Men are back

We're slowly getting back towards a more regular update schedule I think, as stuff starts to happen again, now spring has sprung. I'm updating today because we have Chaz and Ivan coming tomorrow however I probably would have done an update anyway, as today we had workmen back in for the first time this year. Of course I also need to update about yesterday so I'll just get on with it now.

Monday

Monday was an extra day in the year, what with it being a leap year - bad planning I reckon to have an extra Monday; surely a Saturday would be preferable.

The sun goes, but there isn't much of a show

Slight hints of salmon in the clouds

Another glorious morning

Lunch of nardenitsa with onions

The farmer with Josie and his new puppy

We'll start with a quick shot of the late evening sky on Sunday as the sun went down behind the ridge. The sunset promised much with some beautiful colours opposite however there were not enough clouds sun-wards to make a display over there. Come Monday morning and it was another glorious start to the day with a super bright sun (I had to really be careful taking this picture) shining over the river mist in the valley. The entire day was working for both of us so there isn't much to say about this stage however at lunch I made myself a dish that I used to eat all the time; nardenitsa fried up with onions on fresh bread. I blogged about it as well so check out the recipe and instructions. It was very tasty. I also got out to do some chores and managed to succeed at all of them; I arranged for the window people to come measure for the final windows, paid the taxes on the trailer and got the preglet done for Thomas. While I was out taking the daily photograph (I've still not missed a day) the farmer came past with Josie (previously known as "the rat dog" on these pages) and his other two fluffy puppies which are the ones that Louise was playing with and he's got ANOTHER puppy, I tiny black one. I only had the wide angle lense on so the picture isn't great but it is very cute.

Rambo enjoying the sun

The lawn before I cut it

I'm not faking that effort; it was hard work

The lawn looks so much better after it is finished

I got blisters on my blisters

Very grateful fowl

Towards the end of the day the internet went down and so I took the excuse to head outside. It was such a lovely day and I was frustrated at being stuck inside. I pulled the lawnmower out and started to push it over half the lawn. Now I love this lawnmower and I'm so happy with the result it gives but it isn't half hard work. I was gasping by the end of this work out and decided to leave the other half to another day. It does look very much improved after it is done though so the satisfaction level is high. The chickens and ducks also appreciated the three wheelbarrow loads of cut grass I dumped in for them.

Louise waiting before coming back to chase the lawnmower

Some flowers growing in the tortoise garden

Onion leaves cut from the winter growth

A lovely evening again

Thelma destroying her bone

Louise was most amusing while I was pushing the lawnmower around she was chasing it like she does the brush when I'm sweeping. Thelma was just totally focused on her stick as usual. After I finished I had a closer look in the tortoise garden and saw more flowers coming up! A was out with her scissors harvesting some onion leaves from our winter onions as she was making champ to go with some pork with mushroom sauce. It was an absolutely gorgeous meal, really tasty, and the puppies both loved the bones they got afterwards.

Tuesday

On Monday I had emailed the building firm who were supposed to start the basketball court a few weeks ago and sent a very simple email: "When can you start?". I received a reply almost immediately saying "tomorrow" so it was with a bit of excitement, and some nerves, that I woke up today.

Puppies huddling in front of the fire first thing

A really miserable start to the day

WE HAVE BUILDERS!!!

Rambo is super pleased they are back as well

Checking out the windows

Digging, by hand, for the basketball court

A didn't sleep well, and I think actually neither did I though first thing this morning I wasn't really aware as I felt fine, mostly down to the puppies trying to get into bed and disturbing us; it's getting close to putting them in the cage over night time I think. Anyway, I let A get a good lie in and got the fire going and got on with my work quite early. Sadly it was raining quite heavily and so I started to think we'd not see the men today however after A had got up, quite a bit later than expected, they arrived. We'd had a visit from a builder the day before who had pootled up on his scooter about 5pm to check out the task however this chap didn't arrive, it was Nikolai and the friendly one (I really do need to find out his name) and of course they brought a little present for Rambo who was chuffed to bits with it. The two tasks I've given this firm are finishing off the insides of the windows in Sassy's room and getting the basketball court done. The got stuck in straight away and start cleaning around the sides of the windows however after a short while Nikolai came to get me so we could measure out the basketball court and he could start on that. After some discussion I think I managed to get him to understand the job (though the quote from his boss should have explained it to him really) and he set to digging out a 16m x 16m half-basketball court. By hand. At this rate I may get it done by next year.

A messy mop of hair

Half done, and feeling better already

Shall I keep the mohican?

Nah, get rid of it all

A huge pile of hair

By lunch time I was starting to feel quite down for some reason, maybe due to the struggles I was having explaining to Nikolai what the basketball court should look like. As it is on a slope I think the bottom (where he has started digging) is going to have to have the slab up above the ground and then at the top they're going to need to dig out into the bedrock and it will actually be partially sunken. It's hard to communicate this when your Bulgarian is as bad as mine. I drew a picture and I think he understood but yeah. I was also very surprised that he had pulled out a shovel and started digging by hand; I expected the digger machine to come in and strip off this top soil in an hour or so. Anyway, to make myself feel better, and because it was really doing my head in, I decided that March 1st is a good day to remove the winter plumage and pulled the clippers out to remove my hair. We had some fun, first of all shaving a mohican in, but I removed this and now am back to normal and feeling cleaner. There was a LOT of hair to take off!

Saharan sand on Julian

Thelma leaping for the ball

So happy playing with her ball

Super long tongue on Thelma

After this I took myself off to have a sleep and rested for a bit; I woke up when I smelt toast so I dragged myself out of bed and made a butty. A suggested some sunshine might cheer me up and indeed by this time the sun had come out. We took ourselves onto the balcony and it really did help. One strange thing I noticed as soon as I went onto the balcony was lots of sand all over the place, even down settled on Julian and Thomas. A said she'd read about a huge sandstorm that had occurred in the Sahara so this must have fallen with the rain in the morning. Amazing. We were out with the puppies as well and throwing the ball for Thelma who was having a great time chasing it. She's so athletic. Louise does get involved but she is still far less interested than Thelma. We threw it so much that Thelma started getting tired; what a huge tongue she has!

Lasagne with home made coleslaw and duck eggs

The afternoon ended up being really busy. We had a local expat come past with a potential worker to look at doing the insulation in the roof space that we had started a few months ago and got bored of doing. He seemed like a good chap but I think I want to talk to Bekir first. While they were here the window people arrived to measure up and I showed them some of the issues, including the badly put together door to the balcony that has gaps in it. I've got to drop down to see them tomorrow to get a quote on the final three windows and then I'll ask them to come and fit them as soon as possible. Once our visitors had all gone I dropped down to the builders merchant to buy more stuff. I needed some wood to make a sleeping platform for the exterior insulation workers, some wood to use to put the suspended ceiling in, primer for that suspended ceiling wood (that was fun to explain but we got there) and more strip wood to use for batons. It was a longer trip out than I expected as I had to wait to get served but very successful and tomorrow I'll have that delivery arrive. Then it was time to work more, than when the day was over I went out with A to do the watering round and sit and enjoy being out in our front garden. I sat and looked at everything in sight, paying attention to each leaf and each flower, letting the joy of the place slowly seep back into me after the meh day I'd had. The icing on the cake was A cooking a fantastic lasagne which I've just finished, just beautiful.

And so there you are, we are back in business with workmen and progress. I'm not sure how often I'll post (there definitely won't be one tomorrow) but it feels like it's picking up. I spoke to Bekir today and there is a chance that they will be back full time from next Monday which is incredibly exciting.