September has started and Judith has her cast removed

Judith had her support removed on the 22nd August, and was told she had a short window of opportunity to get her ankle moving. Unfortunately the physio at our local Dunoon hospital seemed to be under pressure due to holidays and staff shortages, which resulted in delays in seeing her. In fact they kept saying they would be in touch and eventually got back ten days after being told it was urgent and offered an appointment for the 12th September. 22 days into her 30 days window. Anyway, after a few heated phone calls, Judith saw someone on Tuesday 5th. Downside of not seeing anyone until then was that Judith had overworked her knee and was unable to put any weight on her leg. Hopefully the new exercises will assist Judith in exercising her ankle without putting pressure on her knee. We are keeping fingers crossed. But l am sure that we will be able to succeed in getting her back on her feet.
Presently managing her exercises with her assortment of rubber bands.

not Judith's legs by the way

I am still busy with the house, and it is really taking shape. The last seven days l have filled gabion baskets with nearly 100 tons of stone. I say l, but along with my young labourer who has been working along side of me since November last year, and been a great help. We have now back filled and are nearly level with the road. Although we still need extra topping to complete the job. The plasterer has nearly finished, he is back once we have boarded, floored and piped the bathrooms. The electrician is in to complete the second fit, although everything will grind to a halt at the end of this weekend as we head to Dover to empty Gwens house.

We had hoped to get out to France in October, but realistically l can't see it happening. Can't afford the time off if we want to get in by Christmas, although we will have some long weekends away to revitalise the body. It's also dependent on how Judith manages to walk and move around.

We are still hoping to get on the cruise, Judith is keeping an eye on the prices, although one wonders what will be left to see in the Caribbean after Hurricane Irma has done its worst. You have to feel for all the people left homeless. Perhaps the cruise line could get everyone on board to help rebuild the infrastructure. Although, you wouldn't do a lot during a 14 hour stop over. But we could all take something for a family. 


Have managed to paint the cathedral ceiling and odd areas in preparation for the electrician to fit sockets, lights and switches, along with the lounge wall for the two radiators.

As Jordan was working with Billy in the first week of September, l set about making up the stud walling for the garden room, facing it with OSB and topping it with heavy duty membrane.
Still not sure how we are going to clad it. We have three options
coloured concrete sheeting 
larch rain stop
or stone cladding
It looks likely that we will use a mixture of larch and stone, but we will test out the stone first. 

sole plate fixed to concrete edging

Virgil completes all the plastering with the exception of the bathrooms and the ground floor rooms.

Even the ground floor garden room has great views over the Clyde estury

Had to visit A&E twice in two weeks, the first was when the spirit level fell ff the stud whilst l was bent over checking for upright. Smashed into my head and opened it up. Blood everywhere, but they soon had it glued up and l was back to work withing an hour.

Tried to keep Judith in the dark, but she soon noticed the bloody jacket and shirt.

I had crushed my little finger between two of the boulders for the gabions. It had crushed the finger and burst it open. This healed up very quickly, but around the nail it started to fester and go septic. So after trying everything decided to go to A&E in Dover. They had one look, x-rayed it, only to find that it was broken and a small section of bone had chipped off. So they treated the septic finger and l have to go back today to have the finger checked out again and re dressed.

What a silly Billy.