Sundays are for resting

What a lovely thing it is, to wake up and turn over and go back to sleep again. I did that about four times today and it was great because I could sense when the standard tiredness had gone and then I was sleeping off the underlying exhaustion that had built up over the last week. I wonder if Bekir and Sally get to have lay ins ever. Something tells me not.

Morning greeting from Rambo, gorgeous views too

I woke and need the toilet at one point and grabbed the camera from upstairs to get a snap of Rambo saying good morning to me and the lovely view behind, of the clouds adhering to the side of the hills. I hope I never get bored of that view and really I can't wait to have my  bedroom done so I can move in there and have my balcony and picture window in my bedroom looking out there.

I gave him a quick cuddle and he gave me a lick then I went back to bed and slept for another hour. I was in half a snooze when I heard my little neighbour knocking on the door to the house, calling, then going in (I hadn't relocked the door) and going upstairs to try and find me. As I was in bed I didn't go out to see and she left very quickly. When I finally dragged myself out of bed and went inside I found a tray with some hot (luke warm by now) milk with sugar and another pot of Ayran. Before I could do anything she appeared (she must have been watching for me) and I drank the milk, took the Ayran, and asked her if she wanted to come and see Rambo. Everyone else in her family had met him but not her.

I had previously grabbed his water and food bowl and she carried the full food bowl as I filled his water bowl and then we walked over. Rambo was very happy to have visitors and I went inside and played tug with him with the beer bottle for a few minutes. He just loves attention, does this dog. I walked back with the little lady to the house and went in for my own breakfast as I was starting to feel the need for a cuppa and my hunger was slowly becoming urgent.

Lots of smoke from a very small fire

It was a muesli day today which I am still enjoying enough to not regret having bought more last time to the shops; there is time for that feeling to build however. I did look for Crunchy Nut in Kaufland yesterday but they didn't have any; I'll keep looking though. I wrote that little additional blog over breakfast and also did a few bits and pieces of accounts (put my first time sheet in etc) and then I was getting a bit cold so I decided that doing something would be a good idea. The buckets in the kitchen area had been stinky yesterday so I had put the recycling in the compost and emptied the "to burn" into the fire bucket however never lit it. My first task of the day was to burn this, and a load of other rubbish which I had collected. The fire was quite smokey so I hope it didn't annoy my neighbours.

This needs chopping back

The task I had actually set myself to do was to start digging the flower bed on the other side of the entrance path. As per usual I had to do another job before I could start that one; namely chop back the overgrown bush on that side. I had learned from the previous dig that I should start at the house end and work down after I ended up cramped for room digging the last spit on the first bed. My secateurs made very short work of even the quite thick branches I needed to chop through and after this I collected all the branches, from this time and when my mother did some, and moved them to a pile near the compost. They are proving very effective at keeping the hens from scratching out the piles.

Little bee which was crawling on me

I took a short break for a brew after about half an hour and I don't know what it was but something made me look down and there was a small bee climbing up my shirt. I must have picked it up outside. It was making a dash for my beard so I carefully knocked it onto the floor, took some pictures, then got a piece of kitchen paper and encouraged it to climb on that. I carried it downstairs and shook it onto one of the baskets of soil just by the entrance but it was not looking very healthy. Sadly when I checked just now it was dead; I hope none of my actions killed it, but it couldn't have been allowed to live in my beard!

Digging done for the day

I went back outside and finished off the flower bed, digging to the point I had chosen to make my target. It's important to try and stick to these goals, though sometimes you can go past them without a problem. It means that you pace yourself and also you focus on achieving something and not just wasting time. I'll probably do a bit more of this tomorrow now. I got a whole wheelbarrow full of leaves which were duly added to the composting pile.

After this I headed to Rambo's Run as there were a few bits of wood I wanted to burn laying around and also I had seen that some of the spoil was still piled around and there was a corner where the ground was a bit low. He was super happy to see me and, after a suspicious glance at the shovel, allowed me to get my little tasks done. He did bring me his beer bottle to play with and who am I to refuse a lovely animal like him so we started playing tug. I then had the idea to film this so that is why there is a badly shot blurry shaky video linked above. Bless him, he was way too excited by the beer bottle to do what he was told.

Come on daddy, stop taking pictures and WALK!

