A slight nip in the air

It has been a frustrating day today but only because my paid work has been very slow and it always gets me down when I spend an earning day doing almost nothing when I have so much I could be doing if only I was unblocked. Never mind, it's over now and the gloriousness (I know I know) of living in this beautiful country overcomes everything.

A glorious end to a glorious day

And isn't it a glorious place to be. Yesterday evening, after I published the blog, it was time for dinner but while this was being finished (I was in expert charge of potatoes again) I dashed onto the roof terrace to get a picture of the sun as it set. It was still quite warm but there was a slight chill in the air which told of an autumn approaching.

Even better the second time around

Dinner was the remains of the lovely pork meal A had prepared the day before and it was even better for the reheating. The tatties were from our own garden and they had a lovely earthy flavour with almost a hint of mint in there as well. Just so tasty indeed. We didn't stay up there long but headed down and I picked out a film ("We Still Kill the Old Way") which was really good and we both enjoyed a lot. After that it was a bit of American Football and then bed where I didn't sleep all that well sadly.

Misty in that there valley

When A got up I was still sparko and I stayed like that until Louise bounced in and jumped on me just before it was time to go get the men. The morning was a lovely clear one by us but down in the valley was quite a lot of mist. This made the drive quite interesting for her and so she headed off, leaving me with a few little tasks to do.

Burning our burnable waste

I had decided that I would not do any more chopping of wood today as I was tired and also we don't have the woodstore ready to put it away in. If I had woken up a bit more full of energy I may have gone and chopped up the big logs that are still down in the wild area but that wasn't going to happen today either. For my first task I gathered all the stuff up for burning and set that going and while I was out there I took a little stroll around the top bank which I don't do often enough now. The nip in the air was so bracing and it filled me with so much joy with the wonder of this place.

A was gone a bit longer than expected and while she was out a van arrived and it was the other workmen back again. As soon as they got out the van (I was stood on the balcony watching) they fed Rambo with some bread. I asked them to stop doing that and they apologised but they have been told before. I turned round after this and was shocked to find Thelma had hopped up on top of the wall and was looking over the edge. I panicked as this is only a single thickness of brick and Thelma is not the most agile of puppies. She didn't fall off. They unloaded some stuff and left Nikolai and another workman and headed off. As I was heading downstairs to empty out the food bin (full again with the trimmings from the onions) A returned and explained that she had been to another wood yard but they also couldn't help with the size of the wood needed so we are still struggling for our steps.

Chipping away where the lintel is too proud

Clearing up the rubble

After a brief time chatting outside the men went in and changed and I went in to finish off the paid work which I had also started this morning. They went to their various tasks and after I hit a stop with work I went to see what was happening. I found Sally up a ladder in the living room having removed the wooden frame for the lintel both inside and out. He was chipping away at the lintel to smooth it off with the rest of the wall in preparation for finishing the job with a smooth layer of cement. Gyuner was outside clearing up the rubble from when they knocked the lintel hole through and he did his usual excellent job. Bekir was out chatting to the other builders and working out how their work would impact ours. It has had one direct effect which is we've had to delay the wood shelter again as they work along that wall. But more of that in a bit.

Cable goes to where the external plugs will be

More channels are chipped

With the rubble cleared, and the decision made to delay starting the wood store again, Gyuner and Bekir worked together to get the last of the cabling into the living room, specifically the cable for the outside lights and plug sockets. We are not totally sure what lighting we want out there so I have just asked Bekir to run the cable and leave it out there for a future decision. The exterior plug is going to be tucked underneath the bedroom windowsill and will also have a boiler switch inside so we can turn the power off to the outside.

Quickly knocked together scaffold from old roof timber

The other men had been in the green building and pulled out a load of wood, having asked first if they could. I watched as they quickly knocked together a scaffold so they could reach the outside of the new wall on the balcony. The speed with which they did this was stunning; it would have taken me all day to make something like this if I even managed to at all. The task for them today (and the next few days at the speed they are going) is to skim the outside of the wall with concrete and square it all off. It's great they are doing this as A only observed yesterday how it was a bit tatty looking.

More of the old light fittings cleaned up

A had been working away all morning but got to a natural break and so she headed outside to wash out the old light globes we took down from in the living room. We have a task also to go around and get all the remaining ones down from around the house but our new design in the living room only calls for two of these so there is no hurry.

The only other interesting thing to occur this morning was the window man came round to measure up for the double doors. We are delayed in knocking the hole through until this is ready for fitting in case of weather or animals getting in so hopefully they will be very quick to do it. We are sat here as I type this having a discussion as to whether we should have these doors opening inwards (with the fly screen on the outside) or change it around a bit and have them open outwards. When he was here we picked opening outwards but now I am questioning this choice. Any thoughts are welcomed via the comment box below.

Finishing off the lintel

Sally had cracked on with the finishing tasks for the lintel and the outside had been smoothed over and filled before they stopped for their lunch. Bekir and Gyuner had done their bits with the wiring and headed out to the duck pond to get the wooden frames ready to pour concrete. It is so nice to have them here banging and drilling away; I think we'll miss them over winter.

