Since I last wrote we've been doing more little jobs.  Today we got our upright freezer down from the top barn.  It has been temperamental for a while and so we bought a chest freezer last year and have been using that.  Now, a chest freezer's OK for storing meat or excess fruit and veg, but it's difficult to get to everyday things.  I have to lift the basket of bread out, then the basket of sausages and chicken to get to the stuff at the bottom.  So, we're giving the upright freezer another chance.  It has now been well and truly cleaned and all the autumn leaves have been removed from the back of it (there's a gap between the roof and the wall in the top barn that leaves blow through).  It is in the utility room and we'll try switching it on tomorrow once its juices have settled - I hope it works because it's a really good size and very easy to get to everything. 

Another of today's jobs was to put Bob's new toy together.  He bought a router table last week - ready for making window frames.  I can only assume that the table was made in China or somewhere and then Axminster Tools put their stickers all over it because the instructions were absolute rubbish!  Why, oh why doesn't someone English go through the instructions and actually try putting the thing together following them?  It really would have been easier not to look at the booklet and just get on with it . . . . actually isn't that what blokes are supposed to do anyway - guess that explains why Axminster don't see the need to improve the instructions!

We also unpacked the cooker and put it in place (darn, should have taken a photo - suppose I should have taken one of the router table too?) and then started sealing the kitchen floor.  I say started because we ran out of sealer - how very, jolly annoying!  Bob has also cut all the beading to go round the joints between floor and walls (we're not having skirting board, just a 12mm quadrant bead to cover the joint), we oiled them and went to pin them down only to discover we didn't have the right size panel pins - how very, jolly annoying!  Think I feel a shopping trip coming on.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our more successful ventures of the last few days:

The shower tidy we got from . . . . guess where?
Yep, Ikea.  We have now also installed soap and shampoo
as we do try to use that shower instead of the caravan one
(so long as the sun's been shining to warm the water)

And here's another Ikea purchase.  This is also in the ensuite
and saves us blocking the window with a bit of cardboard when
using the shower.  It is also much easier to just tilt the blind closed a bit
than to try to pull your trousers up while half squatting to prevent giving a full view
of everything for dog-walkers and horse-riders after you've been to the loo!

Here's the new door knocker, so people don't have to yell to get
our attention.  This is from the same shop as the Iron Chicken.  It was
mounted on a scrappy piece of stained wood and painted with brown paint
for an authentic old iron look.  So, after removing it from the wood, wire-brushing
it and treating with the blacking stuff we used on the bread oven door, it looks
much better and gives a real loud, resounding knock.



Here's the new look 2nd fireplace in the kitchen.  It looks quite
startlingly different now it has been painted and the iron blacked.
A little too startling in fact - I think the paint needs to be more colourful.
Obviously it's not finished yet, we're still sorting out tiles.



And here's another fireplace - our bedroom.  Thought you'd like to
see the difference the linseed oil and turps mix makes - quite
striking isn't it?  The oiled bricks do lighten up a bit once they're dry,
but they do look a bit more lively.



And finally, we've covered up those darned drain pipes and very
glad to see the back of them we are too!  We took up some cobble stones from
the far end of this bit and we were going to try laying them back properly,
but changed our minds in the end and have just layed a few here and
there in the gravel, along with some bricks and limestone pavers - so
much quicker and easier!  It now reminds us of an archeological dig
 . . . we're just unearthing a Roman pavement. 



We have a new chicken!

We have a new chicken which we collected last week - a cockerel!  So far the girls haven't really taken much notice of him and he just sits around in the garden by himself while they go about their normal business.  He does remind me of the Iron Chicken in the Clangers . . . . . that's because he is an iron chicken (or cockerel) and not actually a real one!  He sits on his perch on a stick and nods backwards and forwards if the wind catches him or if you push him slightly (which I have to do every time I walk past him).

We went to see Ben for his birthday on Thursday/Friday which made a nice break.  On the way home we called in at Ikea in Birmingham - oh, we just love it there!  We went to look at settees - they are just so much cheaper than anywhere else.  We saw one we quite liked and it was sooo comfy (mind you, anything is after the caravan setees).  We couldn't find any leaflets about it though so we asked the operative who said 'It comes as a two seater, three seater or chair and that's the only colour it comes in' - so, I guess you don't really need a leaflet.  We thought we'd check on the internet when we got home for measurements, etc.  It isn't on their website at all!  So, I rang them to ask about it and the girl on the phone hadn't even heard of it.  The mystery sofa obviously!  Eventually she found it, confirmed the details we'd been told and also told me you can't order it online . . . . . or by phone.  You have to go into the store to order it and then they'll deliver it - aaaarrrrghhhh!  We'll have to go to Ikea AGAIN - that'll be three times in one year!  Not to worry, we spent £50 on other things we didn't go to get while we were there!

