The deluge continued today, with over an inch in the gauge this morning and about half an inch today (as far as I can see through the condensation on the side of thing.

Perforce, activities were confined indoors and my clever plan to bring in wood yesterday to dry out before cutting was thwarted by the absence of any break in the rain until late this afternoon (by which time I am too settled into the house to be bothered), so I had to venture out into the deluge to carefully select sodden bits of wood that were about the right size and set them before the fire to dry at least to the point where they did not extinguish the glowing coals when added to the mix. Fortunately yesterday's cutting had yielded enough to keep things going till they dried out.

While I was out there I discovered that the tank was overflowing with gay abandon and that the dam I accidentally created by dumping bits of old plaster there had redirected the overflow next door. So I had to excavate a channel which I will now have to monitor for erosion.

I also had a bit of an explore in the roof and discovered that all my centreline drips originate in the ridgecapping on one of the gables. Since that gable also lacks guttering on the outside and ridgecapping of any form at the front, I have emailed the plumber (who is presumably missing in action in a heavily flooded Ross) to ask him to give me a quote to deal at least with the outside surface of that gable. There were several more drips in the future dining room which will also be resolved if that is done.

Inside I unpacked a couple of boxes, and repacked the unwanted bits from the previous boxes and I now have my cutting board and a rather nice doona left behind by one of the American students many years ago. It is filled with goosedown, but the fabric has perished to the point that last time i took it to the drycleaners, they refused to handle it. Am now pondering the possibilities of making up a new cover in calico and stuffing the feathers into that. Though this will require me to work out how to make channels and boxes for retaining the feathers in suitable locations (not to mention how to transfer the feathers without causing a snow storm). So definitely one to ponder rather than to act upon immediately. I also finally found my button boxes, and my cutting board and a few other treasures like a 1950s workbox that is now filled with the various projects that will while away my evenings in winter.

The kitchen table is now relatively bare (barring a plastic bag of root cuttings and bulbs that must find a home somewhere in the garden. and a box full of paperwork that has to be sorted and filed) and so my work here is done - now all I have to do is go back through the entire house with the Dyson, instead of the industrial cleaner, and see how easy it is to do the housework.

Outdoors there are still a few chores to be addressed like mowing the rapidly advancing grass up by the house, chopping the heads off geese, installing perches in the newish chook shed so that I can move them into the goose run, and laying 75 metres of plastic sheeting where the new hedge will be planted come winter.

So, since I apparently need to make more room i the tank for more rainfall to come, I will be having a long hot soak tonight in my newly excavated bath, using newly unearthed bath salts i hvae been carting around for ages.