The secrets of mixing
March 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment |
After a couple of days of plastering, I must admit that it’s a very rewarding job and actually quite fun to do. It’s almost a shame that the end result will be covered by timber and plasterboard…
Icky introduced me to the secrets of making a proper mix. For this specific job I used 5 units soft sand, 4 units of sharp sand, 2 units of lime and 1 unit of cement. Especially the lime is tricky stuff. It’s very light and unless you’ve already put some water into the mixer, it will blow away very quickly, leaving you looking like a Highland Yeti…
The final mix should not be too dry otherwise putting it on the wall is a tough job. If it’s too sloppy it’s no good either. The best results are obtained if you mix it for at least 15 minutes and be careful with the water. I used a watering can which gave good results. Also by prolonged mixing of the mixture gets softer, I guess because there’s more air getting into the mix. The end result is a grey/brown, soft mass…
Weather wise we’re working our way through a huge low pressure area. This means lots and lots of wind. As they come from the north it’s cold as well. We’re definitely ready for some soft spring weather!
Protest
March 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment |
I had to deal with a bit of protest over the past days. After moving six crates of slate from the drive way at Holmisdale to the house, the old back protested furiously and gave in. I was “out of order” for four days. I twisted a muscle left of the left shoulder blade. Coughing, sneezing and laughing was all highly uncomfortable. But today everything was good again and I picked up where I had left: plastering the inside walls. The reason for doing this, is that it will stop the rubble and the smaller stones from falling down and then form a “cold bridge” between the stones and the internal timber frame of the house. Which might in turn lead to damp problems. So, it will not be visible in the end result but it is very rewarding as the walls do look much better.
Due to bad weather over the past days there hasn’t been much progress. Icky prepped the timber moldings for the skews and the front part of the roof looks all nice and smart again. And a huge pile of aggregate was delivered so everything is ready for pouring the concrete slab.
On another note, I noticed a letter to the editor of the WHFP where the author suggested that tax payer’s money should not be spent on bi-lingual road signs but on improving the road surfaces. I would not want to discriminate the importance of bilingual road signs, but I do think the roads on Skye are due for some major patching up. The number of potholes is worrying at least. That same letter quoted a regular columnist of the WHFP claiming that the Dutch use three languages as the norm for their road signs. Well, the last time I looked they did not. Just one. Just plain Dutch. You might come across multi lingual signs in Friesland, one of the northern counties of Holland, but three…. no.
Weather wise I can say that we’re hit by a winter revival. Very windy, very wet and very cold.
Sir Fred
March 19, 2009 | 2 Comments |
An uninvited guest and a rather cheeky fellow as well! He comes in every afternoon - gracefully avoiding the fencing - nicks some food. Even an egg if he gets half a chance! Who he is, you might wonder? It’s a very, very, very persistent hooded crow. He visits the chicken coop at about 4pm and checks out whether there’s something to nick. We named him “Sir Fred”…
Big lip
March 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment |
While trying to remove an old metal door strip with a pick axe, it suddenly came off and hit me. Result: a cut in my upper arm and a bruised lip. I look like I spent time in the ring with Mike Tyson. Not good…
Besides that little accident, progress is good in Glendale. Icky and Raymond started slating the roof and I finished leveling the floor. I think I wheelbarrowed roughly 50 loads of rubble, earth and rock… but now we’re ready to put the concrete slab in. Check out the pictures…
By the way: lovely day today after a very wet weekend… still very cold though!
The ladies and the girls
March 13, 2009 | 1 Comment |
We have three new hens. After we lost three to a mink we decided to add three new ones. They arrived a couple of weeks ago and life has not been the same since. Immediately the older hens showed aggressive behavior towards the new ones. One of the new hens even left the hutch as soon as the older ones came in to roost. Better cold than beaten up…. And there was a lot of pecking and feather plucking going on. Time for drastic measures! Claire made a temporary hutch - using an old traveling cage we used for Jingles when he was a puppy - and placed that in the rabbit run and transferred the old hens. This appeared to be a good solution. They will return within a couple of days and we hope that the pecking order is broken by then. The only thing is that we now have a rabbit which is close to a nervous break down….
Spot the differences!
March 11, 2009 | 2 Comments |
After days of hard work we have a new roof. At least the wooden parts of it… The stripping down took nearly two days last week, resulting in a massive bonfire and a huge pile of broken concrete roof tiles. This morning Raymond and Icky started fixing the rafters and by the end of the day the whole roof was sarked as well. Next on the agenda is fitting the new Velux windows, the roof felt and the slates.
My work is to level the inside floor. The house is built on a sloping ground. The original wooden floor was built on wooden joists leveled by huge boulders. The new floor will be a concrete one so it need to be leveled out first. Hard work as the higher parts of the floor are quite rocky. I must have shoveled about 40 wheelbarrows of soil and rock but the end is in sight.
By the way: lovely day today with crisp blue skies!!
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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