Thought I'd do lots of pictures this time and not much words.  So, here's step-by-step pictures for the kitchen sink area:-



It's not easy to do 'random' you know - it all has to be very
carefully planned so you don't end up with lots of one colour
left or the same order throughout 





Doing the easy ones first - I'll think about
cutting the diagonal edge ones later.  They
were actually really tough to cut.



So, who decided to put curved reveals round these windows?!
Certainly didn't make things easy - Bob managed to cut curves in the window sill
tiles and the upright ones just have to sit as they sit.  We did try it without any
upright ones, but it looked a little odd.  Think it'll be alright once its
grouted - that's tomorrow's job.



So, here it is with the sink in place - looks quite posh doesn't it?
Somehow Bob and I seem to be surprised every time we do
something like this,  as if we weren't really sure what it was
going to look like.



We might need another sink in the kitchen so we thought we'd
put this island unit in.  What do you think?  We're aiming for the
'workmanlike look' which I'm sure is going to be next
year's trend . . . . . .



. . . .  then we thought 'Nah, maybe not' and put it in the utility
room instead.  The washing machine will go under the drainer
side and an upright freezer to the right.  I need to put some more
carefully thought-out random tiles on the wall for a splashback.

So, there you go - our life for the past few days in pictures.  In addition we went to a property auction yesterday afternoon.  A cottage and land just down the lane was one of the lots and we thought it'd be interesting to see who buys it, but it evidently didn't reach the reserve price and so they didn't sell it (unless they came to some arrangement after the auction).  It certainly wasn't as 'buzzing' as the auctions we've been to before the 'downturn' and nothing went for much over the guide price.  I've had a girly day today with a visit from three friends from way back when I used to work in a school - 13 years ago, unbelievable.  After a cuppa and a look round the house (including one climbing the ladder in high-heeled sandals!) we went out for lunch - Bob went to the woodyard!

Rabbit wars!

Look, we have a new work bench!  Quite useful really.  We have plugged the washer in (it says 'Hello' on the digital display when you turn it on), just to see what it can do.  Blimey they've got complicated all of a sudden.  You can choose the temperature, spin speed, etc, etc.  I used to just run our old washing machine on the same programme for just about everything.  Mind you, I just used to put everything in the oven at Gas Mark 6 too.  I think Laura and Ben grew up thinking that those were the only settings you could have!  No doubt once we've palyed with this machine a few times we'll find a new standard setting.  It is one of the larger sizes (8kg), but it looks absolutely tiny inside - I've got used to the 35kg machine we use at the launderette . . . . . . must remember not to put a whole weeks worth in in one go!

I was using the washing machine as a work bench while I tiled the surround for the sink in the utility room.  Mmmm, looking at that picture, there's not actually much surround at all is there?  Bob has been building the carcass for the cupboard underneath and that is now put together and has had one coat of paint (it's only plywood, so we can't leave it as bare wood).  Tommorrow we will try it in place and put some battens on the wall to support the bit over the washing machine and then put another coat of paint on it.  We could also attach the sink to the top so that when the paint's dry it can all just pop into place.  That will then be ready for the plumber to sort out the pipes underneath.  The sycamore work tops around the kitchen sink have had their two coats of 'Seal & Finish', so they should be heat, grease and waterproof after tomorrow.  I caught a glimpse of that corner of the kitchen through the hole for the stairs this afternoon and it looked just lovely (I thought) - very cottagey.  I went to get the tiles for the splashback this morning - 20% off, so that was good timing and while I was there I noticed that they also had 25% off Little Green Paint Company's mixer paints (English Heritage approved colours, no less - how posh are we?!!).  They have a colour - soft, pale, olive green - that would look right on the cupboard doors in the utility so that was good too (so long as they still have it when we go back).

WARNING:  The next paragraph contains tales of a violent nature, please don't read it if you are squeamish

The rabbit wars have started.  We have put up with rabbits eating things in the garden for the last two years.  We've put chicken wire around the flower bed which looks lovely as you can imagine.  We've put chicken wire around the hedge and the vegetable plot.  We've clapped our hands at them to scare them off, made allowances for the baby rabbit we found in the flower bed, we even moved their babies carefully to persuade them to live elsewhere.  But, enough is enough and they are really taking the mickey now.  They live inside the wire in the flower bed, they've eaten the tops off all the leeks (they've never even liked them before) and have completely stripped the flowers off a 15 foot length of planting.  Yesterday we decided that the baby rabbit that used to run straight through the small holes in the chicken wire must now be too big to fit through and so it would be safe to plant some veg in the gaps in the flower border.  As we looked at one such gap a rabbit ambled into it, saw us and went and hid under the holly bush.  That was the last straw and Bob got his air rifle and made short work of it.  I know, I know, they're cute, but we have a constant battle with them and they don't seem to understand the rules!  Anyway, it didn't look as though there was much meat on it so I took it up to the clearing at the edge of the quarry across the lane and left it for the buzzards.  An hour later it had gone (and I'm pretty sure it hadn't made a miraculous recovery) so last night I think the buzzard chicks had a tasty rabbit supper.  Unfortunately, I found another blessed rabbit in the flower patch today . . . . oh, why don't they stick to the woods, there's loads of lush greenery?!  hold on, maybe that rabbit did make a miraculous recovery and has moved back in!

UNWARNING:  OK, you can open your eyes now, the violence is over.

We have other wild life which is not such a nuisance.  The family of woodpeckers are around most of the time and the kids do an awful lot of squabbling.  There were three of them on the top of the telegraph pole yesterday making a huge amount of noise.  I think that was two young and their mum - young have a red cap, adult females don't have any red on their heads and adult males have a red patch at the back of their neck.  The young nuthatches have definitely worked out how to get peanuts out of the feeders and we regularly have three around.  You can't tell the difference between the young and the adults except that the young are not quite so 'busy' and spend far more time just looking around.  We had a young jay on the feeder a couple of days ago - they just look huge hanging off the nuts.  Again, the young just look like the adults, but act differently.  Once this once got a peanut out, it didn't really know what to do with it so it went and spent five minutes eating sand from the pile in front of the caravan!  Most mornings we are woken at about 5.30am by the bird olympics on the caravan roof - I think a crow or raven likes the sound of its feet running the length of the van.  This morning though I don't know what was on the roof - sounded like a grizzly bear bumbling around!  It sounded big enough for Bob to get up to have a look, but whatever it was had gone.  A mystery, but I hope it doesn't wake us in the same way tomorrow!

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.