Hello. Hope your day is going well.
Today I though I might tell you of some of the fun DIY projects Anne and I are doing. Well, I am doing, with her moral support.
When we first decided to rent this cottage we were given some very important information by the owner. It has all turned out to be accurate. One thing she mentioned was that the stove, could be tricky. We didn’t know what stove she was talking about. When we looked at the kitchen, the stove looked pretty straightforward. Four burners, 2 ovens and buttons in the back to turn on and off. There is also a master switch next to the stove that has to be turned on before the stove will work. But it is just an on/off switch.
Our Stove 
Switches for the plugs 
Turn on the stove
So we started to wonder if it was the stove that heated the house. The picture showed a small stove in the living room. Was this this stove that heated the WHOLE house? Or, we hoped, was there central heating? We began to investigate heating methods and started to worry about cutting peat on the moors. Something neither of us knew how to do.
Showing us how to do it. 
Anne and me with our peat. 
How much peat do we need anyway?
Anyway, upon arrival we realized that we have central heating. So, no cutting peat. However, there was the issue of the small stove in the living room. I never built a fire in my life, and Anne said that no one would allow her any where near a flame. So, I jumped in and built a fire. It lasted about 10 minutes and then died.
Next day a friend came by to show us how to do that, as it does take the chilly dampness off the living room so that the heating can take effect. Or it will if I do it right. Here are the steps:
- Make some things out of newspaper that will catch fire from a match. I made several of those.
- Lay them on the bottom of the grate in the stove.
- Put some small sticks, called kindling, on top of that.
Make a paper knot. 
Layer it with Kindling. 
Be sure to use gloves.
4. Add a few (?) pieces of “Fire Starter” in the paper.
5. Get out a match and light the paper.
6. When the fire starts, put some of the big pieces of wood on top of the kindling
OK. I did all that. And miracle of miracles, I made a fire that lasted about two hours, warmed the room and did not burn down the house.
There was one other small DYI. In the kitchen, the faucet was so annoying. The water, instead of flowing down in to the sink, sprayed out to the sides and front. The result was that every time I turned on the tap, I got wet sleeves and arms. This was not good. Since I didn’t want to replace the tap, I came up with another solution.
I decided to secure a small hose over the end of the faucet so that the water would be directed into the sink, like it should be, A trip to the hardware store did not yield any such hose. So, I used the finger from a rubber glove and secured it with a rubber band.
It isn’t pretty, but it works. What do you think?