BBBRRRRR!!!!!!!

It's just a little bit cold here!  According to a neighbour with a minimum/maximum thermometer, it was -12 degrees last night.  I can well believe it too as there was hard ice all over the inside of the windows this morning - usually it's just at the bottom.  Bob and I were actually warm enough last night though and both quite surprised to have slept well without waking up shiverring.  I set the bedroom heater to come on for half an hour at about 3am which seems to make a huge difference.  I usually wake up cold just after that, so I guess it stops that happening and is just enough to keep the chill off.

It has been an absolutely beautiful day here though with the sun shining on the snow.  In fact, at lunchtime we were too hot in the caravan and had to open the door!  Unbelievable, but this tin box does warm up a lot if the sun shines.  The temperature was back down to -5 by four o'clock though, so I think we're in for another chilly night.

I have to confess, this picture is from last year (we don't have quite this much snow yet).  I am just getting so bad at remembering to take photos and it's not until I sit down to write this in the evening that I think 'darn! Should've taken a photo or two'.  I must try harder!  But, I do like this photo, so it's worth sharing.

Spaghetti Junction

Wow, look at the size of that.  Dave, the electrician, leant Bob one of his drill bits to do some of the holes while he was here.  Trouble was that it was so long that Bob couldn't stand back far enough and it did look quite funny.  Did the job though.

The electrician was here Monday to Thursday and got all the first fix done.  That's all the cables in place, but not actually connected.  He was brilliant - he really got on with things, listened to what we said and was very neat and tidy.  All the cables are neatly clipped in place, labelled and taped together where necessary.  I was helping him once, laying the cable along the top of the wall and then through to him in the next room.  That done, he continued to work in the next room running the cable down to sockets.  So, by the time he came back to where I was it was too late!!  I'd forgotten to put the cable under a metal wall tie and he had to clip it up above which completely ruined his neat pattern - oops!  It actually didn't matter - it'll all be covered up - but it spoilt the look for now!

I can't believe how many cables are needed and this is a relatively simple set-up.  Imagine if we'd had centrally controlled mood lighting, curtain opening, loo lid lifting, entry systems and retina scanning like you see on Grand Designs!  I am actually quite disappointed with this picture.  I wasn't quick enough to get a photo before he tidied up and bundled the cables together.  Believe me, before he did that it looked horrendous.  On this wall in the utility room we will have to have all sorts of boxes, so I think we'll hide them all in a cupboard.  When I told the electrician, he looked slightly hurt and said he actually quite likes looking at consumer units!  I managed to take the mick out of him for that for the rest of the week!  We will have to have one normal consumer unit (like the old fuse box), another for the trip switches for the underfloor heating, another for the controllers and contactors (don't ask me - I think they're something to do with doing the heavy switching) for the heating and another for the immersion heater controls.  So, that's most of the utility room used up!

Sparky is quite happy to come back now and then to do the next part in bits as and when we have done the insulation, plasterboard, skimming, etc.  The way it is wired means he could liven up (that's an electricians' term for connecting to the mains don't ya know!) the old house without us having to do anything to the rest.  That means we could move in to that bit!  Yeah! We might get in before the good weather comes . . . . we'll we've missed moving in before the bad weather!

This will be our third winter in the caravan and each have broken records.  The first was the coldest for something like 10 years, the next the coldest for 31 years and now this one has the earliest widespread snow for 17 years!  You can just bet that next winter will break some record by being the mildest since records began!!  We have snow and it is jolly chilly (if the Met Office website is to be believed, we should hit -9 tonight and it won't rise above -3 tomorrow . . . . Brrr!).  This morning the curtains were stuck to the windows by ice and the first loo flush of the day sounds as though there are icecubes going through the system.  So, today we have checked that the lagging is still in place on the pipes under the caravan, re-done the insulation around the outside tap and installed the double-glazing in the caravan.  We use the plastic film that you tape round the edges then warm with a hair dryer so it shrinks tight like a drum (that bit's quite good fun, but we overdid it last year and it started pulling the frames off!).  It does make a bit of a difference and cuts down the condensation, but it does mean you can't open the window so we leave some without so we can still freshen the air.

So, tonight we are having curry for tea . . . . with extra chillies!

Sorry! Forgot the photos.

I'm sorry, I forgot to take any work photos.  I did take some of the view from our garden today though.  We were in brilliant sunshine with clear blue skies, but the quarry was filled with fog with the sun shining down on it making it glow (these pictures don't really show that bit).  It felt as though we were on top of the world and the feeling really reminded me of skiing holidays.  Just fantastic!  Wish Ben had been here with his camera as he'd have done a much better job of the pictures.

The patter of tiny feet . . . . . . on the roof!

