Making fire

This week: Making fire; Polytunnel winterising; Felines tell lies!;

I was in Split on Monday, as usual leaving home before 05:00 and getting back 12 hours later.

The reason was my annual eye test. With a total island population of around 10,600 for the whole 297 km² from Grad Hvar to Sućuraj, we do not have the number of people to justify having services like ophthalmologists or evan an optician. So you have to go to Split.

My test was good, with no change, so no need for new glasses. I was surprised when the optician asked if I wanted my hearing tested too. This is a new service that the company was offering.

The optician began to describe the process, so I said, “Are you talking about an audiometric test?”

She looked surprised, “Yes, you know what they are?” So I explained that as both a police motorcyclist and then air crew, I have had regular audiometric tests.

For those who are not familiar, the test takes place in a small soundproof booth, where you wear a headset and tones are played at different frequencies. You press a button when you hear a tone.

Companies tend to test workers, not out of the goodness of their hearts, but to negate any later claims under Health and Safety, for hearing loss.

Going through the test again, I was told I have perfect hearing with only the expected age related loss of the highest frequencies. Well, I never was able to hear Bats calling!

So I don’t need glasses or a hearing aid…

While in Split, I went to the big InterSPAR supermarket, to stock up on foods I can’t get on the island. I also treated myself to a Sushi lunch.

This week has been mostly sunny but as the sun sinks in the sky towards its winter minimum, the days are shortening noticeably. Short days, low sun and long nights mean lower temperatures.

I still have summer flowers in bloom, like this Lantana.

Late autumn means the continuing change in leaf colours. My Parthenocissus quinquefolia is looking at its stunning best at the moment. I have two varieties, one whose leaves turn crimson and another which turns yellow.

I also went over to Hvar town for some supplies from the builders merchant there. One of the things I find strange on the island, is how some shops, even of the same kind, have completely different ranges of goods, often with little overlap.

Making fire

As the sun is lower in the sky, so our temperatures are dropping. Early in the week, I was considering lighting the wood stove, but decided a thicker sweater would be sufficient. It was.

Then on Wednesday, I was taking coffee with my neighbours over the road, who told me they had lit their wood stove, but as clouds of smoke issued from every orifice on the stove, they had had to put water on the fire to extinguish it.

Removing the flue, they found that there were several large pieces of clinker which were obstructing the flow of the smoke. This they put down to the cool, damp, humid conditions we experienced in February and March, which were preventing the clean burning of the wood.

I realised that I cleaned my flue in January, but while I serviced the inside of the actual stove, I hadn’t checked my flue and especially the small diameter tubes of the Air Radiator.

On Thursday morning, I dismantled the flue and I was pleased I did!

Inside the top of the fire, there was a pile of carbon and clinker, almost completely obstructing the smoke exit. Although in fairness, some of this may have come from the air radiator because I had to “persuade” the tubes to part with a 3 kg lump hammer.

Once the flue was removed outside, I used a wire brush to completely remove the hard, glossy creosote inside. This is the result of incomplete combustion of wood because of low oxygen or low temperatures.

Looking at the wall, I really should have painted the wall, but decided that this is not the right time of year to start redecorating the room.

Once cleaned, I put everything back together and sealed the top of the stove with high temperature silicone. I was very pleased to discover that my year-old tube of silicone had not gone hard and could still be used. Then I left it all to dry.

On Friday night, as the light was starting to go, I lit the wood stove for the first time this year. Looking back, it is two weeks earlier than last year, because we are colder than at this point in November last year. Checking outside, smoke was coming out of the flue fan, so the whole system was working.

The fire burnt well and soon had the central heating water hot. I used some of the logs from the Nettle Tree which I took down in the spring. This is very dense wood, but I wasn’t sure how it would burn.

Being left out in the sun during our long, hot summer, seems to have thoroughly dried them because they burnt very well and seemed to have a high calorific value, so gave off plenty of heat.

I was surprised on Saturday morning to find that the fire was still in, although I didn’t try and revive it.

On Saturday, I cut some of the remaining small branches, which have been drying all summer, before some forecast rain this week.

Polytunnel winterising

This is the time of year when I start applying winter protection in my orchards.

Protecting fruit trees from the bitter north east wind is a ritual following a devastating freeze in 2017, when 10 of my citrus trees were frozen and killed.

But also, with tender plants in my polytunnel, like the Mango, I put a thick plastic cover over the green shade netting, which helps keep the inside relatively cool in summer.

The cover I have used for the past four years has succumb to the UV, even in our winter sun, and had perished when I removed it in the spring, so I needed a replacement

I went over to Hvar town on Wednesday and bought what I needed.

Beginning on Friday, I started to remove the wooden lats, which secure everything in place. A couple of the coach bolts had rusted, so even though the butterfly nut fasteners and washers I use are stainless steel, I needed some WD40 to free them.

Being new plastic, it has no eyelets, so I used my machine to start fitting eyelets, so the cover drops neatly over the coach bolts. Throughout, I was ably assisted by Živa – at least she though she was assisting!

What I realised is that my eyelet machine will not cut holes a metre into the plastic and I need a hollow hole punch.

These tools are often used for making holes in thick plastic or leather. I have one, so I set about trying to find it in my workshop.

I need to make neat holes because if I just cut the plastic with a Stanley knife, the ragged hole will weaken the plastic and it may tear if it is windy.

This is one of those tools which are seldom used, but cannot be substituted for something else, for example a drill. My initial tool search didn’t find it, so I stopped trying to install the plastic.

We have a cloudy and wet week forecast for the coming week and I would rather let the rain into the polytunnel, so the soil receives the moisture, than have everything run off. The cold protection is not really needed just yet, so I have time to mount a proper search for the tool.

The problem is that being small, it can get tucked out of sight, under something else….

Felines tell lies!

I saw this notice this week

None of my felines are orange, but they all have the propensity to “forget” when they last ate.

I know that two of them go to my neighbours and tell them they have not had any food for days – usually around 30 minutes after eating breakfast!

They all have their thick winter coats, which make them look overfed, but as outside/inside cats, they run off excess weight – something I can no longer do…

When I come back, I want to be a cat. NCG