Two tired days

After the wonderful relaxing weekend the past two days have been tired and (for me at least) quite hard going. That is not to say there haven't been high points it's just both A and I are exhausted. Anyway, onwards

Monday

It was an early start for us Monday as A was up before the alarm again and I woke with a panic thinking she'd not set it (it was obviously after the time the alarm was due) only to find she was already up and about.

Before and after scything the grass

Hard work in the hot sun

A gets stuck in putting more soil around the corn

Raking over the base sand layer

Plastic sheet down, and weighed with stones

Top layer of sand in place and raked

Three fascinated observers

I'm back to my regular morning chores now and my first job for the day was the humanure which was done pretty quickly. Then I started a task which will probably take me a month at least to finish; I am going to be putting in a gravel path from the side gate to the patio, and around the raised beds. First of all I got the scythe out and cut down the really long grass that has grown there and I was pleased with how well the scythe worked with no sharpening; it was not as loose as I remembered either. I then got the pickaxe and the shovel and started digging. Before long the sweat was dripping off my nose and forehead and I was starting to get quite tired but by the time A got back with the men the trench was dug and I was about to put the first layer of sand into it. A took the last wheelbarrow of good soil I'd dug and I filled another and we emptied them both around the bottom of the sweetcorn to give them a bit more stability. Then I raked over the sand, spread the cut open plastic bin bag across the top and weighted it down with stones. Finally I put another layer of sand on top of the plastic and now it is ready for the stones to be put in place. I was quite happy with the process and so now I have done about 1m of the path I only have another 25m to go.

Final touches to the grunt

Leveling up the sink

More water damage to be fixed

Removing the old damaged plaster

Inside there was progress also with Sally doing the final touches on the entrance wall which he has painted with grunt to seal it even better. Bekir was first of all in the toilet room fitting the sink and plumbing it all in so we can make use of that room soon. After Sally finished in the entrance hall he moved on to the bottom corridor. We moved all the tiles that had been piled up here together and made space and I once again took the executive decision that he should take down the badly damaged plaster and fix it up a bit so it can last longer before we have to do the full renovation. All of this happened over most of the day, with A going out with my parents to a local town to get Thomas looked at (I had overfilled him with oil on Sunday and the mechanic was not happy) and also taking them around the market in that town. I was super busy with my day job as well so that is the extent of my pictures for progress inside.

One side panel is removed

We pulled these from three plants

Super tasty Salmon fillet

Home grown wonderful potatoes

Other than that it was a tired day as I've said, but there was a definite high point when, after I'd finished work, I went out with A to attempt to harvest our first potatoes of the year. I took the side off the spud tower (though these ones haven't really grown up at all and haven't benefited from the tower I don't think) and managed to excavate enough fresh new spuds for our dinner. Wonderful. A also collected some broccoli and so when we ate that evening we had a satisfying quantity of home grown produce on our plates. And we were eating in the dining room again which I just love doing.

My grapevine is looking good

A frame for the concrete base

Rambo watching me work

Thelma waiting for me to throw her ball

No filter - this is just the colour it was

Dad looking at the angry sky

I am getting ahead of myself there slightly as when I got back from dropping the men I decided to get out and do the prep work for another chore that is becoming rather urgent; support for the vine. It has shot up so fast in the past few days and is now waving around above the height of the mesh fence. I cleared some stones and put a few planks down to mock out where I want the concrete to be poured but then, as I was about to start cutting up some rebar to embed in the concrete and use to fix the wooden uprights to A joined me and we agreed to change plan and go for a metal frame. This will last longer and be far stronger as well. I then spotted a few spikes that have appeared down this side passage and pulled them up and only then was it time for dinner. After dinner we went into the living room to relax and read and the storm that had been threatening all day finally rolled in and it rained. The sky was such a bizarre colour I had to get a picture and my Dad came out with me to watch. Shortly afterwards it was bed time and I think we got off to sleep quite quickly in the end.

