Wrens nesting

So, what have we been up to since I last blagged, blug . . . . maybe it's just blogged?  Well, last Thursday we went for a cuppa at Bill and Maggie's.  We felt really bad because they had come to visit earlier in the day with tales of woe about their heating system, but we were at a critical stage of skimming and so couldn't really stop to lend an ear and so they went home with no cup of tea or anything.  Poor things!  So, as soon as we'd finished we went round to theirs bearing cookies to give solace in their hour of need.  They really have had a tough time with their cutting edge ground source heat pump.  That works by pumping glycol through underground pipes, this absorbs the heat and then, by some sort of magic, the heat is transferred and increased and is pumped around the underfloor heating system.  It works in the same way as a fridge exchanges heat for cold, but the opposite way round.  Anyway, Bill put the underground pipes in ages ago, the underfloor heating has been installed for ages and the two just need to be connected.  This stage involves their plumber and electrician and the chap from the ground source company, so not easy to get them all together at once.  The first date for this was arranged at the beginning of December and about five times since, but each time something has gone wrong.  Parts haven't been available, they had the wrong water tank, the engineer didn't bring enough glycol, pipes have been crossed at the manifold, the engineer broke down on the motorway, the engineer called in sick, you name it it's gone wrong . . . and still it goes on.  So, they have had a whole winter without their underfloor heating and using electric to heat all their water.  Quite understandably, they were well and truly down in the dumps about it.  Everyone's booked again for next week I think, so watch this space!

On Friday and Saturday, we helped Ben and Lucy move into their new flat.  Very nice it is too, clean, spacious and modern - the only trouble is that it's up two flights of stairs.  No problem at all normally, but I dread to think how many trips up and down them we made over the two days carrying boxes, bags, TVs, wardrobes, sofa, etc.  When we got home my calf muscles had just about given up the ghost!  Don't think I need to go to the gym this week!

On Sunday, we had a day off and went to the garden centre.  We bought seed potatoes, shallots and beetroot and leek seeds.  We are somewhat limited in what we can plant at the moment on account of the multitude of giant rabbits that visit our garden!  We have a heap of soil in the garden which we covered with horse muck and a tarpaulin last year - it will eventually get spread out over part of the garden, but not until we have time to do something with it, so we thought we could poke a few potatoes in there in the meantime.  So, we pulled back some of the tarpaulin and planted them and this morning . . . . a flippin' rabbit has burrowed into the heap, aaarrrrgh!  I'm going to look up some rabbit casserole recipes I think!

We have done some more skimming.  I had the first go at doing a ceiling yesterday - I didn't get as messy as I thought I would . . . well not quite!  So, now all the utility's done except the ceiling, all the bathroom's done and Bob has made a start on the upstairs.  We also did some good, old-fashioned lime plaster yesterday, finishing off all sorts of bits - it seemed really strange slapping it on with your hands after doing the ultra-thin, very smooth skimming.  Today we had an exciting morning choosing tiles and light fittings.  We have ordered our bedroom light and the one for the end barn bedroom (which I've had my eye on for ages, but only just persuaded Bob about) and finally got the last two lights for the kitchen.  We chose some lovely tiles for the bathroom walls (just around the bath/shower) - plain white, but with a texture that reminds me of slate, so as we have slate for the floors that should all tie-in nicely.  We'll then brighten it all up with red towels or something.  I think we've also decided on the floor in the hall.  We wanted a hard floor so that people can come in in their boots, etc and originally we were thinking quarry tile type thing, but it's all soooo expensive!  We found some ceramic tiles we quite liked for £25 a square metre, but then went in the paint shop and they had a pallet of slate mosaic tiles for just £8.50 a square metre . . . that's a difference of over £200 for the hall and utility!  So, we laid some slate in the hall and the samples of the ceramic tile and asked Pam the postlady what she thought.  She was adamant it should be the slate.  We then asked the chickens, but they couldn't make up their minds really, so I think we'll go with Pam's decision.  We'll probably have to go and get them tomorrow because I think they're a one-off and when they're gone they're gone.

