The dog and the possum

 

What do you do when your dog catches a possum?

Ignoring it doesn't cut the mustard when she's wandering around with it in her mouth and looks so pleased with herself I think she's going to bring it inside.

In New Zealand (where I'm from for those who don't know), possums are pests. Farmers shoot them. In Australia (where I live), they are a protected species. You are not allowed to kill them.

But dogs are dogs and their instinct is so strong they can't help themselves. The poor little possum had been taunting Ruby for days, weeks even, scuttling along the fence and fossicking in the trees. Every day Ruby would run outside to try and find it so I suppose it was inevitable something bad was going to happen. I've no idea how it got down to Ruby's level (an accident I imagine - maybe it fell?) but Ruby being as quick and strong as she is took the opportunity to pounce.

I was not impressed. Especially not at 7 o'clock in the morning on the front lawn in my pyjamas trying to get Ruby to drop it. In fact, I felt sick.

I hoped it might survive.
I was wrong.

Rest in peace furry friend.

Update: Two and a half weeks to go!

Okay, so things have been getting a bit stressful over at my place. The builders have been working towards us moving in on September 10 and so we decided to book the removalists for the 12th. But despite them going all out, there has still been quite a bit to do and we weren't sure they would get done. On top of that, once the inside is complete, the architect has to do a final 'defects check' (crikey!) before the inside is given the all-clear. Soooo, we've asked our agent if the landlord would mind terribly if we moved our move forward to the 16th. Haven't heard yet, but am crossing fingers!

In any case, the good news is that the concrete for the parking bay in front of the garage has been poured - after finally getting the go-ahead from the engineer that doing screw piles instead of deep-set piles (which are time-consuming, expensive and come with the risk of hitting goodness knows what boulders or pipes below). And to ensure access is guaranteed for the removalists, we'll wait until after we're in for the guys to lay the stone flagging.

The stone masons are doing an amazing job with all the stone. Here they are out the back. It's a bit hard to see properly but they're rebuilding the old rockery (to the left) using a mix of the old boulders and new and adding bigger and better steps from what will be lawn up to the BBQ area and onto the deck.

After a few false starts and some tiling mishaps (oops!), the bathroom tiling is well underway. The photos don't do it justice at all - the lighting or something not really working but they give you an idea. Above is the master ensuite - the back wall where the shower and toilet will go is  in small pearly white mosaics, and below is the guest ensuite with the same kind of mosaics but in gun metal.

I think the grouting will make a lot of difference!

That's all for now, folks. Have a great week!

Virtual Renovating

Image via emmas blog (just because I liked it!)

I can't believe I never knew about these things until now: Renovating and decorating via free online websites that let you design houses and decorate rooms from the comfort of your ergonomic desk chair - or, in my case, my rather un-ergonomic dining chair.

And I can't believe I found out about one of them - Floor Planner - via my daughter. Yes, indeedy peoples, my 12-year-old is designing her very own virtual beach house for her Design and Technology class. Even my 10-year-old is doing it now and only last night showed me the top floor of her 'house' with its room full of arcade games - her idea of heaven clearly!

Then I read in the Sydney Morning Herald the other day about a whole raft of other such sites that I never knew about and quite frankly, could have used over the past year.

My Deco: where you can design a 3D room, add furniture, make moodboards and get ideas from other people's room designs.

Google Sketchup: which is a more architecturally inclined modelling program.

3Dream: uses video-game technology to allow you to draw up floor plans, add the joinery and then choose from real-life furniture, fabric swatches, lights and art.

They could be real time-wasters but I reckon if you're having a hard time envisaging a room or the plan of a house, they could be just what you need.

Has anyone used one of these before? I'd love to hear how it went!

Look, no scaffolding (and more)!

I can't believe what a difference scaffolding makes! Apart from being able to see the house better, without it the rooms are a million times lighter.

Nor can I believe what a difference a kitchen makes, and a wardrobe or two!

It's really beginning to look like a proper house now.

There's even door handles.

You can see a bit of the timber flooring.

And this is what it'll be like with its China Oil, semi-gloss coating.

The countdown is on!

Bamboo Light

Who would have thought bamboo could look so cool?

Designed by Chinese design studio, Innovo, it's called the Xuan Lamp.

Supposedly, its bamboo slivers flutter in the breeze.

 via The Contemporist

Me like.

Books are not dead (neither are bookshelves!)

via Belle Maison

via The Contemporist

via Design Sponge

via The Design Files

via Ouno Design

~ Long live the book! ~

Kookaburras, joinery, sandstone and baths

I have a confession to make: I haven't posted all week because I didn't want to moan. It's been quite worrying the amount that has to be done prior to September 10 and it seemed as if none of it would ever happen. But I'm now pleased to say that after my visit to the house this morning, I don't have to do any moaning! Yay! Because lots has been happening and is scheduled to happen every day from here on in.

The sun was shining, it was a balmy 24 degrees and even the kookaburras were happy!

First up, pretty much all of the joinery has arrived on site.

The girls' bedroom joinery was being put in.

The sandstone is coming along at a cracking pace - it's like a jigsaw putting it together.

The back garden has turned into sandstone city.

The bath in the master bedroom ensuite has gone in and the plumbing begun.

The bathroom tiling will start next week, then the interior painting will begin and the wallpapering. The appliances and lights are ready to come on site as soon as they're given the green light and finally, the rest of the gutter corners have arrived which means the scaffolding can be taken down so the landscaping can begin.
 
It now really does feels that a home is being formed and that very soon we might be in it!
   

Goodness knows who decided to take these off and wander bare foot around a building site - unless he had something more fashionable to change into. But I like their look of laissez-faire, don't you?


So, it's adieu from me and the lone work boots lying casually on the 'lawn' by the pool.
 

Have a great weekend!