Slave labor works

There were two operations on the cards today - both labor intensive - so we had to resort to using slave labor - our own.

Operation: Roller home

The goal was to transplant a children's playhouse from one garden to another, with a road between. With a severe lack of slave muscle, we had to look to the days of old for a solution to the problem and someone suggested taking a papyrus leaf from the ancients, the Egyptians. After cutting down some small pine into logs, we then rolled the house through a maze of a fancy garden, being very careful to do as little damage as possible. It wasn't what I would call easy, but at the same time, it wasn't that hard either - just time consuming.

Here is a photo taken by my wife with the slave chain gang all in picture as we crossed the road. I think the neighbors were pretty impressed. Well, perhaps more amused.

And here it is in position. It is about 35 years old and we will paint it next spring to freshen it up and match it to our house instead of the neighbor's. With Smallsteps already four, it is likely that it will only get used for the next three or maybe four years, after which we will see if someone else wants it - if it is still standing.

It looks pretty cute in the yard.

Smallsteps didn't know we were doing this, as she spent the day with her Grandparents, but she was pretty stoked when she arrived home and saw it for the first time. It was quite dark by then, so there is no picture of her face, but she promised that she would invite us around for tea tomorrow. She has been talking about moving out for over a year now - so I guess we will see how pften we will see her from now on.

The cottage came complete with a kitchen and couch, as well as some toys and play foods - we put Smalllsteps' oven in to complete the set. I used a wide-angle shot, but the inside is about 3 meters square or so.

Pretty cute, eh?

Operation: Knocking the front door

The second operation of the day was to open up the foyer of our house, as they will start doing the tiling work on Monday. The house has a narrow corridor into the place and was then quite closed off, so we have tried to make it more functional and less cramped.

The before shots.

Well, we have already stripped some of the walls away when we first moved in here and then a couple months ago, so this is the mid-stage shots I guess.

Because of the narrowness, sharp corners and cramped spaces. maneuvering anything large into the house has been difficult and, we only have one point of entry. At the moment, we can't afford to cut another door into the walls, but we will do that at some later point and it will lead onto a terrace.

As you can see, it is a bit of a weird space and has been very dark, no matter how bright the day. We are hoping that once the wall is gone, there will be some more light that can filter through, as well as create more flow to the house. This is the entrance and a meeting point of life from the entry, the kitchen, the lounge and the stairs up to the top floor, so having the space quite open should be useful.

The after shots.

The partition wall removed (that beam will come out too) and the doorways for the kitchen and lounge heightened to open up the space even more. There is a cleaning closet there too, but we will close that off on that side and have the opening from the kitchen instead - which we will do when we finally have some money to do the kitchen - perhaps in a decade or so. This area will also have the door into the future office on it, which opens into the space now, but we will have it open into the room like a normal door later.

Looking at it like this might need a little bit of an imagination to see what it will become, but with some light tiles, new wall surfaces and ceiling and the corners cleaned up, it will be a nice open space that becomes the hub of the home from which all other activity stems. I am looking forward to it and while it definitely won't be finished next week, just getting the concrete surface for the tiles in will show what the area will become.

This has been a pretty physical day and I put my fitness tracker near the start of the demolition work. 1300 calories in four hours isn't bad and tomorrow it continues. We are staying here while all of this happens and that means that because this was on the ground floor where we are living currently, we have to clean everything up so that Smallsteps can walk around comfortably.

When they lay the concrete for the tiles to sit on next week, we are unsure how we are going to manage, as it will take some time to dry before we can walk on it and while it does, we can't use the bathroom. We might have to have Smallsteps somewhere else as they want to pour it in the evening so that they don't lose a day of work themselves.

It was eight hours today and I am pretty sore. I was saying to my friend that I was hoping to get my body conditioned by the work by now, but it seems that I haven't been doing enough and I am still struggling. Tomorrow I am going to be sore - but there is no rest for the slave.

Taraz
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