & alles liebe!

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson - January 2010

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

News from Nelson - December 2 2009

Hi all,

We have a roof now - we had a "roof shout" for the builders and the roofers last Friday night, which was nice. They are finishing off the roof today, but Glenn is hoping to get the house wrapped tomorrow, to keep any inclement weather out over Christmas. It is looking great - exactly as I expected.

Jan & his tame sparky are running all the wiring over the break; I will be on wire pulling duty, as will any visitors foolish enough to arrive at this point! Jan has one hundred flush boxes to go in for data, power and lights (not too bad, apparently). However, we may put a few more in, as it pays to put in heaps now while it is easy, as opposed to retro-fitting things later.

Jenny Ladley has threatened to come & visit on Boxing Day, which will be great. I will first ply her with wine, then she can go on wire pulling duty!

The shed now has running water, a working hot water cylinder, a shower, and a washing machine. Yay! Jan is still going to put in another set of shelves for bathroom & laundry stuff, then we should be as organised as we can be, in what space we have. Cooking is certainly much simpler without an oven, but I have been thinking today about whether I could build a clay oven. I will do a bit of research!

Montrose Dr is as finished as we are going to leave it - the clothes line has been moved, the gravel path out the back is in, the laundry has been re-vinyled, weeding, pruning & tidying up done. Our first tenants had to cancel as the husband had been made redundant (and we can understand that derailing a family's holiday plans!). If you know anyone who is coming down for a holiday, get them to take a look at http://www.holidayhouses.co.nz/properties/15874.asp and see if they want to book in for a few days.

We have been to two Xmas functions in the Moutere - one at Daniel & Diana Whitten's place for all the Roses Road residents, which was great fun - we got to meet the three couples whom we didn't already know, and reconnect with everyone else in the valley whom we had met before. The other function was at Glenys & Kevin's place at the Mudcastle (http://www.themudcastle.co.nz/) for all Upper Moutere residents. We met some weird and wonderful people as there were well over fifty guests there (mind you, Glenys & Kevin's place is far too big and spread out to be able to count numbers with any accuracy - there may have been more than a hundred there). We arrived at the start and didn't go until the last gasp, despite having both felt initially like we would stay for a couple of hours and then slide away. We have made some new contacts in the area and heard acres of great local gossip :-)

Fliss has had an eye ulcer, but it is healing well, and both of our 'barking doorbells' are having a wonderful time. If they aren't barking at the builders for arriving, they are trying to get the builders to play, or cadging food at lunchtime.

Jan has threatened that Christmas Day will be spent nailing in flush boxes, but I suggested that a breakfast of waffles, followed by a nice espresso, some bubbly, a read and a short sleep might be a better way of spending the morning! I was thinking of bringing our bikes out from Montrose Drive this week, so we could have gone for a bike ride on Christmas Day too - but Tessa is going to be here & wanted to borrow my bike, so we might leave that until New Year. It will be so quiet here with everyone spending time with their families - Jan can instead teach Coco how to walk nicely on a lead on the day, as there will hardly be any traffic.

That's all for this time - back to you soon.

Take care & alles liebe!

Sam & Jan