Progress

I am back! Two days I have to cover and it is already 8pm here, so I won't drone on too much, for a change.

What happened yesterday? Well, I was working, so I really did not get up to very much outside of that. The men however, they were cracking on and the front section of the house is now having its drainage trench dug out.

Front trench

Inside, Bekir and Sally were flying through the tiling and were almost fished by lunchtime. Bekir laying the tiles and spacing and Sally grouting. What a team.

Tiling

I am missing photos from a couple of hours in the afternoon as I had Lubo, the architect, pop by and he was meeting the boss from the building firm who are doing the drainage. There was a lot of looking around and chatting in Bulgarian and everything seemed to be ok, Lubo explaining that in some points they cannot dig down much further as there is a risk to the building and also discussing where the out pipe will go and flow to. There was a more serious discussion to the rear of the building where there is a slight alcove/inlet and where the back door and door leading from the garage are. Initially, translated through Lubo, they wanted to bypass the inlet and build a retaining wall behind the piping and stick some membrane on the wall. Now, I'm no builder, but my gut instinct was to say no. At that point Bekir came out and I was so glad. Much as I do not always fully understand everything he says, I got enough to see that he was not happy and quite frankly, nor was I. It was at this stage I called the Mr. I explained about the wall and the angle they wanted it and also the fact that they wanted US to build it in anticipation of them laying the pipes. After a pretty harsh discussion on Skype with Lubo, and ongoing discussions via a video call outside, the pipe will now be laid in the inlet as we originally wanted it and no need for a wall. I was extremely stressed. All that Bulgarian being spoken and I had only a small grasp of what was happening. Scary when it is as important as the drainage system. Anyway, we were happy, they less so, but we are paying them for what we want after all.

The men were pretty much done in the bedroom for the day at around 4pm and so, as I had asked last week, Bekir had brought his chainsaw with him so that he could tidy some of the broken branches and sort out the ones hanging from the trees around the land. There are quite a few. He was cutting away and I had just finished up a rather long piece of work when I looked out the window and saw him up the tree, chainsaw in hand. They are afraid of nothing!

Tree climbing

This was a delicate job as there was a telephone line running through the branches and I have no idea how, but they managed not to rip it down. Sally was meanwhile tidying up the branches and piling them up on the driveway.

Broken trees

The oak tree had some damage also and I will have to go out and gather that up to keep it dry. Perhaps a job for tomorrow?

Old oak

I went back inside to finish the last piece of work and I heard shouting and laughing. Our little neighbour had arrived with Turkish coffees for us all and they all settled down to have a chinwag - I just listened and laughed when they did, it was great fun.

Coffee break

As I was getting my things together in preparation for the drive back with the men, Little Lady and Usmivka came in for a look at what the men are doing. I showed them the almost completed terrace on the roof and they were all smiles and loved it. This was a good feeling. I then took them down to show them the bedroom tiles and immediately the little Lady said "where are you sleeping?" and I think then suggested that if I needed a bed I could sleep at her house - these people are so kind. I showed her that I was perfectly set up on a bed in the guest suite and she was happy to let that be. Herself and Usmivka started to remove the plants that she had stored in one of our rooms over winter, so I left them to it and went off with the men.

Well, that was Monday. I had a day off from blogging yesterday as the update came from the UK and so, exhausted after not sleeping well on Sunday, I headed to bed just before 9pm and I slept reasonably well which was very much needed.

Today started at about 6.15am and I was up before the sun again, making my coffee and wishing I had stayed in bed until the alarm went off. Never mind, I was up now. Rambo was still asleep and didn't even get up when I went in to open his door, the lazy sod.

It was due to be a cloudy day and sure enough, it did not fail the forecasters.

Cloudy start

I came back from getting the men and there was no sign of the drainage man - that is disappointing.

