Back to it with a bang

Well I am shattered now from the effort I put into the last task of the day, so I may not type much but I do have photographs and progress and news to report so yeah, I'm going to blog as much as I can.

Last night we tried to watch a film in bed but it wasn't very good so was turned off quickly and then sleep came soon after that. The washing machine went in the night which made some noises that confused the both of us however a quick recce and a toilet trip calmed us that it was only the squeaking on the polystyrene, not rats. I did wake at sunrise as always but didn't have the camera to hand so I just looked at the gorgeous glow and thought "bah, I can't be bothered to get my camera" so went back to sleep. The snooze button had a good work out but soon we were up for a brew and then out to do the boys. They are getting better, though once again Ralf didn't eat all his serving so we're going to switch back to a smaller bowl from tomorrow I think.

Something is on fire

I went to fetch the men and on the way back asked if they wanted to get some nails as I had noticed they were running low. We popped to the builders yard but on the way noticed a huge fire that was burning in town. The men were talking as if it may have been a shop on fire. It certainly was a pretty huge plume of smoke.

Where's my ball?

We got back to find that my Special Guest had got stuck in with the broom in the boys' enclosure and was airing their bedding and everything; aren't they spoiled! She put his ball on top of the gate for Rambo and eventually he jumped up and got it. Bless.

Squishy mold on the hugelkultur

I went and did a little bit of weeding on the Hugelkultur as I wanted to see how it was doing and I found this really strange squishy mould that was growing out. I am wondering if that is growing on some of the wood that is buried. Any ideas?

Breakfast nom

We were both quite hungry so I made bacon and eggs, using the eggs given to me by the Little Lady a couple of weeks ago. They were amazing, with such lovely huge yellow yolks and they tasted just as good as they looked. One bad thing though; today I opened my second and final Daddies Sauce bottle so any aid parcels anyone may want to send me; please send me Daddies Brown Sauce!

With breakfast out the way we set off for our travelling and chores. First job was to get the two olive trees over to my friends house and to do this we went via the Cheren Put which my special guest was most excited about going up. We also got to go past a very large dead snake by the side of the new road which I may try and get a picture of tomorrow. We had a coffee, and a lovely little chat, before heading into town to go to the garage shop and the little shop for provisions. The garage shop was a bit concerning as she enumerated everything that had been done to Lucy and they still didn't know what was wrong with her. After a bit of chat we agreed to go see Lyubo at the garage and find out for ourselves. First of all we took a short stroll through the market as it was market day and then bought everything that we needed to from the grocery shop, including two loaves of the excellent fresh crusty bread.

From there it was down to the garage and when we popped the hood I immediately saw some water pooled around a coolant hose. I pointed this out and we spent the next twenty minutes or so chilling out while Lyubo ran her engine and squeezed the pipe, then switched the seal and did it again.While we were there I had a cal from my friend saying that Bekir had run out of the fuel and oil for his chainsaw so could I get some. I decided to bail from the garage and we spoke (via an English speaking worker) and explained we would be back tomorrow. This English speaking guy had chatted to us quite a lot, telling us to watch out for untrustworthy people (but trust me) and also asking how much I paid for my house. Intrusive, but standard.

We legged it home and found that the men were on their lunch so I put the shopping away and then went down to talk to Bekir. He agreed to come with to get the fuel and additives and oil that he needed and it was a good thing he did as no one had what he wanted and we went to about three of four places before we purchased everything we needed. We also found out what had caused the fire; there was a burnt out trailer and massive pile of partially burned hay in the carpark just by the road into town and it was this that had been burning so badly.

When I got back (finally) I was gasping for a brew and quite hungry. I found my Special Guest doing the watering round (there had been no free water this morning and I hadn't had a chance since to really do it from paid for) and she wasn't hungry but I was so I put 1 1/2 tins of chili beans on and some toast and had lovely beans on toast for dinner.

Trust us to pick those

This done it was time for our next chore. We had been to the big builders merchant in town earlier in the week and found some tiles we liked and today we were going back to buy them, a bedside light, and a rug for the bedroom. We chose the tiles, were told they were available, went and found the bedside light, an extension to get power to the bedroom from Room 13, and also got a really cheap (14 lev for the fitting as well) light for the bedroom. We totally forgot about the rug and it was only much later that we remembered. The funny thing was that you collect the tiles from the yard round the corner, rather than in the shop, and the ones we had chosen were right at the top and when I say right I mean REALLY high up. They called the forklift driver and we all watched (and they laughed as I took pictures) as he pulled the pallet down.

