Dirty feet and rubble in my hair

And I would like to thank..........

2012-01-18T21:51:00.000+01:00

Very kindly Sue who writes a blog called Writing Home has recommended our blog for a Leibster blog award. As a recipient of the award I can also recommend five other blogs.
I read very few blogs due to a distinct lack of time, but there are a few special ones that I catch up with as and when I can. I will sit down and take some time to talk about them soon, I promise, but in the meantime thank you Sue, it's always nice to get some positive feedback.

(and I will try and find out how to insert links so that you will be able to see them when I have recommended them!!!)

La boîte de nuit du père noël

2012-01-15T13:57:00.003+01:00

Look innocent don't they?! The little swine second in line (Baron - aged a few months) has been taking full advantage of my electric fence not working properly and escaped 3 times yesterday. Today we have replaced the energiser and even when he got zapped he just did the equine equivalent of a shrug and wandered off unpeturbed!!

I have been sanding beams this morning - what a lovely job that is!! I hate dust masks and goggles that steam up within seconds so that you can't see anything. They look fab when treated and sanded (the beams not the goggles!!).

I have been helping Neil with putting up the silver foil insulation in the house/barn upstairs.
The four year old child of Dutch Bird saw all the insulation and picked up on me calling it a 70's disco club 'Oh!' she said 'la boîte de nuit du père noël!!!' (Father Christmas's nightclub!!)

2012-01-13T20:57:00.003+01:00

Neil is working like mad and has repaired the wall above the barn door and with Keith's help has reconstructed what was a pigeon house above the barn door and made it look much more attractive.

You may be wondering why there is a spray bottle with 'no cat wee here' written on it. That was originally a concoction put together by a friend of ours, who swore that it would stop our elderly cat using the entire house as a litter tray. Although we miss our old cat Romey we don't miss that annoying little habit and the bottle is now just being used as a water spray.

The next photo is Neil insulating the ceiling. As you can see the work is going on into the night!!

Finally my good mate Judi came to visit and we had a lovely hack out on Sunday. Although Judi and I were suffering rather badly with hangovers, we were still smiling in this photograph!!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-05T21:32:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year to you - and here the New Year has bought a new spurt of activity. Jason has somehow encouraged some good friends of his to come over for a working party next month, one of whom is an expert in heating, so the race is on to build the stud work for the upstairs rooms so that we can have a chance of getting our heating installed.

Here are some pictures of the bathroom being built. Do you really think I have a chance of having a bath this year?

Well in any case it is fantastic seeing more progress. Neil always said once our first floor was in he would be able to make great strides. The weather is abysmal at the moment so at least he is warm and dry working on the house. Unlike myself, getting soaked on a regular basis and yesterday getting pushed over into the mud by a very large horse. Occupational hazard I guess!!!

Happy Christmas!!

2011-12-26T22:20:00.001+01:00

First floor for Christmas

2011-12-22T15:08:00.001+01:00

He's only gone and done it!! My lovely husband has managed to get the oak flooring down and we no longer have to risk life and limb walking from one end of the house to the other. It looks great, and now we can start building some rooms and insulating the house properly.

My boss treated all of us and our partners to the bar for fish and chips for a Christmas treat. I was feeling sorry for Tess as she had spent a bit of time on her own that day, so I wrapped her collar with tinsel and took her along. The fish fryers were so taken with her festive look they cooked her sausage and chips as a free treat - which didn't touch the sides!!!

Off to work now so will add more about the floor soon - Happy Christmas everyone!!!

Getting Christmassy

2011-12-11T12:56:00.001+01:00

This is my friend Rosie - I dragged her into the woods yesterday to collect lots of green stuff to make some Christmas decorations. I like just using the stuff that grows around us here

Neil is very excited as we are starting to get our first floor laid. He even muttered the words "light" and "end of tunnel". Just to be able to walk across the first floor without risk of death by falling through gaps will be an enormous improvement!

This afternoon we are off to choose a Christmas tree. Last year it started snowing just as we were driving over and it really added to the occasion. No sign of snow yet and I'll just be happy to stay dry!!

2011-12-07T14:36:00.000+01:00

I hope you like the photo above. Somehow a random Limousin cow appeared in the field and the photo is of my colt, Appie, treating it with some suspicion!!

This is Tom the stallion wearing our new all singing, all dancing rug which sends out electrical impulses to stimulate the muscles along the back. Could do with one myself. It also has a 'warm up' facility. These horses get treated better than us!!!!

Here - dah dah!! is a photo of the first thing to be made in the workshop - a lovely oak door for some people we know. I'm very jealous!! Hope you like it.

Mad!!

2011-12-04T09:56:00.000+01:00

I haven't blogged in ages as we have been back in the UK, visiting family and friends. It's good to be home though, and as you can see, this pair are happy to be reunited!!

2011-11-12T11:42:00.000+01:00

It came as a terrible shock when I arrived at work the other day (Tuesday) to find my boss struggling with the young colt pictured above (much bigger now at 5 months).
He was panicking with the worst case of colic that I have ever seen. My boss was desperately trying to keep him on his feet, as horses have a design fault in that they can twist their gut when rolling in pain, which almost certainly leads to death unless a difficult (and rarely sucessful) operation can be performed.
As soon as I saw him my heart sunk as it seemed to me that his chances were slim. The vet had already been out and given him a drug that normally would stop the spasms and reduce the pain, but it had had no effect.

The vets returned and tried more pain relief, and then it was decided to completely aneathetise him, with the hope that when the drugs wore off whatever was causing the colic would have abated. The other option was to take him to the nearest specialist vet hospital which is three and a half hours away the other side of Bordeaux, with the hope that if he arrived alive they could operate. We tried that with a young colt a while ago and it didn't work - nobody wanted to put this colt through the journey in his condition.

Unfortunately it was hopeless and he was put to sleep not too long after. We were all in absolute shock. He was a lovely colt and the first born at home from our stallion Tom.

The following day he was to be picked up and taken for an autopsy. He had died in a stable next to the main house and we were hoping that whatever came to collect him would be able to reverse up almost to the door to make his removal as easy as possible. Having had a traumatic time waiting days for my own mare to be removed I hoped that this would go more smoothly, especially as presumably having to have an autopsy would necessitate a smooth, clean removal.
When the lorry arrived it was about the size of a dustbin lorry, with just a grabber attached. The driver was about as unhelpful as it was possible to be and insisted we bought the colt right out to the main road using our tractor. He also wanted it done quickly as he was busy and needed to leave. My boss was in shock and stressed after losing her horse and so I put my Paramedic head on and thought quickly how we might best get him out.

I grabbed a ton rubble sack and got her to help me drag him to one side to get the bag underneath him so that we could use it to drag him out of the stable. It was horrible. He was very distended with gas and already quite smelly. As we dragged him out there was a horrible crackling noise as all the gasses in his body were compressed. The driver came and made a token effort to help by attaching a ragged bit of string around his leg and pulling ineffectually.

The idea was to get him onto a palette and take him around on the tractor, but it was impossible to get him onto it in his position. The driver, now really stressed tied his string around the colts' neck and a front leg and one hind and gestured that we should just tie that to the forks of the tractor and haul him out with that. We did try, but he just fell to the ground again. Now though he was on a slope, so I thought if we put the palatte below him we could have rolled him back onto it. The driver refused to listen to me, tying him up again and insisting that we just dragged him out. It was awful. My boss was worried about all the other horses seeing, but I assured her that other than a passing interest I was sure that it would not distress them too much.

We didn't watch as he was lifted into the truck, but the stench of the other carcasses filled the air and I promptly burst into tears. Not with the trauma of moving this poor colt, but because the smell bought back the awful memory of losing my own horse.

The following day I tried to get the stench of death out of the stable and scrubbed and disinfected the floor several times. I can still smell it, but I am sure it will leave eventually.

On Thursday we had a two year old colt castrated. Once again my job was to hold the horses head so that it could not move at the critical points of the operation. I asked the vet afterwards if he could do Neil at some point, at which he said "you always ask me that - is it the same husband? Poor man!!"

Today is a beautiful autumn sunny day. I am going riding this afternoon and I am so looking forward to blowing the cobwebs of the week away.
On a positive note Neil has made a lovely window sill out of some old boards he found. I hope you like it x

2011-11-05T15:25:00.001+01:00

Today is a bit of a drizzly day here in the Limousin. We had some fantastic weather at the end of October though and it was difficult to believe we are heading towards the end of the year.

The yearly cider fete in the nearby village of Champagnac La Riviere was on a lovely sunny day, they have a massive apple press which is a spectacle in itself

We arrived just as the lunch was finishing, and saw the marquee with the diners being serenaded by a very loud walking band. A good time seemed to be having had by all!!

The following week we headed off down to the South of France to spend a weekend with some cousins who live in viewing distance of the Pyrenees - which looked particularly spectacular with their dusting of snow. I tried to take some photos, but we really weren't close enough to get a decent picture. We were sort of celebrating our anniversary and were spoilt rotten by Robert and Valerie who treated us with champagne and some home produced fois gras.
Here however is Neil having breakfast on their terrace in the sunshine enjoying a good old fry up before having a go at fishing on their lake...

he didn't catch anything but it really didn't matter!!

Now thoughts are turning to Christmas. The geese are looking a reasonable size, and one was sealing it's fate yesterday by running up towards me looking vicious and attacking my boot. They don't half make a racket, and they give our neighbours chasse dogs a run for their money.

Neil has made a fantastic oak front door for some friends and has been run off his feet catching up with all the work that has been piling up whilst he has been busy building the workshop. He is desperate to carry on with the renovation here, but as his list of paid work mounts up getting our own stuff done seems less and less likely. I guess we should just be happy that at least we are making a living, but it is a bit frustrating seeing every body elses' places getting completed whilst ours is so far off being done.

With longer hours at work my time with the Fresians is somewhat limited at the moment too - they are all getting really unfit and hairy!! (like all of us here in the country!!!) Still, we are now getting into log fire and mulled wine season - so it isn't too bad!!

About last night....

2011-10-16T09:40:00.002+02:00

It's already going all Pete Tong (wrong). Dutch Bird and her husband (the French farmer) are coming around for dinner , and Neil and I have already consumed far too much alcohol to be providing a decent meal and entertainment.

Neil invited them over with the idea of having an entirely 'French speaking' evening. I always try to speak to DB's hubby in French, as I feel that she befriends an awful lot of Brits (probably because we all buy property with land that she can then graze her horses on when we realise that we can't possibly manage it properly) who make no effort whatsoever (or at best very little) to converse with him in his own language in his own house. That may be an unfair critique but I fear not.

It's now the morning after, and I have to say the evening went incredibly well - I even learnt a couple of French phrases that I will have to ask my teacher about (luckily she is very broad minded) .

2011-10-12T15:50:00.001+02:00

Blimey it's happened again - time whizzing by and me suddenly remembering the blog and thinking that if I don't write something I will be in major trouble with either my or Mags's mum.

Jason has been over again and bless him has been working his fingers to the bone log chopping, digging and basically having a go at anything we chuck at him. I keep apologising for having such poor accomodation in return for his labours but he seems quite happy tucked away in the little caravan. Still I suppose anything is better than the tent that we put up for him that nearly blew away (with him)one stormy night!!!!

Neil is busy in his workshop working on an oak door that someone has been patiently waiting nine months for. I have installed a phone in the workshop so that I can call him in when (I think) his time is up. Trouble is, now that he has some decent lighting and coffee making facilites in there I am never going to get him to come in for his tea as he doggedly works on...

Dutch bird has been internet searching more musical rides for next year. I had to laugh when she showed me one video of a group of fresians all performing quite high level dressage movements (well they would be difficult on our young untrained horses). It was quite a challenge just to get the horses to go in a straight line at the show, let alone sideways whilst high stepping. I think she needs to have a reality check but I doubt she would agree with me.

What do you think about it?

Our Lounge

2011-09-26T22:20:00.000+02:00

Doesn't look much like a lounge does it? But this is a huge step for us - now this area is empty of (most) of Neils' tools we can get on with transforming this space into a comfy warm space. sigh. one day!!!.

When completed the wall on the left will be pointed and the stairs will be hidden by a stone surround for the wood burner with a back boiler that will power radiators to heat the house.

Out of shot on the right are the old cattle stalls. We are going to sand these down as a feature with a shelf above. The barn doors will become patio style glass and oak doors.

It feels like the start of a bit of progress..

Happy Golden Anniversary!!

2011-09-25T14:43:00.000+02:00

A couple of weeks ago Mum, Dad, my sister Claire and her husband Paul and my neice Megan flew over to celebrate Mum and Dads' Golden Wedding Anniversary. They stayed in a lovely gite down the road which is run by Mags and Keith (see the link on the right)and we went out for a lovely meal in Limoges to celebrate and cooked a bit of our home produced pork as a Sunday lunch.

We also took Megan to a wonderful zoo park just outside of Limoges which I would recommend if anyone is in the area and likes wildlife.

Neils Workshop

At last the workshop is up and running (and needing some more equipment apparently?!!!) it looks fantastic don't you think?

The Musical Ride

Even a few days before the show the practice sessions for the musical ride were a bit of a shambles to say the least - school holidays, changes of riding patterns and more than a few senior moments were making me wish that we had had a lot more practice. The final rehearsal was a complete disaster - with our 13 year old rider being spectacularly dumped. It was a long time before she could be persuaded to get back in (a different) saddle and even then mistake after mistake led me to think we were heading for a complete disaster.

I kept telling myself that it was only a small show and that it didn't matter, but months of preparation (for a handful of us) made me want to do it and do it well, but I did have somewhat of a sinking "it's going to be a disaster" feeling as the day dawned.

