Days 5 to 9 in isolation at Tony and Nicky's

A full days work, a shower and suddenly, I'm feeling very tired!

I have to say, it doesn't feel like isolation here, the grounds and buildings here are pretty extensive and its possible to get quite tired just walking about the property, that's not counting the countless number of times of walking up the newly fitted temporary staircase in the big building carrying insulation boards up to store on top of the ground floor wooden framework.

There's 65 boards up there, carried up a staircase of 14 steps, that's 910 steps, with a rise of 20cm each. That's a height gain of 1820m of ascent - a small mountain (late edit: it has just been pointed out to me that I got the decimal point in the wrong place, it's only 182m, but it still seemed a lot) And that's just one job of many, no wonder I woke up twice one night with cramp in my leg. However, muscle ache is a good ache, it means we've done lots

Little three legged Cookie cat

of excercise and, yes we're feeling a bit fitter, the bending, twisting, drilling, fixing, crawling, stretching all means we're getting a full body workout. It also means we're eating huge quantities of food, Tony and Nicky being the generous people they are, a large joint just doesn't cut it, two are more like it, and that for just one evening meal. I made a litre of blackcurrant ripple ice cream for dessert and that lasted only two nights, one of those with half a chocolate cake added. And that's only one of three meals a day, but we eat it all as we're usually famished and are sleeping like logs, which has to be good.

Forgot to mention about the 20 litres of home made Cabernet Sauvignon thats on the go 

Tony and Nicky's fabulous lounge in the one house thats finished

I realised that I hadn't been off the property for a week today, although Jackie and Nicky have, they went and queued outside Tesco the other day to get a few essentials, as did Tony and then Nicky again today, not only for us but shopping for their friends about a mile away who are isolating due to having their elderly mother living with them. I actually went out today to deliver the shopping to them, walking the mile to their door, leaving the shopping on the doorstep and walking back again. Its all country lanes with only a couple of isolated houses to pass, but even so I wondered if I would be stopped and asked where I was going. No need to worry though, only a tractor passed me.

Temporary stairs installed and barriers erected

And yes, the barriers are perfectly level

Jackie and I have been letting the chickens, ducks and geese out each morning, collecting the eggs and then putting them all to bed each evening (the chickens not the eggs). They are quite funny to watch, the geese and ducks in particular making plenty of noise, particularly if you happen to walk near to them during the day, them thinking they are going to be fed, so running over and clustering around. They all have the big orchard garden and their pens to run around in and several of them have the run of the whole property (I don't know why all of them don't), so its quite common to have a couple of chickens wandering about as we're working. I was horrified one morning early on when I got up out of bed, looked out of the window and saw the chickens wandering about. Tony and Nicky weren't up, we'd put them to bed the previous evening, so I realised I'd forgotten to put the flap down on one of the pens the previous evening. I got distracted as we had to chase the ducks round with a torch in the dark to get them into their pen and was concerned they were all in. We checked every pen to confirm they were there and then I forgot to put the flap down. No harm was done, but I won't let it happen again - double checking now every night!

Have a look at this little You Tube video I did of our morning routine letting the geese, ducks, chickens and guinea fowl out. Jackie normally talks to them ten to the dozen but didn't want to when I was videoing:



Building work is continuing, temporary staircase fitted and barriers erected at the edge, all perfectly straight and level. Jackie was amused when I put the spirit level on the wood before fixing it as it's only a temporary structure, but if a jobs worth doing etc etc.

Half of the building that will contain a huge kitchen and master bedroom above

We moved into the big garage yesterday (big garage hah - its more like a big double story detached house with a huge integral garage, big enough for a couple of tractors at least and will have a workshop, toilet, stores at the back and a huge storage area on the first floor) to work on the joists and flooring for the first floor. Tony's fitted most of it but it needs a few more joists and noggins to attach it to the outside walls and then plywood fixing to the ceiling and insulation and floorboards on the floor upstairs. Jackie and I make the joist work to fill in on the edge, which took ages as it has to be a snug fit to the wall, every bit cut to size, screwed together and fitted into place. It took most of the day, we were both pretty knackered and about to finish for the night. There were a couple of temporary bits of

One of several 1 litre blackcurrant ripple ice creams

wood on the ceiling used to support the joists during building that I thought I'd take off. The last one, however, had a ladder resting on it that Jackie was standing on so, as the last screw came out the beam made its way towards me at a very fast rate hitting me on my top lip and causing me to see a few stars. Jackie was jolted forward a couple of inches as the ladder came to rest on a noggin. I was bleeding but my teeth were OK and today I have a very fat top lip (no photos!) but I'm OK. How easy it is to make stupid mistakes and just now, when hospitals are full is not the time to make stupid mistakes. Make a mental note: think carefully and don't try to rush things when tired!!

Little Tufty cat

Today I've had a rest day, at least I've used the day to catch up on financial things that have been put off for too long, so its been useful. Having done that I decided a blog was called for, so here it is. Jackie hasn't rested though, her and Tony have been in the big garage carrying on with the upstairs floor, more noggins are installed and they are just starting to fit the plywood to the ceiling. It's all go here, we're loving it! Must go and have a look to see how they are getting on...