It's a whole new year

Well here we are, 2017 and still struggling to type it correctly. I haven't even had to write the date by hand yet so that whole drama is still to come. This'll probably be another long one (lots has been going on) so I'm going to get started and see how far I get at a sitting - I'm not really feeling the love for typing this up as I start off but it won't do itself so onwards and upwards. (There has been a two day break between typing this paragraph, and the first one below. I just decided against forcing myself to type so I stopped...)

The Snow Arrived

Our wishes for the snow to hold off so we could get down to our (paid for) favourite restaurant for New Years Eve did not work out - New Years Eve we had snow all day and the tough decision was made to not risk the drive down. This ended up proving to be the right decision, but more on that later.

Quite a snowy start to the day

Thelma chasing snowballs as if they were real balls

Louise joining in, before she decided she wanted to go inside

Rambo catches a snowball

It had snowed quite heavily in the night to give a good covering but then it just kept going all day. By the time we went outside to throw snowballs around and play with the puppies and Rambo the decision to not go anywhere had been firmly made. We were invited to the neighbours anyway so we just suggested that we would stay there longer and they were very happy about this. We had a whole lot of fun throwing snow for Thelma to chase, and Rambo to catch, while Louise enjoyed it for a while then decided she wanted to go inside into the warmth - she is not the stupid one, that one.

The dinosaur grabs a bite of some meat

Salad starter with boar meat from the hills behind our place

Usmivka, The Little Lady, the grandson and Special One

The granddaughter presents the bread

Usmivka showing us his moves

Illuminated by a firework from the neighbours

Lots of fireworks and lots of smoke

We headed over to the neighbours at about 6pm and were ushered into their new front room where we spent the evening. The food that they laid on was incredible and it just kept coming - we were stuffed before we left. The grandson was in the room almost all the time and had a lot of fun with his toy dinosaur. The granddaughter didn't sit with us all that much but she was very involved in serving food and bringing things to the table. We had some visitors from around the village including the kmet which was really lovely and the TV had dance music (Turkish dance music) playing most of the night which dragged Usmivka to his feet a couple of times. We headed home about 10.30 or so as we were pretty exhausted and we were actually in bed before midnight however the eruption of fireworks in the valley made Louise begin to fret quite badly which woke us up. I took the opportunity to get onto the balcony to get photographs of the show, though the exposure was quite long so most didn't come out at all. The neighbours were putting some fireworks up as well and one of them illuminated just as I took the picture. After this we were back to sleep again, Louise finally calm, and it was the New Year!

Sassy sat out in the snow

A very wintry scene indeed

The School looking lovely in the snow

A is breaking up the ice for the ducks

All broken up and they had a swim later

It continued snowing over night and there was even more snow the next morning. This proved that if we had managed to get down to the restaurant the night before in Thomas then we would never have got down to get him back in Pat; the correct call had been made. We headed outside into the snow to see how it looked and while we were out A went and broke up the ice for the ducks They like to have a swim even in this weather and get rather irritated if they can't get into the pond. Bless them.

A getting over towards the sliding zone

Rambo really loves the snow

Thelma also loves the snow - Louise, less so

A drip falling from an icicle off the balcony

Snow right up my t-shirt and down my trousers

It was then time for the moment that we have been waiting all winter for - sledding! We took the new metal sled, as well as our bum sleds from last year, round to the slope that has proven best for sliding down and I got the camera set up to capture the first ever slide on the proper sled. Sadly the snow proved too shallow for this so we reverted to bum sleds and much fun was had. We almost reached the back of the flat roof building at our furthest slide. Rambo was being his usual bouncy self and getting in the way a bit but then he snapped at Louise and was put away. This is most unlike him and while it wasn't a very serious attempt to bite it was 100% more than he should do! It was such fun being out there however I got snow all down inside my trousers which was very cold indeed. Great fun all round though.

The sun begins to burn through and reveal shadows

A beautiful view across the valley

Snowy perfection

The village across the valley, shrouded in mist

Atmospheric shot of the cleft across the valley

A smoke haze from heating fires hangs over our local town

The day draws to an end

It really was an absolutely gorgeous day. After our sledding session we came in and I did the washing up and watched the sun burn through the overcast, the shadows of the trees emerging on the patio was a sight to behold. I then headed onto the balcony to get some more pictures and some of these are just the best I've taken I think. Later on the clouds made beautiful patterns in the sky while the sun set. It was a time to really bless our decision to come out and live in such a stunning location.

And then the men came as well

Monday morning we had arranged for Bekir and Sally to come back to work on Room 13 and the call on Sunday night confirmed that this would be convenient for them. What an excitement, and really needed so we can get up into the smaller room which is easier to heat, not that we have been in any way cold down here - indeed we've now managed to get used to this new petchka and are burning far less wood than initially. Anyway, it's just going to be brilliant to be back in Room 13 again.