With the last bit of grouting finished off first thing the next job was to start running cables for the electric. We were not going to do this yet, hence the floor being laid but I would like this room to a stage where it is pretty much finished with the exception of the electricity being connected. It would just be nice to have it painted - yes, I know, I am such a woman. So Sally was preparing to make a mess of something and was covering the window and the floor. I had no idea what to expect, but they know what they are doing!

Covering up

I took myself off to the shops in town and once in the second shop I thought "oh, I made a list". It was on my phone. My phone was not in my bag. I got that awful dread feeling in my stomach that it had been stolen from my bag. Then I thought it was in the car and had maybe fallen out. I rushed around the shop picking up the things I could remember and legged it outside to the car. No phone. Then I tried to remember if I had actually brought it with me as I got interrupted by Bekir mid-process. Anyway, if it was gone I would just have to deal with it, so I set off for home.

Arriving back to a very excited Rambo I rushed past him and up into Room 13, much to his disgust, to find my phone on charge on the desk. Relief!

Shopping put away and I was off out to the garden determined to get my onion sets and potatoes planted. I had got a telling off from the Little Lady yesterday for not doing it yet. So I dug out the rest of the thistles and weeds and came across this little guy - so bright!

Caterpillar

I also heard a lot of buzzing activity and there are some huge bees out here, much like a bumble bee but completely black and about an inch, if not bigger, in size. I am rather pleased with this shot.

Huge bee

I finished the bed finally and I was rather pleased, especially with the one solitary purple broccoli plant that has survived the winter.

Dug out bed

I was having a quick break and a drink and pulling out my sets and seeding potatoes when the Little Lady came running over and was taking charge! Haha. I was actually rather glad as I have never planted either a potato or an onion before and after watching her do the first row of onions, we finished the bag of sets off together. Now, I would have covered them in more soil if I had been left to my own devices but she was insistent that only "malko" soil. A little bit. We then did the same for the potatoes and again, I would not have done it the same way, but two Marie Piper's went in the same spot as they were very small seed potatoes and one King Edward in each hole. Again, I would have covered with more soil, but she has been doing this for years, so I am grateful for the lessons. I asked if I should water them and a definite "No" was uttered. So that was it. In a matter of ten minutes, my first lot of spuds and onions are in the ground. I am so excited!

Potatoes, onions and broccoli

I tidied away all my tools and thanked the Little Lady very much for her help, bless her, she is very good to me. I was about to water the seed pots when I noticed that I have babies! Look!

Babies!

In this pot there are broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower and I have a few of each that have shown. How exciting!

I went off to see how the men were getting along and progress was great. After misdirection from me on the location of the armoured cable, Bekir had moved everything around to suit our requirements and had been drilling away with the hammer drill all afternoon.

Big drill!

Sally had also been busy and they had pulled down the cables we need for the plug points and light switch. Sally had painted our bedroom pink. There will be a Barbie theme going on in here. Only kidding, this is some form of sealant I think and the Mr tells me that the plaster will probably be easier to apply once this has been applied as the walls are dusty - I have no idea.

Pink!

I had been thinking about all of the lizards I have seen out and around the School over the last few days and so I went lizard hunting. I had seen two this morning whilst I waited for Rambo to finish his breakfast, one being bright green and the other similar to this.

Lizard

They are so fast and timid that they scuttle away faster than you can even catch a glimpse of them and as I startle them, they in turn make me jump. I am such a coward though that any noise makes me jittery.

So the men left, I made a bolognese and I feel happy with the progress this week so far, so much has happened. I am going to leave you now and put my feet up for a half an hour before I go and hit the hay.  I hope you enjoyed the update as much as I enjoyed telling you about it.

Leka nosht.

A xx

That is one hot puppy

Today has been a hot day. The puppies got very hot and so did we. It has by no means been as productive a day as yesterday was but that doesn't make it a bad one. I am not, however, sat out on the balcony typing this but am inside with the fan blowing on me and Pink Floyd on the stereo while A drives Thomas to take the men back. Anyway, enough spoilers, here's the detail.

Ants taking fruit back to their nest. Whole fruit.