The weather forcast wasn't good, and we were pleasantly suprised when the morning dawned clear and sunny, so that at least made us feel a bit more positive. The Fresians that Jane and I were riding had scrubbed up well and we loaded them up, drove to the showground and managed to get all the horses in a handful of stables by doubling up the social Fresians.
We were then treated to a free lunch and some wine (which was very well appreciated). I had heard dreadful reports of the lunch, but apart from some extremely fatty pork accompanied by some beans that had had the life boiled out of them it wasn't too bad

After the lunch we realised that rather than the three oclock that we thought we were going to be riding, we were supposed to be on at four and then as the events got further and further delayed it was going to be more like five. Few of the horses are used to standing idle in a stable and were getting a bit bored. Just as it was our turn to get ready the original weather forcast kicked in and it started to rain as we were getting on.
Most of the spectators headed off and the remaining stragglers started putting up their umbrellas. I don't know what it is with horses and umbrellas, but unaccustomed to them, as well as audiences plus some riders nerves made our normally calm horses start to panic slightly, and as we rode down towards the arena a few of them started playing up.

I managed to get a woman, her umbrella and two small kids to move away from the fenceline as my horse was going to go nowhere near them and in a bit of a panic we tried to get on with the ride.

I can laugh about it now, but there were several points during the ride that I turned a corner and faced horses that weren't supposed to be in front of me - but Jane and I just doggedly carried on and our supportive families said that to the untrained eye not much of it was too noticeable. During the ride the sun came out again, so in the photos it just looks like a bright sunny day with no spectators!!!!!

It's a shame but it just felt like a bit of a relief when it was all over with no casualties!!!

Plastered!!!

2011-09-08T13:29:00.000+02:00

I've got a horrible feeling that anyone of you who reads this blog must be feeling like they have personally built this workshop, such is the amount that I have gone on and on about it.

Yesterday we got plastered with the help of Helen and Richard, a couple of friends who are looking at moving over here, who foolishly offered to help with plastering.

I think we got more on us and the floor than the walls, but with these two working like absolute trojans we got the whole place done in one day. The electrician is coming to connect the electrics tomorrow and then all that is left is to build a temporary door until Neil is in the workshop and can make the proper one, and fit it out - yay!!

This will leave the current workshop, our barn, empty and ready to be converted into our lounge. Neil and I have just had a lighting discussion upon which we had a minor disagreement.

Neil seems to think that it is not necessary to base the entire lighting plan around where I want the Christmas Tree to go. I think he'll find he's wrong. The debate goes on.........

Help!!

2011-09-04T11:51:00.000+02:00

A strange plant has appeared in my field. I actually quite like it, and bouyed by some success on finding birds on an RSPB bird identifier website I decided to try a similar tactic to find the name of this plant.

I like flowers and growing a bit of veg, but would never describe myself as a gardener as such, but I never dreamed that the plant world would be so complicated. The site started off quite simply with colour of flower, evergreen or deciduous then, it went off into the realms of, and I quote..
mat forming
cycad
narrowly colmnar
narrowly conical
rounded to broadly columnar
rounded to broadly spreading
suckering
prostrate
pendulous etc etc

Now don't get me wrong, I know what the majority of these mean but really - look at the photos and tell me what do you reckon?!!!

So I have done the only thing I normally do in such circumstances and I have enlisted the help of the "Oracle" aka my Mother in Law Beryl to help me identify this strange plant, but I would be interested to know if anyone out in blog world has ever seen this anywhere. It has white flowers on it, and the spikey fruit like things are absolutely rock hard.

Bon chance!!!!!xx

2011-08-30T19:00:00.000+02:00

The other day I was chatting with some friends and we were talking about how the longer you live here the more you get used to living without many of the supermarket items we are used to in the UK.

A lot of them can be purchased in the British aisle of the local Intermarche, albeit at a hugely inflated price, but we choose to live without them or take advantage of the kind offers from friends returning with space in their cars or suitcases.

Sometimes though, you really fancy a taste from home. The other day someone was talking about Cornish pasties. Oh! how I fancied one. So not to miss out I found a recipe and voila!! what do you think? They tasted great and didn't last very long!!!

Keith has finished the stonework today - doesn't it look great?!! Give that man a pastie!!!

2011-08-28T13:40:00.000+02:00

Here are some more workshop pictures that I have just taken - it is really coming on.
Everyone thinks it is far too good to be a workshop, but for us this holds the key to the rest of the house being done, and with the value of hindsight is what we should have done first right from the word go - apart from the stable for my beloved horse Amber of course!!

Talking of stable, the computer seems to have (touch wood) become a lot more stable. I am not sure if it is the programs I have been downloading - but I have a sneaky suspicion that foul play may have been an issue. It suddenly occurred to me that at the time I was having such problems with the internet our phone and internet provider had been trying to flog us extra internet security options. I'm not sure if I am being a tad paranoid but it does seem strange that now we have told them finally that we won't be purchasing the extra cover that the problem seems to have sorted itself out.....

Our musical ride practice went ok this week, although it was no less dramatic. Dutch Bird decided to try the two mares who have foals in the ride, so as I and my boss Sam rode the two mares, the two foals were doing flat out loops of the school as we were riding. They looked magnificent and it seemed the mares were glad to have a bit of a break from their offspring!! I did manage to stay on board this time which was a bit of a result.

Please work!!!

2011-08-25T12:52:00.000+02:00

I'm writing this on the word processor part of the computer - as every time I go online the computer goes completely haywire and starts playing up before crashing completely. That's something else we are going to have to find the money for then. Bummer.

So I have to apologise to those who have been trying to contact us, not least Jase who has been doing some online research on 'how to get rid of bastard foxes' (I added the bastard bit) because our local fox is still on the prowl and managed to get an escapee chicken the other day. The run looks like Colditz at the moment with the electric fence around, but it's that or get rid of the poultry altogether.

Also apologies to Diane, a fellow blogger who came over to meet us and the animals last week, who very kindly provided us with some home grown vegetables and preserves and wrote a lovely blog about her visit. You can find her post at

http://lifeincharente.blogspot.com/2011/08/meeting-another-blogger-and-winner-is.html

I have no idea how to do one of those neat little links, but I hope you can copy and paste the above and read about her day - she also kindly omitted to mention that whilst we were practicing our musical ride I was rather unspectacularly dumped off my horse when it spooked at something, particularly embarrassing as I had been going on and on about how brilliant and calm and unshakable the fresian breed is!!!!!!
Still, apart from finding sand in parts of my anatomy that should remain sandless I was practically unscathed.

Every time I tried to go online and thank Diane for her lovely emails after her visit my computer had a spaz and I was unable to send anything.

The boys are progressing well with the workshop, and several people are stopping to congratulate them on their work which is nice. By way of a bit of a treat we went out with Keith and Mags last night to try a "Food of the world" restaurant in Limoges.
I was so looking forward to a nice spicy indian or thai. It seems though, that the food was distinctly mellowed down for the French palate, and as a consequence was rather bland. They did serve Kangaroo though rather bizarrely which was ok but a bit strange.

Right I am going to try and upload this and a photo of the workshop. If you have read this it will have been successful and frankly a bit of a miracle, so if I don't blog or reply to any comments please don't think I am ignoring you or can't be bothered!!!!

Musical ride training

2011-08-16T15:09:00.000+02:00

I know it doesn't look like much is going on in this picture but last night we had another practice for the musical ride with the four lead horses. For the first time we included a three year old stallion, Bart on the ride and considering all the other horses were mares, he behaved himself very well.
Thursday night there will be two more of the riders joining us - so I hope itcontinues to go well - especially as we only have a month of training left and we are far, far from ready!!!

2011-08-15T15:05:00.000+02:00

Another week has gone by at breakneck speed - Neil has spent much of it holed up in the workshop sorting out electric and phone cables and putting in lots of studding so that he can insulate and board. The wall outside is coming on, and Neil is hoping to crack on with the rendering for the rest of it soon.
He is out there at the moment insulating the roof - a job he detests, and the insulation he is using is making him itch and sore - but at the price he got it for he decided it was worth the hassle of installing it.

We had some visitors of the weekend - some friends from Gloucestershire in the most well equipped Land Rover I have ever seen. I think they could cope with any eventuality with this beast - although the biggest problem they have encountered so far is to find a campsite on the coast that is not full - peak season in France = no room at the inn, but they had a day relaxing and having a splosh in the pool before heading off towards mountains in the South.

On Sunday Dutch Bird invited us and many, many other people for a barbeque to celebrate her daughters' fourth birthday. Unluckily for a young cow, but luckily for us one of her beasts had broken a leg and so this fed us and the party of about forty without any problem!! Neil looked like desperate Dan tucking into the beef.

Judith was telling me this morning that her elderly neighbour had given her a begonia cutting some time back and had enquired how it was growing.
Unfortunately the cutting had died, and when the neighbour heard this she went off and thought about it, and then the next time she saw Judith she said the reason the cutting must have died was because there weren't any catholics living in her house!! Work that one out!!!!

Lastly thanks to everyone who has left comments or contacted regarding our friend in intensive care - he is making a good recovery and we look forward to speaking to him soon xx

2011-08-08T22:41:00.000+02:00

Here is the horsewalker - finished and in use, a great relief to Neil who is desperate to get on with our house as we are heading towards winter.

We went to a French/Dutch version of banger racing on Saturday - our friend the French farmer 'souped up' his grandfathers old car and went flying round a field over jumps and around a lake - it all looked like fun and apart from a touch of whiplash and some seatbelt bruising escaped pratically unscathed

It looks quite mad and we all fancied having a go ourselves next year!

Sunday we went to a meal organised by the local chasse as part of a fishing competition, it was our first real chance to try sangliere (wild boar) - which was really tasty.

Although it all looks like fun, it has been difficult to enjoy anything for very long this weekend. We found out on Friday that a friend of ours is in Intensive Care in hospital in the UK. We don't know if he will recover, but our love and best wishes go to him and we hope to hear some positive news soon.

2011-08-05T13:00:00.000+02:00

Today is almost unbearably close and muggy - energy sappingly so, and work was a bit of a struggle this morning. It was quite exciting to use the horsewalker for the first time though - I so wished I had taken my camera.

We put an irish showjumper mare in and also a little childs pony that is short and fat and very lazy (bit like myself). I was glad it wasn't me in there as the pony struggled to keep up with the pace of the irish mare and unceremoniously got a tap on its arse as the horsewalker arm swung round keeping the horses up to speed!! My idea of hell really.

I have had a real blast from the past this week, courtesy of a facebook group for the equitation centre where I trained for my British Horse Society exams back in 1983. This video must have been filmed at about that time, as the instructors and the horses are the same.

The centre had been used to train our Olympic team back in the year dot, and the yard and horses were kept to an unbelievably high standard - I once got dismissed from a riding class for having a blade of straw on the underside of my riding boot. It certainly gave me a good grounding in all things equestrian, but the video is unbelievably 'jolly hocky sticks' and I would only bother watching it if you are really into horses!!

In the last week the two fresian foals have been born, a colt and a filly. the filly is full sister to my yearling colt Appie - so it will be interesting to watch her progress. Here are some photos for you and also one of the three stallions that are in my field. At ages 2,3 and four it is somewhat unbelievable that they are co-existing harmoniously and says a lot about the fresian breed.

They probably can't take each other seriously with these ridiculous face masks on!!

Happy birthday Neil

2011-08-01T19:39:00.002+02:00

Yesterday was Neil's birthday and for once he had decided to take a day off, have a lie in, a lazy brunch and generally take things easy in the pool before inviting a small group of friends over for drinks in the late afternoon .

He was particularly looking forward to brunch, as for his birthday our friends Jane and Denis had generously bought him two very large filet steaks as a treat, and he had planned his steak lunch with chef like precision.

The day before we had noticed our old cat Romey shaking her head, and we were concerned that her cancerous ear stump was starting to give her some pain. When we got up yesterday morning Neil noticed blood on the window next to where she had been sitting, and on examination we found to our absolute horror that she had maggots in that ear stump. So the decision we had been dreading was taken out of our hands and I phoned the vet who agreed to meet us at the surgery for immediate euthanasia. Neil and I were heartbroken to take her, but also kind of relieved that the inevitable decision had been made for us.
The vet was very kind and coped with us both being so upset very gently.

So poor old Neil, rather than relaxing and taking it easy, found himself digging a hole to bury our cat.
We've had a bit of a love hate relationship with Romey -She was a sitting tenant in this house when we bought it - in fact Neil always said we bought a very expensive cat and got a house free with her.

As she had lived in the house on her own for nearly two years she had no compunction in using the whole place as her personal litter tray - and she would drive us nuts by refusing to use a tray rather than any floor surface she pleased. That said she was so loving and she felt to us like a real part of the history of the house and of the story of our lives here.

When she was buried we had a chat and decided that rather than spend the day moping we should try to enjoy the day as much as possible and agreed not to tell anyone about what had happened - as sympathy was the last thing we needed and we did manage to enjoy the day more than I would have thought was possible.

It was very quiet in the house this morning without Romey demanding her breakfast as soon as our bedroom door was open. I do hope that she didn't suffer unnecessarily - I am convinced that until perhaps the day before she died she was enjoying her food and cuddles and having a quality of life.

RIP Romey.

Just for Pat and Kathy!!

2011-07-26T16:22:00.000+02:00

I have been gently nudged and reminded to blog by both my mum and Margarets' mum Pat. Hi to you both and thank you for your dedication in reading this blog - it's just sometimes I really can't think of much to say!!
Not that we have been idle, the workshop is progressing and the outer stone wall is being built by Keith, whilst Neil has been railing out and insulating the inside and beginning to sort out the electrics.

The musical ride is coming on. There are only a couple of months before the show, and it became evident that at least six people of the twelve who were supposed to be taking part were not going to be making an appearance, so we are now going to do the ride with only 8 ( so two people have some fast learning to do!!)

My colt Appie is becoming more used to handling - he loves people and is very social, but he has to get used to having his legs picked up and being touched all over and led about. I'm really looking forward to the training process as he has a lovely temperament.

Right, I must get on and do some stuff - I have spent a fair bit of time today trying to organise a free and inventive birthday present for Neil's birthday on Sunday. It's one of my more ridiculous ideas and i'll tell you more about it when it's not a secret!!!!!

