Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

Well into the cooking now. The chicken is roasted and put away in the fridge. The roasting tin is clean and dry and put away. My first four pans of veggies are on the stove and I can sit down for a few minuted and enjoy the Verdi Requiem, (I Have already done the Mozart this morning.) All is well!

[Stanley]

I had a busy day yesterday. Today I shall be in the shed at 06:00 for an hour but after that the only thing that needs attention is to harvest the fat from the gravy off the pork belly which has been slow cooking all night and has now been harvested and is in the freezer. I can't think of anything else. Especially since we are promised a showery day!

[Mags]

I am off to the Ear Science Institute shortly to order a new BAHA - Bone Anchored Hearing Appliance - best bit is that it is covered by my private health insurance. Good job as they are about $7500 each and I have two of them. I am eligable for an upgrade every 3 years as they are classed as a prosthesis and not a hearing aid.........my bionic ears.

[Stanley]

Amazing Margaret and I am so glad you qualify..... Hope it all goes well.....

[Sue]

Morning

Its still quite dark here at7.00 am and also chilly I have just pulled the bedspread right up as it was trailing on the floor in the start of the night as it was so warm. Bob is still asleep. It was still 12 to 13 degrees when we got back from Joanne and Pauls about midnight. The sky was starlit and it was the clearest night we have had since we came. Its almost a dark sky area as the local town 5 km away produces nothing in the way of night light, no street lights or illuminated shop fronts or signs. Surprisingly there is no morning mist.

I am not sure of the days plans. I shall turn the second door over and paint the other side. I have a feeling Bob wants to buy skirting board for the three bedrooms that have none as he was measuring up yesterday. We always meant do it but it has never been high priority. He will probably want to carry on cutting the other two sides of the hedge as today is the coolest day for a few days. We are heading for 28 again mid week and settling at 23 by the end. No more rain is forecast before we come home on the 5 th. I am hoping that the warmth will ripen the tomatoes as none have ripened yet. At the weekend I will be picking them no matter what colour and ripping the plants out.

Yesterday I chatted to our new neighbour, Johann, as I gave him some more herb cuttings for his rapidly developing garden . He was telling me he has been the owner of the property for about 4 years but when his tenants left he decided to do the place up and use it himself. He is, would you believe, an estate agent who lives in an apartment in Rennes. He says the house was left in a bad state and has needed a lot of repairing and decorating. He said the nicest thing to me, that he has always looked at our garden and thought he wanted a garden like that. That it is always beautiful and how hard we work on it when we are here . He particularly likes one rose on the front of the house where the two properties join.

That rose has a story. It was planted by one of our neighbours about 16 years ago and he wanted to train over his door. Thierry was not a gardener and the rose did nothing, it always looked a mess. The next tenant was a gardener and he looked after it. However Thierry actually planted it on our land. At the time of the next tenant, also not a gardener, there was a dispute about where our borders were, you may remember and we got a government official to come and measure everything up. That was 7 years ago. Since then I have looked after the rose, fed it , pruned it, deadheaded it as I do with all the others. This year it is a mass of red roses and Bob has put up a support to train it on.

Which reminds me today I must feed the roses . Have a good day all.

[Stanley]

Morning Sue! That's a good diary entry. I like the story about the rose.... Will you let him train it to grow on his side? Bob is evidently in good nick judging by the amount of crass cutting and hedge maintenance. And now he's in carpenter mode with the skirting boards. Will you paint them before he fits them?



I finished turning the front lid and then marked it for the bolt and screw holes using the paper gaskets I have. Here it is ready to be used as a template to mark the cylinder ready for tapping and drilling. That took an hour..... Now for breakfast!

[Sue]

Most of the skirting boards are bare wood so we will probably do the same to match. We have enough oddments to do our summer bedroom but they do not match in colour so I will paint hose before we put them on. I feel that will be next visit. Apparently we can’t go for skirting boards as the trailer is full of hedge cuttings. Yves may burn them for us, so we need to ask him today. Although he is not a farmer he rents the farmhouse, keeps a few animals so looks like a farmer. As a Farmer he is allowed fires to burn waste , so often burns our woody waste too.

[Stanley]

There's usually a way if you have cooperative neighbours isn't there!

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed at 06:00 doing useful things but apart from going shopping to Chaudrey's for some apples there is nothing else on my social calendar.

