Friday, December 11, 2009

Another Catch Up. Bye Bye Builders!

See below for the photo story.

Tuesday 8th December 2009

Gosh, I am all behind. It's been a bit of a mad week, with builders suddenly appearing, whizzing around like mad things to get things done. More of that in a bit. I have been mostly tree decorating, house sorting, rug making and papier mache pot making. Phew!

Buster and BlackJack shared the bed on Tuesday, that's a first:

Buster turned is head away - 'it's not happening'. lol.

Then later on, Sandy took over, but Buster gave up:

He definitely has a little smile on his face.

Martin the builder came and was appalled at how little the previous carpenter had done. He promised to get the 'locum' carpenters for Wednesday.

Wednesday, 9th December

On Wednesday, the carpenters appeared. 2 of them! They flew around at great speed and finished at 8.30 pm in the evening! I told them not to bother sweeping up as I felt they'd done enough.
We have skirting boards!
The now rather grand entrance to the spare middle part of the extension.
My room with skirting boards!

So, all is well there.

Thursday 10th December

On Thursday, Martin and Joe appeared to do the last little jobs. The guttering along the front of the extension fills with water so they had that job to do, plus little bits and bobs inside and the biggest job, Joe had to plaster a large hole left in the kitchen/diner ceiling. Martin disappeared to the dentist for 2 hours so they didn't quite finish outside. The kitchen floor was all plastered again! But I didn't care, and cleaned it by the end of the evening.

We have been determined to get Stanley out of the kitchen/diner while we had extra bodies to help. Jim had brought some wheels from the UK to help, as Stanley weighs a ton. Joe, Jim and Martin all lifted and heaved and I placed the wheels underneath and we managed to get it outside in the yard. Phew! You wouldn't believe the extra space we now have.

We removed as much from Stanley as we could to try and reduce the weight a bit.
What a mess!
Jim and I got it as far as the step on the wheels.
And here he is out in the yard. Poor old Stanley. He's done us good service and now he's going up into the barn.

The space left behind, now clean.

Jim still had to cap our chimney to stop the rain falling down the chimney and dropping streaks of black tar down the wall. He persuaded Martin to help him and together they did the job, much to Jim's relief.

It was a lovely, sunny day and Jim and I were amazed to see a narcissus flowering in the garden. I have never, ever had one flower in December before!

There's definitely something wrong somewhere!

Friday 11th December

Joe and Martin duly arrived this morning and sorted out the guttering and down pipe, plus a couple of other little outside jobs. Joe came in and said goodbye, he was away. Gosh, it was all a bit sad really!

After a short while Martin appeared to collect some money and he, too, said goodbye. Wow. 2 builders gone. For ever. One year to the day since they started. Even Martin wryly remarked that the 4 month job had gone on a bit longer than anticipated!!

Jim and I had a bit of a dance round the kitchen and a big celebratory hug!

We made lists of jobs to be done and set about some of them. My job is to sand and varnish the bare wood. We are keeping it natural, not painting it. I did the spare bedroom window sill and skirting boards and door surround. It looks better already.

I have also almost finished decorating the Christmas Tree but have to get some greenery inside too before my decorations are done.

I carried the paper we have to burn to the bonfire site this afternoon and the sky was amazing. Single orange clouds were passing overhead, so I ran to fetch my camera.

They looked almost as though they were on fire.

I then turned to the other direction and the sky there was a yellowy:


I went to the top of the Fairy Hill and took photos in all directions!

Please click on these to enlarge them and see the sky to its full effect.

Jim used up some left over cement yesterday to mend one of our steps in the garden. He forgot to cover it!

On the left, BlackJack prints, on the right, Buster prints!! We have our own walk of fame.

I'm sorry I haven't been visiting as many blogs as I would like, but as you can tell, it's been a bit chaotic here.

