That's what a Saturday should be like

The storm last night kept flashing and bouncing around the mountains but it never headed back over this way, which was a shame because I wanted to get a video of a huge thunderstorm and post it here for all of you to enjoy. I'll do that the next time a storm comes through at night.

Finally the sun is out

I slept really well until the dog next door started off, worse than it has for a long time, and didn't let up at all for ages. Eventually I gave up trying to sleep through the incessant yap yap bark bark yap yap bark bark and got out of bed without quite the extent of a lay in I had wanted. The sun was shining in through the windows though so I couldn't be all that angry about it. That's a lie, I was really furious but I tried to be as positive as I could be.

I headed inside, made my obligatory brew to chase the cobwebs away, went on twitter for a fair while, waiting for people to wake up from what appeared to be a late hibernation, and considered what I was going to do for the day. I knew I had to go into town to hit a cashpoint as my first few days next week are going to be eye-wateringly expensive. I also had a plan to create a stone step/entrance thing to the garden area from which I would create access paths through the garden to enable easy weeding without treading on the dug over soil. Finally I was thinking about watching a film for a bit of relaxation. The first task I set myself, however, was to hammer a baton onto one of the windows as the birds are STILL getting in and I found that they were landing on the windowledge outside and walking in through a flap in the plastic. Obviously then they couldn't get back out.

Bashed my finger with a hammer

As I was nailing the wood onto the frame I managed to bash my finger with the hammer, as bad as I've ever done it before. I shrugged, moved my finger, and finished the task then saw it was bleeding everywhere. It was only later, when someone on twitter told me to wash it, that it started hurting at all and then, when I got it covered in dust again, it stopped hurting. Perfect.

The gate will be between these posts

Another cup of tea was made after this and then I went outside to start digging out the trench for the entrance thing. I have decided that I would like to have a double gate into the garden, so I have really easy access with wheel barrows and other implements I may want to take in there, so I've moved the gate round the corner from where it was as a single. I will be getting the men to put the fence, and make the gate, on Monday I think (if the promised better weather appears) and I'll have to ensure that the gate can be opened as a single, with the other side locked in place.

Trench dug

I started the trench by using the pick axe to demarcate a straight line between the two pillars and then set to with the irish spade and dug to a depth of about a spit, throwing the soil onto the garden rather than saving it. I was quite surprised that I didn't hit any bedrock to this depth as normally I would do; it shows that the quality of the soil around that area is much higher than anywhere else; hence the garden being there I suppose. It didn't take long to dig this, maybe 20 minutes, however once I'd done I returned to the house to have another cup of tea; I was feeling like a true workman.

A barrow of rubble

The second part of my plan for this minor construction (I was making this up as I've not done any research on how to build a path) was to fill the bottom of the trench with assorted rubble. I had a load left over from where the wall downstairs had been knocked through so I took the shovel and wheel barrow and after a couple of trips had filled the hole but it still was not level enough to lay stones on.

Filled in with dust

I knew I had a load of dust and small gravel inside so I went and filled the barrow with that as a final trip and poured it over the top of the larger rubble, spreading it and shifting the larger stones so it would fall down between the cracks. Finally I seemed to have a level surface on which to lay my stones.

The other pastry, eaten with tea to wash it down

As I was about to wheel the barrow over towards the stones, then go up for another cup of tea, I heard a yell and there was my little lady running over with a plate in her hand. She must have heard my stomach starting to rumble as I hadn't had breakfast yet. It was a slightly sweet, but not overly so, pastry of some sort and was still warm from the oven. I ate the first one stood talking to her and trying to work out how to explain what I was doing when I can't even work out what to call it in English (answers on a postcard please) and then I said I would finish it later and went inside; it was quite a dry pastry and I wanted to have some tea with it.

I then went upstairs and found that people were finally waking up after their lie in for England so I had a bit of a rest (it is a weekend after all) chatted and talked and had some lunch of cheese, ham and tomato butties, and then dragged myself out of the house and into Thomas to go to the shop in my friends local village for the cash machine, their good nardenitsa, and a load of other things on a list.

