North Melbourne held fast to beat a strong-finishing Geelong last night in a semi-final thriller. The Kangaroos are the first side this AFL finals series to upset the favourite, booking themselves a preliminary final berth next weekend. It’s footy finals fever time in Melbourne – a fantastic time of the year (not so good if you don’t care about footy). Just 2 weekends to go til the Big One. Can’t wait, while at the same time, trying to savour every moment before it’s all over for another year. I move that instead of cricket this summer, channel 7 takes over & replays AFL full games & highlights round-by-round for the entire 2014 season. Here’s the highlights package from last night.

Fires out

Max and I were watching this a couple of nights ago. Hard to believe it’s been over 4 years. USA video tour diary from early 2010. The vid below was the first episode (5 mins) – but check out the last 30 seconds. Cannot believe how much that New York rhythm section brought the rock to our band. It was totally pumping in rehearsal & bigger at shows. First time we’d ever sounded that solid. Changed the way we did everything from then on. This video is the first in a short 10 part series (playlist on YouTube), featuring live shows, interviews & life on the road during our first US tour.

Fires out.

Perfect test for leak sealing in the roof yesterday. Wild storm lashed Melbourne. Gale force winds, rain & hail. Back to square-one dammit. Leaks on both sides of the building upstairs in the usual spots. After 4 hours up on the roof plugging suspect gaps, no idea where the water’s getting in.

It’s kind of a cool job getting up there. Great view but dangerous. Hardest bit is getting down the ladder. About 8 metres above the beer garden, you have to look down to climb on.

Fires out.

Mojo helping out on paintwork downstairs last month. This room right behind the venue now finished. New house-mates moved in.

Fires out.

Big weekend on the kitchen. Battled exhaustion yesterday, filling, sanding, installing remaining drawers & moving everything back into the room. Finally at the end of the day, sat down with house-mates for dinner in the new kitchen. Awesome. Plenty more to do (cupboards, tiles etc), but it’s up and running. Room feels really great, nice atmosphere.

Functioning kitchen. Pic taken this morning 08 Sep 2014.

Unseasonally good weather in Melbourne town for early spring. Blue skies & 20+ degrees.

Fires out.

Tough start to the day after a big night out. Went down to the Richmond Club Hotel to watch Geelong & Hawthorn slug it out in the 2nd AFL qualifying final. Found ourselves in the Corner Public Bar after that til the wee hours. Back to the kitchen this morning to install doors & drawers to cabinets. Max handled the paint & staining.

Max stains & paints open shelves in kitchen 06 Sep 2014.

Wet seal complete on bench-top. Oven & cook-top hooked up. Sink plumbed. Floor done. More drawers in tomorrow.

Fires out.

Steve & Riley in the kitchen right now, fitting off power points & hooking up oven, cook-top & rangehood. Early start this morning. Max got the 2nd coat of wall & ceiling paint on before the guys arrived at 7. When they leave, another coat on the floor & that’s done. Takes about 4 hours to dry. Soon as we can walk on it, 2nd coat of wet-seal on bench tops (ready for tiling) & cupboard doors go on.

Riley & Steve, fitting off power to the kitchen – 05 Sep 2014.

Fires out.

Plumber Stu below – fitting off cook-top & sink yesterday. Just finished with hired floor sander before he arrived.

After that, got up on the roof chasing a leak which has eluded us for months. Repaired some potential trouble-making joins in the box gutter, but don’t know if we’ve nailed it yet. We’ll know soon enough. Here’s a cool pic from the front corner of the roof looking at Melbourne.

Fires out.

Floor sanding in the kitchen yesterday. Putty late in the day, left to dry overnight. More sanding this morning. Plumber arriving at midday to hook up the sink & cook-top. Electrician on Friday to hook up power & fit off. Racing to get floor, walls & ceiling done before he arrives.

Gotta recommend Coats Hire Richmond for the tools we don’t have (sanding machine above). Guys there always friendly, helpful & often cut me some extra time. Good gear too.

Fires out.

Nailed paneling to the kitchen wall yesterday (green timber below). Got it from a demolished wall in the venue a few months ago. Tried to keep as many boards intact during demolition. Wasn’t sure where we’d use them – but they looked too good to smash apart. Finished the wall this morning & started sanding the floor.

Nice working in slightly higher temps & longer daylight.

Fires out.