Tuesday 25 October 2016

Only a few days of freedom

Howdy! Firstly and before I forget, here is Thelma shouting at Rambo' Kong, which is almost as large as she is. I had forgotten to include this last week.


And so to the main post: What has happened? Well I have been unwell with a cold and lots of aches and exhaustion, but in true A style, got extremely bored. I did sit around for a few days, but with sudden bursts of energy, I did a few things - I have a list. The Beard keeps adding to it, just so he knows I am not being totally useless.

Sadly for you lot, the main focus of my week is the new petchka stove in the kitchen. I cannot tell you how awesome this is. The heat it is pumping out (up to 15kW I believe) is brilliant and not only does it make the whole kitchen/dining/nook areas really quite toasty, the heat is not escaping through the hatch and into the living room too much. It is taking a chill off up there, but there is a noticeable rise in temperature as I descend the stairs. Anyway, I have been quite excited to try the cooking in it, so I put it together as best I could and got it connected.

Hooking it up
Hooking it up
I just could not wait to try something in the oven, so I tried (for my second attempt) to make a Banitsa (translated locally as Bathing Pie). This is a combination of a fair bit of butter, white (sheep's) cheese and yogurt, although I believe you can use milk also and filo pastry. It is one of my favourite local dishes.

First meal
First meal
The petchka was great but I think I hadn't put it together well enough because it did start to back up with smoke; so much so that I had to open doors and windows at one point.  But it is sorted now, as you will see later. It did warm the space up very well.

Warm glow
Warm glow
I have been lighting it around lunchtime some days just so that I can use it to cook. This is quite sad, I realise that but I simply cannot help myself. I am sure the novelty will wear off in a few years.

Lunchtime soup
Lunchtime soup
Evening casserole
Evening casserole

We had been waiting for Bekir to become free just to do a few bits to seal off the edge of the insulation before the frosts come. On Saturday morning at 7.30am (quite a shock to the system, it has to be said after all my recent lie ins) I picked him up from the cafe as usual and we headed home for him to get cracking. He didn't try to rush a tiling job for the top section and sensibly just sealed the edges to stop any moisture getting in behind the insulation. Fair enough and probably a better choice than putting himself under pressure to finish it all in one day.  He did finish off the chimney breast though and also put a lip of 5cm tiles around the wall to the attic, with silicon underneath as a double barrier to any gaps there. That was great to see as there had been some water coming in at that wall and getting down to the ceiling in Sassy's old room.

Trimming
Trimming
Edging
Edging
Silicone seal
Silicone seal
Happy with the roof and relieved to get that done, I had asked him to have a look at the chimney and check for blockages as initially, as I mentioned, the kitchen was quite smokey during the week and I was seeing smoke escaping from the chimney entrance, as well as from the pipe joints which is very dangerous. I obviously stopped using it until I was able to get him to have a look for me.  He did a sterling job and even checked it for me by burning the rubbish paper and cardboard he had brought down from the roof. What a man!

Arm deep
Arm deep
He had been up on the roof and I could hear a lot of crashing and banging coming from the chimney and when i went to look and get a photograph, sadly I could not get sight of him from any position and I was not going to give the Beard another heart attack by getting up there again myself. So he had been lowering this down the chimney to check for blockages. Improvisation indeed.

Found a dumbbell
Found a dumbbell
Finally, he finished the job I was unable to do and he secured the pipes so that the did not sag and leak any more. I really don't know what I would do without him.

Securing the flue
Securing the flue
Now, what else has happened? Well I did a few bits and pieces. I moved this all by myself - it was heavy - and put in place to see if it looks ok. It will hopefully house our recipe books and gardening and preserving books when we get around to moving them all down.

New bookcase
New bookcase
I also went to town on Friday to finish off the registration at the local vehicle office for Pat, which went surprisingly smoothly. She is now officially a Bulgarian car and fully legal. YAY. (I have no photos to post as it was all paperwork and garages and pretty dull).  I also went and had a couple of links removed from my watch and picked up this bad-boy for our bonfire and fireworks party. The puppies will not be impressed.

Bangs for the party
Bangs for the party
The dogs have been fairly good with the drop in temperatures and only really come inside when it rains. This does mean that a lot of the time, Louise is getting up to no good. We have several of these instances and I had ONLY just showered her the day before for doing this exact same thing. Little brat. I don't quite think she understands that there is no point in hiding your scent with fox or chicken poop when you are hunting things if you stand and bark at it before you chase it. However, she will learn, hopefully.

