La Darnoire

So, LSS had a good time in London, doing lots of touristy things with Lady A. She did think of me whilst she was there, because she brought back some M&S mince pies!

The bathroom ceiling has now been installed, and I’m pleased to report that having a bath is now a much more enjoyable experience.

We also paid another visit to Bricodepot in order to buy some more timbers and OSB ready for the construction of the toilet walls.

The Belgian Dubbel I mentioned in my last post has now been bottled, and should be ready by Christmas. Speaking of which, LSS has now put up the Christmas decorations. This consists of a string of fairy lights draped around the lounge. Unfortunately we just don’t have room for the tree this year!

The hunters carried out an unscheduled hunt last weekend, and managed to bag four wild boar. They were all very pleased with themselves, and the Hunt Chief proudly told me they’d only fired 50 cartridges.

Yes.

No comment. Still, at least we now have some more bits of wild boar in the freezer…

The little 12-volt transformer which has been in constant operation for two years, powering the solar thermal panel pump (as well as all the temperature gauges) gave up the ghost last week. I’ve bought a replacement on Ebay, but in the interim have connected up a car battery to do the job; this is the reason I opted for 12 volt pumps and gauges. Once we get around to installing photovoltaic panels on the roof, the transformer can be discarded. The battery is currently (hah! pun!) being kept topped up with one of the aged FIL’s old battery trickle chargers.

Other little repair jobs have cropped up as well.
Recently I have been having fun with the reedbed solar panel installation. The battery has gone flat twice in a row, and the cause of this was fairly easy to diagnose. In the winter, the sun is quite low on the horizon, so the solar panel is in the shade of the polytunnel all day. This is a simple thing to fix; just mount the solar panel on a mast. I found a four-meter length of iron pipe in the aged FIL’s courtyard – this will make an ideal mast. Ah, yes, but there’s a snag. You see, I need to make up a bracket to mount the panel to the newly-discovered mast. And in order to do that, I need to weld some bits of steel together. Now the aged FIL had a welding machine. Unfortunately it is no longer usable, as it is now a burnt-out pile of scrap due to his garage burning down. Well, I’ve been keeping my eyes open on Leboncoin (an internet second-hand goods site), and found one very reasonably priced, two hours’ drive away. We went to fetch it last Sunday.

So I am now the proud owner of a three-phase 180Amp arc welder. Fortunately the aged FIL did not keep his massive collection of welding rods in the same building as the welding machine, so I have a vast selection to choose from. Apart from many different sizes of ordinary steel electrodes, there are also nickel rods (apparently for welding cast iron); stainless steel rods, and (I’d never heard of these before) arc cutting electrodes. These strange beasts are apparently used for cutting through steel, much like a plasma torch.

Of course the arc welding machine is very heavy, and when LSS and I lifted it out of the boot of the Hyundai, I managed to twist my back; so I’ve been out of action for most of the week.

However, I have now managed to test the welding machine out, and the solar panel bracket has now been made and fitted. Whilst I was at it, I made it adjustable; so the solar panel angle can now be set at the optimum angle depending on the season of year. Ignore the extension lead in the next photo; it was to power my electric drill. Note also the myriad of molehills; but I guarantee this particular Moley will not be there for long:

If you want to read some more details about the reedbed solar panel installation, you can have a look at this page: http://www.la-darnoire.com/greywater-reedbed.shtml

And….. (drum roll)….  I’ve made a start on the next book, which should be ready early next year.

Well, I may not make another post before the end of the year, so we’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

Yesterday I dropped off LSS at Lady A. As mentioned in that linked post, they are off to London for a few days, with LSS having been hired as a travelling companion (read: interpreter). So I’ll be looking after the hens and bunnies on my own for a few days.