[Sue]

Morning

Its another misty start after a lovely day yesterday and another, 28 degrees, forecast today. I painted the second side of my door, washed, ironed, did a bit of fruit tree pruning, a zoom french conversation class which I had forgotten about and a nice read in the garden in the late afternoon sun. We finished off the day with tea in the garden with an equally lovely evening

IMG_2332.jpeg

Today I start painting the door frame and the last door of the third bedroom. Then its paint the skirting board we have and get that put on.You may have gathered there is a concerted effort to get things looking clean, well decorated and finished before we book an estate agent in November. Yves says we can take our hedge cuttings round there which frees up the trailer for other things like taking rubbish to the tip. We are trying to clear up 20 years of old paint tins, oddments of wallpaper and flooring etc. We are also tackling books. Loads of them many left by visitors, all of them read. There is an English second hand bookshop on market day in Malestroit if we can find it, where we hope to take most of the ones we don’t want. We have no space at home for anymore so homes must be found or space created at home. The trouble is so many charity shops don’t take books any more.

Apart from painting and cuttings removal I am not sure of todays plan . Have a good day all

[Stanley]

A good report as usual Sue. I didn't realise that that was getting to be a problem with charity shops and books. I would hate to have to take books to the tip..... Reminiscent of Nazis burning books!



Just one image this morning. I have drilled and tapped the front end of the cylinder to take the countersunk screws and studs that will locate the cylinder on the target end of the bed. Transferring those hole locations to the target end is tomorrow's task. Right now I am focussed on my breakfast.

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed at 06:00 for an hour with my engine. After that the only item on the agenda is a short walk and a sit on traffic duty.....

[Sue]

Morning

Another misty start today but it is already breaking up, 29 is forecast. Yesterday reached 28 degrees but there was a very pleasant light breeze on occasions.

It took Bob all morning to move the hedge cuttings round to Yves using the small tractor to tow them round in the trailer. There were several loads. It took me all morning to prepare and paint the two sides of the door frame and one side of the door. It was already quite warm when we finished and had lunch . After lunch I decided to clear my tomato plants as the plants and some of the tomatoes were definitely rotting. I picked the good ones but the crop has been abysmal this summer. We have only had two tomatoes fit to eat and even those I ripened in the house. Afterwards I set myself up with a book sat in the shade of the large for tree. At 6.15 I had zoom pilates which I found very difficult having only done it once this month. My back was stiff and I had definitely lost flexibility despite being so active in general and it will take a few sessions to regain it . That won’t happen till we get home. We finished the day with a beer and a chat with Yves and Laetitia at their place.

Today i will paint the second side of the door which we can rehang tomorrow. I have now finished all the jobs on my list so will wait and see what Bob is doing and if he needs me to help. Otherwise I am going to clean out one of stables that I use as a store for garden stuff eg garden canes, ground cover sheets. There is no door on any of stables and they slowly fill up with leaves and bits during the year. Then its afternoon sitting under the tree again unless something crops up.

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Once again a good report Sue. Both you and Bob are making progress..... I hope he doesn't find a job for you too soon! You don't surprise me with the bad report on tomatoes, it's evidently been as bad a year there with you as I am sure it has here..... Too much overcast and rain.



One image needed. This morning I marked drilled and tapped the holes for the 4BA studs that will retain the back lid then marked both this end and the front with witness marks to ensure the proper orientation of the lids. Then fitted the studs and the lids. The lid dropped on with no adjustments needed. Not bad for an old fart! Now for breakfast..

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed but the main thing that is affecting me today is the same as yesterday.... For some reason I have got the most horrendous occurrence of deafness due to ear wax. Sudden and most annoying.....
Ear drops and patience.......

[Sue]

Morning

So the morning yesterday was filled with gardening and painting. The last door now finished. That is a total of 11 doors and door frames , both sides in the last three visits, my technique improving with every door . Afterwards I prepared and reseeded a bit of damaged lawn where the large cotoneaster had died as Bob mowed the field.

In the afternoon we went over to Vannes an hour away to a large DIY place to buy the skirting boards. It was a pleasant rural drive done with the roof of the car down and was beer time and 28 degrees when we got back. Whilst the car was still out of the barn we decided to put the bulk of the garden furniture away in the store room there whilst it was clean and dry. I then grabbed my book and parked myself under the large fir tree for an hour before I made tea from pizza left overs in the freezer and dessert leftovers in the fridge. We ate outside again being a warm evening.

Today we are off to Malestroit to the market and to deposit the first batch of books at the English second hand book shop if we can find it , then we may have lunch out but we certainly need to shop for some food on the way home. It’s due to be dry and 24 degrees today so that garden store may get its sweep out. I did clear out some rubbish yesterday as I was searching for covers to protect the grass seed from the birds before it sprouts which should only be a few days in the is warmth and damp ground.

