A busy day for me yesterday as I had to work and then we went to friends for a bar b que , however when I was at work a few people asked what i was doing for the weekend and I replied honestly and said watching my husband start filling in our porch!
I of course am on hand to supply tea and interference! Yes interference, you know , when you say are you putting that there? should you do x y z first? I thought we agreed that we'd ( the royal we'd of course) do it this way?
We had the wood delivered on Monday for all the things that are about to happen around the house.
and it's all in the carport ready to be used. While I was at work yesterday Paul started and cut and put together the base that you can see on the right in the photo.
And this is the porch. we are going to enclose it between the two brick pillars. Moving the doorway forward and putting in a new front door. By doing this we will be able to have a full sized coat cupboard inside on the left and a lovely new entrance.
These are are plans , we have of course tweaked them and will be having a stained glass window and not the six bar glass in the door. Paul will be making the window.
So this morning Paul's been removing the tongue and groove wooden ceiling from this side of the porch because this will be plasterboard once it becomes part of the hallway.
Now a few years back we had wasps going up the edge of the pillar and into the roof space, we don't normally worry about wasp making nests and would just leave them to go about their business. Unfortunately this being so close to the front door and getting more and more wasps buzzing about, we had to have it destroyed.
So today as Paul removed the boarding the old wasps nest slowly emerged!
These nests are such a wonderful work of art, how they have turned wood they have stripped from fencing and trees into building material for their nests.
This nest would normally be a much lighter pale brown/cream but this is several years old so as darkened up.
lots of dirt? at the bottom.
The base.
alas these things are too fragile to save and this is the end of that beautiful natural structure.
such fine waspmanship!
x
And so Paul's out there clearing up and getting ready to continue with the build.
Now I'd like my readers/followers of the blog to let me know if you are happy with me sharing all the other things non doll related on this blog or if you are thinking... I don't want to know /care about that where are the Sasha's!! If the consensus is we don't want this house /life stuff, I'll move it onto a separate blog and just do only doll related posts here. when I do these types of posts I feel like we are sitting having a cup of tea and a chat but some may not want this chat, So now's the time to let me know .
Moving on to doll related but this time not Sasha , as I mentioned before I have been buying a few other dolls, since my Sasha fix seems to be fulfilled at present.
I have long been fascinated by the BJD dolls ( Ball Jointed Dolls) because of just how realistic their posing is.
So over the last couple of months I have bought myself a few. The one I'm showing you today was the last to arrive although she was the first one I ordered. her wait time was supposed to be 30 to 60 days , so around two months but she did not arrive for four months!
What I loved about her is her quirkiness , she is such an individual style and I wanted her as soon as I saw her , so please meet Suki Sue.
She's with her rabbit sitting in the Alpine bed.
I'm looking forward to getting to know and play with her. Seeing what poses and places she can go.
Well I must go and see what Paul's up to plus do some sorting out of my own.
have a lovely bank holiday for those having one and a lovely weekend for those not.
Don't forget to answer my question , so I know where to share these house/life stories.
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WOW! I've never seen a Wasp's nest up close before. What a work of art structure it is/was but I'm glad that it has gone as I'm not keen on having Wasps buzzing around.
ReplyDeletePersonally I don't mind about seeing the lack of Sasha Dolls here whilst you get to grips with your house alterations as I shall enjoy watching the house building work progress and ONLY being a Sasha Doll lover can quietly over-look/ignore the other non-Sasha Dolls that might appear now and then so getting the best of both worlds.
I think that the porch area will be most useful and might even provide a good light place for a little future Sasha Doll photography.
This is the second one we've had that we could see, now the boarding's been removed.The first one was on the side of the house under the carport and much smaller than this.We had to have another destroyed last week that was in the other end of this roof space but over the carport side but it had to go as when Paul removed this boarding that could have turned nasty, we can see the other nest and its much smaller than this one.
DeleteI know that you just love the Sasha's but needed to check with everyone about the life/house and other dolls. So thought I'd ask the question :)
I think the porch area could be quick dark once every walls in place but will wait and see, but it will be a much nicer place for the Sasha's and Gregors arriving home etc :)
That was one HUGE wasps nest *gasp* I don't think I have ever seen one that big before. I agree it is beautiful and so clever but I wouldn't want it anywhere near my house!!! Wasps are indiscriminate with their stings and they are so painful!
ReplyDeleteBut well done on the first step in getting the 'real' work started. Are you doing all the building work yourself? And I am using the Royal 'we' here too!
And congratulations on the new girl and welcome to the 'wait time' that all BJD lovers have to come to terms with! It is a sort of 'rite of passage' thing and you will often hear BJD owners swapping wait time stories over a cup of coffee! LOL!
And your question:
As a new visitor to your Blog I have no preconceived expectations about what is posted. So I am more than content to see a patchwork of content here.....I just like chatting about dolls and life so I am more than content with all that is posted here.
I thought it would be big but was surprised just how big! But then they'd been buzzing in and out for a while before we noticed them and then had to decide whether to have it destroyed but it was too close to the front door.
DeleteI am so pleased to see some walls, floors going in and down. Yes the bulk of the porch will be made by us ;), we will need a plasterer to finish the walls inside and render the outside walls and Paul's work are very kindly making our new door and side panel but Paul will make the stained glass windows for both which we'll have double glazed.
