Happy Cristmas Everyone!

Yes, I hope you all had a very happy Christmas.  We had a fairly rushed time, but it was still good. Laura was down from Scotland for a week and went home yesterday.  I was working on Christmas Eve and then back in again on Thursday morning.  In between, we went over to Peterborough to stay at Carol and Graham's.  On the way we called to see Bob's sister for a while.  On Christmas Day we also saw Mum and Dad because they came to Carol's and then on Boxing day we saw Ben and Lucy on our way home - phew!  We managed it all!  Apart from having a crappy cold (Graham had it too, so I blame him for passing it on to Mum not me) we had a really good time with the usual way too much to eat and drink - Carol worked really hard to provide everthing we could possibly want, but I'm still sitting here eating chocolates!

On Boxing Day we met Ben and Lucy at a little village with a ford in the middle and a bridge next to it.  Each year, the retained fire brigade with their old 'Green Goddess' fire engine (which is red not green) challenge the modern Fire Brigade with their modern engine to a 'tug o'war' across the ford.  A barrel is strung up and they have to squirt it from either side to try to 'push' it over to the other side.  This year the ford is twice as wide as usual because of all the rain.  There is a considerable amount of squirting each other and a lot of spray over the crowd on the bridge, but it is all a really good laugh.  The boss of the 'old boys' looks just like Captain Flack from Trumpton with his polished brass helmet.  The pub serves mulled wine, spiced cider and soup as well as the usual and it was all jolly nice.  We then spent the rest of the day eating at Ben and Lucy's - they even made homemade butter for with the homemade bread!

Do you know, people were actually on the verge of violence in Oswestry M&S on Christmas Eve over the reduced turkeys!  Can you believe that in Marks and Spencers of all places?  What is the world coming to.  It's a good job I wasn't there at that point because I think I would have got quite cross with them.  Before Christmas I got the Spotlight of the Month award for customer service (for helping an old lady who was feeling ill - she wrote in to say how helpful I'd been which was nice).  Didn't get such a great mystery shop report the week after, but hey-ho, I wasn't the only one.

Before Christmas I found some Seville oranges in the health food shop - really unusual as you normally don't see them until the end of January.  So I got some and we made a batch of marmalade the Friday before Christmas so we could include a jar in Mum and Dad's home-made hamper christmas present.

Bob managed to put the guttering up on his shed . . . .sorry, workshop, I must stop calling it a shed!  He did most of it in the rain which probably wasn't a sensible idea because the rain ran down the wriggles in the roof and straight down his sleeves as he worked . . .mmm, nice.  Then, doing the back, he'd got the joint for the downpipe in place and all the gutter itself in place when it started raining again.  Course by then the guttering system was working and sending the water down to the downpipe which wasn't actually in place and so instead it went straight down Bob's wellies!  Oh, what fun.

Bob finished making his bench and mounted his big vice on it.  He had to attach that to the top and then lift it into place which I think was quite a struggle as I was at work and so couldn't lend my muscles!  He has also put quite a few shelves up and is trying to work out what should go where.  I think things could move around for quite a while before they find their natural place.  This picture shows quite a momentous occasion as you can obviously tell from the excitement Bob is showing!  It shows the start of the first creative project in the new workshop - Christmas presents made from some of the old dead Beech tree behind the workshop.  Bob made long boards with a hollow scooped out and a recess to locate a little bowl, to be used for bread and dipping oil, tortillas and salsa, crisps and dip, etc.  This morning we started sorting the woodburner out and have bent the brackets to hold the flue in place, but then guess what, it started raining and pouring through the hole in the roof so we hade to put the piece of hardboard back in and leave it for now.  There is a big grommet piece to seal round the flue pipe on the outside and that needs to be siliconed in, so we can't do that properly unless the roof is dry.  I guess at some time there won't be any more rain left in the sky and we might have a dry spell?  Still, we've made a start and that always makes it easier to carry on with a job.

Now, to me this is an exciting photo . . . . don't expect anyone else to feel the same don't worry.  This is the wall in the lounge that is going to stay as exposed stone which we pointed a few weeks ago.  These walls just look so much better once they have been pointed - before, when they have been raked back, they remind me of my Grandma when we caught her unawares without her teeth in!  We still have to do the top half of this wall as it will be open to the roof at that end.  The woodburner is going to go against this wall, so before we take out the temporary ceiling/floor we need to knock a hole through to the chimney for the flue.  That's another job we're not looking forward to, but it probably won't be as bad as we expect.  It will involve getting back on the roof though to feed the flue down and attach it to the chimney - gulp, we've lost our nerve for that sort of thing!  We actually chose and bought the floor for the lounge just before Christmas - now that is exciting.  We've gone for Oak flooring - engineered boards as they cope with underfloor heating much better than solid boards.  We got them from our friends, the decorators merchants and, despite a big sign asking people not to ask for discount because they were already at a bargain price, he knocked some off without us asking because we are in there so often - valued customers you see!  Ahh, how nice.  He also gave us a whole roll of underlay and told us to just use what we need and bring the rest back.  It'll be ages before we can lay all this - wouldn't be good to be knocking holes in the wall after it's down would it?

We actually had to buy some firewood a couple of weeks ago.  We have a fair bit stacked up which was supposed to be ready to use this Winter, but it just hasn't dried out at all this summer.  In fact, I think some of it is wetter now than it was last Spring!  That's not supposed to happen is it?  We went to the woodyard expecting to buy logs but came back with what looks like kindling!  It is kiln dried hardwood offcuts which they swear by.  It's what they choose to take home for their own woodburners.  It takes a bit of getting used to, but does burn quite well.  The woodpile does look a little odd though doesn't it.  Still, the chickens like it in there.  They seem to be coping with all this wet weather and are still laying - we have two or three eggs each day.  I think we should re-name Dot Benjamin Button as she seems to be youthing instead of aging.  She's gone paler and her comb has got much smaller like a teenage chicken and she's not laying.  She has just moulted, so I guess that's why and hopefully she'll be back to normal shortly.  It's funny, she's changed personality too - she used to be quite brash, but has gone all skitty and shy.  I guess if we had to run around with only half our clothes on we might get a bit jittery too.