I slept better last night than the night before, though I got up in the night to to the toilet and just as I got back into bed Sassy started thumping so I had to go and check her out and quieten her down. She was OK and sleep beckoned again quick enough. The alarm went off at the new later time of 6.30 and was snoozed twice. We went together to feed the boys, me with my camera and it was a good choice today as we observed the ants taking a whole crushed plum (and its stone separately) back to their nest. Incredible creatures.

Uprights put in place by Sally this morning

After sitting with the boys and finishing both our brews I got upstairs to find that it was pretty much time to head out already; such is a good snooze - it makes the entire morning better. I left a bit later than yesterday but was still a few minutes early even to go to the shop so I paused, then continued and picked up the four jam jar lids I was short yesterday, and ten eggs. This shopping at their shop is a great idea. The men were quiet in the car today, Bekir was yawning, and I had lots of thoughts spinning through my mind and when we got back I let Rambo out then went up for some breakfast before we headed to Kaufland to get a few more bits and pieces. Breakfast was toast with the Apple Struper and it was amazing; so tasty. Definitely a favourite, that, and one to be repeated and maybe even done later when apples are being sold off cheap. The men were straight to banging away and when I popped up to tell them we were heading out (without camera, so this was taken when we got back) I found they were putting the little uprights from the outriggers to the ribs.

Bekir teaching Orhan, then taking over

Shopping was successful but expensive, with some more shelves bought and also shockingly pricey walnuts; I really hope that mine produce a good harvest if that is how much they cost! I bought more mixing bowls, another sharp knife and a spatula and now I feel really set for doing more preserving of course hoping the water ever comes back on. When we got back I popped onto the roof to find out what was happening. I found Bekir acting as teacher and Orhan as student, getting one of the angles for a beam worked out and then starting to cut it with a handsaw. After a minute or so Bekir got impatient and took over with the chainsaw. Bless.

Out collecting blackberries, and some of my scratches

I worked on my paid job for the morning but with little progress sadly; it was quite a frustrating morning with that to be honest. A was tapping away with much more success on her day job and after lunch (cheese and some of the chili and apple chutney I made a few days ago - divine) I decided to achieve something and head out with a box and collect some blackberries. I clambered around down near the vehicle gate and saw that, on the other side of the fence, there were loads hanging down. After about twenty minutes or so (and with loads more blood spilled) I climbed back over the fence with a nearly full box. Excellent. The other places that we had cleared out yesterday were less productive but there are SO many green fruit I just need to do this every day and I will end up with a really good harvest. I should do it in the morning though before it gets so hot as when I got in I was really battered and went for a lie down.

Bekir is chilled at heights

While I was resting, and actually while I was asleep, the jet planes came back and roared over so low it made me jump awake. Typical. I stayed in bed and managed to doze for a little while longer before giving up. A headed up onto the roof to try and get a picture but they were too far away by then and even when they came back they weren't in sight. She grabbed this brilliant photograph of Bekir casually on the very top of the ladder straddling a beam.

He is cute, but with HUGE teeth!

When I finally dragged myself out of bed (after standing on the balcony to look for an invisible but very noisy jet plane) I once again set to paid work and made a little more progress but none to really be excited about. Ralf today has been very chilled out, just lazing around largely, but he decided that he wanted to have some attention so A spent a few minutes play fighting and getting his energy let off. She sat him on her lap for a bit and he was chasing her hand around and I just had to get a picture; what huge teeth he has!

Root stock ready for planting out

We were sat both back working when suddenly the power dropped off; no internet, no way to have the video call I was just about to have and no way for A to do anything has her battery is broken in her laptop. Clouds had started to blow in a bit while I was resting and when we went down to let Ralf stretch his legs I made the decision to go up to by the Magnolia near the sunbathing area and plant out the hedge root stock that I dug out when preparing the Red Orach bed. These had really done well sat in the water for the last few days and were all looking healthy.

