Climbing ladders again...

Every time we've left the farm we've had to lock everything away.  When those are small things, that's no problem.  But when it's things like a ride on lawnmower, then that presents us with a bigger hassle.

And, in the case of the lawnmower, that hassle entailed the two of us somehow manoeuvring the contraption up two planks laid on the unfinished front steps so that we could "park" it in the lounge.  As the planks were too narrow to simply drive up them, we always had to push it up, and that was always fraught with danger (the machine falling off the two builders planks / a foot getting trapped underneath the machine / one of our (vulnerable) backs giving way / ...).

So we had to make another plan.  Actually, RMan had to make another plan.  And he did :)


You recall we built a green power room at the back of the house, to house the batteries and inverter for the solar panels.  Well, next to that was half-a-structure which was meant to house 2 X 19kg gas cylinders in the future - for the Kexin water heater, and the 2-plate caravan stove.

After measuring and finding the site suitable, RMan decided that the half-a-structure could easily be converted into a lawnmower storage area - not 100% secure, but given finances (and the lack thereof), it would have to do.  We had spare roof tiles, we had gum poles, we had shade cloth and we had some battens left...

Plenty of wood available...

So RMan got busy.  I have to say, it's not easy matching up a new roof to another structure.  A new roof -  no problem, but joining a new one to an existing one, well, that's a tad more difficult.

Support pole is in place and
the roof is on

Two full days, a new floor slab (with an overnight visitor)... 

If you look closely you can see that a bird came
to inspect it's new living quarters.  It even
went to far as to indicate it's new bathroom
area (the splat in the bottom right hand corner)

...some blue language, hectic heat, and a couple of frosty beers later the basic structure was in place.  It was sooo hot... and time was running out.

Gum poles did the trick for the side wall.

We then covered the wall poles with shadecloth (a la the veggie patch) and secured that with the remainder of the batterns.

As this was a last minute structure, which was completed during very draining, excessive, overwhelming heat, I omitted to take a photo of the completed structure.  But I guess you can get the general idea from the photo's above.  For the front opening, all we did was place the two water containers at the entrance and fill them with a bit of water to prevent their being moved easily by potential (thieving) children scouting out the area...


CGuy has workers full time at his place so they are also keeping an eye on our property.  I guess you could say that the lawnmowers fate is now in the capable hands of the Guy Upstairs.


Next time we will need to make the entrance more secure.  Next time...