Standard Sunday; just an international race going past my land

The day today dawned cloudy, cold enough that I am in jeans today and was wearing my fleece first thing. It has since developed into a lovely day and the threatened rain has not appeared. My first task, as always, was to have a cup of tea which was much required as I had managed to lie in until nearly 9am which was good going for me.

The first contestant I saw, coming up the track

The tasks I had set myself today were to clean out Sassy's cage (following her allergy scare) and put the wheels on the bottom, and move 16 of the fence posts over to where Rambo's run was. I'd had my shower and was sitting eating my breakfast, actually I think I had just finished it, when I heard the sound of engines really loud. Now every now and then I can hear a sports bike going caning it down the new road and initially I just thought it was someone drag racing or something however the sound went on and on and suddenly it twigged. The cross country 4x4 race we had caught a glimpse of yesterday was somewhere near.

Another jeep

Getting a wave from the driver

I grabbed my camera and, really excited, ran through my land and out the back and down the bank to the track I drive up to my village and, sure enough, as I got half way down a jeep came hammering it up the track and past in a cloud of dust. The race wasn't just near; as I looked it turned into my village and then went on and through and out the other side - the race was actually going THROUGH my village.

And still waving as he goes right past me

I particularly liked this sticker

There followed about half an hour or so of me being very excited and photographing every car which drove past, getting a wave from a fair few of them, and at one point even getting involved by pointing the direction a car should take when it reached the turn for my village.

Two buggies stopped at the bottom of the rise

They came roaring past, the driver waving as I cheered

I took a lot of pictures but these ones are the best. I eventually stopped and climbed back up to my house and as I did a couple of quad bikes went past but they were too far away to really photograph. For the rest of the morning I could hear the sound of the engines as they raced along roads on both sides of the valley behind me. This was a brilliant thing and I admit readily that I was laughing out loud to myself as they drove past in their shower of stones and dust. What an exciting way to start the day.

Wheels on the bottom of the cage

Anyway, all the while being tempted to rush out and try and see more of the cars (I only thought of videoing after they had all gone past my house, sadly; what a shame) I set to cleaning out Sassy and putting the recovered wheels (post application of WD40 the bolts were all nicely loose) on the bottom of her cage so I can get my trolley back in general use. It did not take me that long in the end, though I did drill one incorrect hole due to not being careful enough with my checking, and the cage is now in her room having been wheeled in there and the trolley is mine again.

The new planting area

One of the first things I did here was to put some tables in what will be my living room and call them my potting area however I have really not been going in there (it is just out of my walking route) and so I decided to tidy up the landing a bit and move everything out there; I already have those pots with the trees in located there so I was half way to that as my growing zone anyway. I now will be able to walk past and water everything without having to remember, which is a good thing for me.

New seeds in better soil

The seeds I had planted in my normal soil had not grown at all (no surprise, I hadn't really watered them) and the soil was rubbish as previously observed so I took the bucket and the seed tray outside and emptied them. If I get some random chili plants growing I'll be very pleased but I don't expect it. I refilled the bucket with the compost soil I have been digging out of the steps and went and made immediate use of planting zone putting more Crossley Specials and Birdseye Chili seeds in, and also deciding to plant some Bell Pepper seeds I had got from one I was using to cook with back in England. These are now sat on the table on the landing and I will be keeping a close eye on them; the soil is at least much more nutritious and well draining.

Leaves starting to flourish on the Tea Trees

The next task was to get on with finishing off the entrance stairs. I had managed to find another bucket by taking the tools I had been given the other week from the house clearance out of the bucket they were in, and one of the previously filled buckets had been reduced to provide potting compost for my planting area so I took both of these down in the wheelbarrow and set to. First of all I took a few minutes to look around the garden and snapped this picture of my Tea Trees as they are really putting leaves out a lot now; they were totally bare when I arrived and only the first shoots a week or so ago; things really do change remarkably quickly in the spring here.

