Onwards and upwards

With many teething issues solved, progress increased pace a little.  The first post took us nearly a full week to get into the upright position (including putting the brackets on).  By the last post, we could get it prepared and into place within the same day.

Because the block is subjected to some harrowing winds and we were putting the posts and beams up in the midst of winter we braced posts and beams as we went.  Therefore, as soon as we had two posts up, we put up our first beam.

Some minor adjustments were needed even once it was in place

Padawan and Little Miss celebrating the achievement

Monkey man

We set up a raft of "scaffolding" so we could access the tops of the posts without a ladder (they were not stable until they were secured so we needed something stand-alone).  We made our scaffolds out of 44 gallon drums left over from the in-laws dairy supplies.  My hubby half filled them with water and would move the around on the slab by leaning them over on a 45 degree angle and rolling them.

We had one long board of the scaffold perpendicular to the beam we were putting up and another at right angles to the first so my husband could put his full weight behind the drill to drill a hole for the 200mm bolts to attach the beams to the posts.

I love the way the timber looked, so strong and solid.

I will still struggling on and off with illness at this point and there were many days I was not well enough to go to the block and work.  On these days, the kids and I would stay home.  Guilt would take hold and I was determined to contribute something while I rested.  So, over a number of weeks, I carved out a sign for the block.  It is now embedded into the cutting on the driveway and my hubby tells me that he still smiles every time he drives in as he likes it so much.

It was about this time that we all started to get pretty bored of cold lunches.  The weather was miserable and the choices for the kids for shelter were the shipping container (which was out of bounds if we were using the generator due to the fumes) or the car.   There's only so many things kids can do in a station wagon to entertain themselves for hours on end every day!

Therefore, I needed to get more inventive with the meals I provided at lunch time.  I started making soup which we would take to the block in the thermos.  We'd also often start a small fire in a pit first thing in the morning and put potatoes in there to cook.  It was Padawan's job to rotate them regularly.  This gave him a sense of responsibility and something to do while we worked.  Little Miss would happily toddle around with him, suggesting ways he could turn the spuds over on the days I forgot to pack the BBQ tongs.  Needless to say, there were some days where lunch was very late as the fire had died down and the potatoes were raw but, for the most part, Padawan did a really great job and took pride in having cooked our lunch.

Little Miss enjoying a warm meal