Kitchen

Thought I'd upload some pictures of the work in process in the Farmhouse Kitchen. As you can see its a bloody mess at the moment, but will look great once its completed. Thanks Geoff for doing the plastering for us.

Can't wait to rip those old units and hideous tiles off the wall. But can't do that until the new units are fitted on the other side of the kitchen. It will be a joy to use our new cooker as well, cause the one we are using at the moment is awful, when we first moved here, I had to use a wallpaper scrapper on it to get the caked in crap off and that was on the inside. Don't think it had ever seen one bit of oven cleaner! I'm also going to repaint the beams in a lighter colour cause I'm not a fan of the black and Mick said it will take too long to strip them back. Might just do the one over the window as a feature, but then again depends whats underneath and how many coats of paint are on there. Should have the scaffold tower here this weekend so will be able to get on with the painting.

Another Wet Day In Wales!

Geoff rang last night to ask Mick if he wanted the trailer cause its taking up loads of room on their drive. Geoff that doesn't mean there will be room for a camper van. (She don't like it). Mick said he'd pick it up today. So he picked it up this morning.

Went to Harry's school open evening last night and his teacher is really pleased with his progress, he had a really good report and is well above average in most of his subjects. Well done Harry we are very proud of you. Also got Ben's report this week and he did extremely well in his mocks and achieved very high marks, keep up the good work Ben we are very proud of you too.

Been looking at the Many Tears website this morning http://www.manytears.co.uk/ ,(I'm now a home vetter for this rescue). Sylvia & Bill do an amazing job but always need donations to keep the rescue going. I used to home vet for another rescue in Edenbridge called Last Chance this rescue was also set up by Sylvia. If you get five minutes visit their site and read some of the stories, its heart breaking what man can do to defenceless animals.

Talking of animals I took some pictures of our Miniature Shetlands a couple of days ago, while the rain held off, so will try and add them to this posting! The bottom picture is of Chi-Chi still with half her winter coat, next one is of Cameo, then Muffy (who lost her foal) and last one is Warrior.

Catch Up!

Not posted for a couple of days been loads going on.

Sunday afternoon we had a knock from the gent who owns the cottage at the bottom of one of our fields, advising us that the cottage was unsafe and that builders would be here Monday to demolish the cottage, but would be leaving the back all up as this bordered our land and if any damage caused they would reinstate. Told him that if the builders needed to come in the field they could but to stay to the edges as we are growing hay.

Monday Harry didn't go to school as he was shattered after his trip away with the Scouts, he didn't get back to the pick up point until 9.30 on Sunday evening. He was covered in mud, so got him straight in the shower when we got home and then off to bed. He finally arose from his pit at 10.30 on Monday morning.

Monday morning the builders arrived to start taking down the cottage, went down and spoke to the builder who was on site and he advised me that they would reinstate any damage. Took my camera down and took loads of pictures for further reference concerning the boundary. Also went into Newcastle Emlyn to get passport form checked for Ben as he is going away with the school in October and travelling up to Scotland to see friends at the end of July. My Friend Di came over as well to check Sheamus and have a catch up on all the goings on.

Tuesday I booked Ben's & his friend's tickets online. Lets hope Ben's passport is here in time otherwise they need a form from the police station to verify their age and that I have agreed to let him fly unaccompanied. Work still continuing on the cottage and the wall was still there last night. Got a call from Many Tears Animal rescue who asked if I could do a home vetting for them at a house in Brongest, which is not far from us. Agreed. Rang the people and popped over to check everything OK, which it was.

