Sliding into the weekend

The rain is drearing down outside as I type this at the end of another pretty good day, if with a rather depressing end to the working section of it. I have the buckets out again and drip drip drip is my soundtrack. It has been so wet this year, my friend says she certainly can't remember anything like it though that graph I posted yesterday suggests otherwise. I'm being promised by various weather forecasting applications, and Bekir, that it may rain a bit more over the weekend, but after that it will be sunny. We shall see. I hope none of them are lying.

Moisture spreading

Anyway, I will start this blog off in the same was as yesterday; with a picture showing last night and this morning and the water slowly soaking through above my head in bed. As you can see despite the fact that yesterday was a dry day it has continued to spread and the patches are starting to merge. Another reason I really can't have this rain continue as I can't get to protect this area of the roof.

A bit misty to see the progress

I slept pretty well again with some strange dreams that I'm going to keep to myself thank you very much, and when I woke I snoozed a couple of times but not right til 7 and was up as usual with the usual impetus as well as a fierce thirst and so I went and sated both. The feeding was calmer again as Ralf starts to respond to me telling him to sit and be quiet before I open the gate and during the brief half second when they were both sat I went in and fed them. I did let them out today rather than leave them in after food and I think they both appreciated that. I had not taken the "current status" picture yesterday due to my pleasant evening with S and S so I went up to the normal spot to get a snap. It was super misty again this morning which makes this a double purpose picture. With all the extra wood, tiles and rubbish that had been thrown down the past couple of days it was really quite difficult to climb up the bank and I had to carry Ralf so he wouldn't pull me potentially onto a nail.

Storks in the water, and the air

I put the boys back away (and they went pretty easily again) and then set off to collect the men, leaving a little earlier as today I remembered to take my camera and I was really hoping to get a chance of snapping a picture of the storks as they hunted in the river. I was in luck; at the same place as I saw them yesterday there was a flock clustered in the shallow water. I took the first picture, watched and snapped some shots of another that was flying over, and then turned round to see that the whole group had taken to the air and was leaving. Talk about timing.

Just sun and fog

The closer I got to their village the more the fog dissipated and there were some stunning views with the sun shining through the mist that I couldn't take as there was nowhere to stop and shoot. I was able to pull into a layby for this one though. The men were ready and moved quickly when I arrived and we set off a little early again. This morning, however, Sally was last to the car and got in the front. This meant that the two heavier (though neither could be said to be large) men were in the back so it was a very slow journey down the cheren put as we kept bottoming out over the bumps.

It's a little clearer here

When I got back the first thing I did was go out back and try and get a picture again of where we got to yesterday; it was still misty but I think you can see that a fair amount of this middle section of roof has been removed. I then went and let the boys out and went for my breakfast. This was once again bacon and eggs as I get back into being the real me again. My second brew of the day was very welcome too.

Where can Ralf be?

Sleeping on the stairs, obviously

Ralf is still on his routine of being kept on the lead at (nearly) all times and having the lead clamped to the hoop by the door of Room 13 works really well apart from when he trips you up with the lead, or pulls the wooden elephant over (he's done it a few times today). I was eating my breakfast when I turned round and thought "where's Ralf" and then I saw the lead stretching towards the stairs to the roof and I found him. Bless.

Getting stuff done

As I was stood by the stairs I went up to see what the men (who were banging and crashing around above my head) were working on. Bekir was settled on the roof handing tiles to Sally who was then passing them on to Orhan to save or lob, depending on their solidity. At least they are still saving the good ones after I told them I was no longer planning on using them, but selling instead.

