Just Read it- it is beyond a title!

Sent August 13,2012
Hi Darren,

You suggested that the brick cleaning would be in a couple of weeks. That's about now. Is that the case?

I have been on hold now for 3 months at your request. Shortly I will recommence my gardening to take advantage of the spring growth season and have the lawn established before summer. The weeping tree must go into the ground before spring.

I need a commitment now, to the timing for restoration of my yard. I have gone above and beyond in generosity of resources and patience and need you to reciprocate.

The day I mentioned the pup to you, requesting the yard be left secure, someone removed the pile of bricks that was blocking the escape path.

I have now blocked it with a pot plant.

Your fellows have been using my water and leaving the tap dripping.

And using my power- which means untying the small piece of wire which stops the lid of the box banging all night when the wind blows. So I have had two midnight trips out into sub zero nights in my Pjs to tie it back up again.  

I could have put a lock on it. I didn't. 

The picture below shows some of the differences to my yard in a before and after shot. The after shot was taken over a month ago. 

It is worse now. 

If you would rather not respond to my email, please feel free to forward it to the owners of the block and I will seek repairs via them.

Regards

Cathy Stevenson

Received 29 minutes later...

hd.constructions@bigpond.com 

The brick cleaning will be done this week. We have not used your power or move any bricks. There wasnt any bricks at the corner of the patio. Your yard did not look like that when we started. The pavers and tree were not there.  I am trying to do the right thing. Please do not e mail me again. I will have a load of top soil delivered as promised when I have time. I am very busy keeping my clients happy, I dont need their neighbours on my back. When we clean up the yard you can finish your landscaping.

These two emails are copy and pasted without alterations.
Read the letter from himself in my blog 6 July where he mentions moving the tree and pavers...

A Sunny Sunday in August

Today has been a beautiful day, though it has ended rather awkwardly.

It started with a sleep in. That means I slept until 7am. I don't call it a sleep in- but Mark does. It was a good sleep though and for me quality probably means as much as quantity.

Mark and I chatted for a while then once he had drifted off to sleep, I headed to the kitchen and started warming milk before going down stairs to fetch Ponyo, who sleeps in the laundry over night. As usual he was over joyed to see me and got into a complete fuss telling me that he doesn't like waiting fr breakfast. But waiting is my next training goal. He is not allowed to eat until I say 'yes'. Fortunately for him, I say it as soon as he is still.

Ponyo knows how to sit!

One thing leads to another. Having been to the laundry I see clothes that need sorting and washing. Going to the clothes line reminds me to water the plants. Wandering around watering, I can see all the builders' rubbish that has blown in, so I pick up a garbage bag full.

I am led next to the fish who need two buckets of water to get their pump running again and I am on the deck looking at the bargain BBQ. I haven't glanced at it since I bought it. Everything is filthy with the builders' dust so I pull off the cover and give it a shake and for the first time see if I can ignite the BBQ. Tadah! It lights! Just like it should!

My next brainwave is to actually use it to cook! Before you know it, I am back from the shops and cooking sausages. I hurriedly clean down the table, put out juice, sauce and fresh bread and we all sat out in the sun eating lunch together. It can't get better than that!

As soon as the food was done, I cleaned up and put the resulting rubbish out. That takes me to the garage and to the front yard and next thing I know I am watering the garden and talking to the kids' dad. And surveying the disaster that was once a side garden waiting for turf. Sigh. Don't dwell. 

And I didn't! Because I am drug free now! 7 complete days with no anti-depressants. Not sure if I am totally out of the woods yet, but I am going to try really hard to deal with things without over reacting. 

More work in the laundry, then I thought it would be nice to sweep all the bird seed and grass and bark chip and semi devoured plants (dog, not snails) and dirt, dirt, dirt off the veranda. Broom in hand, I headed out the door, twisted my ankle and went down hard. My ankle screaming in pain on one side, my knees cut on the other, both hands bruised and scraped, all the resolve of before vanished and I lay on the ground and cried for a while as I tried to figure how to get up.  Sadly, my 20 year old son watched my distress and made no offer to help. Kate, however did. I couldn't see though that, if I needed some strength to lift me up, she would have the strength to do it. So there I lay - being gawped at by all till my ankle decided it was nothing worse than a twisted and allowed me to put enough weight on it to get up.

Hurrumph.

I am hurting now as the bits that were jarred are making themselves known- but then I was so stubborn that if I could get myself up, then I was equal to the task of sweeping. So swept the veranda with Ponyo trying to kill the broom. 

..and when it was all done, I sat in the sun and read.

A fence is built

I have probably said this before, but I can not be bothered going back through all posts to check, but one of my favourite people of all time was my Puppa Commins. Sometimes I think he may have seemed as gruff as Rumpole of the Bailey, but he and I got along beautifully. It is not obvious why because his nickname was sporting- and I was 13 by the time I could catch a ball. 

But I know one of the things that we shared. 

We both loved pets. 

