Carpenters mate

Today I am feeling slightly fragile after a drinks evening last night. "Have a day relaxing" says my other half. Goody! Thinks I, perhaps a chance to watch a the film we borrowed months ago and haven't got round to watching - so I suggest we watch it together. "After the footy maybe * " says he, "England are playing today if you don't mind" (cue rather pathetic face).

So how come I just ended up in the barn, ear defenders on, helping push 28 pieces of oak through a planer thicknesser*. Relaxing sure isn't what it used to be.
I am a seasoned carpenters' mate these days. I know not to pull, push, twist, lift or drop anything passing through the machine (500 times, each time taking a micromillimetre off).
The drone of the machine and the whine of the dust extractor were doing nothing for an impending headache.

The broody hen continues to turn me prematurely grey. Thinking about it (rather depressingly) I suppose not even prematurely given I am now mid 40's.
Yesterday she left the nest for something to eat and the loo, and then went back into the original chicken house where there were no eggs at all instead of her purpose made broody box in the shed.
So I spent yesterday afternoon making a new wooden and chicken wire door for the shed so that she can leave her eggs but is confined to the quite large shed area for a leg stretch etc. I also covered the open window areas with wire to stop the others popping in to push her off the nest. If it wasn't for my liking of little yellow bundles of fluff I think I would have given up on her by now.

Yesterday there was fete and vide grenier in the village, and when I popped into the boulanger I was given a scratch card with my bread, and I won an extreemly tacky insulated drinking mug with 'Ronde des pains' written on it. Still, nobody else seemed to be winning anything and our boulanger asked me to be sure to parade around the village holding it up so that everyone could see that there were in fact winning tickets to be had. There were ancient tractors on each street corner, and several stalls. I managed to purchase some zebra striped tomato plants for Neil at a very reasonable 40 centimes each which pleased him greatly.

I suppose I should go and plant them as it has stopped raining for five minutes. Everyone else seems to be showing off fantastically cultivated vegetable patches. I'm glad the camera isn't working so I can't show you how disorganised my beds are. Maybe I should do some weeding - is that relaxing*.





*still no question mark. Note to self - buy new computer when buying new camera. That's two lottery tickets then.