Friend V stayed with us for a while in autumn, and we discovered that she delighted in picking berries. We therefore gave her the task of picking blackberries. And mushrooms. And sloes. However, her enthusiasm meant we had a total of 9kg of sloes in the freezer. Which was immediately classified as “full”. And as we were recently given a leg of wild boar by M&O, we had a problem. Either we needed another freezer, or I needed to do some brewing. The latter option was cheaper, therefore the next batch of sloe wine has been started. And as 9kg of sloes was a bit much for one batch of wine, I’ve made some sloe gin as well. The pumpkin beer has now been bottled, but I still have about 50 empty beer bottles in reserve. This is apparently Not a Good Thing, so I’ve started brewing a Belgian dubbel beer.

This morning it was minus 7.2 °C at the solar panel on the roof. So needless to say I have the kitchen range lit!

What else is there? Oh yes, the project. Well, the bathroom walls have been built and insulated, and the light fitting installed (LED of course). Here’s the framework around the bathroom:

The first layer of panelling was then fitted:
A thick layer of hemp insulation was applied as the outer layer of panelling was put in place: (This is the wall between bathroom and toilet. The insulation cost us nothing; the neighbour with the gîte had some left over from one of his construction projects – he runs a construction company).

Today’s task is to fit the ceiling, and then we should be able to have a bath in non-draughty conditions.

I’m not convinced about the tadelakt shower tray; it still seems a bit soft. Still, it would be fairly easy to scrape away the last layer of lime mortar and replace it with mosaic-type tiles. Will have to see how it does once the shower is installed. We’re still awaiting delivery of the shower glass (as the neighbour with the gîte was ordering a batch of glass for another of his construction projects, he very kindly offered to add the shower glass to his order, thus saving us the delivery costs). I think a couple of bottles of pumpkin beer will be headed his way.

The week started on an interesting note. I was in the workshop when LSS came to see me. “The electricity has tripped. Are you using any machines?” I wasn’t, so went back into the house to reset the breaker. I noticed a strange plasticky smell, but didn’t pay too much attention.
Five minutes later, the electricity tripped again. This time there was definitely a smell of burning plastic. A CSI-type investigation ensued, and the culprit was traced to the three-phase main circuit breaker, which had melted.

Fortunately the husband of one of LSS’s cousins is an electrician, and a year or so ago he had given me a cardboard box of unwanted bits and pieces. One of these pieces was an older-style three-phase circuit breaker! This was duly installed, and the electricity switched on again. As you can tell, because I’m typing this on a piece of equipment which requires electricity, the installation was successful. However, I ordered a replacement circuit breaker from the French website I’d used before, Bis-Electric. If you’re in France, I can recommend this company; the part arrived the following day – which, if you’re not in France, is very unusual indeed. Next week when LSS is away giving English lessons, I’ll replace the replacement circuit breaker with the new one. We’re still no wiser regarding the cause of the failure. It could have been a power surge – after all, this is an old farmhouse at the very end of the electricity supply line.

Another trip to Orleans was also undertaken, in order to purchase a tile backing board. You see, the wall next to the bath will be constructed from wooden framing and OSB (Oriented Strand Board). This is easy to install, but after some research, I discovered that it has a disadvantage; you can’t fix ceramic tiles to it. So I purchased a 4mm-thick tile backing board. This will be glued and screwed to the OSB. One can then happily fix tiles to it without any fear of them falling off. And, as you may agree, tiles falling off a wall would not be a Good Thing.

The Aged FIL is now slow-roasting, and is nearly half-baked. In other words, I installed the two wall-mounted panel heaters. A grand total of 3,500 Watts of EDF’s finest electrons are now heating the immediate exterior of the farmhouse and contributing to Global Warming. You see, his house is not insulated. It’s not something he was prepared to do.

Here, the floor tiles have now been grouted, and another coat of sealer applied. Next week: Wall construction! I’ll need to bring the scaffolding into the barn, as I’ve discovered that the stepladder is just too unstable on the newly-sealed floor tiles.

This year’s batch of elderberry wine has finished fermenting, and is now ready for bottling. This will be done today.

