Very busy weekend and Monday

I am starting to write this update at 2:40am on Tuesday as I've had the worst day ever with tourn.ee and work... Just crazy. Anyway, I want to get this written before bed so let's get stuck in.

Scraping Thomas' windscreen for the first time this year

Chicken house ready for a sweep out

Nice clean hen house again

Xena the escape artist

Lovely clean and tidy Glass Room

Can barely move down this corridor

A barrow of kindling to start our fires with

Some little bird nested here

Corridor nice and clean now

An awesome celebratory meal

Saturday was a super busy day. I started early going shopping and had to scrape frost off the car for the first time this year. When I got back I unpacked then got stuck into my chores. The first chore was to clean out the chicken house which I managed, after a minor panic when I couldn't get the power washer to work from two different plugs. I got there in the end though. While I was working in there I could hear Xena yipping and I found that she had managed to slip through a gap in the fence to the outside! This gap is now filled. With the chicken house done I tidied up the Glass Room then brought all the pots that Angela wants inside, inside. I wasn't done yet, however, as next I attacked the Green Building and cleared all but a few stray twigs from the far corridor. I did two barrows full of kindling into the container in the garage, two barrows to the bin and shifted everything else out of the way. I also found a nest. After this I was exhausted and rested for a bit before cooking an amazing steak dinner.

The sun rises, and Xena watches

Beautiful dippy duck eggs

Old window ready for glass removal

I made a level base, which was very hard work

How I left it at the end of the day

A very well welcomed Sunday Roast

Sunday was a day of two halves. The morning was a bright start without frost which Xena clearly enjoyed, and I really enjoyed my dippy duck eggs for breakfast (which I didn't over do this time). I then did a few bits and pieces of hobby and wasted time relaxing before deciding to go and do some more clearing in the Green Building. I sorted a few of the old windows, removing the glass as safely as I could, when suddenly the urge to build a tree house for Rosie overtook me so I went down to the tree house tree that we had picked (the one Rosie was climbing in over summer) and set to. It was very hard work, some of those beams are incredibly heavy, but I managed to get three support beams level and then put planks over about half of the floor before I had to call it a day and get my chores done and cook dinner. Dinner was a roast chicken and I was so hungry by the time I ate it. It was another celebration dinner and this time I had a Belgian Beer.

Bekir takes some Ondolin for the roof

Starting to lay them back out again

Louise and Xena on the roof saying hi to Bekir

Thelma dancing for Bekir

A touch of silicon to seal

Halil cracks on with the splitting

Bekir making good progress on the Ondolin

Grinding the gap

Roof really starting to look good now

Halil surveying the completed splitting

And so we reach today. First thing the men went down to the shop and picked up a box of silicon sealant and then they got stuck in to fitting the Ondolin into place. I was not so busy first thing today and got to go and check a bit, including letting the puppies out onto the roof to go and see Bekir which was awesome. Halil was helping with passing up materials and spent free time splitting the rest of the wood. It was a good day of progress and about 2/5 of the roof is now done. By the time I became so busy I couldn't leave my desk Bekir was grinding a slot into the wall into which the Ondolin will slot and that will prevent any water getting in and under. Amazingly as well today Halil finished all the splitting!

And there it is. My plan was to finish the tree house today but tourn.ee put paid to that. It's just past 3am now so I'm going to publish this and go get some sleep before work in the morning.

Thanks for reading! Back tomorrow.

Ondolin

I almost forgot about writing the blog this evening; I've just finished watching The Fifth Element and wow what a funny film. Anyway, let's get to this update.

Xena checks out the view

Beautiful autumn colours

First of all this morning which was bright and sunny and autumnal. Xena has taken to standing on the windowsill in Room 13 and looking out of the window; she loves climbing. I had to check what she saw and then get a picture myself; a beautiful view.