2011-07-10T23:35:00.000+02:00

Our friend Jason is here again for a mini break, and what a devil for punishment he is!! Here is a photo of him helping Neil to insulate the workshop - you'd think he'd want to sit around and drink beer like normal people!!

Keith and Mags came over with the pups last night and Tess's nose was severely put out of joint when not only the pups, but Lenny the cat all decided to help themselves to her tea

2011-07-10T18:21:00.000+02:00

Well, Quackers does indeed now have a new friend and companion. As I was working all last week our guests Warney and Carole (yes I did once have a duck and a chicken named after them) drove some distance early one morning to a market that I knew would be able to supply our guide duck.

With their limited command of the language I was impressed that they managed to buy a very handsome looking fluffy duckling, much to the amusement of the vendor I am sure - as their chief instruction was to buy as small a duckling as possible which is not the usual requirement of those purchasing fowl at the market.

Quackers appears even more delighted than me - he seems more interested in life, has put on weight and is constantly preening his new friend and chattering away to him.

Must be Quackers!!

2011-07-02T14:32:00.000+02:00

I am having a 'pottering about' day today. We have some good friends coming to stay a bit later so I am trying to make the place look presentable and I am also awaiting the arrival of another house guest, a young blind duckling called Quackers.

Quackers is the only survivor of a fox attack at a friend of mines' house. He survived as, at the time of the attack, he was safely sat on my friends' lap if not watching, then listening to the television in the comfort of her home.
I believe he was born blind, but as my friend is the mother to an avid nine year old animal lover, euthanasia was out of the question.
They are off on holiday tomorrow, so I was asked if I would look after said duckling.

I have been pondering how I am supposed to provide it with adequate care. Apparently it does respond to voices and comes towards you, but when it swims it just swims in a circle. I told Neil that perhaps we should look for another duckling to provide it with company - I think ours would just run right over the top of it as it is only small, so perhaps we should find a guide duck as it were. I'm not sure where to get one at short notice but I could give it a go.
Yes! mind made up - Im off to the internet to do a quick search!! I'll let you know how I get on....

2011-06-25T17:02:00.000+02:00

Tess had her stitches out this morning and all seems well. After a couple of days feeling sorry for herself and a bit sore she was back to her normal self, keen to help round up the menagerie and sort out the horses. We haven't had the bill yet - Neil asked them to invoice us (preferably after payday!) so I await that landing with a thud in the postbox outside.

This computer is driving me to distraction and has become increasingly unstable of late. Having watched a bit of Glastonbury last night I decided to download an album from a group I hadn't heard of before. Just to download the mp3 files it seemed I needed a ton of software which has probably added to the unstability of the laptop, but oh, how lovely to sit and listen to some new music.

Our housesitter Jason kindly left us some speakers for our ipod (and anything else it will plug into) which are absolutely fantastic and probably giving the barking chasse dogs up the road a run for their money.

The workshop now has a new window and door. Neil had carefully planned the window size according to the catalogue at a (not very) local DIY store so that it would be easily available. When he was ready to order it he decided to check the website, which turned out to be completely useless - you could find and put items in a 'basket' but then there was no facility to check if it was in store, order or indeed pay for it.

So with a feeling of inevitability he drove to the store (about an hour from us) only to find that although it was in the catalogue, that you had to order it specially (obviously no mention was made of this in the catalogue).

I wasn't with Neil to see the steam coming out of his ears, but I have no doubt a full hissy fit accompanied by toys being thrown out of his pram followed this statement. We have given up telephoning the store to check on availability as we don't think most staff can actually be bothered put themselves out to check their stock and so the answer you get is unreliable also.

Neil ended up having to buy a window too large for his especially made hole just so that he could get on with fitting it, so a whole day was spent making the window space larger and fitting the window.

The door was less of a problem, having been donated to us by an ambulance colleague of ours Kate. Far too nice to put in a workshop really (I actually ducked as I typed that!) but it will do the job and is good and solid.

I went and got six geese last weekend, and they are settling in well and are lovely creatures (although they are still at fluffy stage) they are curious and chatty if that makes sense - far more sociable than our ducklings. The plan is that hopefully there will be a nice pair amongst them to keep to provide us with geese for the table each year. As it is pretty impossible to sex young geese we will just have to wait and see!

Dog vs Anaesthetic

2011-06-18T12:19:00.000+02:00

We decided it was time to get Tess sterilised - despite frequent tugs at heart strings regarding filling our house with cute little collie puppies our minds were made up when the last time she had her vaccination the vet told us that the longer we left it, the higher the risk that she would become incontinent as a result of the operation.

Although we are not living on quite the miniscule budget we were, money is still somewhat of an issue and so I asked the vet how much the procedure was likely to cost. " How much does she weigh?" he asked. I said that although I know she used to be around 15 kilos, that I thought she had got a bit more chunky of late. "Lets work it out on her being 18 kilos" says he, and then if she is less it will cost slightly less or vice versa.
He said it would cost roughly 200 euros.
With a deep breath I booked her in.

I was quite pleased to be working on the morning of the operation, which meant that Neil had to take her. Tess like most dogs, hates the vet surgery and starts shaking as soon as she walks through the door. Having had one dog who was completely accident prone, I know that horrible feeling of leaving them in the surgery and was glad it wasn't me doing the deed. The vet took her straight in when Neil arrived so that he was there when the vet weighed her (just over 16 kilos) and gave her the dose of aneasthetic.

Tess was having none of it, and fought the dose and refused to go under. Not giving a toss about our budget she wouldn't go off to sleep until she had had enough aneasthetic to drug a 30 kilo hound.

Neil and I both felt terrible about subjecting her to this ordeal and worried about it all morning, not really able to concentrate on anything else. Neil went to pick her up and was so desperate just to get her home that he almost ran with her out of the surgery so that the vet had to come outside and find him to tell him they wanted to see her in a couple of days to check her over.

That night she chose to come up to our bedroom to sleep under our bed ( rather than in her basket - she thinks under the bed is a bit of a den) and unusually for me I had difficulty sleeping, being aware of her moaning from time to time.

Amazing how quickly animals recover though, and although she is still a shade quiet she seems remarkably perky after her op

Not looking so clever though is Romeys ear. Or what was left of it after the vet tried to cut the cancer off it - unsucsessfully it seems.

The vet has given us tablets and drops for it, but the upshot is there is nothing more they can do. "She won't mind if she sprays blood up the walls, it doesn't bother her" says the vet - and she certainly seems happy enough. It's all down to quality of life at the end of the day isn't it.
She is a lovely cat, although she does regard the entire house as a cat litter tray (and particularly the barn which drives Neil mad), but she lived here before us, and to lose her would be losing part of the house, so we just have to do our best for her.

So all we have to do now is wait for the vet bill to arrive. I always wondered what it would cost to sterilise a great dane. Arghhhhhhh!!!!

ps apologies again to those kind enough to leave comments - I still am unable to reply to them - I really must work something out...

Back to reality..

2011-06-15T18:17:00.000+02:00

There are some people very at home with having a hammer in their hand, much in the same way I am with a slice of banoffee pie or a glass of something chilled and bubbly. Alas hammer skills do not come easily to me, and this afternoon has been one of mild to extreem fustration depending on the task in hand at any given moment. I cannot believe just how cack handed I can be whilst trying to hammer in the hooks to hold the fence to the posts. Just when I think at last! a hook is going in straight - I would realise I hadn't put the damn thing around the very wire I was trying to pin down and the hook was useless.

The fox around here has once again decided that we are the "drive in chicken take away" of choice - and has made off with our cockerell and three of my favourite young chicks. I now have constructed an alcatraz style chicken run with an electric fence surround.

It would have been made much easier had my reel of electric wire not exploded on opening. It now resembles a 'slinky' on acid.

I sat on the grass trying patiently to untangle the thing when Neil kindly came to see me with a cold drink. He tried to help but within seconds I could sense his blood pressure rising, and he was just about to throw all of his teddies out of his pram when I sent him off again before he turned the air blue.

He has been doing really well with the workshop despite two trips away and several visitors - here are a couple of pics of the latest progress...

We are about to take Tessy off to the lake to have a nice swim. She is being sterlised tomorrow (after much soul searching and discussion) so we want her to have a nice day today.... lets hope it all goes well, wish her luck!

Its all dutch to me....

2011-06-08T22:45:00.000+02:00

I've just got back from a trip to Holland. My friend dutch bird has a sister who lives about 60km from Amsterdam and was having a birthday party. So Neil, me, dutch bird and her french husband, his father and uncle and aunt jumped into two cars and set off up the country, through into Belgium and off into Holland.

Many things struck us about Holland, some of which were

1. how incredibly tidy it is
2. how many people actually do ride bikes
3. what an unbelievably difficult language it is and how different to English/French..
4. how cheap and beautiful all the flowers were
5. how strange that squirty cream is called 'slagroom'....

Being in another country with French people is also interesting...

1. anything not immediately recognisable and available in France is regarded with extreem suspicion
2. as is not having bread available with every meal
3 or vin rouge and ricard...
4. even if the menu says 'entrecote' it most definately is NOT proper entrecote as found in France etc etc.

Having said that, what a lovely bunch these French people were, they put up with us chatting away in incredibly bad french and were really good company.

Anyway I will tell you more about it when I am not so tired.

Apologies to those who have left comments and those whose blogs I try to keep up with - for some reason my google account won't let me leave any comments whatsoever - so it isn't that I am ignoring you and thank you for leaving your comments!!!!

Rebonjour!!

2011-05-30T14:59:00.000+02:00

Well thank you Jason and the girls for looking after the place in our absence, we did think we may have made a slight error of judgement when having left Limoges in blazing sunshine we could only see the runway of Bristol seconds before we landed on it, and descended the steps of the aircraft in horizonal rainfall. 'Thats it!!!' said Neil 'We are only visiting Wales in the winter from now on!!'

He doesn't mean it. The Brecon Beacons are a wonderful place to be in the summer, and contrary to what everyone says, it doesn't always rain in Wales. Just a lot of the time. So we did the only sensible thing you can do when it rains in Wales. We went to a pub.

Here is Neil with Mum and Dad outside one of the many pubs we visited. This one had won the CAMRA pub of the region award and hence was handing out free pints of real ale.

We also visited one of my favourite places - an architectural salvage yard.
I could spend hours (and several thousands of pounds) here had I the time and the money available

We did manage to spend some time out and about walking though, here is a picture of my niece Megan taking a stroll with us

Lovely as it was in Wales visiting family and friends it's always nice to come home. We had a lovely welcome from Tess and luckily the weather was still wonderfully hot. here is Neil in his role as chief pool cleaner!!

Non-stop sunny days & memorable moments:D

2011-05-20T13:00:00.004+02:00

Hello, I'm Chloe:)

Even though I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning on Friday, this holiday has made it all worth while. Well after all the stress on Thursday night trying to get our bags packed and get all sorted for the flight, it didn't turn out good when we arrived at the airport. Jason probably already explained that the bags were over the limit. We finally got to france and it was lovely and sunny.

On Monday we went to Margaret and Keiths for a BBQ, Keith BBQ'd some delicious pork chops, AKA BB and Rasher (poor pigs). They also have some beautiful puppies called Belle and Badger. I had a nice cuddle with them both. Tuesday, we went to Lisa and Marcus' house I made good freinds with her daughter Yssi and son Connor also made friends with his freind Ben, we all played on Connor's Xbox. Later on that night Connor and Becky played a game of Call Of Duty on PS3, Becky won I think Connor was a bit embarresed as he lost against a girl.

Wednesday we just relaxed, we went in the swimming pool and sunbathed we did the same Thursday. And today so far it's been quite good, we will be making French cookies and Google translating the ingrediants as we don't understand a word, also i will be getting in the swimming pool. I have thoroughly enjoyed my holiday in France and would love to come again:)

Non-stop parties and too many late nights!- Becky

2011-05-20T12:31:00.002+02:00

Well hello everybody, it's Becky, and I would just like to say how much fun I have had out here! It's been amazing possibly the best holiday i have had. The weather has been glorious and I have a lovely tan =).

I have been working hard with Jason. I moved logs with the quad and trailer but found it quite struggle to move some of them but as they were really heavy but I managed by myself okay.

The quad has been amazing. I love it ! I have riden on it by myself a couple of times then with my sister. I had her screaming in my ear when we went really fast! I went round the 'loop' with Tess. That was great fun.

I have loved it here as I have said earlier. It has been like my own little farm. Having had new members of the chicken family it has been lovely holding the little chicks they are sooo cute! I love horses and horse-riding and having two horses here to look after by myself has been great! I love grooming them and they are so good. I went out and rode Elles (I think thats how you spell it) she was really good and I am looking forward to going horse-riding again with Nicoline.

Tuesday night was an eventful night! With Jason putting on a red bikini and stripping to me having a couple of glasses of red wine to my dead grandad's birthday. It was a night I will never forget I have met so many lovely people there it was great. Lisa Vallo has sworn to be my best friend forever =). Yssi and Connor Vallo are also lovely and I am sure we'll be friends for a while too.

Monday night was at Margret and Keiths for a delicious BBQ! They have 2 gorgeous puppies called Belle and Badger! Chloe and I had quite a few cuddles. It was Chloe's first time holding an animal which she was very pleased about and will, I'm sure, never hesitate to do so again !! Margret's Quiche was delicious !! Best quiche I have ever had. Keith's pork chops, aka BB and Rasher, were also delicious.

Yesterday Jason and I went to the Supermarche and bought some lovely Beef burgers which were most enjoyed for dinner. Whilst also in the supermarche Jason showed me what he though was a skinned cat but also to find it was acctually a rabbit which i corrected him for! After that we went to look for the Tabac shop but first went to an amazing toilet! I know it sounds wierd but it was the wierdest coolest toilet I had ever seen. To having a cool way to wash your hands to a door locking it self and then when you open the door to go out the toilet flushes it self! Jase went to what he thought was a Tabac shop was actually a Lock smiths we then went round the corner to find the Tabac shop and Jase was very pleased with himself when he was asking for Cigarettes in french as his french im sure you can tell with the mistake of the skinned rabbit is not very good.

