Get Out of the Kitchen if You Can't Stand the Beat

What a difference a day can make. Yesterday afternoon we returned from Perth to find that the roof trusses for the studio extension and for the new utility room had been put up. Today the joiners (I have it on local authority that I may call the workmen that) arrived at 8 and began tearing off the flat roof over the existing kitchen. (Now you get the title of today's blog.) The noise was horrific. It sounded as though any moment a body would crash through the ceiling and land on the kitchen floor, followed by a pile of debris. But so far, that hasn't happened.

They are in the van just now, having a coffee break. Their next task will be to erect the roof trusses over the kitchen so that it will match the utility room. I don't have to tell you that our moods are considerably elevated by the progress we can see being made. This morning's photo shows Neil on the kitchen roof "deconstructing" and in the background you can see the roof trusses for the studio extension. You may also be able to see that this is not a totally sunny day. In fact, we have had a few periods of drizzle, but at least we aren't experiencing rain that is heavy enough to cause delays. Fingers crossed, the work can continue throughout the rest of the week.

You may be surprised to know that Don is NOT out playing golf this morning. Instead, he has gone to Eric and Jackie McEwan's house to show them how to use Excel to set up a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will help them schedule all the tasks they must accomplish in order to be ready to move to New Zealand in April. He's taking along a printout from the spreadsheet he devised for our move to Scotland after I said I was feeling totally overwhelmed at dealing with the big picture. I knew I could easily focus on and work toward short-term goals but the overall task of selling the house, disposing of our belongings, packing and so forth, was almost paralyzing. When Eric told Don yesterday that he and Jackie weren't sleeping because they had too much on their minds and couldn't see how they would get everything done, I said "Aha! They need a spreadsheet."

I am about to leave for my Keep Fit session at the White Church Community Center. It looks like the sun is trying to break through the clouds. This afternoon will be dedicated to getting the new quilt mapped out and off the design wall. (Who knows how much longer I'll be able to use the studio?)

Afternoon update: Shortly after I got home from Keep Fit, Don returned from the McEwans', and the joiners had gotten all the debris and covering off the kitchen's flat roof, it began to rain quite hard. I happened to be in the studio where a drip that now and then occurs started dripping quite rapidly. I put out the little plastic ice cream carton I generally use but soon it wasn't just dripping; it was running. So I grabbed the big yellow pail. Then I took the mock-up of the newest quilt off the design wall, just in case. By then, it was time to go to the White Church for lunch.

But when we walked into the kitchen, water was running out of the ceiling, into the flourescent light fixture, and dripping out of that onto the floor--in two or three spots. Soon there were various sized containers on the floor and although I had switched off the flourescent light, we grew concerned that the water could cause a short and maybe even a fire. We phoned our contractor who came down after a few minutes. Meanwhile, it continued to rain even harder.

When Bill arrived, he agreed we should unplug the fuse to that light, at least until we could get the drip stopped. We emptied the plastic cover from the flourescent light and Bill made a hole where the main drip was coming from so we could get any trapped water out quickly. He explained that the roofers from Stirling were in the process of putting down new waterproof material over the flat roof of our entryway extension. Meanwhile, the joiners were desperately trying to get a tarp put on over the kitchen.

We took ourselves to the village tearoom, The Granary, for lunch because it was, by then, too late for the Community Lunch. When we got back, the guys were still hard at work. The drip had stopped so I mopped up the kitchen floor. Bill came back to see if things were drying up and said we could safely plug the fuse back in. Fortunately, a new kitchen ceiling was already part of the scope of the renovations. By this time, the leak in the studio had stopped as well.

It continued to rain, fairly hard at times, all afternoon but the joiners stayed hard at work until about 4:30. Don had some coursework to do this afternoon and then a Skype conference call with a couple of his AU colleagues at 4. I spent 3 hours arranging and rearranging the components of the new quilt. I am not sure I've got the design set yet but it is closer now than it was. I will work on it some more tomorrow morning while Don is playing golf with the St Fillans Seniors.