Monday blues

One knock on effect of actually having a weekend is the shock of Monday morning is much greater. And so I sit here feeling rather unmotivated to write this update but pushing myself to anyway. Here goes.

Perfect dinner date

We actually start last night where shortly after the blog was completed we sat down to dinner in the living room. Once more the table was in front of the fire and it was a really pleasant meal, so tasty and I love sitting there watching the flames. Afterwards we put on The Big Lebowski which A had never seen and she really enjoyed it. We weren't up much after that finished and took our brews to bed where we fell asleep and for once I didn't have to take the puppies out in the night.

Early start from the balcony

Frosty chopping log

When the alarm went off this morning it was a horrible shock but I didn't stay in bed long after A got up. I actually went straight outside and let the chickens out before coming in to do what needs to be become my first job every morning which is to clean out the fires of ash in their trays. It was actually a bit chillier today and when A left I wrapped up a little present I'd got her as a surprise, then legged it around doing a burn of rubbish and finally headed over to do kindling. There was a frost on the ground which was melting as the sun reached it which gave me some idea of how cool it was but when A got back and found me working in my t shirt she laughed so much as it was actually -2 degrees!

Smoke from Room 13

The fire was lit in Room 13 which caused quite an amusing thing. I went out with the puppies who at first were very happy to be outside but then got too cold and returned inside, opening the door to Room 13 and curling up by themselves in front of the fire. Bless them. The warmth of Room 13 is a really good thing, though, as we're stationary whenever we are in there.

Gyuner flinging soil out of his hole

Rambo on the porch

Mid morning, after working and then running out of steam as I hit a blocker, I took a stroll around the building to see what was going on. Gyuner was easy to find as he was out in the orchard still digging away. We are really close to finished here and Bekir said it should be done in the next couple of days. I can't wait to see if the trees flourish next spring. Rambo had again been banished onto his lead but he didn't really mind; he lays in the sun on the porch.

Cement around the door

Clean kitchen again

Sally had finished the garage door and was now working away on completing the sealing around the kitchen door he had started on our day without power. He's so good at picking up these jobs and never forgets what he previously started. He had also gone through the kitchen and cleaned it all out, sweeping everything up and shifting all the rubbish to be burned later on. What a star, it looks so nice now.

My three favourite ladies :)

I headed up to Room 13 to tell A that I was going to head out to the carpenters to order the new toilet unit; I knew going to the garage for the wing mirror fix was off as I'd rung them earlier and they hadn't been able to find anything at all. I found the puppies sat on A and cuddling her. Thelma was fast asleep and Louise was licking anything in reach as usual. So cute.

Lovely road through changing colours

Gorgeous view up the valley

I made good time over to the other town but found that the carpenter was shut, despite him specifically telling me to come over today. Welcome to Bulgaria. I headed on to the shop for the few items we needed and then went to get fuel but as it was market day there was too long a queue and I went straight home. What a wasted trip though I did get a couple of lovely autumnal shots on the road on the way back.

Bekir still working on the roof

I had barely got back when Gyuner came knocking on Room 13 to ask to be taken home. Unfortunately his back is giving him trouble and he needed to get to the doctor to have it looked at. I told him to take his time and not rush back as a bad back needs to recover fully. I do hope he is OK soon. I got back just before lunch and A and I spent a very lovely 20 minutes sat in the living room eating a quick snack. It's so great to be able to get away from our desks. It was back to work time shortly for the men and Bekir was still on the roof finishing off the chimney; what he'd said would be a very quick bit of metal work turned out to be quite involved as he siliconed and cemented and finished with metal.

The tea tree is turning yellow

I was back at my desk for the rest of the day, chuntering as I struggled. Part of the problem was the work and the other larger part was how gorgeous the day outside was. I could see the tea tree through my window with the sun shining on it as its colours have just started to change and the deep blue sky behind and I just wanted to be out there! Unfortunately this is not a cheap lifestyle, certainly while the renovations are happening, so I can't go on strike just yet. I did take a few moments for fresh air a couple of times, once to do the final kindling (yay!) and a second time to hang the rugs up to air which failed dramatically when the line snapped (boo!).

Gaps filled in

Sally keeps working

Sally was done with the door and picked up a few other tasks including filling in the gaps around the windows in the entrance hall which are still not even thought about in terms of replacing them. This little job done will make such a difference for us over winter and it was so thoughtful of Sally to spot it. Later on I also got him to brick up the hole through which the birds have been invading the chicken house and stealing their food. Finally for Sally he has started to look at repairing the damaged back wall of the flat roof building so it doesn't fall down over winter.

Towards the end of the day Bekir came to say he had found a damaged pipe join on our water supply and he needed to rush to the shop to get a replacement else we'd have no water. That doesn't actually change much as we've been on the free water supply for about a week now and the ViK is STILL not working (I checked earlier). We dropped down to town and as well as getting this little plumbing item we bought enough wood for the new stairway hatch which will be Bekir's job tomorrow. On the way home we picked up one of the villagers who was so drunk he could barely walk and gave him a lift home. We got back in darkness and I unloaded Thomas while he got our water working again then it was time to take them home. It was a quiet car again and an uneventful trip back.

Destruction caused by puppies

I will leave you at the end of this superbly difficult blog post (I have just struggled today; soon I'll reduce the regularity I post these and that'll be a nice break for me) with evidence that no matter how cute those two puppies are, they are destructive little so and so's as well. This is a new draft excluder which A bought only the other day and which has been killed by one or other of them when we left them alone for a brief time as we were cleaning the corridor yesterday.

Anyway, here's to tomorrow being a less grumpy day for me.