Two chainsaws

My hands are hurting really badly right now and I'm tired but I won't let you down like I did yesterday; I'm going to soldier on through (with lots of photographs as requested on twitter) and some words in between.

Just before the sun comes up, and Rambo stretching

Last night I didn't sleep great; it was warm and the direction of the breeze was in the wrong direction so my closed bedroom door unfortunately kept it out. I woke a few times from strange dreams which I've not done for a while, but I did wake feeling rested when the alarm went off and I only did one snooze before dragging myself out of bed. It looks like Rambo was also a bit tardy waking up today and this is the sky which greeted me when I first got onto the balcony straight from bed.

Sun behind clouds for the morning

Brew was made and the food bowls (left by the door by my Special Guest in a genius decision) were filled and I walked out to the boys. As the food was already in the bowls and I was going inside their house to feed them there was not as much chance for barking and general annoyance and they were pretty obedient when I put the food down. Ralf once again ate really steadily and though he did finish his bowl, there was none of the grumbling and snuffling and panic that he used to do when he first arrived. I was sat in my usual place drinking my brew when I realised that the sunrise was occurring and I was missing it. I went to stand at the doorway and was really pleased I'd done so; it was amazing and I took loads of pictures, though I will only subject you to one.

They just kept munching away

Breakfast was not disturbed for the boys however and they kept at it, quietly munching away. Rambo finished before Ralf today and wandered off for his morning toilet, and Ralf left his bowl with food in it, went and stole what Rambo hadn't hoovered up, then returned to finish his own. He's a strange one.

Zinnias

It took ages to fill the watering cans as the free water pressure was down this morning but eventually they were ready, with only a few problems from the boys with Ralf snapping and Rambo running him over, so we set out to water the plants. The Zinnias at the top are growing, though I would have liked to have flowers by now I did start them late. When I got down to the Silver Birches I weeded three of them as they were getting quite choked, and then finished off with the rose (which has some flowers appearing on it again) and the bottom fuschias which the weak hose couldn't reach. It was a nice round and I finished it with time to neck my cup of tea, and then put them away for collecting the men.

And then there were three

When I got to their village I collect three men, not two. And there was another chainsaw as well, brought by Orhan who was the new guy. There was a bit more chatter than usual in the car this morning, but I drove slowly as the fuel in Lucy is a bit low; I wasn't sure if maybe I may head down to town to pay for my Tok and also fill her up. We parked Lucy under the tree rather than risk the really bad road with all of us in her and they got ready and went straight upstairs to crack on. The new guy seemed to me to fit in really well today and I'm happy with him working here.

Getting going on the raised beds for the Olive trees

I had my breakfast of bacon and eggs on lovely fresh bread and then, once my Special Guest had gone to work and I had drunk my cup of tea, I went outside for my task for the day. I was aiming on building two raised beds and putting an olive tree in each. First of all I selected my site and placed a breeze block where I wanted each tree to be. I then scraped off a rough square around the breeze block then started digging with spade and pick axe to about 100mm deep. The soil down here is very hard work; there aren't many rocks in there but it is just so dry and baked solid. I worked a good sweat up digging this hole I can tell you.

Wooden surround in place

I then went and selected some wood from the reject pile off the roof and cut it to size for the hole I had dug. Totally by accident it was a perfect square, at 800 x 800 mm so this was pretty easily. I grabbed some nails from the massive box bought last week, and then with some effort required to shave the corners of the hole so the uprights could sit easily, built the square surround and situated it in my hole. It fitted perfectly.

Putting well rotted manure in

I had the spoil from the hole,and had also collected the left over soil that was scattered around next to the tortoise enclosure and I put some of this into the hole then took the wheelbarrow round to the Little Lady's manure point and filled it right up. It took two trips with the barrow to get enough and I was careful to mix it in with the soil so as not to spread it throughout the bed.

First tree in its home

I then stuck an upright in to provide support, planted the first tree, tied it to the support with tights, and then filled the rest in with the mix of manure and soil. Finally I watered it well and then stood back to admire my work. My first Olive tree planted.

Working on the spine for the roof

While I had been working on this the men were on the roof fitting the wood and then it was their lunch time and they were very amused / interested in what I was doing. When I finally finished the planting of the tree I think they saw what my aim was. Just before they left Bekir was checking it out and seemed impressed too. He did say to keep watering well.

Harvest time

I was hungry myself by this point and my plan was to have one of my own tomatoes in a cheese butty so I went and there were actually two that were totally ready for harvest. I pulled them both and one is now in the fridge for tomorrow. More are turning too so I may be about to experience my first glut of harvest, even though I only have five plants. The tomato was so tasty on my butty, I can't wait for tomorrow to have the other.

Damage to my hand

If you are wondering why I have the gloves on in the last picture it refers to my opening comment about hurting hands. This is what my left hand looks like right now, and my right is no better. I did this yesterday and the day before while digging out the trench for the tortoise enclosure. My hands were just too dry and soft after not doing any digging for ages, and now I am in much pain.

