Friday

Chantal – The morning started like any other, with me working hard surrounded by my new pack. I had quite a bit to get on with while the boys were just lazing about. Business cat may be the head of the office but at least Basil and Woody don’t walk over the keyboard and send random things!

Later – Doggy Daycare moving time. It seems that the dogs aren’t super keen on hanging out. Basil is very nervous and Anya is super protective of Tonia, and, well Woody’s just a bit mad. So we decided that since there’s another house (Cressida’s) just up the road that we’d take the boys away and diffuse the situation. Woody was much more relaxed and calm back in his home environment, and with nobody knowing we’d be there we should have a pretty easy time of it.

Tonia – After another grueling day of working in the attic – by which, I mean working when it is sunny outside and the temps in the room are over 32 degrees with no circulating air. For Anya and I it really was takeover time – we have got the whole house, pool and grounds to ourselves for a couple of days. For Anya, it was gates locked and free roaming throughout, I was confident we wouldn’t be seeing much of Meow whilst the kids were away. For me, it was an evening beer in the late sunshine. I did however learn that in putting a cooler jacket around your beer you can try and mistakenly try and swallow the wasp that has secretly gotten into my bottle 🙁

My next challenge was getting the pool cover back on alone and with no supervision – personally after a slight struggle between its weight and my lack of upper body strength I was rather proud of my efforts.

[15 July 2022]

Saturday

Tonia, [Marignac] – Though we had been given free reign of the house, I knew that now I had a full day off my computer working, then there was still a lot of manual labour to do. Once suited appropriately, yes, a mask and goggles are key for most jobs I do around here, I cleared out the whole of room 7, re-stacking the insulation in the blue bathroom. The large dressing table until was far too cumbersome for me to move on my own (particularly with a full size mirror attached) so it was handy that Matt had arrived to carry out some other tasks, that was also moved into the bathroom before he headed back and now I had a much more workable space.

Having been suffering from ear pain after diving into the pool during the week, I suspected an ear infection and with some trepidation I had saved a number of what I thought would be key phrases I headed off to the pharmacy. Unfortunately, having been to a couple of the local pharmacies it seems that they are only open in the morning on a Saturday and not at all on a Sunday so that was not a chore I was going to be able to achieve today. Swimming must be kept to just that with no diving and only careful handstand competition attempts. This is something Chan and I have done since being small kids and apparently having had a lot of practice recently she was able to prove that she was still pretty good at this.

Having gotten back, Anya was on the long line and it seemed that she had melted in the now 40 degree heat, a quick spot of lunch, a couple of packages had arrived for Matt we were able to close the gates again, and opened the pool up (after all I had done all the prep work this morning). It turned out I needed to get the pool robot out but very quickly he stopped working and it was clearly not clean yet. Having pulled the robot back out I found some very dirty filters that needed a good clean to get the pool nice and shinny again so I could spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying it.

Whilst I was bobbing around the pool for a few hours, Anya had been loitering nearby, a bit scared of the water, she came to see me at one point once I had floated down to the end by the steps. Seeing some leaves in the water she kept reaching out with a paw, until she over balanced, having dropped in she started a panicked paddle, as I was laughing, she was paddling with all her might – she could have actually stood up if she tried! That said she made it to the edge of the next step and with a look of condemnation jumped out of the pool and ran off. I took this as my cue to get out and get some dinner together – yes, more cheese, bread and foie gras for me!

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Chantal, [Frontignan de Cominges] – Matt has gone back to our house this morning as there are a few bits to take care of. Of course I’m on dog watch so I have to snuggle up with Basil until Woody commands me downstairs, it was a reasonable lie in though as Matt must have thrown the ball a few times before he went and I can snuggle two dogs.

We are grateful however that JC also have a pool, although not sure what Beaver Rub is.. maybe I should have left that in the cupboard, but it was in the kitchen drawer. I don’t go rifling through ‘other’ cupboards. Also, Woody is bonkers.

I was keen to show Matt the new bird drinking bath I made and now he’s back from “Tonia’s” we can relax at ‘ours’. Cress has kindly left us some pizza dough that I defrosted so we’re having pizza tonight. What we did learn however is that they don’t have an axe and use some crazy contraption, I’m buying Jonny an axe for Christmas as you need kindling for the pizza oven!

It’s been a tough day as you can tell so time to relax in front of the TV and then head to bed. This house and dog sitting is hard work 😉

[16 July 2022]

Sunday

I think I’m living in a menagerie. But the cats here are hilarious. We’ve named them ‘skinny cat’ and ‘scabby cat’ – one of them is definitely scrappy and been in quite the wars in his past. The thing is they meow at you, lead you to where they are fed, and only then realise that JC left them a mountain of food. Occasionally we move some of the food from one bowl to another and they think it is fresh; they’re not too clever, but then we do the same with Meow, putting it back in the pot and pouring it back out.

