This is my blog about emigrating to Bulgaria. It starts with the idea and will take you through all the steps I am taking to create my new life in this wonderful idyllic country. Thank you for reading.
Please make use of the comments box to ask questions or suggest blog subjects too :)
8.10pm and I have not eaten or typed a word. That's how it goes here, you never get a minute to yourself.
Usual routine this morning and after a rather odd night's sleep (thinking I could hear a rat for about two hours and then dreaming about them) I was up before the alarm went off at 6.30am. Rambo out, coffee, another coffee and then off for the men.
They get stuck straight in as soon as they arrive and after about half an hour of banging and drilling I went down to have a look. A plug hole!
Holes in the walls
I collected Nikolai at the bottom of the hill on my way back from getting the men and so he had also cracked on a little further after settling in.
Front trench
My first job was to get back to Kaufland and pick up the stuff I had forgotten from my list and I was just back in time, having stopped off for petrol also, to make the men their coffee at 10.30. I made myself one also and headed out into the garden a short time after. I really wasn't quite sure what to do first. I had told myself that I would like to get some more beds dug out in the vegetable garden but also dig out the raised beds and get some stuff in there and germinating. I made a start on the bed in the garden that housed the beetroot and turnips last year, mainly because it is the smallest and I was a little sore from the previous digging out.
Made a start
I gave up halfway through as the boys were using the wheelbarrow and I already had a big pile of weeds that I had sickled away from the edges and also the ones dug out. I will finished this off at the weekend - now that it is started it will nag me to get it finished - I know myself well.
And so to the raised bed. Last year we collected horse manure, Sassy poo and also some compost from the little ladies pile and threw it all in. It didn't look as bad as I had thought it would with most grass growing presumably from the horse manure.
Raised bed
I weeded this out and mixed it through with a lot of effort and watered it a bit. I had promised Rambo a walk and so I wanted to do that in plenty of time for the men leaving so that it wasn't rush. I quickly went inside and got more progress shots as it was now their lunchtime and it's best I am not getting in the way to take my photos. So the walls are now very pink, but also channelled!
Channels in
Being me, I got side tracked and again, not wanting to get in their way, I dragged the mat out of Room 13 and proceeded to try and shake it over the side of the balcony. This is a two person job as I could just about hold it, never mind shake it! I gave it a beat with the broom over the edge and settled for brushing it off. It just gets so dusty here.
Mat shook and brushed
Rambo had been pretty naughty today and I had been reluctant to take him out for a walk in case he thought he was being treated, but the Mr back home thought I should go anyway - and he says I am am the soft touch! To his credit, Rambo behaved very well, only pulling when he saw the river and where he was going. Here is some swim time.
He did shake.
It was very hot today again and as we we walked up the hill we were both starting to flag. I took us up the shortcut which is extremely steep but much more direct.
I was persistent in my plan to get some stuff planted today and so off I went and stripped out one of the chillies that the Mr's friend had given us, although I wore my gloves just in case. These were Ghost chillies, I think (my memory is bad) and are extremely hot, so I took no chances. I also planted corn and a few tomato seeds. So from left to right, just in case I forget until I get them labelled; one row of tomato seed, three rows of corn and two rows of ghost chillies. Spicy tomato sauces to follow.
Planted raised bed
The flower bed also looks stunning and I couldn't help take a photo. Beautiful.
In full bloom
In time for afternoon coffee I came back in to talk to the Mr and congratulate him on passing his towing trailer test today - big round of applause please - and then delivered the coffee to the men and snapped a few pics whilst I was there.
More progress
Ceiling almost done
As it was so warm I thought I would take a brew up to the terrace and rest for half an hour and as I did so, I collected Sassy for another bit of fresh air. She certainly knows how to relax.
Sassy
She had to be coaxed out of the travel case I brought her up in, or rather tipped out as she huffed for about 15 minutes after I opened the gate and she refused to come out. So stubborn. I wonder where she learned that from? *ahem*
I was starting to get very pink in colour up there and I had to pack up and come back down a little while later. Sassy enjoys looking over the wall but has been placed on a lead just on the off chance that she hops up or worse, over the wall.
When I got down there was just enough time for another cuppa before the men were ready to go. It was a tough journey as the heat had made me very tired. Goodness knows what I will be like when it actually does get into summer. Maybe I will get used to it slowly.
