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!