Our noisy new neighbours 1 comment

I have said before how much we enjoy the wildlife around us here. We are literally surrounded by birds and beasts of all variety and we love it.

However, there are some new creatures in the neighbourhood who are causing a bit of a stir….two owls.

At first we thought there was just one, but last night we saw both of them together. They fly around the square of our hamlet hopping from the telegraph pole to the fence-post to the roof and back again.

We viewed them with a certain fascination and wonder at first. How lucky we are to have such beautiful birds living so close. But it seems the new neighbours are getting quite settled and are claiming the territory as their own….much to the annoyance of Charlie and Lola (our cats)!

The owls are now taking to sitting on their loft perch and screeching at the top of their voices at the cats below. And the poor kitties, being such soft creatures, are scared out of their wits and come running inside!

Here’s a video of one of the hoodlums. Its a little shaky as I didn’t have time to grab the tripod.

Anyone know what kind of owl it is? And how to persuade it to make friends with Charlie and Lola?

Jugs to JCBs – a quick round-up 3 comments

Water water everywhere…

So the water-less day came and went without any problems. We filled every available jug, bottle, pan and bowl with water first thing in the morning to keep us going through the day. but as it turned out, the water came back on just after lunch, so we didn’t really need it in the end. Quite remarkable that something like that actually finished ahead of schedule!

Family but no fish

This week has been a bit hectic as both my parents and my sister and her two boys are visiting. We’re having a lovely time catching up – something that there wasn’t much time for at Christmas – and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for some decent weather at the weekend so we can get out and about. We were going to head to La Rochelle aquarium but unfortunately it is closed this month.  Still, a visit to La Rochelle may well be on the cards, and a coffee with the Dixies perhaps…

It’s a snip!

Charlie and Lola (our kittens) have now been “done”   They were very well behaved for the vet and coped admirably with the operation. Poor Lola was very wobbly when she came round and was clearly in some pain as the anaesthetic wore off, but after a big sleep that night she was much brighter in the morning. They are both now back to normal and up to their usual tricks!

Plotting our veg

Michel our soon-to-be-permanent neighbour called us over earlier today with some good news. he has a JCB at the moment which he is using to level a lot of his land off as part of his renovation project next=door. He is very kindly going to also level off our little patch of land at the back of the house which we have earmarked as a future vegetable plot. Wahoo! In a couple of weeks we should be able to get planting our own veg, so look out for some posts all about that coming soon. Anyone with any tips in this area, feel free to leave a comment.

And finally…

Next week I have to endure a trip back to England for a big company meeting over 2 days at the Center parcs in Longleat. Sounds nice, but I’d really rather be here with my family, drinking Pineau round the fire. Ah well, one day…

Baby it’s cold outside… 6 comments

As usual, it’s all go here in the Barley household!

Firstly, like the rest of the region, we are shivering under the grip of the current arctic conditions. Normally we would be happy to have a cold snap, knowing we were warm and cosy inside, but this week the coldest temperatures for months also coincided with us running out of oil for our boiler.  And of course, because it is so bloomin cold, everyone needs oil so we have to wait until Friday before we can get any more. Not great timing. The trouble is that the level indicator on our oil tank doesn’t work, so it’s all a bit of a lottery as to when it will run out.

So we find ourselves living like it was 1950, all huddled round the log fire at night, kids sleeping in one room with a tiny radiator to keep warm, putting more clothes on as we go to bed than we have been wearing all day… Even the hot water pipe in the kitchen has, we assume, frozen up, as it doesn’t seem to be working, when all the other hot taps do (I think the pipe runs out the back of the kitchen wall and into next-door’s garage, which obviously is rather cold).

Luckily the kids have not been at school for the last 2 days due the the snowy conditions forcing the school buses off the roads, so we have not yet had to endure a 6.30am start. But tomorrow it’s back to normal, so I’ll be lighting a fire before the sun comes up in the morning. Oh joy!

Still, it’s apparently good for killing off all the bugs in the air and just imagine how warm and toasty we’ll feel when we can finally crank up the boiler again!

Meanwhile, medical issues have been on the agenda. Today the kids went for their second set of vaccinations at the doctor.  To be honest, we really didn’t follow quite what sort of vaccination it was or why they needed it. Each time we go he tells us, and we seem to understand, then as soon as we walk out the door we are confused and just know that we must come back for more. So they had another one each today and once again we walked out with more prescriptions and another appointment for February. I wonder if we’ll leave next month requiring more, or if the end is finally in sight?

The poor cats also have an appointment tomorrow. The time has come for the local vet to do his thing and sterilise Charlie and Lola. They have not  been able to eat this evening, and won’t be able to have breakfast tomorrow. Wow, are they going to be grumpy?! It was bad enough tonight, having to keep them in to stop them eating anything unsavoury outside. They were going wild, chasing each other round like they used to when we first got them. Tomorrow morning will be hell. Luckily we have to be up early with the girls, as I think there will be much whining and moaning over the lack of food and fresh air. And we are stealing ourselves for the bill at the end of it. A hefty one is expected…

And after the winter break, Chateau Barley is once again taking bookings for friends and family visits. Next week my parents and and sister come to stay. We then have Lisa’s mum and sister coming in March, with her other sisters pencilled in to do the same at regular intervals through the year. The summer is quickly filling up, with several friends looking to combine a week on the coast with a week at our place. Luckily the schools in France break up at the end of June, so we will have chance for a week away before we start entertaining. It will be nice to have visitors again, especially now we have been here a year, as  we have now experienced so much and seen the area in each season. Suggestions for good, easy recipes to fill lots of visitors will be gratefully recieved!