Metal work

Wow, as I sat down just then to write this after dropping the men off I had to jump straight back up to go and shut all the windows. It had managed to pull open one of the large fly screens on the landing (I am starting to think I want to rig up better clips for them as they keep doing this, or breaking) and was howling up in the roof. I have just popped down to get the video that is above and I got grit in my eye and mouth in the attempt; I suffer for this blog, you know.

Low clouds across the way

It was early into bed last night for me but I read for a bit until A came to join me; I'm liking my new Kindle Paperwhite, though I'm still not used to not being able to turn pages with either hand - they should allow you to define your own touch points for changing page etc. Anyway, I slept pretty well, though I woke about 5ish (I know it was then because the alarm from yesterday went off while I was still awake) and could hear the music coming from the new night club. I have emailed my solicitor and he said to talk to the kmet. Today, when I spoke to Bekir, he said the same so maybe that will have to be done. Fortunately it didn't disturb me over-much last night and I got back to sleep pretty quickly. I woke shortly after A left with the puppies and went through to find hot water running which delayed our balcony time but didn't cancel it and we sat out there for a little while until it was time for A to leave.

I grabbed the girls in so they wouldn't run after her then got to work. My first task was to empty the humanure and food bin which I did (we're starting to run low on sawdust again) and then I gathered everything together and went to chop wood. I had to refuel the chainsaw (we're starting to run low on petrol) and then it was off to the races first trimming the big branches off the trunk and then getting the axe out to trim them down. I was still going at this when A got back and rather than go in to have breakfast I carried on, finished the trimming, and chopped all the chainsaw wood as well. A good start to the day.

Unloading the metal from Thomas

I went in to get some breakfast but went past Bekir and Sally who were just getting themselves ready, having taken their model down, and were talking about the metal. The upshot of this was I had the quickest of cold showers (without even bothering to turn on the pump) and then was off with Bekir to try and pick up the metal we needed. We went past our normal shop (none) and then the big local yard (not enough of what we wanted) and finally ended up at a new place which had exactly what we wanted and plenty of it. We bought 50m of the "T" shape and a 3.5m long 6cm diameter hollow tube for the central column. All of this was loaded onto Thomas, wired into place, and driven home carefully.

All the kindling bundled up nicely

While I had been out A had been busy, getting stuck in to the kindling which I have built up over the last few days and tying it all into bundles. There was so much there I was sure it would have taken her days to get it all done but no, it's completed now. By this time I was quite hungry and so I was straight up to Room 13 and making myself bacon and egg butties, two of them. I also made A breakfast because I'm a lovely person.

Thelma asleep in an unorthodox position

Once again the girls have been having a great time today, running around loads outside and coming in for short but very intense sleeps. After my superb breakfast I was very much nose to the grind-stone and so you have to understand the rest of the day in that context. I even ended up having a telephone conference with England.

The "T" shaped metal bar

Making a manual start

Getting the tools involved

Around lunch time I took a break and went downstairs with A to see what the men were up to. They had worked out the corners of our spiral staircase and from that, the centre, and were starting to dig through the (newly laid) concrete. The reason for this was, as explained by Bekir, that the central pole could otherwise break through the thin skim of concrete, through the insulation and the whole assembly could suddenly jolt downwards. With this as an explanation of course I had no argument. At first Sally got started with just an iron spike and a hammer but then Bekir brought the SDS drill and this sped the process up no end.

The hole is now deep

Lunch time came and went purely with a short snooze for everyone in the building, including the girls. I'd had such a late breakfast that today I didn't eat anything for lunch which is very unlike me. After my rest (and I really needed it again) I was back to work then later on I popped down to see what was happening in the kitchen. The hole for the pole foundation was taking shape and as I watched they reached a depth that would allow it to rest on solid stone and were satisfied. The next step was to make a metal frame and then mix concrete and make sure it was in exactly the right place, and completely vertical, before fixing it into place.

Now sleeping on the tiles

While it has been a bit cloudy on and off today it has also been really warm most of the day and the puppies have been doing their usual trick to cool down of stretching out on the tiles in Room 13. Louise has also taken to crawling underneath my desk and sleeping at my feet which is really cute. Thelma generally stays on her bed and then jumps down to wake Louise when it is play time again.

Fixing the central pole in place

The next time I went downstairs to check on progress I found I had missed the placement of the metal for the reinforcing and they were well on their way to filling the hole completely. This will be really strong and should provide an excellent support for the rest of the stairway, which will be started tomorrow. I left them filling this in, then waiting a bit before compressing the cement and adding the final layer, and went outside to find A.