This is the beautiful little nest a wren built in the middle barn (which will be the lounge) last spring.  Apparently, they build several and then select one to use and they didn't actually use this one.  Since then, we have built the timber extension which blocks off the little draught hole they used to use to get in.  The only way in for them now is to walk under the temporary chipboard door into the 'lounge', or to fly though the little gap in the door to the nextdoor barn and then through to the 'lounge'.  So, Bob was very surprised when he went in there yesterday to find two wrens checking out the nest.  One gave him a really hard time, sitting on the ladder chirping angrily at him!  We thought they wouldn't come back after being disturbed, but one was there again this morning when I went in.  It must be the same pair as last year who've remembered it was there and worked out how to get to it a different way - very impressive really.  It would be quite nice if they nested in there - we won't be doing any work in there before they've finished.  We have said, though, that we'll make sure we go in and out a few times each day.  That way, it's their choice if they decide to nest where humans are in and out.  Better that than let them think we don't go in there and then they get disturbed later with chicks in the nest.  The reason we left the nest is that I'd quite like to keep it in the wall - we could put perspex over it and a frame around it - I think it may be where a light is going though so we'll have to see.

Dot'n'dab

Yesterday we did a spot of dot and dabbing!  Most of the walls have had to have studwork to attach the plasterboard to because of pipes or insulation, but this wall in the bathroom is one of the few that didn't need it.  This is another of those mystery arts but is actually quite easy.  You literally dob the cementy stuff all over the wall and then press the plasterboard against it and dah, dah - that's it!  You do need to get the plasterboard all cut to fit first of course and, if there's more than one piece, you have to be careful to get them level with each other.  Much quicker than putting up studwork though.



Mixing plaster in my new bucket - what
do you think of it?!  £1 from Travis Perkins
in aid of Breast Cancer Research
 . . . Bob's not too keen on the colour!



After doing that, we got started on the long wall in the hall.  This is a good, long run of straightforward, square plasterboard, so dead easy compared to most of it.  We got the bottom half done before lunch and were really pleased with progress.  While I was getting lunch sorted I heard a loud 'Oh, damn it!' (or words to that effect) from the toilet.  What on earth there was in the toilet to remind Bob that the wall was supposed to have insulation in, I don't know, but yep, we'd forgotten to put the insulation in.  It was all going so well too!  So, after lunch we had to take all the plasterboard off and put the insulation in and then re-attach the plasterboard.  It didn't actually take too long and we soon had the whole wall done.  The insulation is just for sound rather than thermal.  Anyway, that is all the plasterboarding in this phase of the project done - yeah!





This is the dot and dabbed wall in the bathroom
having its first coat of plaster. Soon be painting!




We had another skimming lesson on Monday morning - just to consolidate what we'd learnt - but have been skimming solo since then.  We tend to do a skimming session first thing and then move onto something else.  It's gone OK - not quite as smooth and polished as when Phil is supervising, but still very acceptable.  We weren't sure we'd be able to do this and thought we'd have to pay someone to come and do it, so it's a real bonus! 

Here's a chicken having a bit of an explore.  This is a bit like a cat-flap for chickens between the utility room and the bathroom.  We put it in so that when we all move in we can shut them in the utility at night and they will have free access to the bathroom , but won't be able to wander all over the house.  We wouldn't want that would we?

Ha, ha, only joking!  They're not really moving in with us!  They may actually be in for a bit of a shock when they're not allowed to just wander wherever they want! 
This hole is there for a more cunning purpose.  This is under the sink in the utility room and goes through to behind the bath in the bathroom.  As the bath has the taps in the middle of the long side, you won't be able to get to the gubbins underneath once everything's installed and tiled in, so the plumber suggested leaving a hole (blanked off with a piece of ply from the utility side) in case we ever need to get to the taps - good idea and really easy to do.  He had a customer once who did have a problem and had to rip the tiles and everything off and tried to claim for that from the tap manufacturers only to be told that she should have put the taps on the accessible side of the bath!!!  Where you have to climb over them to get in - great idea!

Getting Strangled!

