Rob balanced the rocks round it as a stone wall and it has worked very well for the last few years. But after a few dislodged rocks, thanks to the animals who clamber on them (cats), or lean on them to scratch various parts of their backs (dogs), the whole things was looking decidedly tatty. So Rob decided to do something.
And he found Sam!
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| Sam the wonder man! |
Sam is a master of most building projects. And he got to work.
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| Step 1 |
From this.
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| Step 2 |
To this.
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| The finished project! My Meerkats approve! |
But..........we were not finished!
When we built the house, the builder left a huge opening under the fireplace. We asked him several times to close it as we really didn't want a hole there. 'No' he insisted, 'you store your wood under there, everybody has one.'
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| We discovered that nobody likes them! |
So, we had one too! And hated it. All that was stored under the fireplace was dust, the odd spider or two, bits of bird that the cats had brought in to play, and once or twice, when the smell became overpowering, we tracked down dis-assembled mouse and the remnants of mole. And Alfie's ball kept rolling under for Rob to rescue with a walking stick. The cats loved playing underneath and were regular visitors. I was worried about snakes finding it a handy place to hunker down for winter, or scorpions having a look around.
Sam understood exactly what we wanted (which is more than the builder did) and set to work. And look what he did! We love it!
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| Spot the difference. |
Which brings me to the point of the story and the reason for the title!
Rob and I had the identical thought... (great minds I hear you all say). A Time Capsule!
To be sealed behind the stones and only discovered in a hundred years or so when either the house fell down and was engulfed in seawater as Global Warming melted the ice caps, or the new owners decided to knock it down and build a futuristic atmospherically-controlled floating hotel.
So, he wrote a little resume about us, added our mobile phone numbers in case there is Vodacom coverage in Heaven.....printed a couple of photos of us and Alfie (of course) while I emptied, washed and dried a chutney bottle with a screw-top.
Then we rolled up the papers and reverently placed them in the bottle and screwed the lid on tight!
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| Loading the bottle! |
Sam placed the bottle behind the stones (and also checked that no cats were lurking there) and sealed the fireplace forever! Or until one of the above scenarios!
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| There for ever................ |
The fireplace now looks fantastic and we are thrilled!
The cats were a little confused last night and kept looking for the hole. It's amazing how they notice that things are different!
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| The braai, looking fantastic. |
Today Sam is sealing up the gaping hole under the braai on the veranda for the same reason! See above!
But no Time Capsule this time.
Rob said it all before.
And whoever finds the bottle can phone us for a chat!
5 comments:
It all looks lovely that Sam-I-am is a real find hope you've got his number stored!!
Are you sure you checked properly that no kitties were entombed behind the stones? have you done a roll-call? LOL Pauline, it looks absolutely stunning and so in keeping with your lounge décor :)
Yes we have, but we should have put it in the bottle too for the next generation!!
We counted the legs and divided by 4! Basil was very keen to go and explore, he was 'helping' Sam for a good part of the day!
I LOVE the new outdoor Spa Bath or Jacuzzi, just what you need to get the town talking on a Hot Summer Day! Would love to see how long it takes for your First Gannett or Pelican to discover it! Yes, I know I am cheeky! Typical Jo'burger you saying!
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