hello again,

today we finished the mezzanine of our bedroom.

we're pretty damn pleased with ourselves too!

have a look at how it progressed.

the initial joists over the paper/cellulose board:



then we added the loose hemp insulation:



after half of the floor boards were laid:



and finally how it looks finished:



it's really great too see the structure of the house coming together - it allows us to get a real feel for how the place will look when it's finished and we get to live in it (sometime in 2015!).

we're now moving on the doing the walls of the other rooms. tune it next time for more updates.

gairy and nikki.

walls going up

evening all,

we've been busy in the barn starting to install the cellulose board walls. it's going really well and we're pleased by the speed of the progress.

here's a couple of photographs of what we did today.

the underneath of the mezzanine in our room:



you can see the brown paper which is stapled underneath the joists and then the cellulose board is mounted onto this. we'll then put loose hemp insulation above the paper and then finally lay wooden floor boards above to finish off the mezzanine.

and this is the wall between our room and the spare bedroom starting to go up:



in other news.....

we found an old birds nest from last spring that must have been abandoned for some reason with the eggs still inside.

we've no idea what bird it might have been but we do see a lot of black redstarts and various tits/finches in the barn quite frequently and so it's more than likely one of those.

anyway, it's pretty amazing.



ok, better go as i'm cooking a mushroom stroganoff with mash potatoes tonight and don't want it to burn.

later, simple gairy.

phone line reconnected

evening all,

after well over two weeks without a working phone we're now back in touch with the outside world (seems that nothing's changed since we last were in touch with it).

apologies to all those members of the english financial sector who have been concerned/angered by the lack of news/updates - we'll try harder - promise.

since the last post me and nikki spent 10 days in the alps with her family enjoying a very pleasant unchristmas and a thoroughly quiet new year - nice.

we've been back a week now and have been getting on with the guttering on the second barn which is coming along nicely.

we've also now ordered the insulation and wall material for the internal walls of our barn.

in the end we went for hemp/sheeps wool insulation and recycled paper (cellulose) board which we'll then cover with a pigmented lime skim which should be nice.

also, we're still waiting for the road to clear enough to get the stone masons to come and do the work we need doing before the windows can be made/fitted.

after extensive research we've settled on a stove/water/heating system. we're going for a wood-fired marshall range (www.marshallcookers.co.uk/woodfired.htm) which we're really happy with.

finally (on the renovation front anyway) we've ordered the floor boards for the barn - we went for french oak which comes from the next department which looks really good and so we're looking forward to getting that all done.

there haven't been many new photgraphs taken recently and so in order not to dissapoint i thought i'd include this montage of photographs taken by me when i shave my head. each time i try out new and interesting facial hair before finally removing the lot (don't worry none of these stayed for more than a few minutes).

from top left going clockwise we have:

1. the frenchie
2. the amish
3. the stan laurel goatie
4. the gaz from supergrass
5. the hitler
6. the serious trucker



if you look at the close-up you can see the cool scar on my left shoulder!

ok, that's all for now.

the simple folk.....

.....and then it snowed properly!

howdy,

we were pretty excited when we got 20cm of snow last week and then, just when the novelty was wearing off, it rained and cleared up the remaining snow leaving a blank canvas.....just in time for a really big dump!

the day before yesterday (we haven't posted about it until now due to being without power for two days!) we had 50-70cm (20-28 inches in old money) of snow in one go - how cool is that?

here's a couple of nice shots of the sunny weather the day before the big dump:





this is a nice shot of our footsteps and a bit of the view behind:



and here's how things looked yesterday morning:



the bird table:



so, with fresh food supplies (we still have enough dry/tinned food to last weeks) running low we decided that it would be a good idea to walk 12 miles (5 miles there, 7 back via a less severe route) to town to get some shopping.

we walked down the track to the road and then straight up from there as we didn't want to risk trekking off-piste (what piste?) until we knew how bad/good (depending on your criteria) the conditions were.

here's a shot of the trees under enormous pressure from the weight of 70cm of snow:



and a shot looking back at a house on the road:



shortly after this shot was taken nikki realised that she'd forgotten her wallet/money and so, feeling a little deflated/annoyed/amused (that it wasn't us who did it - ha ha!) we continued hoping to be able to convince the bank to give us some money without any I.D.

but.....as we all know the bank is closed on monday's which left us a little bit buggered!

finally, nikki had one last idea to try out.....she went in Cocci Market (our local organic/wholefood supermarket) and they (without even thinking it was out of the ordinary) agreed to let us do our shopping and pay them next time we're in town (try doing that in the UK!) - result!

so, backpacks stocked with supplies we set off back.

here's the 'road' from the nearest village to our house:



keep in mind that whilst it looks road-esque that snow is over knee-deep all the way.

and here's some rosehips which gave a nice splash of colour in an otherwise monocrome scene:



the day before (when most of the snow had gone and just as it was starting again) we'd tried to move the car but abandoned it as an impossible job after a couple of hours of digging it out, driving 10 meters, getting stuck, digging it out, driving 10 meters, getting stuck etc...

here's the boo looking well and truly snowed in on the track back down to the house:





and finally, here's nikki on the 'road' which now more closely resembles a fairly decent off-piste black run:



here you can really see just how deep it is:



it's been amazing seeing so much snow around and it's definitely cured nikki of her snow-snobery (she'd been spoiled by too many skiing holidays) - she's now suitably in awe of the conditions we've got here - brilliant!

