The return of Bekir

Two updates in two days - it has been a long time since that has happened. Today, however, marks the return of Bekir to work on the Art Room and the Games Room and I'm going to try and update regularly during this process, so the weekly update doesn't get too insanely long. Hopefully this will be a short enough update.

Pre dawn was glorious

The sun appears, and heralds a glorious day

We cleared out the Gaming Room

Bekir cutting the unit with the chainsaw

The old unit is carried out

I was up very late last night with work and still woke early, before the sun rose, aware that the men had to be collected however A was also up in time and after some coffee (and tea for me) she headed off and I went and did my chores. I had so much to do that I was still doing them when she got back and Bekir had brought one extra helper this time, a lovely bloke with a great sense of humour (but a very quiet man who didn't speak much) called Mesut. The first task was me and Mesut lifting out the heavy items from the Games Room to clear it a bit more while Bekir sharpened the chainsaw. A and I had been thinking a lot about the huge shelving units in the Art Room and as she doesn't want them cluttering up I had the thought of cutting them down slightly so we could fit them through the door and then they can be reconditioned and made use of in the Games Room. Bekir did his usual super work with the chainsaw and very quickly they lifted out the rejected unit.

Hand saw on the next unit

Measuring carefully for the centre

The best tool for the job

Cutting getting done

I then felt bad that we were not trying to save both side of the unit so the next one took a lot longer for the men to remove as they did it with a hand saw so we could maybe make use of both sides. Once the shelves were all cut Bekir got the angle grinder with a wood blade and very quickly sliced the back. They are very skilled with these tools and he didn't make any slips really. These three are now stacked in the corridor and tomorrow Hikmet will be joining us to sand them down, seal them and paint them up. They will look awesome when they are done.

A out working on the raised beds

Mesut cleans up, proving he is a true member of Bekir's workers

We decided where the light switch is going

A channel appears

Measuring for the lights

I was working, when not distracted by helping the men, but A took full advantage of the beautiful weather to get out into the garden. She cleared out some of the raised beds and planted out some spuds into them before lunch time. In the Art Room Mesut was sweeping up the detritus that had fallen off the units when they were moved and then we had a quick chat about plugs and lights in there and Bekir set to with a pencil and marked out where the channeling needs to go. This was a slight change in plan that only happened today as originally we were going to use the ducting that I had started putting up in the Games Room but the more I thought about it made me want to hide the cables. Mesut set to with a little hammer chipping away at the plaster as my hammer drill is still in the shop not working.

A lovely lunch on the patio

Preparing the ground for spud digging

Digging out spud channels

The old cabling is removed

Using old techniques to deepen the chasing

Bekir had been too busy to head out with A to the shop and at lunch time A headed off into town to buy lights for the Art Room, pick up some other stuff, and left me to go and have a snooze as I was pretty exhausted. I woke at 1pm just before she got back and reheated the curry which I ate on the patio with the puppies in attendance. It was such a glorious day. I headed out with Bekir before A got back (we actually passed as I drove down the hill) and I at the shop I found out why our tiles had not been delivered at 11 as I thought we had arranged; it turned out they had not understand our requirements and they were mortified. It didn't matter to us as today the tiling would not be begun. When I got back I found A was out again digging over the hugelkultur once more to prepare it for spud planting. I teased her, of course, though this video was the third attempt to get one that we could publish. Inside Mesut had kept going; the no-longer-required ducting removed, the channeling done (and the old cabling removed.

Truck with our tiles (I forgot to get a picture of them)

Sudden appearance of leaves on the Tea Trees

I really hate heights

A headed out again a bit later on as the lady at the shop had refused to sell me grout for the tiles (because A should be in charge of colours) and while she was out the delivery of the tiles arrived. One of our plans for Bekir for this visit was that he trim the tea trees however as you can see the leaves have appeared so we'll have to wait until the end of the year. I assisted with the unloading, only being distracted by a cow that came onto the land through the vehicle gate left open by the truck driver. I chased it off easily enough. After this I was exhausted and had a sleep which I woke from a minute or two before my call with work. As a had picked up the men I took them home which was lovely along the new road (not so new now). I got back before dinner and had time to get into the Art Room and begin painting PVA onto the unit that was  a bit damaged.

Trying the selfie mode on my canon

Louise doesn't grab chicken

A beautiful song from this bird

Dinner was chicken and rice (you can read the recipe here) and we ate it sat on the balcony which was just amazing. It was super tasty and the sun was lovely and warm and it was just relaxing to be able to chill out and enjoy our lovely home. At the end of dinner Louise demonstrated how obedient she is by not stealing chicken from the table. I stayed outside for a little while as the sun went down listening to the birds singing in the trees, then got the washing in that I'd put out earlier today, finished the painting of the PVA (this time with A footing the ladder) and now I've typed this up.

So there you are; a nice short update and maybe I'll be back again tomorrow. Thanks for reading.