St Georges Day (oh, and my birthday)

Good day to you, today is St Georges Day and also much more importantly my birthday. As such I have supposedly taken today off (well, that was the aim anyway) however things don't always work out the way you want them to in this place and I have had more things happen work-related than I meant them to originally.

Stunning silvery morning sky

The day started very gently, despite the dog next door starting off at about 6am I slept in til nearly 8. Lovely. the only reason I extracted myself from my pit was the need for a cuppa, and the thought that I was expecting the digger machine man any time after 8.30, and then Lubo a bit later on. I wasn't worried by being up; there is something about this place that makes spending all day in bed not the choice at the top of the list. The sun was breaking through the early morning overcast as I went inside so I put the kettle on, then went into what will be my living room and snapped a few pictures. That will be the morning view that I get from my bedroom and from the balcony. Lovely

And this is why I have the fence and gate; voracious

I had a lovely early morning happy birthday call but before this I went down to unlock the gate so the digger man could get in whenever he arrived. This was not a quick job as first of all the kmet shouted me to talk about the digging (he was worried about the fact that where I was having dug out, the telephone exchange for the whole village is run.. whoops) and also to learn a few bits of English. The cows were just being let out and were chewing around the lane. The little old man came along with some bread for the sheep dog and the goat stole some, and then the young lad appeared. After a few minutes I made my excuses and headed back inside.

A wonder of nature

While I was walking back up to the house I spotted this fantastic example of the ground spider web, I think, with a perfect tunnel to entice the little creatures it wants for food. These are all over my land and I would love to one day actually catch one of them out of hiding.

Favourite tree, and heavy plant

I was on the phone again (birthday pleasures, I know I know! Praise Skype is all I can say) when I heard what I thought was a car and looked in vain for it. I was wanting to get the attention of the driver as I wasn't sure were he was starting and that risky telephone location needed reinforcing in his mind. I only had to get outside Room 13 to realise that the noise was the sound of the digger being operater; he'd arrived and just cracked straight on. I finished the call and went round to see him and to my surprise and pleasure it was not the useless driver from yesterday, but the awesome one from the day before. He was in and clearing the spoil left by the work yesterday.

After clearing up the mess round by the carpark the man brought the digger round to the back to continue digging out the drainage channel; a task which the guy yesterday made look really really difficult. This one just jumped straight on it and was making excellent progress as I would have expected. Of course I took my phone and made a video for you; you'd be sad if you didn't get lots of videos of heavy machinery at work.

The loose telephone cable at the bottom of the trench

I decided that it was time for me to make my breakfast, despite the fact that Lubo was due any minute, so I chopped some bacon bits up and fried them crispy, then mixed chopped olives (from the gift from the Little Lady yesterday), a slice of the hot chili and half a tomato in with some eggs and made myself a lovely scrambled eggs on toast. Just as I was about to bite into it I heard some shouting and saw the digger man waving up at me to come down quickly. I put the plate down and went to look what the problem was. He had reached the telephone point (I told you he worked faster than the other guy) and avoided it exactly as he should have done (because he's skilled) however he had just noticed a loose telephone core dangling in the pit where he had resumed digging. He was a bit concerned as, so he said, "water, no problem, electric, no problem, telephone, BIG PROBLEM!". Hmmm, this was seeming to be a bad moment and not the birthday present that I had envisaged. We discussed the solution and I sent the digger man off to get the kmet to see what he said.

I returned to my breakfast (no point in wasting something that looked so lovely, and didn't it just!) and then went back down when I heard voices. He was returning but not with the kmet but the Little Lady. The kmet was out of the village (as usual) and so the next best expert was the lady. She waved her arms and said the cable shouldn't be there, and then said that her phone was working fine. She went back to phone the kmet and while she was gone I told the digger man to just crack on; if it was damaged then we couldn't do anything about it now. I stayed right by the hole and kept a really close eye on the hole as he dug ever so carefully to reveal more. Now I hadn't been able to see any other end for this loose cable and was hoping that it would just turn out to be an old one, or maybe some waste left from the installation. After three or four bucket loads I was confident we were not uncovering any more cable.

Very friendly and skilled digger driver

It was then that the little lady returned saying that there was no problem and yes, it was an old cable. What  a relief. I lay on my back on the grass to indicate a swoon of relief and they both were quite amused (I think). Well I was very very relieved!

