75: A busy week. The heat wave, rain barrel and gutter projects and the Bilan de Sante

Welcome to the 75th weekly post of our Baby Boomers Move to France blog.

We are into our 47th week in France 6/21-6/27/26 having spent 3 months in Duras and then roughly a month and a half in St Germaine de Confolens before settling in Chabanais.

We have been in our home in the village of Chabanais in the Charente department of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region of France since the middle of December 2025. We are still loving it.

This week,

Work on chicken coop (Cocktail Coop), Bilan appointment, Dinner at the “boys” place, Lunch at Cafe Lillian, EB volunteers at the charity shop,

Our home in Chabanais, France

Things on the agenda this week:

• Dechetterie run
• Cocktail Coop
• Brico Depot
• French class
• Dinner at the “Boys” place
• Brunch at Cafe Lillian

Weather forecast:

Still hot and no rain forecasted, It is what is called a canicule.

Why this Blog?

Long story short, we are “Baby Boomers” that have moved from Venice, Florida to the beautiful French countryside as retirees. After a little over a year of planning and fretting we sold everything in Venice and made the move on 1 August 2025.

We publish a brief update of our adventures every Sunday to share our experiences, tips and mistakes.

If you are wondering what got into our head and inspired us to make the move, check out some of our earlier posts. Again, if you have questions about our adventure, drop your questions in the comment section below.

This Weeks Daily Update

Sunday

A little work on the Cocktail Coop and brunch at Cafe Lillian

Normally I don’t do any outside noisy work on Sundays. It is just not proper to make noise on Sundays in France. I just had to get a little work done so I limited it to 2 hours and was done before noon.

I repurposed some wood planks and then screwed them in place. It wasn’t too noisy and like I said I stopped before noon. We will sand the wood and stain it.

After a quick shower we walked over to Cafe Lillian for brunch. They were so busy that we didn’t really get a chance to chat with Ian and Penny. I’m glad to see them so busy, but I miss the chat.

EB helped me work on the health questionnaire required for our Wednesday Bilan appointment. The form is all in French, so it was great to have her help.

EB seasoned a salmon fillet, wrapped it in some foil and we grilled it on the BBQ. Potatoes and corn and EB’s salad hit the spot along with one of our new favorite cocktails introduced to us by Michelle called a Hugo. A perfect summertime drink. It is a break from our go to Gin and tonic.

A big plus, I think we finally have the ice cube dilemma figured out. We have tried different ice cube tray designs, and I think we found the solution after a few trial-and-error attempts.

Monday: Work on the cocktail coop, a Brico Depot run and stay out of the heat

EB cut up some peaches and added it to our yogurt and honey for a delicious and cool breakfast.

Cocktail Coop

After coffee I wanted to get a little more work done on the cocktail coop and figure out what is needed to renovate the gutter and down spout for the rain collection barrel before it gets too hot. I did a little excavation on the site where the rain barrel will go.

Then off to Brico Depot for parts. I couldn’t find the actual gutter material (PVC) in the store, so I asked and was told that those materials are in the “Exterior” department. I would have to go outside of the store. I found EB and we went to check out. This store uses self-checkout, so we tested our French language skills a little. No problems but you have to remember to keep your receipt handy as the bar code is needed to get out of the self checkout area through the scanner/gate.

EB wanted to find some better hangers for the window curtains that she has put up in the house. Due to the extreme heat of the canicule, the sticky on the back of the brackets is not so sticky now. No luck on the curtain hangers.

I found the “Exterior” department and located all of the gutter materials. This department is set up for folks to drive their trucks in and load up and then check out. I didn’t know that, so I rolled a shopping cart in and loaded it up and stopped at the checkout booth. I’m probably not the first person to do that. Anyway, they had all of the parts, and all is good.

We have managed to strike off some of the items on our cocktail coop reno list so now we are down to the following:

• Repurpose the wood siding and move the wood siding to the area where the rainwater collection barrel had been
• Relocate the rainwater downspout
• Reno/replace the rain gutter sections
• Relocate the supports
• Relocate the rain barrel
• Figure out how to route the overflow pipe
• Paint

I’m happy that even with the weather abbreviated work schedule we are making progress. Russell (fellow American) dropped by to chat and get the contact information of the solar panel install company. He is doing the research for solar power for his place. He mentioned that he was looking for an old garden hose. It just so happens that we have one. We said that we would drop it off on Tuesday. Somewhere in the conversation he invited us over for dinner on Tuesday. Hell yes!

Due to the heat we decided to sleep in the Salon as it is a little cooler than our upstairs bedroom. We set up the cots with extra padding and had the fans going directed at us. Not too bad.

Tuesday: We woke up to a nice morning that quickly warmed up

Back to work on the Cocktail Coop. I’m pretty sure that the new parts for the gutter will work fine but will require some modifications.

Work continues to progress slowly. by about 2:00 I was done in.

EB volunteered at the Cancer charity shop, but the heat was too much so they closed the shop early.

