Days 20 and 21 -

Finally all the hard work is starting to have some visible results.  It rained most of the day on Saturday and included hail and sleet.  Heather and I worked on the master bedroom and the office - painted the ceiling of the master bedroom and second coats of paint on the walls of both.  We still have to paint the trim and the doors.  Mike installed the toilet in upstairs bathroom. Here are original and updated pictures.

  

These are the sliding glass doors in the master bedroom.

This the west wall of the master bedroom.

This is the office.

This is the upstairs bathroom.

The orchard is growing nicely, but I can't take credit for that.  Pictures just don't show how much the little trees have grown in just two weeks.  You'll have to take my word for it!  Bromely is still sitting on her clutch of eggs.  Since this is her first time, Mike is concerned that she will just get tired of it and abandon the eggs.  But she made it through the rain, hail and sleet so I think that is a good sign.

Sunday started with a trip to Mitre 10 (Home Depot/Lowe's) where Mike purchased materials to build a gate for the turkey enclosure, and gates and fences to surround the orchard and the raised garden beds.  Heather and I purchased additional painting supplies and 6 red azalea plants.  On the way home, there is a place where the road ends and you have to travel across a dry river bed and then the road begins again!  Mike drove down into the river bed and then made a left hand turn and took off down the river bed (yes, he has four-wheel drive).  And what was growing in the dry river bed?  Of all things, California poppies!!

Click on the picture to blow it up and you can see the poppies growing wild.

After the trip to the store Heather and I did some touch up on the painted rooms and Mike installed an extraction fan in the upstairs bathroom.  Then Patrick and Maaike (pronounced Micah) came for dinner and to watch the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup.  They were also very interested in the water treatment system so Mike gave them a look.

I know this is a long posting, but as you can see we've been pretty busy.

Day 19 - Drainage

The drain layers showed up bright and early this morning.  Mike had already dug the trenches for the drainage pipes from the Wee Mansion and from the house out to the water treatment system, so they moved along very quickly laying the pipes and connecting everything. 


Here are some of the trenches that Mike dug around and across the yard.

This is the drainage ditch that runs from the back of the Wee Mansion across the yard to the water treatment system.
  

Here is the drainage ditch from the house to the water treatment system.

 This is the ditch for the electrical wires from the pump shed to the electrical hook-up on the side of the house. 


Did I mention that Mike and Heather have been using a chemical toilet in the Wee Mansion since they moved into it last November?  Well, they have and today Mike set up a real flushing toilet in the Wee Mansion.  Needless to say, Heather is really excited.


I managed to paint only the ceiling in the office today and Heather painted the base boards.  Then we all went into Christchurch to a demolition company to look at a kitchen set up that was removed from a condemned house just outside of Christchurch.  It's the right set up for their kitchen and has all the components they want - double oven with shelf above for a microwave, lots of cupboard space, double sink, corner pantry, four burner stove with a burner in the center for griddle or grill, and even a built-in wine rack.  So they decided to buy it and Mike just has to arrange to have it delivered to the house some time next week.  I'll post pictures as soon as I can.


Then Mike and Heather took me out to dinner at the Stone Grill.  Tim will remember the restaurant.  We went there several times when he was here last year.  Yum!

Day 18 - Raising Turkeys

Heather's three original turkeys were hatched and raised by her chickens. They actually hatched shortly after the devastating Christchurch earthquake in February.  They are all female and Heather named them after three suburbs of Christchurch that were completely destroyed by the earthquake, Bexley, Brighton and Bromley Here are pictures of the turkeys as they appeared back in the middle of March.

Now, seven months later, Bromley has made a nest for herself in a pile of brush in the yard, outside of the chicken/turkey enclosure and has laid a clutch of 9 eggs.  Yesterday morning when we opened the enclosure she went directly to the nest and sat on the eggs.  She has not moved from there since.  Unfortunately,since she has not been exposed to a male turkey, the eggs are not fertile.  But fortunately, Heather had just ordered fertilized turkey eggs and they were delivered today.

 So this afternoon Heather managed to remove all but one of the unfertilized eggs and replace them with the fertilized ones.

If you click on the picture and blow it up to full size you can see Bromley giving Heather the evil eye!  So hopefully, in 28 days we will have more baby turkeys (poults) running around the yard!


Heather and I painted like demons today and got the first coat of paint on both Mike's office and the master bedroom, and Heather filled all the nail holes in the base board moldings in most of the rooms in the house.  Tomorrow we (I) will do the first coat of ceiling paint in Mike's office and (if I can still lift my arms) in the master bedroom.  Also, the drain layer is coming out tomorrow to hook up the drains from the Wee Mansion and the house to the water treatment system.  Yeah!!


That's it for tonight.  I plan to post progress pictures of the house tomorrow.






  

Day 17

Another day of patching, sanding, sealing and priming.  The upstairs bathroom   is ready to be primed and I finished the primer coat on the ceiling of the master bedroom so it is now ready for paint.  Heather met Mike downtown at the discount paint store and they purchased all the paint for the entire house! 

I've posted pictures of all the downstairs rooms.  Here are pictures of the upstairs bathroom and the upstairs bedroom that Mike will use as his office.

Top picture is where the sink will be.  On the left of the bottom picture is the shower, and the toilet will be to the right. 

