My new toy

People who have been reading this blog for a while will know that I am a great fan of the power tool.

Power tools bring so much enjoyment and relief at being able to do tasks simply and properly.



For example, recently I bought a hedge trimming attachment (135 deg adjustment for those powertool geeks) for my Stihl KM90 combi engine. I already have a rotorvator attachment for it, which is incredibly useful in the veg plot.

I first tried this mean machine in our back garden - because we've been taking care of the new place almost everyday, our home we live in has been left to overgrow a bit. The grass was up to my waste and the weeds were over 5' tall!

I thought I'd test my new cutter on the garden, and low and behold, it was like a hot knife through butter - it literally took minutes to do almost the whole lawn (which normally took me 1.5 hours to do with the small electric mower we have).

After that successful trial, I took the trimmer down the new place and did a little practice on one of the hedges.



WOOHOO! I thought as I gently stroked the hedge with the cutter end - it was so easy!

With my new harness all of the weight of the engine section was supported, and with how the strapping was routed meant that I could hardly feel I was carrying anything at all!

Instead of dreading trimming the hedges with a hand tool, I can now look forward to hours of fun with my trimmer ...

..*COUGH!* I mean I can look forward to working hard shaping the hedges to a better form!

;)

Park fun

Last week it was really nice and sunny, and after school one day, Kane decided he'd like to go to the play park in our village.

So, armed with a carrier bag of goodies - some Quaver crisps, some mini Jaffa Cakes and some drinks, we ventured along the road and into the park.

It's only a smallish park, but it has some very fun climbing equipment and a couple of small slides and some swings.

Kane took me to the back of the park where it is overgrown, but there is a little path running along the length of this area which the kids use to hide and play 'jungle'. I didn't like it as I was too tall for the path - I got a little fed up after walking into the third branch, and my idea of fun is not seeing Kane having to wrestle with brambles the thickness of his arms, but we eventually made it to the other end, albeit with a few more scratches than usual!

After that we went on the swings, with Kane being quite brave and wanting to swing quite high. Then it was time for the climbing frame and the monkey bars - which Kane has never really shown any interest for - nor me actually, I've never really been able to use them!



Sitting down for our little picnic was nice, as we chose a great tree to sit under. The dappled shade was cooling on a hot day and the rest did us both good.

Ever the adventurer Kane wanted to climb the tree we were sitting under, and, with a little help he managed to scramble up to a great spot!

After a bit more running round and chasing each other it was time to go home, but we both agreed it was a very fun time!

MMMMMM! Apples!

Just a quick post to show my ladies eating out as they do frequently.

Today's menu comprised of layers pellets and apples, gently laid in random places through out the run, and the whole meal was free!

I must admit, it's not my idea of a fancy night out, but for my ladies - well, they just love it!

Letting them eat apples makes a major difference in the taste of the eggs as well!

:D

New gateway opens!

Here it is, the moment Jo's been waiting for...


...the moment the gate between the vegetable plot and the paddock is up and working properly!

It's a classic 5' field gate, (I didn't make it) hung on strap and adjustable galvanised hinges for the ironmongery geeks out there.

Building update

I thought I'd write an update on here today, but the only thing is, the pictures are a few days old...

...not a problem you say, but with the current speed of the builders, it could already be finished! (we wish!)



So without further ado, here we go - scream if you wanna go faster!
The first picture is the front, with the porch to be tiled. The ramp for Zak's chair will be going from the porch along the wall to the right as we look at it - with a 'landing' area for Zak from the lift on our van, which will be a nice flat area.



This is the lounge, the photo taken from one of the patio doors at the back of the house.

Already you can see the way the open plan is going to work. The front door leading into a fair sized hall, the stairs will go on the wall next to the kitchen wall, near to the small window by the front door, with the kitchen area on the right of the photo (the sink will be going in front of the window). The kitchen stops at the short piece of wall jutting out - so it's basically a square shape.

The lounge is going to be our family room, with no computers apart from a Nintendo Wii - which the whole family can join in with - basically it's our chilling out room.



This view shows the 2 large dormers upstairs, and Zak's lounge which is the furthest patio door opening on the left. There has been quite a bit of building work with approx 7' being added to the back of the property along the whole length.



This view shows the dormers in better detail, with Kane's bedroom being the nearest window to us, and the spare bedroom/playroom being furthest away.

I must say that although I have known a lot of builders etc, our builders are the fastest, most professional, most helpful, polite (and cleanest! they sweep out the property every night!) I have ever had the pleasure to work with (or for us rather!).

The snake charmer!

..well not exactly a snake, but a slow worm.

Interesting fact for today:

Slow worms are a protected species, found in Eurasia (Europe and Asia), and is in fact a member of the lizard family, rather than the snake family!



