The last day of the men this year

We have reached the end of the working year. After today, the men have a holiday that was originally planned to last at least until April but, as you'll see, we may see them a little before that. Anyway, onwards.

Rosie loves her new top

What a stunning view it was this morning

The sliding slope is almost gone

A stunning sunrise this morning

Today was also the last day of Rosie at school and she was very excited indeed. Angela found a lovely top for her to wear for her last day which was awesome. The sunrise we enjoyed this morning was also just stunning. I rushed out to get pictures from the top bank and also saw the remains of our slide. I really hope that we get loads more snow so we can do that again. It was a beautiful sky indeed!

Bekir starts tiling

Lots of progress down this first wall

Halil welding the frame

Dutch watching me watching Halil

Getting the window frame fitted

Bekir with his picture

The men were in and on time and Bekir got stuck into the tiling while Halil mixed up mortar and then when he was able to get away from that he began working on the window frame. This involved lots of welding and we tripped out our electric so many times. With the frame made it was fitted in to the window space and then they added some finer mesh (to keep flies out) and this looks great. By the end of the day Bekir had very nearly completed the tiling however there was no way it was being completed today. When Rosie got home from school she gave Bekir and Halil the pictures she had drawn for them as a gift for Christmas. We waved goodbye to them at the end of the day and suggested they come back early new year to wrap up this last task.

Rosie, Sammy and Xena

I'll leave you with a picture of Rosie with the remains of Sammy - there's not much left now!

So there it is. I'm not sure when I'll be back for another update. Thanks for reading.

Plastering, electrics and tiling

Today has been a good day with a fair amount of progress. Let's get to it as I've got plans this evening.

Dutch cuddling Angela

I'll start with a quick picture taken of Dutch with Angela when I got back from dropping Rosie to school Dutch is settling in so well and is such a lovely puppy.

Halil putting another plaster coat on the ceiling

Bekir tidies up the window

Bekir working on the wiring

Dutch falls!

Angela labels for some seeds

The glass room is looking nice

Lots of planting out being done

The men were in and on time and began the day with yet more plastering. I really thought that was done and it made me a little unsure about how well the progress was going. While Halil did the plastering, Bekir was working on the electrics so they could get rid of the power cables providing power to the lights. Angela was also being busy this morning and I managed to get down to get some pictures. One time Dutch was laying in the sun and when he saw me he started to roll over for a belly rub but mis-calculated and he fell off the step. He's so funny and clumsy! In the glass room Angela was planting out a load of seeds and also sorting and tidying the room generally. It was looking great.

Halil wires the light switch

Bekir sorting a junction box

A little more final plastering

Fitting the first light fitting

Lights are perfect

Working out the tiles

With the interior plastering completed both Bekir and Halil worked together on the electrics and focused on getting the wiring done for the light switch. Halil did get a little distracted with some more plastering as he finished up the little slot window we've added in, but after that he returned to fitting the light. With all three lights fitted it is really well illuminated in there, and now they could work on the tiling. They lined up the laser and found out how much would need trimming as the walls are in no way square. Tomorrow they say they'll get cracking on the tiling so we may be able to start using the cupboard under the stairs soon!

Rosie with a diminished Sammy

Dutch with the old basketball

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures taken after Rosie got back from school. It's been a warm day but Sammy is still hanging on, just about. I was pushing Rosie on the swing when I noticed Dutch with the old basketball and snapped a picture just before he jumped up.

So there it is. Time to go downstairs to finish the first bluray of Return of The King. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

More plastering today

Another day and we're back to the update. Another short one today so let's get to it.

Bekir starts working on the shelf supports

Halil starts plastering for the day

Bekir working in tight spaces

Lots of cleaning!

Looking at the leaky tap

Shiny new tap

Bekir plasters inside the new window

When the men arrived I asked Bekir to pop up into the roof to swap the uprights that were the wrong size for the supports however because the screw holes were in a different place it was better to ask him to do the drilling. While he was doing that Halil mixed up plaster and got stuck into applying the second layer. Bekir joined him as soon as he could and went into the really low area to do the plastering in there. Angela was getting a really good deep clean going on in the kitchen which is looking great! Mid afternoon Angela noticed that the tap in the kitchen was leaking so Bekir had a look and found the broken part however we were not able to source a replacement so got a new tap instead. We'll now get the old tap repaired and it can be held in reserve for another application. The final task for Bekir was working on the outside of the new window. Halil was just plastering and plastering all day.

Rosie with Sammy

When we got home from school there was time for a visit to Sammy and then a little playing outside before we got to our Lord of the Rings video.

So there you are; thanks for reading and back tomorrow!

Back into the roof

I've not been well again today; I think there was some nastiness at the party last night because both Angela and I weren't great first thing but I didn't recover while she did quickly. I'm still pretty whacked and looking forward to an early night so let's get this done.

Rosie says goodbye to Sammy, and Dutch joins in

I'll start with a picture I forgot to include yesterday; Rosie saying goodbye to Sammy as today she has gone completely. We have rumours of more snow expected over the weekend so there's chance of another Sammy very soon!

Stunning sunrise once again

Hello Dutch

The sunrise was, once again, stunning and I enjoyed watching it while exercising, then rushed outside for a picture. After dropping Rosie at school I got back to lots of greetings and a fuss for Dutch. He's growing fast!

Using the laser to get a level for the shelf

Drilling and hoovering the holes

Working on more holes

Time to hang more poster frames

Four awesome Hobbit posters

Final frame for the Middle-earth map

The long shelf goes across

Today I asked the men to go back into the roof to do a few things to finish the job; my new frames and new posters had arrived and also there were a bunch of shelves I wanted up. First off they started on the low shelf around the mini-landing, drilling the holes and then setting the first length in, with a slightly rounded off corner to protect shins. With this done they then set to hanging the four Hobbit posters I wanted next to my Lord of the Rings one from before. The frames come in boxes of five so I had a spare and decided to put it landscape next to the stairs and this now has a map of Middle-earth in it. With all the drilling done Bekir fitted the shelf along the long wall and these two tasks were complete.

Bekir starts to put up the guitar hanger

Wall mount is mounted to the wall

Guitars in and looking lovely

Hanging the frames

Levels for these shelves

Sanding down building wood for the shelf

Three shelves above the doorway

The next task was the new guitar hanging thing that arrived yesterday and prompted this change of plan. It didn't take long to work out how it went together and while there are a LOT of screws holding it up, it was pretty simple to mount. One of the hangers was mis-assembled from the factory and they are already sending me a replacement, but I didn't need all ten hangers anyway so it wasn't a problem. With the guitars up and looking great Bekir went to the second last task of putting up my frames for my gig t-shirts. With the way the guitars are I think I can put some more up behind them which is great as I've many more than five to display, as I could fit in this section. The final task was shelves above the door. They fitted the Element System uprights to the wall only for me to find these are the 50mm brackets which I do not have any of so I've ordered some more 32mm uprights which should arrive soon and can then be swapped in however they did get the three I wanted above the door, which will have small dioramas and such displayed on them. They didn't want to hack up expensive "real" shelves so when they went to the shop to pick up metal for the job tomorrow they also got some cheap wood and then cut and sanded it and that job got completed. So, other than replacing the uprights this is all done from their point of view until I get another job lot of frames next year.

Future rock star

Rehung swing

Once Rosie got home we went to look at what the men had done and had a little play on the guitar then had some swinging time (Bekir got the swing back up) though the resistance is greater so it's harder to get her swinging as well, which is a shame. We then had the final The Hobbit film for this year and dinner.

So there it is. A good day. Back to the cupboard under the stairs tomorrow though. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.