Steve was happy again – back to working with wood! He had the frame to make for the woodland side – the rear of the property but quite probably going to be our front door! I was, supposedly, happy playing stone puzzles but had to encourage Steve to provide a little bit of assistance to me by making the replacement uprights for the existing front door (that will become a window). Luckily the lintel is in good enough condition that we can keep it but both uprights are rotten. We managed to remove both (well, Steve did as I declined to remove the peg in the second side!) and discovered that the mortise and tenon joints weren’t chiselled square but drilled with an auger at both ends of the slot and sawn between the two – Interesting fact!! Whilst I had his attention I encouraged him to help with some of the large stone placing (I may be getting stronger but I’m still not quite as strong as him) and eventually I discovered that I quite enjoyed doing it. One particular day went exceptionally well – I managed to fit six stones in about an hour – instead of my more usual one stone in six hours!! Well, that is a slight exaggeration but, as an example, Steve went wandering all the way to the bottom of the paddock to fetch some wood and by the time he returned I still hadn’t placed a single stone – I had spent the whole time walking between my two stone piles, looking at stones and occasionally trying to fit one in! When I admitted my lack of progress Steve said I had been doing something even if it was only looking at stones – it wasn’t like I was sitting or standing around watching him!! The plinth is now finished (taken two and a half weeks!) and has been covered to try and help it dry slowly – too quick and the mortar just cracks!
Steve had also been doing a lot of homework – trying to find out the exact dimensions of French door frames. He eventually managed to find a website which gave all the measurements he needed and so he could start creating that part of the frame. However, for some unknown reason, he got himself into a little bit of a pickle! The height of the door frame is 217 cm and he wanted to add 20 mm for distortion and tweakability! So, in his mind, he needed the uprights to be 237 cm. No problem (?!) I’m not sure of the width but again he added his 20 mm and we laid the frame out on the ground and everything looked good. The time had come to cut the mortise and tenon joints. He grabbed his tape measure and asked me to confirm his measuring. He measured one of the uprights and marked where the joint would go and then on to the other. However this time there appeared to be a discrepancy – so he measured the height from the bottom of the upright to the joint on both and then measured from the top down to the joint. “There’s something not quite right here”, he said. And to this day we cannot for the life of us figure out how he did it but he had cut one of his uprights to the correct height of 219 cm and the other to his ‘thought’ 237 cm. He says it is probably because he was trying to work in centimetres and they are not a real measurement (by the way he has now reverted to inches!!) He then had to fit some beams to either side of the frame – one going into the house wall and the other resting on the stone pillar in the garage. All sorted! Next he had to make the frame for the apex – that again caused him a few headaches as he wasn’t very good at getting his angles quite right – but fortunately any mis-cuts weren’t catastrophic as he was still able to use the same piece of wood! And once again it was erection time!
He had planned this erection to the nth degree and it worked!
When we had removed the old lean-tos we had discovered that there was an original window that had been filled in so after I had finished my plinth making I allowed myself the time to remove the infill. Unfortunately it was only a small window and it was mainly full of dust and dirt – smelt a bit ratty too, so didn’t take very long to remove at all. The small rounded branch lintels are completely rotten and will need replacing. Even though it is not shown on the planning application as it was original we are going to keep it!