A baby sparrow I saved

I did want to achieve a couple of things today. One of them was cleaning up after the window fitters in the small rooms, corridor, and garage. The other was planting out the tomato plants that had been battered in the storm and therefore were already stressed so replanting them wouldn't be a terrible thing. First off this list I chose to go down to the flat roof and start tidying. I took Ralf with me and actually let him off his lead while I cleaned. First of all I picked up the large chunks of wood laying around and stacked them with the other wood for chopping though, as they are painted, I may end up removing them rather than burning. I then went round with a bucket and collected the shavings as firelighters and it was while doing this that I found (maybe the same as yesterday) baby sparrow huddled on the floor. I chased it around for a bit, just stopping Ralf from having a god, and managed to put it outside again however it flew very weakly and landed in the shallows of Rambo's pond. I pondered then went out and saved it again, snapping a picture in a box I put it in before releasing it somewhere it won't drown. It hopped off, hid in a hole in the wall, and I haven't seen it since. I hope it isn't snake food.

I got so far with the cleaning, then I needed to use the brush however it was being used by the men upstairs so I had to stop. They were making use of it all day so I never did get to finish this task; another one for the weekend I suppose. While I'm talking about the men I figure now is as good a time as any to introduce this video, taken sat at my desk in Room 13, of the noises made as they were working above my head. I was ducking a few times as the thumps and bangs were very loud indeed.

Bits from the ceiling

And here is the result of the banging and crashing going on upstairs. That is bits of the plaster from the ceiling which was raining down around me as I sat at my desk. Suffice to say I put the laptop away and went up and asked them to be more careful.

Industrious ant

After Ralf had dragged everything out of the bin yesterday I realised that today I really should burn it as I had a bag full as well as a full bucket so I quickly went and did a burn. While I was up there I was fascinated watching the ant trail that was going over a chunk of wood on the floor. They were carrying some seeds or something that were twice their size and more and I took loads of pictures of them, probably being watched by and amusing the men who think my camera addiction is hilarious.

Windows now organised

With the success of the raised beds of the Olive trees I made a decision after this to go into the locked room next door, to avoid the plaster that was still being dislodged, and sort through the windows stored in there to find out how many I currently had fully glazed that I could repurpose into cold frame lids. I sorted the stack of windows into usable, empty, and needing sorting (as they had chunks of glass I couldn't remove with my bare hands) and ended up with about 12 windows, of four different sizes, that I could use. Success.

Sword of Damocles, over my TV

While I was working in there I happened to look up at the roof (probably because of something being dropped above me) and I noticed, swinging free on an electrical chord, a large chunk of concrete-plaster was dangling and it was right above my very nice flatscreen TV that I was storing in here. Without another second wasted I ran upstairs and got Orhan to come and help me lift the TV out of the direct falling path of this heavy chunk of ceiling. That was close.

A very simple machine

An hour later, and some paid work completed, and it was lunch time. I went to the roof thinking the men were down having their lunch and found that Sally was having his hair cut by Orhan. He looked very sharp indeed and I think Orhan had done his before then as well. They had built the frame for hauling the cement onto the roof in a slightly different position, and looked set and ready for getting the concreting down around the next section of roof to go up.

Explosion in the distance

As we were about to go downstairs there was a huge bang that echoed around the valley. Actually, maybe more of a boom. I looked around, and Sally said something I didn't catch, but then I spotted, way on the other side, smoke was rising and spreading and I can only assume there is a quarry there or something.

Perfect photograph

We went down and Ralf was waiting, as ever, at the bottom of the stairs. Sally did his thing playing with him using his hat and then for some reason he put the hat on Ralf. We laughed so much I ran to get the camera, passed Ralf to Sally and we got this gem of a picture. I think it could be my favourite picture yet. I love Sally's smile, and Ralf looking so non plussed. Brilliant.

