More of the same

The first half of this week has been remarkable only in how unremarkable it has been. There hasn't been much going on really and so this will be a short post and I mean it this time. Without any more delays, then, here goes.

A three course meal

I'll start with the highlight of the week and what a highlight; it would lead out most weeks, even the most exciting.

Starter - Mushrooms with crumbled blue cheese

Main - Pork neck roasted with vegetables and cheese

Desert - Tiramisu

Yesterday was S from SandS's birthday and so we met up with them in the evening for a meal at one of the really nice restaurants near the lake, but not the fish restaurant. It was hammering down with rain when we left but this turned to drizzle and then had stopped all together by the time we arrived and found a table. They were there a few minutes afterwards and we ended up spending nearly two and a half hours at the table eating our way through some good food and having excellent conversation. It's so lovely to have friends like these close by us and to be able to get to see them is a pleasure.

Shashlak serving idea

I did spend some of the time talking about swimming pools, which is not entirely my fault as we ate at the hotel where we went swimming last year and the pool there is about the size I would be thinking of and A completely agrees. It's firmly shelved as a "to be thought about" idea rather than "to be done this year" though; no chance until we have a satisfactory living space and probably a fair few other "nice to haves" have been completed.

Under the weather

Both of us have been feeling a bit under the weather recently. We've been sure we've had maybe a cold or a slight flu that just isn't shifting. This has continued into this week.

On the sun lounger I bought for Islay last year

The balcony is a sun trap, even in winter

The back wall, and Sassy's run

I've been really pleased with the fact that the weather cleared back up again as it has meant I have been able to get outside when I've been feeling particularly jaded and enjoy the sun for a short while. At lunch time, and then late afternoon before it disappears, I've gone out onto the back bank or onto the balcony and dozed in the sun. Particularly on the balcony it is a sun trap and after this I felt a lot better. On the back bank I was harassed by all three puppies and so didn't get as much of a rest as I was wanting, though they do make one smile which is also good for you.

It's not too bad yet, but another month or two and it would get bad

Spread stones and sand over it to bind it together

Since then I've worked out what is causing a large part of my lethargy and so today I am feeling a bit better. I am not someone who enjoys feeling lazy and not getting stuff done and it has been a period of waiting with my day job, while the weather has prevented me from getting outside and doing those chores that involve physical exercise while I'm waiting, so I've just been sedentary. Last night we worked this out and so today I got out this afternoon around lunch and finished off the job of putting stones on the drive. It has been a bit slippery so hopefully this will help, and it certainly made me feel better to break a sweat again finally.

More puppy love

And not just puppies; here are some more pictures of the animals, from this week.

Louise, barking at a cow behind the top fence

Thelma bringing her favourite tug toy

The habit the girls have got into recently of barking outside has been getting worse recently. They bark to be allowed in, which is fair enough as they are getting our attention, but they have begun to bark at each other while they play, at the cows and horse as they go past, at the wind, the trees and anything that takes their notice. I let them out to go to the toilet one night this week and within 30 seconds they were back inside barking and running away from something outside, probably just the wind in the trees. Thelma is, as always, addicted to toys still and has the rag tug toy given by my friend as her current favourite item.

Afternoon bread feeding time for the birds

Sassy enjoying the fresh air

We're still getting many eggs from both chickens and ducks. On Monday we had an omelette to use up a load however my desk still has an overflowing basket of eggs on it. It's great to be getting such an excellent result from my first ever attempt at chickens. A has had them before though. Sassy is much happier now she is in the run outside, though I have on my list the task of making a shelter for her toilet to prevent it blowing everywhere, and also stop it getting full of water when it snows - it took a whole 20L bucket to empty it after the snow last time and I cracked the tray slightly while moving it, which was careless. That is my job for tomorrow and Friday.

Rambo, with a big smile on his face

Finally for the menagerie is Rambo who is also looking very healthy and well. He decided to stop eating his dinner again the other day so we put him onto just dried food and, as last time, after a couple of days of this when he was back onto the full meat mix he wolfed it down in about ten minutes. He's still huge and clumsy and doesn't look where he is going but I think that'll never change; he's a sweetheart who just needs reminding every now and then.

Sky

So as always I've taken a few pictures of the sky this week.

Glorious golden mist in the valley

Blue sky with scattered clouds

As night falls, the clouds burn

Just before the sun showed itself

The sun is finally burning through the fog

We've had a mix of weather so far this week with mainly gorgeous but then yesterday heavy rain in the evening and then fog which hung around until I was outside shoveling the stones at lunchtime. The forecast is changing all the time but certainly there is going to be some weather over the coming weekend; whether it precipitates as 20mm of rain, or 40cm of snow, though, is anyone's guess. I suppose we will just have to wait and see.

And finally

There's a couple of things to talk about that don't relate to any pictures.

My rough idea for an aluminium frame

First of all I've spent some time over the last week or two trying to get quotes for the whisky storage shelves and the see through hatch to go over the spiral staircase. After waiting for the first company to get back to me for ages I rang them and found that they are not set up yet to do custom orders. I contacted some of their competitors and got back some prices which scared me so we're now looking at getting the parts made individually and putting it together ourselves. The whisky shelving idea has also, for the single quote I've received, come back way too expensive however we've found an option using stock parts that looks feasible.

