Tah, daaahh!

Tah, daahh . . . . we now officially have stairs and they're screwed and glued, so Bob can't sneak them out again when I'm not looking!  It does seem strange I must say.  Bob keeps having a shock when he thinks I'm upstairs and I silently appear at the kitchen door instead of my entrance into the middle of the kitchen being heralded by the clanking of the ladder. 

The official ladder removing ceremony!

Glue, screws and clamps . . . . it all went very smoothly
and I didn't have to do too much fevered brow mopping.

Having the stairs in has changed all sorts of things we hadn't really thought of.  We are now using the space under the stairs.  We cobbled together some shelves using shelves out of the caravan cupboards and bricks so the groceries that used to be stored in the broken freezer in the utility room are now under the stairs.  That has meant that the working freezer is now in the utility room.  Oh, all these luxuries we now have.  For years we have had to get keys, put on shoes and paddle through rain and mud to go to the freezer (it was in the top barn for a couple of years and then in the lean-to more recently).  That meant that we generally didn't bother to add a few frozen peas to the carrots with tea or to have ice in cold drinks . . . now we can just step across the hall and there they all are!  We used to hook the hand towel through the handle of the broken freezer, but we can't do that with the new one, so we've had to dig a hook board out of storage for the towel.  We can also now rearrange the hall bookshelf, grandfather clock and bench and hopefully get the clock working again.  It objected to being stored half in Bob's dad's shed and half in our barn and then being moved around and so has refused to work.  When it is in its permanent place it'll be worth spending some time getting it absolutely level and tweaking it all and then hopefully it'll be happy again.

Without the ladder in the kitchen, there is also more room to pull the table out a bit which means that you can sit on both sides of it which is much better when people pop round for a cuppa.  One slight annoyance is that the stereo used to sit on the mantle piece (where the drill is in the picture above) with one of the speakers stood on top.  Course, there's now a stair in the way which is obviously fine.  It is just annoying because the speaker only doesn't fit by about 1.5mm!!!!  I think we may slice off a bit of the bottom of the speaker box, it's just so close!

Bob did the long walk on Saturday morning.  There is a 10 mile walk which we did last year, but you can add an extra 6 mile loop onto the middle of it and go up another hill.  It's actually the hill they used in the Hugh Grant film 'The Man Who Went up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain' and has fantastic views all round.  Going up he could barely see more that 20ft in front because of the mizzly rain, so he'll just have to take their word for it!  As part of the Hill Walk Weekend, a beacon is lit on Bank Holiday Monday up a hill behind the village.  I think they do this every year, but this year of course it tied in with all the Jubilee beacons.  We went along and really enjoyed it and bumped into lots of familiar faces.  It was all so low-tech, no lights, no speakers, big screens or announcements and little obvious health and safety interference just relying on people's good sense and looking out for each other which is as it should be.  At the bottom of the hill adults could buy a flaming torch and you could see a trail of torches wending their way up the hill in the twilight and then the beacon (just a massive bonfire) was lit.  As it got darker we could see other beacons all around the horizon (interestingly, there were far fewer on the Welsh side than the English!).  Everyone was trying to work out where the other beacons were.  You could obviously tell the direction, but not the distance.  We could see the oil refinery flame at Ellesmere Port, so we knew some of the beacons were a good distance away, possibly even as far as Manchester.  Some places had fireworks and one sent up a couple of chinese lanterns which lasted for ages and drifted over our hill before finally going out. 

