Sixth day of working

It is about 5pm local time as I start typing this post with the aim of getting most of it done before I take the men back so we can have our whole evening uninterrupted by my incessant tippy tappying to complete this daily ritual. We shall see if this is achieved as I have also put the Fun Loving Criminals on the stereo and this has a habit of distracting me and making me dance. I will leave you to that mental image and get on with my typing.

Moon a slash above the rising sun

Last night I went straight to bed after hitting publish and I slept almost all the way through the night, only waking briefly when A came to bed a couple of hours later. It was a good decision to get that early night as when the alarm went off (and it did go off) I felt a lot better and had already been up a few minutes and was actually stood out on the balcony getting some photographs of the glorious early morning sky. The moon was still out and is now a scythe in the sky which will soon disappear entirely. It was actually quite bracing this morning as well with the first feeling of autumn.

Just before the sun rose

The first brew of the day still proved vital in waking me up and once it was drunk I went down with A as she carried the boys' breakfast I took out the washing for hanging out. I popped the bonnet on Thomas first however and found that the oil levels were a little low and also the coolant was slightly low so I dealt with both of these before walking over and starting to hang the washing up. A finished with the boys while I was doing this so they were left with me (and forced to sit still) while she went inside to make another brew and also go onto the balcony to get pictures as the sun started to come up.

And there it is, golden and beautiful

Today we got as close to running out of clothes pegs as we have ever and as I was carefully pegging each item to maximise drying potential I was once again struck with just how lovely and peaceful this place is. I also noticed that I was having dragons breath this morning as there was a definite chill to the air that I remember from the first few weeks of my residence.

This appreciation of the peace and tranquility of the location lasted almost through until A got back and then some music started up which at first I thought was just coming from the farmer's car as he does listen to some awful music quite loud as he's driving however it kept going and was still going the last time I went outside. Not ideal. I asked Bekir about it and he said it was gypsies so hopefully it'll not go on into the night.

Top corridor cleared a bit

Anyway, other than raging internally at the invasion (pre 9am) of the music, I was really quite productive while A was getting the men. Today is a tidying day for us and so I started clearing and shifting stuff which had collected around the place mainly in the top corridor but also outside Room 13 and in the guest suite and downstairs. I was moving fast and feeling good again so the early night had definitely made a difference. When they arrived I was just setting into the washing up and had the kettle boiling again for another brew. The "after" picture above was taken later in the day as we kept clearing in bits and bats through the afternoon.

Loads of rubbish which we bagged and cleared

So the first task set today for both of us was to get into the green building and clear out the rubbish piled in the far room. It didn't take long at all, maybe about 45 minutes, and in that time we threw the cardboard tubes out of the window in the truck bed and trailer and stuffed handfuls of cloth strips into bags to then be thrown out on top of the tubes. There was also a mine of old mouse droppings which we had to use a shovel to lift and put into a bag. When the room was down to the dry hay on the floor we stopped cleaning but we also had to lift out three tables and some old window frames for storage elsewhere. This room will be filled with the planks from the old roof next week.

Thomas and trailer becoming full of rubbish

I had pushed the trailer round to the one window while parking Thomas under the other for ease of loading which was pretty successful apart from the fly wheel was loose and collapsed as I was pushing the trailer up the hill which was fun to try and fix. After the loading was completed we rehitched and I drove it all up onto the top bank for unloading.

He has just come out of the pool

Ralf was with us while we were doing the tidying; he rode in Thomas as we pulled the trailer round and then sniffed and dug through the rubbish as we were cleaning. Later on he made a little nest for himself in the hay and lay there cleaning himself and looking very satisfied but the most fun he had was when he got to chase Rambo around and obviously end up in the water. His legs are so skinny but with the fluffy fur it is only when he is wet that you get to see this.

It looked like a fair ground ride

Not content with all of this fun A jumped into the trailer as I was pulling it back up to by the fire pit and held Ralf all the way. It looked like fun but she wouldn't drive the truck through the tight twists and steep climbs that you need to navigate to get up there what with the pile of spoil, the dog's enclosure, the washing line and the bank.

Fire circle made of blasted rock

The first thing to do at the fire was to sort out the blasted rock and we decided to make use of it to arrange a circle around the fire as a limit of our fire building and maybe to stop the fire spreading once it is alight. There was enough broken rock in the centre to do all of this and we were pulling quite large chunks out of the very middle.

Piles of tiles being placed ready for fitting

For the men the day was similar to yesterday. Sally and Shengen were first of all pulling tiles onto the roof however this was slightly more complicated than yesterday as they were moving the pile from further up the patio. Shengen started out using the wheelbarrow to bring stacks to where he would pulley them so I went and got the trolley for him which I had to pump the tires up on but when this was done proved much more successful. With loads of tiles up they then set to moving them onto the roof again in preparation for being fixed in place.

Bekir starting the grouting

Bekir had come and got straight on with finishing the tiling in the guest room. All he had left was the small section down next to the partition wall and he finished this off really quickly, after asking where I wanted the tiles to stop and we decided through the doorway to the edge of the wood. He used his tile cutter (10,000 rpm and REALLY noisy) free hand to cut the notches out to achieve this, something I would never even think of attempting. With all the tiles down he then set to grout the gaps with a cement wash.