As I have said before this holiday here has been amazing and if you ever get stuck to where you want to go for your next holiday deffinately choose Limoges. The people are lovely and you will make lovely friends and also get a lovely tan! It has been an honour to look after Roz's animals and hope that I will get to be a vetenary surgeon when I leave school. Goodbye or should i say Aurevoir!

The end is nigh !

2011-05-20T11:46:00.003+02:00

As promised the final installment from my good self !

The weather has been absolutely superb and temperatures have not fallen below 25 degrees, the girls have spent most days in the pool and completing there "animal" tasks - putting chickens away, feeding them, collecting eggs and grooming horses.

The pool is still yet to warm up to a comfortable temperature despite the new "solar cover " arriving.

Tuesday night was spent at the vallos which was different to say the least and a party never to be forgotten ! Moving on ive spent the past two days strimming, cutting grass, moving wood, painting / treating wood and visiting the recyling unit !! Tess seems to be struggling with the heat but is more than happy to run around the loop once cooler.

Today is sadly our last day here and we may venture out to a beach / lake but the girls appear to be stuck on there "ipod touches" and getting them dressed and out may prove a greater task than i am upto.

Yestrday we ventured into chalus (me and becky) and again managed to get the required goods from the supermarche, it was also pointed out to me that the skinned cat in the meat counter was in fact a rabbit - my French is not all that good and i was told "look it says Lapin" to which i hung my english head in shame and replied "of course it is".....how stupid did i feel !

We then attemted to find the local Tabac and after spending 40 minutes amazed at the self flushing self locking toilette we found the shop we were looking for.......oh no that'll be the locksmiths ! I again hang my head in shame as becky clearly pointed out all the blank keys hung around and the French owner looked at me in a very confused way whilst asking for Marlborough lights (in a french accent - i do try).

Once home and i had recovered from the trauma of our outing, i cut all the bracken down with the strimmer and appeared quite pink and sweaty from the blazing afternoon heat - im also sensible.......or not as the case may be.

We then had unexpected visitors.....my heart was racing .....what if theyre French....what will i say?? I then let out a huge sigh of relief as i recognised the couple to be Fred and Pat (although i called him Sam for most of his time here) several beers later our good friends Ian and Jude arrived with more wine and beer.

As we were having beef burgers for dinner i asked how the the best way was to cook them - jude Frying pan Ian on the BBQ so the next hour and a half was spent making a fire on the rusty BBQ (you really need a new one Rozzy)! this was after spending an hour chopping the kindling but as all good men do the fire started and a further hour later the burgers were cooked and two very hungry girls polished them off albeit nearly three hours after we said dinner was on the way........Frying pan the next time !

A few more pictures should appear below and then its over to the girls for there thoughts,views and tales from the Haute vienne, its been a pleasure writing this and i hope you have all enjoyed reading my nonsense.

(I apologise for my huge gaps/spaces as i was only given a ten second intro to this im not sure what ive done wrong)

Excess baggage,Mechanical Failures,Quads and parties!

2011-05-17T11:45:00.014+02:00

Hello one and all ! or should that be bonjour !! I feel both honoured and worried that Roz has left me in charge of her blog but excited too. Our children becky and Chloe will write a short piece on Friday before we leave to share there thoughts on there time out here.

We set off from England at 4am on Friday morning with two very excited girls (Chloe - below and Becky), we arrived at Stansted thinking we had been clever and out-foxed those buggers at Ryan air by checking in two hold luggage bags...........20 minutes later and faced with a £300.00 excess baggage charge we quickly purchased another bag and learnt to divide weight extremely quickly!

We arrived in Limoges to 27 degrees and bottles upon bottles of wine ! (and promptly told everyone in the UK).

Since we have been here its as usual been non stop party's, BBQ's and social visits although on friday evening after "Naked whisky drinking" and my partner Mel being in some form of comatosed state holding a GCS of about 8 things have calmed down a little. Becky has been as happy as the preverbial Pig in S*#t as she loves animals and the place is like her own mini farm, hopefully she is learning something as wishes to become a vet on leaving school whilst chloe has been more than happy to practice her drumming skills, sunbathe and splash about in the pool which does not seem to be quite upto my acceptable temperature! (or hers by the look on her face below !)

Chloe on the drums Chloe in the "warm" pool

Becky and chloe were also allowed to ride the Quad around the field which they both thoroughly enjoyed, i then took Becky around "the loop" a circuit around the local woods surrounded by fields farm houses and a small hamlet i then stupidly allowed her to drive the quad around a relatively safe part or so i thought of the loop to which she promptly drove into a fence knocking it over throwing herself off and scaring the life out of me ! fortunately no lasting damage was done and Becky survived.

Saturday was my first day of "unpaid labour" or as neil likes to put it as "learning", so i thought id be helpful and collect all the logs from the bottom of the field and start to chainsaw them ........so becky got on the quad with trailer attatched and pretty much got them all up by herself which was quite an achievement for a 14 year old as i could barely lift some of them myself let alone her. She then did what she loves best and took out one of Nicolines horses - Elles.

Becky on "Elles"

This all went to plan until i saw that the linkage had come off the chainsaw and rendered it useless, i then spotted a petrol strimmer so began to cut down a mass of nettles and trim the edges of the field until what i thought was the string snapping prevented me from doing anymore, Neil returned and was extremely polite when he returned - despite me wrecking his chainsaw, then i pointed out his strimmer had ran out of string........only to be told that it hadnt ran out of string but i had lost the bolt that in fact rendered it useless..........oops! (we managed to fix both) to then suprisingly start drinking again and watched the FA cup final.

Saturday evening was spent at Veronica and Mike's who had kindly invited us last minute to celebrate Veronica's birthday, all the usual suspects were there and it was really good to see everyone again, what started off as a very sophisticated mellow evening of Mikes Carribean pork and chicken ended in a booze fuelled cat fight over a girls V boys game of articulate.........the boys won easily and the Brecon Beacons will remain a secret ;-)

Sunday was another day of "learning" this time i was having lessons in many things ranging from sawing, carrying, fetching, nailing, hammering, drilling and screwing the objective of this combined "learning" was to complete the rafters on the new workshop all went well and i completed my "lesson". Neil was chuffed to little bits that we had managed to complete the rafters and is getting excited at the prospect of getting a roof.

On saturday night we were invited to Keith and margarets for a BBQ and to sample more BB and Rasher, my plan of abstaining from alcohol went very well until we arrived and i was asked "what would you like to drink ?", my answer appeared to be "wine please" another fab evening of great food conversation and Jenga was had and everyone played with there new puppies - Badger and belle.

Monday saw the birth of several chicks which are all doing well, we have transferred both mother and chicks to allow the other nesting hen her time to hatch her chicks. Myself and Mel got started on the top field / orchard which was badly overgrown and had a rickety old fence seperating the top of the garden, we initially thought that it would take us a couple of days to complete this mammouth task but three hours later it was cut mown and treess were removed, both Neil and Rozzy seemed ecstatic at our work and the speed at which we had completed it. I managed to not only find my way into Chalux but find the supermarket, cash point / ATM and collect the feed for the chickens.

It was Chloes turn around the "loop" on the quad and all went well this time without event it was off to Champsac for village fish and chips which was enjoyed by all, most of the pub then followed us back home for more beers. Neil and myself then settled down for more NWD (naked whisky drinking) which this time was broadcast to close friends via skype.

This morning was quite sad as Neil and Roz have now left for the UK leaving us to fend for ourselves (however they have left with us absolutely gorgeous weather) and Neil has left me a sheet of A4 "homework" the blog not been one of them! hopefully ive done ok and kept up with rozzy so id better don hard hat boots and some sort of power tool or my "teacher" may have something to say to me.........

Happy with Appie!!

2011-05-14T17:08:00.000+02:00

Its been a long time since I last posted - but this time of year is particularly manic and being on horse sitting duties, having visitors and work commitments hasn't left me much time to sit at the computer.
Firstly a workshop update. the beams and purlins are in and hopefully the roof will follow soon

Neil and Keith have almost finished the horsewalker which is just awaiting the grill between the upright posts and permission to come through so that it can have a roof.

Beryl, Neils' mum came for a visit, and we went to a beautiful village just into the Dordogne from here called St Jean de Cole - where they were having a flower fete.

Lenny had his first birthday, a bit of a momentous occasion if only for me - someone told me that if a cat reaches it's first birthday without being squashed on the road there was a good chance it would remain a bit streetwise. After Tam being killed it became a bit of a milestone, and although there are never any guarantees I am going to stop jumping like a cat on a hot tin roof every time I hear a car pass.
He celebrated his birthday with a tin of tuna. Much to Tess's disgust.

By far the most exciting thing I have to tell you is that I am buying a young fresian horse for myself. Working with and being surrounded by horses has re-ignited my interest in riding and although I have been so lucky to have had horses and riding on tap, having my own land and stables it seems crazy not to have one of my own. Its just not the same riding someone elses. So I have bought one of Dutch Birds' yearlings. A little colt called Appie. I will get to know him and break him in when he is three. Here are some pics.

On the day he was born

His sire

Here is Appie with his field companion and meeting Beryl.

Here for your entertainment is a bit of video of Badger - Keith and Mags's pup trying to get Tess's dinner

Next week we are off for a much needed holiday - off to visit my Mum and Dad in Wales. Our friends Jason and Mel have arrived to hold the fort here - so hopefully Jason will do the blog while we are away and let us all know how they are getting on!!

Mrs Mop (not)

2011-05-01T15:13:00.000+02:00

I have escaped onto the computer to do the blog as a tactical avoidance.
Neils' Mum is coming to stay this week and we are trying to clean and tidy the house.

I have the same attitude to cleaning that Ryanair have to their customers. I know it is there but I have absolutely no interest in doing anything that would make life easier. I detest cleaning the shower, and suspect that doing it a tad more frequently than bi-annually (or when it looks really scuzzy or when people are coming) would help matters - but why anyone would want to spend time doing something so boring when there are a million and one more interesting things to do is beyond me...

Anyway, on to more interesting matters. I had a phone call this morning from Dutch Bird - "Put on the Kettle - I'll be with you in five minutes" says she.. turns out she had been to get the bread this morning and chosen a greener method of transport. Ahhhh....

I have been scouring the forums on line (avoiding that housework again) to find a replacement collie for Keith and Margaret. Keith has been pining for another dog since they lost old Tess a while ago, but Margaret was a bit more unsure that she could replace her old friend (well, its not replacing but you know what I mean).
Still when I found an advert that fitted the bill it didn't take too much persuading to get her to consider a new addition and guess what - they ended up rehoming two!!!

Here are Keith and Mags with Belle and Badger

Mags and Badger

Of course as chief instigator I had to go and view the puppies with them, and how I ended up coming home without one is still a mystery to me. They did all have prospective homes which helped, but still, I could have stuffed one in my pocket....

Lastly a short clip of the latest foal at work trying to bend her legs to reach the grass. Not easy when they are so long!!

Plus Two, Minus One....

2011-04-26T08:38:00.000+02:00

A week on from the last blog and we have two new arrivals. The second to arrive was (predictably, and to celebrate the Royal wedding) called William, luckily for him born a colt

The third, who I was lucky enough to see being born is another filly - called Belle. Her arrival was particularly exciting as she is the offspring of our stallion Tom, and therefore a really special addition to the stud. She is very leggy!!

The horse walker is coming on, Neil has now changed his wood supplier as he has been waiting so long for his order (he ordered all his wood on Feb 14th) So he is hoping to get this finished and move back onto the roof for the workshop.

Our young stallion Ugo has been away at the National Stud in Limoges having a bit of training from their handlers, which sounds like it involves either a paddle of wood or a piece of thick hose pipe to gain a bit of respect from the youngsters. My boss asked the head horseman there if he liked our stallion "With chips, yes" was his reply.

Sadly we lost one of our yearlings a couple of days ago. He was a lovely chestnut colt called Alfie. He developed severe colic and after a night of struggling to control it with the local farm vet my boss took him down to the specialist vet hospital in Bordeaux. They operated on him and found he had a twisted gut, which they removed along with a large section of intestine. After a few days though he got an infection and although there was a chance to save him with another operation (albeit only a 3% chance) it was decided it was kinder to put him down. Such a shame for such a lovely character.

2011-04-16T11:24:00.000+02:00

Meet Katie - our new arrival at work. She was born at about 1.30 am on Thursday morning, a week late but healthy and full of life. I was trying to upload a video of her but it didn't work, so I hope you enjoy the photo

The workshop progress has come to a halt as Neil is waiting for the wood delivery for the roof. He is now building the wood structure for the horse walker at work, which is another interesting bit of geometry so is causing him yet more brain ache!!!

During the week my friend Jane came over with her Mum Audrey who is visiting from Yorkshire. We had a few glasses of wine before she gave me an impromptu yorkshire pudding masterclass!!!

Blossom and Beams

2011-04-10T12:37:00.000+02:00

I love this time of year - the countryside just explodes with colour and the trees are all heavy with blossom. Neil thought our apple tree wasn't going to produce any blossom this year - two weeks later it spectacularly proved him wrong

Yesterday we had to get a beam in across the top of the doorway of the workshop. It had to be as straight as possible as Neil will be hanging garage doors into the opening. It also had to be as strong as possible to support the stone that will be sat on top of it.

The best beam Neil could find was an old oak beam. Great for the purpose as they are the strongest type of wood, but with that they are hugely dense and therefore really heavy (sounds like me!!!).

Neil and I decided to use the mini digger to take the majority of the weight, and used ropes and the arm of the digger to lift it.

It all went really well and with a bit of shoving and heaving it dropped down into place.