we've no idea when we'll next be able to get out by vehicle but we're in no hurry (well nikki is - to get to see her family next week) but we're sorted for food and warmth (we've been helped out by the large number of trees that have fallen from the weight of the snow! one crushed the fence in the vegetable garden, another narrowly missed demolishing the big greenhouse and we've lost an old apple tree!).

stay tuned for more extreme weather adventures!

cheers, gairy and nikki.

icicles

this morning we awoke to some brilliant icicles on the house - take a look.....

the view from the door:



a close-up of a biggy:



looking left out of front door:



and a nice shot of the front of the house:



pretty impressive no?

enjoy.

oh the weather outside is.....weather!

evening,

here at simple headquarters today we had a big fat dump..........of snow!

in total there's been about 7-8 inches (17.5-20cm) of the fresh fluffy white stuff since it started snowing late last night and we're loving it!!!

here was the scene from the front door first thing this morning:



and one seriously unimpressed little cat:



the toilet is looking pretty (if not wind-proof):



and.....a shot looking back from the big barn towards our house which we think captures the scene here nicely:



with the weather as it is/was it made sense for the plans for the day to be wood-chopping and snow-enjoying!

there were unfortunately no photographs taken of the wood-chopping but here's some shots of the two walks i/we went on today.

here's a nice shot of the river at the bottom of the track from the house:



a little movie clip is of the other river:



and another river shot:



me and nikki walked over this old railway viaduct this afternoon:



inside a tunnel looking out towards the viaduct:



and finally me and nikki stood on the viaduct with nikki holding the camera out to get a shot of us both with a nice backdrop (which you can't see at all in the photograph):



all-in-all a splendid day was had by all.

monkey boy's been working on mark II of his home-made snowboard and there's talk of a 'night snow walk' after dinner - we'll see how it goes - should be fun!

ok, that's enough from us.

later.

muca and hobo continued.....

afternoon all,

we thought you'd appreciate a cat update!

both of the little dudes are doing well and enjoying the ardeche winter weather (hmmm?).

here's muca in the afternoon sun:



and, as much as i hate putting images of myself up here, muca enjoying some quality cat-lovin' on my knee:



hobo's now becoming a fat little fella indeed:



and looking 110% better/healthier than he did when we got him:



enjoy, gairy.

singer sewing machine

last year for nikki's birthday i managed to track down an old fashioned (foot powered - thanks, but no thanks, EDF!) singer sewing machine (no gender stereotyping intended - honest!).

(mucho props to matt for his part in picking it up in Morrie - matt and rachel's vw camper for those unfortunate few who don't already know - cheers buddy!)

up until now it's been sat gathering dust waiting for us to get an opportunity to bring it out here where it can experience another 50+ years (once again, they don't make 'em like they used to - built in obsolescence etc... bah!) of life.

we just looked up the model/serial number of our machine on the singer website and it turns out that our machine was born in 1917 - how cool is that!

so, today we unloaded it from Shabooboo (you really should try to keep up to speed with names) and it now has a place in our little home - ahhh!

take a look.....

closed in it's case:



and open, in all it's glory:



it's very cool - no?

we're looking forward to making/fixing clothes for decades to come.

cheers, gairy.

5ft two-man cross cut saw - oh yeah!

i knew i'd remember loads of stuff that i wanted to mention as soon as i'd posted the last entry and so i did.....

whilst in england i went to a handmade tool makers in sheffield and bought a 5ft long two man saw for felling trees and cutting wood for the fire.

it's an absolute beauty and is available from the fine people at:

www.flinn-garlick-saws.co.uk

they make really great tools which are made to last - a rarity these days!

then, yesterday, we made a jig to securely hold the trees/wood in place whilst we cut it and today we've been cutting loads of wood for the cold winter ahead of us.

it works like a dream and means that there is no excuse for nikki to get out of wood cutting - ha ha!

here's a few shots of the saw, jig and them both in action.....

the saw in all it's glory:



the saw/jig combo:



and finally, nikki and monkey-boy in an action shot:



enjoy, gairy.

back from blighty

morning all,

we (me and nikki) returned (from our two week whirlwind tour of various fools and family members in the uk) to find that winter had made an impressive appearance with a fair bit of snow and sub-zero temperatures - nice!

here's a few photographs to give you an idea:

icicles hanging from the roof of our little stone house:



the hills of the valley opposite:



some plants struggling to keep their heads above snow:



the pattern of the frost in the greenhouse:



also, after some terrible customer service treatment from the british knife collectors guild.....

(i seriously suggest people don't buy from them as they don't care one bit about you or your custom once they've got your money - really really unhelpful)

.....i have inherited a new knife which is pretty cool. it's 37 layered folded damascus steel (as are nikki's and monkey boy's new knives) but that's not really the point of all this.

the point is that i made a sheath for the knife from an old sheepskin coat (super 70's styling!) that my mum gave to us to utilise for making things for around the place - thanks mum, thought you appreciate knowing that it's already being used to make useful things out here!

here's a couple of photographs of the knife and sheath:





ok, there's probably loads more i should catch-up on that's happened since we went away but i can't remember any of it now and so it'll have to wait.

later, gairy.

fairytale mushrooms

evening all,

whilst out and about today we found these amazing looking mushrooms - they're so vividly coloured they look like they're straight out of a fairy tale!

we've absolutely no idea what they are yet but i'm going to look into it and see if they're edible as there's loads of them.





cheers, gairy.