Most of my earliest memories were around Puppa. I remember Aunty Jane warning me not to lick my knife because Puppa would murder me. I have it in my head that it was when Pip was born. But it can't be - because I was only 3 1/2 at the time
.

This is the store long before my time but looking more like I remember it than it does these days. I have just found out that both it and the family's office on the left were both built and owned by my Great Great Grandfather, TC Humphrys.

I can remember when Jock was born. That was June 1970. I was staying with Aunty Jane above the office and at lunch times Puppa would come up the stairs to spend time with us. One lunch time he took me next door to Keast's General Store (The store was so 'olden days'. It sold biscuits at the back and habby at the front. It was dark and interesting). He talked the lady there into giving us an empty cotton reel box which we took back upstairs next door.

Puppa cut a hole in the lid and from then on, when he came to lunch he would pop a few coins in there and we were saving for fireworks!

I don't remember the fireworks at all but I do remember the cotton reel box. 42 years later.

The office and the next door store before the office was sold after more than 100 years in the family- maybe 115 years?

 The lane way was still open between them in 1970 and we had a side door into the building from the lane.

There was a Goldeana (sp?) tea sign painted on the wall of the store. I took a photo of it in 1981,  before the not-very-sympathetic extension to the office buried it for ever.

After that, Puppa and I hung out together a lot. I would run down the hill to his house and visit. We would spend hours in the aviaries sitting and talking. Cleaning and feeding. I am going to guess that I talked a lot and he listened.

I remember chatting with him while he worked in his shed. He was a great one for pottering around in the shed. I think there was an urge to create in him that was never expressed in the career that was chosen for him as a lawyer. 

When he and nanny set to retire from Junee, he commenced building an aviary in our back yard so we could have his birds. It was my first year of commuting to Wagga for high school, and I arrive home to join him on the grass as he tied wire. Amazing how much of the aviary was constructed in a sitting position. But maybe by the end of the day it was sitting time.

By the time his birds joined us, we had a menagerie to match his own. Dogs, cats, birds and fish. And so this has always defined home for me.

Moving into this new home I was leaving behind a fairly impressive menagerie. Fish, lizard, 6 birds and Rusty. Since moving here I have been slowly replicating it. (I wonder how frustrated Andrew might feel, being left with that host of pets?)

The fish are in the pond outside;

I brought most of the canaries with me. 

But I am not going to bother with the lizard- definitely not on my list of creature comforts.

The dog issue though had been simmering. 

'No fences, no dogs.'

 I have been chanting the mantra at the kids who are completely aware of what a soft touch I am.


They are well aware that I was regularly trawling the web, looking for cardigan corgi pups. As the year progressed though, it was becoming very apparent that Cardis were in short supply. So I started wondering if I would instead consider for a pembroke (the sort the Queen has). But even the pembrokes were nowhere handy and maybe I would have to look at freighting or a very long trip in the car. I got a little serious with that idea until I found out how much it was going to cost.

Anyway.

I got a fence quote or two and the fence was begun.

In the end I chose Colorbond as it looks neat and will not be relying on me to be a good girl and keep it painted. And a plug for the Exclusive Building Group and Marco who did a fine, fuss free job!

Tadah- side gate completed. Limited shot as the side looks dreadful with all the neighbouring builders' mess

So I was looking through my usual sites at pups when I saw straight away that a new ad had been listed! Cardigan Corgi Pups. 6 of them at Cootamundra. Only a couple of hours drive away. 

The pups shown were not from this litter

As luck would have it I had a day off the next day and so at the first decent moment to ring in the morning, I did. It was my usual 'casing the situation' call when more often than not I get cold feet and won't commit, but before I knew it I was completely carried away and two hours later had agreed to buy a little tri-coloured pup called Andy. And to save me from too much driving, Peter offered to meet me in Yass. So instead of a two day trip to goodness knows where, we had a 50 minute drive to puppy paradise!

Meet Ponyo aka Llynrick Prince Andrew (OMG)

Before and After- watch my yard revert to a builders mess

Before on Left: After on Right

So if you have been reading this blog, you would have been watching the slow progress I have been making. The triumph in small things
Let me treat you to my new before and after shots.

After

Main is after and before inset

This used to be ready for turf

Remember: this is my block. Where they have been given access because I am kind. I am going to need to spend hundreds of dollars to repair my yard.

Fencing

While I could be talking about a bit of sword play (because my temper has been up) I am as you guessed, talking about enclosing the back yard with a side fence.
Votes please:

Vertical Slats

OR

Colourbond

To consider: Colourbond will not require as much maintenance. It won't look quite so pretty, but it is neat and I guess the slats will one day be dated. But they will be handsome IF I remember to look after them and a potential pet doesn't scratch and chew at them...


Mark? Mum? What do you think? I am leaning towards colourbond tonight. Looks neat.

Grrrrrr

Hi Mark and Cathy,

Thankyou for your E-mail.

We are in the process of building a house next to yours.

Unfortunately privacy can sometimes be an unavoidable issue.

