Three 8-Wheelers of Concrete for K-Dub

2 tiny goslings led out to the big outdoors. The orange dog's water
bowl is their safe "pond" and they love paddling in it.

No real new news of this smallholding for this post; we seem to have spent the week just chugging along, progressing all the old stories a little bit, so I'll keep this one fairly short and sweet as per my pact with you, the reader. If I have nothing to say, I will not say it!

Beeblebrox with her 7 in the kitchen garden. 

No news, though, is also good news - everything which was alive in the last post is still among those present. 2 goslings and all 19 baby chicks have somehow survived the slings and arrows so far. That is an achievement in itself - just keeping the babies alive is worth shouting about.

The purple loose strife is taller than me
this year by the pond there.

I got a chance, too, to carry on with the white lime-wash on the inside of that shed. Readers who have shared our story from the move to Ireland will know that we arrived with no knowledge of the 'recipe' for lime-wash and have since blagged various solutions from the Internet, from builders providers and from fellow sufferers.

Looking a bit 'ox-tail' this venison soup was superb. 

The main ingredient is always 'White Rhino' brand lime powder by the 25 kg sack. You make up a more or less runny 'paint' by adding water, plus we have tried in the past, quantities of white cement or table salt both of which allegedly help the lime to stick or fix.

That lovely stonework 'thing' at the end of our road. Story soon.

This year, painting the INSIDE of buildings for the first time we tried out a whole new recipe and think we have now whittled the various suggestions to a 'keeper'. This is pure 1:1 lime and water. No additional ingredients. One yogurt tub filled with water to one flat-top tub of the powder. Stir the powder into the water and leave 30 mins to react and thicken.

This gives you a gloop about as thick as single cream. It works really well with the old fashion 'slappy' lime-wash brushes. It is thick enough to not dribble off down the wall when you smear it onto the clean surfaces of stone, and 'slaps' beautifully off the bristles, penetrating deep into the dusty cracks and crevices when you administer a good splat with the side of the brush over the joint-crack. I know I have to re-point soon but this stuff gives a re-assuring impression of reduced thickness gaps, as if enough coats would see you with a solid white wall.

That 30' x 40' shed base at K-Dub's. 

Meanwhile the various harvests are also continuing. We are getting so many strawberries at the moment that we have ended up 'exporting' them. Liz took some to work (as was) today and we shipped some more over to K-Dub's place where young H (5) loves his soft fruit and this weekend coming, Liz will take another big Tupperware over to Sparks's gaff in Mullingar, where there is to be a family BBQ. We are also well fed at present on broad beans, calabrese and courgettes.

Grooved, non-skid concrete for K-Dub's dogs' new run.

But I said no news of "this" smallholding. We did have an exciting time half an hour's drive away in Sligo, finally pouring the concrete for K-Dub's huge shed/workshop base and a bit of a dog pen. This was another of his major projects involving 23 tonne of concrete arriving in three 8-wheeler lorries in quick succession, to be handled (raked, spread, tamped down, bull-floated and finally power-floated).

A few archery pictures just to fill out the text. 

The good news on this pour was that K-Dub had arranged for the first lorry to be equipped with the optional 11 metre horizontal conveyor belt which would mean the lorry could fire concrete right to the back corners of the pad with no need for weary-knee'd wheel barrow men to move it.

It all went according to plan for 2 lorries and we were 'flying'; the stuff was going down really well and everyone starting to relax. Tired but happy. Then a few flies hit the ointment. Lorry #3 turned out to be a re-use of #2 with the same driver, so he needed not only to go back to base to re-load (about an hour and a half round trip) but also to take his lunch (call that 2 hours then). We just had to wait while the 7/8 finished shed base got tamped and re-tamped, teased and primped into a superior degree of flatness and polish, till the last cubic yard or two turned up to finish the missing corner.

4 archers line up on this cameraman who is hiding behind the
horns of the ibex target. Obviously it was all under control and
no-one really 'drew' till I was safely out of the way. 

That was all good so far, but then the driver needed to move the lorry further down the 'site' so that his chute would reach the dog-pen slab for his final 4 cu-yards. At this point he lost the plot and reversed off the edge of the hard standing, bogging down his right rear axles and was not going anywhere till we had emptied him and the neighbour's big 4WD tractor had turned up with a tow-chain.

Those 4 arrows in a nice pattern in the kill zone are mine. I am
not sure what the other guy was playing at with his scatter of shot
in the eye, spine and front trotter. 