He went back to digging (showing off some awesome control as the feet were slipping and he countered that so he avoided hitting the wall, which was good) and I went back inside to do whatever it was I was doing (wasting time I think, relaxing, maybe some music; I can't remember now) and then my Bulgarian phone rang for the first of many times; it was a Bulgarian who didn't speak much English, I think from DHL or someone like that, asking when I would be in. I was able to explain that I was going out today (as my plan was to go into town, to the plant place, and then for lunch with my friend) but aimed to be back home for about 3pm so come after then. I had another call later from the same number from someone who spoke English and I said the same thing and, as I type this, I've just taken the delivery which was of the hay for Sassy so now I have LOADS of hay for her! I did have another delivery too but of that another time. It's almost like it is my birthday, huh.

Potential escape route

The one task that I had set myself to do today was to find out exactly where Rambo had managed to escape through yesterday and hopefully plug that gap so, after a bit, I went out to walk the perimeter (I was delayed making a cup of tea, obviously). It did not take long for me to find my first problem, down by where myself and T had made a go of doing the fence. Obviously we had not done as good a job as the boys would have and there was a place where with a very small amount of force you could push and slide underneath. This will not be easy to fix as the ground drops away so much on the other side. I will make use of Mr Digger Man later I hope to work on this.

Colourful jumping spider

I continued on my circuit as I wasn't totally convinced and I did find a few places which probably need more urgent reinforcement than the others however nothing so obvious as that. On my way round I saw some really lovely sights of nature including this jumping spider. It was making its way along the wall built by T last week and every time it got to a gap it jumped. It moved too fast for me to video as well as film it; it was so bright but very small.

Ants hurrying about their business

Right next to where the spider was jumping (indeed, I thought for a while he was going to hunt some of them but he didn't) was a MASSIVE ant trail; it must have been about fifteen feet long, and had a couple of tributaries further along. I couldn't get the whole thing in shot so this is just a tiny section of it. I watched them hurrying about their business for a few minutes, then continued on round.

Getting near the end of the drainage ditch

I completed the circuit and on the way saw a couple of the old fence posts laying by the fence which I could use to secure that hole I spotted, and also a large amount of old wood that was scattered over the top part of the land and would be very good for my hugelkultur. I was about to go and move Thomas when the digger man said he needed to come round and start digging from the bottom of the building to finish the drainage.

Another wood load

I jogged over to take the washing line down so he could drive between the posts, then went and got into Thomas and drove him round, past the digger and, waving as I went, up the steep bank with absolutely no problems at all. I loaded all the wood into the back of Thomas, and the two concrete posts, and returned the way I had come again not have any issues with him negotiating the steep bank even with all the weight in the back. What a vehicle.

After being freed

I unloaded Thomas of his haul of wood and concrete posts, putting the posts near the point I suspected as Rambo's method of escape, and the wood into the pile for Hugelkultur. While I was doing this the digger man stopped and got out to look in his scoop. A big piece of rock had become stuck there. He got a spike to try and break it up and was hammering away until I went and got my pick axe and with three swings he had dislodged it.

Wood ready for using in Hugelkultur

Before I had totally finished emptying Thomas he finished the drainage ditch he was working on and we went to look at the parking lot which the guy yesterday had failed to do anything about. He was not impressed and said he would finish the job so I moved Thomas, he went to crack on with that, and then I finished the last couple of handfuls of wood onto the pile. Here is a picture of the pile of wood I have yet to move into the Hugelkultur; I think I should have plenty for two mounds.

As expected this driver made a much better job of breaking up the rock which was getting in the way of a flat car park and I took a few videos however this one here is the best which I took quite late in the day. I had been stood watching him for a few minutes and thought you should all be included in the awesome. He was using the angles and finding the natural faults in the rock to enable him to break apart large chunks without having to to it piecemeal like the other guy.

He's still moving around and stuff?

I was about to head out to walk Rambo when I noticed that the yet to be named tortoise was on the move and it even appeared that he was munching on the dandelion leaf I had picked for him. I had to snap a quick picture to commemorate this, as I was starting to get a bit worried as he seems to be sleeping a LOT at the moment; they are sleeping creatures though I suppose so I shouldn't be too worried.

