Nearly into Room 13

As part of my new push to get these updates out more regularly I'm sat down on Friday evening after a hectic day and I'm going to try and publish this tonight. I may achieve this or I may not; I'm also playing with Thelma and Louise and am waiting to hear from A so it could be that I delay the completion until Saturday morning. Here goes.

A digging over the spud patch with bird assistants

A nice neat row of seed potatoes

Thelma digs at her stick

The rain closes in

A resting with the puppies

Back to Wednesday and the rain held off in the morning long enough for A to get into the garden and plant out her spuds which I had collected the day before from ekont. The chickens and ducks had followed her into the fenced garden and were busy digging it over, which was useful, but when we started putting the seed potatoes down they had to be removed. I did help a bit doing this but almost 100% was A and now we have three (or maybe four?) varieties of spuds planted with three different growth rates. Thelma was in digging at her root once again which helped somewhat but mainly she wasn't in the right place. After this it started to rain and became quite miserable; the trips up the hill in Thomas to empty out the coal dust were disgusting and messy and I told Ennis (for that is the kid's name) to take the rest of the week off until it clears again.

Walls now taller than the reservoir

The lights are being hung

Yulhan helping out with the welding

Sally took back over and completed the task

The hanging of lights has been completed

Some more finishing off; the vestibule floor. Finally.

In terms of building work it was quite an exciting day; Sally worked outside while he could, what with the weather, and got a long way towards completing the second reservoir housing. Inside Bekir was hanging the lights in Room 13. When the weather closed in Sally went to doing the welding for the legs for my workbench and Yulhan gave a bit of a hand for a while.You can see, I hasten to add, the safety helmet we bought for Sally in these pictures but they often decide to not bother with it. Bekir managed to get all the lights up in Room 13 which is wicked; we had to work out our heights for them and I think I'm happy with what we have chosen. Yulhan's job, having completed the painting, was to lay the tiles in the vestibule outside the guest bathroom and he made a good start on that before it was home time.

Cloud hanging low in the valley

A sleepy duck and a hungry hen

The journey home was easy and on the way back I was watching as the clouds were pooled in the valley; it must have been dank and damp over there. We had a good laugh as well at one of the ducks that was stood up fast asleep while the chickens ate bread all around. It was my turn to cook on Wednesday and I made my spicy pork pasta (click the link for the recipe) which was just superb and then it was an early night for both of us as the next morning was going to be crazy.

There is the bus that will take her away

Front window seat; top skills

A breakfast to get me through the day

Thelma and Louise getting their fight on

The first alarm went of at 3.45am and that was bad but we were both out of bed and downstairs when the back up sounded at 4am and that made me jump. Her bus was at 5am so we were ready, down the hill, and waiting when it pulled up and she got on, grabbed the window seat, and began her journey to Sofia to fly home to see her family. I drove home feeling sad as I will miss her (and I am) and after a brew I headed back to bed and got another hour which was much needed. After collecting the men it was time for breakfast and I made bacon and egg butties to cheer me up. The puppies were a bit unsure why A wasn't around but then they started chasing and fighting which was great to see.

The second housing is completed

Sally with Thelma (hidden) and Louise

Yulhan finishing off the tiling

We have light!

Of course the workmen were cracking on once again. I went outside to see Sally first and found that the second housing was completed, including the sloped roof and a lintel over the doorway, and he was starting to layout for the final one. I decided the doorway should be towards the orchard and he set the bricks ready for that and carried on. Inside Yulhan had all but finished the tiling of the vestibule; the next task would be grouting. Finally Bekir had all the lights hung and the light switches wired in by lunch time. They look really good and I'm pleased we went with the low hanging lights in here.

Thelma in mid air as she runs back

Thelma getting away from Louise's interception attempt

Louise accelerates hard to catch up with Thelma

Nearly caught her, and Rambo joins in the excitement

A tug of war stalemate ensues; Rambo watches on

Seeing as I'm on my own I'm doing my best to entertain the puppies and not get too tied up with hobby time or rushing around after the men. To this end I have taken them up onto the top bank to play both yesterday and today. It's good for me as well to just stop for a bit and have time for them. Everyone got involved in yesterday's fun and Louise got stuck in for a lot of it. Rambo was really good and played along very nicely which is always a pleasure; he's a lovely dog when he wants to be.

Guest room doorless

Buckleberry Ferry

Puppies hinting that it is bed time

Inside Bekir was continuing with the electrics while Yulhan, who had finished grouting in the vestibule, started the next task which was to fit the final two doors. This involved first removing the old door for the guest room and by the end of the day it was gaping and ready for some serious demolition work to occur. I had a bit of a hobbying evening last night and got more stuff done on my rivers and the ferry. The puppies were lovely; I played with them a bit then they took themselves off to have fun and chased each other around and around the room. I missed out on videoing most of this however I caught some of it, and a fight they had. I was really tired and so were the puppies and they both took themselves up the stairs to encourage me to go to bed. Which I did. And I slept really well indeed.

Yulhan hammer drills the wall down

Bekir wiring plugs

Sally laying bricks. Still.

When the alarm went off this morning I did not want to get up so I didn't and I snoozed it. Thelma, even after this slight lie in, refused to get up and stayed there. She's a lazy one. I had a lovely hot shower in the newly tiled downstairs shower this morning which was epic and woke me up enough to collect the men. Yulhan was straight in with the breaker to widen the doorway for the new door while Bekir got cracking with wiring up all the plug sockets for Room 13. There are a lot of them. Sally, meanwhile, was outside in the drizzle and cold getting on with the final housing for the reservoirs. It really was a miserable day today and I've done a lot of rushing around, or so it seemed to me while I was living it.

Bekir drilling a new hole for our internet to come through

Health and safety?!

A woodpecker on the ground

Blooming marvellous

The new door is fitted

I was supposed to go into town to meet up with Lyubo but cancelled at the last minute as I was just too busy. We also had a bit of a disaster with the internet as Bekir accidentally drilled through the cable however, as per usual, the support guys were out really quickly and put a new cable in and now I have internet though I'm finding that the upload isn't working well; I couldn't do a video call just now with A which was a huge shame. While I was washing up this afternoon (yes my routine is all to cock) I saw a woodpecker hopping around on the grass so snapped a picture though I don't think it came out all that well. The cherry tree is blossoming already which is lovely to see; spring is definitely very close now. We finished the day with all the plugs wired and the first curtain rail begun in Room 13. I was really hoping it would all be done so I could move up there this weekend but alas that isn't the case. I've got plenty on my list for the weekend anyway now so I may not have got time as it is.

And so I have managed to get this done this evening. The puppies have just taken themselves off for another fight and chase; Louise was sleeping on my lap and I was throwing the ball for Thelma then Louise jumped off and that was that; great fun. It was lovely to talk to A as well before, even if my internet didn't let me do the video call. I will have to get that looked at. Thanks for reading and I'll be back again sooner rather than later.