Preparing for the container

Saturday 31st: Over the last few months we have been thinking through different options for more bedroom space. We have friends who are living in two converted 40 foot containers, and that got us thinking about it as an option for us. Brendon spoke to the husband extensively about what was involved and what the approximate costs would be. He suggested looking at ex-refrigerated containers as you save a lot of money and time on insulation. So we have been watching auctions and on Thursday (29 Oct) we bought a 40 foot ex-refrigerated container. We were really pleased with the price (a good $500 cheaper than what others go for) and the delivery price quoted was excellent.
The only problem though, is that this tree in our garden is in the way of delivering the container to where we need it put. Thankfully one of the men at Brendon's work has a lot of experience at cutting down trees. And he agreed to pop around today to cut it down for us.
Brendon first had to get a rope tied to it - to help direct it as it fell.

Hezekiah being a big helper and holding the rope while Brendon drove his ute into position.

Great to have the power of a vehicle pulling it into the direction it needed to go.

Ruth was my photographer for the day. As Rachel and I had to leave just as he arrived for the Polo open day. So I left my old camera for her to use. Unfortunately the battery went flat at this point, so she cleverly ran inside to get the iPad to use (thus the quality change for the next couple of photos).
Cutting the wedge.

Some hammering part of the process.

Wedge made. The tree was really strong though, so he had to cut on the other side to weaken it enough to fall. They alternated between Brendon pulling it towards the road, and him cutting on the other side.

Wonderful to have it fall exactly where they had planned.

It's amazing how much bigger the tree looks once it's down.

The un-used green house also needed to be moved. So we offered it to friends down the road. Thankfully they were able to pop over this evening to pick it up. It was not the easiest thing to move, and I don't think it would have been practical to move anywhere but the 100m down the road. :-)

The girls helped getting all the wood out around the vegetable gardens.

And we were very thankful that we could borrow this from a friend to clear and level the ground.
This was taken after 7pm. That's one great blessing of these longer summer days. Extra time to get some outside work done.

Monday 2nd: We worked on the ground on Sunday too, but the camera didn't come out at all. So I took this photo on Monday morning, showing the end results of our work.

On Monday afternoon a friend came and cut up the tree. He was happy to cut it up and add some wood to his stock for next winter. He was really quick too - helped by the fact that he had all the right tools and clearly had done it many times before.

The girls helped load up all the leafy branches and we were really grateful to our neighbour for letting us dump all of it on one of their burning piles.
It was a real team effort and a wonderful act of love from many. Every time they went to dump, Rachel took Asher with them. She doesn't really enjoy having to look after Asher - so this was a real act of love from her which we are really grateful for. With Asher away, it allowed me to get logs, branches and swigs all moved and sorted.
Ruth and Brendon gave so much in doing this job because they both struggle with hay-fever with things like this. They both had very sore eyes that night. So a real act of love from them too. At one point I suggested Ruth stop, but she just put gloves on and kept helping.

It was really rewarding to have it all cleaned up by the end of the afternoon. The friend popped over after work on Tuesday to pick up the wood.

Tuesday 3rd: Our neighbour helped us get in touch with a local man who is great at fences (and has all the right tools to get the job done). So he came over on Tuesday morning to remove the gate and last fence post.
Rachel and I were again out and missed the action (so thanks Ruth for the great photos). Rachel had a dentist appointment and then an orthodontist appointment in town this morning, so we were out the whole morning. More on that in a separate post though.

First attaching the post.
And then simply pulling it out.

There was no way we would have been able to get that out ourselves.

On Tuesday afternoon Brendon and I worked on getting some wood down for the corners and using a string line (which we are holding in the photo) to make sure that the corners were as level as we could get them. Thankfully the ground was pretty level, so that helped a lot.

Wednesday 4th: Everything is ready.

The only wonder is if the wash line pole that is still there will be in the way (to the left of where the container will sit). We are hoping that there is enough space for the truck - as it has to drive in there, between the prepared area and that pole.