With the mercury rising to 42 today Matt and I have been all round the garden setting out plates of water under hedges etc for the local wildlife. The birds have certainly been enjoying the new drinking bowl/bird pool.

When I went upstairs however I found a dragonfly on the landing. It’s wings were a bit broken and I’m sure it was definitely dehydrated. I tried my best to revive it but it was sadly a lost cause. I also realised that dragonflies are much bigger than I remember. Were they always this big or do we have bigger ones down here as they have more to eat?

Back at the ranch and Tonia has been working incredibly hard while Matt has been lounging about for once.

Pizza again this evening. Well I couldn’t very well say no and we remembered a few extra things from our previous lessons, although I think I still made the best pizza yesterday out of all of them.

Took the boys out for their last walk of the evening and Woody’s found a hedgehog. It was huge. It was also scared of Woody who is also huge. After finding one the other day we were prepared in what to do and got it food and water. It left eventually and we went to bed.

Tonie – After a quick tidy up in room 5, I moved my magic steps and demolition gear on for the next “project”.

Having completed the cleaning up of room 7 yesterday, it was time for me to get cracking on bringing down the ceiling. I had learnt a bit about the placement of the tarps below to try and catch the majority of the fall out and how to position the mini steps the reduce the constant up and down to take out a strip of boards so I was ready to get cracking!

Working from the window to the door (this was an easier way to manage all of the drop out and mess whilst still being able to get out of the room), I got a third of the way through the room before finding a strange “beam” that was not actually attached to anything… what was this? As it seemed to serve no structural purpose…. Having uncovered a little more, I guessed that this was definitely to support the boards going across, but I couldn’t see what was actually holding it up. I had gotten sufficiently filthy at this stage so needed a quick wash off before I could take Anya out for a walk (she was guarding our floor from any potential intruders whilst I was working up in the attic) and take some time for lunch and a ponder on what the safe next steps would be.

With the break over and the mercury hitting over 40 degrees now, the attic with all of the saftey gear was over for me for today. I was off from the office work again the coming week and had decided that working around a possibly unsecured beam and being the only person in the house may not be the best idea if I wanted to stay out of hospital and not be found in a broken mess mushed against the floor when Chan and Matt came home. With the temperature at this level, it was not safe to take Anya for a walk, the poor girl would almost certainly die of heat exhaustion and burn her paws on the pavement.

We had to keep the gate open today as Matt was expecting yet another delivery, as such Anya was on a long line… sadly, I did not realise that when I threw a stick this was also wrapped around my ankle. Matt had proven a few days before with Woody the damage that this could do, but apparently I was keen to follow suit and got myself a matching ankle injury. With no other safe options, I got the pool open and took a bit of time to bob around and read my book – I was on holiday after all.

Once it got to 8pm, the weather was cooling and so time for Anya and I to take a good walk around the village and surrounding area, we hadn’t left the house much so over two weeks in, it was probably about time! Of course, I thought we could drop into the pub for a nice evening drink, whilst we knew they were dog friendly, as Chan has told us many times, the pub in the village is only open when there is a blue moon on the 21st of not so often – yes, it was closed again.

[17 July 2022]

Monday

Matt is back to work so he’s off to the house while I have to stay at JCs on dog duty. It’s ever hotter.

Tonie – After a quiet day, Chan and Matt came back late evening and she was keen to show off the barbering skills she had learned during lockdown.

[18 July 2022]

Tuesday

Tonie – So, having had a break day yesterday, it was back into the attic to me – apparently I am only allowed out for a single day.

Having made it as far as the “very attractive” light fitting, it was time to enlist Matt’s assistance to get the electrics switched off and the light fitting out so I could continue. Having made it safely past the light, I was also nearing the end of the not quite beam that was in place, this had been slowly starting to lean a little further to the ground with each row of boards I had been ripping off. As it turned out, there was literally nothing above holding this rather large beam in place and all of a sudden, I am straddling 2 mini-stepladders, have one hand holding the heavy beam in pace (so it didn’t fall on my head or shoulder), one with a hammer and also wondering where the extra hand was to get the last few boards out to release the beam without causing any serious injury – by this point moving was not an option. Fortunately, being a good ‘Xennial’, I always have my phone in my pocket and was able to send a quick 999 whatsapp to the team downstairs!