On Tuesday we had a street party . . . well, we called it an End of the Lane Party/Stair Warming Party and we invited all the people we know who live at the end of a lane . . . so, that's Phil and Anne!  We put up our bunting in the form of the union jack-style piece of felt we made at Smallholders a year or so ago and had a good meal and a couple of bottles of wine.  We could have had a proper street party, but when we thought about it we realised that most of the neighbours are actually fueding with one another!  We have so far managed not to fall out with anyone, but the people across the lane (the alpaca people)have fallen out with everyone else at some point or another the latest being arguments about their teenage lodger riding his very noisy motorbike around the bridleway and round and round the field on a regular basis.  This has resulted in Barb and Darren calling the police and eventually getting a Section 59 injunction to stop him (or he gets his bike crushed).   Barb and Darren are the couple who had trouble getting the static caravan down the lane and destroyed another neighbours fence (resulting in major arguments and police involvement) and then accidentally set fire to the caravan.  Bill and Maggie had a major falling out with the alpaca people some time ago and that also involved the police.  Of, course, Bill and Maggie have also split up and Maggie moved out, but is now moving back in which means Bill has moved out for good amid screaming matches.  Other neighbours have fueds over road access, planning permission and so on.  So, all in all, a street party might turn out to be a little more lively than we'd like (although we could save time and invite the police too because they already know most people!).  So, I think Phil and Ann are the only neighbours we know not at loggerheads with anyone!

Anyway enough of that!  The baby woodpecker has left the nest and can be seen out and about.  Yesterday it was clinging onto the little birch tree in the garden.  The mother was getting peanuts from the feeder further up the tree then breaking them up in a crack in the tree before feeding them to the baby.  This picture was taken through the kitchen window which really did need cleaning and was also wet from the rain, so it's not brilliant, but gives you an idea.  I have now cleaned the window by the way!

Lashings of ginger beer

Once again, we haven't really done much house-wise because of family socialising.  Funny isn'r it, you go for months not seeing anyone and then we see just about everyone in a fortnight.  We went over to Peterborough after I finished work on the Sunday and stayed at Jan's (Bob's stepmum).  The Monday was Bob's Dad's birthday and so it seemed an appropriate time to sort out the rest of his ashes and they are now in the churchyard of the village where he spent the first 60 years of his life.  We took the opportunity of good weather to help Jan with lots of little jobs around the house and garden and we also caught up with my sister and her family. 

The day after we got back from Peterborough Ben and Lucy and Lucy came to stay for a few days on their way up to Scotland to see Laura.  The weather was absolutely fantastic and we spent most of the time pottering around outside.  They live in a flat and so really enjoyed the opportunity to be out in the sun having a barbeque and working on their tans in prep for a week in Tunisia next month.  Lucy even enjoyed doing some weeding - she can come again!

While they were here we went round to our Peregrine-spotting spot and were lucky enough to get a really good view of one of them.  It just sat posing on a jutting rock in the cliff-face while Ben took photos.  Ben was so pleased because it is a standing family joke that whenever he's around, the rare birds stay away.  We then tracked down the Greater Spotted Woodpecker nest in the woods across the lane and could watch the baby leaning out of the nest waiting for food.  Again, Ben took some photos but it was a little dark and with leaves in the way they may not be too clear.  If he sends me a copy of either I'll show them to you.

Look, we have our first rose . . . . well, we now have lots more, but this was the first one to open.  They are a bit obscured by the rabbit wire, but what can you do?  They are such a lovely colour and will look amazing in a few years when they've grown up the sides of the door.  We have also planted some tomatoes in a hanging basket.  Trouble is, the chickens got to one of the plants before I put them in the basket and did a bit of pruning so I'm not sure how well that one will do.

Ben and Lucy bought me a ginger beer plant - it's basically yeast and ginger and you mix them with warm water and then keep feeding it sugar and more ginger for a week before adding more water and sugar and bottling it.  We did that bit yesterday and we now have to wait a week before we can try it.  You can then re-use the sludge from the first lot to make another batch.  Should be interesting - it'll either be delicious or disgusting, but it's good fun trying these things.  We once had a go at making dandelion and burdock after seeing it on River Cottage . . . . it was like drinking river sludge!   Maybe we should try that one again sometime because Hugh FW certainly didn't think it was like river water.

