Much ado

It's been a busy day. First we tried to cat-proof our hen run which involved cutting down a fig tree growing through the wall. The hen run has 3 metre high stone walls and two metre gates, but the fig tree made a good ladder. So that's gone. We have many others in the vineyard so it's not all bad. Just to make the hens look forward to going to bed we cleaned out their house and laid a thick layer of wood shavings to keep them snuggly.

Then we chainsawed a massive pile of wood we kept in the hen area. That's going to be burned on the kitchen fire over the next week or so.

The forecast is for freezing weather over the next few days so I went to dress up the young trees in the new orchard. Here you see them dancing in the sleet. Does anyone know the french word for sleet? Our builders don't - and they're locals. The weather is always very different in La Caumette, even though it's only a 15 minute drive from Roujan. So, although the sun was shining at Le Couvent the sleet was driving horizontally at Ballantynes (the new name for the new house).

M. Lafitte came to deliver 750 litres of heating fuel and the hens put themselves to bed at 3.30. They'd had enough excitement for one day.