Lots of little stuff done

It has been an awesome day today, truly! Let's get to it.

Mummy and Rosie before school

Bekir removing the unused plug for reuse

Drilling out to run the cables

Plugs all done

First of all today was Rosie's first day at her new school. Both Angela and I drove down with her to drop her off and she was so super excited on the way and as we went in. We stopped at the photo opportunity at the entrance and got lots of pictures together then went to leave her with the teachers. They were super welcoming and she has had a great day. We got back before the men arrived as the start time of this new school was slightly earlier for the first day but they were in on time and got back to the task they almost completed yesterday, putting some plugs on the wall below the patio. I had Bekir recover a plug that had been put in for the now defunct humanure reservoir and there is now an English and a European double socket by our lawn. Superb. During this time I also took Maisie down to the garage with Halil's help. We won't have her back for a week or so now.

Bekir starts digging out the trench

Garden retaining wall done

Bekir starts to lay out the drain

Windowman checking the window

Rosie on our old chopping block

With that task done they moved over to the low wall they had done yesterday. Angela did want to have a return up to the side of the path (I hadn't been sure yesterday) and so they dug a trench and quickly laid a few blocks to finish this task, then filled in the gaps with cement. They did have to go and get more cement as well and also found out how much we owed the shop. After this task they moved to the new garden sink and attached and buried the drain to take the water away from underfoot. Mid afternoon the window man came to look at the leaking window and claims to have fixed it, but we shall see in the next storm. Rosie came home from school around this time and was so full of excitement for the day it was a joy to see.

Halil dropping stones for the drain end

Covering it all up

Xena barking at Bekir raking

Fixing the drain out of the chicken house

The men finished digging in the drain pipe and then put a load of stones around the end to allow it to drain properly into the soil. They then covered this with plastic and buried it under soil and finally raked over the area to clear and tidy it. The final task was digging out the bottom of the drainage pipe out of the chicken house and, indeed, it was very blocked with soil so they did the same thing here.

Hornets near the hole

The last thing to leave you with is Halil spotted a hornet nest in the roof! A knot fell out of the wooden boards under the overhang and there are loads of hornets going in and out all the time! Tomorrow Bekir will bring his bee keepers mask and go up and try and deal with it, I hope!

It was a good day indeed, and thanks for reading. Back tomorrow.

Working in the attic

First of all and before anything I want to wish Angela a very very happy and wonderful birthday. First thing this morning Rosie gave her the presents that we had bought on Saturday and just now I blew up the balloons and put them on display at the dining table. Rosie and I also sang and it was lovely :) So there you are.

Happy birthday Angela!

Sun sets over the trees at the back

Arty shot of the sunset through the windows

Brian eats his dog food

The clouds that were flickering away

For the blog, back to last night and a lovely sunset as Rosie was heading to bed that she really enjoyed seeing. We also fed Brian who was very hungry and scarfed a lot of the food down before disappearing back underneath his bedding. There was a lot of stormy weather blowing around so I headed onto the roof terrace to shut the doors and while I was up there took some pictures and a video. In the night the storm again didn't really come over us, but it did rain.

Bekir fitting metal

Bekir drilling through for the overflow

The pipe work in progress

Wood shifted downstairs the easy way

For the day's progress it was all spent in the roof space. First of all they completed fitting the metal around the edges of the chimneys so that is a really good improvement. Next up was the overflow for the water storage tank; we are putting this in so that if a valve breaks again the water will go outside and not come down through the house like it has twice now. During the day I took some time to get back up and do more clearing of the rubbish up there and Halil got involved and helped by shifting a load of the wood downstairs (by lobbing it off the roof terrace). We're getting closer to me being able to shift some stuff up there out of the games room so I can start on the next model railway project!

Angela feeding Brian

Brian exploring the lounge

A lot of after school has been taken up by Brian as he managed to escape the cage. I found him trundling down the corridor! I've now wrapped some small chicken wire all around the top half of Sassy's old cage (I'll do the other half tomorrow) but we had some fun times with him running around the lounge and Rosie was fascinated.

So there it is. Tomorrow my mum arrives and we're all very excited to see her. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Humanure Drainage done

After the update yesterday that took me so many hours to write I'm going to try and get THIS one done quickly; let's see.

Getting stuff done early this morning

A butterfly on a thistle flower

Lots of dirt pulled out by Robbie the Robot

Big spider with three missing legs

The day started in the garden as we all went outside before the major heat hit to get some stuff done. Angela was weeding and tidying up while I helped by digging some thistles out (though I did get distracted by a butterfly on one of them). I also pulled Robbie the Robot out of the pool where he had done an excellent job cleaning the pool up. Finally we found a five legged spider that was pretty huge and getting around fine without its normal leg count.

