A more physical day

Evening and once again it is a late start to me typing this update. It's been a corking day, however, which has ended in a corking way so no complaints this time. Onwards without further ado.

Thelma giving it a good old rag

Big teeth on Thelma

Louise pouncing as Thelma shakes

A good old-fashioned tug of war

Last night was a good evening, despite having to eat at our desks again which I really don't like having to do. I put some Awolnation on to listen to while we ate which was really good and we both enjoyed the slight change in our normal silent habit. I think I slept well however I had loads of vivid dreams (the only one I can remember involved a motorcycle crashing) and so when A was dragged out of bed by the puppies, before the alarm, I felt pretty exhausted. She did her thing and I lay there, turned the alarm off when it went, and headed out for our brews. Once again I encouraged A that we should sit on the balcony and I'm glad I did so, even though it was a bit cool. The puppies had once again come back inside rather than stay out after their morning toilet and I got many pictures of them playing together with one of the rag toys I bought them.

Just about visible through the mist

The sun was quite a long time arriving this morning and the mist was even thicker today so for a while I thought maybe we wouldn't get to see the sunrise at all. Eventually however the sky lightened and you could start to see a shadowy shape of the mountains across the valley and then suddenly there it was; a sliver of fire on the horizon.

Fully above the ridge now

Zoomed in

It rose fast and I got a few pictures then ran to get my zoom lens for some more. It was a very impressive sunrise in the end however the temperature was pretty cold and A was fully wrapped up (while I had my shorts on only) and so after a little while we headed back inside to the slight warmth of Room 13. A headed off after a while and I was feeling particularly lazy still so at first I went back to bed with my book and then I came out into Room 13 with it and so I passed a little bit of the time that she was gone.

The logs that I needed to cut up

After a few minutes of this however I started to feel really useless. I was feeling tired, yes, but that was probably because I hadn't got moving yet. I shook myself, put my boots on and took the chainsaw down to the rough ground next to the vehicle gate where the large trunks were laying which had been on my list for chopping yesterday. I set to and was just on the final cut when A arrived with the men. These trunks were the thickest I have cut so far with the chainsaw and it went through every single cut very easily; it is a learning curve and I'm gaining in confidence all the time. I finished off the job before heading up to the house and I felt pretty satisfied that I had achieved that despite my meh feeling of the morning.

Welding something together

I did a little bit of work, and had some syrup on toast for breakfast, and then when my work ran out I went to see what was happening outside. Bekir and Gyuner were still on with the woodstore today and there was a bit of welding happening when I went downstairs. Bekir was not using the new mask I had bought him, however, which wasn't good but as you can see from this picture (taken having been focused and pointed before he did anything and then snapped while I was round the corner) he at least has his eyes shut, as does Gyuner.

Walnut harvest happening

The walnuts are now very nearly ready for harvest and so I headed down to the front bank to harvest those within reach which were ready to be picked. I filled my pockets up while doing this and then got A to bring them in while I started on the next task which was to rake out underneath each tree. The idea here is that when we do the proper harvest we will have rugs or blankets down underneath the trees and we need to have the ground smoother so this is easier. It's a really hard exercise to rake through such thick undergrowth and it got my heart working and my sweat pouring even though I stopped half way through to get back inside to try and work some more.

Water going into the pond...

... and flowing back out

There wasn't anything doing and so off out we headed again, finding that Bekir and Gyuner had moved from working on the wood store to finishing off the last few bits on the pond. These last tasks basically consisted of rigging up the metal to divert water into the pond and then putting the tap on the drain so we can easily run the water off for cleaning purposes. It took almost no time and then the pond was finally filling up.

Sally plastering. Again

After this was completed I headed inside via the living room to get a picture of Sally still hard at work in there plastering away. He was half way across the next section by this point and making good progress indeed. And yes, he does always have such a huge smile on his face.

Hammering through the U of metal

With the pond finished and filling it was back to the woodstore for Bekir and Gyuner and first of all they focused on fixing the cross beam firmly in place to the wall. To do this first of all they drilled a hole above and below the beam, right through into the building. Then Bekir got a length of thick metal and bent it into a U shape which he took inside and hammered through the hole so it was above and below the wooden beam. Finally he twisted this around on the outside so that it was holding the beam very tightly. This is a great way of doing this as it means when we come to do the insulation we can easily remove it, but the metal will stay there to alllow the store to be put back easily. Excellent forward thinking.

Tiling and skimming getting done

On the balcony things were also progressing a-pace. The tiles were going down and looking great and the men on the skimming were moving along the back wall now on the last stretch. It wasn't all easy tile laying as the drains had to be taken account of and this mean some distraction while these were cut out to shape. It is looking great though.

These will hopefully ripen off the tree

I did a little more work but it really was another frustrating day today so after a while I got fed up and headed back outside to finish off the raking. I collected up a load more of the walnuts off the floor and this time I also found some that were in non-split green shells. These have been brought inside and we will leave somewhere in the sun to ripen off and split before we open them. By the time I finished the raking I was really sweaty and tired but felt great; exercise is brilliant.

