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Thursday 20 August 2015

STILL HATING THE TABLET ...

31st July
Brett spent the day building the island and complaining about the wood (you'd have thought he would be used to it by now!). Though I understood when he assembled all the pieces and only three legs were on the ground; he's had to weight it down with breeze blocks overnight, hoping that the glue will dry and hold it in place
And I spent the morning (until the internet went down) trying to upload my blog - so frustrating, in the process of 'cut & pasting' I managed to delete parts of the blog and muddle up loads of the paragraphs (I wish I had WORD for Windows on my Tablet, ha I wish I had a proper keyboard rather than a touch screen that sits over my writing!).
This evening we went to Bar do Clube with Chris, Di, Andrew, Baptiste and Richie.  It must have been a good evening as we didn't get to bed until 2.30! And we must have been good customers as we were given a free round of drinks ...

1st August
I took Andrew with me to Penamacor (he had been planning on catching the 6.45 a.m. to CB) to do a bit of shopping.
Brett carried on with the island, complaining bitterly that it was twisted - it looks fine to me, in fact it looks more than fine - it looks bloody brilliant!

I was so embarassed by our garden when Andrew came round this afternoon 😞 it's not looking good atm; however he had a few worthwhile suggestions which we will try next year.

2nd August
While we were watering I found a watermelon growing, only tennis ball size atm, but it might grow.
Brett wanted a day off; so we just lazed about on the decking and next to the pool.
There was a big fire on the horizon this afternoon which was still burning ferociously when we went to bed.

3rd August
The fire was out by this morning.
Brett finished the island (apart from the top shelf, because we ran out of wood, and the handles for the drawers,because we haven't bought them yet!). It is fantastic and fits the space just right.


Another BIG fire this afternoon; according to an expat in a neighbouring village, on Facebook this evening, there's over 300 bombeiros trying to extinguish it.

4th August
We have lots of interesting looking winter squash coming now - all kinds of shapes, sizes and colours (though the voles have started on them too 😒).
Minipreco (supermarket) was heaving this morning and will be for the rest of August, as all the Portuguese who have moved to France for jobs are back for their summer break - we don't even think of going to Fundao this time of year it's far too crowded.
We invited Chris & Di to dinner; Brett cooked Puttanesca spaghetti and I nearly died (well I felt as if I was going to) when he ground up some dried chillis - I coughed, spluttered, cried and gagged - he said that's how you must feel if you get pepper sprayed.
We ate out on the decking, while the dogs (our two plus their puppy, Alfie) played - they had lots of fun so much so that Alfie got over excited and ran ACROSS the table several times!

5th August
J&J are hosting a carboot sale this Sunday; we sorted through lots of the boxes in the shed for stuff to take - I pride myself on the fact that I was quite ruthless, we do live in a very small house now! However I couldn't bring myself to get rid of my silver cutlery; it's too pretty, I especially like the knife with the butterfly on it
- goodness knows when I'll have a chance  to use them!

6th August
We went into CB to buy wood for the island and shelves, paint (duck egg blue) and handles for the island - it's all going to look very posh.

7th August
The island looks stunning; the duck egg blue is just the right colour and the handles are perfect - we are very pleased with it and it makes cooking a pleasure.
The village festa started today; normally we'd go on Saturday evening but, as we have to be at J&J' s early Sunday morning, we decided to go tonight. We started off the evening at Baptise's house where he and Di were having a jamming session; then we all, barr Andrew, went to the festa - we stayed until 2.00 ish.

8th August
We woke up with hangovers, more from lack of sleep than excess alcohol, and very pleased that we hadn't had to get up at 7.00 a.m.!

9th August
We didn't expect the car boot to be a great success, there were only seven stalls and not many customers, however we took 127€ and came home with far less than we went with 😀, so we were very happy.


10th August
Brett made some beautiful shelves for above the worktop, I painted them green
(though we are contemplating painting them duck egg blue at a later date). All we need now is the 'kitchen sink'!