Profiling the wood to fit into the undulations

Radio Veselina and Radio Etno all day

Securing the metal edging into place

Halil brings back the windows I put up the top bank

Splitting the windows down

Final metal edging trimmed to length

The men arrived on time and told me about their day yesterday. Long time readers will remember (maybe) the difficulty I had registering Julian in Bulgaria. Well they had a huge mission yesterday involving lots of rushing around to different places and having to get Julian past the preglet (road safety test - and honestly it says something about that test when I tell you that he passed!) and they did manage in the end to get the registration done. I'm not surprised they weren't able to get here to work. They did crack on very well today. First of all they spent some time working out how to use the wooden strips to secure the Ondolin best (and they had brought themselves a music system which they played all day which is cool). With their plans made for the strips Bekir went up onto the roof and fitted the rest of the metal edging while Halil split the windows into kindling, then took Thomas onto the back bank and brought back the windows I'd taken up the other day. He then split all these as well.

Working out the gaps

Tidying up the scraps

Making a form for the gap

Splitting more logs

Lots of strips secured in place

Absolutely full of wood

Bekir got started on setting out the strips at the correct distance to hold the ondolin in place very securely. He was measuring each one carefully to make sure they were perfect. Meanwhile Halil got stuck into cleaning up a load of the wooden offcuts which will make very good starting wood for the fire this winter. He then went and made a form for Bekir to use to help position each strip without having to measure - they really are very creative in making these quick tools to help with repetitive tasks. After that he was out with the axe splitting more fire wood. We really did buy a lot of firewood this year! Bekir kept on with the stripping and then worked out how much overlap each ondolin sheet would have. They are going to silicon between each sheet as well to prevent water seepage. Halil then loaded his car right to the top with wood. While I was stood on the roof and he was showing how much he had fitted the handbrake started to give and the car was rolling down the slope towards the Green Building. He was able, fortunately, to jump in and steer it onto the flat. I hope they got home ok!

Pump it up

Salad and "tsigareni byuretsi"

Sliver of moon in the dusk

I decided to take myself out for dinner tonight after a busy day of my own and first topped up the air in one of Thomas' tyres that Halil saw was a bit low. It was nice to go and eat a salad and read my book in our favourite restaurant and when I got back the sky was so beautiful I stopped at the gate to take a picture. And then I watched the film and now I'm writing this update.

So there it is; thanks for reading and back on Monday.

The day we had the crane

Today has been super exciting! Let's get to it.

The moon rises above the hills

Such a beautiful moon rise

Halil splitting logs. Again.

Burning some rubbish, and tidying the small bits

Rosie has her viewing point all set up

Getting the vine frame painted

First of all, however, are two pictures of the incredible moon rise last night - it was so beautiful but sadly my camera really doesn't do it justice. Stunning. The men were in on time this morning and set themselves to splitting logs and doing some tidying up while they were waiting for the crane to arrive. Someone else was also very excited about the arrival of the crane and she sat up on the swinging chair all morning waiting and refusing to move. The men had had enough of splitting and went to another small task I suggested to them which was painting the frame for the vine. It has been out there unpainted for years now and the steel was getting very badly damaged. They did a great job of this and hopefully now this'll last a long time.

Everyone is watching the crane. Literally everyone

The first beam is lifted into place

Bekir puts a quick spot weld in to hold the beam steady

More lifting of beams

Putting the end one in place

Everything is finished for the day, and Rosie loves it

Late morning finally the crane arrived. It was the same truck who delivered the steel to us and the driver was very complementary of Bekir and Halil saying they were excellent "maisters" and the best he'd ever seen working, so that's a thing. The task went really quickly, and just as efficiently as I had hoped with getting a crane. They lifted each beam into place then quickly spot welded it at the bottom to prevent it sliding before moving onto the next. They were not going to spend lots of time positioning to the mm with the crane as they could do that final by hand later. Rosie watched it all and was so excited, though at first a little concerned that it would knock the house down. By just after lunch the whole thing was done and the driver left to another job. The men spent the rest of the day positioning each beam exactly one meter apart and then securing it in place. They haven't quite got every one done but I think only a couple remain for tomorrow. What a great day and Rosie was so impressed!

Very big birds flying over head

I'll leave you with this picture of three eagles, or maybe vultures, which flew over head and circled for a bit. Bekir said they were looking for sheep - big birds!