Man at work. See, I do work

I set to with the shovel (the pick axe has gone somewhere else and I couldn't be bothered looking for it) and pretty quickly had dug out a trench one spit deep and the width of the shovel, and the length of one section of the fence. While I was digging the sun kept coming out from behind a cloud, making the perceived temperature shoot up, and I was sweating by the time the digging was done.

Fun is a hot thing

While I was digging A was entertaining the boys with the heavy ball that is actually Rambo's. Ralf doesn't seem to chase the ball when it is thrown but to go after Rambo. It does cause a lot of amusement for us when Rambo skids near the ball and Ralf is tearing after him barking and snarling. They play together well on the whole and only when Ralf gets over excited and actually snaps at Rambo do you have to stop them. It was so hot that they were played out this time. The picture of Rambo with the ball on one side of his mouth and his tongue hanging out the other shows just how hot they were. At one point A took them for a drink and they had almost a whole bowl between them.

New hedge in place

With the trench dug we put them into their enclosure and walked over to the manure pile to get a bucket full. We also collected some fresh horse manure on the way, some of which A took down to put around the one rose that is growing (though being eaten by insects) to encourage it to grow a bit better. I carried on up to the planting location and poured the manure into the bottom of the trench, then planted each root into or on top of this, then covered with the local soil. Finally we watered them in really well. This last was hurried as just as I was finishing shoveling the soil over Lubo arrived with my planning documents. I made him wait until we were finished though.

Lovely wide corridor in the new roof

The power was back on by the time I got to Room 13 with Lubo and he sat and wrote out the receipt for the work he had done, and handed over the carrier bag with all my documents in it. Now I feel a little nervous that I have not had as much oversight of these as I could have done, but he seems to have included my amendments and if there are problems I will make sure he resolves them. He left, promising to ring ViK about the water which remains off but as of typing this I haven't heard back from him yet. When he left I popped onto the roof to check out the progress of the afternoon and was so struck by the shape that the structure is now taking that I called A from her typing to see. It is now obvious just how much space there is going to be up here and my plans for my electric train set are already fulminating.

He is a hot puppy

We were back to working and then I went for another lie down as I was overheating again and I had a little headache going. I was able to arrange for the assistance I need from work tomorrow so that is positive. It was around now that I came up with the title for this blog as Ralf has really struggled today. This is another side effect of no running water as we have been unable to shave him today as was our plan as he would not have been able to be shampooed after. Here he is super relaxed on the floor of Room 13 trying to stay cool.

Most of the frame is in now

Not long after it was time for the men to go however for a change A was going to drive them back; very brave as she has never driven to their village before and certainly never alone. I waved her off and headed inside; what a pleasure to not have that rush in the evening. I was tasked with chopping for dinner and did the potatoes and aubergine but then decided to wait for the rest for her to get back. I had Pink Floyd on and started the blog, then went out for the progress picture. What a lot has once again been done today.

Ralf again taking a weight off

I only had time for one sarcastic tweet, and a few paragraphs of this blog, before I heard her driving back so I got up and got on with the chopping. Ralf had been sleeping for almost the entire time and I got the camera to get a picture; immediately he opened his eyes and watched me. I waited and waited and first one eye closed, then the other, and he was back asleep and I could get the picture I was aiming for.

Dinner cooking in the oven

The chopping completed the potatoes went in to roast first and then after a while the rest was added with honey drizzled and wow the room smells amazing. A did a bit more work (she doesn't stop) and I kept on with this while Ralf kept sleeping. I have since put some Tom Middleton on, and I am really enjoying it and it is reminding of my good friend JB who emailed me the other day.

Amazing sun and cloud shot

As I sit here typing we are both blogging and though she hasn't published for today I know she has one page done so please do click through here. The sunset today was pretty spectacular, but in a different way to normal as the clouds which gathered earlier are still around. It is good because it makes the evening a bit cooler.

Right, time to go sit on the balcony and eat our food and then hit the sack; such is life.

