A new member of the family

I'm so bad; I've SO much to write about, but just haven't had the time to spend at my desk doing this. Hopefully I'll get to write the two (at least) blog posts that I have queued up (the parents' visit, and ArdaCon 2018) however I HAD to get a very quick update out today to mark this momentous occasion.

We are welcoming a new member to our family.

First meeting - she loved the beard

Meanings for Bekci's name

Meet Bekci. The "c" in her name is soft, like "sh", and the word means "Guard" or "Caretaker" in Turkish.

Heading towards the mountains in glorious sunshine

Rambo is, sadly, getting on a bit and we were aware that in the next few years he would be wanting to retire again (like someone else, huh, Dad?) so when one of the other ex-pats in Bulgaria put an advert up for an accidental litter of Cane Corsos I was tempted but rejected the thought immediately but then A and I got talking and suddenly we had paid a deposit and arrange to get up to them, in VT in the north, to collect our new puppy. I set off way too early this morning after a huge struggle to drag myself into alertness and it was still before the sun rose when I went out the vehicle gate. On the way I drove through some low cloud and then, once I dropped back out of it, the weather was pretty rubbish however as I reached the north the weather cleared and it was glorious.

Bekci finally stopped crying and talking

And then she fell asleep

Stopped for a stroll

Bulgaria is a really beautiful place

I made time and arrived early, which was good as I wanted to get back, and met Bekci (as you can see from the first picture). I also met her siblings and parents and spent a little while with them but very quickly I headed back. Bekci was a bit unhappy and I talked to her for a while but shortly after she settled and slept. I did grab a quick picture while stopped at some lights. I stopped to give her a drink and stretch legs by a lake and a weir with some fishermen near it. It was a nice drive back but I was a little tired by the time I finally got back.

Munching down some lunch post journey

Thelma was off sulking somewhere

So of course we were a bit worried about the impact of introducing Bekci into our existing group of puppies. Rambo, we figured, would be OK as he generally has got on very well with other dogs however Thelma and Louise are really not great around new dogs and our fears, while not realised as badly as they could have been, it is fair to say that Thelma and Louise are far from impressed. I'm sure this will settle down over time however it's going to be a fun few weeks while we settle everyone down again.

So there you have it. Tomorrow I'm going to be trying to make a little run for her so she can be left out and about, without us having to watch her all the time. I may indeed get back with that update before I go back to the 'rents' visit.

Thanks for reading!

Before the parents' visit

Hello again, another massively late update.

I'm getting bad at this blogging thing; but then that happens when you aren't in a routine.

This update is hopefully a relatively short one (to summarise - it rained. a LOT) as I want to get up to date soon. Hopefully in a few weeks the building season starts again, Bekir (and Sally, by rumour) will be back in for a solid chunk of work, and the updates from this blog will need to start flowing more regularly again.

So without any further ado, back to 12th June... Yes... THAT long ago.

In the pool - enjoy it whenever you can

Red sky in the morning - shepherds warning

The finer things in life

An epic game gets started

Excellent Belgian beer

Sunset show

Puppies in their natural state

We had just got back from our awesome holiday to the UK and the weather here was looking up so the pool got filled and we took the opportunity to get in and have fun. Thelma even had a swim, though she is not the biggest fan of being put into water; she much prefers going in of her own accord. This filling of the pool proved to be a bit hopeful as the weather over summer has been dreadful. There was a lovely sunrise a few days later that I enjoyed from the comfort of my bed; such lovely colours but look at all those clouds. Shortly after this was a huge storm and the power went. This is a repeating theme for Summer 2018. Sweeping through the week I sipped some lovely whisky as the rain fell, tidied all the whisky onto a bookshelf in the Art Room (that took some doing) and also tidied the Games Room. The girls have been in a playful mood quite a lot recently and have had multiple scraps up and down the corridor which we always love watching. A and I got a game in that lasted about 2 weeks I think we just never got it finished. It was long and tactical and great fun. I also drank one of the bottles of beer that Cis gave me and REALLY enjoyed it. Those Belgians know their beer, huh. The sky here knows how to put on a show also and the puppies know how to sleep. Oh do they know how to sleep!

A party in a wonderful location

Wood fired BBQ

People start to gather

Melly with a knife

Band in the mountains

Rainbow over the party goers

View from down the slope

Glorious sunset

The weekend after our return from England we had a party up at Lee and Meli's place in the mountains. We were looking forward to this a lot and it did not disappoint. The weather forecast was dreadful, promising rain the whole day and getting heavier into the night, however despite the drizzle and rain on our drive over it cleared up and wasn't bad at all. We took a tent and pitched it up then helped set out and the party developed as more and more people arrived. It really is a stunning location and even with overcast there were many people taking pictures of the view. A BBQ was lit (I ended up being chef, which was unexpected) and half a goat was delivered by a local. Lee is a drummer in a band and so live music was played on their terrace which was absolutely amazing, and particularly as the night drew in. The rain did skiffle a bit but mainly just enough to give an awesome rainbow show before the clouds allowed for a blazing sunset. We headed to bed quite early as we were really exhausted and slept very well apart from the air bed going down on us (and Thelma deciding that she didn't like the tent. I actually slept cuddling her for a large part of the night). We didn't rush off in the morning and had a brew and saw the late partiers waking with sore heads. All in all it was a wonderful night and I hope they do it again.

