3.01.2023 If it doesn't move.. paint it!

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 Tuesday 3rd 3.5C/38F. It might be brighter today according to the seaweed fondlers. A rain storm overnight tonight could dump 50mm/2"!

Up at 6am. Still 20C/68F upstairs! A good call stopping the painting when I did. No obvious ill effects this morning. I shall be painting the grooves above the stove area next. So I shall start early before lighting it. 

 Cutting lightweight tarpaulins with scissors halves the weight. It also goes twice as far in covering things and drapes much more nicely.

 I ought to play it safe and cover the stove against drips. Which would be impossible once it was warm. Yesterday I was painting in my underwear despite letting the stove go out! 

 8.30 Sky clear at first but with dark clouds moving across quickly from the SW. 

 I have finished the first coat of the board profile grooves. Hard work it is too. Having to repaint the grooves when viewed from both sides. Just to ensure they are covered in paint. There were lots of grooves still showing bare pine on one side. My shoulder muscles really know I have been painting again.

 I took a close-up to show the grooves. These are T&G [tongued and grooved] pine boards. I prefer the older boards. Which only had a rounded, decorative moulding on one edge. No deep grooves! They could be roller painted. The modern profile would need a disk roller. If such a thing exists.

 Next I shall put another coat of paint on the inside of the rear [entrance] door. I am not making any real effort to achieve a high quality finish. Just protecting the wood and brightening the hall. 

 I decided I needed a walk before doing anything else. It was surprisingly chilly. I think I saw a collared dove. Warm grey in the golden light of dawn. By coincidence I had timed the latter to perfection as I reached the end of the drive. The bird left a roadside tree and flew quickly across. With a strange habit of flicking its wings for flight and then closing them briefly at repeated intervals. I was seeing a bird of prey [female Kestrel?] until the this bird's fatter body registered.

 Two noisy, forest harvesters passed me on the road. The huge trailers suggesting that they were heading off somewhere to turn felled trees into chips. 

 2nd roller coat applied.

 10.15 Morning coffee over. Putting a second coat of paint on the ceiling boards will be done with my new, larger, paint roller. The first coat used small, smooth, polyester rollers. Which produced a smooth finish and an unwanted shine. The larger roller is rougher and should produce a shine-killing texture. At least, that is the theory and my intention.

 11.40  5C/41F and bright sunshine. Second roller coat on the lounge ceiling. The boards seem to be shrinking! With gaps opening up which were invisible when they were pine. The "half-matt" paint still errs too much on the side of a shine for my tastes.

 12.15 I have used up the dregs of the first paint tub and the roller tray on the inside of the back door. It was a bit chilly as I was still in my underwear and was in deep shade on the north side of the house. I wanted to avoid paint splashes on my clothes. I haven't lit the stove yet. Though it is still a comfortable 19C/66F upstairs.

 Hall/entrance door after second coat. Sunshine streaming through the kitchen windows behind me. Still more work to do.

 13.30 Lunch over. The greenhouse got up to 13C/55F. Not enough to add any heat directly to the house by opening the doors. Though it may reduce heat loss through the southern wall and windows. The lounge and kitchen are at 16C/61F without the stove. 

 2.15 Replaced the lounge carpet, vacuumed, replaced the furniture and lit the stove. Upstairs soon reached 21C/69F again. All internal doors open to spread the warmth.

 17.00  2C/36F. As cold as it is likely to get tonight. Clear outside with the moon rising higher in the east. Had a nap and then a cup of tea. I replaced a sidelight bulb on the old banger. It was quite chilly out there. So I was glad for my decades old, secondhand, down jacket. The heavy rain warning is still standing for tonight.

 20.30 Dinner was chicken chunks, mushrooms, pasta and tinned tomatoes. 😋

 21.30 40F/4C We are very close to the area of heavy rain. Which is expected to move slowly eastwards across the rest of the country. We should expect 24 hours of rain from about 11pm tonight. Winds gusting to 20m/s are also expected.

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