It's only a couple of months until we'll be getting builders back in so we've been looking at prioritising the tasks for this year and working out which should be begun first. Of these ideas we have also shelved the hot-tub for now as if we do go for a swimming pool this will all need to tie in together. Other parts of the design of the use for the rest of the building are really coming together well, however, and the orangery/library/museum room downstairs will have its first work done on it as we close up one of the windows (due to the water storage and generator shed being built in front of it) which gives us the perfect space for the museum in that corner. It's things like this, when two ideas work together so nicely, that makes a build feel good.

We got back from the meal last night to find that once again our internet had stopped due to them turning it off. This time I decided against going and shouting at the man; I very well could have because we paid for a year in March last year. The thing is that for every five months you pay for, you get one month free so when I paid for ten months in March that should have covered me until this coming March. Of course we had the trouble in September when they cut us off then as well as the person I paid only put me down for six months. What has happened is I've just not had any of my free months which is frustrating but as I have no proof of paying, and it isn't a huge amount of money, I've decided to let it go. This time I have the receipt and I will keep it and if, in October, we lose internet again there will be a very unhappy man in that office.

Today's daily photograph - number 13 in the series

I've managed to keep the daily photograph going, though have not been quite on time a couple of times due to us being out, or me forgetting, and I now have thirteen photographs in my folder. You'll have to wait until 2017 to see the finished article but this picture above, with which I close this update, shows the angle that I am capturing. The picture was taken today.

Thanks for reading.

A short holiday

Here we are again, staring at the blank blog post edit screen wondering just how long this one will turn out to be. It's a lovely bright Sunday morning and we've already been round and done all the cleaning, including me scrubbing out the disgustingly filthy trench through which all our water flows, and A mopping the living room floor. I also cooked a pretty awesome Full English for us to top the morning off and so our Sundays go. Now I'll just be typing this up and relaxing while A chills out, maybe do some reading; it's good to have a day you know you'll relax.

A trip away

On Friday the delayed trip out to the police station occurred, my translator having successfully rebooked it for this far more convenient time. As soon as this was confirmed we had made arrangements to get over to see Chaz and Ivan and stay there the night after the police interview which was taking place not far from theirs. We looked forward to this all week and had a lovely time, as you'll see next.

A sea of mist in the valley behind us

Still a lot of snow here

Taken from a moving car, A hit the jackpot

Another hawk, waiting

We set the alarm on  Friday morning as we had to get away early and it was a good thing we did as, after getting everything ready, we didn't get time for breakfast anyway. We filled up, and I got some nibbles for the journey, on the way through town and then stopped again to visit the bank to settle my month's accounts. The teller said that she had seen the blog so, if you're reading this, hey. They are really lovely in that bank and even the tellers who don't have any English take their time and work through my halting Bulgarian. From there we got on the road and, after the Satnav gave us some problems and had to have a hard reset, we made our way to the appointment. The view back over town was stunning and I parked up to get a photograph; this is a picture I've taken many times over the years as the fog gathers in the valley so beautifully. As we got further from ours the snow returned and was quite deep by the side of the road. We stopped to let the puppies have a toilet break in a layby where it was quite deep. The rest of the journey was taken up with bird watching all the hawks that were hunting by the side of the road. A was in charge of the camera and managed to get a few pretty good shots. We saw so many!

Thelma and Louise in the snow

Sniffing their way through the snow

Looking across the valley, beautiful with the snow

A random donkey

This hawk is hunting

The road ahead, late afternoon sun and snow

We arrived at the town with plenty of time to spare, obviously, and took a walk with the puppies into the centre and went back to the same bar as we ate at the last time I had to go for a police interview. This time it was all buttoned up and we found a table right inside where we had tono pizza and I had a hot chocolate. The girls were attracting all the attention again, as always, but were very well behaved and didn't cause any trouble while we ate. They're awesome. It was then time for me to go in so A stayed with them and took them for another walk around town while I went in and talked to the detective, with my friend the translator helping. It was basically the same interview as before but apparently my complaint is being taken further which is great. It was a much shorter interview this time and when I came out A had just settled for a rest in the car. As the interview was so short I was fine to continue driving and so we headed out via the back roads towards our friends. This was another lovely journey, with gorgeous views, which we took slowly. I was feeling slightly nervous of driving too fast on relatively warm roads (the temperature was heading towards 10 degrees) in my new winter tyres so I kept it below 50mph all the time.

