Big storm, back to carpeting

We're back into the week again and so with another long update that I need to get stuck into so let's get to it.

The taste of Christmas has arrived

Lots of water through the wall

A rainbow shows up

First time I've seen sheep on our hill for AGES

Checking out our storm damage

The storm disappears into the distance

Rosie holding frozen peas in place

Candles for lights

We had a huge storm forecast for Saturday so before it hit I went out with Rosie to the shops and most excitingly I found marzipan stollen. Christmas is coming! We got back and then the storm hit. I took that video and then answered my question from in the video by walking upstairs and hearing the sound of watering pouring through the window in Angela's art room!!! There was then a short but very intense period as Angela and I rushed around with towels and mops and a bucket cleaning up the water, and cleaning out the window drains when the wind slowed slightly. We got ahead of it, but it was exciting for a while. Once the storm passed there was a lovely rainbow, which turned into a faint double rainbow after some time, and then it was a beautiful sunny afternoon. I headed back into town to get some more spray paints for the pine cones we were planning to use as Christmas decorations. It was after this that we found some damage from the storm - a ridge tile had come off and landed on the patio. It was such a lovely evening with a beautiful view of the storm as it flew off into the distance. The next drama of the day was Rosie hopping along and headbutting the wall really hard. She got an instant egg but she is fine so that was a relief. I was just settling down to a painting session while Angela and Rosie had a girly film night when the lights flickered and went off. We got all the candles out and lit and then found out that something in the house had tripped the switch. I reset it and our evening went swimmingly from there.

Sunrise was beautiful this morning

Setting the fire off

Rosie watching the flames

An awesome tasty breakfast

Thelma being doctored

More storm aftermath

Three doggies playing hard

Relaxing in the sun (and wind)

Sunday was a busy morning. I was out pretty much straight away, as the sun came up, taking lots of cardboard that we have been collecting waiting for rain. I got it lit and later on Rosie joined me to watch it burn, then it was inside and I cooked breakfast including giving Rosie her first taste of fried bread and she liked it. At some point during the day Thelma came to see me and she was bleeding from her wound. I panicked a bit but when Angela got back from taking Rosie to the park (what a great idea and she had a LOVELY time!) she just cleaned it and put a bandage on. Later on I was outside playing hide and seek with Rosie when I saw lots of water in the wheelbarrow. After playing we both sat on the patio watching the puppies playing and enjoying the late afternoon sun. A lovely way to end the day.

Bekir checking any damage we had from the storm

Getting underlay in place

Carpet being dragged into shape

Blowtorch and heating a rod

The hot rod makes a hole in the carpet

Bekir sharpens his knife

Carefully drilling for the top step profile

So we finally reach today. First thing the men checked out the damage on the roof (but they didn't get to fixing it today) and then they were on to doing the second section of the stairs. First it was double sided tape and then insulation (which was JUST not wide enough so he had to add about 10cm to make it fit) and then they fought the carpet down the stairs. I finally managed to get a picture of Halil heating up the metal rod and Bekir using it to drill through the carpet which is a really cool technique. After all the fitting was done Bekir went down the whole carpet and trimmed the edges with his knife, which ended up getting blunt and he had to keep sharpening it. The final task, which was a bit of a pain, was to fit the angle at top of the stairs. The cement crumbled at one point however they were able to recover and use some insulation to patch it up and ended with this completed as well, near enough.

Pine cones sprayed silver

Pine cones sprayed gold

Goodbye sun

When Rosie got home from school we went outside together and sprayed the cones with silver and gold spray paint. They look great and tomorrow we'll spray with the sparkle spray paint I picked up on Saturday. As we were doing this the sun was setting in a beautiful display.

So there it is; a pretty good weekend to be honest, and a good day today.

Heaters in the balcony

Last night there was such strong winds and heavy rains that the earthquake that occurred about 60km away from us or so didn't even register. I felt it but thought it was psychological from the howling wind. Thankfully there was no damage.

Angela made some pickle

We'll open this update with some preserving that Angela did first thing, which wasn't the only thing she did - lots and lots of clearing and tidying went on and Rosie (who was off school again sadly) helped. I was even able to find some time to sort through the Christmas Things boxes and tidy them out of the way.

Bekir and Halil getting ready for today

Halil rewiring to remove the plug

The two heaters are now hung

Here is where we'll have the switches

Precariously cutting out access

So to the day, which was a thundery, rainy and windy day with patches of sunshine. Honestly it feels more like March or April than January right now. Still no sign of the snow. For today I asked the men to hang the two ceiling heaters we've bought for the balcony to warm it up for Rosie's birthday. First off we spent some time working out roughly where they would hang then they legged it to get more heavy duty cable and with that done they got to work. It didn't take long at all to hang the heaters (we may end up with two more I think) and the rest of the day was spent in the wiring. We removed the plug cables that they came with and have hardwired the power in as we'll be having switches on the wall to control them. They cut small holes into the insulation and then ran the cables between the holes, to minimise the damage to the wall. It did take a little longer than I expected, but then it always does with electrics, but hopefully on Monday they'll be wired in and then we can decide if we want two more.

