Busy busy busy

Today has been a super busy day, with visitors and progress and even me getting involved in the removal of the roof so, without any further gubbins at this stage, let's crack on.

Sun falling out back

So once again this blog starts yesterday; putting edits in after posting is something I don't think I should do. I was sat in Room 13 on the phone and every now and then I legged it out onto the balcony (joined by Ralf) to snap a picture of the sunset. It was stunning and at one point the light in Room 13 was literally red. Amazing. I got another nice early night last night and slept pretty well, though I was disturbed by a buzzing fly which both kept waking me up, and gave me all sorts of bizarre dreams of flies and mosquitoes (and not the cool airplane type) but I woke with the alarm feeling rested.

Sunlight under the trees

I did also get disturbed about 4am by the sound of Ralf barking which is unusual. He stopped quickly so I didn't react and dropped back off again quickly. I found out why later. When I left Julian they were both barking as usual but I staggered towards the house, only pausing to snap a picture I have contemplated a few times; the early morning sun shining through the tea trees across the scythed grass. It hasn't really picked up the glow that there is, but just imagine it for me, yeah?

First sight of the hare

Feeding was pretty standard, with Ralf barking and bouncing up a storm both when I let them out, and as I walked them back however as you walk he is bouncing further ahead and being a bit less aggressive at me. Which is good. I had filled a watering can from a very slow trickling free water to refill their water but it wasn't needed. I held Ralf this morning while Rambo finished, as he was off to try and steal and I think that just isn't fair. I watered with the hose (which was not quick - barely a drizzle coming out of the hose) and then went to do the watering. The boys came with and as I was walking down from doing the Magnolia and Zinnias I spotted a hare hiding out behind one of the bushes. I stopped and snapped a picture.

Ralf wants this hare!

This was a big mistake. Neither of the boys had spotted it up til then but when they saw me turn and take a picture Ralf was off and when I say off I mean like a shot. Rambo was totally oblivious but just ran to chase after Ralf. The hare was flushed very quickly and Ralf was after it, tho Rambo just ran to where it had been hiding and sniffed at the ground there; standard. I kept snapping pictures, thinking the hare would definitely leg it away from Ralf, down the land, and out where it must have got in this morning (I am thinking the barking of Ralf was this visitor making his way onto the land) and I wasn't too worried. Also Rambo was not showing any interest in joining in the chase.

Right on top of it

Shortly after it got obvious that Ralf was totally fast enough to catch the poor hare so I started trying to catch Ralf which is not the easiest thing at the best of times and certainly not now that he really had the scent of something he could chew on and he wanted to chew! My chasing then meant that Rambo took an active interest and he started bounding along and joining in the fun. After a few minutes of running around Ralf cornered the hare in the top corner behind the silver birch and this allowed me to grab him and pick him up. I was hoping to be able to pick it up and throw it over the fence (there is just no way out up here, T made sure of that) but when I went to grab it it snarled at me and my concern for it did not extend to getting myself bitten.

I left it lying there and, calling Rambo, walked down towards their cage to put them away while I dealt with it but then it made another break for it and this time Rambo did pay attention and, having taken a cue from Ralf, was after it and chasing and ignoring all my calls and commands. I ran after him, holding Ralf under one arm (poor little man) and managed to catch him after he had once again run the hare to ground and it was laid on its back gasping. I pulled him away by his collar and told him off, and then put them away into their compound. I understand that it is in Ralf's nature however Rambo was pretty disobedient and I'm once again thinking about the whistle training.

Tobacco on their drying frame

I was by this time totally exhausted having chased them for a while and went in for a rest and to finish my cup of tea. With the water still being off I was now more than ever in need of a shower, so I spread the hose out again in the hope that the free water would stay on for me to have an outside shower today. I headed off with plenty of time to collect the men and was able to stop on the hill up and snap a picture of the tobacco drying on its frames. This is a sight that is becoming more common all the time. On the drive I'd felt something on my neck and slapped at it, but it turned out to be a grasshopper which jumped onto the passenger seat. When I stopped to take this picture it hopped into the footwell then disappeared.