We have erected temporary fencing on the boundary to contain excess building materials and rubbish but when you are building a garage wall on the adjoining boundary it is impossible not to use the adjoining land.

I believe that your landscaping is premature and damaging trees and paving is the last thing I want to do.

I personally moved a potted tree and pavers that were placed near the soon to be erected brick wall so that they were not damaged.

The topsoil was spread over the area. (should not have been placed there in the first instance). Let alone the garden edge set-out markings.

The garage wall is complete and your side of the boundary was left clean and tidy.

I take pride in the manner my employees and sub-contractors carry out there work and apologise if they have unintentionally upset you.

The Bricklaying trades will be completed in the next week or so, As discussed previously once the Brickwork is pressure cleaned, I will notify you

so your landscaping can commence.

Regards

Darren Clarke

Director

H & D Developments pty ltd.

Ok so this is the letter sent to us in reply to Mark's very polite email remarking on:

1. the unexpected encroachment of construction materials (metal fences etc.) and workers on our garden, leaving minimal privacy for the family.
2. the damaging effect of said people, and materials, in transit across our garden (pavers moved, markers on the ground lost etc.)
3. the loss of 5 or 6 barrow loads of top soil that was piled in readiness for spreading.

The overriding impression is of liberties being taken in the interests of convenience, which is not acceptable.

I am totally gobsmacked. Actually I was so livid, my temper got the best of me and I seethed like lava, and threatened to engulf the messenger (Mark) rather than the cause.

I still can not get over the fact that this builder thinks that my life should go on hold for the indefinite period that it takes for a house to be commenced and finalised.  Both blocks were made available in May last year and it took a year for them to begin building. As if it is reasonable to expect your neighbours to live on bare earth while you get around to building.  The block was bought by an investor, so there was no telling when it might begin. But why do I need to justify myself? This is my home. My land.

It is really so infuriating that I want to rave - yet I know the madness is so obvious to sane people, I do not need to say anything else!

Except that I have not enjoyed showering with a dozen men a meter from my crinkle glass bathroom window. I am torn between cringing to stay out of sight  - or shocking them with what I have to see when I am stripped in the morning. It isn't a pretty sight, let me tell you!

 PS There is rubbish through my yard and there are bricks and stuff in piles too, so the clean and tidy bit is a crock of not-clean-and-tidy.

Shopping online

Bill's computer has had the side panel off and a pedastal fan blowing on it for over a year now. Then Sarah accidently bumped it over and for some hours it was dead and doing a good job of convincing us that it was going to stay dead.
Bill did a  bit of intensive care and it got going again. But who knew for how long? Meanwhile, with winter here and a wind blowing across out feet at the dining table, I wished for better things!
Bill doesn't pay board and from time to time I over pay him back when he does some shopping. My hope was that he would save up and get a better computer. I noticed however that his shifts were becoming quite scarce and a few well chosen devious questions and I had uncovered that he was actually going backward in his savings- getting further from the computer and not closer.

At the same time I was thinking about coming summers: back at the old house there was a very old gas BBQ. Sufficiently greasy that my car and my clothes would be ruined if I was to move it. That or I would donate a weekend just to cleaning it before I shifted it. So I was watching the classified for a BBQ.

Allclassifieds is my favourite, but I seldom find the bargains there - I bought my car from an add on Gumtree and in the end that was where my BBQ was.

Now here is something: I have a bad habit of getting cold feet at the last minute. Yes I have been to rug shops, got the biggest heaviest rug down, run off to get the cash and not gone back because I changed my mind. Kate has seen me do it enough that she is now quite strict with me when we go shopping. When it came to a Yucka I had Mum on one side telling me they were bad plants and Kate on the other telling me that I had promised the lady I was going to buy it..Guess which I was more afraid of!! (The yucka is on the front door step)

The Yucka: Because I am more afraid of Kate

So I found an advert for a BBQ in very good condition. ( I think I was actually looking for a lawn mower) $60, two gas cylinders and one of them full. I am thinking I will have my moneys worth just in gas bottles....
I arrived at the house. Looks like a run down rental. Hmmmm is this where I want to be on my own?

I ding the bell. I wait. I try to peep through the curtains to get the measure of where I am. I decide I can wait exactly 30 seconds more before I run for the hills and send s polite TXT saying that I came but no one answered the door.
At 17 seconds the door opens and I am lead through a student style house but a returning diplomat!

The BBQ is lovely and clean and as good as new. Not dirty, not rusty and not covered in spider webs. My car proves itself to be the best little Honda Jazz ever by fitting that huge 4 burner BBQ, hood and mount and 2 gas cylinders.
Good little Car! Lovely BBQ. Thank you Mr Diplomat!

Bill helped me get it out of the car and in return i gave him a link to an allclassifieds add for a 2nd hand computer. That has also come here now and he was breathless with joy at his new computer's magnificence. Trained by his mother in the art of loving a bargain he has assured me that it has the 7th best graphics card IN THE WORLD that alone would have cost what the whole computer cost him. (Does that sound familiar?)

Oh and last night on Ebay I won the lawn mower......