Back home and as usual I had the progress photos to take so that Himself can see exactly what has occurred in the course of the day. The ceiling is finished, except for paint.
Just paint now!
And the sockets are ready to be mounted, including an outside plug for the balcony.
Sockets!
I popped out onto the balcony to show you the lack of progress on my lettuce seeds and flowers that I have planted last weekend and look! Lettuce babies!
More babies!
You have to excuse my excitement when things start to show any sign of life, in the past I have been known to kill several cacti and numerous plants.
As I came to the bottom of the stairs, I saw a very, very tired puppy sprawled out on his bed and refusing to move - I think he enjoyed his swim in the river! To be fair, he wasn't the only tired one.
Tired puppy
Finally, the trench at the front. Not great progress in distance but a fair bit in depth, although I am not sure you can tell from this photo.
A little bit more
Here I am, it is 9.10pm and I still have not had a bite since 10.30am when I had two croissants. Is it any wonder I am losing weight? I am off to munch my chicken and have a cold beer while I wait for sleep to come. I will see you tomorrow at probably around the same time.
After yesterday's workmen disaster I was up bright and early, before the birds and even the sun. I had slept well with the aid of additional heat from the electric blanket - what an invention that was! Once I got my eyes working I was off to put the kettle on and to grab proof that I am not always a lazy git and that I do beat the sunrise sometimes.
Before the sun
So the workmen were due to arrive at 8am which meant I had loads of time to spend drinking coffee and becoming human, ish. I fed Sassy first this morning as she has been becoming very impatient and started to bang on her cage with her hind legs at 7.15. Such a noise! Rambo has no interest in food early in the morning so I left him outside chewing his Kong and wandering around for a while.
After my very lazy day yesterday I had a lot of things to be getting one with today but it was taking a lot to build the motivation. After my second coffee I shook myself and took the wardrobe frames out to the patio, putting Rambo away because I was planning to bleach every millimetre of the frames to totally de-rat them.
Bleached
It did not take very long at all but with the amount of bleach and the ice in the hose pipe, my hands took a real battering, between! It was a cold start today. Still, it was done and my first job completed and left in the sun to dry.
Hose ice
Whilst I was working away the drainage builders arrived. I had expected a few men and a machine of some sorts to help dig the trenches around the edge of the building. Two men turned up, on foot and wielding a pickaxe and a shovel each. I am not sure they realised how much rock was around the building. I went out again later after another coffee and was very pleased to see that they had made good progress.
New workers
One of my next jobs was to wash more clothes that had been soiled in the rat infestation. Now, I thought I had a fair amount of clothing, but well, look at the Hawaiian collection of my other half. Or, should I say HALF of his collection. Yes, that is correct; there were two loads of shirts.
Rainbow explosion
The main task of the day was to clear the rat room, or the downstairs store room and tool room. I had a lot of moving of stuff and separation to do. The stuff we were keeping was put out into the bottom corridor just outside the room and everything else was thrown to a pile in the middle of the room. After several wheel barrow loads to the top bank and to the rubble pile, the bonfire had been started.
Bonfire beginnings
I was going to light it today, but I decided that there is a lot of old wood still laying around from the old window frames and so tomorrow I may start bringing that up to burn as well. No point in doing it twice.
After much hard work and some moving around of very heavy poles, I had finally cleared the room and aired it sufficiently today to dry out a little. This room is so damp at the moment but hopefully now the drainage is going in we can start to dry all of the ground floor out and move forward with sorting it all out. This was the final product of my hard labour!
De-ratted
Clearing the room out had taken a good few hours. I was quite tired and achy afterwards as some of the stuff in there was very heavy. Also, even just getting up the courage to touch things was taxing, especially that box which contained two of the rats. The smell was unbearable! It is safely on the bonfire now though.
To clear my head after being in the dusty room for so long I decided to take a walk with Rambo around the land. I saw a couple of the bulbs had bloomed.
Beautiful bloom
The men were working away and taking regular breaks as it looks to be heavy work and very hard going. One of them even wears a supportive belt for his back, you know, like a weightlifting belt. More progress had been made to the front -
Trench
And to the side -
Trench 2
The Mr had asked me yesterday to take a photo of the olive trees and I really couldn't be bothered - so lazy - but here they are, still battling away. They really are hardy little trees.
