Progress and a flying visit

So here is the first of the oddly-ordered updates from this week; I'm not totally sure now when the next one will come as we've become busy at the end of the week as well. Quite a lot has happened this week and even looking at the pictures I cannot remember it all but I'll do my best to piece it together.

Monday

Monday was a hot one again with a storm in the afternoon that threatened much, with lots of noise, but delivered a measly dribble of rain that didn't prevent us having to do a watering our and frankly that's the only reason you'd want to have rain in the summer.

Wide open skies giving us a show

Clouds against the setting sun

Hard at work as it gets dark, and they didn't stop

Before we go into Monday we'll briefly return to Sunday night after the blog was published and once again there was a lovely sunset which I snapped from the roof terrace. The new neighbour was working away on his house and they kept at it until well after it was dark. I also spent some time chatting to Hus from the farm about the terrible water supply, as the farm isn't getting any either which is terrible for their animals. Anyway it was nice to see him again and hopefully he'll come over and be our guest sooner rather than later.

It started off quite cloudy

A load more digging done

Lots of colours on the back bank

Bekir grouting the bathroom

Welding on some more grating

Framing for the slab

A very nice looking retaining wall

It was an overcast start and I took some advantage of that when A was out to get stuck into digging my path. I got half way to the target for this stage of path making but by the time I finished and she was back the sun had broken through and it was very hot again. We headed onto the balcony to do our exercises and while I was doing the jogging I looked across the back bank at all the meadow flowers and then went to get the camera for a picture. Inside Bekir was finishing off the grouting of the walls in the bathroom while Sally, tidying up a few partial jobs, welded the last bits to the vine arbor and made the frame for the new slab next to the porch. I also grabbed a quick picture while I was outside of the wall that had been finished next door in the night.

She's found a baby corn!

My Hibiscus looking amazing once again

Digging out a new bed for more plants

A getting the soil ready for her plants

The storm heads our way

New plants going into the ground

A very large, and not very shy, Golden Oriole

Trickling water into a watering can

A has changed her days and now gets Monday off which is great. She took the opportunity to get out into the garden. I was not able to take the day off however I could get out at lunch time to help. First of all we have A being most excited about cobs appearing on our corn, and so she should be. Then there's something that got me excited - the Hibiscus has once again bloomed and done so in a dramatic fashion; I really need to get this into a bigger pot so it can get even larger. After this I helped A out with planted the border plants she had ordered to go in the front lawn; I swung the pickaxe, something I'm getting good at, to break the ground then left her to dig over the earth and plant them out. While she was doing this there was a lot of thundering and quite a threatening sky so she was hoping to plant them before the incipient downpour. I was walking back inside after getting a picture and noticed a flash of bright yellow on a tree out the back; I dashed onto the balcony with the super zoom lens and then went downstairs to show A and we crept as close as we could to get pictures; it was a very large Golden Oriole and it flew off just as I climbed the big pile of soil trying to get closer for another picture. The threatened weather normally misses us so I also tried to fill a watering can for A and once again our water pressure was dreadful. Right now I think we have no water onto the property at all; just not good enough.

Sally starting to assemble the railings

Our funky tap for the bath

The shower is in place

A Colorado beetle on one of our potato plants

Lots of beetles collected

Not a bad haul, but not what we could have got

Bekir and Sally were both working away with their usual speed and accuracy; Sally had asked for his next job and after some discussion A and I agreed that he should do the railing to go around the top of the spiral staircase. A had been out earlier in the day with Bekir to buy the metal needed for this and so when he finished all his little tidying up jobs Sally got stuck in to assembling what we wanted. Inside Bekir was getting so close to finishing the bathroom and had rigged the tap for the bath and also mounted the shower unit. When work finished for me we headed outside to have a look around the garden and found that our open bed potatoes were being, and had been, munched by Colorado beetles! We collected any we could find and then decided to harvest all the potatoes in this bed; there was quite a good haul but it was very frustrating that they won't get the next couple of months to really get big and have a huge harvest. Now we have another job; to check all the spud towers, and our tomato and pepper plants, for these horrible creatures.

