Yesterday and today was spent bent down aligning & sawing, drilling & nailing, drilling & screwing. Finally, all the bearers are done.

The ground has quite a slope on it (”fall” for you builder types out there). Working in the area where the ground is lower was much easier. Far more room to lay down and get the circular saw into position to trim down the stumps. Once the ground go higher and closer to the top of the decking, I found the work much more straining. It’s very difficult to keep bent whilst your knees are up around your chest height.

I think all the noise has upset our strange neighbour. She had her door open last night with the television blasting. She also played “You drive me crazy” twice at maximum volume. Suffice to say, I got up early this morning and proceeded with my noisy work. Let’s see who gets driven crazy first!

A bit of lighter work this afternoon moving the soil around. Tomorrow we’ll go to pick up the decking boards and start measuring and lining them all up. I don’t think we’ll be finished by the time my leave runs out, but at least we’ll have made a huge dint in the project (and the water pipe).

Ahh, now about the escape … we’ve been keeping the garage door open as it makes it easier to move things in and out of the trailor. I have an old wire door which I keep along the back of the garage opening. This stops Stanley from running out onto the street.

Today, as I do every day, I slid open the door to get into the garage and didn’t worry too much about Stanley. He’s been pretty well behaved and hasn’t tried to get anywhere near it. I tell him “back” and to “stay” and he sits there until I’m through. Today however, he had different plans. Before I could slide the door behind me, he had bolted. He had a quick snif around and then ran down the driveway.

I think he’s been planning this all along, luring me into a false sense of security. I chased after him, pulled a muscle in my back and thankfully manage to catch him. He must’ve caught an interesting scent on the nature strip (!) and stoped to soak up the perfume. I grabbed him and took him back inside.

Now that he’s tasted a little more freedom, who knows what he’s planning for next.