Day 25 Gulmarrad Monday 2nd July 2012

Good evening,

An unusual occurrence here last night. Clear sky and NO dew. Very unusual since it was quite cool. Anyway I am not complaining since I was able to do some more touching up of the waterproofing of the canvas early in the day. Just need some rain to test it out. I am kidding by the way.

This morning I hauled out some 3 by 2 (that's inches for you youngsters) red bloodwood from the paddock to make the mounting stakes for the window frames. Red Bloodwood is Eucalyptus Gummifera it resembles jarrah in colour and hardness. When the bark is damaged it releases a red sap which dries to a brittle red crystal. This timber was produced from Carl's property courtesy of a mobile saw mill. I cut the timber to the required lengths for the stakes and put points on them. It is the same timber as in the large square window frames.

Susan painted the side window frames twice more, prepared our mountain of washing for processing tomorrow, repaired the compost bin and helped me recapture a sheep which has learned to jump the fence. It's reward for this was to be banished back with its mate to the much barer mud heap paddock with the fowls.  Susan also assisted me with lifting the window frame in and out to test for fit.

"If you had built this properly in the first place I wouldn't have to stand here holding it up"
Bloodwood frame in position.

I'd like to see the vampire that could survive these stakes.

Part way through stake insertion. The side ones are 450mm and the bottom 350mm

At the end of the day all the stakes were in position. The window openings in the bales are not the same size with the left one being quite tight. This means the bales have to be trimmed which means they start to fall apart on the ends. The bales have to be rendered before the frames are finally fitted so clearance is essential.

The hay bale house is considerably warmer inside than out with only the heat of the gas cooker rings to warm it. A testament to the natural insulation plus the northward orientation to capture the heat.

That's it for now

Cheers Simon

P.S. Clarrie the dog showed her true colours today! Susan had brought Carl's lunch outside before making ours, and whilst we were engaged in the sheep recapture Clarrie made off with Carl's sandwich. Susan reckons Clarrie put the sheep up to it, as she is often seen sitting close to the enclosure within earshot of the sheep. What a character.