Lots of fiddly stuff

Today has been lots of fiddly work for the men, but it's all progress towards the end goal.

Filling up my wheelbarrow

I did get some stuff done today myself; this morning I finished shifting the wood from the dead walnut tree, and then cleared up all the bark on the ground. I also got a little more soil into the raised bed.

Bekir trims down the carpet

Yet more underlay

Bekir smoothing the end of a pole

Halil cleaning up a fitting

Bekir getting his grind on as well

The first thing the men did when they arrived was to finish off the first section of carpet they had laid yesterday, trimming it to size. They continued with this and got the underlay down for the second half of the floor section up there. We then had a discussion about how we would be fitting the carpet down the stairs and they decided to get some metal to nestle into the back corner of each step to prevent the carpet from slipping. This ended up taking the rest of the day as they hand made all the securing clips. By the end of the day, however, all of them were made and the bars were all painted black.

Rosie with her awesome dress

After school it was time for Rosie to make the dress we've been making for her and it was a great show - there were some amazing costumes, including Rosie's of course. My favourite was the kid with a washing machine.

So there you are. That's the update. Thanks for reading.

Cutting the carpet

Here we go again, let's get to this update.

Whisky to try and help me sleep

Last night I did not sleep well at all and ended up at 1am sipping whisky to try and sleep. I'm now very tired indeed.

Starting to take measurements

A really lovely autumn morning, from the roof terrace

Halil uses the leaf blower to clean the patio

Measuring before the cut

Bekir making the first cut

Dragging out another roll of carpet

Underlay going in

Carpet is going down!

The men were in on time and they got stuck into the main task for the day which was to cut all the carpet into shape for the roof and also the stairs. There was a lot of measuring and checking and talking just to make sure that once we got to cutting everything was perfect. It was the time to start the cutting and they got all of the main floor area from the first roll, and then hauled the second roll out to cut the stairs. We were able to get a stairway cut as a single piece right from the top, round the middle landing, and to the bottom. With everything cut (including a section to go into the left hand storage area) they started laying the underlay and then, while Angela and I were out at an awesome show at Rosie's school that she was involved in, they laid out the first section. It still need to trimming and securing but that's some awesome progress!

Finishing touches from our mechanic

Rosie helps while Xena shadows

Pulling Mummy's trolley (with wood in it)

Stacking the wood up here

I was able to collect Thomas from the mechanic today, which wasn't cheap but hopefully he's now fully better and will be reliable for years to come. As I've already said we had an after school show where Rosie did a load of singing and dancing which was brilliant. When we got back Rosie and I went into the garden and she helped me to start to gather and stack the wood that Halil had cut yesterday. We didn't quite get it all done before dinner time so I'll wrap that up tomorrow.

So there you are; that was today. Great progress and I'm looking forward to more tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

On with the stairs

I was sat here this evening getting lots of stuff done and then I suddenly remembered that I hadn't done the blog so now I'm hurrying to get it done.

Rosie planting her flowers

I'll start with a really fun thing at Rosie's school this morning. They have got all the kids to plant flowers along the front planters by her school and Rosie with her best friend dug out and planted a beautiful succulent we bought for her. Here's hoping she keeps it alive!

Fixing the battens into place with nails

More wood required

Lovely new stairs looking great

More washing, nice and clean

Working on more steps

The men arrived just as Angela and I got back from our breakfast in town and they were straight into setting up the forms for the new steps. They did find out they were a bit short of planks so popped down to the shop to pick some more up, also getting the shop to cut them to length. With the forms all in place for the top run of stairs they went to mixing up some very strong cement and then began slapping it in place and smoothing it down. Near the middle of the afternoon they finished up that first run so got the power washer and cleaned the bottom run of stairs, then started setting up more forms. They ran out of wood so mixed more mortar and by the end of the day they had done another four or five more steps. I can now no longer go up into my roof space until probably Sunday as it will take a while to dry.

Full raised bed with soil and compost

Shifting kindling from outside...

