Elvis has a flying lesson

Elvis has been having flying lessons recently and is doing very well.  Getting two 'real' chickens was a real eye opener for us having only had ex-battery ones before.  It made us realise how little the ex-bats use their wings.  I suppose being confined to a tiny space there is no opportunity to stretch their wings let alone fly.  So, Bob has decided to teach Elvis how to fly!  He picks her up and puts her on something (like the trailer) and, eventually, she fly-jumps down.  She is getting better - it only took her about three minutes to pluck up the courage (oops, that's probably not a very tactful phrase to use about a chicken) to leap down today.  She is amazing really, when we first got her not only did she have just three feathers, but she could barely walk and certainly couldn't jump.  Just a two inch drop had her stuck at the top, bless her.

No real news of anything else, just more plasterboarding.  Laura is coming tomorrow for a week's caravan holiday.  Hopefully she won't have to spend hours thawing pipes and melting snow to flush the loo like last time!  Wonder what she's like at plasterboarding?!

Oooh! Our shoulders and necks ache

The plasterboard arrived first thing on Tuesday morning (I hadn't even had chance to dry my hair - what will they think?!).  The lorry parked at the end of the lane and the chap brought them down on the little forklift and plonked them on a pallet to keep them out of the mud (which is absolutely everywhere).   The sky didn't look too promising, so we thought we'd better move them inside before it rained.  We had to carry them up the garden and into the middle barn where there's space to store them flat.  Forty plus 8' x 4' sheets seemed to take forever, were quite awkward and quite heavy.  I kept saying 'Have we done half yet' (just like a kiddy in the back of a car asking if we're nearly there yet), but as it started to spit with rain, the pile didn't seem to get any smaller for ages.  They'd actually given us a couple of extra sheets - 'B*st***ds' was Bob's comment when he realised.  With our arms twice as long as they used to be, dislocated shoulders and sore fingers, we didn't quite see the extras as a bonus (as we should have done and obviously do now).

So, then (well, after I'd dried my hair of course) we cracked on with plasterboarding the bedroom ceiling.  That has to be the most awkward area, so we thought we'd get it out of the way.  We cut the boards to size downstairs to make it a bit easier to get them up the ladder.  As you know, nothing in this house is straight, especially the purlins and so there was then a lot of holding the board in place, taking it down, shaving a bit off here and there, back into place, more shaving and so on.  Not a quick job and is like weightlifting at the gym (not that I know much about that!).  We then ran out of 9mm plasterboard because, with the purlin in the middle it doesn't fit very economically.  Most of what we ordered was standard 12mm, but we thought 9mm would be better for the ceilings as they're lighter (and 3mm extra headroom might make a huge difference!).  So, we'll have to go and collect some more but it'll have to be the smaller boards - we can't really expect them to deliver just three boards.

Last night we had tea at neighbours, Bill and Maggie's with the mohican daughter.  Maggie had got a half price leg of lamb at Sainsbury's and needed someone to share it with, so like good neighbours we said we'd help them out.  Deeee-licious, I can't remember when I last had roast lamb and it was very nice.  Then they came to the smallholders meeting about poultry with us - they're thinking of getting some chickens.  This was the first meeting since the 'People's Revolution' (see 'What a Lovely Day' - 9 Feb), and was really good - a really nice atmosphere and very sociable, with no negativity.  This afternoon we had a break from plasterboarding to help Phil and Ann with their lumberjacking.  Three sycamore trees on their land had to be felled because they were close to power lines and they have spent the last few days chopping the timber up for firewood - loads of it!  So, we had an afternoon in the sun splitting the bigger logs (the contractors had cut them into manageable lengths) while Phil chopped them to size with an axe and Anne stacked.  We only got through a tiny portion, but every little helps.  It's about time we repaid some of our debts - they saved some nice straight pieces for Bob for furniture making, they keep an eye on our chickens when we're away, they helped us put the oak frame up and Phil is going to give us a plaster skimming masterclass . . . . yep, we probably still owe them. 