Ralf getting soaked

The men went on outside to eat and doze and I made the choice, as I was feeling pretty wiped out, to go and have a sleep of my own. I woke up just as lunch was finishing as when I went outside to start my next task, I met the men coming back in. I was going to work out where to put my high raised beds / cold frames. I had been out with the scythe and cut down the grass in the area above the Olive trees which was my target location so I took Ralf, pegged him out, then went in to get some empty frames to lay on the ground to mock up the positioning. Bekir asked me what I was doing so I went to get the book to show him and by the time I reached the roof, the slight drizzle that had been falling turned into a torrential downpour. We all scattered and went for cover but then I remembered that poor Ralf was still tethered outside. I almost killed myself tripping over a length of metal embedded in the roof (now with a chunk of wood tied to it so it isn't a danger) as I ran for the stairs and then went and laughed so hard at just how bedraggled Ralf looked. I was mean enough to take a couple of pictures before running out to save him. He had tangled himself in a plant with his lead and I just ripped it out the ground rather than untangle in the heavy rain. Myself and Orhan managed to extricate this from his lead and Rambo chewed it up, as he does.

Downpour

Poor little fella he was soaked and so was I and the men were sheltering and I was feeling quite unhappy again really as the rain hammered down and kept hammering and then it started dripping again in the landing. It was so heavy!

Orhan chucking water off the roof

After about fifteen minutes (but it felt far longer) the storm passed and I went up onto the roof to start clearing up. I said that it was my work to do but before long all the men were involved, with Orhan taking the snow shovel and doing an expert job of lobbing the water over the edge, and Bekir and Sally working with me to clear what was dust, and had now become slippery mud, from the stairs. It took a little while but, including me sweeping the puddle through the gap in the hole, we ended up with clean stairs and almost no standing water, though it still dripped through the roof.

Very rough position of first raised beds

I left them to their normal work and went outside to finish positioning the frames, then headed back to keep paid work going. I have designed the structure for these raised beds and tomorrow, if the weather holds enough that I want to go out and shift through those piles of wood, I will be trying to collect together the resources to start building them. Exciting.

And progress

The next time I headed up I was pleased to see that they were making cracking progress again, with the cement going on to reinforce the bottom half of the wall, and the beam for the outriggers installed on the first part of the wall.

He just saw a bucket go past the window

The pulley for the cement is hanging down right past my side window in Room 13 and at one point after this in the afternoon, when I was back sat at my desk working, I saw the bucket swing past. I turned round and saw that Ralf (who was once again on the naughty step as he had got on the sofa to sleep AGAIN) had seen it and was looking really confused. I had to get a picture.

Shortly after this my friend arrived to talk to the men and have a cup of coffee before she headed into town. We sat and talked for a bit, I showed her around including the ideas for the kitchen and she suggest a window through as well into the garage which I am going to think about for a bit before deciding if I want to do this or not. She headed off after a while and I went up and asked the men if they wanted to go home as it was raining again and had been for a while. They agreed very quickly so I put the boys away and off we headed. It was an uneventful ride back to theirs but we arranged for Monday to go to the big builders yard to get guttering and other supplies, and also into the place in town where we could get thick black plastic sheeting and glue to really do this roof properly.

Sun through a rainy window

When I got back it was STILL raining and I must admit I shouted at it a bit as I could see blue sky from both front and back windows however it was raining persistently over me. After my swearing at the clouds it will not surprise you at all that it did not stop raining and it was drizzling and mizzerling for ages. I cooked a lovely "make do" dinner with some tomatoes, the other two sausages, chilis, garlic olive oil and a cubed potato that was just marvelous! I also started writing this blog, nearly three hours ago now! It's taken WAY too long. Eventually it stopped raining so I went onto the roof to clear it, while my food was still cooking, and then later still the sunset started and I loved this of the glow through the back windows that are rain striped.

Another glorious sunset

When the sun was setting I popped upstairs again and took this fabulous photograph showing just how clear the air is now; how crystal are those distant hills! The stars are out now and it looks like my app is (sadly) not lying as it predicted this, and then says I'll have another load of rain again tomorrow. The 15 minute cloudburst dropped about 15mm of rain (or at least, that is how much was in my teacup that I left outside during it) and I could do without it.

Now I'm bored of typing, this has taken me ages and I really need to get back on top of this routine as it has eaten my entire evening and prevented me doing anything else I had planned. Not happy. Going now.