And finally, a word regarding last night’s dinner; chicken drumsticks and chips. As is customary in this household, the chips are my department. LSS took care of the chicken. And as the kitchen wood-burning range is now in daily use, the chicken went into its oven.
After twenty minutes or so, LSS removed the dish to turn the drumsticks. She must have been momentarily distracted by something else, but returned the dish to the oven, and informed me that I could commence the chip frying. Twenty minutes later, the chips were done, and she opened the oven.
“BUT! WAIT A MINUTE! WHERE’S MY CHICKEN?” she cried.
I looked. The oven was empty.
“Uh oh.”
She’d put it back into the GAS oven. Which was obviously not in use. I must admit I burst out laughing. Which did not go down too well.
So dinner was a bit … delayed.

Unfortunately the Aged Aunt passed away last Saturday. The funeral was on Wednesday; these things are dealt with pretty quickly here in France.

The cider I mentioned in the last post has now been bottled. We have a grand total of 44 bottles:
Also in the last post I mentioned the shower tray. In the next photo you can see the wooden wedges I made in order to get the floor sloping correctly. I just glued them in place temporarily; once the lime cement had been poured I removed them and filled in the gaps. You can also see the first lot of travertine tiles in place. The circular plastic thing on the right of the photo is the cover for the non-return valve for the shower waste pipe.

The weather has certainly become colder recently, but fortunately all the tiling has now been done – for this year, anyway! I still need to grout the tiles, and according to the weather forecast I should be able to do this on Wednesday next week. We’ll see. Here’s what they look like – they have been sealed with a breathable sealer:

I’ve also insulated the bathroom roof. Not that it’s made much of a difference when having a bath though; after all there aren’t any walls yet – and the wind whistles through the gaps in the wooden barn door! Never mind, the situation will improve shortly…

A brief interval to show a photo of today’s breakfast:
The only thing not locally produced was the baked beans…

One of the Aged FIL’s myriad of little electric heaters has given up the ghost, so there’s something else which has been added to my To-Do list; installing two wall-mounted panel heaters in his house. His current heaters were not really designed to be on 24 hours out of every 24 – I’m surprised they’ve lasted this long. Anyway, at the time his household electricity was being upgraded after the fire, LSS had the foresight to ask the electrician to install two heavy-duty plugs for wall-mounted panel heaters. Of course the Aged FIL was very cross about this. “I DON’T NEED ANY HEATERS!” Fortunately we didn’t listen. Now he’s complaining he’s cold. The National Grid shareholders are rubbing their hands together in anticipation, as the company will soon be able to afford cases of champagne for their meetings.

One final thing – I used an ordinary car battery for our reedbed solar-panel-supplied sump pump. It’s lasted a year and a half, but has now unfortunately given up. I now know why you shouldn’t use a car battery for this sort of installation; the lead plates in its construction are too thin, and cannot withstand the slow charge and discharge of a solar panel system. We’ve thus ordered a replacement 80Ah Deep Cycle AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) battery. These have much thicker lead plates, and are better suited to the job. Just thought you’d like to know.

So, a few progress photos are in order, I think…

However, before we get to these, LSS lit the kitchen woodstove this morning for the first time this season, as the kitchen was feeling somewhat chilly. Autumn is now here. Which means, of course, that the pressure has been on in order to get any plastering or mortaring finished before the temperature dips below five degrees. (This adversely affects the set of the lime mortar). But I’m pleased to announce that the plastering has now been completed. Not the entire barn, of course, but the brick walls of the bathroom and toilet:

In the foreground you can see a gas heater which we bought for €20. It dates from the 1950’s, and still works. I renewed the gas pipe though! Oh, and the more eagle-eyed among you will notice that the area above the windows is not yet plastered; this will be done once the ceiling is in place! (Actually I’m not too sure whether I should say “plastered” or “rendered”. No “plaster” has been used; it’s a mixture of hydraulic lime and sand.)

Next week I can start laying the floor; so hopefully this task will be completed before it starts to get really cold.

