The end is nigh.

Really are getting close to the end of the building works.

The kitchen is in and very nice except can never find anything as now (mostly) in cupboards and not on the floor, garage, cellar etc as prev.

The "snug" is now really quite pleasant, previously green walls, red panelling and the infamous slidey shutter.

Am once more sanding floors, the dining room and the sitting room. Great money saving venture this time to use a bin liner to replace the bags that collect the sawdust. You have to pay for these (14p each) so everyone always uses them till they are so worn they explode to much hilarity, unless you happen to be the poor sawdust covered fool who has been pushing the bastard machine (me). So Neil reckons a bin liner "would do the trick". Of course the frigging thing puffs up like a hot air balloon leaving me unable to get anywhere near the sander and the monster thing being unable to get within 2 foot of any wall, structure etc. Abandoned as a false economy. Poor Mick has been plastering in the room below looks a bit shell shocked.

Neil has built an amazing new deck to replace the rotten old one on the back of the building.

Nice having a glass of wine sitting there of an evening. Or would be if it wasn't so cold.

So all the furniture is pretty much sorted out so will soon be able to get rooms all "dressed" and get some photo's done for the website and start advertising!

Look at this fantastic chair.

Was very tatty black cat scratched pvc but now recovered (thanks Helen) in 50's retro velvet. We hace 2 of these and getting old sofa recovered in simaler fabric all to go in the sitting room.

Very unfortunated incident with the old dog. Developed a massive infection in has bad leg that formed a large abscess. Which unfortunately burst on the lovely white bedding we'd borrowed from the laundry company we will be using when we are open. Have had to wash it before returning it for them to wash. So he is on antibiotics and has been on steroids which are great for a few days then he turns into a manic steroid fiend, ravenously hungry, thirsty, scary glint in his eye and a general pain in the arse. And he now has a great big hole in his leg so whenever you take him out people look at him then at you then at him again and say ooh poor dog that looks sore etc just that bit too loudly. Am either going to walk him after dark or get a tshirt that says I know and he's seen a vet so piss off and mind your own business. Bastards.

We buy a lot of the furniture etc from the local auction house. And soft toys (Neil). This is Bing Bear who is really rather sweet except feel a bit sorry for him as looks a bit lost and confused. And his expression never changes, even when Dennis tries to eat him. Also bought a big stone bear statue for the garden. Horrors are we going to have a bear themed guest house.

AND we think Moleskin may have caught a Mouse. There was definately a lot of scampering about the other night. And there was a dead one next to her when we got up. Neil reckons she just claimed one of Blackies for her own. She was spotted on the green the other day - getting very brave.

And as ever a picture of Dennis to finish.

Handsome dog.



In which I get the van stuck and a black eye (unrelated).

But first a tragedy.

We have to report the passing of West Ham to the Championship. After being told every match (since January was a MUST WIN match it finally became obvious that things weren't to be. And after one loss too many West Ham were relegated. We were on a weekend away in Northumberland and went back to the hotel to listen to the second half (have a snooze) of the Wigan game. Woke up to find Neil staring out of the window with his head in his hands and correctly worked out that the good old Hammers had let their 2 - 0 half time lead go. Shocking defence all season. But on a lighter note there are plenty of Championship clubs round here for Neil to go to. The horror of the new manager is kicking in, nasty few days when thought it could be Allardyce or Mclaren but seems to have gone a bit quiet now. Lets just hope Alex McLeish doesn't get sacked from Birmingham.......


But back to the Mill. Some rooms are nearly finished so have been online, sourcing (hate that word) furniture.

This is the bedroom in the room that is called the flat at the moment but will either be called the kiln room or the drying room as is above one of the kilns in the house. Clever eh!

This is going to be the sitting room area (was our old bathroom with the disabillity bath - one of Dr Cole - prev owners children came in and apparently that bath cost about £15 00.00. Should have put it on ebay not in a bloody skip). So those are the tiles heated by the kiln below where the grain was dried.

And this is the bathroom.

The other rooms will probably be called the workroom (the big room) and the paint shop (there was a spraypaint booth in it) or fairly sensible names like that. Hate places with rooms with tossy names like Larkin and Wordsworth etc.

The top 2 floors are pretty much done, the kitchen goes in at the end of May and all the studwork is up and plastered on the ground floor.

That's the "snug", much better without the green and red panelling and the famous sliding shutter. And even the downstairs toilet is pretty civillised.

Not plumbed in mind but much nicer. And the cellar has been plasterboarded (by me unfortunately).

That's the room that's going to be the gym.

