A lot of progress this week. The cladding on the exterior is finished as it can be until we get the ranch slider.

A lot of early mornings and we are getting really worn out.

Electricians did a big day and got all of the wiring in. The house is looking a lot more finished.

Ouch!

Saturday afternoon we were chopping wood to be shorter with a drop saw to fit in our pot belly fires. The wood got caught in the blade, it forced Rowan’s left hand back toward the metal plate and it squashed the tip of his finger between the wood and the metal. Our ute has a special additive in it to fix a leak so I couldn’t drive it. I rushed over to our neighbour Silvija and Jim and I asked Silvija if I could use her truck, I am not certain I even used my manners. We got to the Oamaru hospital around 3pm and it took 2 hours to be seen by a nurse to triage him. Then a longer wait before the doctor finally saw him. The took an xray and the doctor said the bone has been smooshed. Luckily it didn’t get the knuckle just the very tip. But the nail broke through the skin and the whole nail bed detached. It looked bloody gruesome like he chopped half his finger off. The doctor couldn’t do much and gave him some iv antibiotics cleaned it and wrapped it. A little bit of laughing gas as the wrapped it but only paracetamol and ibuprofen for the pain. Rowan was told that Dunedin hospital will call tomorrow to let us know when to come in for surgery. Five hours later we left Ōamaru hospital, I got some tramadol for him. Silvija and Jim made us dinner and let us shower at their place. They also said we can use their fancy ute on Sunday. 

Bit of a side story, Kate here is not used to modern vehicles and I couldn’t work out how to get the ute into reverse. Trying as hard as I can just keep getting into 6th gear. I asked Rowan to come out and put it into reverse. I even tried googling. My sister Sarah suggested I try pull it up first, it was a great hint as this one is push down! These mod cons I am not used to at all haha.

Sunday morning we get a call at 8.30am to get our butts to Dunedin as soon as possible. Arriving there about 10am and he went into surgery by 12pm and was out by 2pm. Rowan was really worried he would loose his finger tip and was certain he would loose his nail. Well the nail came out in surgery but the surgeon reattached the nail bed. Overall it was a success. Rowan gave me his nail in a jar (how nice of him). We left the hospital just after 4pm and had to go to the pharmacy to get all his drugs before getting back to Herbert. The lovely Silvija and Jim made us dinner and gave us a shower. We are very lucky to have their support! 

With a man down, I had the lovely Laura drop everything and come down to Palmerston to help me get the insulation in. It was such a big help. We got a good amount done.