Molly is looking a bit better, just old now.  We decided to worm them which you're supposed to do every now and then and Molly had one of the classic symptoms . . . . . look away now and I'll whisper . . . . a mucky bum.  You're supposed to mix the powder with their normal food and give them that for 7 days, but when we tried that ages ago they all just stopped eating it!  So since then, we've measured out the week's worth (which is less than 10g) and each day mix a seventh in with something we know they'll like.  The only trouble is that Molly's now a bit slow when it comes to getting stuck in and grabbing treats.  So we've been dividing the medicated bread or whatever into four and trying to give them each their own portion.  What a laugh!  One person has to take Molly to one side and give her hers while the other deals with the other three which mainly involves keeping them away from Molly once they've gulped theirs down - you really need six hands and four feet to keep them away.  Oh, that sounds terrible - like we kick them out of the way . . . .honestly we don't we just 'herd' them with feet!

Photography has resumed

We're back in business - well, apart from the computer . . . .  and the bandsaw.  Well, one out of three's not bad!  Bob had to do the modem-reset thing to get into the internet and we're still waiting for the bearings for the bandsaw.  But we have a new camera - not new actually, Ben has a whizzy SLR camera now and so doesn't use his little one, so we did a deal, called in last night, had a quick lesson and are up and running again.  It has loads more settings and options than ours did which is a bit of a worry.  No doubt it'll be like everything else - cook everything on Gas Mk 6, wash everything on setting number 5, take all the photos on 'normal' mode - easy, that way you don't have to think!

So, after a lovely, lazy weekend away (the weather was rubbish so no choice really - shame, eh?),  We were back to work today.  The plasterboard was supposed to be delivered, but apparently the delivery truck was as dead as a Dodo so it should come tomorrow.  As the bandsaw's out of action, we took the oak for the window sills for the little draft-hole windows in the extension to Dad's at the weekend and cut them there which meant that Bob could get on with them today.  I spent ages drawing pictures - yawn, yawn, yawn!  I drew out all the studwork we've done and took measurements of everything so that when it is covered with plasterboard, we'll know where we can or can't drill and where we're likely to get a fixing for shelves, pictures, etc.  It seemed to take forever and I got very, very bored with it, but I'm glad it's done - it will make life easier in the future.   I thought to start with that I could just take photos and write the measurements on, but as you can see, it's all a bit complicated and wouldn't really work! 

We also used up the last of the battens we have (more coming with the plasterboard tomorrow) on the bedroom ceiling.  I think that will be the first bit to get plasterboarded. 

The chickens didn't seem to have missed us much - too busy pecking away at the savoy cabbage we'd left hung up in the run.  When we got back last night, Bob went to tuck them in and found Molly asleep in the nestbox sitting on top of an egg box full of eggs.  The training is working - they now lay and package the eggs for us, how clever!  Just need to train them to write the date on them and we're sorted.  I've a sneaking suspicion that they had some help from Phil and Ann with the packaging part!  Molly has looked a bit off colour today (maybe it is the stress of putting eggs in a box) so Bob made her some special porridge with chicken tonic in it and she seemed to enjoy that and perk up a bit after.  We'll keep an eye on her - poor old lady.

I forgot to tell you about the hairdressing I've been doing recently.  On Thursday our 16 year old neighbour asked if I'd cut her hair to save her £15 at the hairdressers.  It was a bit stressful!  She has a very smart turquoise mohican with the sides clipped, long green 'sideburns' and a long purple (I think it's purple, but the light wasn't good - ha, ha, not ideal for this sort of job!) bit at the back.  So, I was under strict instructions not to touch the long bits or coloured bits, just use the clippers on the side bits.  It was quite fiddly, I can tell you and at one point I got a bit of mohican caught in the clipper and was horrified to see a turquoise bit come off - luckily Bob was standing by the bin and I quickly picked it up, did a backhand pass and he binned it before she noticed.  Phew - it was actually only a very tiny bit so I didn't feel too guilty!  Anyway, she seemed happy enough with the finished article and I saw her Mum today who said she hadn't heard any complaints.  We do end up doing some bizarre things here, you know.

