the simple halfpipe, anna and some flowers

evening all,

we're off to blighty for a week and a half tomorrow and so i thought i'd write a little about our recent doings.....

the simple halfpipe is almost finished - just the platforms to be completed.

here's the 1st layer of ply as it was layed:





and as it looked with the final surface applied:



here's monkey boy enjoying the fruits of his labour:



and me rolling around:



this is about as close as nikki and anna got to skating the ramp:



next, as you might have guessed, anna has been visiting us for the last week and was very anxious to appear on the blog.

i am nothing if not accommodating and so here are a few shots of anna looking her best in the garden with a fork:





i don't want to be too mean so here's one of nikki looking foolish too!



nikki and anna made some really tasty pasties.

there were three fillings: curry, mushrooms/fried veggies and potato, leek and cheese.

here's how they looked:



finally, i took a few shots of some of the early spring flowers which are now everywhere.

here they are:







cherry blossom:



hawthorn:





ok, better go as we've got things to do/pack and we need to leave at 06:30 in the morning.

there'll be nothing new for a couple of weeks and so try and find something else to keep you busy.

cheers, gairy.

beams up (scotty)

firstly, may i apologise for the pun-title, there's absolutely no excuse!

ok now on to business.....

we decided a while back that the first floor (on which the living room and all of the bedrooms are situated) needed additional support and so 'Roger the wood dude' brought us some Scots Pines which we then de-barked and cut to (rough) size.

since the floor had been levelled/laid downstairs we thought we'd better get the supports in.

here's one end of the ground floor before we started:



you can see the pipes for the heating/plumbing that have been laid too as well as the drainage for the shower (the square in the middle).

almost half way through:



the photographs don't do justice to just how heavy these beams are.

keep in mind that each of them is 4+ metres (12 ft) long and about 40cm (1.5 ft) in diameter and solid (green) wood.

also.....we were lifting everything between just the three of us and with no machine/powered assistance.

we used an old fashioned block and chain (tackle) which we fed through the floor boards of the upper floor.

here's the set-up:



this is how it looked when we were done:



and from the other end of the building:



the beams are pinned together using hand-carved hawthorn pegs and the uprights were hammered into place using a good old fashioned sledge-hammer.

to say we're pleased is an understatement - it looks beautiful. as with all of the other aspects of the build that we've been pleased with as soon as we were finished the new additions looked as if they'd always been there - very satisfying.

in other news.....

- spring is taking hold with the forest getting greener and lusher with every passing day.

- we built the stone window ledges for three of the upstairs windows.

- we've now started the internal walls for downstairs (update to come soon).

- the plywood for the half-pipe should be with us by the middle of next week and so the ramp should be progressing soon.

cheers, gairy.

windows!!!!!

ok then.....

we've now got three windows in our future home!

the local chestnut handmade windows have been sitting in the barn for a few weeks and then, yesterday, nikki weatherproofed them and today we fitted them.

here's a before and after shot of the first hole/window:

before:



and after:



the next stage is for us to build up the stone windowledges underneath some of the other windows (that we already have made-up) and to have the window maker come and measure for the others.

we're also waiting for the dude to come and measure the hole and design the chestnut staircase which has to be made and then fitted.

also, we've now got a level floor on which to erect the roof/beam supports which were delivered/cut-to-size a few weeks ago.

so it's all go here!

finally, spring is so SO close! the hazel and cherry trees have sprouted their leaves and the lime, ash, oak, beech, pear (and many others) are poised ready - the anticipation is great.

tune in next time to find out what happens next.....

gairy.

simple half-pipe

morning,

work has begun by monkey-boy on a 4ft high, 12ft wide simple half-pipe.

here is the base - built on wooden foundations:



and with the transition beginning to take shape:





and how it looks now:





the view from the ramp is amazing - we can't wait until summer is here and the ramp is finished.

rob - the photos of your ramp look brilliant! you'll be pro by the time you come out here next - maybe it should be a simplympics event?

gairy.

i love hammocks!

howdy,

i got back last night from a test ride/trip.

next month we're heading back to blighty for a visit and whilst there we're going to go camping with some friends.

i'll be heading off for three days/nights touring on the bike and sleeping rough before meeting nikki and the others for a long weekend camping in the new forest.

so - i've got myself a new camping set-up which involves a hammock (with built-in mosquito net) and waterproof tarp.

it is light enough to be carried with me on my bike (which our old knackered tent isn't!).

see below for a photo of the hammock set up:



and with the tarp:



so on wednesday lunchtime i set off and rode about 40 miles/60 km through the ardeche mountains until finding a nice secluded spot to stop for the night.

i made myself a little fire, opened a nice bottle of local ardeche beer i'd bought in a nearby village and made myself some pasta.

i was amazed by how comfortable it is to actually get a nights sleep in a hammock. even after a hard days riding (and it is hard doing 5 mile/1,500 ft climbs with panniers on the bike!) i was comfortable enough to feel fully rested by morning.

then, yesterday morning, i set off again to do another 30 miles to meet nikki before heading off to pick pete and miho (nikki's brother and sister-in-law) up from the train station for their long-weekend visit.

