Rats!

Hello again, here we are once more, though I'm starting this update at about the time I finished the one yesterday which is bad planning on my part, though not strictly all my fault as I've had a pretty full on day and have only just really stopped. Here goes nothing. It's a corker today though.

Pasta sauce boxed and ready for freezing

So as I said I would last night I boxed up the pasta sauce into freezable containers however it was still quite warm so I decided to leave it out on the side until this morning to actually freeze it. I got one large box, four normal boxes and another with a tiny amount in it. I felt this was a pathetic quantity but when A saw the pictures she was pleased. No matter, at least we haven't wasted the produce and that is what I care about.

They pulled the covers tight so I couldn't move

So with this done it was off to bed nice and early with my book and after reading for a little bit I managed to drop off. I was chatting with A on messenger which was lovely and the puppies had decided that I wasn't allowed to go anywhere as one settled on one side and the other opposite and I could not move as the duvet was too tight over me. They joined me on the bed last night and pretty much slept through. There was a noise at some point but I thought it was Sassy and I ignored it and went back to sleep. I don't remember the alarm going off this morning but it did and I didn't have any snooze this morning but was straight up and letting them out.

The rat in the trap

When the puppies came back upstairs they were huffing and woofing a lot, pointing at the rat trap. I had a quick look down and sure enough the door had shut on the trap. A quick inspection told me that we had actually caught one. This is quite ironic considering the things I said yesterday about us not having much evidence of any intruders. No matter, at least we've proved that these traps work, do capture the creatures, and tomatoes work as a bait.

Too much standing and talking....

I left the thing in the trap while I went to collect the men as I wasn't totally sure how to go about killing it. When we got back Bekir suggested drowning it which I duly did. I'm not very happy about doing this however the diseases which rats carry are potentially fatal for all of us so I swallowed my animal-loving nature briefly and did the right thing. I had been quite productive with my paid job before heading for the men and got straight back onto it when I got back again. We had another new face on the driveway team when I went past to check out progress however later on, when Bekir and I were driving down to town to order tiles and get more rat traps, we saw him walking down the hill looking angry and Bekir said he had been fired for talking too much!

We were getting close to finished on the wood chopping exercise which was a good thing as I didn't expect it to take quite this long. Bekir has continued ot have to do the chainsawing which is also a frustration as it has taken him away from the tasks that I actually want him to do. When I get a chance and notice that there is some more to be done I have been doing it as well (I did some more today) but this time I was fascinated to watch him cut through the biggest of the logs with my chainsaw. Enjoy.

The metal grid on the slope

Wooden frame in place for the steps

Out the back Sally and Gyuner were working on the steps. The first part was to put some reinforcement down above the slope from yesterday. With this in place they built the wooden frame to contain the concrete. They worked on this really well even though the weather deteriorated again and it has been drizzling on and off all day, sometimes getting heavier as well.

I had pulled the rat out of the water and left it to dry somewhat and was putting off giving it to the girls for fear of what they would do to it. They are very violent with their chew toy. I washed up, cleaned the cooker and did another few chores before deciding to go for it. You can see the results in the video above...

Louise with the rat, Thelma watching on

If you haven't watched the video all the way through here's the spoiler. After some effort throwing the rat, then dragging it around by its tail (which started to disintegrate in my hands; nice) I shook it by its neck in front of them and this finally got their attention and Louise grabbed it, shook it hard, then ran off with it up onto the top bank. I haven't seen it since but when Louise came back down shortly after there was no blood so it has probably just been dropped somewhere to rot. I'll have to go looking for it tomorrow I think.

Stop eating our cabbages and broccoli!

With them having run off up the bank I went in and got the bread together for the birds. On the way out I went past the greens again in the garden and picked off some more caterpillars which this time I had a container to take them to the chickens. They fought over them and the bread and ate everything up. Their feeders inside were completely empty (though whether from our birds, or the sparrows that swarm in there, I don't know). I refilled them anyway and muttered to myself about smaller gauge metal grids on the windows, and blocked up the holes. The door is open all day anyway so those things wouldn't help.

Making use of all the offcuts

After this I dashed into the bank and to the tile shop with Bekir. The tiler had told us that he needed 130 more wall tiles to do the top of the wall as each one had to be more than 50% of the width of a tile and therefore we couldn't double up at all. This is an expensive piece of knowledge but at least we know now. We were able as well to order enough more of the floor tiles to do the back patio though we do not want this tiling started this year. We went past the other shop and picked up six more rat traps to be placed around the building which caused some jokes at the checkout.

Steps poured and smoothed and looking great

I really have been very busy at paid work today and didn't get as many progress pictures as I normally like to but I also like being useful at work. Sadly some of today was taken up in some pretty pointless telephone calls but there was enough positive stuff about actual work to keep me going. While I was doing this Sally and Gyuner had finished the steps off completely. They look great.

There's more concrete here. SO MUCH CONCRETE!

Without their extra man the driveway workmen have been plodding along pouring the concrete. They haven't made as much progress as they did on Saturday but the area of concrete is steadily increasing. It has not been the weather for this kind of task today at all and they have soldiered on well. The best the weather has been was when I popped out just after lunch to chop the logs and the sun almost came out and it was nearly warm. The men were laughing as we all watched Thelma trying to play with a huge log; if only she had been that positive with the rat.

Outside light for the balcony

Bekir had one of his bitty days today, being pulled around a lot, dragged out to town with me when in hindsight he didn't need to come and then doing the wood chopping too. He also distracted himself slightly by rigging up a light on the balcony. It could have just been left disconnected inside and taped off outside however he has a very good trait of wanting jobs completed. I was hoping that today he would start tiling in the living room but this hasn't happened.

Final touches being put on the back patio

One reason it hasn't is that after finishing the light fitting he got involved with the back patio which needed drainage doing on it. I'm sure that Sally and Gyuner could have managed however I'm pleased that it has been done correctly. They worked well together to ensure that the slope was correct for the guttering we've put in and I think I'm correct in saying that this now means the work out here is completed. They have covered the steps over with polythene this evening which is a good thing as it is raining quite hard now. Tomorrow I hope the work begins on finishing off the Living Room which is so close now. Just the doorway, tiles and a railing around the stairs to go.

Louise leaving her mark as always

While I was watching them do these final adjustments to the drainage Louise came down the stairs behind me and went and stood on the top step. I laughed so much as this had just been smoothed by Sally and the prints were completely clear. I briefly toyed with the idea of getting them to leave them but decided against it. In the long run these will be tiled over anyway.

The secret isn't behind this hand....

Blocked this hole up from outside

And this one leading onto the landing

It was getting close to the end of the working day for me and I was starting to feel tired of doing computer work. There was a list of tasks that I had to do yesterday which didn't get done due to the time it took me to preserve the tomatoes and so, after a conversation with A, I got off my backside and did them. The one task I can't tell you about as it is a surprise for when A gets back but the other was spraying squirty expanding foam into the gaps around Room 13 and leading down from the roof into the living space. As you can see I've still not quite got the hang of it and since I took these pictures it has expanded even more. Oooops.

The journey back with the men was uneventul though Hikment said he had finished so I paid him off but then found that the smaller logs were still there needing to be chopped. I have rung Bekir back and told him "one more day" so that'll be tomorrow and then all the chopping is done and we are set for winter. This evening I used up the small amount of pasta sauce that had been spare after freezing and it was actually very palatable which is a nice surprise. I've still not set any of the new traps (Bekir took one upstairs) so I may do that now quickly before bed. I'm tired though so it'll shortly be time to go read then sleep. Night.