Beset with obstacles

26-30 June 2018

We were moving along with the ceiling at a reasonable pace, then everything became difficult.  Dave's vertigo was obviously a major stumbling block, but then the car seized up - water pouring out of the engine, so we limped it to the garage and it took a week to be enough fixed to get back on the road.  This was an issue because the paint ran out, after the first coat went on the boards for area 'F' and we only have enough insulation left for one more section.  However, this was less of a problem than it might have been, as Dave's son Rob with wife and baby have arrived, and the football World Cup is on, so there are distractions in plenty, and the obstacles might as well come now, therefore.  We have asked friends if they will come to help fit the prepared four areas next Friday, when we hope to be back on track.

 Boards for section F with one coat, and no paint left to do the second, and no car to get more with

 Long batons for sections F and G, drying outside.

 Look what we found on the dinghy, when Dave went to get it ready.  

 Dave with grandson in George's for a meal

Rob and Dave prepare to row across the bay to get the boat for a day's fishing with the lads

Stroll around the garden

21 June 2018

Midsummer's Day.  I thought I'd record the things growing, as a marker and reminder for next year.

 The bottom corner of the swale and berm terraced beds.  Dave planted various local species of tomatoes in the swale, and they are flourishing - perhaps because of the shade from the pear tree, perhaps because the woodchip-filled swale is holding water as hoped.

 Moringa trees on the lowest bed.  After a slow start, the rainy weather in June has set these going, they're about three feet / one metre tall now, since being planted out hand-high in April.

 Perhaps the best Moringa, middle bed, with the house in the background.

 The middle bed from the north, with the Goji berry bush in flower in the foreground.

 Dave's tomatoes from the other side.  Some are cherries, some middling and some huge plum toms.  Very tasty, the earliest ones.

 The blackberry bush, full of berries, surrounded by sprouting kale, which we're using as a salad crop, and some chard (the pale green) and alfalfa grass as a green manure.  We've had a few purple top turnips from this bed too.

 The lower hugel bed, planted with heritage seeds from the local seed-saver people.  The maize is doing extremely well, and there is a hidden melon growing among the courgettes.  In the background is a very unseasonal brussels sprout, one of two that are doing surprisingly well.

 Both fig trees are fruiting well this year for the first time.

 Some wild rocket that I'd flung down a couple months ago, encouraged to appear by the rains.

Our little 'English' garden: two baby Elderberry trees, and a mass of borage.

Feeling Vertiginous

16 - 21 June 2018

The third ceiling section proceeded exactly like the previous two, with the only difference being that we are away from the diagonal wall, so the sections have a straight cut along the lower edge now.

 Tea break

 Bored of painting boards

 Another cool day - chance to get the strimmer out and clear this area in front of the house where we bring the long batons out to treat and paint outdoors.  Less thistles while wrestling long pieces of wood is good.

Oops!  We'd just finished installing the third section when Dave reported some dizziness.  Not good when working at height.  We went to the ENT specialist in Lefkas town and Dave was grounded for a week while he recovers.

We had the measurements for section D (now lettered, as there are more than enough numbers around with all the measuring), so we cut and painted all the batons and boards.  Then a few days later, when Dave was feeling a bit more steady, we measured sections E, F and G, so we can cut and paint and stack the fittings.

These sections are through the middle of the room anyway, so it will be better to have everything ready before  moving the scaffolding as the cutting and manoeuvring of large wood will become almost impossible with the towers in the centre.

From the back - sections A, B and C finished.  Sections D, E, F and G have all had their top cross-piece installed as it's easy for me to reach from the stepladder on the mezzanine - with Dave hovering around convinced I'm not going to screw them in tight enough to the rafters!

Garden treats

Mid June 2018

We haven't planted very much this year - the focus is all on the house, but some things are growing, and some are doing very well, much better than expected.

 The Apricot tree is flourishing, and gave us some large sweet fruit this year - although I had to battle with the ants to get them.

 The various artichokes around the place are doing well, too, despite getting very little water

 An example of one of our fabulous lunches - including Dave's homemade coleslaw, and the first Moringa leaf harvest for the green salad.  The strawberries are from the garden too.

Another day, another salad: Moringa, tomatoes, rose petal and borage flowers, with strawberries on the side - all from the garden.

Second Section

11 - 15 June 2018

The first ceiling section was always going to be slow, as we found our way around managing with just the two of us.  The next section was a little quicker.

 We measured, cut and painted batons on Monday, after fitting the last triangle of the first section, and installed them on Tuesday.

