Kitchen Rush

It's been such a busy two days with my paid work again; they're treating me so badly that I probably shouldn't be working this hard but I've got pride in my work so I keep at it. It doesn't help me with getting this blog underway early so I can avoid disruption to my evenings either. Never mind.

Wednesday

Clouds in the far west

Looking north and more clouds

Actually before I talk about Wednesday after I finished the blog on Tuesday I went out onto the balcony to get some night shots of the clouds. They were amazing. So there you have them. I have played with these a little bit in photoshop to bring the clouds out clearer, but this process has actually brought the shots nearer to what I saw on the night as well.

Not a very clear morning

Ceiling above the kitchen

Pipes in the utility room

The new hydrofor

The pipes are now covered in cement

So Wednesday dawned after a relatively good nights sleep for both of us I think and it was no longer clear; there was a really heavy fog and everything outside was damp. This was a good thing for me as it meant I didn't have to do any watering. I was stuck into work pretty quickly and didn't do many chores and A got the men with no dramas. They were continuing in the kitchen with Sally on the ceiling with the plaster and Bekir working on the plumbing in the utility room. About 9am I headed into town with Bekir to pick up the hydrofor pump for the utlity room and we got a few other supplies as well following a few changes I made. Unfortunately these weren't the final changes and later on I had to go out with him again as we decided against having the washing machine receiving water from the pump. With all these things sorted out Bekir got on with filling in the channeling in the kitchen wall which contains our water pipes so that is now set and changes will be very hard to do.

Threatening clouds over the beautifully painted Old School

Another couple of shelves up in the living room

It makes such a difference to have it plastered

Just after the best of the sunset had occurred

Last light on the hills above the parents' hotel

The day had cleared up a bit from earlier and the sun had come out however there were still lots of very threatening clouds around. As per usual they all missed us. In the afternoon I took a break from my work to put up another couple of shelves in the living room so now we have more space for plants in there. Then it was time to take the men home and what a great job they had done, Sally's work in particular is making a huge difference right now. As we were driving back it started raining so that caused some amusement as normally it's always dry in their village. The evening was spent eating my awesome Spicy Pork Pasta and then watching a film before heading to bed. The sun came out for a very brief show as it went down and then the stars were out as well which was nice just before bed.

Thursday

I had quite a bad nights sleep in the end. I slept well until I was disturbed by the puppies at just before 4am and that was it for me for the night. A did let me have a lie in, and brought me a brew to bed as well, which was massively appreciated but I just couldn't drop back off again. Frustrating but that's life.

Making a start by breaking up a large rock

A layer of sand spread in the trench

Next soil on top

And the pipes are connected together

Sally plastering over the pipe wall

And very quickly onto the next wall as well

When I did finally get up, while A was out getting the men, I did a few chores and put some washing on and had just sat down when they got back. It was another chilly day today so we lit the fire in Room 13 as the puppies were raging at how cold it was. Bekir had brought a helper along today, Hussain, as his job was to work outside and get the pipes for the drainage laid and covered over. It had been mentioned that the digger may be out later to push the rocks in place and clear up so that was hopeful. First of all Bekir had to break up some large lumps of stone that had fallen back into the trench and then he set about actually laying the pipework. Inside Sally was back at it with his plastering tool working on the rest of the walls in the kitchen area. The reason for the rush is we have arranged for the kitchen people, baring problems, to come out next Wednesday to fit the new kitchen so we need this all to be completed by then. And tomorrow is a public holiday. Typical.

The pipe is level and correct

Keeping the slope the same was very difficult

All covered and not moving any more

New catch with old wire to the right

As I say both of us were very much stuck at our desks all day today and I didn't even really get to take a lunch break. I did pop out to get the washing in just before lunch but found that Bekir had laid the pipe and was thinking about covering it and he hadn't called me to check the drop. I dashed inside, got my phone with the leveling app on it, asked A to do the washing, and spent the next twenty minutes walking along the pipe and getting them to prop it up so the minimum drop across the whole length was 2%. This took some time and resulted in the pipe being about 20 or 30 cm higher at the feed end but at least it's correct now. With this done they began to secure the pipes height all along by shoving sand in and packing it down. By the end of the day they had just about completed this task along the whole length so maybe on Monday the digger will come to finish it off. Bekir did take a minute or two out of the day to put a new catch on the chicken enclosure gate so we don't have a bent piece of wire there any more. It wasn't a very nice day for them to be working outside today, to be fair, as it has drizzled on and off and the wind has been quite amazing. The lid on Sassy's box, weighted down with metal, blew off taking the weights with it and landing on the ground! Fortunately so far there has been no damage that I've seen so fingers crossed that stays the case.

And so there it is; a super fast update for once, which is lovely. It was planned for us to go out tonight for food but neither of us was in the mood so pizzas were eaten on the sofa in true, rare, slobbing fashion. Tomorrow is a holiday day and our plans are very much dependent on the weather but you'll find out all about our weekend on Sunday. Cheers.