Back to the garden

After the day off yesterday the men were back today; let's get to this update as it covers both days.

Angela in her new raised bed garden

Balcony play with me and Grandma

The bouncy thing with Grandma

Yesterday was a beautiful day and Angela made the most of it by being outside a fair bit getting a load of stuff done in the garden. I was super busy and was very pleased when it was time for Rosie to get home from school, though she was later than normal as Grandma and Angela took her to the park for a bit after school. We had a nice time on the balcony with her new house and also the rocking donkey before it was time to head downstairs for quieter play then books.

We get to the bar for our night out

Band in full flow

For the first time for years, literally, Angela and I went out together last night. We headed to a local bar to watch our friend the policeman play in his band. It was so lovely to get out and we had an awesome time. Hopefully we can go again some time as well.

The sun rises on another day

Bekir and Halil laying slabs

Checking out the damp

There it is; time to dry out

Today dawned bright and beautiful, but frosty, and the sun stayed out all day. I took Rosie down to school this morning and when I got back the men were in and laying slabs around the raised beds. When the finished the first length Bekir came in to look at the dampness in the library and after moving a load of things we pulled the carpet up to find that indeed the dehumidifier had been leaking and there was a very damp area through the carpet and underlay and onto the floor. We have left this carpet pulled back to air and dry it and will reinstall it at the end of the week. Frustrating, but at least we found it wasn't water coming in through the wall.

Angela shifting stones in a barrow

Using the stones to edge the garden

Seedlings starting to sprout

Xena and Louise having a play

It really was another glorious day and again while I was stuck at my desk Angela made the most of it to get into the garden. I did help her with this barrow, after taking the picture, and she was making a lovely edging to the garden with some stones she found in the excavations for the chicken enclosure and other places. The seedlings she planted with Rosie are also coming up really nicely. It wasn't only Angela enjoying being outside; Thelma, Louise and Xena had a great time, with Xena in particular playing a lot with Louise, while Angela threw the ball for Thelma.

A little bit of pickaxe work

All cut out now

The men finished up the slabs and then turned their attention to the final front section. We had a bit of a chat and decided to have a central slope in line with the middle aisle and have a wall to each side of it with slabs at the bottom. They had to chip out some stone and made use of the breaker for this and by the end of the day were ready for concrete which is awesome as that can be poured tomorrow morning.

So there you are; another awesome day here and more of the same tomorrow I think. Thanks for reading.

Big truck day!

I had a restless night last night due to itchy skin from all my bites but I woke quiet refreshed. I didn't set my alarm so was a little later today than I usually am. I had taken on some additional work with someone I have had previously done some work for and had to get cracking almost straight away before my mega-busy day started with my regular work. I know, I need to stop working so much.

As I tippy tapped away and drank coffee I could hear some noise and stopped my recording to listen. It sounded like a dumper truck. I grabbed the camera and legged it outside only to have missed the main event. They had delivered some stones.

Stone delivery

We are having French drains installed and so the stones, for those of you who don't know, are the first stage of the several layers that have to be applied on top of the drainage pipe. Now, I hope I can get this right otherwise the Mr can edit it. The pipe has holes along the top. Rough grade stones are the first layer, then after that, each layer is a smaller grade of stone, gravel or sand . Anyway, that's all I know, so shoot me if I am wrong.

Rambo and I have arrived at an agreement. He does as he is told and I feed him. This seems to be working quite well. He was running after the lorry when i called him to sit and he did, even from my position on the balcony. The boy impresses me sometimes.

Obedient

The men were working away for a lot of the morning, much the same as I was. Today was an easier day however, as I had to ask the boss to go easy on my due to the swollen wrist as it was in exactly the spot where it rubs when I type. I managed a lunch break and to get some washing done and I also had a quick look at the men's progress.

