Lake Glen

The original dam

We moved back into our house in the bush 6 weeks ago after our last lot of tenants moved out.  We decided it's time to keep the house for ourselves and start turning our dreams into reality.   It's only been 6 weeks but there is so much to write about.  I'll start with the transformation of the dam into a lake.   

The Lake taken from the deck

There were a few reasons for doing this, not the least being we need more water.  We have big plans for the gardens and therefore need a way to keep the water up to them.  The second reason was one of aesthetics looking out onto the dam has always been one of my favourite things about being here and now looking over "the lake" has made that even more enjoyable. 

Ducks up early

The last reason for the enlargement was to make better use of the rain when it finally comes.  Every few years we get a flood and most of the water spills over the dam and onto the road, and at times has blocked the road.  Garry has planned the design of the dam so that we can "catch" a lot more of the flood water and hold it in our dam to use on our gardens.  

The "lake" was only completed last week so it's still very bare around the banks. We need to spread some grass seed just before the rain comes and get the grass growing.   I have a picture in my mind of how beautiful it will be and I expect it will surpass that.  Already the duck families are loving the extra space.  

Cool things Garry's Made in 2019

Over the last 6 months Garry has been working in paid employment less, and working on the things he enjoys more.  He has made some really cool and creative things that I want to share here.

These are bullet cap tyre stem valve covers and Garry has been selling them on ebay along with a bullet pendant and key ring.  He wakes up most mornings to find he has sold at least another set overnight.








This is a pipe man he made for Will.  He is reading a Mr Men book. 

He made this coffee table out of pallet timber to sell but didn't get any offers so we are keeping it and I love it. 

And my absolute favourite this gorgeous plant stand.

There are more things as well but I'll need to gather photos.  He is very creative and most happy when he has a project :-)

Rain, Rain and More Rain

We are soooo sick of the rain.  Yesterday afternoon it just poured and poured and this was the follow on from a huge storm the night before that also dropped heaps of rain.   I took these photos yesterday afternoon.  Really hoping for some sunshine soon.

You can see our wood pile and outdoor fire almost completely covered by water

There are some kids swimming in the dam a couple of blocks up.  There is no way I would do that.  All the snakes wash down with this kind of rain.   We had a Red Belly Black in the front yard last week.

Seems that we put our fence up at just the right point.  Our block goes all the way to the back of the dam.

Lilly also wishing the sun would come out so I'd take her for a walk

A Night of Rain

We've had a bit of rain during the week but last night we had a lot of rain.  Our water tanks have gone from nearly empty to overflowing.  You can see our dam has overflowed and our camp fire and wood pile are now surrounded by water.

The brown grass from a week ago is now a luscious green and I'm sure if we have a dry week, next weekend will be all about mowing :-)   This weekend however, is all about study :-(

The First Step - Our House

Our house started to be built in March 2010 on a block of land we had sub divided off an existing investment property we had on acreage.   At first we were building this as another investment house to rent,  Garry was living in an aparment on the Sunshine Coast overlooking the beach but with his work being more concentrated further north where our property was it suddenly made sense for him to live in the house we were building. 

Kangaroos at the side of the house

My commute from the city on weekends would now take 3 hours.  I must say I was nervous about how I would go with the drive even though it was only Friday nights and Monday morning this is also the worst of peak hour traffic.  We were both also a little concerned about how we would cope with country living this wasn't anything either of us had experienced before.



Front View of the House



Funny how we started to think differently about the house as soon we knew we would live in it.  Much to the builders despair there were changes we wanted to make and it really was the 11th hour!   A bigger window in the bedroom that would become my office so that I could sit at my desk and clearly see the dam and landscape outside my window.  Then there was the need for a more compact laundry to give us more kitchen space.  There were things we were too late to change, like adding a bath to the main bathroom but in the end I'm sure we saved ourselves a lot of money by being too late to change too many things.



View from the deck

We moved into the house in July 2010 and that's when all the work really began !