I went in to check on his house and he kept running up and sniffing the lead (which I am leaving hung up on a nail in the wall in there) and looking at me. His intent was perfectly clear and I was immediately persuaded. After calming him down a bit I managed to get the lead on his collar and then we set off, walking out through the bottom of my land and over the ridge It was great as I haven't walked this way before, and Rambo was so super excited pulling me here and there to go and sniff every area of scrub we walked past.

The path ahead

The route I took was towards the ridge which looks out over the river. As we set off, however, a huge rumble of thunder made me decide to take a slightly shorter route than I had initially planned on. The rain was never that heavy, thankfully, but just as we got back it did worsen so my decision was vindicated. The path I was following bent to the left and then descended to the track to come back up to the back of the house, however at one point there was a lovely view through to the river in the distance down the path we were taking.

Rambo having a good sniff

All this time Rambo was continuing his nasal inspection of every interesting nook and cranny. At one point a lizard skittered away and, while he didn't see that, he did go straight to the point it had been sitting and have a really good sniff until I decided he'd done enough there and we walked on. I was trying to capture a picture of this, but the first one was always rubbish and the sound of the shutter kept distracting him so he'd stop sniffing. This was the best one I could get.

I think he might be thirsty

We reached the track and turned to walk up towards where I knew I could cut up and get to my land (where I took most of the pictures of the race a week ago; wow! that was a WEEK ago! It feels like months... anyway...) and on the way there is a tiny waterfall where the stream drops into a sinkhole. I have looked at this from my car many times and never stopped for a picture. I was tempted to go down (I would like to) but the increasing tempo of the rain encouraged me to keep walking; there'll be another time. Rambo was very interested by the sound of the water so at the free spring just a bit further up I let him have a little drink (he jumped right into the trough - my parents will know how funny this looked - it was where we filled my bottles up from) and then we walked on. A couple of cars drove past, one up and one down) and both drivers gave us a wave. They don't seem to walk their dogs here at all (they don't even seem to let the guard dogs off their chains) so they probably commented on the barking mad Anglachenin walking his dog in the rain. Let them :)

I got back and put Rambo in his run again, then brought my stuff in and made a couple of small cheese and tomato butties for lunch, washed down with a glass of the new Ayran; having not touched a drop of the previous tub I am unwilling to waste this one. With the weather being so changeable (from gorgeous sunshine to over cast and thunder every half hour or so) I decided to get a crack on with this blog and then probably do a small amount more paid work this afternoon. I will be back later to add more to this as I'm sure something else relatively interesting will occur.

I was correct; I did have an interesting afternoon. I have also done no paid work at all today; this will make my week more difficult but hey, I have enjoyed today. First of all has been having a few nice telephone conversations throughout the afternoon. As well as this I had an unexpected visitor. I was just looking out the capacity of my boiler for S and his mrs to compare theirs with, and I heard Rambo barking. It is interesting how easily one can recognise a dog's bark. Anyway, I went through to what will be the living room and looked out and there was T, wearing an incredibly awesome cowboy hat, and toting the super-powerful bladed strimmer which we will need tomorrow to clear the way for the fence. He went to meet Rambo (who was incredibly interested by the scent of the other dogs on his clothes) and then we sat and had a cuppa and chatted until my phone went again and he slid off. It was a really nice surprise and a good way to spend an hour or so.

Unidentified tree

After this interlude I headed outside to have a quick survey of the land to work out where I may want to put any trees that I pick up this week. I have drawn a plan and am considering buying six silver birches, and six fruit trees. This is dependent (as I have said) on there being trees still there, and getting the digger to make the holes for planting them. I also need to get one of these trees as I need to pair it next to my entrance gate; if anyone knows what it is I would be grateful of a name. I am still deciding on which flowering plants to put into the flower beds, maybe the hedge of Hibiscus will end up being favourite.

My final chore for the day done I came in and made myself a lovely pasta dinner; using up half a nardenitsa, an onion and a handful of mushrooms, fried off and added to the pasta with the sauce. This was amazing and huge and really filled the hole after my small meals today. I haven't quite done enough exercise to justify pasta but it was there and I had nothing else.

Looking away from the sunset...

My final task of the day before it got too dark was to drag some wood I found by the perimeter over towards the house so I can chop it and rest it in storage for use next year. I will probably get the axe on it tomorrow first thing to get my blood moving before the men arrive. As I was heading out to do this I saw that the sun was going down and it was reflecting back off the hills opposite in that way I love so much...

.... and towards it

.... and also out from the back part of the garden the way the cloud and the sun were, framed perfectly between the trees, really did demand a photograph.