NB: This is a revised post from The Beauty of Life
The Clampetts set forth
We were packed to the gills – just enough room in the back for a dog shaped space for Jack.
Giant Meccano Set.
Day one Matt exclaims, with something approaching glee- ‘it’s just like a giant meccano set’.
Day Seven finds him saying unprintable things, mainly starting with F. It is a lot further along than this photo indicates – it’s just I was too busy helping to dick around with the camera.
Some of the highlights: I spent a long time standing on a ladder holding chalk lines, tape measures, beams etc – long enough to read that the maximum weight the ladder will hold is 100 kgs. I was reminded of this while standing on the ladder holding one end of the (heavy) roller doors as we lifted them into place – roller door plus me – way in excess of 100 kg (me and tape measure in excess of 100 kgs really). I mentioned this to Matt and he said ‘piffle- that weight limit is just a suggestion’ (something like this – I don’t think Matt has ever really said piffle) – I had visions of me as the meat in a concrete slab/ roller door sandwich but escaped major injury.
At one stage the roller door slipped and the weight of it on my arm caused the skin to break – so I now have cuts in a beautiful corrugated pattern all the way up my arm. The roller doors were the worst job, closely followed be lifting the rafters into place. They were almost too heavy for me to lift, and swayed horrendously in the breeze while Matt bolted them into the concrete slab. blah blah blah. Repeat for 7 days.
Pooh sticks and mud
Most of the stuff Matt could do by himself, so I fulfilled my standard duties as cook, chief bottle-washer, and entertainment. The kids and I spent a few hours each day at the creek down the road playing pooh sticks (of Winnie the Pooh fame),
playing in the mud
trying to remove the mud.
I was sort of wishing (not enough to actually buy them one of course) by the end of the week the kids had a gameboy or something to do that didn’t involve them getting dirty – they all coped remarkably well without TV or any other electronic stimulus.
Must I paint you a picture?*
Matt threatened me if I so much as looked at the camera while he was in the bath, so you will just have to imagine Matt wearing nothing but oven mitts and a headlamp carting a billy of water from the campfire to the bath.
We did stop for a beer (or two) in the evenings. The first few nights we stayed up and drank wine and star gazed, but by the end of the week we were crawling into bed about the same time as the kids and collapsing.
There is a light that never goes out…..*
Words cannot adequately describe how tired and dirty and over the whole shed thing we were by Friday. We rose at 4.30 am to try and get it finished – lockable and watertight……. 12 hours later we conceded defeat and started to pack up. We were almost too embarrassed to walk into McDonalds at Beaudesert for dinner – but luckily it was so late it was almost empty. The shed is lockable, but without a roof. sigh.
*Annoying the children
Heading titles courtesy of the Billy Bragg and the Smiths. I am amazed by parents who listen to kid’s music in the car (or anywhere else) rather than normal music. Having kids is bad enough without torturing yourself by listening to the Wiggles or Hannah Montana or something equally execrable. We annoy the children by singing along loudly in the car to the music of our youth – Billy Bragg, the Smiths, Elvis Costello, the other Elvis (of course), the Pogues, TISM, and the sort of Australian folky music I favour – Weddings Parties Anything, Paul Kelly, the Waifs…..
