In which A uses a chainsaw

Today has been a day of contrasts with much enjoyment to be had from the physical work around the house, and a lot of frustration personally with the tasks I was trying to complete for my paid work. You'll have days like those I suppose and as I type this I'm feeling more positive than before. I'm even cooking this evening though I forgot to start taking pictures to put a recipe up so that will have to wait.

Just my usual small helping

Anyway, to last night and the dinner that I was just going to eat when I published. It was absolutely lovely and to think that A knocked it together at the last moment when she found that our pizza supply was zero. Excellent. After eating we sat for a bit then went to bed and read and finally slept pretty well. She had shut the curtains, which we don't normally do and maybe the extra darkness did help. The alarm went off and A was up straight away and I wasn't as far behind her this morning as I normally am.

Ghostly sun through the mist

It was a cooler start to the day, with quite heavy fog all over, and I decided that I would get a headstart on the wood chopping task before the day heated up as the forecast was for quite a hot day. As I was heading down the spiral staircase I happened to glance out and see that the sun was just coming through the clouds. I got a couple of pictures using the normal lens I have on the camera and then ran as fast as I could to get the zoom for more. By the time I got back the fog had thickened and the sun was gone again. Such a shame, but at least I got the less zoomed pictures.

What, me? I'm innocent!

Thelma with her muddy legs

Dirty partners in crime

I got myself stuck into the chainsawing and trimmed down a load of branches from the big pile into kindling leftovers with thick wood for further chopping with the chainsaw. A left while I was in the middle of this and after she was gone I carried on then headed down to where Bekir and Nikolai had helped me the other day and trimmed those logs down also. Just before A got back I was dragging the trimmed logs up to the chopping area when Thelma and Louise came bounding over absolutely covered in dirt from where they had been digging. I took loads of pictures to come up with these three. They are just so funny.

Wood gathered for chopping

Chopping that wood

I had gathered together quite a pile of wood for chopping so I got started on this task next. While I was working at this A got back so she took some pictures of me as well while I was chopping away, showing off my lovely ear defenders. They make quite a difference and I don't think I would have been able to keep going with the chainsaw for as long as I did this morning without them. You can see just how misty it was in this picture as well, though this burned off pretty soon after that.

Getting ready for the rebar

I worked away until my back started to be a bit stiff and sore and decided to take a break. The other workmen had arrived while I was chopping and got on with the task of the day which was two fold. Two of them were fixing the wooden rafts to the edges of the new wall while Nikolai was going round with the drill and making holes into which he fixed the reinforcing steel for the pillars. It was a pretty well oiled machine and they continued at this all day.

Kindling moved out of the way

Towards the end of yesterday one of these workmen had come to me to ask about where the drain should go from the short section in front of the bedroom balcony door. I had had one idea but Bekir had suggested a much better one which would take the drain out by the garage door. For this reason I suggested that we should move the kindling, which had been stacked on the floor all around there and would be in the way, somewhere else and A spent a bit of time shifting it into the old bottle room. Now when they get round to doing this it won't be a problem, though they didn't get to it today.

Three men at work

Gyuner drilling for the pipe

Starting with the Betonkontakt

Painting around the door frame gap

I went in to see A and then we took a stroll around to see what was going on. Bekir, Sally and Gyuner were all in the living room working away on various things .Sally had cracked open a vat of betonkontakt and was getting started on covered the walls and ceiling with the pink stuff. Gyuner and Bekir were working together to get the pipe from in the roofspace down into the kitchen so it could be concreted in by Sally. We watched for a bit then realised we should probably talk about where the door was going to go and the steps that we want going up to it inside. This was all worked out and drawn on the wall so Sally wouldn't put any Betonkontakt where the hole will be knocked. He did say that he wanted to have a better tool for applying this so I started to think about dropping down to the shop for him.

A enjoying herself rather a lot

A had offered to have a go with the chainsaw while I was down at the shops and as this was the first time she'd ever used it I gave her some pointers and watched as she started chopping up some of the wood. She seemed to be doing OK, and had put the ear defenders on, so I left her to it and went in to get Sally so he could come with me to buy his betonkontakt applicator.

Working without looking at the beautiful view

When I got in there I found that things had changed a bit and Bekir had decided that he would like to get the lintel in place above the patio doors and finished before they knock the door out which struck me as a very good idea. He was rushing around putting a shopping list together so I decided to leave him to it and headed onto the balcony. The mist was still in the valley and it was sparkling away beautifully so I snapped a few pictures as the men worked away not looking at it at all.

Like a snake

My finger has peeled quite substantially today and the new skin is really becoming obvious. I'm struggling, what with actually doing things, to keep the antibiotic cream applied but it does look to be improving. I may need to put a plaster over it while I'm working however. We'll see.

All hands to holding the wood in place

As I was waiting for Bekir to come to the car as he made some final calculations and measurements I caught all three of the men on the roof working together to fit some wood. They have been working so well, and certainly seem to be getting on very well with Bekir and Sally and Gyuner as well which is such a bonus. All the dogs love all of them as well and you have to trust your dogs, don't you.

Using wire to make sure the load doesn't shift

Finally we got on the road and went to the shop. There was quite a list to get including rebar and pipes for the water and other joints and I wanted to have a small consumer unit for the chicken house. We also picked up more cement and another tub of betonkontakt. Bekir did his usual excellent job of securing the load but this time I had brought the camera so was able to get a picture. We made our way up to the house and I found that A had finished her chainsawing and was at her desk.

Mmm lovely breakfast today

All of the above had happened before breakfast (can you believe that!) and A had promised egg in a cup so I called that promise in and not long afterwards was eating a lovely breakfast that I was seriously ready for. From this point on the day got a little less interesting as I was working and feeling less and less energetic all day. I had a bit of lunch and then dozed for a while and was woken properly by a car tooting its horn really loudly and almost without a break. I went down to find A signing for a parcel with Bekir and wouldn't you know, the missing parcel had arrived from the UK after having taken 6 days of a promised 3.

Concrete goes around the wall

During the afternoon the balcony men had started to pour the concrete along the top of the wall and in the reinforcing uprights; it is very much looking like they will finish this part of the work tomorrow. We will be asking them to leave the tiles around where the balcony door will go as I want Bekir and Sally to do this bit, including the step, and also the act of knocking the wall down might damage the tiles. We're so close to this job being completed!

A gets to splitting

At the end of my working day I got fed up of sitting fighting code and went out to do more chainsawing. I finished chopping all the wood I had collected together this morning, including some rather large logs that I previously was nervous of trying to cut. Bekir came out to talk to me about my wood store and seems to like the plans as I explained them. A then joined me and brought the wood splitting axe we had bought and had a go with it, though I stopped her from going too mad as I don't want these logs split until they are under cover.

End of the day in the Living Room

Inside progress had been good. Sally has got nearly half the betonkontakt done and should finish this tomorrow. Bekir and Gyuner finished the plumbing work and moved on to the electrics, running the cables down for the switches. We found out that the cable I have isn't the correct size for the lights so that goes on the list for a trip to the electrical shop tomorrow, including about 40m of armoured cable needed to get the electric into the utility room. I could stand and watch and grin as they work all day, it is so exciting to see the progress.

Bowls for dinner

I was cooking this evening but the men were ready to leave before I started chopping which meant A got it on the go. When I got back I got stuck in and made my lovely pork pasta again, though I didn't take pictures as I've said. We ate it (there is NEVER any left overs of this dish) and then went and did the watering round. Kat hasn't laid us an egg today which is a shame so she's back on the Christmas Dinner list.

Right, I'm going to wrap this up and have the remainder of my evening with A.