Another day in renovation land

I'm starting this blog post early so my evening isn't interrupted by typing; it is a BBQ day today so balcony will be happening. Without any further ado, on to the blogging.

Just before the sun rose

I woke up feeling tired again today, though I don't think I was that disturbed in the night. A was bright and jumped out of bed before any snoozing and brought me a brew; outstanding. After one snooze I got up and came and collapsed in Room 13 drinking my brew while she went up onto the roof and got some pics of the just before sunrise sky.

Good morning stretch

While she was up there the boys were out by the gate of their enclosure waiting for feeding time. They weren't barking or fussing, but they did see her and had a bit of a stretch in preparation for the excitement of feeding time.

Morning sun through store room windows

We went to feed the boys together today which was nice as I had no washing to peg out or anything else to distract me. As we were putting food in the bowls the lovely golden morning sun was streaming in through the windows of that store room and I snapped a quick picture as we left; I have no plans at this stage for what to use this room for, not firm plans anyway, but maybe it should be somewhere to sit in the mornings; it is lovely. Upstairs, in the guest suite, you get the same effect.

What a great shot of the morning sun

A was collecting the men this morning to give me a chance to crack on with shifting the pile of wood out the back before the sun got too high and hot. She came back with some lovely morning shots from the top of their cheren put, this one being my favourite.

Beetroot seedlings 

White Radish and Turnip seedlings

Purple Brocolli seedlings

Cabbage seedlings

The random Tomato plant

Margnolia still alive and well

Zinnias are glorious

Silver Birch growing well

The surviving Tomato plant

There is a pepper on the broken plant

While she was out I first of all did the watering round with the boys (and they loved it) and I took lots of pictures for the blog to show what is happening in my garden so please do bear with so many pictures without words; I wanted to capture today where I am at.

Ralf mid watering round

Both of the boys were with me as I did the rounds, as I said, and they had a great time Ralf particularly playing really hard and running around loads through all the dirt and burs and wet grass he could find. He was chasing Rambo but mainly not snapping which is such an improvement and really makes it easier to have them join me on this round.

How many melons can you count?

As I came to the end of my really pleasant stroll I looked back over what I presumptuously call the "front lawn" and just loved once more the way the light streams across and through the trees. There are so many lovely vistas on this land but I do think this is one of my favourites. There are LOADS of melons growing across this area right now; how many can you see?

Diminishing woodpile

I went straight out after this onto the back wood pile and worked away really happily for about forty minutes or so and really made a good dent in it. I probably could have cracked on for another twenty or thirty minutes before the sun came round and made it too hot to work but A got back with the men so I went in for a brew and then got distracted by porridge with real honey (including honeycomb) which was just lovely.

Ralf checking out the passing trade

Ralf had been out with me all morning while I was moving the wood and he was really well behaved, staying close and returning to heel when called. When A got back he went in with her and when I finally got in there he was, laying on his little rug and he rolled onto his back as I walked past and almost demanded a photograph.

Man with brush

With our breakfast out the way we went back into the guest suite and did some more scraping to finish off where the scaffold was already positioned. We then got the brush and a shovel and swept up all the dust and broken plaster and took it to chuck into the trench out back; three wheelbarrows full in the end. There had been so much piled up that it was becoming progressively more difficult to make the scaffold stable when you moved it.

Men either resting or working

I took a short break after the sweeping and went to see what the men were up to. Bekir, Orhan and Mahmet were working together on the wood work for the side supports on the roof and Sally was, as he has been for days now, working round doing the bricking up of the side wall. I made a brew for me and them and they had a short break - it was a warmer day today than the last few, though tomorrow is forecast to be a bit cooler again.

Rough wall position

With the scraping so close to completed it was time to start to design the stud wall that I would be building. To this end I got the tape measure and the chalk and drew some lines on the floor for where the bathroom suite would be and realised that I had made it too small so drew some other lines and was happy with that. I then extended these to include a door into the new bedroom and the wall past that door, and there we had the position of the new wall I am going to build.

The wall with door space and wood requirements

I got my pen and paper out and sketched the dimensions and then, with the help of my business partner to work out how many noggins I would need, I calculated my wood requirements. After the slight confusion I had caused with my less than clear diagram describing the wood for the raised beds (which STILL hasn't arrived, by the way) I used a slightly clearer way of describing each dimension of the wood I need. I hope Bekir is sensible and doesn't ask for 24 x 600mm lengths and maybe breaks it into 12 x 1200mm but we shall see what arrives and when it gets here.

All the loose paint and plaster scraped off

With that done, and the sweeping completed, I went back into the room and continued scraping and I managed to get the whole lot done and completed, including taking the third of the light fittings down (still up in this picture) and then I swept again but did not shovel the dust out as the wheelbarrow had been borrowed again by the men; two wheelbarrows is not enough it seems. Anyway, we are now in a stage where we need the bricking of the bathroom window to be done and as soon as the wood arrives I will put the wall designed above (with three noggins per gap, not the alternating two and one) together and then when the bricks are solid it will be affixed.

It was then time for Lubo to visit. He was coming to help me put Lucy on sale on cars.bg and he did this very well so hopefully she will sell fast. We then headed down into town to pay the taxes on the house and car. I didn't have all the paperwork I needed for the cars so that has had to be left til next week but we did manage to go through the process of changing the ownership registration of the school from Georgi Stankov of "Bulgarian Properties for Sale" to me without too much hassle; only one department we visited had moved from one building to another on the other side of the town. He is being very helpful indeed at the moment, is young Lubo.

Wood and bricks extending around

After this point I settled into Room 13 to work away on paid work, while the men continued their hard work on the roof. At some point today Mahmet left us but I don't know when; I only realised when we all got in the car to go home and there were only three workmen there. Apparently there was some problem at his home - if I had known I would have happily taken him. Anyway, they were still hard at it on the roof and I didn't notice at this time that Mahmet had gone.

Chicken quite well done

After a short lie down and doze (I read for a bit then my kindle fell on the pillow and I woke up about twenty minutes later) it was time to take the men and so we jumped in Thomas and when I got back Rambo was out (and not a trouble with the vehicle, but I was a bit worried as there was a sheep either asleep or dying next to the gate however Rambo didn't come to the gate so that problem was avoided) and Ralf was stood watching me from the balcony as I parked. The BBQ was lit and my quick shower made me feel much better and so we dragged our stuff outside and I have been writing this out here since about the forth paragraph. A did mange to set the chicken on fire but don't tell her I told you that.

At the end of the day

There has been good progress again today, with the bricklaying nearly done, and very little left to do on the wooden beams. Tomorrow I expect Bekir and Orhan to begin lifting the planks up and maybe even they'll get to start putting them on the roof; that will be a big day.

Sun going down behind the trees

The evening has been lovely sat on the balcony, though there were enough flies around (while the cows went past the top of the fence) to require a can of raid but as the sun has gone down, the cows have moved on, and a slight breeze has picked up, this problem has reduced quite a lot. The sunset was spectacular as usual and we both got pictures, me from on the top bank and the balcony, and A from on the roof.

Sun totally gone

And so, unlike my usual habit, I am going to leave you with picture and get to eating this amazing BBQ. Night.