Dirt, rain and a blue-tongue lizard ..

.. my weekend in a nutshell!

We went up to the block on Sunday to try to work out the official boundaries, let the boys have some fun on the quad and be in Merredin bright and early on Monday to talk to the shed builders. Two out of three ain't bad.

The boys had a great time on the quad bike and were very good about taking it in turns. There was no fighting (about the quad anyway!), they all listened to the rules and they obeyed them! Even Alex had a go this time because "dirt is better to ride on than sand; it's less dusty." Luckily it had rained a bit before we got there or he would have figured out that dirt is just as dusty as sand when it's dry.

Despite the rain, it was quite warm and Peter found a blue-tongue lizard sunning himself in an out-of-the-way spot on the edge of the block. He had gloves on so he picked the lizard up and took him to show the boys. Brad thought it was a snake at first and ran the other way but soon came back to check him out. Once we'd all had a look, but not a touch, Peter put him back where he got him from and we didn't see him again. He also found an inside-out snake skin and lots of rabbit holes. Should be interesting in summer .. yikes!!

The shed plans are being submitted to council this week and I managed to talk Peter into getting the builders to do all the little bits like installing windows, doors and a concrete floor. He had plans to do the doors and windows himself and to try and get a contractor in to do the concrete after the shed was built, but changed his mind once he realised how much longer it was going to take before we could actually use the shed. The concrete would have ended up costing the same, if not more, and there wasn't really any savings to be had by doing the other bits himself.

Now the boundaries were a whole other kettle of fish. (On another note, why would you put fish in a kettle? Wouldn't that make the tea taste weird?) We managed to find three survey pegs, all on the same fence line, but there were no others to be found anywhere. Using the measurements on the plan we had, we worked out that, with the exception of the one with the survey pegs, none of the fences are in the right position. In other words, there are seven sections of fence and only two are in the right place. Yes, we are arranging for a surveyor to re-peg the whole block. Apparently, he may be able to fit us in around February of next year, unless he has a cancellation, happens to be in the right area at the time of the cancellation, we can part pay him in advance and his stars are in alignment but only if Mercury is in retrograde with a solar eclipse due exactly 24 hours from the cancellation. I did offer the down payment of a child or alternatively a limb, but surprisingly enough, he seems to prefer Australian currency. Weird people, these country folk! (No lynch mobs please ... I'm just kidding!)

While Peter and I were tearing our hair out trying to work out angles and linear measurements from an infinitesimal copy of a copy of the title plan, Alex and Brad went off to explore the lakes behind the block. 'The lakes' is an overly optimistic term as I believe 'disgustingly goopy clay mud flats' would be more appropriate. I believe the exact words I said to them before they left were "Go and explore around the lakes. Don't step in the bits that have nothing growing on them 'cos you'll probably sink." Of course, in kid-speak that means 'step in every part that doesn't have anything growing on it, sink about 5 inches into the disgustingly goopy clay mud before panicking and running through the only true water puddle for kilometres, thereby drenching yourself, and then come running back to the car expecting to get in, looking like some abominable mud creature threw up on your shoes and the bottom half of your body. Oh and then complain about how you now have no shoes to wear and your feet are cold.' Peter's response? "That's what the block is for .. to get dirty!" Then in the next breath .. "You're not getting in my car looking like that!"

All in all, a great weekend had by all especially the boys. They even voluntarily got wet and dirty riding around in the rain on Sunday and there were no complaints! I did check the back of their necks for marks left by the alien body invaders, but there was too much mud to see clearly. The trip home was uneventful as well but they soon reverted to form this morning with Alex and Brad coming to blows over a Wii game. Some things never change!