We have a "normal" toilet

The men didn't come in yesterday unfortunately but they did today so this is two days in one. I'm camping with Rosie tonight so I'm in a rush to get this done and go out so let's get to it.

The tree is ready for planting

The sun slowly rising

Oak has a low shoot

Cherry tree planted and staked

Yesterday I was up early and out to plant the final cherry tree before anyone woke up. It didn't take as long as I feared and now we've three new trees over there around the Oak that I transplanted a few weeks ago. This has seemingly taken very well and is now showing very strong signs of life. The rest of the day was just crazy busy but did involve time sat on the bench on the top bank through the day.

Digging a trench by the green building

Rosie operates the shredder

Chicken house really needs cleaning

Rosie and Giant Dolly Rosie on Grandma's bench

Fortunately the men came back today as we really wanted to get the toilet fitted for the weekend. They got stuck straight in to working on completing the drainage down to the preexisting sewage pipe. Inside Angela and Rosie worked on shredding some more cardboard as we still have the vacuum toilet upstairs and may still end up needing the buckets. It was a lovely day and after doing this Angela went out and worked on cleaning the chicken house out; I just needed to help lift the roost up out the way and she got stuck in. It really was a lovely day and I spent a little more time with Rosie on the top bank enjoying the new bench in a short break I had.

Finishing the trench

Chiseling into the cement pipe

Plastic pipe drops into the cement one

Bekir wrapping up the install

Look at our new toilet

Back with the men they were continuing to work outside to get all the pipes done. This required chiselling through the old concrete pipe to drop the new plastic pipe in. We've decided to leave all the finishing off for Monday in case there is trouble over the weekend so we can fix any problems more easily. With the pipe done they headed inside and, other than a few trips to town for various things, this got fitted in super quick and now we have a "normal" toilet and Angela is very pleased.

Chicken house looking lovely

Angela did a great job cleaning the chicken house out and I put the hay in and spread it all out. Bekir turned up with a new duck as well and she has settled in well already.

So there it is; the last two days. We'll be back on Monday but then probably the blog will go quiet again.

Thanks for reading.

Weekend and new toilet

The weekend has been and gone and so has Monday and so here is the update for you all.

Thelma found the sun to sleep in

Louise and Xena mid-fight

Getting ready to throw some logs

Rosie collecting rubbish

Sat in the tree in her tree house

Collecting kindling together

Wood thrown successfully

Night swimming

I'll start the update with Thelma sleeping on the mat in Rosie's play room on Saturday morning, having found a patch of sunlight, and then Louise and Xena having a play fight in the kitchen. This is how our girls are. I was out working on moving logs in under the car port on Saturday morning and Angela and Rosie came out to help so they went around with the bin bag and picked up loads of insulation that had been left scattered everywhere by Bekir earlier last week. Rosie was very helpful. I also got to go into the tree house with Rosie for a lovely time which was really enjoyable. Sunday was forecast to rain but it didn't at all. We were once again outside doing the logs and this time to help Angela and Rosie started collecting small bits of kindling that are great for starting the fire. I got a load of the wood moved but didn't quite finish it all. I went out again to put the chickens and ducks away and once again found the ducks swimming after dark.

Bekir swapping the toilets

Halil splits some last logs

Drilling through the very thick wall

Moving wood using the wheel barrow

Chiseling out a distribution point

Power outside

So much wood!

This morning the men were in on time and I asked Bekir to fit the replacement toilet as his first task. This did not take him very long at all and now we have a fully functioning toilet downstairs again. Halil was working on the wood all day; he did some throwing and also some more chopping and splitting. With the toilet done Bekir got to work on running power out to the carport. He drilled through the wall which took a long time and then ran the armoured cabled out to a hole that he chiseled in the insulation. Halil managed to finish all the wood from outside to inside the carport so tomorrow we'll start to stage it into the wood store and then stack it. We bought a LOT of wood this year!

So there it is. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Boarding done

It's been another baking day today, lovely and warm all day, and the men have cracked on rightly, getting a few more tasks completed as they went.

