Jenny and Norm have been busy shopping for materials for their house this week; Monday saw them down at the wood warehouse to decide what kind of wood to use for the roof and flooring so that it can be ordered. The quote came back from the Mala carpenters and it seems that Riga will cost €3,900 and Morena €5,100 for the doors and windows requested. Luckily Riga is the wood that they like but apparently the other will last 100 years if looked after. Tuesday they were down at the electrical warehouses with Allan choosing their switches and light fittings together with purchasing the remaining boxes and rolls of wire to finish the job. Mum spent the afternoon washing the drago tree with a special solution as it has cochineal beetle and it starting to look a little poorly. Milko had concocted a homemade remedy on Friday which had to be left for 3 days and then applied, this consisted of soap (which we didn’t have so he used lemon cleaning fluid) and the tobacco from two cigarettes, the solution was used to wash the leaves thoroughly and has to be reapplied in 3 days. Later in the week Mum did some picking on the walls in the camel sheds as work is starting on Monday 24th, they also went searching for the roof tiles but no luck so far.
We had a full weekend up at the camel sheds, we bought a new generator, water pump, wheel barrow, pick axes etc etc so there are now tools, electric and water in both areas of the property. Jenny and Norman gave up their Saturday morning to help chip off the old render from the walls. Mike and I worked non stop for the two days with a combination of digging down to the original cobbled floor and barrowing the earth and old cement roof to various recycling piles around the garden – we must have shifted two tonnes of dirt between us. Once the floor was cleared we got the ladders back in and chipped of most of the remaining render. The rooms being worked on first are our en-suite and Lucy’s bedroom – we want a door knocking through to our bedroom which is no mean feat as the walls are nearly a metre thick. The weather was cloudy with a howling wind so the dust kept getting whipped up and around the rooms we were working in, we both were grey and my hair was stuck out everywhere which caused much amusement when we took time out for a quick tapas lunch in Neya and a much needed beer.
In the garden we were astonished this week to find a couple of gorgeous poppies but different from the local ones, these are double and look almost like peonies. A few of the residents have looked at them and can’t remember them being a species known on the island, they have grown from earth dug out from the main house so maybe the seeds have lain dormant for a number of years. The vines that Jenny cleared recently have tiny grapes on them and we are hopeful of our first crop – apparently we need to dust them with sulphur when there will be a dew but not rain! The drago tree is looking better but still yellow, hopefully a second dowsing with the local brew should sort that out.
This week the stone team will work on the camel sheds and continue for the next 4-5 weeks whilst Jenny and Norm wait for the roof to be built and the remainder of their electrics to be wired in.