This is Mike's office, taken from the doorway.

 And this is just a cute picture of Heather and Mike.

Before I even arrived, Mike had done a considerable amount of work on the inside and outside of the house.  He has dug all the trenches for electricity and water and sanded all of the walls and ceilings in the house.  Here are a couple of pictures of Mike, sitting in the kitchen of the Wee Mansion, after a hard day of sanding!

Even though we work very hard each day, there is still a little time to have some fun.  Today we watched Jimenez, the cat, climb down the ladder that was leaning up against the Wee Mansion.  If I get a chance, I will get this on video since Heather says he does this on a regular basis!

And then we spent some time with the chickens and turkeys.  Heather has trained them not only to eat from her hands, but to also jump up and get the food.

And that's it for today!

Days 15 and 16

Sorry there was no post last night.  I literally fell asleep sitting here at the computer.  So I thought it was best just to crawl into bed and get a good night's sleep.


The four new turkeys are slowly getting used to their new home.  They are coming out into the front of their pen to get treats (apples, bananas) but they are still pretty withdrawn.  The tom, now named Romeo, is quite proud of himself and struts his stuff all over the enclosure.  He spreads his tail and wings and chirps and booms at Heather every time she goes near or even if he sees her across the yard.  It really is quite funny.  He also shows off to the other female turkeys in the chicken enclosure (the ones that think they are chickens) and of course they just ignore him!  Here is a picture of Romeo.  His tail feathers are a bit damaged from the move to his new home and it has been raining for two days and he seems not to mind being wet.

Yesterday, Heather and I took a ride to the UPS office which is located at the airport.  On our way we passed a number of different types of animals that live in the immediate area.  Later, when I have collected pictures of all of them, I will do a post just on the local domesticated and wild animals.  But here is a picture of an alpaca, which surprisingly, are plentiful around here.

As far as progress on the house, we have finished sanding, patching and sealing another room, the master bedroom, and today we put on the primer coat of paint.  I did not get the ceiling done, so that will be tomorrow's chore. I think we are also going to focus on finishing the two bathrooms so Mike can get the plumber back to complete installation of all the fixtures.  We'll see how it goes.  


I'll post more pictures of the interior of the house later this week so you can see the progress we have made.  

Day 14 - Roo and his Chickens

Roo is the rooster that Heather and Mike brought home last night.  He has been with us for less than 24 hours and he has already "serviced" a number of the hens that Mike put in the pen with him.  This morning the hens were laying eggs in the little red and white house that is in their pen.  The other chickens, including, Roo, were all clucking and crowing and encouraging them as they laid their eggs. Below is a short video of one of the laying events.

One of the turkeys has also started laying a clutch of eggs, but not inside the pen.  She has found a little nook on one of the brush piles in the yard and below is a picture of her nest.  The turkey eggs are larger than chicken eggs and their shells are harder, but they still taste just like regular eggs.

In addition to the new rooster, Heather also purchased a tom turkey and three turkey hens.  Mike and Heather picked them up this evening and put them in the turkey pen.  Unfortunately, two of the hens got spooked and were able to jump and fly over the fencing and they are now roaming the property.  We should be able to get them back in the pen tomorrow.  The tom was hand raised by the lady who sold them to Heather and he seems to be very gentle and not afraid of people. After they took him out of the travel box, he was afraid of his new surroundings and was just snuggling up to Heather  and didn't want to leave her side.  He is all white and huge.  The owner estimated his weight at about 22 pounds.  Heather and Mike think he is closer to 25-27 pounds.  I don't have pictures of the new turkeys yet but will try to get some tomorrow.

Lights out!

Days 12 and 13 - Making Progress

Yesterday (Day 12) we finished the patching, sealing, and sanding in the upstairs bedroom that Mike will use for his office.  After vacuuming the room and wiping down the walls and trim with damp rags, we began painting with the primer coat.  Heather cut in the edges and primed the trim and I rolled the walls.  We got half the room done.


This morning (Day 13) Mike's parents came over with a load of used lumber and a bunch of paving stones.  His dad wired a socket and an overhead light in the pump shed and his mom planted a bunch of vegetable seeds for the garden.  Heather and I finished priming the office and the room is now ready for its first coat of paint.


We took a walk across the road to show his parents the new lambs.  Here is a short video of the lambs and their mommies.  (This is taking forever to upload.  I hope it opens quickly for you.)

Mike re-enforced part of the chicken enclosure which was meant to separate the chickens from the turkeys.  But the turkeys prefer to be in the pen with the chickens so this area has pretty much gone unused.  But their neighbor wants to get rid of his rooster, Roo, and has agreed to give him to Mike and Heather.   So tonight Roo was delivered to his new home.  It is very possible that we will have many baby chics to raise within the next month!


Just so you understand about the turkeys, Heather and Mike purchased 12 fertilized turkey eggs last spring.  The eggs were placed in the chicken coop and two of the broody hens sat on the eggs but only three of them hatched.  The poults (baby turkeys) were then raised by the mother hens.  They have lived with the chickens all their lives and I think that they think they are chickens.  It will be interesting to see what happens when Heather and Mike purchase a tom turkey, which they are in the process of doing.  Will the turkeys accept the tom as one of their own??  Or would they rather do the deed with the rooster, Roo?  Stay tuned for the outcome of this dilemma!!