Chez Moi - Bonnifont - 2017   A pictorial record

We start off 2017 with a project I started last year. The RT Simulator.  This is for my flying instructor Roger who wants to offer the facility of examining for the FRTOL. Now, just in case you don't know, that stands for "Flight Radio Telephony Operators Licence" and you need one of these to operate a radio in an aircraft so, you have to pass this exam if you want to be a pilot. SIMPLE! This is post delivery of some ordered components and me unpacking and storing them.  More to follow.	3 Feb - So, as you may gather, we didn't do too much during January.  Huddled up in front of the fire in the post Christmas glow with Jen watching Tennis from Australia and me working on my RT project. After the tennis Jen decided she needed some exercise so out came the puzzles.	10 Feb - Once she gets going!	16 Feb - .  This one is a Cluedo puzzle with a crime to solve.  Clues are in the picture.
24 Feb - A little break from the RT Project and my 1st Instrument Flight - as a passenger.  This was the flight the video came from on the flying page.	25 Feb - I bought this puzzle for Jen's birthday.  It's from a picture of her sat in her car outside Linden Lee @ Netley Abbey April 2005.	10 March - A Murder Mystery Evening - "Death By Chocolate" @ Heather & Jeff''s	21 March - And this is what all the bits and pieces turned into from the first picture of this year.  The RT Simulator. Last stage of testing and passed as CAA Approved equipment on 21st March.  More on this here.
22 March - And another dolls house puzzle from Jen	4 April - Clear brambles from bottom field	3D Dolls House Puzzle	6 April - Garden Spring clean
Used to call this bit between the trees "ile de Bonnifont" as it was an island of brambles. Not been in between the trees for seven years.	14 April - Car service time. Oil and two filters	This is what lives in your air filter over here	17 April - Country House Puzzle
22 April - International Marconi Day Celebrations and I make contact with my old team from GB5LT at Luttrells Tower, Calshot, Southampton.	The GB5LT team at the other end of the conversation 335 miles north	inside Marconi's original workshop	4 May - Off to the UK Ouistreham Ferry
8 May - Off to Harry Potters	for a day out	Brill fun	worth a visit
14 May and Jen is back to work	15 May - Time for the summer flowers in the wall and	wall baskets	17 May - Castle Puzzle. Looks like our local Chateaux
23 May - Tractor maintenance time	25 May - Fairy Castle Puzzle	and time to vote!	26 May - our effort this year for home veg
31 May - Flail Mower repair.	Re-fix shaft guard	2 June - Jen is into puzzles with interesting lighting	3 June - and 3D puzzles of all sorts
who would have thought - A Cuckoo Clock Puzzle	4 June - I do a low level flypast on the way back from Niort Airfield to Limoges	11 June - 3D Victorian Mansion	These look really good
A Waspinator - Don't always work I know but they do here. I've hung four around the garden.	19 June - Time for the annual external improvement project. Old Summer Kitchen this year whilst the temperature was 37 degrees with a very nice through breeze	A coat of paint on the house  and the outside walls brightens up the whole area.	22 June - Belfry Light Puzzle
29 June - Veg progress	Diagon Alley 3D Puzzle	5 July - Jen's healthy lunch! Well, we do treat ourselves occasionally.	9 July - Flail mower making a noise so decided to put an edge on the flails
Never done this before and I know the shaft is balanced so checked each flail's weight before and after each grinding operation	to try and keep the shaft balanced. 20 of these on the shaft.	11 July - My healthy lunch with loads of salt and Salad Cream	13 July - Mower still making a noise so checked out the gearbox.
14 July - We host teas and coffees for the Church Ramblers Group who walked from the village to Bonnifont and back via the river.	17 July - I spend a lot of time in my Radio Shack room whilst Jen is upstairs in her study	so I decided to knock-up a little intercom system between both rooms.	So here are the bits at the start of the project.
19 July - Tomatoes removed from their growing thingy as they didn't seem to be doing much.  Lets see if they go red!	20 July - Jen's next Bridge Puzzle	22 July - OMG! They are going red!	23 July - And the geraniums are in full bloom
26 July - This lamp used to be in the old summer kitchen but gets blown down every year.  Let's see how it survives up here.	29 July - OK. Tomatoes are red and ready for Jen's salad.	30 July - Intercom assembly in progress after hours of design and circuit testing.	Make radio contact with my old Radio Club from the Waterside during their annual HF Picnic @ Yew Tree Heath in the New Forest between Dibden Purlieu and Lyndhurst.
Waterside Club members at the other end of the radio link in the New Forest 340 miles away from me in France and all achieved with two radios and two antennas.	More HF Picnic pictures  here	31 July - Intercom installed, commissioned and in use.	I'm constantly receiving orders for Tea now!!!
8 Aug - Jen's Birthday with Matt & Chris and Ellie & Steph	18 Aug - Decided that the Intercom system could be improved by adding a message board so, design & testing	19 Aug - Lighthouses on the air weekend	20 Aug - Bi-planes overflying Bonnifont
Clearing up after Matt and Chris's visit	25 Aug - more Intercom development	28 Aug - Getting ready for the Autumn	29 Aug - New door bells for the back gate/kitchen
and the Front door as part of the intercom project	1 Sept - Puzzle Preparation for Halloween	4 Sept - Constant our neighbour's tomato  growing results	And - it's Log time again :-(
A drive full of logs and an empty log shed is always a depressing start	but, after only a few hours that lot is safely tucked away	and the log shed is not so depressing	5 Sept - Next day, next delivery so we start all over again
However, again after a few hours	all tucked away and ready for the winter	8 Sept - Another 3D puzzle for Jen	makes a nice change and it glows in the dark
10 Sept - I've recently come across quale eggs so I thought I'd give them a go	Hmmm.  Quite good for a diet I suppose but really fiddly to crack and cook. Normal eggs required to supplement	24 Sept - ok, sorry it's a Christmas photo but you're looking at the wooden front door	which we decided we would paint white to brighten up the lounge during the winter months
2 Oct - and whilst I was working in the lounge I filled in the very picturesque holes that somehow produce a gale force wind during the winter.	7 Oct - you can tell Jen's been away in the UK	It's the only time I get to do big DIY projects. Workshop floor looks much better.	23 Oct - This is the workshop intercom unit. Built into my granddads kitchen speaker cabinet from his radiogram back in the 1960's
11 Nov - Must be getting near to Christmas!	14 Nov - Yep, I can tell what's on Jen's mind	16 Nov - Thank you Ellie :-) Very nice too	21 Nov - Geraniums still going strong
24 Oct - continuing with the new 3D puzzle theme	28 Nov - Well! This is also different, very difficult but really good to look at.	1 Dec - Yep, Christmas decoration time	we don't hang around over here
1st December and out they come	along with the snow	Hmmm wonder what the weather will be for Christmas?	5 Dec - Well! Maybe we will have a white Christmas.  This is Limoges Airport like I have never seen
			Unfortunately this was as close to Christmas as we got at home.  Due to ill health of Jen's parents we travelled back to the UK and spent Christmas and New Year near the East Coast. However,  we are very fortunate to have spent another healthy year @ Bonnifont doing just whatever we want to do, whenever we want to do it - or not!
and at night	14 Dec - and of course, a Christmas puzzle	and the Advent Calendar