Back at work

28-29 Dec 2015

Plastering again - wet weather is expected at the end of the week, so time to press on with the second coat around the front door.

 Monday - top left corner from the scaffolding.  Crouched under the cross-beams to reach up under the eaves.  See the darker line of wet plaster halfway along the window.

Tuesday - long session, 3 barrow-loads, all the areas reachable from ground level done.

Walking

26 Dec 2015

Still on holiday, so we finally took the dog for a long walk and played with a bit of photography too.

Christmas Day

Friday 25 Dec 2015
The first Christmas Dinner at the house

 Everyone was asked to bring a silly hat they had made

 I set up the camera on my new (pressie) tripod and set it for stop-motion.  This is the only half-decent photo it took - needed the flash, I think

Catching the last of the sunlight to warm up: Pete, Lucy, Panos, Lin, Dave

Down tools for Christmas

21-23 Dec 2015

Christmas is on Friday, so the plan was to stop messy work on Monday, go shopping Tuesday, and sort the house out on Wednesday.  It sort of went according to plan ...

 The new bedroom curtains in place

 The final slap of the first coat in the front door section applied

 Christmas tree on a neat little stand

 Quite a lot of the living room interior walls top coat plastered, but wood still everywhere (Weds am)

 Same area, some hours later - wood cleared, floor raked, cardboard laid over dust, decorations dangled, and tables laid ... phew!

Christmas eve evening, me constructing silly party hats for Dave and myself.

Christmas Bizarre

Sunday 20 Dec 2015

Dave and his band SoundWave were invited to play at the school charity bazaar, which was fun, and for us, the audience, involved mulled wine and mince pies, which was great.

 From left, in silly hats, John on drums, Dave on lead and vocals, Panos on bass and Pete on rhythm and vocals.

Christmas house guest

15-18 December 2015

It's that time of year again - when Robbie and Sue go on holiday and leave us with the mutt.  Last time it was three weeks, which felt too long.  This time we find it is two months -which feels like a life sentence. 

 Not that the dog is any bother, but she needs walks and attention and we're very focused on the house, so she gets short shrift.

 Our Christmas tree, from an overgrown cypress threatening to block one of our access paths.

 I'm still using up barrow-remnants of plaster on the inside panels, whenever I've got the plaster - and the energy.  I'd like this corner done before Christmas, so that the dining table can go here.

 Don't they look well-behaved?

And all this time, the 'nothing-to-report-but-more-plastering' plastering has been going on.  This area is a serious challenge for the scaffolding, and it is a miracle that it fits where it is shown in this photo - clearance under the beam of about one inch!  Dave has done all the window fitting, painting and membrane-meshing while I've been dangling off the scaffolding with handfuls of plaster to reach all the difficult nooks.

Fixing up the bedroom

13 December 2015

We took the decision that it was time to sort out some niggly bits in the bedroom, before the weather gets cold and while we wait for the remaining two window frames for the front door section from Rowan.

 These are ceiling edge boards above the bed, replacing loose straw and stuffed pillows - this should help keep the dust down

 Impossible to photograph - this is our little walk-in-and-bang-your-head wardrobe at the end of the bedroom.  The straw bales plastered, and then boxed in with plasterboard offcuts that just stretched to do the whole space (and cleared us out of plasterboard pieces).

 And I set to and made us some fancy linen with cotton lining curtains for the bedroom, to help insulate our polythene windows, since there won't be any glass in them this winter.  Lovely fabric.

 Then, at the last possible moment, Rowan arrived with the two window frames we need to keep plastering, and left them with us to fit ourselves.  He's been working day and night to meet all his obligations before going away for three weeks.

 Dave had also completed all the ceiling boards in the living room, giving it a nice neat finish.  Apart from all the straw still needing to be covered.

This is our polythene cat flap door, it proved too successful for the neighbouring stray cats, so I plywooded up the opening, but something - possibly one or both of our own cats - is ripping it's way in through the plastic.  More plywood needed.

South wall done

9 Dec 2015

Not much to report with all this plastering.  We get up, Dave loads the mixer and sets it running, we have breakfast, I find gloves, trowel, bag of loose straw and my buckets, and set up the scaffolding. Then I add plaster to wall, while Dave makes the next mix.  Then we have tea (and sometimes chocolate), I add more plaster to the wall, Dave makes another mix.  We have lunch.  More plaster goes on the wall.  We stop, worn out, have more tea, wash, change and slump for the evening.  Next day, we do it again. 

