Water gone!!!

Early Saturday morning sis and I started to fix the leak.

As sis have the muscles to swing a hammer she started breaking up the tiles and slap. (We could not find Bro’s drill with a chisel so we had to use elbow power).  It didn't take long as the slap isn't very thick when sis found the spot where the pipe broke.

As the sand is very course she used some of my kitchen tools!!!! Once she cleared the sand away we saw that it was the connection that gave way under pressure from some tree roots.

Then my work started, digging in front of the stoep to find the root that is the cause of all this problems!!!

Found a thick one going underneath and followed it until I found the spot close to the foundation.  Chopped it off and removed some smaller roots that will become a problem in the future.

We didn't have a 50 mm x 40 mm reduction connection so Bro went to buy one and we all were stuck with this!! Stoffel (the dog) didn't know what to do as his favorite spot on the chair was missing!!!

Bro fixed the pipe in about half an hour and we opened the water mains to see if there were any leaks?

Luckily the connection was fine and early on Sunday morning Bro filled the hole with building sand and threw a new slab.  Have to wait about a week for the cement to dry before I can connect the fountain again.

My poor fountain doesn't look at all nice, but the fishes need oxygen so I made a plan!!!!

Water, Water everywhere

Noticed some water underneath the fountain on Tuesday and thought that Spot shifted it again as she likes to drink water out of the top bowl, so I straitened it and thought that it will be over. I also cleaned the water up as everybody walks through it and then the floors are all muddy.

On Wednesday I noticed that the water tank was empty, I thought that strange as I filled it on Monday, and it should last a week.  There was some water underneath the fountain again, so I checked everywhere, shifted here and there and cleaned up the water.

Yesterday afternoon the tank was empty again!!!! Where the hell did 5000lt of water gone to!!!!

I started looking at all the old leaking points, but everything was dry.

So I filled the tank again and noticed more water under the fountain, and then I realized what was going on as the fountain was not switched on and the area underneath it was filled with water and in front of the door!!!

Asked Bro last night if he can remember if there is a water pipe going underneath the stoep? Not really sure he said he thinks so, and I showed him the water, he also thought it was the fountain.  Since it was already dark and late, I said I will look into it this morning.

So this morning the stoep was again flooded and I decided to move the fountain.

Water was seeping through the tiles, next to the wall, so I cleared all the mud away and noticed the steady stream of water coming from the wall!!! Some of the plaster also came off the bricks!!!!

Just filled the tank again, not empty yet, but close. 

This means that this weekend will consist of breaking up the tiles and the floor of the stoep close to the wall, fixing the pipe and not knowing when the stoep and the wall will be fixed again, as I know here is no cement to fix it!!!

Just hope that it will not be to long as having dirt in front of your door is not a good thing for clean floors!!! That’s why we laid the stoep in the first place!!!!

My poor fountain looks so small now, as I have to switch it on for oxygen for the fishes.

New House?

Hi there Have not been doing much outside, if it's not raining, we are having heatwaves!! Just maintaning what is already there. Decided to start cleaning up the house too! That is really a mess. The walls have not been painted in years and are long gone been white and the tiles in the dining/living room are 20 years old! Really needed a revamp, so I started painting the walls and laying ceremic tiles where the novilon tiles where, but I wasn't thinking when I decided to do this. It's not a big space, about 7m long by 4m wide and full of stuff that had to be moved in order to do this, what a MESS!! Can not get anywhere without hitting stuff over or stepping on something and seeing that I sleep in the livingroom, I have no place to rest in the afternoon when it gets to hot to do anything, so I invaded Boet's room! He is not keen on this, but what else must I do? The biggest challenge is in the evening when everybody is at home!! Four people in a space that is not even big enough for one at the moment can be dangerous! Everybody is in everybody's way and it takes a lot of planning to get anywhere!! Finding stuff is impossible as nothing is not where it's suppose to be and I can not remember where I put stuff during normal times, how am I suppose to remember where anything is now!!! As I love mosaic I decided to use all the odd bits and pieces of tiles that gathered here over the years, but trying to fit all of them are a nightmare!! I'm not good with puzzles and this is a puzzle without a picture, but I'm getting there. Cutting tiles to fit if they are to big or ramaging through the pile still lying outside to find one that will fit. I do not have to mention that it takes a LONG time to do this. Will have to finish with this as the people are getting really upset, but I'm also starting to get frustrated when I can not find anything or fall over something!! Will post some before and after pictures as soon as I'm finished, hold thumbs that it will be this week!!

Newer pic of smallholding

Just got this new pic of Google Earth so I can plan better and see where all the old changes where, LOL, but none of them are visible by satelite!!! Everything was done either under the trees or is so small that is wasn't noticable!!!

The previous pic was taken June/July 2009, mid of winter here in SA, and this was taken this morning, where all the green of spring can be seen. (now I have some difficulty making out where which tree ends and the other one begins!!!)
Have made a list of which trees and plants is where and which ones i want to put in. Will see how it goes!!!
Back to digging and showeling for me!!!
buy for now!!!

Where to start?

I live on a smallholding roughly 2 ha big. We have been living here for 20 years and always just manage the top part of the plot. It looks like dumpsite with all the stuff being gathered for 20 years and i decided to start cleaning up.
Will post pictures of the before and after as i go along, seeing that it's a big piece of land and i am only one lazy person!!!

A google pic of the smallholding. will post pics of the flat areas as i work and change them.