Gaining strength
It was now late afternoon and I had wanted to do some planting. I took a beer and my gardening stuff to the balcony and proceeded to pull out the lettuce seeds and prepare the soil boxes. One curly leaf and one iceberg sown and awaiting lettuce babies! Hurray!
I also sowed some flower seeds. Chrysanthemums and Desert Bluebells. My Pappy always loved Chrysanths.
And so it was time to bring in the rainbow explosion from the line. I have run out of hangers for now, so again, this is merely half of the collection. He better never mention my clothes or shoes again. Ever.
Bright!
So, exhausted after a pretty full on day, I parked myself by the petchka and dozed off for an hour before dinner (heating up on top of the petchka) was ready. I think I will sleep very well this evening and I hope I awake with the motivation I need to carry on with yet more tasks around the Old School.
Today, I woke early again despite it being a day off from paid work as I still needed to collect the workmen. I was up at 6.30 and had slept really well without a Rambo bodyguard, so that is a good sign. The usual chores awaited and this morning I fed Rambo in his enclosure as was the routine before we left. However, he still is not finishing all of his breakfast. I am not sure if this is just an adjustment phase as he was being fed twice a day and most likely with different foods, but I am trying not to worry too much as he seems very happy. Sassy was her usual self and came for a fuss as I came in with her food. She is still looking in great condition.
I had a few other things I wanted to achieve today such as starting off a few seeds. So after I collected the men and they had wandered off to the front of the property with a pick axe (I had no idea why but left them to it for a while) I decided to be brave and go and look for the Mr's bundle of gig t-shirts he had been so worried about. I went to the wooden box which he thought they might be in, which was in the now named "rat room" (the downstairs store room where the first nest was discovered). I put my gloves on and had a rummage around, finding a few bits and pieces of clothes, cups and all manner of stuff packed in there, including a pair of purple flared corduroy trousers - best not to ask! As I pulled out said trousers, a few droppings fell out of them and when I looked into the box I saw more. AND THIS!
Poison worked!
I thought they were alive at first and that they had been sleeping so I think I froze for an instant, then my heart almost popped out my chest. I dropped the trousers and kicked the box, no movement; I left the room to compose myself and obviously get the camera. So it seems that the poison has been working at least.
I went out to shout at them to come in for a second but they were in the middle of a big hole in the road. That is what they had done with the pick axe! Bekir used to work with the water board here, so he was down there trying to sort out our water situation, bless him.
Fixing the water
How far down is it?
I decided I would leave them to it until they were less busy. It was not like the rats were going anywhere. I was so beside myself again about the rats that I did the unthinkable and went online to look at a few facts. These rats were juveniles. They were small and probably only a couple of months old, if even. When I looked at a few pages on t'web it told me that a litter will consist of, in general, 6-12 baby rats. So this means I am still missing at least four babies and a mother - that is the best case scenario. Not a good scenario, but I'd take it. I sat and whined to the Mr about the whole situation and generally was a big girl's blouse, but it helps to get it off my chest and we decided that despite the fact that these things can and will chew their own legs off if caught, that I would buy traps. I'm not overly keen but I will just about try anything to get rid of them. I don't like sharing my living space. They need to be gone.
I decided not to be brave - because I'm not - and would leave the disposal job as a blue job for one of the men to sort which they did later by just walking it, grabbing their tails and rummaging through the rest of the box to make sure there were no more and then walking out to the burning pit. They make me look like a complete and utter wuss! I don't care though, I am so thankful they are here and looking after me in the Mr's absence.
I was due to go to town and meet S&S for lunch at 1pm so I faffed around achieving absolutely nothing except a photo of the bulbs coming through. Spring is arriving it seems!
Lots of bulbs
So I got ready and took myself into town. The original plan today and the main reason for having a day off, was to go into town for market day, mooch around and then meet S&S for lunch at my favourite kebab shop. Flipping rats - they are consuming my life at present! I didn't take the camera with me, mostly because my head was all over the place and I forgot. We had a lovely chat and lunch and then I went to buy a top up for the Bulgarian brick (phone) that I now have. S told me that the Mr had been messaging him and was really worried and he had been asked to make sure I got some traps, so off we went to the hardware store and picked up seven. S wanted me to buy more but I thought seven was more than plenty. I wish I had bought more now. Never mind. I have them and I will use them!
