More progress in the garden

Today has been another scorcher however looking at the forecast I think summer is ending. Sadly it was very windy so I didn't open the pool today for one last swim and I think we'll be putting said pool away over the next few days.

Rosie ready for school again

Dragging the long ladder over

Bekir climbs up

Rosie was back to her new school today and was very happy - where other kids were crying and not wanting to go Rosie walked in without a backward glance. At home Bekir and Halil dragged the ladder over to next to the hornet nest and the action of doing this caused about 40 of them to boil out of the hole and swarm around the entrance. Sadly my phone didn't save the picture I took. We waited five minutes and they all went back in then Bekir got his bee keeping suit on and tried to climb up however he was not able to see properly from under the hood and by that point they were all very awake so we will try again on Monday.

Picking some tiles to use

Just finished chipping the concrete smooth

Working out where to cut

Starting to fix the tiles in place

Sink nicely tiled

With this task attempted and failed it was back to the other jobs. First off they both worked on cleaning up and preparing the sink for tiling. We looked for tiles and I suggested the old ones from the roof terrace and these have worked great. Bekir stuck with this task for most of the day and by the end of it the sink was done other than grout, which can be done on Monday as well. We will decide on how to finish the rest of the sink and then get that tiled too but there's no rush.

Laying string for the path edge

Starting to dig the trench in the hot sun

Digging out the waste

Trench completed

Once he stopped helping Bekir, Halil got stuck into a really tough job on a hot day like today. We have decided, while we wait for the steel to arrive for the car port, to get the path to the side gate redone so he laid out a line for one side of the new path and then dug in the trench from the edge of the patio by the table tennis table all the way to the fence. Towards the end of the day Bekir finished his tiling and they were working at it together. We will probably pour concrete for this path as well and replace the steps by the gate (done way back in the day by Terry and they have lasted so well!).

So there it is. I've got a touch of a cold now so am feeling a little rough; hopefully a good night sleep will sort that out. Thanks for reading, we'll be back on Monday.

Lots of little stuff done

It has been an awesome day today, truly! Let's get to it.

Mummy and Rosie before school

Bekir removing the unused plug for reuse

Drilling out to run the cables

Plugs all done

First of all today was Rosie's first day at her new school. Both Angela and I drove down with her to drop her off and she was so super excited on the way and as we went in. We stopped at the photo opportunity at the entrance and got lots of pictures together then went to leave her with the teachers. They were super welcoming and she has had a great day. We got back before the men arrived as the start time of this new school was slightly earlier for the first day but they were in on time and got back to the task they almost completed yesterday, putting some plugs on the wall below the patio. I had Bekir recover a plug that had been put in for the now defunct humanure reservoir and there is now an English and a European double socket by our lawn. Superb. During this time I also took Maisie down to the garage with Halil's help. We won't have her back for a week or so now.

Bekir starts digging out the trench

Garden retaining wall done

Bekir starts to lay out the drain

Windowman checking the window

Rosie on our old chopping block

With that task done they moved over to the low wall they had done yesterday. Angela did want to have a return up to the side of the path (I hadn't been sure yesterday) and so they dug a trench and quickly laid a few blocks to finish this task, then filled in the gaps with cement. They did have to go and get more cement as well and also found out how much we owed the shop. After this task they moved to the new garden sink and attached and buried the drain to take the water away from underfoot. Mid afternoon the window man came to look at the leaking window and claims to have fixed it, but we shall see in the next storm. Rosie came home from school around this time and was so full of excitement for the day it was a joy to see.

Halil dropping stones for the drain end

Covering it all up

Xena barking at Bekir raking

Fixing the drain out of the chicken house

The men finished digging in the drain pipe and then put a load of stones around the end to allow it to drain properly into the soil. They then covered this with plastic and buried it under soil and finally raked over the area to clear and tidy it. The final task was digging out the bottom of the drainage pipe out of the chicken house and, indeed, it was very blocked with soil so they did the same thing here.

Hornets near the hole

The last thing to leave you with is Halil spotted a hornet nest in the roof! A knot fell out of the wooden boards under the overhang and there are loads of hornets going in and out all the time! Tomorrow Bekir will bring his bee keepers mask and go up and try and deal with it, I hope!

It was a good day indeed, and thanks for reading. Back tomorrow.

Weekend and then several jobs done

Back to real normality today as Rosie was back to school and I was back to work. But first, let's look to the weekend.