 By the time Rosa and Brian arrived for singing lessons, we were stapling up the insulation.

 It looks very nice and upholstered, before the boards go up!

 Wednesday the boards were drilled and double-coated, Thursday we were out all day, so on Friday, we fitted them, and filled the screw holes ...

... then moved the scaffoldings, and measured the next section.  On we go ... !

The first section

6 - 11 June 2018

Wednesday, the first day after delivery, we were good to go.  Dave climbed the small scaffolding, and I climbed the stepladder on the mezzanine, and we draped the measuring tape between us - having to use the long fabric tape to get into the tight corners - to take millimetre-accurate measurements.  Neither of us want to get a five-metre piece of wood up to the ceiling and find it the wrong length!

The first two sections run down to the diagonal wall that gives the house a nice rounded shape from the outside.  This creates a complicated angle where the slope of the roof meets the vertical wall at  45 degrees from square.  It took a bit of messing around with an offcut to make a template.

 Then Dave remembered that the rafters have never been varnished, as we couldn't easily reach them, so we'll have to treat each one as we move across the room.

 By the end of Weds, the long batons are cut and painted, as well as eight of these extra wide cross-pieces (foreground).  The longest we could get batons was 480 cm.  The ceiling length is about that, but cut as a parallelogram, because of the roof slope meeting the vertical.  So 480 was too short.  Rather than put a join in, we decided to put these 12cm cross-pieces at the ridge beam in each of the longest sections.  We thought we'd prepare them all upfront.

 Thursday is our volunteering day in Lefkas, so nothing was done in the house.  On Friday, the four panels were drilled, sanded and painted (two coats) and left to dry.  The weather is changeable, so we distributed them round indoors.

 On Saturday we fitted the batons, including the awkward diagonal

 and then stuffed the apertures with insulation, stapled to the roof boards.

 Sunday is supposed to be our day off, but we wanted to keep the job moving, so we fitted the three whole boards, but saved the tricky measuring and cutting of the last piece for Monday.

And there it is, first section installed, screw holes filled.  All done, now to move the scaffoldings across to the next section and repeat!

Lots of wood arrives

5 June 2018

The delivery of batons and laser-cut plywood panels finally arrives.  Now work can start on the main ceiling.

 Somewhere to stack the plywood - batons stuck into breeze-blocks.  We had the delivery driver offload our supplies into the garden, so we could sort the panels by width (almost every gap between rafters is different sized to the others, so each has been measured individually).  We stacked in reverse order, so the pile will reduce as we work across the room towards it.  Then we brought the five metre batons in through the window.

Done!  Quite a job, and a bit of an obstacle course now to reach our tea-break chairs.

A quick fix

3 June 2018

The rains came - which is wonderful, and means Dave doesn't have to spend hours watering.  The garden starts singing, and everything doubles in size overnight.

 So I put on wellies and tidied up the bags of manure lying around this olive tree by opening them up and tipping out round the roots.  There was a pile of scrumped rocks there too, so I made a rough boundary with them.  The dinghy is at the edge of the photo, where it is leaned up against the log store, covering some stuff we've moved out of the living room.

Dave goes for his daily stroll around the garden to see what's growing

Some close encounters

3 June 2018

We've seen a few snakes around recently - they come out to bask in the sun, but the cats usually chase them away.  Then we spotted a lovely pair of Balkan Lizards, about a foot long, and bright yellowy green.  They were basking on a coil of wire outside one of our windows, so I was able to get the camera.

 A breeding pair, we hope - great to have them around

 The female, I think.  She stopped to pose for this shot before disappearing

 Another day, I was clearing some ground (it had rained, so I could put on wellies and long trousers - in case of snakes!)  and this juvenile was exposed.  It hung around long enough for me to go indoors for the camera and to get Dave to come and see.  A nice little adder.

 Meanwhile, indoors, I was moving some stacked wood from against the wall, and this lady was revealed, over an inch long.  We collected her in a jam jar and put her outside.  We prefer not to share with the bigger spiders!

And, finally, our mascot, the preying mantis, has been showing up everywhere this year.  They are very good for the garden, so we're pleased to see so many.  This is a big one, and she's giving me the eye for poking the camera too close!

Starting the main ceiling

1 June 2018

The wood has been ordered, the room cleared, and the scaffolding set up, so now we wait for delivery.

 Scaffolding lined up under the first rafter-gap.  Eleven to go!

 While we wait, some measurements can be taken

The living room furniture has been evicted into the garden.