More stripping

Now then, another day, another evening sat at my desk (not on the balcony today; though I should really do that again) typing away to fulfill my aim to record everything that happens to me over here.

Just before the sun came up, from the balcony

The day started after a really good night's sleep for both of us, though the alarm was snoozed a couple of times before I finally extracted myself from bed. It was a gorgeous start to the day and I watched as the sun made its appearance over the mountains opposite.

And a minute or two later, as it appears

I went down the corridor to make the brews and found that A had gone onto the roof for her own photographs from a different perspective to mine from the balcony. Mornings like these you are really happy to be awake so early, though as the days draw in it's not long now til it'll be largely dark before I leave to collect the men.

Lifting concrete onto the roof

I was a minute or so early but no more to collect the men and our journey back was easy with a fair amount of goodnatured banter all the way. Rambo was again out when I got back and once again he was very well behaved, not attempting to throw himself in front of the car and watching while I parked before coming to say hello to the men as they got out the car. Maybe he is finally learning to behave properly around vehicles. Probably not though. I went straight up to put my breakfast of bacon and eggs on to cook, and the men got changed and then started the long process of shifting the concrete onto the roof.

Sally filling in the corner of the roof

Bekir nearly done with the ribs

Two pictures of the same thing that has been happening for the past couple of days; Sally is continuing his lone mission to build the wall around the edge of the roof and Bekir has all but put the finishing touches on the ribs. The colours in these pictures are not edited or taken with filters at all; they are on full automatic and presented as they came off the camera. It has been a gorgeous day today.

A whole lot of scraping going on

I had arranged for Georgi Stankov of "Bulgarian Properties for Sale" to come past today with his master builder to have a look at the drainage and quote for getting it all done this October after we leave. He was due to arrive about 10am so both of us grabbed our scrapers and set to in the guest room, me up the scaffold for the most part, and A carrying on around the walls. By just before 10 I was exhausted and so was A and we called a break as I was covered in dust and sweat and really wanted to have a shower Sadly the water pressure on the ViK water had started dropping this morning and there was no chance of a hot water shower by this time. Not to be put off I went outside and was sprayed from the hose with cold water - it was bracing but afterwards I felt amazing.

We put Rambo away and I set myself to do some paid work while waiting for Georgi. He didn't arrive by 10 and after a while we went and let Rambo back out as it wasn't fair having him in the enclosure for no good reason. I even went in again and did a little more scraping, though not too much, and when my patience ran out and I texted he said he was 15 minutes or so away. He arrived without us having put Rambo away but was not bothered at all by him, neither was the master builder. We spent about half an hour or so walking around the edge of the building discussing my requirements and I think they have a good understanding of what I want. I hope to get a quote by the end of the week. I hope that Bekir isn't offended that they are in; we have run out of time for me to get the drainage done before winter while I am still here.

I waved goodbye to him, after he had given me a bottle of his home-brewed whisky (which is now sat on the side and I am looking forward to trying it - aged four years in oak barrels, apparently. Impressive) and then myself and A headed out for our delayed visit to town for a kebob and to see the market. We bought some honey at a massively inflated rate as the guy thought we were tourists (and a mental note has been made never to go back to that stall) and the kebab was just outstanding as always. We had been past the builders yard to pick up more nails for the men, and the metal grating that we had spotted that will stop Ralf being able to slip through the front fence, and our trip out ended at Lidl where we picked up some supplies and were told off quite vehemently by the security guard for trying to take a basket to the car. Whoops.

Gorgeous day, gorgeous view

When we got back we unloaded everything and I set to with my paid work and then, when they stopped, I read for a bit then decided to have a nap. I was pretty exhausted and slept for about forty minutes, waking feeling bright and cheerful again. A was asleep on the sofa so I took Ralf out for a wee and when I came back up she was awake claiming to have been so all along. Anyway, the men were back at work banging away so I popped onto the roof to see what was happening and got a lovely shot across the valley looking to my local town.

Me and Bekir watching A throw for Rambo

The airplanes were flying over loads again today, including one that went right overhead while I was on the roof without the camera (I MUST carry that thing with me everywhere all the time!) but this time I was in place to get a load of pictures of A throwing the ball for Rambo. He really does love attention and with her here he gets much more than I was able to give to him. Bekir was sat on the roof watching as well and laughing as the ball went miles, and then bounced off his head and went even further.

Loads more wall completed

Sally has extended the wall around another ten or fiften sections; fast enough that tomorrow should see that task completed, and he has done so with his usual quiet efficiency. I wish I could capture his smile more often as he really is a lovely smiley man.

Scraped walls nearly done

With the temperature cooling somewhat I decided to end the day doing more scraping; A agreed to take the men home so I could do so however I stopped before they did but was dusty and filthy so I still let her take them. I reckon we are now almost entirely done with the scraping and I will measure up and calculate the wood requirements for the wall we have to build tomorrow. It shouldn't take long to create a partition wall here with a door way but I do need to get a door the correct size as well.

Bwahahahaha

When I came out of there to rinse off and cool down again A started laughing so much at how dirty and dusty I was; she grabbed the camera to capture a picture. I must admit I laughed a lot when I first saw this.

It isn't far off now

Before the men left I spent some time talking through the plans for the electrics as we are close now to wanting to get the power over to the bedroom so maybe the floor and tiles in there can be done before the end of the year, and the plastering and everything so the bedroom at least is complete. After a long conversation where we thrashed out the options we came up with our solution and so I have measured out the cable runs (adding about 20% to each for mistakes) and I now know exactly what I need to purchase. This will be done soon I think. A did take the men and I was outside with Ralf when they drove off, looking for Shiva and I think our capture and release has worked well as there is no sign of her now in the enclosure. I think I'll recognise her markings should she resurface which I really hope she does. That brick thing will now probably become another raised bed. The progress today was good again on the roof and all the ribs and the top ridge is done and they have started putting the final supports in under the ribs before starting the duskat.

Lovely plate of chili

Dinner was chilli and it was absolutely lovely. Really filled us up (A is sat on the sofa saying she is over full now) and it had six chilis in it to impart heat which it did quite successfully.

And the day draws to a close

The sunset was nice today I think but neither of us really paid attention to it however we did notice the red sky left behind after the sun had gone; A dashed onto the roof to get a picture which I include here. It has been a good evening though we are both shattered from today; it is so tiring not doing very much, it seems. One other quick thing to mention is that one of the "probiscus moths" as I call them was inside and flying around; I really want to attract these to my land and this is a good sign that there is one flying around; next year I'll put loads more flowers everywhere to get more to visit.

Tomorrow I have Lubo coming over to help me advertise Lucy for sale, and also to go and pay the taxes in the obshtina for the cars and the house. I also have some good paid work to get my teeth stuck into again. Night.