So much progress it's almost overwhelming

The title of this post is a quote from A yesterday and it really does sum up how it felt yesterday as so much happened so suddenly. I've a fair few pictures to go through so without any further delay...

Wednesday

After last week's storms it seems the weather has shifted and we're now being treated to the kinds of temperatures that we want to have. It's been two lovely days of glorious sunshine. So much has happened as well.

First thing we saw in the morning

A glorious orange glow before the sun appeared

The sun arrives, what a show

They just wanted to be inside in the warm

Sassy out relaxing

The morning's progress at shoveling

The day dawned with a beautiful sunrise and we were both up and about in plenty of time to see it. With the clocks changing the sunrise is occurring slightly later in terms of the hour though pretty soon it will be well before our alarm call once again. It was so warm on Sunday night that I slept with the balcony door on tilt for the first time this year. A was on the sofa, sadly, but she came in to join me in the morning. The puppies were with her in the night and then when we were out on the balcony they dived inside and went back to bed. They are far worse than us at wanting lie ins. I was back to my shoveling while A collected the workmen and I almost got the area covered that I had aimed for. I'm not here to completely tire myself out though so when A got back I stopped shifting soil.

Clouds seen past the oak tree

Insulation plus skim

Scraping paint, and cobwebs, off the walls

Sally starting to put cement on the utility room walls

Chipping the channel out to take the armoured cable, and other power

Superb dippy duck eggs

A bit of cloud came across after the sun rose but it stayed away from us mainly. There was still a nip in the air when the breeze came but certainly you could feel it warmer than the previous few days. While on the balcony I took a detail picture of the exposed edge of the insulation showing the different layers that have been built up. In the kitchen Okhtay started clearing the next wall of loose paint and plaster while Sally moved into the utility room to put the cement on the walls to straighten them up. Bekir took up where he left off on Tuesday and chipped out the channel for the black armoured cabled that will bring power to the kitchen from the main switch. I was working and so A offered to make breakfast of dippy duck eggs and they were superb. I love having fresh eggs all the time.

Working out the drop for the drainpipes

A bit of painting inside the windows

The men now take the scaffold down

Glowing in the sun

Outside there were several things happening at once. Ivan wanted to get the scaffold moved today so he was getting the last tasks done that absolutely needed the scaffold to complete, like putting back the temporary downpipes. These will be moved later in the year so we can collect our rainwater but for now they will just drain over the patio. A couple of the men took the opportunity to get some more paint on around the windows while this was happening. As soon as this was done they started dismantling and moving the sections around to the corner of the building where it was going to be put back up for the next bit of the job. I took the opportunity to step back and get a picture with the sun shining on the front wall; it glows exactly how we wanted it to.

The window people arrive

Fitting the bathroom window

Starting to remove the old wooden hatch

Wrenching the beam away from the wall

Grinding away surplus tiles

Hatch in, checking out the fit is good

Frosted glass bathroom window

Garage door in place

THE HATCH! And yes, I am that excited!

It was about now that the true excitement for the day began and I was truly excited all day because of this; the window people arrived and they came bringing everything to finish the job, including the hatch above the spiral staircase! The first job for them was to fit the bathroom window while Bekir went and removed the wooden temporary hatch. I helped him with this and he had a bit of trouble getting the wooden beam out as the bolts had threaded a bit. We then discovered that the hatch was square and so he had to grind out the tiles and chip some concrete to get it to sit in correctly but in the end this has turned out better. Downstairs they got the window fitted and then the new interior door from the back corridor into the garage and finally they were ready to fit the hatch. There was a bit of fettling as it wasn't quite square at first but eventually the frame was fitted, the windows were attached, and the handle situation was resolved. All of this before lunch time. No wonder I was bouncing off the walls.

Rambo watches as the scaffold is removed

Thelma waiting for me to throw her ball

Scaffold is re-erected in its new position

The fascia is revealed

Lunch for Bekir, Sally and Okhtay

Other progress was by no means halted by the arrival of the window people. The men were continuing to take the scaffold apart and shift it around the side of the building where it was already rising anew. I spent some time throwing the ball for Thelma which she really enjoyed and then it was back inside to work for a bit more. The removal of the scaffold allowed me to take pictures of the wall without metal in the way, and with the sun full on the face. Doesn't it look lovely? Just around lunch time I headed into town to see Venko as he had fixed one of my guitars and as I left I snapped a picture of the BBQ that Sally and Okhtay were watching, much to their amusement. I also had to get a heat gun to help remove the really old labels on the windows that were supposed to only be on for 6 weeks and are now about 2 years old in places. I headed past the obshtina to inform them of Lucy being sold and the lady at the desk offered to fill the forms out for me. Imagine that - helpful council staff! What a place. Venko was on form as always and I had a lovely visit with him. The old lift was broken when I arrived so we had to walk up the stairs to his loft workshop but when we left the engineer was just finishing the repair so we chatted with him for a bit before going back down. My guitar looked better than when it was new!