A really tasty meal

Peaceful, beautiful, relaxing

Two puppies having a biiiig yawn

Legs in the sun set

Down she goes

Distant clouds spreading wide

For dinner we had some very tasty lamb cooked in the griddle and accompanied by very fresh potatoes and the fritters that A has started to make which are amazing.  We sat out on the balcony and after the slight rain and nasty afternoon weather it was just a glorious late afternoon and evening. There was barely a sound other than the birds in the trees and hardly a breath of air and after eating I stayed out reading my book and watching the sun go down; there was some watering to be done which was very quick as the water pressure was up and that being our only evening chore at the moment we got back to the balcony with time to spare. It was amazing, though clouds were building in the distance and they did look rather big.

Tuesday

Tuesday was the day we had our very brief visitors, over for just one night before heading back to their holiday. It was, other than that, a normal day though.

The first rays of the sun shoot from behind the ridge

The Sun's rays split by a peak

Sweating from breaking rocks

The path has reached the raised bedrock

Another Colorado beetle, on a tomato plant this time

I woke so early that I was up before the sun and managed to get a number of most beautiful photographs of it rising through distant clouds. The sun was in most of the time while I was out doing my digging but I'd reached the bedrock end of the path and so was breaking it up with the pickaxe.and so when A got back with the men I was absolutely wringing with sweat. I was pleased though as I'd reached the end of the first stage of the path and could begin laying the sand, plastic, sand and stones from the following day. I had also, while out there, managed to remove another Colorado beetle from one of the new tomato plants; we're going to have to remain very vigilant for these pests.

Making sure the joins are smooth

Checking the leak, again

The chickens had been evicted

A sweeping out their house

After a lovely quick shower I went around with my camera to see what everyone was up to. Sally was out working away on the railings, grinding down and smoothing the joins from his welds while Bekir was in the bathroom making progress on the shower fitting; he'd found a small leak and was busy patching it up. A had no work in first thing and so went out to the chicken house to sweep it out and clean it and I gave her a hand with the hay before I legged it into town. I was meeting Lyubo who was helping me with the documents for the accountant which I still haven't filed. We got the fee paid which is a win but then the queue at the court was even bigger than when I went with Bekir and after twenty minutes I gave up. Today I found that that Lyubo, who had to stay as he had paperwork with a deadline to file, had waited three more hours after I left. Madness.

The bath is carefully lifted into place on styropore

First look at the shower base

A lot of weather coming our way

Look at those dragon feet

Bath in its place, with final drainage adjustments happening

Sally with one of the railings

When I got back I caught Bekir and Sally had lifted through the bath into the bathroom and Bekir was having a look at the shower base. Outside the lovely morning was slowly giving way to the threatened storm and we were crossing our fingers that it would be like Monday and pass over during the day. Good weather or bad Bekir was cracking on and he mounted the bath on the dragon feet and got it all ready to be fitted in place. The weather was closing in and while we went out to buy a drain for the bath, as it hadn't come with one and we had not realised, it began to rain and didn't stop. This did not dampen our excitement at seeing the bath in place, with a lovely drain and centred perfectly in the room; it looked incredible. Sally had also been working away but now had moved inside to avoid the rain and he was very close to completing the fabrication stage of the railings.

And now there comes something almost incomprehensible. I have no more pictures for the evening and I'm totally gutted about this. I took the men home dead on time and went straight into town to the bus station afterwards to pick up my friend and her mum who were visiting for the night. They were on time and not too frazzled after a long journey by bus and so we went straight back home so they could freshen up and see the Old School and relax. Because of the weather we were not able to do our planned BBQ so after a relaxing chat we headed down to our favourite restaurant and showed them how we eat here, away from the tourist areas. They loved it, particularly the Kavarma and the Shashlik, and we were all stuffed and happy when we got back home. The camera had gone with uis and sat on the side all through the meal but we were chattering away so much it never even crossed my mind to pick it up. As they weren't staying long we sat up quite late (for us, at least) in the end and it was after midnight when we headed to bed. It was a lovely evening though and I'm so glad they made the effort.

Wednesday

It was a short nights sleep, due to getting up to get our friends back on the bus away to the rest of their holidays, and so it's been a tired day today for both of us.Tired but exciting none the less.

