Win some, lose some and finding black gold.

We are in the home strait with the renovations. Friday the Shearers quarters had their borer spray over all the old wood, powder in the roof area and liquid on all wooden surfaces. So the borer will die as they come in contact with the external surface of the wood. they have a three year life cycle, (amazing what you learn, Neill from Zap was most educative), so all will be gone in three years, so the borer are facing a slow and dwindling process. The concrete floors haven't turned out as we had hoped so two extra costs of sealer (now 9) still didnt improve so a new high gloss surface has been put on, however its not great, just better than what it was. No-one knows what hasnt worked here so no real solution. Awkward. Today Robin and Matt are here to put in the bathroom. Many discoveries. The guy who sold me the basin didnt sell me the complete piping for the push button plug so had to buy a new one. Spazio Casa didnt include the base of the tap so it couldnt be installed. The holes for the loo seat were too small for the screws supplied, fortunately Robin had a drill to widen the hole, the water mixer had a backing on it that the tiler hadnt allowed for, and the concrete floor was uneven and Matt has spent most of the morning filing a rubber pad to ensure the bath will sit flat. Mixed with this is the rain means even poorer cell phone coverage than unusual and the guy polishing the wooden floor due today didnt turn up. Grrrrr. Renovations! However it is going to be fantastic when all done.
The bathroom is transformed already.

From this:

Can't show you the final thing yet. David sanded and primed the external doors and I oiled the back of them. They have come up beautifully and so now ready for another 77 years of life. With the oil, they become a dark orangey brown, rich and gorgeous. WE think they are heart rimu.

By Sunday I have completed oiling the walls of the bedroom and have begun on the lounge. Walking back and forth from the cottage to the shearers quarters we have spied ripe olives!! There are loads more than we thought we had, lush, huge rippening olives, black gold, so out with the ladder and up the trees, picking an olive here, 2 or 3 from there. We now have two large jars of olives underway with changing the water daily for 14 days before putting into brine. I had my pockets bulging with these olives as I was picking them and vert glad to get them before the birds. Mostly manzanilla. It is quite a mystery, and they only have become visible since ripening, and as we look now we can see 10 - 12 trees with great looking olives which is 10 more trees than we had first thought. So I have been envisioning thousands of olives on the trees for next year.