The scaffold is up on the next face

And all the way around the side to the back

Louise having a good sniff about

She found this lovely butterfly, already dead sadly

Such a beautiful thing

Sally has nearly done the utility room

Lots going on in the kitchen

Naked face

When I got back I found that the scaffold had been erected all along the final front part of the building, round the side by the lab room and then onto the back wall. They were measuring up to work out how much more they would need to reach the corner and so an additional scaffold order has been sent in. As I was watching this I saw Louise sniffing around something on the ground so I went to see what it was and found an (already dead when she found it) beautiful butterfly on the floor. What a shame this gorgeous creature died but that's nature, I suppose. Inside progress was also impressive and Sally had near enough finished inside the utility room. Bekir and Okhtay were working together in the main kitchen with the scraping and channeling progressing fast. I went out to get a picture of the front of the building without the sun shining on it, and without the covering of the scaffold. Check out the richness of that colour.

Chilling on the balcony with a beer and the puppies

She loves this toy very much

The sisters cuddling as they play

A beautiful sunset

I did a few chores before taking the men home including emptying the humanure buckets. We really are filling these up very quickly with all these people here but that's only to be expected. As an experiment I weighed each bucket and found one was 26.5kg and the other was 28kg! Over 50kg being emptied in twice a week at the moment. I'm going to need a bigger outside collection point. Ivan had taken down all the details for the kitchen units we need making and so he called the carpenter up and explained what we want. As I suspected he will need to see the sinks (as they are odd sizes) so these will go back with Chaz this weekend. It sounds like it'll be a quick turn around though. It was not long after this that I took the men home and when I got back I found A was on the balcony with a beer and playing with the puppies. Fair play, it had been a gorgeous day and such was a good way to end it. The sun set in a blaze of glory and we settled down a superb meal of spanish style pork chops with potatoes baked in herbs and butter. Lovely. It was an early night for us all as we were all pretty shattered and I for one fell pretty much straight asleep.

Thursday

Ahhh this morning. After such an early night we were awakened by the puppies early and after that couldn't really get back to sleep.

The first sight of sun this morning

Glowing in the morning sun

A little more soil has been spread

She is covered in muck

It was another glorious morning, though still chilly, and just as the sun was about to come up we took our brews out onto the balcony to enjoy it, and get some photographs. I went back in pretty much straight away as I was feeling the cold which is unusual for me. Shortly afterwards A headed off to get the men and I went out to do my morning shoveling chore. The sun was shining brightly on the front wall as I went so I grabbed a picture then went on and shoveled. Again I struggled this morning as I was feeling tired and I was just calling it a day when A came back with the men; good timing. I think I'll take tomorrow off from this to let my muscles rest from the unaccustomed work. I was joined outside all the time by Thelma, Louise and Rambo with Thelma's ball. Rambo was quite good and didn't chase it but Thelma got completely filthy; she was so happy!

Scraping the old render off

Just a bit dangerous,but it's holding so far

Widening the window

The men had come out while I was digging and got started scraping and preparing the wall. The lower reaches had been removed earlier so this was a quicker task than the first time round. Further along Asen was chipping away around the edges of the window as when it was fitted it had been put too far into the wall and the insulation would get in the way of the fly screens. The health and safety aspect of Bulgaria was once again clearly demonstrated as they've just used some wire to secure one hanging end. It was wobbling a bit but has stayed up so that's all that matters.

The front path needs sweeping a bit, huh

The new flowers are planted down the sides

Rambo watching me work

Bekir up his ladder working away

Okhtay removing wall waste

I was having a late start with work as I was waiting for a colleague to start, UK time, so when A went into town for her shopping trip, almost straight after dropping the men, I went back outside and planted out some of the flowers we had bought for the front entrance. It didn't take that long and they look lovely. I can't wait for all of these to flower at the same time next year. I just need a few more of these and the entire run will be complete. Rambo was watching me as I worked and I caught him tilting his head as I called his name. Inside Bekir was getting stuck into the wiring run while Okhtay cleaned up from where he had previously scraped the walls. It's starting to look really awesome in there.