The last couple of days I have been busy in the garden. Everything is growing like it is on steroids and everywhere you go you can hear sit on mowers, chain saws and hedge trimmers in action. I probably should concentrate more on the house. My lack of ability in the housekeeping department was bought sharply into focus when I returned home after my night out in Limoges to find that the friend that Neil had been entertaining for the evening had written 'thank you' in the dust on the tv!! Oh well, you can't do everything!!!

ps

2011-04-09T12:19:00.000+02:00

For those avid workshop watchers here are todays photos!!!

Neil has added the beams to make it blend in a bit more with the house. The wall along the road will be faced with the stone and the rest will be rendered hopefully the same colour as the pointing.

Symphonie Equestre

2011-04-09T11:32:00.000+02:00

Last night I was treated by Dutch bird and my boss to a night out at the Zenith (concert venue) in Limoges to see the 'Symphonie Equestre' a colourful and interesting blend of dressage, dancers and an orchestra. I have found a video on You Tube so that you can see, not great quality but the official video had adverts on that I couldn't be bothered to sit through...

There were some wonderful horses, and although not at quite the level of the Spanish Riding School or the Cadre Noir I really enjoyed it.

It's quite an experience when we (rarely) get out in the evenings and see that there is a bit of 'life' in this region. Driving through our local villages at night it is like the Marie Celeste - deserted after 7pm at night. People at the stadium had mobile phones and everything!!!!

The castration of Sarkozy

2011-04-07T18:33:00.000+02:00

Today I leant on Sarkozys' head whilst he was being castrated.
Not the President of France, but a donkey that my dutch friend (we call her dutch bird) managed to aquire whilst buying a spreader for her tractor.
He is three years old and very cute - although his feet are in a shocking state.

Today the vet came to 'do the deed' so that he can be trained and become a riding donkey for her three year old daughter. As dutch bird is pregnant her husband was in charge of holding the ropes that tethered Sarkozys legs (they call him Sarky for short - the donkey not DB's husband) and I leant on Sarkys drugged up head to keep him as still as possible.

The vet laughed when we told him the donkeys name, although he did say that 80% of farm animals now have the same name - a mark of respect do you think?!!

During the course of the operation I told the vet about a paramedic colleague of mine who went out to a chap who had tied a shoe lace around his testicles and then to the end of the bed to 'heighten' his sensation whilst he made love to his girlfriend. In the heat of passion he fell off the bed, ripping off both his testicles which sat on the floor looking like a couple of lychee apparently. His main concern seemed to be as to whether his wife would find out, to which my colleague pointed out that it wuld probably be quite obvious to her...

The vet then said he had been called out by the fire brigade, who had had a call to a house where a man had come home to his wife who was in bed with their german shepherd. The german shepherd had mounted the wife and was now locked into position and the fire brigade wanted the vet to come as apparently the dog was highly aggitated and ferocious.
"Hadn't he finished?!" I asked the vet...........

2011-04-06T16:23:00.000+02:00

Here are some pics of progress on the workshop. Neil has been working like a man possessed, even more so now that the clocks changing has given us an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day.
Last friday I took a pint of beer out and demanded that he downed tools as it was dark and we had been invited out that evening.

It's a big structure and the roof design is continually giving Neil sleepless nights - it's a very large span and we've had a lot of advice, but every time Neil has a fixed idea of what he is doing someone comes along with another idea or suggestion that throws a spanner in the works.

He finally has a plan now that he is going to have to get on with as the roof needs to go on soon.

In the garden every time you turn around the grass has grown another 5 inches and I have begun to wage war with the nettles that grow everywhere around the land. Apart from using some for nettle fertiliser I am going to nuke them all with something that is probably terrible for the environment, but it has to be done. For once it would be nice to get on top of things in the garden, but hey - it's Spring - we all start with good intentions don't we!

Spring is in the air

2011-04-01T15:21:00.000+02:00

I noticed the first swallow flying around this morning and all the blossom and spring flowers are looking amazing. The sun came out today after a few miserable days - it really lifts your mood.

Today one of my jobs at work was to give stallion Ugo a bit of a spruce up. Ugo is the stallion I normally refer to as 'little shit' as he can be so temperamental. He is coming up to three years old now and maturing into a fine looking beast.

After his shower he went under the heat lamps to dry off. I could do with some of these myself!!

We are in a state of high excitement as these two are due to foal any day now (well the 7th, but technically it could be at any time) so we have been making sure the foaling boxes are ready for action

Here is Judith making sure that this one is suitably comfortable

I nearly had a dicky fit this morning when I walked out of my house this morning and noticed Lenny in his new viewpoint - can you spot him?!!!

2011-03-29T17:09:00.000+02:00

I'm not at all sure where the last two weeks have gone. Neil spent one of them in the UK visiting his family and the last week has just been a blur - partly due to celebrations for my birthday which did seem strung out over a few days - fun though!!

I'm sitting at the computer today because it is one of those annoying days where the weather just can't make its mind up what it is doing. Every time the sun comes out I go out and try and make a start on tidying up the garden - but then we just get a downpour again. Also frustratingly the sit on mower is refusing to fire into life.

Anyway a few pics of the garden and here is a lovely camelia that my boss bought me for my birthday. I had to put it up off the floor as I came out of the front door and the chickens were pecking the flower heads off - grrr!!

This is the lettuce, radish and spring onion raised bed. I know that things are planted way too close but space is at a bit of a premium until the polytunnel is finished

this is one of the chicks - amazing how fast they change from cute fluffy things to raptory half feathered adolescents!!

At the weekend we had a curry night for a few (12) friends - Neil did a sterling job cooking several curries and I tried to make the place look vaguely habitable

Lastly I just want to give a 'virtual hug' to Judith and Ian who lost their lovely cat Charley

and to Margaret and Keith who lost dear old Tess a short time ago

they both had a lovely life being spoilt rotten and loved dearly.

2011-03-11T17:57:00.000+01:00

I was really looking forward to a day out shopping and generally taking it easy before unforseen events changed plans and we were left at a bit of a loose end.....
"Lets go out together and have some quality time out" - says I
"It's good weather today and I could get the concrete ring beam done on the workshop" says he. Bollocks.
A couple of hours later I am stood with a concrete mixer, ten buckets and two wheelbarrows and an expectant hubby standing on a scaffolding. I lugged many buckets of concrete before a bit of a wrist injury stopped play. Feeling terribly guilty I left Neil to carry on whilst I hovered around trying to help and strapping my wrist up.

Tommorow morning I have a six oclock start (am not pm) as I am off to a showjumping event in the next department. I'm hoping not having to muck out will rest my wrist and it will soon be back to full strength.

Here are the first batch of chicks born this year. The black one at the front was hatched in a friends' incubator but was the only chick to hatch, so they bought it over and it has settled in very well with my gang.

Progress update!

2011-03-05T14:25:00.000+01:00

The workshop is progressing well - although Neil tells me that this is the fast bit - he has to make all the roof trusses which could take some time.
He is going to put a ring beam of concrete around the top course of blocks and he is nearly at that level now...

Luckily the weather is fabulous at the moment so he is enjoying working in the sun

I got back from musical ride practice today and there was a huge pile of logs waiting to be stacked. The ride went really well and we had memorised it perfectly - we just need the horses to get on together now and all will be well, they spent loads of time pulling faces today and not wanting to trot side by side. It's still early days though!!

Ian has finished welding the polytunnel and has done a fab job. Its ready for the plastic now, but Neil is going to build some raised beds before that goes on top.

Musical Ride Madness

2011-03-02T08:53:00.000+01:00

Is there such a thing? I think so. This bloody musical ride is going round and round and round in my head while I try to memorise it. We are training in two seperate groups and apparently the other group have what sounds like a photographic memory and have already nailed their bit.

So not one to dodge a challenge I nabbed the organisers list of movements and photocopied them, one for myself and one for Jane, who is the other lead rider in our group. Basically everyone else can just follow us around, except at two points where we all have to turn at the same time (must think of a signal).

Jane and I have made it our mission to be as near as damn it perfect for Saturdays rehearsal, so watch this space...

Neil came back to bed this morning with a cup of tea and as we had our ritual cuddle to start the day I noticed that he smelled...of woodsmoke, having stoked the woodburning stove to keep it going. Later I was watching the morning news and a tv advert came on for a fabric conditioner that fills the house with a fresh Spring Flowers aroma (apparently). My washing always smells of woodsmoke at this time of year as it dries on a sheila maid over the fire.

Spring freshness would be nice - but you can't beat a bit of wood smoke.

2011-02-27T19:36:00.000+01:00

Today Ian our welding friend and good old Keith kindly came over and helped us put our polytunnel up. Neil is already getting exited thinking about what we will be able to grow in it!

Lenny has developed a fascination for a rather unusual drinking bowl. I really wish he wouldn't - he hears the 'flush' and dashes in!!

The workshop is progressing well despite the frequent inclement weather - Neil looks happy doesn't he!!

Workshop

2011-02-23T14:36:00.000+01:00

The concrete floor has set and this morning a lorry arrived with the materials to build the workshop

It's a big moment for Neil - the workshop will make such a difference to him (and to me) and marks another major step in the progress of renovation. I haven't got much else to say today but I thought this landmark should be shared!!

Pompadour and the National Stud

2011-02-19T19:51:00.000+01:00

Today there was a showing of stallions by the National Stud at Pompadour. I had never been to the stud (Haras) before, so I was keen to see Tom being shown and to have a look around the buildings in this lovely French town.
The first picture is of Tom and two other stallions in the menage (arena) which is surrounded by huge stabling blocks.

This area looks even more impressive viewed from the other side

This is just one of the many huge stabling blocks. I wouldn't want to be sweeping these cobbles every day!!

This is Pompadour chateau, which dominates the lovely ancient town

This is Tom being shown. The handler must be very tall as Tom is quite big and looks like a pony here!

Tom again

The photo above is the dummy horse that they use to collect semen from the stallions when they are using the artificial insemination system. It doesn't look very inviting does it? Neil thinks it should have a head and some lipstick, but I am assured it does the job and Tom never has a problem using it!!

2011-02-15T13:51:00.000+01:00

At work our stallion Tom went off last week to the National Stud at Pompadour, as they wanted him to be shown off to prospective customers at a couple of shows - if you like horses have a look at him, I think he is gorgeous. Here is a link to a video of him taken on Saturday which is on You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAhDPcB7THw

Work continues on the workshop and the concrete base is now down and we can get a better idea of the space. It looks huge, but I'm sure Neil will need every inch of space to work with the sometimes huge sections of wood he uses. In fact he has put a strategically placed window in the plan, so that the wood can be passed out of it if he needs to pass it through one of the woodworking machines.
Talking of machines the value of the right tool for the right job was bought home to us a few days ago when our dutch friend came over to sort out our fence lines. With a tractor with huge spikes on the front, another huge machine that mashes everything up and a chain saw they went around our entire field clearing and sawing and managed to transform the land and refence it in two days. It would have taken us months, and we now have a lot of wood to burn which is fantastic.
The recent sunny weather has fooled one of our hens into thinking it was Spring and time to go broody - so we had to find someone with some unrelated fertilised eggs to put under her. Some neighbours of Keith gave us some eggs and we ended up coming home with a lovely new hen too as they wanted to reduce their flock. It was good timing for us after having lost a few to the fox.
I'd love to breed some geese this year, so that is my next project. I'm going to have to use some electric fencing to fox the fox but the plan is to breed enough to supply a few friends for Christmas lunch.

Promised Pics!

2011-02-07T19:32:00.000+01:00

Here are a few pics firstly of the gorgeous snowdrops, then Lenny investigating the garden in the sunshine and then some of the work commencing on the workshop - hope you enjoy them

2011-02-06T18:11:00.000+01:00

We don't get out much in these parts - so the chance to go to Ikea in a massive horsebox was a source of great excitement for us Limousin girls.

After a busy morning sorting out all the horses nine of us laden with coffee flasks, sandwiches, crisps, cake and a few bottles of wine for the way home climbed into the hgv horsebox full of anticipation for the day ahead in Bordeaux.

The excitement lasted approximately five minutes before the clutch in the lorry went, and we ended up piling into two cars, with considerably less cargo space for purchases.
It did cross our minds that one of our other halves might have sabotaged the clutch cable to restrict our spending power!

A good time was had by all though, and the journey passed so much quicker than it would have done in the lorry we even had time to stop for a chinese on the way home.

Back home Neil has started work on his workshop, which will free up the barn to at last become a lounge. I can't wait for him to have a purpose built space, and he can't wait to be able to have the space to work without incumberance.

Today we started learning a musical ride with the horses. We are due to give a 'show' in September at a local fete of the horse - all I am saying at the moment is it is just as well we are starting to learn it now, as it is all very confusing at the moment, but we have lots of time.

In the garden the first snowdrops have appeared, signalling that Spring is on its way, and as soon as I can find my camera cable I will upload some pics to show you!!

2011-01-24T14:49:00.000+01:00

The pigs had lulled me into a false sense of security, and after a day or two of lolling around in the stable came out like a couple of raging bulls when we were hoping to lead them quietly into the trailer. The plan was to make the whole thing as stress free as possible so as not to send them off agitated. Actually the pigs were fine - but decided they would rather root around in earth again than stick their heads in a bucket.
After a lot of pushing and coaxing and in Neils case, rodeo grabbing and being dragged across the concrete yard (thats Neil not the pig) we finally got them in. I think we were all far more stressed than the pigs, who had a lovely bed of straw and buckets of feed to munch on before the last journey.

Later I went to work and Neil and Keith headed off to the abbatoire. The pigs were duly dropped off and a few days later the boys drove back to the butcher to pick up the meat.
Apparently the butcher pulled a large trolley into the reception, like the ones shelf stackers use in the supermarket. There were seven massive boxes full of meat on the trolley. Keith and Neil were amazed at the amount of meat, but then the butcher headed back to get a second trolley, once again loaded with pork. We ended up with 228 kilos of meat.

