Still here

Hey all,

It has once again been too long since I sat down to write a blog post; mainly this is down to both being too incredibly busy but also just there isn't all that much happening on the building to tell you. We've taken this year largely off from work men. Next year is planning to be different; we have a new toilet or two to fit (more on that when it arrives), Rosie's bedroom to build and we want to pull the patio up and pour a flat concrete slab and also secure the edge and tidy the garden a bit to make space for Rosie to play outside. Yes, next year will be super busy.

But for now a few pictures of the thousands that we have taken since the last update, and a few words, and I'll publish. I've not got lots of time to go through everything.

Begin.

PAAAAUSE

Return...

It is about two months since I wrote the above. I wrote a chunk of update and then Blogger decided to lose it and I didn't go back to it after that. So much has happened I'm going to really sweep through. I wouldn't be surprised if the updates are very sparse going forwards, certainly until next year. So, let's get this smashed out and finally published.

Some workers and things

As I've already said we haven't had all that much done around the place but a few things have occurred.

Chainsawing begins

Little Lady getting stuck in

Wood to stack...

... post cloudburst success

Gaming table

Another water pipe fix

First of all we got the Special One to come over and chainsaw all the wood from the trees we had trimmed earlier in the year. The Little Lady came over to help and, with a pause while the Special One recovered from an injury, this was all cut up in plenty of time and we have loads of kindling as well. We also ordered a huge quantity of dried hardwood which Lee came over and helped us stack; the storm hit during this and we were soaked through but got the job done. We have also been playing a game on a table that Lee made and brought over and having a great time when we get time to do it. Finally we have had ongoing issues with the lane up the side of the house and the water pipe there getting broken.

Fitting mesh around the top of the stairs

Bekir's old welder makes a re-appearance

Baby Safe

Peg board being fitted

Ready to fit the drier

Finally fitted, after being sat in the corner for years

Top of the main stairs now safe also

Bekir has been here a few times over the past few months, for a day or three at most at a time. First of all he came over to fit baby proofing on the top of the spiral staircase. We had other gates on order from Amazon however they didn't arrive to be fitted this visit. Another visit involved fitting the pegboard I had ordered for the tool room (this turned out to be the wrong size and so I've replaced half, and am replacing the other half, with the correct stuff). This is a requirement before I can clear the room which will become Rosie's room so it is very important. He also put up the second drying rack (much to A's great joy) and fitted the gate we had bought for the top of the main stairs. The product we bought was so good that we have bought the same stuff for around the fireplace and Bekir has been over and fitted all of them as well. Finally he hooked the garage light up to a proper light switch and strung power for a light in the wood room - these tiny improvements will make winter so much easier for us.

Trench goes in no longer on the road

The leak had become very serious

Work outside my property line completed

Two years too late, the stones arrive

Fire guard in place so the Little Monkey cannot burn herself

The final visit (so far) from Bekir this year was forced on us by the water pipe bursting again and everyone refusing to fix it. I spoke with the water board but had already also lost my patience and asked Bekir to come and move the pipe. This he did on the final day of our guest's visit (more of which later) to get it merely off the lane and reconnect us to the mains without a leak and then the following week he returned and finished the job, putting the free water pipe in once more and also getting the two fire guards fitted. The irony was that after years of complaining about that side lane and no stone being put down to strengthen it, the day after I moved the pipe the neighbour turned up and finally had them pour stones. All this pain could have been resolved if he had done what he promised two years previously but never mind; our water is now much more secure and will never break again. I hope.

Other stuff

A LOT of other stuff has happened as well, though I'm going to scoot through it. Rosie is growing so fast however I'll not be putting many photographs of her up on this blog page - that is not the purpose of this page so please don't ask. There will be some, though, clearly.

Holiday

We finally took ourselves off for a holiday. This was one of the silver linings to losing my Dad. We had house sitters booked and a long trip to the UK planned however were able to re-evaluate and changed this to a holiday on Thassos before returning to the UK for ArdaCon once more. This was the best decision of the year.

Getting on the boat!

The view from our front door

Rosie approves

I'm off for my morning swim

Peaceful morning on the beach

Rosie's first swim in the sea

A rainbow cloud

Zoomed in - how amazing, huh!

Stunning sunset, volleyball and a canoe

The fish van

A happy A on holiday

Suffice to say we had an absolutely out of this world time. It was magical - the location was perfect for us; quiet but RIGHT on the beach, and next door to a very good restaurant which was even happy to deliver food to the table on our porch. Every morning I got to swim and every evening we marveled at the stunning sunset. Rosie loved it, she enjoyed the sea mostly but sometimes the salt in her eyes was too much. The food (though I've not picked any photographs of it, unusually) was amazing and the one little trip out we did was fascinating, to an archaeological site about twenty minutes drive from where we stayed. I cannot say enough what a timely holiday this was, and how much we are looking forward to going back again next year. I love Thassos.

My Mum's visit

My mum came to visit us for two weeks later on; this was as always a lovely time. It's so great she can get over to see Rosie and we love having her here. Rosie was going through an odd time and when Mum first arrived she wasn't wanting anyone but me or A however pretty soon she snapped out of that and was fine again - it was sad to see her cry every time we handed her over to anyone.

Grandma cuddles with a grizzly baby

Three generations - a new chair for Rosie also

Puppies are only happy when the fire is lit

Mum with the Little Lady

We had a lovely trip to Plovdiv on the first Saturday and met up with Lee for lunch at the Mexican restaurant again. The weather, which was pretty bad up until Mum's arrival, really came good and it was a super relaxing visit. We really didn't do all that much, lots of relaxing and reading and very little else. The fire did get lit one evening but more as a comfort thing than anything else. The Little Lady was very pleased to see my Mum over and came to say ciao before she flew back. We're now looking forward to seeing her next year once again.

Guest Visit

The day after my Mum headed off I was driving to Greece to collect our next (and final) visitors. Elizabeth and her daughter were over from the States for the week - it had been about 13 years or so since I last saw her and this was a long overdue catch-up.

A pelican soars overhead

The pelican lake next to the road

Lunch at the lake

The mountain house is a bit worse for wear

Dinner at the Iskander restaurant

Stunning view from the tower at Perperikon

Biscuits and Gravy for breakfast. Nom.

The drive down was easy and I paused for a rest by a lake that had some pelicans flying around. Sadly they were gone by the time we drove back. The visit was again very relaxing and we didn't do much though we did get to the lake for lunch, up to the Mountain House (which had collapsed even more) and over to Perperikon which was stunning and has been opened up even more. Elizabeth also made me Biscuits and Gravy for breakfast which was amazing. Most of the time was spent relaxing and doing school work as it was school time over there for her daughter. I took them back to the airport on the following Friday and waved goodbye; next time we see them hopefully we'll be visiting the States but that won't be any time soon, sadly.

Closing

And so I'm going to wrap this up here. I have over 2000 photographs and videos in the folder for the months since I did my last update and I'm not going to put any more on here.

A huge "mile"stone for Thomas

Rain rain go away....

I'll leave you with just a few more photographs. First of all Thomas went past a big milestone (literally) passing 150,000 miles just at the bottom of the men's cheren put on the way to collect them and secondly the photograph for this morning showing how the weather has changed. We are downstairs in the kitchen now for the winter, with the fire going and the curtains shut. Finally we have said goodbye to Bekci who has gone to stay with another couple up in the mountains not far from here who can give her a better life; it was too much for us to have her and also was worrying with Rosie going to be toddling outside next year.

Let the hibernation begin.

Home Alone

There is a reason I do not like leaving it so long between updates; I have currently got 44 videos and 870 photographs in the folder for the past few weeks. A lot of them are of Rosie, so will be removed straight out of the running to appear on here, but enough are of thunderstorms and other adventures that this update is going to take some time to write. Here's hoping I can get it done before A arrives back on Wednesday.