On Wednesday the plumber came to fix the latest leaks and - fingers crossed, touch wood, etc - we have been leak-free ever since.  While he was here he bent some copper pipe for us to fit the slope of the ceiling in the bathroom.  We are going to get it powder-coated (there's a firm in town that will do that for us) and use it for the shower curtain rail.  It should look quite good.  I got some curtain rings with little pegs on the bottom so I can cut a shower curtain to fit the slope and won't have to worry about how to attach the rings . . . .. they were from Ikea!  The plumber thought he might be able to make his fortune making bespoke shower rails - maybe we'll have to patent the idea.  He also had a go at tweaking the solar pump.  I know the weather hasn't been that brilliant for mid-summer, but we felt that the panels should be working better than they were.  They seemed to get the water in the tank up to about 47 degrees and then wouldn't get it any hotter.  He agreed they should do much better than that.  The pump switches on and off all the time as the temperature on the roof rises and falls.  The difference between the roof temperature and the tank temperature controls the switching on and off.  It was set to come on when the roof was 8 degrees hotter, as the heat is transferred to the tank the roof temerature falls and the pump switched off when the difference dropped to 5 degrees.  So he changed those settings to 10 and 3 degrees which means that the pump is working for longer.  We all stood in the lean-to for ages watching the display to see if it made a difference, but then the sun went in which wasn't very helpful.  Today has been a good sunny day and the tank got up to 57 degrees - much better, but we should be able to get a bit hotter.  He is coming back next week for another play.  You can also alter the flow rate which should make a difference, so fingers-crossed for a sunny day on Wednesday so he can sort it out properly.   57 degrees give plenty of hot for a nice long shower anyway.

Since we got back from Ben's we've been working on the drains which take the rainwater from half the house roof and the extension.  We've been waiting ages for some of the bits, but they were finally in yesterday, so no excuse not to get on with it.  We found an old clay drain which we thought we could use, but on closer inspection it didn't really go far enough and so the water would have been dumped too close to the house.  We then thought we could use part of it as a duct, put a plastic pipe though and then tee off it to join the other pipe that goes to a proper soakaway.  So, Bob has gradually dug all the trenches, located the old pipe and broken through it and we were all ready to go.  As we've been putting it together though we've gradually worked our way up the clay pipe, taking out a section, thinking we could use the rest, taking out another section and so on until we have no clay pipe left at all.  Well, it seemed a good idea at the time!  We had real trouble getting the right fall on the pipes so the water would flow the right way and the clay pipe was actually making things worse, so it had to go.  On the positive side though it did mean that that section was easier to dig as it had been dug before which was a real bonus.  Bob had to get through solid rock in some other bits - hard, hard work.



Our drain-spider!

 With so many pipes all connected, it took us ages to get all the levels right, but it is done now and we're jolly glad to see it covered over.  Just need a bit more gravel to finish covering it, but that's fairly staighforward to do another day.  Phew!  Back to nicer jobs tomorrow like grouting the kitchen tiles, painting, installing the shampoo/soap shelf in the shower (another Ikea buy - they are good for some things!), etc.

We now have a little spirit level to go on the new mantlepiece in the kitchen.  Bob's dad had his dad's (so Bob's grandad's) which is perfect, just needs a bit of a polish up.  Then the next day my mum and dad rang to say they'd hunted high and low in their workshop and found an old rosewood and brass spirit level which would be perfect.  Well now, spirit levels appear to be a bit like buses don't they?  Bob thinks its fantastic - in his book, you just can't have too many tools around and I'm sure there'll be another spot where we'll have to prove levelness on a regular basis.

What a lovely day

Yes, it has been lovely here for the last couple of days, especially yesterday when  I had to drive over to Welshpool first thing to pick up a shower tray.  I saw several buzzards sitting on hedges and fence posts enjoying the sun, snowdrops along the bottoms of all the hedges, blue skies and sunshine - frosty but beautiful.  It really feels as if spring is in the air (we do keep reminding ourselves that it is still only February).  Best of all though was . . . no wind!  It really has been horrendous for the last few days.  Usually we hear the wind in the tops of the trees, but don't get too buffeted in our little sheltered hollow, but Thursday and Friday night were actually quite scary with the caravan being rocked and the wind howling all around.  Apart from the wheelbarrows being knocked over and lots of little twigs everywhere, there was no damage at all which really surprised us.  Needless to say, by Saturday we were both shattered as we'd had very little sleep for two nights.

We have now got all the studwork up for the en-suite upstairs - it's a bit complicated and either looks like a mad climbing frame or (if we painted it black) the wall of a Chinese restaurant.  We have managed to squeeze in a 1200mm x 900mm shower which isn't huge, but will be pure luxury after the tiddly thing we have in the caravan - you really are in trouble if you drop the soap! Hopefully, the plumber should be coming tomorrow or Friday and he can now put in the pipes for the shower and basin in there as well as re-routing all the pipes we had to take out last week.  Don't think he'll be very pleased with that bit, but I guess it would always be a niggle at the back of our minds during really cold weather, so best done.

On Monday night I went on a free taster course in Calligraphy which was quite good.   You obviously can't get very far in two hours, but better than nothing (and free!).  I had signed up for the 5 week course, but only two other people had enrolled so it was cancelled and they did this instead.  Tonight we are off to a pub in a nearby village for a Smallholders committee meeting.  The Chairman and Treasurer (a married couple) have both resigned over the purchase of computer and projection equipment with a grant a member had managed to get for us.  They would be useful for speakers who want to show pictures or have Powerpoint presentations, we could set up slideshows when we have stands at local shows and design leaflets and posters. They didn't think it was a good idea and have stalled the purchase for months and took umbrage at the rest of us trying to get on with it.  All sorts of accusations have been made and so we have a lot of sorting out to do to make sure the group keeps running smoothly without them.  Small committee politics, eh?  At least we can have a beer while we sort it out!