Half a Bekir, but a full Sally

Here we are again back to tippy-tappying away into the evening to produce an update about today. I'm slightly more awake than I was yesterday so hopefully it won't be quite such a struggle but we shall see.

First evidence of sun for the day

Lovely shaft of sun on the hills

I was up a couple of times in the night for the toilet and the first time was very well timed as I heard running water and ran into Room 13 to find the tap on and the sink nearly overflowing. That made my heart pound I can tell you and it did take a little while to drop back off. After the second time I really couldn't get back to sleep as it was 5am and something stopped me as it was so close to waking up time anyway. It was a much colder start this morning and after a quick washing up session (more hot water!) we went onto the balcony with our brews. The cloud was really low over the mountains across the valley but as we sat the sun came up and caused some very interesting effects. It was particularly beautiful to watch the shaft of light illuminate the hill and cause a bright band of green to glow; there's beauty here in many places if you look.

A large amount of wood chopped this morning

It was quite chilly and after a little while I decided I wanted to get moving so I headed off to the wood chopping task a little earlier than normal. I was working away at it when A left to get the men and I had a really productive time getting through about three times as much as I expected to. I didn't have my phone on me, unusually, and after a while I started to think it was a bit late for her so I headed inside to check the phone and the time. As I was inside I heard Thomas driving up and my fears were ungrounded.

This machine really does look like an antika

The reason they had been delayed was they had to pop past Sally's house to pick up the welding gear and he lives a bit away from our collection point. There was much amusement from everyone as he described it as an antique and he isn't far wrong; it's quite terrifying to see them use it but it seems to do the job and they are used to it so who's arguing really.

Measuring for the first step

They were straight into it getting ready to start welding the actual metalwork on for the steps. After the mock up they did they day before they were a bit more confident of the shapes and positioning of everything and had marks on the wall to guide them but Bekir was out with the tape double checking them while Sally rigged the welding kit up and started it humming. All day we've had dimming lights as it has been heavily in use.

Egg in a Cup for breakfast

I had worked up quite an appetite chopping wood for an hour or so and so when A announced that she wanted to make Egg in a Cup there were no complaints. I was so hungry I ate all of mine before I remembered to take a picture so here is a paused while eating hers. I've been asked today on Facebook for the recipe for this and other things I talk about cooking so I'm considering a mini-series of recipes at some point. Of course this means that I will have to get A to cook the Egg in a Cup again so I can get detailed photographs of the process, purely for your benefit of course.

Making sure the shape is correct

Very bright light from welding it in place

While we were eating breakfast the men were putting together the first step. Unfortunately I missed the first use of the welder and angle grinder but when I was walking through on the way out to do our next jobs I was lucky enough to be in time to catch the first step being attached to the central pole. First of all Bekir worked out exactly where he wanted it to go and spent a bit of time preparing some wire to keep it in place at the unattached end and then Sally got the welder ready and passed the kit up. I retreated into the back corridor and watched as sparks flew and then there it was; the first step of our staircase.

Starting to bundle up the kindling

Hopefully some winter eating

So the task I was on my way to do was to plant some seeds for a hoped for late winter harvest. A was already out there with the kindling tying kit and was making a start tidying up the bits I'd created in the morning. We worked together which was nice, me putting potting compost into the seedling trays then putting a seed per segment and finally watering each in well. I also marked up each tray so I remember what there is: Cauliflower, Cabbage and Swedes. These will be transferred into the raised beds eventually, which will be under glass and therefore should extend the growing season well. I have put the trays onto the table tennis table for now but tomorrow or Sunday I will put up one of the small greenhouses and move them in there, again to help with warmth and germination.

Next step is nice and level

Sally grinding for the third step

And it is up and fixed in place

As I walked past after finishing the planting I looked in the patio door to see that the second step was in place and the spirit level was still on it, proving it is level. They were cracking on through this job really fast this morning and a little while afterwards when I went back after cleaning and tidying up everything, stacking the new bundles inside and helping A to move all the big chunks of wood over to our stack on the bank, the third step was under construction with Sally grinding out the lengths of metal and welding them together.