The men have been hard at work

They loaded 15 boxes of the tiles into the back of Thomas and then we were off, and we were not surprised in the slightest that the thermometer in Thomas read 33 degrees as it was REALLY hot. We went past Kaufland for more of the tins of dog food, and some more lettuce for our dinner, and then it was back home. The boys were super excited, my Special Friend let them out and I was already carrying boxes of tiles upstairs and Ralf appeared so fast and was SO excited to see me. He's a dear, sometimes. I took that box up then went to check on the men and wow what a lot of work had been done. They have built the outrigger beams for the roof, and also put an a frame up to pull the spine beams across. Brilliant.

I had just told Rambo off. Yeah. Angry

I then set back to bringing everything upstairs and my Special Guest hid in wait and snapped a picture of me just after I had told Rambo off for coming in the house and don't I have a scary face. I'm don't normally look like.

Wasps on their nest

As I was stacking the boxes up in what will be the living room I noticed that what had been two wasps on the next in the window was now five wasps. I ran to get the camera and by the time I came back they weren't quite as well lined up however the picture came out really well so I put them in anyway.

Rambo pretending to be pretty

While I had been driving around with Bekir I had decided what would be happening on my return. My Special Guest has (bless her) been working pretty hard doing stuff and she has neglected the holiday part of her stay. For this reason I decided I would drag the hanging chair down to where I was going to do my next chore, so she could lay there, read her book and chat to me and take a weight off. My task was to dig out the trench which would contain the bricks and concrete for the outside house for Jesus and Shiva. The boys were around and taking a lot of interest and she was most pleased with this photograph of Rambo.

Digging the first length for the tortoises

I found the pickaxe after a bit of hunting, started digging then found that the head was loose so I hammered a wedge in which fell out and then Sally did a proper job on it and I was back to excavating. I got blisters really quickly which then lost their heads and became sores after about five minutes and that is a shame as I had toughened my hands up nicely before but I have been lazy working recently. The trolley came into its own bringing the bricks down to the location.

He had just been sleeping on sawdust

Ralf had been present, then disappearing, then coming back and we weren't sure where he had gone but then we noticed. He had found the pile of sawdust from where Bekir had been cutting wood with his chainsaw and he kept coming to see us, then going back and lying down in it. Bless. He wasn't half covered in the shavings.

Welcomed home in style

I worked on the trench until I got a stitch (I was starting the third and final stretch so that wasn't too bad) and then I stopped and went inside. The men were working away and I thought they were ready to go but then the chainsaw kicked in again and I found out why they were cracking on so much when we were in the car taking them back; they wanted tomorrow off. The trip there and back was really easy and I was welcomed home by my Special Guest stood on the balcony with meat on the BBQ and a beer in her hand. What a great welcome.

The house, with boys in attendance

Before going up to join her and claim my beer I went up to the photography point and snapped a picture of the current state of the roof. The boys were still outside and they came up with me and I loved this picture with them both stretched out in full run. What lucky timing.

This was before it failed

I then tried to make a ferrule for the stick I found at the not-quite-an-abandoned-power-station yesterday but it didn't really work out very well so back to the drawing board with that I fear.

Yes. My arse. *coughs*

We had a really lovely time sat on the balcony, with the BBQ smelling great and sipping beer watching the sunset, chatting and chilling. I do apologise for the picture above. I never meant for this to be posted but I have had my arm twisted heavily. So. Sorry. Seriously. We did have some profitable chats including deciding to knock the kitchen through into the corridor, and make the store room into a pantry to give us more space for both kitchen and pantry, and a window which would let the evening sun into the room. Lubo replied to my text with "that isn't a problem" so that is great.

What a gorgeous sun down

All through the evening the photographs of the sun going down had been being taken by both of us and I have taken ages going through them to pick this one, which was actually the last one taken and I snapped it using my long zoom. It is such a stunning place. We were able to watch the sun go down, the sheep being herded in, and were also summoned to the side gate by telephone by the Other Brother and the Little Lady who had a tub of milk still warm and just taken from the cow. When she heard that my Special Guest is going home tomorrow the Little Lady dashed off to get the biggest tomato you've even seen, and two more cucumbers. As if I was running out. Bless them, they are awesome.

Massive locust

So as you can tell I have come back to this blog after eating and drinking and chilling and having a cracking evening. We have had a corker, with Pink Floyd (in honour of the fact that today it was revealed they are releasing a new album) and now Meatloaf. When she took the boys to their enclosure (Ralf had curled up and fallen asleep while we were still sat on the balcony. He really shows what cute is, that one.) she shouted me down as a locust had found its way inside and was on the wall by the stairs. I snapped a picture then grabbed it and threw it into the night.

And so, finally, after many hours (literally) of typing this blog is done. Goodbye.