And so it begins - really
Owen and Eben (no, that’s not a typo) arrived late this morning to finally get the renovations underway. It has been a little frustrating the last few weeks waiting for things to start. The weather has been largely to blame. No sooner had we agreed on a start date and signed a contract with Owen then the rain started and get things pretty wet over a couple of weeks. Then it took a couple of weeks for things to dry out. Owen has been delayed on another job this week. He is trying to get another job out of the ground and hit some ground water problems that kept filling up his trenches. It’s taken a few days to sort it out, but now things are under control it’s time to start 10 Alexandra.
The first job was to put up the site fence which was pretty quick with 3 of us on the job. Then, after lunch it was time for Owen to teach Eben how to use the masonry saw to cut the cement slab under the big shed. He was just filling out the paperwork when we heard a big bang out on the road. We went around front to find a car crash out on the road. Luckily no one was seriously injured, but at least one of the cars was totalled.
Since Owen is one of the local firies, he had to head off to the station house to pick up his gear and the big red truck so he could come back and attend the accident. While Owen was on traffic duty on one side of the newly erected fence, Eb and I were on gardening duties on the other side. We moved the mail box over the brick fence so the postie can get thorough the site fence to it.
We also moved a temporary fence that Brian had put up when we pulled down the shed. It was there to keep Picasso in, but since everything is changing around the back, we needed to find somewhere new for him to roam. Much to Picassos delight, his new run is the front yard. He hasn’t been able to roam free in the front yard since he worked out that he could run through the bars of the front gate. When ever Shez and I are out the front, Picasso has been confined to a leash. Not now. Eben and I moved the temporary fence around to block off the front yard from the balcony across to the fence on Albert St. We also put some netting over the gate so he can’t get through the bars. Now Picasso can roam to his hearts content out front - a good thing since the backyard is about to become a series of muddy ditches.
Owen eventually made it back and showed Eben how to use the saw. It’s a messy and noisy job and I’m glad he was doing it and not me. I found plenty to do at the other end of the house! By the end of the day, Eben had a couple of cuts done through the shed slab.. There will be more fun for him tomorrow.