Yet another glorious day in paradise

I am going to start this update in a way I have been meaning to start one for a little while. Every time I drive the men home and drive back alone I spend the time thinking and every evening the thought enters my head of how wonderful this place is, and how much we both enjoyed my parents' visit and look forward to them being here again. It is a combined thought as I know they love it also. As someone who was a bit of a difficult teenager (*coughs*) I love the way things have gone since then and now, being here, while I am geographically distant from my parents it has helped me to feel closer to them than ever, to be able to share all the things we have since I left. Anyway, I have meant to try to express this for ages and it always slipped my mind by the time I got to typing.

Mist hugging the ground

Anyway, on to the normal update. We both slept pretty well last night but when the alarm went off it was a struggle again to get up. I think that by the time we are used to waking up in the dark it'll be getting lighter again. A snoozed the alarm for a short while this morning but then the puppies running around and shaking themselves did the trick and she was up and out. I got up to make the brews almost straight away but was met on the way out by the puppies coming back in. The brews were made and I dragged us out onto the balcony, cold as it was, to enjoy the morning. The cloud cover was slightly heavier today and when the sun came up it was hidden behind a thick bank of cloud. There was, however, mist rising from the ground as we watched, getting thicker all the time, which was lovely to see.

Stones to be moved

We didn't stay out there long but headed inside after ten minutes or so. I had a long list of things I wanted to achieve this morning outside that I wasn't sure I would manage so as soon as I finished my brew I headed outside to start them. First of all I wanted to get as many of the big rocks that Nikolai had dug out yesterday down to my rock pile; so many good rocks have been dumped because I didn't move them in time and I want these to line the driveway. I did three or four wheelbarrows but the last and biggest and best rock was just too heavy to move so it is still there. I was going to ask Nikolai to help me with it during the day but I didn't get round to it.

Starting to collect the rakings

While I was working at this A left to get the men and shortly after I started on the next job which was to gather together the leaves and that which I had raked up yesterday and put it down to compost. I started with the small pile that Nikolai had prepared and then got to my huge piles and found that this was taking a lot longer than I planned. As I was working one of the balcony workmen arrived and was playing with Rambo and the puppies which was nice. I had done about 2/3 of the task by the time A got back and I decided to stop then and go in for some food.

As they left it yesterday

On the way back in I snapped a quick picture of where the workers had got up to on the cladding yesterday, having failed to do so last night. They have been making much better progress recently and may even finish up this week. It looks great.

Misty mysterious view

After the really boring start to the day, sunrise-wise, the sky had cleared a bit and the sun was now out. This was another reason for me to stop working as the heat rose. I can never get bored of the view across the valley from the balcony and so I went straight out onto it to get a better picture after all the ones from the ground level just hadn't worked out. What a view; and we get to see this every morning with our brews. Lovely.

Back to work on the pond; removing the wooden frame

The new stairs have really been making themselves useful recently and this was again proven when I saw that Bekir and Gyuner were out at the duck pond working away and I was able to dash down the spirial staircase and got and check out what was happening. Bekir was pulling away the frames for the cement that had been poured yesterday while Gyuner was stacking it up out of the way. The cement was fully dry and looking great. Bekir said there was a bit more to do before it was ready and so I left them to it.

Mixing up some non-posh scrambled eggs

Today A was making breakfast which was nice. She put together some lovely scrambled eggs then fried some of our tomatoes and what a lovely meal it was too. The bread here from the mens' village shop is just lovely and fresh; it doesn't last that long but then we don't let it last that long anyway.

Resting after much play

The puppies had been persuaded to go out earlier in the morning, before we went onto the balcony, and they had played hard for a long time. They are becoming very independent which is great as they go out, play for ages, then come back in to see us and sleep and later on go back out again. We do still keep an eye on them and call them when they are outside in case they go missing as we'd hate that to happen but they don't seem to  have any real desire at the moment to go off the land. To be honest they have so much to run around in anyway they haven't even finished exploring it all yet I don't think.

Smiling as always as he works away

Sally's task today was, as I had guessed, to get on with plastering the living room. At first the mixer drill didn't work all that well but then it started working which was good as he has a lot of mixing to do with the size of the room. He has cracked on with this all day and the first section of the roof, about 1/3 of the total, is done including polishing. This is very exciting to me.

The first tile goes down on the balcony

The other exciting thing was to go out onto the balcony and see the first tile being put down out there. They were carefully measuring to ensure that the tiles were straight, and had had the way the slopes work out there explained to them before they started. When I walked back in from seeing this I did a little dance and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Finishing touches on the pond

We were running low on supplies so after this I headed out with Bekir to the shops and picked up more cement, tile terracol and the plaster Sally is using. It wasn't a long trip out but it was made more enjoyable by giving Usmivka a lift into town on our way down. After this I went in and got on with my paid work and Bekir and Gyuner cracked on with the pond. Gyuner was mixing and Bekir was polishing the walls and once this was done, the base. The drain is now nicely embedded in the bottom and this should help us to keep it clean. I think we may need a mesh over it though; I'll think about that.

The skimming goes around the walls

After lunch, and the requisite snooze for me as the early start caught up with me, I was pleased to see that the balcony men were now round the other end of the balcony working away. They had completed the front wall and by the end of the day had also completed this section. This is good as I have the idea that Gyuner should make a start on preparing this area for the new steps and small patio area. So much to do!

Concrete base for the uprights

Lining up the supports

Talking of which Bekir and Gyuner had completed the pond and made a start on the wood store. He had been thinking about this and come up with a slightly new design, different from the original plan. The holes we had dug were to be filled with concrete with a strong metal spike sticking up out of them. He had fashioned some circular molds out of metal which he would then put around the spikes and fill with concrete as feet and the wooden columns would have holes drilled in the bottom and be dropped down over the top of the spikes. The concrete/metal feet would raise these above the level of any water that may run off and prevent them from rotting too fast. I watched a while, on and off, while they were working and have learned a lot from this.

Little concrete booties

While I was out there the girls were playing around a lot as well. I lost sight of them for a little while and then when I went looking for them I found them both stood four feet firmly in the cement. I laughed so loud and so long that I actually woke A up, who had been having a doze. Gyuner did the honours with the camera and then I took them in and managed to wash them off on my own, which was no easy task.

Balcony tiles looking lovely in the sun

The tiling on the balcony had been going on all day and they had made some pretty good progress. They are further along than this but I didn't bother to get more pictures unfortunately. What was lovely about this was to see the tiles in the full light of the sun. I think they are going to look great, particularly when paired with the tiles we picked for the walls.

Offering up the support

As the day wound down Bekir and Gyuner did more work on the wood store, working out the place where the roof will meet the wall and then putting up the frame on the wall to support it. We have decided to maybe make use of the remaining good tiles from the old roof which are in the roof space still. There were sadly not enough left over brand new tiles to cover the area. It may be that I change my mind and just go from some corrugated roofing material as it'll be easier to put on.

The journey back with them was notable only in that I was able to make some small talk with them on the way. This is the first time I've even been able to attempt this and it was great. On the way back I spent my time thinking about the opening paragraph of this update, being amazed again at the beauty of the area, and generally feeling happy. Since then it has been an enjoyable evening with bangers and mash (though we didn't mash the spuds in the end) while we listened to some Awolnation which was great. It's not that late here now but I think we're both tired so I expect shower and bed to be pretty much next on the list.