Not getting any less busy

So another missed day blogging after such a busy day yesterday I was just too whacked out to sit and type. I'm hoping this doesn't take me too long to finish as I am tired again today after another busy day. We're really trying to get ready for winter at the moment so hopefully in a month or so it'll calm down and we can hibernate for 3 months.

Thelma has a new stick and she wants it thrown NOW!

A big pile of small sticks

Yesterday. It was once again stupidly dark when the alarm went off and I hadn't slept all that well in the end, but I was up and about without any snoozing in. Brews were taken in Room 13 and not on the balcony as the weather had changed again and it was a cold cloudy day with a touch of damp in the air. When A headed off to collect the men I went out with the chainsaw and spent the whole time cutting up the smaller bits of wood that had been left laying around. I did quite a lot and stopped just as A pulled in with the men; good timing.

Drainage starts to go in

The driveway workers had arrived early today, a good ten minutes before A got back, which confused me about the time as they have recently been arriving at around the same time and they got on with the final step on the driveway; the drainage. This ended up being a harder task than anticipated as they had to dig out a lot of the stones they had laid earlier in the year and it just went slowly.

The epic tiling mission continues

Out on the balcony the tiler was carrying on tiling the top of the wall. Here he is putting in place the far end tile with string running along it and down the wall to the corner nearest me, so he keeps the outer edge completely straight. There is still a fair amount to do out here, to be honest, as all the grouting needs to be done, and the tiles will need a good clean as well. It should be done in the next week or so though, I hope.

Starting to seal the back door

Sally had run out of jobs to do, with the doorway finished into the living room, and came looking for me to ask what we wanted him to do next. Fortunately A and I had already discussed this and so we have set him to finishing off around the doors and windows, to give a good seal, block up any little gaps, and make the place look nice as well. He started off on the doorway half way up the stairs.

Fitting in some fiddly end bits of tile

In the lounge Bekir was right up to the far corner, just outside the bedroom, and starting to have to cut tiles for the edges. I have no more pictures of him working on this from yesterday but every time I went in he was slaving away and working hard. There's actually quite a lot of teracol going underneath each tile as the floor is so uneven he's had to raise it a bit to get the tiles to sit right. It's that kind of forward thinking that I really appreciate with them.

The fence is now secure

Gyuner was at a little bit of a loose end today but he didn't waste the day and found lots of things to be getting on with. First of all he headed out to the fence and pulled in all the wooden boards that had been used to pour the concrete. It's looking really good there and today when the Little Lady saw it she was very pleased, which does matter a lot to us.

Our workmen really enjoy the puppies being around

Following on from the opening photograph yesterday it isn't just Nikolai who loves the puppies. All day (apart from lunch time when we bring them inside) the puppies are outside playing with each other or bugging the men to throw something or other for them. They get so much exercise we worry sometimes that they need to eat more food, A does particularly, but they always have something in their bowls if they want it.

Lots more wood to dry over this winter for next

I was about to get myself completely buried in paid work again,even thought Friday is technically my day off, but before doing this I went out to the wood I had chopped earlier and took it all inside to the pallet wood store in the garage. It took four or five wheelbarrows to shift it all and while I was doing this I ran out of space so had to put another pallet on the back. I reinforced the front as well with some scrap wood and now I can put loads more on there. While I was finishing this off A headed out to the shops for her weekly shopping run and I went back upstairs and got myself stuck into work. I was amazingly busy all day and didn't stop once; my planned trip to the bank failed because I couldn't get away from my desk but fortunately A had enough in her account so she went out again later in the afternoon and sorted this out. What a day; I actually earned my keep today. I did get away from the desk for photographs a couple of times though.

Finished off around the back door

Filling in around the landing windows

First of all Sally, with Gyuner helping to mix the cement and spending in between times clearing up and finishing off tidying the bank by the back patio, had finished sealing the back door. He then moved on to the windows on the landing which have been desperately in need of sealing with a huge hole still on one side that is actually large enough for birds to get in. Once he has finished on the landing he'll go and do the corridor windows and then finally hopefully come into Room 13 and do these windows, and put up the curtain rails.

