shedfuls of windows

We were forced to stop concreting founds due to too much rain.................................. and sort out the shed as it will be needed or storing the windows very soon. Unlike almost all the Grand Designs builders whose windows arrive weeks or months after the shell of the building is up ours will be here several months before we can consider getting the kit up. It is now pretty much wrapped and battened. The door headroom is 2.1m windows on pallets are 2.25m so I am removing the top of the door frame to give us the necessary clearance. We can get a max of 2.31m. There is still the eaves overhang to worry about. Hope it works. We are apprehensive.

jayne millimetre

After yesterday's heavy rain we had to pump out the water filled trenches we were going to work on today but by home time at 7:15 p.m. we had finished the porch and end walls for both roundhouses - about a 15m run and shuttered and filled to 50mm on one angle on the east side of both roundhouses. Jayne raked and tamped and as usual got the finish millimetre accurate hence her new name. 3.5 cubes so far - 0.2 over quantities calculated to fill extra depth. As she says not many women in their mid 50s are laying foundations but we make a good team - the odd whinge and occasional expletive notwithstanding.

of C35 and foundations

We can't get ready mix to the plot and have just had almost 100 tonnes of concreting aggregate delivered to the plot. With some difficulty and damage to our driveway and grossing 28 tonnes a six wheeler, expertly handled by Steff, has tipped enough stone for founds and floors.

Today we got the pan mixer going and made almost 2 cubes in just a few hours before the rain set in. That is almost 4 tonnes in the trench.

No hand loading the mixer with shovels. JCB does that. No wheely barrowing. Tractor and mixer do that. Some delicate reversing to poise the mixer over the shuttered trench needed and poor Izzy tied up all afternoon as the wee dog does not have any conception of wet concrete. We did more in our first brief afternoon than we did in two days hand mixing so it has been worth the wait. The shuttering and levelling now takes twice as long as the concreting. C35 is our founds spec - basically 1'n'4 and we have been dutifully placing the reinforcing mesh 50mm from the bottom of the pour. I mix and Jayne rakes out and tamps down.

Tonight it rains and tomorrow it will rain but we have finally started building our house !

shark attack

Jayne has frequently complained that she has never seen dolphins. Last week there was a pod following the ferry across to Tayinloan and I used to see the winter resident pod of about 20 almost every day off the fish farm last January. But no luck for Jayne. On Wednesday we saw something much rarer - the second largest fish in the whole wide world - at least I think it is after the whale shark - and swimming round in circles for almost an hour just off Ardailly. Thought it was a couple of dolphins at first but then the big dorsal fin was evidently attached to the large tail fin following some 5 metres or so behind. The basking shark is a real killer and spells certain death for very large numbers of plankton. The one we saw was only 30m off the rocks at Port an Duin below the plot. We were busy shuttering up the footings for the house. It was probably about 8 metres long.

Later we heard that Don saw 7 or so basking sharks from his RIB off the west of Gigha. They are pretty rare these days - the last one I saw was off the Isle of Man a few years ago and long gone are the days when I saw them every day off Skomer when I worked on the boat there as a lad.

Next time it'll be dolphins I'm sure - or even a minke whale.