Forever House #14

Sunday 19^th May, 2013.



a dozen lantana bushes pulled oub by rope tied to my tow bar



Less than an hour ago I was pulling out my dozenth lantana for the afternoon just on dusk. If I was stinging from prickly pear last night, tonight I’m certainly feeling the affects of lantana scratches all up and down my arms. I finished everything else I had on my agenda today at three odd so decided to try pulling some lantana out with a rope and the tow bar on the car while ever there was still light. Once I had started I couldn’t stop – knowing full well I was giving my arms an absolute beating. My bucket bath tonight was a tad ouch but I’m clean apart from my hair which will have to wait until I can have a proper sluice outside in the sun tomorrow after lunch when I’m getting ready to go home. That’s the worst thing about having my bath in the caravan after dark – I can’t upend the bucket of warm water over me at the end.

My arms are smothered in sorbeline cream – so I’m not feeling too bad now that I have settled in for the evening. My dahl and rice is in a bowl atop a pot of simmering water. I hope the bowl copes – I think it could take a while.



Another foggy morn – and hard to get out from under that cosy warm doona. I dressed in a fresh set of mudding clothes today not wanting to put my prickly pear outfit from yesterday back on. I was on the job just after eight, mixing mud. I had a lovely day sculpting and placing nooks and crannies in the wall.



timber block for picture hook



Wall in front entry -

a couple of spots for keys and things

mirror and bowl feature in second bedroom

And now having trialled the whitewash, I am envisaging all the internal mud walls white, which I have never done before. I’ve always loved the natural colour of the mud. Until now I had thought the only reason I would coat the walls with anything would be to stop the probable fallout of mud from the walls every time they are brushed or bumped. I thought when I coated it I’d like to see the mud colour through the whitewash. But now that I’ve seen how it might look I quite like it a definite white. You can still see the hand shaped contours of the mud. I’m not so wedded to the mud showing through now. Next time I come out I’ll make a brew using less lime, more boiled linseed oil and the snot and see how well that comes up.

I started the circular bottle design today, and found a spot for Susan’s dressing table piece. I have had to rearrange the scaffolding so I can get up higher. I also had to re-mud a metal wheel into the wall between the smaller bedroom and the dining room. It came home to Tuckurimba some time ago so that I could work on the stained glass design. I’ve cut out one section of the design and should be able to go on with out the metal wheel to refer to. It needed to be back in the wall because that’s where I am working. Dave and Gab helped me yesterday to get it out of the back of the ute and into the wall with the mold over the top half to mud over. It’s all happening! I did a second coat on the toilet door and window frame, and a second coat on the whitewash.

I am having a ball.

The dressing table top Susan gave me,
above the manifold candle holder

I think my dahl is done – yum so good.

The only visitor I had today was Gab. She usually walks over in bare feet but arrived by 4WD wanting to ask me a favour. She’s training to be a Northern Rivers Wildlife Carer and has her first patient, an eight inch blue tongue lizard which has been unlucky enough to become a play thing for a couple of naughty puppies. Their owner came home to find the dogs had cornered the lizard and inflicted it with a couple of puncture marks. Gab was asking me to take it into the wildlife vet in Lismore on my way home tomorrow. Too easy – she just has to keep it alive between then and now.

My work boots have given up – they were part of my uniform issue when I worked at the Sheriff’s office back in nineteen ninety eight or thereabouts. I’ll have to pay the disposal store a visit before returning to the farm – the soles of my feet are in touch with the ground.