Decorator and Electrician

The decorator is starting next week. We weren't expecting him until then so no real surprise. He had said the first week in April so we assumed the first full week. This will make such a huge difference as it is the last big thing that needs doing. It will mean that we can start to get straight again and dig things out from under mountains of boxes. And start using more than one very small room to live in again! It looks like the decorator is going to beat the carpenter, so the internal doors will arrive afterwards.

We've been talking about electricity and what we want to do about wiring. We had the local electrician come in to do some odds and ends. I have never seen anything quite so ugly. Not the electrician - the wiring. It didn't help that he used our old yukky plugs. The work that he did in the kitchen and bathrooms was fine - it was just the cables that he ran over the wall that were horrible. Where we had a double plug, he'd fitted it so it was vertical. Surprisingly, this worried me much more than it did Ian. It is normally the other way around. Ian pointed out that with surface mounted wires, double sockets etc are always vertical when they come down the wall. Which I grudgingly understand.

The wiring is only temporary as we need to decide what we are going to ultimately do. We need to undo all the wires on the wall so the decorator can paint underneath. We'll then either replace the existing wires with twisty wires which works out about 6 euro a meter, or we might look at running it through surface mounted tubing, which is very expensive - however Ian has had an idea about using plastic tubing and painting it with a metal-look paint.

See pics below for an idea of what our options are. The first one has twisty wires, the other two are wires through surface mounted tubes:

Freezer

Well, after buying our new chest freezer we are yet to switch it on. We need to put a plug into the garage barn, however we also need to get some food to fill it up with.

It will be a surprisingly expensive job filling the freezer as there is no such thing here as 'cheap' food. We won't be able to stock up, for instance, on loaves of cheap bread or even frozen chips or other bulk food. Although there are a lot of chest freezers for sale, people are likely to fill them with bits of left over pig as well as the surplus from their huertas (kitchen gardens). There is very little in the way of frozen food in the supermarkets with people preferring to buy food fresh.

Our plan, other than to fill it with asparagus, is to make things like lasagne, quiche, bakes and pies to split into portions and freeze. We'll buy a load of plastic containers from one of the bizarres to use in the freezer.

The chicks are doing well. We've used an ice tray to give them their water and food. It it ideal as they can't make too much of a mess. Chicks are surprisingly messy and given half a chance they will spread their food from one end of their box to the other. There is also a danger that they will fall asleep in their water and drown, so the ice cube tray is an ideal compromise. We had used a small chrome covered tray, which was shiny, however they got all in a tizz when they saw their reflections! Perhaps they didn't know they were silkies (a silkie chick is far from silkie).

Silkilicious

We went to the spring fare today in Zafra. And came back with five silkie chicks. I think they are about a week old, by the look of them, proper feathers are just coming through on their wings. They are living in a box in my workshop. They are under a heat lamp, which luckily we still had from when we had chicks before.

I hadn't considered getting chicks, I'd either thought that we'd get eggs or adults. Chicks are actually the best of both. We don't need to worry about hatching them, but we can hand rear them so that they will be tame.

Getting the heat lamp the right hight was a bit stressful. The heat lamp is supposed to go hang over one edge of the box so the chicks have a warm bit and a cool bit. When the lamp is in the right place they should settle about half way.

We were going to get Extremaduran Blues (Extremeña Azul) however the silkies seemed to win the day. The Spanish word for silkie is Sedarosa and the direct translation is silkilicious. I like that!



These are Silkies



These are Extremeña Azul

Asparagus Picking

We went out for a picnic and then went asparagus picking. Here is Ian showing off our haul - an all time record!

Deflated

Well, Ian and I are like deflated balloons at the moment.

It transpires that we are not super-ace asparagus pickers after all.

We've been picking quite a bit over the last week or so, and have had record hauls. Last year we were lucky to pick enough in one go for a meal, this year we've been picking enough for two meals - so well over double. This surely means, we thought, that we have it cracked and we are now part of the asparagus picking elite.

But no. It transpires that this is the best year that anyone remembers. We went out with Adelardo and while Ian and I had what we thought was a healthy haul, Adelardo managed to fill a plastic bag. We think it must be genetic as it does seem that the Spanish can conjure asparagus from pieces of undergrowth that we have just previously explored with a fine tooth comb to no avail.

