Bits and pieces towards completion

It's relatively late on Thursday as I sit down to type this, having gone out for our dinner after a busy day, so I'm not sure if I'll achieve "posting" status or whether I'll type until I fall asleep and finish this off tomorrow but either way I'm giving it a go right now. It's been a busy one for me today so I'm ready for bed already.

Just before the sun showed herself

There she comes

Sally unwraps the waterprrofed cement stash

Byulhan chucking cement onto the damaged ceiling

Downpipe going up

And it is done

I woke up early on Wednesday morning, about 4.30, and decided straight away that I wasn't likely to get back to sleep so I got up and started work. I went through to take pictures of the sun rise twice and managed to not disturb A both times but eventually she had to get up and get the men. I continued working away as I was making good progress with the software I'm writing. Sally was again working and was cheerful as he unwrapped the bags of cement to get on with doing the cement columns. I took this picture as well to show just how careful the men are; if there had been rain that cement would have been fine. In Sassy's Room Byulhan was working around the room putting cement over the really damaged areas, to seal it up prior to a second layer being put over the top. Bekir was out on the balcony putting in the final downpipe to feed the water storage tanks. We've decided to just let this drain onto the balcony and make use of the balcony drainage to get into the tank; if this causes a problem then we can make other plans.

Trying to secure the cement chute

Bekir sealing the wood into the wall

Sally needs more cement

Bekir with some (incorrect) plumbing parts

Sally's final chute

Sally had finished all the shuttering for the columns and was busy pouring concrete down inside them. I went in there mid morning and helped out passing up chunks of wood to secure his temporary chute in place. He had completed one whole column and was pouring the second when I was there. Bekir, for his part, was up on the balcony working on the plug socket that was left unattached by the insulation guys. He had fitted some lumps of wood into a cut out of the insulation and was filling the gaps with plaster which he would let go off and complete the task on Thursday. While I was up there I caught Sally on another run for more cement; we're going through loads at the moment. The afternoon was spent mainly with me going out to the shops with Bekir as we tried to get the correct parts for the overflow on the water storage. The bits he is holding in this picture aren't actually correct and we headed out to swap them shortly after. It was a tiring end to the day for me but really important as we have rain forecast and don't want problems with the drainage. The last thing I did before taking the men home was check in on the columns and I found that Sally had really improved his chute; they hate waste as much as I do.

The clouds threatened, as the sun went down

Emptying the reservoir in case of heavy rain

A's lovely flowers are coming into bloom

Very pleased to see these leaves on my vine

We had been forecast some rain that night, and the clouds certainly looked threatening enough, so I began emptying out the reservoir once more before remembering that Bekir had disconnected this one to start putting the overflow in. No matter. I went round with the camera, after watering the new silver birch trees, and got a picture of A's garden which is really looking lovely and also very excitedly of the new growth on the grape vines. That will really fly this year I think; maybe we'll even achieve a bower out there! Dinner was a superb thai curry which we finished in the sitting and then it was quite an early night and I fell straight asleep and slept through until the morning; much needed I can tell you.

Another day dawns beautiful

The new kid scraping off the mistake-plaster

Byulhan takes the old shelving unit apart

Sally up on the roof, sweeping

Me up on the roof taking pictures of Sally sweeping

Bekir showing roughly how the overflow will work (not that steep though)

This morning was another lovely sunrise and again A and I had our morning coffee (for her) and tea (for me) sat on the sofas in the lounge. Soon it'll be warm enough to go out onto the balcony for those and neither of us can wait for that. I had a demo for my work that was organised over the usual "take the men home" time so I was off early to collect the men while A was going to take them home. I took the camera but in the end the fog was quite thick at the pretty parts so I didn't take any pictures. We came back fully loaded as an additional body was required to help with cement for Byulhan today. I don't have his name yet but he has worked hard today. First of all he had to scrape some mistakes off the wall as some of the plaster from the day before had gone off wrong. Byulhan, meanwhile, was taking the shelving unit we have saved for spares apart; this will eventually be canibalised into the four we are keeping to make all the shelves good quality. Outside Sally, having finished his columns, was now stood on the roof of the chicken house getting a start on that part of the work. He was sweeping the broken up rubble off, and had already taken the chimney down. I climbed up onto the roof to get some pictures which was very brave of me I though. Bekir was inside one of the reservoir housings fitting the first of the overflow pipes which took a lot of worry away from me.

