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.