Work begins on Rosie's Bedroom

After such a drought here we are the second day on the trot with an update. My thinking is updating every day makes it a short task whereas trying to update less frequently will become a drag. Let's see how long this lasts, though.

Firstly I want to mark today as the 2000th day since A joined me; what an amazing time this has been, and what a lot has happened. Thank you for joining me, and making this life with me; it has been amazing, and I'm sure will continue to be!!!

Now, to today's progress....

How the room looked at the beginning of the day

Bekir and Sali getting stuck into clearing

Bekir's son on station outside taking materials through the window

The spare door is hefted to storage in the Green Building

Room clear, the next stage can begin...

For now, however, here we are on the first day of the return of Bekir, Sali and Bekir's son (I need to find his name out!) which has been a great success indeed. Bekir's son drives and so we don't have to give them lifts both ways any more which makes a huge difference in our days, particularly now we have Rosie. They arrived just after 8am and after a briefing (I was rather stressed with a super busy work day as well) they got stuck into clearing out the room and this was done in double quick time. Bekir was a bit upset I was going to just burn some of the left over chunks of wood in there so he took them to use in his bee houses. For all the materials I wanted to keep that was being moved to the Green Building they took a fly screen down and passed it all out the window which was much more efficient. Some stuff was too large, of course, like the spare doorway so that had to be hefted the long way round. In double quick time the room was cleared and the next stage could begin.

Sally breaking up the slab on the floor

It didn't take long for this process at all

Bekir grabs a scraper for the wall while waiting for spoil to move

How the room looks at the end of the day

The next stage involved breaking up the slab and carting it out in wheelbarrows. This was already quite broken up and loose and with a pickaxe it did not take long to make a substantial dent in it. They cycled the jobs, two pushing barrows and one swinging the pickaxe, and once Bekir got stuck in to scraping the paint from the walls, and in this way the job moved forwards at a great pace. I had asked them to put the spoil onto the driveway by the entrance where we had worn some dips into the drive and this they did very well. By the time it got too dark to work they had done about 5/6 of the floor. Tomorrow will involve getting the big breaker drill out to take the platform down and then it'll be onto digging deeper to put in insulation, water proof layer and metal reinforcement.

It's been a busy day, but what a great progress to report. I'll try to get back tomorrow with another update.

Thanks for reading.

The brief return of Bekir and Sally

So much for being strict with myself and not letting it go past two weeks again. The last two week have gone in a blur of over work for me however I'm now finally just about out of that stage, I hope, and have a few minutes to quickly post up an update. It will be no means be exhaustive (I could sum up my two weeks by the fact that last Wednesday I did a 23 hour long working day) but I hope you enjoy it non-the-less.

Invasive species

If someone said to me that I'd be spending a chunk of time and money protecting the building from attack by woodpeckers I would have laughed, but that is exactly what has happened.

Where the woodpecker was pecking

Our attempt at a bird scarer

A is happily rigging up the CDs

Sally fixes the holes

A paper bird of prey

A was disturbed by a hammering sound and we went hunting, thinking it was maybe something in the roof. Imagine our surprise when I disturbed a woodpecker which was busily digging a deep hole in our insulation. We made an attempt with CDs to create something that would scare them off but the wind just kept blowing them all back onto the roof terrace. They had made quite a few holes, and this was a big issue with winter closing in. A printed a bird picture out to stick in the window but that wasn't really going to work well. With the visit of Bekir and Sally, however, Sally fixed the holes and also has rigged up the bird scarers. I don't have a picture of those as I keep forgetting to take one and now it's dark. Hopefully we have won that fight.

The balcony is sealed

The main reason for getting Bekir and Sally back for the three days they were with us (three days where I was so busy that A did the transport both ways every day; what a trooper) was to fix up the balcony which was leaking.

The crumbling old grout to be removed

Bekir grinding it out to replace it

Playtime for Thelma and Bekir

Sally doing some patching up

A smiling coffee break

A whole lot of grouting gone on

Sally does his cleaning dance

While Sally was fixing up after our bird attack Bekir got stuck in cleaning out the old bad grout and replacing it with silicon and proper outdoors grout. He worked away and it took about three days end to end, including having to shift Sassy out of the way, but now we have what is hopefully a waterproof flat roof and we won't have to run the dehumidfier for hours at a time, like we already have had to this autumn. Sally also got stuck in, once he'd finished patching up the small holes A had spotted in our insulation made by small creatures over the summer. While they were here I got a hand putting the back on Thomas so we're now pretty much ready for winter; just need to pick Pat up from the garage where she's had her winter shoes put on and we're fine.

Trying to get out

I have been over-working however I've tried to get outside a bit more; I've a tonne of pictures on my phone of me sitting in the sun for ten minutes now and then. The simple pleasure of the sun on my face was something I was really noticing missing.

