I woke up at twenty past four this morning – I had not set my alarm clock but my body obviously remembered … well sort of! I shot out of bed and into the new day, ready for another heavy day of work.
Paddy and Tamryn were up and off early this morning, as the place in town that we are hiring the grinding machine from opens at seven in the morning, and we want to get going as soon as possible.
What was exciting was that the stain also arrived today, so we have everything we need to sort the floor out hopefully!
After picking up all that, Paddy and Tamryn ducked into the shops to grab a few groceries before coming home.
At about half past seven Matt’ arose form his bed – my goodness wonder of wonders! But … there was a reason for his getting out of bed that early – Peter was arriving here on the farm and the two of them were going to do some more work on Tamryn’s container home today.
Just before Paddy and Tamryn arrived back here, Ken left the farm to pick up more fertilizer, so I waved him a fond farewell as he banged and bounced down the road and off into Wauchope.
When Paddy and Tamryn arrived back here, we unloaded the ute’ and then Paddy set the machine up and Tamryn and I watched with bated breath as he did one strip on the floor. Wow! These floors are going to look fantabulous, I think! How exciting!
Then Tamryn did some magical mixing – squirting the stain along a strip that Paddy had made on the floor, using full strength, three quarter strength, half strength and quarter strength and letting it cure so we could choose which one we liked best.
We are going to work through the night tonight to get all the grinding done – all done and dusted. But, in the end Paddy and "his crew" stopped at halfway and called it a day, as we have the time to do that. Then comes the staining and we have to wait for at least 24hours for that, then we paint on the sealant … three coats allowing several hours in between each coat.
Rats! At two o’clock a huge wind began to blow and again it ripped the tarp’ – the wind has be incredibly strong, as the tarp is made of heavy stuff. The wind ripped it as if it were tissue paper!
Tamryn went down to the bottom shed to pick up some clamps to hold the tarp to the posts, and that worked well.
Yahee! The card game I ordered from Amazon – similar to the Mafia card game, arrived for me today! It is for five up to sixty-eight players! So, absolutely ideal for our family get togethers.
I am delighted that Ren’, our daughter-in-law, suggested that she and her parents rather cancel coming to the farm this Sunday and come up over the long weekend. (Australia Day)That makes it so much easier as the shed is in absolute turmoil what with everything packed outside and add the grinding of the floors. Can you just image the dust – very fine concrete powder everywhere!
Definitely not conducive for guests to rest and relax in, or for the hostess to be clambering over things in order to get to the stove!
For lunch I made Paddy and Tamryn toasted cheese, tomato and onion toasties, and for Peter and Matt’ I cooked some sausages and put them in bread rolls and Paddy took them up to the container where they were working, plus the sauces they may need.
Because the stain is mixed with acid I had to try to keep Raafie off the floor! Yeah right!
That was not going to be easy, but he could get his little paws burnt so he would have to listen and obey me.
I can but try.
Because Paddy was trying to grind the concrete floors right to the very edge, he had to cut about 11cm off the plaster boards to be able to do that. The prep; for this took far longer than we thought it would, but on the positive side Paddy reckons the grinding machine is easy and light to use so we should finish this grinding of the floors tonight. Whoop-la-doeps! I am so excited!
I was super impressed by the work that Peter and Matt’ had done in Tamryn’s container home today – they are on fire! Hats off to them!
While Paddy was busy grinding the floor, I worked in my studio to keep away from the dust – it is everywhere - I can even feel it on my desk here., you can almost chew it in the air! Thank goodness Paddy, Tamryn and Mat' are wearing masks and glasses.
The day slowly receded as the night stained the skies above an inky black.
For our supper I made breakfast – just something light as although we were tired and hungry, we were more tired than hungry. We had bacon, sausages, poached eggs on toast with cheese sauce, and for those needing a sugar shot, some Rocky Road to see us off to bed.
What lesson did I learn today? Do what you can where you can – every little bit helps.
What am I grateful for today? All the incredible work done by Paddy, Tamryn and Matt’ towards creating a lovely home for us.
My saying for today is …
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