Small project

 

A small project that I completed was the restoration of a small stool that had been lingering in mum's shed for many years, first the old Seagrass seat was removed and then all the black paint was cleaned back to reveal the origional wood, this was waxed and polished before a new seat was woven in Seagrass ,and all for under £20 ,not bad.

Summer Jobs.

First new post for some time, Have been hard at work on various projects over the last few months.
After building the boat I had some work on the house to catch up with, I started off with a paint job on the front of the house, it had never been painted before, hard work painting rough render it took a few weeks to finish including the windows and door. The next project was the kitchen extension which over the years had seen the render patched up and Finlay painted white,not by me, what a mess.
The render took about four weeks to remove with club hammer and bolster, I tried a Kango but the under lying stone is sandstone and was to easily damaged with power tools. After removal of the render all holes were filled with cement and then a red sand mortar mix was used for pointing, Finlay a porch was added and windows and door painted, new gutter & down pipes will be added next year when I finish the the top half of the house.The last job of the year was to shorten the height of the tree at the end of the garden which has grown to tall and was excluding sunlight from the garden.

Removal of the render revealed a nice sandstone wall

 

 

Concrete window sill and lintel were rendered with a mortar mix with added pigment.

 

 

 

The end result ,just needs new guttering and a carriage lamp on the wall.

 

 

All you need is a good sabre saw , plenty of warm clothing and a head for heights.

 

 

 

 

Kid's Holiday

Went down south for three day on the 20th to see family and bring back the grandchildren for two week's.
On the 21st & 22nd went out birdwatching with Damien, we went to Chew Valley on Saturday & to Slimbridge Wildfowl trust on Sunday, Great time weather was sunny with light breeze, better than the constant rain over the last few month's.
The flight to Inverness & on to Kirkwall was uneventful but  the further north we went the greyer the weather.
Over the next few day's we managed to get the boat in the water ,the  first trip I took Alanta & Mitchell round the bay and then returned for Jill , the next day I took Mitchell out fishing for three hours ( no fish) while Jill & Alanta went into town shopping. The weather changed for the next few days with rain and a strong South westerly breeze, today it is still light showers but warm so will try to take them out on the boat this evening at high tide,.

More Family Visit's

What a contrast, when Damien and Leanne visited us in April it was bitterly cold with snow showers, this past week we had a visit from Jean & Dave, The weather was fantastic Hot and Dry with only a light breeze. We spent the week Bird watching travelling from one end of Orkney to the other, Dave enjoyed watching the Short-eared Owls and Hen Harriers and a Pagan Wedding at The Ring of Brodgar. Jean and Jill enjoyed a shopping trip to Kirkwall while Dave and I chased up and down hills looking for Hen Harriers,. It was great to have Jean & Dave here.
The weather changed the day after they left, back to NE winds, bitterly cold but sunny.
The next Visit will be from the Grand Children in August.

                                                             Jean And me at Birsay.

                                                                   Ring of Brodgar

                                                                

                                                                  Brough of Birsay

Long Family Weekend

Damien and Leanne paid us a visit on the weekend before Easter, staying for four nights, It was  nice to see them back together again. The weather was bitterly cold with frequent snow showers but that never stopped us going out , We travelled around South Ronaldsay and Mainland Orkney bird watching and showing Leanne the places of interest and on the Monday night we all went to The Sands Restaurant at Burray ,the next Island to ours and had a good meal.
Unfortunately the time went by quickly and it was time for them to return south, promising to return again. It was nice to see Leanne as she is so easy going and you can see the difference in Damien more smiles and happy again. Great Time thanks for visiting.

All Smiles in the bitter cold.

Bird Watching at Sand Geo .

Damien with Marwick Head in background.

Visit by Marcus

Marcus paid us a visit from the 1^st Feb-10^th Feb, He flew from Bristol to Inverness then took the Bus to Gills bay and the ferry to St Margaret’s Hope, arriving at 7.30pm.The weather has not been that bad, bright and breezy but cold, not as cold as down south, with no snow and only the occasional frost.

Marcus spent two days fishing but never caught anything, He has been walking most days and on Tuesday we all went over to Eastside a walk of about one hour each way, on arriving at the beach the tide was out exposing the rock ledges and rock pools.

After a warning from me that Buster was a runner Marcus decided to let Buster off his lead, Well two seconds later he was off like a greyhound straight along the beach which is over a mile long, Buster was after the birds and all along the beach flocks of waders were scattering in all directions as Buster disappeared out of sight, Marcus started to run ,Buster then headed out over the rocks towards the tide line with number one son in hot pursuit , by the time Jill and I caught up, Marcus could be seen out on the rocks trying to grab Buster who was swimming around and still looking for birds, Marcus grabbed Buster but was now immersed up to his crutch in the bitterly cold North Sea. It was hard not laugh as they both floundered in rock pools, I don’t know what words were aimed at Buster but I am sure that they were not greetings.

Below are a couple of pictures, not very sharp at that distance but give a good impression of the fun they were having.

The Chimney Saga. Or Cowboys with Kilt’s.The End

Another few phone calls at the beginning of the week did the trick , They returned for two days and finished the job. Fire installed , upstairs fireplace rebuilt and pots reinstalled on top of stack. We now have a fully working log burner, All we are waiting for now is the bill. I will not be using that firm again.
The weather has turned cold and wet and there is a possibility of snow over the next few days.