The Day Before

The title of this blog post refers to the fact that tomorrow is the day my first visitor arrives and I'm pretty damned excited about it I can tell you. I really hope she enjoys herself here and likes Bulgaria. Anyway, you'll find out the result of the visit over the next week or so.

Really impressive cloud bank in the valley

Today was my first day of my holiday from workmen and I didn't have to wake up at the normal time. I took advantage of this and roused myself from bed at about 8am; not a huge lie in but still very welcome. I was too in need of a cup of tea to stay in bed any longer. I was so in need that I didn't even feed and water Rambo before brewing up, though I did let him out before heading inside. The day had dawned really rather lovely with mist in the valley piling up really impressively and making way to sun and blue skies over head. This is more like it; I'm used to my little patch of land avoiding the rain while everywhere else gets soaked. I hope this continues for the next week at least or maybe just that the unseasonal rainy weather clears off back to England and allows Bulgaria to be hot again.

Clouds all around

After making a brew I headed out to feed Rambo and he was once again overjoyed with the meaty dog food that I have recently added to his bowl. I will need to get some more tomorrow, and also some more dried food I think. It's good that he is settling so well. Anyway, I left him eating (he no longer leaves it to chase after me, mainly because of the meat I think) and snapped another couple of pictures of that thing I've not seen enough of recently; blue sky.

Rambo's footprints in the concrete

I returned to Room 13 to have my breakfast and left him running around as per usual. I had a lovely fry up and uses a couple of slices of the fresh bread I bought yesterday. I am starting to run out of daddies brown sauce though so maybe an aid parcel will be required shortly. I had finished eating and was just about to make another brew when I heard someone tooting a horn. I decided I would go and check on Rambo anyway and also see what was going on and it was a good thing I did. It was the bagga machine man come for his money. I put Rambo away and indicated where the gate was for him and as I was doing this I spotted that the men had emptied the concrete from the last sill they put in and Rambo had found it and left a lasting impression.

I invited the bagga machine man in and showed him round a bit, then he took me to where he had struggled and told me I need one of the real pneumatic drills, the manual ones, which can be hired in town. I gave him the money, he counted half of it and was satisfied and off he went, me telling him that I would be in touch in a couple of months maybe for some more digging to be done. I made my point about the non-full-days and got a bit of a discount so there is no point in making him dislike me.

Cloud collecting in the valley

All day today it has been so cloudy around about but the sun has pretty much stayed out. I snapped another picture to demonstrate this as the clouds in the valley were just amazing; you could see above and below them, with the houses and everything, and I had to go and get all my lenses to get a picture framed how I was happy.

Drying the glassware

So I had two things to focus on today. First of all I had to try and  resolve the problem with my paid work which I had ended the day yesterday being frustrated by other blockers put in my path. Secondly I was tidying and cleaning in preparation for my guest. I started off setting the wheels in motion for the first task and then waited for that to bear fruit while starting to tidy up on the landing. There were piles of bits everywhere and I just moved them to better places, or at least places out of sight. I realised tha the two interesting bits of glassware from the chemistry lab were still sitting where I had put them upon collecting them from my friend; this would be an ideal opportunity to clean them up. I washed the first one, carefully separating the sections which were stuck fast, by allowing the hot water to soak in and break the seal, and then lay it on tissue in the sun to dry. When the first one was done I did the same with the second. They are now sat on top of the green unit and look lovely.

He's on the move

The sun was also shining on the tortoise and this gave him the impetus to have a bit of an explore around his little realm. He was really on one and visited most of the area, having a few rests on the way and ignoring the grub I tried to feed him that was actually alive. He has now buried himself for the night again, once more digging in face first and leaving his backside sticking out and up in the air; I moved him from a similar position this morning but I'm just going to leave him there and see what he does.

Splatted insect

I was looking out of the new windows in Room 13, trying to see if Rambo was around and in sight when I noticed this; it looks like a flying insect has squashed itself against the glass. And yes, I know it probably happened when the truck was driving to mine yesterday; don't spoil my fun.

Cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches

I had some small successes in my paying job and that, along with sweeping out the upstairs landing and down the stairs and right through to the front doors filled my morning up completely. It suddenly was lunch time and I decided to treat myself, like I had the day before, to cheese and strawberry jam butties. They were epic and really set me up for the afternoon.

Chilled out doggy

I returned to my cleaning, finishing off shoveling the piles of rubble left over by the window people into the wheel barrow and generally making sure the downstairs was tidy including putting away all the tools and organising the shovels and pickaxe and that. I looked outside and saw that Rambo was asleep on the porch as per usual, waiting for me to come out. I grabbed the camera and snapped two pictures, the second one of him looking up as he heard the sound of the first. Bless him. I went out and gave him some good fusses after this photograph.

Two different weather systems

As I was fussing I saw that there were some seriously dark clouds heading in our direction and the line of demarcation was so sudden I just had to take a picture for you. As per today even this weather avoided us and shortly after the cloud was below and behind but not above us. Brilliant. I was just about to head back inside when I looked over and saw that the window people were back looking over the fence. I immediately took Rambo and put him in his enclosure, then indicated to them that there was now a gate and they could go through that. They ignored me, climbed over the fence, and then started laughing as the Special One had arrived and he walked past them, up the path and through the gate.

Two men fitting, one watching

It was typical that just as I had finished cleaning down there (and I had broken, or appeared to break, my new hoover which did the dust on the top landing and then stopped running and would not start again) they would turn up and start drilling and making mess again. I had thought I wouldn't see them until the beginning of next week as the second in command had indicated that date on my calendar before they left the last time. Still, very quickly (and with only an out-of-control self expanding foam gun as a problem - it was very funny though) they did all the tasks required of them including drilling a small notch in the floor to lock the second door into. Then we talked about the next job; the bedroom window and balcony door, and I think that may be what was being indicated on the diary as again he pointed to Monday or Tuesday next week when asked when they would be here. I also got the dimensions for the internal window (which won't have an opener on it) so I can get the bricks built up to the correct height for the window to be fitted. All good progress.

Is this a black bee?

I had noticed that there was a dead black bee on the windowsill in the bedroom last week however I kept forgetting to get a picture of it; going in there today reminded me so here it is. I'm pretty sure it is a bee, though someone will probably put me right. It is totally black though which you don't often see.

Here's hoping it establishes itself

Sweeping up after the window people this time didn't take that long, they hadn't made as much mess as I thought, though I did have to wait until the self expanding foam had solidified before I could do it as that stuff was EVERYWHERE. I had been able to make some progress with the paid job in the intervening time so it was a happy me who picked up one of the evergreens that I have been aiming on planting, and taking it outside to put in near where my picnic area will be. It didn't take long to plant and now I have to work out where the others are going to go.

I was starting to get hungry so I went for the healthy option of the cold boiled tatties with cheese, lots of salad (fresh from the Little Lady yesterday) and then spoiling the health aspect by a chunk of butter and lashings of mayonnaise. It was really tasty though, and I washed it down with an early glass of beer though I haven't continued with that as it made me really tired. I still had some work (paid) to do and didn't want to spoil that by falling asleep too early.

I have also this afternoon emptied the fire oil drum which was REALLY hard work as it is really heavy and the wheels on the trolley weren't really pumped up enough for that kind of weight. It is now set up for a good burn whenever the weather allows over the weekend. I could have done my washing last night and dried it today but never mind; maybe it'll be OK at the weekend; I am starting to run out of t shirts that I normally wear it is so long since I've had a good drying day forecast. It is getting chilly in here; the sun hasn't been out enough to really warm the air, so I've got the fire going already and socks on under my sandals.

Gorgeous view

Anyway, I'll definitely not be doing anything else this evening apart from a bit more paid work and then settling in for the night as tomorrow I am off to the airport to collect my visitor and I have to wake up early to make sure she is up and moving in time for her super early flight. I'll leave you with this photograph, taken just now, through my windows of the view between the tea trees of the mountains in the distance.

EDIT

So I havd got my fire going really well, then let it run down and a few minutes ago I dropped some wood and coal onto the hot base and waited. It turned into this roaring furnace and the sound it was making caused my to get my phone out and shoot a video for you... here it is: