Uh oh!! I start work tomorrow!!

Well, freedom is finally over, I start back to full time work tomorrow at 9am!! For those of you who don't know it is working for Credit Agricole in Caen. I am feeling decidedly nervous at the moment but I am sure by tomorrow morning I will be slightly calmer!!

The animals are settling down into nice routines now. At least I will miss some mucking out for a few days while I am at work. Well, I might do!! The pigs are now feeding out of our hands, the kids love them to bits already. Zorro now stands at the window to the pig sty looking longingly. I am not sure whether he just wants to play with them or whether he is thinking 'roast pork' too!!

Josh and Kirsty are nearing the end of another term at school. They are thoroughly enjoying the Christmas term and I enjoyed helping out last Friday making things for their Christmas fair. The only sad part of going back to work is that I will miss the fair itself, but I am sure their new nanny will be taking them. I will furnish them with plenty of money to buy all of their exciting wares. Peter of course will enjoy terrorising the fair I am sure. He is still spending his days causing trouble, having an afternoon snooze and then causing more trouble!!

Anyway, must go and rest before my big day, lots of love to all. xx

The Tale of Four Little Pigs Begins .........

Our four new girls have arrived this afternoon. They were well behaved on the drive home, even though we had to drive with the windows open!!! They seem to be enjoying their new home already and the kids all think that they are great!!

Peter takes the first ride

Our two new arrivals settled in really well last night. It was very cold and wet and I am sure they loved being in a nice warm barn. We did hear Surprise call us at about 2am and they were very happy to see Andrew first thing this morning. Rosie, Magellan and the goats appear to be happy with their new neighbours now and Magellan has decided that touching the fence to get a little closer is not such a bright idea!!

Peter decided that today was the day for the first ride on them both. They both behaved impeccably!!

The first new arrivals of the week

It took less than an hour to finally convince Surprise that she wanted to go into the trailer and travel 10 km down the road to her new home!! Nell, on the other hand was a star and a small push moved her fairly quickly!! The phrase 'stubborn as a mule' is now 'stubborn as a Percheron'!!

For those of you totally confused now we have just bought a horse called Surprise and a donkey companion called Nell. They are both absolutely gorgeous. Their previous owner Chrissy has done an absolutely stirling job with them, they handle like a dream. I am sure that Surprise will be fairly easygoing when we start to break her in. Thank you so much Chrissy, we promise to give them a loving and caring home. xxxx

Ninety Nine Things to do before you die!!

Chrissy today took the plunge, she rode the biggest horse that she has ever touched, stood next to or mounted!!!!! After the initial shock of realising that it was the biggest horse in the yard she got on almost unaided!!! Frances did give her a box to stand on!! She then walked around the arena in a very calm manner, apart from the fits of giggles when the horse decided he wanted to graze for a moment and Chrissy could have disappeared over his head!! After a few minutes the giggles subsided and she fully mastered 'walk on' and 'stop'!!! We all had a great time watching and after half an hour Chrissy dismounted really understanding what it is truly like to walk like John Wayne!!! Now she only has 98 things left to do!!

Oh no, the tooth mouse is coming again tonight

Kirsty has lost another tooth today at school. Thankfully, she has already put it in an envelope for the tooth mouse, marked "Un dent de Kirsty"!!!

Andrew has mended nine panes of glass today. Peter managed to break two the other evening and Andrew mended nine, you do the maths!!! Andrew has also been working on the new stable area. He has cemented in a post for the gates to hang on and put in a nice new light. At least I will be able to see when I put the new recruits to bed!!

More news soon .........

Another week has gone by

There has been nothing earth shattering happening this week to report so I apologise for the lack of blog!! The pig sty has just a bolt to be added to the back door and I do believe it will be finished. Our two latest volunteers finished the back wall this morning!!!

Josh and Kirsty are well into their Christmas preparations at school. They are making Christmas decorations and "other things" for the Christmas market on the 12 December. I realised this morning, to my annoyance, that work is going to get in the way of me participating this year. It does mean though that the live in nanny will have to take them, hmm, wonder how that will go down???

I worked out on Monday why so many people work in the black over here. All I needed was a social security number so that I could pay taxes. I visited the CPAM who said that they could not help and that I had to go to the MSA. I drove across Vire to the MSA who said that they could not help unless they had a number from the CPAM. I then went back to the CPAM who said, "Oh, have you not got a number??" Aaaarrrrggghhhh!!!! They then decided that they needed an E106 from Newcastle. Thats great, we have been trying to get one of them for the last year. After over two hours I returned home with no number. I thought I should call Newcastle and see whether it was likely to be issued this year!!! They said they were dealing with them this week and it would be dealt with in the next two or three days!! We will wait and see!!!

Andrew has been shopping again this week on leboncoin. This time he found a new 'buffet'. It is only a small piece of furniture, 2.2m long, 1.1m high and 0.55m wide, and all for the bargain price of 120 euros!! We managed to call the man, get the address, finally find his house, fit the buffet into the car and get home in time for dinner!!

I am sure there will be more to report in the next few days. It might include some photos of Josh de-bagging visitors but I am not sure!! xxx

The Pig Sty is Nearing Completion!!

The boys have been doing an excellent job on the pig sty. We now have a door and a window!!!

The lady from SPANC arrived today and confirmed that the new septic tanks were all to an excellent standard. Works can now be completed on Saturday by the French team to put the garden back to some kind of normality. Hopefully we will have slightly less mud!!!