Well, here are the twins -  I told you they were mountaineers and explorers!  While there is no real nastiness between the two sets of chickens, Bonny and Peggy do tend to keep out of the way out of Molly and Elvis and usually that is by going upwards.  So, on top of their hen house, balancing on the top rung of the back of the bench outside the caravan, on top of the fence, on a pile of wood . . . . and on the caravan roof!  They started by jumping up onto the water butt, then a short hop up onto the huge oak barrels (which are waiting to be water butts) and then, much to our surprise, up onto the caravan roof where they happily pecked around for a while.  They had no problems getting down - they just flew across to the fence opposite their run.  The rooftop foray is now becoming a regular lunchtime activity.   None of the other chickens have ever really done this sort of thing except the one time I told you about when we'd just got Sid (see 'Two eggs ... now only two chickens').  I guess this is just one of the differences between real chickens and ex-batteries - they have never been stopped from exploring upwards.  As their ancestors and wild cousins roost high up in the trees, it should be natural behaviour.  Just have to remember when one goes missing that we have to look up as well! 

Aswell as going on the caravan roof, Peggy and Bonny seem to have found their way around the place pretty well and, most importantly, know their way back to the run.  So, they are now free to roam around like Elvis and Molly all the time we are around (we do still check on them a bit more often than usual though).  The weather has been pretty yuck the last few days and so it's a bit miserable for them all.  I found the twins sheltering in a half oildrum behind the caravan today, just peering out miserably at the rain - they looked as if they were waiting for a bus!  Yesterday we were just telling our neighbours how reliable Elvis was on the egg front - she hasn't missed a day for weeks.  Guess what?  No egg today!

I've just realised that I haven't put any 'work' photos on here for ages and, after Graham's request for more pictures (see comment on 'The chickens have names'), I will try and remember to take some tomorrow and show you what we've been doing.  It's not very interesting, that's the trouble' but I'll see what I can do.  We have put all the metal studwork up in the padded cell - it looks even more weird now because, as well as the 'padding', it now looks as though it has metal bars all over the walls.  It was quite easy to put up, basically you put a channel along the floor and another along the ceiling and then the I-profile uprights just slot in and slide along to where you want them (the insulation slots between the uprights and you screw the plasterboard onto them too).  This means they don't have to be screwed onto the wall - good idea not to put loads of screws though the plastic bubble-wrap stuff that is suppposed to make the walls waterproof really!  The only complication with this room compared to a normal room is the sloping roof which meant cutting angles on the uprights for the gable end and putting wedges above the top channel so it pointed downwards rather than into the middle of the room along the other walls.  Bob has now started making holes all over the place for cables and pipes - not easy when the walls are 18" thick stone and some of the holes need to be about 6" diameter!  Still, not point in paying the plumber and electrician to do them when we can do them ourselves (now, when I say we . . . . well, it's a bit like digging, I mean Bob).

The plumber came round yesterday to go over final details and he has gone off to order the solar panels and hot water tank.  We also spent yesterday morning at the plumbers merchants (yes, all morning!!!) and have ordered toilets, sinks, bath, taps, etc.  Oh, it's so complicated!  "If you have that sink it has two tap holes . . . . we really wanted a mixer tap . . . . you want a mixer tap - need a different sink then with one tap hole . . . . do you want a pop-up waste or click-clack  . . . . what? what happened to a plug on a chain? . . . ha, ha - haven't done them for ages . . . . . OK, so, click-clack it is then . . . . right, but that mixer tap, it has a pop-up waste . . . . what? it's a tap, what's that got to do with the waste? . . . .  most traditional-style taps come with pop-up waste . . . . so, OK, we'll have a pop-up . . . . shall I cancel the click-clack then?"    and so on for almost three hours!  We should have ordered a shower tray and screen, but we just didn't have the stamina!  Anyway, all that should be delivered on 2 December which is quite exciting.  I've been trying to work out how long it'd take to fill the bath from the kettle?!  Too long is the answer and so I will have to continue to dream about soaking in a deep, hot, bubbly bath with a glass of wine and nothing to do . . . . aahhh, that'll be the day!

The chickens have names

At last, we have come up with names for the new chickens.  The darker brown one is called Bonny - named after the mountaineer Chris Bonnington.  She is forever climbing on things and was on the roof of the hen house (followed by the other one), then up on the wall of the run (followed by the other one).  When we let them out she was straight up on the pile of logs, on top of the fence, on the feed bin (each time followed by the other one).  As she explores more and more, you can almost see her eyeing up piles of things thinking 'I could climb that'. So, naming her after Chris Bonnington seemed logical.  Did think of calling the other one xerox because she is just a copier!  Peggy seemed more fitting for a chicken though.  When she was up on the fence while I was hanging the washing out, she had her head in the peg bag, rattling around to see what was in there.  So, Bonny and Peggy it is.  Just have to hope that their feathers stay slightly different colours until their combs grow otherwise we won't be able to tell them apart.

