Under the house! Michelle and I braved the crawlspace yesterday to find out what’s under the hearth in the lounge – and it’s a lovely, solid brick plinth! I can only assume that in the 1920s builders just assumed any farmhouse would have a nice coal-fired range installed. That clears the way to consider installing a bigger stove with a specific wood grate, instead of the current stove with its coal grate, upgrade the radiators and then just keep the fire lit as much as possible!
I have a local sweep and stove installer visiting tomorrow afternoon to discuss options (and clean the chimneys, too!)
I have to admit, I like the look of some of the stoves on the market at the moment – the La Nordica ranges are rather good-looking, though they don’t seem to have hob covers on most of them – which is a drawback in terms of safety. We used to find the cats napping on the Rayburn when we lived in Wales and I wouldn’t want either an elderly parent or a whippet scorching extremities on an uncovered hob. There’s also the Lincar Ilaria which caught my eye – I would like to see the flames rather than have a solid lump of metal in the lounge! Anyway, tomorrow I’ll have a good natter with the bloke and see what comes out of it.
Fresh hay arrived today and the horses are very cheerful about it, despite the non-stop rain. They haven’t bothered going out at all, bar quick trips to drink in the yard.
Snowball, the white silkie cockerel, has mastered that other syllable and added in a couple more, so he’s now cock-a-doodle-oodle-ooing all over the place! I haven’t heard his black brother crowing properly yet, but I’m sure he’ll get there soon. Snowball had a go at one of the hybrid hens this morning but then six more arrived and they ganged up on the little silkies, so I had to intervene, chase out the hybrids and untangle Snowball from the sack trolley.
My brother Martin is visiting over the weekend so I’ll have more time at the croft – I hope to muck out thoroughly, hopefully get some of the rabbits cleaned out before they don’t have room to cock their ears under their lids and, of course, get some quality time in with the horses!
Cairnorchies Chronicles 
That Nordica rane are good looking. The Lincar seems to have a single big cover. Like you, I rather like Rayburn’s double covers, but both look very good and efficient … one, maybe, I can have something like that. I wonder how many folk are going to wish they had working chimneys and plinths for stoves in the not very distant future … ?
Hope you have some really good time at home this weekend š
LikeLiked by 1 person