I had an excellent birthday yesterday. Thank you to everyone that sent cards, presents, emails etc etc. The children made me a lovely victoria sandwich cake as well. We went for a long walk around the village and Vicki took me for a cream tea. What more could I ask for? I made the mistake of letting Tony make me a vodka and tonic to go with the dinner that Andrew cooked. Not sure what he did to it but I did not want to get up this morning!! I have come to the conclusion that I must be allergic to alcohol!!

The children are into the Christmas spirit at school now. They have been learning new poems and making lots of treats for the Christmas fair. I am sure they are going to love Christmas in France, a whole new experience for all of us. At least we can have a huge tree this year without worrying where to put it!! We will just have to stop Zorro eating it or pulling it over!!

Not much more to go on the pig house and I forgot to take photos of the party!!!

It was Anna-Marias birthday yesterday and we celebrated last night in style. David, Marilyn and children all joined us in the celebrations. We had the traditional Moules Marinieres for starters, followed by salmon and cheesy chips (how English!!) and chocolate birthday cake and ice cream to finish. Yum yum!!!!

Tony decided to take our guests for a moonlit ride in the valley. Sounded a good idea at the time but when they had not returned after about half an hour I braved the elements in search of them!! On reaching the valley I could not hear or see anything. I started to worry until I saw a small flashlight flashing at me!!!!! It was Tony!! They had got stuck and the engine would not start. Walking back I managed to slip over in the mud and get a little bit moist!!! Andrew rescued them with wellington boots!! The Range Rover finally returned this morning!!!

Our team of French men finished their works on the septic tanks yesterday. Now all we have to do is wait for our SPANC inspection and then they will landscape the trashed garden. We have been extremely impressed with the speed that they work and how they handle their diggers. They are amazing guys.

The O'Flynns have left to continue their travels now. Safe journey guys, good luck and see you soon. xxx

The Pig Sty is almost water tight now!!!

Dermot has now served his apprenticeship on the roof. The boys have told him that he is now a roofer!!! They have all worked really hard and the job is almost complete.

The works have continued for the new septic tanks today. The garden has been re-landscaped (a little) and work has now started on the soakaway. There is still lots of mud and it is still raining but as the locals say, this is Normandy!!!!

Thank you to Grandma Jenny. The children thoroughly enjoyed their strawberries and chocolate last night!!

A huge Happy Birthday and hugs to Anna-Maria today. We hope you enjoy your birthday in France. xxx

The O'Flynns descend on France and find lots of mud!!!!

We have had a great week playing in the mud. The O'Flynns arrived for some respite after their travels but instead they have been working hard and finding that life on a farm is somewhat muddy, especially as it rains lots in Normandy!!!! Work has still continued though and the pig house is well underway and the electric fence is now keeping the goats and ponies well contained. Dermot did a stirling job screwing in 100 eyes for the fence and strimming the grass around several hundred metres of 'wonderful' terrain!! Hmm, the joys of working in a field with animals!!

The works started yesterday for the new septic tanks. In good Normandy tradition the diggers arrived first thing in the morning bringing with them the rain!! They started work digging the trenches and within the first five minutes had found the outlet for the toilet. Typical. Why is it that when you cant use something its the one thing that you want???? I was busting and so was Josh. The outside toilet serviced us well for the morning!! The French boys worked their socks off and by lunch they had already dug all of the first set of trenches and put in two of the tanks!! I am sure they work three times as fast as English guys. (Not as fast as Andrew though of course!!!!) Finally we could use the toilet again!!! By dinner time all of the tanks were in, filled up with water, surrounded by sand, the trenches back filled and the road made good!!! Wow!!!

The works will continue on Monday. At the rate they were working yesterday, they will probably be finished by teatime!!!!

Meanwhile, the children are having fun with their new dolly, aka Lajla!!! She is the most polite little girl you have ever met!!! She loves playing with the children, apart from the big bully Peter, and is having great fun playing with the hundreds of toys!! She can come back anytime!! She can bring her mummy and daddy too, lol!!!! Thank you for your hard work Team O'Flynn. Good Luck on your travels.

We let Grandma Irene use the camera and this is what she took!!!

The pig house is under construction

Works have continued today on the pig house. Andrew, Tony and Josh have worked hard mixing more mortar to build walls and do some pointing. They have also cleared the hay out of the building, its a bit less comfy now!!!! We will put some nice new straw in there when the new babies arrive.

I Know, let's buzz the weir.

Let me tell you about the lost art of jungle canoeing, recently practised in this little known region of France. With temperatures only a little over zero, and the snow melting down the hill side along with the addition of the nights rain. Conditions were finally reached where we could canoe over the newly constructed weir and downstream into the jungle.

Attempt one was a great success buzzing the new weir and shortly after hitting the weir built by the kids in the summer. Weir two was not so great on the first attempt as I jammed the nose and was then washed over with the water behind me. The water was cold enough to turn the label blue on a can of carling.

Three runs down and I was knackered so it was time to play Pooh Sticks. We put kirsty in a canoe and launched her at the top end. Tony and I were busy supervising as Kirsty buzzed the first weir, dissapearing out of reach as she raced away down the valley. In an attempt to put daddy to shame, she then spun the canoe and did the hardest part backwards before spinning back round and carrying on down stream.

Anyhow, all dry now and ready to get some more work done tomorrow, weather permitting.