Making a beam

After the excitement of yesterday today it was back to the main task under the stairs. Last night Halil dropped Thomas back as his car was fixed which was good.

Bekir on the final section of wall

Starting to burn a load of rubbish

Hammer drill in action

Metal for making a reinforcement frame

Bekir sweeps up

Waterproofing a plank

Rebar frame in place

Now the cement goes in

First thing Bekir went into the cupboard under the stairs as there was some more wall still not done, which I didn't know about. It didn't take long for him to do this little section, however. They were in tidy up mode today and so started burning some rubbish which we also added some to. That fire has been going all day. Later on there was a lot of noise as Halil drilled out ready for installing metal frame and pouring concrete for a beam. Bekir was outside bending rebar to turn into the reinforcement for the beam and then Bekir swept up while Halil wrapped plastic around a plank to act as the bottom for the form. It took them a while to assemble and secure everything but eventually they were pouring the concrete into the form and it will now sit there all weekend curing. The window people rang about installing the door and I think they'll be coming on Monday which is exciting.

The fire keeps burning into the evening

Cooking on the wood stove

The fire was still going all day, and it's still glowing right now. They got rid of lots of rubbish! This evening I got to cook Daddy Pasta on the wood stove which was awesome to do and the first time for a while.

So there it is. We have promise of snow this weekend but you'll have to wait until Monday to find out. Thanks for reading and back Monday.

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.

More of the same, then a Christmas party

Today has been a long day, but a good one. Let's get to it.

Beautiful sunrise this morning

Bekir working on the walls

Electric back boxes in

Windowman preparing a quote

Sweeping as he works

Working on the swing

I woke to a message from Halil saying his car had broken down so he was catching a taxi to borrow Thomas, which was of course OK. The sunrise this morning was very lovely indeed, and kept me entertained while I was doing my exercises. The men were a little late today but got stuck in on the walls and through the day they completed this first layer finally. Early afternoon the windowman came over to measure up for a quote for the door to the cupboard under the stairs and we, once again, took him around pointing out the broken fly screens and windows without tilt and turn for replacing. Let's see if they finally get that done. At the end of the day, just before we went out, Bekir and Halil set to replacing the damaged wire for the swing, putting a strong rope up in its place.

Rosie getting her face painted

Rosie about to race in the egg and spoon race

With Santa Claus

Rosie with her sparkles and painting

Straight after school we all headed out up the road to our favourite restaurant as they were having a Christmas party for kids and we wanted to take Rosie. It was chaos, but also a lot of fun. Rosie had a great time getting her face painted (twice) and playing games with the clown and also getting to meet Santa and having a gift from him. It was a lot of fun as I say but it was nice to leave and escape the noise!

So there it is - that was the day. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

Throwing cement at the wall

Another day, another update. Let's get to it.

Bekir and Halil getting stuck into the walls

Look at that double-yolker

Continuing to throw mud

Still mud-slinging

Now we're onto the final wall

I was feeling fully recovered today and dropped Rosie at school. The men were in on time and were back to working in the cupboard under the stairs putting mortar on the walls. Angela cracked an egg for her breakfast which was a double-yolker from our own chickens - superb. The men worked all day on this one job and they didn't quite finish the job. Now it's looking like tomorrow as they switched to the final wall just before the end of the day. Bekir said he may want to skim it again just once more over the whole thing before he says it's done.

The wreath is hung from a bracket

Rosie saying "we did a good job with Sammy!"

A lovely late afternoon light

Broken swing wire

At lunch time today Angela reminded me to hang the wreath outside the front door so I got a bracket and quickly screwed it to the siding. Rosie was very pleased to see it up! After celebrating that a little we went down to swing a bit before watching The Hobbit. Sammy the Snowman is still just about hanging on while all the other snow has totally gone now. The late afternoon was so gorgeous looking across the valley - a stunning colour on the hills. I was swinging Rosie when she noticed an odd sound and I looked up to see the wire we were using to suspend the swing from the tree branch had partially snapped. I immediately took the swing off and the men will buy some more rope to rehang it tomorrow.

So there it is. Thanks for reading, as always, and back tomorrow.

Sammy Saves the Year

Well it's Monday again so another long old update to catch up to today so let's get it on.

Pickle with her breakfast pancakes

Rosie enjoying her pancakes

Not that much snow left

Rosie's awesome snowman!

A very icy patio

Making a start on making our Sammy

Rosie with a big lump of snow

Very proud of our Sammy efforts

Saturday morning we had the fun Pickle-hunt and eventually found her up on the balcony making pancakes for Rosie for breakfast. We heated them up for her and she ate about half of them. The snow from the previous day had just about stuck around outside so after breakfast Rosie was outside while I did a few things and when I went out to play with her I found she had made a little snowman just by the front porch - how creative is that! It was very icy indeed so it took some care to walk over however Rosie and I then got stuck in to our very important task of building a Sammy out of what little snow there was. It took some effort, and we had to gather snow from all over the front lawn, but we did it and I'm not sure who was more excited, me or Rosie.

Rosie surveying the task ahead of us

Once we finished working

Can you spot Rosie

Doing some colouring in together

The rest of the day was awesome as well. Rosie and I put lots and lots of effort into tidying the top corridor and Rosie was a really huge help as we moved lots and lots of boxes up into the roof for me to tidy later. It made a massive difference indeed. After that we played some hide and seek and did some drawing and generally just had a lovely day. 

Such a lovely sunrise this morning

Wracking up the minis on the storage

Rosie watching the train run round and round

Sammy is still hanging on

Sunday we had a lovely sunrise which I took lots of pictures of while working on my vlog and then it was game time for us. I also spent time tidying all the boxes of miniatures and other stuff that we'd moved up into the roof the day before. I actually, during the day, managed to get everything tidied away which I did not expect to achieve. I was doing a few bits of my own stuff during the day but I did get time with Rosie as I found her laying down watching the Christmas Tree Train going around, and later on we did some swinging and checked out how Sammy was doing - it had been a sunny and warm day so she was a little melted but we put the face back on for a picture. My old friend arrived as well to drop some gifts for Rosie and have a coffee, which was really nice.

It's quite difficult working back here

Unloading more materials

Bekir getting stuff done while he waits

More working in cramped conditions

Turning the corner

Now finally able to stand up

And so to today. I wasn't all that well this morning but a bit more sleep sorted me out. By the time I emerged the men were already at it working in the low ceiling area to finish the walls. They ran out of materials so had to drop down to the shop again and then a bit later while waiting for a mix to soak the water in Bekir picked up a rake and they removed loads of stones and rubble and old grass from the little patch by the old table tennis table. It was then lots of effort in working in a tight space which was making it slower but before the end of the day they reached the taller ceiling and things sped up. Hopefully tomorrow they'll get this part done.

Rosie next to the remains of Sammy

I'll leave you with a picture of Sammy as of just after school today, as Rosie and I were on our way down to swing again. She's hanging in there! Just about.

So there it is. I'm so pleased we got just enough snow for me and Rosie to have fun building a Sammy Snowman. It has made my year! Thanks for reading, we'll be back tomorrow.