Yesterday, rain has been pleasing the garden all day. Steady, soft rain made the flowers, plants and grass laugh and enjoy life from the morning till very late in the afternoon. For the building of our insects hotel it meant that work was in suspension. Time to do some shopping for extra material, especially for a series of screws in different sizes. I never thought that chosing a type of screw could be such a cumbersome task. I felt screwed by the screws. There were so many types of them!
But we found what we were looking forward. And, luckily, these steel marvels come cheap.
Today, August 8th the sun was again pleasing us instead of the plants. Time to resume our building activities. Today's program: laying the slate tiles, and transporting the top box to its final place.
Laying the roof tiles is not that easy if you have never done it. A roof professional reading this blog will of course have the time of his life when we tell that it took us about an hour to find out the correct position (note: what we believe is the right position). Whatever: we are absolutely certain that our construction will survive a confrontation with Katherina (the name refers to the hurricane that struck Louisiana a few years ago, and not to any person you might know bearing this name). We made certain that no water can come in from the top by placing a special plastic foil under the tiles. Moreover, each tile is fixed individually by at least two screws in holes that have been carefully made with a drilling machine.
A wheelbarrow helped us to transport the heavy box to its position.
Next stage: fixing the top box on the other one. And let me repeat: no Katherina or storm will knock it off its feet. Long, thick nails will keep the boxes together for eternity (or something in that time range).
We have now come to the phase where the rooms need to be decorated. One type of decoration will consist of firm branches of wood in which holes will be drilled varying in size between 5 and 10 mm (I already started some hole drilling today, but felt bored after about half an hour: there are other activities that are more fun than drilling small holes in wood). Meanwhile, Chris started to make some really nice bundles of wheat branches which we cut along the road today (I am pretty sure that we are the subject of some discussion in the families that drove by today seeing two unfamiliar persons cutting wheat leftovers at the side of the road). Given the size of the rooms, Chris hasn't seen the end of her bundling activities yet…
So, that was it for today….Evening falls after another busy day. We hope that our guests will appreciate our efforts.