We have a new recipe for asparagus too. It is Aparagos Guiso. The recie is two garlic cloves cooked in olive oil, when they are soft they are pounded with salt. This is added back to the saucepan with some cumin and the smoked paprika that this area is famous for. Some bread crumbs are then added with some water and then the aspargus goes in to cook for a few minutes. Wild asparagus is quite strong so it doesn't get overpowered by the seasoning. It worked really well and is now one of our new favorites!

Bread crumbs are used a lot in Spanish cooking. Many cakes and biscuits use a base of breadcrumbs, soups and stews are thickened with breadcrumbs and they are used in many other things. I guess it is a good filler and as bread forms an important part of the diet, it is a good way to use up old bread. The bakers often sell sacks of stale bread and this must keep families going for ages!

I'm currently trying to find out if there is a Spanish equivalent to Mrs Beeton as I'd love to find out more about traditional Spanish cooking. Or even if there is a Spanish 'Good Housekeeping' type book. I haven't had much luck so far - I know that families have their own closely guarded recipes, perhaps there was not much of a need for books...?

Our New Kitchen

Bet you weren't expecting that...!

Old Photos of the Village

I mentioned that we knew of the person who is going to decorate the house and that he was the one who had posted videos of the village on YouTube. He has uploaded a slideshow of old photos. We'll try and get a copy of the images from him.

Lucky Escape

Well, we had a narrow escape from disaster - well perhaps not disaster, but certainly an escape from flooding.

If you look at the back of the house now it is finished, you will see that not only are there two pipes from the stoves - that we were expecting - there is also a downpipe coming down from the new guttering into our drain, which we weren't expecting.

We were expecting that the water would just shoot off as it had before, into the neigbours yard and into the street - and not into our yard. Unfortunately, this is now illegal and new guttering can't just dump water into the street (although judging by the number of gutters that do shoot straight into the street, I don't think this is a law that is strictly applied).

Well, our narrow escape came because if we had not had the new drain put under the house, we would have def. flooded every time it rained. The old drain was silted up and would not have coped with this amount of water, as although the old guttering was in poor condition, it did send at least some water out of our yard. This was particularly lucky as the new drain was not something that we knew we needed - it was only when Manuel noticed that the walls were not drying as quickly as they should that he realized that there was a problem. So, had we not had the new drain, but had the new downpipe, we would have faced continual flooding and dampness, and not realized the cause.

Did I Mention Our New Light...?

Or how the small stove looks in our soon-to-be new bedroom (it looks tiny because it is dwarfed by the windows)....

Like Moles

Like moles we have come squinting out of the darkness of out living space and squinting out into the bright sunlight. Since the builders have finished we've had a lot more freedom about where we can sit without getting in the way. We were basically living in our old dressing room and Ian's old office - as you can see above. As we had blocked off the door to the dressing room with wardrobes, we had no light other than one very poor wall light, so it was gloomy regardless of whether it was day or night. Our house is dark anyway - which is why it stays cool, but the middle of the house is very cave like!

Now we can sit in the living room and gaze into sunshine. Although the windows are not in yet (this isn't as drastic as it sounds, they simply need 'hooking' onto the fittings. We could do it, but as they are heavy - we'd rather the carpenter did it in case of accidents) it is warm enough to sit in this room now for until mid evening.

And of course, now the weather is getting better we are realizing the things that we forgot - to get an outdoor socket put in, for instance. I'm not too worried, if we had the work done during the summer we'd probably find we'd forgotten some winter-type things.

We've also been taking advantage of the weather to go asparagus picking. We've had a record few days with Sunday seeing us with our all time best haul. We've found our own 'secret' spot which has been consistently good. We're going to try somewhere else later - let's hope we're not disappointed!

Front Door

This is our new door frame. We are keeping the old door, but the old frame was completely rotten, so this is the new one going in. I'm not entirely sure why there is a duvet hanging outside.

Front of House

Pics of the front of the house. See a Tibs supervising the work in pic 2. The first pic shows how Manuel shaped the plaster around the windows.

Pictures

Here's some more pictures of the house. These are pics of the back of the house when this was being done. Antonio got sunstroke when he was working at the top of this scaffolding as he was in the sun all the day - when he was at the front they were in shade! You will also see from these pics why it was so awful when we had the really bad weather - the plastic sheeting kept billowing up and the scaffolding was rocking!

Fire

We lit our stove! Admittedly, the fact that the windows were not in diminished some of the effect, but it certainly worked AND was still going this morning! We wanted to check that the pipes outside worked OK and they did.

