I've done to much today

[linda_joyce]

Having emptied the pantry in no time flat on Monday, I spent yesterday doing nothing, except practice my water colour techniques. Today I made up for it.
Today I started to get the pantry back in order.


You can see where a lot of the things that were in boxes on the floor, on the stone. The stuff that was under it stayed there and the rest is still residing in my dining room.

This morning I sorted out what was under the stone. And for those of you who are new to me that large shelf/ built in table is called the stone because that is what it is. It's a single block of sandstone 2.5 ft by 5ft by 4 ins. there is a guttering carved into the top with a hole drilled through at each front coner to alow water to be drained off when it was scrubbed on a weekly basis and possibly used as a butchering stone way back when the house was first built. and found the plaster missing from the back


A quarter of the wall has gone. Probably my father's fault as I do vaugely remember his cementing it when I was a teen and you can just see the remnants of cement on the bottom of the close up. I now know you can't use modern cement on these old stone houses but Dad wouldn't have. I've only learned that from DIY SOS off TV and he died before that started. So a small hole has turned into a major job. Sweeping that up and out made the floor dirty so I had to wash that, then I took two huge bin bags of rubbish down to the recycling depot plus a couple of antique mops and a very small vacuum cleaner I didn't know I had, and came away with a set of plastic bins six deep to put things like packets and tins and my growing collection of carrier bags. I sat down to lunch at 2:30 pm having started at 10:00 am. Then I took Losyn for a walk, a short walk. I am now going to make myself some dinner and go to bed, I am shattered but in a very good frame of mind. Exercise is good for mental happiness, long live Endorphins.
PS the reason I walked the wonder dog is that Beth takes her cousin,who doesn't drive, shopping while a home help stays with her 90 plus mother. It must have been a long trip today because Beth just phoned. She's going out for Chinese and do I want some. Dinner is dealt with.

Comments

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

I wonder if you could use 'hydraulic cement' on that hole. It's very strong and *ridiculously* fast-setting (don't mix more than you can apply in 3-5 minutes, depending on the temperature). You'd have to ask someone who knows about old stone- but I have a feeling that would work.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Yes i will have to print out the close up and take it with me to the place I used to use in Newport. They are very good with helpless women coming in and saying 'This what I want to do, what do I need.' They never let me down.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Here's a slightly useful article-- useful because it explains why strong cement is bad for stone walls, but slightly because their solution sounds complicated.
It sounds like a mixture of 6 parts sharp sand, 1 part lime and 3/4 part cement would do for a patch of less than 2 inches depth.

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/stories/Detailed/14299.shtml

[kalinda001.livejournal.com]

That does look like it will be a major job.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

I have this awful feeling that if I touch it the rest of the plaster is going to come off. But when you live in a house that is somewhere between 168 and 188 years old you get to expect this sort of thing happening.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

If you're going to try to fix it, the first thing to do is clear everything out on the assumption all the plaster will go. The next thing is to scrape at the plaster removing anything you can get off, because if *YOU* can get it off, it *WILL* fall off later, ruining the new patch and making you cry.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean, a half done job is a twice done job as we say here.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Yep, most of my brother's efforts wound up in that category.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Jesus. I have just seen it. Linda, you must have mistaken all this for a kind of an adrenalin sport! Congratulations on your endurance and endless optimism! Have a good rest, you deserve it!
And your new pic with the birds is wonderful!

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

They are cormerants and are regular visitors to Pen-y-fan Pond where I and Losyn are also regular visitors, It is a wonderful dog walking area if the weather has been dry, a mud bath if it has rained. Ten years ago I had a fitted kitchen put into a tiny room at the front of the house and the pantry was only needed to house the fridge freezer. I'm afraid I started using it for things I couldn't bring myself to throw away, I am a terrible hoarder.. As long as I could get to the fridge I didn't worry about the mess. Now I am being firm with myself and am throwing things away.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

There's always the alternative of a big box of something, just in front of it.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

If I can get the plastic box shelves under 2.5 ft tall I am going to buy enough of them to fit all across the gap under the stone hiding everything behind it and hopefully giving me enough storage space for the things that I will hoard.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You don't keep food in your pantry?

I love your new icon!

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Only in the fridge/freezer. I buy my veggies frozen as they are almost as good as the non-organic fresh veg, organic is still difficult to get nd extortionate in price when you can and I don't eat potatoes unless they come as chips so those are a treat when I go out for a meal. I keep a small store cupboard of tinned and dried stuff in the smallest wall cupboard in the kitchen. It is surprising how much of a difference there is is bulk when you are only supplying one person.
Thank you, those cormorants are so used to being photographed they've learned how to pose. It is a little unusual to find see birds on the top of a mountain but since they are only about 10 miles from salt water as the cormeorants fly(about 20 by road) it makes sense they would find somewhere where there are few to no natural predetors. How about this icon? Both are all my own work from photograph to icon.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Are those rocks?

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Nope a close up of somsort of wild mushroom. Their type is called bracket fungi in that they usually grow out from the side of rotting wood , no stems. But these were on the ground, there must have been a rotting log under all the leaf litter.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I remembered it was a close-up of something! Nice colours.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

They look like the wax cap fungi I found growing in my garden and used for my autumn icon. This site leads you to pictures of most of them.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

The stone shelf was the cold shelf where you kept the milk, butter and meat (bought for use that day).Or at least it was in the old house where I grew up.

Ps if you haven't binned the carrier bags a charity shop is usually a good place to "recycle" them. Unless your local supermarket offers this service of course.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

It was in my childhood too, but with all the meat hooks this house had(one in the pantry probably for hanging rabbits and other game, three in the kitchen, for smoked items, and one in the living room for heaven knows what) it was probably used for a butchering slab when the house was first built. The garden is big and I know my Grandmother kept chickens through and between both wars, it wouldn't surprise me if a pig had been kept at the end in less health conscious days.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Ah true, mine being a town house I think any meat was bought.