When I got back home I brought my purchase back and showed it to Bekir who smiled and said "Dobre!" (Good!). I don't suppose he'll think it too good when he has seven rats to dispose of, but how and ever. They were working on the roof by this stage and when I went back to the front of the garden they had the hole completely filled in.
Filled in
I came back to discover that I have indoor water again! What a man! The boiler was on and it was heating up nicely. This will make things much easier for me in every way!
I went back up to the office and spent a little time speaking to the man in the UK and told him of my day. I also remember hearing that rats are suspicious of new objects so I decided that I would add a bait to each of the traps tonight but not arm them and put them in the places they will be tomorrow night when I will in fact arm them ready to exterminate the little buggers! Himself thought this was an excellent plan so I went off to see if I could set the trap. Nope! Despite watching the man in the shop who had shown me three or four times, I could not remember at all - haha! Finally and after a lot of cursing and almost snapping my hand off, I mastered it. Horraaaay!
I went up to the roof reasonably late on today to see all they had done after the water battle and they had done really well. The did have to take down and reset some of the brickwork but now the terrace wall is at around the right height for the railings to go in and around. Excellent.
Terrace wall
Bekir securing the brickwork
New pulley
At around 5.30 they were finished and ready to go and so I made my way to their village. Along the main road something has happened just beneath the surface and the road has raised so much it is almost like a speed hum right along the width of the road, not sure what has caused it but definitely something to remember for the morning run.
Just as I pulled into the village I could see the sun dropping very fast so I legged it upstairs and then to the attic with the camera to catch this:
Sunset
It gets dark very quickly at the moment so off I went to start dinner, to pour a beer and to sit down for ten minutes before I had to make the rice to go with my pork chops that had been slow cooking all day. And here I am now, tired and achy and about ready for bed. So I will leave you with one thought: I hate rats.
Last night I left you as I was heading to bed. When I went in the bedroom was a little smoky still and the petchka just hadn't built up enough heat for me to brave getting in, so I came back into Room 13 and poured another small beer to allow it to sort itself. It's a hard life.
As I was just about to climb into bed, the power cut off and I laid there waiting for it to come back on for quite a while until I finally submitted to sleep. I flicked the lamp off so that it didn't startle me from my sleep if it suddenly gained power again. I slept like the proverbial log and did not awake until gone 7am local time, just as the sun was tipping the mountains across the valley. This is late for me, so I must have needed the rest.
Sunrise to wake up to
My first jobs of the morning are to feed both Sassy and Rambo and to light the fire. This morning, the fire got priority as there has been a fairly hefty frost. So with that done, I went in and sat with Sassy for ten minutes. She is a friendly little thing. I have never had a rabbit, so was a bit concerned when I had to adopt her, as such, but I am feeling more and more confident with her now. She came straight over for a fuss and then I sat down on the floor and let her acquaint herself with my fleece pyjama bottoms! I have swapped her back from an evening feed to a morning feed after her stay at S and S over winter as i am afraid that I will forget to feed her if I don't do them both at the same time. They really did a fabulous job of looking after her. Her coat is not just shining, but gleaming and she is so content now that she has settled in again. As usual, Rambo was very excited to be greeted this morning. He is always bouncing and wanting to play. I was thinking that rather than feeding him immediately that maybe I should let him out and do his thing for a little while before resuming the old breakfast routine of feeding him in his enclosure. He seems to be leaving some of his food and not eating all of it in one go, going back later to finish it. With the rats around, I would prefer that he ate it all in one go. We'll see.
Talking of the rats, I had begun to think we were winning with these little blighters because there was little sign of them over the last few days and the poison was being eaten or at least nibbled. I threw down two more sachets in the downstairs store/tool room last night where they had there nest and where they had taken a previous sachet to a nest we had found in there and lo and behold, both sachets had disappeared by this morning. This is both good AND bad. It is good because they are taking the poison, but also bad because I think it means that there are more of them than I had hoped. Nevertheless, I am staying right on top of it. I do get a little of jubilation when I see they have taken some however, when I saw they has nibbled and moved the sachet behind the cabinet in Room 13, I was less than enthralled. There have been no signs of them upstairs for a few days and I thought perhaps our movements and presence had deterred them and kept them downstairs, apparently not. I will have to lay more tonight.