We have not really done too much work since I last reported - kind of semi-days-off.  On Thursday we went shopping - Sainsbury-type and Builders Merchant-type.  We had run out of plasterboard and used most of our bag of plaster and we needed to get some trowels, etc for our new skimming hobby.  Then in the afternoon we did some of the fiddly bits of plasterboard - round the little draft-hole windows, rooflight and the cubby-hole above the bread oven - they all take much longer than they should do of course.  Bob also did some of the beading around the windows.  Modern plaster generally has very square corners which we didn't really want.  Our plastering guru, Phil, told us that traditionally wooden dowel was fixed on outside cornersand then skimmed over which just gives a slightly rounded corner - good idea!

On Friday while waiting for the promised early morning plasterboard delivery I made a cake and gave the caravan a really good clean and Bob started insulating the lean-to where the hot water tank will be housed.  The plasterboard finally arrived at about 1pm - just as we sat down for a sandwich (isn't it always the way?).  So we then had to carry all that through to store it in the 'lounge'.  We then collected another trailer full of woodchips from Phil and Anne, had a leisurely cup of tea in their garden and then came home to spread the chips.  Some on the path to keep the mud at bay and some in the bottom of the hedge to keep the weeds at bay.  After that, we couldn't muster the enthusiasm to do anything else and so the only solution was to sit on the bench and have a beer . . . . it's a hard life sometimes!

Yesterday Carol and Graham (my sister and brother-in-law) came for a visit - hence the cake-making and cleaning - and we had a really lovely day.  Graham had a works 'do' in the evening which meant they had to leave at about 4pm, so they got up really early and arrived at about 9am - in time for bacon and egg baps.  I have to admit I was feeling a little delicate (the beer on the bench led to more than one bottle of wine and was rounded off by a tidying up session of the sloe gin and blackcurrant vodka bottles).  The bacon butty helped though and after a tour of the house we went for a walk along the other side of the valley.  The weather was just fantastic and we sat looking at the view back across to our house with a homemade pasty for lunch and got back with just enough time for a cuppa and a piece of cake - all very civilised.

As we knew in advance that Carol and Graham would be leaving early, last week we booked tickets to see The Stranglers play in Birmingham - it sounded like a good idea at the time!  After lugging the plasterboard up awkward steps on Friday and then the up-and-downy walk during the day, our legs were quite tired and achy.  I don't think I'd drunk enough water either and so had a splitting headache.  Now, that doesn't bode well for an enjoyable evening standing watching a very loud concert.  When the first support act came on the music was so loud you could feel it thumping through your whole body . . . . and I still had a headache!  Really weirdly though my headache disappeared straightaway.  It must have been thumped out of my head, through my ears and got trampled on the floor!  We ended up really enjoying it.  The Stranglers still sound like they used to (not like old men trying to thump out the hits they had 30 years ago) and the second support act - Wilko Johnson from Dr Feelgood - was just as good as when we saw him before we moved.  It then took us a whole hour to get out of Birmingham city centre - roadworks meant it was just gridlocked . . . . . at 11.30pm!  How can it be that busy?!

Today we didn't actually get up until 11.30am - absolutely disgraceful, I know!  But it is ages since we've done that and we did get the paper read in bed, so it's not as if we were wasting time or anything!

We're creeping toward the double-figure mark with blog-followers!  One more and we're there.  So, hello to Andrew who I am pretty sure is Phil and Ann's son, their name on here is Panda - so, a baby Panda . . . well hardly a baby actually!

Getting plastered!

Yep, we got plastered today!  Well, to be more precise we had a skimming lesson from friend Phil.  It's his birthday tomorrow, so I scrawled a big Happy Birthday message all across one wall (I think you can just about see it in this picture).  So, when someone renovates this cottage in 100 years they'll wonder who Phil is!

