Melbourne Cup Weekend

Cup weekend we set ourselves three tasks… fencing the street boundaries so we can bring the dog with us, removing the rubber underlay which had stuck to the floor in the entry and hallway, and getting rid of the awful pantry in the corner of the kitchen.

The weather was overcast and thundery when we left home and before long it was bucketing rain. Fortunately the rain eased for our detour via Toolern Vale to pick up a couple of gates for the driveway from Stewart at Variety Fencing but resumed not long after hitting the highway again.

By the time we arrived at the Charlton House at around 12:30 the rain had stopped and the sun was shining, with the temperature heading toward the mid 30’s. After unpacking and changing into our work clothes I started setting out and digging postholes for the fences and Shirleen started attacking the floor with the belt sander. It wasn’t long before we realised that both tasks would be more time consuming than we first thought! By mid-afternoon the results of our blood, sweat and tears were extremely modest… one and a half holes dug (the ground was like concrete) and about half the entry hall floor sanded. During our afternoon tea break we reprioritised tasks… Shirleen decided to attack the pantry, and I used the heavier belt sander on the floor whilst the ‘half holes’ were soaking up a few buckets of water.

By 5 o’clock we decided we had had enough and headed back to mum’s for the usual ‘shower and wine’ ritual.

By Sunday morning the post holes had softened enough to make digging them marginally easier and by mid-morning I had the first of the gates hung. Meanwhile back in the pantry, Shirleen was making slow and steady progress on what was a very much over engineered (and smelly) construction… all the pantry, including the shelf brackets, was put together with 4” nails (even the smallest of timbers) proving a challenge for the largest crowbars and sledgehammers.

After wearing out several sanding belts completing the entry floor, we decided not to continue sanding the hallway floor but instead to temporarily cover it with some excess masonite which we had removed from the old wardrobes and the pantry walls.

With the pantry still proving stubborn, we formed a tag team to attack what remained… by evening, with the 4” nails seeming more like railway spikes, we had finally got the better of it… not only does the kitchen now benefit from the extra space, but the whole house smells so much better!

Digging the post holes was almost impossible in the hard ground, so we decided to ask local contractor Randall, who had removed our rubbish pile, to return with the auger attachment on his bobcat and drill the post holes for us, which we hope he will do this week. This meant I only needed to dig 2 more by hand in order to hang the second gate, which I did Monday morning after again soaking the holes with water.

Late on an overcast and thundery Monday morning we were visited by Bruce the Plumber who we asked to advise on some of the existing plumbing which is either disconnected or leaking, and what we needed to do to ensure that any plumbing work done now will be suitable for the future kitchen and bathroom fixtures. Shortly after Bruce left the heavens opened, giving us a first-hand view of how efficient the guttering is… the one good water tank we have overflowed, and the only other downpipe outlet spewed gallons of water out onto a very dry backyard. After about 10 minutes the rain stopped and out came the sun… unfortunately we missed seeing Incy Wincy spider!

By lunchtime we had loaded the trailer with the timber from both the pantry and the wardrobe in the ‘Hawthorn Room’ (so named because it is painted in brown and gold) which Shirleen had demolished earlier, to take to the tip.

After lunch we dug out the sample paint pots we had bought during the week and painted a small section of the entry to see what the colour scheme we had chosen would look like. So far all the colours we’ve chosen look as good as we had hoped. After washing out the paint brushes in the kitchen sink I wanted to find out how well it was draining into the broken sewer pipe we had exposed earlier. When I looked into the pipe I could see not only water but a scaly creature as well. Wondering how the hell a fish had got into the sewer I called to Shirleen to confirm that I wasn’t just losing the plot. On closer inspection she realised it was a lizard, and so began a rescue mission which involved a rubber gloved hand 2 feet down the sewer in search of the mischievous little reptile. Within minutes we had a friendly little baby bluetongue lizard back on solid ground and relocated to a safer area of the garden.

Late afternoon saw us packing up and returning to mum’s for a shower after which we had a lovely evening of drinks and nibbles with our delightful neighbours, Ken and Hazel.

By Tuesday we were feeling too tired to do too much work so we pottered around doing some tidying and packing up ready for the trip home.

Overall a productive weekend and we are looking forward to the next trip, when we are hoping to complete the fences so Skylar can come to the Charlton House with us.