Just painting

 Another weekend passes, and another Monday update that will be super short about Monday, but with lots about the weekend.

Chilly start

Rosie watches the chickens

Shadow people

Rosie splashing in the water

A beautiful view here

Rosie playing in the leaves

So to Saturday and pretty well straight after breakfast I was out in Thomas with Rosie to go to the garage to get his winter tyres swapped on; it was cold enough when we got on the road and Rosie was wrapped up well when we got there and went for our walk to find the river. We made a few false starts, meeting a puppy and some chickens but eventually found our way down there and Rosie had great fun splashing and watching the running water and getting soaked. When I took her back to the car I changed her as Angela had wisely put a change of trousers in. It was a lovely morning and an awesome way to spend the time while the tyres were being done. The rest of the day was almost entirely Rosie as well, with brief breaks to do little bits on the Santa's Express, and we had a lot of fun playing in the leaves and running around outside. A good day all round.

A cloudy but interesting start to the day

Rosie helping me with the leaves

Angela gets some seedlings separated

Sunday started off cloudy but was an OK day in the end; not as glorious as Saturday. It was again a day for Rosie but we got some chores done around the place. I found the toilet was broken again, the fan not running and therefore the reservoir was totally full, but worked out it was the socket broken, not the fan. This reservoir has never been a good thing in my eyes and next year I think we'll do something else and get rid of it. I have never liked it. Anyway before that I spent some fun time with Rosie in the garden raking up leaves and taking them in the wheelbarrow, with her sat on top to stop them blowing away, to both put on the garden and also collect to make leaf compost. After I found out about the toilet I raked and stashed as much as I could in the big leaf box and put it in the garage as we are back on the old humanure for a while until the new toilets fix themselves. If they do. Angela got some time as well to split the carrots in their pots as they are doing really well in the glass house. It was another good day, and ended with me getting a full evening to paint.

A horrible miserable day all day

Painting the steel

Warm by the fire for coffee break

And we reach today. Today has been miserable. It has rained all day (apparently right now it is snowing) and has been grey and horrible and the worst of weather. I really dislike miserable days; I thrive on sun, never mind the temperature. The men had balcony work but other than cleaning up a bit they were able to work inside all day as Bekir and I got out to order wood and metal for the weatherproofing of the windows (very much needed) and then they were in the garage all day treating the wood and painting the L profile steel that will seal between the windows and the other framing. They lit the fire in the workshop while they were working in there, and also for their breaks. Very sensible. Our wormery arrived and, as feared, all the worms were Dead on Arrival so tomorrow Angela will be on the hunt for some local worms from the fishing shops. She had the first day of the next five weeks with the school shut with Rosie at home and did so well keeping her entertained; I am so proud of her. It is SO difficult with Rosie when it's so nasty outside you can't even wrap her up warm and let her outside. There was hopscotch done in tape on the kitchen floor and lots of drumming. Wonderful work!

There it is; another day done. Tomorrow is forecast sunny and cold which is MUCH more my type of weather and Bekir and Halil should be out fitting the things they painted today. The window people will come back this week to fit the rest of the windows and then we'll be weatherproof out there finally! Thanks for reading.

Busy morning, lazy afternoon

Well hello there; we're both very tired right now after an excellent day so I'm going to try and be brief. You can judge how well I do by the end.

Straight on with the chores

So the day started with no alarm and a bit of a lie in. It was wonderful. We let the girls out onto the balcony and went back to bed for a fair while until they were scratching at the door and banging to get in. They then did not get the opportunity to wee on the bed as I took them straight downstairs for their toilet break, let the chooks out of their house, and went back up to bed for more snuggles. What a lovely way to start the day. We did have jobs to do first thing and so the scaffold was brought into the bedroom (dropping dust everywhere which I still have not hoovered up; there's another job to do before bed) and I took my life in my hands to climb it and investigate the wiring at the top end. It was as we had suspected; the red sheathed cable was attached to the brown in the fitting and the blue went through to blue.

This is what I found

With the knowledge gleaned there I went up to the roof again and checked again what was happening up there, drew a picture and sent it to Steve and my dad for confirmation of what I was seeing. It looks like the old wiring had the switch across the neutral not the live. Anyway, at least I now fully understood what was going on up there and would be able to get stuck in. Both my dad and Steve gave me good help which was much appreciated as well.

Thelma in the bird house; they weren't bothered at all

I wasn't the only one with a task to do early; A had decided the birds need a proper pond and so took herself and the puppies over to the enclosure. Once I had finished drawing my pictures of the wiring I went to see what was happening and found that the puppies had been allowed into the enclosure with the birds and there was no problems at all. This is great. I would definitely not trust Rambo though.

