Downs and ups of life at Frogknot.

So...it is obvious that this old house is slowly crumbling and it is inevitable that it will one day collapse or be pulled down but each time we find new decay it hits us hard.We have discovered one of the ridge supporting poles has sunk and that part of the ridge beam has bad termite damage. On top of that we are smoked out every night by the stove as it is old and warped and cracked.Will spotted a 'new' second hand stove for sale in town. It is one Will is familiar with and like one he had on the goat farm down at Cooma. We went to see it today but were greeted by Gabriella, the seller, apologising and saying that we couldn't see it as the shed it was stored in was locked and the lady who owned the shed was away and not answering her phone. We will have to wait to inspect it but it would be great to get a stove that does not smoke us every might like kippers and have a usable oven at last!We called in at Aldi to assuage some disappointment and came away with a digital TV aerial and a Bluetooth sound bar.We spent the afternoon putting up the aerial and for the first time since we have been back living here finally have 'live' TV. The picture is great despite being surrounded by trees though the aerial is atop a 20 foot pole. The sound bar is connected to the TV and is presently playing lovely music streaming from my new computer.We have been given four solar panels by our neighbour (granted they are similar to those suspected of starting the fire that burned their house down) and we are thinking of investing finally in a decent storage battery for the solar power we produce. Heck! With a new (second hand) non smoking stove with oven and a reliable power supply we will be happy chappies.It's great to have all conveniences of modern life in your crumbling home.