A foggy start to our lovely lunch with SandS

The smile says it all...

As does this one; I love the sun

Three puppies sharing the heat of the day

Out on our Sunday drive

Glowing poplars against a dark ridge

Fishermen at the reservoir

We managed to get out to have lunch with SandS which was a truly lovely time, and then they managed to drop past ours for breakfast as well a few days later; it's so good to see friends. The day we went for lunch was really foggy to begin with but it cleared up and A dragged me onto the balcony to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. I have also, as I've said, managed to get out at lunch onto the patio and soak some rays up. Today the puppies joined me which was lovely. On Sunday the heavy overcast, which had seriously threatened snow for a while, cleared up and so we were able to go for a lovely drive into the mountains to our east. We stopped a few times, finding some lovely sights include a little dam with a load of people fishing around it, and it was just what we needed after the intense weeks we've been having.

Puppies and garden

Smiling Thelma with her ring

Louise doing her best parrot impression

Thelma wakes up

Play time, Thelma with dimples

Sassy saying hello

Both puppies wanted a cuddle while I was working

Lots of frost damage; A cleared it all out

I'm going to wrap this up now and leave you with some pictures of the puppies (and Sassy) and the damage the frosts have done recently. I've done a small amount of modelling, we've got one game in and that's it, and A has become SUPERB at her artwork as she is practising so much; I will see if I can get some pictures in for you next time.

Working way too much

It has been nearly two weeks since I wrote an update and the only reason for that is I'm working so much that any time I can be not working I have not wanted to spend it sat at my desk typing. It's gone on long enough, though, so I've decided to at least make a start and just drop into the update through the day and get it out of the way; I didn't think I had many pictures but having copied them across from my various devices I've more than I expected. I hope it isn't a long update anyway.

Her Birthday

I left you last as we were heading off to celebrate A's birthday at a lovely posh hotel on the lake.

The amazing hotel room

Relaxing on our loungers after a swim

Just about to fall asleep

Fishing on the lake

Looking across the pool and sun loungers

Balcony panorama

She knew we were going to a hotel, and even which one, but I'd not told her that I'd booked the most expensive suite in the place. It was such a lovely surprise for her (and me - the room was amazing) and it set up the evening perfectly to be so impressed with the accommodation. Once we had settled ourselves we changed into our swimming gear and jumped in the pool for a bit then, after swimming and relaxing, we got onto a lounger to relax. After a while A found an even better place, a massage area, and I fell asleep laying on the comfortable mattress. Perfection. We were making the most of not having to hurry and rush and headed back to the room as we started to feel a bit hungry and had some showers before heading down for dinner. While I was waiting for her to get ready (and she doesn't take long at all) I snapped some pictures from the balcony of our room. What a location.

A lovely salad to start with

Calamari for A

Chicken Wings for me

A with her huge Shashlik

My chicken with cheesy mash

Awesome moon

Looking across the grounds

Morning view across the lake

We took a table in the restaurant and proceeded to take full advantage of not having to rush home to the puppies. The food was, as it always is there, impeccable and the service was really good. We were slightly worried when a DJ looking DJ arrived and set up with huge speakers however he turned out to be very good, and very quiet (most importantly) and did not intrude at all. It was a perfect Birthday Meal in a perfect location with the perfect Birthday Girl. Wonderful. After dinner we headed back to the room and had a (very expensive) fruit tea each while enjoying the nighttime views from the balcony of the moon and the lit up hotel grounds. The next morning we were up relatively early and away without having breakfast at the hotel but it was a beautiful place to wake up to. A headed over to pick the puppies up from SandS who we have to really thank right now for looking after them and allowing us this time away - so needed and so very appreciated.

[[ Editors note - the above two paragraphs were written four days ago, on Wednesday, and the blog editing window has remained open and untouched ever since then. It's now Sunday and I'm going to attempt to complete the update now... Maybe you can see the truth of the title of this blog in this delay! ]]

Around the place, before our visitor

We had a visitor booked in to stay for the week following but had a bit of time available to do some stuff around the place.

A drilling holes

The Wood Room is full of car stuff

A helping move the kindling

Pile of wood outside

What I moved inside

Here comes the rain

First of all A was in the entrance hall clearing it out and attempting to put hooks into the wall to hang our gardening stuff on; sadly the plaster was way too bad and more than half of the wall plugs were just too loose and this failed. It still left us with a tidy area to store our tools (I got the Special One over to help me move the generator into its new housing outside) and we've now banned Rambo from going in there. I was in the Wood Room while this was happening shifting most of the stuff out of there and clearing space for the latest wood delivery to be stacked in there. A came along and helped shifting the kindling and then we had a clear room. I was into shifting that wood the next morning and threw a big pile in via the open window.  That night it rained which made me feel good for having moved some of it inside, and also having taken quite a long time to remove all the plastic I could find in the stack; that plastic just gathers water and then soaks the wood more thoroughly than just rain falling.

