Slowly Moving Forward.

There are many, many jobs still to do on our house and around the farm, and even though I feel some things may be more of a priority, Brian doesn't  always see things in the same light as I do. That's not to say that either of us are right or wrong, but just that we have different views on what is important.
My laundry room/meat room was started a couple of years ago and  progress was stalled for something more important and that's where it stayed...
The building was lacking proper windows and had heavy security mesh attached, I had old rubber backed curtains hanging to hopefully exclude some of the weather.
When we  renovated the front of the house, hubby had kept one of the older casement timber windows as the size corresponded with the opening roughly.
Last fortnight when I suggested that maybe we should contact the builder( as  Brian was tied up on other projects, he quickly  stepped into action and began work.

The old window fitted in perfectly with very little adjustments, the inside trims will be done when the room is lined.

On the outside it looks like it always belonged there, very pleased with it. A coat of paint and no one will ever know the difference.
The next  job  followed along straight away as well.
Work began  on the two windows on the front of the shed .

This time we also used recycled windows,  aluminium ones this time.
When we lived on the coast, a lovely friend of ours  renovated our kitchen and the two sliding windows were removed to house a big glass sliding door.
We had saved the windows hoping to one day use them again.

With a little bit of fiddling and adjusting , we were able to squeeze the window in just  right.
I now have a much more pleasant outlook from in the laundry and so much more light is  streaming in.

We still have one window to do, but  time just didn't allow us to finish it, but it will be a priority as soon as we sort out a few other things. We are really happy with how it is going so far. It seems to have given Brian a boost to keep moving on these  smaller projects.
We had another rooster processing day,

This time we split them in half using the band saw,

And then packing them into bags for the freezer, they pack so much better as halves, taking up much less space.

Our tomatoes in pots on the verandah are doing well( that's all we grew this year),

We picked our first tomatoes last week,

Looks great until they are put  into perspective,

The garlics are also doing well, all sending up there lovely purple seed heads,

Our new little  bed of marigolds behind the retaining wall are also beginning to bloom adding a small splash of colour.

The guinea fowls are getting ready to nest again,

We have located two nests that  they will  most likely be sitting on soon.

We are not sure if the eggs are fertile, but time will tell.
Rob our bee man came back and he and Brian  took some more honey, it just keeps coming at an amazing rate,

hard to imagine what next year will be like when  the second hive will be up and running. Brian has been keeping an old wash tub full of water for them and we regularly see them lined up like this drinking the water.

After we upgraded our battery system, the old batteries  had been just sitting out the back behind the shed, waiting for our new tractor to arrive  to help Brian load them.

Each of these big blue batteries weigh approx. 75 kgs ( 160 lbs) and having the tractor bucket to assist with the loading made the job much easier.

We took them to a recycling  centre  in Dubbo and got  45 cents per kg,  recouping us just under $700.
Our new evaporative air conditioner arrived and was to be installed, but the installer  failed to heed Brian's instruction on how far apart our roof beams were and the  mounting system could not be installed as  he assumed  the spacings would be standard sizes.

So we have a lovely new evaporative system awaiting installation as soon as the new mounting box is manufactured.
My wonderful  sister in law made us a beautiful plaque to put on our old Blue girl Tilly's final resting place.

He then placed it onto the large rock that he had previously put there,

I think she has a lovely resting place up  where the sun rises on her and she has the afternoon shade of the trees, and the coloured solar lights shine on her through the night. She would be pleased.
I took a panorama the other day as I wanted to make some farm bookmarks for my granddaughter,

It is still very dry, but at least there is a bit of colour from the flowering jacaranda, we are still missing the bulk of the storms, but a few mm here and there is JUST  keeping things alive.( that and Brian's consistent watering.
So until we meet again,
Take care of you and yours,
Cheers
Brian and Jane.