Roof and windows

I've really put off starting this blog. For some reason I'm sat here at nearly 8.30pm (I've normally published by now, or soon after) and I am only just typing these opening words. I think I am just tired, it has been a busy day, but that is quite silly because the later I start it, the later I finish. Oh well.

Clearer view than the ones yesterday

The blog starts off last night, during me evening chatter, when I noticed the moon rising and in the clear sky it was an excellent opportunity to get a good picture unlike the cloudy hazy ones from before. I took my kit, including the remote control, onto the balcony and played with the settings, snapping loads of pictures. It was great to lay there (the gorilla-tripod I was using is so low I had to lie down to look through it) looking at the moon and snapping pictures. Apart from Rambo noticing me and barking a bit, it was exceptionally peaceful.

Love this moon

I was in bed and asleep relatively early but woke in the night for the toilet and had a really interesting walk out along the corridors and down the stairs and then back the whole length of the building, while my eyes were refusing to open. I think I did it all just on memory of where things are. I certainly forgot that I had lights on the stairs as I did it in darkness. The moon was super bright even then and this gives me an excuse to put another of the photographs I took earlier up here.

Before the sun appeared

The pattern of disturbed sleep continued in the morning as at about 5.30 a dog somewhere started howling and crying and kept it up for ages; it certainly woke me and (again with barely working eyes) I dragged myself onto the balcony to snap this pre-dawn shot as I just lovely the pink in the clouds, then I went back to bed and slept through the terrible noise. It was still going when my alarm went off and I hit snooze for the first time.

Here it comes

When the alarm went a second time I dragged myself out of bed and snapped another morning picture for myself, and you guys. The clouds just make it even better than when it is a purely clear sky. I stood admiring it for a while then went, brewed up, fed the boys (was a bit of a challenge getting them to calm before I went in with the food, and Ralf was snapping at Rambo a bit) and then did the rounds with the lead on Ralf. Half way round I put Rambo in the enclosure as he was ignoring my commands and acting like he ruled the place.

I hope this lavender recovers

I had an additional task to complete today should I get time and I was surprised to see that, despite spending so much time training the boys, I still had half an hour before I had to leave. I spent this time transplanting the lavender which has not been doing well under the trees into two buckets which are now sat where they will get all day sun (when it is shining, unlike today, but more of that later) on the balcony. I hope they take; it will be lovely to have these outside the bedroom window.

Fill the bucket and haul it up

After all that I arrived a couple of minutes after my usual target time of five to but the men were ready and we were heading back over to the house by a minute or two past; perfectly on time. Conversation was slightly quieter this morning, though we did have a laugh as each successive person who got in the car reported being happier and happier: Sally "Gore dolo", Orhan "Dobre" and Bekir "Mnogo dobre". When we got back I had some toast and jam (strawberry with fruit in it) and then decided to do my first "annoy the workers with my camera" foray onto the roof. Sally and Bekir were doing the final bricklaying and when I went up there Orhan was down below filling the bucket and lifting it up.

Clouds in the distance, heading our way

I stayed up on the roof for a little while, enjoying the view and the sun and the slight breeze. There were massed clouds in the direction the bad weather always seems to come from however they were a way off and I was pretty sure we had some time before the forecast bad weather arrived.

Materials for the next task

While I was up there Bekir finished his brickying task and disappeared. He returned shortly afterwards carrying a load of what they call "duskat" over here; thin but wide rough planking that is used for many things and in this case is put across the ribs to form the first part of the waterproofing and insulation of the roof.

Worship my photoshop skillz

And so it was back to chilling by my computer and waiting for my second task of the day; Lubo was coming over to talk through the idea for the kitchen. He was a few minutes early which surprised me but we went straight down and I talked through the ideas. He was immediately negative about it, saying that wall was a "seismic" one and we couldn't really touch it. What a gutter; the image of that openness had really started to bed in over the past few days. Anyway, I talked and talked at him, persuading him in the meantime about putting the stairs in the middle so we can have the door onto the patio in the corner, and eventually we agreed that he would look to see how much of the wall we can take out, if we put arches in. The upshot of this is I took two pictures and created the above masterpiece and sent this to Lubo. Later in the day he replied saying that we would be able to knock down 49% of the wall, so long as more than 50% remained. So maybe this arches idea can work. I will need to take a tape and work out how wide they will be. It'll be nice to make more efficient use of the space though.

Working through a gale

After Lubo left I got quite substantially involved in my paid work and was not really able to resurface from my office til after lunch (cheese salad, to use up one of the EIGHT cucumbers that I currently have in my fridge) and when I did so I found that the weather had changed and that front I had spotted a way off earlier in the day had hit with a vengeance. The wind was howling and the thunder was rumbling and still Bekir and Sally were clambering over the roof hammering the duskat boards into place and then cutting them down to size with the chainsaw. Orhan was providing excellent support as he has done all last week, passing and fetching and preventing them having to keep getting down off the beams to get stuff.

My first fence

I was swiftly back down at the paid work and then, when I next wanted a break, I decided to go and finish the fence for the tortoise house. My uprights are quite as secure as I wanted, however they'll do and I have learned a fair amount for the next fencing job, beside the entrance garden. I hammered my two cross pieces into place and I am actually quite happy with how it looks; it is exactly what I wanted. Next to get a bird netting frame over the top.