Taxes and roof

The title of this blog changed right at the end of the day, due to unforeseen ignorance on my part. Such is life. You'll have to read on to find out what that was though...

After the sun has set

I will start by going back to last night as plenty happened after I posted the blog. If you remember (which you obviously will if you are reading this in order) there was music and I was about to go and check out whether it was coming from the farm below me. I put Rambo away and took Ralf with me on a lead to go and check it out. It quickly became apparent that it was not coming from the farm (I did get a nice greeting from the lady and her little girls as I walked past which was nice) and with the weather so nice I took a short stroll along the lane there with Ralf. The sunset was still pretty amazing and I liked how it looked through the trees the edge the track. I would have gone further but I heard the herder starting to encourage the sheep home and I wasn't sure if I had secured the gate well. I let the sheep go past and walked with Ralf past them and then the old sheep dog noticed and started barking. Ralf did not hang around to talk but legged it; this is good to know that he will not tangle with big dogs.

Here is Zeus, King of the Tortoise Gods

I got back inside and settled down for my evening call but had barely started it when my phone went and it was the Other Brother. They were by the side gate so I paused my phone call and went to see what they wanted. I got down there and laughed as Usmivka was holding the largest Tortoise I have ever seen and saying "here, take it!" and indicating that I should put it in the enclosure with Shiva. I took it, smiled and nodded, and asked how old they thought it was. Probably about 100 years was the answer. Wow. I took it inside and upstairs to show to Her on webcam and then I put it on the rug while we chatted about what to do with it. It was quickly dubbed Zeus as King of the Gods/Tortoises and we agreed that he definitely should not be kept anywhere on the land; not least as he would probably eat everything. We decided to put him in the fenced garden over night and then I would release him onto the top bank in the morning; it being too dark for anything more to happen then.

This also stank

I decided to move Zeus before it got even darker and I put him in the Netto tray you see in the second picture (shown for an idea of his size). This is when I found that he hadn't just been sat there doing nothing on the rug; he had done a massive, and very smelly, and very staining, turd. Lovely. I cleaned this up (the stain is still very much there) and then went and took him and set him free in the enclosure. I only hoped he wouldn't eat my vines which are the only thing currently planted in there.

Gorgeous moon

A short while later on, aiming for an early night and long sleep, I headed to bed but first onto the balcony to snap a picture of the true Super Moon which was last night. I headed inside with the music playing and tried to sleep and I couldn't. It wasn't that the music was always loud it was loud then quiet then so loud and clear it was like they were playing stood on the balcony. It was a wedding taking place somewhere down in the local town and the atmospheric conditions were such that the sound waves kept getting swept towards me. About 11pm I stopped imagining jumping in my truck and driving down and through the party, over their stupid band, and back up to bed and I went and shut the window and the door and as I was doing so I saw the fireworks go off to celebrate the wedding. I went back to bed and managed to fall asleep though I woke up in the night stuffy and reopened the door for a bit of fresh air. For those of you who will say "get ear plugs" I have ear plugs and I hate sleeping with them in.

Amazing light first thing

Hazy mountains

The alarm went off and was snoozed a couple of times before I dragged my tired body from the bed. The first thing I did was go on the balcony, take a picture of the beautiful hazy light, pre dawn as we are past midsummer and the sun is rising noticeably later already. In fact I was loving the view so much I put the zoom lens on and took a lovely close up which I offer for your appreciation as well.

Lettuce yes!

While I was out there I snapped a shot of the lettuce which is already doing better than the seeds I planted on the front entrance flower bed. I think it is going to be a challenge to get anything to grow well there as it is so shaded now with all the trees with full foliage. Any suggestions of what would thrive in that location (ask for more information if you want) is really gratefully received right now. Ideally I want flowers, and nice smells, down there.

Up comes the sun

And so I made a brew and went to feed the monsters who were pretty ok as they have been for a while now, including the fact that I had to go and grab my camera and zoom lens (I had left both in Room 13) so I could get a picture of the oh so amazing sunrise which was stunning in the extreme. As I had to go through the house I decided to lock the side door and come out the front door so as to be able to go straight to check on Zeus after feeding time had finished.