Early summer Sun Flowers

Louise the 'oooman dog

Out for our dinner

The end of the Islay Bart Marmalade

Old home made pallet and my new one

Every year A does something in the garden that defines the year - this year it has been the sunflowers. They are still going now, as I type this, and have flourished so well in the raised bed. Her spuds have been awesome this year also, as have the courgettes / marrows (depending on how quickly they are being harvested). Actually it has been a surprisingly good year in the garden, despite us not really wanting to grow much. The weeks haven't really been full of much other than working and grumbling that the weather has been rubbish. We did get to enjoy the silliness of the puppies, go out for our dinner to our favourite restaurant and I emptied the Islay Bart Laphroaig Marmalade. Finally for this section my birthday present arrived, an awesome wet pallet and I've used it a LOT since then. Thank you so much A!!!

Moon reflection on water

Slightly wonky view from inside my bivvy

The sun rises over the valley - everything is "valley" from up here

A glorious start

Bacon and eggs on toast for breakfast

The purchase of the new property in the mountains was starting to get imminent and so we decided, quite late, that I should go up and camp over night on the land to listen for music (this was July Morning night, when lots of gigs occur in this region) and also check out if the mosque was noisy. I packed the bivvy and drove over, reaching the field as it got dark. Fortunately it's easy enough to set up camp in that thing and I was inside the sleeping bag soon enough. I was quite disturbed during the night by cattle running around the field I was in, but that mean I took a couple of lovely night walks to check the area. The moon rose and was glinting on the water of the fishing lake below. I eventually dropped off and woke just before the sun rose to a stunning view. The neighbours both came over to check out the crazy Englishman and as soon as the sun was up I packed up and headed home, taking a brief diversion to climb to the top of a small mound to get a panoramic view. What a beautiful place. When I got back A was up and about and we had a fried breakfast. The trip was a success - the purchase would happen.

Three chickens in a box

Getting them water, and they needed it

A lovely day that day at least

Sassy chilling in the heat

Bekir back working away

Lunch under the gazebo

We have had quite a bad year for chickens being taken and were now down to just Clive plus two poor put upon ladies. A went down to market one day and, will help from Usmivka, selected three ex battery hens to add to our brood. They were nearly dead with thirst and heat exhaustion but settled in relatively quickly. It took a week or so before we opened the enclosure again to let them out and now they are happily running around the land and chasing us at feeding time. We are also getting regular eggs from them. They look so much healthier now also. In addition to this I ordered a new gazebo for the balcony for in time for the parents visit and then arranged for Bekir to come and work for a couple of days to do some  bits and pieces, including putting up the gazebo. With this done we were able to make immediate use of it for our lunch.

The original chalk behind glass with the black board

Assembling a frame

Our dartboard hung

More morning brews

Puppies and a dead ball

Legs for the Art Room bench

The top is fitted

Very pleased with her awesome new bench

Old and new Sassy lid

Getting flyscreens fitted

Green Building roof repair

The other tasks which Bekir had to work on included putting glass over the blackboard section in the Games Room and hanging the dart board. Really important tasks, I think you must agree. He also assembled the legs for the bench for A in the Art Room and painted it up in black three in one. The next morning was another glorious one and we had a morning cuppa sat out on the balcony while the puppies played with their (very destroyed) football. Bekir arrived and got started on the next job which was to fit the bench in the Art Room. A is VERY pleased with it and so she should be. Next up Bekir made a new lifting door for Sassy's run, put fly screens on some of the windows where they were missing, and then patched up the damage to the Green Building roof. With that his jobs were done and we took him home to enjoy the rest of the summer off.

Adding extra strength to the new lid for Sassy

Bang crash oops

The next day when I went out to feed Sassy I found that the new lid was too heavy for the minimal struts that had been used and when I left it fully open leaning back, how I used to use it, the whole thing started splitting. I got the tools out and began to reinforce it and it was all going well until the last bit where I had it propped up with a precarious arrangement of wooden step and plank and caught it with my elbow. A bit of swearing, a bang and a crash, and I'd destroyed the tiles on the wood store roof. Not clever.

I had to take the caravan back to the people we hired it from and I combined that trip with a visit to Paul who makes the amazing chalets that we are considering having put on the new property. It was an early start and a long day but successful. The caravan return was smooth and then I had coffee with Paul and his son and his son's girlfriend before going to look around an already installed chalet like we want. We then went back to Paul's workshop to fill up all the bags I had brought with wood shavings and also to see the construction of the walls. I drove back a slightly different way over a lot of cobbles and via some beautiful views and as I got closer to home the weather got worse and worse; I almost had to stop on the mountain pass as it was such torrential rain. This hit at home while I was out and also a bit later after I got home - the good thing was the torrential rain paused long enough for us to unload all the sawdust. This summer really was turning into a washout.

A cloudy day, but still beautiful

Stag beetle saved and safe

Plans had been made to purchase the mountain property the following week, actually after the parents' arrival date, so A and I headed up for a final check and stroll around and also to take a video of the track up. My phone ran out of storage just before we got to the top so I had to video our return a bit to capture the lot. This video is about ten minutes long but pretty awesome in places as the views are stunning. It was truly amazing to be up there and the decision was re-confirmed for both of us with just how relaxed we felt. I also got to save an upside-down stag beetle that was trapped in the middle of the road.

Later this sprouted small purple flowers

You can see its lunch in its jaws

A lovely sunset

I do love a colourful caterpillar

Honey bee and sunflower

To close this (actually very long) update here are some pictures that didn't quite fit in with the rest of the story line. The bromeliad given us by SandS has been blooming over this summer, actually both of them have, and they are stunning. While shifting wood I disturbed a spider that had just caught an Easter beetle; sorry for any arachnophobes out there. Another gratuitous sunset picture to make you very jealous of where we live (sorry not sorry), a really colourful caterpillar that A found in the garden and finally a bee on on of the sunflowers.

Thank you for reading and getting this far (if you did). Another update will be coming soon as we had the awesome visit of the 'rents that I need to cover.