Not much going on

Wednesday and time to write another update on here. It almost felt unnecessary to do an update as so little has happened but sticking to the routine, and limiting how much I have to do on Sunday, is a good idea. It has just been a quiet beginning to the week; I have a couple of little vignettes, a new routine I'm trying to get into, and some photographs of little bits and pieces around the place.

Vignettes

There are no pictures for this section, just a couple of little stories of our life here from this week.

First of all, the new toilet. I don't know if you remember but a few weeks ago we paid the deposit for the master carpenter in a local town to make us a new toilet for the guest suite. He said to come back in twenty days which was actually last week but we didn't get time to get over there so first thing on Monday I headed on over. The direct road, which has been being resurfaced for a while, was shut when I got there so I took the cheren put, up past my old friend's house (I actually saw her driving the other way as I was going, which was a bit sad-making; I hate it when things don't work out) and round that way. When I got to his workshop it was all locked up and no one was anywhere to be seen. I had a quick look around and saw the finished article in one of the workshops but it was all locked up. On the way home I went a different way and attempted to cut through the mountain tracks to our home but got a bit lost so ended up turning round. It was a bit of a wasted journey, to be honest, but this is what it is like in Bulgaria. You cannot live here without sometimes experiencing a little bit of unreliability.

Secondly another postal experience. My phone went on Monday and it was the Kmet ringing to say there was some more post for us. He didn't say anything about meeting me so when we received the text from econt to say our Wii had arrived there (bought very cheap through facebook, with Mario Kart) I headed into town and went to the post office. The chap there had a look around and then said that this time the Kmet had the parcels. After a few phone calls and some confusion about location (caused by my bad language skills) I eventually caught up with him and The Special One down at the railway station. It's just interesting the way things are done here again, but this time so efficiently with minimal infrastructure. The post for a village arrives and so you tell the kmet (mayor) who arranges its delivery. Why pay a postman?

Finally, and it is close to Christmas so this was good timing, I remembered to ring Bekir no Monday about our leg of goat for Christmas Dinner. He said that he would sort something out and ring me the next day so when the phone went yesterday and it was Bekir I was not surprised. Him telling me he was outside and to come down did surprise me and it was such a pleasure to see him walking up the path with his big grin on his face, carrying a HUGE leg of goat. He is looking very well indeed, rested and healthy, and was interested to see the things we've done since they went on holiday. He was particularly impressed with Sassy's run, and all the chopping of the oak tree that A did. It was really nice to see him and chat, even briefly as his mate was waiting for him in the car just on the lane. I'm now very excited to have him and Sally back in a few months time. There's plenty for them to do next year which I hope will mark the end of this stage of renovations and A and I can then take a year off.

A new routine

It's been another week of me needing to remind myself to do things that don't just involve sitting inside and staring at this computer screen.

Thelma and Louise playing on the top bank

Along with breaking my working day up doing small tasks (as described later in this update) the big thing I've started doing every day is getting out onto the back bank with Thelma, Louise and Rambo and throwing sticks for them. I only spend about 20 minutes or so doing this, every evening when I finish work, but it has proven to be both good for them and for me. It's also socialising Rambo into playing nicely when I throw two different sticks, one for him and one for the puppies, and he has been very obedient to my commands during these play times. I'm going to try and keep this up from now on.

A few bits and pieces

So we've done a few bits around the house, there's been some weather around, and also the other animals should get a say, don't you think?

There is PLENTY more of this to do

As part of my attempt to stop myself from sitting at this desk without a break I have tried to pick up a few small tasks through the beginning of the week. On Monday this involved getting changed into my boiler suit and going into the roof to get covered in fibreglass. I brought a saw with me to cut the rolls in half but as soon as I split the plastic around it I found that they were already cut which was quite a relief. Because of the way Bekir and Sally built the roof I am not having to put string across to support the insulation anywhere but am feeding it down behind some of the beams going horizontally. It was a bit messy, and the goggles I was wearing kept steaming up which was really annoying, but the length of a roll proved to be sufficient to insulate from one eave, over the top, and down to the other. After this I tried, with A's help, to put up one of the plasterboards however this is where my planning failed and we're going to have to change tack. I was trying to do this without cutting any boards but they are just too heavy for the two of us to put in place. After discovering this, and both of us getting hot, sweaty and out of breath, we left it for the weekend when we can work together better.

I have no photograph but yesterday I put up one of the new storage racks in the tool room (making use of wire to prevent the two halves from continually coming apart) and today I will also be doing this.  Just small steps, but it's good to keep achieving...

This morning, foggy and cold

Yesterday morning, cloudy and cold

Monday morning, clear and cold

That cold....

Some kind of sunset yesterday

The weather has continued in its mix of cloudy and cold or sunny and cold. Right now it is in a cold and cloudy stage, there was quite a fog this morning but it has cleared. Yesterday started the same but cleared up however that doesn't look likely today. Monday was the coldest day so far this week; it was minus three when I got up and then later, when I was driving to get the toilet (or rather, not get the toilet) it was still in the minus numbers. Yesterday I was outside with the chickens when I looked up and noticed that there was going to be a very brief beautiful sunset. I ran and got onto the roof terrace in time. Five minutes later it was completely grey again.

Chickens having breakfast, Ducks their morning swim

One duck egg, one chicken egg

This week there has been much rejoicing as the chickens have got back into their laying ways however on top of that is the first egg laid by our ducks! It is so substantially larger than the chicken eggs (we think that Kat has not restarted laying, but maybe Ginger has begun as they are small chicken eggs and don't have the same markings as before) and also much paler. How awesome. The ducks are still loving their pond, even though it is so cold, and are in and out of it loads at the moment. A decided to move the food outside to keep the inside a bit cleaner and they are all enjoying that, eating more of the corn. They still get scraps and bread though; so well fed, these birds.

And finally

This is a really early update so the one on Sunday will contain some things that will happen later on (for example, we're out for our dinner tonight).

The ghost of Father Christmas

I'll leave you with what is the strangest chocolate from my advent calendar so far this week. I have worked out that this is the ghost of Father Christmas; not a very festive thought.