A pyramid of burning stuff is growing

After stopping for breakfast (yes, all of that was achieved before breakfast) which was bacon and eggs for me again we went back up onto the back bank and unloaded Thomas and the trailer of all the rubbish from the green building. There was quite a lot but it was all quite loose so we weighted it down with some wood to ensure it didn't all blow away.

Loads of broken window frames

Not wanting to stop with the progress we next took Thomas and the trailer round the front where I managed to reverse right up the patio weaving between piles of wood on one side and the tiles on the other to where all the old broken window frames had been piled by the fitters. We loaded Thomas and the trailer as full as they could go at three different piles of broken frame and also picked up quite a lot of packing materials from the tiles. It was just coming up to lunch time now so we parked the load up the top and left it there to wait for after a break and some food.

Sweeping up before breaking for lunch

Bekir was also getting ready for his lunch break and he had all but completed the grouting in the guest room. He was sweeping up and cleaning the finished area when I got in and doesn't it look great. They then had their break and quiet (other than the gypsy music) reigned again. We had beans on toast and then A had a lay down while I went out onto the balcony to read in the sun. Lovely.

Ralf just loves playing

I put this picture in with the purpose of showing you just how playful Ralf is. Here he has jumped up onto A's lap and is doing his best to catch her hand. We do limit the amount of play where he has his mouth open and it would be easy for him to accidentally catch someone with those sharp teeth, but it is in his nature to play like that. He is super playful as you can see.

And still the pyramid grows

So lunch was over and I dragged us both out to get the final task of the day completed so we could enjoy our rest for the remainder. We are not building the whole bonfire today as there is more lighter burning stuff to put on it that I want the heavy window frames to go over so we have stacked most of the frames on the side. We have put a lot of plastic and other rubbish on however so this has once again been weighted down from all sides. The plan right now is to burn this next Saturday when my best friend and his mrs are here and to invite S and S and my friend over for the party.

A moment when Ralf isn't growling at Rambo

Rambo and Ralf have both enjoyed the fact that today we have been outside a lot working as they have been able to be around us most of the day. Rambo has done his usual thing of getting in the way and then suddenly disappearing then coming back to stand in the way again while Ralf pottered around, dozing under his tree by the top fence then disappearing himself only to reappear from the depths of the little wood when his name was called.

Super camouflaged insect

With Thomas empty we could now drop down into town to fill him back up with fuel which we did with no problem and though we looked for where the gypsy music was coming from we couldn't see anything. When we got back there was one last thing to do which was light the fire in the burning drum. As we were adding stuff to it a large insect flew away from under my feet and then disappeared as soon as it landed. We managed to find it again and wow how well camouflaged is that! It looks like some kind of stick insect to me but maybe one of you will know better?

The floor is finished, the cleaning is nearly done

And with that our working day ended. The rest of the afternoon was spent very profitably sat on the sofa reading, then with an attempt to watch College Football which failed during to streaming issues. I also did some more washing up and we took Ralf out for his toilet a couple of times. For the men, however, there was no break and Bekir finished the tiling and grouting about 2pm and then headed straight onto the roof to assist with the efforts of Sally and Shengen up there.

So very close to completed

We had talked about the bed being moved into the room and where I had thought we would have to wait for the grout to go off Bekir was happy to get it moved. Towards the end of the day as Sally was finishing off up on the roof Bekir and Shengen came downstairs and between us we shifted the mattress and the bedframe and positioned it in place under the window. Fantastic! We are now officially ready enough for the guests though there are a couple of little jobs still to do like putting the curtains up and maybe, if the promised storm on Monday happens, putting a light in there.

The tiles are spreading

And so it was time to take the men but first I had to deal with Rambo who I caught climbing into the humanure collection point. He got a smack on the nose, pinned for a while and then walked back to the enclosure right behind me (and with his tail firmly between his legs as I was told by A who was watching from the balcony). It is one thing to be disobedient but as their is raw human excrement in there it is a health hazard that he can access it and that he does. I am going to spend some time tomorrow adding more anti-Rambo defenses. Anyway the journey was simple and I dropped them off at the top of the cheren put as their mates were once again having a BBQ on the top of the ridge. I got back and went straight onto the bank myself to see what had happened and what a lovely surprise as loads of the tiles have not just been piled in place but are now nailed securely.

DINNER!!!!

I joined A briefly on the balcony for a bit of a chat and to look at the BBQ which had some of the tatties brought by the Little Lady yesterday wrapped in tin foil and four chicken thighs which apparently had only slightly caught fire this time. It smelled divine but I couldn't stop as I really wanted to get this done so came in.

There goes the sun

The sunset wasn't looking to be a stunning one as a lot of cloud had come over during the afternoon. Funnily enough this morning while we were outside it was gorgeous and sunny; actually almost a perfect day as there was still a small cooling breeze so it didn't get too hot to work. This afternoon, pretty much as soon as we came inside to rest, the clouds came over and the temperature dropped. The sun now was a haze through the cloud as the day was ending. Still pretty, but about 2 minutes after this picture, completely invisible again.

So the BBQ is nearly done which means dinner is about to be served and I have met my target of keeping the evening clear of typing. See you tomorrow.