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

It all sounds good Sue. I hope you find the book shop today. I'll bet if you do you will be making at least one return journey.



More fitting of the cylinder this morning. As you can see it's bolted on but there is still a lot of fitting to do. I have to put right mistakes I have made which are down to old age and lessening skills! (No point in hiding it.....) I shall address those matters tomorrow. At the moment I am concentrating on breakfast!

[PanBiker]

Already sorted and ready. New shirt ironed, brown shoes polished, new blue 3 piece suit tried on and my red braces sorted out. Bunny ears swapped for clippers, trousers would need a belt but braces are a better option. Cant find the tie that I bought with the shirt though, that's a complete mystery! No real problem I counted up the ties I already own and I have over 40! I have sorted four out and will choose when I get suited and booted tomorrow.

Wedding day for two of our younger trustees, Ashley and Caroline. Dont get to go to too many weddings nowadays, this one is in Harrogate. Transport will be outward and return via two other trustees Kirsty and Carly. Outward with Kirsty and back home with Carly. Transport arrangements a bit involved. Kirsty's partner Will is picking her up at about 6.30pm as she is still breast feeding their youngest who will need feeding. Carly will be ready for home about 8.30pm as she is 8 months pregnant so we will come back with her and her partner Matt. We looked a staying overnight in the hotel but not at the £400 a night price tag!

Looking forward to it, pictures probably to follow in the Bosom Friends thread.

[Sue]

Enjoy, love a wedding

[PanBiker]

Thanks Sue we'll try our best.

[Stanley]

He was otherwise engaged yesterday strimming the edges of my wild garden! Thanks Ian!
Today I shall be in the shed for an hour and after that one element of the day will be continuing my assault on ear wax. I am deaf as a post and it is very annoying!

[Stanley]

As I said yesterday my first job was to improve on yesterday morning and I am happy to report I did better. I sorted out the confusion, re-fitted the lid and refitted the cylinder assembly on the bed. It all fits now and is square. Next I sorted out a piece of scrap brass for the piston. I found some but it is so short it will take some managing! I bedded the blank in the chuck on top of four small magnets and did some careful turning. At knocking off time I had the size right and the centre drilled and tapped for the 2BA I shall thread the rod. I shall check all that tomorrow before finishing it! Not taking any chances.

[Sue]

Morning

Nearly 8 and I have just woken after being awake from 2.45 until about 5.00. I tried reading but it was the third attempt when I nodded off.

We sort of had a day out yesterday. We found the bookshop in Malestroit and explained we were probably selling up so would be bringing many more books but not buying any. That was no problem so we will be visiting a couple of times in November. We bought a few bits and pieces on the market including a piece of rotisserie grilled ham for tea today and some cotton handkerchieves which we both prefer to tissues. We had a walk round down to the river to look at a standing stone that is engraved 987 to 1987. I must look that up. Then we had lunch at the crêperie. By the time we had finished it was 2.00 pm so we drove over to our bank in the next town and picked up our new bank card, then over to the large hyperpermarket to get some much needed shopping and a few bits to take back home. It was nearly 5 when got home to a much needed cuppa.

Afterwards we set to sorting out two loads of stuff, one to take to the tip this morning and the other to take to Emaûs the charity warehouse on Saturday morning. The latter includes Christmas decorations, a couple of unfinished tapestry kits on frames, several children's jigsaws, , clothes, three wooden curtain poles and a bag full of unused wooden curtain rings for the poles and similar. It was a hearty clear out all round. There will be a similar session in November.

So this morning will be a trip to the tip before it rains. We have two or three days of showers and thunderstorms forecast so whilst it is dry I will clear the rest of my veggie patch leaving just the sweet potatoes growing till November. At 4 we are going to see Roland. The news from Nicole is that he is no longer in bed all the time but goes down to the dining room in a wheel chair for meals. Sadly he eats little and is very frail. I doubt he will see the winter out.

Its dull and much cooler here have a good day all

[Stanley]

Sad news about Roland again Sue..... I'm glad the bookshop was able to help you. As usual you filled your day and no doubt will do the same today. We have brighter weather but it's still not summer!

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed for an hour this morning working on my engine. Later in the day if the weather is good I shall have a walk and get some apples and behind everything I do all day will be the ongoing battle against ear wax. I am continuing the ear drops to try to dissolve it......