A cold and slippery start to the day

Not the first through, but nearly

A stunning view across the wide valley

Sunrise is beautiful

Carefully starting up the hill to throw sand around

They did an excellent job

It was with some trepidation that I set out at about 7am on Monday as it was well below freezing and I'd not tried driving on the hill since the snow fall. I drove very carefully indeed and managed to get down to the main road but I was not happy with the thought of driving back up without grit on the roads and, despite thinking about it right up until I got in the car, I had forgotten my shovel. A quick call to Bekir sorted that out and he said he would grab one. The coldest I noticed as I drove along the main road was -11 which is cold enough. I chose to go up their cheren put rather than round by the tarmac road and I think this was the correct choice as the snow was quite fresh and it wasn't that slippery. The view from the top was stunning and I had time to stop and take a few pictures before dropping down into their village to get the men. As it happened Sally was unwell so Bekir had found another guy called Yulhan (I think?) who has proven to be superb. We got back to our road up and I stopped at the bottom while they took turns to shovel gravel on the worst parts. IT took about 15 minutes or so but after this I was in crawler gear and got up without any drama. The cup of tea that A gave me was very welcome I can tell you.

Yulhan, the new boy, gets stuck in

Bekir fixing up the wiring for the plug sockets

A new chimney thing is being put in

Plastic sheeting being put down to protect the floor

Yulhan applying betonkontakt

Lots of cables for our lights

The internet is under there somewhere

Yulhan beginning to cement up the roof

And nearly completed

Chasing out for the pipes for the sink

Bekir and Yulhan got stuck in straight away, as per usual, and lots of progress has been made this week. Yulhan was on scraping duties, finishing off what I started around the walls, while Bekir was completing my wiring job which also involved improving some of the channeling I'd dug for the joint boxes. He was very happy to have the plan with accurate measurements for the light placements however he did suggest a couple of changes like putting the boiler out in the corridor which frees up wall space. This also means that the extra light over the sink isn't needed - all good, really. With the scraping done Yulhan put some cement on the holes, replaced the old chimney fittings and then got on with more cement onto the roof to cover over the cables that Bekir had run. I love how tidy and careful they are and while they are always like this it's brilliant to see how they have kept the internet stuff all tidy together so we don't lose connection while they work around it. I've compressed the whole week (the weather is supposed to change so today is the last working day I think this week) and now they are drawing to the end. The cables are all cemented into the walls and ceiling and Bekir has started to put the plumbing in for the sink. Hopefully the weather won't be too bad and they'll be back on Monday and get close to completing it next week.

Other bits

As per usual there's a few pictures that I want to show that don't quite fit into the story as told above so here they are.

Puppies hiding in the rug

Louise fell asleep wanting her belly rubbed

Louise smiling with her smiling toy

Thelma just wanted to play tug with it

First of all; the puppies. They have both been loving the fire and the new blankets and hiding from us whenever they can so they can stay warm and not have to go outside. A couple of times we've lost them completely as they have buried themselves and not moved when called. Louise fell asleep at one point waiting for her belly to be rubbed; she was so warm by the fire. The final part of their Christmas present finally arrived as well which was two smily mouth toys. Suffice to say these have been chewed to bits already - the squeaker in Louise's lasted less than five minutes.

Very calm, but not frozen, stretch of river

Big bird fishing

It flew off straight away

Hills above the fog line

The sun rises as I return with the men

Another day,another sunrise

This morning was really foggy

I took more pictures on the journeys this week as I've been setting off so early in case of problems on the roads. I parked up a few times on one of the trips and took a few shots along the river and was lucky enough to disturb some large bird (I think it's a heron but I could be wrong) which flew off as soon as it spotted me. I was also blessed with such beautiful views across the valley. This morning, however, was totally foggy and it was not a very pleasant drive at all.

Screwing the shelves together

The unit, with scenery on board

Me, doing chainsawing. Yes. I didn't photoshop this!

Thelma "helping" (which means waiting for me to throw her stick)

Finally (for what has ended up being a long update and has been finished three days after I wrote those first paragraphs) here are some pictures to prove that I have been doing a few bits and pieces around the place. First of all I put together a shelving unit to store the scenery pieces on that I have made. I could probably have made it smaller however it fits everything on it and is stable enough. This will go in the corridor upstairs eventually I think. I've done more modelling through the week also but photographs of that will wait until completion and I've also taken delivery of the supplies I was waiting for to finish the walls boards so that's going to happen soon. Every day this week I've meant to go and chainsaw but I kept putting it off however today I went out and cut up quite a lot. It feels good to do something productive.

So there you are. I've just got back from dropping the men off and there is no snow left anywhere really and none falling despite the forecasts of snow-mageddon. We'll see what we wake up to tomorrow. If there's snow then it is a holiday for the men otherwise I'll be going to collect them as usual.