The story continues - this is Barry's Post.

This is Linda at the base of the steps going into the room we call the Hay Loft.

The size of the job becomes a reality, we will need help. Back to JP for assistance. He has a “worker” that is paid 15 euros per hour. He is a crazy Frenchman and spends every dollar he earns the day it is given to him but he has tools and a work van with a roof rack for lumber, he has no front teeth, and is meth amphetamine thin... “But if you watch him he will work for you”. This is my kind of guy. We tell JP to have him show up the next day.


The Manitou and Eric show up first thing in the morning. Terez and Joseph invite the entire group in for Café. At Jules and Eric’s combined hourly rate each Café break costs about $35. And after Café there is cigarettes, Eric rolls his own cigarettes so that he can mix in a little marijuana to make the day go by a little faster. Oh yes the smell of tobacco smoke, pot and liberal amounts of French calone make Eric, well “aromatic” at best it is a good thing this is outside work.

The first day with Jules and Eric is roof strip day. Roof tiles more than 100 years old begin to fly off the roof and form stacks on the ground. These tiles will be broken up and used as fill around the building. The French waste nothing!!!

The roof stripping job becomes difficult and slow. There is literally tons of tiles to be removed plus tons more of rotted wood slats that support the old style tiles. At the end of the day Eric tells us he has a friend that will work for 12 euro per hour so that we can get this project done much faster. We agree to hire Patric. He can’t start for a few days because he works at a chicken ranch and is catching and chopping off the heads of chickens at night and sleeps by day. We tell Eric to work this out and we will take what we can get.

When Patric arrives the cost of the Café beaks goes up to $45 each. That includes the time for all of the kissing and smoking. We are told that we are getting a great hourly rate and part of the deal is that we feed the workers lunch. How bad can that be?