I found this one while moving an old garden parasol, and showed it to Kane who thought it was absolutely "cute" and although he thought it was a snake, showed no fear at all or hesitation in holding it!



After Kane had these photos taken (taken by Jo) we put it gently back where we found it, and made sure it was safe.

Chick, chick, chick, chick chickens!

This is our 5 year old son Kane singing one of his favourite little songs.

He asked me if it could go on my blog, so here you are!

:D

Summer has arrived.

The weather today was pretty good - not great, but it was nice, dry, warm and not too humid.

Rydian took his ladies to the hedgeside to dust themselves thoroughly and soak up some rays - he certainly had a lot to crow about today, surrounded by 8 ladies and fully in control as I was elsewhere.



The funny thing was, after I finished mowing the paddock yesterday, I decided to take some photos...

..one shot I didn't take was of one of the hens walking up to the others right in front of me, turning her back on me about 3' from my face, and doing a poo...

..CHARMING!!

Suddenly I realised that perhaps lying in the grass next to a load of chickens probably wasn't the best idea I could have thought of!

(EDIT: changed spelling of Rydian to proper spelling of Rhydian)

I love my tractor mower!

Now I KNOW I've mentioned this before once or twice (ok LOADS!) but I love my tractor mower - I really don't know what I'd do without it...

..in fact I DO know what I'd do without it - it'd be having to mow 1.5 acres with a poxy little electric mower that I have to use at our home now!

I hate it - in fact hate is a little weak for how I really feel about it - but my hate only REALLY bubbles up when I have to use the small thing - it has a cutting width of about 2" and it weighs almost 3 tons...

..well, slightly exaggerated, but I'm sure you have used something as useless as it I'm sure!

Anyway back to my mythical steel charger, my mower..

It suddenly dawned on me that if I had to use it on our new place, I'd be dead after a week, because that is how long it would probably take me to cut all the grass!

I cut the grass in the paddock yesterday, and this is how much there was - bearing in mind the post at the front of the bay is about 3' high, and the bay about 4' deep!


Lest to say, it took me about an hour and a half, mainly because after pushing it back to it's home 2 days ago when it broke down, I discovered that the starter motor had broken, so armed with my trusty screwdriver to bypass the thing, I set to work cutting the grass.

I shall have to fit one of those speedo things to one of the wheels, to see how far I actually travel on the tractor - I'm sure it would be a few miles!

Herding time again.

Yes, after my digging and moving, it was time for the ladies to be locked up safely for the night.

Today, all my practice seemed to pay off, as I managed to herd not only the ladies but RHYDIAN as well!!

I know this may come as a surprise to some, but today really WAS the day!

For the first time, Rhydian was herded into the run without even any bread!

Here I am jubilant and triumphant!!

Mucking out day!

Never let it be said that I don't know how to enjoy myself!

I had a wash, put my best green clothes on, and my bestest boots and jolly well went out the house and down to the new place....

.. today was the day, oh yes, today was the day...


...that the chickens had to be mucked out!

:(

With my trusty shovel in hand, and the wind blowing sweetly over my bald head, I made my way over to the chicken run.

Luckily only one run had to be mucked out today, but that WAS the biggest run. At 6M x 6M and at parts 4-6" deep, the combination of straw, mud and poo had to be transported to our compost area.

It was harder than I though, mostly because all the straw had matted together, and with the mud and poo, had formed a weird sort of concrete crust, with really horrible mush underneath.


Lucky for the chickens they were allowed out in the paddock, so they didn't have to witness the horror that I experienced.


Although I worked hard and moved about 15-20 full wheelbarrow loads, there was still a bit left to do, which I shall do tomorrow, but at least the 'ladies' had a clear area to run about on.

Hopefully the air will dry out the muddy layer over the next few days and get the run back to what it was, but it'll take some time.

Here is Kane pointing to the transported muck!

Not all gloom and doom!

WOOHOO!

Did I say that out loud?!?

Jo and I went down the new place last night and took some photos of the building as usual, but we were both amazed by the fact the builders have started on the roof now!!

Here are the obligatory before and after photos...

When we had our second viewing last October...


And the same (ish) view last night...


Jo took some photos of the flowers , so here are a couple of them..

..Some Peonies..


..and some others I don't know the name of..


Going back to the building again...

...I decided to go up on the scaffolding to have a look at what had been done up top, wow! It's coming on so fast!

Action shot...


And a random shot of me going into the main run...

A very sad day.

Today was a very sad day for me.

Hatty, one of our oldest chickens has been quite sick recently, she has been sleeping a lot and generally not being very feisty.

She has been coming out of the run, finding a nice spot in the sun, and then sleeping pretty much all day, and when it's time to get back in the run, instead of running in she's just been walking slowly in. We've been keeping an eye on her, but Saturday when I went round she was hardly moving at all, choosing to sit in a corner asleep.

