Lintels and ornaments

Well, the snow all disappeared pretty quickly didn't it?  On Friday evening, we had loads more on top of what was already there.  Then on Saturday evening it poured with rain (I got drenched walking back to my car after work - really wet, icy rain) and by Sunday morning the snow had all gone except for a few stubborn patches.  Driving to work first thing in the morning was interesting.  The road in one place was like a river, and quite fast flowing and water was literally gushing out from a side road - quite dramatic.  All the rivers are several times as wide as they are supposed to be.  We went to Shrewsbury this afternoon and from the top of the hill just near us you can look down the Tanat Valley and the bottom of it was glittering in the sun where all the water was lying.  All the flood defences were up in Shrewsbury and the water was half way up some of them!

So, apart from dealing with the weather and M&S work (and pointing, of course) this is what we've been doing for the past few days:

An oak 'lintel' in the lounge.  This actually just hides three
concrete lintels.  I think you'll agree (well, I hope you
do), it looks much better.  This is just glued in place which
is a bit of a leap of faith, but it seems fairly solid!

 

New bookshelves in the purpose-built alcove
on the landing.  This meant we could unpack
two boxes of books!!

Here's a detail of the landing bookshelves which gives away their
origin.  Our scaffolders kindly left us a couple of scaffold boards
to use as temporary shelves in the top barn, which we did.  When
we were hunting for something to make these out of we thought we'd
recycle and they look quite good smoothed and polished - all part of
the austerity measures you know!

 

Here's the lounge with half the ceiling removed - looks like
the ceiling is floating or just held up with that wall strap.  While I
was pointing and had mortar available, Bob took a stone out at
each end and replaced them with bigger ones which stick out into the
room.  The chunky oak joist which will go on the front of this lot and
hide the softwood joist can sit on these (it will also be attached to the
softwood!).  There are stones randomly sticking out of the wall in several
places in here, so it will fit in quite well.  The oak joist should be delivered tomorrow.

As there was nothing on telly last night (just for a change!)
we decided to unpack some ornaments and treasures.  Just
like Christmas because we'd forgotten about half the things!
We found homes for some things, re-packed some and . . . erm,
the others are now in a charity shop in Shrewsbury!

 

And that's our week in a nutshell.  Tomorrow, as I say, the oak joist should be delivered and if it is we will get on with sorting that out and putting it up - a twelve and a half foot chunk of oak isn't easy to store, so the best place for it is in its place.  Just for a change, I thought I might do some pointing.

 

I forgot to tell you, one lunchtime last week in the middle of the snow a fox appeared on the track next to the garden.  The chickens were out and he/she knew they were there, so we leapt up and opened the back door and clapped our hands at it.  Very nonchalantly it retreated a couple of steps and then turned back to look at us.  Bob  put his boots on and went out and it hid behind a tree, still looking at us, before trotting across the path and into the quarry.  We haven't seen it since which is a surprise and a relief! 

 

 

 

 

Snow and Welsh cakes

Well, we've had more snow and everything looks lovely.  I quite like the look of the garden at the moment - we can pretend that under the soft piles of snow are all our lovely shrubs and plants waiting 'til Spring to do their thing and look marvellous . . . . instead of weeds, mud and building rubbish!  Apparently, on Friday M&S actually closed early because of the weather and on Saturday we were able to leave very quickly after closing time instead of staying for an hour to tidy shelves, etc.  Most of the roads are fine, it's just the little lanes that are a problem - my Manager hasn't been home for days because he can't get his car up the lanes.

More progress on the lounge (apart from pointing) - we have taken out half the ceiling and so can now see right up to the roof.  Last time we could do that you could also see the rafters and even the sky above!  We took down the plasterboard and rearranged the loft boards above and then took out the joists.  Yesterday, Bob set to to cut through the wall plate the joists were attached to and cut off the bolts we'd epoxyed into the walls.  As he was doing the last one, the one right next to all the cables in the wall, it started smoking - of all the ones to do that, that was not the one you'd choose (it would be a tad annoying to set fire to the wiring!).  We suppose that the epoxy had got really hot from the angle-grinding.  With a spot of quick thinking, Bob dashed outside, grabbed a handful of snow and stuck that onto the wall to cool it - handy.

