She's gone on holidays

It's one of those updates that I hate writing today; one which covers two days however yesterday I had pretty much no chance of getting an update in due to much busy-ness and other things. So I'm starting this about 15 minutes before the men will leave and will probably end up spending most of the evening doing it. Actually I have just remembered I'd better feed Rambo before taking the men so this will probably not get much of a start now until afterwards.

Eating from our own harvest yet again

So looking back at my pictures I'm returned to Sunday after I'd published the last update. We had cabbage harvested from our garden in with our amazing roast chicken dinner which was just outstanding and so tasty. We did eat it sat out our desks again which we have to stop doing soon but there isn't much option at the moment in the winter. Anyway after eating I dragged the comfy chairs into Room 13 and we settled down for our date night. We watched Apocalypse Now and, once I had sorted the strange sound problems from Media Player, it was a really enjoyable watch. Once the film had finished we didn't stop up long but headed to bed as the next day would be a long one.

Walnut and having chopped it

We woke up to another misty foggy morning and once A had headed off to collect the men I went out with the chainsaw and set to chopping the walnut trees that we had dragged round there over the weekend. I was only chopping larger bits, and not collecting any kindling, and so after about half an hour I had made some progress but not loads as I was spending a certain amount of time picking through the pile for the next suitable branches to chop up.

New wood storage

In the last five minutes or so that I estimated I had before A got back with the men I dashed in to try out the idea for pallet wood storage I had had. I pulled four pallets into the garage and then got the driver and some long screws. It took me all of two minutes to knock this together and by the time A got back I was well on the way to stacking all the wood I had chopped, clammy from the misty start we were experiencing.

First day at work

We had a new boy starting on Monday; Hikmet is a man from Bekir's village and he has been brought on to chop and split up all the good wood we bought which we made a start on but quickly realised it wasn't really economically viable to do all ourselves. For sure next year I will be ordering it pre-split from the wood yard so we only have to stack it up. Anyway, Bekir chopped some wood (which ended up being the habit as Hikmet seems only to want to wield an axe) and then Hikmet got on with splitting, using the axe I had bought in error as the new one Bekir sourced for me on Saturday needed some work.

Sledgehammer at work again

Gyuner was straight out the back door and getting on with preparing the ground for the back patio. He had taken down most of the remains of the porch wall the other day but today was bashing at the cement and stone mix that made up the foundations.

Planing down the handle

I returned to Room 13 to cook myself bacon and eggs for breakfast and it was lovely. The bacon does crisp up quite quickly which I normally don't like however it works quite well in a butty. With breakfast behind me I checked out the progress around the building site. I found Bekir getting the new axe ready for Hikmet to use; the handle needed a bit of work so the head would fit correctly.

Knocking out more walls

Further along I found Nikolai with the sledgehammer starting the process of knocking out the wall which will have the garage door put into it. There was quite a lot of it to remove. Eventually the hole will be 3m wide and 2.5m high, and then they will be putting columns and a lintel in under which Bekir will hang some lovely handmade wooden garage doors. Eventually. For now I've told them to get this work done and then seal it with polythene until the doors are made.

A beautiful day

The reason for the lack of update yesterday was that A was flying out for a trip home in the evening. During the day she spent time cooking me a lovely stew (as I type this I've just finished eating my second helping of it) and also baking an awesome cake (of which I partook at lunch today). She doesn't half look after me, though I think she enjoys the cooking as well. Anyway, that was her and I was pretty much stuck at my desk all day working other than my forays with the camera. As expected after a really foggy start the weather cleared fast and it turned into a warm day, though the fog stuck in the valley slightly longer.

Finishing touches around the balcony door

There was quite a lot going on in the living room during the morning. Sally was going around the room applying the finishing touches to the plastering and also removing all the coverings from the windows and doors, and tidying up around the edges of said windows and doors to give each corner a sharp crease.

Bekir chipping out for the light switches

Behind him Bekir had a hammer and chisel out and was chipping away and destroying the work Sally had done. There was a reason for this; he was making holes into which the light switches could go, but that didn't stop me making a joke about how Sally could finish the job today, but then Bekir would ruin it and Sally would have to finish it tomorrow as well.

Bekir making sure they will grout the tiles

Bekir and I popped out to the shops to pick up materials for the back patio including drainage and cement. It didn't take long but when I got back I found that the Little Lady had been over and brought coffee for everyone so Bekir had missed out. Lunch was a long one for them and after lunch the day fizzled a little bit for a while. Bekir was spending a lot of time talking to the other builders as they were discussing what they should actually do on the balcony. Of course I want them to finish it properly and that is what Bekir was ensuring would happen.

