Hello everyone. This is the first story I will publish here and also the first story I have ever written. It first appeared in our blog in 2013 but had been updated with a make-over in 2018. You will notice that I am using the same characters as Susan and Anne are using in their stories. See kiwianne12; sexysue12;
Now to my story.
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Hi from Joseph.
As you will know, when we moved to New Zealand, Lizamoa and I quickly found a nice house to rent close to where Shanti and Mike lived up in the West Auckland bushlands of Titirangi. But we had only been there for a short time when the owner discovered that she needed to sell urgently. That left us with the problem of finding a new place to stay. There just weren't any good houses around that area that we could afford to rent. It was then that Mike came up with the idea of buying the house we were living in.
When we approached the owner, she lowered the price for a quick sale. Well, we visited the bank and they agreed to do a credit check on us. They found that I had a very good job, we had some of the money for a deposit from the house we had sold in India and we could easily afford to do the repayments. They looked at the house and saw it was a very good price for the area in which it was located. Then they contacted our old bank manager in India to confirm our saving and banking history. Of course, it was Sarvesh who was able to present us as being good customers of the bank. Thank you Sarvesh for that. So we were able to get our loan and purchase the property.
Now some time after that, I was talking to Mike and Shanti about what we could do to make improvements. They suggested that the house was in good condition probably only needed a coat of paint and some minor repairs. But the grounds were in a bit of a mess. First, we looked at just cleaning up as best we could but then this developed into a landscaping and gardening project.
Shanti and Mike did some measurements and went away to look at some ideas. The following week they came back with some drawings of what looked like a nice garden.
"This is a very nice garden Mike, but there is a lot of work to be doing."
"Yes but it should be easy to do," Mike replied.
When I looked at their ideas and drawings, I was seeing a rock wall, wooden retaining walls, paths, garden edging and other features including a garden pool and waterfall. Even solar garden lighting was included. It all appeared very complex to construct. I informed them that I had no money to pay for such a project to be done.
"Oh we were not expecting you to pay for the work," Shanti said. "You are going to do it all yourself."
"I do not know how to do these things."
"It is easy," Mike said. "You are a practical, outdoor person. Just take one section at a time and we will help you get it done."
As they explained each part I began to realise that with some hard work and help from them we really could achieve this project. When they showed the costing for the materials it was within what we could afford. I talked with Lizamoa showing her the ideas and we agreed to start it.
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The first few weeks it was going well. We were doing some work on the weekends where Mike would show me and I would continue the work during the week as I found the time. We had the 10 posts set for the wooden wall and the area below where the rock wall was going dug out and ready. Now Mike said we would do a big push all in one weekend and get both walls completed. He had arranged for us four men and our wives helping to get the job done.
Well, I left the details to him and when I came home one night I discovered the front lawn had all the materials delivered. There was a large load of the planks for the wall. There was a truckload of rocks and another truck load of some dark black soil. Some other items such as the drain pipes and scoria required were also there as well. Lizamoa came running out to show me not that I could have missed it all over the front lawn and driveway.
The weather was looking fine Saturday morning but there was some rain expected later in the day. It was still early when they all turned up with spades, wheelbarrows and other tools. The girls brought their babies over which we left with my mother.
Soon we got into the work. We laid in the drainage behind both walls and covered it with the scoria and then we began on the walls themselves. While Steve and I were bringing the heavy planks around, Peter started cutting them and then we helped to nail them into place. Meanwhile, Mike and Shanti began on the rock wall as he was bringing the rocks she was placing them into the wall. She appeared to be very skilled at doing that, fitting each rock in as if it was a large puzzle. The other girls were helping with the wheelbarrows of rocks and soil as we required.
By lunch time the job was going well but the clouds were threatening. I knew the rain was not very far off. We pushed on into the afternoon when suddenly the rain started. First, it was light with only fine drizzle but steadily it got heavier. We wanted to get it finished and so everyone was in agreement to continue. Soon we were all soaking wet and the area where we were working quickly turned to thick black mud. The wooden wall was finished and Peter was just cutting the timber for the cap. Lower down the slope, the rock wall was coming along well too.
We began on the garden pool with its little waterfall. First, the smaller pool was placed in the gap we had left at the top of the rock wall and the remaining rocks place in around it. Then we fitted the bottom pool and I got involved in placing the rock surround, like a low rock wall with Shanti while the others continued bringing in more rocks. While Peter fitted the pump and pipe to the top pool, Mike was laying the path and shaping the garden edges while the girls began helping by spreading the soil where they could.
Then we were finished with the rock work and pool surrounding. I stood back to look at it. It was looking very nice and we could see that it was going to be a very nice garden when we were completed. We had just decided we would be finished for the day but the girls were still bringing barrows full of dirt and they were spreading it over the large area in front of the rock wall.
"Let's do that tomorrow," I said to them.
"No Joseph," Lizamoa replied. "We are wet and muddy now. I want to finish this thing."
The others seemed to be in general agreement to this so I grabbed a shovel and began spreading the soil evenly. Then something interesting happened.
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The rain was continuing and there was mud and water all over where we had been working. Then Shanti reached down picking up some muddy dirt; she threw it at me, hitting me in the chest. I turned and saw her grinning but I didn't see Lizamoa who was beside me, picking up a piece of dirt and throwing back at Shanti. Shanti ducked, she missed and it hit Steve.
Steve of course quickly joined in by throwing dirt back at Lizamoa and I went to her aid by throwing dirt at Shanti. Mike was helping his wife but to my surprise, Sharon joined us against her husband. Jenny and Peter joined in too but I have no idea whose side they were on because they seemed to be throwing mud at everyone including each other.