Bad news for those workers who had been enjoying the lack of barrowing. We had to stick barrows under the chute of the badly leaning concrete lorry while the driver dispensed the 4 cu-yds barrow-loads for us (about 20 barrows per yard). I hate that job. It kills my ankles and knees and assures me that I am, indeed 60 and not a young one any more. I managed to stay with the younger lads for 3/4 of that base but lost my balance on one really heavy full one and sat the last few dances out to get my breath. Never mind.

There are actually 2 arrows in full flight in this shot, in the
yellow oval, but I bet you can't see them in this print!

'We' got the job done and the lorry was dragged from it's temporary resting place in the soft, peaty soil. This at the 2nd attempt. In the first, the big 4WD tractor just spun its wheels on K-Dubs drive, not enough grip. The driver went home to load 44 concrete blocks into the tractor's link-box and came back with a bit more traction. K-Dub is delighted. He is also, he tells, me, skint. 23 yards of concrete sets you back €1,700 so he now needs to go back to work and earn some more for the concrete blocks, roof beams and cement etc for the shed itself.

Log-Rat #2 nailed. 

Meanwhile the lovely smooth shiny concrete pad is a great bike-playground for H(5) and the dogs have been given the "Heras" fence panels for their dog-run so they were out enjoying the hot sunshine when we rocked up with the strawberries today.

"A Tint of Whiskey"

Happy Easter. What a clever widdle
bunny wabbit is .Nugget'!

I come reeling home from the dog walk this afternoon. I have been shanghai'd by JD Bob who spotted me going past his house with the three dogs and called out to me to come in for a "cup of tay", dogs and all. This is a frequent occurrence and I love it; the dogs feel the same way because he usually plies them with fruit scone or fig roll despite my (admittedly rather light hearted) objections that he'll spoil them. We get the impression that Bob has not had a lot to do with dogs in his life but he is learning to love and trust our three and now likes to treat them and then to try a very quick and nervous pat on the head for each one.

The flowering cherry just starting.

Today, though, being Easter Sunday is one of those days days which Bob sees as a 'High day and Holiday', so he also reaches for the whiskey bottle hidden in the 'press' and announces, "I'm going to give you a tint of whiskey". He doesn't drink at all himself so this really is a special event and he promptly pours a socking great measure - a good inch deep. I know this will happen so I only ever accept when I have no more driving to do that day, as today. So, we sit and chat while I sip my whiskey and my tea and nibble on a couple of fig rolls. All very pleasant. Bob's actually just cooking his lunch, so I make sure I am good to go when that comes ready and we wish each other "Happy Easter and Good Luck now!" as is the local habit.

The main job today, though, is white washing the outbuildings as postponed from Good Friday. The weather has been as good as promised in the local 'Riabhach Days' lore (see earlier post). Once the 3rd of April was gone by, the nasty wind died away, the sun came out, the temperature shot up into the 14s and 15s and the bees have been out and flying all day and late into the evenings - well into my orchard dog-run sessions which are around 6 to 6:30 pm these days. The improvement happened at roughly dinner time yesterday, so we sat on it for the day knowing that if we waited till today everything would get a good chance to dry out. This morning we were all geared up.

Last time we white-washed these buildings (2013 see post at http://deefer-dawg.blogspot.ie/2013/04/white-rhino.html ) we were complete beginners and we were advised by our man at the local builders' providers, to use a mix of White Rhino hydrated lime and white cement. We have since been told we do not need the cement, so today we are trying out a new formula (again off the internet) which advises 9 parts water, 3 parts lime and 1 part salt. The lime is fairly noxious stuff and you need to take care not to breathe in any dust when mixing, and use eye protection all the time in case of splashes. There are plenty of those because this is very definitely a 'wash' not a paint. It is also very different from paint in that it goes on a translucent grey which just makes the wall look wet, and only changes to that bright, dusty, glaring white as it dries in the sun.

Starting to dry out here - you can still see the grey 'wet'
areas low down though.

It is all very traditional and we love doing it but we can see why most people now point up these stone walls and even render them with a smooth concrete finish, and then invest in Dulux's white 'Weathershield' masonry paint. Some of our walls are rendered and take a good coat, but others are very badly pointed and the bare stone sheds the wash badly. I am thinking that I may need to look into proper old-style lime-mortar and have a go at re-pointing these but I'd need a lot of it. The gaps between these rocks are not the neat little half inch slots of modern brickwork; some are more like 3 inches wide and deeper than 3 inches - some are actually holes right through the walls! The old lime mortar is supposed to be superior to modern cement in these situations as it lets the stonework 'breathe' and to move slightly with the frost, so that it is less likely to crack. I am sure friend Simon has had a go at this - I will have to go on a fact finding mission.