One of MANY times
One of MANY times
 Thelma has been wanting to chase her ball more than the rats, which is fairly standard.

The ball whisperer
The ball whisperer
And this daft big lump has just been taking life very easy. One thing I am very pleased about though is that the day I went to register Pat, I was gone for about four hours and when I got back he came trundling down the drive to get a good look at who was coming in. It is good that he makes himself visible when he isn't sure who has arrived.
Daft as ever
Daft as ever
Finally and after many delay tactics, I did a pepper harvest. As mentioned, the weather has changed and I don't want to lose a whole harvest to frost. And what a harvest it was!

Pepper fest
Pepper fest
I stopped picking at this stage as I knew I was going to struggle for time in getting them all processed. There is at least the same amount again in the garden but I simply cannot face another pepper for a few days. I pickled some (there are about another five jars in the pantry which I did after these two).

In a pickle
In a pickle
 I de-seeded and froze some.

De-seeding
De-seeding
I also roasted some (in the new stove obviously) and stored with roasted garlic, peppercorn and olive oil.

Roasted and steamed
Roasted and steamed
So yes, we are not even close to finished at that stage however, I did finish what is in the bowl in the photo below on Monday.  We will be eating peppers for years!

Not even close to finished
Not even close to finished

So in other exciting news, IT IS ONLY A FEW MORE DAYS UNTIL HE IS BACK!!!!!!!

Sorry, but I have actually missed him a lot and cannot wait until Friday night and I will drive to Sofia to collect him at around midnight.  There is still a debate in my head about whether to take or leave the pups as it is such a long drive and as it will be night time they could probably sleep more than comfortably at home for 7 or 8 hours rather than being stuck in a  car. I will decide on the day. Next time I write will probably see this face feature a LOT.

The Beard
The Beard
Off to eat the rest of my awesome casserole, cooked on my new awesome stove last night. Be good folks and I will see you all soon!

Leka nosht.
A xx


Sunday 16 October 2016

Only two more weeks

Wow. Two weeks since I last blogged, I am slacking terribly. To be fair, there is not much to write about when I am here all alone and the vegetable season is (supposedly) coming to an end. However, I will try to fill you in with what has been going on. 

Garden:
It is most definitely autumn here; the temperature is dipping dramatically at night and early morning, so I am unsure as to what will happen with our persistent tomato plants.  As with last year, I think we are going to have a surplus of green tomatoes to make some ragu with. I am looking forward to some of the plum ones coming good as we haven't grown these before.

Tommies
Tommies
The Beard is going to love the green tomato harvest just as much as he did last year when he thought it would be a good idea to try to blanch and skin them for a ragu. I have a hand-held whizzer that would have saved all that nonsense.

Still producing
Still producing
It just shows how warm it still is during the day when the courgettes are continuing to flower and fruit. Quite amazing. I have had great value from them this year. I have discovered a few more ways of cooking them which has been pretty awesome as I don't think I have eaten them very much at all until I arrived in Bulgaria. They are becoming quite a favourite.

Courgettes
Courgettes
When I got back from Ireland and the UK, next door had been over and harvested what she (and I) thought would have been the last of the chillies.  She had preserved a couple of jars for me and even though I was sure the plants were about done, I continued to water them. And I was right. Still going strong. I have just been for coffee next door and I saw a string of her own chillies air drying and so I think I will try that method myself. I love how we learn so much from them.

Chillies
Chillies
Still going strong, if a little slower, are the peppers. I cannot begin to tell you how many I still have to process and I suspect this will have to be done this week at some point as they are all starting to peak. I am certainly not going to have to buy any over winter.

Peppers
Peppers
As with last year, the melons we planted must have been somewhat late in going to seed as we are starting to see some babies appearing.  It is of course much too late in the year now for these to grow to be edible, but we are living and learning.

