A lovely weekend, a grim Monday

Hey all, back again at the end of Monday for a "this weekend and Monday" update.

Pushing the lawnmower across the lawn

Flowers in the tortoise garden

On the lawn with Rosie

About to tackle a more difficult section of the lawn

The beer my neighbour brought me

A much tidier looking grass lawn (more to be done though)

I'm happiest when I'm outside

Rosie also loves being outside so much

A doughnut for a treat

Saturday really was lovely; I was out on the balcony early with Rosie, just after she woke up actually, and saw some deer running across the field behind us; the video is shaky and shot in the way you'd expect with me holding a baby while filming but it was pretty awesome to see. I can sum up the rest of the day by saying I was cutting the grass a lot and getting A and Rosie to join me as much as possible. Mid afternoon the neighbour brought me a beer and we had a bit of a chat over the fence as well which was nice. We ended the day on the balcony as the sun went down and Rosie ran around loving being outside; she is happiest when she's not inside that is for sure. In the evening we had a doughnut (A had made a huge effort to get into town in the morning for shopping, as the virus related restrictions start to bite here - what a legend and we're stocked up a little more than usual which takes the pressure off a bit) and that could be our last doughnut for a while.

Puppies will always find the sun

Rosie helping mummy plant spuds

Little Lady brought flowers for Rosie

Breakfast on the go

Sunday we were up and out early, as the forecast was for rain and we had things we wanted to do while the sun shone. A had some spuds to plant, and Rosie helped, while I pushed the mower about for a bit before heading inside to cook breakfast. While I was doing that Rosie was toddling around and A was outside with her chainsaw. A lot to do before our bacon and eggs but we were ready for them when they were done.

Wood to be shifted

A preying mantis on one of the raised beds

Spuds into a spud tower

More mowed areas - getting there now

Rosie sat with Thelma in the dirt, and the sun

Bees at the flowers

Clouds rushing in

After breakfast I shifted the wood away that A had cut and then went back to mowing the grass leading onto the front lawn, and also around the raised beds. I disturbed a spider nest at one point, and then saw what I thought was a stick insect but was actually a preying mantis. Pretty cool! A was cracking on with the spuds and I finished my mowing and then went on to time with Rosie, which is always special and precious. She sat in the sun with Thelma and played and then we went onto the front lawn and she looked at the real life buzzy bees (she loves buzzy bees) on the flowers in the tortoise garden. By the late afternoon the glorious weather was passing and a storm was blowing in and so we took cover inside. It had been a wonderful weekend and we finished it off by watching Troy for our film night.

Noses tucked all day and you cannot blame them

Halil and Sally working in the rain

Bekir bending metal for rebar

Horrible weather for working outside

Bekir freezing as he wires the reinforcement in place

Monday has been grim. I am not normally a huge hater of Mondays, though I'll joke about it, but it's been tough today. The rain, for one thing, hasn't let up and it hasn't just rained but it's been freezing as well. The puppies barely moved all day from the sofa with their noses tucked, and the men (who turned up when I didn't think they'd bother) have really stuck at their task of getting the concrete poured into the beams and lintel with such grit and determination. They lit the fire in the workshop and huddled around it a few times during the day to warm themselves and I frankly am happy it was there for them; a horrible day, and very difficult working conditions. I've pretty much told them to take a day off until the weather improves so we may not see them tomorrow and therefore don't be surprised if there is no blog.

There you have it; another blog update and onwards.

I hope you are all keeping safe, healthy and well out there.

Thanks for reading.

Rosie's Room Complete

Another day, and another week, done and hopefully a short blog update today.

Bekir clamps the door frame

A lick of paint on the wall

Back to the shuttering work

I started the day by asking Bekir to get Rosie's room finished; the day before all progress in there had been halted as they focused on the porch however we really want to get her in her new room sooner rather than later now. To this end Bekir spent most of the day working in there first of all putting the lintel around both sides of the joining door. This made use of the wood we bought yesterday, and some wood I'd forgotten I had from hobby builds last year. Sally popped in and quickly painted the wall that required paint then was back outside onto the porch project.

Tulips line the (needing replacing) front path

The Tortoise Garden is bursting into colour

More bulbs beside the lawn

I took a short stroll around the garden mid morning. It was a lovely warm day, A took Rosie onto the balcony for quite a lot of it, and getting away from my desk and the boring work I'm doing was a real bonus. The bulbs are all coming up really well and I hope the forecast snow for next week stays away from us!

Working on fitting the lintels

Sally hammering nails into a shutter

Far column is shuttered

Finishing touches on the door surround

Fitting the cross shuttering in place

Bekir fitting the blind in Rosie's bedroom

Halil drilling to secure more rebar in place

Blind to keep the sun out during the day

Inside Bekir continued on the door lintel and outside Sally and Halil continued making shuttering for the concrete pour. I thought they were maybe hoping to pour today to give it time to go off over the weekend. The door was finished and Bekir got to the final task which was hanging a blind in the bedroom. These were bought for the kitchen but I never fitted them so they aren't perfect but they will definitely do for now.  The end of the day arrived and sadly all the shutters were not in place so no cement has been poured. The forecast for next week is not looking favourite for outside work, either, so you may find I'm not updating the blog if the men don't come back. We didn't have Hikmet today, either, in case you were wondering.

So there you are; the week is done. Thanks for reading.

Porch Progress

I'm back and it's been another day of progress; the craziness of the world continues as well - this whole virus thing is like a bad dream though thank god none of us are impacted. Onward with the update.

Slab at the beginning of the day

A grub that was mixed into the concrete it seems

Hikmet starting on the rubble pile

Holes for the column rebar

Making sure everything lines up

First course going down

Bending metal for the columns

Last night as I said the slab was completed; A spotted a grub climbing out of the cement and when I pointed it out to Sally he suggested it had been hiding in the sand they used to mix the cement. Crazy. Hikmet had completed clearing the front lawn of stones and sticks and so got stuck into the next clearing task; moving all the rubble and rubbish down by the table tennis table. This has been there for years and is well overdue clearing. The rest of the day involved the workmen building the walls for the porch. Bekir drilled out the holes into which the rebar will be inserted for the concrete posts at each end of the walls and then Sally and Halil got to brick laying while Bekir made the steel frames for the columns.

Hikmet hard at work clearing rubble

Three courses and rising

There's a window space now

Sally up on a scaffold

Hikmet getting to the end of this task as well

Wood for the door surrounds from the builders merchant

Halil and Sally making shuttering

The afternoon was more of the same. Hikmet was shovelling and shifting soil and stones and rubble and windows and glass from the rubbish pile outside the workshop and Bekir, Sally and Halil were working together to build the walls, and create the reinforcement, for the porch. I helped to work out how large the windows were to be and then on they went, getting up to the level at which they will be pouring a concrete raft above the windows. Hikmet was really clearing and it is (as I've said over and over) so good to have these jobs that were put back for years finally being done. After lunch I had to go down to town with Bekir to get a few more bits and fortunately the builders yard was still open. The day ended with the rafts being made which will have concrete poured into tomorrow. We did find a blind to go up in Rosie's bedroom but that'll probably be done tomorrow now, along with the final work around the doorway as Bekir now as the correct wood to finish this job.

So there you are; I've just fallen asleep on the sofa after the busy day, and now I'm going to do a little hobbying before an early night. Thanks for reading.