Doors and slabs

Today I'm exhausted. It turns out that losing your job and having to keep spending money is stressful and tiring. I'm going to try and keep this short.

And yes, I know I've not actually lost my job but "unpaid April" is pretty much the same thing.

Sun over the valley

The door is slightly too tall

Sanding down the walls

Hikmet gathering firewood

The day started with another glorious sunrise above fog and frost; the men were on time and first of all started out looking at the new door for between the bedroom and play room and found that it was slightly too tall. Halil was sanding down the new plaster ready for painting (though they didn't actually get to the painting today). I had a word with Bekir about Hikmet's tasks and asked that he first clear all the fire wood that was scattered around still, and then go onto the front lawn and pick up stones and sticks from it so I can then mow it later in the week. Of course he got stuck into this with a will, as he does.

Sally cleaning up the door

Halil is on with a knife and hammer

Bekir with the grinder cutting the doorway bigger

There was a lot of tidying up going on in there; Sally cleaned up the door into the kitchen while Halil chipped away the overspill of plaster and paint onto the door frame. Meanwhile Bekir was trimming above the doorway between the two rooms to make sure the new door would fit fine.

Side shuttering for the slab pour

Both sides in place

Metal grid down, ready for cement

Mixing machine going all afternoon

Slab poured and smoothed

Bekir fitting the door handle

Hikmet clearing all the rubbish off the front lawn

The end of the morning, and the rest of the afternoon, involved lots of work on the slab outside the kitchen for the new porch. Sally and Halil were working on this and by the end of the day (though I've not got a picture of it at this stage) they had poured it all. It is going to be a good sized space for us to be able to take outer clothes off in winter and not traipse water and snow into the house. Inside Bekir was making good progress on fitting the door, though it doesn't fit that well and will wait on some woodwork he'll do at home to finish the gaps. Outside Hikmet was on the lawn clearing job and working all the way along, which is a bonus as I was only going to do up to the Green Building. The end of the day involved opening up the toilets and seeing what was inside and it strikes me this is going to be challenging as I speak little Bulgarian and they speak no English, and the instructions are complex. We shall see.

A stunning sunset to end the day

Reading to Rosie, with puppies in attendance

The evening was brought to us by a glorious sunset and a very grumpy Rosie who had refused to nap in the afternoon and therefore was very very tired. We think she may be teething again but we got through it (against the odds at times) and now she's sleeping well (so far, fingers crossed).

Thanks for reading - here's to tomorrow being more upbeat; I'm just beat today.