The first delivery of wood

I had a super busy morning planned this morning which I only made busier for myself. I asked the men to fit the door which they immediately got on with, but they asked if I wanted them to do the plastering on the roof as well so I initially said no then, as I was cooking my posh scrambled eggs for breakfast, I decided that they may as well get it started if possible so I said yes. This meant that I needed to take Bekir to my builders merchant to get plaster and other kit which meant I was going to be late for dropping Lucy off and meeting my friend at the garage. I was only 10 minutes late and she arrived very shortly after but I needed a cash point and to get to the shop but I was held up behind a person who had six cards which he knew none of the PINs for. Typical when you are in a rush. On the way back we had a call from Bekir saying the wood had been delivered and I needed to get back to pay but, as we arrived, the wood lorry was leaving.

Ralf chilling out

What a rush that was. It was then discovered that the plastic nozzle had dropped off the expanding foam and they needed this to fit the door so my friend and I headed back down to the builders merchant to pick it up. The road builders must have been getting fed up with me driving through their building site in one car or another today. It fortunately didn't take long as the owner was sat with our nozzle so, after my friend made a couple of purchases of her own, we got back and had a much needed cup of tea. I had let the boys out this time and Ralf came and sat with us and was really calm and cute; as always when I have guests.

Door in place

The men had got on very well with the bedroom, Bekir doing the door and Sally getting on with scraping the walls and my friend went and got involved helping the scraping while I had some paid work to do. After this, when they ran out of expanding foam, they finished up in there and went up to the roof.

Removing the bricks, plus an idea

The main task achieved up on the roof today was the taking down of the course of bricks around the edge of the roof, and the removal of the wooden outriggers all around. This was achieved during the afternoon and my friend and I went up at one point to help out. The cement on the bricks is so loose that it was possible to just pick the bricks up and brush the crumbling cement off with your hands. Scary. I have been going up onto this open area of roof for the past few days thinking how amazing it is up there, loving the views, and wishing the winters weren't so bad with snow that I could leave it all as a flat roof and have a terrace up there. I even said this to Bekir last week and he must have mentioned this to my friend because once when I went up there she said about it and as soon as she suggested it, and explained what Bekir was thinking, I realised that this was a possibility. I still need to run it past Lubo to get architectural and plan approval however I really want to end the roof before the chimney and put glass in there and have a terrace out side. Wow.

Tidy ready for new bricks

With all of us pitching in it didn't take that long to finish making all the walls clean and ready for the new build on top. Bekir mentioned about getting another couple of helpers which I was expecting so that is good. We also saw the hare again while we were up there, and Ralf was with us and made out he wanted to jump over the side - I grabbed him and he was straining to get away and when I put him down, he pegged it down the stairs to try the front door. The hare disappeared and we haven't seen it since, though I'll be checking before I let them out in the morning, and doing the watering round first, tomorrow morning. I popped into Thomas to get some stuff out the back and found the little grasshopper, sat on the back seat. I was able to pick it up and let it jump off me into the grass. Great.

Shiva - a bit shy

After this my friend left and then the men went downstairs to do some tidying around the front near the table tennis table. I heard a yell and didn't know they were down so went up and then saw they were on the ground floor. I got all the way down and was handed another tiny tortoise, this one the same age as Mo had been however with working legs and looking a bit healthier. I popped him in with Jesus and he has been named "Shiva" though I was very tempted by "Allah". I'm a bad person.

Current state of play

I took the men home which was easy as always, though we did have to dodge one tortoise crossing the road but I don't think it was missed by the following trucks :( I am picking them up at the normal time but helping Bekir with a chore in the morning; they offered to take the day off for this but I'd rather crack on with getting everything done if possible. The standard end of day photograph was taken when I came back, joined by Ralf, and I was a bit nervous because of the hare so carried him back inside as he seemed to be about to run off again. I need to find it and flush it out the front tomorrow.

Hugely tasty salad dinner

Dinner was a potato salad made with the tomato and some of the cucumber that the Little Lady had given me the other day and it was gorgeous; the tomato was huge, juicy and tasty all the way through. Lovely. While the tatties were boiling I went and climbed onto my scaffolding, obviously wearing my hard hat, and pulled a load of the old plaster off the roof. The room is now a complete mess but it won't take long to tidy. I only hope the window is fitted tomorrow.

So now I'm going to sign this off and go and chill and chat and get another early night hopefully so my busy tomorrow can go without too much of a hitch. Cheers.