A friend I do miss

anybody reading my Blog knows how lucky I am to have someone like Chicco as a friend. I heard last week he had a bad fall, above where he planks tree trunks is a store area. Chicco fell of the second floor and as far as I know he has some serious injuries.

I do hope he makes a good recovery but at his age I don't think it will be a quick recovery.

Get well Chicco soon as you can.

We have running water as well

I have been asked often about getting various things, particularly by people with building experience they seem to think the UK is the only place to get most building materials. My comment to them is usually "We now have running water and Electricity "

Today while sat on my veranda having breakfast i saw the bin men come to empty our bin, OK nothing unusually there but not today.

Today after the bin men came the bin cleaners and as the picture shows the huge roller to clean the bin.
So yes Portugal is a civilised country.

Disappointing day not needed

Today was a very disappointing day. Since i moved into my house and found out that the Cherry tree on my land next to the font only had tiny Cherries i had a plan. Because one of the branches that i had cut of due to damage and it was eaten away from the inside i wanted the trunk.

On the land that the Cherry tree was growing there was a chance to plant somethings i wanted that would suit me better. For a start Walnut trees i have one in a big pot and it's doing very well. I decided to cut the Cherry tree down today and take the trunk to Chicco to have made into planks. Well that was the plan but not all plans work out the way you expect them to.

As the picture shows the tree trunk is eaten away from the inside or rather it's just grown that way.

Here is the trunk all cut up and of no use to me apart from firewood.
A sad end to a dream of what i may have been able to do with it.

Door done

I have already mentioned that i have finished the window frame after insulating the walls in my spare bedroom.

Now it's the door. I had help from Robin when i built a stud wall to take the new door. The door now slides into the new wall.  This meant that i had to make a new door frame so the pictures below so a little of what i had to do.

 This is two pieces of wood i had to make into one side of the door frame. This fitted over the excisting door frame and the door slides into the wall.














Now this is made up of three pieces to for the new door frame. Built over the old door frame that is hidden behind this new frame.

Here is my pride and joy the door and frame finished. I was lucky that Chicco had some darker Chestnut to make the corner feature and it really stands out.

Window done

I have been working on changing my spare bedroom. I started by insulating and plaster boarding the all the bedroom walls.

I had to panel all around the window so it was of to Chicco for loads of Chestnut. 

I got Chicco to make me five of these i don't know what they are called but armed with a picture Chicco was able to make just what i wanted.

Here you can see the window frame done including the molding for the top corners.
To finish my friends Mr Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner now have a home, if i have to glue them down so they don't run off on another adventure i will.







This window  looks ever bit as i had planned.

Normally at this time of year

At this time of year we would have had rain rain and more rain until the beginning of about May. this year we have had little rain and nowhere near enough but what can we do.
While having a cup of tea on the veranda i could hear Bees on my Orange and Lime trees so i went in to leave them alone. I later took some pictures of my various fruit trees and below is some pictures i took.

The grapevine already has small bunches of grapes, i don't know if the grapevine is a Shiraz or a Chardonnay and only time will tell.










This one is my Lime tree and has lots of blossoms so hopefully i may get some Limes. I use Limes in my cooking so here is hoping.












Here is the bigger of my two Orange trees. Lots of blossom and it looks like the Bees have been busy. I try not to disturb the Bees while they are busy.

Lithuania

I was taken to a timber yard a few days ago but i timber yard like none i have seen before. A timber yard in Liverpool where i used to go had a huge sign saying timber over 20ft was to order. The cost was at a premium for some reason i don't know.

This warehouse is well of the beaton track between a place not mush bigger than a village and a small town. 13m or 40ft in stock.
I asked the owner do they charge a premium for such long pieces of timber and he said if he did builder would just go to another timber yard.

The timber you see wrapped comes from Lithuania. They also stock as a stock item that you don't need to order is Mahogany, i never saw this in Liverpool it had to be ordered.








 

Here we can see is the board store. these are 2.7m X 1.85m much bigger that UK standard board sizes. What seemed unusual is that the supplier is licensed to deliver the oversize timbers.








So if you are going to move to sunny Portugal don't worry there supply chain is some respects is much better.

Still being different

Just because i am in a tiny village in the middle of Central Portugal doesn't mean i can't have a nice home. Looking at the grain you can see why i use Chestnut in all my work in my house.

This molding was made for me by Chicco. It fits in the door frame and window frame. It has to be varnished like all of the door and window frames.












This is the cutting machine that Chicco uses. When the wood is in position the round base moves and the cutter cuts the molding.











In the center goes the wood and you can see the cutter that was used.

A quest is now over

I have been coming to Portugal for almost 10 years and during that time i have wanted from when i move into retirement tropical fish. I had kept some quite difficult fish and managed to get them to breed. After asking questions on most of the Expat forums about tropical fish i never got an answer telling me that tropical fish could be found here.

I spoke to a few people i know at the last market if they knew of anywhere to get tropical fish. I heard from one that there is a shop in a place called Lousa. I asked a couple of more people who live in Lousa and yes i got an address. Today i went of and to my surprise i found the shop. The amount of fish was small and only about 12 tanks and a display tank but that's enough and the lady in the shop speaks English. Now i want a tank.

Due to reflections  this is about the best i could take with an Iphone 4.

Another window frame done.

I have to work around the availability of Chestnut timber from my local timber guy Chicco. Chicco has plenty of Chestnut but it's only just been cut and it can't be used for another two years.

He recently found a couple of pieces of Chestnut so i was able to get it cut for around my windows.
After this i am going to complete the windows in the bedroom i am working on.

Another Country reader welcome.

I started sometime ago to pay attention to the countries that someone has read my Blog from. Today i notice that someone in Turkmenistan has looked in to my Blog that now makes about a third of the countries on the Planet have at some time had someone reading my Blog.

So welcome to the latest into my family of readers from Turkmenistan.