Skimming is one of those mystery arts that sounds just too tricky to do yourself and, actually, I don't think it is really!  It's quite amazing to watch.  Basically you put a really thin layer of plaster (just 2mm) all over really spreading it out by pushing quite hard.  At that stage you don't wory too much about lines and marks, just try to get it fairly evenly covered.  Then let it dry a bit and put an even thinner second coat on which is really to fill in any uneveness.  Then you have to have a cup of tea.  When you've done that, the plaster should be beginning to harden and you use a water spray and clean trowel to 'polish' it.  Again you have to press quite hard with long sweeping movements and the water softens the high points so you are removing the excess and at the same time filling in any scratches.  The finish really is quite polished.  We did two walls in the utility room - well, I'm not that sure quite how much was our own work.  Phil had to keep going over our bits.  Be interesting to see how we get on by ourselves!

While we were doing the walls, Phil had a go at one of our curved window reveals - it looks brilliant!  You really start to get a feel for the finished article.

Poor Molly

Aaah, poor Molly - she died peacefully in her sleep last night.  Well, as far as we know it was peaceful (and that's what we're quite happy to think), Bob found her in the hen house this morning when he went to let them out.  It is actually quite a relief, sad, but a relief.  Yesterday, she was worse than she had been and at least this way we don't have to do the deed which is definitely a relief.  So that's the last of our original batch of chickens gone.  She did have as long being a happy free-ranger as she did in her cage though, so that's good.  The rest of them just carry on as usual - strange to think that little Elvis is probably top of the pecking order now!  Whenever we're not looking and the caravan door is open they invite themselves in and we promptly shoo them out of course.  Today I was busy and didn't notice until all three were in the kitchen, but they looked so funny doing the 'vacuuming' for me that I had to leave them until I took a photo . . . . and then shooed them out. 

We have just been getting on with plasterboarding, so nothing very exciting to report on that front.  All of the old house is now done and most of the utility room.  It seems very strange in there with walls!  It reminds me of a den made from a sheet thrown over the furniture with its sloping, low ceiling.  I thought I'd better take a photo of this strange caterpillar that has been living in the utility room for a while before we plasterboard over it forever.  It has been living in there ever since I squirted expanding foam between the top of the walls and the roof - strange that isn't it?!  Could almost be a bit of squirty foam that dropped out couldn't it?

As there's not much interesting to report on the work front, I thought it'd be a good idea to do a comparison photo of before and after (well, nearly after!).  So this is the kitchen before . . . . 

. . . . .  and this is it now!

While I was looking for this photo, I found another of what the house looked like before we bought it.  I don't know!  When I look at the next photo I really do wonder what made us think we could do this, we must have been bonkers  . . . . . it looks much worse than I ever remember it! 

I'll have to find some more of these old photos to show you some time.

Edward Pancake

It's pancake day, so meet Edward!  Ben said he and a friend from uni were having a competition to make the best teddy-shaped pancake, so I thought I'd have a go.  He looked a bit miserable though so I rolled him up and ate him with a squirt of lemon!

We are now onto advanced-level window reveal curving!  The downstairs windows are done, but they are just beginners level - they have straight tops to them.  Upstairs we have to take into account the slope of the ceiling - it's all a bit too 3D!  We got one done without too much problem and have almost done the next.  Phil and Ann popped in for a chat and we were showing them what we were up to.  As they left, they apologised for holding us up and I cockily replied that just a few screws and we'd have it finished . . . . . I spoke too soon.  For some reason, this one just wouldn't go and we had a whole lot of fiddling about to do.  In the end, we've had to scrape out some of the expanding-foam glue we'd used to help the screws, put some more in and then clamp it all into the curve.  So we've left that to dry and hope it fits tomorrow.  That'll teach me to be cocky!

This is what it all looks like from the wrong side.  It's a bit like building a wooden plane.  By the time each bit is done, it is almost solid timber!  So, if this one fits tomorrow morning, we can then get on with the ones in the en-suite and that'll be another job done, but I'm not saying a word about how long it'll take!

I had my hospital appointment this morning and the conclusion was that the bumps on my legs were due to extreme cold!!!!  They are caused by cold injury to the subcutaneous fatty tissue to be exact.  Guess if I had skinny legs it wouldn't happen!!  Apparently horse riders get something similar?!  Her prescription for its treatment was to finish the cottage and move in before next winter!   