Dinner

Quitting early gave us time to get ready to go over to Russell’s for dinner. Russell is part of a trio of gay American guys that live together in Chabanais. They have a really cool, quirky old house (most houses in Chabanais are quirky). Russell, Damion and Garry share the house and are slowly renovating it. Russell is currently tackling the fairly large back yard. It looks like a pretty big project.

We arrived at their house at around 5:00 and were happy to see that they had invited Ian and Penny as well and the neighbor Irma for dinner. I have mentioned Ian and Penny many times as we enjoy having brunch at their restaurant, Cafe Lillian. Irma is a sweet older lady whose husband passed away a few years ago and the boys have taken her under their wings.

Russel and Damion have each written a fiction book that they signed and gave to us. More reading material.

Yes, dinner was great and served on a beautifully set table. Chicken, corn on the cob, salad, homemade potato salad too and ice cream. Russell added edible flowers to the salad, and all was excellent.

Rosie was a perfect princess.

EB and I had to leave around 8:00 so that we would be ready for our health checkup (bilan de sante) Wednesday morning. Early to bed and fasting.

Wednesday: Bilan de Sante (Health Check-up)

We jumped up at 6:00ish and left the house a little after 7 for our 8:15 appointment in Angouleme. The GPS was perfect and we arrived a little early, but that is just how we roll anyway. Ron and Michelle had told us that there are a couple of funny twists and turns once in town and you almost feel like you are at the wrong place. We bypassed the tunnel like Ron had suggested. He mentioned that you end up at the same spot.

I am really impressed at how organized the bilan de sante system is. We walked into the building and inserted our Carte Vital in a machine and when we retrieved our card we were issued a number. We took a seat and within 5 or 10 minutes we were called in for a brief interview where we present our Carte Vital and also our passport. They ask a couple of questions and assemble a file (dossier). Amazingly your French medical details are in the system. You take your file to the Hostess (Hotess, pronounced Otess). The hotess then directs you to your next step. After each step you go back to the hotess for further directions to your next step (kind of like an air traffic controller). There are several people (maybe 20), going through the process at the same time. The reason why the process goes so quickly is that all of these exams are done in parallel. I mean while I’m getting my blood drawn EB was having her eyes checked, I come back to the hotess and she sends me to the ECG room and EB might go to the blood test. Once we were on our individual paths, we didn’t really catch up to each other until breakfast. Yes, they serve a complimentary breakfast in the middle of your exam because we had fasted for 12 hours prior to the appointment and that is how the system works. Then off to the hotess again for the next step. I didn’t have to have my eyes or teeth checked as I had all that done in Florida last year. I didn’t need hearing test as I had that done here in France this year. Then of course there is a urine test, and I don’t remember what else. My last stop was the gentleman that discussed my ECG with me. He did note an anomaly in my heartbeat rhythm. Actually, this is not news to me. I have had this condition since I can remember. That said, he suggested that I see a cardiologist because of my age. EB and I were both done with the whole exam just about the same time.

All in all, a very well organized and comprehensive medical exam. I admit that I struggled a bit with the language, but I actually could answer some of the questions in French and most everyone spoke English a little if needed. I’m happy to report that I am getting more confident speaking French every day. Of course, EB kicks butt.

Speaking of EB her veggie garden is really looking good. We are going to have a lot of tomatoes and cucumbers.

French class was held outdoors under the shade of a big tree by the river

The classroom was hot and muggy, so EB suggested that we have class outside. Patricia was good with that, so we went out and sat on a wall just up the bank from the river. Russell showed up so we had 3 students. Ron had to go out of town, so he missed class. We missed Diane this week and Brian is having some medical problems, so he missed class too.

Thursday: Another hot day

Back to work on the Cocktail Coop. the first priority is the rain gutter update to accommodate moving the rainwater collection barrel. I struggled with this but finally muscled it into submission. Not finished yet but will get it done by the end of the week. EB worked on the veggie patch weeding and tied the tomato plants up.

No golf this week, just too hot.

Temperatures dropped a little, so we moved back into our bedroom

Friday:

More work on the Cocktail Coop project.

EB went to the grocery store and found some seasoned chicken thighs that I would cook on the grill. Great idea so we don’t have to turn the oven on. There is enough chicken there for 3 meals.

When she got home EB helped me move the base components into the place that I had prepared for the water barrel. I had leveled the area added some large cement blocks and leveled them then added dirt from the coop and once again leveled everything.

The base components are heavy pieces of cast concrete so moving them into place is a 2-person job. I added some rocks around the base to dress it up a bit and in hopes that they will help retain the base. It really is not tipping. I rushed the photo and it ended up looking a bit wonky as EB would say.

EB had an appointment for a mammogram, so we headed off to Limoge. The imaging center is easy to get to; the staff was friendly and helpful. The lady who smooshes the breasts spoke English so that was good, but after that, EB had to get an ultrasound done and the guy who did that did NOT speak any English and EB said she got flustered and lost all her French 🙁 . Oh well, after the ultrasound, the staff gives the results to the receptionist, and she calls you up to give you the results dossier and pick up your carte vitale. EB will take the dossier with her to the Gynecologists in September….in France, once you have cancer and it is in remission or eradicated, the follow up is done by the gynecologist and NOT an oncologist. An oncologist is only for ACTIVE cancer.