Welsh cakes cooking on the woodburner.  Honestly, I
scrubbed it just before, but it looks awful
on this photo - well-used you could say!

On Sunday we had a bit of a lazy day - we weren't even up and dressed until about 11am!  We then went into the workshop to play with Bob's new toy.  He has bought a pillar drill and it needed putting together.  It's a big, heavy old thing, so it took two of us to do it.  Through the woodyard we use, he got to know about a chap who deals in second-hand workshop tools, mostly from the days when they were really solid, well-built and made to last.  So this drill is from the early '90s, but is actually brand new and still has its protective film on.  In the afternoon we lit the woodburner and I made welsh cakes for with our cuppa.  Really nice cooked straight on the top of the woodburner. On Sunday I also started typing up the old diary I found and the first instalment is over there, on the right, at the top, under 'Pages'. I got up early today to type this and now, at 7am, I am about to put a loaf of bread in the oven.  How impressive is that?   Actually, don't be too impressed, Bob made the dough last night, so I've only had to shape it and leave it for an hour - not too difficult.  Bob has been making our bread regularly for the last few weeks and I think we've only bought a loaf twice this year!  I am off today, so I'll give you three guesses what I'm going to be doing . . . .

Weather update - brrrrr!

The bread and butter pud was really good - definitely one to make again. The forecasted snow has arrived.  I'd say we've had about 5" and it's still snowing.  We went for a walk round the block (by block I mean lanes and paths) - not many people about!  I guess if it'd been sunny there'd be lots of people out in it, but to be honest it's just dull and cold.  The snowplough has been out and cleared the main lane and a bit down everyone's drive, but didn't come down our lane at all . . . that's nice isn't it?

Here's the view from our bedroom window

And again from the bedroom window.  The chickens really
didn't know what to make of it - especially when they
tried to go down the steps and found there wasn't anything
solid underneath!  They enjoyed their warm pea and raisin
porridge though - mmmmm, dishilicious.

And here's one I forgot to put on last time - sunrise from
the lounge doorway.  It looked far more dramatic than
this in real life.

Last night I found some archive footage which I will type up for you before too long.  It's from when we very first moved here.  Before I started this blog and I thought I might write a diary - what was I thinking!  Bob and I had already forgotten half the stuff I'd written so it was quite interesting for us to read.

We have a hole!

We have a hole!  Yep, we've made the hole in the lounge wall through to the chimney for the second fireplace in the kitchen which backs onto it ready for the lounge woodburner flue.  As usual, thinking about it was worse that actually doing it, but I had kinda forgotten the bit of adrenalin rush you get when you've managed to loosen the first big stone and reallise that, in theory, everything above could come down when you pull it out!  It was well built and the stone got slightly wider as it went back into the wall - good practice as it makes the wall stronger, but not so good when you're trying to take it apart! 

So, Bob had to whack quite hard and chip some bits off.  As he did that all the mortar dust on the whole wall jumped which made it look as if all the stones were jumping which was a bit disconcerting.  In addition, you could hear loose bits falling down the chimney into the kitchen which made quite a rumbling sound.  Oooooh errrrr a bit scary!  Once the first stone was loose, we could see that a couple of big stones above had also come loose so we had to wedge them together with a bit of old iron we had lying around so their weight would lock them together instead of letting them fall.  Bob then took the stone out and I quickly propped it all up with bits of wood - phew! 

Bob then nipped to the Builders Merchants to get a concrete lintel and in the afternoon he fixed that in place.  Then, leave well alone while the mortar goes off.  We had put a piece of card over the fireplace in the kitchen to stop too much mess, but we acidentally dropped a chunk of stone down the chimney which knocked the card away and so there was rubble all over the kitchen floor.  Not really a problem and nothing like the dust that was everywhere the next day when we raked out the other walls in the lounge ready for pointing and then swept it up.  All along the hall was covered in a really thick layer.  Mind you, it makes for really satisfying vacuuming!  Today (two days after putting the lintel in) Bob carried on removing stones to make the hole for the flue to go through at an angle. Once the pipe is in place, we will build the stones back around it and face the lintel with thin stones or brick. 
While he was finishing the hole, I got on with more pointing.  I think we can actually see the end of that at last - still a few more sessions to do, but we're getting there.