Molly continues to plod along.  She still eats and is happy enough dozing in a sunny spot, but she seems to fall over quite often and if she doesn't stabilise herself by spreading her wings and falls on her side she can't get up.  We were wondering whether to make her a little zimmerframe, or maybe some little stabiliser wheels like kiddies have on their bikes!  Oh, bless her.

Oh, I nearly forgot - last night's concert was really good, the band sounded just like they do on their CDs.  The venue was good too - I presume it used to be a little theatre so some people were sitting upstairs.  We were standing downstairs - it was a little crowded, but a really good atmosphere.  Bob and I felt like real country bumpkins driving through Birmingham city centre at rush-hour!  We enjoyed it so much we went round twice trying to find the Bullring carpark - well, we found it the first time, but I was in the wrong lane and there was nothing I could do to get over to the other side.  Think we'll stick to country lanes!

Waterfall, waterfall

We've had a few days with a mixture of work and play.  On Thursday we checked the weather forecast - misty in the morning, clearing to a clear and sunny afternoon - and decided to work in the morning and then take Laura to Pistyll Rhaeadr which is about half an hour's drive away.  Pityll means watefall in Welsh and so, apparently, does Rhaeadr so with a name meaning Waterfall Waterfall you can probably guess that it's a waterfall!  It is quite a high waterfall with a little cafe at the bottom and fantastic views down the valley from the top.  The sun started to come out as we set out, but as we got closer the mist came back and got worse . . . . . and worse . . . .  and worse!  By the time we'd climbed to the top you couldn't see anything at all really (this picture was taken by Ben in July '09).  The waterfall itself was quite spectacular though.  It was cold enough for icicles to have formed all the way down the sides and at the top where the water rushes through and round the rocks it looked like a sparkly grotto.  The first time Bob and I saw the waterfall it was much colder and icier than this time and the rocks at the top were completely covered in thick, smooth ice and the grass had turned into globular ice sculptures where the spray had frozen - quite surreal.  A woman was sliding on her knees across the big, flat rock at the top to take a photo over the edge - I couldn't watch, if the ice had sloped slightly she would have had nothing at all to grab onto, scarey!  There is a very dramatic picture of it in it's frozen state on the front of the OS Landranger map for Bala and Lake Vyrnwy.  Anyway, on Thursday, after a sword fight with icicles and a bit of clambering round rocks, we made our way down through the mist to the cafe for a cuppa and a piece of cake (we'd already checked before we climbed up and the sign said it was open).  You've guessed it - closed!  What a disappointment.  Not to worry though, because that left room to enjoy a delicious dinner at Phil and Ann's in the evening.  Laura was mightily relieved that it was chicken and not anything peculiar, like squirrel pie.  That has been known (at a diffferent neighbours') and is a whole other story that I will tell the non-squeamish of you another time.  Lunch out on Friday and a visit from Bill and Maggie this afternoon for a cuppa concludes our social activities and Laura has now gone home.

On the work front Laura and I have done more plasterboarding, most of the upstairs is now done and we've taped the joints with special fibre-glass tape.  It's called skrim you know!  We didn't and hadn't a clue what he was talking about when the chap in the builders merchants asked if we needed any skrim when we ordered the plasterboard.  We just said 'Er, not at the moment thanks!'.  Bob has put the oak doorposts in the bedroom doorway and chopped a bit out of the old oak tie-beam to give a smidge more headroom - it is a ridiculously low doorway, but the alternative is to cut through the tie-beam which holds up the roof and we chickened out of doing that!  We did have a structural engineer's report showing how it could be done but . . . nah! too scarey!  He has also sorted out the window sills, so we are now ready to do the rest of the curved window reveals before we plasterboard around them.

Molly is still on a downward course - do chickens get arthritis?  She finds it dificult to stand properly first thing in the morning and Bob had to spread her toes out before she could use her feet properly yesterday.  She does get a bit better as the day goes on, but can't manage the steps anymore.  It's a sad sight to see and we keep thinking maybe we need to do something about it, but then you throw some corn or bread and she's there with the rest of them pecking away at it quite happily and holding her own with the youngsters.  What are you to do?