... into an internal storage area

I've also had a pretty productive time. The first job was to finish up filling the new raised bed, which I did early in the day. Later on, while Angela went to collect Rosie, I grabbed a wheelbarrow and started to shift kindling in from the outside woodstore into the boxes that we have in our inside wood store. I'm going to have to get out there and start cutting up some of the trees we have stored as well; they are right in the way.

I'll leave you with this video of Rosie digging in the sand and doing really well operating the excavator toy. She had a lot of fun after school today playing with lots of things.

So there you are; the first week of the men's return is done. Thanks for reading, back on Monday (if I don't forget!)

Carport is finished

Another week and another Monday without the workers however they were back today so let's catch up on everything that has happened since Friday.

Reading as a family which is great

Rosie draws a face on the scarecrow

Rosie with our scarecrow

Angela getting into the garden

Incredible clouds

Thelma and Xena with a log

Daddy Saturday was an epic day. First thing I sat with Rosie and read through loads of her books while the puppies slept on my legs which was awesome. Once we'd both properly woken up, and Rosie was out of her PJs, we went outside and made a scarecrow for the chicken enclosure. Rosie really enjoyed this and was very proud of it indeed. We then had to go into town for a few bits and pieces and when we came back Angela was up and in the garden. We had a lovely call with my Mum and sister then were back outside into the garden for more planting for Angela while I lay on my back and watched the clouds and played with Rosie and the puppies. It was, all in all, a great day.

Rosie doing some hobbying with me

The tent is pitched and ready for us

Xena sat on my lap

Hot chocolate in the tent before sleep time

Sunday was a very windy day and we spent more of it inside, Rosie did some hobbying with my which was great fun and then, while she was having a nap in the afternoon, I pitched the tent so we could camp that night. The weather slightly improved so we went ahead with this but were woken in the early hours by a pretty impressive thunderstorm with very strong winds, heavy rain and lots of bangs and crashes. Rosie was very brave and we stuck it out, eventually falling back to sleep and then waking in time for her to head to school. It was really awesome to get to camp again this year as I think this'll be the last time before next Spring.

Angela working in the garden again

Lots and lots of planting out

The pallet arrives

Our solar boilers

As I've said we didn't have workmen yesterday but it was still an exciting day. After the storms over night the day was a bright and blustery one, very autumnal, and Angela took advantage to get into the garden again and do loads of planting out of things she received last week. The garden really is filling up now! Just before lunch the courier arrived with the solar boilers from Greece and we had the fun task of unloading them. Luckily the driver was happy to help, which is unusual here to be honest, and we got everything shifted and stored safely in underneath the car port. I'm now very excited to get these mounted and find out how well they work.

Moon over the pre dawn glow

Golden autumn morning

Old drains ready for blocking off

Carving insulation to fill those gaps

Halil stacks and stacks and stacks

Finally we reach this morning and it really was a beautiful start to the day, clear and colourful. First of all the moon above the pre-dawn glow and then, later, the sun bright over the fog in the valley. That fog did rise up to our level soon enough but I was in town with Halil talking to the bank by that point. When we got back we found Bekir had finished all the work on the carport and was doing the final finishing up which was to trim the drains from the now-covered balcony and fill them in with insulation and later on plaster. Halil, for his part, went into the woodstore to finish that job as well. This morning we had lots and lots of fighter jets flying over head and I did manage to get a very bad video of one of them.

Lots and lots and lots of wood

Bekir plasters while Halil tidies

As far as they got digging by hand

Bekir resorts to power tools - sensibly

Not long later the major job that is stacking all of our wood was completed - what a great task and stacked so well as you can see. With that job complete Halil set to tidying all the tools that had been scattered all over the garage and the windowsills while Bekir continued with the plastering and insulating of the gaps. They were both finished and so jumped to the next job which was to complete the digging of holes for poles to support our mesh roof for the chickens. Sadly the incredible winds we'd experienced on Monday night (while camping) had actually snapped our scarecrow in half however Bekir has saved it and he is standing strong again. Tomorrow we'll get the mesh and hopefully this will be a really quick task to get completed as well. I'm so excited for the boilers and the roof space to be done!

So there it is; another long one but that's how these long weekends for the men go. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.