Yesterday was a momentous occasion in Oswestry as the Olympic torch came through.  We decided we ought to go along and have a look and were amazed at the crowds, never seen so many people in Oswestry.  As we walked down the alley to the main street the crowd started cheering - didn't realise they'd be so glad to see us!  We actually thought we had missed the torch, but needn't have worried this was just preparatory cheering.  What they don't show you on TV is all the flotsam and jetsam that goes along the street before the torch itself - endless minibuses, coaches, police bikes, people jumping around blowing whistles and trying to get the crowd worked up into a frenzy.  There was about 10 minutes of that before the torch itself and to my mind it spoiled it a little  not quite so poignant as a lone runner carrying the flame and hopes of our nation through our streets.  Still, I'm gald we went and it did raise a bit of patriotism in us.  It also worked well for us as we had to post a parcel and managed to sprint for the Post Office as soon as the torch went past and get there while it was empty and before all the people wanting car tax got there!

Yesterday was also quite exciting as Bob got a new toy. We went to look at chainsaws and unexpectedly bought one!  It is more powerful and has a bigger blade than the one I broke last week.  We had debated whether to get the parts and repair the other one and get a new chain and bar for it, but it does struggle with anything too meaty and we eventually decided that we'd be better to put that money towards a bigger one that should last us.  This huge beech trunk has been lying around since before we moved here, but we haven't been able to do more than chip bits off it.  Bob tried the new saw on it though and it went through like butter.  It is probably past being much good for furniture, but there's plenty of firewood there and we may get a chopping board or two out of it.

OK, once again it's time to go to work and I need to get changed.  The stairs are at the stage where I'll have to go up the first few stairs then swing round onto the ladder for the last bit and then do the opposite coming down again - makes life interesting.  Bob's getting a bit fed-up with these stairs I think as they're taking much longer that he thought they would.  It'll all be worth it in the end though as they do look lovely.



The baby wrens have arrived

Yes, we have babies!  We've seen the adults busy with worms and grubs in their beaks, so guessed that the eggs had hatched and when Bob looked this afternoon there were several bits of shell on the floor under the nest.  I tried to take a phot of the shells on my hand or next to my finger to give an idea of scale, but I'm not clever enough to hold eggs and hold the camera still the same time, so they were too blurry, anyway the eggs are smaller than my finger nail (you'd need a lot of them for an omelette!).  The chicks will be so tiny at the moment, it's hard to imagine.  We can't see them because the nest is quite deep with the entrance hole near the top.  If I remember rightly from last year, wren chicks are incredibly quiet, so I don't think we'll hear them for a while.  When they're a bit bigger they do cheap a bit when the parents come with food, but the rest of the time they are very good and sit quietly.  Not like woodpecker chicks who make a racket all day long which just gets a bit louder when the adults visit with food.  Talking of woodpeckers, both adult Greater Spotteds have been on the peanut feeders almost constantly for the last few days, so I think they have hungry mouths to feed.  They take the nuts to the telegraph pole across the lane and wedge them in a crack then peck at them to break them up before they take them to the babies.  I watched a blackbird collecting twigs for a nest this morning - as the twigs were very fine and he had a whole beakful, he looked as though he was wearing a big false moustache, quite funny.  I assume this will be a 2nd nest - it seems a bit late for the first brood.

We had a rootle through some of the stuff we have stored in one of the barns the other day.  We haven't looked at it all for two and a half years and we've forgotten what we've got which makes it all quite exciting.  Bob wanted to unwrap it all I think.  We didn't though.  We were looking for some cupboard doors to go on the cabinet under the basin in the en-suite as they did in the old house (we replaced them with birch ply doors before we moved!).  We found them and they are lovely - made from rippled sycamore with quite a bit of character in them.  When they are closed you can see a face which I used to call a devil's face, but looking at it now, it's quite cheery and smiling - must just be glad to be here I guess!

Bob has made the bit the basin will sit in so we can put the little square slate tiles on it and fix the sink in before the plumber comes to connect it all up.  The good thing about doing all this ourselves is that we can have the sink as high as we like (less bending to clean your teeth . . . . how old do we sound?!!).

