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An autumnal feel to the morning ...

31/8/2014

I don't recall seeing this fungus in the garden before, but it doesn't look like anything you would want to eat!

.... with mist swirling in the valley, but hopefully that will soon burn off with a sunny day in prospect.
The garden seems to be moving into autumn mode, too - rather early for these parts.

The cotoneaster is a mass of berries this year.

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After a long wait ....

29/8/2014

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.... we finally found someone to give our long boundary hedge some surgery. Clearing up the debris was quite an operation, but it's done now.

The weather has finally turned settled and warm, with a good week or more in prospect.

I've spent a lot of time on the business website over the last couple of days, and there's still quite a bit to do before it's all working as it should ... but I am getting there, and learning quite a lot as I go, which is always good.

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Rain was forecast during the night ....

26/8/2014

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..... and since it had been dry for a while, we concentrated on preparing the wood for the coming winter over the last couple of days. The woodshed is now suitably stocked with an ample supply to get us through to next spring.
The weather is dull this morning, but the rain has now stopped and some brighter periods are expected later on.
My new business website is live (imprimeriehtf.fr) although it is not finished yet - I've been trying to code it myself, but it's quite a steep learning curve at the moment!

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A productive day so far ....

24/8/2014

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I began the morning making some further progress with the new website, then, as it was bright and sunny, we put in some time on preparing our firewood for the winter. At least one more session on that task will be needed before the supplies will be sufficient to be on the safe side.

I took a ride round to a nearby bramble hedge after lunch - the wet summer means that the blackberries are not in short supply this year! I've some apples in the fridge which I intend to cook with these blackberries - a traditional favourite!

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A distinctly autumnal feel to the weather ....

24/8/2014

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... over the last few days continues the unusual and disappointing pattern it's displayed all year. It has meant comfortable temperatures for outside jobs, though, and the east wall of the property is now fully clad. That just leaves part of the south face to complete next year.

It was quite wet during the morning yesterday, so I busied myself working on a website for my printing business which I'm planning on developing over the coming year. I enjoy the creative aspects of print work, and I've done very little since I left the U.K. more than 12 years ago now.

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It was predominantly sunny ...

22/8/2014

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..... yesterday, but temperatures are being pegged below normal by a northerly airflow.
In the morning, whilst the east wall was in direct sunlight I repaired the puncture in my front bike tyre and then installed a new vice on the bench in the shed. Prior to this summer's clear-out, it was impossible to do anything on the bench as it was totally cluttered with stuff!
In the afternoon, we made further progress with the cladding operation, the sun having moved off the wall by that stage.

It will need another couple of sessions to complete that side of the house - which was the target for this year. That will then leave the remainder of the south face to do next year, along with the much bigger job of replacing the wooden sun deck which is coming to the end of its life after 30 years.

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Another cloudy day ....

21/8/2014

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.... gave ideal conditions for working hard in the garden yesterday. The vast pile of trimmings from the hedge doesn't look that big in the photo, but there's a lot of stuff to burn up there.

Once the hedge was finished I finally sorted out my 80/40m dipole, which has also been in need of repair since the freak storm of July 2013.

We have some woodland, so collecting suitable dead trees for the fire and cutting them into pieces small enough to carry into the garden was our next task.

I managed a quick qso on 40m to test out the antennas before we went to neighbours for apéros in the evening. The first entry in the log for more than a year!

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It's a big job ...

18/8/2014

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.... keeping the long hedge at the boundary of our property in control. We are still hoping to find a local farmer to tackle the top and the outside with a suitable agricultural machine, but it's proving more difficult than I imagined. Anyway, we've spent a couple of afternoons on the inside of the hedge, and have managed about half of it so far.

News on the winch motor isn't wonderful - the guy is on holiday until the end of this month, so that'll have to wait a little longer to get looked at.

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Progress has been slow ....

17/8/2014

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.... with restoring my antenna system damaged in a freak storm more than a year ago now. However, I've finally had some time to spend on it recently, and today I've removed the electric motor from the winch after soaking the bolts with chainsaw oil over night.
There is a local electrician/mechanic who specializes in heavy duty motors, so I'm hoping that it will be possible to get it repaired. The mechanical side of the winch is all operating fine, it's just the motor which has failed.

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There's been a little more sunshine ...

17/8/2014

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... over the last few days, but the temperatures are well below the norm for this time of the year. Météo France is reporting that July and August are already the wettest on their records since 1960, August by some considerable margin. It has been a very disappointing summer this year.
I've been working on some publicity materials for the new print shop recently - just waiting for a delivery of glue to complete the note pads.
Cladding has come to a temporary stop, but more tiles are on order and should arrive in the next couple of days, so we are on target to complete the east wall soon.

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There was more rain overnight ....

15/8/2014

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.... but at least it's been dry so far today. The temperatures (23c) are disappointing for this time of year, though. If things get a chance to dry out today, then I can hopefully get round with the mower in the near future.

There have been far fewer blue butterflies in our meadow this year, compared to last year when there seemed to be clouds of them at times.

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The disappointing summer ....

13/8/2014

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.... is showing no signs of relenting. It was dull all day yesterday, and we had to dodge the brief showers in the afternoon whilst continuing with the cladding work. The circular "port hole" in the bathroom was obviously the architect's reference to the traditional "œil de beuf" - a small oval window widely found in old Charantaise buildings, however it creates a lot of extra work for the present job!

A little before sunset, there was a break in the cloud to the west, creating a spotlight effect on the farm on the other side of the valley. To add to the impact there was a rainbow as well.

Over night, there was a prolonged period of very heavy rain - flood warnings were issued for our area, but our location is quite elevated so we did not need to worry on that account. Maybe September will be more settled??

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The unsettled summer continues ....

11/8/2014

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.... and there were some heavy showers at times during the day yesterday. After some deliberation, I finally decided on the location for the remaining shelving for the workshop and got on with that job since it was not weather dependent.
Our rain water storage capacity is 5,500 litres and all the tanks are full, which is most unusual for this time of the year. We would expect to be wondering if there was enough to keep all the plants going in mid August, but that's not at all the case this year. Temperatures have been below average for the last week, too.

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An overcast morning ....

9/8/2014

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.... provided ideal conditions for pressing on with cladding the east wall of the house - a job which has been ongoing for some considerable time now. We managed to complete the first large section before the forecast showers put in an appearance.

It was a relatively quick job to install the shelf in the workshop since it was already varnished and prepared a couple of days ago.

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Amongst various jobs ....

6/8/2014

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.... on the agenda yesterday, was the creation of a sign for the new workshop. I also bought some wood for some shelving which I am hoping to get put up today. The workshop will then be more-or-less fully equipped both inside and out.

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<<Previous

An autumnal feel to the morning ...

After a long wait ....

Rain was forecast during the night ....

A productive day so far ....

A distinctly autumnal feel to the weather ....

It was predominantly sunny ...

Another cloudy day ....

It's a big job ...

Progress has been slow ....

There's been a little more sunshine ...

There was more rain overnight ....

The disappointing summer ....

The unsettled summer continues ....

An overcast morning ....

Amongst various jobs ....

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