Our (long awaited) gazebo slab!!!

As the cool morning air exhaled in a cloud of steam from my breath, I could hear the distant sound of a vehicle. Narrowing my eyes, I focused on the front gate, approximately 200 meters away, and held my breath in anticipation...there! I could see a silver space-cab pulling up to the gate! "Hurrah", I thought, "Scotty's here!!"

Leaning my rake against the frame of the chook pen, I ignored the half-raked yard and decided I'd feel guilty about it later. As I raced down the hill, Molly finally caught on the what was happening and gave an authorative bark. The scene was lessened somewhat, by her furiously wagging tail.

"Not long to go now", I thought anxiously as I climbed into Mum's car and drove over to the front gate. Scotty had put me on traffic control duty - I was to escort the cement trucks to and from the various sites we would be pouring at today. Fortunately, it wasnt a long wait before the first cement truck appeared over the hill.

"Hi there", I started, "Wanna give me a lift so I can show you the way up to the range?" And with that, our incredibly hectic day began. Luckily, Macloud (Scotty's son) and James (Mark's brother) were able to help out Scotty, Mark and myself, otherwise things would have been unbearably fast paced! Back and forth they ran with wheelbarrows full to the brim of cement. My super important job was to install the chairs under the rio as they went along...after my traffic control duties were complete, of course!

Suddenly (it seemed) an hour had passed and I was back in the cab with the second truck driver directing him to our home...chatty bloke, he was. Manners cost you nothing, and this bloke had them in spades,as well as an increasingly rare ability to conduct a conversation!

After apologising profusely for tearing up my lawn (I was just grateful he didnt hit the overhead powerlines with the bowl) we put the slide back together and began the pour, just as Scotty turned up with Macloud...lucky, because I didnt have a trowel with me!

Before long, the bowl was empty and Scotty wiped his brow proclaiming his relief at having ordered enough cement to do all the slabs we wanted done that day...just quietly, I was relieved too! Then we set about trowelling the new slab. After a few trips, made by Macloud, up to the range, to retrieve various tools that we needed, the job was done...almost...

That's when I pulled out the stencil! Michael and I had purchased a beautiful "header" to put along the outside of the slab extension...it was sure to look great!But to make things even nicer, we'd also purchased some blue powdered colourant to sprinkle on the edge of the slab.

After an exceedingly L-O-N-G amount of time Scotty, who now resembled a cast member of Avatar, stepped back to admire his work, "How's that look, Darl?", he asked.
"Beautiful", I replied.

(Photos to follow...)