Definitely nibbled
I had some work sent through overnight, so I quickly made a coffee and cracked on with that. The time difference allows me a few hours in the morning, so if I have work to do I can generally do it first thing and crack on with some chores - which is exactly what happened today. I realised that the Mr will want to see as much of what is going on whilst he is suffering in the UK, with his central heating and electric shower, gas hobs and functioning oven (only kidding lol), as possible so I took a walk around the building after I noticed that the water build up around the base of the building had almost disappeared completely. Only one section of retention remains and that is below the floor level in one of the back store rooms, so all is good!
Back of the house, water free
Beside the gararge
The side
I then, after the realisation of the rat situation, took a small amount of burning rubbish out to the fire pit and burnt that. I have been super careful about food and scraps and washing up the dishes at night now, as we used to do them first thing in the morning. Hopefully it is helping to deter them anyway. After burning I went out to the balcony and fed the birds. I have seen an increasing number of the last few days and see regular flocks arriving into the area. It is lovely to see and to wake up to, so I thought I would feed them the scraps of bread that we had had left over and see if they will get into a habit of eating it off the balcony. I went out to see a few times and there were significantly fewer bits the last time, but as I didn't see them eat any, it could have been wind blowing it off. Who knows?
After this and just before the UK business hour began I managed to get down and saw some wood as I was running low again. Even with an electric saw it is hard to keep on top of this. In fairness, the wood we are using at the moment is all the old wood from the roof, so it is not good quality burning wood - still, no reason to waste it, it still burns!
For most of the day until early afternoon I had lots of work to be getting on with - one has to earn a living! I was consumed for around three hours solid with my work before I decided to take a bit of a break. The Mr reminded me that he had planted some bulbs out last year and I had said I would go and have a look and see if they survived. To be fair, I think they are coming along great. Plants and trees are wonderful, such fight in them to survive a winter like this one!
Bulbs sprouted
As I was chitty chatting on Facebook last night it was suggested that I was in almost a Castaway situation (film with Tom Hanks on an island, if you haven't seen it) and that I needed a friend like his volley ball, Wilson. So, I decided I would get myself a friend to keep me company when Rambo has been naughty and has to be locked away. I present to you, Tommy!
Meet Tommy!
Tommy and I had a bonding session this afternoon over a beer.
Tommy's first beer
Rambo is not as happy as I am about the new arrival to The Old School. I guess he will get used to him.
Tastes ok to me!
Moving on.... When The Mr did the humanure buckets before he left we had forgotten to include the food waste bin, so today was the day of my first solo experience of humanure. I took a deep breath and went for it, simply uncovering the hay, moving aside a bit of the compost and chucking it in and covering it back over with the hay and then, the grate that had been sitting in the garden to dry off. Easy peasy and no smells.
Grate back in place
I made Rambo sit on the drive through the whole process then came up to scrub my hands. I thought I would take him down a biscuit treat when I saw him as I came out onto the porch leaning over the pit and having a good old sniff. he knows he is not allowed near it and when I shouted at him and sent him into his bed in the porch, with a sharp slap on the snout, he knew he'd done wrong. So he didn't get his biscuit in the end. He'll learn.
With evening fast approaching I suddenly realised that I hadn't brought any wood upstairs from the pile I had cut earlier, so off I went, gathering enough for this evening in Room 13 and then later tonight for the bedroom. It burns so fast that I am getting through a fair amount. When we order our good wood for next winter it will burn much hotter and slower, thankfully - cutting it all up is back breaking work, even with an electric saw.
Rubbish wood
Better rubbish wood
I also realised as the sun was setting very fast (and I yet again missed that photo opportunity) that I had not emptied the ashes from the petchka in the bedroom. There were two night's worth in there so I quickly ran and emptied it. It's a dirty job, but not a difficult one. So I am now all set for heating this evening and as I type this I am preparing some dinner so that I can perhaps get an earlier night tonight as I am tired again.
I will leave you here tonight as I want to speak with the man Himself back home after I eat and could do with a nice relaxing evening to fully enjoy the peace and quiet of our home.