We chugged away for a long morning and got round all four walls of both buildings including me up the ladder doing the sloping "barge end gables"* and the vertical gable ends. The whitewash needs a half hour or so of 'setting' after you have mixed it, before you can paint it on (some say leave it overnight but then contradict themselves by saying that they have tried it without and it doesn't seem to make any difference). We work a system of using 5 buckets. When you run out, you mix a fresh bucket but put it at the back of the queue, and take the oldest mix from the front to use. That way all the mixes get a good half hour sitting.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon for some.

We've not done a bad job but we now wait rather anxiously while it dries and we can see any thin patches that might do with a second coat. It is, as I said, splashy stuff, but at least being completely without oil is washes easily out of your overalls and clothing. You apply it with a very 'flappy' ended Y-shaped brush and on the roughest bits of wall you are almost throwing or splatting the wash into the crevices by slapping your laden brush-end against the stone work. Very messy. Don't even think about putting down "dust sheets" to stop the splashes on the paths, they'd be soaked with whitewash in no time.

Having a rest.

Anyway, we were busy and the bees were at it hammer and tongs in the warm sunshine but everyone else seems to have gone for a lie down. I can see all 5 geese plonked down on the front lawn - not even the usual one head up, alert, keeping a look out. The sheep are all stretched out on the grass, the chickens all sleeping or dust bathing on a sunny bank. The rabbits are stretched out with their back legs behind them, presumably feeling the warm grass on their tums. I think I might just join them in their siestas. It is that kind of a day.

* I think that is the proper name - our outbuildings are in the old Irish style where the stonework goes up a bit above the corrugated roof sheeting and the tops of the walls are poured concrete into shuttering covering the thickness of the wall and the start of the sheeting.

One Swallow....

Not all presents are sensible; loved this mug and coaster!

The Birthday is done and dusted all over for another year. We now turn the corner into proper Summer type jobs starting with thoughts of the 2nd coat of whitewash on the barns. This job was (and is again) traditionally done over the Easter weekend which is 2 days away. Last year we developed a mix of white cement and the hydrated lime but we have since been told that we might not need the cement. We have a little of the White Rhino left over, so we must try a mix over the next day or so before we rush out and buy the materials for this task.

Lovely hand made card from Carolyn!

As if in celebration of these Summer-thoughts our swallow(s) are back - we saw the first one yesterday (15th April) zooming along parallel to the lane and later nipping about overhead while we sat by the pond taking a breather from that other perennial Summer task, weeding. I was in the veg plot pulling creeping buttercup, self sown rush, grass and nettles out from between my emerging raspberries. Liz was in the raised beds cleaning up around the perennials and in the kitchen garden where we also noticed the first little tips of emerging asparagus. These are very young plants and will probably only do us one portion for cooking before we need to rest them and let them build up the strength from photosynthesis in the fronds.

Confused looking sheep! Loved the bees.

We get a text from the Beekeeper Group advising us of another extra session in which 'The Exam' will be discussed and revised for and practical, hands on apiary sessions will be organised for those of us (11) in the class (of 23) who are so beginner-ish that we have never handled bees or cracked open a working hive. For us this is going to be very generously laid on by one of the ladies on the Committee at her home apiary down by the Royal Canal, weather permitting - you need warm days or there is a risk of any brood in frames you lift out getting chilled, especially if you are a bit slow and disorganised, as we will inevitably be.

Last night saw me torn between two masters - the Organic folk who do not approve of the use of chemical fertilisers and the desire to be a good neighbour and help a friend in need. I was helping to get some good old fashioned pelletized nitrogen/potassium spread onto John Deere Bob's pasture land. You would have laughed if you had seen us - a modern, efficient, lean, mean agricultural operation we were definitely NOT. Bob, bless him, is 70 now and was able to clamber up over the trailer tailboard but was only really helpful grabbing empty sacks to stop them blowing away. Mr McG had volunteered his enormous tractor and his fertilizer spreader which will take a tonne of the pellets, but his back is damaged at present and he is not able for the 50 kg sacks in which Bob had bought the stuff. So then there was me, already aching from the gardening, trying to manhandle the sacks sideways from pallet (on trailer) to the hopper rim, slit them open and aim the flow of fertilizer into the hopper. Not too hard when the top bags on the pallet were higher than the hopper rim, not so easy when we were working uphill.

