The Summer 'Fun' Files Part 7 (Days 16 & 17)

Saturday and Sunday

You've guessed it. We spent the final two days of our holidays painting. I originally wanted to spend Sunday relaxing in the sun enjoying a beer or having a little surf, but no, it was spent holding a paintbrush! It's strange how once we start something that we just want to get it done. I have not been on a decent bike ride, running in the hills or surfing for a fortnight. Thinking about it, we have not even had a relaxing back garden barbecue and beer for a long while!

Finally, the french doors were painted aubergine!

So what did we achieve? As an estimate, two thirds of the job has been done. The rest will now have to be done at weekends and during evenings. Mmmmmmmmmm! That is easier said than done as we are going away for a couple of weekends (Wellington for an England test match and Hanmer Springs with friends). I also want to play a few games of cricket, Chantal has organized a Monday night hockey team and I'm sure many other things will crop up.

Unfortunately, passers by will not notice our hard work as the front of the house is still white. It still needs scrubbing, sanding, filling, washing and painting! Roll on relaxing evenings!

The Summer 'Fun' Files (Part 6 - Days 12-15)

Tuesday-Friday

The weather has not been so good the last few days but perhaps that was not a bad thing. It has been cooler which has made the decorating more comfortable and two drizzly mornings enforced welcome breaks. We've also had a bulider around, to assess some repairs that need doing, and three people to quote for an installation of a heat pump (essentially an air conditioning unit that runs in reverse to provide heating). Nevertheless, we have put in hours of hard work and made noticeable progress.The last few days has seen us scrub, sand, wash and paint the driveway side of the house, as well as give the rear side of the house a second coat of paint.Approximately 2/3 of the weatherboards, some guttering and a number of window frames have now been painted. Of course because we have a two tone colour scheme we have made the whole job more tricky and therefore more time consuming. However, it will be worth it in the end as what we have done so far looks good.

The Summer 'Fun' Files (Part 5 - Days 10 & 11)

Sunday

An early start today but not to do some painting. I competed in the Sumner Mini-triathlon. Unfortunately, the windy conditions meant the swimming leg was shortened due to dangerously large waves and also made the cycling leg hard going. I must admit I did not feel comfortable in the water so took a short cut by not going around one of the bhoys. Incidently, the wind added four minutes to my time on the cycling stage compared to when I did it on the same course in December.No rest for the wicked so we spent a lovely afternoon sanding and and washing down the back of the house!

Monday

Drizzle delayed play so we did not start any work on the house until midday. The first top coat was applied to the rear of the house which gave us a psychological boost as progress can be seen.We also had a builder friend come round to price up some work that needs doing. He's going to replace some rotten weatherboards, part of a windowsill and a couple of other pieces of joinery.

The Summer 'Fun' Files (Part 4 - Days 8 & 9)

Friday

We awoke to grey skies that soon turned to drizzle. I gave a silent cheer and I'm sure that Chantal did too, as it meant we could not do any painting or sanding for a while!

So what did we do? We had a relaxing read of the paper before going to see an early morning showing of 'The Golden Compass'. Oh! We then went to a furniture store, lost our senses and ordered a new bedroom suite. Not that there is anything wrong with our current pine one. It's just that we wanted to upgrade to a rimu (a hard wood) one. It now means that, in three months time when the suite arrives, guests will be staying in a room full of good pine funiture!

Unfortunately, the drizzle stopped so by mid-afternoon we felt obliged to do some painting. We managed to apply the first coat of aubergine to the guttering and window frames of the blind side of the house.

Saturday

I originally planned to take today fairly easy as I am doing a mini-triathlon tomorrow morning. However, as it rained yesterday, I felt that I should do some work on the house. Damn! If only I had said that I was not going to play cricket this week!

We made good progress today and put the second top coat on the weatherboards and windows of the blind side. Just the guttering and window frames to go on that side! We also scrubbed the moss and mould killer on the driveway side of the house.

As an estimate, I reckon we have done 1/4 of the job. I will be happy if we have the job 2/3 done by the end of next weekend. The rest will then have to be done on weekends and evenings!

The Summer 'Fun' Files (Part 3- Days 6 & 7)

Wednesday

What on Earth are we doing to ourselves? Not only did we get a workout by spending the day painting our house but we also went to the gym/pool!

As we had been to the gym/pool, we did not really get going on the house until 10.30 ish. We also finished earlier than normal so the blind side of the house still does not look as if we have done much to it. However, we finished the prep work today as we washed the paintwork down and primed it. Tomorrow is an exciting day as we can apply the first top coat!