Hope you all have a very happy and healthy New Year!

Bob's babies are back!

Bob's babies have come home and are now in their new room and seem quite comfy there.  They have lived all over the place since we've been here - in the lounge, the lean-to, the wriggly barn and even up in one of the top barns.  Now that was a job to get the Harley up there in slidey wet mud and we really didn't think we'd manage it, it is just soooo heavy!  We had to use some brand new roofing felt to give it some grip and even that it threw out behind before we finally managed it.  At one point we had it half way up the hill with no idea if we could get it the rest of the way or even how we'd get it down again if we couldn't do it.  Oh, we do have some fun, but we usually manage somehow and that was ages ago.  So, getting them back from Ray's livery stable where they've been living for the last few weeks was a doddle by comparison.  We collected them on the trailer because it wouldn't be fair on the horses to be revving motorbikes outside their stable.  It did pour with icy rain while we brought the Harley back which was unfortunate as it obviously got very wet (the rain stopped the minute we got it in the bike store!  This is the first time for a long, long time that Bob will be able to get at either bike easily without moving a load of kelter out of the way first which will be really nice for him and hopefully he'll get more use out of them once Spring is here because it'll be easy.

D'you see, we've pixilated the number plates out
like they do on telly - how clever is that?

Well, the workshop is a mess!!  Bob is in the middle of moving in.  I dare say he'll have a couple more nights in the house before he finally moves in!!  Nah, not really, but we are moving all the 'stuff' into the workshop.  Yeah, we no longer have a router table in the living room, how 'normal' is that?!  Bob is in the middle of building a work bench because it's all very well having a nice new workshop, but without a bench, shelves, hooks, etc it's pretty useless.  We're at that in between stage of not knowing where anything is because it's not in its old place, but doesn't yet have a new place.

This afternoon I raked out all the old mortar from one wall in the lounge.  This wall is going to stay as exposed stome and so needs cleaning up and pointing 'properly'.  It is probably one of the oldest walls in the place as it used to be the outside wall of the original cottage.  As far as we can tell, the cottage was built as a two-up two-down standalone house and then a barn was added (what will be the lounge) and then, in whatever order, an extension was built for the dairy/scullery on the side (replaced by our stone extension) and another barn added onto the end of the first barn (our second spare room).  So, because the wall I've just raked out was an outside wall, it is made of much better stone than the internal 'rubble' walls which were always intedned to be plastered and that's why we're going to leave it exposed.

Other events of the week are that I went Christmas shopping in Shrewsbury yesterday - I managed 3 hourse before I got fed up!  Not bad for me.  We had a funny card today with a photo of a chicken with a bobble hat and legwarmers on, it did make me laugh!  We made lemon and honey marmalade (does that make it Lemsip marmalade?) - it's really very nice.
We went to the newly re-opened village pub ofn Wednesday.  Very quiet because the official big openeing is not until next week.  It's quite different to the old pub - very pared back and minimalist ( a bit too much so for my taste and I was dying to offer to make them some curtains).  Definitely worth going again though to check out how it matures - keep you posted!

Dah dah!

Dah dah!!!!

Woohoo, we have electricity in the workshop.  It took considerably longer than we expected and, I think, longer than sparky expected too (it was him that said it'd take one day!).  It actually took three days in the end.  This wasn't really helped by the fact that he had his NAPIT inspection on Thursday.  NAPIT is the regulatory body he's part of which allows him to inspect and certify electrical jobs.  They do an audit of their members once a year which involves checking their paperwork, certificates, etc, a short exam and then a look around a recent job.  Dave asked if we minded if he brought the inspector to look at the workshop which, of course in our innocence, we didn't.  I think he was actually really nervous about it which meant that he took ages setting out all the conduit and trunking - even Bob said he was being a bit over-picky about some bits and that is rare from Bob-the-perfectionist!  I was also expecting that we would do a lot more of the non-technical stuff - screwing trunking to the wall, etc but he didn't want any help (we might mess it up) and so it all took longer than it really should have.  Anyway, it's done now (just the bill to pay - gulp!).  Oh, he passed his NAPIT inspection with flying colours by the way.

Yeah, so we have electricity in the workshop but we have cleared it and painted the floor so we can't go in there for a bit while that dries.  Bob did the second coat this afternoon so it should be dry by tomorrow afternoon.  In between coats this morning Bob also made his 'hearth' - some paving stones for the woodburner to sit on.  It could just sit on the floor as it is non-flammable, but we thought if there was a slightly raised area you would know you were close if you were carrying a piece of wood or furniture and not concentrating.  Next job, once the floor's dry, will be to put the woodburner in and then start moving everything else in.  I think it will actually be quite warm in there.  We had a heater in there while the electrician was here, but he switched it off after an hour or so.  Bob's going to be roasted with underfloor heat and the woodburner!

As usual at times like this, there wasn't much for me to do except supply endless cups of tea, cake and cookies.  So, I did a bit of gardening and finally pulled the sweet peas up.  I picked a small bunch for the kitchen window sill first which is just really weird at the end of November.  With the sweet peas gone, I could tidy up the roses and tie them back.  I had to nip off losts of buds from them as well - they should really be concentrating on their roots a bit more in their first year I guess.  I also made the blind for the utility room.  I have had the material for ages and ages, but I forbid myself to make that one until I did that horibble triangle blind for the oak bedroom.  I enjoyed the making this one so much more than that.

M&S have finally given us our hours for the Christmas period and mine are pretty rubbish really - working until closing time on Christmas Eve and then back in earlier than usual on the day after Boxing Day.  So, our trip over to Peterborough to see family is going to be fairly pushed to say the least.  I'm also supposed to work on the Sunday before Christmas which is my Sunday off, so I'm not really too happy to be honest.  Don't work in retail I suppose is the answer.

