Changing Rooms And Next Level O.C.D

With the weeks flying by and the first guests imminent, small touches here and there were needed to finish off the observatory's accommodation.

Window scrapping

Snazzy new curtains, getting all Laurence Llewelyn Bowen up in this place.

Cushion arranging

Red or white.....???

White it is

Phew this is hard work time for a glass of wine.......

Ikea style pot arrangement.

And tea spoon arranging.................wow wow hang on a minute, tea spoon arrangement? Seriously Steve...? Anality taken to new heights.

Hours later, the final product, TA-DAR.

And some changing room style before and afters.......

Before

After

Before

After

More Work, Curry And The Wobbly Tooth

With the weather being so nice we decided to bin the marigolds and turn our attention to some outdoor jobs. A bit of path maintenance with Patrick, Ben and I.

Pay no attention to the "broke back mountain" style footwear (THESE ARE NOT MY BOOTS I SWEAR)

Im sure i'v seen this in a horror movie...............

After another hard days work we were treated to an amazing curry courtesy of Dianne and Steve (beats SPAM any day)

With work out the way and bellies full of curry we turned our sights to Connor's wobbly tooth for our evenings entertainment. Too lazy to wait for it to just fall out we opted for the "tooth tied to a small remote control helicopter via dental floss method" to extract the pesky thing..............it didn't work but it was worth a try.

Back To The Shop!!

Walls done, now for the ceiling.

But how on earth are we going to reach the top ones hummmmmmmmm....................'Icky' Steve to the rescue. With a bit of ingenuity from bardsey's own "spiderman" Patrick and I were harnessed up and ready to tackle the everest of cleaning jobs.....the shop ceiling.

Work done.............now Connor's turn.

Busy as we are though we still managed to fit in the occasional water fight, emma lost in style.

When I'm Cleaning Windows #2

At the start of each season, before the visitors arrive, everything needs to be spruced up. This is spring cleaning on an industrial scale. We clean the carpets, the walls and even the loo buckets get a bit of TLC. Painted Silver each spring with metallic plastic spry paint, it makes them look clean and fresh.

Between applying thin coats of silver spray to the buckets, it was time to clean and paint the window in the south double room, but wait, is that a little bit of rotten timber at the bottom?

 Mmmmm....what is that paint hiding  I wonder?

 Mostly powdered timber, not much good as a window any more.

 Clean out the rotten stuff

 .......more 2" x 1" and plastic wood filler

 ......painters mate and primer

 ......Undercoat

....and finally the gloss. 
You would never know we were there!

Another great success from Bodgeit and Scarper Joiners Ltd

The cavalry arrive

Not  daft enough to come over to the island on April-fools Day, Dianne Charles and her son Patrick arrived on 2nd April along with 'Icky' Steve Hinde (famed for his ability to pull Icterine Warblers out of thin air on grey rainy days at any time of the year!).

Steve was here for his second full season as Assistant Warden, having done two part years assisting with the Manx Shearwater Census of 2009/10. Dianne has been BBFO treasure since nineteen eighty something......well quite some time now! As we were short staffed at the start of the season, Dianne offered her services as a Cleaner, Cook and general helper and even brought along some enthusiastic 'muscle' in the form of Patrick.

Dianne begins by cleaning the cleaning cupboard!

The under-stair 'cleaning cupboard' - being cleaned

 The contents of the cleaning cupboard

 New drawers for the cleaning cupboard

RAIN!

We knew it could not last for ever! Eventually the blue skies of the past month were covered by thick rain clouds today. Not that we are complaining of course. However, when it did begin to rain...it RAINED,. and it rained and it rained. The gutters along the out buildings were overflowing and...well watch this short video clip to see

Whilst all this was going on down at the Obs, Steve was straight back into his overalls and up the hill attempting to sort a small fuel leak we'd had had on the main generator since Christmas.

 The Cylinder head had to be removed (note the mallet at the bottom, the fail safe 'hit it with a hammer' fixing technique).

 its a dirty job, but some-one has to do it!

Grease and Gloves

Getting there.....

As time moves on rapidly, the amount of work getting done increases. We are about to say goodbye and a big lot of thanks to Ian who has to go back home. 

But we have still loads of stuff to do and time really is flying.

  the landing on the north side looks like a work bench!

Gallons of paint has been applied to the walls and look...the cow has gone!

NWOD gets covered, but will it last?

 the dining room walls gets a coat of eggshell and the tables and chairs get oiled

and bedrooms readied for the next incoming set of volunteers

The tool shed.....

As Mrs Chaffinch keeps her eggs warm, Mike begins to dream of the good old days ten years ago, when he, along with Julia Davies, BBFO's AW in 2003/04, thoroughly cleaned out the tool shed. Having canvassed opinion from Ben and Emma the work on the 'once-in-a-decade clear out' began.

"Do we do just quick tidy up, or a proper job?"

 The work-bench - a wee bit messy

 timber!

pipes n stuff

So to begin with.... move it all out side

bit by bit

sort it into piles....

Then put it all away neat and tidy... C'est voilà!

 Tidy timber

 Neatly stacked

Pipes out of the way

Day Off!

After several weeks of graft we decided we needed a day off. Ian had left, Mike and Mark were still with us and Steve Hinde and our Hon Treasurer Dianne Charles are due on tomorrow.

We decided to have a stroll over the mountain to make sure it is still there. The weather has been fantastic over the past few weeks. It has enabled us to get on with both indoor and outdor works. Paint has been drying rapidly in the warmth, and we have even been able to give some areas two coats in a day.

 Pwll Cain and Carreg Fawr

Last summer was the driest I have ever known in 14 years on the island. Not only did the streams dry out, the well at Cristin had woodlice running around the sandy bottom in the autumn, and Pwll Cain (the pool by Carreg) was a baked mud-flat! I even managed to have a site meeting in July with Gareth Roberts, CCW and the RSPB standing on the dry 'lake-bed', hard to believe as it is now under 4 feet of water! The dry summer did have its advantages though. It meant that after years of hoping the we could dig out the ever diminishing pond, a JCB digger was able to get in there and dig out all the years of silt, build up some of the weakened earth banks and make the pond a little bigger. Eventually in November it began to rain and the pond began to fill. Thanks to the work that the RSPB, Gareth Roberts and Steve Porter put into the wetland we now have a superb pond/flood in the centre of the island. Just a shame no-one has told the Gargany about our efforts!

 Our first view of the mainland for about a month

The south end in the afternoon sun, several weeks of beautiful weather - but...we could be running short of water by mid-summer if it continues!