To Do-ne List (the cattery, laptop security and life in general)

So, how’s it all going? Well, good, but a bit stressful ...thanks for asking!

The To Do-ne list is getting smaller, but is still quite large and scary. About 80% of the house contents now resides in the donga in boxes labelled A-Z or 1 - ∞ and their innards methodically logged in an Excel spreadsheet for easy (ha) relocation. The walls are pretty bare and cupboards look a little like those from the set of Ghost Town.

Some of our clothes and linen have been vacuum packed into those plastic sucky bags and now look like compacted road kill.

The gate, the essential loophole closer in the Rotty proof fence, has been wire brushed (by me) and is awaiting a coat of black glossy paint (by me).

*Note – the Rotty hasn’t chased next door’s sheep for a couple of weeks, but he has taken liberty with the open gate and was caught out on the road twice today. He is truly a beautiful dog and we have no doubt that we will have him, nearly, trained and adjusted before we go...but Bundy still glares at him with a ‘WHEN!!!! are you leaving????’ look.

The side veranda, AKA cattery for the daughter's three indoor nutty cats, has now had its slab (floor) laid. Our wonderful friends came to help and due to rain, the ordeal/partying lasted two days, not one. The event was not without its hilarity and tragedies.

Before

Still before, but from another angle...

Getting ready to pour...truck in the background...

nearly finished!

A humongous thank you to Stray, Gremmi, Imba and Andrew, who I thought were going to pass out early on in the pour, for a gigantuous effort. Never mind that the boxing (form work) for the two steps gave way mid pour (and don’t marry up with the existing steps) and we now have a slight wallow (lucky it will be roofed) nicknamed Lake Gremmi, all can be rectified when we return.

Now we only have posts and a roof to add. Again, many thanks, I/we couldn’t have done it without you/them.

Amidst the hectic weekend we were visited by our daughters, which is always regular and welcomed. CJ and SH bought our precious PH with them of course, who is growing way too fast for my liking, but I am sure, not for her mum’s.

PH Christening the wet slab with the traditional hand print...one of a few around our place.

Left to right - Sophie bear, PH and some creature with far too many legs.

LJ, who is a personal trainer and manages a gym, also graced us with her presence, is battling the flu and was not as bubbly as usual.

They’re great kids and are, I am quite certain, the black hole that consumes our small plastic containers, filled with various ingredients and left over meals. We will miss them when we go...but, what the hay, there’s always MSN or Skype and a year will pass quickly...if we return then ;)

Stray has been chipping away at the 25 years of useful materials he has collected (I call it hoarded crap) and actually made a bit of beer (Shiraz for me please) money last week, by taking a trailer load to the scrap metal yard. He has a long way to go, but Imba has been generously been lending his time and trailer to get the job done.

On another tangent, I’ve become concerned about the security of our laptops (I have an external backup drive) on our upcoming journey and have installed web based tracking software. It’s not so much the money, but the inconvenience of theft and replacement. I am also looking at physical security locks, so if anyone can offer any advice on this, I would love to hear a cooee.

That’s it for now. I only have one question, what's going to happen with the Tic Tic Tic countdown on the sidebar, after we depart? Hopefully I'll start getting younger!