Second week of leave and a substantial chunk of time has been spent on Mel & Mark's property. The primary project has been the construction of 20 metres of shelves and locked cupboards for Mel's gear in the stable.  This will keep the agistees under check and allow further leasing of a couple of stables that are filled with horse rugs and tack.

The stables will come in handy as Mel & Mark improve the property and attract new customers.  Despite over 100 acres there is now a waiting list for agistment at this upgraded property.

For those who have not seen this new venture then check out the website here www.phasepark.com_

One week in and just getting around to reporting progress on my two months of leave. It has been both busy and fun.  My leave got of to a great start with Easter. This has meant that the first four days have not diminished my leave entitlement at all.

I have been given the chance in the first week to sharpen my skills again on all those activities that IBM has withdrawn over the past few years.  The garden has seen the pent up frustration of two years in an apartment as the hedging was taken to within an inch of its life. The garage, that has long housed discarded refuse from the house including four TVs, refrigerator, chairs and tables, has been cleared with the help of Mark's 8 metre skip bin. Hoorah - room for a car!

No do not get ahead of the story. The upstairs rooms needed clearing to make way for a minor refurbishment. So fill the garage again :-)

Oh while you are at it,what about painting the rooms.  Yeah, more long lost skills re-learnt.

Now the painting has finished successfully it is time to pull out the saw and screwdriver to re-present my long lost talents in carpentry in adding facilities to Mel's agistment property.

This was all very enjoyable (really) but not as good as the couple of days with Al & Kev at their house at Sandy Point.  The new beach house is looking stunning and is so conducive to R&R.