25 August 2013

I managed to finish sanding the doors and replacing lost wedges. I also started painting the first door, but that is where it ended.

We want to concentrate on finishing our Cambridge house for sale. So the decision was made to stop work on the doors.

On Thursday Elna asked me to do some finishing touches on the new bathroom. Instead I started demolishing the old bathroom on the deck. The prime mover was to salvage some flooring boards to repair the floor between the dining room and living room. I first demolished the internal walls, but realised the outer walls were hanging only by a few nails, so off they came. That went on until Friday. I also added a beam to secure the roofing iron, temporarily)  Saturday was spent on cutting the scrap timber for firewood. Tomorrow will see the timber stored away, and possibly removing the floor boards. Who knows? What I can state, is that there is much more light in the dining room.

We are having funny weather, warm, with typical spring rain. The farmers are having a problem, too much grass!! It grows too tall for the cattle, and with the rain, it is to wet to make silage. I had to mow our grass twice in the last two weeks. It seems as if we are having an early spring. It normally starts only in late October

18 August 2013

Still battling with the doors. I have sanded all down after the paint stripping. I am now busy filling cracks and gaps with "Builders Bog", something similar to body filler. Three are nearly done.


We went to Cambridge to fit the "new" oven. Works well. I also brought back a load of timber, Rosewood I think. Could make a nice counter top.

I also made some progress cleaning up the section. We moved some of the sarking boards into the timber store, and then moved the roofing sheets we were given for the cookhouse to that spot. We gave Louis an ultimatum to remove his vehicle and stuff we have been storing for the last three months.

Friday I mowed the grass. It is amazing how fast the grass is growing. They had a story on TV about the  farmers having too much green grass. Can you believe that.

Lovely weather. We had storms forecast for the last few days, but it turned out to be nice sunny days with bits of cloud and rain.

Till next week then.

11 August 2013

I did manage to strip all the paint from the doors. First I tried the heat gun, that didn't clean it properly, so I moved on to the sander. Being so shaky, I tended to round the sharp edges of the rails. Eventually I fell back on the old trusted Polystrippa. That took the better part of two days. Next step will be repairing cracks and portions where it has to be filled. I might eventually paint the doors inside and out, but will leave that decision for later.

I also got rid of some scrap steel and a load of rubbish. At my age, that takes time. Since I started clearing up, I spent most of one day cutting scrap timber for firewood. not done yet.

We had some lovely sunshine days in the beginning of the week, but from Thursday it was overcast with slight rain, just enough to justify lighting the open fire in the lounge.

The car I reported on last week got fixed. Jaco managed all his tasks on his list and more. We have been there today and discussed some more tasks for the coming week.

Fingers crossed for nice weather for the coming week.

4 August 2013

Willie came back for a short visit. I had to keep him occupied, so we cut all of the glass for the patio doors.

I did also manage to clean the last door frames from putty, and had to repair one bar that was broken.

I feel it is a privilege to help other people. Well, this week was no exception. We have been to somebody who had car trouble, an over several visits helped remove the offending (broken) pulley. It was too late to find a replacement, so I might spend more time on that on Monday.

The Salon I am helping out on has got it's roof fitted on Saturday as well. I gave Jaco a very explicit "to do" list. Fingers crossed that will be done by the weekend.

Lots of talking and many cups of coffee. That is the advantage of being retired.......... no time schedule.

Next report next week.