Wednesday morning rang Many Tears let them know that home visit was OK, then went to Carmarthen. Called in the tile shop to see if they had any tiles I liked but wasn't that impressed with their selection. Went to B & Q managed to get the paint for the kitchen and a couple of bedside lamps for my bedroom that were reduced in the sale from £34.95 down to £7.65, I do love a bargain. Also got some other bits that we need for the kitchen. Called into Carmarthen Police station regarding this ID card and to start with they had no idea what I was talking about, then they understood what I wanted and told me to contact the Council who run the scheme in conjunction with the Police. Popped into see Tash the boot sale queen on the way home. Then we we got back went down to see the builders cause the boundary wall has gone and they have put up stock fencing quite some way into our field cause the land slopes down to where the cottage was and they couldn't put it on the boundary line else my horses could have stepped over it. Made them put in two posts on the boundary line and then measured from the end cottage on the row to see how much it was out by. It turns out to be between 4 & 5 Foot. (See Picture above) Told the builder that I want the owner to contact me regarding the boundary, because if he now sells that piece of land we are going to get trouble with the boundary line and I want either a retaining wall put back there or a high fence on his side. Again took loads of pictures and am awaiting a phone call from the owner. Rang the Council regarding the ID and eventually managed to speak to a really helpful lady who runs the scheme and she is putting the forms in the post for me this evening. Di rang me tonight in a bit of a panic, she had gone to pick up one of her mares from the stud yesterday and the lorry broke down, they thought it was the fan belt. So they brought a fan belt today took it over with them to the stud where they'd left the lorry overnight and it turns out to be the alternator. Could she borrow my trailer to get the horse & foal home. Of course I said yes and they came straight away to pick it up.

Wet Weekend

Its very wet here in Wales, its rained all weekend. Really wanted to get the paddocks finished but it tipped down. Decided that I'd make a start on the Farmhouse kitchen on Saturday. So mixed up some unibond to seal the new plaster and painted on as far as I could reach without using the ladder, cause the floor is too slippery if you've got no one there to foot it. Really need to use the scaffold tower to reach up the side walls and ceiling. Will be picking that up soon.
Rang Harry to see how he was enjoying camp, he said there was loads to do and he was having a great time and they had, had some good weather. I had a look at the Malvern Challenge website to see what was on this weekend www.sr-mc.org for them and it looks very entertaining.
Tanya rang me yesterday to catch up and she is hopefully coming up for a week in August, shes just waiting for her boss to confirm her holiday dates, shes trying to get the last 2 weeks, she can then decide what week she wants to come here. It will properly be the 1st week, which will tie in with Mick's birthday.
Today I've been back out in the kitchen doing a miss coat of paint over the unibond, looks so different already, looks so much brighter. Did take some pictures but need to load them on Ben's computer. Want to pop to Carmarthen this week to get some paint, want to keep the walls quite neutral but need a hard wearing paint because of the dogs. I really miss the kitchen, as its where we spend most of the day and don't use the lounge until the evening.
Harry should be on his way home now but won't be back until approx 8.30pm tonight. Bet he will be glad to get into his own bed and snuggle down tonight.

Friday Fiasco

Well this morning started off well. Harry's bags packed and double checked to make sure he had everything he needed for camp, (especially his goodie bag containing Jaffa Cakes). Joanne arrived at 8.30am to finish off the pipework in the kitchens. Ben not at school today, due to his blistered feet and he now has a head cold. Took Harry to pick up point at 10.45am, made sure he was safe on board and then came back home. Rang Boot Sale Queen cause they've opened a new Wilkinson's,Wilko in Carmarthen today and knew Tash was going, she said they had loads of buy one get one free's. ( Told you Tash loves a bargain). Rang the insurance company re my condenser tumble dryer not working again said someone will be here Monday. Then got a call to say they had a cancellation and would be out today. Fantastic! Fitter arrived soon after and tumble dryer working again. Everything going great so far.....
Then it happened Joanne was refilling the system and the drainage valve on the radiator in the kitchen was still open and water gushed out all over the floor,and I mean gushed, but to make matters worse all the new kitchen units are stacked in that kitchen. There was so much water that it soaked straight into the boxes, at least 4 doors are water damaged. So we've had to mop up gallon's of water, open every box, wipe down every piece of the new kitchen and re stack it without any protection around it. The sooner these kitchens are finished the better, cause otherwise I can see the new units getting ruined before they've been fixed in.
On a lighter note I had a text from Harry at around 4pm saying that they were still travelling and they had made a sign for the mini bus saying Honk If Your Horny!!....

Broken Fence & Blisters!