On Wednesday evening we went to the Smallholder's talk.  It was about silk - from breeding silk worms to spinning the silk and then weaving, knitting, felting, crocheting it into things.  The bit about breeding silk worms was really interesting.  So, here's some interesting facts for you . . . they shed their skin five times before they turn into silk moths and this includes their face skin so you find little caterpillar faces in the bottom of their tray - aaahh!  The moths are really big (about your handspan), but don't ever fly, they just sit around fluttering.  If you let the moth emerge from the cocoon it bites through the silk thread it's made of to get out and then the silk is of a lower quality because the thread has been broken and the resulting silk doesn't have the same lustre as if you laser/boil/steam the cocoon (with silk wormy-mothy thing inside) and then carefully find the end of the silk thread and unwind it in one go - this is called reel silk (I didn't realise that that doesn't mean it is real silk, but that it is reeled off the cocoon).  Silk has more tensile strength than steel, so if you made thick cables out of it you could build a silken suspension bridge!  Tights and stockings are catergorised by their denier rating and this relates to the number of threads of silk (so the number of cocoons) used - so 10 denier means that you would combine the threads of 10 cocoons to weave into the stockings. . . .  or do you knit stockings, knit I think?  Anyway, it was all very interesting and you now know what I learned.

Secure workshop

The workshop is locked up!

Woo hoo! that means we can move stuff out of the lounge . . . . . oh, no - I forgot we still have to paint the floor with garage floor paint and it would be a good idea to do that before we start filling it up I suppose.  Oh well, nearly at the point where we can get going on the lounge . . . . .so close! 

We had a celebratory beer anyway!!!!  Cheers

A week of accidents!

The workshop all painted.  The bikestore is the box bit
on the left.

Now that M&S have taken on lots of temporary staff in readiness for Christmas, I am not doing anywhere near so many extra hours . . . . in fact, no extra hours.  This is good from the point of view of getting things done here, but I'm not sure how it'll be come payday!  So, I had last week off as holiday and then had to go in for my normal Sunday and Monday and have then been off for the rest of the week and back in this afternoon.  So, we have made good progress on the workshop in that time and I think we are just about ready for Dave, the electrician, to come on Tuesday.  How exciting that'll be.  It gets dark so early now we have to have builders lights on plugged into an extension, but then when you go to tidy up you can't see a thing once the extension is reeled in.  We are putting a couple of outside lights on the workshop with a motion sensor.  This will make it much easier when we go up in the evening to tuck the chickens up as well as when I have to take Bob's tea up to him in the workshop so he doesn't have to stop working!

The bike store - it'll never look this tidy again!

The bike store is now boxed in and everything is boarded, insulated and painted (just a couple of bits need a second coat of paint which I can do tomorrow).  Bob needs to go round and mark where all the sockets and lights are going which won't take two ticks, then a bit of a tidy up, make a cake and we're ready for sparky.  Everything is being surface-mounted with the cables running through trunking which makes it much easier and quicker and so he should get it all done in one day.  It'll also mean that it's easier to add or change things later on and there's no worries about hitting a cable when putting up shelves, etc.

While he's here, Dave is also going to put a heater in the bathroom.  We weren't sure if we'd need one, but got him to put the cables in for it when he wired the house anyway.  Most of the time we don't need any extra heat in there, but the chances are that when you really want a hot bath it's because you're feeling cold and achy and a warm bathroom is needed too.  So, on Thursday we cut a hole in the wall and managed to fish out the cable.  I electrocuted myself in the process!!!  I got the cable and managed to pull the clip off it, but we were surprised that the end wasn't taped over as it should be live.  So with Bob's electrician's screwdriver I touched one wire and it glowed a bit . . . I then accidentally moved it slightly and it must have bridged the two wires resulting in a bang and a flash and a melted screwdriver!  Ooops!  Apart from a bit of a shock of the non-electrical type (it did certainly make me jump!) I was fine and at least we now know it is definitely live and which trip switch to flick on Tuesday!  Bob has made a really good job of making good round the hole and you wouldn't know it wasn't done with the original stuff.

My other accident of the week was yesterday while we were plasterboarding the ceiling of the bike store.  Once again we were trying to put up whole 8' x 4' sheets and I was holding it up while Bob ran round putting some screws in - we thought there were enough in to hold it so I could let go and help put screws in, but as I turned away and stepped down from the ladder a sheet of plasterboard landed on my head!  It must have looked quite funny I suppose . . . . I'd have laughed if it'd been someone else I'm sure.

Oh, and my other accident (just a little one this time) was to slip on the mud by the front door while carrying a full washing basket meaning that half the washing had to go straight back in the machine!  Apart from that, the week's been fine!  I did need that hot bath last night though with my jarred back from the slip, cricked neck from the plasterboard and aching shoulder from all the painting - it worked wonders!

On Wednesday we had a day off and went to an auction at Montgomery.  We ended up being there most of the day because there were a couple of things we were interested in but which were hours apart in the listing.  In between we went to the wool shop to get a pattern and then back to the auction and then to Bishops Castle for lunch and back.  On one of the trips we got lost and couldn't work out where we were on the map, but knew we needed to turn left and cross the river so we turned down a little lane and came to a ford.  Wow, it was a real raging torrent and about three times wider than it should be - needless to say, we didn't drive through it!  Quite dramatic though.

Insulation, door frames, insulation, door frames, more insulation, door, yet more insulation, paint door and ,yes, yet more insulation.  That just about sums things up for Bob and I for the last few weeks! 

We have been getting a little fed up with how long the workshop seems to be taking and there hasn't been much to take photos of to show you I'm afraid.  But, we have made progress and it now has all its doors and all its insulation.  There are no locks or handles on the doors as we are still trying to work out what sort of lock you are supposed to have on double opening, outward opening wooden doors - nothing in the shops seems to do the job.  I think the bike store bit will have a chunky hasp and padlock, but the workshop needs something you can close without locking.  We're working on that one and the lady in the decorators merchants (who also sell door furniture and also the little slate floor tiles we have used  in the hall, etc) is going to ask the door experts she knows.  We can't be the only people wanting to do this!  We have the glass for the workshop doors, but we forgot about the beading to hold it in place, so Bob needs to make that and then it'll need painting before the glass can go in.  When we were putting the bike store doors on, one side went in like a dream and took about 5 mins to do - fantastic.  The other balanced it out though and took ages fiddling about trying to get it to hang right.  In the end we had to take it off and trim a bit off - course, that meant the cut bit then needed wood preserver, undercoat and green paint putting on.  So, three days later it was ready!  All the doors really need another coat of paint, but we were too impatient for that - next spring when we have beautiful, hot sunny weather (aaahhh, can you just imagine it?) we'll give them another lick of green.

