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.