A bit of a warm one today so I scuttled in to clean the cottages early (very early). Fortunately one guest had already left and the others left while I was working so I was able to get their cottage sorted out without any delays. Two more coming in tonight and apparently staying over as I have nothing to do tomorrow but two to clean on Friday! That was unexpected but apparently the neighbour is planning a hangover (so presumably a party next door to keep me awake as well).

I have to get in an clean the bank this evening then nothing till Friday - it will be nice to relax.

I have had a radical thought about placement of rainwater tanks and sheds (good thing I thought about it now and not after lodging applications etc). The challenge has been twofold - one being getting electricity to the shed without paying an arm and a leg, and two being the difficulty of getting a fence to connect to the existing boundary fence without having major dog-legs or acute angles that would be hard to keep mown. So here is the plan. The two new rainwater tanks will be positioned as I have been considering all along and the contents of the existing tank transferred to them. Then the existing tank moved several metres down the block to sit on the raised area, and the shed to go between the two sets of tanks. This will a) allow a straight line 1.5 metre fence from the back corner of the shed, b) place the shed alongside the electricity to the rainwater tanks, and c) give me a gravity feed tank to service the orchard, poultry and bottom tank-gardens. Bonus! It will also make it easier to dispose of overflow from all three tanks as it will go down the back where it will not be a problem. Not that overflowing tanks are likely to be a problem for some months to come.

So the two new tanks will be 24000 each to add to the 10,000 I have and that should surely keep me supplied securely all year round while allowing me to have a garden that does not die in summer.

It also means the entire frontage of the shed will be secure within the fence which was not going to be the case before so that is another bonus. Feeling rather good about this now.

There will be some minor excavation required to achieve all this but the fill from that can go to level off the shed site and I will progressively buy some of those horrible angular retaining wall sections from Bunnings to set the level for him when he comes to do the work, and also to bind the end of the raised section (which is well out from where the tank will stand, so no worries about it collapsing on me - it is less than a meter high and has been consolidating for several years now.

Nice quiet night planned for tonight once i am home from the Bank - I will buy in an additional couple of litres of milk though and some fruit as I think Smoothies might be the order of the day for the next couple of days.

Frozen veges freezing in water for the chooks for tomorrow (34!) and the cat water bottle is also in the freezer.