Dan came home from work last night and, after a lengthy interlude cleaning out a very old blockage from a drain over at Little House (yuck), started pulling VJs from the wall between what will be the study and what will be the kitchen.
The first pull of his crowbar on the first board brought down a shower of ancient rats' nests and faeces on his head and I could hear the unique combination of gagging and swearing from the verandah kitchen.
Stupidly, I went in there to offer support.
The smell. My God, the smell.
Suddenly, I felt very busy with other tasks based at the far end of the house.
He reappeared briefly to bark something at me about how next time I wanted to buy a 100 year old house, I could deal with its hundred year old problems. Then he grabbed the Scotch and a glass and disappeared back to the frontline.
Meanwhile, back in the trenches, verandah kitchen's new benchtop oven hasn't arrived yet so I spent the afternoon chopping veggies and dividing up portions of meat to give the slow cooker a good run over the next week or so.
Verandah kitchen. Strangely comfortable.
Our old stove is still connected, but given the demolition going on around it, I feel it might be more hygienic to use the slow cooker for now.
Verandah kitchen. Strangely comfortable. 
Oh God, I can see why he needed the Scotch! You guys are definitely having quite the adventure!
ReplyDeleteancient rats nests, the smell... ugh...gagging over here half a world away. Buy Dan more scotch!!
ReplyDeleteI totally sympathise with you - and this is why I could not live through another reno (ie living in there while doing it) especially with four kids. These little setbacks will become far distant memories one day and you'll be able to sit back and laugh about them. xx
ReplyDeleteI think I would have had to have a few scotches to deal with that too and I don't even drink!
ReplyDeleteGood golly, that would have been gross! I would have said a few choice words too, lol. It's all part of the adventure though. Good work Dan. Just remember as you deal with the rat crap though, your darling wife is dealing with your darling daughter. :)
ReplyDeleteBuy some shower caps at the $2 shop or Woollies as they might come in handy for this and/or painting in the future as well. Beats trying to get the crap out of his hair.
ReplyDeleteCheck out these two blogs for (i) slow cooker meals - she used it solely for ages when they were renovating their kitchen as well so you can read about her kitchen and her temp kitchen. www.andreadekker.com and type slow cooker in the search and it will come up with all her recipes she cooked including a chocolate cake.
Also this lady makes and freezes ready meals for the slow cooker and you can buy her recipe book on-line. She talks about pre-packing a number of meals for the freezer ready to go into the slow cooker which would be great for you. Basically you are cutting up all the veggies, meat etc in one go and then into the freezer.
www.mamaandbabylove.com
Oh no-poor things!! Hope it improves!! Best of luck! But yay you've started!!!
ReplyDelete"keep calm and carry on"....man I would have hurled!....ive lived thru a rat nest adventure too, that smell remains etched in your memory forever. but its begun yay!! x
ReplyDeleteYuuuuuuk, I would be gagging too,I vote for a hat rather than a shower cap, I would NOT want poop etc, wafting down my neck, inside my clothes.
ReplyDeleteI lived in an old house with VJ walls and they were surprisingly sound proof, so that will be a plus for the bedrooms and keeping the living room noise contained.
I have never had rat nest problems, but have had to deal with mice plagues, the smell is awful and comes back after all the scrubbing and washing, peppermint oil is the answer, very expensive, but it WORKS, also acts as a deterent,you only need a drop or 2 here and there....not sure how it would work on rat stink !!!!!
If you reduce the stock content when making soup etc, it becomes a concentrte and you can fit more in the freezer, also if you need a meal in a hurry, just add a handful or 2 of pasta, or red lentils or some cans of beans to any soup (with extra liquid) and it will bulk up to a hearty meal,there will be nights when that is all you can manage to do, especially if you have been "the helper" most of the day.
A good idea for busy work times is to have some cookie dough in gladwrap "logs" in the freezer, ready to cut and bake for a quick snack or treat.The smell of fresh baking cookies is an incentive for the workers to power on till tea break :)
Oh goodness, what a shocker! The vermin just keep going all out don't they? your new makeshift kitchen looks almost like an upgrade, I've managed to score an upgrade in the rental too, makes a difference in the kitchen particularly. mel x
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of loving the verandah kitchen. The rat story had me gagging in Qatar.
ReplyDeleteOh dear. I recall similar 'tanties' from our chief renovator...only thing was he only had himself to blame because he wanted the Sow's Ear more than me! Make sure you stock up on plenty of scotch! xx
ReplyDeleteI DO hope that he is using a proper respirator while he is doing this type of work, and a full one-piece suit of overalls, complete with hood, would not go amiss either! You can catch all sorts of nasty diseases from the sort of sh*t he is going to encounter in this work, and unless you have completely and almost hermetically sealed off your "living" part of the house, I would strongly suggest you take your daughter out and away from the house for the worst days. You cannot be too careful with young lungs!
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