Baby melon
Baby melon
Very young
Very young
As I said, I have just been for coffee and Little Lady was giving advice about the garden. Now, she has been setting tasks for the Beard for when he gets back and was very insistent in saying that "when he gets back he MUST put some manure around those olive trees and you must make sure and have a break!" I kid you not. She said that it is about time he came back and did some work - I hope you read this Mr Beard! lol

Olives
Olives
I haven't just been walking around taking pictures of the garden, I actually did a little bit (which ended up taking ages) of tidying around the tomatoes. The plants, especially the cherry tomato plants, are just simple huge, so I went through and took all the over-ripe or caterpillar eaten ones off and fed them to the chickens. I don't think that after all this time that this is a bad amount of waste. All the new growth will not go to waste now and all the dead leaves and branches have been mostly removed. They are still flowering away!

Waste
Waste
Friends:
Almost two weeks ago now, S of SandS gave birth to a bouncing little boy. I of course was chomping at the bit to go and get introduced however, was very patient until the family had visited and S was feeling up to more visitors. He is quite simply, adorable. So very alert and much inquisitive indeed. He really took a good hard look at me when I had him, it was absolutely hilarious, especially when he frowned. I guess that says it all!  His facial expressions when hearing a new voice did make us all laugh. Such a cute little kid.

New arrival
New arrival
Beautiful boy
Beautiful boy
Around the School:
I am not even going to attempt to say when any of things have happened, so let's just say they did. I have felt a bit sorry for Rambo lately as he hasn't had many walks this year and we really should make more time to do that, for us as well as him. So I braved it. Three dogs, three extendable leads and me trying not to get in a complete tangle! I managed, but only just.

I must be mad
I must be mad
The view from the track to the lake. Rambo was sniffing the air here. He knew.

He can smell the lake
He can smell the lake
This will show you just how dry it has been here. Apart from a couple of nights of rain in the last couple of weeks, we have had none at all for more than four months. The ground is crying out for water and still it doesn't come. I am sure there will be some along soon though; we are headed to that time of year.

Drought
Drought
The level of the lake was shockingly low and Rambo's obedience, even more shocking!

Patience
Patience
I managed to catch both of them getting their legs wet! Thelma is less of a princess and went for a very brief paddle to try and retrieve her stick. She gave up in the end and went and found one on the bank for me to throw for her. They really do not like swimming.

Thelma and Louise paddle
Thelma and Louise paddle
A complete contrast to that is Rambo, who I had to actually call out of the water when he was getting so tired he was gasping for air! I did not fancy getting in there to drag him out when he ran out of steam.

Retrieved the stick
Retrieved the stick
As I have said, there have been a couple of nights of rain, but not a huge amount however, this was the first sign that I have seen anywhere I have been that it is having any effect.  I love this shot and it was purely just to show the Beard that there was some water coming down the storm drains. The colours are great.

Lucky shot
Lucky shot
Back at the School and the chickens are loving their freedom. They are out for most of the day although, I actually think they have slowed down on their laying since being allowed out. I thought at first that I was just unable to find where they are laying, but after a couple of days to being back in their enclosure, I was still only getting two eggs again, none of which were from ducks. I'm not quite sure what is going on, but I suppose they will lay again when they are ready. Or they will be in a few pancakes with some cucumber, spring onions and hoisin sauce.

Free range
Free range
As I mentioned, it has been much cooler and it has not gone unnoticed by the little puppies. Thelma sat shivering at the door the other morning and so I thought I would be helpful and put their tracksuits on. They hate me now. They both walked around like they had splints on all four legs and were unable to bed at any joint. I was laughing so hard and may have left them on for much longer than was fair to them. However, I am bigger and the boss.

Cold morning
Cold morning
Since the Beard's last visit, Thomas has been in the garage getting looked at for an overheating issue. When I had called Monday week ago to see how they were getting along with him I was told he was all sorted and ready to take home. This worked very well as Chaz was coming to town to pick up his curtains and we were going for lunch at our favourite restaurant. He kindly gave me a lift over and for a very small fee, I was told they had done something with the radiator and anti-freeze and he was good to go. True to their word, after a booting down the new road, beyond the turbo kicking in, which was when the issue had been occurring, he was keeping a steady temperature again. So he should be ready for winter now once we get his winter tyres on.

Thoma is back
Thomas is back
I haven't just been pottering around. I made an attempt at chainsawing again but noticed that the chain was hanging a little loose when it was beginning to get stuck in the logs. I was stopped in my efforts as even I was aware that this could be dangerous or not good for the saw. I have since been next door and Orhan kindly had a look and tightened it up for me. I now have the task of sharpening it again and then I will be good to go. I have only managed to get a small amount of our stock cut and I really could do with getting a wriggle on.