EB harvested some veggies, beans, cucumber, green onion and rosemary from her veggie patch for our dinner. She added the beans with some peppers and seasoning and wrapped it all up in aluminum foil to be grilled along with the chicken. The cucumber was added to our salad and voila a great meal.

Tomatos and peppers are almost ready.

Saturday: Finished relocation of water barrel

EB was scheduled to volunteer at the cancer shop, but they called her and cancelled due to heat. She started a new crochet project this week. She found a pattern for Christmas stockings, so we are getting new Christmas stockings this year to hang on our fireplace mantel. Rosie gets one too of course.

A thunderstorm was forecast so I had to have the rain barrel project complete and ready to catch some rain. This is crucial for garden watering.

After my shower I opted to stay outside and sit in the little patio. The salon was too stuffy for me. EB was watching a program on TV. I asked her if she wanted a cocktail or anything and a glass of prosecco was her choice. Nice, cool and refreshing. She eventually joined me for a little while and we talked about AC and had a glass of Pepsi on the rocks. By about 8:30 EB called it quits and decided it was bedtime. I stayed outside and researched AC units and the difference between a heat pump and a mini-split system on my iPad. It was so nice outside I lost track of time and finally decided to go to bed around 11:30. The sun doesn’t set until well after 10:00. It really was nice out, a little cooler, no bugs and quiet.

So that was our week.

Progress on the Cocktail Coop, Bilan de Sante appointment in Angouleme. We managed to survive the hot weather and got the rain barrel and gutter project completed in time for the thunderstorm.

French Lifestyle and Culture

Why don’t French homes have air conditioning

Weeelll according to The Atlantic, the position of the French government is that air conditioning is a “maladaptation” to climate change– a wasteful, antisocial, technology that intensifies the very crisis that it purports to address. That said, it appears that the record-breaking heat is testing France’s principles. Last Tuesday was the hottest day in recorded history in France. the temperature in Paris has been more that 96 degrees for 10 straight days topping 105.

It is even getting political. The Atlantic notes the far-right parties are capitalizing on the fact that the heat has closed schools, cancelled trains, overloaded hospitals and therefore proclaimed itself the party of air-conditioning, turning the technical question into a culture war issue. Amazing!

I get a kick out of The Atlantics characterization that the French are adapting and adopting to the heat by “living like sailors, internalizing the rhythms of wind and sun as they rig their homes each day by opening all the windows in the morning until it starts to get hot, then locking in the cooler air and closing the shutters. Some people use chalk powder pasted on the outside of windows to reflect more sun light if the local hardware stores are not sold out of it. At night the windows are opened. fans turned on and cool off with a cold shower. The word for this adaptation is “bricolage” meaning DIY or patch job.

To me, all of this adaptation is a testament to ingenuity and works well for short durations but given the recent prolonged heat wave and very little relief at night the adaptations, brilliant architectural designs of these old buildings and insulating technologies are just not enough so I’m ready to turn to technology.

To be clear most white-collar offices, movie theatres, malls, supermarkets and many shops are air conditioned. The French like Europeans in general are skeptical of air conditioning at home. In a 2021 Opinion Way survey, nearly 66% of respondents said that they did not have AC and did not plan to install it, mostly for economic or environmental reasons. Interestingly, there has been widespread belief that AC is a wasteful and a distinctly American indulgence. One should dress down, hydrate and have lunch in the shade. In fact, with the conscientious effort to protect the environment, AC has been presented as harmful. Unfortunately, the impact on the earth by climate change is happening much faster than anticipated. Of course, it is not only a French issue Europe in general, and the world is affected by these prolonged heat waves.

Thankfully the newest technology heat pumps and associated mini splits are more efficient than conventional AC for the small village homes like ours that are found all over France. The question might have been, do we need it for the small percentage of the year that heat waves occur? Is this year an anomaly? Or should we expect a higher frequency of these extreme weather patterns in the years ahead? It seems to me the science points to more severe weather. Given the controller technologies of AC units these days, the units need not be running 24/7 and temperatures in individual rooms can be controlled independently. Our solar panels are currently producing way more energy than we consume and if needed, we can add panels and we can increase our virtual battery capacity too. As of today, we are seriously considering adding a mini split system to cool at least 2 rooms or maybe 3 rooms.

Next Week (la Semaine Prochaine)

• 4 days in Duras
• Visit 2 favorite winery’s
• Dinner at Parvas Magnum
• Attend the Duras night Market

Weather forecast for next week

The forecast is for a cooling trend with high temps in the upper 80s and lows in the 60s. I don’t see rain in the forecast for the week.

Signing off for the week

STAY COOL AND HYDRATED!!

As always, we sign off wishing you all a good week and remind you to take care of yourselves and your family.

Keep in touch and leave questions, suggestions and comments below. We really enjoy hearing from you all.

Wishing you a good week (Bonne Semaine)

Mark and Elizabeth Beiley

Babyboomersmovetofrance.com