So, my job when not at M&S and while Bob was doing the doors has been insulation which I quite enjoyed doing to start.  There was quite a lot of it though and, although we'd deliberately spaced some of the studwork to fit whole sheets, a lot needed trimming to size.  The roof was fiddly as well, but Bob did quite a bit of that.  We have spent the last few days screwing the plasterboard in place in the roof - also an awkward, fiddly job.  We did start off trying to use whole 8' x 4' sheets, but gave up after two sheets - just too dificult to manhandle into place while climbing ladders and balancing and then just too heavy for one person to hold in place while the other whacks some screws in.  So, we resorted to cutting sheets in half which is, obviously, much easier but doesn't look so neat.  We finished that this afternoon and have filled all the holes where we missed the timbers with the screws (more than once or twice I'm afraid!) and so that is ready to paint which is my job for tomorrow morning.  Hopefully it'll look neater once it's all one colour.  Anyway, we're mightily relieved to have finished that part of the job and so guess what we're having this evening . . . . yep, a beer and a curry!  The walls should be a doddle in comparison.  They're having OSB on them rather than plasterboard as it's a bit more robust.  The electrician is coming the week after next, so we have to have all this done before then which shouldn't be a problem (fingers crossed/touch wood/etc).

What seems like ages ago we put the ridge pieces on the roof which was another good job to get done.  This means that the rain no longer gathers in pools on the sagging breather membrane meaning you have to poke it with a stick from inside to get it to run off - we always stood in the wrong place when doing this and got a good soaking!  We now just need to design some fancy bits of wood or something to cover the gap at the apex at each end where the ridge ends and then we can have our topping out ceremony - oh, no not another beer!

On the non-workshop front, I have finished the hoodie I was knitting from my birthday wool.  It is soooooo cosy being made with thick wool which you actually knit double!  I now blend perfectly into my surroundings as the colours are an exact match for the colour of our woods and the falling leaves at the moment . . .you wouldn't know I was there!  We had Carol and Graham to stay which was nice, if a little brief.  We managed to squeeze our walk in before some really heavy rain which was good.  We did the same walk this week with Ben and Lucy while they were staying.  This time there was no rain, but we only just got back to the car before it got dark.  This walk is from here to the Peregrine Rocks (as we now call them) - we take a car and leave it in the carpark there and then walk from here to it.  We were lucky and saw the Peregrine again - this time it was flying around before it went to bed and so was much easier to spot than when we took Mum and Dad.

Do you know, there are still tomatoes on our plant and they are just turning orange and the sweet peas which I've been waiting to pull up for weks and weeks have now shot up another foot and have flower buds on which are opening!  Amazing for mid-November!

Two weeks and no blog - shameful!

It's been a rather bitty fortnight really.  I've been working really annoying shifts - one day on, one day off for the last 10 days.  We have managed to get on with things, but not major visible progress.

A rare sight - two chaps reading the instructions!

Our third woodburner arrived which was quite exciting.  It is specially designed for a workshop which means you can burn sawdust on it - normally sawdust would just damp down a fire completely and not burn well.  This one has an internal flue which means air gets into the heart of the fire and so it will burn sawdust.  It is a little dumpy cylindrical thing - you can't see the fire like you can in a house one, but it should keep the workshop toasty and be a way to get rrid of all the wood bits and dust Bob will be creating.  So, we have now been able to finish putting the wriggly on the roof of the workshop (we had to wait for the woodburner to see the size and position of the hole needed for the flue).  We did that on Friday and were all ready to put the ridge on to finish it off completely, but hit a major snag.  Not enough overlap.  The measurements were always fairly tight, but between us and the chap selling the Onduline, we thought we'd just manage with one and a half lengths of wriggly up the roof and then a 9" ridge piece.  You need a certain amount of overlap to stop wind and rain getting under the top sheet, but when it came to the ridge it only just covered the top of the sheet - no good at all.  So the company are making up some new wider ridge pieces for us and they'll trim and crimp the ones we have so we can use them to go over the eves.  So, not much wasted except another week without a watertight roof.  Ho hum.

In the meantime, Bob has been getting on with the doors and their frames - almost up to the painting part on one of them and then that can go in.  We've put the big window in without any problems, but when we went to order the glass for the little window from the funeral directors we usually use we found out that they are no longer doing the joinery and glass side of things.  What a real shame - we really liked the idea of an old-fashioned local company who kept up the old tradition where the village carpenter also made coffins and so was, in effect, the village undertaker too.  Another piece of history disappears.

Here's a test for you!  Spot the Peregrine . . . can you see,
slightly north-east of centre there is a rock that looks like
three little upside down steps?  Well it is perching on top
of that. Just trust me!

Mum and Dad came to stay for a few days and while they were here we took advantage of a lovely sunny day to take the short walk up to the rocks where we saw the baby Peregrine and the thousands of orchids.  It was lovely up there and Mum and Dad enjoyed watching two lads rock climbing and then abseiling down barefoot.  There were no orchids of course at this time of year, but we were really surprised to see a Peregrine perching on the rocks.   It was difficult to pick out and Bob did really well to spot it so it was a real bonus.

And here's another bird picture.  A Chaffinch decided to check
out the shower in our en-suite.  It must have flown in through
the bedroom window and then into the shower.  It was difficult to
persuade it out though.  Because the roof slopes down towards
the window it kep flying as far as the purlin, giving up and flying
back into the shower.  In the end, Bob had to get into the shower
and then when to flew towards the window I held a towel up behind it
so it couldn't fly back and it eventually found its way out.

