The bones of the lid

Et voila! The bones of the lid of our house are now in place. All the wood is up where is should be, and being cemented into place. The birds which have been living in the house since it became a ruin, which has been for many years, are pleased that they now have loads of places on which to pirch. Before, all they had was a fally down roof, then no roof and only walls, and now they have brand new pirches all over the place to sit on. No wonder they are chirruping!

There is even a bird in residence in the half barn, which flies up and down when the lights are switched on. Seems a shame to give it notice of acquittal just now. No sign of someone to make and fit the doors at the moment to make the space inhabitable for us, so we will leave the little bird alone to take shelter since we can't live in there for the moment. I might even leave some food to help it through the winter ahead. After all, it is not nice to let guests go hungry!

And here is a close up view of the top landing roof. It is not quite the same shape as the original, but we like what Jean-Pierre has done. We left it up to him, figuring that he knows what these roofs should look like and how they need to be made. I also like the way in which everything is not quite symmetrical: the house lost so much character when it was cleared out, so now the non-symmetricality puts some of the character back!

So here is the roof beams all on. I find it hard to believe that we have got this far. I have worked so hard at being content living in caravans, that I am having difficulty in adjusting to the thought that come next spring we will be in the side barn.

Next week, providing the weather holds reasonably dry, they will keep on cementing the wood onto the walls, then next the membrane, and then we are dry. Tiles on next.

Gussy Update: Have almost given up with Gus of late, bless him. He has developed a passion for Fleur, Bruno's seductress of a dog, and takes any opportunity to race across the road to go play. We don't let Bools do that, both for his own safety and the safety of any occupants to the cars which could land up in the ditch trying to avoid the dogs. And I know boy dogs will be boy dogs, but what with the builders and everything else going on here, our heads are full of so much stuff at the minute that trying to find the patience to deal with the little renegade is, quite frankly, too much.

So last night I had had enough. To the dog rescue centre he was going. He was on his way there when we took him in, so I reckoned we were a temporary parking up place for him. Also, we are not sure if he is reliable in terms of temperament.

Oh dear! Looked at the web site for the dog rescue centre and I was done in! Saw all those little doggy faces so desperately needing homes, that I really, really, really, couldn't leave Gus there. Plus if I had taken him there, it is more than likely that I would have come back with at least one homeless mutt. So I need to steer clear of that place, and Gus does to. We are going to keep him. The Universe has brought him to us, and with him comes a fresh challenge to add to the many other challenges we have at the moment. The Universe certainly wants to keep us busy!

I think he is a troubled little dog. After all, he has had three other owners who for various reasons passed him on. We want to do good by him and we don't want to let him down. So off to the vet next week for de-balling, then lots of fussies for him, and lots of lovings. No doubt he will pinch a blog space to tell you all about his woes shortly!

Self sufficiency update: well, there isn't any! Update I mean! Because it has been raining, and we have been busy with work. No excuse I know! But nothing happening on the food growing front. Unless: Farmer Michel called round for his money (he ploughed and grassed two of our fields last weeked) and arranged to keep an eye on the fields to see if they needed any particular sort of attention.

Also, Lester went off with Bruno last Thursday to meet a man who had a vineyard and who was digging up loads of vines together with their supporting poles. Bruno came back with sixty, and Lester was keen to go get some yesterday, but was too tired to do so. Instead, Bruno and Lester went onto our river beach and cut into logs the trees we rescued from the bridge a couple of weeks ago. Good that they did, as the river is starting to rise and soon the logs will be either back on the bridge parapet again or off down the river to somewhere else. So I guess I can give you a vague update about self sufficiency. Oh and plus we are still using our potatoes and I haven't had to buy any for three and a half months. And we have just finished our onions. Felt quite mortified when I had to buy some the other day. So feel a tinge of guilt about our lack of recent efforts at producing our own food, but there is always next year.....

Signing off for now, and hoping that your week ahead runs as smoothly as it possibly can.

Sending you blessings from Labartere.....