You do not often see these two getting on so well

Bekir and Halil setting a gutter board in place

Bekir nails the board in place

The first sheet of hardboard is fixed in place

Last night I decided to watch a film (Troy, if you're interested) and it was nice to chill on the sofa with the puppies. Thelma and Xena even ended up snuggling which is very rare indeed. This morning the men were a little late in as they headed to the shop to pick up some short nails with hide heads to secure the hardboard and then they spent a bit of time fitting and securing the gutter boards into place on all three sides. With this done it was time to start in on the hardboard and this went very fast.

Ducks swimming in their (green) pond

Getting to the end of the boarding process

Bekir works on the drain pipes and guttering

The first run of roofing felt is down

At lunch time I hung some washing out and refilled the duck pond, with the ducks in it looking very pleased with themselves. They haven't laid an egg for days, though, so they had better get back to it! On the roof Bekir and Halil had completed the board and after that they moved on to fitting the drain pipes. This didn't take long and before the end of the day the first run of roofing felt was rolled out across the roof and they are well set for tomorrow to complete that and then maybe even start on the ondolin roofing material.

So there it is; another day and good progress. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Steel cutting

I'm pretty late starting this today as I went out for a beer and some food with Dincher this evening, which was awesome. It was a pretty cool day, however, so let's get back to it.

Beautiful sunrise this morning

I finally saw the ducks in the pond

The line showing how tall each column will be

Halil doing some more painting

Plates for the end of the columns

Measuring everything again

Taking the beam to be cut

Bekir trying to cut by hand

The awesome new steel saw

The sunrise this morning was lovely, so much so I went back upstairs to get a picture. While I was up there I saw the ducks in the pond for the first time. I have been told they've been in loads but I just haven't seen them. The men were in on time and made a start on laying out the lines for the top of the roof, or rather where the top of the columns will go to. We now have a string running along showing that. They headed out to get some supplies and when they got back they did some more painting of the steel which will go along the top of the columns. Then it was out again to get some more metal to use as plates top and bottom of the I beams. With that done they measured everything again multiple times to make sure they had it right then Bekir got the big metal cutter and they started to cut the first of the beams. The cut was not straight and no one was happy with that so I sent them out again to go and buy a proper steel saw and when they got it back it was such an improvement. They were able to cut things very much quicker, and also dead-square. By the end of the day they had cut all but one of the columns for this side of the roof and they did that in about an hour. So much faster!

A juicy burger for dinner

The sky was so clear tonight

As I said this evening I went for dinner with Dincher. We had a lovely time sat out eating, drinking and chatting. Afterwards I walked home in the dark and tried to take some star photographs which look much better on my phone than here. Oh well.

So there you are; a good day indeed. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

Dull day, but progress

Today has not been a glorious day, despite the early promise. As I type this it's drizzling outside and I'm even wearing long tracksuit bottoms for the first time for months. Winter is coming...

A very sky sky warning the shepherds

Xena snuggling with Rosie's toys

Halil starts to mix for the day

Bekir almost tipping the barrow over

The trolley fits the pool perfectly

About ten minutes after this photograph was taken it was grey and dull and it has stayed like that all day. The puppies have been out a fair bit but first thing this morning they were no interested at all. Out in the garden the men made a start mixing up cement and getting more blocks in place but then I distracted them and we all worked together to fold up the pool and stash it onto the trolley they had made. It worked perfectly and was really easy to roll out of the way. I'm so pleased with it!

Starting to plant the retaining wall

Filling more soil and compost in

Edge of the path nearly done

Angela was also very busy in the garden this morning, filling in the holes in the little wall that the men built last week. These will have plants in them very soon as sadly the supplier for our plants is retiring however Angela has a huge order on its way! Very excited indeed. By the end of the day (and Halil had to disappear for a bit to do some tasks in town) the men were very nearly finished with the blocks by the new path. We are hoping that tomorrow the steel will be delivered and they can move straight onto that task. It's been paid for and hopefully they'll be cutting it today and then it'll be here! I've moved the trailer and Thomas to their parking spaces while this work is being done and really need to get Julian's documents done so he can be moved by Halil back to his village.

Birds taking a breather

Smiling ladies

I'll leave you with a couple of funny pictures; first of all the ducks and chickens were all hiding underneath one of the trees in the orchard when I was out at one point today, and secondly a lovely picture of Angela and Rosie at dinner - Rosie asked me to take a picture of them both smiling.

So there it is; here's to a steel delivery tomorrow! Thanks for reading.