 Because severe frost was forecast a couple of nights ago, I decided the tomatoes weren't going to do anything further and picked them all green and red.  We had enough from our hanging basket plants to make a batch of green tomato chutney which I think is quite impressive.  We'll definitely grow them in there again.  I also picked what I assume will be the last bunch of sweet peas - although, there are still lots of buds on them I don't suppose they'll open now it's winter!  They've done really well too though.

Last night Phil and Ann came for dinner - all cooked on the woodburner - and so that was a good evening.  Carol and Graham are coming for a flying visit this week too, so fingers-crossed for good weather and we can go for a long walk.

Matty's last  great adventure before contributing to a very
attractive and tasty salad - easy riding around the kitchen
with Biker Dude, leaning into the corners and feeling the wind
in his topknot.  Just the most thrilling thing he ever did in his little
life - woo hoo!

Postcard from Welsh Wales

We have now got most of the roof on the workshop.  We actually got on quite well with it and had it done last weekend.  Bob was quite keen to get it done before we went away, but didn't think we'd manage it and we'd resigned ourselves to just getting one side done, but on Sunday morning I was wide awake at 6.30am and decided that if we got up and got on with it we might just do it.  So, I let Bob have another half hour's sleep (can't really get up and start hammering away too early on a Sunday!) and then we sprang into action. We got the breather membrane on vey quickly and then whizzed along with the wriggly sheets.  We did have a bit of a glitch in the afternoon when we were about three-quarters done.  There are rooflights made of clear wriggly part way along and we had measured the sheets and worked out where they would go so they were between roof trusses because they'd look a bit silly with a roof timber through the middle of them.  We'd been really careful and checked and double-checked our measurements, etc and Bob had put in extra noggins at exactly the right spots to support the rooflight, but be hidden behind the solid sheets.  Of course, we'd measured the wriggly sheets when they were loose, lying on the floor.  As you nail them in place they spread just a little bit and, as you work your way along the roof, all those little bits add up and by the time we got to the last rooflight the timbers were all in the wrong place.  So, that was a little annoying as we were doing so well.  Anyway, we moved the timbers and everything was fine and we got everything but the ridge on.  Oh, and a panel at the back which will have the woodburner flue going through it - we decided it'd be much easier to cut the hole for that before it's on the roof, but we can't do that until we have the woodburner and know the size and position.

On Monday it was my birthday and we were just going to have a normal day and get on with some cladding, but it was pouring down you'll be surprised to hear.  So we had a lie-in and read the paper in bed and then just pottered around in the morning and were about to go out for lunch when Maggie knocked on the door - she hasn't visited for months and months, so that was a surprise and she stayed for quite a while.  After a late lunch we decided we needed some fresh air and activity and, as the rain was now just drizzle Bob cleaned the chicken run out and checked the car over for our holiday trip and I did some weeding.  Phil and Ann rescued us from these chores and we were glad of an excuse to come back in for a cuppa.

Then we went on holiday.  We stayed in St Dogmaels which is just next to Cardigan on the coast.  The house was bright pink and sitting high up on a very steep little hill overlooking the river.  It was an upside-down house with the bedrooms downstairs and the lounge and kitchen upstairs to take advantage of the view - all very nice, just let down slightly by only having half a dozen sheets of loo roll left, a teaspoon of washing up liquid and hardly any soap in the bathroom, a bit stingy don't you think?  Still a quick walk down to the village store sorted that out and everything else was fine.  On the way down we went to an auction viewing - an old chap's workshop contents, goodness me what a lot of stuff and all very interesting, but nothing we wanted enough to leave a bid on (although Bob might have liked the two old motorbikes).  We also went to a wool shop in an old railway building which was amazing.  From the outside a drab old shed, but inside a total rainbow of all sorts of lovely wool - all Welsh and all dyed on the premises.  The wool is all multicoloured and dyed in small batches so it's sold in hanks not balls and you have to hang the hanks over your arm so that way you can see an expanse of the wool and make sure you have a good colour match.  You then wind the wool into balls, two or three to a hank and mix them up so the colour gets evenly distributed.  I spent some of my birthday money on some.  We also stopped at Macynlleth which is a nice little town with some interesting shops.  All a bit sad at the moment though because that is where the little girl (April) who is missing is from.  Sadly, we get used to hearing these things on TV and get a bit immune to it, but it's different when you see all the pink ribbons tied to fences, signposts and doors and then see all the police and mountain rescue teams gathered at the community centre - quite sobering.

Also on the way down we stopped at Newquay and booked ourselves on a boat trip to look at the famous Cardigan Bay dolphins - how exciting.  We also had a really horrible icecream each - really yuk, I'm not sure why but they were just horrible.  So, the boat trip the next day was lovely, but not a dolphin in sight - nice way to spend an hour or so though and Bob didn't even feel sick which I think he was expecting to.  Mind you, the sea was like a millpond.  In the afternoon we went down to Dinas Point and had a lovely clifftop walk.  We were lucky because the sun was shining where we were, but all around was very black and cloudy.  We could see for miles out to see and up the bay, but not a dolphin in sight.  I think it's just a myth made up for the tourists!  We did watch a seal playing in the mouth of a cave far below us which was nice.  On Thursday the weather wasn't good so we went to the Welsh Wool Museum which was really interesting (and free).  Mum and Dad would be so proud - they used to love going to these places and my sister and I must have been real pains moaning the whole time about how boring they were!  Driving back the heavens absolutely opened and the roads were like rivers with fords where there shouldn't have been any (we just can't get away from this rain!).  We went into Cardigan for a quick once around and very quick it was too because we got soaked.  Then going back to St Dogmaels, the road was closed because of flooding and the police had to give us directions for another way into the village.  It was bad enough to be on the Welsh news.

By total coincidence, Bob actually knew the chap that lives in the house next to ours and so he went round for a chat in the evening.  They let their chickens have the run of their downstairs and sit with them on their knees!  They're even softer with them than we are with ours.