Earlier in the day I was a bit concerned that they had not dug down to the level of the downstairs corridor and I was having difficulty in explaining what I wanted them to do. After a few e-mails to our very helpful architect, it was all sorted. So they dug further down and then started to fill the hole with concrete, sealing the wall with membrane also. The reason they are laying concrete here, and this is my understanding, is that they need to create an angle for the pipe so that there is actually enough of a gradient for the water to flow all the way round to the front and drain out. I am a girl, so this is probably wrong. Perfect example of why not to leave a woman in charge of a "blue job". Anyway, this is them working.

Concreting

I am starting to warm more to this men now as at first I was not sure about them. The addition of the two extra workers has made a big difference to the attitude and to the progress they are making. They even take time to humour Rambo with his Kong.

Play time

On and off today they took some time to see what they could do with this problematic water pipe that seems to refuse to be fixed! Another make do, temporary fix had to be done today.

Water pipe

I was just finishing up with my work when I heard and spotted a huge lorry pull into the village. I was instantly excited and knew it was for us! It was. Get ready for some serious dumpage!!

I took some time out this afternoon and finished slightly earlier. Rambo and I ventured up to the top bank to check out the seedlings that have sprouted. He was more interested in when i was going to throw his Kong. So much so that he sat down right in the middle of a wild rose bush. Hard as nails.

Every rose...

I was really pleased to see the flowers have sprouted even more and they are coming along quite well. What a shame the rest have not shown willing.

Seedlings

So at the end of the day I took a walk around with the men as one of them had lost either his glasses or his glasses case, I'm not quite sure, but we all pitched in and I snapped a couple of photos to show what they have achieved and that they have actually done what we wanted and protected this wall properly.

Back inlet

Bending

I am currently cooking up a spicy pork pasta for my dinner and it is almost done, so I am going to leave you with an arty farty shot and wish you all a happy Friday.

Bright

Oh yes! I almost forgot. My wrist and bites are a lot better this evening and they are all a lot less angry and sore. Thanks for all the mosquito advice!

Leka nosht.

A x

Waterworld

I am having to remember what happened from my photos since last time; so much has gone on.

First of all, I saw a lovely sunset last night and thought I would grab a pic. Unfortunately, as my memory is so bad, I almost ended up in traction to get it. The builders have taken the steps away out the back to do the drainage and yes, I forgot completely with my camera stuck to my face I so very nearly fell into the pit at the bottom. Only for the fact I grabbed the door handle I would been a goner. I hope you like the sunset!

Sunset 

Whilst feeding Rambo, the birds were tormenting him by flying in and out to build their nest. It all started yesterday and much as he tries, he cannot quite be there all the time to scare them away.

Stage one

I finished my work for this morning at 10am local time which meant I had an hour before London kicked off at 11am (here). I decided I would take the opportunity to go up and lap up some heat from the morning sun with my coffee. It was beautiful and I played a bit of a game with a spider on the chimney. It was called, find your way back up without your web. He did.  Everything is so green at the moment. Look at the land; it is filled with wild flowers also.

Coffee break

I keep meaning to work out how to ask the neighbours who owns the abandoned house further up the lane. Perhaps I could buy it and have it as a retreat when the I annoy the Mr.

Retreat

 Whilst up on the roof and after having a really good look around I spent some time admiring a couple of the things that have actually grown for me. Spuds (of course) and onions. They really are doing well. My broccoli at the far end has become a little top heavy and collapsed. I will need to look at that at the weekend.

Spuds and onions

 Still within my free hour (no, I can't sit for long) I took a walk around the place to see what was happening. They men were battling against Rambo with the wheelbarrow and laying out a layer of sand to level the way for the pipes.

Levelling

On my travels I saw this!  The men must have found it as I know I would have noticed it before. Maybe a sheep or a goat of days gone by?

Something died

When I got to Rambo's enclosure I stopped dead in my tracks. There was a plethora of poppies which had bloomed majestically. These are the only poppies on the land so far and what a sight!

Rambo's poppies

Further down towards the vehicle entrance is the piece of land we are planning to make into a wet area. This may change however as the fruit trees thrive here. In amongst it all are the flags. More colour explosions.

