The Weir

One of the selling points when we purchased Pemberley in 2005 was access to water.  Despite the drought our little creek still flows, albeit underground in some places, and the small weir remains full.  In fact, last century it was the water supply for the farm's dairy and house.  The creek doesn't appear have to a name on the maps, but flows into Wattle Camp Creek just past our boundary.  Maybe we should name it?

In the 1960s the owners laid 250 meters of galvanised pipe from the weir to the house tank. According to a previous resident it was a revolution not to have to carry the water up the hill in buckets. (It is a very steep hill.)

It has always been our plan to reboot the pipeline and the drought has spurred us on to do it before summer.  A couple of weeks ago we optimistically shoved a hose down the pipeline at the top - hoping it would trickle through, unobstructed, to the bottom.  It backed up after a few minutes.  We then dug up the weir end of the system to find meters of clogged and rusted pipe.

So, we had two options.  Dig up and repair the old pipe or lay a new one.  We chose the latter.  After ripping the route with the Fergie (built in 1948) we cleared the trench by hand (approximately 23 cubic meters of dirt).  The plan is to lay a 40mm PVC pipe and get another 60 years out of it.

The last 45 meters

The target is yonder windmill (near the trees)

The potting shed has windows

The transformation of the 5,000 gallon water tank into a potting shed continues. First we moved it (see the post here). 

Then we cut holes in it!

The latest development has been the lead light windows. (Don't all potting sheds have lead light windows?)  It was an interesting exercise making and installing windows into curved walls which varied between 100 mm to 150 mm thick.  But, job done.

The next challenge is to make a door.  I might need to mull that over a bit before I get started though.  

Pickets

After a couple visitors recently missed our entrance we thought we'd best make it stand out more. The make-over included moving the gate 3 meters further into our property, giving us more room to get off the road when opening the gate - especially handy when dragging the trailer around.  We also upgraded to a wider, 14 foot gate and galvanised posts.

Front entrance

There's still some fine tuning needed to smooth out a couple of humps and the old fence posts are yet to be removed... but it's nearly finished.  After the front gate went so well we figured we were on a roll so we did the eastern house gate as well.

I kept track of the time involved (and I now know why no-one else around here has a white picket fence.)

Hours below exclude installing the posts and swinging the gates:

• Front entrance
• number of pickets - 110
• paint pickets - 28 hrs
• install pickets -  17 hrs
• install rails - 7 hrs
• paint rails - 5 hrs
• sand pickets - 5 hrs
• shape tops - 3 hrs 
• average = 59 minutes/picket
• House gate
• number of pickets - 60
• paint pickets - 9 hrs
• install pickets - 9 hrs
• install rails - 2 hrs
• paint rails - 2 hrs
• sand pickets - 2 hrs
• shape tops - 1 hrs
• average = 42 minutes/picket

Two things I discovered:

1. Things always take longer than I think they will. (I did already know that.)
2. I do get quicker as I go. (Thankfully.)

Rolex and the eastern gate

The phone's home

I picked up our 1950s telephone box from a friend of Mum's last century for the princely some of $20. After repairs it become somewhat of a local landmark on the front lawn of our Canberra home.  But we couldn't leave it behind, it was destined to be part of the Pemberley landscape. 

I don't know how much a phone box weighs, but the glass is 1/4 inch thick and much of the timber is hardwood.  The roof is galvanised sheet tin and the ceiling is 1/2 inch thick lining boards.  But despite the kilos, getting it on and off the truck was simply a case of manpower.

However, repairing it required a bit more effort.


Looking a bit sad after the long trip and a couple of decades between makeovers.

I repaired and repainted as much as I could before we stood it up.
(Somehow a red phone box doesn't look right in white.)

The bottom of the door and walls needed new timber and reglazing.

Friends, family and the 1948 Fergie all helped to stand it back up.

Rolex is very happy with the final result.

Christmas at Pemberley

The 25th of December, 2017 will stand as a red letter day.  It was the day that Christmas came to Pemberley.  The day was spent with trusty watch dog Rolex, 18 month old grandson Callum and significant others, (left to right: me, Georgii, Nette, Simon holding Callum and Sam at front).  It was an absolute blessing to share church, gifts and the day together.

Christmas has also given me a bit of time to rest my broken little finger.  It appears to be healing well, with the last X-ray showing it starting to knit back together.  However, 3 weeks in it still surprises me just how debilitating such a seemingly small injury can be. 

But as I can still use the computer mouse left handed I've started drafting stage two of the croft.  This will be single level and add two bedrooms, a library and a kitchen/living area to the existing, approved building.  It's a bit of a challenge to draw: for two reasons.  Firstly, I'm right handed, so while I can use a mouse in my left hand, my lack of dexterity is frustrating.  Secondly, I'm using SketchUp a free application for drawing 3D models.  It's a great product - but along with the left hand, there's quite a learning curve - though so far, well worth the investment.