After the usual session of internet bashing Breezy set about a couple of small walls to block in the stairs. Again using some of the wood salvaged from Chamonix and some creative cutting and fixing we are making progress on the bedroom. This bedroom will have access to the area under the stairs as a wardrobe come store area.

Meanwhile I was creating a strip of ceiling between two joists for lighting.

Other things done in the day included grouting the tiles in the porch area and emptying the bags of cement from the van and carting them up to the barn. Again the mucktruck is invaluable.

We saw Annie and Jean on the piste who were walking up and threatened to call in on their way back down but the weather closed in and it started to drizzle so we didn’t see them again.

In the evening we christened the new cooker with some chilli and ginger marinated pork, lit the colonial stove and had a read before bed.

Having put plasterboard up yesterday the bedroom feels like it is rapidly taking shape. The best part of the day was spent doing all the little things that don’t really show any advancement. Breezy set to with a spreader and filler going over all the joints and screw heads while I put up some lighting and sorted out the electrics.

We also cemented in the last couple of tiles in the porch.

Another hot shower courtesy of the sun and an early night.

Another glorious day, summer has arrived so it feels. Up early as it was the weekly shop to St Girons and as usual a long list of things to get done whilst in town. A quick brekky and off we trundled.

We had supplies at Le Forgue to collect, washing to throw in the machine, plasterboard and cement to collect from Cazale other end of town, roses and plants to buy for the garden, food to buy and fuel and gas to collect. All tikced and done by 10.30am and back to Salau. We popped in to the auberge to drop off power tools we had borrowed and a quick coffee and discussions on how to collect Dad on Sunday as the Tour de France is coming through and St Giron is closed and Dad is at the other side of St Girons!!! Change of plan off to Foix we think is the only solution.

Washing on the line, food in the fridge and then started lugging sheets of plasterboard up the hill and getting it in place at the same time so we did not run out of space.

By 230pm we were hungry and had one wall up,  most of the plasterboard up the hill, plants up and ready to go in this afternoon. Time for prawns in the sun. A quick lunch as we could see thunderstorm clouds looming and we did not want to get caught out with materials down by the van.

All good though the storm came as we had washing in all dry, materials all in the barn and most of them used. A pretty good start to Bedroom 1!

Huge thunderstorm for about 30 mins which helped fill the water butts and then it cleared again so we could get the clematis and roses in which Dad gave us money for last year as birthday pressies but was the wrong time to put them in. They should add some colour to the terraced area and let’s hope they survive the winter up here.

Showers and then internet. I cooked a newish cod dish for supper very simple with anchovies, capers, lemon, baby toms and  olive oil with some stir fried veggies. It got the thumbs up. Early to bed we were both quite tired but a good progress day.

There is something nice about not having to get out of bed in the morning. I know that any pressure to get out of bed is entirely self inflicted but it is nice all the same. A leisurely breakfast and then I finished off the mirror for the porch (another jigsaw job).

Finishing touch for the kitchen is the kickboards to go under the units. The last little jigsaw job before handing it back in the morning. White we had all the tools out on the terrace and the generator running Breezy made another mirror frame out of forklift pallet wood and a new kitchen roll holder as we now have 2 kitchens.

In the afternoon we took a walk up to the 2nd waterfall and back. There is still loads of avalanche material and debris up there and the waterfall itself is the fullest I have ever seen it. Loads of wild flowers are out and it is beautiful.

Finished off the day in the garden weeding and sowing more vegetables. Hopefully that should see us through now.

Another hot shower purely from the power of the sun and Breezy has a new chicken dish to try out. Chicken with plums and soy; roast chicken with fresh chillies, garlic, soy and plums. Delicious!

At the bar yesterday we picked up the post  which included the conversion kit we need to change the new cooker to LPG. We have to do that before we can connect it to a bottle and set it in place in the kitchen, so that was the first job of the day. As its a double oven, grill and hobs there are 6 jets to change and then we need to regulate the flow at each jet so that the whole thing works. It’s a fiddly job but we got there in the end.

Then its cut the worktop to go around it and fit the units either side (thats where the jigsaw comes in).

The other more creative job was to use an old mirror that was salvage from somewhere and some off cuts of wood for a mirror for the porch. Just as I finished glueing it all together Alison turned up with all her girlfriends for some refreshment and to poke about. As Breezy says it is nice when people see the place and go “Wow”.

Once the visitors had left we cleared up, had hot showers (just from the solar) and then had a little time to chill over a game of cards before heading down to the village for Alison’s celebrations.

Al had offered to go and help Clive shift a very heavy stone table at Jean Claude’s who is our neighbour 800m down the piste so while he got block and tackle and hoisted things around I did the final bit of strimming down the hill to Vinnie so we now have pathways strimmed, terraces strimmed and we are done at long last!

Al came back quite quickly and then started tackling Ski Breezy stuff as he has designed a new website for us and there is still lots to do on it which again all takes time.