A big silly grin from Louise

Two vans arrive at once

It looked (and sounded) like this van was about to snap

The telephone engineers removing the junction box

I was just going down to get coffee for the men when I heard A driving along the front and so I went to wait by the driveway while holding Louise to stop her throwing herself in front of the car. She was so happy to see A and jumped out of my arms and into the truck before A could even get out. Ivan was stalking around like a wounded animal as the materials order, due for delivery yesterday and then following a phone call "early this morning", still had not arrived. It is probably the biggest issue with the region we live in; sometimes the service is a bit lax. Eventually the van turned up and ground its way across the patio sounding like it was about to break in two at any moment. Another white van arrived with it which I thought was with the delivery people but it turned out to be the guys from Bulgarian Telephone who had finally, after two years of asking, come to remove the junction box from the back of the house. I was by this time really busy at work so A went to get pictures of this. They were just in time as we were going to remove it ourselves today anyway.

The Old School starting to look New

Bekir using a saw to remove the window

Bricking up the gap

I must admit to being quite excited by the way the building is beginning to look, as I'm sure you can understand, and today was no exception. The colour of sky, roof and wall works together so well. Back to progress there was a window we wanted bricking up (having already bought a new window for it; a mistake but we're changing our minds all the time) so Bekir helped by removing the window before it was bricked up with some good quality heavy breeze blocks. It was only while watching Bekir work that I realised the windows are only held in with spray foam.

Pasty white legs exposed for the first time this year

Making the most of this lovely weather

A small visitor

Insulation is applied up past the windows

Another visitor

It really was turning into an absolutely glorious day and for lunch I went and changed into shorts for the first time this year. And still only March. A was also dressed for summer and was sat on the back bank with the puppies enjoying the sun so I went to join her for a bit. It was lovely up there, though Rambo was doing his heavy breathing a bit which was a little annoying. We did get him to sit and relax eventually, while rubbing his stomach. With the window bricked up the insulation application sped on and they started to move up past the first windows. A bit later on I was back at my desk when I was called down to assist in capturing a rogue chicken that had got onto the land somehow. Louise "helped" a bit but eventually A caught it and released it over the fence, much to Rambo's frustration.

Thelma with her big tongue out to cool down

All the puppies enjoying the sun

The first ice cream of the year

Chaz with Rambo

It really was such a lovely day and I was getting frustrated being stuck inside through it but towards the end of the afternoon I got stuck and was able to take half an hour on the top bank in the sun with A on a blanket. It was lovely, though the wind was starting to pick up and  when we went in it had started gusting quite badly. The puppies were all loving the weather but feeling the heat, Rambo in particular, though Thelma chasing her ball continually got quite warm as well. A was really enjoying her day off and at one point brought me an ice cream; the first of the year as well. Chaz had called to say he was coming over today and he arrived mid afternoon and after a bit of a chat and a stroll around he sat and enjoyed the weather while playing with Rambo.

Insulation moves past the second windows

Sally finishing off over the hatch

Channels for the plug sockets

Evidence of sweeping out of the kitchen

It was nearly time to take the men so I did a quite sweep round to see the current status. Outside the insulation wasn't quite done on this wall, which is a shame, but they are working one man down as one of the team had to go home for the weekend. Inside Sally was doing his usual of working around fixing small issues and he'd spotted the bricked up hatch that needed finishing over. Bekir was chipping and hammering away, following an afternoon conversation about plug and light switch locations in the dining room, and Okhtay was still scraping and tidying as he went.

Bubbling away nicely

Wide open sky as the sun sets

The sun has gone, but the glow remains

The first of two platefuls I ate

The journey home was pretty simple, with a few laughs along the way, and when I got back I found that our guests had popped out. This was a concern as Chaz was cooking for us this evening but shortly afterwards he appeared and started working away on a Thai Green curry. It was huge, for the four of us, and had to be cooked in the paella dish in the end. When it came to serving up time I ended up running backwards and forwards to Room 13 to get the camera and then to change lenses as the sunset was amazing. The food matched it and as I type this I'm full as I had seconds on top of that plateful in the picture!

So there you are. We've had the final windows installed, the first wall of the building is (very nearly) finished for insulation and painting, and the weather is changing towards summer. Two weeks today our first guests arrive as well; the rush continues.