Cottage and gates

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. Wall to wall sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. Chris was up early and out to the block to carry on with installing gates. By the time I'd got there after lunch he had almost all of the remaining gates in. He's doing a really fantastic job, and we both can't wait to see what its like when all the paddocks are fully fenced.

Gates galore

Chris at work

Carrying a strainer post

Looking good

Here are some photos of the cottage progress. The builders were there yesterday (on a Saturday!) to make up for lost time due to the rubbish weather we had earlier in the week. The builder was saying that the roof is supposed to be delivered early next week, so we may have a roof by then end of the week. Awesome.

Window seat is in

Beginning to really take shape now

The most important part of the build - waste disposal!

We also met then new neighbours today, Mark & Denise. They are absolutely awesome, and it definitely helps that Denise is a horsey chick! She offered to take me on a ride up Browne's farm which was an opportunity not to be missed. She even supplied the horse - a lovely black horse called Monty. It was an awesome ride and when we were at the top of the hill we could see over the whole of Cambridge and surrounding area. I am definitely paying for it now though and I'm not sure I'll be able to sit down at work for a whole day. Might have to learn to type standing up but boy was it worth it.

Mack's photo shoot

Mack got a makeover and had a wee photo-shoot yesterday courtesy of my good friend Jeanette of Highlight Media. He got to wear a bridle and handled it all very admirably, though I think he's had a bridle on before. Here are the pics:

 

 

 

 

 

Let the shed building commence!

Resource consent came through for the shed today (well technically the water tank that will be behind the shed) so we can start building! Woot woot! Although now that its the monsoon season here in the Waikato it might be a while before the earthworks get done, let alone the concrete. Ah well, good times ahead.

In other news, we have a portaloo. The building company has put it there for the builders which is great and means we are one step closer to civilisation.

Verandah & Garden

Just a few photos of Chris' entranceway garden he finished on the weekend and also the verandah and porch framing on the cottage. Not much has been happening this week as the weather has been foul. They don't call it the Wet Waikato for nothing.

Front gate garden

Other side of front gate garden

Front porch

A different view of the front porch

Verandah framing

Cottage continued

Chris has been a busy bee today. He managed to finish off putting the hotwire down the northern boundary post and rail, as well as mowing the driveway on the Power Pony, and mulching the garden out the front gate ready for plants. Whew! He needs a day off!

I spent the day with Kathryn choosing carpet, tiles and lino. We've managed to narrow it down to a couple of choices, and of course Chris likes option one and I like option two...

I headed out to the block to swan about and take some pics, as well as play with my pony.

Chris standing in the dining room

The verandah going on

Me in the kitchen

Frame jungle

Starting to really take shape now

Chris standing at the french doors soaking up the view

Gable roof over the master bedroom

In other news... we got our shed building consent today. The council is pretty onto it, it was due back on the 1st of June but they mustn't be very busy as we got it back in about 3 weeks. Not bad! We still have to wait for resource consent as we want to put the shed closer to the boundary that what is allowed in the district plan, but that shouldn't be too far away.

More frames

The builders continue to make great progress. The roof framing is starting to take shape, and we can actually see the outline of the cottage. It's not looking as small as we expected which is great!

Front of the house with gable roof over the master bedroom

Front of house again

West end of the house

South-west corner of house

East end of house with bay window

South-east corner of house

Trusses and Mack

Today was an exciting day for me. Mack, a 2yo Irish Sport Horse I bred finally made it to Waterford Estate. He's been at the stud down in Rangiora and more recently at Talisman Farm while we've been searching for land to buy. Now that we have it, he's finally made it home. He travelled really well. He was more interested in eating grass than hooning around which is great! The mare that is his paddock mate was not too happy at the new arrival, and showed her displeasure with her back feet. Mack was sensible enough to stay out of her way though so no harm done. I took him for a wonder around the property. His leading needs a bit of work, but considering he's had minimal handling he did ok. He doesnt' know what carrots are but he's figured out that horse wormer is pretty gross! All in all, a very tired but happy pony. A big thanks to Jeanette for coming out to hold my hand when he arrived.

The builders were still there when I arrived and have made more astonishing progress with the cottage. The roof trusses are all up now. I took a couple of quick pics but was too distracted with my new pony and then it got dark.

Also as promised, some pictures of Chris' tree triangles. Pretty nifty!

Fencing

This weekend's most pressing job was to get a couple of paddocks ready for Mack's imminent arrival. We got up early on Saturday (as in 6.15am!) and headed out to the block. We managed to get quite a bit of Electrobraid up as well as making a start on nailing on insulators on the post and rail fencing before getting rained off about 2pm. Not ones to waste time, we decided to go and price up some kitchens from Bunnings, Placemakers and Mitre 10 Mega. After getting a quote for our kitchen cottage that was $3,500 over our PC sum we decided we'd have to probably go kitset. After running around for most of the afternoon and not feeling like we achieved much, we went and bought the lighting for the cottage. So at least that's one thing ticked off the list.

Today I did half a day on the block. I was supposed to be studying but seeing as we got rained off on Saturday I was desperate to finish nailing on the insulators that I'd started on Saturday. If I never see another insulator again I'll be happy after nailing on about 500 of the little buggers. I was actually quite proud of myself after only having to re-do about 3 of them because I kept forgetting to put the wire through before I nailed them on! Duh!

Chris' project today was putting up some post and rail fencing in the corner of the paddocks that will protect our shade trees from hungry horses. I couldn't take any pics of the finished product as it was raining but will update when I get some .

I'll leave you with some pics of this weekend's achievements.

Insulators on the post and rail fence to stop greedy horses chewing it

I nailed them on... all of them!

More insulators on with wire still to come

Looking down the fencline

I wasn't about to be rained off twice in one weekend!

Nearly at the end, 500 insulators later

Chris testing the fence - it works!

The finished line of Electrobraid fencing