Tuesday

It ended up being a bit of a disturbed night for both of us, and my Mum was also unable to get a good nights sleep. I woke up when Sassy banged her back legs and there was a lot of flashing of lightning and distant rumbles which I watched for a while from the balcony. Later on this storm rolled closer and closer and it kept disturbing me, and A, and my Mum. I eventually dropped back off but then A was disturbed by the puppies wanting out. All in all not the best nights sleep ever.

I'm far more tired than I look

Sally nearly finished patching up this wall

Plumbing progress in the bathroom

It was a repeat of the day before for me, without the humanure, and my hope that the cooler weather would reduce my sweating didn't really come through. I was distracted while I dug by the Little Lady coming over with milk, and four more tomato plants which she put into gaps in the garden. She also had a bucket with cow manure and water mixed up which will be excellent feed for the plants. I have decided against putting the sand and plastic down any more until I've finished digging all the way along the spud towers; it was really hard to avoid removing sand that I had put in deliberately. I stopped working as soon as A was back and went in to speak to Bekir about the metal frame for the vine. Sally is really close to finished on his jobs inside so he can possibly start this on Wednesday. I found that Bekir had roughly fitted the shower in the bathroom, just to make sure of its position, and was making progress on the rest of the pipes. We agreed that he would get to a stage so Sally could come in and cover the pipes with cement and after that we'd go down to get the metal.

Clouds moving in on the blue sky

Our vegetable garden

Stones delivered for my path

A had taken my parents out again, this time just to the local market for a quick shopping session, and I was glued to my desk being very frustrated at a problem I just couldn't solve. I noticed while I was sat there that the day, which had started off cloudy and then become sunny, was once again changing so I got a picture of the divided sky from on the roof terrace, and the garden for good measure. It was then time for my daily call and of course, just before I was about to speak, it all kicked off with the van delivering the small stones arriving and the puppies barking and A and my parents coming back as well. I was able to get off the phone quickly and got the pile dumped in the correct place and then it was back to work.

Dad with lunch and dinner

Sally finished this also

A with Henry

Dad fitting a plug, Bekir looking at the gas pipe

A much tidier kitchen indeed

Pipes in, and hidden

We had arranged to meet Lyubo to go to a museum this afternoon but just as we got in the car (after an attempted nap from me and a successful one from everyone else) we received a text saying it was raining really hard so we delayed this meet until tomorrow. We still went out but just dropped down into town to have lunch. My Dad was very pleased with his pizza. When we got back I managed to finally solve the problem that had stumped me all morning and then it was time for me to go with Bekir to get the metal. We had found, while he was trying to fit the gas pipe to the cooker, that we also needed a fitting for that so this trip took a little longer than planned. While we were out A and my Dad were cleaning the kitchen while my Mum went out to pull more spikes from the orchard. Sally had made excellent progress in the bathroom and all of the plumbing, fitted and tested by Bekir, is now embedded in the walls.

Train driver face

There then began the frustration of the day when I attempted to switch over the burners on the cooker for the new LPG ones that I had bought from eBay. It was very easy to remove the old ones but then I found that the new ones had a different sized screw and just would not fit. What a pain! I was so gutted because now we can't use the kitchen until this is solved. I'm still a bit down about it now. A has spent some time since, as well as me, looking again for a supplier and Bekir says we should be able to find some in Kardjali but I'm not hopeful of that route. It was a bit of a downer at the end of the day and I was distracted on the drive back, missing a few comment Bekir made to me. When I got home I got straight on with this with a break to do the watering (the hose came apart and soaked me half way through) and then to eat beans on toast for our dinner. It has not been all doom and gloom, though, as after forgetting for the past week and a half I finally remembered to get A to take a picture of me in the Bulgarian Train Drivers hat she bought me as a surprise returning gift from my UK trip. Don't I look awesome.

So tomorrow is another busy day for us all and I want to wrap this up now; I'll be back on Sunday.