A lovely visit from Grandma, and the men are back briefly

Wow this is going to be a long update, and I've not got much time free to type so I'm going to have to get stuck in to it without preamble. Let's get to it! I'll try and break it into sections I think.

The transplanted Oak is going great guns

So much weeding to be done

Lovely orchids

Here's a tortoise

Thistles out the back bank

Yet more weeding done

Rowan trees by Grandma's bench

A new Silver Birch to replace this one that died

Loads of stuff pulled from the raised beds

Space for tomatoes

Mowed again

First of all some of the progress made in the garden. I've continued trying to clear and sort the invasive tree problem we've got in the wild area to the right of the driveway but rain and overwork keeps getting in my way. I did get out enough to do a load of weeding before my Mum arrived so we she wasn't looking at the garden and feeling like she had to get out and weed - it was pretty satisfying actually to get on top of it again. I've also mowed the grass a couple of times, and this time I avoided cutting down the lovely orchids (which are spreading - there are SO many up there right now!) and we also go to see some tortoises though they have largely hidden again with the cold weather we've been experiencing. I got to dig out a load of thistles from the back bank one day while Rosie was playing out there, so that was also satisfying. When I collected my mum from the airport I filled the back of Maisie up with trees including a few more Silver Birch, some Rowans and a decorative Japanese Cherry. All these trees are now planted and settling in well. When Angela came back she attacked the raised beds and cleared them all out and I went into the fenced garden and cleared a patch for us to put our spare tomato plants. Dutch has been digging up loads of our newly planted stuff from the raised bed (which is partially why the men are back briefly) so that was quite frustrating. It's been a very very busy time for me but I've been in the garden enough to feel satisfied.

Camping again! WAHOO

Eating a doughnut on the rocking chair

Sun worshippers

Rosie with her awesome collection

Very happy sat on Grandma's Bench

Trampoline fun with Grandma

What a wonderful birthday!

Out out for my birthday

Small sandcastle, and kisses from Xe

Another family meal out

BBQ time of year (briefly)

On top of that I got the big tent put up for me and Rosie to camp in while Angela was away. It was fun, but not the most successful of experiments, as the puppies would not settle. I had to go back inside for a little until they were ready for bed but Rosie stayed outside and slept without any trouble! We did have a nice time on our own with the weather being glorious (far warmer than it is now) and we were able to play outside lots. I collected Grandma while Rosie was at school and it was such a lovely time to have her here. Rosie particularly enjoyed doing lots of fun things with Grandma including baking me a birthday cake which was awesome! We went out that night for my birthday to a lovely restaurant as Rosie wore a new dress I bought her for the occasion. When Angela got back we all went out again to the new restaurant which is rapidly becoming a favourite and we've even managed to get a BBQ done already this year!

Setting anchors in for the swing

Very secure now

Rosie straight on the swing when she got home

Cutting the grass the traditional way

Digging post holes

Fence posts in place

The mesh fence is started as well

There's probably more I could pull out but I'm exhausted and have loads of other stuff to do so let's get to today. As I've mentioned Dutch has been digging in our garden and destroying so much stuff (the tomatoes and strawberries have really suffered because of him) so we asked the men to come and put a fence across to stop any of the dogs getting into that part of the garden. On top of that I bought a swing set for Rosie that needs to be tied down to the patio and they could do that quickly. The first thing they did today was the swing, drilling and bolting it down and this was done pretty quickly in the end and it is perfect. With that done they started on the fence. First of all some of the grass I hadn't got to (because it rained) was removed with the scythe and then they got old wood from our roof and dug holes and set them in. It will be good for a year or two, which is all we need for now. We even had a chunk of old mesh fence we could reuse. By the end of the day they had run all the poles from the front to the house and put some of the mesh up. This may take another couple of days, with the gates that we need, but it won't be a long job for them.

I had a lovely walk after school with Rosie up to the headland  but I'll leave you with a couple of videos. First of all an epic storm and secondly video of the nightingales that have been singing every night for a while now.

Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow.

We have a "normal" toilet

The men didn't come in yesterday unfortunately but they did today so this is two days in one. I'm camping with Rosie tonight so I'm in a rush to get this done and go out so let's get to it.

The tree is ready for planting

The sun slowly rising

Oak has a low shoot

Cherry tree planted and staked

Yesterday I was up early and out to plant the final cherry tree before anyone woke up. It didn't take as long as I feared and now we've three new trees over there around the Oak that I transplanted a few weeks ago. This has seemingly taken very well and is now showing very strong signs of life. The rest of the day was just crazy busy but did involve time sat on the bench on the top bank through the day.

Digging a trench by the green building

Rosie operates the shredder

Chicken house really needs cleaning

Rosie and Giant Dolly Rosie on Grandma's bench

Fortunately the men came back today as we really wanted to get the toilet fitted for the weekend. They got stuck straight in to working on completing the drainage down to the preexisting sewage pipe. Inside Angela and Rosie worked on shredding some more cardboard as we still have the vacuum toilet upstairs and may still end up needing the buckets. It was a lovely day and after doing this Angela went out and worked on cleaning the chicken house out; I just needed to help lift the roost up out the way and she got stuck in. It really was a lovely day and I spent a little more time with Rosie on the top bank enjoying the new bench in a short break I had.

Finishing the trench

Chiseling into the cement pipe

Plastic pipe drops into the cement one

Bekir wrapping up the install

Look at our new toilet

Back with the men they were continuing to work outside to get all the pipes done. This required chiselling through the old concrete pipe to drop the new plastic pipe in. We've decided to leave all the finishing off for Monday in case there is trouble over the weekend so we can fix any problems more easily. With the pipe done they headed inside and, other than a few trips to town for various things, this got fitted in super quick and now we have a "normal" toilet and Angela is very pleased.

Chicken house looking lovely

Angela did a great job cleaning the chicken house out and I put the hay in and spread it all out. Bekir turned up with a new duck as well and she has settled in well already.

So there it is; the last two days. We'll be back on Monday but then probably the blog will go quiet again.

Thanks for reading.

A bonfire day

Today started off cold and rainy and ended being nice enough to have our dinner on the balcony.

Bekir applies a skim to the block wall

Hammering nails through thin metal to hold the insulation in place

Bekir gets to more grafting

A duck having a swim

This morning when the men arrived, after heading over to our friends house again to get their car started, they were up into the roof once more to continue up there. Bekir started off skimming more of the wall while Halil cut and fitted insulation to finish the wall of the corridor nicely to the ceiling. They then worked together to secure the insulation in place and then did a first skim over the top of that as well. After lunch Bekir was grafting more pear cuttings onto the saplings on the back bank; these are ones that he brought from his own village for us, from a good tree for fruit apparently. I was checking out our grey water sump pump and enjoyed seeing the duck in the pond, though that pond really needs a clean!

Fire burning well

Halil stoking and stacking

Bekir skimming near the top of the stairs

Halil cleaning the windows

With the grafting done it was decided that today was a good opportunity to burn off the waste wood and grass cuttings from last year so after some struggle Halil got the fire lit and then it burned very well and removed a lot of the old rubbish that was lying around up on the top bank. Once it had burned down enough they headed to the shop to pick up the rest of the bird netting however they'll fit that tomorrow as they wanted to finish the jobs they were on with in the roof. Halil did more plastering and then took himself to clean the windows at the end, inside and out, while Bekir continued applying the first skim to all the block walls.

Rosie bounces high

After school there was again time to play on the balcony with Rosie including a very fun bouncing session on the trampoline.

So that's the day; it was so nice to be out on the back bank while we did the bonfire; the fresh air and sunshine did me a lot of good. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.