Chan came running up and with the extra pair of hands to support the rather heavy beam I was able to pull out the last boards and safely drop ‘the beast’ out of the ceiling where it had been suspended for likely 100 years or more. By the amount of dirt that came with it, I was sure it must have been up there at least that long and I didn’t want to dwell for too long on what made up the inch thick dirt covering me from head to toe. Once I made it to the next support beam – a real one this time – I was done for the day and directed to the shower before I was even allowed to think about getting near the pool.

Whilst I had been destroying the old ceiling today, Anya had also been working on her own piece of destruction in the shape of the sloth toy we had brought with us, so it was over to ‘Auntie Chan’ to do some toy surgery – something I have gotten a little tired of at home as it is relentless and doesn’t tend to last as long as it takes me to put the thing back together. That said, Chan has some pretty awesome sewing skills, and, whilst Anya rapidly went to trying to rip it to pieces again as soon as she had gotten it back, it was still in the one piece when her energy ran out.

[19 July 2022]

Wednesday

Chan – Today is the day of the big race. The Tour de France that is. It’s huge around here. The year we were buying our house the race went right past the front door. This year it’s up the road but unfortunately we can’t all go as someone needs to be at the house today as Matt had an important delivery due. After a lot of debating we eventually found a resolve where Matt and I would see the morning but we’d take Tonia up to the finish.

There was a lot of sitting around bored and we definitely weren’t as prepared as most. Also the ‘caravan’ throwing out all the goodies, was typically rubbish. We had fun, kinda, but waiting another hour or more for a few people on bikes wasn’t for us so we headed back to Tonia.

Back at home and Matt and I had to work. We also needed to get it all done so we could head up to see the finish of the stage. Once we were done, and about an hour or two before the end of the day, we decided to head up.

Well that was a mistake. Seems it doesn’t work like that. People wait for days before to get close to the end, and there is nowhere to park at Peyragudes. We got to about a 10 mile walk away. There was no way we were hiking that far to see some middle aged men in lycra (Mamils). Tonia got to see the whole caravan coming down the mountain though and it was tight as; one was a sheer side up and the other was a steep drop.

The Gendarmes told us to turn around, which we were quite happy about. We were also super glad Matt was driving. Millimetres space on either side, if you could call it space. Matt is incredible, I think I’d have a) pooped my pants, b) cocked it all up and hit multiple cars while trying unsuccessfully to move out of the way and getting everyone stuck while causing thousands of € of damage, or c) pissed off the gendarme before eventually trying to move out the way, rolling the car off the side of a mountain and hoping I hadn’t killed my most important people. And this is why Matt drives. Even Tonia was happy it wasn’t her.

We resorted back to Luchon and picked up the end of the race at Billy’s [Loz and Sebs place]. We had a quick chat but they are clearly busy and after the race we headed home.

Matt is leaving tomorrow so he’s packing. Of course he has no idea where anything is so I need to help. I have a direct line to the ‘washing fairy’. I always hate when he goes away but will be good to have Tonia here to keep me company.

Tonie – Whilst Chan has covered much of the events of the day, she seems to have missed a mention that I saved Matt and Brandon’s big weekend plans by actually being the one who had to stay behind. That important delivery Matt was awaiting (or rather I was), was actually the passes for the boys to get into the Grand Prix for the weekend!

Having been duped out of being able to go and see the festivities in the morning, the one half decent thing they brought home (a keyring bottle opener in the shape of a bicycle) they wouldn’t even give to me 🙁 And, they had been stuffing their faces with all sorts of random sweets and treats that had been given away. I was in agreement though about that walk to try and see the end of the race, if you look way past the car, you should just about be able to make up a road winding between the hills way behind our ‘parking spot’… well supposedly the end of the race was just behind that mountain. With the narrow roads, the big trucks coming down and the one plummety side of the mountain being covered in abandoned cars we wouldn’t have even gotten my little car through, there was no way the Tesla was going to fit.

Once back, whilst Chan and Matt were busy getting him packed, I had offered to make dinner. Sadly, this was not to be quite the gastronomic delight that one had envisioned and definitely not quite as easy as I had first thought either. My plan of ‘poulet a la Tonie avec pates de fromage’ which is my usual specialty of, chicken stuffed with Mozarella, wrapped in prosciutto and oven baked with a side of tagliatelle with a homemade cheese sauce was now going to have to have a lot of substitutes I had not tried previously. With the lack of good old, extra mature cheddar for my sauce it did not come out anywhere near my usual standard (which FYI is actually pretty darn tasty). That said, it was a hearty and filling meal, and Anya was happy to have cheese sauce on her dinners for the next couple of days – there had to be a benefit to having her around after all. With everyone fed and Matt having an early start, he went off to bed, Chan and I caught a few hours of some mindless TV and looked forward to some plans over the next few days.

[20 July 2022]