I arrived in Bigorre yesterday morning. We spent the day picking up the straw bales as the weather forecast had announced rain in the evening. It was pretty accurate and as soon as we were done covering the trailers full of bales, the wind started to pick up and the first rain drops started to fall down.

We harvested 2 full trailers of rye straw bales which is about 450 bales. We hope that there will be enough to do the whole insulation on the house. It was a good workout because you have to use a fork, lift the bale above your head and carry it to the trailer. As the trailer gets packed higher and higher, it gets harder to throw the bales to the top.

While we were taking care of the bales, the masons poured the long reinforced concrete beam that goes from the water cistern to the front of the first cellar. Today, they covered the whole cellar and the rainwater cistern with planks and steel sheets to prepare for the reinforced slab. While they were doing this, Ismael and I cleaned the side of the road and took some soil away so that they will be able to extend the slab closer to the road and rest on top of the old house’s wall.

The slab should be pourred and finished by end of next week.

Tomorrow, the carpenter is coming and will start his work on the beams for the first floor. Everything is moving along and it’s nice to see. There is still tons of work to be done but it’s already starting to look nice.