I love the smell of plaster in the morning ...

31 August 2018

It's been a long time since we did any plastering, and I found I really enjoyed finding my buckets and trowels and rubber gloves and smoothing those walls out like the old days.

We had been all set to get on with the last three ceiling boards in the Music Room, when Dave's son Rob rang to say his accommodation for mid September had fallen through, and could he and family stay with us.  No problem, of course, but it made us re-think the work that needs doing in the Music Room - could we get the ceiling done, the upper wall sections limewashed and the last open panel plastered before they came?  It swiftly occurred to us that we needed to prioritise the plastering, if it was going to be dry enough to limewash when we do the rest of the upper sections, so Dave set the mixer going.

 The first mix in many months - love that limey smell!

 The panel causing the problem is the one where we had a big hot air pipe to warm the bedroom from the little stove in the music room.  Now we have the big stove in the living room - which warms the bedroom too, the pipe has been removed and the panel closed up.

 Meanwhile, Rowan has been round and has set Jade (just visible skulking in the shadows) to work preparing the 'greenhouse' (passive solar warm air maker) for fitting the glass roof.  Nice if this gets done for this winter.

 With half a barrow of plaster left, we thought we might as well deal with the disruption and do the other side of the unplastered panel (in the bedroom) at the same time.  So I set up all the paraphernalia: plaster and trowels in bucket; protective sheets; water mister; staple remover for all the old staples in the woodwork (from when the bedroom was lined with rugs); staple gun and staples for the blue plastering mesh; roll of blue plastering mesh; wet and dry towels to clean the woodwork afterwards; masking tape for electric fittings; second bucket of plaster and rubber gloves.  

Phew! - for such a small space there's a lot of equipment to cart around.

 Finished.  With just enough plaster to complete the job.  Because the squared off section had rough batons framing it, I wanted to lose them in the wall, which meant that the whole section up to the roof boards had to be given an overcoat of plaster.

 Then I put the bedroom back in place around it.  Just got to remember not to poke it with anything for a few days.

A sneaky shot to catch Jade in action when she wasn't looking!

No matter how humble ...

28 August 2018

Home again from a whirlwind trip round northern England - we find ourselves easily fazed by the traffic in the UK these days - given that we find a drive to Lefkas town more than exciting enough for us! 

So, very nice to be back, even if the dog had gone completely manic while we were away, and the house had taken a lightning direct hit which had fried the internet and phone.  I had bought a new camera at the airport, since the last one wouldn't focus properly any more, and took a couple of photos to celebrate our return - and remind us for posterity just how dreadfully scruffy our living conditions are!

 View from the temporary home of the sofa towards the kitchen

 and towards the stairs.  

Not long now, we hope, until we have floors and furniture and curtains like normal people.

I forgot to take a photo of the enormous courgette we found in the garden on our return, before I cooked it, but this is it stuffed and roasted.  Very tasty.

UK visit

19 - 26 August 2018

Just a week in the UK, trying not to be too much of a burden at my Dad's, so we went first to see Dave's daughter and her two kids to check how they were doing.  Then to Dad's to see how he was after being in hospital, and finally a couple of nights in Ormskirk catching up on baby Noah.

 Clare, Jake, Dave and Leo

 Me and an eagle owl, on our trip out on the North Yorks steam railway

 George, Noah (fascinated by the guitar), Mum and Dave

George, Noah and Phillie

Changing Weather

15 - 17 August 2018

Round about now I got some bad news from the UK, my Dad was in hospital, so we decided to get a last minute flight and go to see him. So work on the ceiling stopped, while we prepared for being away for a week.  Rowan and Paris agreed to come to stay again, as well as Naomi who agreed to take on the crazy hound.

 Storms came early this year, lashing us with much needed rain for the garden.

 On one of the dog's visits to the poo-pen, I spotted this very unusual little creature, unfortunately the camera focus is battered by life in a building site, and I couldn't get a close-up.  I've never seen anything like it before, though.  A spoon-shaped beetle?

The dog hugs the fridge in an effort to get cool.  She has a new, larger collar, as she has already grown out of the sweet little puppy one we bought her.

Half done boards and some ramblings

12 - 15 August 2018

We pressed on with the ceiling boards for the next couple of days, each space taking one morning, with extra time needed to cut the fiddly bit round the chimney (and then put in some trim to cover the mess we made of it!).  In our defence, the concrete of the chimney was rather lumpy, so we had to cut the board wide to fit over the lumps.

 The dog doing one of her increasingly infrequent sweet moments - the rest of the time she's got us run ragged, trying to teach her what she can and can't do.

 Yet another muslin flyscreen curtain, so we can work in the Music Room with the door open

 One of the few advantages (so far) of having the dog - I get to see some spectacular early mornings!

 A bowl of garden produce picked for supper

 Cutting the board round the chimney

... and the space where it fits.  Three spaces done, three to go.

Music Room ceiling begins

Friday 10 August 2018

So much smaller and easier than the living room!  The batons, insulation and panels go up a dream.

 Naomi pops round to continue filling and sanding the Music Room door

First section finished.  Easy!

Roof edge boards

9 August 2018

Where the diagonal rafters meet the vertical walls there is a gap, the thickness of the wood frame (12cm), so to make a neat join with the ceiling, we are putting boards of tongue-and-groove in these spaces, after filling them with insulation.  Otherwise there would be uninsulated gaps all along the edge of the roof.  We've done this all round the house, as we go along, and the six in the Music Room are the last to do, hurrah!