Rambo checking Zeus out

I headed over to the fenced garden with both of them in tow and I headed through the gate feeling a little concerned that I may not find him. I needn't have worried as he was immediately obvious near the fence where he had dug himself in slightly and then fallen asleep. Rambo doesn't really seem to understand what a tortoise is and he was on the other side of the fence doing his best to get a good sniff while I was inside checking out the situation.

Slightly munched but still OK

My biggest fear, that he would eat my vines, was not fully founded. He definitely did take a bit of a toll on the lower leaves but he hasn't destroyed it and for this I am grateful. It wasn't long after this (no watering first thing today) that it was time to go and collect the men and I was early enough to stop briefly on their hill and do a bit of tidying in Thomas. They were ready but Sally was slow to get moving today however all were in a chirpy mood today and the journey back was good.

Quite a large snail

When we arrived I showed Zeus to Bekir who said he may not be 100 years old, but that they do live to 150. How amazing. As I was walking back to the house I saw a really large snail on the ground and grabbed my camera to get a snap. I didn't save it for lunch but put it on the path outside the fence. My love of animals even extends to these creatures. Once Mahmet was set up on the balcony I picked up Zeus and went and passed him over the fence (Mahment was working on clearing the external access) and he was set down in that field and I have not seen him since.

No delays, straight on with it

The men today were carrying on with removing the rest of the old roof, started a little bit at the end of last week. I made myself breakfast as soon as I got back as I was feeling hungry and then popped up to see what was going on. They were all working away, other than Mahmet who was outside doing the fence again, with Sally removing bricks, Orhan acting as labourer and carrying the spoil to be chucked off the roof, and Bekir ripping timbers down and cutting them with the chainsaw.

The main thing I had set today aside for was Lubo as he was coming to talk about the project, and then we were heading into the Obshtina to pay the fees for the planning permission and, if I could, the annual house tax and also the final fees for Thomas and Lucy. He arrived a little early, as I was just finishing my last bites of breakfast, but that wasn't a problem and we chatted briefly before he had a quick tour of inspection of the roof (pronouncing himself satisfied) and then we jumped into his car to go to the Obshtina. With the roads in the local town being dug up even worse than I have seen before I was taken on a slight detour around a backstreet, past the only Muslim school in Bulgaria, and to a slightly different carpark than I am used to. We were right next to the Obshtina though so that was good.

The first office we went to had one man in who didn't look that old but spoke like an 80 year old and really struggled to get around his office. He gave us some paperwork, and a hand written note describing the fees I needed to pay, and it was down to the cash office to settle up. I did this with ease and then Lubo headed off to try and find the name the school was under in their system but couldn't so I need to go back to pay the house taxes. I didn't have the paperwork for the cars so I ended up only paying for the planning permission. We had to wait a little bit to file the receipt as the lady had gone to the post office but when she got back she greeted Lubo as an old friend and they had a very friendly conversation which is always good to see.

After this I sat outside while Lubo popped back into the main offices on some unrelated errand and I was called by my kmet who I had a slightly stilted conversation (I have to learn the language better) and then we headed back to the car. When we got there someone had parked right across behind his car however they had left some passengers and thus I ended up pushing this car out the way while Lubo steered it, and then when he had moved his car we pushed it again back in where he had parked. This is not something you would ever do in England huh.

Putting some effort into shifting this beam

Lubo dropped me back at home and we parted with a hand shake and a promise that I would email today about the final fee. I went straight to let the boys out and then onto the roof to see what was happening. They had made really good progress and such a chunk of the roof had been gone that I joked that I would like this as a roof terrace as well. I offered them a brew and they accepted so I headed back down with the tray of coffee cups and sorted myself out with a cup of tea at the same time. I then settled myself down to do some paid work and really got into it, making some excellent progress and actually solving a few issues, which made me feel very good.

