Not long now....

I had a phone call yesterday telling me that the pergola is due to arrive from Adelaide on Wednesday of next week!! They're going to get back to me with the actual construction dates but it looks like it will be done in the next 2 weeks!

I Love it!!

The concretors arrived at 5.30 this morning as promised and have been working hard all morning making our patio look GREAT!!! I reckon it's worth the wait and I've already forgotten the hassles (as Uncle Don suggested - Thanks Don!). And even better is that it's all done in time for by the time Dad arrives next week.

Some pics...

First truck arrived just before 6.00am and the barrows were lined up in the garage at the ready (I didn't get a photo...)








Spraying back...






Finished product - still wet. I don't know what the mix is called - it's just #5 from Werribee Mini-Mix...




Back step at the laundry door...


...and look what has appeared over our fence...


Yesterday it was just walls, today the roof trusses have been put up and the roof tiles have just been delivered. The same has happened on the next block over as well (both the same builder).

Concrete update...

I woke this morning to a text message from the concretor! It simply read "will b there 2morro at 5.30am"

I am rapt!!

...and he's just called again to confirm what type of aggregrate so sounds like it's definitely on for tomorrow.

My alarm is set (not going to be caught out again like the first time they came), the garage is clear - just need to move the car out, and the yard is cleared in readiness.

No concrete today...

...and probably no concrete this week!!!!!!!!!!!

I HATE being told by tradies "we'll be there on xxx" and then they don't turn up.

I was told over a week ago, that we'd get boxed on Friday and poured on Monday. I've just called this afternoon to find out what's happening only to be told (as though I was stupid!) that "it's too hot to pour now!".... Well I figured that!!!!!!!!! but what was wrong with this morning!!!!!!

So now I'm told "maybe Friday" with a "we'll call a few days before" - which I've been told before and haven't received a call yet! I highly doubt that they will be here Friday and I'm on the verge of telling them to shove their concrete, to take their boxing and I'll get someone else to do the job. As it is I've told them that I'm not impressed hanging around for 9 weeks waiting when we were told 3-4 weeks - to which I get told "but we've had rain" but only about a week of rain all up - not 4 WEEKS RAIN!!!!!

**FRUSTRATED!!!!!!!**

The front yard is planted!!

We planted the last of the plants in the front yard and have finished moving rocks (at last!!).



The before and after shot...


It's so great to have most of the plants that we have in the ground now. There are only couple left over which we will transplant into larger pots before their home in the backyard is found - means that we did a pretty good job planning how many plants we needed.



It's hard to photograph at the moment, as there's not a lot of contrast, but when the gravel is put in it should come up really nice.



We've also planted with growth in mind - we have been mindful of how high and how wide each plant gets and positioned accordingly. There is only one plant that I'm not sure of (as in not sure how high/wide) as it's one we've had in a decorative pot for 2-3 years - but we've put it in a place that it can be removed if it does get too big without affecting the rest of the garden too much.

We now have the paving (stepping stone style) and a couple more plants to put in along the south side fence (to the right) and maybe a couple of extra rivercascades along the two front windows.

This is where the paving will go...


We may get to these next weekend but there's no promises....

Next priority will be the back section outside the lounge-room window... This gap in the concrete under the piles of bricks and pavers

Boxed!

The concretors came on Friday and boxed up the areas for concreting. They're due to come back today to pour it and so we've been up early clearning out the garage so that they can get through - maybe we might be able to get two cars in soon....

Back step - from the laundry...


Looking from the rear of the garage...


From inside the garage down along the north side fence...


From the back fence...

A garden... (or part of one at least)

After a full on weekend of digging and shifiting rocks we now the proud owners of our very own rock garden....



It started out looking like this...


...and has become this...


It still needs pebble mulch but that will need to wait until the rest of the area is complete.





As you can see from the pictures, this is only a small part of our (very small) front yard and there is still quite a bit to go. However we did also get the rest of the yard prepped and ready to go as well. It's been weeded and de-grassed, cleared of builders rubble (lots of plaster, conrete, mortar, and brocken bricks), dug and shaped. So when our energy returns we'll dig more holes, shift more rocks and plant the remaining plants and hopefully have a finished front yard in the very near future.

As for the pergola, we have some progress there too... the concrete area is to be boxed on Friday this week and should be poured on the following Monday.

But the BEST NEWS... the council have now issued our building permit for the pergola!!!!


(it would be nice if we could get the car into the garage too... MUCH more sorting to do in there first though....)