I had also been out late Wednesay afternoon to knock down the wild rye and wild oats growing across the front verge like a jungle.

I spent the first hour and a half on site raking up all the fallen grass stalks and collecting rubbish such as bottles and the disintegrating orange safety barrier.

Next, I was up on the scaffolding drilling the remaining 11 mounting holes.

I did this like a production line process - first 11 holes at 3.5 mm, then 11 holes at 8mm, then 11 holes at 12 mm.

This went very quickly and efficiently.

One disappointment was that my drill bit sharpener blew up.

I went to sharpen the 3.5 mm bit. There was a loud bang and when I looked under the cover I could see that one end of the EMI suppression device had blown off.

I suspect that the stator has developed a partial short circuit

This is the third electric motor that has blown up in the last four weeks (previously the sump pump and the cut off saw).

I needed exactly 11 purlins to complete the uniform (ie non diagonal) portion of the back veranda.

It turned out I had 11 purlins in storage that I had already washed.

Again I used a production line.

First I worked through all 11 pieces cutting to length and notching out a rebate at one end.

Then I drilled the 12 mm mounting hole on each length in turn.

I carried the prepared pieces around to the back of the house and stood them up so they could be hauled in to position.

I climbed on to the scaffold and lifted each piece in to position and loosely bolted each one to its mounting hole.

Then I used the A frame ladder and worked my way along the outside edge marking the mounting holes at the cleats.

There is not an easy way to drill these holes insitu so I hauled the 11 purlins down again and as I drilled each one stood it up in position again.

Then once more lifting each purlin up and then working along the outside edge applying the two bolts to each cleat.

I finished just in time to take a photograph before darkness fell.

So an outstanding number of purlins installed today - I am very pleased.