It’s also been a busy time of year harvest-wise. The garden has produced well in excess of 50kg of tomatoes. So we’ve been having stuffed tomatoes, tomato soup, tomato salad, tomato sauce… you get the idea. We’ve frozen over twenty ears of sweetcorn. Unfortunately the potato crop hasn’t been brilliant, so it looks like there won’t be enough to see us through until the next season. I guess we’ll have to eat more pasta instead. The parsnips didn’t grow at all this year, so unfortunately there won’t be any parsnip wine. Melons did well though. Oh – and I mustn’t forget to mention the mushrooms; we’ve collected a couple of baskets of these little morsels too. And as it’s now hunting season again, some bits of wild boar have joined all the frozen vegetables in the freezer.

Yesterday I picked our watermelon. Yes, we have one. Just one. But it’s fairly large! LSS is now making more use of the polytunnel, and has produced several pots of sweet chilli sauce; these plants did particularly well in there.

The tree opposite our driveway yielded a few apples this month – but not enough to make any cider. However, LSS occasionally buys some grain for the hens from a nearby farmer, whom I shall call D.S. because those are his initials. Anyway, his apple trees were simply loaded, and the ground underneath was covered with fallen fruit. She asked him if we could have a few; and being a decent sort of chap, he said we could have as many as we wanted, because he didn’t have the time to pick any. He’s nearly seventy, and still farming, although he says he’s about to retire. Well, we must have picked up at least 300kg of apples. Not all in one go, of course!

Many years ago, LSS’s grandfather gave D.S. a seedling, and the tree is now producing huge red apples. They’re quite nice but taste a bit floury. The little tree which I rescued from the orchard (it had originally been planted by the aged FIL, but he had tied it tightly to a supporting stake with nylon baling twine and then neglected it – so it was nearly dead) has produced its first crop – a grand total of six apples. They’re large, golden-red, and very tasty.

So we now have approximately 35 litres of apple cider fermenting quietly in a corner. And we also have three 120-litre plastic barrels full of crushed apples, fermenting quietly away in the garage. These will be turned into apple brandy by a local distiller (the aged FIL has a permit to do this).

On the husbandry front, Mrs. Bunny produced 4 kits in the first week of September, and they opened their eyes this week. It’s the second time in a row she’s had such a small litter. Well, it just means she’ll be visiting Mr. Bunny a bit more often! I’m now up to date with tanning; I have 36 rabbit pelts in a cardboard box. Perhaps this winter I’ll cut them into furry strips so that they can later be woven into a bedspread.

A while ago I had mentioned that the signpost in front of the property was looking a bit worse for wear. The “D” had become illegible, so for a while now we’ve been living at “La arnoire”. Well, LSS painted a new sign on a piece of board. The dot over the “i” is actually a hole in the board. It looks good, though:

The old sign will be re-painted and then placed at the other entrance to the property.

Back to the bathroom project – I have constructed a framework to hold the suspended ceiling. It will be insulated with glass fibre, and then I will install some white pvc panels. The VMC (air extractor vent) is already in place.

Although it doesn’t look straight, the new wooden beam is, actually, dead level. And square. The roof beams aren’t. Oh, and this photo was obviously taken before the plastering was done!

Some wooden wedges have also been made for the shower floor. These have a 1:100 slope and should enable me to create a shower floor which drains properly. I don’t have a photo of this yet, but it’s on the cards…

Of course the plastering of the bathroom walls meant that the bathtub had to be moved out of the way. As a temporary measure I connected a garden hose to the hot water supply so it can still be used. A length of pvc pipe was connected between the outlet and the drainpipe, and sealed with silicone sealant. However, I have a suspicion that until the mortar for the bathroom floor tiles has properly set, the old faithful “bathtub in our garden” may well have to be returned to use in the kitchen!

Finally, we’ve been watching some of the Rugby World Cup 2015 on the laptop. I don’t support any one team in particular, but I do like watching Wales, The All Blacks, Namibia, Australia, France, and England. And the Springboks, of course.