Although the meat was all chopped up, it was still in unrecognisable cuts of meat as far as we were concerned. Neil, Keith and Margaret chopped it into portions and joints and bagged them all up and yesterday we all got back together to sample our first piece of home raised piggy. I am glad (and a tad relieved) to report that it was absolutely delicious, which is just as well as we could be eating it for some time.

Would we do it again? Well I think it would be more economical if we bred them and / or grew our on foodstuffs for them, or at least sourced some cheaper feed. I'm not sure. I think this year we are going to concentrate of raising some ducks and geese and not have any more large beasts for a while. But never say never!!

Oh and by the way, although we had requested that the butcher left the skin on the joints, we were quite suprised to find almost a box full of the skin. Has anyone any ideas as to what to do with it or how to treat it? We want to use every part of the pig if we can. Just a thought.

Some pics of Keith, Margaret, Neil and myself making 'pigs' of ourselves on our first tasting of the meat!

2011-01-16T22:27:00.000+01:00

It all went very well considering. Just shows what a bit of forward planning can do. The black pig Rasher, was very compliant and just meandered up the hill and into the stable. The other pig was slightly less agreable and got right up to the stable before bolting off back towards the apple tree. A full bucket of feed, dragged a foot at a time got him back again though, and they are now basking in a thick bed of straw scoffing hay and feed. Its a bit sad but got to be done.

And this little piggy.......

2011-01-16T12:46:00.000+01:00

I'm waiting for Keith and Margaret (co pig owners) to come over to help move the pigs from their riverside (ok tiny stream) paddock up into one of the stables so that it will hopefully be easier to get them in a trailer and off to the abbatoire on Tuesday.
Neil and I have come up with a plan and have devised a walkway of electric fencing with buckets en-route to put food in to entice them up the hill. I've also put headcollars on the horses so that I can tie them up to stop them coming over and mucking up the plan. I have no idea how it's going to go but I know they are hungry as we have not given them any breakfast. Watch this space for the next thrilling installment!!

Hot stuff

2011-01-12T08:51:00.000+01:00

We have two young stallions at work. The younger one is two years old and currently being a bit of a sod to handle. A local man has told us that an old french trick is to heat up a jacket spud to boiling point and when the horse lunges for you with teeth bared - ram it in his mouth.
As previously our only form of protection was our voice and occasionally a whip we did consider this but were having a hard time coming to terms with the possibility of causing physical damage.
The other stallion who is three now is a nicer character, but still has his moments. His favourite trick is to grab the lead rope or lunge line so that your control is considerably lessened. Opening the fridge yesterday I noticed a tube of harrisa (chilli) paste sitting on the shelf and this bought a wicked smile to my face.
I went back to work and smothered the lunge line (a long rope used when you exercise a horse) with the paste. As usual he grabbed the line briefly before spitting it out and pulling a variety of odd faces.
Every so often he obviously forgot and went to grab the line before remembering and dropping it (like a hot potato?!!!)
I did feel marginally guilty when he got back in his box and started drinking like he had had a vindaloo.......

Pin Pon off!!!

2011-01-09T15:33:00.000+01:00

We finally got a visit from the local pompiers with their calender for 2011 the other night. They turn up, normally early evening and fleece you for a calender that is never very exciting. Adding insult to injury it is never the more 'easy on the eye' members of the local group that call, but a retired guy with a mop of wild looking grey hair and a slightly younger one who would obviously rather be doing something else.

They came into our freezing hallway and looked up towards our practically non existant first floor whilst huddling up together to try to keep warm. It never ceases to amaze me how it can actually be colder inside our house than it seems to be outside it sometimes. I guess they must be pretty used to us stoic Brits living in half renovated hovels around this area but they still seemed pretty shocked at the house. "It's warm in the other room!" I tried to explain but really they just wanted some dosh for their calender (that will go in a drawer until it gets chucked out next january)and to escape back to base.

I did flick through the calender though, and there were some cartoons of a fire engine racing along with the words "Pin Pon Pin Pon" to signify the sirens I am guessing. Pin Pon? What happened to Nee Nah? Are our languages so very different? Look at any french cartoon and a dog doesn't go 'woof' it goes 'ouah', and a cockerel doesn't cock a doodle do - it goes cocorico. I don't think it does though, I've listened. But then I don't think it goes cock a doodle do either. Bizzare. I'll never get this language!!

Happy New Year to You!!

2011-01-04T13:22:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure where that festive season went but I did enjoy it. After my trip back to the UK I was straight back to work and had hardly any time to think about Christmas, let alone prepare for it... apologies to those that sent us cards and didn't get one in return - Neil has agreed to write a long letter about our goings on and post it to people in a happy new year card, which we hope will make up in some way for our lack of organisation.

Christmas Eve was slightly bizzare. One of the fresian horses here was taking santa up to the local bar to hand out presents to the local children. So I was outside the front of the house helping to dress up the cart when Santa turned up in an estate car. He turned out to be a drummer so he had a go on Neils drum kit whilst we got the horse ready to go. Needless to say it all ended up in a bit of a session which made us feel a little bit more part of the village.

On Christmas day the three of us that work at the stud all went in so that we could get the stables done quickly, wearing santa hats, reindeer horns and singing along to Christmas songs. Then we were joined by our respective other halves for a mince pie and mulled wine session with our bosses, followed by a dog walk around the fields. Snow had fallen on Christmas Eve, so it felt lovely and Christmassy.

We then went round to Margaret and Keiths where we enjoyed several bucks fizzes before sitting down to a fantastic Christmas spread. Keith as you can see fully got into the spirit of the day

So now we are into the New Year - Once again our aim for this year is to push on with our house, hopefully before too long we will have a garage/workshop and so will free our barn up to be the lounge at last. Watch this space!!

Christmas is coming......

2010-12-21T14:03:00.000+01:00

and the goose isn't getting fat - not around here at any rate. I left it too late to get one this year, as I was a bit concerned I didn't have enough grass to keep them going until it was time to fatten them up for Christmas. Next year my plan is to get a breeding pair and raise some.

Keeping the pigs has cost rather more than I realised - they certainly won't be the cheapest pork we have eaten, but at least they will have had a damn good life and eaten well in the meantime.

I have had an unexpected trip back to the UK since the last blog. My 66 year old Aunt died of cancer, so I headed back to the UK to go to the funeral. She lived in Yorkshire and they don't half talk funny up there!!
Everyone called me 'love' and they call baubles 'wasslecups' (actually it can't be that because I just googled wasslecups and the mighty google had no results. Either I completely misunderstood or they were making it up - perhaps someone can enlighten me).

Anyway it was lovely to get home, and although it is cold here the snow has gone and we are all wanting some more for Christmas day - unfortunately the forcast is for rain, bah humbug!! I'm still getting Christmassy though

A table for two.......

2010-12-10T18:06:00.000+01:00

My days are even more busy recently because I am working a split shift. I come home and have just enough time to eat lunch and see to our menagerie before returning to work. If I leave my animals until I finish I have to do them in the dark, so I prefer to do them early.

It seems like a bit of a rush though, and today I was eating my lunch, a tuna pasta, and was engrossed in the lunchtime news, as they were discussing the student riots in London yesterday.
I used to work at the training centre for police horses in London, and was enjoying watching the horses on the news report. I casually glanced back at my plate and to my horror realised that Lenny, our young cat had taken advantage of my lack of attention to my plate and was happily helping himself to the tuna pasta from the other side of my dish.
I roared my displeasure at this gross act of misconduct and he just looked at me like "Yeah? So?" I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and deposited him on the floor whereupon he sauntered off licking his lips. Cheeky sod.

Ice in my house

2010-12-04T12:31:00.000+01:00

In the same way most of us take our staircases for granted (note I said 'us', I can say that now the staircase is in woo-hoo!!) I am hoping those of you with central heating aren't taking that for granted either.

My mum (or inspector clouseau as we like to call her) noted that in the photo of Neil, Fred, Pat and the staircase, Fred and Pat were wearing their jackets.
Although it is true that they were on their way home it is also true that you really wouldn't want to spend any time in the hall without wrapping up warmly.

In the end of the house we are living it is lovely and warm, as our woodburner heats the kitchen and our bedroom above it, but it is fair to say that the rest of the house is suffering from the drop in temperature, in fact I just went into the hall to check on the animals drinking water to find a covering of ice over the bowl - so I'm kind of guessing that we are experiencing sub zero temperatures in the rest of our house.

Hopefully that will change reasonably quickly - now the staircase is in place the first floor going down is high on the 'to do' list and following that the upstairs can be partitioned and insulated, which will make a huge difference.
This renovation lark doesn't happen overnight does it?!!!

2010-12-02T20:23:00.000+01:00

I was having a tough time getting out of bed this morning - I could see the snow falling from the safety of my duvet and I was so cosy. I've been feeling tired as Neil has driven back to the UK to pick up a load of building materials and I never sleep as well when he isn't around. Not that I am alone in the bedroom, since the staircase has been in place Tess has been thrilled that she is no longer confined to the ground floor and is quite insistent on accompanying me to bed, and to be honest that suits me fine as I like the company.

Anyway, I had just managed to drag myself out of bed when the phone rang. It was my boss calling to tell me not to worry about coming into work, she was going to leave all the horses in and was concerned about me coming out on my own. I didn't argue too much and then gleefully got undressed again and slid back under the duvet. Even Tess seemed to be happy to jump back in her basket and go back to sleep.

When I did get up I started feeling guilty about my boss having to do all 20 horses, so I brushed the snow off the quad and wrapped up against the arctic temperatures and headed off cross country towards work.

As I sped along a track across a field the snow stopped falling and sun came out and all of a sudden the landscape was stunningly beautiful, with blue skies and the snow glistening in the sun.

It was one of those moments when you realise just how good life can be and how lucky you are. I would have paid good money in the UK to go out quadding in the snow, and today I was heading to a job I enjoy and having fun getting there.

How lucky am I?!

Freezing Fresian!!

2010-11-30T13:19:00.000+01:00

Brrrr - it was cold this morning, thats frost on the poor babys' mane and back!!

Cranes

2010-11-29T13:36:00.000+01:00

You can hear them coming a mile off - no, not the type of crane that poor old fellow blogger Jan is having to put up with (http://jamjaragain.blogspot.com), but the bird type passing over us as they do twice a year following their migration pattern.

I think our house is in some kind of dip that is good for thermals - as they always seem to pause here to swirl around, gain height and head off south or north, depending on which time of year it is.
Watching them pass, as you must - it's obligatory, it's hard to imagine just how huge they are. I think I am correct in that they have a wingspan of about a metre.
Anyway, I just thought i'd share them with you.

Snow!

2010-11-27T12:29:00.001+01:00

These three have the right idea - cosied up in front of the woodburner. Last night the snow started to fall, and this morning we have woken to a blanket of the stuff. The outside animals don't look impressed do they?!!

2010-11-26T19:04:00.000+01:00

Tessy had her 3rd birthday a few days ago and here is a photograph of her with a present sent from my Mum. She is never quite sure what to do with toys, squeek, bury or stash them, but she was suitably excited when I found the parcel in the post box.

Last night Fred master stair builder and his wife Pat came over so that we could say 'thank you' for their help with the stairs with a meal.

We toasted our new staircase with a bottle of champers and had a hastily prepared raclette. We like the raclette and love this social way of eating, and luckily Fred and Pat were thinking of buying one so it gave them an opportunity to test one out.
I say hastily prepared as we had both been out all day working so when we got home there was some frantic chopping and marinating going on!!!

Up the wooden hill to the land of nod

2010-11-21T21:02:00.000+01:00

is what my grandmother used to say when we were off to bed as children. The wooden hill has been non existant in our house since about January when we ripped the old staircase out in order to put a new block and beam floor in.

I have never been fond of ladders, but as that has been our only way of getting to bed I have got quite used to them.

Tonight though, will be the first time that I am able to go to bed via our brand new staircase. The left hand upper flight went in today and the ladder has been taken outside where it belongs.

Now I am working full time, Neil has been able to stay at home and dedicate his time to the stairs, with more than a little help from staircase supremo Fred.
In fact Neil seems to think he can take no credit for our new staircase such is his debt of gratitude to Fred, who has planned and worked out all the angles and maths that are involved in such a project, but I know that my husband has spent hour upon hour sawing, planing,sanding and lugging large sections of green oak.

We are hoping the final flight will go in tomorrow, and then all the spindles and hand rails are to be made, but this is a momentous time for us and a central part of the renovation of the house.

I was a tad disappointed that Fred had to rush off tonight, as I didn't get to thank him properly and I had put three glasses on the table ready to fill with champagne to toast the new stairs. I'll have to open another bottle next time he comes.

When are caramalised onions burnt onions?!!

2010-11-13T15:51:00.000+01:00

I'm making soup with a load of vegetables Keith and Margaret grew and kindly bought over. I thought caramalised onions would make a nice base, but when they were 'caramalising' keith and Mags popped over and whilst I was away from the cooker the room filled with smoke and the onions have a slightly darker than caramel hue.
I think they are ok though, so I have pressed on, but obviously if the soup is rubbish tonight they will take full blame.

The photo below is my kitchen table mid vegetable preparation. Note several different bowls - veggies for soup, compost and pig food!!

for afters I have cooked the sponge base from the 5-4-3-2-1 recipe (because it is so simple I use it for everything now!!) with toffee and pineapple that will be added later. I have purchased a tub of creme fraiche that I am assured will whip up and Voila!! pudding!!

Now some photos of progress. There hasn't been a lot of that over the summer as Neil has been working hard on paid projects for other people but here is a preview into the nearly finished utility room - ttaaaa dddaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

the first door holds a walk in larder and the second the downstairs loo

Here are two photos of the larder - mainly because I am so proud of it but also I didn't think you would be interested in a photo of a loo!!

lastly a photo of Neil working on the staircase. Fred the stair maestro has been over to give him a guiding hand so that he can get on with it, and we are hoping one day in the not too distant future we can chuck the ladder outside where it belongs!!

ps there is a main course - its a beef stew and it is sitting on the wood burner in case you were wondering........