In the traditional way of these "too late" updates I'm going to group things together into a few headings and when I feel I've babbled enough I'll post. This could be the longest update for a while, though.

Bekir Returns

Of course the main thrust of this blog is around the renovation of the property and this last few weeks we have had Bekir onsite for a few days doing some small jobs that were urgent. We are not sure if he'll be back later in the year or not (very cash dependent) but these things needed doing whatever.

Bekir is back for a short time

A hornet nest inside a cinder block

Mixing cement by hand; no need for my cement mixer

Getting close to done on that wall

The second wall goes up

Scary Electrician

First of all Bekir was outside at the humanure collection point building the next two walls for our more permanent collection structure. I'd spotted that one of the huge hornets we have around a lot this year was flying in and out of one of the cinder blocks stacked up from last year so I pointed this out to him and sure enough we found a nest with a load of wriggling larvae in it. Not good. Bekir made very good progress during the day and even got time at the end to switch over the circuit breaker in the main circuit board for the kitchen. This was fun as there was a problem and he works with the power still on (though switched off to the rail) and the lights were flicking on and off as he was trying to fix it.

The sun is out as Bekir gets back to work

Putting the final touches to the wall

The Green Building roof needs fixing. Again.

Making a better job of it this time

Sharpening time

Securing Bekci's enclosure

The next day Bekir was back and finishing off the walls around the humanure. This was just in time as the other areas were full and I had a few buckets backed up waiting to be emptied. With this done the next urgent task was to secure the green building roof again. This time he has both cemented it in place and also used strong wire to tie it down to the beams inside. Hopefully this will prove strong enough even with the excessive wind we often experience during storms. He completed this and had time to help me by sharpening the strimmer blades, and then finally fitted a couple of supports to Bekci's fence as she was making good progress towards knocking it down. It was only two days having Bekir here but definitely worth while.

Storms

As is traditional here we have had some very impressive weather over the past few weeks. I've taken very many photographs and videos and here present a few for your enjoyment. Just now as I'm typing this (rushing to get it finished before A gets back hah!) there has been another huge rumble, though it's still warm and sunny right now in the early evening.

This first video I shot stood on the balcony with A. The storm was a long way off, though I think it did end up coming our way and wakening us in the night. This took us both back to our first year here when we used to sit on the balcony, before it was done, on deck chairs in the night and watch storms over the mountains. Happy memories, and it was good to re-live them.

This next video was taken after A headed to visit her parents, the trip she is getting back from tonight. It woke me up very early so I got this video at about 4.30am, then went through to the office as I could not drop back off...

... a bit later on and this was the sky... what an incredible colour...

... and again a little later on that same day another storm came flying through; it only lasted a few minutes but while it was here it was torrential.

This video is a bit longer, and was taken on the same day as the previous three videos (it really was a crazy day) but I've captured a few amazing lightning strikes so watch it if you have time.

A shorter video to show what happens when you forget to shut the balcony door, and a storm blows in with driving rain.

This time we have a series of videos taken over the period of half an hour or so as a monster storm blows in after a glorious start to the day. This was a cracker, including very heavy hail that fell for a few minutes. Crazily enough about five minutes after the hail storm the sun was out again.

If you only watch one of these videos, this is the one to watch. A stunning sunset would be worth seeing, but then suddenly (as you can see from the still) lightning struck! Only a short one as well.

Finally shot last night another distant storm, and also a few fireflies flying around the land.

As you can see we've had some VERY exciting weather but it hasn't all been terrible as the following pictures demonstrate.

I love when the sun shines from behind a cloud

A procession of clouds across the valley

The sun sets, with a variety of clouds around

Moonlit across the valley

Weekend relaxing done right

Really fascinating cloud formation here

Wildlife

OK so that's a huge quantity of videos and photographs and if you've got this far, here's another video and some more pictures, of the wildlife I've seen over the past few weeks. This time the pictures first.