Thursday

No morning exercise today as we made an early start and applied the first topcoat to the blindside of the house before the sun swung round. It was just as well we did as the sun was scorching and a norwester was blowing (that means a hot day). It was hot, tiring work today so a late lunch, admiring our handiwork, was washed down with a longneck (a 750 ml bottle) of Speight's.

We also made some progress on two other sides of the house by applying moss & mould killer to one side and washing it off the rear side. We are both feeling quite satisfied with today's efforts and it's good to see some definite progress!

The Summer 'Fun' Files (Part 2- Days 4 & 5)

Monday

Monday was the start of Chantal's holiday so what should we do? Paint of course. After all is that not what the summer holidays are for? In any case, who needs to go away on holiday. Particularly, as we still feel like we are on an extended one, even though we have been here nearly two years. Anyway, I digress.

The first job was to give the garage its final coat which we duly did (see previous entry for the end result). Garage done but not job done! After practising on the garage, it was time to start the main job: the house.

To hone our skills a little more, we have started with the side of the house that nobody sees. Logically, we will finish with the side that everyone sees. This may end up one of two ways though. Possibly, our skills will be sharpened to such an extent that everyone will ask how much we paid to have it done or we will be so pissed off painting that the end result will require us having to pay somebody to fix it!

As we are doing the job properly, the first task was not sanding or even washing the paintwork. It was to apply the moss and mould killer. It was quite incredible to see the grime and mould spores running down the house so we're pretty glad that we have not skipped that step!

Tuesday

After a 10 km morning run, it was time to scrub and then rinse the moss and mould killer off the side of the house. That was the easy part of the day's jobs.

As I type, my arm is sore and aching from the hours spent sanding and filling. Why did we buy a weatherboard house? And to think that we still have three more sides to sand!

The Summer 'Fun' Files (Part1)

Well the 'fun' has started (Actually it started a few days back but that is neither here nor there). By 'fun' I mean painting the exterior of our house.

Anyway, we decided that it would be a good idea to hone our decorating skills by doing the garage first. That and the fact that it looks like it was last painted the year when England won the World Cup (I would have said Holland but they have never done so).

We decided that we were going to do the job properly so before we could start to make it look good, we had to make it look worse. That meant proper preparation even though we hate doing it. First up was removing loose paint and sanding. That took most of a day between the two of us even with a sanding power tool.Next up was the tedious and frustrating job of filling nail holes and cracks. It had to be done but makes one really want bricks not wood! Of course no matter how careful the filler is applied it always needs sanding down: so out came the sander again.

Time to paint! No! Cleaning and hosing down was next. So after 1 1/2 days the garage still looked crap. However, it was now ready for the primer/undercoat.

After two days of work, the garage started to look better and we were able to retire for the evening with a sense of satisfaction.

Once we started the top coats, the garage seemed to improve beyond all recognition. Suddenly all the prep work was worth it, particularly once the windows had been painted.

Anyway, after three days of work the garage is now finished. Actually, it's not as I forgot to say that we have only done two sides of it. The other two will just have to wait as we now want to crack on with the house!

Let us know what you think of the colour scheme (Colonial White with Aubergine trim).

Summer 'Fun'

Summer is well and truly here. Hip! Hip! Hooray! The sun is blazing, the mercury is rising and the scent of barbecued food is in the air. What shall we do? Surf, lie on the beach, go on day trips, relax in the garden or even go away for a few days? Unfortunately we will be doing something a lot less fun.

We will be spending many long, tiring days painting the exterior of our house. As you may know, our house, like many here in New Zealand, is a weatherboard house. That means that approximately every ten years the exterior needs repainting. That is not a small or cheap job. As it would cost around NZ$10 000 to have it painted by a professional, we have decided to do it ourselves. We are not quite sure how long it will take or how difficult it will be but we will soon get an idea.The first issue was choosing a colour scheme but after months of thinking and looking around at other houses, we have chosen one. Keep reading the blog to see our new colour scheme and how we are progressing.

Nothing to Do!

As you may have already worked out, Chantal and myself are very active these days. Not only do we go to the gym/swimming pool three times a week, go on regular training runs, but during the winter we both play two games of hockey a week. Then there are the summer sports and activities. I still play cricket but my enthusiasm has wained due to wanting to do so many other things (surfing, bike rides, soaking up the rays whilst enjoying a beer, etc.). In fact, I choose to play in only half the games now.

