Yet more gorgeous

I am going to start today with an observation on the weather. It is showing a very strong pattern through the day currently which I am finding fascinating. We wake up to a gorgeous start, pretty much clear skies and a very light breeze. The day can take several forms but generally you have higher breezes towards the middle of the day and then the breeze fades away a bit into the early afternoon. Late afternoon however it returns and gets very strong indeed into the evening building and building until the sun goes down when a dead calm settles and remains all night. It has done this for the last week or so.

Sun through clouds as it sets

So there you are; make of that what you will. The update starts yesterday pretty much straight after I published as we were called over by the Little Lady. When we got there the Other Brother was showing us videos of his dogs and the hunting they do together, and also showing the forecast which is predicting it to get up near 40 degrees early next week; seriously hot. The Little Lady gave us plates of food which when we couldn't eat them (having already had a huge plate of curry) she just said to take it with us so we did for our lunch today. The milkman came over while we were there to collect milk from their cows and he was a very pleasant chap. It was lovely to pop over and see Usmivka as well. They're so lovely and along with the cooked food we left with more tomatoes and a bag of pears. So generous! The sun was going down by the time we said our goodbyes and I grabbed A's camera to get a zoom picture. This has not been filtered in any way; this is how the picture came out. What a sight.

Louise and her find

I was pretty tired last night and was heading to bed when I heard a shout from A to bring my camera. Down I went and found her on the porch with Louise in her arms pointing at a shape on the floor. Louise had found a dead baby tortoise from somewhere and had been chewing it, apparently. I snapped the picture and threw the smelly thing into the humanure. Louise had not wanted to let it go, apparently, and had growled when told to let it go. We are pretty sure it had been run over maybe as the poor little thing was squashed flat.

Morning swim commences

We slept very much better last night and woke just before the alarm (and before the sun appeared, which shows how the days are definitely getting shorter) with the fan still going. Maybe I am now getting used to the sound which is a relief but I didn't wake in the night and I think the fan going helped A. Whatever the reason it was nice to wake after uninterrupted sleep. She still beat me out of bed but not by as much this time and so I was able to join her in letting the birds out of their house. I had brought the camera and so was able to get a really good picture of the ducks getting their morning swim; well, Balls doing this. Beaker is always a bit more reticent and doesn't seem to like getting in there when people are around.

The sun rises over the mountains

As we walked back to the house the sun was just peeking over the ridge of mountains across the way and I got a picture to record the beauty. Such a lovely sight but over literally in seconds as the sun climbs very fast over the horizon. We headed back inside to get our brews and onto the balcony to drink them, leaving the girls outside to play and play they did, chucking up huge clouds of dust as they chased each around and around. Rambo even came and got involved which is always nice to see though he is way too big to properly play. Bless.

Refilling the drum

When A headed to get the men I did a few bits and pieces around the place. First of all I filled the empty water bottles from the briefly working tap and then set the drum to refilling (we had tipped it all out the night before as it was getting full of algae) while I headed inside to clear some of the things piled up in the corridor and twin room. There was a chance that today the window people would arrive so I needed to make space around the windows they are replacing and also the progress was meaning Bekir would need some access to the second guest room today.

As always smiling while he works

I then got stuck into work and was fully at it when A got back. The rest of the morning passed entirely taken up with work and so much so I didn't even really get out to take pictures. Bekir was still getting the electrics finalised including having to make a frame to go above the suspended ceiling on which the light for the bathroom will go as the plasterboard just isn't strong enough to take the weight. Sally was cracking on as he does making great progress on the plastering. When I went through to offer a brew at about 11 he had almost finished the big wall.

Very low airplane over town

At lunch time myself and A went on a totally wasted trip into town trying to track down some ceiling fans. This is something we have been talking about for the past week or so, with our trouble sleeping and with the noise of the floor fan. Anyway, we decided we should get some in the guest rooms and one for our own bedroom however the four shops we visited had not a single ceiling fan. As we were driving in there was a moment of interest when A spotted some flying shapes in the distance and then two very large airplanes swooped over the town in the distance at no more than 150m flying height. They were a long way away, but against the odds I managed to get a picture.

Plastering done on the brick walls

When we got back we ate the lunch of food gifted us by the Little Lady yesterday and then were both quite tired so we stole a bit of time in bed to recover. It was then working, and watching the Tour de France, until time to take the men home. Bekir says that he knows somewhere in town where we can get the ceiling fans from so that will be a trip for tomorrow but if we don't find them we've decided that we won't rush and will order some for delivery here from the internet. The men had been cracking on as always and Sally had finished the concrete walls, and joint stripped the plasterboard, ready for plastering tomorrow morning. Bekir seems to have all the wiring in place so maybe tomorrow will be the final plasterboarding and maybe even some tiling! We are going to finally shift the fridge freezer out of Room 13 as well so we can seal the floor and get our tiling started when they do theirs. Fingers crossed the window men arrive as well. I also spent a few minutes today putting more of the fly screens on the windows in the living room so we can have those windows open to help with any breeze from that direction this evening.

She gets her BBQ on

I dropped the men off with very little of interest on the journey apart from one idiot Bulgarian who went to overtake an overloaded hay truck on one of the longest blindest corners of the journey, decided not to at the last minute, and then didn't overtake when it was perfectly safe to do so and gave us all a good laugh and then, on the way back, an amazing sight of a flock of storks circling about to land with the legs lowered; I wish I'd had the camera with me. When I got back it was nearly time to start our BBQ and A had just made the burgers so we went onto the balcony and pretty much sat there until the sun went down.

The girls told to sit while we eat; they were not impressed

We were waiting for our food to be ready so we sipped our beer, played with the puppies, and read our books while enjoying the warmth which was made more bearable by the aforementioned high winds. Eventually dinner was ready and it was outstanding; the corn on the cob being a particular highlight though it is looking less likely there will be any not over-ripe by the time my parents arrive. We are crossing our fingers firmly. Next year we will plant these in succession so we have a continuous supply.

Interesting shades in the sky

The wind died down as the sun dropped and it ended up a lovely evening; there was a very interesting cloud or dust formation in the distance over the mountains which I have not observed before. We couldn't sit there for long admiring it as none of our evening tasks had been done and it was already getting on for 9pm. I went and did the watering while A fed Rambo and the chickens and then I took water for her and finally came up to start this update while she made sure Rambo ate, sorted out Baker, and finally went to shut the chickens away. I fed Sassy who was very hungry but the girls are probably a bit grumpy with us right now as we've refused to give them any of our food and they are refusing to eat their dog food. Princesses!

Now it is time for me to put the pictures in and get this blog update out the door as it is getting late and tomorrow promises to be another really busy one.