Grubbing out gorse and blackberry this morning, I dropped my mattock randomly against a pile of rocks and realized that with the pick already lying there it made a picture out of some wild west movie about prospectors.
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Lots of tough old gorse stumps.
I used some of the rocks to make a surface outside my caravan door that would, I hope, result in trekking less soil into the caravan.
That was Thursday afternoon.
On Friday morning, after grubbing blackberry for 4 hours to clear a space for a 7m x 3.6m cabin, and realising that unless I shifted the caravan, I was going to have to shift a rock outcrop, I opted for common sense and shifted the caravan. It's not permanent; the guesthouse will be.
And the rock outcrop is an interesting landscape feature on which I plan to plant an olive tree (that will provide dappled shade to the guesthouse verandah - in time.)
Shed base had to be shifted again too. Doh.
Rock pavement version 3.0 has yet to be constructed. It too will lack permanence but should last more than a single day.
It is very fortunate that I earned my pocket money as a kid grubbing out Nodding thistles - which were deemed a noxious weed on South Island farms in those days. The skill hasn't left me and it seems I'm still good at hitting what I'm aiming at. The problem with blackberry however is that it is like chopping at tangled barbed wire and it loves to get wrapped around your feet and legs while you are focused elsewhere. Always step backwards tentatively when surrounded by such tendrils of evil intent.
My neighbours arrived back towing their amazing tandem axle, high clearance, modern caravan that looks like it could 4 wheel drive. My poor faded 45 year old 'retro' shrunk with embarrassment, but fortunately I didn't embarrass it further by messing up backing in to hitch. I use a broom handle as a marker and had only an inch and half to go backwards when I got out to check that I wasn't going to dent the back door of the van.
No messing around.
YES! (who needs backing cameras when hi-tech broom handles are available?)
As for moving the whole rig sideways - messy job in a small space but I'd had the forethought to plant a crowbar about 18" out from where the left wheel needed to end up and could actually see it in the side mirror.
My nod to Nature Friday - because I'm not sure that rocks are nature (natural yes but nature?) is that I have seen and heard dozen of black crickets about an inch long and they seem to live in, or come out of, holes in the soil. One day I will be quick enough to photograph one. I suspect they ate black field crickets and not native to NZ.
Sparky coming tomorrow to install an electric box - Marlborough Lines will turn on the electrickery sometime next week..... I hope
Small items of progress.
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Blimey...hard yakka, as my Aussie friend would say.
ReplyDeleteYou must have muscles on your muscles by now. Little by little will achieve your dreams.
ReplyDeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteBackbreaking... but I do love your crazy paving and I definitely see potential for a more permanent placement! My dad used use a pitchfork in a similar fashion to your broomstick... wouldn't work for me. No back windows through which to see it! And I definitely would count rocks and their uses in the nature meme... YAM xx
Good exercise as well as progress..and skilled manoeuvres.
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ReplyDeleteeach week I see more amazing things from you. I could not put 4 of those rocks down on the ground and be able to get out of bed the next day, looking at just that project alone, let alone multiple moves. Well Done. ha ha on the comparison to the old and new caravans.. yours is perfect for what you need it for. not like you are going dragging it around on vacations... looks like everything's coming up including gorse
A girl of many talents…..being put to good use at the moment. Wonder what thoughts went through your mind when you realised things had to be moved around……apart from here we go again
ReplyDeleteHa ha - the thought was 'stupid me if I thought simply parking the caravan was all that was needed- of course I put it in the only sort of level place. Now I have levelled another place and progress is being made. Rocks mark the corners.... I'm still going to have to move some of the rock outcrop.....
DeleteYour amazing. I’m not familiar with gorse but blackberries are a night mare. We had them almost all along the front of our five acres. We are five acres wide and one deep.
ReplyDeleteIn the end the only thing we could do is borrow a big front end loader and scrap right under them removing all traces of the foul evil things.
I’m very impressed with your backing up and using such technology to aid you. Well done
Gorse isn't a nightmare, and I'm not scared of the stuff, but there is an awful lot of it. I'm coming round to 'wide bucket on the digger type thinking myself.
DeleteSo many hours of heavy work, wonder woman! You're making that dream come true day by day. No gorse, no rocky shall keep you back.
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