Paul's a trained carpenter and joiner although he no longer does this for a living.
The wait time!! Yes something I wil ahve to get used to! mind you it's not as bad as my little darling doll who is now into about two and half years! I am not happy! I'll never buy another one.
Thank you for your answer to my question , it's interesting to find out what people like to find here :)
Now, come on Dee, this is the Sasha VILLAGE, so of course the preservation and restructuring of the buildings is of interest! As you know, the de-structuring of our house, well almost destructuring of our house, meant my Sashas and their friends going into hibernation for almost a year. Much longer and the Kids of Bryn Derw would have had to be adopted out for their own safety. So, knowing that Uncle Paul is keeping things ship-shape at the Village and Auntie Dee is keeping him going with tea and the odd bout of advice, is of great interest.
ReplyDeleteAdded to that, Bertie is putting a preservation order on the wasps' nest in our field shelter. If necessary, he informs me, the donkeys must just move out as the need to grow a wasps'nest as big as the one Wolfie and his brothers have is paramount. You see? Your post is turning little Bertie into a biologist! What more could we ask from you than educational information for our Sasha kids?
Well being a lover of preserving and restructuring the buildings of the Sasha village it's nice to know others are also interested :)
DeleteI'm not so sure Uncle Paul is always happy to hear Auntie Dee's advice but she does appear to make sense quite often, so is well placed for her job as foreman!!!
Glad to know Bertie's into Biology just hope I don't get a couple of annoyed Donkeys trying to take up residence in the garden due to being made homeless!in Bertie's quest for the biggest wasps nest! :)
I meant to tell you - we used to have a fig tree on the side of our house. it was ancient and feeble, producing figs that were nolonger juicy but dry fleshed. However, the wasps adored them and I swear they nested in our buildings so they could just wait for the figs to ripen When the house needed underpinning, the tree had to go and, lo and behold, the wasps now nest two fields away in the donkey shelter. That's OK because Cosmo and Meg only use it in winter, so Bertie can investigate the nest safely when they are gone but before the donks move back in.
DeleteDo you have fruit trees near the house? They ay be the draw to the wasps.
We don't have any fruits trees near the house , they just seem to like nesting around here. Paul says it because we have the pond and they need water to mix with the wood they use to build the nest.
DeleteThe man that came to destroy next doors two nests, did his two and two on ours and one on the house next door to that, so five nests in total and we think we've spotted another in the eaves on the top of our house but will leave that as it's well out the way! So this place is becoming a bit like wasp alley!!
Yes, the weeks seem to disappear around here too.
ReplyDeleteWasp stings are nasty - we think that is what stung my elder daughter last Monday on Herm island just as we were waiting for the ferry back to Guernsey. She was not happy at all, she said the pain was like a continuous stabbing injection. Laura and Edmund were safely in the rucksack at the time http://dollmum.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/an-island-adventure.html. I've seen big wasp nests before, they're beautiful.
I don't mind the house updates in the Sasha Village, it will be interesting to see the reaction of the Sasha occupants to the changes, I'm sure you've got a budding foreman or carpenter in the crew, though keep Lucas away from the saw and screwdriver as he is bound to get into mischief.
Yes wasp stings are nasty , the fact they can carry on and give you more than one's not nice either!
DeleteThe Sasha clan are all very interested in the changes and Percy who wants to be just like his Dad is helping out where he can.
I've got a couple of the girls keeping Lucas out of the way just to save any disasters!
How exciting to see your drawing and plan for the construction project. It will be so nice to have that additional space. I am glad you are covering the construction process and I hope you keep us posted as it moves along.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy seeing your Sasha dolls, as you know, but I am always happy to see other dolls and learn about them like your newest addition of Suki Sue. I am new to the BJD world but do have a few dolls that are ball jointed but they are considerably older than the new BJDs and have bisque heads. So I do enjoy seeing your "other" dolls. Thanks Dee for asking. :) xxx
I thought it would help people understand what we were doing. :) I will keep posting as the work is done :)
DeleteThank you for giving your thoughts on whats posted here, it's good to get feedback from as many as possible. :)xx
I enjoy reading about your house and garden projects. Just as you wrote, I feel we are having a nice chat over the fence or with a cup of tea. It's nice to read about where your stories are brewed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know. Glad that you feel we are having a chat on this and that along side the stories of what the dolls and bears are getting up to here in the village. :)
DeleteI will answer your question first. I think it is great to see not just Sasha dolls but other dolls and other things too. This is why I've kept my blog name sort of 'generic' so that no-one can complain that they came to see x, but got to see y and z instead. Not that people complain I'm sure, but it just keeps everything more varied. I love to see what you've been up to, whether it involves dolls or not :)
ReplyDeleteAnd the wasps nest is amazing. We had to destroy a smaller one last month because it was being built right above our back door and as we went in and out so the wasps were getting angry. Brian got stung twice just walking underneath it. Now they've decided to try another spot, above our garden table in the light fitting so we're trying to encourage them away from there now too!!
xxx
Thanks for answering my question, always good to know :) Paul found a perfect little wasps nest in the roof of the porch and put it on the side for me, so i could use it for the Gregors, then he knocked it off and destroyed it when he caught it with a plank of wood! We still appear to have a nest in the roof of the house ! :)xx
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