(i told you that you might make it onto the blog!)

also, and this will only interest a vast minority of you, i've switched bikes.

i'm getting rid of my disc brakes (and the brilliant frame that unfortunately only supports discs) and getting back-to-basics with more technically sensible v-brakes.

after a full day of stipping two bikes in order re-build one new one i also wanted to use this trip to see how it works - i was not disapointed - it's a great bike.

it was amazing to slowly (whilst undulating) descend towards the rhone valley as although spring is only just starting here (with the buds on the trees ready to burst through any day now!) it is in full flow at the lower altitudes with cherry/apple blossom and wild flowers everywhere - beautiful.

unfortunately there are no photos from the trip as i didn't want the extra weight of the camera and so you'll have to wait until you come and visit before you can see it.

cheers, gairy.

Stone-tastic!

Hello!

Last week I took a little trip over to Chamonix to visit my mum and sister and left the boys here to continue work on the reinforcement of our little house. When I returned (having been away for just over three days) I was surprised, shocked and extremely impressed to find that both Gairy and Monkey Boy had been hard at work and had not only finished but finished to an extraordinary high standard, the stone wall.

It needs no further words, so have a gawp at it yourselves.....

Here it is at the beginning, please bear in mind that these stones are NOT light!



As they went they also filled in the gap between the wall and the little house with lots of soil, rocks and stones (not a small undertaking in itself).



Below is the view between the little house and the ruin (soon to be herb garden).



Here is a view of the completed wall in all its splendor!



The nice thing about the wall is it looks like it's been there for years already.



The boys worked out that they roughly moved 72.5 tonnes over the 4 days building the reinforment! That's 2.5 cheiftan tanks!

Or 32 Shabooboo's!



Also, did we ever mention that our stove arrived? It's lovely but bloody heavy and luckily the stone masons helped move it inside our barn (rolling it on logs just like the Egyptians built their pyramids).

Also, we're hoping the plumber is going to start work soon, so it's all going on!

Got to go and see how my bread is doing.

Cheers
Nikki

stone masons in training

a very merry sunday afternoon to one and all!

it's been action stations here recently with mucho activity and the breaking of our 'most people here at once record' (9 people!) twice this week.

- the stone masons have been here a week now and we've now got the double door in the end of the barn and loads of other holes in the building which will eventually be windows.

they've also done the levelling of the downstairs floor (removing some bedrock) and the reinforcement of the back wall.

here's how it looked on the first day (we were a little frightened!):





and how it looked a few days ago (it now has a top on it but it's shuttered in and so isn't much to look at yet):



check out the view from our kitchen over the vegetable patch and into the forest!



- we've had the plumber round to give us another quote based on a much simpler system as his original quote was WAY high and overly technical/complicated.

- the stove is arriving in the morning which should be a lot of fun and easy too!

- the chestnut windows and oak floor boards have been delivered and look amazing. we can't wait until they're in.

- but.....by far the most exciting development has been our own stone masonry work.

we've finally gotten round to making a more permanent entrance to the bottom door for our house.

for the first year we were happy with a wooden plank but seeing as the house needs to be better reinforced we decided to build something a little more substantial.

below you can see how it's developing.

as it was pretty much at the beginning just as we'd inserted the drainage pipe:



as the first step went in:



the path and step skeleton shapes are in:



here it is as it is now. we've got a raised bed on the right in which we're planning on planting some wild flowers and herbs for the kitchen"



and from the top early on:



and with the steps in:



and as it is now:



ok, that's all for now.

gairy.

yesterday.....

morning,

late afternoon yesterday (after a hard day of cutting/hauling firewood and then laying the foundations for our new green-roofed wood store) me and nikki decided to pop along to the abbey/waterfall to check out the sunset views etc...

we were not disappointed!

the view as we walked down to the abbey:



the view through a hole in the wall:



and through some old windows:



nikki posing against the sunset/backdrop:



while we were out monkey boy made a pretty amazing bone needle from the deer bones we kept from the deer that died (see previous post).

here it is:



and a close-up of the eye:



and next to a regular needle:



it's really beautiful (not something usually said about a needle)!

finally, nikki made a wooden handle for a knife whose handle had broken from a piece of ash.

it's been finished a while but i've only just gotten round to taking photographs.

here it is:



the handle was split down the middle and the knife inserted. then two walnut pins were inserted and the whole thing glued together by mixing charcoal with wood glue to colour the glue.

you can see the walnut pins and glue below:



right, i'd better go and get on with my own project otherwise the only thing i'll have achieved recently will be the blogging of the other two's achievements.

gairy.