Happy A with KERPLUNK!

A working through the wood

Wedged up with an old roof bar

The pizza that I ordered

Fish and spuds for A

That's what a dogs dinner looks like around here

One benefit of it raining is we don't have to water and the other was we were inside and could play Kerplunk, which I got A for her birthday. She was over the moon about this present and that night we had a couple of really fun games (before my exhaustion from working sent me to bed early). It's always fun to have a game and particularly one that takes you back to your childhood. There was no rest the next day as A went in and stacked a load of the wood that I had thrown through. That night we decided against cooking and took ourselves to our favourite restaurant. At first we were thinking about having a picky dinner but I then went for a pizza and this prompted A to go for some fish and we were both exceptionally happy about our choices. The puppies were as well as we bought them a plate of food just for themselves. They aren't spoiled at all.

Guest week

Saturday arrived and after working pretty much all day it was time to go and collect my mate mdickens from the bus station.

Holiday mode engaged (for about half an hour)

Out for a lovely dinner at our favourite restaurant

What would a wood chucker do...

Happy Irish Bird

More KERPLUNK fun

The puppies were happy...

He arrived after a pretty good journey and after showing him around both me and he jumped into the pool to chat, drink beer, and relax. It was just what I needed after the epic working efforts of the previous week or so and it was great to catch up with him. He was here to relax completely while I still had work to do (and A was quite busy with her day job also) so he had a lovely relaxing week sitting in the sun, walking the dogs and doing other things that didn't get photographed while I spent the majority of every day glued to this computer. He did, however, ensure that I got away a little more regularly than I had been and it was a wonderful visit. He also got involved in the wood-shifting, taking a little while of one day to do some exercise by throwing it into the Wood Room; what a guy. A had some time also to harvest and she pulled loads of spuds and has clamped them in sand in a bucket. The weather really changed during that week as well and it was cold and damp enough to actually light the fire. We had a game of SBG (mdickens won!) and also a game of KERPLUNK... A brilliant week well enjoyed by all of us

Tasty tasty Iskander Kebab

The chicken, crossing the road, using the crossing

A whole new site opened up

Workmen shifting stones the old fashioned way

Another view of the new area they're excavating

An altar, a better view now the paths have been finished

Sturdy scaffold so you can climb the tower

From the top of the tower

Reconstructed walls

The last couple of days of his visit we had a couple of activities. First of all we went down to have Iskander Kebab in town, and he loved it (and also liked the dessert) and then on the Friday we were up bright and early to go to Perperikon to show him some of the history of this region. We arrived in plenty of time, first tourist on the hill which is always good, and made our way up and were surprised to see that since our last visit, a couple of years ago, a huge new area has been exposed and is being excavated. Amazing. They have also rebuilt some of the walls on the top which is slightly less amazing however it hasn't been done too badly and at least with original materials. We had a brilliant walk around and also climbed the scaffold that has been erected to allow you to get to the top of the tower. Thelma is definitely scarred from her jump off the Devils Bridge as she refused to walk over the raised walkways, and was terrified at the top of the tower. Poor thing. We didn't rush around but made it back anyway in time for A's work, and mine of course.

The locals have lit their fires at night

Louise warming up

And then it was time for him to go home. We had a lovely brew on the balcony on the last morning, watching the sun as it rose. Louise was most unimpressed with how cool it was and hid inside A's top. We took mdickens to the bus stop and made sure he was on the correct bus and then it was back to the desk for me and I worked from 8.30 until midnight once again. Not healthy.

Now

And so we catch up to today, and a couple of general updates.

Nastily infected foot on Baker

A has cut the infection out

Keeping Baker calm with a towel over her head

First of all: chickens. Above is a video of the very end of a short fight between two of our roosters. Of course they stopped as soon as I got the camera out and the loser ran off. They are also starting to crow. How long they last before ending up in the pot, only time will tell. Secondly A noticed Baker was limping and had a look at her feet and found they are infected so today we had to try to operate to remove the infection otherwise it would kill her. A did a fantastic job with the scalpel and hopefully now Baker will recover. We'll have to keep an eye on her for a while though.

Emptying the pool

Finally we've emptied the swimming pool and it is now drying outside ready to be put into storage. It's still warm in the sun but the air temperature has dropped substantially and we don't want to leave it up too long and then find it hard to dry as it's not sunny, or it's raining. Like last night when there was barely a cloud in the sky then suddenly there was a flash of lightning and the heavens opened. Now is the time, sadly, to say goodbye to the pool for the year. We've been sitting out on the balcony more, however, now the flies have gone away a bit. That's a real pleasure.

And there you have it; I've managed to get the update done. I'm sorry it's been so delayed but unfortunately it's just one of those things and maybe the next update might not be until next Sunday at the earliest again. Thanks for reading!