So I took Dennis out for a walk in the van, parked up at the old lead mines, the carpark was quite full so had to park rather close to the stream (yes stream). Had our walk, all going well till time to drive home. Start to reverse back and realise I'm going to hit the little bridge that crosses the stream. Normally wouldn't bother me too much but the sodding thing was on the end of The Dales tv program last week and is very special. So thought I can't back over a world famous star of television bridge that will have thousands of people coming to see it so did a few nifty little moves (always a challenge reversing the van with the dog as he stands up and wobbles and you can't see a bleeding thing) and end up just about hanging over the edge of the stream Itallian Job style. Which wouldn't have been a problem except the van is rear wheel drive and skidded on the gravel car park. Would help if it had some new rear tyres. Those wouldn't look out of place at silverstone or "certainly wouldn't now after I've worn them away". So am at least a mile from nearest house, don't have a phone with me - no reception anyway, dog's leg isn't great so can't walk that far and too hot to leave him in the van. So swear my head off for a bit which helped then sat down to wait. After about 1/2hr nice old couple (sadly too old to push the van) come up in a 4 x 4 and offer to tow me out, the only rope we have tho is a washing line in the van for emergencies ?hanging out washing on site. This of course snaps by they very kindly offer to drive me back to the house which they do, me in the front with Dennis on my knee trying to stop him attacking their border collie.

So you can imagine the reception I got from Neil and Mick (plasterer). Thank god there were only 2 of them to take the piss out of me. Anyway eventually Mick very kindly towed us out and I've been a figure of fun (prob always was) and making tea eversince.

We are awaiting the arrival of the travellers or other names. They park on the green en route to the Appleby horse fair. Opinion seems to vary between them adding a touch of local colour and being a bunch of thieving scrounging bastards that rob anything thats not nailed down etc. Neil's going to send Moleskin out onto the green with a bit of copper round her neck and see what happens.

And as for the black eye, headbutted by Dennis of course.



Spring.

Well it's all beautiful here in the Dales. It's been fantastic weather and we've been working hard in the garden.

It's pretty overgrown at the moment but really nice. The river is very low at the moment, but very busy.

We have several duckling famillies which are really rather sweet. Just hoping that Blackie (cat) doesn't show too much interest. He has caught a couple of baby rats (or they've died in the house in suspicious circumstances) and there was the mystery smell (obv blamed on Moleskin - that cat shits all over the house etc etc) that turned out to be a very dead mouse under the sofa. And talking of shitting all over the house Blackie spends most of his days outside asleep by the compost bin? Only comes in to use the litter tray. behaviour which Neil says is TOTALLY UNNACEPTABLE. And talking again of awful toileting behaviour Dennis... had a night away in a pub so Neil could go and see Man City beat West Ham. I did my wifely duty by driving him to and from the football ground and backing the car into a bollard, (fairly large dent). But Dennis, oh dear, nice weather, people eating outside, lets just say 7 bags, 2 bottles of water, some moved diners and very thorough hand washing later.

So we have some vegetable patches.

Have planted about half of the second one, nothing yet just flocks of smug looking birds flying off everytime I go and check things out.  But my propogators well that's a different matter.

Have a very efficient plan so I know whats where but think Neil's moved them all around "for a laugh". So maybe this summer we'll get some vegetables else birds dropping out of the sky due to obesity.

And Den is very excited about the new neighbours.

He really doesn't know what to do - just woof's in a stupid fashion. Blackie is quite friendly with them (there's 3) and touches noses etc, but Moleskin, lets face it who knows what goes on in her furry little head anyway.

Now to inside. Oh the horror of the kitchen. We put up the partition so the residents can get to the dining room without seeing us. None of that open kitchen shit here. And I've been plasterboarding, Neil's been dry lining and look at it.

Nice new cooker by the way. But...

Now that does look like a Mr Trebus Life of Grime / serial killer's kitchen, in fact it does, it looks like the pictures of Bin laden's "luxury" hideaway faithfully reproduced with great excitment in the Sun. You can see noone respects my rule about no power tools on the work surfaces, and as for trying to teach Neil to "clean up as he goes" when he's cooking, how?  I mean I do clean it up every night before cooking tea but still.

And power tools, look at that

Now that's a mans screwdriver for you, looks like a cross between Thunderbird 5 and the Liberator, it's magnetic, has a light on it and goes faster than the speed of sound. But curiously only weighs about 100g, unlike the shonky old piece of shite I get.

Weighs about 4kg and has the wrong battery which falls out on your feet all the time - v. painful.

Starting to get there (and Dennis).

Oh Joy sanding floors. Such fun. So what you get...

There's the gang - nasty big one, cross between lawnmower, hoover and flesh harvester. Sounds like a jumbo jet and weighs a ton. Has a nice paper bag on to collect the dust (doen't really) and which has a tendency to burst if you forget to empty it or don't put it on properly and that is fun - a sawdust bomb! So you have to push the monster up and down slowly whilst it rips the floor (and anything else it encounters dogs, cats, electric leads etc) to shreds with sandpaper. Best bit is when your husband doesn't put it together properly so you're left like a twat holding the handle whilst the scaring bit trundles of wreaking havoc on its own. And when you start to get somewhere you have to "change the belt" grappling with a bit of sandpaper thats about as easy to bend as a lump of tarmac but rougher and fixing it to the drum etc etc.

And then there's the corners of the room to do of course the big fucker is far to unweildly to go within 12' of an angle. So you get this smaller one that looks like a cooker ring, weighs about 25kg and spins around like a bastard. You have to scuttle round with this thing bouncing of wallls and skirting boards and trying not too flay yourself with all the men on site helpfully popping in and telling you what a horrible job sanding floors is and how the cooker ring thing really does your back. Oh really.