The hole gets bigger and bigger

The hole for the garage door was coming on apace and they had got down to the thick stone base which caused so much trouble when the window people were fitting the back door. Nikolai fortunately has the pneumatic drill which makes quite fast work of even these hard tasks. I really do need to get me one of them.

Flapping wings

Partially submerged

Super fast duck

As I was taking one of my walks I spotted the ducks in the pond. They are spending more and more time in there at the moment which is just great. I got the camera onto sports mode and found out just how fast this new camera takes pictures on that setting! Of all the pictures I shot these were the ones I liked the best. You can see how they chase around and play with each other, check out the chop in the waters, but what I was not able to capture was how they actually dive and swim under the water. Brilliant. Now they just need to be female and give us eggs.

New axe

Hikmet had been bashing away all day, with Bekir taking moments through the day to chop more logs for splitting. The new axe was proving its worth as he was going at more than double the pace than with my old one. I took a lovely arty picture for you, check it out.

Split wood piled up

While we were sat in Room 13 working there was the roar of a jet and I ran onto the balcony with the camera with zoom on it in time to have a plane pointed to me as it disappeared into clouds. We joked about it being the Russians or not and then I went back inside without the illusive photograph of the jets which continually buzz us. I did get a picture of the split wood, though, largely to test out the zoom on the new camera.

Back boxes in for the light switches

Inside Bekir had made good the damage he had done to Sally's walls and now each of the double sockets has a backing unit in place and is cemented in. Rather than pick up double switches we have got two single switches at each end, one will turn on the wall lights and the other will operate the ceiling lights. I'm getting really rather excited about this room; it feels very close now.

Very yummy cake

As I mentioned before A baked me a cake. She made some lovely butter icing and then sprinkled (not our) walnuts on the top. It was too big to go in the box so she cut the corners off and I got to sample a bit early. It was lovely. She gave the other three corners to the men and there was none left over so I'm thinking they must have liked it a lot!

Beef stew to see us through

It was an early end to the working day however as I had to be back in time to take her to the airport. The journey was really easy and nothing happened and when I got home I was greeted by a lovely stew in a bowl, and some buttered bread to chase it down with. As it was early I hadn't thought I was hungry however it turned out to be just what I needed and got me through the evening.

Just before she flew

And so A got her stuff together and we got in Thomas and set off for the airport. We were driving at the worst time, when the light is just fading but it isn't fully dark yet, but we made the trip quickly and safely. The puppies had come with us, sleeping most of the way (though Louise did keep an inquisitive eye open for a lot of it) and so we arrived at the airport dead on time. Unfortunately it was a really quick drop off and dash as A wanted me to be back not too tired so it was quite a sad me who drove off, beeping his horn and waving as he turned the corner out of sight.

Comfort eating shop bought cake

I sustained myself on the drive home by putting Machine Head on and driving as fast as I could safely do so to keep the enjoyment of the mountain roads. As per usual the girls slept right through the music and the driving this time. They were on their bed on the passenger seat and didn't once try and come over to me. When I got back I went up to Room 13 and felt quite blue so I got a brew, some cake and after finishing that headed to bed.

This is why I had no water

I woke up to find Thelma curled up right next to me on top of the duvet and Louise burrowed in underneath curled up as well. I also woke up to the phone flashing next to me as my alarm was going off but for some reason not making any noise. I'd slept pretty well, considering, though I was woken at about 2am by a flash of lightning. Fortunately the storm didn't hang around long, only another couple of flashes, and I was off to sleep with the benefit of knowing A had landed safely in London. I had planned on doing some chainsawing first thing this morning but with the inadvertent lie in this went out the window. There was no water at all though so I had to brew up with water from the tap in the bathroom. It was only when I went to leave that it became apparent why there was no water; the Little Lady had a quite impressive looking leak fountaining water across her garden.

I scooted to get the men and as soon as Bekir had changed I told him there was a problem next door and we headed over. The Little Lady was waiting at the gate (which was a bit of a relief actually as I was starting to worry that something had happened to them as the chickens and cows hadn't been let out either) and so I left him to fix up the problem; the tap had popped off the pipe and he had to borrow bits from my plumbing supplies to fix it. It's good to be in a position to help her out, to be fair, after everything that family does for us.

Ripping out the old doorway

The beginning of the day was another brief moment of confusion, caused mostly by Bekir's absence next door but eventually things got sorted out. I observed that we would need to replace the door into the living room and after double checking the sizes they set to ripping the old frame out. The new door will be a little smaller than this one, but will match in size to the one into the bedroom. It's a shame to lose 10cm width and 4cm height on each door but not the end of the world.

