and done !

Hellooooo again
The pergola is finished !!!
Those boys worked in the wind today and they did a great job.
Looks great hey !

Next job - pavers.

Hockey 1, hockey 2, hockey 3...

Ta da !!!!

The hockey sticks arrived with the builders this morning and we have progress! They are doing a fantastic job too. Very neat, very tidy and very expensive. Hope it's all worth it in the end. Sitting under the pergola on the pavers (not organised anything there yet) enjoying a bevvie, or even having breakfast out there in these wonderful spring/summer months. Now all I need is a paperman to come 18kms in and deliver the morning paper to me (wishful thinking). Should be finished tomorrow just in time for The Man to come home and inspect.

I call it... "The Michele Factor"

No matter what it is in my life, whether I order a loungesuite, buy a product off the supermarket shelf, build a house, buy clothing, there is a little "Michele factor" lurking in the background. I'm not complaining, I've actually learned to live with it. If a store says it will be here in 6 weeks, it wont, it will be here in 8-10 weeks so I just factor that into the equation. The reason I say this is that the pergola will be delayed (at this stage they will return on Monday) because they are missing a vital part of it (the "hockey sticks" that connect the existing roof to the new pergola) and cannot commence without them. Oh well, it was a hot and windy day (again) so it probably turned out the best for them anyway. I love the attitude of the bloke that sold it to us (oh, well, there's not much we can do about it), that's not what he told me, that's what I heard from the builder. He hasn't rang me to apologise as yet and I don't expect him to either. If it was my company even if it wasn't my fault, I would still smooth things over and rev the crap out of the supplier (Stratco musn't have very good quality control). Anyways, photos of progress will start next week sometime I suspect.
Yesterday was a glorious day and I took the girl out to Dutton Bay for her to go for a horsey ride.
She is pictured here with her cousin on the back of Keira and Bernie is leading them. Midge is Bernie's dog. So there we were, 2 horses, 3 dogs, 3 kids, 3 adults all trekking around the beach and then the other 2 adults took the horses for a bit of a gallop over the scrub after the kids had a ride.

Me, not interested in the slightest in horses. I'm afraid that The Man is going to have to play the fiddle with this little adventure when it unfolds.

I took about 116 photos of the day and took some rippers. If you're interested, go to www.ringo.com but you need to let me know first so I can get you on there. I wont have put them on there just yet, it takes a little while seeing my camera takes 8 megapixel photos, i have to downsize them all individually to make them easier for the user to upload them quicker.
2 more days and the girl goes back to school and I get a couple of days totally on my own before The Man returns home FOR GOOD !

It's Windsday (as Winnie the Pooh would say)

Bloody nora ! It's blowing a gale here today - not stepped outside since 8am this morning for fear of being sand blasted (I only went outside to turn the valve off to the tank which was overflowing, been filling up the tanks with soak water from the windmill). There has been a fire close to Port Lincoln today and I heard that at least one house has been totalled. It's a northerly wind so it won't be coming our way but I believe it was all under control around 12.30 this afternoon.

I reached that milestone with my weight (no it took more than the crap to shift it). I have been held up with the weather because it has been windy for the best part of a week. The only day it wasn't was yesterday, so I went for a walk. Today, The Girl and I did a "Heart Moves" DVD aerobic exercise (for people who haven't exercised in a long time or who have heart conditions or are old, etc) and I plan to get onto my new air rower for a spell.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, the pergola will start to take shape. I must set up the fire unit on the back of the ute to make sure that no sparks get away from the fellas. They specifically asked for water to be present, I like their forward thinking, very responsible.
This is the package of the pergola before.......

Oh what a beautiful morning !

I have begun walking of a morning and this is the scenery. How magnificent. From my house to the neighbours boundary fence (and back again) it is almost 5 kms. Not bad eh ! Still, I've only done this 3 times (due for another run this morning, oh and it's 5am at the moment, must have had enough sleep) but I reckon I'll be committed for the short term anyway. I haven't weighed myself as yet but am confident of reaching another milestone very soon. It's nice having The Man home, albeit a little weird as we've been on our own (The Girl and me) for so long.
Day one of my hols is depicted as shown, day two windy and warm, day 3 a bit cool to start with but fined up to a nice day, perfect weather for holidays (need more rain for the crops but it doesn't look like we're gonna get any soon).