Routine

Oh for a day off! One of the problems we have is that we have so much work to do to finish our project that we don't think about taking a day off. Ian gets embroilled in tractor parts and I get bogged down in the garden (although not literally since we still have had no rain). We made a real effort yesterday to take a break with the help of our neighbours, who have been in a similar position themselves and realise the importance of not letting the project take over your entire life, whilst continuing to feel that you are making progress. We started off with a morning visit to Issigeac and the Sunday market. The village dates from medieval times, with the streets shaped in a spiral up to the church. Many of the old buildings are still there and on Sunday mornings there is a market selling the usual market type stuff but quite interesting. I bought a large straw hat to protect me from the sun and we stopped and had a beer/coffee in the local bar. All in all a nice diversion from work.

After lunch we went to see the farmer to get some eggs (her chickens produce more than she can eat). She showed me the rabbits she breeds for dinner and offered to show me how to kill them and turn them into pate! I think this may be a step to far for me just now, although in terms of sustainable, cheap and environmentally friendly food, rabbit is probably better than most other meats. I explained that in England rabbits were kept as pets and she found that quite amusing!

We concluded the day with a visit to our neighbours and watched the moon rise while we drank wine and ate  lovely leftover veggie curry!

Ian has been engrossed in his tractor since Friday. It has a serious technical problem in that it pumps diesel into the engine and the source of the problem cannot be found. He is now stripping it down for the second day running. Personally I would rather he got on with something more immediately important, but I think he is also tired and we have both lost a bit of our mojo since returning from UK.  Anyway, here is a picture of the tractor with Ian up to his neck in oil !

Heavy metal

Today Ian is at a friend's house trying to repair the ancient tractor that he bought several years ago and I have a day to myself in the house. This is probably the first time since we have been here and I promised Ian that I would catch up on some 'proper' work at my desk while he was away! Well, I managed until now but what I really want to do is catch up on some blogging, without my thoughts being interupted by sounds of engines and cursing as something else breaks! All I can hear today is the drone of the flies as they get more and more exited by the approaching hot summer.

So, what is the cause of Ian's cursing? Well, he can never resist a good bargain when it comes to heavy machinery and one of the things we towed back from UK was an old roller; apparently we need it for when we do the drive. This was a bargain but sold on Ebay as 'spares or repair' so Ian set about repairing it only to find that it needs rather more repair than he had hoped! It goes forward and 'rolls' but apparently does not perform its secondary function of vibrating!

He has also been spending quite a lot of time on the digger and dumper trying to move earth. After the builders went we were left with two very large piles of earth that we have called Mont Blanc

and The Eiger

Truck loads of earth have been removed but the size of the piles never seems to decrease. While Ian was clearing Igor he accidently hit a snake with the digger bucket. The snake was probably searching for food in the pile. It was about a metre long and most probably a grass snake just awaking from hibernation. Unfortunately he wounded it but didn't kill it outright and then we didn't really know what to do. We probably should have killed it as it was unlikely to survive its injuries, but at this point it decided to try and fight back and so we had to let it go; maybe to be dinner for one of the birds of prey that fly over the field. Our encounters with snakes so far have been seen two, mortally wounded two!



So, just as I was halfway through writing this entry Ian returned declaring that the tractor was ready and we could go over an pick it up.