Little Tits in the nest alert.

I had a listen at the bird box today and could hear the chicks making a din inside.No doubt Fanny is already well aware of them.
I wonder if the Blue tits know that the ginger git has a never- ending supply of cat food. Galling for them.
Any way here is a photo of the little darlings. Taken while mum and dad were out gathering caterpillars and what have you.



Don`t know how many there is but there may be as many as a million. Honest.

Not allot happening.

Well not allot is happening at the moment with work on the greenhouse project. My car is in need of work because she has to pass the dreaded MOT test. This will involve much lying on my back underneath me thinks. I have two weeks till the deadline. NP. :-)

My other hobby of building benches has had a result, by way of getting all the heavy parts to the top of a small but very steep hill, called Black mount. This small , nay, tiny little hill once had a nice little garden built on top of it. But the years have left it in a rather overgrown way. My landlord has made a start towards its restoration, by cutting back some of the larger rhododendrons pines and bushes. But there is still allot to be done. The garden was probable put there because of its commanding view over Oban bay. The bench is 8 feet long and has still to be secured to its legs. This will involve going back with the chainsaw and some tools etc. When I do this I hope to have my camera woman with me. ;-) Then there will be a short film clip of me riding the quad up the hill. Which is relay what this is all about, as you will understand when you see the hill.
And here is the link as promised :-)   Conquering Blackmount.

And the sawing was good.

Well the evening is here, Pandora internet radio is playing " Bruce Cockburn.Speechless.Water Into Wine" and the cat is in front of the fire. Well he was . Now he wants out the wrong door. Sigh.
Back to the cutting; and things are ok there too, although my knees are worse for ware carrying the 17 foot cut lengths down the bank. Hot bath every night. :-) Clean boy. Forgot to photo the growing stack. Something for tomorrow. So as you can see from the blog theres not much in this one but dont dispare I have a small treat for you if you click here.

Another hazey day

Well I thought it was going to rain today and cleaning of the cottage was the plan. Then the sun came out and banging on my door in his oil skins, tammy and the air of the explorer about him was Ian from down the glen. Eager to start a fire and lend a hand. So with a beer each, off we went to do just that. Plus move the second big log into a better position for cutting up.



Here is Ian pulling a big one with the mighty quad girl.

As you can see its a bit over the 8 foot the carrier is made for.

Here I have pulled down the butt end of a smaller one.












Then Ian was away and off into the woods to seek out more adventures with the eccentric folk of the forest. Big-Up to the forest man. :-)




















Lastly and certainly not least. Eggs in the nest box. This poses a problem though. If I put up the roof on the drying shed, Fanny the cat will be able to reach the nest box................The little ones better get the flying thing right first time me thinks.
It was blue tits last year but they gave up due to too much attention from the ginger puss. I`m not certain which bird is nesting there now but I think by the eggs its The tits having another go
Yes it is the tits back again and they are a bit more chilled out this time. I`ll keep you posted on the score with the cat.

The midges are here, Ha Ha Ho Ho He He Hum Hum.

The little ba****ds are a biting but who cares........
I splashed on the skin cream and went out. I managed to get the roof beams laid down on the seasoning bed. (cant think of the proper name). My shoulder has the bruise to prove it and as I type this I realize that I didn't put down any plastic on the ground underneath. Its not the driest place, under the wall but it gets very little sun, which means that the broad face can be left open to the air. So when I think about that I realize the timber at the back will get less air. Mmmmmm Oh well. I know Ill put some chimneys up the back that stick up into the sun and paint them black. When they heat up the air inside will rise and draw in fresh air through the stack. Ta Da. :-) I may have to have something to hang over the face when the wind and rain, come together, too!
Back to the plastic; It will keep the ground dry underneath and stop the green stuff growing up under the timber. No doubt Fanny will find a reason to go there.
So Ill fix alllllllll that tomorrow. yes. Not.



I like to split the pictures up with a bit of text.



So there we have the six main beams + timber for some of the windowsills.



I got the corrugated iron with the concrete blocks from an old shed that was being replaced with a new one. Thanks Cruiky. Handy. Ill be using these as the permanent roof when that gets built.







I also had a big fire and you can just see the remains. Also one of the trunks has been cut into
8 foot lengths and rolled down the bank. its a hard life.

Now what did I have for lunch I hear you cry......Video here.



Fanny is dribbling on my arm here as he just loves to sit on my lap while I am at the computer. The baby rabbit score is 7 with 2 of them last night. Flea bag.

Too Dam hot.

All I managed today was to set up the double length mill and make a couple of cuts. The chain is not the right one for this kind of work. very slow. On this log, with it being twice the length I would normally work with and in this heat wave we are having it takes it out of you . Hot Hot. Humidity is down to a record 55 percent. The timber is just about curling up at the edges.



The two guide rails needed to be supported in the middle.



Here you can see I have gone for a deep first cut on the second face. Saves time and will make a great 17 foot bench for the top of the dam the landlord is having put in at the bottom of his garden!!
Im happy with the size of the knots and should get three main beams per slab.
Here is a small clip of the big bench being cut from the trunk. Video link.



Any way after the heat of today I'm dun in and theres still allot more cutting to do :-)

Rolling the big one!

Roll a fat one. GUT. Np ;-)



So no planking today. Moving the big one. At 5.5 mt in length and a diameter of 60cm at the narrow end, I would estimate the weight (24"x30"x17` at about2701 lbs A very long ton and the rest ;-)
I forgot to charge the camera batteries and only managed a video of me dragging the lighter of the two logs, moved today. sorry.






The big one was rolled by securing a rope with a hook on the far side and then wrapping the rope around it once over the top and tying it to the tow ball of the quad. A large wedge of wood was placed under the rope at the top to increase the overall diameter and give a bit more leverage. Two pulls and she rolled out nice. I note looking back at this blog that there is no picture of the big log in its new position.......Mmmmmm.
All in all a good days work. Big thanks going out the the quad She was in super low 4 wheel drive with diff lock on. The full works.

Put felt on the shed roof and cut the grass too. Happy :-)

I love sun spots In the Summer.

There were six trees felled. They were blocking out the light and standing at 100 ft tall, between the cottages.
Variety: Citca Spruce. Age: 71 years.



Here you can see an almost completely knot free 16 foot length of trunk. If all goes well tomorrow this will be cut-up into the greenhouse roof beams. they need to be in one piece, with no knots. That goes for any of the timbers that are not secured to any of the walls of the greenhouse, to avoid warping in the heat. thats the plan any way :-)



Here is the saw in action. Squaring up two sides.



This is the ridiculously big breakfast I had this morning. :-)



To finish. A nice picture of the newly painted end of the cottage, with the evening sun casting the shadow of the trees to great effect.