But now the floors are done we can get decorating. So this is room 2 pretty much done, en suite through the doorway, velux window going in today.

That's the far reaches of room 1 - it's massive, the new stove is in the foreground and thats the doorway to the "luxury" shower room. Nice floor too.

We've now moved upstairs to the top floor.

Before

And after. The middle two floors are definately coming on. The ground floor is in the process of being trashed and the cellar just lies beneath the house. The dust continues, Henry the hoover is giving up the ghost, can always tell a hoover on a building site as it weighs it ton cause it's full of plaster and a pile of rubble falls out of the hose when you turn it of.

And Dennis. Poor Dennis has pulled a muscle in his shoulder on the dodgy leg. So is on 3 legs quite a bit and has to be carried downstairs which he doen't appreciate. Always makes the same face

the dog that is makes the face. Top bicep shot Neil. And very tired dog too. Went to Bedale Point to Point on Sunday which was great but too much for a hop a long lurch.

And last week spring arrived. It's been beautiful, all daffodils, bluebells and lambs everywhere. They really are gorgeous. The amount of crashes we've nearly had looking at lambs in fields. We've had lunch in the garden most days and the streets are filling up with caravans and motorbikes.

Dennis hopes that when his leg is better he might be able to play with some lambs. He's working on disguises.

The Cellar.

                                                             

It's been cleaned out a bit down there. Obviously not by me - you don't want to look up too much down there. But its now pretty good and almost the cleanest part of the building. So you go down those stairs to ..

That room - lots of wheels etc that rotate. The water wheel is directly behind that lot through the big door on the right. Think there might be a dog sneaking into view.

Close up. Not sure what we're going to do with this room yet but will put up big glass screens in front of the workings. Can be quite dangerous when they get going.

This room is behind the other one, and as you can see by the bike is going to be the "gym" once all cleaned up and the running machine etc installed.

                                                                                    

                                   

So thats the blocked up staircase and the entrance to the "secret" passage. Just really goes around the old kiln below the garage (so I've been told - haven't risked it yet).

The old water pump. So its pretty good down there.

Back above ground the mess continues. Not helped by the facts the cat's moulting. Large clump of Moleskin tumbleweeding about looks EXACTLY like a very big spider hooning across the floor and freaks the life out of me. Furballs everywhere too. Neil left the one on the backstairs as he thought it was a ?!leaf. What the hell kind of trees has leaves like furry cat turds.

Outside not too tidy either. Had a delivery driver come to the door the other day, caught him just leaving and he said sorry was just going, didn't think anyone actually lived here. Oh yes I said brightly ignoring the look of horror on his face then realised how I was dressed. Too short work jeans (Neil won't walk round the village near me as I look like I'm on day release), about 6 tatty tops one half of one zipped into the other half of another one and covered in dust. The place does look a bit like the place the murderer obviously lives from a tv dectective drama. Though not by a canal like they always seem to be.

Has Neil finally got his wicked way with moleskin?

No cause she's sitting on the frigging keyboard as normal.

The Mess.

Its happened. We've lost control. The mess has overtaken us. It is no longer possible to pretend we live in a normal house.

THE KITCHEN.

"We're" knocking out the old range (apparently came from 2 houses down on the green). It's going into the Residents's sitting room.

Looks cosy and welcoming doesn't it. So the kitchen is swathed in dust sheets with a thick layer of grit and soot covering the dust sheets, work surface, dog, cats and anything else left uncovered. The floor crunches as you walk across it and as for eating anything dropped on the kitchen floor it would have less texture if you rolled it around in the cat tray first. The whole house is gritty, you can't creep around, sounds like walking on a gravel drive as you go from room to room.

AND we've got friends comimg to dinner on Tuesday night (oh yes Mark and Ann - just what is that crispy coating on your tea!!!).

THE REST.

                                     

Downstairs toilet - to be honest I've never been brave enough to venture in there since I've lived here but certainly won't be "paying a visit" in the near future. That is the last remaining relic of avocado sanitaryware in the house which is one sign of progress I guess.

This is what is fancifully known as the library. Was the gym in a previous incarnation, the running machine is still in there somewhere, dampens your enthusiasm when you have to uncover your sports equipment before use, and of course it sounds like running on a nice pebble beach. Bit of light relief provided by Moleskin who was stupid enough to be sitting on the running machine when Neil went past (he hates that cat). Of course he turned it on, tho only on slow at least, she actually went along with it for a bit till I guess she realised she was giving Neil some pleasure and the ran of (and hopefully took a shit in his tile grout or something).

We have now moved up to 2 completed rooms in the loft, very smart bathroom and bedroom, (obv need tidying so no photo's this time) but a bit like living in a film set, you open the door from semi luxury to view of chaos and grit.

And the big room / room 1 is getting there.

The bath being winched in, too frigging big to get up the stairs or anything normal. Guess who was on the end of the winch and guess who was "directing operations".

(oh well got 2 of those and don't know how to delete it)

And there it is in position. So things are slowly taking shape..............