11th August
Brett can hear, he says, 'death watch beetle' in the wood that makes up the bathroom partitions (it keeps him awake at night); so today he removed some of the plasterboard (fortunately it hasn't been plastered yet). He traced the sounds back to two pieces of Cesar's wood that still had some bark on (even though it was supposed to be sawn 4x2) - it obviously came with insects in it, the wood here really is atrocious.
This afternoon we went over to the pool; the kittens love it when we spend time over there - I had both of them lying on me, purring.
We walked home gorging ourselves on figs and grapes.
After watering the garden and feeding the sheep and goats (about 8.30) we had a quick dip in the pool; we walked home with dripping wet clothes - I was positively cold in the house even though Brett told me it was 29 degrees; I had to put a jumper on!

12th August
Brett painted the new shelves duck egg blue; he much prefers them this clour, I'm still undecided.
Then he treated the bathroom wood and the house stinks, even I can smell it!
We had a good old spring clean today which ended up with Brett smashing up the vacuum cleaner 😀 ; he stood in the car park and threw it as high as he could, several times, until it disintegrated - I wanted to run it over, but he thought I might damage the truck. I've hated that machine for so long, it spews out more dust than it takes in; I'm so glad it's gone.
I bragged about my lovely herb garden last month; well yesterday the geese found it - they have had much of the rocket, obliterated the fennel and eaten all the leaves from the purple basil (they've left the green basil!) - bastard animals, I wonder how tough they'd be?
Footnote: the green basil wasn't untouched, all the leaves had been stripped!

13th August
We went to Valverde (Spain) this morning; I bought a couple of long lengths of material from the market (only 15€ for both) and we bought some goodies from the supermarket.
I made a big batch of chocolate fridge cake to sell, at a meeting, at The Hub tomorrow.
Pam came to tea this afternoon and admired our kitchen.
Oh dear, Pam phoned about 10.20 this evening - asking if we knew of a quinta with a white rusty gate and a tree in the middle of it (the quinta)? Apparently their guests were driving to them from the village, but somehow got lost and managed to get their car stuck! Mark had been sent out to look for them, but they could be anywhere. In the end J&J found them (after they had called out Emergency Services!), they were down a very narrow track way past Gary's (there's a maze of tracks in that direction).

14th August
The Hub has been given a local village school to use as a community centre. This afternoon there was a meeting to ask questions.
I chatted to Jamie (and Keren) about his garden, which was fantastic last year, he's stopped watering his vegetables so he can use all his water for his trees (everyone is having a bad year).

15th August
Brett went on a bike ride with Matt (35 miles), at least it's a bit cooler now.
I know I keep moaning about the state of my garden, but it is still producing (nowhere near as prolific as last year) ....

16th August N/I
I made a dress from one of my pieces of material and with what's left I should be able to make another 4 or 5 dresses; so today's dress worked out at about 1,50€ for the material and then about £3.50 for the dye (dylon cold dye, woodland brown).

17th August N/I
Happy BIrthday Henry!  XXXXXXX
Hoo-bloody-rah Helen has, at last, booked her flights for her visit next month, can't wait.
Brett spent yesterday and today clearing an area along
side and under the tree, to park the car and tractor AND in preparation for the building of my studio/
workshop! 😀
I made another dress; this time from a grey linen (same style as yesterday); it probably cost me 2€ (and a good 7 hours work, including the pockets), I have lots of material left.

18th August N/I
I have to say I'm not liking this bloody tablet! I can't get on the internet atm (Brett can on his computer) but this stupid device keeps unconnecting before I've even opened my homepage - I presume it's because the signal isn't strong, but I'm blaming the tablet.
Brett carried on with his clearing up outside. Whilst I designed and attached pockets to my latest dress - it took nearly as long as making the dress! I'm really pleased with the material; it's a lovely weight and falls just right (it's a little bit too heavy for summer, but perfect for autumn/spring) - I think I bought some similar last year that I haven't used yet, I need to find it.
This evening (5.00 p.m.) we delivered our old Barn bed to Andrew (40€); then off to the bar for a 'quick' drink with C&D - huh, that never happens, we were home in time to put the animals away (mais o menos, more or less).

19th August, N/I (well not on my tablet)
We went into CB to get my eyes checked out (I've got black dots and flashes in my left eye); the optician reassured me that it wasn't my retina detaching (see what researching on the internet can do!). I bought new glasses; I chose simple, cheapish frames (90€) and was then informed that the lens were 75€ EACH, who buys one lens???? Up until that point I had been choosing sunglasses too - I rapidly backtracked! But I have to say I can see better with the new prescription.
As I wear prescription sunglasses most of the time when I'm outside I was still debating spending money on a new pair when Brett came up with a good idea - have new lenses put in my old frames, at a cost of 30€ per lens (60€ total), wonder why these lenses are so much cheaper than the clear ones, I'd have thought it would be the other way around.