Everything's broken!

Not having much luck at the moment.  All week we have had real trouble connecting to the internet, the camera has given up the ghost (just too much dust and muck has finally got to it I think) and the bandsaw is broken!  Bob phoned Orange today who said that some maintenance work they had been doing just might have affected our connection, they talked him through a different way to connect which I think resets the modem or something.  This meant we could get in, but I'm not sure if that is it sorted or not - we'll see, but I thought I'd better grab this opportunity for a quick update while I can.  No more photos for a bit I'm afraid!  And then the bandsaw threw a wobbly - literally.  So, we have bearings and belts and stuff on order to see if we can sort it out.  Just when we need it for cutting window sills, oak lintels and so on.

On the positive side, the plumber came and got everything done in one afternoon.  So first fix is complete and the system has been pressure tested.  You cap off all the pipes then pump water through the system.  That can be done with some sort of hand pump or, if mains pressure is good enough you can use a hose pipe.  Our pressure is 6 bar which is quite good I think, so hose pipe it was.  Bob was on tap duty, switching on and off when instructed, the plumber did something with a manifold and I was in the house watching all the pipes.  Suddenly water started pouring out upstairs, really pouring out!  Once everything was off, the plumber realised he'd forgotten to cap one of the pipes . . . .that explains it then!  Easily fixed and then we tried again, no dramas this time, phew.  You then leave the system pressurised for a while and then check all the joints for hissing, dripping or spurting.  Reminds me of my childhood which was mostly spent in awkward positions checking copper pipe joints for leaks as Dad tested his latest addition to the plumbing system of our house - see this is all in my blood!  We are now ready to get on with a whole lot of plasterboarding and so ordered a delivery for Monday.  Then it will really start to look different.  It will be very strange and probably a bit annoying not to have loads of little shelves in the form of the studwork for putting tape measures, pencils, mugs, radio, etc on.  Not being able to see through walls will also be time-consuming - we'll have to walk INTO rooms to look for things!

Yesterday we did lots of bits and pieces, the last bits of studwork, last bits of insulation around the re-routed pipes, a mock-oak-post in the bedroom to hide some cables and wires.  When I say mock, it is real oak, but the post doesn't actually do anything structurally.  Then today we have been doing more domestic things - usual Sainsbury's/launderette trip and lunch out for a treat.  We are off visiting for the weekend - calling at Laura's, then to Mum and Dad's for  couple of nights and then to Bob's Dad's on Sunday and finally a cuppa with Ben and Lucy - so we have also had to do stuff to make ourselves presentable in the outside world.  Boots are now polished, car has been cleaned, jeans washed and so on. 

As I can't take any photos at the moment, here's a couple from last year.  We had so many babies to keep an eye on last year - it was quite a responsibility.  Blue tits nested in the wall in the chicken run and when they fledged two of them just sat on the path tweeting.  They were just soooo cute!  The parents eventually collected one, but the other was left by itself.  We kept an eye on it from a distance, but eventually had to get on so we put it in the chicken run and shut the door so the chickens (or any other predator) couldn't get it.  The blue tits can obviously get in and out through the wire, so the parents wouldn't have any trouble.  Later in the day, it was still there and not looking too perky.  We had to go out, so had to put the chickens in the run.  So I made a 'nest' from moss, put the baby in it and put it on the roof of the run where the parents could find it.  When we got back it had 'gone to sleep'!  Aaah, it was very sad.  We also had a wrens nest in the top of the wriggly barn and actually watched the babies fledge.  What a way to waste a whole afternoon!  They took ages deciding whether to come out or not, getting right out and scurrying back in.  Now, if you think baby blue tits are cute, you should see baby wrens - just little brown balls of fluff.  This one sat right next to me while I was hanging the washing out and then waited patiently while I got the camera.  We also had three robins nests - I think it was actually the same pair.  The first nest was really low down in the grass bank the other side of the lane - doomed from the start I think.  One baby had hatched and there were a couple of eggs when the nest got pulled out and destroyed by something.  The parents then got busy on a much more sensible site in the top of the wriggly barn (opposite end to the wrens) and they all fledged when we weren't looking.  Without a pause, the adults started on the next nest and we saw the newly fledged chicks in the hedge one evening.  The nuthatches used last year's woodpecker nest hole in the half dead beech tree behind the caravan and brought their babies to show us and Laura was treated to a real show with them hopping about on the fence in the wren picture and along the hedge behind the caravan.  The young greater spotted woodpeckers came to the peanuts a few times and the young buzzards drove us mad with their incessant seagull-like calling all day.  I have already told you about the baby tawny owl that entertained us one evening with its bobbing and funny calls.

