Apparently yes. This isn’t a bizarre experiment to see what I can get my ladies to eat, we just had some left over last night after dinner. I have replaced a house full of contractors with a house full of family and friends, with numbers increasing as the weekend goes on, reaching its peak on Sunday when we have our annual summer BBQ. An event we started in Leeds, continued in London and have now located to Cumbria. It usually starts around 2pm and finishes approx. 12 hours later when nobody can stand anymore – literally.
In the meantime I am a little concerned about Beate (white chicken number 2). She is displaying some of the symptoms Hyacinth had, i.e. standing around listlessly and not eating much. I am keeping a close eye on her, but I may need to report back to the supplier if we lose another girl as I could have an epidemic on my hands…..
The renovations are progressing nicely. Peter the magician from Back from Black Beam Renovations completed his work and the beams in our house now look like aged oak. Goodbye dark brown gloss paint. Hello beautiful beams. I wanted to share some before and after pictures so you can see for yourself. The cost of the work was approx. £4000 including VAT which included the beams in 5 rooms, plus the stairs and landing. It took Peter 3.5 days, and he worked with me to get the colour finish I wanted. I am a very satisfied customer.
In addition to being a magician turns out Peter is also a sculptor and showed me photographs of some of the metal pieces he has made. I will share when he sends me them. Very talented. He explained that he often works with a weathering steel known under the trademark COR-TEN steel. This metal naturally weathers into a beautiful bright orange rust colour, which he then seals with a rust inhibitor called Owatrol oil to maintain the finish. I plan to finish my newly landscaped front garden with arched trellis between the raised beds, and love the rusty look so will be looking out for a blacksmith that can work with these materials. I’ll let you know how it pans out.
In the meantime please pray for Beate…..and the weather, a BBQ is a lot less fun in the rain.
