Shower Power

Rob has taken all the bits from all the broken showers and made one shower that works in the small bathroom. This was working well until we discovered that the drain water was leaking into the small third bedroom. So we can't use that bath/shower for some time! We then had to be brave and use the large but very ugly bathroom with hideous black bath and sink (at least we removed the pink toilet seat). There is a large but damaged shower in there. Unfortunately, there is now something wrong with the draining i.e. it takes forever for the shower to drain and if you take too long in the shower (which is more than five minutes) the shower almost overflows! This now means that we need to take short showers or use the dreaded black bath (with no rail for a shower curtain). Talk about being between a rock and... an ugly place!

Art Room

We have temporarily made the Wendy into an art room. These are some old pics of the process. We would like to set the computer up in there but not without ADT Security! Now, just to have some time to create some good art :-)

One Mystery Solved

We found out that the concrete supports in the garden are from a junglegym! Our house used to be a nursery school (Montessori) and one of the mothers came to see our granny flat for rental.

Something Fishy

One down-side to Hout Bay is the fishy smell that wafts in from the harbour from time to time! Today is a prime and rather ripe example. I wish that we weren't having fish for dinner 2nite!
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Water Worries and Wonders

Rob has been digging up what seems to be some concrete support in the garden.

On a slight detour and on his way to plant some agapanthas, Rob nudged the water supply in the garden and created a fountain. This was a bit dodgey as it must have been hit before and it was extremely shallow. So off went the water supply and in came Les the next day to help fix the problem. This was not too bad because all it needed was some elbow grease and the right part that only cost about R20. But it did mean that we were out of water for the main part of a day.

Setting up the water on the new Samsung fridge was a bit of a mission. There isn't a water pipe on the fridge side so Rob came up with a plan to plumb the water from the ceiling i.e. from the cold water pipe nest to the geyser. All the parts purchased, with the help of Les' planning, and Rob is ready to go. Here are some pics of the process:

The filter:

The tap:

Going into the ceiling:

Preparing the pipe:

Connecting an elbow:

Eureka! A fountain of filtered water! Can't wait for the ice!

Family House Warming Braai

We had the good fortune of having Glenn, Liz, Seppo, Momma, Les, Sandra, Aunt Alexis and Richard over for a family braai on 20 March 2010.

There was a lot of prep:

• Rob cut the grass in the back garden
• Kimi cleaned all the floors
• We went to Pick n Pay for major supplies! We realized that we only have 6 plates and 10 people coming!
• We got a gas braai from Seppo and then relised that the gas bottle did not attach. Luckily we borrowed his Weber!

It was all worth it in the end. We had a lovely time and Rob even opened his 12 year old bottle of wine that he received as player of the year award for all to enjoy. Cheers!

Week Two

Things not covered in week One

We did such a lot in week one that it was hard to remember what happened on what day. Rob has religiously watered the garden and pulled weeds. He also set up the water feature and fish pond (not to mention setting up the temporary salt water tank in the dining room).

This is a synopsis of week two. I think that, going forward, we shall just write as we go. This week by week report is a bit pedantic!

Summary of Week 2:

• Kimi and Rob played some cricket in the front garden (more to come, we are thinking swingball and bats).
• Rob did more weeding
• Kimi ironed some of the couch covers
• The couch was put together
• Rob cut the front lawn
• The laundry room was decarpeted and set up
• House of Dork, I mean York, ironing board was added to the laundry room. They clearly have poor quality control and Rob had to fix the problem

• The kitchen was cleaned (with help from Aunt Alexis and Momma) and set up
• We set up the extra closet that, Angie gave us years ago, in the bedroom

We have a few more things to blog to get back up to speed. Watch this space :-)