Yes, that is a wheel barrow in the right of the pic, and yes, we are using our outdoor loungers!

We're All Alone

Well, after just over 5 months we said goodbye to the builders this morning. I think I was the only one that was sad. Unfortunately I got the word for 'sad' and 'joke' muddled up, so the builders have disappeared with the words "I'm a little joke" ringing in their ears.

It will seem strange having the run of the house again - and not having to worry about waking up and finding builders already at work. The animals will appreciate not being locked up all day too!

The house still looks a mess, however, with boxes and furniture piled in the middle of rooms. The internal doors haven't been fitted yet. The carpenters want to do this after the painting has been done. In case the painters get paint on their lovely new doors. The painter, however, wants the doors in first, in case the carpenter damages his lovely paintwork. We asked Manuel, and he said just to let who ever gets here first get their work done. He felt that they both had a point - which was a bit of nifty fence sitting!

We paid our final bill and it was not any more than we expected - in fact a little less as he gave us some 'presents'. He paid for the electricity in the two new bathrooms, the marble surround around the sink in bathroom two, the brick base that he made for the stove and also put a concrete base under the gate at the back to dog proof it and reset the gate so that it shuts properly.

In the five and a bit months, they only didn't work the days that I mentioned because of sun stroke and then the bad weather, they worked most Saturdays and we didn't make them one cup of tea or coffee (and yes, we did offer but they always said no). They worked 'Spanish hours' which meant starting at 8 and working through to Breakfast at 11 for 20 minutes and then they worked through to anywhere between 3.30 and 4.30. Originally they had stopped in the afternoon and had come back at 5, but we much preferred them working right the way through and finishing late afternoon. (of course, when I say 'afternoon' I actually mean 'siesta' as afternoon doesn't start until 5 and ends when the sun goes down).

So, we've a couple of weeks before the painter starts. I can't make up my mind whether I want him to start now or if I am glad we have a couple of weeks 'respite'. There's no real point in trying to get straight as we'll only have to move it all again when the painter starts, so we'll probably stay as we are. It does mean that we can really start planning the kitchen (we've had a couple of false starts - a Gaudi inspired kitchen, followed by a kitchen inspired by the Notre Dam - we're now going for a less flamboyant kitchen - not a curved unit or turret in sight), and it would be good if we were able to have this done by the time the painter started.

Typically, now they have finished the back of the house, they have put in the pipes for the stoves and we can also have the back windows refitted - just as the weather has turned glorious! I think we might see if we can get a few logs though and try out one of the stoves.

I've been thinking that what we really need (besides a cuckoo clock - which I really want and Ian really doesn't want - watch this space) is a wall candle holder to go outside the new bedroom window. Ian has pointed out, however, that this conflicts with one of my other need pronouncements which is gently wafting cotton curtains. He feels that lying in bed watching curtain pyrotechnics isn't what he really needs. He has no romance....

Not a Lot to Report

Well, there's not too much to report on the house front. For the first time since the building work has been going on, Manuel has not been able to work. In fact, he lost two days the week before. Let's start at the beginning....

Just as I was coming down with the lurgy, the weather picked up and it was glorious. This co-incided with the builders finishing the front of the house. They put the scaffolding up at the back - and the weather was so glorious that Antonio got heat stroke and was unable to work for two days! He came back on the Friday and they worked over the weekend - however they were then unable to work for three days the following week because of the wind and rain. It was coming straight into the back of the house and washing the plaster off as quick as it went on. The wind was truly awful - make worse by the fact that we could hear the scaffolding creaking and the plastic sheeting kept billowing up. They came round every morning, but went straight home again as it would have been impossible to work. The weather is the talk of the village at the moment - with noone remembering a spell like it.

Come Thursday the weather picked up and since then it has been lovely. But the soil is so wet that there are standing puddles in some of the olive groves - which shouldn't be there. I was glad that if I was going to be ill, I picked the time when the weather was bad. Although worryingly, Ian has been feeling queezy over the last day or so.

We've had a quote for the painting which we are happy about. We've not yet confirmed exactly what we want, but we know the ball park. He's going to look at repairing the cracks in the ceiling, but only if he can do it relatively invisibly. We actually know the painter - well know of him. He is the person who took the videos of the village which we posted links to here. Apparently he can start the end of March / beginning of April - so the end is in sight....