20th August N/I
What a frustrating morning; the only way I could find (that I could remotely understand) to try to get the tablet back on line was to do a factory restore - which would lose all my data, so I had to try to export it to an sd card ... It took at least two hours! But I am back on line AND I managed to save my blog (note to self: post blog asap) ... (2nd note to self: locate all my photos from tablet).
Great I've got hives again ......... so itchy!



Saturday 1 August 2015

CLONED KITCHEN ...

20th July
I'm still not used to this device; I get so frustrated when I can't do what I want to do ... We've found an app on the tablet which allows you to write and save documents; we can't even open it! AND, although we can read emails, we have no idea how to reply - we can only do it by 'composing' a new email.
Today we were back to the kitchen cupboards; Brett making doors, me filling and sanding screw holes in the worktop, staining it with Briwax and filling and painting the doors (and doing the washing).
Over the weekend we moved the sheep into Lavender paddock; it was surprisingly easy, I walked in front with food, Brett followed behind with two long sticks.
There was a little bit of head banging between the sheep and the goats but that soon settled down. We moved their shelter with the tractor - helped by sheep, goats and kittens!
We had some scary, spectacular fires over the weekend; the nearest was in Bemposte (2kms away) we could see the smoke, behind the village watertower, from the decking (I took pictures with the camera which I have no idea how to transfer to the tablet!). But we had to drive out to see the flames - we'd had an electric storm all afternoon and evening and think the fire might have been caused by a lightening strike.
The vegetable garden is so disappointing this year; the voles have a had huge impact, firstly by eating the seeds and now destroying mature plants - they've had six courgette plants, tomatillos, cucumbers and beans. Oh yes they ate loads of the potatoes too. On top of that fertilisation is really, really poor this year; especially beans, this time last year I was picking them by the bucket, this year I can't scrape enough for a meal once a week - I'm blaming it on the scarcity of bees and other pollinators. We're getting some courgettes and tomatoes, but they're nowhere near as prolific as last year.
On a positive note the herb bed is starting to show promise; I'm watering nightly which might be the key. I have a lovely grouping of purple basil and bronze fennel which I'm very pleased with


and masses of self sown rocket 😀.
So in my eagerness to take some  photos of said herbs I managed to trip over the low Mimosa fence (made to keep the geese off) and bruised and scraped my leg - and the photos weren't very good either!

22nd July
Ha, I managed to pull my buttock/hamstring yesterday; so today I'm limping, moving slowly and can't pick anything off the ground (or stroke kittens!). And feeling sorry for myself.
Brett made a drawer for the kitchen units; very fiddly work, but it looks great (and it slides in and out smoothly).
What on earth are Widgets? They are multiplying on the tablet, do I need them? If not, how do I get rid of them and stop them forming?
I had a very frustrating morning trying to download Polaris Office 5 (the app that wasn't working on the tablet); of course I didn't manage to do it - I hate all this modern technology it's all gobbledygook to me!!!
Poor old Lili had to go to the vet this evening; she has a bladder infection. She doesn't actually mind going to the vet, but she hates going in the car - she does a brilliant impression of an ostrich!

23rd July
Brett made more drawers while I made a sign for J&J to commemorate the opening of The Hub tomorrow.
(I also swept the foor several times, washed the floor, did food shopping, cooked and generally tidied up).
Another fire this evenig; Brett could smell smoke, it appeared to be coming from the village - there was smoke drifting between us and the watertower.
Andrew tried to book us (me, Brett, Andrew, Chris & Di) a taxi for tomorrow night but the village driver is on holiday and Bemposte driver is in CB - could be a problem.

24th July
Happy BIrthday Claire!!!  XXX
Brett made the last drawer, we found some, non matching, ceramic knobs in the shed, so, apart from the door hinges, the cupboards are complete and looking fantastic.
Andrew managed to book a taxi, so we could 'go to the ball'! Baptiste came in the taxi with us (the taxi was 'people carrier' with room for 7 passengers); we were charged 15€ each way - so paid 6€ per person (which is really cheap but added onto the 20€ we spent on food and drink made it an expensive night out for us). It was a good night; there were lots of people, most of whom we knew/recognised. J&J had obviously put a lot of time and effort into the evening; I hope people continue to support them.