Three men hard at work

As I was finishing this off it started to spit with rain and ten minutes or so later it was coming down quite heavily. I went up and sat with Bekir briefly as they had a coffee. I asked about taking Ralf to the vet to have his balls chopped off (he said we can do that tomorrow) and then I asked about the window people, who he said would be coming today. I expressed surprise because of the weather but very shortly after this, as I took Ralf out for some air, I saw their truck come along the track. Without any bother, as always, they set to and started taking the old windows out and putting new in. One of the jobs this time is to put my new back door in and this took a lot of time as the wall was made of solid concrete, after a couple of courses of bricks. They actually broke their drill and borrowed mine in the course of chipping the concrete out the way. One quite amusing thing is they misread their diagram and the window that will go next to the door was massively too large. They have had to go and will come back with the correct size tomorrow.

The birds are going to hate me

As well as fitting the large windows in the flat roof they have also replaced the small ones in the little rooms of the corridor. I'm not sure why they have the little vertical strips but I don't mind it so I didn't say anything. As well as doing this they fixed the double front door so now it shuts again without you having to lock it, put the fly screen on the bedroom door to the balcony (and also fixed that as it was a bit stiff) and apologised that they had forgotten to bring the glass for the bottom of that same door. I look forward to them returning tomorrow to finish it all off.

Duskat in place

I was running around with my camera a bit while they were here and was astounded at the progress that the men on the roof had made; Midway through the afternoon and almost the whole of one side of the roof has been timbered. They work like demons, Bekir and Sally on top hammering away and Orhan passing the chainsaw, then taking it back down again and then passing up the next length of wood.

'Elf n Safety can go swivel

This picture is on here for those who always comment "he's using a chainsaw with sandals!" as in this picture, he is using a chainsaw to cut a length of wood that is trapped between his legs, and resting on another wooden beam. He is like a magician with that machine and still has all his natural appendages that I am aware of.

During the morning I had been hailed by the cousin from the farm about a broken computer in the village and had told him to come back when he could take me there. Around this time he showed up and I got in his car (wondering how far it was) and we drove the 2 minute walk to the kmet's house. It was his daughter who had a broken computer (the son, who is always so friendly, was ill and in bed in the room but he still managed a weak wave and a "HELLO!" as is his habit). I found out quickly that they had a full harddrive nad left them cleaning it, with instructions to call me again if it still wasn't working well. It was nice to be asked and to be involved in another household.

He is giving it some here

Chewing and chasing his ball

Ralf has once again been kept on his lead at all times and he has been OK, apart from forgetting what the command "sit" means a few times. I noticed he was getting a bit restless so I went and got his ball (the last time he touched this he jumped and ran away as soon as it started rolling) and gave it to him. The improvement in him was immediately apparent as he played with it for ages. I couldn't pick which picture to use so you get both. Sorry.

Another shallow grave dug

With the rain, and it being a bit cooler, I decided to go out and dig the pit for the next raised bed. I had hopes that the rain would have loosened the soil but this really had not happened; it was still like concrete. It didn't take long for me to get this done though and now tomorrow I can spend a bit of time finishing it off and then putting the frame in and planting another tree.

Not long after I finished this the window men left and then the workmen started washing up so I put the boys away (Rambo was already in because of the window people) and took the men home. It was an easy journey, made great by Sally saying "Thank you " and "Good bye" in English at the beginning and end of the journey. He is so lovely, and it really made me smile (as it did him). Great stuff.

I have a roof (well, this side anyway)

So I got back, let them out again, and grabbed the camera for the daily status update. It is a big change this time. Next to be done is the other side (I'm not sure how I'll do that one) and also Bekir is going to build reinforced concrete framing for the doors and the gaps either side if I decide I want windows (which I will I am sure). He is also talking about getting guttering ordered but I don't know when that'll be. There was also discussion about whether to put hardboard over the top of the duskat (it improves the insulation and also provides something better for the waterproofing plastic to adhere to) and I have decided to go for it. It really is all go.

Now THAT is security

I walked back round the side and went to the gaping hole the window men have left and pulled some of the metal framework that used to be across the window so Rambo can't get in, and other large animals are discouraged. Tomorrow it will be sealed.

Ralf waiting

As I went back inside to reheat the AMAZING pasta from the other day (and it did not let me down) Ralf was sitting at the top of the stairs waiting expectantly for me. This is a slightly blurry shot as I put it on a long-ish exposure and only braced myself by leaning against the wall, however I just love his serious face and how calm he looks here.

What a sky

So I have managed to drag myself to the end of typing (nearly enough) and it has taken me about an hour including a few distractions on twitter, and a fair while stood on the roof terrace admiring the sunset which was firing and epic in the extreme. This reminds me I was going to say earlier, as the storm was blowing in and the men were scurrying around on the roof, I stood up there in the wind and felt such a freedom. All I could hear was the wind in my ears, and the hammering of the men, and the peace was almost overwhelming. The cleanliness of the air, the wildness of the weather. Wow.

Ralf as a look out

By this point I had let Ralf off his lead and he joined me on the roof, running around, sniffing, and then standing up to look over the edge. I know he was probably just trying to spot that hare again but I like to think he was enjoying the sunset really.

So that is it. Tomorrow is going to be another busy day.