The reason for all the talk of baby birds is that it is obviously on the minds of the birds around here.  They all have their very smartest outfits on, the robins and nuthatches are actually hanging around in pairs instead of chasing each other off and they've all started singing their little hearts out.  It's quite noisy sometimes!  Earlier in the year, the electrician was here helping us move the electric box before we built the extension and he said 'It's like being in a flippin' jungle round here!'.

The Building Inspector's happy!

They don't exactly give you any praise, a pat on the back or housepoints, but today the inspector said he's happy for us to carry on as we are without him checking anything else (well apart from drains) until completion.  I think we can take that as praise - he obviously  trusts us not to cut too many corners or bodge things.  Woo hoo, so we can do what we like now!  For once, he was actually quite chatty and didn't beatle off after two minutes.

Today we decided to tackle the window reaveals.  We want them to curve into the window rather than be square as they usually are with the insulation and plasterboard we have had to use.  We managed to track down some flexi-ply - not easy as nowhere seems to stock it.  We've then screwed this to the battens and bent it round into the window reveal and then attached it to another batten.  Trouble is, it's too flexi and moved when poked, so we had to take it off again, make curved ribs, attach more battens and re-attach it.  So, the first one took ages, but hopefully the rest will be quicker now we've devised our method.  This will all be skimmed, so hopefully you won't see the join between plasterboard and plywood.

The plumber's still due tomorrow - lunchtime rather than first thing, but fingers-crossed he will actually come this time!

Bob kept finding little chocolate hearts everywhere today . . . . . wonder where they came from?  Happy Valentine's!!

At last, we have some help on site . . . .

Here's our new helper - Peggy was quite interested in the pointing I was doing around the kitchen door.  Actually, she was more interested in eating the mortar I think!  She had previously been up nearly to the top of the scaffold tower to see what was going on up there.