I put her in a separate box with plenty of clean straw, and a cup of water in one corner, close to her so she wouldn't have to move to drink, and some food next to that for the same reason.

When I went to check on her Sunday morning I wasn't too hopeful, but she seemed ok, she was perched on the edge of her box, with her eyes fully open, and I was quite pleased that she had perked up! I went to the veggy patch to sort a few things out, and I heard Rhydian making a fuss, so I walked back to the chickens, only to find Hatty flapping about with her head in a corner of the coop, things didn't look good and I had to make a very difficult decision.

It was a very quick ending for Hatty, who was our favourite hen - she was big and fat with all her feathers, and had a great temperament. It was also the first chicken I have ever had to put down in this way, so it effected me quite a lot - it wasn't a nice thing to experience, but I'm glad I did it, as I couldn't see her in pain like that.



So here's to you Hatty, may you rest in piece.

Hatty is the buff hybrid on the far right.



Hatty is the buff hybrid on the far right.

Steel beam delivery!

Well today was one of the most exciting days on the build...

...the big steel beam was delivered, and a crane came to put it in place!

WARNING: The following video lasts about 5 1/2 minutes... it WAS over 20 minutes filming, but I'm sure people wouldn't sit through all that! Also YOUTUBE compression takes a lot of the picture quality out!

Listen out for Rydian - 1:53 and about 2:20 into the film - he's such a loudmouth!



Amazing eh!?

Here are a couple of photos showing after the crane had left.


..and another one showing the recent brickwork and small steel lintels above windows etc.


We have to keep pinching ourselves to remind us that we are still only 3.5 weeks into the build!

:D

Builders building fast? Surely not!

Contrary to popular belief, our builders are making the most of the good weather we seem to be having at the moment and building at a mad rate of knots!

I took these photos on Friday evening and that was the end of the third week!



The big steel beam is coming tomorrow, and I'm taking Kane to see it gently laid onto the back of the house by a massive crane! I'm going to try to take a bit of film of it, as it swings over the roof and down into position - so we'll have to see how that goes.

The Steel beam will be going a long way down the length of the house, for the roof conversion to sit on, and promises to be a quite exciting sight to behold!

Attack of the killer birds!

The last few days I've been finding eggs with holes in and eaten. We've seen a few big black birds swooping down, maybe a Magpie, but didn't really take much notice.

Yesterday I went to collect the eggs - usually 7-9 a day we get....only to find 4 eggs - and one of those was broken!

So today I went to the garden centre and bought 20M of this black netting, 6m wide. I'm not sure if it IS the birds that are attacking the eggs, but at least with the netting over the chicken run we'll find out for sure.

It's only going to be there temporarily, as I intend to completely enclose the runs after I have renovated the old coop.

Hopefully it IS the birds and not a rodent of some sort - as they are hard to stop.

Jo's new friend!

Oh yeah....

...while I was rounding up my 'ladies' (and Rydian) Jo was sitting on the bench, and this little fella landed on her from one of the trees....


..photo taken by Jo.

:D

Moving along nicely.

Well, it's been a little while since I posted anything...mainly because I've been so ill, what with yet another mystery illness taking over, and breaking half my molar tooth off! (dentist today - what fun!) don't worry - I won't post a piccy of it!!!

I thought I'd show some of the building work going on - more has been done since these pictures were taken, I'll take some more at the weekend to show the progress.


This was the sight that greeted me when I popped in the side door to have a nosey at the builders work the other day! The entire garage roof has been removed, it's actually a brilliant view, but I guess the rain would ruin it somewhat.



The internal walls across the back have mostly been taken down now, along with the chimney (and fireplace-which I demolished and saved the cast iron fireplace from it). There is a big steel beam going across the front room gap now, and we are all very excited about the next steel going in - it will stretch across ALL the length of the house, and will be put in place by a crane next week - I will try to film it if I get a chance!



This is the view across the back - the wooden frames marking the spaces to be left by the bricklayers for the sliding glass doors. Again, there has been more walls put up, but I need to take some more photos this weekend.

I WAS going to make this a long post, but unfortunately I'm in too much pain to concentrate that much today - lets hope the dentist can help me out today - otherwise I'll be climbing the walls until he does!

Meet Zak.

I've mentioned Kane already, but I haven't really mentioned Zak - my stepson who has been my son for the last 6 years - but known me for 7 years.

The photo was taken at one of our many gigs we've been to - this one was when we went to see 'Pink'.

Zak is 17, into punk and heavy rock/metal music, has severe Cerebral Palsy and the main reason we bought the new place. He is certainly unique - he is the top of his school, and almost everything we do concerning his education has never been done before, and I am EXTREMELY proud of him!

There are a lot of things he did before anyone else, and many things he was the first to do - such as the following few examples;

At his current school they have awards for IT, Bronze, Silver and Gold. The Gold award being something which is sometimes awarded to young adult at school leaving age if they work really hard...