You'll be pleased to hear, we don't need to plasterboard the whitewashed walls.  Colouring the whitewash wasn't as scary as we thought and we now have creamwashed walls - if anything they are a bit too pale!  Never satisfied, eh?  We also mixed some red ochre and yellow ochre to make a deeper colour for one wall in the en-suite.  It made a lovely rich terracota colour . . . . which has now dried to a pale apricot colour.  Well, that's OK - not what we intended, but fine.  You could get a bit addicted to this - it'd be quite interesting to see if you could get a darker colour.  I think you have to be careful as too much of the pigment can spoil the way the limewash dries and it'd just be flaky.

Bob has carried on with the kitchen floor - it's a bit back-breaking, so has to be done in shorter sessions.  It's coming on well though and the bit for the woodburner is done which is the most important part as we need to get that delivered so the plumber can connect the backboiler. 

We had a mega-shopping spree earlier in the week  . . . . . although we only came home with a tub of PVA glue!  We ordered the tiles for the bathrooms, the sink for the utility, all the sockets and switches, heat and smoke detectors, extractor fans, bathroom and hall lights, showers (electric for downstairs and mains for upstairs) and a water softener!  We should be able to collect some of it tomorrow and the rest next week  . . . . . and then pay for it all - gulp!  The floorboards haven't arrived yet.  It was pouring down on Saturday, so they didn't deliver which is fine as we don't want them spoiled by getting wet.  We'll have to arrange another time, but trying to find a dry time is proving a little difficult - we had a huge thunderstorm on Monday.

Tomorrow morning we have the electric company coming to change the meter to Economy 7 so we'll have to find some jobs to do that aren't reliant on electricity.  Perhaps I'll do some more painting - I'm trying to do all the bits that'll be awkward to do once the electrician has been and fitted lights and so on.

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!

Chickens don't like Harleys!

Yesterday Bob did the oil change on his Harley and as soon as he wheeled it out of the barn the chickens started making a terrible hullabaloo.  When he started it up they ran a mile . . . . well, little Elvis didn't - she ran and hid behind the wheelie bin and wouldn't come out all afternoon!  Even when Bob tried to coax her out with treats she was very reluctant and wouldn't talk to him for ages!  It's strange because the day before he'd been using the angle grinder which does make an awful noise, but they just carried on pecking away at the grass nearby without a worry.

Today I did the grout in the bathroom.  Looks as though I'm on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor doesn't it - poor Cinders can't go to the ball!  I had to put the Marigolds on because the day before I'd been doing a top coat on the lime plaster and some got in through a hole in my gloves and dissolved a hole in my finger!  Usually it doesn't irritate me, but maybe it was a particularly caustic particle that got trapped.  It certainly makes a very sore sore I can tell you.  How the men who worked in the lime kilns must have felt I can't imagine - they must have been in agony. 

While I was doing the grout, Bob built the front of the step from the hall into the kitchen.  It just looks so much better and more finished with the lovely old bricks instead of concrete and pipes.  We'll probably top it with a piece of wood and have a split door (so it opens within the width of the wall instead of sticking out into the hall or kitchen).

It was such a lovely day that we took our lunch up to the woods and sat on the wall looking at the flowers.  It's at times like this that we realise just how lucky we are.  It was so lovely with birds singing away at the tops of their voices (just like the background track to an RSPB advert), a buzzard circling lazily just above the trees against a clear blue sky and a carpet of wild flowers at our feet.

Oh, I must update you on the woodpecker front!  There's going to be trouble you know.  The brief history is that in Spring 2009 a pair of greater spotted woodpeckers (the black, white and red ones) pecked out a hole in the beech tree trunk behind the caravan and raised a brood of very noisy chicks.  In 2010 a pair of nuthatches took it over and made it to fit by bringing mud and shaping the hole to their liking and they raised some very cute chicks.  This year, as I told you a green woodpecker has been taking an interest and pecking away for a couple of days.  Then yesterday we looked out to see a greater spotted pecking away at it.  We also saw the green one sitting very still just staring at the hole.  It must have been thinking 'I'm sure I didn't make it that shape' .  Now, today the nuthatches are back and have been busy back and forth doing something!  On closer inspection, one or the other of the woodpeckers has started a new hole, but either way it'll be a bit overcrowded if they all move in!  Watch this space.


Wood anenomes