The plumber didn't come on Thursday or Friday.  He's a nice bloke, but he's awful at organising his time, answering phone calls, etc.  I guess it's hard to know exactly how long a job will take and plumbers often have emergencies to attend to which must play havoc with schedules, but I don't think he quite realises what it's like at the other end of things trying to plan around him.  Anyway, he's promised he'll be here Tuesday morning.  So, we have been getting on with all sorts of little jobs that need doing before we can plasterboard.  Bob has put in two plywood window sills - we were going to have oak or something, but money's getting short!  Not really, it's not quite that bad yet - these sills are in the kitchen behind the sink and in the utility room, so they will be tiled.  It's surprising the difference a neat flat surface (even if it is only plywood) makes - just looks much more finished and tidy.  Bob cut right through the saw-horse doing one of those!  He did think it was taking a while to saw through the ply, but just didn't click!  So, we now have a slightly shorter saw-horse.  He has also done three pretend oak lintels.  As we have had to insulate the outside wall in the kitchen the wall is much further into the room than the original wall and so the original oak lintels will get lost in the wall, so we have put another (non-structural) piece of oak in front to keep the look.  The one above the door to the hall is to cover the metal joist-hangers and new concrete lintels.  That one was a bit tricky as it had to have cut-outs for the ends of the joists and he had almost finished shaping it when the end piece split off - aaarrghhh!  Again, this is just decorative and not structural so we just glued it back together.  The building inspector is coming on Monday to check the oak beams, etc - it'd be really funny if he thought that was a structural lintel that we'd glued together!  I helped Bob put it into place, but as we were trying to get it into place it felldown (think I'll have quite a bruise on my arm where I tried to catch it).  You've guessed it - the end piece flew off again as it crashed on the floor!  So now we've put it in place separately, glued and clamped it in place and will see tomorrow if it looks OK.  I have been doing a bit more studwork - all sorts of fiddly bits like the triangular pieces to the roof upstairs and round the window, pipes and cables in the utility room.  As you've seen, Peggy and I have also pointed around the kitchen and extension doorframes - they look much more part of the building once the join is covered up.  I mortarred in the ends of the latest oak beams in the kitchen and covered over the top of the bread oven (above it, not inside it).  The inside of the bread oven is a lovely brick dome, but on top of it is just filled in with rubble and dust.  So the layer of mortar tidies that up and we will be able to use the space between that and the ceiling as some sort of really awkward cupboard.  It is a good arms-length deep, but only about a foot high, so I think we'll have to come up with some cunning sliding thing for storing baking trays or similar.

We did give ourselves some time off this afternoon to watch England beat the pants of the Italians in the Six Nations - yeah!!  Last year we went to the pub in the village to watch the England/Wales match - although we are about three miles inside England, there was only us and one other chap shouting for England!  After watching this afternoon, we went for a walk around our 'estate'.  Spring is definitely in the air and all sorts of things are shooting up in the garden - I just wish I could remember what/where everything is.  At least then I'd have a chance of knowing whether the little green things are supposed to be there or are going to turn into some monster weed!  I made a ginger cake this afternoon (started at half time and finished after the rugby) so when we got back to the caravan, there was a lovely warm, gingery, cakey fug - that has to be one of the most homely smells I know, yum!

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!

So, what did happen on Sunday?

I think I've left you with the cliffhanger about how we spent last Sunday for long enough.  We have neighbours, Bill and Maggie, who moved here a couple of months before us and are doing a similar renovation.  They have teenage children living at home so lived in three static caravans while they did up the cottage and outbuildings.  They moved into the cottage before Christmas and so wanted to get rid of at least one of their caravans - free to anyone who'd move it.   We have other neighbours, Barb and Darren, who bought the cottage down the bridleway from us, ready renovated, last August and have been visiting at weekends, but are hoping to move in properly in the next few weeks. She's the one who takes the three-legged alsation for a walk in the pushchair.  As their cottage is tiny (just one bedroom but with planning permission to extend) they need somewhere to store some of their stuff.  And so a deal was done, they'd have Maggie and Bill's van and the local farmer would move it with his tractor for a few quid.  So, on Sunday morning we were having a coffee and heard the tractor labouring along and then saw the caravan sail past the end of our lane.  From our bit of woodland you can look across a small field to Barb and Darren's cottage, so we went up there to watch the caravan being delivered.  All seemed to go well to start and the tractor did a good job, no problem with the steep slope down to the cottage.  Towards the bottom though the lane narrows and twists and . . . . . you can guess, I'm sure.  I was amazed to watch them continue on until the caravan was stuck skewed across the lane with one side up on the bank and the other through the new fence on the other.  And then they carried on a bit more until one corner was jammed behind a tree and it was even more stuck!  We decided that they might need a bit of help manhandling it back up the hill a little before trying to straighten it up and so we walked round the bridleway to offer.  By the time we got there, their neighbour (Mr P) who owns the fence the caravan had gone through and who they have already had numerous fallings-out with, was on the scene.  He has a bit of a reputation for a fiery temper and had all guns blazing banning Darren from setting foot on his land.  There was all sorts of name-calling, none too sweet language and accusations flying and Mrs P had called the police.  Bill, Bob and I were a bit reluctant to just leave them to it as it could really have got out of hand and with Darren banned from Mr P's land they would need someone else to help unstick the van.  Anyway, the police arrived and listened to everyone's side of the story and it turned out that the person they could arrest for criminal damage would be the farmer as he was driving.  Now the farmer is also renowned for his fiery temper and that didn't go down well at all!  In the end the police lady got them to agree to move the caravan between them, Darren to provide materials to renew the fence and Mr P and the farmer to do the work.  Once that was resolved everyone did actually work quite well together (albeit with a good deal of swearing, mutterings and derogatory remarks and Darren still not allowed on their land).  The fence posts had to be pulled out, concrete and all which Mr P did with his big digger - a bit heartbreaking for him as it's not long since he'd put them in.  They then managed to reverse the van a bit, staighten it up with a few (not so) gentle nudges from the digger and then they just dragged it forward.  With tree trunks, branches and bits of fence dragging along the side it made an awful, screeching noise.  It got stuck again and had to be forced through with the help of the digger behind, then the axle broke and so it was also being dragged along the ground.  When they finally got it into the field it was certainly a sorry sight with corners missing, holes in the side and listing badly to one side because of the axle.  A fair few metres of new fencing was heaped in a pile for firewood and Darren's new gatepost lay ripped from it's concrete base next to the deep gouges in the lane.  The police had stayed to make sure the lane was cleared without any further trouble between the neighbours and once that was done, they left and everyone went their separate ways.  The joys of living in the nice, quiet, peaceful countryside where everyone is friendly and helps each other out, eh?!  Don't think that relationship will ever be patched up somehow, which is a real shame.  I don't think the farmer would be too keen either if we asked him to move our caravan when we're ready to get rid of it!