Before coming home on Friday we went to Mwnt
which was lovely and had crashing waves
which is what I really need to make a sea-fix complete.

Also at Mwnt - it was sunny, but gosh it was so windy, I nearly
got blown off here.  Not a dolphin in sight . . . . definitely
a myth!

And so, back home and once again we got rained off after two lengths of cladding yesterday.  Back to work tomorrow - that week's gone so quickly!

Matty continued his Grand Tour and made it up to the high
shelf behind the stairs to meet Brian the snail.  I'm sorry Dad, but
it's just a fact of life that snails are called Brian - they always have been.
Even since I was tiny and wondered why grown ups called you Brian
when everyone should have known your real name was Daddy.
Anyway they got on famously and spent hours reminiscing about
life in the old country (the garden) and remembering their fear of
the monster chickens that roamed there and could swallow a small
tomato whole and do serious damage to a snail who wasn't careful.

Play has resumed

We are still having a lot of rain, but in between we've managed to get on with some of the cladding on the workshop.  The wany-edge larch boards arrived on Friday delivered by Pop Larkin . . . . not really, but if you've ever read/seen The Darling Buds of May, then the owner of the woodyard bears a striking resemblence (especially of character) to Pop.  He has a million stories to tell, an interest in everything and always willing with help or advice - there should be more people like him I think.

Anyway, we have now clad the two gable-end walls and up to the top of the windows and doors on the front.  The boards were long enough to do the sides in single lengths and the boards were fairly parallel so most of the end walls were really quick to do once we got into the swing of it.  Much quicker than the timber extension because the boards we had for that were wany in the extreme and so lots more working out needed to be done.  While I have been at work, Bob has been able to get on with the short pieces on the front and next to the window on the other end, but the whole lengths are just so much easier to manage with two people as you can imagine.  He has also got on with the noggins in the roof which takes a while and a lot of up and downing the ladder.

This morning we had to do an unexpected repair on the woodburner flue.  We decided to get a chimney sweep brush so we can sweep our own chimney instead of paying someone to do it.  We will eventually have two to do and the one with a backboiler on needs doing twice a year (the water cools it down so the tar and soot builds up quicker).  So it could work out quite expensive.  Anyway, yesterday it was raining so Bob couldn't get on with the workshop and so decided to sweep the chimney and clean all the insides of the woodburner.  All went well and he was really pleased with his efforts.  At one point while he was doing it, the chickens set up an almighty squwarking outside, but he couldn't see why and so assumed they were just 'crying wolf' as they are prone to do.  Later on he went into the garden for something and notice a short piece of metal tube lying on the ground . . . . mmmmmm . . . .wasn't that supposed to be in the chimney inside the top of the flexible flue supporting it so the clamp which holds it all in place can be tightened?   Oops, a bit of enthusiastic sweeping had obviously pushed it out and presumably it had almost hit the chickens as it fell - no wonder they made a racket!  So, this morning we had to set the scaffold tower up to its full height and get the roof ladder out and Bob gingerly climbed up to the chimney to replace the tube and screw it into place.  I offered to go up (honestly I did), but I know that if I had, Bob would have needed to see for himself that it was properly in place so there seemed little point in me doing it.  I was the support crew on the tower.

On Sunday, Bob was out all day at a meeting, so I had a very rare day here by myself.  I was hoping to do some gardening, but, guess what?  it rained most of the day.  Surprise, surprise!  So I got on with version two of the blind for the triangle window in the oak bedroom - you know, the one I made such a cock-up of about 6 months ago.  I have been putting it off and putting it off and I can't say I really enjoyed doing it, but it it is done now and just needs ironing and hanging.  THANK GOODNESS!

I had to work until 10pm on Saturday (a 10 hour shift) to do the stock-take - that seemed like a very long day I can tell you!  Still, I only have to work tomorrow and then I'm off until a week on Monday - yeah!!! Can't wait.  We're actually going away for a few days too which will be lovely.  Not going far, just to Cardigan for a bit of a sea-fix - every couple of years I just get a hankering to see some waves and breathe in some salty air.

Matty has been on a Grand Tour - introducing himself to the
other residents of the kitchen.  First was Bristles who he enjoyed
chatting to and got on very well with.  He was a tad worried though
that if they got on too well, Bristles might want a hug and
he'd just end up as juice!

Rain stops play

We're at a bit of a standstill with the workshop at the moment because of the relentless rain  which is a rather frustrating.  We have put the sheets of OSB (similar to chipboard, but made with bigger bits - I think it stands for Orientated Strand Board) on the outside and wrapped it all in nice green breather membrane.  Next to go on the outside is battens and then the wany-edged boards.  The wany-edge should be delivered at the end of this week.  On Friday we went over to Whitchurch (about 15 miles away) to a roofing and cladding firm to sort out what to put on the roof and, more importantly, how to do it.  Oh, the chap there was so helpful and explained it all to us and gave us loads of tips and then worked out exactly what we needed.   So, I can throughly recommend SLE Cladding Ltd if you are ever doing anything similar - they deliver all over the country!  We are going for black Onduline which is a corrugated sheet which doesn't produce condensation.  We are having 'rooflights' made of clear plastic which has the same wiggles as the Onduline so they fit together well.  Because the rest of the roof is having insulation and then board underneath it, we will have to make a sort of box under the clear bits and then put a flat piece of clear polycarbonate sheet under that so it still lets the light through, but doesn't attract too much condensation.  Once we had sorted out quantities, etc, we got onto when it could be delivered and our helpful chap started to look a bit doubtful and worried when we said we needed it fairly soon - they are obviously busy.  He went off to check and came back to ask if we'd be in later in the day!  So, it arrived about three hours after we got home and, once again, the delivery chap was really helpful with tips and advice.  It was a real pleasure dealing with them all and so much better than some anonymous oiks at an internet firm. 

Before winter set in!

