Hornets, paths and pool emptying

Well the weekend has been and gone and it's Monday evening again now. I'm late starting this update so let's get to it!

Dawn on Saturday

Rosie in front of the MIG-21

Climbing the ladder to a slide

All the way at the top!

By the train and hoping it runs

Sat on the train waiting

Saturday I was up super early but felt rubbish and was very pleased to achieve what I did. That was really awesome, however, as I went with Rosie into the main town to the park that has the MIG-21 in it and also a cool play area for her. We had a lovely time, she did lots of sliding and swinging and other fun things, then we saw that there was a small railway just up the hill from the park. We went to check it out and just as we were thinking of leaving we realised that maybe it would run! We were both super excited and jumped into one of the carriages and then sat there for maybe 30 minutes or more while more people got on but nothing happened. Rosie then asked to go play again and I said yes which was a huge mistake as obviously as soon as we got out someone took our seats and then after we'd done playing we couldn't get back on. Rosie was distraught and I was gutted; if I'd been thinking straight I would have realised. Oh well, we know the train is there now and will definitely try and get back and actually ride it.

That night I went to bed very early but was woken at about 9:30 by a sound like a train approaching. I dashed around closing windows and then saw the pool cover was being really badly blown around, and also plant pots were flying around the patio. I shouted to Angela and we both went outside and got soaked completely through trying to save everything and make it all secure. Afterwards I went upstairs and got the video above. About 10-15 minutes later it was dead calm again. It was crazy, Angela had to duck into wind-shade to be able to breath as the rain was so heavy and the wind so strong it was hard to breath! Incredible weather.

After the storm a beautiful sunrise

The moon in the morning

The sun shines on a puddle

Sorted the drainage out

A small sapling I dug up

Angela weeds even more

My new vine - I hope it is healthy!

The next morning dawned glorious and clear and I was feeling better enough to get outside with Angela and Rosie on and off through the morning. It was a gardening day and while Angela did lots of weeding and tidying in the "main" garden I first of all dug out the drain for the sink which was not working well being buried, then dug up a sapling that we didn't want and finally got to plant my new vine which hopefully will do better than the last. Rosie was having a blast all this time running around and playing with the puppies and helping us every now and then. I rested most of the afternoon as I was still not 100% by any means.

Beautiful sky this morning

Bekir tooled up for the hornets

Small pump running to empty the pool

Water draining into the garden

Bekir ready for another go

And so we reach today. It was another glorious morning and after not having taken any sunrises for ages I've taken one for each day of this update. I forgot this morning but Bekir didn't and brought a blow torch with which to have a go at the hornets. He was up the ladder for AGES burning and banging on the wood to make them leave. It took a large chunk of the morning but now I think they are all gone. Apparently more than 100 of them! Incredible. While I was watching this unfold I started the process of emptying the pool with the filter pump on waste, the other pump running and I also opened the normal drain hole. Lots of water flowing into the garden and it mostly emptied over a few hours but the last dregs always takes longer. Bekir was up and down that ladder for the hornets several times and I didn't catch it on video but he also emptied a load of fly spray into the hole. Tomorrow they will probably close it up with a chunk of wood and some filler. Nasty things!

Bekir and Halil digging the other trench

Removing Terry's step - the end of an era

Burning some waste

Hornets (and a wasps nest)

Rosie riding her trike

All the pool stuff nicely stashed

Nearly all the water out

With the hornet problem dealt with the men got back to digging out the other side of the path. This they completed then we discussed a little bit about how the wall would be and then Bekir removed the step that Terry had built all those years ago. It's done so well, and been very solid. Thank you Terry! I was thinking it's a bit of an acknowledgement of how long we've been here now that our renovations are starting to remove things I did when we first came here - this step, the very path we've just dug up, etc. At the end of the day we did a tidy around, burned some stuff and I collected the last of the hornets up. Rosie was a bit scared of the fire (understandably considering that wildfire we had) but had lots of fun on her trike while I completed tidying up the pool stuff and got it all stashed back into the shed which is now out of the way. The pool was still trickling out water so tomorrow we'll get in and brush that all out then wait for it to dry.

So there it is; a good few days and more tomorrow so back then. Thanks for reading.