Sweeping up before going home

By late afternoon I really needed to stretch my legs and get some fresh air as I'd not even stopped for lunch. I headed out and found the driveway men were just getting to the end of their day. They had managed, with much cursing in Turkish, to get the trench done correctly, sloping towards the drains into the lower level pipes, and had fixed it in place with a rough pour of concrete. The top end they had finished off and now it'll be a quick job to complete this task. They didn't work today but it's probably only one more day left. Then they'll just have to do the steps at the back and they are completed for the year.

A bucket full of kindling

I was actively throwing my toys out of the pram because of work, as I say, and I set myself to splitting up more kindling from the stacks of wood we had collected together the other day. A got back from her bank run and came out and joined me and together we worked through a couple of piles, and filled the bucket four times. I went back inside feeling so much better for this short burst of exercise and worked until it was time to take the men home.

Do you really want to drink that?!

Rather than cooking A had declared she wanted to be taken out for dinner and I agreed without any arguments. I took the men while she got ready and then changed quickly into jeans and a shirt for our special night out. We were going to the hotel in the big town, the one where I stayed the first ever night I spent in Bulgaria all those years ago. We got there before the restaurant actually opened so I turned the lights on and pulled some beers out of the fridge. When the serving staff eventually turned up they gave us a menu we had a good giggle at some of the non-translations in it; this being my favourite.

Blue cheese overload

Hunters Chicken

I ordered the blue cheese bites and the blue cheese chicken julien as I was wanted the cheese shakes; this venue is the best place in the area to get your blue cheese fix. A had decided that she would just have a little bit of the mine and go for something slightly less aggressively cheesey and she chose the hunters chicken which was also lovely. I don't normally talk about prices of anything on here but to give you an idea this meal, with five bottles of beer, cost us 25 leva. Cheap as chips. We headed home feeling very happy, had a quick brew then headed to bed where the fire had been burning in the petchka for a little bit and it was lovely and warm.

Ready for me to attack with a knife

Still with the tongue and eyeballs

Steadily does it with the ceramic knife

I slept pretty well, and A slept very well, but was disturbed in the night by the puppies wanting out at about 1am, and then again at about 7. I went back to bed after that second disturbance but was really awake for some reason so I just gave up and got out of bed. I had some vague idea of doing a few things before A got up as she had been completely sparko but Thelma jumped on her head and licked her awake and so we both got up. Before I had even drunk my first brew she had me working away to butcher the rabbit we had bought the other month, which was to be cooked for our dinner. It took me about half an hour or so which wasn't all that bad considering I've not done anything like this for ages. Maybe we will go for breeding meat rabbits next year, depending on whether A likes the meal that she is cooking with it for this evening.

A with her two little helpers

With that done we headed on to our chores and we had quite a list. First of all A went out to the garden to harvest what potatoes there were left in her little bed. She found that there were loads, and quite a lot had started to sprout again. She also found that some onions had been left in and were sprouting again as well. It's such a great thing to grow your own food, even if only a small quantity.

I dug a hole...

.... and then put a tree in it

I also had a task which was to plant the japanese willow (I think; it's too dark to go check now so we'll say that) which I had bought from Kaufland for 99 stotinki because it was dying. This has flourished in its pot on the porch and A wanted it planted in the middle of the four olive trees. I swung my pick axe then got the shovel and dog a deep enough hole for it quickly then, with help from A, we tipped the tree out and carefully dropped it in the hole then filled in the gaps and made it secure.

Here's hoping it flourishes here also

A baby walnut tree

So here it is, before getting watered in properly as the Little Lady came and distracted us shortly after this point but more on that in a bit. While I was out with the camera in this area I showed A the tiny sapling which Bekir had pointed out to me the other day; this is a baby walnut tree which has self seeded and shot up this year, just next to the hugelkultur. Fingers crossed it survives the winter; we will need to start growing new ones soon to replace our existing as they are quite old trees.

Picking through the tatties and removing their stalks

As I said the Little Lady popped over just after this with an invite to go over for the milk but first of all got involved in the potato harvest. She said that we should break the shoots off the potatoes as they were not good to leave on. She also said that it would be a good time to follow the potatoes with onions and that she had some so we should go for milk and then she'd bring the onions back with her. They are so generous it's amazing.

