It's been a challenging week!

Thank goodness it is the weekend. We have had quote a few challenges to deal with this week! I guess we have had pretty plain sailing so far, but did everything have to happen in one week! Are you ready for the story...!

Monday - Frozen pipes!

We woke up on Monday morning to frozen water pipes! Thankfully we didn't have any burst pipes, so that was a blessing, but we decided to get the plumber to come and have a look at the pipes, because it appeared that none of the pipes were lagged and with mornings like the one below, we reckon we need our pipes to be lagged!

Heavy frost a couple of mornings this week!

The plumber confirmed there is no lagging on any of the water pipes. Not the outside ones that lead from the pump house to the main house, nor any of the inside water pipes that run all the way through the roof. We were very surprised and very lucky not to have had any burst!! Anyway, decision made, we need to cover the pipes!

Tuesday - Smoke filled living room!

So Tuesday's job for the plumber was to lag the pipes and also to try and work out our water system in general. It has been baffling us for weeks! The builders were here carrying on with construction and the plumbers were also here, so it was quite a party! So end of Tuesday, job done, pipes lagged in guest wing, main house to be done on Thursday and all is great...

...until we lit a fire in the log burning stove in the living room that evening and had smoke pouring out of the top into the living room! After lots of coughing and stinging eyes, Bryan managed to put the fire out and we got the smokey living room cleared by opening all the windows and running electric fans! It was pretty unpleasant and as you can imagine, rather chilly!. So, job for tomorrow for us, check log burning stove!

Wednesday - No power in pump house, so no water being pumped!

Wednesday morning, went to switch on the water pump to fill our Jojo tank so that there was plenty of water for us and for the builders who needed to mix cement, and nothing happened! No power in the pump house and therefore no pumping of water! Ahhhh!

Anyway, by lunchtime our fabulous builder had re-wired the switches in the pump house and we had water pumping again. However, the geyer switch then tripped, so no water in the house! Really, can you believe all of this and it is only Wednesday!

After fiddling around and testing all the sockets, we worked out that one was faulty and this was tripping the geyser! So, now all good again! Water pumping, geyser working and builders, building!

​Since everything seemed sorted, I decided to plant some shrubs in the new flower bed we have dug! Ah, at last something was going right!

Whilst i was doing the gardening, Bryan was tackling the log burning stove! Fortunately it just needed to be thoroughly swept out and cleaned of soot and it was up and running again!

Thursday - No hot water!

Wake up Thursday morning and no hot water! Water was warm, but not hot, so quick showers were had and we had to call the plumber again. He was coming to put the lagging on the pipes in the main house, but we also mentioned the hot water problem to him. They did the lagging and found a switch for the geyser that appeared to be off, so we thought that would be the hot water sorted! Huh

Friday - cold water pipes leaking through bathroom ceiling!

Wake up Friday morning, to water leaking through the ceiling and light fitting in the bathroom! Seriously! Now what!

Anyway, plumbers came back and tightened the pipes. It looked like some of the pipes might have been knocked whilst some work was being done in the roof, so leaks fixed and we would have to wait until Saturday morning to test the hot water!!

Saturday - hot water pipes leaking through bathroom ceiling! 

Wake up Saturday morning to warm, but not hot showers and water coming through the ceiling and light fitting again. This time, the hot water pipe, yesterday was the cold water pipe. So, plumber comes back! Finds leak, fixes leak and then checks electric switch for geyser that they switched on, on Thursday. It seems that there is no power going from the switch to the geyser, hence lack of hot water! We think when the geyser was tripping on Wednesday, it must have burnt out the switch.

Now we are at the end of Saturday, please tell me that is it for the week. Really hope we don't have any more water issues tomorrow morning! Fingers crossed!

So, as you can see, it has been a challenging week, but we have learnt a lot about how the water system works, how to re-wire sockets and how, through a process of elimination we can work out where a problem might be located! Plus we now have warm pipes!

And now for the positive stuff...!

Whilst we have been trying to get all these bits sorted, the builders have been beavering away and are coming on brilliantly. Here are some photos of their progress...

Plus this week, one of the local farmers (whose bulls occasionally graze on our property) called to check it was fine for him and his crew to come and do some fire breaks at Kamberg Valley Hideaway for us! This was great news. Runaway fires can be a big problem in the Drakensberg over the winer months, when the Berg winds visit, so we were very grateful and relieved to hear that they were going to come and burn for us! Can you imagine Bryan and I trying to do it, we wouldn't have a clue!

It was actually amazing to watch them and incredible how quickly the grass burns. Though I felt like a bit of a plum doing it, I did go out and take some photos of them at work!

So, there you have it. A fun-packed week??? Let's hope the hot water is fine tomorrow morning and there are no leaks and that next week is less challenging!