Happy New Year 2020

Our year 2019 has ended like fire works. Let me explain: December was filled with milestone events and all of them concerning the renovation.

The renovations

The comfort of the main house will be strongly improved and you will see why.

First of all, we received 5 new windows for the back of our house. This is what it used to look like.

It cleans up the back side of our house drastically. We chose "tilt and turn" windows which will allow good air flow without the security issues as those windows are at street hight. In January, the company will come again to take the measurements for the roll shutters. This is a job we hired out, because we know we cannot be every where doing everything. The double glazing windows will improve the comfort (constant temperature and sound isolation) of those rooms.

The whole summer Mike has been preparing for the heating floor of the main floor of the house. In December we were finally ready to receive the concrete.

But first there was some preparation to be done. On our last blog you could read that Mike was busy with the drainage pipes and the plastic liner that covers the entire floor. Then came the insulation boards, the reinforcing metal and the piping system where a hot fluid will run to heat the floor slab. On the left is our dining room and on the right the main downstairs bedroom. You can also see the installation of the future shower in the future bathroom in the main bedroom.

The concrete day was a real important day which needed some organization.

We live directly on the main road so getting the concrete truck here was a bit tricky. We actually needed to file papers at our city hall asking permission to close the road "partly". We then got a paper stating everything that needed to be put in place to insure the safety of the road users and the workers of the concrete company. Any claims resulting of an unsafe situation would be put against us personally. We rented a set of stoplights so the traffic was going by alternatively.

As usual, Mike was well prepared, he had created a chute allowing the wheel barrels to fill without too much spilling on the floor.

The truck came at 08:00 as planned and we had 3 strong friends that helped carrying the concrete in the wheel barrels. This is heavy work and the ground was uneven. The first loads had to be put in the dunjeon at the back of the house where the "utility room" will be.

Paul was there to level everything up and I was helping by measuring the concrete height with the laser.

Around 11:00, there had been 8 cubes of concrete poured and we still needed a bit more. The truck went away and came back about an hour later to finish the work. During that time, we had a coffee break with a piece of homemade English Fruit Cake. Yummy !

After having cleaned everything, we were ready for some beers, a nice bowl of soup and some vegetarian chili !

To Paul, Richard and Franck: Thank you guys, this was no easy work but it was really well done. It is our turn to give back the favor ;)

We are quite happy with the end result

Mike used this opportunity to poor our front step where he had installed a drain in case of heavy rain.

The drain goes directly in the ditch leading to the river nearby. It will be covered with tiles that were given to us by Monique and Stephan back in the Netherlands. Soon you will be able to appreciated the end result.

And then came our new wood stove!

What is special about that wood stove? It has an incorporated boiler to heat water.

This stove also serves as a cooking element with a cook top and an oven (left). The right part being the wood stove. In the winter, we will probably use our gas stove a bit less, enjoying cooking on this piece of art !

And finally, the city hall kept its promise: a speed bump was put in front of our house !

For the last two and a half years, we have been asking for the possibility to reduce the speed of the traffic passing by. The mayor had told us that a speed bump was planned but it never happened until now. And now, this is a reality ! Speed bump and 30 km/h zone.

Mike is born on December 17th. I wonder which of all those gifts he enjoyed the most.

I did also get a gift the past month: Mike has created for me a potting room beside the container. The right part will serve as an outside room where I will be able to do the seedlings. That room leads to the inside of the container using a small staircase. In the container, I will be keeping my seeds, books, planners and all materials that need to be kept dry. This was Christmas !

The chickens

And what about them, well lots has happened again.

Six birds have been prepared and put in the freezer for later use. For me, this means 3 halve days, 2 chicken each time. It is a bit of work, some organization for all the required steps but I would have to say that I am getting better at it all the time.

Our friends Jessica and Grant who have the restaurant nearby have given us their chickens. For the restaurant, they buy about 180 eggs each week, they will never be self-sufficient and having more then 50 chickens at home means extra bureaucratic steps. None of their children were interested in taking care of them as "pet chickens" so they were better elsewhere.

The process of introducing new chicken to an existing group takes a bit of time. At the moment, our group is composed of 1 alpha rooster, 1 young rooster, 12 hens and 3 younger chickens (don't know if they are males or females). Before introducing other chickens to my group I want to make sure they are not sick or too weak. I have locked them up for 2 weeks in a separate room of the chicken coop with fresh water, plenty of food and a ash bath for them to clean out the mites. Each day, I observe their behavior. The next step is the visual introduction. We have fenced a small run outside for the new hens to get out too. This will allow all the chicken to see each other without real contact. We will observe them, and probably after 1 week, we will introduce the new group totally. At first their will be some pecking done so that everyone will find their place in the group. Pecking is a natural system by which birds arrange their social standing in the flock. The higher ranked birds will get the best food, water and roosts while the lower placed birds will get the leftovers. This method of organization places each member of the flock on a ‘hierarchy ladder’. This complex social order is designed to ensure that there is good cohesion between members. This sort of co-operation between members of the flock ensures the survival of the flock by giving the best chances to the fittest birds.

There is lots to remember out 2019

Let's start the adventure for 2020,

making the best out of it !

On New Year's, we are celebrating our 22nd anniversary together, still building up the memories.

See you all again soon, xx