Low cloud still hangs around above the parents' hotel

Sand, plastic and sand down

Sally caught me taking his picture

Second Sally scything the front grass

Bekir trying to fit the shower enclosure

We woke up and forced ourselves out of bed, knocking to wake our guests, and then made brews. We had planned to sit on the balcony but there was a really heavy fog outside and that just couldn't happen. After a quick walk around for photograph I drove them down to the bus station through the fog and got them there in plenty of time. The fog was actually just really really low lying cloud but quite quickly as the morning progressed it rose and then burned off. I was initially not feeling any love for getting out and doing any work but I dragged my lazy backside outside, shifted the last of the rubble from the digging yesterday, and was upstairs cutting up plastic when A got back with the men. They did make some comments about me not working so I went outside and put them right. I even did a bit more work after that, emptying the wheelbarrow of sand to cover the plastic sheets. I also planted out the two new chili plants I'd bought in Lidl the day before. We had an extra hand in today, to cut the long grass for hay on the front, and he is also called Sally. The first Sally was painting the railings black for us while the second Sally swung his scythe. Bekir was inside mumbling and grumbling about the chinese made shower enclosure that didn't fit together correctly. He got it done, though, with some effort.

The snail plants, flat to the ground and covered

A close up of the snails clustered on the plant

The cement wagon arrives and is watched closely

The mix starts to pour into the frame

Bekir and Second Sally work on the manhole

First Sally smooths the mix

Having to wade in to reach the back

The remainder of the mix is used to make our path by the line

Early on I went out to town with Bekir to order in the cement as he hadn't been able to get anyone by phone. This was very easy and then we headed to town to try and pick up the tiles we'd ordered over the weekend, and also get some fixings for Sally. They told us the tiles weren't in so we left and then just as I parked up at home they rang to say they'd arrived. I didn't turn right round as I had to work but said I'd be down later that day. I got a chance mid morning to go and get another chore started which was to bring some manure from the village pile so we could replant our japanese willows and while I was pushing the barrow up to the back door I spotted some plants with loads of tiny snails clinging to it. Very strange. Not long after this, just as I was on a quick phone call for work, the cement wagon came along the front lane and I went out to watch as it was unloaded and spread. We had the usual collection of watchers from the village and Bekir and Sally worked like trojans to get it all in place and smoothed over. They had ordered exactly the correct quantity for what we wanted to achieve so there was no waste at all.

Typical Thelma

Sally preparing to work on the stairs

The lights are done in the bathroom

Sisters cuddled together

Over lunch time A had a bit of a doze to catch up on the night before while I was working still and half way through Thelma came in with cement on her feet. I washed them off quickly, which she didn't enjoy, and then went to look where she had been. There was a lovely fresh set of foot prints right across Sally's nice smooth concrete outside the bathroom. She had even dug a little bit in the edge. From that point on they were confined inside until it had fully gone off. Sally spent the rest of the day looking after the cement while also getting on with his next task which is to paint the rest of the metal on the spiral staircase. He has made a start cleaning the metal down and removed the first few wooden steps. Bekir, meantime, has completely finished the bathroom including the lights and is moving on down the corridor with the final electrical touches. I'd popped out quickly mid afternoon and got the tiles for the splashback so these are also ready for him. I made a start on this update while the men were finishing up and the puppies finally came in while I was typing and fell asleep together, both with their balls next to them. So cute!

A enjoying a sunny evening

The BBQ gets going

Thelma peeking over the edge of the balcony wall

And now stood on the wall

A spread fit for a king

Parrot Louise showing off her tongue

The men were ready to leave at the usual time and, as is normal when there's an extra person in the car, it was a talkative trip back. I got home to find the BBQ lit and A making up some coleslaw for the side and while she was in the kitchen part of Room 13 I typed on the blog but as soon as she was done we both went onto the balcony to cook our dinner and enjoy the sun which had come out very nicely. Thelma was acting a bit strange and kept looking over the wall of the balcony and jumping up on top as well and when we let her out the back she immediately grabbed her ball and brought it back in; she is so single minded. It was a bit breezy at times and there were some threatening clouds in the far distance but dinner was in no way effected and it was a really lovely BBQ, with A's superb home made burgers. Afterwards as is traditional the puppies came to see us and Louise did her parrot impression, sitting on our shoulders, before jumping down to hunt for scraps. We finished our beer and then I came in to do this while A went outside to do the watering round.

Night night all

And that is that. While I've been typing the sun has been going down behind me and I've been checking it out every now and then. Just now, just as it disappeared, I went onto the roof terrace to get a final shot for the blog as there just weren't enough before (that made it 69 in this update). I do not know when I'll be back, maybe not til Saturday morning, as we're out tomorrow night and Friday night now. Cheers for reading.