Back In Black

Well just a little sooty maybe . . .

Way back when, we had a feathered visitor to the wood burning stove, subsequently dealt with by stuffing the top of the chimney pot with chicken wire.  Then in March, we had something a bit more professional fitted as part of the chimney pot replacement.

Fast forward to today, and we noticed this little one fluttering about inside the stove.  It appears the mesh round the chimney pot isn't quite as effective as we'd hoped, and blue tits at least can still squeeze their way in . . .

Bird evacuation procedures were duly instigated (basically closing the door and all the curtains and opening the french windows wide to make the escape route obvious).  

However, on opening the stove door to freedom, our slightly sooty feathered friend, wasn't that quick on the uptake . . .

. . . he managed to spend a good few minutes exploring the curtain poles, light fittings, etc. before finally exiting the building.  But at least he didn't leave us any 'gifts' along the way . . .

Will have to keep a closer eye on the stove over the winter now - and maybe just get that cowl checked again to make sure there aren't any issues.

Chimney Potting

Today finally saw our somewhat leaky old chimney pot - with its jury-rigged attempts at bird entry deterrence (i.e. chicken wire shoved in the top of the pot), replaced with something a bit more professional, and hopefully more waterproof!

Before . . .  and After:

 

Posts that Didn't Happen - October 2022

October now - and autumn is with us . . .  

. . . giant scary spiders lurking about the house, leaves all over the lawn, and time to decommission the greenhouse and polytunnel, dig up potatoes, and chop more firewood.  

(We've been picking up pallets from my work and while some of the wood is destined for various projects, the less good stuff will add to the firewood stock.)

In other news, we had the chimney inspected and swept professionally - booking some maintenance work on the chimney pot (although that won't happen until next year now).  

We also both had flu jabs, and on one of the nicer weekends took a trip to Aberaeron, walking down to Llanerchaeron and engaging in some fungi-spotting:

Mid-October saw me off to visit family, with a horrifically wet motorway journey, the only saving grace of which was the news that Liz Truss had resigned after a week or so of saying she wasn't going anywhere!

Towards the end of the month there were sunny walks by the sea - where someone had decided to give the 'kicking' bar a crocheted coat!

I also caught my first cold since before the pandemic 😞

Finished October with some more floor cleaning (this time tackling the wooden floors), and hosting a Chinese takeaway for Halloween.

All Stoved Up!

Further to last week's post, we are now fully fitted with our new wood-burning stove.


The workmen arrived quite early and proceeded to get on with lining the chimney with the required flexible liner - here seen poking out of the top of the chimney pot.








This seemed to go relatively smoothly, although there was a little shouting down the chimney at one point . . .



The stove itself is a Harmony 23 multifuel model - we haven't lit it yet, as the sealant used needs 24 hours to 'cure', although it's dismal enough outside to merit it! If it stays wet and cool over the weekend, may fire it up then - it needs a good 'burn' to start with apparently, as the surface blacking may give off fumes when first heated through.



It looks good anyway, and hopefully will keep us nice and warm in due course!