Romey minus ear

2010-11-10T13:22:00.000+01:00

Here, mostly for the benefit of Judith who is in the UK and is Romeys foster mum when we are away is a photo of her minus ear.
She was away with the fairys for most of last night and it wasnt until about 11pm I felt her safe enough to come out of the box and sit in front of the fire.

When we got back Tess and Lenny came and sat with her, keeping her company whilst she writhed around in the carry box.

Today she seems much better, and even attempted a friendly 'head butt' on the bad side of her head. I am hoping that at least she will be more comfortable now.

It's not like it is in England.......

2010-11-09T13:28:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I was busy sweeping away at work when a tatty black car pulled up outside the stables. A short, rather scruffy farmer type bloke got out of the car, gave me one of the most limp handshakes ever (as is fairly typical of the french male I find) and asked if my 'patron' was available. Luckily my boss was making his way over to the yard and was treated to another limp handshake. They went off together to look at a patch of land while I racked my brains to work out where I had seen him before. Perhaps he was a local farmer coming to do some fencing I thought, before it suddenly dawned on me that he was, in fact, our local Maire.

Shouldn't he be wearing a chain or something? or at least look a little less like Compo from Last of the summer wine....

This morning I had to take Romey (the cat that came with the house) to the vet to have a cancerous ear taken off. I was dreading that moment where they give you a form where you have to agree that the cat may die during the operation and you consent to it going ahead. I handed over the cat and the vet just looked at me.
"Don't I need to sign anything?" I asked. "No" he replied "you can pay when you pick her up". I guess it is just taken for granted you know they may croak it and accept that. I went on to tell him that the last time she had had an anaesthetic she seemed to me to take a very long time to come around afterwards and was still out of it at ten oclock that night... "Seeing pink elephants?" he asked "absolutely normal".
Ok, I'll just go then.....

It is different here isnt it?!!!

Halloween Horrors

2010-11-07T09:15:00.000+01:00

It's been quite a week. I've been working hard, feeling rather grotty with a second hand cold left here by my parents (only joking mum) and spent the night in a body bag.

Some of our friends have an annual Halloween and firework party and every year we fail dismally to come up with an interesting outfit for the fancy dress. I kept saying to Neil that this year we needed to make an effort, and so I drove to a local town the day after Halloween hoping to scoop some post halloween bargains in Gifi.

I couldn't believe that in the space of a few hours the shop had changed from a spidery den to a Santas Grotto. I still quite can't believe that anyone in France can move that fast or that efficiently in a shop. Neil I think was quite relieved my mission had been fruitless, as someone had suggested a 'Rocky Horror' theme, and the chance to wear a minimum of clothing was appealing to his naturist side.

He drove over to Janes' house and went through her 'smalls' (another fantasy I'm sure) and came back with a bag of goodies. He put on his outfit for me, and as much as I tried to offer him some larger items that I suggested might be more flattering, he was steadfast in his resolve to wear the minimum.

This still left me with a dilema on the outfit front, but in the middle of the night whilst boiling the kettle for yet another lemsip, I suddenly remembered the body bag in the piggeries containing the garden cushions and decided to go as the walking dead.

I borrowed some horse chalk from work - used to make white markings on their legs look super white, and plastered my still reasonably tanned skin in the white powder. On the front of the body bag is a pouch to put information in, so I got Neil to take a photo of my face, whited up and with mascara scars and marks on to put in the pouch. He took a couple of photos before commenting that I didn't look very dead because although I had my eyes closed I was standing up, so we repeated the process with me lying down on the floor and I zipped myself into the bag.

Tess was giving me some very funny looks, but she positively freaked out when Jason who is staying with us walked in in his scary wolf outfit, barking and snarling whilst simultaneously backing under a table for protection .... (thats Tess not Jason!)

The party was a great success. I was very relieved that the gendarme didn't pull us over on the way to the party. A wolf, A person in a body bag and two rocky horrors (Mel, Jasons girlfriend joined in with the theme) would have made for an interesting discovery for them I am sure.

A recipe for you

2010-10-31T15:17:00.000+01:00

That break seems a long time ago already. Today I have been trying to strip the paint off a small door with Decapant (liquid paint stripper) or decrapant as Neil calls it, and he couldn't be more right - the stuff is useless.

We have had one set of trick or treaters yesterday - and as we had nothing to give them I ended up handing over my last bit of English chocolate - a packet of Rolos. The children weren't in the least bit scary, and I can't imagine they would have any good tricks up their sleeve had we not had anything to bribe them with, but as we were going out later in the afternoon I bought three small packets of sweets in case we were called on again tonight.
This morning though, Neil admitted that he had scoffed some of the sweets apparently not realising that halloween is in fact tonight, not yesterday. I sent him off to Intermarche to restock, and he came home with two large bags of bonbons, most of which we have eaten already.

Looking out of the window it looks like we are living on a chicken farm. We have 23 chickens roaming around the land (and unless they are laying somewhere secret none of them are producing eggs yet)so it looks like it is time for a bit of a cull.

Yesterday I made a cake that we were served whilst on our break last week. It's like an apple upside down cake and is lovely and moist and yummy. Here is the recipe in case you would like to try it...

Recette Gateau 5-4-3-2-1

for the cake

5 heaped soup spoons of flour
4 soup spoons of caster sugar
3 soup spoons of milk
2 soup spoons of oil
1 egg
1 pinch of salt
half a sachet of yeast / baking powder
2 or 3 apples

To add during cooking

80 grams of butter
100 grams of sugar
1 egg
1 sachet of vanilla sugar

1. Mix flour, sugar, yeast and salt.
Then add the milk, the egg and the oil and mix well.
Line / grease a baking tin, and arrange peeled apples cut in slices on the bottom of the baking tin. Add the mixture on top and put in a cold oven.
Switch oven on at gas mark 4 or 120 - 130 degrees and leave for 30 minutes

2. meanwhile prepare the second mix and pour on top of the cake when it has been in the oven for 30 minutes. Cook for a further 15 mins.

I hope that makes sense - its a bad translation of the french recipe but tastes lovely so I hope you enjoy it.

Anniversary trip

2010-10-24T16:46:00.000+02:00

It seemed like we hadn't had a moment to stop and relax for ages, what with work, animals and visitors so I took advantage of my parents offer to house sit and booked a few days away in the Perigord Pourpre region of France for our wedding anniversary.
I fancied getting away somewhere luxurious (with at least a staircase and central heating) so that Neil (and I) could at last take some time out and relax.

I found wonderful chambres d'hôtes called the Coteau de Belpech in the town of Beaumont Du Perigord (www.coteau-pelpech.com) where we were met by the owners Isabelle & Alain Le Coz, a French couple who had restored their eleventh century chapel beautifully.

The region has lovely countryside and lots of historic chateaux and cathedrals (mostly built by us Brits) and plenty of vineyards scattered around producing some lovely Bergerac wine.

Our room

One of the 360 degree views at the Coteau de Belpech

The converted chapel and buildings

The Mairie at the bastide town of Monpazier

This is Neil tasting some wine at the Chateau la Renaudie, just outside of Bergerac

In the town of Beaumont du Perigord we found the most amazing Quincaillerie (hardware) store, it was absolutely massive and stocked with the most bizzare items - apparently people come from Paris just to visit the store

So now it is back to work and back to reality. The break just wasn't long enough really- but then they never are!!

épi - the French word for whorl

2010-10-13T17:14:00.000+02:00

Last night I uploaded the photos but really was too knackered to write the blog. Yesterday was full on with moving the eight horses that needed to be seen by the vet and moving around several others, by walking, riding and boxing them in a trailer.

One thing I did want to mention though was my faux pas with the vet. As he was noting the distinguishing marks of one of the horses he asked me what an épi was in English. I told him that they are called whorls - little swirls of hair growing in the opposite direction to the lay of the coat. They are used in the identification of horses. He then asked me to spell whorl out in French, which I did, but then I was halfway down the garden towards the house before I realised to my horror that I had spelt it with an e on the end, not an l.

I rushed back with a pencil and wrote on his notes the correct spelling before telling him that the other spelling should not be used as that would mean a 'femme de la nuit!'. Needless to say he found this very amusing (the same vet who had had a laugh about the chicken in the waiting room), but I fear I may only have confirmed his opinion that we are all as daft as brushes.

2010-10-12T20:53:00.000+02:00

Here for Helen and anyone else who may be interested is a picture of the new pig run - followed by a photo of the residents inspecting the stream

Today my dutch friend Nicoline who owns the fresian horses bought a selection down to my place to be blood tested and microchipped. Here she is with the vet and the latest born foal Amy

It is lovely to have some horses back in the field and we now have 3 mares and one foal in the field, so I will be riding once again now we have weaned these two foals.

Lastly here is a photo of her 3 year old fresian stallion. Gorgeous isn't he?!

Chicken and cat in a basket...

2010-10-11T19:52:00.000+02:00

This afternoon Judith and I went to the vets surgery for open clinic, so on the backseat of my car were two baskets, one with a chicken and the other with my cat.

I did have to smile as I knew the vet would find Judith and her chicken sitting in the reception area a great amusement, as most people around these parts would rather neck a chicken than pay a vet bill, and they know how soft she is about her hens.

I took Romey, the cat that we purchased with our house. Unfortunately she has white ears and is a sunseeker. This year the cancer that has appeared on her ears has rapidly got worse, and now looks red, sore and is not healing. I have been told there is nothing to be done with them, but she is so uncomfortable I couldn't just leave her. The vet gave her a cortisone injection and is going to review her before deciding wether or not to take the ears off.

It was then the turn of the chicken, and the vet shook his head and laughed when he looked in the cat box and saw the hen. It has had a large swelling on its foot that Judith had tried to lance without much sucsess. the vet sliced it's foot open and removed a large ball of pus, before swabbing it with betadine. He decided not to put a stitch in it and told Judith that as long as it was eating and drinking and looked happy enough she shouldn't worry about it. It cost her twelve euros, which would have bought her a new chicken, but lets hope the hen makes a full recovery.

Porky Palace

2010-10-09T21:20:00.000+02:00

Thursday afternoon Mags and Keith, who own our second pig BB (bacon buttie) came over to help construct a new run for the two porkers.

We decided to move them into an area of our field that had been taken over by bracken and brambles, and so the afternoon was a full on work party with some serious strimming, fence post ramming, pig house construction and electric fence connecting.

It was getting dark by the time all that was finished, and I was a bit concerned that if we didn't get them into the new run sharpish, we would be chasing two tamworth/cul noir porkers halfway around the Limousin to get them into the new accomodation.

Although now pretty tame, we hadn't really tried moving them any distance before and Mags and Keith galantly held two makeshift pig boards whilst I went along in front, shaking a bucket full of grub (that they largely ignored).

I hadn't quite bargained for how big and solid they are these days, but after a bit of a tussle we finally got them into the new run.
I also hadn't bargained for them taking fright at the tiny stream running through the front of the new run, so Neil, at this point desperate for a beer, rugby tackled one of the pigs over the stream and in the general direction of their night accomodation - Like a flash it hopped back over the stream to join his brother and at this point we all thought sod it, and tucked into a pint of shandy before we went and had our tea.

I am happy to report they love their new patch, and after they have done their stuff of clearing and fertilising we hope that one day this area will provide us (and Mags and Keith) with very large, (pig) fertilised pumpkins.

Going too big, too soon.

2010-10-05T18:31:00.000+02:00

Is a failing of mine - I admit. I am talking of course of the woodburning stove and of loading it with wood. It's actually far too early to be lighting fires - within an hour you end up stripping off and opening doors and windows, but with the pool and sun lounger season now firmly behind us, there is nothing so nice as loading up the fire and settling in for a night of snuggly warmth in front of 'flicky flames' as my friend Judith calls them.

Neil is a bit of a boy scout fire starter - and deeply frowns on my use of firelighters to get the fire going. As far as I am concerned it is a failsafe method of lighting the fire and puts paid to being on your hands and knees staring desolately at a smoking pile of paper and kindling. I tend to buy packs of firelighters when he is not on a shopping trip with me and secrete them around the room in places he never looks.
"Let me do it!!" is his frequent cry, as I go to light the fire and grab the lighters and he proceeds to unload my stack of newspaper, kindling and lighters in favour of his own method - which I'm sure is something of a secret ( like 5 year old moss covered old wisteria sticks or something).
It's just a case of male pride I am sure and I normally let him get on with it, although with his recent liking of walking around in a state of undress perhaps I should ensure the house is as cold as possible!

Here is a picture of Lenny - who has settled in like a dream and has already caught his first mouse. Long may he continue!!

Winning friends and Influencing People

2010-10-04T20:17:00.000+02:00

I was blissfully unaware of this mornings events until we turned up at the local bar for the bi-weekly fish and chip event ce soir.

It appears that after I had left for work this morning our dutch friend (who is married to a local french farmer) popped in to give us some cheese samples that she had made. It being in the fairly early hours of this morning she was greeted by Neil, naked as he normally is at that time of the day.

Nakedness is not something that sits awkwardly with my husband so he offered her a cup of coffee, at which point he heard another car pull up outside.
Assuming it was a pal of ours (who is also used to Neils nakedness) Neil walked outside to tell the pal that he would just get changed before he made him a coffee too.
Unfortunately the visitor turned out to be our dutch friends husband - who took in Neils nakedness before calling for his wife - who very nonchalantly called out -"Oui?!".

Luckily however curious our french friend is about his wife being with a naked Englishman, our dutch friend thinks the whole thing is hilarious. I am a bit concerned he may turn up with a shotgun to defend his wifes honour though.
At the very least though, I think it will spread around the village like wildfire that should anyone be stupid enough to visit us, they are likely to be met by an english naked man.

Should save us a fortune in coffee....

Fete de L'Ane

2010-10-03T19:04:00.000+02:00

It was obviously the place to be today - we bumped into half the village at the Donkey Fete today, which took place in a small town on the route to Limoges
.
Judith and I go every year primarily as it always has a very interesting vide grenier, but also many interesting stands, including one which made boudin noir to order and had a sign warning you that spurts of blood were a very real hazard - but first here is a photo of a donkey with an interesting hair do.

