Bob's going to see a stripper!

Well, this working for a living malarky certainly interferes with normal day-to-day life doesn't it?!  I guess I feel a bit like little children do after their first week at school . . . . 'OK, I've done that, can I stop now?'.  No, actually it's OK and I'm getting used to it.  I've really just been on the tills all the time which can fuzzle your brain a bit after a few hours, but at least I'm getting to know what to do.  It's strange because after a couple of hours I find my voice getting a bit croaky - just not used to all this talking!  I've just finished my 'weekend' as I have Thursday and Friday off.  Back in tomorrow at 7am - whoever thought that was a good time to start?!  I should be awake in plenty of time though because the squirrels have taken to sitting in the hawthorn hedge above the caravan and throwing the haw stones onto the roof at a very early hour - don't you just love the little cuties?!!!

In between 'work', we've been quite busy, but not so much to photograph.  On Monday evening, when I got back from work we decided to walk round to a neighbour's with some cake to thank them for the trailer-load of logs they'd dropped off the day before.  Do you know, I'd stood right next to this huge pile of logs talking to Phil and Ann on Sunday afternoon and not even noticed them - I just don't know how I didn't see them.  Anyway, by the time we'd got back from quickly dropping off the cake it was 9.30pm and we hadn't even had tea . . . . beans on toast that night!
On Wednesday evening Bob joined a few of the smallholders for a walk in the hills.  It was a lovely sunny evening and they went along part of Offa's Dyke to a highpoint with absolutely fantastic views over the Shropshire Plains in one direction and off to the Welsh mountains in the other.  Unfortunately they set off too early for me to go (see what I mean about work interfering!), so I just joined them in the pub after for a beer and a tour of the micro brewery nextdoor.  The brewery straddles Offa's Dyke.  The Dyke is the ancient boundary between England and Wales and part of the brewery's marketing speil is how they have to keep nipping from England to Wales and back as they make their beer.

Yesterday we drove over to Hinkley to see the couple who came to visit us with Mum and Dad a couple of weeks ago.  Colin is a natural hoarder and has the barns to keep loads and loads and loads of 'stuff' in (much to Mary's disgust I think).  Anyway, they had some 80 year old pine doors from a wooden bungalow they'd demolished years ago which they said we could have.  We should be able to use most of them and it will certainly save a lot of time as Bob was going to make them.  A couple will need a bit of work to make them the right size, but it is certainly a bonus to get them.  While we were there we had a tour of the 6,000 chickens, all the barns and workshops - several old motorbikes in the process of being restored which Bob loved, a couple of cars, endless wood and machinery picked up for scrap yards, clearance sales and so on.  At one point Mary said quite nonchalantly 'I think we've got our old Volvo estate in here somewhere, but I don't really know where' . . . how can you lose a Volvo estate in your barn?!!!  Anyway, we had a really good few hours there before trundling back down the A5 with a trailer full of doors. 

This morning we took all the hinges and knobs off and Bob's going to take them to the strippers tomorrow - should I be allowing my husband to go and see a stripper alone?!  It'll be quite exciting to see what they're like when we get them back, at the moment they're covered in dark brown treacley varnish or white gloss.

I had quite a successful morning on Tuesday restoring the window latches and stays that were on the rotten windows we took out.  We chucked them in a bonfire first as that's the most effective way to get rid of the many layers of gloss paint.  Then a quick scrub with a wire brush followed by a coat of the blacking stuff I used on the bread oven and fireplace. They then needed a really good polish up with a cloth to get all the excess black off - don't want mucky hands every time you open a window.  I then gave them a coat of wax and another polish and they look really good and will have saved a fair bit of money.  I was really good while I was doing this and wore rubber gloves so a I didn't have black hands and nails for work in the afternoon (see it's getting in the way again!).  Trouble is, I forgot when  I did the last bit and the wax has some solvent in which, of course, took some of the black off and all over my hands.   Aaaarghhh, panic!  Thankfully a really good scrubbing got most of it off, phew!  Anyway, we've used some of the old window stuff on the new window in the oak-frame room.



Thought this was a funny little view of Bob working
on the window through the opening the window is
going to go in

 Speaking of which, we picked up the glass today and fitted the window this afternoon.  This one didn't have quite the dramatic impact the triangle window did because the view is of . . . . . sleepers, mmm, nice!  Some trailing plants are definitely needed and I'll have to look out for some interesting bits and bobs to brighten up the sleepers - sooooo glad we decided to put the triangle window in as well.  



And here it is in place with the reclaimed window stays.
See what I mean about the view?





Just found another old view for you . . . . .would you take on something like this?
I wouldn't!