After pumping water into the new tank, the next project on the list was the new shed. It is a bit embarrassing to talk about this storage area as a “shed” in a place where sheds usually span at least six metres and are composed of three or more, three metre bays but we had bought as big as we could without having to get council approval to build it.

So the “shed” was three metres by three metres and would do to house mowers and garden tools and get a heap of other stuff out of the way.

A trip into Clare to buy cement was an opportunity, as always, for Raph to get a pie and we loaded 16 bags of cement into the trailer from Mitre10.

With that amount of cement, we needed a heap of gravel. Consulting our new “How to make concrete” booklet, we worked out that we’d need at least two trailer loads of sand/gravel mix. Erring on the side of caution for a change, and with the quarry closed over the long weekend, Raph and I did three quick trailer loads before tackling the pre-pack shed.

It was a bit of a laugh how easy it was to zip the shed together. Even though the wind came up, the two of us managed to hold and fix walls together and then fit the roof. Thanks to Raph’s ingenious use of straw bales as a “third person” to support a wall, we were soon admiring out work.

Of course, our haste to build the shed saw us erect it next to where we wanted it to live, and the next morning with a bit of grunting and a little bending, Meg, Raph and I man-handled it into position to prepare for the concreting.

Being an opportunistic scavenger, I had leftover reinforcing from when the “real” shed was professionally concreted and this was enough to cover the floor with a little overlap outside. Using leftover pavers to lift the reo off of the ground and then the shed off of the reo gave us about 100mm for the concrete slab.

After Meg and I returned from the ANZAC Day dawn service in Clare, Raph and I set to work to mix the concrete with the resurrected mixer. I shovelled while Raph carted, spread and finished. We worked hard and fast with the threat of rain and in a couple of hours, the inside was finished.

Tired after the early start and hard labour we retired for afternoon as the rain spoiled any chance of further work and the goon started to flow.

24mm of rain fell on Friday arvo and through Saturday and it was Sunday afternoon before Meg and I set to work to concrete the outside apron around the shed. Of course, as soon as we finished more showers came in, but the overall result will be functional.

The last few days have seen both a flurry of activity and construction as well as some relaxing DVD time, listening to the rain on the shed roof.

Plans have been in place for a while to build some more storage and find a better way of using rain water.

We need storage since the shed that we live in is cluttered with tools and boxes. Other tools and machines are stored in the wood shed – taking up space where the firewood should be drying and there are assorted piles around the place that should be tidied up.

The other problem that we have discovered is regarding rain water.

A while after building the shed we bought a 2000 Gallon poly tank to catch the rain water. With the shed on a slope, the tank is lower than the level of the shed which means that the only real use of the rainwater is for drinking and cooking.

The problem came to us over summer, when we were happily drinking the water but noticing that the level in the tank wasn’t going down significantly. A nice problem to have, but what would happen when it rained? Rainwater running out of the water tank overflow and down the hill would be a crying shame.

The solution was to consider our water use. We pump bore water into a 5000 Gallon tank at the top of the hill and then gravity feed from there. This allows us to use the bore pump (2.2kW) for about two hours a month, rather than pumping every time we need water.

The bore water runs down the hill to the shed to be used for the shower, dishes and clothes washing, as well as a bucket or two for the small garden. The height of the tank over the shed and the use of one inch poly pipe for transfer means that we get about 20 litres per minute – enough pressure for any of our needs individually.

The Nature Loo toilet doesn’t use any water and the sink at the shed is used for washing hands.

We considered this and the luxury of excess rainwater (through our frugal usage) and decided to put another tank on top of the hill for rainwater and plumb an alternate pipe for use at the sink and shower. (The clothes seem to wash fine in bore water and Meg thinks that we will continue to use bore water when we build the “real” laundry for the house.)

The catchment will still be at the shed, but when the tank fills we will pump to the new tank at the top of the hill for later use. Having 5000 Gallons at the top of the hill should provide us with enough storage and if we monitor the use we should have enough for our new usage plan.

The other benefit is for when we build the house. We should already have rainwater in place and ready to incorporate into our house plumbing.

As well as plans for The Journey, Pa was talking about installing another 5000 Gallon tank at his place.

So with ideas expanding and combining with each other, Pa and I prepared sites with many trips to the Clare Quarry for crusher dust.

Pa’s site was dug out with a Bobcat due to time constraints and then levelled and three loads were put on top of the hill at our place for the tank and shed.

It all hinged on Raph coming up from Adelaide during the mid semester Uni break for another part of the “work for the Goon” scheme and I’d ordered tanks and a 3m x 3m garden shed to be ready when he was.

Wednesday was tank day. We’d picked Raph up from the bus on Tuesday night and we were ready for a big day of work.

After picking Pa up at his place, we headed to Cox Rural where we had the tanks ready for pickup. I’d been told that it wasn’t the done thing these days to tow the tank trailer with a 5000 Gallon tank, but they were OK with it and Pa and I had done it before. (Just think about a 3.7m diameter tank on its side on top of a trailer – this takes it to a bit under 5 metres tall!)

Despite a highly embarrassing although minor trailer incident where the trailer wasn’t correctly hitched, we were soon motoring very slowly down the back roads. With the height of the tank we had to be very careful to avoid the trees overhanging the road and zigzagging back and forth at 30km/h.

The tank came off of the trailer easily after the centre post was inserted and was easily slid into its final resting place with the help of the crusher dust.

With one tank done, we picked up the second and headed to Pa’s place to confront a problem. One of the trees looked a little low and despite my enthusiasm to get out the chainsaw, Pa thought we’d be able to ease through.

With a little encouragement, low range four wheel drive engaged and a little slipping and sliding, the tank gently pushed the trunk up and slid underneath! There were a few tense moments, but we were soon crawling gently up the rest of the steep driveway.

With a bit of reversing and some final digging to allow the trailer wheels to be almost level, the tank slid off into place perfectly.

We were happy. Two tanks were in place before lunch with only a one embarrassing moment and no failures. Job done.

After lunch we picked up the shed and plumbed the pump into the water tank at the shed before I had to go and see a client.

Not every day of work ends in so much getting done and it was good to look back at the results.

Check out the gallery for a heap more photos.

There is always so much to do; whether it be work related or trying to keep on top of managing the property or even moving ahead with development on the many house, shed, or garden projects.

After heading back into business for myself again after a few years, I’ve discovered just how much discipline it requires to keep on track. I must work when there is work available and then spend time on other projects when there isn’t, but sometimes the distractions take over and it seems that a couple of days work has taken all week.

Sure, I’m always learning things and sometimes the reading about tools, programming, graphics etc leads me down new paths, but a lot of the time could be spent more efficiently.

Another thing that I’ve found over the years relates to working times. Late nights get later and then the morning starts seem to drag later and then pretty soon I find that I can’t get much done in the mornings. This leads to later nights, later mornings and so the cycle goes.

A few weeks ago, Meg and I made the decision to start walking at 7am each weekday. (Actually, Meg was already either walking or jogging in the morning and the decision was made for me to join her.)

Getting up at a set time and walking has provided heaps of motivation and lets me wake up and think before getting distracted. We talk and plan, I get a chance to think about what I need to get done during the day and it sets me up to work – whether for clients or on the property. All in all I am more focused on daily life and less content to just watch it go by.

As well as the efficiency payoff, Meg and I get to experience a beautiful time of the day as the sun rises over the hills and we frighten kangaroos with our crunching footsteps.

Maybe we’ll see a bit of a jump in the number of ticks getting made on the long, long list of things to do?