Wild flags

On the top bank, I went to visit Mo's grave (the tortoise with the dodgy legs). I had planted some seeds up there and wanted to see how they were doing. As far as I remember I planted three different types, but only one lot have sprung up. I have no photo of them as they were both blurred, so will have to make do with this.

Two acres

 All around me there were loads of fluttering creatures and as I passed a rather tall dandelion (of sorts) I spotted this beauty. You could be forgiven for thinking that this is photoshopped, but I assure you, I don't know how to use photoshop, except for the automatic levels, which is what is applied to this photo. It really was as beautiful in real life!

Amazing moth!

 I worked pretty much solid from then until about 2pm, not even stopping for lunch as I had become so busy. I had a banana, which is all I have had (it is 9pm) all day. Anyway, I got a knock at the door behind me to say there was a problem. One of the men had dug through a water pipe. What joy!

Sprung a leak

 So they were nattering away at me and I was staring blankly at them trying to pick any word I can out so I could maybe understand. Nothing came to me. I had no idea what to do but gathered that they would obviously try to repair it. I messaged the Mr and went for a look at the back of the school on my way round to the tap to see that they have actually started on the membrane along the back. Exciting.

Membrane

 When I got to the manhole, it seemed the men were not actually doing anything about the leak, so I pulled open the manhole cover to have a look and flick the stopcock. It didn't work. However Bekir has set it up (which has been amazing and I am not blaming him at all), the stop valve has no function, so the water flowed out of the standpipe anyway And there was merely a drip coming to the inside taps, presumably down to pressure issues). This was not the reason the pipe was still leaking however, the reason for that was that it was the continuation pipe (apparently serving a lot of the village) and not affecting our supply except for a lack of pressure. What fun.

Pointless stopcock

 I came in to speak to the Mr who had very little idea exactly what was going on to be fair as I was getting a bit flustered with the men talking and me not understanding and he was asking me questions and water was squirting everywhere. Gah!  I came back downstairs to find one of the men looking around for something obviously. So I found some hose, nope, wasn't that. I worked ot that he was looking for some form of connection. I went to the box of leftover plumbing bits. Nothing there. I racked my brains and them remembered there were bits from the garden hose in the garage and bottle room from when I was clearing! Bingo; that was what he wanted.

Pipe cutting

 ....or was it? It seemed there was a bit of a problem. He had cut the pipe and it turned out that the attachment wouldn''t attach. So, in true Bulgarian style, he stuck a stick in it!

Hmmm

I went back to work again having neglected to get much done since lunchtime obviously and I was over one of my deadlines, just to add more pressure to the day! I heard a van approaching at around 4.30 and there was a man standing very hesitantly at the side gate. I went to the roof and called Rambo off and was able to direct him to the porch, get him to sit and also to stay without being anywhere near him. Even I am impressed and I am his biggest fan! The new arrival was wielding the connection we needed to fix the pipe issue! Yay!

Ooops

 They still couldn't get it to work though, could they? It had rolled past 5.15 and beyond clocking off time. One of the men went off, got changed and came back with his bag in his hand and was trying to slip off. The pipe was still leaking. My blood pressure started to rise. Was he just going to go off and let the others fix the problem he caused? I couldn't believe my eyes. If they left the pipe leaking all night a) I would have no water inside due to lack of pressure and b) it would flood the garden completely. Thankfully, the part man had an idea and held up the garden hose asking if he could cut the end off it. I of course agreed and bravo, the pipe was now flowing as it should! For how long? Ten minutes after they left I went to get a photo of what they had managed to do so that I could show the Mr and I found this!

Did not last long

 I fiddled around with the pipe and watched and it seemed that the pipe rose with the pressure inside and just separated from the ends. Ok, easy. Lay something heavy ish on top of it to stop the pipe from moving. Common sense that, yes?

Bodge

 Apparently not. I got slightly wet when it came away some more.

Wet!

I secured it again as much as I could without those little metal pipe grips I have seen my Dad using in the past. I did go out to inspect before dark and unfortunately the trench is full. There will have to be some repairs done tomorrow, or this lady will lose her rag!

Leka nosht.

A x