...Zak won it at 12!

Because he won the highest IT award so early, the school then had to invent another award called the Platinum award, which he one too - and because he won that they had to invent ANOTHER award called the Diamond award, which he is still working on, and hopes to finish before he leaves his school.

He was the first young adult from his school to go to a mainstream college course at 16, and he was the first young person at the college with special needs to do a mainstream IT course too! The college and I had to CREATE a course for him, and the IT course he was very profficient at, although with the amount of work he had to do, and the length of time travelling everyday we decided to stop, leaving the door open to go back at a later date and the head of the Department saying she would love to see Zak back some time so he can teach her and her staff a few things!

As I've already said, I am VERY proud of Zak!

We are converting part of the bungalow into his own 'batchelor pad' with his own lounge, bedroom, bathroom and carers room - all with very specialised equipment and gadgets.

The concrete path which measures 167M x 1.2M wide (almost 350' x 4') that I mentioned in an earlier post is for him to drive round the property - pretty much to every aspect of the garden.

The reason I'm mentioning him, is basically because he bullied me into putting a picture of him on this Blog - he wants to be famous (although how famous he'll get from my blithering I have no idea!).

Trailer life.

Now then, I'm sure you all realise by now that I just LOVE power tools, engines and other gadgets, but today I bought a great addition to them all.

A TRAILER!

It attaches to my little tractor/mower and can carry about 650lbs, which is just what I need to move all the feed, soil and peat around the garden.

Here's my tractor/mower with the grass collector taken off...

..quite a cute little thing really...

Here is my trailer built and attached...


..and here is the trailer closer up.


It tips up as well which is going to be great when I come to make the 167M concrete path around the garden for Zaks wheelchair!

..and I know I shouldn't REALLY be this excited about a trailer, but I can't help it - it's GREAT!

:D

The Builders cometh!

It had to happen sometime - the tranquility of working alone at our new place was too good to last!

NEWSFLASH.. what was known as 'the shed' shall now be called 'the workshop' from now on, as this is a far better term for what it represents and IS!

Sorry, had to get that out the way!

Anyway, our builders started Monday at 7:30am, which is great considering we aren't there at the moment.

We are adding about 6-7' onto the back of the bungalow, and having a loft conversion done too. This will enable Zak to have pretty much his own flat! (Actually it's his own annexe, with his own lounge, bedroom and bathroom - all kitted out for his needs - including a hoist and special equipment that he needs/wants.

Here is the view 2 days into the job.


And a view of the trench.


There are other shots, but I don't wish to bore anyone.

Coming On

Almost finished the floor now, apart from a bit under the units on the right.

Wibble wobble!

Well...

...todays blog is to show what I managed to do in a couple of hours, even though most of today was spent running around for materials and bits and pieces!

I managed to lay 2 sheets on the floor - doesn't sound much I know, but driving around takes time, and energy, and I was pretty knackered by the time I got to the house...

... but the difference those few boards make on the floor is incredible - it actually feels really solid and stable...

..which is great, because after closer inspection, my pride and joy ISN'T as solid as previously thought...

...I mean, I knew some of the frame was a bit wet, and a little rotten in places, but now when you look at the corners of the shed (on the right hand side of the photo) , you see daylight - which obviously isn't as super duper as I'd have hoped!

Still - I'll MAKE it solid any way I can, using various angle brackets....and magic if I have to!

(...and I was able to use my new circular board saw today :D )

Ahhh PANIC!

We're hoping that the builders will start this coming Wednesday, so there are a few jobs I have to rush to get done!

One of the jobs is taking everything out of the house that I can use like old doors, cupboards, units or shelves...anything that MAY be useful at some point in the future.

But before I start ripping things out of the new house, I have to make sure that at least half the shed is dry and good to put things in. Today I made a start, and reinforced the frame and overboarded the floor with 3/4" OSB and the wall with 1/2" OSB. I hope to finish the entire shed like this, and may remake the roof some day too.

The best thing about this morning was using my brand new circular saw - it cuts through boards like a hot knife through butter! (I know it's sad, but I just LOVE power tools! - think Tim Taylor from 'Home Improvement'! ARRF ARRF!)

I also want to put another shed below the current shed - for my mower, and also for my motorbikes and sidecar.


Me about 25 on my Honda CB750 chop



My combo unit - the sidecar will be adapted for Zak our oldest son to go in.

Silkies

Recently our Silkies have been getting very fluffy. I think it has something to do with the nice weather, due to the fact they aren't being pelted with rain every hour of the day!

Today I took a couple of photos with my phone - so sorry about the quality.

One of the Silkies is growing feathers down her legs and on her feet, I'm not sure if this is normal, or we have a mutant Silkie on our hands - either way she looks great!