The Little Lady with some of her flowers

Two lovely ladies and some lovely blooms

We allowed ourselves to be invited over for the lovely hot sugary milk she makes us and sat in her lounge sipping them and chatting in our broken Bulgarian. Afterwards she took us around her garden to see her new onions, planted in the covered over bit of the garden. The things which really caught our eyes, however, were some beautiful flowers that she has grown. They are amazing and she was so pleased that she pulled A in for a photograph with them as well.

Olive trees still clinging on

We came back with the Little Lady and a bag of onions which she proceeded to plant in the old potato bed. Next year we will be doing the potato tower idea rather than putting spuds in the ground so we won't have to worry about diseases in that bed. We really need to clear the rest of it, pull the tomatoes out, and dig out extra beds for next year. This may get done tomorrow, or it may not. I was weeding around the olive trees, watering the Japanese Willow in, and then pruning down the olives to just above the growing area as three of them are still very small and had a dead stick left behind.

Very mucky puppies as always

As they always do the puppies had got very involved with our digging and gardening. Thelma in particular was filthy. They love it though and that is all that matters. Louise's eye was starting to swell up again,though, which is a bit concerning. We're pretty sure that it is an insect bite so we're treating with salt water, the eye drops given by the vet last time, and ice pads. Poor princess.

Not a bad haul of meat from one rabbit

We pulled in the green tarpaulin and spread the blue one over the top of the trailer to dry during the day and then went back inside. A was preparing the dinner which we left to slow cook all day and I was super lazy and sat around on twitter and facebook until she was done. I did think about doing some other jobs then but just didn't get off my chair. We got ready and headed out as soon as we could, leaving the puppies in their cage with a treat as a bribe. After going for fuel we made our way to the bigger hardware store with our list of items to buy.

Huge truck taking up most of the carpark

It was a pretty expensive day but we bought everything that we needed to. I decided that I am not going to spend more money on the pond for now; I'll wait for the bigger plans involving the grey water which may get done next year and will involve a more complex system of pumps and filters. For now we'll just empty and clean the pond regularly which isn't too much of a hassle as it empties over night, can be cleaned first thing, and then refilled in a morning from the free water supply. I did, however, buy myself a pneumatic drill and we also got a new petchka for Room 13, loads more storage racking, a TV stand for the living room and a few other bits and pieces.

Proper road side grub

We were both pretty hungry when we headed away and so stopped at the feeding hole by the road half way back. We ordered a load of meat for the puppies as well and the price for all of this meat was about twice what we spent the night before for our meal including beers, but it was worth it; absolutely lovely lamb cooked perfectly with fluffy white bread. Just what the doctor ordered.

Fixing up the other trailer

We were both pretty shattered when we got back however had one more job to do before we could relax. The old trailer, the one that came over with me the first time, is not in a good way. It's fly wheel has collapsed a bit and the slightly dodgy tyre has gone completely flat. We headed up there and I did my man thing and set the tow bar onto bricks then changed the wheel to the spare. With this now back on the road we'll have to get rid of all the bottles in it and then we can use it around the land again.

A lighting the new petchka for the first time

We had a bit of a rest after this then went and emptied Thomas of all our purchases. I had already brought the new petchka up as I was so excited about it and now we swapped the old one out and set it in place. It won't stay here as we are going to rearrange the layout in here next week I think but it looks very nice there anyway. I dithered and pottered about and then started this update and later on A decided she wanted to light it so off she went with her matches.

Happily settled by the fire

Since then it has been a learning curve trying to keep it lit with a sensible amount of wood in it. We did have a bit of excitement when the dust burned off and filled the room with smoke but that has now settled down. Being able to turn round and see what state the fire is in, rather than having to open the top and look, is a bonus and as you can see the puppies definitely agree with it being a good thing to have lit.

Dinner, the rabbit stew, was absolutely lovely when we eventually felt a little bit hungry and ate, the large lunch putting both of us off eating a big meal now. There is enough for lunch tomorrow as well which is just as well considering the length of both our chore-lists. So I'll leave it there and be back tomorrow as I cannot get in the habit of not doing blogs when we're this busy.