We have also been getting on with some work by the way, though you wouldn't know it from this blog!  Since finishing the screed, we have built the partition stud walls between the corridor/utility room/bathroom and the corner of the oak bedroom and put the door frames in.  We didn't realise how tall the corridor would look - it is the tall side of the lean-to extension and with the partition wall in you don't see the low ceiling at the other side.  The opening from the stone extension to the oak-frame bit is also quite tall and Bob said that, from the doorway, I looked like a midget when I was standing at that end of the corridor.   We have also built the stud wall against the outside walls in the kitchen (for the insulation) and we're in the middle of doing the same in the upstairs.  It's not a straightforward job - as you can imagine, there is not a straight wall or right angle in the whole place and the walls are not even vertical.  So, it is a case of finding the best fit so as not to lose too much floor space and then all the walls will lean back slightly (just have to try to get them to lean back to the same degree so we can fit plasterboard neatly!  It's a good job we're not having a fitted kitchen - don't think Ikea do anything that would fit this house!  We have also put temporary loft boards on the upstairs floor so we can work up there.  That was a really strange moment - we've never seen the kitchen with a ceiling!  We've also done some more 'rustic plastering' on some walls and rebuilt the chimney breast in the upstairs bedroom.  Yesterday the electrician came round and we tried to sort out cable runs, etc.  Don't think it's going to be straightforward and we'll need to put holes through 18" thick stone walls all over the place to thread them through - ditto for water pipes.  Fun, fun, fun!

Meet the new girls

Well, here they are - no names yet because I can't really tell them apart.  We didn't hear a peep out of them all night.  Really expecting a riot when they all woke up, but it was suspiciously quiet.  So we got up early - couldn't stay in bed for wondering what they were up to.  When we opened the house they were all bumbling around looking a bit bewildered (pobably wondering what that strange baby powder smell was!), but Molly and Elvis came out for their breakfast as usual and the other two stayed in the house.  So, we put a bowl of food in the house for them and then stood back to see what happened.  One of them did venture out and Molly looked a bit surprised, gave her a quick peck and then froze in the submissive way chickens do when they are lower down the pecking order.  Confused chicken I think!  Oh, it would make such an interesting psychological study.  Elvis stayed out of the way then decided this was probably the only time in her life she's had chance to bully anyone, so had a bit of a peck which sent the new one back into the house.  We left them all together for about an hour and, apart from a lot of noisy complaining from Molly, they seem to be OK.

Molly and Elvis are now in the garden with some corn on the cob and the other two have the run to themselves to give them time to get to know where they are and where everything is.  We'll let them out into the wide world once they know where to go back to.

Oh, by the way, welcome to Dad who I've just noticed has registered as a follower of this blog.  I'm up to five now, how exciting!

New arrivals

Exciting news!  We have just been to collect two new chickens.  They are teenager chickens, that is they are young chickens (just 14 weeks old) and not old enough to lay eggs yet.  Technically this is known as 'point-of-lay'.  They are also real chickens (as opposed to ex-batteries) and it seemed quite strange to bring home fully-feathered chickens.  And (sorry, shouldn't start a sentence with 'and'), because they're so young, they don't have proper combs (the red spiky bit on top of their heads), so they look really strange.  In about three weeks they will be old enough to lay eggs and at that stage their combs will grow and turn red and once they start laying, they should be quite reliable

We bought these off some people we know from the smallholders group and asked their advice about introducing them to Molly and Elvis, I explained about the trauma we had when we got Elvis and Myfanwy.  He said that they are bound to fly at each other if there is chicken wire between them and that the best thing is to get young hens and put the new ones into the house in the evening when they are all sleepy and docile.  Another tip was to douse them with talc so that the new ones don't smell like different chickens - they all smell strange.  Now, I'm not sure if we got the wrong end of the stick with this!  We took him literally and sprinkled Molly and Elvis under the arms with baby talc before we went off to pick up the new ones.  The chap said he'd do the new ones and when we checked he said he'd already done it, nodding towards to pot of mite treatment.  Oops, does he just call mite powder talc, or did he really mean baby powder?  We didn't like to ask, but I guess it won't do them any harm and certainly none of them will smell like chickens!

So, we got the new two home at about 6.30pm, Molly and Elvis were tucked up and sleepy in the hen house and we just opened the door and lifted the new ones onto the perch, closed the door, spoke soothing words and left them to it . . . . . . and not a peek or a sqwark did we hear.  I think when it's dark they really don't have much of a clue what's going on and are just too sleepy to bother.  Oh, my goodness, they're all going to have a shock when they wake up!  So far, so good though and we'll just have to wait and see what they're like tomorrow.  Perhaps because the teenager chickens are younger, they'll know their place and be quiet and biddable.  What on earth makes me think teenagers would be anything like that?!!!

So, tomorrow I'll take some photos and I'll let you know as soon as we've decided on names.  Oh, by the way they are Warrens (think that's the same make as battery chickens), so we did think we might call one Warren, but I've been told off for giving them boys names (confuses people you know, but it made me smile when people called Sid 'he' as in 'has he laid any eggs'!).   Did think of Johnson and Johnson in honour of the talc question (and I don't think we'll be able to tell them apart without combs, so having the same name would be handy).  As with all the others, we'll have to get to know them a bit and a name will pop into our heads.