Onto another project

Today has been another busy and successful day so let's get to it.

Halil doing some sanding

More sanding going on

Measuring for cutting the shelf

Painting bezir on the shelf

The shelf is looking great

First off Halil was sanding down around the holes through for the model railway which isn't quite finished even now but is just being done a little every day. I think tomorrow there may be some more sanding required and then it should be done. Meanwhile Bekir was working on the shelf for Angela in her art room. He cut wood, then treated it with stain and finally, later in the day when the stain had finally dried, he fitted it in place. It is going to be perfect for storing things for Angela while she does her art.

Tidying offcuts away

Filthy and needing tidying

The old Christmas Tree base

Lifting the table saw out

Shoveling the dust out

Tiles shifted out of the way

The new project we started today is to clean out, refloor and plaster in the storage area under the stairs. This is a huge producer of dust (the school used to store coal in there so it was filthy) and today we cleared it out, threw some things out and stored some other stuff. This cross that I had used years ago to secure a gate to prevent the puppies going in turned out to be the old base for the Christmas Tree for the school, so I've put it up with the Old School things in the roof. The table saw that SandS gave me has been moved out to the wood shed so I can use it to cut up firewood and loads of dust and rubbish was removed. This has been where we store our spare tiles as well so they were all shifted out and now are stacked under the windows in the entrance.

Halil sweeps dust around

Trimming the slightly high section

Big pile of rubbish back here

New stones spread, but the back is low

That's how low it is

Big lumps of rock to fill in

Stones have filled the end

The work in the cupboard under the stairs is so dusty and horrible. I did persuade Halil to put a mask on which made me feel happier. They shifted all the dust and then worked on getting a level for the floor. Most of the floor is low enough but there was a little lip that needed chiseling out. Round the corner, however, was so incredibly horrible. They had to dig out many wheelbarrows of rubble and rubbish. With that all done they found that the far end of the floor really dropped away a lot, and using the laser they decided to get some big rocks from our rock pile outside to fill the hole before they spread the smaller pebbles as they had over the rest of that area. This was completed before the end of the day.

Rosie helped Angela finish the tree

We covered the room with tinsel

Lifted the tree inside the railway

Rosie loves the tree

Rosie sitting looking at the display

And now in the library

The last couple of days Angela has been decorating the trees in the lounge and library and yesterday I went mad with tinsel in the lounge with Rosie and the lounge was looking amazing. Today Angela finished the tree in the library and Rosie is loving both trees, and all the other stuff we've got to make it festive.

Xena thinks she's a parrot, clearly

Taking one of two broken fridge/freezers

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of other stuff. First of all Xena being a parrot-dog with Angela, and finally the men loading Thomas up with a load of rubbish they're taking. Tomorrow they will be bringing our cement mixer back (I'd actually forgotten we had leant it out) so needed Thomas anyway.

Tomorrow should be cement pouring day under the stairs - very exciting indeed. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

Post erection

Early summer really is being lovely; today has been another glorious day all day.

A (pretty poorly taken) shot of a lovely sunset

Having balloon fun before school

Starting to line the posts up

Making sure it is upright

Front fence progress

Welding the post to the guide metal

Getting my strimmer action on

The sunset last night was pretty special as well but I only had my phone on me so the picture is pretty rubbish sadly. This morning Rosie woke up full of beans and we had lots of play before it was school time. The men were in again nice and early and when I got back from dropping Rosie to school they were already welding the first of the fence posts to the support. I can pretty much say that they did this all day, and now have done every post so Monday will be shuttering for pouring the concrete. I think, actually, they may need to do some more blocks by the side of the duck pool, and one more fence post there, but that shouldn't take long. At lunch time I went to use Mo again but he blew loads of smoke. I checked the oil and it was a bit low so I left him until Angela could pick me some more oil up (which, being awesome, she did) and took the strimmer out to trim the areas that I can't do with the ride-on.

Rosie arriving home from school

Mo ready to go to the car-doctor

Rosie playing Pitch&Plakks again

After school Rosie was still full of beans but when I went to check Mo again, put a little more oil in, and started him up he was still blowing smoke. Bekir got hold of the shop I bought it from and they said to run it in but as I went to mow it lost power and got very uneven. Not the best advice in the world; Halil smelled the oil dipstick and you could smell fuel in there. They helped me push him onto the trailer and tomorrow Rosie and I will have a road trip. Oh well. After that palaver I finally got to spend some time with Rosie and we playing Pitch&Plakks for a bit before dinner and cycling.

So there it is; here comes the weekend, back on Monday. Thanks for reading.

Back to the garden

After the day off yesterday the men were back today; let's get to this update as it covers both days.

Angela in her new raised bed garden

Balcony play with me and Grandma

The bouncy thing with Grandma

Yesterday was a beautiful day and Angela made the most of it by being outside a fair bit getting a load of stuff done in the garden. I was super busy and was very pleased when it was time for Rosie to get home from school, though she was later than normal as Grandma and Angela took her to the park for a bit after school. We had a nice time on the balcony with her new house and also the rocking donkey before it was time to head downstairs for quieter play then books.

We get to the bar for our night out

Band in full flow

For the first time for years, literally, Angela and I went out together last night. We headed to a local bar to watch our friend the policeman play in his band. It was so lovely to get out and we had an awesome time. Hopefully we can go again some time as well.

The sun rises on another day

Bekir and Halil laying slabs

Checking out the damp

There it is; time to dry out

Today dawned bright and beautiful, but frosty, and the sun stayed out all day. I took Rosie down to school this morning and when I got back the men were in and laying slabs around the raised beds. When the finished the first length Bekir came in to look at the dampness in the library and after moving a load of things we pulled the carpet up to find that indeed the dehumidifier had been leaking and there was a very damp area through the carpet and underlay and onto the floor. We have left this carpet pulled back to air and dry it and will reinstall it at the end of the week. Frustrating, but at least we found it wasn't water coming in through the wall.

Angela shifting stones in a barrow

Using the stones to edge the garden

Seedlings starting to sprout

Xena and Louise having a play

It really was another glorious day and again while I was stuck at my desk Angela made the most of it to get into the garden. I did help her with this barrow, after taking the picture, and she was making a lovely edging to the garden with some stones she found in the excavations for the chicken enclosure and other places. The seedlings she planted with Rosie are also coming up really nicely. It wasn't only Angela enjoying being outside; Thelma, Louise and Xena had a great time, with Xena in particular playing a lot with Louise, while Angela threw the ball for Thelma.

A little bit of pickaxe work

All cut out now

The men finished up the slabs and then turned their attention to the final front section. We had a bit of a chat and decided to have a central slope in line with the middle aisle and have a wall to each side of it with slabs at the bottom. They had to chip out some stone and made use of the breaker for this and by the end of the day were ready for concrete which is awesome as that can be poured tomorrow morning.

So there you are; another awesome day here and more of the same tomorrow I think. Thanks for reading.