Byulhan and the new boy start work on the floor

It's good to see him getting stuck in

Overflow number one: in

New display cabinet

Sally sweeps the final section

River shining in the distance

With the room cleared Byulhan and the new boy (I really do need to get his name) were able to start on the cement for the floor and they mixed it up (manually) in a big pile and then the new boy carried it up while Byulhan was spreading. He also helped with making the mounds for levelling the floor which was good to see; it's nice when the labourers are interested in getting stuck in and not sitting around. Bekir had finished the overflow for the first of the reservoirs and had moved onto the next one. I'd asked that he bring a pipe down to ground level to reduce erosion as and when this overflow runs and he's done exactly what I asked. I realised around this time that I had forgotten to put a picture of the display cabinet that I picked up on Tuesday so here it is; I'm really pleased with it and cannot wait to get it cleaned up and into Sassy's Room with some of my models in it. I then took myself outside to see Sally and found that the sweeping task was nearly complete as he finished cleaning the roof above the toilet block. The sun was shining away on the river in the valley and this is about the only place on the land that you can see it; I started then to get ideas about another balcony up here eventually. I'm crazy, I know.

A climbs up to take a look

Sally walks down the ladder like it was stairs

First third nearly done

A was hard at work for her day job and when she came to a break I persuaded her to get up onto the chicken house roof to see how Sally was doing, and also see the view for our new balcony (hah!). It was the men's coffee time so Sally was heading down and I just managed to catch as he finished descending the ladder face first. I can't get how comfortable the men are with ladders. I am scared enough climbing down the normal way. Inside the flooring was coming on apace and the first third was close to completion by lunch. For myself today was also a day stuck in front of the computer as I got ready for my demo in the evening. I did take a lunch break and it was again glorious to sit outside and enjoy the sun and listen to the birds which are now flocking back and singing their hearts out.

A very small plum on the big plum tree

Lots of beams up on the roof

The pipe is uncovered once more

Swinging the pickaxe until it broke

Sally working on the roof still

Finished digging, broken the pickaxe, and ready for a brew

Louise giving me cuddles

I cracked on as quickly as I could at my paid work so I could get outside in the afternoon to dig out the drainage pipe that will eventually feed into the pond. The reservoir by the woodshed was now connected to this pipe however it was still buried and blocked off near the grey water. On the way I stopped to see how Sally was doing now and was distracted by the sight of plums growing on the plum tree. This is very exciting for an excellent harvest later in the year. Sally was on with pulling beams out of the green building, removing nails, and putting these beams on the roof of the chicken house. Anyway off I went to start digging and after a short while I discovered the shut off pipe so rather than stopping there I continued digging the trench that would hold the continuation of this pipe towards where the pond will be. It was quite hard work and I had a fair few rests as I've not done anything this energetic for a while. I was having to break up rocks with the pickaxe and eventually the handle broke which caused me to stop just before I'd finished it all. I was done, anyway, and happy to go and rest. And yes I was barefoot - my sandals just kept getting full of stones and falling off. It was very hot and shoes were not an option. The puppies (including Rambo) had been around me the entire time getting in the way however once I was stopped the cuddles I got made up for that frustration.

My favourite person in our favourite restaurant

I had to remind Bekir to remove the cap on the pipe before he left in case the threatened rain came; it would have been a bit pointless to have done all that digging, achieved around a 3% downward grade over the length of the trench, and then backed up onto the balcony anyway because the pipe was still blocked. It didn't take long so my worries were calmed. A headed off with the men while I got ready for the demo and I was in the middle when she got back. It went really well, I'm pleased to say, and everyone was impressed with what I had done. Now on to the next step. We'd decided early on that we wanted to go out tonight for food so after a shower I drove down to our favourite restaurant and we had lovely dinner. Since then I've been sat here typing and A has been in bed nearly an hour already but I wanted this out of the way so  we could have tomorrow evening without my blogging taking a chunk of it up.

So there you have it. Sadly the work will not be completed by tomorrow so we'll still have the men next week however it's really close now; I think Sassy's Room will be the task which takes the longest now as tomorrow Bekir will finish putting the leaf-guard meshes in everywhere, attach the pipe in my trench (which I'll finish digging first thing) and then get on to helping Sally with his roof. Thanks for reading and catch you next time.