A lovely moth on the back door

Hungry Colorado Beetle - none of these survived

An interesting bug on the spuds

This lizard got into the kitchen but I caught it

Easter Bugs eating a dead caterpillar

A beautiful caterpillar

A Nursery Web Spider

Lizard that lost its tail, but got away

A bug predating on a Colorado beetle larvae

Another interesting creature on the spuds

A beautiful orchid

This chap visited me while I was hanging the washing out

I've been outside more than usual recently mainly down to the fact that I caught the Colorado beetles in the act of hatching and so have spent about half an hour every day picking every single one I could find off the plants and dropping them into vinegar. I normally feel terrible about killing anything living but these, not so much. During this time I've spotted most of the little bugs shown above (I've not seen the spider since so my identification is still uncertain as I didn't get a close up of its eye structure) however it did make me think twice before sticking my hand into the spuds without looking. They aren't deadly but their bite hurts, apparently.

Strimming

With the strimmer having been repaired I've been out a bit clearing down the grass.

It's nice to see progress after a short effort

The driveway really needed clearing

Taking a break from scything; I was hot and tired

I managed to break my scythe

Job finished with the strimmer

Front lawn even more clear

I've not finished it yet, mainly because of being too busy and also all those storms came through and wet the grass again, but another couple of sessions and it'll be done. I've got a better harness delivered as well which will really help. One time I decided to use the scythe and had great fun with it; I did all down one side of the driveway and then as I was starting to come back up the other side the tip caught a bramble stem and BAM the head snapped off! I finished up for the day with the strimmer, and still need to get a new arm for the scythe. I've spent a fair bit of time trying to reduce brambles which are really hard work, and fight back. When A is back that will definitely be a task for this weekend for me.

General

What a long update. I'm going to wrap it up with a final few pictures about other things that have gone on. If you got this far, thanks for sticking with me!

Getting close to completion

Converting some reigns onto a camel rider

I've had a very successful hobby time, getting my 75th anniversary model completed for 6th June to commemorate D-Day (read the blog about it here, with more pictures) and A was wonderful and took a load of great photographs having made me a little lightbox. I've also spent a chunk of time painting and converting in time for ArdaCon which we have decided to still go to. I've got lots more to do but I'm on target.

Another visit, and it's so beautiful up there

The car I drove over with my mum has now been imported, which was a bit of a mission as per usual but I was pleased with myself for completing the task without any help from a local. A has since driven to the airport in it and that's proven its worth already. Thomas had an issue over the weekend with one of his leaf springs falling off so that'll need to be ANOTHER garage trip; it happened after visiting the mountain house and after all the rain we've had the back road was so terrible I'm not surprised something fell off him!

The last slice; it seemed like a good idea when I started...

... but it took me hours to bring myself to eat this final mouthful

Going back to 1991 - walking badges

I've also spent some time mourning my dad; I finished the final piece of the Ginger Parkin that he had made to bring with them when they came to meet Rosie (the trip that was planned for just days after his accident) and this did bring on quite the crisis. It took a long time to eat that final bite. In more positive news, however, I've mounted the walking badges of his, all but one of which I walked with him, and it is now on the wall next to my desk where I can see it every day. How I miss him!

BRUTALITY! has arrived

Almost finally... I had a game deliver from KickStarter, and a mate came over for a meal and to have a game and we had a great time. I'm looking forward to getting this on the table with A as I think she'll have a blast with it as well.

Louise knows how to sleep

They both love the sun

Thelma also knows how to sleep

Louise on the wrong side, but not giving up

Captured mid-back-scratching-roll

Thelma wants me to wake up

So does Louise

Thelma got a lovely shitty neck today

Of course no update will be complete without pictures of Thelma and Louise and so here are a selection that have been taken as they continue to give us such joy (and have kept me company while A has been away.

So there you have it; 51 photographs and ten videos and I did get it completed before A returns. She's in the air right now; I cannot wait!

Thanks for reading :)