Some of you may be wondering what has been happening with the Aged FIL. Nothing much, is the answer. Unfortunately LSS made the mistake of chatting to one of the carers in range of his hearing, and told her all about my sister’s visit last month, which was followed by a friend staying with us for two weeks. The following day the Aged FIL complained he had toothache, and wanted a dentist.
LSS called the dentist the following day, and unfortunately (because it was August) found that she was on holiday; returning the first week of September. So LSS called the doctor to come and have a look at him and prescribe some painkillers. Unfortunately the doctor was on holiday as well, so the Aged FIL received a visit from the locum. Who diagnosed gingivitis, and an extreme case of tartar. A prescription for mouthwash was dispensed, as was some advice for better dental hygiene.
The following day one of the carers presented him with a toothbrush she had found in a cupboard. “What’s that thing?” the aged FIL asked. “It’s a toothbrush. For brushing your teeth,” she replied.
“I can’t use that. You can brush my teeth for me.”
“Oh no I blooming well won’t! You’re quite capable of brushing your own teeth!”
In discussion with LSS, the carer related that she had had gingivitis in the past, and apparently it was so painful that she was unable to eat.
The thing is, the aged FIL is still eating quite happily, so his toothache can’t be that bad. LSS will speak to the dentist again once the holiday season is over, and see what needs to be done. The problem is that we’ve been down this route before.
Make appointment? Check.
Get doctor’s prescription for ambulance? Check.
Arrange for ambulance to take the aged FIL to the appointment? Check.
Ambulance arrives at the appointed hour? Check.
Followed by:
The aged FIL changing his mind and saying “I’m not going.”

Wildlife diary: LSS and I were watching a video on the laptop after supper (we don’t have television). As it had been a cloudy day, the boiler stove had been lit to heat up the water. This meant that the lounge was rather warm, so the door through to the barn had been left open. We were suddenly joined by another animal. It fluttered across the lounge ceiling, flew into the kitchen, and then back again. It was a bat! LSS hurriedly opened the lounge window and I opened the kitchen door. All in vain; it flew back into the barn the same way it came in. Still, we’re quite pleased we have bats. Even if we don’t have a belfry.

As promised, this week I’ve uploaded some photos of the window installation.

Firstly, the roof beams were supported by using an acrow prop. I was then able to install the concrete lintel. Obviously I had to move the bath out of the way first! Once the lintel was in place I could then remove the bricks below it; those which were unbroken will be re-used elsewhere. It was interesting to find that these bricks were of a lesser quality than those found in the house itself; the barn was obviously a later (cheaper) addition!

The first window was then fitted in place. But although I had carefully measured beforehand, it just didn’t look right:

So we decided to lower it by two brick courses. This meant that there was now a gap between the lintel and the window, but this was simply filled in with lime mortar. I obviously constructed a wooden frame first, then poured the lime mortar into the gaps between the frame and the brickwork. Once the mortar had set, I removed the frame. Ignore the grey tubing on the left of the photo above; this was a temporary vent for the Separett dry toilet.

The same installation procedure was then carried out on the second and third windows. Here’s the final result:

Now I need to start constructing the suspended ceiling for the bathroom; once the framework for that is in place I can render the walls. And once the walls have been rendered, I can start using some of our lovely travertine tiles for the floor! Watch this space…

Just a brief post today, as I’m sure you’ve been wondering about the silence. You see, we’ve had a friend staying with us for the past two weeks, so I haven’t had much time for Internet-based stuff. I have however managed to install the three new windows in the barn.

We did buy 45m² of travertine tiles, and these have now been delivered. We actually got them at half price, because as luck would have it, the colour we wanted was on a clearance sale.

The old refrigerator has now been converted into a smoker. I made a smoke generator using a small aquarium pump, and have already tested it. Now we just need to get some cuts of meat and we’re good to go!

Prior to the friend’s arrival, LSS cut the grass and brush in the alleyways around the property with the tractor. Unfortunately I then had to carry out sundry repairs:
– The cab side window glass became loose and had started falling out, so I inserted a rivet and large washer to hold the glass in place.
– The oil cap has gone missing, so a piece of cloth has been stuffed into the oil filler hole and covered with a plastic bag, all held in place with some wire (until such time as the village tractor shop can order a replacement filler cap).
– The diesel fuel filter drain plug was knocked off, possibly by a springing branch. This meant the diesel consumption was considerably higher than normal due to the leak. New fuel filters have now been fitted, and instead of the plastic drain plug I fitted an M8 bolt which should not be dislodged as easily.
– A low-hanging branch had knocked off the exhaust pipe. This has now been repaired.
– And another low-hanging branch smashed the air pre-cleaner bowl. A replacement was purchased and installed. And at the same time I straightened the air cleaner pipe which had been bent to a 45 degree angle. I also changed the air filter. The aged FIL had written the date on the old one when he last changed it. 1998.

