Days 67 to 72 in isolation at Tony and Nickys

Hens paddling to get cool on a hot day

Rain today for the first time in weeks. The garden really needs it. Fortunately Brian and Tony had finished their outdoor plumbing job at a friends by the time it started. Her main water supply to her house had been leaking for a good while from the stop cock in her garden, making a nice pond that threatened to undermine the foundations of her house, probably since she paid a plumber to do a job! 

The supply is from a tank higher up the hill, so cap the inlet in the tank, insert pump into pond and attempt to pump out as much water as possible, dig a soggy hole to reveal valve and pipe and attempt repair. First attempt by tightening the joint didn't work due to incompatible fittings originally used so complete replacement necessary. Leak stopped, cap on inlet removed and still no leak on pressurised pipe so all looks good. Hole left for a couple of days to make sure everything OK, so keep everything crossed its not leaking when they go back to fill it in.

This is the before haircut photo...

When they went at the weekend to have a look and assess what needed doing Nicky took the opportunity to cut my hair, it was definitely in need. Two hours later, some overworked clippers, and quite a lot of stress, I am shorn. A little shorter than perhaps expected, but much neater, cooler and easier and quite ‘cool’.

Work has continued on the woodwork for the internal walls, so the internal stonework has had to be filled and patched before its hidden away, never to be seen again. The remains of the wooden joists have to be dug out and filled with slate and bricks, though the decision was made to take out five of these little columns and insert a lintel to provide support for removing stones to put in a kitchen

And the after haircut photo. Its definitely short!

window! So strange today, having just got a nice, neat, complete wall we started chiselling mortar out until we got daylight. It’s thinking all these things through and deciding where the Aga is going in relation to the door, in relation to the units that gives the rough area the window is going in, with which blocks come out that will make the final precise decision. But it all takes time, and discussion. Some days we’ve been in and out, and to and fro the plans on the computer, brainstorming, measuring etc. Not stopping or relaxing, but with little to actually see at the end of the day! It’s all part of an ongoing process, but some days there seem to be so many things you have to do before you can actually do what you thought was the plan for the day... It really is all very rewarding and satisfying though.

Jackies outside chicken shelter. It'll definitely withstand a hurricane!

Hoisting up a lintel

In chick news I built them a shelter for when they go outside, it’s a bit high, in case Tony wanted it sunk into the ground, and slightly over engineered, but all my own work so, again, very satisfying! They have spent the last few days outside both on the lawn and in what will be their new run, well they are four and a half weeks old now! Getting them out of the travel box into the cage on the lawn is fabulous, they are like little paratroopers, all lining up to jump out of an aircraft. Getting them into the travel box, you’d think we were murdering them! 

They are still getting bigger, obviously, but do actually have seemed to have slowed down a little. They are nearly all feathers now, with only tiny bits of down and are half and half predominantly black with white highlights, or white with black highlights. No brown hens here. All very pretty.

Jackie didn't mention the chicken pot she made. See that ventilation cap on the roof of the porch?

She decided the chickens deserved one too on the roof of their house

So here it is all beautifully made from a wooden spike on top of a baked bean tin

I have to put this photo on. What does this say? Tony wrote it by a drawing of a plan we were making. He looked incredulous when I didn't understand. Is it 3-2003? What is that? In the end, turned through 90 degrees it reads, vertically, WINDOW

 

Here's a panorama inside the Steading showing the woodwork building so far

And here it is from the top of the stairs. We're pretty pleased with it

Work so far on the creation of a kitchen window. Just a hole so far, through the 600mm thick stone wall

The chicks are no longer little balls of fluff, they are quite large small chickens now!