'They' are not really meant to sell this stuff in 50 kg sacks, modern manual handling lifting limits are down on the 20-40 kg area. Mr McG no longer buys his fertilzer by the 'small' sack, but takes his tractor to the depot and gets them to hoist a 1 tonne bulk bag above his hopper with the forklift, where they slit the bottom and bingo! A tonne loaded without anyone having done any physical stuff. But Bobby is Bobby and he has always done it by the bag, so we sigh in a resigned way, cast our eyes to Heaven and get on with it. At least the spreading, once it's in the hopper is modern and efficient, Mr McG races off up the lane, swings in through one of Bob's field gates and has each 5 acre field done in what feels like about 10 minutes. In 30 minutes he is back for another tonne, the 2nd and thankfully final one. Home to a supper of Greek style rabbit casserole and a nip of my Birthday present Bushmills. Happy Birthday.

White Rhino.

Lime-washing the outbuildings; a job that Liz had been itching to do since we finished the house build but had been restrained by the weather and the knowledge that this is a job you traditionally do at Easter. Neither of us had any kind of exact idea of what 'lime wash' actually was, or how you bought it, although Liz had childhood memories of 'Daddy' mixing up buckets of water and powder so that they could paint the garden walls. Of course, the internet had as many versions of what to do as there were websites and our first shopping trip in spring to our faithful builders' merchant, Cooney's, gave us only the rather dim holiday-cover guy who had no idea.

Even 'Daddy' (understandably) let the side down by pleading that his memories of garden walls were 40 years old and that they now use a modern masonry paint like Dulux Weathershield. "Why couldn't we use that?" he asked. But we want to do the traditional job and limewash, we knew, as well as being a coat of white, has strong (caustic) cleaning properties against moss, ferns, creepy-crawlies, goes on nicely with the big-bristled slappy whitewash brushes and copes well with walls which are decent stone but very poorly pointed. The cement in the mixture also works as a 'PVA-style' stabilizer for the dusty joints. It is also way way cheaper than the amount of masonry paint you'd need for these buildings. You would do it every or every-other Easter and your buildings would improve with age. In theory.

Anyway, we wanted the fun of mixing, slapping and 'discovering' this old traditional way. Our barns were both bare concrete and stone and didn't look like they had been limed in 30 years.

So, back to Cooney's we went and this time found the useful guy (Kenny) behind the counter. "Ah!" says he knowledgeably, "You need White Rhino (brand) hydrated lime and white cement" and promptly added them to out order for the wooden laths for the poly-tunnel.

White cement is, as the name would suggest, cement powder with a whitening agent for use where you'd not want your mortar to be the normal grey cement colour. Hydrated lime is, chemically, Calcium di-Hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) or "slaked" lime and is made by 'slaking' (adding water to) Calcium Oxide (also known as 'quicklime' or just 'lime'. We were on our own - none of the websites seemed to know anything about cement mixtures, so Liz had a play with bucket-chemistry. We knew we wanted a mixture of a similar consistency to butter-milk and which would paint onto the walls 'fairly thin and milky looking' but would dry in the sun to that well known blinding white of trad Irish cottages.

We also knew that lime is nasty, irritant, corrosive stuff, so you need to wear gloves and, in our case mix your powder in that keen NE wind which would whip away any 'puffs' of dust before anyone had a chance to inhale them (or use a sensible mask if you are mixing in still air or indoors!). Eye protection is also advised, but that's another story. Old clothes or overalls are ideal. Our best mixture in the end was 5 litres of cold water in a yellow builder's bucket to which was added 2 'scoops' of lime and one of cement. The 'scoop' was a 1 kg yogurt tub so we guess about a litre of volume. That was stirred up with a bit of wood, and off we went.

We both worked at it all day and managed to complete all the way round both the Tígín and the 'milking shed' (now chicken house - goose house). It was not that professional a job and we both found the brushes very slappy. That was handy for firing a rain of wash into crevices and un-pointed bits, but did tend to mean plenty of paint splashed onto the ground, corrugated rooves, bits you hadn't meant to paint, window glass etc.

We were delighted overall with the results. It was a gorgeous blue-sky day and the new whiteness transformed the look of the place. White light is now bouncing around in the yard, kitchen garden and 'pottery' (gap between house and the 'Tíg' which will become a place for potted plants) and we look great as seen from the lane too. The white paint sets off the blue sky beautifully in photographs and I have had much admiring comment on Facebook and from passing locals. We particularly like some of the badly-pointed walls where the stones are now white and the gaps look extra-dark by contrast.

Rather usefully, the mixture, once dry, washes easily out of clothing and washed out of the brushes with plain water. It does tend to rub off on you if you brush against it but we guess that will get better as it ages. It still has not rained so we are both interested to see it all (hopefully) NOT washing away in the Roscommon rain. It also wiped easily off the windows where I had splashed it.

So, there you go, a vast improvement achieved in just 2 'person-days' and for a nice cheap total of just €41 including brushes, indeed, less than that for we did not use up all the lime or cement.