Bob has made the frame for the big, south-facing window.  The glass for this is one of the pieces we ordered for the end bedroom, but which came with the wrong colour spacers round the edge.  The glass suppliers didn't want it back and so we thought we'd be silly not to use it.  The other, smaller, window frame is one of the ready made oak frames we bought at an auction ages ago - two for £20 which included all the iron catches and hinges, what a bargain!

May I introduce Matty Tomatter.  He grew on our hanging
basket tomato plant and just had too much character to end
up in a salad!

Lots of progress

Despite me working full-time hours for the last week or so, we've really made quite good progress.  The Friday before last was our screeding day.  Oh my, did I hurt by the end of it!!  I'm sure Bob did too, but he's not such a wuss as me and took it like a man.  We started at 8am by laying the underfloor heating cable.  We couldn't really put that down beforehand - the chickens would be bound to think it a good game to tangle themselves up in it I'm sure.  We then got straight on with the proper work.  We used our usual method with Bob on the mixer and barrow and me on my knees!  It took us a few mixes to get the consistency right.  It's funny how you forget these things - when we were doing the house floors I never thought I'd forget anything about it!

If it's too wet you can't 'polish' it  and it drags when you try to smooth it out , so it really does have to be quite dry.  Too dry though and it's really hard work.  Anyway, we got it sorted after the first few mixes.  Because this was a fairly large, fat L-shaped area, the concrete we laid cracked slightly as the two sides of the L pulled against each other as they dried and shrank.  So, for the screed we left a strip of wood in the middle (you can see it on this photo).  We will take that out later and fill in the gap, but it should let the two bits dry independently.  We laid the screed in strips with a piece of wood nearest me to pack it against and level off.  That way you are working in manageable blocks, but it does mean you are constantly leaning out over it and working at arms length.  By about the stage in this photo I really felt like crying because my knees hurt, my back ached and my arms were screaming.  Bob kept saying I could go in and he'd finish off - sooooo tempting, but I just couldn't do it, so I gritted my teeth and carried on.  With just a quick break for a sandwich and another for an choc ice (yes, it was really hot) we worked for 11 hours finally finishing tidying up at 7pm.

 

I never thought we'd get to this stage - the last little bit, yeah!  What a welcome sight.  We covered it all up with tarpaulin so it didn't dry too quickly which makes it stronger apparently.  Ooops, guess who stepped on a soft bit when the tarp was down and left a permanent, size 6 footprint in it?!  As soon as we'd tidied up, I had to go and lie down to stretch my bones out again.  Once showered, we celebrated in our usual beer and curry style - well deserved I think and we were both really pleased with our day's work.  Bob actually managed to get a bit of a suntan on his legs which doesn't usually happen . . . . well, actually it was just on the south-facing leg!

Having alternated work days with concreting or screeding, by Wednesday we were ready for a day off and so we went over to the lovely little town of Montgomery, had a look round the auction (nothing of interest to bid on), browsed the fantastic old-fashioned ironmongers, had a look round the gallery shop and had a coffee and then called at the garden centre on the way home - a nice moochy morning.  It then poured down in the afternoon, so we gave up on trying to put the plants we'd bought in and did nothing much instead.  We did go and collect a trailer full of horse muck from Ray (he owns a livery stable up the lane) which we're storing at the end of the garden on plastic sheets.  This should stop the weeds growing there while the muck rots down.  Later we want to try and make a wild flower area there, so we don't want too much richness from the poo going into the ground, hence the plastic sheets.

 

On Friday, my next day off, I was all set to do some pointing on the house - that's an ongoing job for any spare time.  Unfortunately, all our concrete and screed mixing had proved too much for our poor little cement mixer.  Bob was mixing some concrete for behind the workshop (easier to do before the workshop walls are up) and he went off to get something and, when he got back, the mixer had tipped itself and was spewing concrete down the path!  The bracket which holds the drum had sheared on both sides and bent forward!   So he took it apart and we took it to our blacksmith (the one who is STILL trying to bend a piece of metal for our stair handrail) and he welded two reinforcing strips onto it.  So, back to Friday and my pointing . . . . we put the mixer back together and plugged it in.  It all worked well . . . . . except that you had to keep your finger on the green button or it turned off - not really ideal!  It seems that, in taking it apart, one of the little 'spade couplings' in the electric bit had broken.  We have lots of spare bits like that, but nothing that was quite right.

 

So, we had to re-think our day and decided to get on with putting together the framework for the workshop walls.  Bob had already cut, marked and drilled all the long top and bottom pieces, so we needed to cut the uprights and fix them all together.  We got on really well and made three walls.  It was great having the nice flat workshop floor to work on.  We collected another trailer full of manure when we'd finished.  Then on Saturday, before I went to work, we put the last wall together.

 

Today, Sunday, we were going to go to the Michaelmas Fayre at Bishops Castle (another lovely little town), but decided that, as we were on a roll with the workshop, we'd get on with that instead.  My next day off is Wednesday, so by doing it today, Bob can get on with the next stage while I'm at work.  And so, this morning, we put the walls up!  They are quite heavy and quite waggly and it was quite windy.  So we had to do some creative-bracing, tying ropes around the fence, screwing bits of wood to trees, etc.  Everything went smoothly though and it was a very satisfying job done.  It does look very big in its space, it's actually quite tall and because it's at the top of the slope, this is emphasised even more.  Bob was quite worried and thought about cutting it down a bit, but having good head-height in a workshop makes a lot of difference - much easier when you're turning planks of wood round,etc.  I think that once it's clad in waney-edged boards and is softened a bit with plants and the ground around it is sorted out, it'll be fine.

 

After we'd put up all the walls, we went for another consignment of horse muck.  Oh, the chickens have had a wonderful time playing on the poo-pile!  They do look a bit of a mess though - I'm certainly not kissing them goodnight!

 

 

 

 



Lazy days and busy days

Yes, we've had a real mixture of laziness and being busy since I last spoke to you.  The builder came round and popped the blockwork footings in for the workshop in no time at all.  I have now painted them black on the outside, so once the ground outside is finished off and the cladding is on the walls, they should fade into insignificance.  We then went for our walk up a 'mountain' (not really a mountain, but it felt quite steep).  Thankfully, I wasn't the least fit amongst us and so it wasn't me holding everyone up - phew that was a relief.  The pint and bowl of chips at our friend's pub at the end of the walk were very welcome and very delicious.