We’ve also tried our hands at new sports. For three months, during springtime, Chantal tried her hand at rowing. She showed real dedication by getting up before dawn to go to Kerrs Reach (just a 5 minutes cycle away) to train on the ERGs and, then when it was light enough trained on the water. It was a steep learning curve for her crew, and after that first session on water, the one hit wonder known as Yazz would have said, "the only way is up." On that first occasion, they drifted across the river into the far bank before zig zagging their way up the river. Nevertheless, they stuck at it and improved beyond recognition. Come regatta day, though, Chantal ended up coxing her crew of eight due to injury! I think she is planning to participate again next year and with luck if she stays injury free will row.

However, the sport that has really grabbed us is multisport. I’m sure most of you know what triathlons are: swim. cycle & run. However, there are many other combinations (run, kayak, & cycle being one). See an earlier blog for one that Chantal did called the Spring Challenge that involved mountain biking, white water rafting & trekking/running.

Ultimately, my aim is to complete the Coast to Coast race (http://www.coasttocoast.co.nz/). This is a 243 km race that starts on the west coast of the South Island and crosses the Southern Alps before fininshing on the east coast on Sumner Beach, Christchurch.

A Bloke's Thing

After buying myself a decent road bike, I just had to justify the expense and make proper use of it. That's where the Bloke’s Triathlon Series came in. Mark and I both entered (well Mark did the duathlon series as he didn’t want to do the swims). Anyway, here’s a review of the series.
Race 1
As the distances in this, the first, event were very short (100 m pool swim, 11 km bike ride and a 3 km run) I was pretty confident of clocking a very tidy time. However, the day was overcast and very windy (not good when you are cycling down an exposed beach front road). I soon learnt that combining three events in conjunction with inclement weather conditions make it all a lot harder. The worst part was the transition from cycling to running, as the legs took about 1 km to get used to running. Not to mention the fact that it is bloody horrible starting to run when one is already puffed! Anyway, I finished half way down the field in a reasonable time of 39:39 minutes. After the race, we stayed around for the spot prizes which turned out to be well worth the wait. I ended up winning the top spot prize which was a triathlon wet suit. Cool even though I had just bought a winter wet suit (for surfing) just a few weeks before hand! Pre-race nerves!

Race 2
This time, I was prepared for the transitions but the distances were longer (200 m pool swim, 15 km bike ride and a 4 km run). The weather was great (sunny and still air). Unfortunately, this meant more people hung around for the spot prizes at the end. Shame as it meant there was less chance of winning one! Again, I finished mid-field in a time of 55.28 minutes.
Race 3
This race was the biggest challenge as it involved a sea swim (250 m sea swim, 20 km bike ride and a 4 km run). Needless to say, I had been working on my swimming as that is by far my weakest link and even had a sea swimming lesson. I’m reasonably good in the pool now but had a real shock when I tried sea swimming. The waves, currents and lack of vision (no dotted line on the sea bed to follow!) all conspire to make it five times as hard as pool swimming. At least, I had the opportunity to use the triathlon wetsuit that I won in the first race!

I was not looking forward to the swim and was even less so upon arriving at Scarborough Head, to see large swells and an outgoing tide. The surfers were making the most of it but I certainly wasn’t looking forward to it. Visions of tumbling washing machines kept popping into my head. I quickly revised my race plan: I decided that I was not bothered about times but just wanted to get through the swim alive! I am not joking!

Luckily, I was in the fourth wave of competitors to start so was able to observe the first couple of waves and see how they coped. My fears were compounded when I saw the guys from the first wave (the top athletes) and second wave swimming diagonally away from the marker bhoy. It crossed my mind that they had a grand plan in mind but no did not. They were being dragged out by a rip. They did not seem to be making any headway and it was not long before the arms went up for assistance. I swear one guy was swimming hard for at least five minutes but made no progress at all, until a big wave pushed him past the rip. Needless to say, the subsequent starting waves were cancelled! Only three swimmers made it ashore around the bhoy. The others were picked up by the rescue boat or made it ashore but missed the bhoy. Thankfully nobody was badly hurt but one person was treated for injuries gained as he hung on to rocks on the headland.

As the swimming leg was cancelled, the race effectively became a duathlon but we still had to do a token 100 m run into the sea and back before jumping onto our bikes! Once again, I finished in a mid-field position.
Reflection
I thoroughly enjoyed competing in this triathlon series and certainly want to do so again next year. I am quite hooked on them now and am even considering joining the Canterbury Triathlon Club. I intend to keep working on strengthening my swimming as well as improving my cycling. First though there is the Sumner Summer Mini triathlon coming up in mid January!