I do sometimes wonder whether yellow spiders, as in the Devendra Banhart song, actually exist.
Our spider has yellow stripes on its legs, so maybe that counts. He/she seems to have made its home in a corner of the ceiling.
According to the internet, house spiders can live for several years; months without food too. While I’m uncertain as to whether this is a house spider, I no longer need to be concerned about the lack of insects in our kitchen.
Our new spider disappeared the other day. I found myself to be concerned.
However, it transpired that it had traversed the spider continent of our kitchen wall. To seek the protection of Jesus, the guardian of the beer fridge.
That’s him/her, on the left. Just above the lamp. Here …
Thinking positively, I’ve finished the interior of the shed roof.
And primed it for one distant day in the future when the walls will be finished.
Alas, that day has slipped even further away than I’d planned. It seems that the damp-proofing of a couple of years ago wasn’t a huge success.
I’m now tasked with removing all of the two-year-old plaster from the offending wall (at least) and starting again.
I’d always suspected that more laborious solutions would be needed, but I was fooled by the lack of obvious damp in the shed.
It’s a shame that I can’t retrospectively sue the philanthropist (according to the internet) who built the estate behind our house. You’d have thought that the fact that we live on (almost at the top of) a stupidly steep hill would have discouraged further development, but the solution appears to have been to level-off the ground. Which resulted in our shed becoming something of an underground cavern.
Sadly, since the neighbouring houses arrived at the turn of the last century, it’s somewhat late to be lodging a complaint.
My desire to restore the shed might seem irrational. But it’s a lovely (damp) thing (with a new ceiling).
It’s raining, but I’m in the shelter of my (developing) man cave.
It’s been many years since I’ve used loft insulation. But I recall how horrible it was to handle and wasn’t looking forward to putting some in the shed.
Developments in insulation have clearly passed me by though; the recycled plastic variety we bought last night is itch-free and great to handle.
Unfortunately, doubling up has left me with a shortfall and I’ve had to stop for the day.
Finally made a start.
After an exhausting tent cleaning exercise, we’ve had a trip to B&Q to purchase wood, plaster, insulation and concrete blocks.
All but the latter are for the interior of our shed. The shed, which isn’t really a shed, is a twice abandoned project. Work discontinued two years ago because the plaster (covering the damp proofing) refused to dry out.
Having entered the shed a couple of weeks ago, for the first time in a year, I noticed that the plaster appeared to be dry. With some time on my hands this week, I thought it wise to resume work on my future brewery.
A stove has been ordered too, arriving later in the week. As shall our new shed. A real shed, constructed from wood, not stone.
I believe I’ve earned a rest.
After both dusty and muddy festivals this summer, our tent was in serious need of a wash.