Drilling through the wall for a pipe

Thomas arrives with stones

Lots of stones in Thomas

Pipe in the trench

Burying the pipe

Bekir drags stones out of the truck bed into the trench

Filter material in the empty collection point

The dissipation bed is built and finished

Bekir and Halil tidying up

Mesh onto which they spread sand

Bekir hanging out outside clock

Clock hung and very nicely visible

The bulk of the pictures today tell the story very well; Bekir and Halil spent today basically completing the immediate work on the humanure collection points to allow them to drain properly. This involved lots of digging (and today was HOT!) as well as drilling out through the base of the collection point to fit the pipe in. They also headed out to buy a load of stones to use as filter material for the dissipation bed we are building. They pulled Thomas onto the lawn to make unloading very easy; smart. With the pipes in place they covered it over with soil then dragged the stones into the trench using a rake, direct out of the bed of the truck. They also shoveled a fair amount into the collection point itself to prevent solids from draining out. With the trench full of stones they covered it with polythene to prevent it getting swampy and then covered over with soil, raking out stones as they went. Inside the collection point they put some fine mesh over the stones and then put sand in place. A great day of progress indeed. Before they left they also fitted the new outside clock that will mean we know what the time is when we're in the pool; it's nice and big and very clear to read so it's perfect.

Getting set up for our game today

Rosie gives leaves to the ants

Xena and Steve - best of friends

Really strange looking creature

Rosie and Angela play swingball

For the rest, today I played a game with Steve (we haven't actually finished yet) which has been a lot of fun. We also spent quite a really nice time in the pool, all of us today, which was awesome. After that I went to hang some washing out and Rosie came with and she spent a lot of time watching the ants and feeding them loads of leaves; she's so awesome. We even took some leaves down to the burned area so "the ants could find them". I also managed to finally get a shot of Steve and Xena; they are best buddies now! I had bought a swingball set which arrived today so we put it together (I saw this crazy insect that looks like some alien spawn while I was setting it up) and Angela filled the base with water then we all had a go; Rosie was having great fun, though she's not fully got the hang just yet. This will be a really fun toy for all of us for years I hope.

So there it is; Steve heads home tomorrow and next week I'm back to work (boo) but I'll be back on Monday with another update. Thanks for reading.

A lovely weekend, a damp Monday

 It's Monday once more and what a lovely weekend we had.

Rosie sitting on the chest on the trolley

A big bounce, before a bum-landing

Soaking after the splash

An absolutely stunning sunrise

New light fitting up in the roof space

The sunset is reflected in the balcony

Leaving for dinner

Rosie in the play area

Saturday was a bit dull and raining but we still got out in the morning to pick up some more storage for Rosie's play room before coming home and (after a nice chat with Grandma and Auntie Nods) there was time to bounce on the trampoline and then the sun suddenly came out so we wrapped up warm and went for a big splash in the big puddle in the lane. It was a lot of fun. Sunday was a busy day all round, it started off with a beautiful sunrise and ended up being a beautiful day, though very windy at times. I did a bit of tidying upstairs and fitted a new light in the roof space. In the evening we went out for dinner to our favourite restaurant, leaving the School as the sun set and returning after a very fun evening (lots of play for Rosie, and good food as well) after dark. A lovely weekend indeed.

Halil working to get the drainage in

More stones for drainage

I even lit the fire today

Shuttering goes up around the raised beds

And so to today; it has been so changeable weather with the sun shining one minute and torrential rain the next; really unpleasant and horrible for the men working outside. The first task of the day was digging out the rest of the drainage from the garden area, this involved some breaker work outside in the side path but was done quickly. I was again busy and didn't get out much, though I did run and get a quick picture of the rest of the stones being delivered for the garden. The men went to get more electrical cable so they can put new lights up in the balcony but then the changeable weather struck again and the rain stopped briefly so they actually spent the rest of the day outside shuttering the top of the raised beds so they can pour concrete tomorrow and finish them off. We did get a quote for the glazing of the raised beds and it was so expensive we've decided to leave it for now.

Tidy play room (for a few minutes at least)

Angela has been super busy today cleaning and tidying and reorganising and she got the new storage, that Rosie and I picked up on Saturday, into the play room and it is so much better now!

And that is that; back tomorrow, thanks for reading.