Burning Permit, Roofing Meeting

I have spent the last two days working on the property.  By now the two stacks of vegetation for burning are so high that I have to leave the other wood scattered around the property until I can burn the stacks. 

There is only the narrow window of Saturday 9-10 AM for obtaining a burning permit  from the Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade and I was able to get one yesterday.  The permit is good for a week.  By the way, with no permit I am allowed to burn small stacks (1 meter square) beginning at 6 PM, and with a permit I am allowed to burn a larger stack (2 meters square) beginning at 9 AM.  More than that, a permit gives me some legal cover, even though during my 40 years of ownership of the property I have never lost control of a fire.

Fill Sand, Undercroft Parking, Rear Shed

One of the requirements specified in the permit is that I must notify neighbors likely to be affected by the fire (eg smoke).  Even though I have 5 different neighbors along my fences there are only two likely to be affected, and one of them is the school next door which was closed. The only neighbor to notify was at the house behind the school, along the SE corner of my property near both the old chook pen and the vegetable garden site where I will do the burning. 

As I walked to the house down the long drive from Owen Road above Beenong Road I admired the views over the school to the hills of Kalamunda.  I figured that the house had changed hands since my departure on the circumnavigation in 2008 because some noticeable improvements had been made during my absence, and I expected to introduce myself to a stranger.  Instead, after knocking on the door I was greeted with instant recognition.

It was Linda, still owning the house, and still working at the mines of the NW.  She said that she had occasionally wondered what had happened to me because I would have told her that I would be away for only two years.  I gave her a quick account of my adventures then we walked to our boundary and after apologizing for the state of the property I described my renovation plans.  Linda was totally unconcerned no doubt because she'll barely notice my place from the corner of her eye while enjoying the splendid view to the SW.

I soon had a go at lighting the small stack of vegetation but a drizzle had already set in and I could not get a sustained fire.  Fortunately there are so many other things to do around the place that I was able to use my time usefully.  I cleaned the laundry room from the ceiling down to the floor then moved in the twin tub washing machine which I brought from the garage with an extremely useful moving trolley.  The trolley can climb stairs but fortunately I can roll the trolley from the garage to the front corner of the house, then up the side of the house to the back of the house with no steps along the way.

I then cleaned the back porch and moved in the refrigerator and a large chest of drawers.  No work will be done at the back porch so it is a good temporary site for useful items.  The refrigerator will be useful during the coming heat of summer, both to myself and to workmen on the place.  In the chest of drawers I'll keep fresh sets of towels and underclothes so that I'll be able to shower and change before setting off to Brenda's.  I also cleaned out the bathroom and have set it up with shaving gear and other toiletries.  I cleaned the kitchen cupboards and moved in a few plates, cups, some cutlery, and an electric jug. 

Slowly I am moving back into the house, although according to the plan I won't be able to move in until the kitchen and one bedroom are renovated.

Today Brenda will accompany me to meet Paul in order to discuss the re-roofing job.  If this job works well from the business as well as the workmanship perspectives then we will proceed to the next phase of the project.

I've also spent a few more hours mowing, which has been hard on both myself and the mower.  It seems like every few feet I would encounter a piece of branch buried in the vegetation, requiring me to stop, dig out the piece, and throw it to an area that had already been mowed.  The vegetation was so thick and green that the mower would frequently choke up and shut down.  Once the summer sets in and everything dies off I will rake the property clean so that next year the mowing will be much easier, particularly since I will mow frequently enough to keep the growth manageable.

I have quit grumbling to myself about the state of the property.  The tenants were interested in renting a house and would probably have been pretty ignorant and unconcerned about management of the surrounding terrain.  It seems that the property managers were also focused on the house and not the rest of the property, which was a disappointment given that their business is all in the hills, but there is no point in grumbling about that either.  At least I can take solace in the fact that there was remarkably little damage done to the house during its 5 years of rental.

Sugar High for Parrot Holding Sugar Sachet

The photo is of the 4 cubic meters of sand that will be used for filing in the bypassed leach drain and for covering the septic tanks.  One of the septic tank lids is shown, just behind the pile.  The second one is hidden by the sand.  I parked the Barina under the verandah for old times' sake because it is where I parked my VW Beetle which I purchased new in 1972 and drove for about 24 years.

The other photo is of a parrot known as a "Twenty Eight" because that is what its call sounds like.  He landed on the table where Reg and I were having coffee at the Cafe at the top of Beenong Road, picked off a sachet of sugar from the bowl in front of us, then expertly emptied its contents down his throat.  Raw sugar cannot be good for wildlife so I won't let him do that again.