 Dave does the first three back boards, from left, including the tricky one round the chimney

 Then he started to feel the vertigo again, so he cut the boards and I fitted them, but not off a ladder, I set up the small scaffolding to make it easier.

 Meanwhile, the unpainted batons and useful bits of trim are treated ready for use

Then we set up the scaffolding ready for Friday.  There has been no Lefkogaia volunteering for a couple of weeks, as the electricity supply to the warehouse has needed updating.  Better for us, as we have an extra day to work, but not good for Lefkada's recycling.

The workforce

Tuesday 7 August 2018

Back from our sailing weekend, and keen to get moving on the next ceiling, we accepted help from Paris and her friend Naomi to get our 18 ceiling boards and 12 long batons painted.

Salty Sea Dog

Saturday 4 August 2018

We decided to take the boat out for the weekend.  We wouldn't normally venture out there in August, but we wanted to try out the new electric outboard, and get the dog accustomed to the dinghy and the yacht while she was still young (and not too heavy!)

So we set off very early on Saturday morning, as the sun was rising.  We arrived at the water, unloaded the boat, all the bags and the dog, launched, loaded all the bags and the dog, then found the engine wouldn't start until Dave had fiddled about for a while getting the connections right.  This gave the dog a lot of time to get used to the idea, and being frightened of getting left behind, she was keen to leap aboard.  We took off across the bay, with the dinghy loaded to the gunnels and the dog squeezed into the bow with me holding tight to the lead.

With Angel tied to the binnacle, we cast off and took the yacht round to the nearest deserted bay, where we anchored and Dave and I threw ourselves into the water.  Angel fretted on the sugar scoop until she lost her footing and fell in.  She came up swimming and doggy paddled between us.

After breakfast we made the lengthy (30 min) crossing to Meganissey, aware that the dog was exposed to the sun all the way, so we found a mooring up the coast from Port Athene and settled in for the day, with the shade tent up.  Lots of swimming, and a few dinghy crossings along the land line for the dog to have a wee ashore.  She was very good and didn't soil the boat at all, holding herself in all night.

The next day we moved all of ten minutes around the coast to a favourite bay and did the same thing all over again.  Overall a successful trip - well done, Angel!

In the Dog House

3 August 2018

With the last delivery of wood for the Music Room ceiling, we also ordered a kennel.  Litsa, the marvellous assistant at the woodyard, who is always helping us, asked why we weren't making one from scratch, we said we were too busy building our own house to take time out to make one for the dog, we'd have a readymade one, please.

However, it did come flatpacked, so we spent Friday on construction, with Angel growing more and more suspicious.

 The location, behind the big olive tree near the log store, where a big pile of brush had been standing, so the ground was quite clear.

 The pile of brush, moved along the edge of the thicket by me, while Dave rustled up breeze blocks to keep the kennel off the ground.

 Angel on the alert ...

 ... and dumped into the half-built kennel.  Not good body language, but she doesn't like power tools.  We got the large size, because we expect her to grow into it.

Finished

Mushrooms and other growth

2 August 2018

Much sooner than the paperwork had led us to expect, our first box of mushrooms burst into life.  Apparently there are three main colours of oyster mushrooms, cream, grey and pink, we have cream and pink, and the pink are the earliest to fruit.  Who knew?

 2 August - first fruits

 4 August, the cream ones catch up - just when we'd finished the first flush of pinks.  They should flush again if we keep misting them

 Meanwhile, Angel - while being shut out of the house when we're working - has trashed the insect netting.  Luckily I've just received an order of organic cotton muslin, so I can make a new one that isn't plastic

On the subject of fruiting, we have the strangest crop: brussels sprouts in August.  A couple of the random seeds we flung around last spring have produced enormous stalks of brussels.  They are a bit stressed by the heat, but enough sprout remained after trimming to be worth cooking and eating.

Streamlining the process

Weds 1 August 2018

The Music Room ceiling insulation is the next job, so we took measurements, Dave working his way round the room on a ladder, me sitting with my feet up making notes!  The width measurements were more regular than we'd found on the other side of the ridge beam, in the living room, and we are not constrained by the 'A' frame cross-bracing to make each one an exact fit, so we arrived at a working average that should fit every aperture.

This means that we could order 18 boards all the same length and width, and Dave could drill and sand them in batches, streamlining the preparation process.

Utility ceiling done

31 July 2018

Just making it into July, we managed a surprise finish of the utility room ceiling boards.  After Rowan helped fit the two difficult centre ones (the room is a slight parallelogram), Dave and I measured for the remaining spaces.

A friend of Rowan and Paris's, Naomi (not the other Naomi) offered to help, and came on Monday evening to spend a couple of hours painting the utility boards.  We were measuring and cutting the third while she was painting the first two, so it all went very quickly.

Then on Tuesday, while waiting for the Music Room wood delivery, we second-coated and fitted the boards.  A bit of filler, and whoops - job done!

 One of the boards painted by Naomi, and the Music Room door screw holes filled

 The other two boards, second coated by Dave

 While I got on with the insulation

 All finished - photographed after dark.  The back right hand panel is removable so we can feed new wires through the wall if we need to.  (For example, to fit an electric car charging point!)

And, just after midnight, the first oyster mushrooms from the box we opened 4 days ago are starting to pop out - how exciting!