Cooling my feet off

I went from there to check out the pond and found that it was about half full. It looked really lovely so off came my sandals and in I jumped to have a quick paddle. If only the ducks will enjoy it as much as I did, that's all I can say.

Uprights fitted and being secured

Gyuner and Bekir were making great progress on the wood store and had all of the columns in and cut to the correct length by this stage. It is times like this that I really appreciate just what an excellent engineer Bekir is. Gyuner, I think, was enjoying the opportunity to work with someone who is so flexible and able.

Aerator bubbling away

Lunch time came and after we had eaten A headed down into town to get the chicken feed as we were almost entirely out. While she was gone I popped outside and put the aerator into the pond, as the water was now deep enough. It didn't take all that long for me to rig it all up and get the solar panel wired to the fence post and after a few minutes it started bubbling away quite nicely. Now we just have to hope that it keeps the scum away.

The many tools of Bekir

I then stood and watched Bekir and Gyuner as they did the next steps which involved putting the top across the pillars and securing it in place. In the five minutes I was watching Bekir used several different tools each to achieve a slightly different result. It was fascinating.

Thomas backed up and loading with logs

A got back shortly after this and I helped her to unload the big bags of feed and get them emptied into our feed drums. We now have a large amount to keep us going for quite a while; it'll be interesting to see how long it lasts. With everything into storage we drove Thomas down (well, she drove... I rode in the back with the puppies) to where I had cut up the logs this morning and then backed him right down the bank as close as we could get.

Some pretty hefty logs that I loaded

It was good that we did this as there really were some hefty lumps of wood to get into him. It didn't take all that long and we were back up on the dust bowl and I unloaded them all and stacked them with the rest of our own wood. We have so much chopping to be getting on with!

Ribs going on

The next time I went round with the camera I went onto the balcony to see the progress Bekir and Gyuner were making. The framework was all solidly in place now and they were putting the ribs up from the front cross beam to the wall. Bekir was happily standing on and walking across each of the beams and this shows that it is pretty strong.

And halfway across the next (and final) section

Sally was also making really good progress and was half way across the final section, with the scaffold across the stairwell as usual. At this rate he'll be onto the walls tomorrow which makes the urgency for the double balcony door that much more. I have to remember to get Bekir to ring them tomorrow to chase them.

Digging away at the back of the driveway

I have not yet signed off  a quote with the other building firm for the work on the driveway but this doesn't seem to have stopped Nikolai from making a start on it anyway. He has been using the pneumatic drill and pickaxe to remove the stones from the back end of the driveway though I think he is actually only doing this when he has a break from his other tasks. There is now a large pile of rocks for me to sort through again in the morning.

Offering up the tiles

By this time Bekir was ready to start planning for the actual roofing and Gyuner got down some tiles from the roof space so we could work out the dimensions. It turns out we'll have four tiles depth and this will allow about a 13cm overhang. I plan on having drapes down the front anyway of some waterproof and strong material so this overhang should be enough.

I just love being in this pond

I took A to have a look at the pond and we decided that the ducks would probably need some kind of jetty to help them get in and out; the stone I had thought might serve this purpose was a bit too far under the water now, and also right behind the upright for the roof. I took my sandals off again and jumped into the water to position some big stones and the flat one that had been dug out and now hopefully they will find it easy to use.

From the carpark

And so this super full day drew to a close and it was time to take the men home. There was nothing of note on this journey at all and when I got back it was merely to get ready to go straight out again as we headed down to our favourite restaurant. When we parked up the sun was going down behind the hill there and the glow was magic so I snapped a quick picture.

Parlenka with garlic and cheese

Lamb Kavarma; gorgeous

Unusually for us we both ordered the same main, the Lamb Kavarma that is my favourite. We also had spicy wedges with cheese, a lovely salad, some parlenka and butter mushrooms. It did turn out to be too much for us in the end however after the slight disappointment in quality last time it was all right back up to scratch and really tasty.

The moon risees above the bar

The moon was showing through as we were sat there and it is getting pretty close to a new moon now. I took this with my elbow resting on the table as the exposure was quite long. It was a lovely evening and still very warm indeed; 27 degrees when we got in the car to come back.

A with the singer with improbably heels

We finished up our food and stayed chatting away as the evening drew on and then the lovely singer came out (her fella had been playing music for a while) and started singing. She came past our table and said hello and this time I made the decision to get a picture of her with A. She really is so lovely and always makes us feel welcome; it would be nice to speak more of the language and tell her how much we appreciate that.

Anyway, that was the last picture and since then I've just driven home and sat here and typed, with Louise sleeping on my lap for most of the time. It's been such a busy day I couldn't make the update any shorter so sorry. Time to put the pictures in, drink my brew, and collapse into bed.