http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , United Kingdom , Scotland , Aberfeldy en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:40:07 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:40:07 UTC We haven't had a Winnie the Pooh story for quite some time. Winnie the Pooh arrived at his house on Monday morning and the ground was white he also noticed a slow puncture in one of his tyres but that's not very relevant. His friend Thumper liked the snow and spent all day catching snowflakes ending up with white whiskers like an arctic explorer. At lunchtime when all the sensible people h http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-350996.html We have walls It's been a long time since we had much real progress to report. The last couple of weeks have been a steady slog cleaning lime from windows and frames and continuing with limewash plus general tidying up as we try to get ready for putting in floor insulation first fix plumbing and electrics internal walls etc. This last week since Tuesday we've started on the internal walls http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-349663.html Returned early Sunday afternoon to continue search for elusive electricity supply the hole got slowly bigger as we found first the telephone cables then the field drain and water supply then the end of the duct where the electricity will eventually run. Wendy eventually found the cable but we were still unsure as to where it terminated. Eventually gave in for the day feeling a bit hot and bothered http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-332679.html Having made the most of our weeekend off catching up on sleep etc. We returned to Tombreck on Tuesday. Continued stuffing roof and completed both west and central sections now 56ths done but ran out of mesh. Then to Manse for birthday bash for Bryn the usual enjoyable if chaotic melee of music and mayhem. Also farewell to Tasha and Marcus who were departing the following day for London and Sw http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-330498.html With the occupants of the Farmhouse and the Manse away Willy was looking after 3 cats two dogs and 4 ducks. The ducks see him as a dangerous intruder and run away from him which makes it difficult to get them back into their duck house at night. Meanwhile back on the building site they finished the west gable cladding apart from the cills which were to be delivered at the end of the week http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-326444.html Monday Hardly seemed to be there then back up the road after calling in at screwfix in Livingston. Delays all the way either roadworks or slow traffic took over 2 hours so Ewan made a temporary door while he waited for me to turn up. Ended up spending evening with Tober and a bottle of wine. By Wednesday the top half of the gable was clad and from the west the house resembles a Swiss chalet. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-324353.html After last week's lime work Willy decided to have a few days off. We spent Saturday doing ordinary weekend things like going for a walk in the grounds of Hopetoun House which we haven't managed for ages and doing housework. On Sunday Willy decided that we'd go up and look at the house and maybe do a bit of cleaning. So we did a bit of cleaning and I took some photos but left the camera in the http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-322463.html The English language has such a wonderful selection of idioms describing the consumption of alcohol to excess and perhaps. on occasion alcohol has indeed been consumed to excess in the straw bale house after a hard day's work but I shall leave such occasions to your imagination. This entry describes the frenetic burst of activity required to achieve weathertightness before the first frosts and http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-320216.html Well things moved on apace windows and door fitted by close of play Weds. It should have been an excuse for a party but it had been a long hard couple of days so settled for a quiet night in our new windowed house and an early night first night in our new abode but bales aren't as comfortable as you might think. Thursday Ewan was in Edinburgh for a couple of days Graham Rachel Theo and Ro http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-318346.html Ewan tok a few days off so we hoped to concentrate on straw but the ever unsettled weather made that difficult and somewhat frustrating. Franck and Alison got on with stuffing the wool into the roof while I dashed out between showers to trim and stuff and trim and restuff and trim and ..... the outside of the walls Found it difficult in explaining to Franck that we would keep doing it till we http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-313186.html but not as dangerous as playing football. Why Well after three days putting slates on our roof our roofer played football couldn't have been for more than 90 minutes and he managed to break his leg. Commiserations to Ally who has been great.Fortunately the 2 young guys have managed perfectly well without their boss and finished the north side of the roof and started on the south side. Wh http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-302841.html It was raining and it rained and rained and rained and then it rained some more. Winnie the Pooh was unhappy he wanted to make straw bales NOW. Winnie the Pooh looked at his big wet round bales of straw lying in the field and he muttered under his breath then he walked around the courtyard three times just for luck. It was still raining so he looked at the sky and it was still raining. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-295404.html Monday 9th June we've had our first weekend of building with straw bales helped by a really nice guy from Amazon Nails and a great bunch of people including caterers et al. Great party on the Saturday night Thank you all. As you can see from the photos we've now completed the sarking thanks guys. Bit of a saga with the straw which I'll no doubt bore some of you with sometime it had to be re http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-285535.html It's Friday and I'm taking the weekend off or was. Today should have been relatively relaxing chasing up suppliers etc however the best laid plans etc.Firstly the joists are now all in the northside of the roof has sarking the wall for the bales is nearly there and we have a temporary floor upstairs to provide some storage for the straw. See photos I left just after Dan Ewan and Malcolm start http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-281814.html This is part two of our blog we did the travel now the houseThe house is underway the drains foundations and foundations were completed by the end of April. The frame arrived in lots and lots of pieces and was assembled on site. This week I think a crane arrived to put the bits of the frame together including the roof panels. Tomorrow the sarking goes on for the benefit of our foreig http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-279099.html Yesterday I went on a trip with my study abroad program up to Blair Castle in Blair Atholl and Dewar's World of Whiskey in Aberfeldy. Although I didn't get to spend nearly enough time exploring the castle grounds and whiskey isn't quite my thing I enjoyed the trip especially because it gave me a much needed break from homework. A Bumpy Start When we all boarded the bus we thought we'd be w http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-247223.html Hello from the land of sheep and whisky. When we left Slough the land of pork roast wine and Jaguars our only aim was to strike north for York. For Canadians used to long distances places here are so close that you find yourself saying ldquoWell wersquore already in York so we might as well see Edinburgh while wersquore herehelliprdquo hellipand soon enough you find yoursquor http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Aberfeldy/blog-60295.html