Second fridge, and microwave

I had my tasks to do as well and so I emptied the small fridge out from downstairs and got Gyuner to help me lift it into Room 13. I then had a bravewave. I don't like sitting these items down directly on the tiles (I'm not sure why not) and so historically I have sat them on the polystyrene they come packed in. This is lifting them too high up, though, and allowing the potential for rats or mice to get under. I put one of the fire trays down and the fridge fit on it perfectly so now I'll just have to swap the other fridge, and the cooker, and we're sorted. As well as getting this fridge in here I also unpacked the microwave and set it on top.

The top tiles are easy

Better measure this carefully

Finished curve in tiles

Outside the tiler was making a start doing the step up into the living room. His first job was to mark up and cut out for the tiles on the top and this is what he was doing when I came to him first. Later on he was working on fitting the tiles around the curved edges and what a good job he was doing as well. So this picture is specifically for A as she was worried about what it would look like. I hope you like it?

After this Bekir and I headed out to buy a doorway (we gave Usmivka a lift to town with his milk and learned the little new build in the bottom village is a house, not a bar, and ViK is back!) but what should have been a quick trip turned into an epic as the local town didn't have any so we had to go to the bigger one down the road. We did find one in the end but then had to go to ANOTHER shop to get the hardware and as they haven't fitted it anyway today I'm wondering why we didn't just go to Isat's this evening and get one there. Anyway, we got back in time for coffee and then it was lunch time. I had a telephone call to do with work which went on for ages and left me feeling quite frustrated so rather than eat straight away I went out and did some chainsawing, filling a bucket with kindling for A and a wheelbarrow of small logs chopped to go into my new storage in the garage.

Waterproofing layer

Reinforcing in place

I went back to work after this and was able to capture a couple of pictures of progress on the back patio. Sally has sadly been distracted from the living room to do this and was helping Gyuner lay the waterproofing adn then put down the membrane below where the concrete will be poured, on top of metal reinforcement grids. It will be nice to get this done and I reckon it'll not be all that much more effort so it's not the end of the world that Sally is out there. Bekir got the ViK switched over (just two taps now to do this, which is great) so I was finally able to do my washing up and clean the kitchen area.

Wall tiles going on

Out on the balcony the floor tiles had been completed (bar the grouting) and he was starting on the walls. It was very interesting to see these again, in position this time, and I was a little worried they may actually be too dark. The thing I need to realise is they will go very well with the ultimate colour of the whole building and they do look great against the floor tiles. It's always a bit nervewracking to see something like this for the first time.

The water filter is working

As I'm on my own for a bit I'm going to have to do all the chores so mid afternoon I took myself and a load of bread over to the birds and fed them. They were very happy to see me indeed. While I was out there I saw that the pond was already looking a bit murky and so I had a fiddle around with the filter. I switched it to the other plug and found that either my wiring is dodgy, or the plug on the device is, but with some careful positioning of things I was able to get it running and it is still going now as I type this. Hopefully tomorrow I'll see an improvement in water quality though almost certainly I'll have to wash the filter out.

Garage door columns

The garage door was finally wide enough, after some more conversation with Bekir prompted another 10cm or so width adding to it, and so the men started to put the metal in place for the reinforcing columns. They were drilling for ages to get the holes ready for these foundation metal spikes and it looks like they are doing a good job again. I was outside once more doing some more chainsawing and collection of kindling and so was able to watch as they worked as well. Before I tidied up for the day on my job I cleared the garage a bit and made a space to collect the kindling to wait for A to return to bundle it all up.

Many wheelbarrows full of cement

Packing the edges down firmly

By this time Gyuner and Sally were mixing and pouring cement onto the base they had prepared. This was a lot of cement and by the time the day ended they hadn't even poured a quarter of what they will need to. We have also run out of gravel and stones so a new order will be needed for tomorrow before they can carry on. Once this base is down it'll be the fun part of making the steps.

Wiring the outside socket, with Louise for company

Bekir spent the afternoon working on wiring up the living room. He started by the doorway and worked along the plugs at first, getting the two double sockets on the internal wall working and then starting to wire in the external plug, which is running behind a boiler switch so we can see if it is turned on or not. He did manage to trip the main circuit breaker on the pole at one point but otherwise this was without incident. Hopefully he'll be able to work on this uninterrupted tomorrow and get a start on the lights as well.

And so the day drew to a close with me feeding Rambo, leaving the puppies in their cage (they sleep when they are in there so it is better than in a room they can destroy) and took the men home. The Little Lady stopped us and asked if I could give her a lift to the men's village in the morning as she has relatives there so I'll not be driving alone tomorrow morning. I've eaten two bowls of A's stew (the rest I should really sort into pots before bed) and have been in and out with the puppies all evening but finally this update has drawn to a close. What a monster, I hope you have enjoyed it and it'll be back to usual service tomorrow.