A pool, and tadpoles in it

The school, the village and the path we took

After calming him down when he realised that I was about to take him out for a walk, I went up through the village but turned left just past the first water trough and we made our way up through a lovely path through trees to the ridge above the village. It was great because I saw the house from an angle I'd not seen before. We weren't out long but it was a lovely strenuous climb and descent back into the village. On the way through I met the old man who had appeared earlier telling me he was the kmet when the school was built. He was a lovely man and we spoke again with him admiring Rambo, then it was back to the ranch for me.

Quite the building sight now

When I got back I fed and watered him, then headed round to check on what progress was being made. He was still bashing away (actually, the video earlier was taken around this time) and I was most amused at the view from a slightly different angle that showed just how much of a building site my place has become. It is going to be a huge clean up job after this, to sort the stones into one pile and the soil into another for use elsewhere. Oh well, time and men are cheap over here.

Water pooling in the drainage ditch

One thing that I noticed was that there was standing water in the drainage ditch; it appears that this really is an important task I'm doing as the water table is high (above the bedrock obviously) and it is just pooling out of the hillside above my walls. Wow.

Rambo!

I returned to Room 13 and listened to more Andre Rieu who I am now going to see at Christmas! Oh Yeah! Very excited indeed! Time went on and after a bit I noticed that I wasn't hearing the sound of the digger so I popped out to check up; he had gone, leaving the digger again. It seems he is presuming to work tomorrow as well. I am very happy with the work done today, but I had only really signed up for two days of the big digger. Maybe he is giving me the first day for free because it was so useless; that might be an interesting conversation. One of the problems with him sloping off like that is I was going to ask him to move some stones to help me block up where I thought the escape route was. Oh well. I shut the gates and let Rambo out, then went to sort the exit. This picture is priceless as Rambo was actually really well behaved and sat, then lay, when I told him to.

As an experiment I had earlier hopped over the fence and then told Rambo to "come" and, sure enough, he slipped through the gap I had identified as if he knew it was there; result. I had definitely found the culprit. I got the camera and did it again, so you can see. He was SO eager to follow me this time, though, that I had to tell him to sit quite firmly else I'd have missed him escaping.

No escaping here now

It didn't take long, particularly with all the stones that had been dug up today, for me to block of this method of egress and I am now happy again to leave him running around. Just as I completed this Lubo turned up for his update and I had to rush Rambo back to his run. The news from Lubo was relatively good; he has four of the five required letters and is collecting the other tomorrow after which he will be calling Sofia to talk to the decision makers to get the next steps. He will call me tomorrow after that conversation, and will be back on Monday with other updates. All good, fingers are firmly crossed.

What a lovely card :D

So now I am sitting here wondering if the Special One will come over with the Kmet or not (I'm not massively in the mood really) and about to start cooking my dinner. I have my whisky to open too and I will not be publishing this just yet in case more interesting stuff (yeah, don't laugh) happens today. I have really enjoyed my birthday so far and with my tummy rumbling I'm gonna go prepare dinner now. I'll leave you with this awesome birthday card I received today. Woooo!

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My birthday whisky

Well there has been no sign of the neighbours today so I'll just open this bottle myself on my own; never mind.

I did have a visitor in the form of T coming round with a card and a little gift from him and his mum which was really lovely. We sat and chatted for about an hour and then he had to head off home to get dinner; he's working for my friend at the moment and not back for a couple of days. He was very impressed with the progress made on the drainage though, which I don't blame him as it is pretty cool.

Dinner was very tasty but lacking in butter

Dinner was cold chicken with boiled potatoes, cabbage and broccoli. I am feeling the absence of butter however and must add that to the list for the next shopping trip. I made enough tatties for me to have a cold snack of them tomorrow, probably with more chicken and I think tomorrow night I'm going to make a chicken soup and freeze half of it because I'm getting seriously fed up with roast chicken now!

St George's label

I'm now sipping this whisky and doing my best not to panic because I can't find the special bottle my best mate bought for me for my birthday. I definitely had it with me as I remember where it was packed in Julian but, yes searching by torchlight but still, I cannot find it anywhere either in the locked room or the general store room. Tomorrow is going to be a grand "unpacking and organising" day so I can maybe find the damn thing. It is about time really I've been here a while.

Other than that last not-very-good-at-all-thing, today has been really good and I'm looking forward to tomorrow when maybe I'll fall out with my nice digger man (because I only signed up for two days, and tomorrow would be the third) and hopefully I get to go for lunch with my friend too.