The good news is that we have not had any punctured tyres since I installed the tyre sealant (http://la-darnoire.com/blog/2014/09/16092014.html).

More news will follow next week, hopefully with some photos of the barn windows…

The latest batch of beer has now been bottled. Now unfortunately I need to wait at least two weeks before I know if it’s any good or not!

LSS and I took advantage of the low water level in the pond to reinforce one of the eroded banks. We used old tyres which we filled with bricks and rubble left over from the creation of the doorways into the barn. Any bricks which were undamaged were put in a separate pile; these will be re-used for constructing an external cupboard next to the kitchen. This will contain the gas cylinder used for the cooker, and the upper part will hold ready-use firewood which will be accessed through a hatchway in the kitchen wall. Once this is in place we will be able to get rid of the current wood cupboard in the kitchen, which will free up quite a bit of floor space!

Once the first level of tyres were in place, we backfilled the gaps using the soil/clay which we had dug out of the barn when laying the new limecrete floor. Then the next layer of tyres/rubble/soil went in. All in all we installed four layers of tyres, and the bank of the pond is already looking better. There is one final section still to do, but the pond is deeper there so we’ll need to wait for the water level to drop a bit more. One thing we’re pleased about is that the greywater reedbed empties its cleaned, filtered water into the pond; if we had not installed it this way the pond would probably have dried up completely by now.

I have also poured the reinforced concrete lintels for three of the four windows in the barn. I’m keeping the concrete damp for a week by spraying it with water daily. This helps to ensure that the concrete sets more slowly, and is therefore stronger. Next week I’ll remove the concrete from the wooden boxes and we’ll see whether the casting was any good. When pouring concrete, it’s important that it’s vibrated in order to get rid of any air bubbles and to ensure it’s properly compacted. I used my reciprocating saw (without a blade, obviously!) to give the concrete those good vibrations. I simply ran the foot of the saw along all sides of the wooden box until air bubbles stopped appearing at the top of the concrete.

A while ago I had seen that the aged FIL’s neighbour had an old refrigerator in one of his sheds. On the way to check the contents of the aged FIL’s postbox we stopped there for a brief chat, and asked him about it. He replied that it was no longer working, and was waiting until such time as he could take it to the dump. I asked if we could have it, and he was quite happy to say we could. So I now have an old refrigerator which I’m going to convert into a cold smoker; both to smoke some rabbit pelts (as an experiment; apparently wood-smoked skins are more waterproof) and possibly some cuts of meat. I already have lots of oak woodchips, courtesy of the chainsaw!

We also recovered an old bathroom sink and pedestal from the aged FIL’s shed. LSS cleaned it up, and it looks quite presentable; we’ll be able to use it in our own bathroom. It just needs a new tap and drain. And once it’s installed I’ll be able to stop using a rechargeable shaver!

We haven’t yet had a chance to look for the travertine floor tiles; but we’re going on Tuesday next week. As the place is near Tours we’ll stop there and have lunch with a friend of ours.

And finally, our next-door neighbours are on holiday next week, and kindly offered us the use of their swimming pool whilst they were away. Of course no sooner was this offer made, than the weather turned grey and overcast. Typical.

Well, I’m back. So apologies to those of you who were suffering withdrawal symptoms caused by the lack of updates!

My sister spent three weeks with us, and as a result we had the opportunity to do a lot of things we would not normally have done; like visiting castles in the area. We’ve been to Chambord, Chenonceau, and visited the Game Fair in Lamotte. The latter was a bit of a disappointment really, as the majority of the exhibitors seemed to be advertising safaris to Africa (which, as you can imagine, is really “old hat” for us). We also visited the French Open Equestrian event where we watched various things like show-jumping and dressage.

