Still busy

We went shopping today..or rather Pirate ride shotgun and I shopped...armed with a list, us shoppers did the trolley dance around the shop...and luckily I got nearly all of The List!
Also three boxes..as Pirate is organising and mending his shed !

I have sold two packs of cards on Etsy..ok, to a fellow maker and blogger, but it is still a sale!! Incentive to carry on. More have been posted and shared and I will put more in the shop tomorrow.
My big job today after shopping was a baking session...pictures tomorrow as they haven't cooled down yet!!
We are both tired...but satisfied...an easy day tomorrow, and also we are promised someone to come and mend the soffit where the jackdaws have been trying to get in.

moving in?

If she doesn't finish this kiln soon, WE will be moving in....

No longer grey!

The swallows and martins are back!
We went by car today twelve (hilly) miles to Kirkmichael and had a cuppa in the village community shop and cafe.

Well fortified, we rode down the Middle Road to Girvan and back along the valley road...the main A77 was obviously out of the question! Just over 26 miles and just under two hours on a beautiful Spring day..bluebells, wood anemones, dandelions, violets...blackthorn blossoming and the May in leaf.
It was so warm, we could have worn shorts...but didn't trust it to stay warm!!

Back home,Pirate has swapped some old hen shed panels for four metal roof sheets, to add to his shed roof and keep the rain out. He has worked out where they will go...now we need a bit less breeze to fit them!  The breeze was useful to dry the washing, so no complaints. Our neighbour made a small chicken coop/nesting box from the old hen house panels!

I cleaned out the kiln ready for mending.  The next step is to work out the size of ply needed, and what we can use to press the bulging wall back together once it has been kiln cemented.
A reverse clamp is the nearest description..in building terms it would be an acroprop, but we need to press horizontally not vertically.

packing

Pirate is busy packing his bike for a month's trip to Brisbane...he has been gifted a ticket to go with a friend.
They'll stay with friends of Vic for awhile, and visit others who'll never travel again..so perhaps the last chance..

The kiln shed is practically done, and one of my jobs this next month is to clear out non-workshop stuff from the workshop....as well as 1001 other things...

doors on..ready for more weather..

and a doorstep. Eventually doorstep level will be floor level..probably...

Dressing for the weather isn't elegant..but what we're getting is nothing compared to other countries. We have just got out of the habit of cold winters and snow.  Now, having disrupted the climate we should be prepared for anything.
Some areas of Britain have had 20 cm of snow, but we're missing it this time.Its just rather cold and very windy, making it colder still.  I look around at my garden and wonder what will have survived by the time the Spring really does arrive.

shedding on in the cold

Painting before breakfast!   Real dedication.

No snow here, but cold and windy, with ten degrees of windchill.

more shedding..

The roof is on, and the ridge...
The doors aren't on properly...but the weather defeated us,plus the fact that two pieces of plastic, that the left hand door half runs on...are missing.

We don't have much snow falling, and being in the West we're not expecting too much. However the wind is bitter.This afternoon's actual temperature was 1 degree C, windchill made it feel -6.....fixing flimsy metal sheeting with small bolts and nuts and tiny self-tapping screws was no joke.


We went to a Non-Burns night a couple of days ago at a Robert Burns Club...Great fun..music and recitations and jokes at the Globe in in Dumfries where the man himself drank 250 years or so ago!

Then we stayed overnight on the Solway Firth..and woke to a grey morning .

What you do on a rainy day...

Despite the rain, Pirate and mate have nearly completed the shed..just one section of roof is on,to keep it square.

I kept them fed and watered, baked cakes, and got a test print done.

I'm still not happy with the clouds....

Next job was identifying some china that I want to sell on fleabay...
I thought that it would be easy!!
It probably wont mean I'll get any more for it, but its best to know what you are selling! I'm trying to find something easy to start with..before I go to workon those that I've found are really valuable.

At last,house progress

 But of course they haven't finished....

 There is also the smallproblem,that if you fit metric downpipes to imperial gutters....you don't get a seal, and water runs anywhere but down the pipes.

Meanwhile the Pirate's shed now has a shelter over the door.

Not as straightforward a job as had been hoped...but it looks good and its done!