Dneska podkriev nyama

Well today is the last day I am to be here alone and I have spent the day busy as you would expect. I have no desire to write a long blog now though so here goes.

The morning star, slightly shaky mind

I was woken before my alarm by the sound of a bird on the remains of the roof. My instinct told me it could have been a bird of prey going after the little chicks in that nest so I went onto the balcony as quietly as possible to see if I could catch a glimpse, and snap a photograph, but the angle was not good enough to see up there. I was, however, blessed with the sight of the morning star hovering above the horizon where the sun would appear in an hour or so. I didn't have a tripod on me, and was in no mood for walking to get one, so it's a bit of a shaky picture but it has come out better than my mostly-asleep state suggested.

Moon in the morning

When the alarm went off I didn't snooze it that long as today I had to go down to town to fill Thomas up before collecting the men. I was really pleased, however, to see that the moon was still visible so I went up onto the roof with the zoom and got myself a picture of the super moon but in the morning. Everyone else is taking loads of evening and nighttime pictures (including myself) so it is good to have variety.

Framed view of the mountains opposite

As I turned to go back downstairs I was struck by the sight of the mountains on the other side of my local town and how they were misty in the pre-dawn light, and framed so perfectly by the roof. I decided to give my father another nod and take a well composed picture and I am glad I did.

Taken near the men's village

Feeding time was successful other than having to leave them locked in as I was going pretty much straight out to the petrol station. They don't like this, as the early morning run allows for them to do toilet not in their enclosure. There was nothing for it today and I was down and fueled up and back on the road early enough to stop on the hill and get another lovely picture across the same valley, just further south, and then park up at the top and read my kindle (brought for this purpose) before dropping down to collect them. They were ready really quickly apart from Bekir who was the one delayed in the shop and then, on his way to the car, legged it back to buy some more cigarettes for his mate. We again stopped on the road and handed them over. It does cause some amusement to everyone that we keep having to do that.

Hard at work already

When we got back I let the boys out and they went legging it after the men to say hello. I followed, unlocked the door, and rather than go straight for the watering round I decided I would make breakfast. I had been thinking a lot all morning and had designed, in my head, a record storage shelving unit with space for the record player in prime position. I also had a few other tasks to complete before She arrives tomorrow. It felt like I had a very full day, including the paid work I was hoping to complete, so I ate and got outside for the watering round as quickly as I could. The men were already up on the roof taking the last bits of the beams down when I walked around to go onto the top bank, having used the strong free water pressure to get everything up the end near the hose.

Ralf decided going there was more fun

As I was heading up to do the Zinnias and Magnolias I had Ralf following behind me very obediently. All of a sudden he rushed away across the field and I saw Mahmet was walking round the outside of the fence with Rambo shadowing him on the inside, and Ralf wanted to go see them. No problems there except when I called Ralf to come back he just carried on chasing them and disappeared round the side of the house. I went down, found him, and took him inside to be put on his lead as he is not to run off and not come back when I call.

Zinnia in detail

With Ralf disciplined I returned to my rounds and after watering them took this lovely photograph of the Zinnias, in detail. More are opening each time I go up there and it is such a pleasure to have planted these in this location.

Mahmet working hard, and the daft dog

On the way round I saw that Mahmet was back on the inside and was clearing way for the concrete base using the pickaxe. Rambo was, as usual, in close attendance and he was playing with the stones nearby, as seems to be his wont and sadly I don't seem to be able to stop him from bringing these stones of his and depositing them all over the place. I will break him of this habit, or maybe I won't.

All the seedlings are now healthy

From there I went round to the fenced garden, gave the Red Orachs a good soaking (I had checked with Bekir first thing and said they were definitely edible so all good) and then did a bit of weeding along the currently empty, but soon to be planted, beds in there. With this job completed I went back inside and made a brew. Even though it was still early it was already rather a warm day.

Very little left of the roof

With brew in hand I headed to the roof to see what was going on and they were all at it removing the final few pieces of the roof and chucking the rough wood over the edge. It was really hot up there so I offered them a coffee and they took it. It has been so hot that for the past few days they have turned down my beer in case it puts them to sleep.

Butterfly on flower

I then went around the land taking pictures of the flowers but the one I want to share is this one. I was so lucky that as I was settling to take a picture the butterfly which had been flitting near me settled right in focus. This is actually the first picture I took and it was a complete accident that the critter was there.

Gone by lunchtime

When I next headed onto the roof, about 12pm, the roof was gone. Totally removed. The men looked very pleased with themselves and were just doing a few last processes before having lunch. I went out, while they were resting and not chucking things over the edge, to rifle through the new timber on the back bank to find the wood I wanted for the record storage. I found four uprights, and a number of planks suitable for the shelves, but because by now the men had fallen asleep (literally; I crept upstairs to see if any were awake so I could retrieve my hammer, but they had all pulled lengths of the Mokava out and were sparked out on the floor) so I couldn't really do anything noisy. I gave in, as well, to my hunger and grabbed a quick cheese and tomato sandwich and this took the worst of my hunger away.

Pulling the nails from the planks

After they woke up I headed up to find the hammer and also changed over the power situation so I could make use of my power tools on the landing. The first task I set myself was to take all the nails out of the boards and uprights I had chosen and I did this quite easily on the whole, with only a few questioning looks when the men went past on the stairs.

Sally lets Orhan take up the slack

With the roof removed the task now was to clean and tidy all the dust and old bricks and other crap piled around so that the work place was safe for the men. They made good use of my snow shovel as it has a bigger scoop than the other shovels. I made a joke that it was good for snow, water and prakh (dust). Sally did a couple of shovelfuls and then was told to move over and Orhan went to it with a will; subtle work there from Sally getting the young'un to take over the heavy lifting.

Making things space

I went back to both making my furniture, and paid work as I had been most of the day between other tasks. I had been able to actually contribute code to my team today which was nice and I wish I could have been as successful with my making. I got the uprights, and the cross pieces, cut to size and drilled out for the recessed screws as is my habit now but the thin drill bit that I have was not long enough and the wood too hard to screw through without way too much effort. I have decided to get a longer drill bit if possible and carry on with it another time. The design, at least, is fixed.

The end of a long hot day

And so it got close to time to leave so I had a shower (which was just lovely, it has been seriously hot today and I am sure I am noticing the lack of roof as the rooms upstairs are burning up, but downstairs remains cool; the roof was obviously acting as an empty space insulator) and then it was time to take the men. As usual they had a few minutes of rest before going to rinse themselves off and change into their non-work clothes and then it was into the car and away. The drive was quiet for the most part and I got back without seeing any cops or near accidents.

Nearly there now

My evening has consisted of a couple of pints of beer, typing this blog then getting distracted by food (roast pork strips with boiled potatoes and cabbage, which was epic) and then completely distracted by twitter where a moron decided to enter into an argument and call me out hah such fun. Anyway, I hauled myself way from that entertainment to complete this, and outside to get the progress picture (see Ralf having just finished weeing against the fire drum) and now it is time to finish this, say goodnight to Her in Her hotel room, and be very excited about tomorrow.

Here's to tomorrow.