Some of the promised rain

Back round to this typing thing again and doesn't it come round fast; It's been a busy couple of days and I've even got another video for you of the bagga machine, though it was in a bit of a scrape and not really where I wanted it to be. You'll have to wait and see about that though.

Monday

It's hard to believe that this was only yesterday; it feels like months ago. I've a few pictures to go through, though, so hopefully I won't miss much.

A damp balcony for the morning

Doesn't the Old School look pretty!

Channeling for power into the island

The breaker gets back to work

A very delicate operation to balance across the trench

Sally flies through the plastering

The day dawned dark and it stayed that way through the morning, though fortunately the rain which feel very early, just before A got back with the men, didn't stay for long. I did my watering round and chores and then A was taking the men shopping for more pipes in the morning so she was quite late back. I was just sat at my desk working away, even though it was a bank holiday, when I heard the digger driver coming along the lane so popped down to get a picture. I was able to take a picture looking back up towards the building, looking beautiful but once again sat in a destructive building site. Inside Bekir had the newly fixed SDS and was channeling out for the power in the platform which will run several plugs on the back of the island. Sally was up on his platform getting a move on with plastering in the kitchen. I had asked them to focus on this room and leave the nook and dining room until afterwards.

Power for the island plugs

The huge caterpillar nest

A bit later on I went down to see what was going on and found the channel finished and the cables all run and held down with plasterboard cement. It is very exciting to see these steps happening as it means we are getting close. Not fast enough, mind; I really wanted to be here when the kitchen was actually fitted but that is looking less likely now. I went outside to chat to the digger driver after this and looked over at the plum tree that Sally had saved and replanted last year after the snow. I thought "that looks a bit bare" and then noticed a huge, and I mean huge, caterpillar next hanging from one of the branches and the entire thing was covered in the black hairy creatures munching away. I have some treatment left over from the rest of the orchard so I sprayed it immediately; that is definitely not what we want to have on our land. Afterwards I realised I could have brushed them all off into a bucket and burned it but I didn't think of that until later. Not very "green" but I'm learning.

It was just around lunchtime that I went out to look for Bekir to pay him and caught the digger drivers trying to rescue themselves from a catastrophe. I had watched earlier as he carefully balanced himself over the trench and thought "that looks a bit risky" and my fears had come true as the ground had collapsed and the digger and fallen over, taking the chicken enclosure gate, and one of the fence posts, with it. I shouted to A and we went and stood on the balcony and I videod them using the crane on the truck to lift the digger and get it in its tracks again. Bekir fixed up the gate quickly with a twist of wire and it's all OK, at least no birds were injured.

"Stop taking pictures of me!"

The digger and breaker working together

Bekir using the SDS to channel for the plumbing

New wide angle attachment results in a ring

There was one part of the building that there wasn't time to finish off before Ivan and the boys had to leg it, which was the area underneath the picture window in the nook. A had a bit of time, and the sun was out, so she got a brush out and filled it in with a first coat. It'll need one more but she did a great job. Outside the digger and breaker were working really hard to catch up on time (they'd also had a breakdown on the hydromek which wasted an hour or so in the morning) but this time the digger was working from the side and not risking trying to balance. Inside Bekir was working on the plumbing, finally, getting the channels for all the pipes (two sinks, two drains and one extra tap for drinking water) big enough. Sally was still plastering and making excellent progress as always. It came time to do the daily photograph and A had a go with the wide angle adapter we had bought. It does the job but only attaches with a macro adapter which leaves a ring around the edge of the picture; very strange. Oh well, it'll be great for while I'm away and maybe I can find another adapter that won't cause the ring.