While the weather was nice we opted to stock up the log store for the new wood burners inside the main barn and put them in the new log storer inside, looks good.

After a salad lunch we then had an afternoon of little bits and pieces. I tackled another clean upstairs as there is still so much dust about and we would like to get it gradually dust free ish anyway! The hoover was a great buy which we can run off the generator, saves moving dust from one end of the barn to the other! Al started sorting out some mirrors which need frames building and then we both got together to try and get the batons in the back wall frame to accept the plasterboard. All done by 4.45pm quick shower in time to skype Dad but his favourite daughter had slipped his mind and was not there!!!

Down to the village to meet up with a few people for a couple of drinks, we needed to post letters, collect water, try to make phone calls with no reception due to cloud cover usual chaos!!! Then we caught up with Alison whose birthday it is tomorrow and a few of the other locals. We also managed to borrow a Jigsaw from Anouk & Renee for the weekend!

The mizzle decided to return so we trundled back up to the barn for omlette, salad, cards and a bottle of wine.  One of the wines we brought back from Spain really excellent.

Every day starts with a list.  Some lists are long and others only have a single thing on them. If, that is, a single item written on a sheet of paper can be called a list. Today’s list has loads of things on it which means that there is lots of variety.

Started with a quick polish of the new chimneys. Through fear of falling off rickety old step ladders I have succeeded in leaving paw prints all over the top sections.

Then we went through some new learning as we set about tiling the porch floor with the Italian tiles salvaged from Chamonix over the winter. A tub of ready mixed tile cement that was supposed to do 4sqm only did 2.5 – thus we should prepare the floor a little better in future to avoid having to cope with differences in levels.

First floor tiles

Last off before lunch we went for a little walk up the back in search of the source. Every year the  topic of conversation in the village turns to our lack of water at the barn. Every year someone comes up with an idea or some snippet of information gleaned from a long lost shepherd about the location of a source. The latest is that there was a source by a big rock at a couple of (now derelict) barns above ours. If it was there we couldn’t find it. We did find a damp patch of rock which  may warrant some further investigation but lunch was beckoning.

Salad lunch on the terrace followed by making a door frame for bedroom one, big clean upstairs and watering the veggies.

At 4pm I had arranged to meet Clive to look at the rock that needed to be lifted at our neighbour’s house. So Jean Claude (neighbour) is over a km away down the piste and Clive is renovating a patio for him. The rock is a table top weighing over half a ton and has slipped off it’s stone legs. Half an hour of playing with ideas and we have a plan involving scaffold and chain hoists; and a rendezvous of 0930hrs Friday to put it into action.

Early evening the river suddenly went brown. Looking upstream where the two streams meet it was just one that had changed colour. Breezy headed off with the camera and also discovered some fantastic orchids on the far bank.

BBQ Rabbit for supper on the terrace followed by BBQ pineapple with ginger syrup, which we ate indoors as it had got too cold outside.

Well the weather seems to have finally changed for the better and it is amazing how motivation increases rapidly with the sun shining all day long.

We are getting lots of odds and ends done and varying the jobs to make things less monotonous and it seems to be working.

I had another bout of strimming to do whilst Al did the final sand and paint around the chimneys.  I also managed to get the roof painted in the porch area too so now all we need in there is tiles and finished.

It was then on to sanding and varnishing the soon to be log box for upstairs and also for the ski chair which Al made ages ago. Dad found it very comfy so we thought get that ready for his arrival too.

Before lunch we managed to get the second frame screwed together for bedroom 1 and into place all very simply, it looks really like it is taking shape quite quickly.

We had made some courgette and mint soup for lunch which we had chilled for a change since it was so hot on the top terrace before starting afternoon activities.

Al did a second coat of paint around the chimneys, they are now finished and look great.

We set about fitting some wooden slats in wall one which will accept wall sockets for power so that is done. Sanding and varnishing wood.

Clive tipped up whilst Al was strimming and I was watering veggies etc to borrow a chain hoist and also to change dates for building the lower terrace wall which suits us much better. First 2 weeks in Aug is going to be flat out doing that but will feel much happier that the barn is not going to slip down the hill. There is going to be a lot of materials  to get up the hill before then. Lets hope the sun shines for us for those 2 weeks.

Early evening we saw our first deer of the season, 3 in total bounding about on the other side of the river.

Hot showers, remains of the pork curry, fire lit outside, fire inside needs a clean, bellowing smoke everywhere and lovely to have dinner outside followed but some cards.

The sun shone through the window early again today. Sunny all day with a cool wind. Breakfast outside for the first time in ages.

Strimmer started first time so Breezy cut swathes away while I got on with wiring as the plasterboard was not dry enough to sand off. Before lunch we cut some poles for the runner beans and also started cutting wood for the stud walls of bedroom One.

Breezy strimming

In the afternoon we dried out our tent on the top terrace from camping in Spain then I sanded and re-skimmed the plasterboard while Breezy set about a second bout of strimming . Finished off with another stud wall session.