Robert,

You are right about the Hiab. That 40 year old Volvo F86 was the best buy I ever made. Even managed to swing Keith's Blitz cab over the fence during this year's Corowa. You probably saw the picture of us going down to the event.

Hot toddies by the fire sounds good but what do you do from breakfast to dinner time - freeze your bums off building sheds?

At last
 

the shed is up and the blitz is in. I am alowed to use the shed until October then it's Vicki's. :giveup Current view from back door :D

Shed
 

Looks great Robert, but are you sure this is the right blitz? Shouldn't it be the one with split diffs?;)

I tried but the steering lock was too lousy to get it in.

This is the view from the other side of the house, two shots from the font steps. :sheep:

Rare view
 

Thankfully it melted by lunch but tey are forcasting the horible white stuf again tonight. Vicki couldn't get to work this morning as the road into Batlow ws closed.

I've made the three point linkage adaptor for the backhoe and the welding held for a test dig. :D Now I need to have the hydraulic bank serviced and then I can dig the 500 mm of surplus earth out of the top bay of the shed so the floor can be concreted, should be easier than pick and shovel and wheelbarrow. :eek: Once I've had a bit of practice I'll dig a service pit to make greasing the blitz easier :cheers:.

Finally getting the drains in for the shed, the backhoe is makeing the diging easier and was relatively easy to master :cheers:

The boxing and mesh have been in place for two weeks, the sun came out today so I pored the last slab for the drain. I had a good run two hours to mix seven and a half bags of cement and clean up. :coffee
Vicki will finally be able to garage her car again next week :cheers:

The drain works well no water through the garage lately which is a releaf as the storms have been heavy lately.
The last couple of days have been spent building a roof over the caravan spare room, the wind this year has shreaded 2 polly tarps that were tied tightly over the van so while the brother in law was out for a break we decided a more permanent cover was needed. :cheers:

Earning CMP points?
 

It's nice to get a job around the house that you don't mind doing ocasionally. :cheers:

On the strength of the last cattle sale we are going to get the first two bays of the BBQ area concreted soon so today I wired up some lights. I installed the sensor light on the garage and two LED flood lights in BBQ area, two more LED's are mounted and most of the wire is run for them. :cheers:

First two bays now wired and all lights work. When the other bays are wired in the future there will be twice the wire in the box. :cheers:

I cleaned out the surplus clay getting ready to concrete the first bay today. I was having fun plying with the backhoe so decided to start puting new colvets in the drive so I can form up a decent road into our house, now I will have to test my welding skills as the end pulled off the main lifting ram :bang:

Geez, Robert, does'nt that drive you mad, just when you want to get on with a job, and something goes wrong :(

Just keep smiling :)

good to see some hard work being done. I could watch someone else doing it all day! :D

The view at my place will alter in the coming weeks as well as I have sold almost all my orchid plants and the tunnel houses they resided in, so once they are shifted out I'll have more lawn to mow :ergh: :bang:

Breakdowns keep life interesting, you never know when they will sneak up on you. :whinge Cliff get yourself a lawn tractor with gps autosteer then you can relax with a coffee while crusing around the yard :D

Class
 

Robert
..How mundane..!!Lawn tractor.../??
Cliff will be getting one of these..

http://www.robomow.com.au/videos/robomow/

Cliff has too much class for a lawn tractor..
:kangaroo :kangaroo :kangaroo :sheep: :sheep:

Good choice Alex I didn't know that one :thup:

Oh yes, yes, yes I can just see myself watching one of those do all the work :D :thup2:

Quick update, I welded the eye back on today and it dug and folded up so I hope it lasts. I used dissimilar steel electrodes in case the metals had different carbon contents. :cheers:

Lawn Mower
 

Hi all - a mate of mine down the road has one of the self do it all mowers. When I went to his place I said what is that giant cockroach on your lawn? It is my lawn mower. There is a wire barrier around the lawn and when the mower gets to it, it reverses and goes in another direction. Disadvantage though, it doesn't have a catcher. My dearly departed Dad wanted to invent a self-drive mower that was attached to a rope attached to a stake. As the mower drove it would, like the legendary Haggis Bird, travel in ever decreasing circles until it disappeared up its own clack.

:D Bob

Mum's turn to get a new view
 

The old house at Mum's is finally being pulled down so the new house can have its front varandah attached. The cleaning instructions were still on the back of the bath souround. some of the timber will be used in restoring huts in the national park, some lining board is going into a neighbours kitchen, the bearers and joists for the new varandah will come from the old house and the rest of the useful timber will be stored for the future. :cheers:

Still a bit of cleaning up to do but Mum's house can now be seen from the mail box :cheers:

I want some time to work on the blitz again so I've been hard at work earning points. :rolleyes hope I will have enough soon :cheers:

I had a trainee helping this morning, we mixed and laid nine bags in one and three quarters of an hour. I have to move the boxing down a bay and poor another L then the centres can be filled with a truck from town.
Rego day is the sixth of November so I will have to work on the Blitz this weekend. :cheers:

The wall is finished now I have to find time to slab a round leaf log to top it off. :cheers:

I decided I needed a pit to make working under the blitz easier. Digging it in the shed the blitz lives in seamed like a good idea until I struck water now I will have to find the time to dig a drain and burry a pipe in it. :bang: :cheers:

Vicki's entertainment area took a small step forward yesterday with the hanging of the clock a friend gave her for Christmas. :cheers:

The things we do to keep women happy
 

The boys helped me replace six stumps under the lounge room and one under the front varandah today. The job is much easier with help than by yourself as I was when I did the bedroom. :cheers: