Triangulation problems

Oh, don't talk to me about triangles - they've been causing us major headaches in one way or another.  On Sunday I decided to finally make the blind for the triangle window in the oak room.  This has taken an awful lot of thinking about, we even spent a whole morning with Dad a few months ago brainstorming solutions to the problem of curtains/blinds for a triangle-shaped window with a sloping roof above.  We went through all sorts of wacky ideas.  We finally decided on a roman blind which opens with a sort of fan action.  This, of course, means that you have to pull the strings different amounts to make the blind pull up different amounts at each side.  For now we will just have two separate strings and you do just that - pull them different amounts.  Eventually though and when Bob had his lathe set up, we will conjur up a system where each string winds round a different size wheel.  You turn both wheels together, but the different sizes compensate for the different lenghts of string.  Anyway, I measured up each side of the window and cut the material to fit (or so I thought).  I worked out how the stiffening struts fit to do the fan bit and where the strings need to be attached to each strut so the strings pull up properly.  Bob made a batten to attach it to and we held it in place only to find that I'd gone wrong somewhere (probably because I couldn't be bothered to get anything to stand on to measure the long side and so couldn't really see what I was doing properly).  The slope of the material doesn't match the slope of the window!  I think I'll be able to sort it though.

The other triangle problem related to the stairs.  Bob has attached all the triangles to the diagonal supports under the stairs and attached them to the wall.  He then spent an afternoon puzzling why the steps don't fit as we'd expected them to.  It seems he overcompensated (or undercompensated) when adding (or taking away) thicknesses of the wood of the stairs themselves.  So, there's nothing for it but to take them off the wall and cut all the triangle bits off and do them again.  Before we do that though, we need to go and buy some more wood.  Ho hum!

Oh, to add to our misery yesterday morning we broke one of our precious pices of glass that are to go into the draft holes!  We had them made by a local glass artist and they survived three years in the caravan falling off their perches, etc. But when we were attaching the batten for the triangle blind, one got knocked off and broke in half, unfortunately not cleanly so we can't really just glue it back together.  Oh, we were a bit miserable and cross at that point yesterday I can tell you!  So, an early cup of coffee and clear the heads was needed before we could get on and think about anything else.  After the dodgy start though, we got on and had a really good productive day.

On Monday before I went to work we quickly plasterboarded
and skimmed both sides of the new bit of wall in the kitchen

Then yesterday I tiled and painted it.  Not really sure if you're
supposed to do all that in 24 hours, but it all seems fine!

While I was doing that, Bob built two of the steps
that go through the wall for the bottom of the stairs.
It just looks so much more solid now.  He's going
to do the bottom one today (if it ever stops raining
long enough to get the cement mixer out!).  Oh, those are
the offending triangle bit which have got to come off!

I got the end bedroom decorated over the last few days
which I really enjoyed doing (good job because Bob
doesn't really like decorating).  We're not sure the colour
is quite as we remember it, but we like it anyway
which is the main thing.

and here it is done, with the shades on the light and the
black window frames re-touched.  You can't see it on this picture,
but the glass shades have little bubbles in them which makes
a lovely soft pattern on the walls when the light's on.  Aahh, can
you see poor Bob mixing mortar in the rain!

Last night we went to a film-showing at the neighbouring farm all about becoming less dependent on oil and promoting local.  That all sounds a bit boring doesn't it, but it was actually quite interesting and positive - all about doing things ourselves and in our communities instead of relying on big Govt initiatives.  There was beer from down the road and bacon butties made with their own bacon and bread made on the premises - yum, yummy, yum yum!  On Monday evening I had to go to an M&S team brief on plans for the year ahead - oh, what a contrast, it was all about money, money, money.  Tonight we have a talk on ducks and geese at smallholders.  Then on Thursday Jan (Bob's step-mum) may be coming to stay - busy, busy, busy.

Friday was Bob's birthday and we had a lovely day doing not very much.  Lie-in, breakfast in bed, lunch at a canal-side pub and then a walk along the towpath, lazy afternoon then fillet steak and good wine by candlelight.  A nice break.

A 'sorting out' sort of week



Oooh! That looks painful



I didn't go up on the roof on Monday - Bob seemed quite keen to do the rufty tufty bit, so I did my usual builder's mate job of passing and holding things (and weeding the garden at the same time).  We had to rig up a sturdy carrier bag on a rope for passing things up and down - or Bob just threw them down and I retrieved.  It definitely looks tonnes better without the big, bright orange rubber grommets for the pipes to go through and it is nice to know that they are sealed properly.  The lime mortar the roofer chap put under the ridge tiles in the middle of the big freeze actually wasn't as bad as we thought is might be and was fairly solid.  Because lime mortar takes a long time to go off, the water in it can freeze in the meantime and that 'blows' the joint and it just crumbles, but it seemed OK so Bob just tidied it up.  Good job done!

Spot the difference - yeah, the bright orange
bit have gone (the bits where the pipes go into the
roof in case you didn't spot it)

We have had a bit of a 'sorting out' week.  The planners insisted that the timber extension should be 'subserviant' to the stone part.  Alright for them, they didn't have to build it and work out all the measurements!  Anyway, that means that the gutter needs a dog-leg in it, but of course you can't just buy them - at least not in cast iron (another planning need).  We got an ordinary right angle bend, but needed to attach another piece to it.  Not many people weld cast iron now, it can be a bit awkward to do I think.  Bob rang around a bit and one chap's name came up a few times so we went round to see him last night and he was quite happy to do it and we collected it today - brilliant.  He was a 'good old boy' with a canal-side workshop that used to be the bone-burning building for glue manufacture in a village about 5 miles away.  He also makes hinges, etc and seems to be able to turn his hand to most things, so he could be useful to know.

We also sorted out the work tops for the kitchen (the brickwork is now done ready for the sink).  Bob rang round all the local timberyards asking about 2" beech.  Can you believe that one had some at the back at their shed and as it had been there for a while they said we could have it for about half the price any of the others were asking - fantastic.  So we went and collected that yesterday.  Bob started on that today . . . . we actually think the piece he started on might be sycamore (it's paler than beech and doesn't have the same flecks in it), but it is a nice piece of wood and there's enough to do all the bit round the sink so we'll be having sycamore there.  We are actually trying NOT to have everything matching so are quite happy to have beech for the other bits.

Tomorrow we are going to collect a washing machine.  Now that will be strange after two and a half years of going to the launderette.  I suppose we could connect it to the outside tap and let it drain into the bath, but I think we'll be patient for another week or so and wait until the plumber has been and we can connect it properly.  It's funny, I used to think launderettes were quite scary places - well the one where we used to live certainly was (I certainly wouldn't go there after dark!).  Doing just one big wash a week and not thinking about it the rest of the time has been quite nice in a way, but I will be glad to be able to do it here.  Just need to get used to an ordinary size machine again.

I have also tiled the floor in the utility room - so we can build the frame for the sink to sit on before the plumber comes.  Because the tiles are the same as the ones in the bathroom and the hall, I had to lay the strip down the side of the hall first so the bathroom floor and the utility line up with the hall.  I haven't done the rest of the hall yet though bec\use we're not quite ready for that to be a 'clean area' just yet.  I did a bit more decorating this afternoon.  I started off just doing the bit under the kitchen sink - before it's in which is just so much easier.  As I had all the stuff out, I carried on and did the whole of that quarter of the kitchen, ceiling and all.  I'd quite happile decorate all of it, but have to stop myself and get on with more important things first, but I'm gradually sneaking bits in!

I did some fruit harvesting yesterday afternoon.  I picked all the gooseberries - a bit green and crunchy and very sour (yes, we did try them raw!), but I'm going to make a bit (a very small bit) of gooseberry and elderflower icecream which needs them to be picked now.  We have loads of blackcurrants, but the blackbird is quicker off the mark at harvesting the ripe ones than me.  I did get some though and they are in a jar with some sugar and vodka - yum, alcoholic ribena!  There was also one raspberry and two little wild strawberries. . . . . I just ate them!  I also made a batch of elderflower cordial which is lovely and refreshing on a hot afternoon. 

I'm so excited!!!



Newly decorated wall on the 'landing'
looking through to our bedroom

 So many things to be excited about . . . . . but, I have to admit, probably not that exciting for anyone else!

1.  I have been decorating - real decorating!  I know we've done the utility room and the bathroom, but they were plain, new walls.  In the last couple of days I have done the en-suite and the landing and they include old walls and ceilings with oak beams and purlins and it was so nice to see the way the new paint highlights the old, gnarly oak.  We do need to clean the oak up a bit to get rid of chalk and plaster marks, but it looks lovely already.

2.  Skimming phase one is coming on well - just a couple of panels in the kitchen ceiling, the long wall in the hall and a couple of little bits and pieces left to do.  We did the ceiling in the hall over the weekend.  I was dreading it, but it was nowhere near as bad as I thought and looks fine.

3.  Forgot to tell you in my postcard from our 'olidays that we saw an adder on our walk.  It was sunbathing on the path and jittered away as we got close, but we had a good chance to watch it before it disappeared into the grass.

4.  Also forgot to tell you that one of the monks at Samye Ling let me bang the gong outside the temple for the evening service - what a priviledge.

5.  Tomorrow, the plumber is supposed to be coming to connect the wastes on the bath and the shower tray.  We moved the bath into the bathroom in readiness - now that is exciting!  Course, the plumber is a bit unreliable, so he may not turn up, but fingers crossed!

6.  The wren is sitting on the nest in the lounge.  We haven't seen them for a while and just this morning we had decided that they'd given up on that nest and were using a different one.  The next time Bob went in there the wren flew out right across his face!  When I went in a bit later I could see a little face looking out at me, but it didn't fly away and was still there later on.  We actually had a wren in the caravan this morning - must have flown in one of the open windows and Bob had to help it out.  Also had a chicken in the caravan who'd managed to get in through the lounge door and then flew out, over the wire mesh we'd put across the kitchen door to keep them out!  The woodpacker/nuthatch drama seems to have ended as a bit of a non-event - we haven't seen anyone on the beech tree for ages, but have heard/seen the greater spotteds across the lane in the woods.

7.  We were invited to join Bill, Maggie, three fairly grown-up children and a girlfriend from America for their Easter meal yesterday - delicious roast dinner eaten in the garden under a parasol - followed by an egg hunt.  Maggie and I hid over a hundred eggs of various sizes and then promptly forgot where we'd put the special bigger ones - think they found all but half a dozen little ones though, so not bad.  They'll be a bonus for whoever next does the gardening I think.  All good fun and lovely weather too.

8.  We have visitors imminent - Bob's dad (Arthur) and stepmum (Jan) are coming on Thursday afternoon.  They haven't been since last summer, before we'd even started putting up the oak-frame bit of the extension, so they should see a huge difference.  It'll be nice to show them around and have a chat.  Then mum and dad are coming for a few days from Sunday (staying in the local Travelodge) - a few changes since they were here too.

9.  Elvis laid her first real egg for about 10 days today - she had a few days of laying them, but forgetting the shells before we went away, then hasn't laid one for about a week, but managed one with a shell today!

10. Finally in my excitement list is that Carol (my sister) managed to get Bob a pair of Levi 501s for just £25 on her recent holiday in Florida, wow, Bob won't have to wear patched jeans anymore!

NOT on my excitement list is that the caravan is currently being bombarded by may bugs (or cockchafers - that name for them makes Bob squirm!).  They are huge, very solid and just fly constantly at the windows, banging quite relentlessly and loudly on them for about half an hour each evening from about 10 o'clock.  We have to make sure all the windows are closed by then because if they get inside they are horrible - really big and flappy/buzzy, a bit scary really!

Slate tiles

We have finished decorating!  Ha, ha - that sounds as though we're ready to move in doesn't it?  When I say finished decorating, I mean just the bathroom . . . . and only the paint, not the floor . . . . or the tiles . . . . . or the bath, toilet, sink or shower . . . . oh, and not the light or the switches . . . . or a door or anything like that.   So, a bit of an exaggeration I think!  We have done the three coats of paint though and we've laid the floor tiles - and that's another story.

Ages ago we bought some slate tiles from Homebase for the bathroom - 300mm square dark slate, as shown on their display and evident from the tile showing though the window in every box.  I had plans for a striking black floor, white everything else and brightened up by red towels, etc.  After I'd put the first coat of proper colour on the walls in the bathroom I opened a pack of tiles just to see what they'd look like.  Now, I know that slate is a natural product and you have to expect variations in colour, thickness, etc, but these were ridiculous.  There were clearly two different sorts of slate - pale greeny ones about 15mm thick and dark black/grey ones about 5mm thick!  What are you supposed to do with that?!  A chequerboard pattern and different thicknesses of adhesive to make them level?  We opened all the boxes and they all contained half and half.  We couldn't even hide all of one sort under the bath.  So, we took them back and they were actually very good about it (once we'd explained five times that ordering a new lot and making sure they were from the same batch number wouldn't help because they were mixed within the box) and they gave us our money back.  So, we went straight round to the place where we got the little tiles for the hall and bought some more (cheaper too).  I guess it'll look more coherent with the same flooring in the hall, utility and bathroom.

We have laid them in the bathroom and now need to seal them before grouting.  Of course, because they are mosaic tiles there's an awful lot of joints to grout so that'll be a job and a half!  They do look a bit like an optical illusion - if you stare at them they look like ridges and furrows and if you concentrate you can get the ridges and furrows to flip places.  When they are wet they are quite a nice dark green colour, so we will seal them with an oil based sealer to keep that colour.  Not sure how it fits in with the red towels idea - have to see when it's all done.  Also, the white tiles we liked for round the bath because they had the same texture as the floor tiles may not be right because these are smooth!  Oh, it's all so complicated.

We have, of course, been skimming all week too.  I forgot to tell you about doing the utility ceiling together.  As you can imagine doing a ceiling is a bit more messy than doing a wall.  I heard a curse and turned to see a huge blob of plaster slap bang in the middle of Bob's beard - he did look quite funny.  Oh, I wish I'd had the camera.  It took him ages to wash it all out and as soon as he got back on the job another blob plopped all over one lens of his glasses . . . he wasn't really amused, but I nearly wet myself!  Our work has been inspected and approved by Phil the Plaster when he and Ann came round for a cuppa - phew!  Ann said she'd put our certificate in the post!

The wrens are back in the lounge.  They go in and out by landing and walking under the door which is asking for trouble if a cat or similar realises what they are doing, so Bob dropped the bottom half of the door a bit so there was a gap half way up for them to fly through.  So now they squeeze through the smaller gap under the door!  Seems to defeat the point of moving it, so we've put it back as it was again - well, we tried!  I'm sure I saw one fly down the hall and out of the main door this afternoon.  Green woodpeckers have been investigating and modernising the old greater spotted woodpeckers nest in the beach tree behind the caravan (nuthatches used it last year), so we'll keep an eye on that to see if they move in.  The green haze on the trees is rapidly turning into real green and the hawthorn hedge is covered in real leaves.  We have quite a lot of blossom in the garden - the damsons are covered and there is actually blossom on the blackthorn which had been chopped right down before we moved here.  Maybe we'll be able to make some of our own sloe gin in the autumn!  Our sturdy little pear tree is absolutely covered in blossom buds - not sure it'll cope if they all turn into pears.  We went up to our little wood this evening and it is now covered in violets, primroses, sorrel and loads of wood anenomes.  When we went up there at the weekend, we struggled to find more that about four anenomes . . . where did they come from all of a sudden.  It is lovely though.  No doubt next time we go up there the nettles will have done the same and taken over!

We are both feeling a little weary so we're have a day off building work tomorrow.  Sainsburys/launderette and collecting light fittings, sockets and switches etc in the morning.  Then we might have lunch out and then not do much at all in the afternoon.  Bob wants to give his Harley a once over ready for summer riding and I might just get the deckchair out and read!  What a luxury!

Guess what we've been doing!

Very exciting today!!  Decorating, real decorating!!  We've put the first coat of paint on the bathroom and utility - they look like real rooms now!  Guess what colour . . . . . . . builders' standard . . . . magnolia.  It's actually quite a nice colour and probably would be good in most places, but I just can't bring myself to have it as the final colour - it's just such a cliche.  We bought a trade-size tub for base coats everywhere though - much cheaper than Dulux.  We thought it'd be really patchy after just one coat as the plaster just slurps it up, but it's done quite a good job - guess that's why the trade uses it. 

I got absolutely covered in paint spray from the roller and had to get the pan scrub to my arms to get it off!

We have the final paint for the bathroom.  It's one of Dulux's light-reflecting paints which is supposed to maximise the amount of light in dark rooms.  As there is just a rooflight and the tiny draft-hole we thought it may be a bit dim in there.  We used it in the old house when we were decorating ready to sell the house and several of the estate agents commented on how light and airy the bathroom was, so fingers crossed it'll work here too.

More skimming this afternoon - ooh, my right arm aches now!

The wrens were still in the nest in the 'lounge' for a couple of days, but we haven't seen them yesterday or today.  As I said, they have several nests to choose from each year, so maybe this one has been rejected again.  We'll have to keep an eye out and see if we can tell where they do actually nest, it was lovely last year to watch the babies leave the nest.  Bluetits are taking a lot of interest in the 'Quarry Workings Keep Out' sign across the lane (or rather in the pole it's mounted on).  There is a square hole in it half-way up and bluetits nested there last year - keep you posted.  Spring is definitely here - the daffodils are out at the side of the lane, our little wood is covered in violets, primroses and sorrel and the woods have taken on a bright green tinge.  The hawthorn has changed from having millions  balls of palest green all along its branchest to having tiny new and shiny leaves.  Everything seems full of promise - a really lovely time of year.