I had been up to see the progress before lunch and something had been pecking my head (almost literally) as the height of the cross beams they had been putting up seemed a bit low. I thought for a bit and then decided (with help, thanks) that no, I need this to be right for me so I went upstairs and said "these are a bit low, can you raise them?" and Bekir was immediately saying "nyama problem" and asked how high, though Sally did scratch his head a bit. Anyway, to cut a long story short, they had to redo quite a lot of what they had done this morning, but my corridor going to the roof terrace is now about 2m high and just under 2m wide; that should be fine I think. Sorry for any really tall people who visit, I can't get it much higher than that sadly.

Now I have two Olive trees

After lunch I started a quick burn as the old dog food bags were starting to smell a bit bad on the sofa, and there was some stuff that Ralf would definitely be wanting to pull out of the burning box if I left it there. I then went to get the boys out of their enclosure where they had been put (Ralf in disgrace as he had gone to bit the LIVE extension cable out to the wood saw, Rambo cos he just ran in and I couldn't be bothered to shout him back) and set to again with the next raised bed. It was hard work again and took a fair amount of time to complete as I stopped when I got too hot and cooled myself down. I was once again forced to put both of the boys in their compound as I spotted Ralf slip through the front fence and jump down (even though I shouted at him not to) and then, when I went to get him, Rambo came charging over like the clumsy dog he is and broke my favourite cup. I was gutted, and I am going to really try and train him to be a bit more careful with his feet. It did mean that when I left to get the manure for this planter I didn't have to take them and lock them up so they didn't chase after me though. I do now have two Olive trees planted, and tomorrow I will try and do at least one if not two more.

Real milk with real cream on it

I returned to Room 13 hot, thirsty but satisfied with my success. To celebrate I decided to have some of the milk that Usmivka had brought over the other day. I poured a glass and it went down so well I just drank the remainder right out of the tub. It is wonderful to taste real milk again, after the rubbish that is sold in all supermarkets world wide that has no cream, no substance and no flavour. It really hit the spot and made me feel good again.

A spiderweb of wood

The men were still hard at it and worked til nearly 6.30 today, taking down the bits that were wrong and putting in the wood at the correct point. They have made more progress back than I thought they would so that is good, and I'm really pleased that I made the point as I would have regretted having to duck every time I went out there; it would have spoiled the whole thing I reckon. I need to be more proactive on these things as it was an obvious thing to pick up on really. The inset shows the change that has been made, with the new long beam going across inboard and above the old cross beam. That is how much more height I have gained. Quite significant.

End of the day

It was finally time to take the men back so we jumped into Lucy (well I did, turned her round, then Sally got in and I shut the door by driving forwards (he sits in the back) much to his amusement and we picked the other two up towards the village) and then it was the standard drive back. The only non standard thing was me seeing that actually she had far less fuel than I thought in and I was right down on the bottom of the red at times. For this reason when I had dropped them off I went back via the petrol station in town and filled her up. All the burned hay from the fire the other day has now been moved and the nasty smell has reduced a lot. My first task on getting back was to let the boys out and Ralf has been super submissive all evening. He knew he was in bad trouble. I went through the house, took my shoes off, then remembered the current state picture so put them back on and went out. Rambo met us at the top, as he had been doing his rounds.

Awesome ant trail

As I stood taking the picture I noticed a straight line in the dirt. Closer inspection showed me it was an ant trail; they had walked it so much they had actually worn a track in the ground. I had to take a picture so I set myself up and obviously, the clumsy dog that he is, Rambo came and stood right in the way. Fortunately he moved when I asked him and then it was back inside and time for me to think about dinner.

Amazingly tasty dinner

My plan was to hard boil the ducks eggs I had been given a week or so ago, and have them with salad. A little bit of research, and some twitter help, had given me the instructions so I put a pan on to boil then when it was going gently I lowered them in and left them for 9 minutes. They were done perfectly and, after dunking them in cold water to loosen the shells, I peeled them and my salad was complete. It tasted just as good as it looked and I am now determined to have ducks as well. On that plate there is duck eggs, tomato and cucumber from my neighbour, and lettuce, sirene and olives from the shop. Eat local.

Sunset from the landing

My fingers have really slowed me down this evening and this blog has taken me ages (back to the bad old days of spending the entire evening typing) however I did get to snap some pictures of the gorgeous sunset that I was treated to once again here. First of all and from an old school (boom boom) position of the landing window, here is an early sunset shot. This was what alerted me to it happening - the glow on the speakers in Room 13.

Stunning

I then went up onto the roof for more photographs and was really glad I did so. I played around with the settings and this was the one I liked the best. What a gorgeous thing.

So it is I have just put the boys to bed (Ralf was asleep on the swinging chairs again and allowed me to take a load of burs off his belly) and I also refilled their water, and put some more on the Olive trees, and now I'm going to post this, have a very quick conversation, and then get to bed. I really wanted to have been in bed by now to be fair.