Men done again

That was a really good quick visit from the men, getting lots done in three days, and now they're away again and they may not be back for the rest of this year!

Stork flying past

I'll open up this update with a picture I meant to include two days ago but forgot. I was mowing the lawn when I heard a strange sound and saw that a stork was sitting on the power pole just on the lane. I got a few pictures before it flew off and just managed to catch that as well. Rosie was very impressed as she loves nature.

The big dope got stuck

Getting ready to fit this as a gate

So many poppies, such a beautiful sight

Loads of bees around the poppies

And so to today. First thing this morning, just as we were waking up, Dutch got himself stuck inside the Green Building. He eventually managed to jump out the window again but we were laughing at him. The men were in on time and their first task was finishing the final stretch of fence and putting a gate. They made use of a section of Sassy's run to make the gate - perfect as this is really a stop-gap measure and we'll put proper fencing up soon. I got some lovely pictures of the poppies in the fenced garden as well; these will need digging out as we have onions in there somewhere!

Halil and Bekir hefting this heavy unit

Trying to put a neat hole through...

... but that didn't work so the chisel was brought out

Cutting mesh to put over the hole

The failed attempt on the left, and ventilation is in

Sealing the gap under the door frame

With that task completed I asked them to help me move two of the units out of the Games Room as I'm buying new ones to replace them. These are very heavy but we got one into the corridor and one into the roof space. They then moved on to putting in ventilation for the under stairs storage. Halil had an idea to get a really nice drill to make the hole look nice however once they got that back they found that the stairs are full of rebar so they fell back to using a chisel and smashing their way through. By the end of they had a good sized gap, with some mesh over it, and I think I'm happy now that we won't get damp and smelly in there. I was about to let them head off when I remembered the gap under the middle door by the glass room and so for the last half hour they quickly mixed some cement and filled that in. What a great success and many tasks completed that we didn't think would get done this year.

So there it is. I don't know when I'll be back next, though Rosie was just very excited to tell me she thinks the ducks are going to have babies so maybe if that happens it'll prompt an update. Thanks for reading, back whenever.

Back to the holes in the wall

Today has been a day of slow progress, but progress is good. Let's get to it.

Rosie having a blast in the leaves

First of all is Rosie this morning as I dropped her at school. She saw the huge pile of leaves underneath the tree by the school front door and I told her to go play in the leaves. The teachers were watching and laughing so much. She had a great time.

The fire is lit!

Today has been damp and cold enough that I lit the fire and have kept it lit all day. We still don't have any more snow though. Despite it being such a cold day Angela got outside today and dug over the raised beds - I forgot to get pictures but it was a great bit of garden progress.

Bekir trimming some of the bricks

Chiseling away at the bricks

Bekir hoovers up and tidied

Shuttering being put on

Cement ready for use

Hole starting to get tidied

Halil getting stuck in

A little plastering

The task for the men today, who were a little late this morning, was to keep working on the holes punched through the wall for the model railway. First of all Bekir trimmed a few bits off the bricks that were in the way of making the hole totally square, then he tidied up and finally put a few lengths of wood on as framing for the next step. Halil mixed some cement and so they got started on building up the base and walls. They also put some plaster on some of the walls. There was a lot of depth to fill so they had to go out to get some faster drying mortar as well.

Rosie painting some decorations

Getting ready for Christmas

After school Rosie and I spent some time with her painting some Christmas Decorations, which she did really well, and after that we went up into the lounge and put the lights around the tree. Right now Angela and Rosie are working on the tree in the library.

So there it is. Right now the wind is howling outside but still no snow. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Another epic day

Today has been an epic day and we have achieved loads so let's get to it without delay.

Dutch checks out his pillow

Dutch likes his new house

Lots of rubbish to clear

Much tidier now

The chicken gets her leg treated

Blowing dust off the filters

After doing my exercises this morning I went out and stapled Dutch's pillow down to the pallet and moved all his bedding over; he seems to have settled in to that already which is great news. After dropping her at school I got stuck into moving the pile of sticks, leaves and other wooden junk from the edge of the patio and swept some other leaves up from around the place. It's looking much neater now. When the men arrived they went straight in to treat the chicken, which is a pretty simple task that I'll have to do tomorrow and Sunday. She seems a lot better. After that they went into Rosie's rooms again to clean the filters in the air conditioning units.