Rambo with his kong

She had gone on to take the washing down, taking the puppies with them and Rambo. I went up to help out and found that the thing that was actually needed was to stop Rambo from running around with his kong growling and walking through the nice clean sheets. He stayed sat for me until I told him he could move which is always a bonus.

Kindling gathered together into the garage

After this we got a job on the list completed. With the forecast being for heavy rain over the weekend we had decided that while the big chunks of wood would probably be OK on the bank we really should bring the bundles of kindling inside so with a few trips with a wheel barrow these were all put down on the floor of the garage. There's quite a lot of it, but a whole lot more still to come.

A lovely row of onions

A little bit later on A was outside and shouted me to bring the camera. She was in the garden harvesting the onions, potatoes, tomatoes and peppers that we needed for dinner tonight and wanted a picture of the row of onions she had just uncovered using the hoe I bought her the other week. We've had some successes and some failures this year in the garden but certainly the onions are a huge success.

Shifting the rubble off the roof

While I was out there I watched as Sally rigged the pulley system back into place and Bekir sent a bucket up to him. They had obviously finished in the kitchen but felt it was too early to call it a day so decided to clear the rubble from the roof terrace window gaps. They are so industrious and while they don't like to be swapped from one job to the next, if they have a bit of time they are always able to find something to fill the day.

Putting her back into pulling the corn out

While I was up on the roof terrace watching Sally A was down getting on with her tasks for the day one of which was to pull the old corn plants out. We are probably going to plant some cabbage seeds and have them in there for the winter. She found both of the baby tortoises still live and well in there and we briefly discussed whether we should set them free; I'm always up for this but we haven't done this yet; we need to work out where to put them so they have the best chance of survival.

Tomorrow this will have blades

Not long afterwards the men did finish their work and headed to get changed so I got in Thomas and off we drove. On the way we had an interesting moment near the swimming spot as a cow was right in the middle of the road and the car in front was stopped with a passenger out shifting it. Only in Bulgaria. I got back thinking about all sorts of tasks to be done as I'd taken the men half an hour early however A was on the balcony with a beer so that all went out the window. After a little bit we went to check out the progress so here is the central pole for our staircase.

Puppy footprints in the cement

Sally had decided to make use of the leftover cement from the pole to finish off around the new patio doors which was great however after it was done at some point the puppies must have gone in and they have left their footprints in the cement. Sally had pointed this out to me earlier so I wanted to show A. We're now considering leaving the cement uncovered so these stay visible.We shall see.

After this we took a little stroll around the land for a short while as we haven't done for while. The birds were out enjoying the fact the temperature has dropped a little and the sun wasn't out and as it is a while since I've put a picture of them on here, here is one for you.

Apples and cherries

The main reason for this stroll was as I got back with the men I had noticed that an apple tree knocked over by the snow had three fruit on it and I thought A would want to see. We strolled over, got covered in burrs, then walked back across the front getting even more burrs on us and finding a tree which we have identified as a cherry tree. So fruitful, this land.

Very low clouds once again

Several hours ago now I started this update (it's been a real struggle and now I'm starting to get rather tired) and while I was here A went out for some reason or other and then shouted up for me to get my camera and go onto the balcony. After the relatively nice day (cloudy but not horrible) the storms that have been spreading over all of Bulgaria today were getting close and the clouds across the valley were impressively low on the peak.

Guest room dressed back and ready again

On the way back to my desk I looked in on the guest room which A has put back to rights today with washed sheets and everything. We will be moving in there from tomorrow night probably as we close down our bedroom for the work which is being done on the balcony from next Monday (or at least, that is what we've booked; I haven't heard from the builder for a while so watch this space). It's a lovely room and I think we'll be quite comfortable in there.

Curry for dinner

And so dinner cooked and I typed and struggled and typed again and finally dinner was ready so I stopped typing and we ate the lovely curry that A had made. It was so nice I actually had two helpings which helped my tummy but hasn't helped my energy levels since.

This is otherwordly, and completely un-edited

While we were sat eating at the table by the back windows (I noticed that we ate on the balcony every day while my parents were here and haven't been able to since they left; coincidence?) I was watching as the sunset slowly developed. I almost didn't bother running up to the roof terrace with my camera as normally it develops so fast that you miss it but it looked so amazing I did and what a great decision. I called A to join me and together we stood and watched as it blazed and flamed and astounded us both. It's so awesome when something like this happens, as a storm is brewing. What a country.

And so I've sat here since and typed away, with the windows to Room 13 shut due to the high winds but a fan on as it is still pretty warm here. Tomorrow I have a little bit of paid work to do and then it will be a day of doing jobs around the house as well as popping into town, or at least that is the current plan. We shall see what the day brings when it arrives, though.