"The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong" Carl Jung

Sounds a bit highfalutin for a blog quote but the pendulum of my mind alternates between Eigg and my current home at Hill of Fechel in Aberdeenshire. The reality is I have to divide my labours between the two. So, with this in mind, during the first part of February I built this

and with the help of a friend from Nottinghamshire assembled this

Then it was off to Eigg and what a wondrous journey it was. The Road to the Isles was magnificent. 

and the view from The Manse was, as ever, beautiful; with snow on the hills on the mainland

Next day, while Owain and I scratched our heads over fitting a window which I had measured wrongly

Joe covered the water pipe which had frozen overnight

It was real brass monkeys weather so, once we'd finished, the only thing to do was to have a dram or three in the warmest room in the house

So now the downstairs windows are all replaced and the house is wind and waterproof and starting to look much less like an abandoned wreck

Next day Joe and I plasterboarded, taped and filled the room next to the bathroom

Then, after an all to brief a visit, it was time to head back to Aberdeenshire. It was hard to leave in such beautiful weather

and the views back down the Road to the Isles were jaw dropping

Next time will be a longer break with Do

"Tomorrow morning, when the sun shines through your window, choose to make it a happy day" Lynda Resnick

Every day is a good day - that's how I try and look at life. Sometimes it's a bit of a struggle, but on Eigg - with sunrise looking like this - it couldn't be easier.

After a prolonged period of grey, the clouds disappeared, the wind dropped and it was all systems go again.

The house stood up pretty well to the winter storms but a leak in the roof I thought I had fixed reappeared in the bedroom. So it was out with the ladders and off with the cladding around one of the new windows.

I replaced the lead sheeting (top left) which should hopefully solve the problem. Then it was onto the second new door and two new windows.

The door was, like the windows so far, a perfect fit. Not too sure about the brass draught strip though and definitely confounded by the choice of a white weather seal! (Replacement black one sent immediately from the manufacturers)

On close inspection, I decided it might be better if the lintels above the snug window were replaced

4 inch square section pressure treated fence posts are ideal for this job

With the floor joist reinforced, it was a straightforward job to fit the new sash window

and then on to the first of the two new kitchen windows. First, out with the old rotten one

and in with the new

so together...

and, including the new double window in the dining room,

the downstairs is beginning to get sorted. Next visit will be to fit the second kitchen window and measure up for the two windows in the porch.

Weather permitting, my next trip will be later this month. 

Three wheels on my waggon, and I'm still rolling along

Almost losing the wheel to live! I parted company with one of the back wheels on a dark Saturday morning near Spean Bridge. Fortunately it was a mere -10 and I only had to wait  two and a half hours before a nice man in a warm lorry took me back to Aberdeen. Sunday was spent searching the UK for a replacement vehicle and Monday was a one way ticket to Wakefield where I test drove and bought Beast number 5.

This meant an abbreviated trip to the Manse and a concentrated couple of days working on the guest bedroom next to the bathroom. It's amazing though what a difference it makes to have someone else to work with; not only to the amount that gets done but also how much better the craic is. Cheers Owain.

 I measured, Owain cut and we made quick work of framing and insulating the two outside walls.

After what happened with the hearth in the bathroom, I thought it was a good idea to remove the concrete from in front of the fireplace and replace with new boards

After Owain had gone home I fitted the socket boxes and started to put the cables in place. 

 The next day we connected the sockets and fitted the front plates.

If all goes to plan the I'm taking some plasterboard over to finish the walls and then it won't be far from being ready to decorate.

Two men looked through prison bars, one saw mud the other stars

At this, the darkest time of the year, pictures of the Manse are dark, grey and foreboding. The white render has lost some of its crispness and - to be honest - it all looks a bit grim. So here are some brighter, whiter, clearer pictures of how it was and will be. 

 

 

 

The forecast looks bad for getting on and off the island during the Christmas period but my next trip will be around the middle of January. Here's hoping it's calmer then. Season's greetings to anyone who happens to see this.

 

Are you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling? M. C. Escher

We visited a nearby retail outlet in Aberdeenshire where they had used sarking for the ceiling, skirting board and architrave and than painted it all with some trendy Neptune paint. With this in mind, the next job was to refurbish the bedroom next to the bathroom. From above, this is what it looked like when we bought the place.

This was the repair

  

and then we started to put up the sarking

and insulation

and electrics

and there it was done 

"Nothing is better than waking up in the morning and being excited to go into work" Caprice Bourret

One of the positives of the winter gales on Eigg is that you sometimes get stranded. Well, two cancelled crossings meant I got to work 4 extra days on the project, which is looking and feeling increasingly more like home.

After measuring what seemed like a hundred times, I  finally felt confident enough to order two sash windows and two doors from Blairs. With the help of my new aquaintance, friend and Man Friday - Owain, I repaired the beam above where the new windows were going.

There were feelings of relief and pride when we offered up the windows and they were, to all intents and purposes, a  perfect fit;

while inside, with the original surround replaced, I think they look quite impressive.

Next we set about fitting the new back door. This again turned out to be "made to measure" and slotted in after a few minor adjustments to the seat for the frame.