Trip for 2.....& not me!

Jim is heading back to the house in a couple of weeks to buy light fittings and panel heaters. He's taking his dad, John, out with him this time to share some of our excitement. 

We gave John a comprehensive list of Things To Buy, because It Will Be Cold. So we've had nightly FaceTime calls to check out his salopettes and snow boots - which he is wearing as slippers as they keep his feet warm!  

Safe to say, he's excited about the trip.

 

Ich ee argh

Are you an eye key argh or an ich ee argh? (Ich being the German ick). 

Let's put it this way, are you a scone or a scon,  a tomato or a toe mate oh ......no let's not go there....either way they all taste same, or in the case of Trondheim ikea, you still spend a fortune and have to navigate the entire store to get out......on the plus side the meat balls seem to taste better.....less equine then the UK version 😉 .......and in case you're wondering ....the hot dogs are just as good 😋. 

God Jul & Godt Nyttår

....that's all 😄 x

 Jim, Kath Maisie og Ned

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....

One of our kind friends and neighbours in Norway sent us a lovely email today wishing us a Merry Christmas along with some photo's of the recent snowfall.

It's all about the base.......

So today ( now yesterday) I spent my lunchtime talking alpacas, but more importantly talking foundations with the regions premier structural engineer (and alpaca buff) Mr B.

For those who have been following progress ( and thank you for hanging in there so far) you'll know that the house is totally off grid at present, but it also has a few structural issues! 

Now, I guess one of the luxuries of being an architect when looking at old buildings is that you can see the potential and know that anything is possible and/or repairable, however, the downside is that architects are known for being rubbish with money and budgets ..so enthusiam has to be curbed by the bank balance! 

When we first visited the house back in July there where quite a few visible structural defects, like open cracks in the basement wall that you could see daylight through, and piles of stones on the floor  where the dry stone walling foundations  had just fallen away, but when I looked further under the structural framing i also found bits of joist that had just turned to powder! Now I'm no beetle expert, (nb although I do have a collection of some rare 7" from the Fab Four handed down from my late mum)  but these definatly weren't holes from woodworm, (or Liverpudlians (sp?) )but given it was only the joist ends that had been nibbled it was likely to be death watch Beetle. These critters are so named because of their late night penchant for nibbling damp ends of oak beams in church structures and you hear them munching at night time.   Now these bad boys like to bury deep inside the timber and nibble on the heartwood, and over a period of years turning it to dust whilst the outside remains in tact, save a few entry and after time exit holes.  So these needed some work! I drilled a couple of core samples in the basement to make sure the whole house wasn't supported on dust and it seemed that inside we were ok!

Also the drystone plinth which is almost 2 metres wide in places, had been subjected to some good old freeze thaw action causing the stones to come loose, move, and in the case of big barn go on holiday by looks of things.  

Luckily for me Mr b practically agreed with my diagnosis and offered some, as usual, practical advice and design guidance including 'it's better not to let it fall down'...... (Sorry Mr b taken out of context for a cheap laugh).

So Megan Trainor is quite right in her words of wisdom (ask your kids if youre radio 4 listener) and yes it is all about the bass / base.........

Ine and Hasse

Kath and I often get asked "how our norwegian is?" to which I would always love to reply in some great Norwegian phrase, but sadly my current spoken vocabulary is pretty limited to general conversation set pieces, or asking for food! Of course with the aid of google translate you can pretty much pull off most email conversations (as proven by managing to purchase the house!) but i have  had few woeful moments,  the worst of which was telling Arvid (the lovely man we bought the house from) that i was arriving in the morning (i morgen) at 10.30 which meant tomorrow at 10.30, when I actually meant in the morning at 10.30, but in about 4 weeks time.  Luckily we cleared that mishap up before he left home and embarked on 7 hour drive........oops.

We've got the obligatory Berlitz guides and i even found an 1970's guide called Instant Norwegian!(which was probably one of my better late night ebay purchases) and we've been following the NTNU free online course which is pretty good (but currently on hold due to never having enough time.......note to self,  create a free evening)

The best thing by far though are children's books! Not only can i usually understand them, but i can also read them to Ned and Maisie at bed time so no extra time required. To date we've tackled Krokodille Knut (aimed at very early years........so perfect for me) where I've learnt that when it's windy you fly a kite, and when its sunny you go to the beach :) and by far my favourite is Poka og Mina - Morgenstund which is a great story aimed at slightly older children.......say 4-5 ;) and about a a very sleepy dad and his daughter who tries to wake him up and then promptly nods off when dad is awake and they go out (sound familiar?)   The kids however have been truly represented (literally) in a lovely book called 'Gi Gass Ine'. ( which i think means 'give it some welly Ine! as in go faster!)

It's a beautifully illustrated book, where the story of a little girl called Ine and her younger brother Hasse, is told with amazing collages and is basically Ned and Maisie! The little girl is quite determined to cut down a tree and the young boy is obsessed by tractors. On their journey to the woods they meet a huge array of woodland animals and eventually a big tractor arrives to take them, their newly cut tree and the animals home - beautiful :)  Now if only I could find someone with a tractor who maybe lives in the farm next to ours........hmmmm if only...............

......and what of my witty come backs......well for now I can at least quote that famous crocodile when asked what have i got (Hva had du der).........mange glefsende tenner!

.....many snapping teeth :)

Warmth.....

I've often been at the receiving end of many a pisstake about my rubbish log burning skills ( you know who you are!) so you can imagine my sheer joy when on the first day when I lit the log burner when Maisie and I arrived at the house, that not only did I get it going with 1 match, but also without the aid of fire lighters, unlike one of my Norwegian neighbours we met today who happily tossed in a fire lighter pouch ( in fairness if I'd had one to hand I probably would have done the same thing ;) ) . 

So this happiness was only heightened about 30 minutes later when Maisie said the fire was making a strange whistling noise?! .....you mean I actually managed to get it hot enough to boil a kettle on top!! Indeed I did! 

In the house we have a log burner in every room, ranging from the utilitarian  jotul stove (the first lit!) through to some absolutely beautiful ornate stacked flue burners. 

I also found an old stove in the barn and 3 more stored in the basement so that makes a total of 10 wood burners! At least we will never get cold! ( provided I can get enough wood to feed them) 

The most ornate wood burner was located in the shoe making workshop which we are due to turn into 2 bedrooms, so we had to move it, which on turn meant dismantling it.....eek. Well I carefully prised the top section apart to not only discover 150 year old soot ( lots and lots of soot) but also the every section was made up of individual   pieces......help.....I think is what I cried as it started to collapse before my eyes, my well practised plan of numbering all the parts to remember where they went a long past ideal by this point. Suddenly, child hood memories of dismantling things like old clocks, watches and valve radios as a kid came flashing back as did the memory that I never actually managed to get any of them back together! Suffice to say, said wood burner is neatly stacked and was luckily photographed prior to its hasty demise and fortunately i am no longer sneezing out soot! 

 In our first week,we have been welcomed by the neighbours and everyone we have met!.........and that has been a warmth to rival that of my little wood burner. :). 

Back to the UK tonight..... 

Photo of the dismantled burner sat next to our bedroom upright burner (with a fox on the front and oven section on top!)