Mini Then and Mini Now

From Mini to Mini, my car ownership has done a complete circle, and 4 mini's later plus 40 years!
I am now the owner of the latest version of the Mini, it's still a fun car to drive, just a bit bigger, and the driver a little grayer!
The dog (Oscar) has adjusted to the change of now having to get in through the back hatch back.
This transition was the most difficult as the dog felt that it wasn't very dignified to be seen jumping into the boot, like other dogs.

Dont you 'luv' the cardy!

Water Water

The little job of sealing around the the top of the water tank has become very important. It hasn't stopped raining since I connected the water tank to the roof, with the result of now being the owners of 22,500litres of fresh rain water!

It only took 4 days to fill!

The excess is spilling out the gaps around the water entry point, so sealing the pipe at this point has become very important.

The gizmo's that are supposed to collect stray leaves on a leaf slide and eject them from the system before they go into the tank, are so effective that any stray bits of dust makes them redirect the water out the top of the pipe, so I have had to disconnect them.

Even the water couldn't get through the fine mesh that was installed.

A big waste of $$'s, I think I will just put a inspection point at the bottom of the pipe to clear out any junk that gets into the watering system.

The water is only going to be used for our trees and plants so we don't need to be super careful with what goes into the tank.

Storm Water

Spent a happy day connecting the pipes to the water collection system that I have designed. The rainwater is now being collected in a 22,500l tank.

I have fitted a pressure pump so now all we need to do is wait for the rain to fill the tank and then we will be free of water restrictions that we have during the summer.

The only thing left to do is fit an overflow in the event that the watering usage doesn't keep up with the collection (rain!)

This means we will be able to water the garden without having to resort to using the town water system which is now metered.
We are only have a 500 cubic meter allowance for the year, it's quite a lot of water but we have still used our allowance this year, so from now on we will have to pay.

Back to Work

It's now back to work after 5 weeks holiday, Mr and Mrs DIY have spent the last 5 weeks visiting our children and new grandchild on the other side of the world, one in Montpelier S/France and the other in London.

Good holiday, rented houses in France and Wales and used these as bases together with family to explore these bits of Europe.

The weather was good with lots of heat in France, the only problem we had was I had my pocket picked while getting on the train from Montpelier to Paris, leaving me with no cash, credit cards or drivers licence.

Luckily Mrs DIY and family were able to come to the rescue, I have now have a new wallet (empty) waiting for the replacement cards and licence to arrive in the post.

Yesterday I spent the day nailing down the deck which was waiting for my return to finish, I had hoped that some little elves might have been busy but no, it was still in the same condition that I left it.

The dog had been well looked after by one of our friends who had been house sitting our place while we were away, she is currently waiting for her new house to be finished, so it worked well for all.

Once I sort out my photo's I will post some 'happy snaps' on the blog.

Moved

We moved all our furniture, plus opened the shipping container, the general comment was why do we need all this stuff?

A few pieces of furniture and a few books were removed and then locked the container up until we get back from our holiday, when we can decide what we will keep, dump or sell.

I think everyone should move regularly even if it's only to clear out all the detritus that we all collect.

Moving Day

At last we have been able to move our furniture from the barn to the house, including some of the paintings which have now found a home.

We are pleased with the old french doors they add a interesting contrast to the minimalist look.

The sound still echo around but that will improve once we have the curtains, which once again we have just found have been rejected due to a fault in the fabric, this is the second time, maybe we are not supposed to have these ones.

So it's back to the selection process.

The deck material should arrive tomorrow, bad timing, the winter has really started and now it's very cold and raining, we should be grateful that we don't get snow but we can and do get some very severe frosts.

The only benefits when this happens is we usually get a beautiful clear day.

Progress - More

The painting is now finished all that needs to be done on the interior is the cupboards and shelves in the pantry, plus curtains and refit all the doors now we have the carpet down in the bedrooms and library area.
We should be able to move into the house finally on Sunday!
I would have put a couple of pictures of the progress in here but I cannot find the correct files in my computer, which seems to have hidden my latest pictures somewhere.

Getting There, Really!

This is the first time during the past few weeks that I have had time to post this progress report.
The build is really nearly finished (the internals) painting is almost completed with only one more coat of wall paint in the kitchen and the sitting room, and painting of the doors.
This week the carpet will be laid in the bedrooms and library/nursery...
The plumber is booked to connect the en suites, the heat pump/air conditioner man will be fitting the unit on Monday next.
So all we will need to do is fit the entry door and start on the outside projects, we will be transferring our furniture from the barn to the house, plus unpacking the shipping container and getting all our other bits back were they belong.
I'm still amazed how much stuff you don't need, if we didn't see any of the things we have in storage it wouldn't be a great loss, with the exception of a few of our books.

More Progress

The painting has started with the kitchen, dinning room, sitting room and entry hall have now had at least 1 coat of paint.
What a change we are at last 'getting there', the No.1 bedroom and en suite will be finished plastering today, so it will be only one more bedroom and en suite to go.
The electrician is due today so we may have some light switches going by the end of the day.

Awake!

Last night, no, at 2.41am we were awoken in an adrenaline heart pumping second when the burglar alarm was activated!!!!!

Stumbled down the stairs, my eyesight is not great if I don't have my glasses and it took 2 attempts at hitting the correct code numbers, silence.................................... false alarm.

Now that I have now recovered after my interrupted sleep and had my breakfast, I called the alarm man, who suggested that our 'incident' may have been caused by a bug, or spider that likes living in the corners were the sensors are.
Yes there was, (est décédé) and have now sprayed huge amounts of bug repellent in and around all devices, if the spray didn't get them they will probably will have drowned.