Unearthly Stirrings
I'm walking up the steep rock-pocked grass path between the barns, up towards cottage #2, and there it is again... A woody knocking sound, as though someone were suddenly standing up, their chair tumbling into the dresser. Each time this happens, I stare at the broken window of cottage #2, almost expecting to see movement in the depths of the dingy kitchen, but stillness and quiet resume.
There's something else I haven't mentioned. Just inside the top barn, to the left, there are stone steps going down into a partially-underground animal pen. Neither Kevin or I have ever climbed down there. When we peep, we can see scatterings of straw, a coil of wide girth rubber hose, and something propped up in the corner. It's about six feet long, and about a foot wide, wrapped in black plastic, puckered in where it's roped at two foot intervals. I know what you're thinking. So are we. But we won't go down there. Not yet.
The family of thirteen who appeared the other day continue to haunt me. I'd remembered that the older lady was stooping to the ground every now and then; I was aware of it, but didn't focus on what she was actually doing... Kevin mentioned today that she was filling her carrier bag with our walnuts. We have seven walnut trees which produce too many walnuts for us to use ourselves, but, lady! Don't just come and steal our walnuts right in front of us! You're top of my suspect list for last summer's disappeared peaches now! I wondered why they were so interested in how long we'd lived there, and if we'd ever spent a winter there, and where our children were... Casing the joint for potential scrumping! And they were very evasive about where they lived... 'Near Paris'- a likely story!
We have dying wasps in our loft. Well, I call them wasps, but they're not entirely waspish; they could be a type of bee. They're not aggressive. I started to take photos of their little assemblies in order to document their movements. It was to be a Waspenders affair. Two wasps in particular had set up camp on a piece of fallen fluff puff.
After this mutual end-sniffing event, they parted company and retreated to opposite ends of the fluff puff. The next day they were gone.
Me: Kevin, where are the wasps that were on the fluff puff?
Kevin: I took them outside.
Me: Oh..
Kevin: After I killed them.
The End. Kevin doesn't know about my Waspenders plan; I expect he'll be pleased that he intervened. There are still some other little assemblies up there, but I think I'll leave them to die in peace.
Work is beginning to happen. Today I sanded and painted the area behind the fridge-freezer.
Pruning of fruit trees is also on the agenda. I pruned this little apple tree.
Kevin pruned (annihilated) this pear tree...
We had a little competition to peel a perfectly intact walnut. Kevin was the first.
Kevin installed the new cooker today. It has electric ovens and a gas hob. Calor gas. There is no mains gas in this part of France. Our cunning plan is to have two canisters of gas stowed invisibly behind the range, so we never run out mid-cook. We had an old spanner-needy canister, but decided to upgrade to easy-lock/unlock ones. It's a serious business! Kevin had to sign two separate contracts, one for each canister.
The plug and socket for the cooker are giant-sized! Look at them! That's a large apple behind them, and they dwarf it!
It was 28 degrees again today! But the days are getting shorter, and the nights are growing colder...
Off to cook chicken livers and roast potatoes in my new oven!
There's something else I haven't mentioned. Just inside the top barn, to the left, there are stone steps going down into a partially-underground animal pen. Neither Kevin or I have ever climbed down there. When we peep, we can see scatterings of straw, a coil of wide girth rubber hose, and something propped up in the corner. It's about six feet long, and about a foot wide, wrapped in black plastic, puckered in where it's roped at two foot intervals. I know what you're thinking. So are we. But we won't go down there. Not yet.
The family of thirteen who appeared the other day continue to haunt me. I'd remembered that the older lady was stooping to the ground every now and then; I was aware of it, but didn't focus on what she was actually doing... Kevin mentioned today that she was filling her carrier bag with our walnuts. We have seven walnut trees which produce too many walnuts for us to use ourselves, but, lady! Don't just come and steal our walnuts right in front of us! You're top of my suspect list for last summer's disappeared peaches now! I wondered why they were so interested in how long we'd lived there, and if we'd ever spent a winter there, and where our children were... Casing the joint for potential scrumping! And they were very evasive about where they lived... 'Near Paris'- a likely story!
We have dying wasps in our loft. Well, I call them wasps, but they're not entirely waspish; they could be a type of bee. They're not aggressive. I started to take photos of their little assemblies in order to document their movements. It was to be a Waspenders affair. Two wasps in particular had set up camp on a piece of fallen fluff puff.
After this mutual end-sniffing event, they parted company and retreated to opposite ends of the fluff puff. The next day they were gone.
Me: Kevin, where are the wasps that were on the fluff puff?
Kevin: I took them outside.
Me: Oh..
Kevin: After I killed them.
The End. Kevin doesn't know about my Waspenders plan; I expect he'll be pleased that he intervened. There are still some other little assemblies up there, but I think I'll leave them to die in peace.
Work is beginning to happen. Today I sanded and painted the area behind the fridge-freezer.
Pruning of fruit trees is also on the agenda. I pruned this little apple tree.
Kevin pruned (annihilated) this pear tree...
We had a little competition to peel a perfectly intact walnut. Kevin was the first.
Kevin installed the new cooker today. It has electric ovens and a gas hob. Calor gas. There is no mains gas in this part of France. Our cunning plan is to have two canisters of gas stowed invisibly behind the range, so we never run out mid-cook. We had an old spanner-needy canister, but decided to upgrade to easy-lock/unlock ones. It's a serious business! Kevin had to sign two separate contracts, one for each canister.
The plug and socket for the cooker are giant-sized! Look at them! That's a large apple behind them, and they dwarf it!
It was 28 degrees again today! But the days are getting shorter, and the nights are growing colder...
Off to cook chicken livers and roast potatoes in my new oven!
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