All go

I sit here after such a full on day that I'm already near the bottom of my first pint (the "relaxation" pint as I call it) without having typed a word into this post and with dinner still a fair way off. It has been a good busy day not a bad one though so I'm happy and feeling good about things. Let's get this post on the road though huh.

Little Linford the Tortoise

First of all, last night. We were just about to eat when the Special One started calling from the gate (I don't know how I heard him as we were being quite noisy in here but I did hear my name) with the Granddaughter so I popped down and he had a tiny tortoise to give me. Great. I immediately christened it "Linford" after Christie and he had a fun few minutes running around A's laptop and my desk before we put him out in the enclosure for the night.

Moon in the morning

I slept really well until about 5am when I got up to go to the toilet and then could not get back to sleep no matter how I tried. After a while I got up and went into Room 13 and lay on the sofa to read. I was still there when A woke up and came through so after chatting for a short while I went back to bed to try and sleep again. I didn't get much more but I did get to shut my eyes and ignore the world more comfortably than the sofa allows so it was a good thing. After the boys had been fed Ralf came in to see me and was so super cute, jumping up to lick my arm and so excited to see me. Bless him. After A left I was in bed for another ten minutes or so but then I felt really lazy so I got up. The moon was out still from last night when it had risen quite late, but was really bright when I woke at 5am.

Rambo waiting to be let out

I set myself two tasks to achieve before A got back and the first was to hang the washing out which had run last night. I took Ralf with me and he sat very obediently while I hung everything out and Rambo was still in his enclosure where I left him as he does get in the way of vehicles when he is loose. Everything was hung up to dry quickly so I headed in and did the second thing; the washing up. I then heard the car come along and put the kettle on as well.

And all of a sudden there are five melons

One thing that I did get to do while I was outside was check on Linford (he was snuggled up against a wall) and see that we now have five honeydew melons on the plant. How excellent. It is strange that all five are on one plant and the other seven plants haven't a single growing fruit on them; very weird. Anyway, when A got back we had breakfast (toast with jam for me) and a cup of tea then set out to complete the task that had been decided would be done today.

Rough shape of the bathroom for the guest suite

This was the wall for the guest bedroom.The other day we had set out roughly to check the feel of the size of the bathroom and a few small alterations were made to the position of the wall however this is where it will be. Before doing anything I measured again and again then got the drawing board and sketched out a scale diagram of the wall to confirm what we needed and the dimensions. It is a good thing I checked a couple of times as we found a mistake in this diagram after the first cut - fortunately the length was too long not too short but it does prove that measure twice / cut once maxim.

Sun terrace wall nearing completion

A short break for a cup of tea was finished off by heading onto the roof to see what the men were doing, as A had commented that she didn't do this often enough. They were working away on the wall by the sun terrace again and at the point we appeared Orhan had the broom in his hands and was sweeping away the dust and rubble from by the wall.

A being a wood worker

And so it was back down and we set to measuring and cutting the lengths which would make up the long wall we were making. This is going to be 3200mm long and 1225 high (the extra 25 millimeter is to accommodate the plaster board which will eventually extend up from this wall to the ceiling) and we needed two long lengths for top and bottom and seven shorter uprights. We cut everything to size and then had another short break for a cup of tea.

Loads and loads of windows

As we were having a brew and taking a short break before starting to fix it all together into a wall there was a beeping from the track and there was the window truck driving along with the friendly fitters waving away. I popped down and put Rambo away (they really don't like him) and Bekir popped down as well and gave them their instructions. I went straight upstairs and we tidied away everything we were working on and cleared access so they could get to the windows to change them over. And so our plans for the day changed.

Super awesome window fitters

The first thing they did was to unload all the frames and stack them up in the entrance hall. The truck then headed off leaving the three fitters with their lunch and a bunch of tools to get on with doing their thing. They started off in the laboratory pulling the old windows out and clearing the space, while also setting up the new windows with fly screens. Once the first room was done they set out as two working pairs with the one fitter removing windows and the other two putting the new frames in place.

Looking for Rambo

With our work temporarily stalled by this turn of events we headed onto the roof again to see the men and this time took Ralf up with. A teased him by saying "where's Rambo" and he got very excited and immediately stood up to look over the edge to try and see him; he knows what "where's Rambo?" means.

Linford breaking into a sprint

We then headed outside to play with the boys (letting Rambo out while we were there as it isn't really fair on having him locked up all day when he hasn't done anything wrong) and we headed down to check on Linford. He was still in the corner where I had seen him, though by now he was on the move. I am conflicted now with them keeping on giving me these little creatures and I'm glad that it seems this enclosure cannot contain them; if they want to stay I'll feed and water them but if they rather leave and find their own way then that is good too.

Flowers on the chili plant

I took the opportunity, while we were out, to start the watering round as it had not been done yet. I filled the watering cans first of all then took the hose and did the melons, olive trees and the entrance garden, though I have largely let this go to seed as it seems the plants I chose to put there really could do with more sunlight and have not done well. This winter I will be working out what to put there next year; all suggestions gratefully received. As I was watering the chilis I saw that there are loads of flowers on a couple of them and they are lovely; really deep purple, to match the fruit. How gorgeous.

Sprayback getting me

I then switched the one hose off and turned the other on in the fenced garden. The beets are doing so well and so are most of the other plants though they are in dire need of a weeding; this could be a task for tomorrow I reckon. The hose doesn't reach all the way to the far bed (and while I have another length of hose there it is a pain to use it as it always gets kinked) so I used the classic method of pinching the end to make it spray further. This was as much fun as it looked.

These are poisonous

After this we went for the walk around the rest of the grounds, watering the Zinnias (still looking amazing) and Magnolias and finishing off by the Silver Birch. As we were making our way back up towards the house we saw some mushrooms growing on the front "lawn". I picked one to show Bekir and he said that as it had a white underbelly it was no good, and to look out for grey or black. Interesting knowledge.

A frame to build a Sassy outside run with

By this time the fitters had made it into the guest room and were taking the old windows out and putting the new frames in. I caught them before they put the final frame in and reminded them that I wanted to have the large frame (taken out by Bekir and Sally to do the bricking up for the bathroom window) saved and passed down safely so it could be used to frame Sassy's outdoor run, eventually. This resulted in quite a lot of discussion as the new tiles are stacked below these windows however, with Bekir's assistance, they managed to lower it safely to the floor.

Toothless building

The whole of the west wing had by now had its windows removed so I snapped pictures of the gap toothed look that a building takes on where its windows are removed. We had been up and swept out Sassy's room and cleaned and tidied in the downstairs store room as well to make space for them to get to the windows as there was still lots of stuff piled up.

Happy as a pig in....

A had spotted, while collecting the men, that there was a few piles of horse manure by the front gate which we now went to collect. We took the bucket full of Sassy's droppings down, and a shovel, and filled it up with so much manure I had to carry it holding underneath the bottom as the handles were ready to break.

Well I wouldn't stand there

I love the courage and balance that all workmen here seem to possess without fail, with Bekir doing his amazing balancing acts and Sally saving himself after the beam snapped under his weight. The window fitters are no different and again I caught the head fitter a couple of times casually stood out on the window ledge doing whatever it is he was doing and not looking worried about it in the slightest.

I plan a train set around the outside edge. HUGE!

Mid afternoon my friend arrived with her student's sister and we spent a very pleasant hour or so chatting, wandering around, talking to the men, joking about various things and then looking at the garden. It turns out that the sister is very into her gardening and she was impressed by the olives which supposedly can survive -20 degrees and so she has asked me to get her some next time I'm over that way.

Sassy in her new run (very proud of this)

With our plans for doing the guestroom out of the window now (boom boom) we changed tack and decided to complete Sassy's run so she could be put back in it tonight and therefore we wouldn't need to clear the glass up from her room. It took most of the rest of the afternoon, and completely and utterly exhausted both of us, but we managed to finish all six panels, make feet to keep them stable, We were literally just putting the last few screws in to secure the whole in place when the men came downstairs ready to leave for the weekend. I took them and it was a very simple journey with no dramas at all not even any particularly commentworthy crazy driving today.

Sunbeams spreading

As I drove back up the hill to the house I was admiring the sunset as the clouds obscured the sun and caused rays to shoot in all directions. I got back and went to dash up to get my camera but A had already got it and was on the balcony snapping away. This meant I could go straight into the shower and wash the day away.

Golden and gorgeous

After my shower I poured a pint (the one I refer to in the opening paragraph) and went and sat on the balcony with A and Ralf and watched the spectacle of the sunset as it developed. It was a really amazing one tonight, with the clouds as they were, and there were so many pictures taken I struggled to chose which one to show.

Waiting for A

A went in to get a bit more done on dinner (a honeyed pork roast was our plan tonight) and Ralf was doing his usual "looking for Rambo" thing dashing from one edge of the balcony to the other, and then he decided to wait for her and so set himself determindly looking into the house through the fly screen. Bless him.

And so it ends

Shortly after this the glow low in the sky drew me in the house and up onto the balcony for one last quick photograph before it was time to come in and start writing this blog. How stunning. Dinner was outstanding and interrupted my typing but the thing which caused us the most amusement was when A went to give Sassy some cabbage and found that she had already escaped! I went and picked her up (the first time I've held her for a very long time indeed; she's SO fluffy) and then popped her back in the run and this confirmed that she had managed to squeeze out through a gap caused by a broken wire and the fact she's skinny under all that hair. We've just blocked the room off for the night and I'll deal with resecuring the run tomorrow. She is so intelligent though, it really didn't take her long to get out.

Now I'm going to sign this off and fall into bed as the day has been super tiring but super awesome. Tomorrow we have promise of glass in the windows, a big burn, visitors and dinner with friends. Mostly I am looking forward to setting fire to the bonfire and sitting next to it all day in a deck chair with a book making sure the whole place doesn't burn down.