Still the roof comes down

After lunch (some pork chops fried with some pre packaged spicy mix, cut up and put between slices of bread) I was feeling a bit sleepy but rather than go to have a kip I took my book and sat on the balcony, with my body but not my head in the sun, and read for a bit. This was lovely as it has been a really warm day all day today and Ralf was also with me, sleeping then jumping up to watch Rambo and Mahmet walk past on their way to the fence. After an hour or so, and feeling much more alert, I returned to my desk and checked my emails (there were none, standard) and then popped onto the roof again. Loads more had been done and I offered the men another coffee which they gladly accepted. I also paid Bekir for their time last week.

Bekir, Orhan and Sally

Mahmet and Sally

Bekir

With another short amount of time spent on the balcony, waiting for an answer to an email, I headed up again and here you (as you see above) get a chunk of different pictures all shot around the same time. Mahmet had paused on his task by the fence to come and do some labouring upstairs and it was a good idea. On the front side of the roof Sally was passing things down to both Orhan and Mahmet as I had made it clear that I didn't want anything being thrown over the front of the building. Already there had been one (accidental) loss as a length of pipe had fallen and taken out one of the pepper plants on the front. I have now moved all the plants out of harms way. On the back side of the roof was Bekir and he was able to just lob everything he didn't want keeping (everything, basically) straight off the roof onto the back bank.

Unfortunately these aren't edible

A bit later on I went for a walk to take pictures of all the lovely watermelons that I thought were growing on the front lawn. I documented 11 of them and I have photographs of all of them. I was going to put together a lovely montage of them all and see if you could spot them all. It was only when I asked Bekir when I could eat them that I found that these weren't watermelons at all, but cattle melons. They were not good for eating at all. I am slightly gutted however it is still gratifying to find out that melons will grow so naturally on that front lawn. Now to find out how to differentiate between the cattle ones and the human edible ones.

Progress today

And so it was time to take the men and when I got back I added potatoes to roast in with the pork joint which had been slowly roasting while I was out and then I set to on the blog and fortunately, while it was still light, I remembered to go and take the progress photograph. They have torn down over half of the remaining roof and should get the rest off tomorrow and then the job of putting the concrete around the half wall will start. More cement lifted onto the roof with the rope and pulley, and maybe more of the var (lime) needed too but we shall see.

More huge piles of wood to sort through

All my efforts to clear the back bank of wood have now been set back to square one with the amount of wood that has been thrown off just today. It will take several days of effort just to sort through all the wood that will be there by the time they finish throwing things down and then I think I will have to bring more rooms in the green building into use to store it all I do have many more plans for this wood than before, including laying out paths in the same style as the beds in the fenced garden, so I may just go straight to doing these and not bother storing that wood. I also have to make the humanure more secure (Rambo got in it again today, and got in a lot of trouble), make a compost bin/retaining wall for all the weeds I am digging up, and make the inside fence for the entrance garden. Additional to all this is the furniture ideas that we have had so I think we'll use a lot of it up this year.

Sunset through the trees

When I was outside getting the progress pictures the sun was just starting to go down so I took the opportunity to get a shot of the sunset from a slightly different angle. It was a pretty stunning sunset today but that was all you should expect after another perfect summer day with only a slightly sharp breeze and some towering clouds which never reached us to tell of the storm that was raging on the other side of the mountains. I am obviously in the correct place in the country once again.

Pork roast dinner

Dinner was amazing again though I didn't leave the potatoes in long enough so they were a little not-over-done enough for me. Roast potatoes are the only thing I like over done; everything else I like to be just slightly underdone. The meat was perfect as was the cabbage so I just ate a chunk of potato and something else on the fork and it was gorgeous. It also blasted my energy levels so the last half of this blog has been written using stubbornness alone.

Moon is still gorgeous

I will leave you with this picture of the moon, rising yellow and huge as I type, and looking pretty super again.

Here's to tomorrow.