Now he's alone

Bekir had been in and out on his mobile phone a lot during this period and so when he said that he had to go home as there was a problem I wasn't too surprised. Fortunately I don't think it is a serious issue, just some house maintenance that is required, so we waved him off when his son came to collect him, and Sally carried on in his absence. We did offer to let sally have the rest of the day off as well but he didn't want to.

Strimming away and loving it

We had a short brew break and then headed on to our next task. I am disappointed in myself for having let the grass on the front get so tall and then for not actually getting the scythe out, since that first time, and cutting it down. In my defense it has been way too hot to do any work during the day and I've been doing the wood cutting, which is more important, when it is cool enough to be outside however this does not change the fact that we now have a huge task to take the grass down before it rots. For this reason we got the strimmer out and A did her thing with it, while I followed with the rake gathering up the cut straw into piles and every now and then getting ahead to lift beaten down grass so it can be cut. We went at it for quite a while and did loads and were both very hot by the time we finished and started to pack up.

An egg which had been partially buried in the ground

The puppies had been most interested in what we were doing and had been playing in the long grass ahead of our work as we went however when we stopped they both made a bee line for a point in the grass and stood there for a while. I went to check what they were looking at and found a large egg which unfortunately had been broken as either the strimmer went over it, or I raked over it. If anyone wants to hazard a guess as to what this is that'd be great. Sadly there was no saving it and it went into the humanure. I don't like killing things needlessly, even if it was a snake egg.

Another cake is made

I had a very nice lunch of cooked meats and blue cheese in butties (awesome) while A went for a lie down and then when she came back I was feeling really tired and so I went to bed and read then slept quite hard for a while. I woke up and slowly came to my senses and when I felt ready I went to find A. The puppies had been sleeping on the bed as well and followed me and we were very pleased with the smell in Room 13 as she had been baking again. I found her feeding Rambo on the porch and after this laborious process was complete went up to help her get the cake out the oven. What a corker!

Getting my strip on

A was determined that she had done enough work in the morning and wouldn't do anything else however I was keen to keep feeling productive. First of all we cleared the living room of most of the stuff (there is only the dog hutch left in there now) and then we got the scaffold out and I took the light shades down for cleaning. We got five out of there which is great; one of them had water in still from the floods last year. A little after this SandS came over for a short visit which was lovely and they got to see all the progress we have made, and share a beer and a chat, before they had to leg it. I was then starting to make dinner (spicy pork pasta, another one for the recipe section eventually) and while the pork was frying off I went into the living room and started to strip the walls down.

Stairway really taking shape now

Sally had really been cracking on all afternoon and when it was time for us to leave he finished off the sixth step and tidied himself up. We had a few nice exchanges on the way which I like as I always feel awkward not being able to make small talk, and when we got to their village Bekir asked me for a coffee but as my dinner was on the oven waiting for me I had to decline. On the way back I drove past someone jogging along the new road which is a really unusual sight. Other than that, and more cows on the road, it was pretty uneventful.

This is what we did on the grass cutting effort

When I got back A was again on the balcony but she came in before I could join her. We took a short walk around to see what Sally had done, and get pictures of the grass cutting we had achieved that morning, before heading in. I wasn't that hungry so I didn't carry on with the cooking straight away but made a start on this update before getting my cook on.

Just ready to serve

I have already promised you a full recipe post about the concoction I made up which I call Spicy Pork Pasta so I won't go into it now but I will say that this particular incarnation came out as good as it ever does and reinforced in my mind the necessity of some of the ingredients. You will benefit from this process. We ate on the balcony, though it was a bit breezy and chilly, and really enjoyed ourselves sat out there. The puppies were up on the top bank so weren't confined to their bed which was good.

Since then we've done the watering round and I've typed this up and A has played with the puppies on the floor of Room 13, indeed as I type this she is once again. They are so funny with this toy as Thelma wants the toy and Louise tries to grab Thelma. They slide around on the tiles and when they are trying to change direction they very often do a cartoon style scrabbling for purchase. It is very funny indeed.

So there ends one more day and the next two are packed full of tasks we want to achieve before the men come back on Monday, and the working week restarts. Here's to sleeping well tonight and the rain tomorrow arriving, but not being too heavy.