So much for being strict with myself and not letting it go past two weeks again. The last two week have gone in a blur of over work for me however I'm now finally just about out of that stage, I hope, and have a few minutes to quickly post up an update. It will be no means be exhaustive (I could sum up my two weeks by the fact that last Wednesday I did a 23 hour long working day) but I hope you enjoy it non-the-less.
Invasive species
If someone said to me that I'd be spending a chunk of time and money protecting the building from attack by woodpeckers I would have laughed, but that is exactly what has happened.
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| Where the woodpecker was pecking |
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| Our attempt at a bird scarer |
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| A is happily rigging up the CDs |
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| Sally fixes the holes |
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| A paper bird of prey |
A was disturbed by a hammering sound and we went hunting, thinking it was maybe something in the roof. Imagine our surprise when I disturbed a woodpecker which was busily digging a deep hole in our insulation. We made an attempt with CDs to create something that would scare them off but the wind just kept blowing them all back onto the roof terrace. They had made quite a few holes, and this was a big issue with winter closing in. A printed a bird picture out to stick in the window but that wasn't really going to work well. With the visit of Bekir and Sally, however, Sally fixed the holes and also has rigged up the bird scarers. I don't have a picture of those as I keep forgetting to take one and now it's dark. Hopefully we have won that fight.
The balcony is sealed
The main reason for getting Bekir and Sally back for the three days they were with us (three days where I was so busy that A did the transport both ways every day; what a trooper) was to fix up the balcony which was leaking.
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| The crumbling old grout to be removed |
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| Bekir grinding it out to replace it |
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| Playtime for Thelma and Bekir |
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| Sally doing some patching up |
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| A smiling coffee break |
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| A whole lot of grouting gone on |
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| Sally does his cleaning dance |
While Sally was fixing up after our bird attack Bekir got stuck in cleaning out the old bad grout and replacing it with silicon and proper outdoors grout. He worked away and it took about three days end to end, including having to shift Sassy out of the way, but now we have what is hopefully a waterproof flat roof and we won't have to run the dehumidfier for hours at a time, like we already have had to this autumn. Sally also got stuck in, once he'd finished patching up the small holes A had spotted in our insulation made by small creatures over the summer. While they were here I got a hand putting the back on Thomas so we're now pretty much ready for winter; just need to pick Pat up from the garage where she's had her winter shoes put on and we're fine.
Trying to get out
I have been over-working however I've tried to get outside a bit more; I've a tonne of pictures on my phone of me sitting in the sun for ten minutes now and then. The simple pleasure of the sun on my face was something I was really noticing missing.
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| A foggy start to our lovely lunch with SandS |
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| The smile says it all... |
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| As does this one; I love the sun |
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| Three puppies sharing the heat of the day |
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| Out on our Sunday drive |
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| Glowing poplars against a dark ridge |
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| Fishermen at the reservoir |
We managed to get out to have lunch with SandS which was a truly lovely time, and then they managed to drop past ours for breakfast as well a few days later; it's so good to see friends. The day we went for lunch was really foggy to begin with but it cleared up and A dragged me onto the balcony to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. I have also, as I've said, managed to get out at lunch onto the patio and soak some rays up. Today the puppies joined me which was lovely. On Sunday the heavy overcast, which had seriously threatened snow for a while, cleared up and so we were able to go for a lovely drive into the mountains to our east. We stopped a few times, finding some lovely sights include a little dam with a load of people fishing around it, and it was just what we needed after the intense weeks we've been having.
Puppies and garden
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| Smiling Thelma with her ring |
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| Louise doing her best parrot impression |
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| Thelma wakes up |
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| Play time, Thelma with dimples |
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| Sassy saying hello |
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| Both puppies wanted a cuddle while I was working |
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| Lots of frost damage; A cleared it all out |
I'm going to wrap this up now and leave you with some pictures of the puppies (and Sassy) and the damage the frosts have done recently. I've done a small amount of modelling, we've got one game in and that's it, and A has become SUPERB at her artwork as she is practising so much; I will see if I can get some pictures in for you next time.
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