On the house front, we have finished putting the kitchen door in and are really please with it.  No silly mistakes with the knobs this time.  So, now we have to lock two doors at night and our special burglar-proof plastic is redundant.  We do still use that in the oak-frame bedroom windows and the end barn door!  We have put some plasterboard on the bit of ceiling above the stairway - we weren't sure if we'd still be able to put the scaffold tower up once the rest of the oak beams were in place and so tried to get as much done up there as we could.  As it happens, I think the tower will just fit which is actually a relief because there's still a fair bit to do there.  I thought once the plasterboard was up the ceiling would look a bit more 'finished', but with all the screws and joints showing it doesn't.  The oakwork is almost finished - we should get the last chamfers and sanding done tomorrow and then we can go and get the timber for the studwork for the en-suite, get that up and we'll be ready for the plumber at the end of the week.

We are going to have a go at making our own paint!  To buy breathable paint for the stone walls would cost a fortune - you're talking Farrow & Ball prices rather than Dulux - and we'll need loads.  So, we've done some research into limewash which is basically lime putty watered down and put on in lots of very thin coats.  Very traditional and exactly what would have been on the walls originally.  You can add artists pigments to make whatever colour you want.  Luckily for us, the builders merchants has had some big tubs of lime putty in their yard for ages.  On the tub it says to protect from frost, but this wasn't and has been out in all the freezing weather.  Bob checked with the manufacturers (Castle Cement) and apparently it doesn't matter if it freezes so long as it defrosts slowly and fully before you use it and it is actually better the longer it is kept.  Most literature recommends you buy it at least 6 months before you want to use it!  We had a chat with the Manager and he let us have a tub for a fiver!  What a bargain - it should make loads and so save us loads (I might ask him if we can have another tub).  It is definitely 'in keeping' and I can't wait to have a go, but we must remember that this is the dangerous stuff that dissolves your skin - protective clothing must definitely be worn. 

Well, this is the 50th post and has been a long one and no pictures!  I'll have to find some photos for the next one.  Guess what, as well as someone as far away as New Zealand, I now have a Catholic nun who reads my blog - so, hello to Sister Mags.  As Laura is to become a Buddhist nun at Easter, this is turning out to have quite a multi-national/cultural/religious readership!  The more the merrier I say.

