Whilst it was still Autumn for our latest visit to the Charlton House, it sure seemed like winter!

We arrived at the house on Thursday afternoon after some business in Bendigo on Thursday morning. It pelted with rain all the way up the Calder and we arrived to find the water tank well and truly overflowing and puddles where there used to be dust basins. 18mm of rain was recorded for the day.

The rest of the day was spent unpacking and setting up for the weekend, including fitting a new electric blanket and flannelette sheets to the bed and unpacking a new convection heater for the bedroom, given the weekend forecast was for temperatures only marginally above zero.

Friday I had further business and Mildura and we left Charlton around 8:00am aiming to get to Mildura by 11’ish. Shirleen had never visited Mildura so after completing my work there we went for a drive around town, visiting lock 11 then stopping by a local cafe for a delicious foccacia lunch. We headed for home under a blue sunny sky, but the closer we got to Charlton the darker the sky grew, with the heavens opening just after we arrived home and delivering a further 14mm of rain in a very short period. The trip home was also highlighted by some stunning rainbows and a wild emu Shirleen spotted in the mallee scrub.

After dining on a delicious slow cooked lamb roast we retired early planning on an early start on Saturday morning to renail the floors which had become very creaky after the restumping.

Bay late morning I had much of the kitchen floor renailed (except for one section which required replacement) and Shirleen had completely demolished and removed the one remaining kitchen cupboard which housed the kitchen sink, so we decided to make an impromptu trip to Boort to the hardware store to pick up some yellow tongue flooring and some hardboard underlay, with a view to getting the kitchen functional again.

By Saturday night the majority of the kitchen floor had been underlayed, and plans for Sunday’s installation of the temporary kitchen (remodelled from some disused office cupboards we acquired), we finished up for the day and headed off to neighbour’s Ross and Peggy’s for wine and nibbles, followed by a nice dinner at The East hotel.

Sunday, after several hours of cutting screwing and remodeling of the cupboards to facilitate re-installation of the old kitchen sink, and sealing of some large holes in the kitchen walls, we finally had a functional kitchen once more, so we called it a day and packed up, heading for home shortly before 3:00pm, satisfied at another productive weekends renovating.

Roll on Queens Birthday weekend!

6th May was our first visit to the Charlton House since the restumping.

The main purpose of this trip was to start preparing the floors for laying underlay in order to seal up the place from dust and damp, since the flooring had been disturbed during the restumping.

So, with a hired floor sander (courtesy of Bunnings), tools, and Psychopup in the back of the car we headed up the Calder excited about seeing the house level for the first time.

After inspecting both the restumping works, and the spot in the front yard where a large and very dead white cedar tree had been removed during the week, the first job for the day was to unload some of the furniture (particularly the bed) from storage in the sleepout so we could at least resume living in the house. We decided that until the kitchen and lounge room floors were underlayed, we would live out of the front room. It was a little cramped with bed, kitchen table, lounge chairs and TV/stereo all in the front room, but livable nonetheless.

After setting up the room, we set about cleaning the dirt which had accumulated throughout the house during the 2 weeks the contractors were there, then started sanding back the floors to remove all the glue, carpet backing and high spots ready for the underlay.

With the sun setting warmth quickly disappearing we packed up for the day and retired to Philip and Janet’s for a dinner of fish and chips and, of course, wine.

Saturday morning we walked into town for food supplies and tattslotto tickets and continued the work we started on Friday.

In the early afternoon Shirleen joined Janet for a trip to a CWA show at Bealiba whilst I set about repairing some dodgy sections of floor and removing the skirting boards in the hallway, then continuing with floor preparations.

We once again retired to Philip and Janet’s for dinner with the rest of the family followed by wine, and returning home for much needed sleep.

At around 3am Sunday morning we awoke to the sound of rain falling on the tin roof, and remembering that I had not covered the trailer properly, had to get out of my warm bed into the cold and damp to secure the trailer from the rain.

By 8am with the rain still falling we decided that we would continue on home after Mother’s Day morning tea with mum at the local tea rooms, rather than keep on working and traipse mud through the house and undo the hard work of the day before.

We forgot the camera this trip so there are no photos but I will make up for it next post.

Roll on 21st May!