The French Renovation

In between mowing, I continued with painting cottage #1. Actually, it was the other way round. I painted nearly all day today. It's taking time because I'm doing it with a little supermarket brush. The exterior surface is extremely bobbly; I call it porridge. This makes the roller rather ineffective, as I have to go over it in detail to fill all the gaps. Also, the roller splashes like mad, and I don't want to splash my hydrangeas. Or my arty slate covering on them. I had rest breaks, to save me from blindness (the sun on the white wall is startling, even with sun glasses on), where I mowed both, what I call, the front lawn and the peach lawn in front of cottage #2.  There were two little visitors to the animal trough this evening. I think one's a black cap, but the other one, which looks like it should be the female of the species, looks, in fact, more like a blue tit. What do you think?

 It stands alone!   The shuttering is taken to the next inspection cap...   And more cement goes in! Kevin has fashioned a little wooden cover on the first one. It has an inner plinthy layer too. I didn't dare touch it to take a photo. Ultimately, it will have a sort of seaty layer on top...

Goodnight! 

I shoveled a compacted mound of earth and stones on top of the fosse. No, I still need more earth.  I filled in a tree stump crater... using compacted earth.   I mowed.   I found a golf ball, but I couldn't retrieve it!   Mowed more...   I developed a new more efficient method for gathering the stones. I topped up the hydrangeas with special compost, then added a layer of broken slate tiles to prevent the rain washing away the soil. We'll see what happens. I just need some rain now. Why did I say that?! I finished mowing a rectangle, but, as you can see, there's a lot still to go.  I took time out to chat with Polly and have a beer. No, please don't worry... I do normally look a little less rough than this. You're lucky it's not a close-up! My nails are torn to tatters, my hair is a haystack, my skin is as dry as a lizard's. I plan to go through an amazing metamorphosis before my son's imminent wedding. Don't worry...

Oh, Martin, what would we do without your stuff?! Today, we utilised your marvellous cement mixer! There were two distinct jobs. Three, in fact.  A mix of lime and sand was for the edges of the frames in the open window holes... before we install wooden panels to block out the loir. And the bats. And our little robin. Sorry robin. Kevin entrusted me with this job. He hasn't said anything since he told me it didn't matter if it was a messy job. That was before I began. I'm afraid to say that it was indeed a messy job, but, even though he's been up and looked at it, he's said nothing. The sort of gaps I had to address...   Gaps addressed. And now for the other use of the cement mixer... For actual cement! That process involved a bag of little rocky bits, a bag of sand and half a bag of cement powder. Kevin had decided to make something he referred to as 'shutters'. Now, I didn't make a fuss, but this is not my idea of 'shutters', bu...

Oh yes, it's all been very comfortable for me with two men on site... I've been occupied with painting, mowing, cooking. But NOW... the back breaking work is back on! I have a field of rocks to pick up and trundle. I haven't got all that far today, because the more I rake, the more rocks appear. And it's hot again. And as if that wasn't bad enough, I met a new species of fly that won't die. It's biggish, brownish, and insanely persistent... even after I'd stomped back to the caravan to apply Michelle's maximum deet insect repellent, it kept coming at me, determined to bite me. It did bite me once, and I smacked it off about twenty other times. It didn't squish. It hit the ground, then rallied. I eventually, forced it onto the edge of my shorts leg. I think the deet was too much for it. I rolled it in the fabric, while squeezing hard. It lived. I decided to go for the nail body slice, and even though it was as tough as a cashew nut, I think it di...

Polly woke us up at 3.30 am French time as there was 'something worth seeing'... Yep, Kevin took a lot of photos...