Yesterday, Bob's car was due for an MOT.  It has been pretty bad at starting lately, so they were going to check that out too.  As I've feared would happen for ages, not only would Bob's car not start, but mine was a dead as a dodo too, so we couldn't jump it from that!  So, the nice chap from the garage came along and jump started both of them.  Hopefully, we've diagnosed the problem with mine - a loose connection, so fingers crossed that's all (apart from the squeaks and clunks and rattles!), it started OK this morning.  Bob's passed its MOT and now has a new battery so hopefully that'll be OK too.

We have made another batch of marmalade which means we now have 23 jars (four different sorts) . . . should keep us going for a while!  This was slow-cook marmalade, so insted of boiling it fast you let it bubble away for hours.  It makes it really dark.  Following Delia's instructions I now have a chunky marmalade bread and butter pudding cooking in the woodburner - she says you have to make it as soon as possible after you've made the marmalade, so who'm I to argue?

On my last blog I was going to tell you about the feeling of Spring in the air, but forgot.  There was a primrose in flower in our wood when we had our bonfire, we have snowdrops and the birds were tweeting their little hearts out.  Now what's happened?!  It's been snowing all day, though it's not mounted to much more than a thin covering of slush, but we're due for about 6" tomorrow.  Sainsbury's was packed this morning with everyone stocking up in case they're stranded for weeks!

So, I told you Bob has been making/putting up shelves all over the place, well here are some of them:

This is a yew shelf from our old house with new brackets made from
old gutter brackets.  Another marmalade shelf you might think, but
this is more of a pickle shelf I think.  Eventually the fuse box to
the left will be housed in a little cupboard and then the end of the
shelf can be attached to that, until then we can't put anything heavy
on that end.

Next, another shelf from our old house.  This one is made
from Laburnum and has gone a really rich dark colour while
it's been in storage - nice.  It's at the top of the stairs.  The twig
to the left was saved from our bonfire - literally, I grabbed it off
the fire as I thought of a use for it!

And this is in the end bedroom, made from oak and is new.
We didn't have walls this wiggly in our old house!

Just realised that we've now got more dusting to do!

PS:  We're not happy about HMV going into administration!!!  We always try really hard to buy from shops rather than online and going to HMV when we go to Shrewsbury was a treat (the only way I could get Bob to go sometimes).  It was exciting looking along the shelves, choosing some CDs (asking staff questions and being surprised that they all know what they're talking about) and then whacking them on really loud when we got home.  Now what will we do?  Obviously, the few we bought weren't enough to keep their profits up, but we tried and it's very sad and soon there won't be anything left but charity shops, mobile phone shops and empty shops.  BRING BACK REAL SHOPS!!!!!

OK, rant over - better go and try this here bread and butter pud.

Bonfires and picnics

We have investigated the problem I had with putting photos on this blog and it's not just me, it's a known problem with the Google Blogger that I use and they're working on it (I hope!).  Anyway, I have managed to put some photos of the woodburner on my previous post in a different way which is a bit more technical and awkward, but I can do it.  So, apologies if the photos are a bit all over the place until normal service is resumed!

We had a lovely day up in the wood on Sunday.  There were masses and masses of small branches to get rid of so we lit the bonfire first and then just kept feeding it all day.  It's such a fun and satisfying job - at the end of the day there was just a neat circle of glowing embers and ash and all the mountains of brash had magically disappeared.  As it was a lovely day and it was toasty next to the bonfire, we had a picnic up there for lunch - a novel idea for January.



 

When I got changed after, I realised I had quite a big hole burned into the shoulder of my sweatshirt - oops!   I must have looked funny walking round with a smouldering shoulder, you'd have thought I would have noticed wouldn't you?  While I fed the bonfire, Bob got on with cutting and chopping logs and separating useful bits from the brushwood.  There's still lots more to chop up, but that can be done now and then when we have a spare hour.

 

Yesterday I did more pointing in the lounge.  This time it was going over the wall I'd already done when we thought we were going to insulate and plasterboard it.  So the stuff I did before was very rough and not at all up to scratch for just being painted.  I don't know about you, but I find making good something you've already done is a bit demoralising - feels like you've wasted a lot of time.  Anyway, that wall's done now and I'm glad it is - the rest of it is pointing from scratch so to speak.