We have quite a busy week ahead.  Tomorrow we are going to see the Decemberists in Birmingham.  They are the band I told you about who helped us give Myfanwy the chicken her name - see 'Who is Elvis?' (28 July '10).  We have just got their latest CD which has been playing constantly so we can get familiar with the songs before we go.  It reminds me of being a teenager, sitting on my bedroom floor with a group of friends playing a new LP over and over, pouring over the lyric sheet to learn all the words before going to see the band at the Cambridge Corn Exchange - ahhh, those were the days!  On Friday we are going to see Martin Carthy (a bit of a folk legend) play at a pub in a little village just the other side of Oswestry in aid of Cancer Research.  On Tuesday I have a dermatology appointment at Shrewsbury hospital to try to get to the bottom of some red bumps that appeared on my leg in December '09, kept coming and going and then disappeared completely in about March only to return last December.  And, yes, they've just about disappeared again as it's March again, so I'll just have to describe them.  I've had antibiotics, anti-inflamatory cream, blood tests for all sorts, but the GP is flummoxed.  My theory is that it is to do with living in such fluxuating temperatures and lying my icy cold legs down in a very toasty bed which has been heated by an electric blanket.  Can you get chillblains in your legs?  The GP didn't think that was it, but I can't think of anything else that is so seasonal?  It's a mystery, as they say, and I don't really think I'll find out anymore on Tuesday as it has all but disappeared.

Plasterboard and cake

Here's our new apprentice - Laura has got stuck into plasterboarding.  On Sunday she helped Bob do the shower enclosure in the en-suite and today she helped me do some of the fiddly bits in the kitchen.  All went smoothly with Bob's guidance on Sunday . . . . . today, well, erm . . . . . lets just say, I didn't take any photos.  We had a laugh though!  We were doing the bit next to the door in the kitchen so had to cut bits out of the top to go round the ceiling beams, a bit out of one side for the oak lintel over the door and some out of the other side for the flexi-ply round the window.  It was all a little complicated!  It would have fitted perfectly, honest.  We just got in a bit of a pickle with which bit we were supposed to be measuring from and so ended up with a perfectly sized bit cut out for a beam . . . . . 2cm further over than it should have been.  Laura nearly wet herself laughing when she realised!  Eventually we got it sorted (including a separate 2cm piece with one screw in it).  I'm sure it'll look fine when it's skimmed.  Bob wasn't all that impressed I don't think!

Earlier Bob and I dragged all the wood out of the workshop looking for something to make window sills out of.  This is wood we accumulated while still in our old house for making chairs, etc from.  There was a large piece right at the bottom we thought might make two sills, so of course the whole lot had to come out - good chance to sweep the workshop though.  As it was, the large piece of scots pine will only do one window sill - they are only little windows, but very deep sills with slanting side, so actually take a lot of timber.  We also found a shelf from our old house made from London Plane and with the natural waney edge still on it, so we've decided to recycle that for the dining end of the kitchen.  London Plane is also called lacewood because of the very delicate pattern in the grain - it's quite interesting, so should look really good, especially with a wiggly edge.  For the ensuite I think we will make some slate tiles from leftovers and use them.  It's quite good fun trying to find things lying around that can be re-used instead of just nipping to the shop and buying something.

Another bonus of having Laura here is that we get cups of coffee brought down to us and today she made a very yummy chocolate marble cake for 'afternoon tea'.  It has been a beautiful day, so we sat on the 'beer bench' to have it - first time it's been used this year I think (first of many I hope).  The chickens enjoyed their crumbs too, especially Molly - she likes nothing more than a spot of tea and a bit of cake (really, she does like tea!).  It's not very restful trying to fend four chickens off every time you put your cup or plate down!  Bless 'em!  Molly still looks a bit off colour, but she's there whenever food's on offer and bumbles around quite happily, so I guess she's just feeling her age - aahh!

Blog followers are now up to eight!  The latest recruit is a panda!  I think that may be P and A - Phil and Ann?  I'll ask them next time I see them.  Maybe we'll make double figures soon.