Very strong rainbow (and faint double)

I'll leave you with this photograph of an awesome rainbow (the second today, as it happens) that Angela saw and called Rosie and I to see. Amazing

Angela will be doing the blog next week so it'll happen when she gets a chance. Thanks for reading today.

Metal then reservoir roof

 Today was forecast to be torrential rain all day and so the men were primed up with jobs to do inside incase it did this.

Ready to put big stones along the edge here

Splitting a plank in half

This is where those half planks will go

Fitting a narrow coander prevention lip

We kept Rosie off school today as she'll be going in tomorrow instead and Angela had a lovely day with her; I also enjoyed her being around as I could see her when I had a break. Bekir and Halil were in on time and the first job was to tidy this edge of the patio next to the path so the metal grid had something to sit on. With this done they started splitting up planks, using the table saw given us by SandS, to act as the guides in the middle of each section for when the cement is poured. With this done they then went onto a task that took quite some time, but is a really important detail; they nailed into a place a thin sliver of wood all around what will be the underneath of the overhang which will prevent rain water from running over the edge and coandering onto the wall behind causing damp. A small touch but a really cool thing to see they are considering. Just before lunch they pulled up the half-planks as the forecast is bad over the weekend again and if they were left in they could warp badly in the rain; these will be put back on Monday and the pour is planned now for Tuesday.

Bekir cutting up the planks

Making good progress

Here come the clouds

Heavy rain for a short time

At lunch Halil rushed off to go to his college leaving Bekir on his own and he started to assemble the raft of planks over the top of the toilet collection points. He worked steadily away and then as he was having an afternoon coffee the threatening clouds suddenly arrived and dumped a short but very heavy shower which sent me rushing to get the tablesaw back inside. It did not last long and very quickly he was back to work.

A storm looms

Rosie and Thelma playing

Heavy rain once more

A rainbow left behind

After I finally finished work I played with Rosie on the balcony then she wanted to go outside so we did some catch-you and hide and seek and then played with Thelma for a bit; shortly after we went back inside onto the balcony again another huge storm, that had been incoming for a while, hit and we ran around shutting windows again. It passed quickly once more and during dinner we were able to enjoy a rainbow across the valley.

The rain is forecast to hang around until Sunday night so we'll see what tomorrow brings with progress outside or in.

Thanks for reading.

The month of January

I'm later writing this than I expected to be but here is an update covering the month of January. I just want to get these pictures shared for you all. I have nearly 600 pictures to look through so hopefully this'll be interesting. Here goes.

More shelves up for records

Rosie playing with her kitchen

Lots of flies on the balcony

The top corridor, before tidying

Our pictures, up

First of all let's look at a few pictures of things that have gone on around the house. I finally got the extra shelves up and put my Nana's old records out of their bags and on the shelves. I still haven't got the speakers and amplifiers back connected sadly; I really would like to as we miss listening to our music during dinner times. Rosie has continued to play with all her Christmas presents, particularly she loves the kitchen. One thing that has occurred is whenever the temperature rises (and it has been very warm at times) loads of flies have appeared in the balcony. Bekir says they are from the wood but I'm not sure. Anyway we have had to sweep them up a few times. I've made some efforts clearing the top corridor and as I type this, mid way though February, I'm quite close to having it all sorted. We also have very nearly got the gym completely populated which helps clearing the entrance area. Finally Angela and I put up the pictures in the library and now my dad is able to watch Rosie as she plays on the carpet. This is a very good thing.

A double rainbow

The moon-rise

Sunrise over low fog

Foggy cold start

Look at all that snow!

Wading through the snow

With a huge Sammy

Mummy pulling the sled

Snow chair!

Beautiful snow shapes

Sammy at night

The flags starting to push through

The end of Sammy

The weather, as I mentioned, has been very up and down. There has been rain, shine, fog, sun, snow and everything in between. Above is a selection of photographs just to show some of what we've seen. There are a lot from the snow - Rosie had SUCH fun and I did as well with the sled and Sammy the Snowman and the Snow Chair and everything else.

Rosie with her Christmas present

Dincher and family with Rosie playtime

Up and the mountain house

Lots of water in the fishpond

Rosie splashing and having GREAT fun!

Now a couple of updates about time with friends. First of all New Years Eve with the neighbours was fun again as always, and Rosie was really involved until she got so tired she had to go home to bed. I was tired, and struggled slightly, but I still loved it. Later in the month Dincher and family came over and it was play time with his children and Rosie which was great fun. We also headed up to the mountain house on the first sunny weekend we found which was just lovely to do. The rain we'd seen caused the pond to be so very full and huge puddles and Rosie got soaked splashing and playing.

So there you are; I'll wrap that up there. I'll do another update for February I think.