Mickey's moved in!

Today we have had a visit from my Mum and Dad.  They are staying with friends half way between us and them, so took the opportunity for a day visit bringing their friends with them.  I think Mary and Colin have probably heard enough about this project over the last couple of years to feel as though they know the place quite well!  They came bearing gifts of absolutely huge eggs (they have 6,000 chickens!) and some bacon from their local farm . . . guess what we're having for tea!  It was nice to see them all and a good chance for Mum and Dad to catch up and to see what we've done with those manky old floor tiles they helped us clean last time they were here (kitchen floor).

This is the oak frame for the window in the end wall of the timber-frame room - odd shape isn't it?  The slope follows the roofline and it isn't an opening window, so although the joints were a bit awkward on the slope it was the simplest window to start with.  Bob has now cut the sticky-out bits off flush and I have given the outside side a couple of coats of protecting oil.  We have ordered the glass and that should be ready to collect on Monday.  With that fitted, we will have one less piece of burglar-proof polythene over a window opening which is good!

And here's the first bit of soft furnishing - I finally got all the bits and pieces (eye hooks, rings and cord) and finished the blind in the kitchen.  Behind the obvious piece of oak here are a couple of original pieces (much paler and harder to see) and there was quite a gap between them and the window frame at one corner.  It has all be filled with expanding foam, but I've been wondering for a while how to cover the gap and this blind gave the answer.  We had to mount a piece of wood for the blind to hang from so Bob used the piece he'd cut off the end of the table and left it big enough to go right back to the window from and, dah-dah, two birds killed with one stone and no-one will ever know!  Having a blind makes it look much more homely.  Do you know,  I was looking through a pile of magazines for curtain-inspiration and was amazed that none of the posh houses they show have anything up at the windows - how do they get that cosy-up feeling on a winter evening?  Just too trendy for their own good!  Next is the matching curtain for the other window in that room.  We are getting the curtain pole from a local blacksmith and that should be ready any day.  That will hang from some little coat hooks we got from the same shop as the door knocker and the iron chicken - just need to check if they are covered in brown paint like the knocker and, if so, sort them out.

While I was in interior decorating mood, I decided to hang our first picture.  I've had this for ages and really like it - the drawing is just so simple and so clever, I really wish I could draw like that.  I wasn't sure that it would actually look right anywhere, but then decided to try it in the bathroom which is quite modern-looking and I thought it fitted in quite well, except for the blue frame.  The bathroom really needs brightening up with some colour - it's very monochrome at the moment.  So out came the red paint and 'Bob's your uncle' so to speak.  With red towels and bath mat and other bits and pieces to make it more interesting, the whole room should look much better.

On Monday the plumber came to take another look at the solar tubes.  This time he went up on the roof to check the joints - they were all dry.  So he took one of the tubes out and felt in the hole it had come out of and guess what?  The insulation around it was absolutely sopping with glycol!  That means that something in the manifold is leaking which means it is a manufacturing problem - one of their braised joints.  So, we need a new manifold!  Now that's a bit of a pain, but I'm glad he's finally found a real problem and it can be sorted.  He's off to get married on Friday and then away in Mexico for the rest of the month, but we are booked in on his first day back at work on 1 Sept.  He also realised that there was no 'heat sink compound' in the hole where the tubes fit into the manifold.  This is a special heat conducting paste and is really important for transferring the heat.  So, hopefully with a new manifold and plenty of special gunk they should start working beautifully - make sure you keep your fingers crossed until September!  When he got here, he needed a ladder to get onto the roof and the little wooden one I fetched wasn't big enough.  Now, I knew we had a long extending aluminium ladder, but could I think where it was.  I was sure I hadn't seen it lying around for ages so thought it must be stored behind the top barns or something.  In the end I had to ask Bob where it was . . . . "Think!" he said and pointed to our 'stairs'.  D'oh, I've only been climbing up and down it every day to get upstairs - made the plumber laugh anyway!

Just realised, this is my 100th blog/post/message (whatever you call it) on the Elvis the Chicken Blog . . . . . . . sounds like a good reason to have a beer!  Cheers!!