25th July
Last night was a late night home (1.00ish) so today was supposed to be a relaxing day, with not much going on. I didn't have a hangover, as I was drinking Sangria which was mainly lemonade; I merely felt tired from the late bedtime. However we ended up tidying out the shed with all our boxes of possessions and sorting through the 'kitchen' boxes - I was quite ruthless and put quite a bit into the car boot sale boxes.
Little Jasmine kitten is a hunter; she caught, killed and ate a mouse - she could be the answer to our vole problem.

26th July
40.7 degrees (in the shade); i.e. bloody hot!
The bastard voles had another courgette plant - I only have two of my original eleven left ... hurry up and grow Jasmine!
Brett started on our kitchen island; we're using the top of the table from the Barn for the top, so apart from the legs (which cost 10€) it's not going to cost much.
Trying to 'cut & paste', so that I could post blog, and somehow I've manage to delete and muddle up my writing from this point on!

27th july
Poor old Looby is on heat (and yes, she has been spade so don't ask me how!); I know she can't help it but she's pacing all the time and whining in our faces - it's bloody annoying. On the plus side Lili seems to be on the mend.
We went into CB to buy hinges for the kitchen cupboards and pick up Brett's mended laptop - unfortunately all the data was lost.
F***'ng bastard voles had another courgette plant!

28th July
The mosquitos are bad atm; I put on Deet (it's the only thing that works) every evening, including last evening, but last night my back was bitten to buggery - and it's bloody itchy, Brett thinks it was something other than mosquitos (probably something not repelled by Deet, knowing my luck😢) or even hives/an allergic reaction (probably to Deet).
Brett and Matt spent the morning on their bikes (in this heat they must be mad!), a mere 33 miles; while I cleaned and tidied the house and prepared lunch.
The kittens weren't around today; but Lili managed to find them this evening - she goes next door and encourages them to come to us!

29th July
I now have a rash on my forearm, my back is better than yesterday; Brett had hives earlier this year, looks like I might have it now 😢.
What an annoying day; first off we went to water the garden I primed the pump so many times I've lost count but we couldn't get it to function. The pump has to be primed from the pool, then started and it pumps water into the pool, then, very quickly before the water in the pipe coming up from the well is lost, the pump has to be stopped, disconnected from the pool, attached to the garden hoses and restarted. This morning the pump wouldn't restart quickly enough so the water drained out of the pipe in the well; after several attempts we gave up. Then ...
Brett put the hinges on the cupboard doors; bloody hell what a horrible fiddly job and then, once he had the door positioned perfectly, he screwed all the screws in and the door kept bouncing open - it turned out that the heads of the screws (supplied with the hinges) were too big and were forcing the hinges open ... Brett had to countersink all the holes in the hinges!
On a positive note the pool, which had turned an awful thick green colour, has cleared after being 'shocked' with a huge dose of chlorine - we thought we might have to empty it (and waste 11 cu metres of water).
Then the internet went down !!!! I think that's probably it until the start of the new month - the village has used its quota.
We managed to get the garden watered; it was hard getting the pump to pump the water from the well - we're thinking that the problem could be that the well is lower than we have ever seen it (Andrew's is dry!) so the pump js struggling to stay primed. While we were there Brett noticed that we have cucmbers growing on our new plants (the ones in furrows)😀.
We looked at pictures of our Brynaman kitchen ... our Portuguese kitchen is becoming a clone! The cupboards Brett has made are almost identical (the Brynaman ones came from B&Q and I painted them green), even the layout is similar (it wasn't done intentionally).


30th July N/I
Knobs and catches put on cupboards and it's finished; apart from the sink which will be installed in the unit next to the small fridge, once we've chosen and bought it, and the green wall tiles - it looks fabulous and it makes food preparation so much more enjoyable as there is room to work and convenient electricity points available.
Sink will go in left of fridge
Next job is completing the island; which will give us lots more storage too.
The animals are always making extra work for us (Brett); today it was the geese - they keep going over to the vegetable garden and walking on/chewing the onions etc. So Brett had to make a gate to go across the track; he used a Portuguese design from the quinta next door (if it'll keep cattle in it should keep geese out!).
Another strange 'blip' on 25th July with 208 views - who are these people?