Chaz walking Louise through the hotel

A small plate of awesome curry

These two are top, top people

The sun rises over their grounds, and the swimming pool

It took almost no time to get to our friends and we let ourselves in to their hotel, past lots of labourers working to finish off the terrace around their swimming pool (and yes, we both now really want one here) and also putting more insulation inside the walls. They are doing a hotel, not a house, and it is a really wonderful space that they have; I can't wait for it to be finished and see the final article as every time we go there is so much new occurring. We were greeted and welcomed, got everything inside including the puppies' cage, and settled down to a beer. This led to another and then we headed to the pub for more (the girls stayed in their cage, though they could have joined us probably) and after a few there we walked back to the hotel for dinner; a fantastic curry cooked by Chaz. After that there was some whisky and rakia (10 year aged, and very nice) and by the time I joined A in bed (she had abandoned us a little while earlier) I was quite drunk. It's not often that we let ourselves go like that so it was a nice change. It wasn't nice in the night when we woke with banging headaches but by the time morning came these were largely cleared. I was awake from really early and watched the sun rise through the windows; I missed the best of it as I was slow getting the camera but you can see the beauty (and the swimming pool) that any lucky guests will get to see when they stay here.

Chaz with Thelma who was very friendly indeed

Just a small breakfast

This is another apartment, yet to be completed

Sammy has gone away

Our morning was just as relaxing as the previous night. We sat and chatted while Chaz cooked up an amazing breakfast for us all, and the builders arrived and continued working on the new terrace outside and the extra insulation inside. There was no feeling of hurry and by the time we decided to leave it was already midday. The journey home was easy and A had a nice doze while I cruised, again slowly, across the mountain roads. We stopped at the hardware store to try and get some more bags of compost but they had sold out so I came away with only some more thermometers. We were so tired that as soon as we got back we went to bed and I fell pretty much straight asleep; this meant that the daily photograph (which I have managed to keep on top of) was late being taken but it still came out so that's good.

Other stuff

There's not much more for this update so I'm just going to lump it all together into this heading. We'll have some views, some puppies, some food and some more electrical problems.

Miserable start to the day in the valley

The fog follows the path of the river

My parents hotel sits on an island in the fog

The sun rising, seen through the tea tree branches

Thick fog with the sun illuminating all along the top

Five minutes later we were totally covered ourselves

Doing a burn, in the fog

Since the snow of earlier in the week the weather has changed. On Wednesday night and into Thursday it rained and washed most of the snow away. It was quite an overcast day all day Thursday, with mist in the valley that hung around a lot. Friday morning was an absolute corker, though. I was lucky to glance out of the window just as the sun was shining and get to run around the house to get photographs of it from three locations. The fog, which had been heavy when we first woke up, had cleared from around us and the sun rose above its level in a blaze of glory. Just stunning. About five minutes later the fog had returned and the sun disappeared. The first picture of this update is looking back towards ours, which was still fog bound at that time.

Louise patiently waiting for the fire to be lit

"Stop taking pictures and light the fire!"

Parked in front of the fire

A multi-tasking

I offer the preceding pictures with very little to add. These puppies of ours are such a pure joy to have around, even when they are being very demanding and we're not so much in the mood to play. A keeps saying that it is impossible to wake up in a bad mood with them bouncing around and she's absolutely correct; they bring so much fun into our lives. Right now they are outside on the top bank running around like lunatics but I expect to hear a yap soon asking to come back in. And yes, as I typed that, Thelma started up.

Ready to break the egg

Frying up perfectly

Burger with cheese, onions and a duck egg

I promised pictures of food but having looked through I actually only have these photographs from one meal. The egg is a duck egg from New Years Eve (we ate the final chicken egg of last year in our breakfast this morning) and the burger was just as tasty as it looks. I'm sure it wasn't healthy but it was scrumptious.

Cable still attached on our pole

It was broken on the neighbours land

They just tied it off on our pole

We slept so long and hard last night, being in bed before 9pm and not waking until nearly 8am, but we had plans to lie in even longer. These were shelved when A let Rambo out and had the downed power line on our land pointed out to her by the Little Lady. This must have come down during the night (it was quite windy I think) as it had fallen across the hugelkultur and the raised beds, and I walked there to get the daily picture. We locked Rambo away, being a bit concerned that he not touch the line, but eventually let him out until EVN arrived. They appeared mid morning, just as I was starting to write this, and after a while took the power down while they tidied up. They haven't put a new line up yet so I'm expecting them to come back. We couldn't have the generator running as Rambo was locked in that room and the fumes would have been terrible for him.

Greens in the raised beds doing fine through the snow

Garlic shoots (if you look closely)

The raised beds have proven themselves so well during the snow. The greens did wilt a little when the temperature dropped to the lowest we saw but it never froze inside and as soon as the sun hit them a little bit they stood up again. We do appear to have lost on Cauliflower which is a shame but it was always the smallest and weakest in there. I'm wanting to get a thermometer in the soil in one of these, just so I can see what is happening. In the section next to the greens we have had a great result so far with the garlic which is shooting up fast.

A big black bee

I'll leave you this week with a photograph taken just now of a large bee that was flying around the landing earlier today. These make a huge amount of noise and, being fully black, we don't think they are honey bees. It's strange to say but even with that cold snap we've continued to see many insects that you would think would be inactive at this time of year, including today a real honey bee that buzzed past us outside, and continuing sightings of butterflies. The forecast is for a whole heap load more snow a week from today but of course that could be inaccurate this far ahead so we shall see.

Thanks for reading. I'm off to relax.