Hiding the Brickwork.

With the doorway bricked up its time to render to hole to make it all neat. I am not that good at rendering, I never seem to get it level or smooth but this time it seems to have gone well.

I used two coats, the first the standard sand and cement mortar (I would like to point out at this time, that the standard building sand on the canaries is black and made from crushed volcanic rock. So it is not very fine). The top coat was Morsec (premixed dry morter, tha comes in 25 kg bags. it comes in two types, that I know of, normal and white top coat. I like using the white one). This works very well in thin coats. The result on the door opening is shown below.

Now the wall can be painted.

I think the final result was quit good.

With the last of the Morsec, I finished off the roofs of the solar power huts. That is all the structural work done on the huts now finally the walls can be painted.

Back of the huts, showing added white Morsec.

Front of huts.

P.p.p.p.Pick a Pepper.

We don’t always have a lot of luck with our produce, this year the cucumbers haven’t done very well and the tomatoes are OK but we could do with more and the lettuces we either have to many at once and they go to seed or we don’t have anything but tiny titchy ones which are no good to eat. But as usual the pepper plants have been outstanding.

Here is one load that are about to be processed ready  for the freezer where they will keep for use in curries and stir fry's all winter long.

Bye bye Door way, Hello oven

The last week we have been busy blocking up one of the door ways in to the old kitchen. Part of this is to strengthen the wall and to provide a eye level oven unit, though it may be a while before the oven will be fitted (although we have had it for a year or so. ) See the potos below for all the work.

First day: Get the base done with the power feed for the oven.

Inside

outside.

Day two:  Build the oven unit up to the first level, this is ware the oven will sit. Below it will a set of veg racks. Work progresses, now we wait for the cement to set.

Day three: Build the next level, this is where the oven will go.

View from inside.

Outside.

Day four:  First job today is to remove the old door lintel, as this is made of wood, and close up the hole. on the inside the back of the top cupboard was added, this is not as deep as the rest of the unit to allow air to vent from the oven unit.

Top cupboard of oven unit.

The final closure of the old doorway.

Day five: finish the oven unit by extending it up to the ceiling.

The finished top cupboard.

The finished oven unit.

Meeeeep Meeeeep The arrival of Meep

We have noticed the last few weeks a new arrival in our neighbourhood. Living in our wood pile and eating the stale cat food that Tabby would refuse to eat is a tiny little white kitten. We think that she(We think its a she) has been abandoned by somebody and just happened to find the food the we would throw on the compost heap, she was very thing and wobbly when she first arrived but not she looks a little stronger. Over the weeks she would come closer and closer to us. So we started to put some food and water out for her and who knows maybe one day she will allow us to pick her up. We have named her meep after the noise she makes…..meeep.

Let There Be Power

After a months on and off work the new solar power system is finished. Below you can see the power control hut with the change controller and isolation boxes. The main battery Isolation box is open showing the wiring to the fuses, isolators and current monitors.

Solar power Hut

The Current monitors are home made units based on a signal chip current measurement ic ( ACS754SCB-100-PFF ) . One of the units are shown below. It consists of the IC mounted on a peace of veroboard with the line contacts solders into two connecters that I removed from some fuse holders that we brought by mistake. (As normal on this island you can buy a car audio fuse holder that no one sells fuses for). All of this is mounted on a home made Perspex mounting panel.

Home made current monitor unit.

The last thing that we  done is mount the current solar panels on our adjustable panel mounts and connected them to the power hut. Panels mounted on adjustable mounts