Finished!
December 27, 2008 | 2 Comments |
The shed is finished! I won’t bore you with anymore post on this topic.
Today I finished painting all the remaining bits and pieces. The electricity cable is in and the trench is back filled again, which means we now use our driveway again. The sparkling white of the walls and the blackness of the slates together with the blue winter skies made a pretty picture this afternoon.
All in all it took 8 months to build it from the foundations to painting. Not bad for an amateur…
I’m really pleased with the final result. The whole thing blends in nicely and matches with the design of the house.
Next year - weather permitting - we can do a bit of landscaping and get rid of all the bits and pieces of concrete, slate, block and wood which are still floating around.
Weather… always an item!
December 23, 2008 | 5 Comments |
Thanks to Alan Dickson from Milovaig - a place a couple miles down the road from us - who operates a weather station. While the Metoffice fell asleep or was having a really long tea break, his gear was collecting proper information. On December 19th the wind showed the below graph. From that graph you can clearly see that we had gusts of well over 80mph in the afternoon…
Coal fire
December 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment |
We had our first coal fire burning yesterday. Great! Lots of heat from just a small can of these little black nuggets. Lighting the fire is a bit tricky and you have to resist the urge to poke the fire like you would with wood fire. If you do, the fire tends to go out. But I got the hang of it now…
Today the weather looked really wintery (is that proper English??) so we went to the Coral Beaches to get some fresh air and allow Jingles to have a run about. He has now shed all his fears of water apparently as he walked into the sea straight away. As we walked back we met with other people with a boxer and both dogs had a good romp on the grass land surrounding the beach. See below for a short YouTube clip of Jingles running about the Coral Beaches chasing sticks.
Then, later on in the afternoon, Trishia and her two Dalmatians walked by and it was Jingles’s lucky day as he had another romp.
Another important fact: today was the shortest day. As of tomorrow days will be getting longer and nights shorter. Hurray!
By the way, if you are by any chance into unusual games or if you’re bored because of the really bad weather, try http://playauditorium.com. I thought it was quite addictive. Interesting to see which levels you manage to reach…
Singing in the rain… NOT!
December 19, 2008 | 2 Comments |
Weather is terrible here. Gales and heavy rain and all looking very dark and gloomy. I’m just back from walking Jingles, however not the usual long walk. Only on the field next to our house. It’s not too bad there as it is sheltered. Jingles was actually blown off his feet a couple of times when he walked up the hill towards the road. Very funny to see. Just like me, he got the idea in the end and remained in the sheltered parts.
What annoys me is the website of the Metoffice. Today their weather maps showed a forecast for Skye of a 30mph wind with gusts up to 50mph (my estimate would be gusts over 70mph). Yet they have issued a weather alert with gusts up to 80mph!! It’s obviously difficult to get the maps and the alerts properly aligned. In this day and age of advanced computer systems it shouldn’t be that difficult to come up with a proper website connected to meteo-devices.
Yesterday we got some bags of coal delivered. Although we have a supply of firewood, we do not yet have a place to properly store and dry firewood. So up until now we used to cut and log for a week. But then the burning is difficult as the wood is still very moist. Also the cutting and the logging become a challenge when the weather is like this. So, the coal is a nice solution. Both stoves are really great. During the day we have the kitchen stove burning and by 4pm we light the stove in the lounge. The underfloor heating is only on to heat the bedrooms when they get too cold and it sometimes switches on during the night when the temperature drops below 17C.
The stove: revisited
December 10, 2008 | 1 Comment |
Well, as said in an earlier post we had our kitchen stove fitted a couple of weeks ago. Now, that was a bit of an unfinished story. After the fitters had left we met with all kinds of problems. The flue suffered from severe down draft because the the flue pipe was lower than the roof ridge, causing the stove to vent smoke into the kitchen. The roof leaked. The stove and flue were extremely wobbly, creating an agonizing squeaking sound during windy days. The slating job looked awful.
Bad news. And cause for some major distress over the past weeks. It was difficult to get the kitchen pleasantly warm, there was water coming down the flue pipe (not much, but enough to be annoying) and on top of that we could not use our stove without being smoked like mackerels in a smoking pot.
But today the fitters erased all those bad experiences and did a really nice job and re-fitted the stove and the flue pipe. The pipe now extends well past the roof ridge and first tests are positive. We have not had any windy moments yet, but so far so good. The whole new setup appears extremely sturdy with metal braces in the loft area.
The pictures shows the stove and the flue pipe. The grey area just above the bend is where the first exit point was. This will be taped and filled so it can be painted again. The hatch in the roof will be plasterboarded and also taped and filled. It might look a bit quirky on the picture but the whole setup actually looks quite good.
Amazing
December 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment |
I read two amazing things this week:
1st: The standard light bulb as we know it is to be replaced by LED lights over the coming years. By 2012 these lights will no longer be available in Europe (I suppose that includes the UK). Actually, selling them is prohibited! Philips, prominent manufacturer of light bulbs has calculated that this would mean a one-off saving of CO2 of 630 million tonnes, if all lights would be based on LED technology!
2nd: The price of oil is dropping, even as far as $42 per barrel. Typical… According to analysis this appears to be a structural dip in demand. Here we are: buying expensive stoves, installing expensive flue pipes, buying expensive chain saws, sawing logs from trunks that weight a zillion kilo’s, chopping logs and kindle… Erm… what for? Soon oil will be cheaper and less hassle…. or will it?
The Elves
December 3, 2008 | 1 Comment |
We decided to put on our dancing shoes and … well, see for yourself:
Final bits
December 2, 2008 | 3 Comments |
The shed is nearing completion. I’m currently painting the outside (white) and digging the trench for the power cable to connect the shed to the electricity board in the house. Both jobs are hard work. The outside walls are rough casted so painting is tough. It takes quite a bit of pressure on the roller to get all the paint in all the nooks and crannies. Also, I need to do two coats to get proper coverage. Don’t want to complain, but I feel like my hands are dragging behind me like an early primate.
The trench for the power cable is roughly 20 meters long and need to be 20 inches (50 cm) deep. Also hard work, I can tell ya! I bought a pick axe for this specific job. Earlier trials with a spade did not work as I have to break really rocky earth. My plan is to finish the trench by the end of the week. I estimate I’ve done 15 meters. When it’s completed the electrician will hook up the shed to the house.
By the way: I was invited by Google to join their Google Friend Connect program with skinidin.com so in the sidebar - after the Google Ads - you will find means to register with this site as a friend. Feel free to do so if you’re a regular visitor.
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Latest music...
Hair (1968, Original Broadway recording). Some naughty lyrics for that time!!
An Rathad a Bhatarsaigh, by the Vatersay Boys