A hard at it

Helping out by clearing the loose dirt

She had made a really good start at pickaxing the ground where she had chosen to bury the container and I let her carry on with that, spelling her every few minutes by clearing the loosened dirt and giving her a break. This is how the locals work in pairs and it works really well. Pretty quickly we had the hole that we wanted and the brown bucket fit in perfectly.

Here is our new makeshift pond

From there we just had to fill in the gaps around the outside with the spoil from digging the hole and then go and collect lots of water to fill it with. I think I may make a little shelter for this to keep the sun off it and prevent it from evaporating like mad in the heat we are currently experiencing. We have seen the birds having a look at it over the day but I haven't seen a swimming duck yet. Fingers crossed.

Happy birds having breakfast

The new additions are really settling in well now and the dynamic in the flock seems good. KitKat obviously still rule the roost however they are now not pecking on Ginger/Baker as much yet they have also not really picked on Beaker and Balls either. We may have a month or two more to wait before the first eggs arrive but (other than the fact we're going to have to increase our water-supply to them) we're still not regretting getting them at all. Yet.

No more twisting wires as connections

After we finished this we took a quick break and I spoke, as mentioned earlier, to my dad and then Steve about the wiring. I then headed up into the roof to actually do the connecting. I took a drawing of what I wanted to achieve and very carefully connected everything up as planned. I then ran the new cable down the cable tidies to the consumer unit and wired in the new breaker. I'm going to need to draw up the box soon so I don't forget which breaker is for which circuit. By this time A was back inside (read the next paragraph for what SHE was up to before) and so I went down, flicked the submain on, and A turned on the lights and we had success! I'm so happy to have done this but there is lots more to learn; I am so much more confident now though; just think, draw pictures, plan and don't presume.

Loads of stones collected for the driveway

So while I was doing that A was out sweating away in the sun shifting stones out of the waste piles for use in lining the driveway. I have a long term plan to have runners on each side, between the silver birches, of gravel with nice stones on top. This will probably be an autumn job but we do need to save stones for it rather than pay for them to be removed and then not have enough to finish the job. She did a cracking amount of work though and while we may need more than this, at least it has been started unlike when I went to do it the other day and just decided I couldn't be bothered.

Rambo really really REALLY loves the water

It was now lunchtime and I had some nice butties while A had a much deserved snooze, with the puppies in with her. I didn't disturb her and when she woke up we decided that my swimming plan was a good idea so we loaded up Lucy and drove to our favourite spot. Just as we got there and were about to unload a group of kids walked down the road, with a big Alsatian, and so we decided to not contest it and just go somewhere else. We ended up parked back at our bridge after not seeing any other empty swimming spots. A shame, but that's life sometimes. Rambo was STRAIGHT in the water as per usual!

Their first time in water

I followed him in with the puppies for their first experience of swimming. Now we were aware that Louise hates rain and so it was not really a surprise that she was not best pleased to be dunked in the river and let go. She did swim, however, but directly out and up the bank where she stood shivering and looking unhappy. Thelma did the same. Oh dear.

A flock coming down to drink

From this muddy point which was not our usual entry (there were cows up the way we normally went) we walked for a while along the bank looking for a better place to swim. We got so far and then decided to go back but the farmer had moved his cows and they were now in the path. There followed a bit of a stressful time as Rambo tried to go for them, A managed to sidle past with the girls and then used my sandals to encourage the huge cow with huge horns to go back past me and Rambo as I held him on a short lead to stop him from attacking again. What a lump!

Yes they are hiding up her skirt

Relieved to have not been gored to death we were now able to get to the river out our preferred spot and so down we went. Once again Rambo was straight in and the girls were less keen. By the time I reached the beach with Rambo A had already tried to get them to swim and they were trying to climb under her dress to get away.

She is as unhappy as she looks

Unperturbed we kept trying to encourage them in but they were having none of it. They started doing the swimming motions even while they were still held above the water and then as soon as they were let free they were back off to shore. I got some lovely floating done and A did a bit as well but we weren't able to relax as the girls just kept running away. Pretty shortly, but after a lovely time, we were heading back to Lucy. Even while I was carrying the girls really high through the tributary (really warm in the sun) they were swimming away in my arms, desperate in case I put them in the water. They shivered and shook all the way home and only relaxed again once they were rolling around in the long dry grass to dry themselves off. They really are NOT water dogs.