Bob has laid all the drains, water pipes and electric cables to, from and round the workshop.  Yeah, we actually remembered to put the water pipe in before the foundations this time - just so much easier I don't know why we didn't do it for the extension!!  We forgot, that's why, in case you haven't read about that little episode.  We have even fed an armoured cable from the workshop, up behind the retaining wall to the top barns ready for when we do something to sort them out - an unusual bit of forwarding planning on our behalf I must say.

He then levelled the ground, filling in dips and chipping away at bedrock where necessary.  We hired a whacker plate to press it all down.  That was quite funny because it had been raining quite a bit and the middle was quite soggy even though we'd scooped out as much water as possible.  We ended up completely splattered with liquid mud.  Our solution was to tip the ends of bags of lime, plaster, etc onto the slop and then whacker it again.  Seemed to work, though experts would no doubt throw their hands up in horror!  Next came a layer of soft sand to level it even more (that gets whacked down too).  Then the damp-proof membrane which also goes up the sides and on top of the blockwork.  One corner of this building will be the motorbike store and that has a different floor construction to the rest of it.  The main workshop will have a step up to it, but it's not too easy to get  a Harley Davidson up a step, so the floor in that bit will be more level with outside.  We mixed and laid that bit ourselves on Sunday morning - just concrete straight on the DPM, a bit of garage floor paint and job done. 


The insulation all laid with an upstand all the way
round so heat can't escape!  It's been really sunny
and this stuff fair dazzles you if you look at it at the
right (or wrong) angle.  Bob wondered if he'd have
tanned the tops of his legs where the sun reflected
up his shorts!  He hadn't!!

The workshop part will have the same layers as the house.  So, 3" insulation, 4" concrete, underfloor heating then 2" of screed.  How posh is that to have underfloor heating in your workshop?!  We had some spare cable left when they sent the wrong stuff for the house and wouldn't come and collect it, so we thought we might as well use it.  It should make a huge difference in that Bob will be able to get to work straight away in the morning instead of having to wait for things to warm up . . . no excuses!  If, in the future, we need more room in the workshop and can house the bikes elsewhere, we will be able to take out the studwork walls, put insulation on top of the concrete floor and then screed on top of that and it will end up the same level, just not heated.  See, more forward planning - impressive huh?

Yesterday afternoon we had the readymix concrete delivered and, once more, roped in friends to help.  Phil the Barrow came again and Rob, our nearest neighbour, helped too.  Ann also came round and helped me do the levelling and tamping.  It took us just under an hour to lay and level 6 tonnes (or is it tons? Never sure if there's a difference) of concrete which I think is pretty good for amateurs.  Bob is now going back and forth to the builders' merchants getting trailers full of sand ready to do the screed.  We will try and get on with that tomorrow.  We have a fairly good system with Bob mixing and me on my hands and knees packing it in (it's quite a dry mix) then levelling and smoothing it.  I'm not sure if we'll get it all done in one go as it is really hard work, so we'll see how we get on.

First thing one morning last week, before we were actually properly up, we had a delivery of insulation . . . . . . 145 sheets of it!  The lorry driver wasn't happy with the branches overhanging the lane so stopped half way down and we had to carry it all dripping wet down the lane.  This is for the walls and roof of the workshop and we got it from a seconds company.  This was a real bargain and was less than half the price of ordinary stuff and it's actually in much better condition than the stuff we've had from the local builders' merchants in the past.


This week I've been at work quite a lot, but in the mornings before I go I've been trying to get on with our VAT claim.  Because we are renovating a house which hasn't been lived in for so long, we can claim back the VAT we've paid on goods and some services.  It's worth doing, but quite a chore to get it sorted out.  You have to submit and list all your receipts, send them the plans and a few other bits of paper.  I have kept a spreadsheet all along and kept the receipts in tidy order (rather than just chucking them in a carrier bag) and I'm really glad I did because I've just had to tweek and double check everything.  You have three months to submit your claim after building control have signed you off, so I'd better get on with it really.  It's not much fun or very interesting, but I've nearly finished.

Bob looking over the edge of the aquaduct

So, that's the work side of things, but we have also had quite a sociable few days.  Some friends from where we used to live rang the Sunday before last to ask if they could visit the next day.  Last time they came we were in the middle of underpinning, so there was plenty of progress for them to see.  Unfortunately, I had to work and they only arrived five minutes before I had to leave.  They were hiring a boat on the Llangollen Canal which is only a few miles away, so they invited us to join them for a day.  So on Thursday we gathered together a picnic, found where they'd moored their boat and off we chugged.  We had a really good day.  We went over the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct which is the longest and highest (126ft) aquaduct in Britain. 

Having walked over it a few times, we were prepared to be scared!  The footpath side has railings (obviously), but you can look straight down and it really does feel very, very high and quite scary.  The canal side has no railings at all, just a sheer drop down and I thought it would be even more scary, but it wasn't at all.  I think it is maybe because, from the boat, you can't look straight down.  Anyway, it was good fun and one ticked off our list of things we'd like to do.  We pootled along all the way to Llangollen then got on a steam train (pretending we were on the Hogwarts Express) for a short ride to see the horseshoe weir and then walked back to the boat along the towpath.  We then drove? navigated? boated? back to where we started doing the aquatuct again.  Apparently, the canalside pubs aren't too special, so we got in our car and drove over the hills (very steep and hairpin bendy) to our friend's pub in Glyn Ceriog and had a delicious meal in the evening.

On the Tuesday of the same week our old nextdoor neighbours came for their first visit and we had a lovely day with them showing them around, catching up on news of our old neighbours and a pub lunch.  And on the Thursday Bob and I went shopping in Shrewsbury which is quite a rare event, but we actually quite enjoyed it and had lunch out too.


Do you know, on Friday we will have lived in this cottage for a whole year . . . . can you believe that?!!