Wishing everyone a very happy weekend.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh I can't believe this - I know you and Jim are thrilled! Can't wait to see it all and get a look at your Christmas decorations. Cute pictures of the fight over the doggy bed!!! Looks like Sandy might have won.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Thank goodness your remodel is finished with the carpenters. I bet you can't believe it. It will be so worth it when you have all the little details completed. Beautiful skies. I hope you get a little rest this weekend.

Arija said...

Lucky you to have the builders out of the way. We are still waiting on ours and nothing is moving forward at all.
Your place is looking really grand now.
A stove like old Stanley is not to be sneezed at, he may yet come into his own when other fuels run out.

Rachel Green said...

Hurrah for the finished building project!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Well, I really feel that I have caught up with your life now Gina!
I knew that cat would win over Buster in the end - cats always do!
Lovely sunsets too. I bet you are now going to put up twinkling fairy lights everywhere, not just to celebrate Christmas but also because those builders have finished at last. Love

Jason said...

Hurray! Feels great huh.Looks great from the pics. Hope you enjoy it all. xx

Golden West said...

What a delight to be wrapping up a project! I had to laugh at the wheels you used to move the stove - we used an old skateboard for something similarly heavy recently.

Heather said...

You wont know what to do with yourselves without builders, plumbers and Lord knows who around every day. You must be thrilled to have it all to yourselves again. The completed woodwork is looking good. So many people have had plants doing odd things ahead of their season - with us it is cherry blossom. Sandy takes up as much room as Buster! What glorious clouds in your photos and I love the pawprints in the cement - so much nicer than a perfect step!

BT said...

Thank you so much Mildred. We are thrilled indeed, it's an amazing feeling after a whole year of chaos! Now at least the chaos is of our own making.

I will try and take some decoration photos today. Sandy won the bed fight, although he has recently taken to sleeping on the settee, which has acquired a few more cushions!

Hello Lisa, I'm glad you enjoyed the sky photos. It's such a relief to say goodbye to the builders, I can't tell you.

Oh I am sorry Arija, I DO know how you feel. We are intending to keep Stanley up in our barn and may even use him in there!

Thank you Rachel.

Hi Weaver, thank you.I have more sets of lights than most stores I think Weaver, how well you know me!! I have yet to bring in some greenery but today may be a good day to go gathering as it's sunny again. Love xxxx

Thank you Jason, feels marvellous.

Hello Golden West, we still have the decorating to do, but that's fine, we can take our time over that. It's the fun part. I'm so relieved it's amazing!!

Renee said...

So much is going on BT. And the house is looking fantastic.

That sky, oh my goodness, how beautiful.

LOve Renee xoxoxo

BT said...

Hello Heather, you sneaked in there! It's just marvellous not to have the builders, Heather but we've still plenty of work to keep us busy. Sandy always stretches his full length. He's in there again now! I'm so tired tonight I can hardly keep my eyes open.

Hello Renee, glad you like the house. It just needs our work on it now! Love to you too. xx

Pam's English Garden said...

And after all that, you made time to blog! Gina, you are amazing. Congratulations on your "building" progress! The narcissus is brilliant, and so are the orange clouds. Happy Holidays! Pamela

BT said...

Hello Pamela, how lovely to see you. I'm glad you enjoyed my catch up post. I still can't get over the narcissus. Sharp frost this morning so I don't know whether it will survive that.

soulbrush said...

i cannot possibly get over those clouds, they are quite magnificent, wowsers.

BT said...

Thank you soul, they were amazing.

DK said...

fantastic :D

~off to catch up with the rest of your blog!

Bea said...

Beautiful sky pictures. Your animals are a hoot. How nice everything looks now that the carpenters are finished! You can finally get settled in properly. What a job to get that big old Stanley out. May he rest in peace, in the barn. :)Bea

BT said...

Thank DK, good to see you back. Enjoy your catch up!

Hello Bea, glad you enjoyed the crazy animals. We are moving into the spare bedroom today. Yeeeessssss!! We may use Stanley in the barn if we can fix up the chimney! xxx

prashant said...

glad you like the house. It just needs our work on it now! Love to you too.

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