Fire! Fire!!

Yes, we've had a fire . . . luckily no major damage and no-one was hurt!  Actually, it was a well controlled fire in our new woodburner!   Now, how's that for excitement?  We just got fed up with it being cold - too cold for vrnish, silicone, mortar and too cold for fingers to work properly for fiddly oak joints, etc - so we (well me really) decided we should go and collect the small woodburner we bought in the Autumn and temporarily install it in the kitchen fireplace as we have already installed the flue in there (we did that about a hundred years ago when the builder re-built the chimney).  The other, bigger woodburner has a backboiler so needs plumbing in before you can use it and we'd have to lay the quarry tiles on the floor before it could go in.  This one was a quick job to do, just a connector piece (£75!!!!) and a bit of fire cement and we were ready to go.  I have to say it didn't light too easily, it was really windy which I don't think helped but we did get it going eventually.  Just makes you wonder when the last time smoke went up that chimney (I think your can just see smoke in the picture).  When I cleared the bread oven out a while ago, I found some old newspaper dated just before the 2nd world war - sad really, it was full of optimism about peaceful settlements, etc.  Also in there were some little logs - obviously there to dry out.  Well, they'd certainly done that, most of them crumbled to nothing when I moved them, but a few stayed together so I kept them to put on our first fire, and that's what we did . . . soppy really, but it is nice to have a connection to the house's past. 

We didn't get much done on Monday afternoon for looking at the fire and then Roy and Sophie popped in having seen smoke coming from the chimney on their walk.  No sooner had they gone than there was a knock at the door (!!!! still a novelty !!!) and it was the plumber calling on the off-chance that we'd be here.  While he was here Phil and Ann (neighbours who look after our chickens when we're away and fellow smallholder quiz team members) called in curious to see where the smoke was coming from.  By the time everyone had gone, it was past 5pm, so hardly worth starting anything!

Having said that, the plumber did some work - he sorted out the pipework for the outside tap and for the radiator upstairs.  We also discussed the Building Inspector's comments about the pipes on the cold side of the insulation.  He thought it was an overreaction and it had never been queried before and he was sure they would never freeze.  However, the seed of doubt had been sown and it is certainly easier to change now than later (and Bob would worry about it).  So we spent yesterday ripping out the lovely silver insulation upstairs followed by £200- £300 worth of plumbers work ready for him to reconnect it all following a different route next week.  It is fair to say that I was well and truly piddled off yesterday!  It took me ages to fit insulation around all these blessed pipes and now, because it's too expensive to just throw away and cut nice new square bits, I had to rip it out and then fit more insulation in the bits where the pipes had been!  Anyway, I've cooled off now and Bob has cut bits out of the studwork to make an easy route for the pipes between the plasterboard and the insulation, so I guess it's a good job done.

Today we hung the kitchen door, it hasn't got the lock or knobs yet, but we can close it to keep the heat in from the fire!  One of the reasons it hasn't got knobs, etc yet is that we did a couple of really silly things when we were doing the other one.  They have a threaded bar that goes through the door and the knobs screw onto and then little grub screws you tighten so the knob doesn't come off when you pull.  We put the bar in place though the lock and screwed the knobs on each side to see how long it needed to be, unscrewed them and cut the bar to length.  Didn't realise that the grub screws were done up and had stopped the bar going all the way in - derrr!  So that bar was no good now!  I then unscrewed one of the grub screws . . . . all the way dropping it in a pile of rubble and dust - gone forever.  Oh, it wasn't a good day.  We tried all over to get replacements with no luck and so eventually I had to confess to the company we'd bought them from and they were brilliant and put replacements in the post which arrived this afternoon.  'From The Anvil' is the company (where we've got all the window and door furniture) and they are brilliant - highly recommended!

I need to tell you about the way we spent Sunday sometime - neighbourhood disputes, caravans and narrow lanes and the police.  No time now as tea is ready, but I will do soon.