The latest pics..

Neil has been performing some fine joinery with a chainsaw for the opening between the barn and the hall. We had a worried phone call from a Fred (our friend who lives in the Loire) who having studied the previous blogs photos thought we were being a bit lapse with our supports for the beams. Neil has since added to the structure to make them safer, although there is no first floor or foot traffic to support at the moment. As always, any advice is gratefully received in these parts - especially from Fred who has so much experience.



The next photo is of Neil pondering on the first of the lintels for the opening. He does a lot of standing around like this.




The last photo is of Tam. We have added to his woes by having had his nuts off this morning. Hence the dozy, slightly pissed off expression. Still, at least his nose has healed and is back to one piece.

Demolition

This was how my hall looked as I headed off for work this morning......



and this was how it looked when I got back......






If the house wasn't draughty before (it was) it sure will be now!! We are planning an arched doorway in the hole on the right and the staircase will go in the hole on the left. A candle will go in the little hole in the middle!!!

282 days till christmas

It's all happening around here! Neil has truly got the bit between his teeth and things are getting bashed down and constructed in this new spurt of action. The staircase will be started next week fingers crossed, and now all the openings are in place for it to go into.

I got home from work yesterday to find a Christmas tree propped up outside the house which was a birthday present from my friend who owns the horses I ride. She was obviously fed up of me going on every time we passed one whilst we were out in the woods.
Some time ago I dug up and acquired one from a local wood (the farmer said I could), but after being in the ground for several months it suddenly took a turn for the worse, went brown and died. I was gutted.
I had positioned it so that I could see it from my window and so that you could also see it as you drove up the road to the house. I had visions of it being festooned with lights at Christmas and being a lovely feature. As it was no more than a twig by Christmas I resisted the temptation to put lights on it, but by then I had realised that the lights wouldn't have reached it any way.
I'm not getting caught out this time. I have lovingly planted it in a large pot in mole hill soil (there are loads of bloody mole hills about at the moment) and watered it in thoroughly. The pot has good holes for drainage and I have made sure it is straight. For once I am going to be vigilant and make sure it is in prime condition for this Noel. Well I hope so anyway.

I have also been busy in the garden, putting up a fence to keep the chickens and ducks on the field side of the fence. I am fed up with chickens on my raised beds (and in the kitchen actually)and ducks that do the biggest cackas (I have never asked a french person how they would spell that but they mean poos!!) on the doorstep and all over the lawn. Lawn! thats a joke.
I drove a mini digger across my 'lawn' the other day and then tried to replace all the divets that the tracks had made with my feet. The marks were quite randomly spaced around the garden as I had been trying to avoid the daffodils I had planted in various locations last autumn, so had been zig zagging around the garden.
I'm so glad there aren't people watching the ridiculous goings on at this house sometimes!!

Arrivals and Departures

The pictures are of the new arrival at work, stable name Poppy born yesterday morning at about 7am - isn't she gorgeous.

Next photo is of Neils' handwork cutting the beams in the hall to insert a 'trimmer' beam to rest a flight of stairs on (the stairs still are in plank form as previously shown, drying out!!)



The departure is my birthday present to myself, finally handing in my notice to the ambulance service who had given me a career break to move out here. It was a kind of safety net in case things didn't work out, but I really didn't want to go back whatever had happened, so posting the letter today is a bit of a landmark. Hurrah!!

Construction update!

This is our new staircase. Well, it will be one day. Apparently it needs to dry out for a bit first. Following construction it will be going in this hole



The beam you can see is at chest height on the first floor, so the idea is that the staircase will go up and divide beneath it to allow access to either side. We couldn't bear to chop out this lovely bit of carpentry (and it would seriously undermine the roof to do so.

The area of light you can see on the left hand side is yet another velux going in, now that Neil has practiced and got the bit between his teeth - so its all happening here at chez nous.

I have just got back from the vets with Tam (again) this time he has been given the all clear - he no longer has a temperature or dodgy eyes - just a rather odd shaped nose, but that doesn't seem to be giving him any problems.

dream on............

It's my birthday on Wednesday and when my mother rang today to let us know a UK credit card bill for Neil had dropped on the doormat for in excess of £100 I thought for one brief moment (actually I didn't - but for the sake of the blog pretend I did) that perhaps an exciting present was en route.
"Was it spent in tiffanys?" I enquired
"It's £100 worth of gold screws from Screwfix" was the reply.
Hmmmmphhhhhh.

The velux goes in...

The velux didn't get put in the other day, as it looked like rain may be imminent so Neil decided not to make a hole in the roof. It's going in today though, and as grey clouds gather he is working furiously to get the damn thing in place.

The velux is going in high on the roof fairly close to the apex, as we want maximum light above the twisting staircase (that Neil is making next week). This has complicated matters as the roof tiles Neil needed to remove are stuck in place by those concreted to the apex.

I was also a bit worried about him as he was on the landing, on some boards on tressels (not sure how you spell that) and then on the top step of a 'hop up'on top of that. It all looks a bit wobbly so I called our tall friend Denis to come and help him manoever the window into place ( because I am a shortarse and allergic to wobbling platforms).



The instructions to fit the velux appear to have been drawn by a three year old with no interest in windows, so Neil has been consulting the internet at every stage to make sure he is doing it correctly. Martin did show us how to put one in, but that was ages ago and Neils head has been full of a hundred of other things since and we have both forgotten how to do it. Doh!!

I am happy to report that the window is in, that it is now raining and there are no signs of leaks. Another thing ticked off the list!!!