The digger gets ready to do a bit more on the basketball court

And finally spreads the sand into piles next to the completed trench

Sally is started on the second section of the kitchen

Bekir is back doing his favoured work; plumbing

The grass just won't stop growing

This job will certainly get me fit eventually

Towards mid afternoon I needed to get away from my desk so I went outside to cut the grass. The digger driver was just heading up onto the top bank to finish up the basketball court work which he did for a few minutes before coming back down again. His final task before leaving was to distribute the sand I had bought into piles next to the trench to make it easier when we come to lay the pipes. Inside Sally had done the ceiling and the wall for the first section of the room and was starting above the door in the next while Bekir was putting pipes in place and smiling while he was working; he's much more comfortable with plumbing than electrics. I pushed my lanwmower for a bit, eventually taking the grass collector off and just allowing the grass to stay on the lawn as I wasn't really able to get the cuttings to the chickens, and by the time I finished I was pretty exhausted. For dinner we had a lovely fish and the awesome cabbage parcels that are a local delicacy and then we watched the final episode of Gormneghast before heading to bed, both of us tired from the day.

Tuesday

Today has been a day very similar to yesterday in that it feels like it lasted forever. We're both really wanting the kitchen completed and now it's so close it seems to be dragging a bit. Either that or the changeable weather is effecting us.

Raining and blue skies first thing

Heavy cloud the next minute

And again about ten minutes later; beautiful low clouds with sun

I had a good nights sleep until 4am when Louise cried to go out and after that I didn't really sleep until after A got up to let them in, about 6. I even shut the bedroom door so I couldn't hear them but things were bouncing around in my mind and I just wasn't able to drop off. I lay listening to the rain, which normally helps me sleep, but this time it didn't. When I finally woke up, just before A was heading to get the men, it was still raining but there was also bright sunshine. Unfortunately I couldn't see a rainbow but I did get some snaps to show just how changeable it was at that time in the morning. Because of the rain I didn't have to do any watering and I  just got stuck straight into working and didn't get to move much all day with the really difficult problem I was working on.

Sally putting the first coat on the next section of ceiling

Bekir in the utility room

A was again down to the shop with Bekir to pick up some plumbing supplies and when she got back the puppies heard her driving up onto the top bank and finally got themselves out of bed where they hadn't moved since I got up. Shocking. I don't have many pictures of this morning as I was not away from my desk but I took some around mid morning when it was coffee time. Sally was flying through the next section of plastering while Bekir was in the utility room working away at the complex of pipes that we are asking him to fit. We'll have the washing machine in here and also a separate drain just in case of floods. Also a boiler, a pump to increase the pressure from the roof storage tank and the electric distribution box. It's a busy and complicated little space.

A drilled out lock

Some big piles of cloud over that way

Pipes in the wall

I got to about 3pm and decided I was battered by beating my head against the problem I was trying to fix for work so I took myself to bed for a bit of a lie down. I had just dropped off when a really loud drilling woke me and A came through to say the window people were back to fix the doors. I dragged myself out of bed and watched as they had to drill the lock out for the back door and then fitted a new one and then asked them how the new garage door worked and had that explained. After this I took myself back to bed and finally dozed on and off for about 40 minutes. I struggled to wake up after that and wandered around a bit like a zombie, donig odd jobs to help A out, and continuing to mull over the problem at work in my head. The afternoon had turned out OK though there was still a lot of cloud around and some threatening ones in the distance. Fortunately they have stayed their distance; we do not want hail. I noticed at one point that Bekir wasn't quite plumbing things the way I wanted but I caught it before it caused a problem and wasted much time or any materials, though now tomorrow I'll be going shopping with him for a few more connectors, and our new pump.

A very threatening, and awesome, looking cloud

The evening was a beautiful one

Then it was time to take the men which went without a hitch and I drove back thinking and then had an awesome conversation with A which I'm saying no more about now. I headed in from the balcony to start on this while dinner was being prepared but didn't end up doing that much before we ate an excellent chili con carne. The weather had continued to threaten and just as I got back from dropping the men the sky was really dark and looked nasty but by the time we'd stopped eating this storm had also disappeared and it was a lovely clear night.

So there you are; it's time for me to go and read for a bit before heading to bed. Night all.