The Sunflower Road was bad the last time I drove on it but it has really deteriorated with the bad weather we have been having so I ended up driving very slowly most of the way there. This wasn't a terrible thing as I found that Thomas was low of fuel so the low speed kept that consumption down. I parked up, hit the cash point, then went into the shop and picked out the stuff I was looking for, and a fair few other things besides including a huge chicken which I will do for dinner tomorrow I think. I went home via my local town for fuel (as the petrol station I thought was up the road wasn't there so I just kept driving) and then home. When I got home I went straight to let Rambo out so he could have a run around. I am going to do this more and more until I am happy with letting him loose all the time, apart from when the workmen are here.

I came inside, sorted everything out into the fridge and then went back out to start on the laying of the stones for the entrance step. Rambo came with me with one of his sticks (as always) and I loaded three large stones from the wall we had taken down last week and pushed the barrow all the way across to the other side of the land where they were needed. I got them there, started to arrange them, and almost immediately changed my mind; they were too oddly shaped (though flat on top) to sit without rocking and taking more effort than I was willing to put in to get them stable.

Paving slabs now in place

I turned to the paving slabs which I had pulled up in the first week of being here and this turned out to be perfect as they are flat on both sides, and two laid on top of each other went to the correct height. I had a small gap that needed to be filled which I acheived with some broken slabs from round the corner and then  laid each one (with Rambo obviously getting in the way a fair bit and whacking me with his stick) until they were pretty stable. This made me decide on one more process before I was complete which was to cover the lot in sand and brush it down into the cracks where it was rocking. That was a task for a bit later however so I left Rambo out, went inside for a brew and a chat, and chilled again for a bit.

And it is done, good enough

For the sand I decided to dig out some of the stuff which is down by my vehicle entrance gate; this is technically owned by the neighbours but they have had months to get it off my property and haven't so I consider making use of a tiny amount of it as fair game. It'll be gone on Monday because I will be setting the big digger machine to getting rid of it. I only filled the wheel barrow up once and, once again followed by Rambo with an even bigger tree he had managed to find while I left him to run around on his own, I set to with the brush,and my bare hands, shoving sand into the cracks and ensuring the slabs didn't rock. I swept and forced and swept again, resulting in less and less sand left over after every pass. Rambo even only stood in it once or twice which was a lot less than I expected of him.

As I was about to pack up I saw that the Special One was hovering around by the corner of the land (where they are now in the habit of climbing over) and had the two grandkids with him. I beckoned them over and walked back to the compound with Rambo, getting him inside and standing in the door so he couldn't run out. The girl got up the courage to stroke him but then shrieked and ran away when he was a bit bouncy at her. I went into the compound and played with him with his stick for a bit, getting him to sit, wait and fetch for them, then went inside and they went home. It is lovely that they are so fascinated by Rambo and want to come see him as all his life he has been used to attention from random people at the studio. He loves company.

Bird access point

I came back in to find the three birds were inside again and this time I spotted where they had gained access; the plastic sheeting over one of the windows on the landing has blown in completely. I think this makes it mother nature 1, me 0 and at this I have given up on attempting to stop them getting in, unless I get another supply of proper bird netting from the UK that is.

And so it was inside, start the blog, put a pizza in the oven (lazy weekend you see) and pour a pint of beer. As I was finishing eating I heard Rambo start to bark; having just watched the goat eyeing up its chances of hopping the fence at this end I was a bit nervous that maybe it had tried at the other so I went to have a look. It was The Special One with his brother, carrying another huge load of salad. I dashed down, opened the door, accepted the salad, swapped phone numbers with the brother (though I can't remember his name) and then said goodbye and headed back upstairs.

Sassy scoffing salad

I now had far too much salad, and a lot of the old stuff was starting to get a bit soggy, so I decided to throw all the lettuce and leaves that I had previously to Sassy, and only keep this new batch. I threw them in (causing her to jump and almost tip her cage over; I need to work out a way to support it better now it has wheels)  and then went to the toilet. When I came back upstairs she was munching away like a trooper so I grabbed the camera and snapped a shot; it is a while since you've had a picture of Sassy huh.

So I sit here with the fire once again thrumming behind me (I cut my wood with my new saw today; I think it is amazing for big bits of wood, but not as good for little so maybe a combination of both is best) and my second pint of beer in my hand. There were a few things I didn't do that I had on my list today but I can do them tomorrow. Namely, watch a film and design and mark out the digging zone for the main humanure collection point.

I have had a good day talking to family today, with my mum calling this morning, me calling my nan to say thank you for the card she sent me, and then just now my dad catching up with me. Skype numbers are ace!