Chainsawing halt
Chainsawing halt
I am quite excited by this next arrival, sad as that may be. Ever since I have got here I have wanted a stove like Little Lady has, on which she has pots bubbling away all over winter. A multi-functional wood-burner which I am determined to get the hang of this winter. Of course, I also have a very special present from Belgium coming my way which will be pride of place on the maiden voyage (burning). This should allow us to have stews/casseroles/curries bubbling away throughout the day when winter finally hits and there is a need for constant heat. It wasn't cheap, but it produces up to 15kW of heat which is the recommended output for a room this big.  This means that we can heat that whole area without needing to light the open fire. We will of course use the open fire, but we don't HAVE to.

New wood-burning stove
New wood-burning stove
ANOTHER arrival: My new bike. This didn't arrive fully assembled and I am amazed and quite proud that I managed to fit it all by myself, especially given they are quick-release wheels and brakes which are on discs rather than (what I would consider) normal wheel brakes. The pedals caused me some confusion however, as I had no idea there was a specific pedal to each side and that they were screwed in in opposite directions. Still, I managed after some tips from the Beard and YouTube.

New bike
New bike
I went shopping on Saturday in preparation for his arrival back at the School. We have arranged for a bonfire party again this year and there are LOTS if jobs he will have to do in that week when he gets back. I have had a list of things that we need and one of them was draft excluding strips for the bottom of some of the doors. I managed to get one onto Room 13 to test it before splashing out on about 6 in total and is seems to be working well.

Draught excluding strip
Draught excluding strip
Of course, my new, epic, wood-burner cannot work without the right equipment, so I went out and bought ALL  the bits and bobs I needed and spent ALL the money at the weekend. Building up the blue jobs for his return as well, obviously. Amongst the pipework were two curtain poles for the kitchen and nook and I still need to try and source an extra long pole, or have one custom made for that large picture window in the nook which looks out onto the back bank. There is also a radiator for the burner, a log bucket sitting neatly underneath and more strips for the other doors. It feels like I am actually getting some stuff done!

All the kit
All the kit
Skies and scenery:
Just a couple of random shots for you; this first one caught my eye whilst out doing the watering one afternoon. The sun has gone behind a cloud and it is like the sky has been cut in two, with one side lit up and the other not.  Anyway, I thought it was interesting.

Half and half
Half and half
I looked out the window the other night and for some reason, really appreciated our view again from the living room. I suppose I haven't been really sitting in there in months and it just struck me as a lovely view to have from the sofa.  Of course, the curtains will all be going back up soon.

Evening view
Evening view
These next three are the reason autumn is my favourite month. All captured on my way to or back from seeing SandS and Mini S. I love autumn colours. So vibrant.

Autumn scenes
Autumn scenes
Burning leaves
Burning leaves
Stunning display
Stunning display
Puppies:
One last section before you die of boredom. There have been a few occasions recently that Little Lady has shouted or Louise has been barking madly at the side gate for me to go out and discover that Little Miss Thelma has been outside the perimeter of the land and running up and down the lane. Whilst she does not go far, after our loss of Ralf when he escaped, I cannot bear the thought of anything similar happening again. So we played a game.

Escape route
Escape route
I was outside and calling them. They escaped through their holes.

Blocked
Blocked
I fixed the holes.
Breathing in to get out
Breathing in to get out
One that only Louise could squeeze through, as she is that little bit smaller.

Wired
Wired
Not any more.
Little tinker
Little tinker
Finally, the last hole is where our front wall is really starting to need attention. This is now moving up the ranks in terms of urgency, but is quite a specialised job. It will have to be done though otherwise we will find our garden on the lane. Still, first things first....

Temporary fix
Temporary fix
Puppy-proofed!

*and relaxes*

That is it.  Today has been nice. I was up early and did the photos for this blog first thing, then I did the humanure and cleaned Sassy out, then I cleared up the kitchen, washed up, put my pork in the slow cooker (about to be munched), I hoovered out the bedroom and stripped the bed down and washed the bedding and now I am going to go in and sit in front of the fire, have a couple of glasses of wine, eat my pork and read a book until I fall asleep.

Thank you for persisting. You will be pleased to hear that when he is back he will be doing these much more regularly than I have managed. And just so you know, IT IS LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AWAY!  HURRAH!

Leka nosht.

A xx