I rang Ben last night to see how the expedition was going, he said he was having a good time except that he had massive blisters on the balls of his feet! The teachers had, had a look at them and were going to dress them today before they finished the hike. Apparently his teacher had never seen blisters that big before! So they must be huge. Told him to make sure he does his boots up tight from the bottom, to stop his feet moving around. I really don't envy him as they walked 18km yesterday and have another 8km to walk today. Lets just hope that his feet don't get infected.
Derek the plumber and his apprentice Joanne turned up this morning to run the pipework & put the radiators on in the kitchens. Derek's gone off to finish another job and left Joanne to it. She's getting on OK and being a woman she likes things perfect, which is great. So hopefully by this evening we can put the heating on to dry the walls out.
Sheamus had managed this morning to break down the fence into the top field where we are growing our hay and was merrily munching to his hearts content. So up we went to get him out and to repair the damage. He was very reluctant to leave all that lush hay, but finally managed to get him out and repair the damage he'd done. How long for I don't know cause when there intent on getting in they will. I'm just hoping that he is going to my friend Di's, sooner rather then later. Unfortunately Sheamus is not the horse for me. He is totally wasted here and needs to be working nearly everyday, he's too boisterous for me and needs someone that has plenty of time to spend with him which I just haven't got. I really need a older horse, with who we can plod along together.
Hi Geoff, I know your reading this blog cause the boot sale queen told me. Just wanted to say Good Luck with the course at the weekend, and if you need to try out your new skills you've always got our place to practise on. Looked at the web site and it looks amazing, just think what you could do with your front drive and walls. Would save you laying all that bloke paving. Loved the arches and polished floor. Now that floor would look very nice in my kitchens.(Nudge, Nudge, Wink,Wink say no more) Yet another string added to your bow me old fruit!

Blacksmith

Yesterday the Blacksmith came to trim the ponies and Sheamus's hoofs. What a performance that is. I'd already got head collars on the boys and wormed them all before he got here and managed to catch Yum Yum and put him on a lead rein. Yum Yum is very nervous and it took Mick and I nearly an hour to catch him. I brought Yum Yum off the back of a lorry cause I felt sorry for him. (Bit of a soft touch when it involves animals). Neo behaved himself, but much to our surprise Warrior performed, usually he is the most gentle loving pony, but I think he just wanted to let everyone know that he may be small but very strong. Then we moved on to the girls, Minuette was really good but Tomos (Blacksmith), said that her heel of the hoof looked weak and had started to turn. He managed to get it back into shape, but we will have to keep an eye on it and maybe have it trimmed more often. Then it was Sheamus's turn, let me tell you I stood well back, cause if he starts performing you definately don't want to be in the way. He was fine to start with and then he tried it on but Tomos has such a way with horses that he soon got him under control and he then stood there so nicely to have his feet done. It was really funny watching him walk back to the field, cause he was lifting his feet very high as if he didn't like the feel of the grass.
While all this was going on we had our fencing delivery. So hopefully this weekend we may be able to get the other paddock finished.
Also had to pack Ben's expedition pack last night as he is on a expedition today & tonight with the school, as part of his Duke of Edinburgh award. Had to pop out quick yesterday morning to him a set of water proofs. Made sure he had emergency rations, a big bar of chocolate. I never thought we would get all the stuff he needed packed into this rucksack that the school provided. Without his own stuff he had the cooker and some tent poles to get in there as well. I'm just hoping that the weather improves cause it was quite cold out last night and its raining now.
Derek the plumber also turned up late last night to see what needs doing and hopefully will be here Thursday to complete the central heating and put in a gas cooker point for me. As soon as that goes on we will be able to dry the kitchen plaster out and get cracking putting the new units in. Can't wait to have the kitchen sorted if you could see the mess it is at the moment you'd understand. Its a complete work in progress.
Harry's going way on Friday morning with the Scouts to the Malvern Challenge and won't be back till late on Sunday evening, so have got another kit bag to pack this week!
Mick has popped out to see James who did quite a lot of work on our house and has agreed to have Ben with him for work experience, James needs to have all his details for insurance cover.
Want to catch up with some washing today, have already stripped Ben's bed, thank god for tumble driers..