Henhouse, that is:

After a lot of time, sweat and swearing, we built an aviary! I have an inspection in eleven days and so have to tidy up the front of the aviary and make it look as natural as possible. The ground slopes a fair bit down there - we had to dig out a rather biggish hole to allow the door to open - so I have to pretty it up in order to stave off complaints fromt eh real estte. yes yes I know that permission should be sought BEFORE the construction of such things, but really, this way is much easier - and it makes that whole side of the house look SO much better than before - it was a damp mossy wasteland prior to the construction!

I am thinking that I will dig down further in front of the door and lay some pavers that I have hanging about and then grade the ground towards them so that it looks like a natural slope instead of a big dug out hole.

Chicken is very happy in her new home and will be even happier when I've modified the inside to make it homier for her. She really needs a chicken-friend as she gets lonely and craves attention. Chicken is really quite cute following us about and flying up onto our shoulders cheeping madly.

Edit (8pm):- I laid some pavers in front of the door and even though it's a bit bodgy and uneven I think it looks brilliant. I couldn't take a picture because my camera batteries are all flat so they are charging and will be ready tomorrow. I am thinking of putting some planters in front of the aviary beside the paving bit - I have some rectangular planters on the front deck for my cacti - but the cacti won't survive out the side as it is too shady so I'll be off to the garden centre this week to get some hardy little plants to pretty it up.

Finally finished about mid-morning!

I keep going in there just to look at the floor, it makes the laundry so lovely to be in. so clean! and spacious!

The plumber still has not been to fix up the pipes and so we have extenders hanging about the system and the hose running out the door.

is the laundry, because there is no junk in it and it has a lovely new floor. Well it is yet to be finished, but it will be all done tomorrow morning and I will post a pic. The new tiles are much, much lovelier than the horrid tiny brown things that were there before and that remain in the bathroom and toilet (I wonder if I can convince the owner's to re-do the rest to match?).

The plumber was supposed to come today and fix up the new hot water system as it has extenders on the pipes and electrical wires to allow it to have been placed on the other side of the room for the weekend - but he didn't arrive or call, so I don't know when that will be done.

I am very, very tired of not having my house to myself, so I can only imagine how the tradesman feels about having to spend so much time at my place!

I can't help but question the owner's decision to go to the considerable expense of re-flooring over the top of wet, rotting floor boards - only a small piece was replaced and being chipboard, it is only going to get worse and amount to a much larger expense further down the track. ah well, I guess my place is only to pay off their mortgage and not to worry about the future of the dwelling.

The fix-it man left at 3.30pm having put a new piece of board in the floor as well as putting some support beams under the floor to hold up the wet bits that aren't being replaced because it would entail ripping up the kitchen and hallway - "that will be done at a later date" is the word from the owner.. I estimate that the kitchen floor will be replaced when the cupboards fall through the floor boards.

The plumber arrived at around 4.15 to temporarily install the new hot water system in an out-of-the-way spot in the laundry until Tuesday. I can't open the laundry door due to there being a big hot water system on the other side - if I want to do washing I must go out the side door, around the back and through the back door. The fix-it man is coming back on Monday to re-cement and re-tile and the plumber will put the hot water system in it's right spot on Tuesday.

The fix-it man is going to put a new piece of board in the hole - to be fixed properly, the kitchen cupboards and stove would have to be removed and more board replaced, but what homeowner wants to go to that expense... so the minimum fixage will take place and the rest will be left to dry out - which will take weeks. The fix-it man is going to put some more supports underneath the house to hold the floor up while it dries out.

A plumber is coming this afternoon to see if he can rig up a hot water system away from The Hole for the weekend - so we *should* have hot water for the weekend until the floor is fixed properly - it needs to be re-cemented and re-tiled before the system can be properly in place. This means that while we *should* have hot water, we won't have use of the laundry due to restriction of space. yay.

There is a man coming "within the hour" to fix the floor before the new hot water system can be installed - I imagine this will entail ripping up the tiles in the laundry. What do I do with my appliances and other assorted junk?
I must say, this is the fastest action I've had from the real estate since the plumber came to fix the broken bath tap within hours last year "because if one of your children is injured and you've told the real estate about it, they are liable, that's why I'm here tonight."

Athough someone should have been out here sooner than FIVE AND A HALF HOURS after the problem being reported yesterday.