We went to Sancerre for the obligatory wine-tasting, as well as taking a stroll around the town itself. The planetarium/radio telescope array in Nancay was quite interesting although not really geared for foreign tourists; all the displays being in French. For once I found myself in the role of translator, so my French is obviously not as poor as I thought. Actually, thinking about it, all the places we visited – with the exception of Chenonceau – did not cater for non-French-speaking tourists. Chambord offered an iPad-type thing (for a fee, of course) which enabled you to select a foreign language; but all the notices on the displays were in French only.

Another day trip saw us going all the way to Burgundy to visit a mediaeval castle which is currently being constructed. Er, that sounds a bit odd. If it’s currently being constructed, how can it be mediaeval? Well, it’s actually a castle which is being built using construction methods from the 13th Century. This is the largest experimental archaeological construction in the world. The castle is called Guedelon, (http://www.guedelon.fr/en/) and the BBC actually did a television series about it. If you happen to be in the area I can recommend going there; we’ll be going back again!

One little job I managed to do whilst my sister was here, was re-install the electric fence around the horse paddock field (as well as cutting the grass of course). This turned out to be a bit of a waste of time, because once again, our paddock field is devoid of horses this year. We had informed the administration at the Equestrian centre in Lamotte regarding the availability of our paddock, and we actually had one enquiry regarding the stabling of a pony. But nobody actually turned up. And yes, we did try advertising its availability online on Leboncoin.fr, a French site for classified advertisements. Unfortunately our advertisement was removed because we’re not a registered business specializing in paddock-hiring. Another example of the weirdness of the French system. So if you know of anyone visiting France with their horse, point them in our direction!

Speaking of horses, the horseflies have been out in force this year. My sister contributed some of her expertise in handbag-making in order to repair one of the two horsefly traps which had come apart. The plastic skirt (pictured here : horseflytrap) has now been re-made using an eyelet tool (the thing that is used to put the holes and eyelets in shoes for the laces). And it is a much more effective and long-lasting join than the duct tape I had previously used. The diameter of the skirt has been enlarged as well, as Horsefly Trap Version 2 now uses a child’s plastic hula-hoop.

With the very hot weather we’ve been having recently it’s been a major effort to get anything done, especially in the afternoons when all we want to do is snooze. However the advantage of all this sunshine is that the solar panel is maintaining the temperature of the thermal store at around 60 degrees : free hot water. We’ve also been to the DIY place BricoDepot in order to purchase the windows for the bathroom. Now I need to make a couple of formers in order to cast reinforced concrete lintels; once these are installed I can then create the openings for the new windows. I also treated myself (courtesy of a present from my sister) to a planer/thicknesser, which will be put to good use smoothing the wood extracted from old pallets.

Apparently there are currently water restrictions in place due to the lack of rain. It’s fortunate we have a borehole, so we can still water the garden. Next week I intend taking advantage of the low water level in the pond, to repair the one remaining eroded area next to the fence.

Also, my stock of beer has been depleted somewhat, so I currently have another batch brewing. It should be ready in time for our next visitor, friend V. She lives in Paris and has stayed with us before as a bit of a break from the city. We’re planning on taking her to see Guedelon castle – it gives us an excuse to go back; and this time we’ll try the mediaeval restaurant food. When we visited various attractions with my sister we took our own sandwiches. The price of food and drink in these touristy places is horrific. For example, €3 for a can of Coke which costs a mere 48c in a supermarket.

In other news, the tiles have now been installed on the roof of the rebuilt garage at the aged FIL. And Mrs. Bunny had her smallest litter to date; 4 kits. They are now eating their little heads off, so we’ll soon be separating them from their mother. Then she can go back to Neighbour J to visit Mr. Bunny again. As for her previous brood, only two females are left. All the others are in the freezer.

On the To-Do list for next week is a visit to a town near Tours. Called Saint-Avertin, it is apparently THE place to get travertine tiles (for the barn floor). We’ll see what we can find…