The tortoise on the front lawn

Rosie feeds the ants

The end of our game

Rosie riding the machine at Kaufland

More ants, more leaves

After I finished the update on Friday I went down to wait for Rosie and Angela to get back from the neighbours and heard a rustling on the front lawn; I went down to find a tortoise making its way up towards me. I did make sure to show this to Rosie when she got back. More wildlife with Rosie as we went over after this to check out her ants nest and she fed more leaves to them. I then played games with Steve and we finally managed to finish it up. On Saturday morning he headed off back home and I took Rosie into town to do some shopping (Angela's birthday is coming up) and we stopped for a chance for Rosie to ride on the machine at Kaufland. When we got back it was time for a chat with Grandma and Auntie Nods and I am pretty sure we went into the pool as well because the clock stopped and that was very frustrating. We've changed the batteries now and it seems to be doing ok. We also went back down to see her ants and feed them even more leaves.

Rosie jumping in puddles in her boots

I filled 7 big black bags with XPS

Rosie painting her room sign

The sun sets on Sunday

Saturday night I was woken by high winds, and there was a storm forecast, so I went around the house shutting windows; in the morning we found that it was still raining though eventually it did stop. Rosie put her boots on and went to jump in puddles while I got on with a few chores including tidying the workshop, hoovering the stairs and then finally  I went into the roofspace and did an epic tidy of the polystyrene pile up there. Angela and Rosie had a lovely day together, Rosie was full of beans. I got to watch them painting together making a display to hang on Rosie's play room door. Finally here's a shot of a lovely sunset that night.

Bekir removing wall plugs and tidying|

Halil prepares to plaster

Bekir takes down the wooden frame

Spare plaster applied to the sink front

Taking down the old baby chick enclosure

Cleaning, burning and raking

We have a clean duck pond again

And so to today; this morning I put Bekir and Halil to a couple of small but important tasks before they went back to the chicken enclosure. First of all was the little nook in the dining room that needed cleaning up and replastering so Angela can get the walls painted while my mum is visiting. While Halil was doing the painting Bekir went out and removed all the wood from around the garden sink and cleaned it up. Halil then used the last bits of plaster he had mixed to finish the front of the sink. It was then into the chicken enclosure to get stuck into tidying and clearing in preparation for our new flock. First of all the temporary enclosure I'd built for the chicks was taken down; it had lasted very well for having been thrown up in such a hurry all those years ago. With that task done they blitzed that area and removed all the weeds and raked all the stones (15 wheel barrows full, apparently) and burned a load of trash and also cleaned up the pond. There's still a few bits and pieces to do but we are now pretty much ready for birds.

Rosie with the sandcastle we built together

The tortoise once again on the move

After school I went out to the sandpit to play with Rosie and we made an awesome sandcastle together. Then while Angela was making dinner I finally got to switch over the humanure collection point to the newly draining one; my feeling is we should leave the old one to dry for quite a long time before going in there however I may have to get the drill and put some drainage holes in myself as it's very very wet in there - not good. After doing this I heard more rustling and sure enough the tortoise was making its way along the front of the lawn. I do love having tortoises on our land.

So there it is; as I write this a storm is rumbling towards us so that could be some fun. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Nearing sink completion

It's been a busy one for me at work today so I've not got out as much for pictures; Angela had a busy one as well with taking Xena to the vet for a jab and Xena was sick in the car to make that even more exciting. It has been another productive day, however. Onwards.

Early morning sky

All my girls in one place

Starting to frame for the lid surround

Sloping to make it drain well

Cutting a hole for the main sink tap

Lagged in and drain tap

It was a beautiful sky this morning and I headed out onto the balcony to get pictures. When I got downstairs I found that Rosie and the girls were already sat on Angela having a morning cuddle. The men arrived and got stuck in to their tasks for the day; they were hoping to get everythign finished today. First off was building the frame to go around the top of the walls they built yesterday and they did this, then drilled out for the taps on the back of the structure and ran the pipes there. Next up was building the frame for the back of the sink and then installing the tap correctly, including lagging to prevent winter damage. Bekir also put in a drain tap so we can empty the pipes that run to the exterior and prevent freezing damage like that as well.

Now the interior frame gets lifted into place

A lovely angled roof design

Rebar inside the framing

End of the day, all done

Next up they built the interior frame for the back well, then yet more framing for the angled decorative section above the sink and tap; this is probably not necessary but it'll look much nicer and just adds the finishing touches to the whole thing. Inside this framing they built more rebar metal and then they worked late to mix cement and pour it inside all the frames they'd made throughout the day.

So the men did achieve their aim; tomorrow will be insulating and putting the lid on and then hopefully they can get over and start on the chicken enclosure! Thanks for reading.