-

Leonard

2010-09-29T13:48:00.000+02:00

Meet the new addition to the family. As you might expect the sonar mouse deterrant was bloody useless so lets hope Leonard likes catching mice.

He would have been off to the SPA today so lets hope he likes his new home and settles in. Signs so far are good - he purrs whenever you touch him, uses his litter tray and hisses half heartedly at Tess, but only if she gets too close. Lets hope they form a bond soon. Yay!!

A mouse in the house.

2010-09-22T13:30:00.000+02:00

It's no great suprise to see the odd mouse in an old stone house, but one day, seemingly out of the blue, we saw about three of the swines in the kitchen.

We are definately not a fan of poisoning (and refuse to), we hate mousetraps although they can be reasonably effective, so I half heartedly said - Well, we will have to get another cat then. Neil said, "yes, well I think we should".

Having lost Tam on the road outside (which still seems so unfair given the limited amount of traffic we get on the lane) the subject of another cat has been a bit of a no no subject. It broke my heart when we lost Tam, but as Romey the older cat who came with the house has put herself in mouse catching retirement, we may consider another.

I did however buy this tastefully designed(!) mouse deterrant.

The photo is the wrong way up but you get the general idea. It emits a sonic beep that is undetectable to humans, cats and dogs but should keep us mouse free if you believe the hype.

I have to say though, since plugging it in we haven't seen any in the kitchen, although Tess found one in the hall and chased it in the direction of the kitchen. I had a mental image of a mouse with its paws over its ears going AGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

I have started putting a few feelers out for a kitten. Watch this space!

2010-09-18T12:05:00.000+02:00

It's not what you know but who you know often in this life - and my sister in law Lesley who is a journalist and road tester with a weekly motoring magazine has once again pulled off a stunning piece of blagging with this beauty, loaned from the Caravan Club so that she could bring my in-laws down in pure luxury.

So much so I think all of us (Tess included) would rather like to move in permanently.

I had had a fair amount of vin blanc last night, a bit sad at the anniversary of losing my horse, but touched by the many emails of support I received here on the blog and also messages from many of my family and friends who knew how much she had meant to me, so I had retired early (ish) to bed when this campervan (doesn't sound a posh enough word for the vehicle outside) rolled into town.

This morning has been a lazy start to their holiday, with a large breakfast being followed by some trips up the ladder for a shower. I think we might all use the campervan tomorrow when we have worked out how to heat the water for the plush shower, it's lovely!!

My girl.

2010-09-17T12:17:00.000+02:00

It's hard to believe that it is a year ago today that I lost my wonderful companion of twenty four years, Amber.
I have a mixture of emotions about it really. I used to worry myself silly about her. Was she too hot or too cold, was she eating enough or too much and a whole myriad of other concerns. Of course I miss looking out of the window and seeing my horse out in the field. Being able to do that was a realisation of a dream but my first concern was always that she was happy and living out her days as comfortable and pain free as possible.

In her latter days she used to have a massive problem getting up if she laid down, and there were several times I thought she was never going to get to her feet and that it was the end, but then she would find the strength from somewhere and haul herself up. Once on her feet she was happy as anything and went off to continue her favourite hobby of scoffing grass.

On that final day she laid down and I could just tell she has no intention of even trying. I had a good old chat with her before calling the vet. I felt she had made her own decision, and the fact she was lying down already made her injection less traumatic for us both. I still panicked and felt lost as the injection started to take effect, but in my heart I knew it was the right thing to do.

I always felt that I was privileged to have a horse, and to have one with such a lovely temperament and big heart was a joy. She is irreplaceable and I loved her.
RIP my lovely girl, Amber.

2010-09-14T18:29:00.000+02:00

This is Neils' drum kit in the space that is to become our bathroom.

In the photo below is Neil on his kit, having a rattle. He looks happy doesn't he? Imagine how happy I will look when this is actually a bathroom and I will be able to have a proper soak in that bath thats behind him wrapped in plastic.

I bought that bath four years ago, when I thought renovating a house would involve a year or two (at most) in a building site before we would move swiftly on to drinking wine on an immaculate patio thinking how clever we were.
Doh!!

2010-09-11T22:08:00.000+02:00

I admit - and as I have confessed before, I like a bit of inane televisual entertainment.
Tonight there is a programme about several celebrities in arctic conditions.

Neil, a seasoned medic on film sets, ruined the atmosphere by proclaiming that they are probably all in Cumbria with lots of crushed polystyrene. For me, anything with Gethan Jones is worth watching, even if he is wrapped in a 24 tog duvet.

Neil is just jealous. In a previous life he was a seasoned adventurer. Now in the same way I shovel shit, he chops a lot of wood. At least we aren't risking frostbite and minus 24 degree temperatures. Not for at least a few months anyway!!

To breed or not to breed.....

2010-09-09T13:30:00.000+02:00

No not Neil and I, but it's that time of year again and it seems Tess is coming into season.
Cue mental tussle as to whether to have puppys or not.

The list of good reasons not to hugely outweigh the list of why we should. In fact there is nothing much on the list of why we should other than my liking of cute bundles of black and white fluff, but until we get into sensible mode and get her sterilised it will always be a temptation.

I have just been reading a local forum (angloinfo) on the internet and someone has asked for information regarding local animal shelters for a dog. I know those of us who love animals tend to get a bit emotional when we think of poor abandoned beasts, but some of the replies were a bit over the top to say the least.

The person who posted said nothing of the circumstances - for all we know they may be asking for a neighbour or someone else - but a couple of the replies stopped just short of proclaiming the poster should be horsewhipped for careless abandonment of a helpless animal.

Sometimes (most times) the forums are a really useful source of help and information, but they also give 'know it alls' space to air their malice and make themselves feel superior. I did leave a message reminding them that unless we knew the circumstances perhaps it would be better not to judge, but I doubt they will be getting off their high horses any time soon.

It did make me think about the huge amount of animals in this country sitting in shelters that need a home though, which was a timely reminder that they don't need us adding to the dog population. Pants.

2010-09-07T20:20:00.000+02:00

Our feet don't seem to be touching the ground at the moment we are so busy. On returning from the UK we have been working non stop and entertaining our latest visitor, Jason, who is an ex-colleague of ours. Well I say entertaining, in fairness we have been trying to provide an equal mix of work and pleasure for him. Work such as wood chopping and stacking and pleasure such as quad biking, trailbike riding, and the usual drinking of beer and wine and eating too much cheese and french bread.

For some reason (happily) we have had a social get together with friends on just about a daily basis, so he has had plenty of opportunity to get a taste of life in France. He has been checking flights for a return trip, so I guess he has enjoyed the experience!

Neil is slightly worrying me. He wanted nothing to do with the pigs, claiming that it was my project and that he was worrying that I would get too attached. He now comes down the garden on an almost hourly basis waxing lyrical about their latest 'cute piggy trait'.
Now he is wishing that we had bought a sow so that we could keep it and breed from it.

The apples and pears are falling rapidly, so we dragged the crusher and press out of the shed and pressed a load of both fruits. We tried them fresh from the press before deciding to add vodka and give that a try. Quite a nice way to spend a sunny afternoon.

Jason is off home tomorrow and we are quite sad, as he has been a good fun guest and hasn't minded at all roughing it in the tent. Hopefully he will be back out soon with his other half Mel so that we can show them there is more to life than being a paramedic and nurse. Not that anyone in the NHS needs much persuading of that!!

ENG VS BUL. What a load of BUL.......

2010-09-03T21:15:00.000+02:00

I'm sitting in front of this computer slightly miffed that something I wanted to watch on tv, oh ok then I admit it, Coronation Street, has been moved because England are playing Bulgaria on itv tonight. The new football season has obviously started and stretches out in front of us heralding the start of chillier times. Bah!

I have been very busy at work this week since returning on Monday. Judith and I have been painting one of the stable blocks and managed to get it done before the arrival of my boss today, who has had a three month trip to the UK to compete three of her horses.
Having travelled through the night in a very large horse box she looked exhausted but gratifyingly was hugely impressed with how the stables had been transformed.

We now have three large bottles of sloe gin and vodka on the go. I'm not really a huge fan of spirits, but I must admit to finding the finished product very drinkable in a kind of sweet medicine sort of a way.

One of our neighbours stopped by for a chat earlier this evening. It seems we have been calling her husband by her name for all of this time. Why do the French have the same names for women and men? - We thought her husband was called Joel, but it appears she is called Joelle and he is called Lucien. He didn't seem to mind being called Joel bless him. I wonder why he never corrected us. Wasn't worth the bother presumably.

An old paramedic colleague of ours arrives tomorrow. I can't remember whether or not I told him just HOW rustic his accomodation for his stay is, but being ex-army I'm sure he will be able to adapt to it. As with all guests, a certain level of inebriation at all times will help to forget our state of advanced camping.
did I say advanced? - ahh.....

yay! I've got a camera!!

2010-09-01T21:28:00.000+02:00

Ok, so now I am going to bore you silly with photos!!
I took these pics this morning at work,
This first picture is of the two yearlings in the foreground, Vinny and Vasco. The trouble maker two year old stallion Ugo is in the field behind them.
In the background is the indoor school and one of the stable blocks

Next is the second stable block with me walking Tom the 3 year old stallion who is still recovering from his leg operation

This is Lily. born this year. What a cutie!!

Home again!

2010-08-31T21:09:00.000+02:00
We feel like yo yo's, but we are finally home after too-ing and fro-ing to the UK for hen and stag do's and now finally the big day.

We were so looking forward to this wedding - such dear friends getting married and they did not disappoint. A lovely day of celebration to remember forever.

Going back to the UK at last enabled me to get a camera - so prepare to be bombarded with photographs after such a long time without!

Quick, Quick Sloe

2010-08-18T21:45:00.000+02:00
I spent the afternoon in the toilet today. Tiling. I bought some fantastic iridescent tiles ages ago, but what a nightmare tiling is when there are hundreds of little squares all oozing with adhesive and sliding around before falling off the bloody wall. Joy.

Neil has at last had a chance to stay at home and start work on the staircase again.
Paid work and visits to the UK meant that he had to 'down chisels' for a few months. Unfortunately in that time the wood has twisted and cracked, making the staircase even more of a challenge. I still think it looks great though - and the cracks only add to the character as far as I am concerned.

After a frustrating afternoon we decided to take Tess out with our friends' quad on a lovely big loop around the countryside. Any such trip is an opportunity for Neil to 'forage' and it's like being married to Hugh Fernley Whittingstall as every hedge is scoured for edible goodies. Today we found a fantastic source of sloes - big and ready for pricking and stuffing into bottles of gin and vodka.

We were hopelessly unprepared and went out with nothing to collect our 'bootie' in, so the plan is to go out tomorrow and harvest the sloes. Lets hope no one gets there before us!

Getting to the bottom of it

2010-08-15T10:27:00.000+02:00
The pool has cleared and such was my excitement at seeing the pattern on the bottom of the pool this morning I did a little jump whilst giving myself a thumbs up. I then self conciously looked around to see if anyone had seen me and my absolutely ridiculous behaviour. Luckily my only onlookers were the assorted menagerie, who were far more interested in scoffing breakfast than the stupid human in the garden.

I don't know who I thought would have been watching - we are not even slightly overlooked and our only neighbours live a little way up the road, but I am more self concious than Neil who has totally embraced our situation and happily walks around the garden naked to get in the pool or letting the chickens out - although he may be a bit more wary now the electric fence is on more regularly!

The pigs are growing quickly, we don't notice it so much as we see them all the time, but visitors do and I must admit that I wouldn't want to pick them up by their hind legs and carry them, which was the easiest way to handle them when we bought them. I'm having a real inner tussle with how much to handle them. I don't want to get too attached but at the same time we need to be able to get close enough to deal with them. Last night I held a scoop of food for them to eat whilst scratching their backs. I think I am managing to keep looking at them and thinking 'bacon', but I am enjoying having them and watching them progress.

A steep learning curve!

2010-08-11T11:44:00.000+02:00
You live and learn and one of the things we keep doing is wasting money on things that aren't man enough to do the job. It's a false economy every time.
This year we bought a new pump for the pool - it kind of worked, but now the pool has gone a shade of green that isn't conducive to a relaxing swim. When the colour started changing I was calling it 'aqua' for some time and it looked like some kind of lake water - but now it is unmistakably green. I have tried countless chemicals and cleaning it but there was nothing for it, we needed an effective pump.
Luckily there was an advert on Angloinfo (a website) with just the thing - a sandfilter and pump. The owner lived a bit of a drive away, but it was lovely just to have a day away from the house and get out into the countryside.

One of the first things I noticed when I arrived was the most enormous pig I have ever seen. It was a Tamworth called Kinnock (because he is ginger and ugly apparently!!)and was huge. About 300 kilos apparently. The owner said that the previous week he had gone in to repair his sty and Kinnock had laid down on top of him. Any attempt to push him off had failed with Kinnock thinking he was being scratched rather than pushed which resulted in the pig pushing back on the man even harder. He was there for an hour before Kinnock wandered off and freed him.

We started discussing pigs and I mentioned how I was trying to research castration as the two young boars I have bought are not castrated and now I understand that if a pig hasn't been castrated the hormones in the pig can affect the taste of the meat ( what was I saying about learning curves!). The guy advised that we had the pigs slaughtered at six months before the hormones would affect the meat, but I don't think they will be a sufficient weight to go off by then. My plan is to go down to the vet and get some proper advice on the subject.

I 'Youtube'd' how to castrate a pig and it all looks very straightforward, but at 3-4 months old I think it's a job for a vet, although in France I understand it's not something the French always bother with.

The filter and pump are now installed and as they were originally for a big pool and not an inflatable above ground one I am hopeful we will soon have lovely clear water. Probably just in time for the weather to change!