 Today, we finished the south wall - three coats on.  Hallelujah!  Fran started this one for us, and it's taken a month, off and on, around other things.  There now remain three sections to do: around the front door; the big west wall, and a little section of north wall that will complete the circuit around the house.

 South east corner and south wall, all plastering done, and looking rather majestic.  Limewashing still to do.

Exit the Van

2 Dec 2015

Robbie showed up to help us clear the land of unnecessary objects, including Dave's old van.  Robbie intends to spruce it up and try to sell it.  He and Sue cleared away various bits of debris for scrapping in exchange for the van, so that was good.

I have no idea what Dave is doing in this photo, but it was too good not to publish!

More plastering

30 Nov 2015

This little star showed up in an offcut of plastering mesh - must be nearly Christmas!

 Plastering the south wall continues - it's quite fiddly with all the bottles and vents in it, but it's coming along

 Dave fixed membrane and mesh around the new window, ready to do next when the south wall is finished.

Half a barrow-load of mix left, and I was too weary to climb back up the scaffolding, so these few panels inside got their first coat.

Another Window

29 November 2015

Rowan arrived late with the second large window - this one for the front door corner, and fitted it before dark. 

He has promised the last two little frames - for the porthole above the front door and the thin window to the side of it - before he goes away for Christmas, so that we can press on with the plastering while the weather is good.

Fixing the Track - again

29 November 2015

The track is a bit of a caution at the moment, the Punto has to hug the upside of the track to avoid grounding out in the canyons carved out by the rain, so a day of fixing was required.  Dave made a couple of lime mixes, we loaded the car with rocks and mortar and set off.

 These are our monster cypress trees.  They are visible from space (on Google maps, anyway). 

 At the start of the track, this is the sheep crossing, and that black pipe strung up in the trees is our water supply.  The Sheep Man has been looking after us!

 Crocuses - in Winter.  The weather is ridiculously warm and sunny, and the flowers are confused.

 This is our solar array, late November, under the shadow of the cypress trees - reduced battery power and limited hot water.  The cypress are going to have to go, to clear the way for our food forest and improve our winter solar capture.

 And the track repair, the largest one.  The lime will set in a few days, we'll have to stay in and hope we get no visitors!

Using up wood

28 November 2015

I can only plaster for about 3 days before my skin dries out and my arms fall off, and I can't haul myself up the scaffolding anymore, so we took a break and did some woodwork inside.  We have a lot of wood in the living room, that has to be cleared before Christmas, as we are going to have dinner here - in the living room, so the wood has to be put to work.

 Offcuts of the 20mm ply that we use for the window boxes came together to make this nifty little cupboard to extend the kitchen storage.

 And I started lathing the living room sections.  The inner side of the bales has been plastered, but the wall looks better if it is brought forward flush with the inside of the wood frame.  A big job, but one that can be tackled in small bites. 

Dave, meanwhile, was up the ladder, stuffing with pillows and fitting ceiling boards in the rafter spaces where we ran out of straw.  Although we now have two more bales, we decided to continue with the plan of pillow insulating here, and keep the bales in case we need them for the outside.

Sheep Day

25 November 2015

Just another work day, ready to start - just enjoying a cup of tea in the greenhouse of the cathedral window ...

 After a morning's plastering, we decided to get some logs cut and stacked, as supplies were low.  The chainsaw, however, wouldn't start.  Dave spent an hour on it, then stormed out in search of a new sparkplug, vowing never to buy another thing with an internal combustion engine (and I think he means it).  The Sheep Man and his flock were in the next field, so I waved and said hello, and on impulse, asked him if he'd like a look round the house.  The sheep come by most days, so he'll have been watching our progress, and was possibly curious.  He was, and was very pleased to be invited in.  The sheep came too.

 I mentioned (in pidgin Greek) that we were a couple of bales short (possibly) of a good finish, and he offered to send some round, I offered to pay, but he said no, and by lunchtime they had arrived.  So now we have a reserve supply for making chopped straw for plaster and for stuffing any gaps.  But the chainsaw still wouldn't start.

In the undergrowth

25 November 2015

Spotted this thoroughfare in the thicket near the house - I expect that's how the foxes come and go.

 And on the same day, these excessively friendly carrots turned up, too.  Wouldn't happen at Sainsbury's!