And so our busy morning segued into our lazy afternoon. We went onto the roof terrace at first to sunbathe where I once again tried out the sun umbrella but again the wind was just too high for me to relax. A joined me and we put the swinging chair up for her but I stayed on my black recliner and read. A gave up after half an hour but I stayed a while longer and now I am pink. She was the wiser of the two and when I finally gave up and went to look for her she was ensconced on the balcony in the shade on her huge bean bag. I lay down next to her for a while but then was really tired so I went to bed and slept for a fair while. I do remember Louise coming to see me at one point but I was pretty much dead to the world.

Superb dinner - a joint effort

When I woke up I was gasping for a brew so the kettle went on and then I joined A watching a bit of the men's final at Wimbledon. It was suddenly feeding time for Rambo and the girls so I got myself into gear and started preparing dinner. I had decided the day before that a full roast was too much for this heat and lemon chicken would be good so I found a recipe but when I came to it I realised it was for chicken breast and I had thighs. No matter I set to and did the frying step (small amount of flour rubbed into the skin, lemon juice and zest, butter and olive oil) and then transferred it to the oven with all the juices to roast. A came in then and did the fried rice and then we sat and ate it and it was really good if I say so myself! A definite success. The root recipe I based it on is here: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/lemon-chicken but as I say I used thighs and then roasted them for maybe 20 minutes or so after frying them for about 10.

So I have been very brief in terms of time even if not in terms of words; I've typed fast this evening. Tomorrow is going to be busy as I have to dash to the bank first thing to stamp the paperwork and then I am working all day as well. I also really want to do the travelling blog update so maybe you'll get that soon. Maybe.

Lazy Sunday

Well, if you remember from yesterday's post, I was full of good intentions of having another busy day. That didn't happen. It was late before I got to bed last night as something very strange happened. Rambo started to bark. It was really late (not sure exactly, but around midnight or so) and he rarely rouses at that time, for anything. I grabbed the torch and went down to see what it was. The next door neighbours dogs were also barking. I put the lights on to the porch and called him. He came bolting into the porch carrying almost a whole loaf of bread! I did hear footsteps from what sounded like someone on the lane, but I find it hard to tell sometimes. Now, cynical I may be, but this looked like a possible diversion tactic. I took the bread and lobbed it outside into the trench and bundled Rambo into the porch and locked him in. I then remembered that they men had been sheltering from the sun in the garage earlier and probably had not locked the door again so I did that. All doors locked and hoping I hadn't locked someone inside, I returned to Room 13 to listen. As it turned out, I heard nothing more and when I went to bed I locked the bedroom door also.

I woke very early again today and decided to have a little while longer. I woke at 10.30! Up for coffee and too let poor Rambo out who was locked in and I drank it one the porch where there were yet more rat droppings. There are certainly plenty outside at the minute and hopefully none inside now! I was struggling to get going and made the decision right then that I didn't have to. I am on holiday aren't I?

Poor Rambo has been struggling with the heat lately and it was decided he should go for a swim. I gathered my stuff together, grabbed a blanket, my kindle and I threw everything into the car, as well as Rambo and we set off. We went to a beautiful little place just off the main road where the Mr and I went swimming last year. The river is so clear and clean in this part as there is no silt, just a sand and cobble stone bottom. It has to be said, Rambo thought it was his birthday!

Straight in!

 I have really never seen a dog so happy in my life! I checked around and there was no sign of any livestock or in fact any other form of life around. He was let off the lead and was up to his neck in no time and loving it!

Up to his neck

He came out after going in to the deeper parts and stood and stared at me. I worked out that he wanted me to throw something for him, so the only things to throw were stones. We did this for hours. He was exhausted but would he stop? Not one bit of him.

Got a bit wet

 He was enjoying himself a little bit too much and at one stage, forgot who was boss by not coming when called and then came to the edge of the water and running back in again. He had a little chat, him on the floor and me pinning him and we came to an agreement after ten minutes of me making him sit on his lead beside me. No more problems. Well, not really.

It really is a beautiful spot and all along this river there are little areas of barely touched landscape that are stunning. When the Mr arrives I am hoping to explore further and find more little gems like this one.

Beautiful spot

Back at home he went out to the garden for a sun bathe and to dry off. I came up and got my book and had a quiet couple of hours to myself . That is what Sunday's are all about. I came up and ate quite early today as I had forgotten to eat before we left for the river and all I had were a couple of biscuits when I got back. Very naughty, I know. It was starting to cool again and we both went up to the balcony to enjoy the last bit of the sun and enjoy the view. He was showing his appreciation for a good day by licking my leg.