Bekir fitting the new lights

Lifting the unit upstairs

Probably not its final resting place

I hate flies inside so much!

Kill all the flies

Taping the door up to keep the smoke in

The first inside task was the finish up fitting the lights as my new bulbs are on their way but not here yet. I spent a bit of time tidying in the balcony and decided to move the unit in there upstairs to replace with a better shelving unit to help the balcony toys stay tidy, so the men helped to lift it up and put it in place. I noticed that once again we've got a huge fly problem out there so this prompted the next task - setting off a smoke bomb in there. It went off so fast and then we found that the doors to the balcony are not very well sealed so we had to rush to tape up the doors into the lounge however it was too late to seal the door in the bedroom so that had to be shut off and abandoned for 24 hours. It was stinky!

Halil fits the bulbs he found

Drilling for the first frame

Lots of frames going up the wall

Fitting the Lord of the Rings posters

Right at the top of the ladder

And all the posters are up and look GREAT!

The men then had to head out to get better screws and wall plugs for the next task and they were able to pick up some bulbs for the lights so the ones coming from the internet will now be in spare. And now the main task for the day, that I expected to take all day, which is hanging the posters up the stairs to the roof space. They went up super quick and before I even realised it all of them were up and I had to work to decide where each poster is going to be set. I was bouncing around and so excited to see these up and done but now I need to buy more posters and frames to complete the walls (and one of the frames I bought is actually empty so yeah I do need more).

Using the laser to ensure everything is level

Cutting through the plasterboard

Starting to drill it out

Holes punched through

Sweeping up the rubble

The four holes looking great

I expected that job to take all day so I was even more excited that now the men were at least able to make a start knocking the holes through from outside Room 13 into the Games Room. I explained what I wanted and they got the laser out to get the holes actually matching and discovered the floor really isn't even out there; one hole is 1.5cm closer to the floor than the other! It was then out with the grinder and cutting through the plasterboard and then the big drill bit and knocking the holes through and I could barely believe it but by the end of the day they had completed all the extra three holes and so we now have the four holes through. Amazing progress!

Pitched the tent for tonight

Rosie set up for Movie Night

As I mentioned earlier the bedroom is out of action (and I went into it after dinner and it is so bad I had to hold my breath the whole time) so I pitched the tent and me and Rosie are going to camp out tonight. She's having a movie night with Angela while I'm typing this up and then we'll go out with some hot chocolate and have a nice night out there.

So there it is. We've a busy weekend lined up so expect another long one on Monday. Thanks for reading and  back Monday.

Largely in the workshop

I asked the men to try and finish the replacement workbench in the workshop by the end of tomorrow so that was our main focus today.

Bekir drilling a hole

Halil grinds to size

Dipping into the paint

Bekir separates the first batch

Halil splits up the second batch

First of all, however, they spent some time completing the brackets that will hold the stair guides in place. Bekir drilled, then Halil trimmed to size and took the burrs off and then they moved on to painting. This was accomplished by threading a batch of brackets onto a wire and then dipping it into the paint. Once they had a solid covering they stretched the wire out between two poles (and the handles of a wheelbarrow for the second batch) and separated each bracket from its neighbour. Clever time and labour saving effort that.

Halil drilling holes into the frame

Adding more anchors to the feet

Another load of steel is delivered

Getting the sub frame in place

Halil sets to welding

Final task - the painting

The main part of the day was spent in the workshop as I wanted. First of all they drilled out the holes that will be used to afix the work top to the frame. Then we discussed how we would be setting the shelves underneath, including supporting the machines, and decided to go with more steel so they popped down and bought it cut nearly to size. They then cut and welded each length into place before getting started with the metal paint to ensure it doesn't rust. The end of the day saw the table frame all finished and tomorrow they can focus on shelves and tools and power and getting the room ready for me for the weekend.

Rosie watering her raised bed

I'll leave you with this picture of Rosie watering her raised bed. She's doing so well at this and is loving seeing what is growing.

So there it is. I hope that they do get it all completed tomorrow! Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.