As it appears we will soon (well, soonish) be ready to start cob-making we have been keeping an eye out for straw. After unsuccessful shopping forays, I had to admit that I would have to approach a local farmer when we saw one. This shouldn’t be too difficult as we cycle past a farm twice a day! One day a tractor appeared in the wheat field next to us and I thought my time had come. However, he was spraying so I decided I wouldn’t venture too close! This then led to at least a week of not spotting a single farmer anywhere. Then one afternoon we heard an approaching tractor and my heart sank! This was the moment! By the time I had made it to the road the tractor was nowhere in sight, although we could still hear it – so no get-out there! Steve was heading down to the paddock with his chainsaw and I headed towards the sounds of the tractor in a bid to accost a farmer! There was I, clad in overalls standing at the side of the road. The farmer was turning his hay and he acknowledged my wave and continued turning. Fortunately it was a very small field so I only had to stand (feeling a bit of an idiot) waiting for a short time before he exited the field. Being the nice man that he is, he jumped down from his tractor and I went into my ‘spiel’ of how we are renovating the house over there and need some straw and did he know where we could buy some? I obviously did this quite well as he responded rather too quickly for me! However, I managed to convey that I could understand if he spoke a little slower and we continued our conversation. He said that the wheat field next to us was his as well and that if we only wanted one or two bales he would sell them to us but if we needed more than that he couldn’t help as he needs it himself. He said that the field should be ready to cut at the beginning of August and he could leave a bale or two behind and then move them for us as it would only take him five minutes to move them and us just a little bit longer! (We are talking about the large round bales – Steve had thought that we might have been able to attach one to the back of his bike but did worry that it might run him over!) So success, we have our straw on order and it is coming from closer than the oak for the frame! Almost no food miles!!!
We have had a couple of days off this week as we wanted to listen to the Cricket World Cup – England semi-final against Australia and then the final against New Zealand. Both fantastic games and wow, what an exciting finish to the final – but it does seem a little unfair for New Zealand to have lost the way they did! We had noticed a sign for a Vide Greniers (car boot sale) at Plourhan (en route to the property) and then when checking online we discovered there was also one at Etables Sur Mer on the same day – Sunday (cricket final day). We decided that we could go to both – Plourhan first then to Etables and back to the boat (that way round the hills are nicer!!) in time to sit down and listen to TMS (Test Match Special). For some reason I managed to have a slight lie-in on Sunday morning (1/4 to 8) which put us slightly behind schedule and as I was desperate to hear the start of the cricket (the start of the semi-final had been very exciting) I was worried we wouldn’t make it. However, I needn’t have worried – you will not believe it but we finally managed to find a scythe at Plourhan!! This meant that we no longer had any real need to go to Etables. I had assumed we would take it straight to the property but for some reason Steve had thought we would go back to the boat – he then admitted that my idea was the better as we were almost halfway there anyway! So he got out his bungees, found a bit of foam and strapped the scythe to his bike – he just couldn’t make any tight turns!
With this additional distance we just about made it back to St Quay at 11.30 – Steve suggested I put the cricket on (we listen through my phone) whilst we sorted the bikes out. Imagine my surprise (and delight) to see ‘match delayed – play to start at 10.45 BST’. Perfect!
The fourth of July was my birthday! Steve offered to take me out for the day and out for a meal but I really wanted to continue with the plinth! So I spent my 51st birthday mixing muck and playing with stones! I almost got an exciting present – another chainsaw. The on/off switch had started playing up on Steve’s and he thought we might have to take it back and, on past experience, that involves a long wait for it to go to the supplier, get fixed or replaced and then returned. However, after a little online searching he discovered it was a common problem and easily fixable – so I didn’t get my present!!
Steve has moved on to making the ridge beam to span the new extension. This time he is using cherry – excellent, it seems a bit lighter than the oak! I’m sure though he is still going to over-engineer it so it might turn out to be just as heavy! He had a wander through the trees looking for the right one and returned to ask me to take a walk in the woods. I thought this was to discuss which tree to use but he had a completely different thought in his mind. He had come across an area that he thought would be ideal for chickens and wanted my opinion. As we approached the area we startled a deer who had been dozing in the drainage ditch and he took off across the field! I think the chicken area has been decided but Steve now has thoughts that perhaps he needs a gun for deer-hunting as we have yet to spot a rabbit. I have said no!
After some measuring, some spirit-levelling and some ‘what looks right’ we have now managed to place the ridge. Steve had to dig out a bit of cob but as the ridge will go very near to the large crack in the house wall it was an easy job. Once again, no dramas and apart from a bit of a sore shoulder for Steve (from hefting the wood up) no issues at all!!
Oh and by the way we have now passed 2000 km on the bikes (sorry, no photo this time!!) and they are still going strong, even with the mistreatment they get – being left out in all weather in a seaside environment!!
Fate Or Folly 