Autumn has landed

The clocks changed over the weekend (as you will all know) and what this actually means for us really struck home today. As you'll see later in this (hopefully) short update the moon was coming up while I was still working outside. Shocking. It's a lovely evening, though, with a crispness in the air and the smell of woodsmoke making me think about bonfire nights of years past. The best thing is; this is the next four months of our lives, just about. We get to enjoy That Smell whenever we go outside. Epic.

A foggy (and smokey) start to the day

Anyway, back to the update. Last night we went onto the balcony before bed and watched as the mist started to rise from the river in the valley. We slept really well, though A said she was disturbed a bit by the puppies. We were both woken at about 3am when they wanted out for the toilet and I struggled to move after my exertions yesterday with the pneumatic drill. A actually took them out and when she got back she said it was really misty. I thought briefly about getting up to have a look but thought better of it very quickly. When the alarm went off it felt like it was way too early, even with the extra hour, and I followed after A about 10 minutes or so. The puppies had also stayed in with me and were not best pleased to be out of the warmth of our bed. It was a sipping brew kinda morning and when A left I went down to start to do some kindling.

Damp wood to attempt to snap into kindling

It was really foggy and damp so I was wrapped up well however I found that the wood was so wet it was a struggle to snap it without it slipping out of my hands. I soldiered on and filled one bucket up but then I went inside. My hands were filthy, bruised and cut from the sticks slipping, and cold. Once inside I warmed up quickly and then A got back with the men.

Replacing the loose tiles

The balcony workers had arrived earlier but I hadn't realised so I headed out to talk to them about the four tiles we had found that weren't seated quite right. They immediately set themselves to fixing them and pulled them out, chipped away the old mortar, and reset them. Excellent. While the one was working on this the other got on with the grouting, sweeping and finishing around the rest of the area.

Grinding the doors to size

My work was a little slow first thing so I jumped in Thomas and headed into town to buy the shop there out of petchka pipes and go to the bank. I was successful across the board and even managed to conduct my banking business with the girl in there who doesn't speak any English. I was gone less than an hour which was also a nice achievement. When I got home I found that Sally had made some amazing progress on the garage door. he is fabricating it from metal and we will end up using the frame he makes to clad wood onto for the final product maybe next year

Bekir tiling, and the black insect he put out

Bekir was doing double time today. He was assisting Sally with the garage door and also cutting and fitting the small bits of tile down the side of the room. There was one of the huge black wasp type things flying around the window near where he was working so he caught it and put it out the window, but not before I got a picture. I was hoping that he would finish all the tiling in the living room today, and fit the book shelves, but with being involved with the garage door that wasn't looking likely.

Gyuner digging in the orchard

Whatever the problem is between Gyuner and the other two has not resolved over the weekend. He was outside working and happy that he wasn't having to work with them and this is no good to us at all. I hope they either sort it out soon or we will be looking for a third worker for next year which really sucks as I like Gyuner and he works hard.

Sally smiling as he works

Door frames nearly done

I was having a bad working day with on and off and I took some of the "off" time to go outside and break up the kindling that I had failed to do this morning. This was a much better idea and I have ended up with a nice pile of chainsaw-required wood that I may do tomorrow morning if it isn't too cold for me. Sally had been working away as he does and made loads of progress. The two door frames were now pretty well nearly ready though after this he carried on adding reinforcement and tomorrow there will be plenty more to do to get them hung.

One of the new vines, planted out

Towards the end of the day A persuaded me to head out and plant the two vines we had bought the previous week which was a good thing as one of them had started to sprout in its packaging. I had to transplant a leek to get the first in the correct position but now I have three vines in a row; the original one is doing so well now. If both the new ones take root and shoot up next year I may be in need of the frame to train them over towards the wall of the house sooner rather than later.

The steps are nearly done now also

Bekir had been making progress in the living room and finished the itty bitty bits around the walls and moved on to the step out to the balcony. This involved a lot of cutting and careful positioning and as I had guessed earlier in the day the end of the day arrived before he could complete it. Tomorrow I think he'll be done, though.

Gorgeous sun set

I headed outside for the last hour or so of the day to continue breaking up kindling. I am so fed up of doing this I cannot wait to finish and my pile to work through is diminishing rapidly. It was now that the change in the clocks really became apparent as the sun disappeared behind the mountain and the temperature dropped accordingly. It was in no way as cold as this morning (2 degrees when A got in the car, apparently) but it was still fresh. And gorgeous. Such a beautiful thing to see.

The misty mystic moon rises

A came out to do the chickens and also to take the washing basket in (I had taken them off the line because I'm a helpful person) when we noticed the moon rising across the valley. She kindly popped in to get my zoom lens so I could take a better picture than with the short one and what a difference it made. Right now the moon is really bright through the window in front of me but as it rose through the haze and slight cloud on the horizon it was ghostly and magical.

And so it became time to take the men home which was another very quiet journey apart from Bekir trying to make some conversation about the temperature. It's so horrible having arguing workers. When I got back home again the smell prompted my opening paragraph to this update and, after I have published, I'm going to wrap up warm and take my beer onto the balcony. Dinner was a huge mound of mashed potatoes with mince and gravy and was lovely and tasty. So it's still early and I'm going to warp this up here.