So Jan got on with the gardening today. Cutting the grass. Cutting more grass and then yet more grass! As we have a small mower and a lot of meadow type grass it was always going to be a big job. She mowed her little socks off..well mine really as she borrowed them to go with her boots. The final result looks stunning and has really improved the look of the chapel, our BBQ really looked the part. Well done Jan. I continued to raise floor boards and did some strimming too.
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Jan and I have returned to Cornwall and what a great reception it gave us. The weather is warm and sunny and after dinner we went to the beach, Porthcothan on the north coast. It is a stunning sandy beach and definitely a future favourite.
The kitchen is now at least looking tidy, if not 100% clean and ready for action. That will happen next week when Jan and I return on Monday evening ready to garden, lift more boards and of course entertain! Starting to remove more floor boards and tidying up the main lounge area I discovered even more of the timber was shot. It needed to go and short of funding a skip or several trips to the tip with timber crumbling away in the boot, I decided to have a fire. I understand that its not the most eco friendly thing to do but it is I am told carbon neutral?
Returning to take up the floor, this week is going to see me moving everything around to empty the Kitchen ready to have a BBQ with some of the friends we have met in the last few months. The sink unit I took out to remove the lime plaster needs putting back in some form or other and the water heater wired in. Once the floor of the chapel is less cluttered I can push forward with removing the floorboards and hopefully to find that the rotten worship end does not extend to the whole chapel floor!
Before I left on Thursday evening I took up a few floorboards from the worship end and it is tricky to find solid wood to pull up!
We have finally removed all the old plaster with the exception of the bits left to keep the windows in place and the electric metre! The real star of the show is the SDR hammer drill bought from b&q about 5years ago for under £50! It has blasted away lime and cement renders of differing thinkness and strengths and still seems to be ready for more. So big tidy up and the floor next.
So time for a coffee I thought and off I go to the caravan. Made the coffee and sat down, you may know we have a farm field long side us and having just come from a farm mini break I'm now fully used to a variety of country sounds. As I had my coffee, I'm thinking those cows in the field are making a lot of noise and turn round to see what all the problem was. OMG they are lovely cows but what are they doing in our garden!
Rushing out to take a look you realise cows are big buggers and don't speak very good English maybe arm flapping might do something! Sure enough off they run...yes run round the side only to be met by a cow dog, assume thats what he was and not some stray up for the craic, anyway he chased them back again trying to get in front of them. My poor lawn has shit in several places and lots of hoof prints! A young farm hand arrives and whistles something in Cornish cow language and off they go back round the building and out the driveway they came through heading of into the village, last seen the farm hand called a jaunty 'sorry' and that was it over and done with. Yet another exciting country experience all you townies miss out on! Thanks to Nick and Charlie the caravan is back at the Chapel. Because the drains are still to be connected internally some of the soil is in piles waiting to go back in. This is going to mean no awning for a while as there isn't enough space to put it up. The weather this week is not as nice as last week and the ground having been churned up is getting very messy under foot.
Also cut the grass today took me 3 hrs to do about 3/5 of the lawn. I ran out of extension leads so had to stop, however the bit I did looks good. Whilst Nick is using the digger I am able to get on inside and have decided to take off the rest of the old plaster, some of it has been badly damaged by water penetration and salts over the years and some is only just holding on to the walls and could have fallen off with a gusty breeze through the window, luckily the windows are all stuck shut and don't budge! This in and out as required to help with pipes or levels or adding shingle etc. has allowed us both to make great progress. Most of the plaster is off the walls in the Kitchen, only the electric board and sink areas are left, the drains are in place and all signed off by Building control, who also looked at and signed off the insulation we added some weeks back in the roof space, so that is great news as having to re-do any of that would have been horrendous. So well done Nick for a great job and I'm also happy to say his expectant cow had a bull calf on Thursday night too, congratulations all round! A big tidy up and floor lifting next week! |
AuthorJan and Pete, retiring Headteachers with a dream. Archives
November 2018
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