The entrance stairs

I filled both of the buckets right to the top and had to go and split one full bucket between all the others and come back and I half filled it again however I have now completed my task of digging out the entrance stairs and gate and saving as much of the good soil down there as I could. There are piles of stones on the retaining wall (most of them having fallen out of it) and there is a large job to be done to mend or replace these stairs however they will do for now. My next task around this area is to clear and prepare the flower beds on either side of the path; I want roses and some other low flowering shrubs here. I have had it suggested that I should have some climbing flowers growing in an arch however I love to look from side to side from this path and I don't want to limit that opportunity really.

They were still REALLY hard to move

My final large task of the day was to move 16 of the concrete fence posts from by the main building where they had been delivered to and over to near where Rambo's run will be. These posts are really quite heavy so I put the newly liberated trolley to good use and pulled three at a time (with the final one being carried by hand) until the correct number were laid out ready. It could be that the task of fencing is started tomorrow, if the men become available, but I think I am really expecting it to begin on Tuesday.

A woodworking bench and lockers to be moved

There were some items still in Rambo's House which I needed to move out, as well as some which will need more than one person to shift - the lockers namely, so while I was in the vicinity I decided to shift them into one of the empty classrooms in the long green building. I am not totally sure what the thing I moved is but it looks like a wood work bench very similar to that which the artisan was using yesterday. I have stored it for now but it is something to be renovated and put to use again I think.

Padlock on

I have been noticing that the final, non-padlocked, door to the green building has sometimes been open, and sometimes been tied shut; this means someone has been going in there and while I am not that bothered by that, it is time to start making it really clear that this is now private property. For this reason (and it is a symbolic thing really as none of the windows have glass in them so you can easily climb in and out) I put the final padlock in place today.

Ornate BBQ skewers

When I emptied the tools out of the bucket earlier I discovered some cool things that I had forgotten; a load of BBQ skewers with fancy handles. They are really rusted and need some work to bring them back to life so today I have soaked them in soapy water and tonight I will spray them on one side with WD40 (the wonder stuff) and leave them over night and turn and repeat tomorrow. I may need to get some wire brush to polish them up but I reckon they will look AMAZING when they are done.

The vat of Ayran

After this I sat down and started the first of the hours for this week for my paying job. It was actually really nice to change speed a bit, having worked up quite a sweat moving the heavy fence posts (and the woodworking bench wasn't light) and I think it will turn out to be a really good mix of 16 hours a week computer work and getting the physical exercise with the building work. While I was sat doing this my little lady neighbour came in (I must have left the door un-latched) and left me another vat of Ayran; I do like it but I think I will only drink a portion of this before it goes off as it is a morning drink for me; I prefer my beer for dinner.

Sauteing in butter

Talking of dinner I have something rather lovely cooking at the moment, inspired by a very helpful person, as I was complaining because I'd decided to have hot dogs tonight, but I have no mustard and no hot dog buns. The much better idea of sauteing potatoes, hot dogs, mushrooms and onions in butter, and then finishing them off with tomato sliced over the top in the oven, was suggested and has been carried out. As I type this I am really hungry and it is smelling divine.

Huge tomato

The tomatoes here are really quite huge, though, the same as most of the other veg. It is amazing what you can get when you don't throw things away for not being quite symmetrical enough. I think a lot of the produce you see in the shops around here comes from quite locally and that is also a good thing.

About to be put in the oven

So as I say I have got to the oven stage of this impromptu dish and I will report back in a bit to this blog on just how it tastes. I have just been treated to the sight of the herder allowing the cattle to come onto my land and then he having to run in and chase them out again. I am a little concerned that the farmers below (of whom he is one) are not quite ready to accept me into the village; the attitude towards the manure being the main concern. I do hope they get used to me and accept me soon.

I had someone viewing Pierre today and they said they liked him but they didn't buy him on the spot; I really do hope he sells soon as I want him to be used and loved like he deserves. He started first time, pretty much, and there was even juice in the leisure battery so he did show himself off to his best. Here's hoping that they come back and buy him, or if not then I'll relist (again) on eBay and hopefully sell him there. Talking about vehicles I have heard nothing from the cars I emailed about from the website here however the chap at the garage said to phone and not email; I will be asking Bekir (I doubt Lubo will be in the mood for helping me out at all tomorrow) to do this.

Really tasty :)

As expected, my dinner is lovely so I'm just gonna put this here and publish this, then get back to eating it. Thanks for the recipe suggestion again :)