Another day of the men

Super quick blog today (guided by the pictures) as I am tired and want to get an early night. So straight to it.

Last night I had a strange experience which freaked me out a bit; a door banged loudly during the evening while I was on my evening phone call and though I legged it downstairs I couldn't see anything and can only think that a gust of wind blew a door. It did make me feel rather unusual which is unusual for me as I'm quite a confident character. I suppose sometimes you just remember that you are out here alone and if there was a crazy axe murderer in the place, what'd you do. I walked around checking with my fist cocked is what. Hah.

Gorgeous sunrise

Despite this I slept really well and woke just before the alarm (why does this happen) and then snoozed a bit longer than yesterday. The sun was poking up above the valley edge so I snapped a quick picture (including the boys waiting) and then went in for my brew. I drank very little of it before heading out to sort the boys out and this was quite stressful as Ralf was very barky and I ended up feeding him away from Rambo which was probably the wrong choice. It is so tough at that time when I haven't fully woken up yet and they are so excited. I am going to really try to do better tomorrow morning and just ignore the barking and hope that when Ralf realises he'll always get fed he'll shut up.

Relaxing at the wood yard

I drove to collect the men chewing over how I had reacted to the barking and realising that I was doing it wrong, especially having re-read this excellent article on how to cope with rescue dogs. I have no problem with saying "no" firmly but quietly whenever I want him to stop but I need to remember as well that it'll take time for him to respond and this is what I struggled with this morning. The men were ready but I started off driving the wrong way as I thought we were going to the builders merchant but actually I should have headed to the wood yard. There was some amusement at this and we got to the yard quickly. Bekir and Sally headed into the office leaving me sat on a seat outside watching the workers and petting the dog. It was a lovely morning and when we left it had been arranged that the wood would be delivered on Monday. Fantastic.

Continuing to remove the roof

We were back to the house by about 8.40 which shows just how quick it was over at the wood yard and they were straight up to the roof and cracked on. They were clearing the other side this morning and asked whether they could chuck the stuff down this side but I said I'd prefer it over the back so I can have only one place to clear up this weekend. It was a warm start and would only get warmer so on they got with the job.

Hay about to be dumped in the barn

There are moments, sometimes quite regularly, where it really strikes me what a massive change I have made in my life. One of them occurred as I was collecting together the hay that was spread out the other week by T and myself, and which I had turned a couple of times. It was almost entirely dry now but I still had to be aware and filter out any wet sections to continue drying in the sun. I was shoving each fork load through an open window into the room I cleared of glass yesterday and I did this until I couldn't fit any more in, then went and shoved it into a corner and then got to stand all over it and squash it down. What an awesome way to start the day.

Piled up in storage

I was distracted in the morning by the Little Lady and Usmivka coming over with eggy bread, turkish coffee and ayran, and we ended up all sat around on the landing with a cardboard box serving as a table, eating and me saying very little. It was nice but the outcome was the Little Lady getting permission to come over with her ladder and take the blossom off my tree as she had asked (and already been told she could) the other day. After this I went back to my collecting and cleared all of the hay which had been piled up and stored it in the room. This is after I stood on it and while it can be squashed down more (and will be) it is compact enough for now.

The Little Lady collecting flowers

I was just settling down to my telephone call with work when I had a phone call from my friend asking me to go jump start her car in town so I jumped in Thomas and got that done. She was in the carpark at Lidl so after she left I went in and did the shopping that I needed and got that out of the way, which was good. I got back to find the men on lunch and the Little Lady on my roof. The boys stayed in their compound because I didn't want them begging for food and then after this as the Little Lady asked me to leave them in there however I did go and let them out eventually even though she was still on the roof. I figured if Rambo being out was too great a problem she would just yell. As it happened she walked out perfectly fine and I think that Rambo has finally got one more person not scared of him.

Progress as of lunchtime

I popped out up onto the top bank to get the lunch time progress picture for you, then went in and ate the left overs of the potatoes and cabbage and onions from last night; not the most filling of things and I felt it during the afternoon when I was so hungry I scarfed down a load of biscuits, naughty me.

I have to sort all this out. Ouch

The pile of wood and tiles out the back has been growing all day and I am going to have to work really hard this weekend to get it all sorted out and shifted. I need to take the good wood undercover inside the house, the bad wood can be piled up for another Hugelkultur and when all that is done I'll be moving wheelbarrows full of tiles to the collection point. This is my task this weekend when I don't have to worry about stuff landing on my head.

Ralf smiling again

Talking of which, Ralf got out again today as the Little Lady hadn't put the bottom latch on the side gate and when I noticed I went looking for him and walked underneath where they were dropping some stuff. They looked and saw me fortunately, and Ralf was stood next to the gate and just came straight in so that was OK. Later on he was on the point of stepping through the bars in the fence along the front when I shouted at him and he came back in; he really is a skinny so and so. He has generally been better today and was following me around a lot, including out onto the balcony which he really loves going on.

Relieving clouds

It had been red hot today, upwards of 32 degrees according to the thermometer in Thomas, and the men were struggling so I put water for them in the fridge, gave them some choc ices, and when they had a break I put ice in glasses for them to drink out of. I think this was appreciated and they did really good work. Mid afternoon the clouds blew over and there was a tiny sprinkling of rain but it remained clammy and hot, though without the direct heat from the sun they found it easier again. This is the problem with working over the summer and why they don't normally do it. I hope they aren't putting themselves out too much to help me.

Tiny little sparrow

I did another section of hay, paid work, and sweated while wishing for more breeze, and then there was a flurry of activity and Bekir came down with a birds nest and in that birds nest there was one baby, alive. He said there had been two dead ones in there and he gave me this little fella which promptly jumped out my hands about ten times but I finally got hold of it carefully. Bekir couldn't work my camera so he took the bird and I took the picture. He then tucked it back into the nest and we went and put it on top of the gate into the garden area. I hope it's OK.

They were now onto the tricky part of the removal which involved the hanging metal guttering and I was shooting a video to capture it coming down but then they seemed to stop work so I stopped filming and a couple of minutes later they suddenly were back at it and it fell in a rush. It would have been epic on video too. Never mind, they did it safe and I applauded them from inside Room 13.

Ralf and his latest bone

Ralf had found a fresh bone in the green house and brought it inside and he was happily sat in the corridor upstairs chewing away for a lot of the afternoon. I took it off him when I got a bit worried as he was coughing a little bit and sicking slightly; it'll go in the humanure with the other older bone he found, and hopefully this little tickle is nothing to be concerned about.

Then it was suddenly time for the men to go and so we jumped into Thomas (waving goodbye to the Special One and the Little Lady, as well as the young one from the farm, who were all on my land chatting away. It is nice to be welcoming as I am in no way a "feudal lord" as was suggested the other day. We arranged that tomorrow the men would get the interior door for the bedroom done so there is a visit to the builders merchant (not the wood yard; more hilarity) in the morning to get the materials.

A large chunk of the roof is not there any more

I got back and snapped the day's progress from the top. I am taking other pictures but they aren't coming out as well for you but they do exist. They have basically removed all the roof from the area they are going to replace next week. I will probably suggest that they remove the final beams that are still up in the morning, before the main heat hits, and do the bedroom door during the hottest part of the day. We shall see how that goes.

So I am now waiting for my baked potatoes (which I put in before I took the men) to cook and then I'm going to go and read in bed and rest. I am tired today.