An orange

How well can I type without using my middle finger on my left hand... we are about to find out. Another update which I don't know if I'll get to the end of so here goes.....

I slept very badly; I read in bed (the new paperwhite coming in very handy as the bedside light stopped working) until I finally felt sleepy and then dropped off, only to wake to hear very faintly the music from the club (very quietly though, so maybe my complaint to the kmet via his daughter had reached the owner like I have been told and he has turned it down) and lay there until I heard the cockerel crowing and the day was starting to dawn. It was only then that I fell back to sleep. I wasn't struggling because of my finger though, sore as that was; I had stomach cramps and they came and went and would not leave me alone. Not a great couple of days; I could do with being fully better by tomorrow. When I did finally wake up it was when A got back with the men. The puppies were with me and jumped onto the pillow to look out of the window! I stayed in bed for a fair while longer, dozing on and off, then got up. I wasn't feeling that hungry, after the cramps, but did want to have something so I peeled an orange and ate that. This is all I have eaten all day so far.

Work starts for the day

We were joined today by Sally after one day off. He looked a lot happier in the morning but I'm glad it is the weekend as I think he probably needed more time off than he took. Anyway I think Bekir was happier and they have really cracked on today. The main task has been to get the shuttering up around the stairway hole so they can pour the concrete today and leave it to go off over the weekend. This is quite an involved job, and there were a lot of corners to do, and it took them nearly all day. At one point we pointed out one of the edges was slightly out of kilter so without any complaint Bekir fixed it.

A delivery for my other builders

After checking on Bekir and Sally and saying good morning I headed out to find A as she wasn't in Room 13. I was distracted in this by seeing that a huge truck had arrived and was unloading materials for the next steps of doing the balcony. The black rolls will go down as waterproofing and are the same as that which we put on the roof.

Kindling tying

A was out doing one of the jobs on the list; tying up the bits and pieces of kindling I had left over when I gave up on the wood chopping earlier in the week. She had the puppies with her playing around her feet and stealing twigs whenever they could and that definitely brought a smile to my face.

A whole lotta harvest

After going inside, telling my boss I wasn't working today, and having a lay down I dragged myself out of bed again to get some more fresh air. A was out doing a few bits and I caught up with her as she was harvesting things from the garden; tomatoes and peppers and chilis, mainly. We're a way off self sufficiency but it is still a pleasure that we have these things; most of our meals involve something we have grown. As we expand our garden and start to grow in new places it will become more and more self sufficient here.

Thriving vine

One plant that is doing spectacularly well at the moment is my vine. Only one of the seedlings looks like it actually survived the winter however it is shooting up and is not far off the top of the fence already. I will have to get some scaffold poles next year to build the arbor that I want to create down this side of the building, and maybe get another couple of seedlings as well.

Fire in the bucket

Another chore that we had to do was to burn our waste which has been building up so with the harvest completed we headed up the top bank and filled the barrel up then set it on fire. Yesterday as we were driving through the villages we watched a village woman throwing a bag of rubbish onto a big pile right at the edge of the village; why they don't burn it and chose to create these eyesores I do not know.

Taking advantage of my shadow

We have discussed a couple of times the difference in personality between Thelma and Louise. Thelma is much more cautious while Louise throws herself into everything (another example later if I remember to add it) but one other difference is while they both love the sun, Louise will lay down in shade a lot of the time while Thelma will always be in the sun if she can be. Up near the burning drum there is limited shade however Louise found some; right behind me! Bless her.

Working filling in the holes

Earlier in the day, pretty much when I first got up, I had gone onto the balcony to see progress and decided the time was ripe to highlight the holes and dips in the slab. My concern was that they would just lay the black tar rolls over the top, leaving voids which could eventually collapse through. With Bekir's help I explained this and a bit later the boss turned up and when he realised I was just talking about the dips, and not asking for a full complete skim underneath the overlay (though that would have been nice) everything was resolved. Gyuner really helped here as well, translating for me.

Sally back in the saddle

The first issue that had met me today was regarding the wood I had picked up last night. He hadn't noticed at the time however when Bekir went to offer it up to the steps he realised it was the wrong size. He was on the phone to the wood yard straight away and it turns out they have to order bigger logs in from the Balkans as Bulgaria doesn't grow them that large. I've decided to keep the planks we got anyway as they will make a very nice bookshelf. Other woodwork was ongoing through most of the day with Bekir sourcing wood and Sally cutting it and hammering it together into shapes.

Looking at his food, but not eating it

The one thing that I had to do today was to go to the bank as I've finally received confirmation of what I can draw from the business. Before we went I fed Rambo which is still a painful process as he really doesn't seem to want to eat. I do not understand it; the dog we took to his winter lodgings would wolf his food without breathing but now, if you aren't there to encourage him, he just wanders off and lies down without touching it. Very strange.

A good workman with a bad tool

Gyuner has kept up with his digging today and he has almost reached the chicken fence. He was used making cement for the afternoon which I think was a relief as today it really has been hot today. He had a few problems with the pickaxe through the day and kept having to hammer wood into the top to stop the head flying off.

Stained because of the cream

So with the chores done we headed into town. First of all we stopped past the building supply place to look at drains for the balcony but found they were all too big for what we need. Then it was a fuel stop (the attendant came over after I had already started fueling and looked very disappointed) and finally we went to the bank, driving past the clinic in case I need to go there tomorrow. The girl who spoke English was just going on her lunch but, showing just how amazing the service is here, she delayed herself and her friend to serve us. What an excellent bank. When I got back my finger was sore so I took the plaster off to soak it in salt water for a bit then recovered it. It is still sore and I am not sure if it is improving at all. I've been told that I have to go to the clinic if it isn't better by tomorrow, but we shall see about that.

Comfy spot

I took myself off to bed after this and read and rested, then got myself moving to do the chores that had been assigned to me namely sweeping up Baker's little hospital room and cleaning out Sassy, then putting the whole into the humanure. I did this and then rested again and when I got back up I found A dozing on the sofa with both puppies sat on her asleep. Bless them.

Cement is poured into the shutters

Things had been continuing apace while I was dozing and the cement was finally being put into the wooden shutters around the stairway. I watched for a bit as he packed it in carefully then shoveled more in however I haven't been past since to see how far they got to; I'm hoping it is completed.

First application of grunt going on

Out on the balcony there was good progress as well. The "grunt" was being painted onto the good surfaces (this is really thick black tar waterproofing) while the still uneven bits round the side were being chipped away with a hammer and chisel. Hard work on a hot day. As we went back in we noticed that the workman had inadvertently got some "grunt" on his shoes and there was some on the bedroom tiles so I scrubbed it off, then we put a long rug between doorways so this doesn't happen again.

Shifting hay into storage

I am getting really fed up with sitting around and moping, even though it has only been two days, and so towards the end of the day I decided that I should get out and turn the hay that we had cut the other day. When I got down there I found that it was all bone dry and ready for shifting into the green building so I set to it. After a while A arrived with beer, camera, and puppies and she stayed to take pictures and play with the girls. I had to go round to clear space inside the building at one point and as I did I found Louise sniffing around. When I came back she was eating another egg the same as the one we found the other day. Research suggests it is neither a snake nor a tortoise egg so it must be ground nesting bird. It is very late in the year for these to still be around so my hope is these were non-viable dead eggs anyway.

Awesome construction

Talking of bird nests A had found one in the end room in the green building which is really rather impressive. I know I could google to find out what made this and maybe I will, if you lovely people don't provide me an answer in the comments...?

A when I got home from dropping the men

And so suddenly it was time to take the men and we piled in the car and the journey was pretty standard with lots of crazy driving, but then a nice conversation about immigration with Gyuner just before I dropped him off. Orhan was again at their village and gave me a big wave; he is working in Belgium and is back for a holiday at the moment. When I got home I found the old school deserted but the door to the roof open and sure enough, A was up there with the puppies and a beer. It was a gorgeous afternoon so I joined her.

The shame of non-amber liquid

I had no drink, and was still all blocked up, so A suggested I have some vodka as in the past that has helped in this situation. I went and found the bottle of Mary Jane vodka and poured a slug into the only glass I could find; a whisky glass. There is something very wrong about doing this and I am sorry to all whisky lovers out there. I got this down me and then A refilled and I've finished that as well but no movement yet.

Smiling as they sleep

Onto better, happier, news A says she saw Teddy playing on the neighbour's porch which is just great news; it's good to know he's still alive and well. Our puppies were getting cuddles off us until they decided they wanted to lie down and so off they went, once more Thelma in the sun and Louise in the shade. The other difference I promised you now; A showed them over the edge earlier and Thelma pulled away while Louise had a good look around.

Sun kissed hills

I have been very dedicated in writing this update and missed the sunset, the watering round and the chicken feeding and locking away however A took the camera to capture the light of the sunset on the hills opposite, which you normally see when I take pictures of the sunrise. I caught glimpses and right now the really bright full moon is directly ahead of me through the window; lovely.

Yesterday I had a comment on the blog asking me to explain what it is me and A do for a living. Briefly, and I won't go into too much detail, I am a software developer who is able to work remotely. I have managed to get a good remote contract at the moment which is very good indeed. A was a PA in our old life and she is also working through an agency doing audiotyping which provides the income we need for our day to day needs. So there you have it; it is possible. I'm going to leave this here as I want to try and sleep though I doubt I'll be able to.