382

Things got exciting today. In the process of harvesting clay I was attacked by the nemesis birds. I was better armed than I have been in the past, with a heavy shovel as a weapon. They didn’t get too close to me, there was only one swooping too. I returned later on with my camera and tried to provoke them so that I could get some good swoop footage but I mustn’t have been in the right place because they just squawked at me.

I called up Dave Peach to give me a hand getting everything squared up ready for the boxing. In a most useful session we banged in some pegs, raised some bits of wood at the correct level, and strung up where the boxing will go. It was quite dramatic the difference in height of the ground, the ground does look to be on a slight slope, but it was more than I had thought. I think the following Saturday will be the time to pour the concrete. I learnt some stuff today, and that was good.

382

I widened the trenches a bit, to accommodate the stakes and the boxing. I’m not exactly sure how I can make it square, I think I could make up the boxing for each of the 4 sides then move them around until they are square. No, having 4 corner stakes would be better, then attach the boxing to them. Yeah.

I’ll have a towball car and trailer this week, so I’ll be able to get the mix that will make the concrete. Tentatively lining up next Saturday as foundation pouring day. We’ll see.

382

Numbering is going to get a bit misleading now. Today I made some partial bricks. I'm not sure why I was so averse to the idea of making different sized bricks and having different patterns of bricks in a wall, which is what these partial bricks will do. They will make functional, good walls, but they won't be perfect. That's ok though.

354 + most of foundation dug

Some heavy overnight rain made for excellent digging conditions. Now after some tidying up to square and depth, I'll be able to put in the BOXING.

354 + some foundation dug

Who would have thought that maths would have some application. According to Pythagoras the shape of the quadrilateral that I have strung up isn’t quite rectangular, but it’s pretty close.

I decided I’d just dig out more than was needed and the rectangle I need should be in there somewhere. To be honest I just wanted to start digging, not muck round getting a string line square at this stage. I dug out one side, but not to proper depth yet.

The dirt that I extracted looked really good for growing vegetables in, a sideline interest right now. I think I’ll use that dirt to make a garden. It was surprisingly easy digging and I reckon if I stick at it I’ll be able to dig the whole perimeter tomorrow. The only concerning thing is I am taking quite a bit out, which means it will need a lot of concrete to fill. I need to buy the stones and sand for the concrete – possibly my first expenses in this project.

I laid some bricks in the shed just to check how things fit together. I think I’m going to need some 2/3 bricks, maybe 2 every 2nd layer. I’ll also need some real little ones, about 5 cm wide.

Today I tried to cook potatoes in a pile of grass clippings that had gotten wet and had started some kind of chemical reaction deep in the pile. It was so hot that I couldn't keep my hand in there. The potatoes didn't cook right through though.

I don't know why Blogger refuses to acknowledge the correctness of my double space after full stops. I'm doing it here but then when the post gets viewed it looks like I'm some kind of 1 space amateur.

353

One of the bricks had a crack in it and I gave it a twist and it disintegrated.

I mowed my site and staked out a rough outline of where the shack will sit. It is so little. I hadn’t appreciated how small it was.

I established a couple of positions that I can take regular photos from.

Because I am changing the orientation of the bricks they now don’t fit so sweetly – the width is no longer half the length. This may mean that I need bricks 2/3 length. I’m laying out the bricks in the shed, and I’ll build a couple of layers high to see what my exact needs are, and what dimensions the shack will be. It is fine to sketch things on paper but things can drop out differently in reality.

The way the bricks respond to water hasn’t been particularly impressive. They just suck the water up like a mop. Maybe I will need to do some pretty severe painting of them.

Progress has been poor of late, I haven’t had a lot of interest in the project, preferring to make picture frames.

How good is this?

354

Dave Stevens stopped by today and we took a wander around some potential sites. We agreed upon the one I originally had in mind, but maybe I’ll orient the shack differently. It is a little complicated trying to work in sun, views, prevailing storm direction.

I’ve finally exhausted the pile of clay that Luke and I brought back up on the trailer. So now I’ll be back to lugging clay back in the wheelbarrow.

So, being out of clay, tomorrow I can’t procrastinate and make bricks when I should be making the foundation.

Also fairly sure that I’m going to lay the bricks in a different orientation than I had intended. That is going to mean that I need fewer bricks. Awesome.

343

Amos and Justin lent a hand today in an enjoyable session. Justin drew some sketches for me, provided some guidance, and fielded questions, greatly adding to my confidence level going forward. Amos played on the floor during the planning phase.

330

Roast it up Canterbury, today I applied sunscreen for the first time since last summer. Gold.

Some might say pff to a 9 brick day, but this represented a comeback of Armstrongian proportions to me. I’ve been feeling pretty gross for around 4 weeks I reckon, so to be feeling good for the third straight day, and to resume in the shed was good times.

In other news, I’ve sketched up some plans and I’m going to consult with my architect later in the week.

The floor has turned out to be more of a problem than I’d anticipated, suitable materials from Mitre 10 were going to amount to about $200. So I’m wondering if I can make do with some of what is going to be my wall lining. I’ll put up a photo soon to show what I mean. The problem is that they are pretty thin, so the supporting timbers underneath would need to be plentiful. Also not terribly excited about the dual level boxing I’m going to need for the foundation.

321 - still

Well. Quite a pause in proceedings there has been. A spell of unwellness, a trip to the Coast, and some time spent trying to bring some order to the garage has temporarily halted my production of bricks.

I’ve been meaning to draw up the plans so that I can start putting down the foundations, but the perceived boredom of that task has seen me delay it.

For the next few days I have access to a car with a towball and a trailer. There is also some sand for me to pick up, so this week I can get all of my foundation materials together, and come to think of it, I can probably pick up what more corrugated iron I need too. Good.