more progress

The dynamic duo are on form again and now working on the barn, hopefully soon to be lounge.
Neil has been pointing the wall and Keith has started to build the fireplace. We needed the hearth to be built so that we can stand the woodburner on top and connect up all the pipes for the central heating. Yes! I did say central heating - hurrah!!!!

The pink plasterboard is special fire retardant stuff, which has boxed in the right hand flight of stairs. The sides of the fireplace are being built up in stone and we have a large beam that will be the mantlepiece which will hopefully hide all that plasterboard!! We have some reclaimed bricks to go up to the ceiling.

Confused?

Having witnessed some very late cranes flying south only a couple of weeks ago I was gobsmacked yesterday to see a large group flying North again. Do they know something we don't?
I couldn't believe it when I heard their familiar cry overhead. How odd.

Loo-ney Lenny

There was a bit of a feline commotion in the en-suite this morning and Lenny the cat (the scrounger on the chair on the right) flew onto the bed for a cuddle. As I started to stroke him I noticed he wasn't entirely dry.

Neil got up to investigate and pieced the story together - Lenny had obviously been sitting on the loo seat trying to knock a toilet roll onto the floor so that he could attack it (his favourite game) and fallen backwards into the loo......

Which leads me to conclude that despite respecting the environment we really must flush it every time.......

Have a look!

Having received the Leibster award (see here) this is my first recommendation if you are looking for a blog to read - Veras blog Snippets from Labartere
Vera is renovating her house and running a smallholding and writes delightfully about her experiences, and includes some funny little videos from time to time.
I would also like to re-thank Sue, who nominated me and has also explained how to do links - so if the link to Vera's blog works I have got the hang of it, and if it doesn't I am too thick to understand her very clear instructions!!

Frozen pipes, cars and people!!

Another long gap between blogs - I would apologise but we have just been trying to keep warm and working!! At the end of last month the farrier came to trim Appies feet. He behaved impeccably (Appie not the farrier) and it was nice to hear that the farrier had remarked how nice he was.

We had had a small amount of snow at the end of January, but February bought some deep stuff and we have been down to minus 16 in temperature!!

Tess loves the snow and spends her days rolling around in it looking happy. Appie with his thick coat doesn't seem to mind either.

We do though, and we spent a few days with only one tap in the house working (upstairs) and no hot water. Both cars have frozen up and are undriveable, So our only mode of transport for a while was the quad until we were kindly lent a car. I will admit to being highly jealous of those fortunate enough to own a four wheel drive car - and if they weren't so horrendously gas guzzling and expensive we would consider trying to buy one. Still, at least with the quad we weren't confined to barracks and Tess loved running alongside scooping up snow in her mouth en-route to quench her run-related thirst.

I have mastered the art of multi layering in the clothes department, and under a couple of layers fleecy pajamas are part of my daily wardrobe at present. I don't care how I look frankly - all that is important is trying to keep warm.

Working at the stables in and out of the icy wind is no fun - and as all the water systems are frozen, trying to water 25 thirsty nags is a time consuming daily battle.

I am not the only one working in the icy elements. Our house is changing every day - Neil is constructing all the internal walls, so that now at last we actually have a proper sense of our layout and a clue to how it might look. Even with all the insulation, until the barn doors are shut off properly the barn is still not much more than an outside space and working inside is painfully cold.

We are getting there though. We are looking forward to the snow thawing so we can get on with stuff a little less painfully - I still wouldn't want to be stuck anywhere else!!

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

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

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!!)