 

On New Year's Day, Bob and I had a planning meeting to draw up a list of jobs.  In May Mum and Dad are bringing some friends from Holland for a couple of days, so we have a deadline to finish the end bedroom and the lounge.  We always work better to a deadline and we now have a long list of things to work through and tick off.  So Bob has been getting on with some of those little fiddly jobs - finishing door frames, putting up shelves so we can empty some boxes and so on.

 

Guess what!  The blacksmith has just been round to try the stairs handrail for size!!!!!!!!  You may remember that back in June we asked him to make the rail which has to go round the newel post in an elongated helix shape.  He has had some trouble with it and we thought he'd given up on it, but he hadn't and the piece he brought round is almost right.  So he's gone off to tweek it and promises he'll be back soon.  I think they're short of work (he's had to put his staff on a 3 day week and he had time to sit and have a coffee) so the chances are he will have time to do it.  How exciting that will be!

New Year, new woodburner as the old saying goes!

That's not really an old saying is it, but it sounds OK.  As you'll have guessed, we finally managed to install the woodburner in the workshop.  New Year's day was a nice bright sunny, blue sky day and so, instead of going for a walk as planned, we decided to get the woodburner done.  It was a little awkward.  The flue, when all pieced together, is quite long and unwieldy.

Once it's poking through the roof you have to put the thick rubber grommetty thing on and then the cowl on the top.  So, I was inside holding the flue while Bob was outside doing the rest.  Obviously, the grommet has to be a tight fit to keep the rain out and so was quite difficult to slide down.  Once all the bits were on we had to lift it and slot it into the woodburner itself and then secure it with the brackets we made the other day making sure it's central to the hole in the roof because the flue has to be a certain distance away so it doesn't melt the roof! 

That done, the grommet has to be moulded into place fitting up and down all the wriggles in the roof, then siliconed and then screwed on.  It was actually only just big enough to cover the hole (would have been so much easier if there'd been a bit more leeway).  We haven't finished off the ceiling inside - waiting until it's rained to make sure it doesn't leak first.  We did then light it straight away just for fun - with just a handful of shavings and little bits of wood it lit really well and you could feel some heat.  Bob's going to be roasted if he stokes it up properly!

I did some more pointing in the lounge on Wednesday and Bob has carried on with moving things into the workshop and clearing out the barn at the top.  He's sorted through the piles of timber and we now have more firewood!  We've also found a nice chunky piece of burry elm to make a coffee table out of and some small pieces of pippy oak which can be panels in kitchen cupboard doors.  There was also a scaffold plank which we might clean up and use for shelves on the landing - have to see what it looks like first.

Yesterday we had an outdoors day - it's so rare to get a dry, sunny day we thought we'd better make the most of it.  First we pruned the hedge so it now looks like a few sticks in the ground!  Then we went up to our little wood and chopped trees down.  There was a fairly big holly tree which is sprouting from the bottom, but is dead from the waist up.  That was fun!  All the branches were on one side which means it would naturally fall that way, but that was not the way we wanted it to fall (onto the neighbour's land and the fence).  So we tied a rope onto it and I kept the tension on that while Bob cut a wedge out of the side we wanted it to fall and then cut part way through the other side and knocked a wedge in.  We were hoping to get it to slowly keel over with us pulling it in the right direction with the rope.  It was quite stubborn though and Bob had to keep going back to cut a bit more.  Eventually, with a lot of hauling, it did exactly what we wanted it to do.  Half the branches shattered as it fell into nice log-size pieces - handy!  We checked them with the moisture metre and, because it's been dead for a while, they were perfectly dry and ready to use - very handy!  Holly burns really well and gets very hot so we'll use those for cooking logs.  We then cut down some ivy covered hazel that had got out of hand.  That should sprout quickly into nice straight, useful poles (coppice).  Bob got clouted on the jaw by one piece that flew up unexpectedly because of the weight of the ivy on it.  He was a bit sore last evening, but it's not too bad this morning.  I guess he might have a bruise under that beard!

I'm at work in a bit, but off tomorrow and I think were going to have a big bonfire in the wood to try and tidy up a bit.  There's a huge pile of branches from a previous chopping session, plus the stuff from yesterday.  While we're tending the fire, we can cut the wood into logs and stack it and that will be a good job done (good fun too - I like having bonfires!).