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.

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.

Another crazy busy day

Today has been another day where I've barely stopped. I love that Angela can get away for her art course, it's so awesome, but typically many extra things have happened while she's gone which have just made me dash dash dash. Rosie has been so good though so it's been easy other than the issues with Maisie really.

Morning sky today

A spot weld before heading out

Punduk has a nap on the duvet

Back and putting up more columns

This plug socket doesn't work any more

We start the day with the sky as Rosie and I went to feed the chickens before school. When I got back from dropping her off I went straight back out with Halil to the garage again. I'd had a very concerning conversation with the mechanic last night after the blog published where he said she was in a very bad way and he didn't think she was worth repairing however this morning he was more positive and I think we've found someone who can do the repairs necessary. Not good though. The men had got stuck in first thing and prepared one column with a very small amount of welding before Halil left so we could get going and Bekir had things to work on and when we got back he'd swept the drive and finished the column. Later on in the day I went out to find them fitting a new plug onto the extension as the welder had drawn so much current it melted the plug!

Painting just the tops

Grinding one of the cross pieces

Bekir welding picture one

Bekir welding picture two

This side is all finished

Reinforcing plates going in

The next task was to paint the tops of each of the unpainted columns as they were going to put the cross beams in place. This required more grinding from that awesome grinding machine and then, sadly, I missed every instance of them lifting into place so I cannot say how they got it done. Just as I was leaving for Rosie's school meeting (an hour of very fast Bulgarian but I think I could the gist of it) they had finished welding in the second of the beams and were about to raise the final middle one. Excellent progress indeed. When I got back just now I found that they had completed all the cross pieces and begun the next task which is to weld some reinforcement across the joins between each 5m long section of cross piece.

Rosie pushes the roundabout on her own

Having fun on the merry go round

After the aforementioned school meeting we went over to our favourite restaurant and Rosie had lots of fun playing while I ate a nice salad and watched her. She was insistent on wanting to do things on her own, and very proud when she managed it. 

So there it is; a busy day but a good one and we can neither of us wait for Angela to get back tomorrow! Thanks for reading.

Goodbye to Julian

What a day! I haven't stopped all day until now. But now I have time to write a quick update for you all so let's get into it.

The best hair style I can do

Grinding down another length of steel

Making sure everything is square

Putting another column in place

Drilling to secure with another pin

This morning I had to do Rosie's hair before school which went far better than expected. It stayed in all day as well! When I got back from dropping her to school the men were already in and working on the next column. There was trimming required, and now we are starting to run out of discs for the machine so probably need to get another couple I think. They worked on fitting the middle two columns, as well as having to spend time with me taking Maisie from the garage where she has been for the past two weeks having nothing done over to a new place in the main town. 

Julian getting worked on again

Julian has gone, and the columns look great

Looking at Maisie in the garage

Rosie drinks apple juice while we wait for the bike

Burger and chips for dinner

Julian was being worked on when we got back from dropping Maisie at the garage in town. It turns out that the fuel pump was just a bit stuck and after hitting it with a hammer it worked again - that is proper tech. After school I collect Rosie then collected Dincher and we went back into town, via an appointment for him, and then on to the bike shop. The guy did a very quick service on my main bike (though I've got some more to do here if I get time) and Rosie and I had a drink at a cafe next door while we waited. We left the other bike there, probably to collect tomorrow, and we dropped Dincher back at his office then went for a quick bite to eat. We got home just in time for book reading and then bed. What a busy day.

So there it is. What a day. I'm exhausted now. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Second side, and Julian

I'm home alone with Rosie for the next few days as Angela has gone to an art course for a few days which is awesome. Today has been super busy as well so let's get to it.

Starting to measure everything out

Measuring at the top end

Working out the height of the front column

Halil gets to grinding again

Welding the caps on the column

Bekir fitting the second column

Towards the end of the day

It has been a lovely sunny day today and the men were in nice and early and got started on the thing that took most of the day - lots and lots of measuring. They were working out exact heights for the second side of columns, and we had a long discussion about whether they would need to do any cement work to build new footings but after some discussion and working out they have been able to avoid doing so. They used string to get the exact shape (it looks awesome and we have loads of space) and then we discussed tipping the front corner down a little just in case we do end up building another roof for more parking space. It may or may not happen but it'd be annoying to not have taken it into account at this stage. Then it was down to cutting steel again to get the correct lengths and they got two of the columns raised and fitted into place today.

Xena and Punduk get to playing together

Rosie and the puppies run off to play

I couldn't pick which picture I preferred

Xena and Punduk play with the ring

Lots of fun with the ring

Next up is a group of photographs and videos showing just how quickly Punduk (I misspelled his name yesterday) is fitting in with Xena particularly. Suddenly this morning, while I was talking with Bekir, Xena came flying past me playing REALLY hard with him. It was awesome to watch. Thelma and Louise are still very unhappy, though they've had many more years of not having other dogs around. It was so cool to see Xena being playful and I have told Bekir to just keep bringing the puppy if he wants to. When Rosie got home from school they continued playing right up until the men left.

Jump start attempts

Checking the fuel pump

I'll wrap this update up with a couple of pictures of the efforts put in this afternoon by Halil's friend who came to attempt to start Julian so they could drive him away at the end of the day. Sadly the fuel pump was having problems so they were not able to get him running. We're wondering if there has been some chewing by mice in the electrics so tomorrow will be another attempt. It may be that they end up putting him on a trailer after all (which I would far prefer, to be fair).

So there it is. Another day done; we'll be back tomorrow. Thanks for reading.