A small harvest, but enough

The rest of the day was a total washout as far as work was concerned and I started getting quite down, as I've said. Eventually I shook myself and went out and harvested some apples and pears from the fruit that is remaining on the trees as I decided I was going to make some chutney to my own made up recipe. The pears are not from the main tree but from the little ones on the front area. The apples are the three from the fallen down tree I mentioned the other day and while I was chopping them I tasted a small chunk. It wasn't very sweet but had a lovely sharp taste; fingers crossed this tree survives winter and gives us some more next year.

All in the pot and ready to reduce

I gathered together the apples left from my parents' visit, the tomatoes we had been given by the man in the centre of the village, and the bell peppers from the same. All of this I threw into my preserving pot with brown sugar, vinegar and raisins and then I set it to boiling. I put a little more vinegar in that I meant to which made me worry slightly for the flavour but no matter, all I could do now was bubble it up and wait.

Don't I look GREAT

While I was sitting waiting for work to appear, and now waiting for the chutney to boil down, A got it into her head that she wanted to plait my beard and who am I to stop her. I know I don't look impressed but she had just threatened to put a bow in it as well. Anyway; me with a plaited beard.

Making progress on the concrete skim

With said plait still in my beard I headed out to have a wander around the workers and see what was going on. The balcony workers had finished half of the skimming and moved the scaffold down to be able to access the next half. It was looking really good and I'm very pleased indeed that they are doing this; it's so nice that they seem to be wanting to do a proper job.

Some of the wooden frames

Bekir and Gyuner were still hard at work and had made almost all of the frames that would be required for the pond. They were both in the green building getting the last planks they needed when I went out and they laughed at my beard. Standard.

Making use of my gift to hold the kilner jar

After this I did a bit more work where I could then felt exhausted and down and went to bed where I read for a bit before falling into quite a deep sleep. I slept probably for about an hour before being woken up by Thelma and Louise having a barking attack in the other guest room. I was pretty dopey feeling and thought I could sleep more but instead I got up to see what was happening. I found that the chutney was finally ready as it had reduced down a lot while I slept and so I made use of the lovely glass tongs my mum bought me and filled up five kilner jars with this really spicy and tasty chutney. It came out good!

All done along this wall

After bottling all of this I headed out to see what was going on. I couldn't find Sally anywhere and found that the balcony men had left for the day, having completed the first side of the skimming. It looks great though it does highlight the fact that the bottom of the flat roof has a slight wave in it, if you look carefully at this picture you will see.

Digging out a bit more, and some old slabs

Gyuner and Bekir were hard at work in the pond. The wooden frames were all made but Bekir had decided that the digging out hadn't quite been deep enough so there they were with pickaxe and shovel clearing it down a bit more. As I watched Bekir was using a level to check the bottom and I'm pretty sure he wants to put cement down on the floor as well. All I know is that when it is done it will be a really good job as they ALWAYS do a good job. Also as I watched the uncovered what looked like shaped flat stones though what these are doing a good 15 cm deep under earth I don't know.

Louise and Rambo

And so it came towards time to take them home so A and I sat out in the sun by the standpipe and played with the puppies and Rambo and just generally enjoyed the evening. It was lovely and warm and so relaxing to do this; we should do this more before the weather changes. One thing I did manage to get was finally a good picture of Louise and Rambo together. Louise is totally in love with Rambo and spends every moment she can trying to lick his face and get near him. Rambo for the most part ignores her or just sniffs back and doesn't really seem bothered. We do have to keep calling her away though as she really does bother him a lot. Bless. Young love.

Lovely sunset once again

The trip back with the men was a quiet one as I was still tired and I think they always struggle slightly on a Monday. There was nothing at all of note that occurred and when I got back I found A sat on the porch and she told me that some gypsies had been past about buying the old metal stacked up by the gate. This is certainly of interest to me but I will have to sort through it all as there is some I want to keep. After a bit we headed in and I started this update while A put the pizza in (yes, we actually had one in the freezer this time) before I jumped and realised I was missing the sunset. It was a stunner and I was just in time to get onto the roof terrace to capture it. It's amazing how far to the left the sun is setting now, later in the year. Soon it will go down behind the mountain and we will miss the display entirely.

Sealing around the upstairs window

It was while I was up there that I realised what Sally had been up to when I mislaid him. He has cleaned the expanding foam from around the windows on the roof terrace and made a good start at filling in the gaps with bricks. What a fellow; just quietly getting on with things and when he realises he has an hour or so to fill he goes to what was the next in our list of tasks and does it without even having to be told. Brilliant.

And so the evening draws to a close after lovely pizza and wedges, plenty of playing with the puppies in Room 13, and no beer for me only juice and tea as I hope to sleep much better this evening. I may well try and tidy up that metal so the gypsies, if they do come back tomorrow, can buy what I want to get rid of; I was thinking of getting some in to do this anyway so happy days. We'll find out tomorrow though, huh.