Mummy's boy

As I have mentioned previously, he is losing his winter coat at an alarming rate! I was going to brush him to help it along, but in actual fact, plucking him has a fantastic  result also. This is one hind quarter. I hadn't done the other side by this stage.

Shedding

I am still sat in my shorts as the sun has started it's final descent and I am thinking of popping on a film in a short while. I will leave you to your evenings and feel smug that I have no work in the morning!

Leka nosht.

A x

Free weekend

Yesterday started late for me and it was gone 8am before I got out of bed and there was a lot of barking from Rambo who had been locked away by the drainage worker. I dragged myself into Room 13 and flicked the kettle on and heard voices. Looking outside I could see the farmer's nephew walking around with a wrench in his hand. It urns out that they had no water flow getting to them again and he came up try and make a better job of it. After only about five minutes I had made my coffee and gone down to see how they were getting on and he was heading off. All fixed! No more leaking and the water pressure was back as it should have been. Hooray!

Stronger fix

I was very tired yesterday; I think the last few weeks of work had finally caught up with me and I had no energy whatsoever. In between naps throughout the day I merely pottered around in the garden and weeded, cleared a couple of beds and raked up the hay from the scything I had done. That was enough exertion for me to be honest, I was drained completely. Still, the corn is really coming along now and is still shooting up.

Corn

As are the sunflowers. I am rather excited about these.

Sunflower

I noticed something sad whilst I was pottering and it seems that only one of our olive trees is just about holding on for dear life. I hope it survives, but it really is not looking too promising. The other three are gone.

Olive hanging on

The good news was that having previously looked at the Mr's vine that he planted last year and really not having much hope for it, it seems to have had a sudden burst of life again with not only a new shoot on the main vine, but it seems a whole new vine is growing right beside it! He will be pleased that I haven't managed to kill it after all!

New shoots

That was pretty much yesterday. The reason I didn't blog was because I went out to our local restaurant for my dinner. There was a huge wedding party taking place and there were only two spaces left in the car park. It was busy in the restaurant also but as always, I had a lovely meal of lamb cutlets and salad with a side of chips. I forgot to take photos as I was quite engrossed in my book, sorry.

This morning was another later start and I woke around 7.15 with the sun already blazing in. A beautiful start to the day. It had forecast it to be around 26 degrees and it was getting there fast. I had the humanure to do today so I decided to get that done early to avoid too much of the heat. The first task was to clear Sassy's toilet tray as it really was beginning to honk again. I emptied it out and went off to do the humanure deed. I washed out her tray and scrubbed it, even uses some pet disinfectant and voila! Much better. True to form as soon as I walked to the gate at the door, she was straight in and using it. She always does this.

Clean Sassy

I also cleaned her shelf. As she spills her water there does seem to be the need for regular cleaning of this, so her whole cage got a makeover today. All cleaned out, fresh hay and a happy bunny at the end of it all.

And cage

By the time I had finished with Sassy's stuff it was really heating up and I was thinking about taking Rambo to the river as a treat. He has not been out much lately. So I finished off with filling the buckets of sawdust and a fresh lot of buckets were all set.

Rambo really is a lovely dog and I had gathered my stuff together and put my sunglasses and his lead inside my hat and set it on the swinging chair in the porch whilst I attached my travel bag around my waist. It took him a moment but when he clocked the lead he looked at it and to me about three times. On the third time he let out the cutest little excited whine I have ever heard. It really did make me laugh.

We set off down the hill and he was very good. He does seem to have got better at staying calm lately; I was just saying it to the Mr earlier. He really does seemed to have settled back in again finally. At the river he was super excited and even though the water level has dropped significantly since our last trip, he seemed to enjoy himself to the point of exhaustion!

It was a long and hard walk back up the hill after about an hour of playing in the water. I even went for a paddle myself. It is a great river and runs so clear. I managed also to get a shot of the construction of the new bridge that will lead us into town without having to cross the narrow bridge over the river and all the way round the town. They are coming on well with it.

New bridge

We had to stop halfway up the hill for a rest. He had a drink at the trough and I had a seat for five minutes in the shade. Someone obviously thought a little more comfort was needed and brought an old armchair out for passers by.

Rest spot

So that was pretty much my day. I spent some time on the terrace when I got back, just relaxing and listening to all the wonderful sounds that you get here. The neighbours were waving from the garden where the men we revamping the kennels for the dogs, I think. It is nice to just sit and be sometimes.

I am going to go now as I would like to head off to bed and watch a movie. Too much sun always tires me out.

Leka nosht.

A x