Days 10 to 18 in isolation at Tony and Nicky's

Genghis cat getting some fuss from Jackie

Brian and I were left to our own devices to finish the rest of the ceiling in the big garage, measure, cut and fit noggins before screwing up the panels, only calling Tony to ‘come and be tall’ every now and then, just to get the first couple of screws into each bit of 8’x4’ board. Tony was working on a report for his PhD, which really needed to be submitted, so we tried to leave him to it as much as possible. Doing the ceiling meant moving lots of stuff around, off shelves, and from the floor, so while Brian was screwing, I was rationalising and tidying. It’s much neater, and makes sense to me, but does mean I’m the only one who knows where things are, although I don’t know quite what everything is.... I’m expecting phone calls

Brian nailing a noggin into place with the nail gun

well into the future where Tony has to describe what something looks like before I can attempt to remember where it might be!

Once we’d done the ceiling we then moved upstairs to put in the insulation and lay flooring. To be fair Tony did the insulation as it’s a horrible job that leaves most people itching but doesn’t seem to bother him. Flooring was 22mm tongue and groove, except for the two sheets of 18mm that seemed to have slipped into the pile. Was this going to be a problem? Only time would tell. The first few rows went down quite smoothly, and solidly. There is an idea that at some point in the future this may become a gym. As part of Nicky’s rehabilitation, they’ve bought a running machine, a cycling machine, a stepper and a cross trainer. It needs to be solid!

Tony gluing and screwing the boards in the confined space

Then we met the beam, that alters the level of the floor, rather than just a step though there is a big overlap, three and a half rows of overlap. I can fit under the beam and in the space, Tony could fit in the space, but not under the beam, so had to get there by other means and then stay there to glue and screw. Were the two erroneous boards a problem? Yes, there is a narrow strip of uncovered floor, but at least it can be done from a ladder on the ground floor. It’s a really good job, that needed doing, but hasn’t progressed the main build at all.

A break in proceedings before fitting the boards in the confined space. This is the first floor at the back of the big garage that could become a gym area

The section of wall to be removed

With report submitted we have Tony’s full attention back and we’ve moved back to the main build. The doorway out of the porch (as yet unbuilt, but now with floor) into the house is only high enough for me, so has to be made bigger, so the big sandstone lintel needs moving up, which means removing the sill from the window above and three rows of huge granite blocks! This is remarkable scary, will bits of wall just fall out, can the blocks be moved, how will we fill the hole in the wall back up again? So far, scaffolding inside and outside, hammers and chisels and an assortment of crowbars have loosened blocks. These have then been manhandled by Brian and Tony onto a little trestle and then lifted and lowered down with a block and tackle. The sill, and most of the three rows have been removed, the acro props are in position and we will attempt to move the lintel up tomorrow. It sounds remarkably easy as I’ve written it, but it’s a lot harder than it sounds. Much thought went into it beforehand including from Ian who isn’t even here, but the block and tackle has worked very well and so far it’s all going swimmingly.

The outside before we started. The lintel over the doorway is too low, it has to be raised up to where the three large blocks are above. The plan is to erect scaffold inside and out then, remove the sandstone window sill above, remove the three large blocks below it, remove the three below that, jack up the lintel, fit sandstone blocks beneath to support, remove the remaining sandstone blocks around the window and the rebuild with stone above. Bear in mind, the wall of 600mm thick and we estimate the lintel to weight 250kg and the large block above it and left about 280kg. It's not going to be easy, but Tony has a block and tackle to assist 

Jackie proof reading Tony's thesis

This is the building we’ve been doing since the last blog, I’ve also spent quite a long time proofreading Tony’s report, and making corrections and suggestions, as has Tony’s dad (also Brian) so it’s gone back and forth many times. My brain has been taxed this week as well as my body!

We’ve also had to deal with Colin, the letting agent, again! While doing his ‘housekeeping’ last week Brian wrote to Colin to say that if he was contacted by either of our tenants to say they were struggling we were very open to discussion, but obviously if we reduced their rent, Colin’s income would reduce correspondingly. This appears to have tipped him over the edge,

A side job of chain sawing some firewood, watched by the ducks

“if you are expecting me to do more work” (we weren’t) “I should be paid more, not less.” So while everyone else in the country is doing their best for others Colin is still thinking only of Colin. Apparently it was such a heinous idea that he followed on with that if we think property management is so easy we can do it ourselves! He will collect the rent but no more! This obviously is no use to us, while travelling,so we have asked an agent from the neighbouring village to take over. We can’t wait to be distanced from Colin, but he’s not making it easy. He won’t pass on contact details and despite writing to both sets of tenants asking them directly we’ve not heard from either of them. What has he said to them I wonder?

Little three legged Cookie cat makes it upstairs onto our bed most days to keep Teddy company

So here we go, scaffold up, window sill out...

In the strangest quirk of timing, while many other people are working from home and not going out, Nicky has gone back to work! It’s six months since she fell and broke her leg, it’s healed well, so it’s time! She’s started gently, three days this week in Tesco, before a weeks leave next week, well Ian and Helen were due for there regular Easter visit.

So has lockdown affected us? I have to say no, we are loving it here, we’ve got loads to do and the space to do it in. We rarely leave the property when we come up here normally, we’ve got cats, food, and the 20 litres of homebrew is ready, and ‘surprisingly nice’. The only difference is because we are not just here for a few days it is a little more relaxed, as we don’t have to work like complete nutters! That’s not to say that some nights we are not still working at 19.30, but not all of them!

Brian and Tony feeling happy things have gone to plan so far

Lowering the first one down to the ground

Meanwhile Genghis cat gets some pampering

And Nicky goes to Tesco and buys some rare shopping items

A bit of evening relaxation with Tony

Second day and we're really making inroads into it

Here's that large block of well over a quarter of a tonne being lowered by Jackie that was above the lintel to the left

This is what we've got out so far, the window sill is front right and each of those other blocks are the best part of a quarter of a tonne each with the really big one still with the slings on it. That's major work. It has to be said that Tony has done the lions share of pulling, pushing, shoving and lifting. Two acro props are now supporting the lintel and, tomorrow there's one more large block to remove, a whole load of smaller stonework to shift and then the lintel can be raised into its new position. Another hard day then, no wonder we're eating and sleeping so well!

Meanwhile, seedlings have been planted, sprouted and transferred to the poly tunnel by Nicky 

She's baked cakes. Here's one she did using newly laid eggs. There has been no modification  to this photo to make it so yellow, that's how it really is, Eggs from their hens have amazingly large and yellow yolks, giving really tasty cakes. Sorry, I was still in my scruffy working clothes when this was taken. We had just come in for tea and cake mid afternoon (that is about 5:30pm!)

The ducks like to explore every corner of the grounds and here they are on the patio outside the lounge window on a wet day

This is a rare photo of Dougal Dog cat. He is the fifth member of the cat household and lives most of the time under the kitchen units only coming out occasionally. He's very shy but likes to play with Genghis (who often waits by the kitchen units for him to come out). Sometimes during the night he can be heard making battle with the sponge used for cleaning the fish tank. He fishes it out from beneath the tank and scuffles around with it. We find it left in various places around the kitchen, quite dead!