More supply problems when I discovered Joris Ide had sent the wrong profile fillers for the ridge and I was about 150 stitchers screws short. The company is a shit show! Supply of the profile fillers might take a week or more, so today before the deluge I fitted the flashings against the neighbours house and tried my best to wrap the ridge up. Hopefully it will survive the coming wind, rain and possibly snow!
mardi 19 novembre 2024
Roof on!
lundi 11 novembre 2024
Latest progress
The remaining purlins were installed (heavy) and then the balcony structure erected. Impending rain led to hastily applied plastic covers, finished in the nick of time!
Today brief dry spells allowed for building the stone walls between the trusses...2/3 finished. The roof fabricator supplied the ridge pieces at the wrong angle...hoping for a speedy re-supply to take advantage of a weather window later in the week.
mardi 5 novembre 2024
mercredi 30 octobre 2024
vendredi 25 octobre 2024
Progress
mardi 15 octobre 2024
lundi 14 octobre 2024
mercredi 9 octobre 2024
More progress and a sorry time for Bam-bam
samedi 5 octobre 2024
vendredi 27 septembre 2024
mardi 24 septembre 2024
lundi 2 septembre 2024
It's been a long hot humid/wet summer.
We've lost four sheep, three to FCO (Donnie, Hopi and Puffle) and one to Piroplasmosis (Valentine). At least another four sheep have had FCO and are recovering. Bam-bam had a long form of the virus lasting over two weeks and his recovery is slow. The vaccine doesn't offer any of the sheep protection until late September.
All the kingpost trusses for the barn have been built and disassembled. There's a few days of pointing to do before I can start removing the old roof. Two weeks of rain are forecast so it might have to wait.
mercredi 21 août 2024
Two dead
Hopi and Donny have both died of FCO and the delivery of the vaccine has been delayed...desperate miserable times.
dimanche 18 août 2024
FCO
A new form of the FCO virus (also called blue tongue) has been edging closer to the Ariège for a few months now. This new strain of the virus is resistance to the previous vaccine, so our sheep are unprotected. The blood borne virus is spread by flies and mosquitos and so it is almost impossible to protect against. A new vaccine has been developed but was only available in bottles of 150 doses with two doses 2 weeks apart required. Once opened the bottle had to be used in 24 hours. For our 23 sheep the price was astronomic. Last week a new vaccine has been made available requiring a single injection and available in a bottle giving 40 doses. It is on order and should arrive on Tuesday but even after injection it takes 30 days until it offers protection. In 2008 two sheep got the virus shortly after being vaccinated, one died.
This year we already have four extremely sick sheep in quarantine and being regularly injected with anti-inflammatories and antibiotics to prevent secondary infections. Hopi is the sickest and has been struggling for 10 days now, it is still touch and go as to whether she will survive. Chihero, Donny and Millet are also very sick. All we can do is wait and hope.
New chickens have arrived - three hens and three cockerels (we'll pick the best behaved and eat the other two). With the 4 foxes still around (and getting bolder) and the hunting season 4 weeks away, the birds are confined to barracks.
samedi 10 août 2024
vendredi 2 août 2024
Col de la Core to Port de Salau via the Estanous