Last day before a break

Hello again, Friday reaches us and this will be the last update for a couple of weeks at least as the men are taking a break from work. So get your fix now; I probably won't be updating until they are back.

A beautiful start to the day

Passing up the hosepipe

Sally in charge of hosepipe support

Bekir on electrics and wood duty

Sweeping and cleaning the balcony again

Everyone on the rug with books

Cleaning the main part of the balcony

Roundup going into action again

The day started off absolutely glorious; warm but not too warm with a nice breeze. I snapped a picture while on the balcony watering the olive trees. The men were in and at work on some peripheral tasks for the balcony; Sally and Halil washed off the roof while Bekir worked on the shuttering that has been left from the old roof. Next Sally and Halil did a proper clean of all the balcony, removing the rubbish from the drains and then taking down the old pipes that were getting clogged with muck; we'll replace these with open metal guttering that can be more easily cleaned. Angela had been out to get a few things in the morning with Rosie, including cable for Bekir which Rosie carried home and then handed to him personally, and then it was nap time but after that Angela took her onto the rug on the front garden again with her books. I was at my desk but could hear them having a lot of fun. The men were still on with cleaning with Halil scrubbing down the balcony and Bekir grabbed the pump to do more round up.

Putting shelves up in Rosie's bedroom

Bad pipes removed for now

New pipes for the balcony roof

Badly position drain is moved

Bekir and Rosie - best of friends

Halil and Bekir fitting the new pipes

Pipes all done

After the roundup Bekir came in and fitted the three small shelves in Rosie's bedroom which was another little task that was waiting to be done. Meanwhile Sally had continued removing the bad drainpipes around the balcony that were blocked and split so now all the drains empty onto the ground; but as I say we will replace these before winter I think. The next and final task for the day and this working session was to move the badly position downpipe which was draining onto the balcony and put it to drain down to the french drains directly. There was a lovely break at the end of my work day with all of us on the balcony together and Rosie and Bekir get on so well. After that I had some lawn time and some short pool time with Rosie before dinner and bed and now it's now.

So there we are; the outdoor work is done for now. When the men return we'll start on the entrance porch, gym and library I think (unless I decide that the mountain house is suddenly a priority - noisy weddings may influence here).

Thanks for reading. See you all in a few weeks.

Roof is done done

The update this evening is going to be short and sweet as it has been a simple day and I've not that much to go on about.

Flattening a section of metal

Sifting the sand

Working on the roof join

Mixing up cement

Bekir working on metal

Cementing the ridge tiles in place

Roundup on its way

Rosie with Sally

The task today was the get the roof finally done, not nearly done as it actually was yesterday. Bekir was working very hard to get all the metal in place, and there was also a lot of tiles being cut (I could hear the grinder going) all day. The other task for the day, once the metal edges were all fully in place, was to cement the ridge tiles and this was a task for Sally, with Halil bringing cement and tidying and sweeping otherwise. Once all the roof work was complete Bekir strapped his pump on his back and went around the whole land finding brambles and spraying them. Hopefully we will get on top of these. I am tempted to try and dig them out next year, though - chemicals aren't my favourite thing. At the end of my working day I had a lovely time in the pool with Rosie (she has been outside a lot today, sitting on a rug in the shade and being very joyful - it has been lovely to hear) and then we went onto the balcony for the very end of the working day.

And so that's it; short and sweet but it's great because now that roof is complete. Tomorrow will be the inside light fitting under the roof, the two downpipes from the new roof and the one round the corner, and then inside I hope before the men have their two week break.

Thanks for reading.

Tiling and tortoises

Hey another day done and after a stupidly late night last night and a very busy working day today guess what - I'm tired. A quick nap has helped so here goes and onwards.

Nearly blown over

Rosie playing with Thelma and Louise

Water from testing the drainage

Looking up from down in the valley

Halil with the table saw again

The storm the night before, and high winds, blew into the night and the music from the valley kept going after I rang the police; not ideal. I hope it won't be a bad year for stupid music. When I went out on the balcony in the morning I found that the ladder, left leaning against the roof, had blown nearly onto the floor - that would have been a big bang! Before the workmen arrived I did some silly filming for my YouTube including starting Thomas and the chainsaw, and Rosie had great fun playing with the puppies in the front of Thomas. When the men did arrive they were straight to work, first of all sorting out the drainage and ensuring the downpipes were perfect before it was time for me and Bekir to go to town for some chores and to pick up ridgetiles. When we got back Halil and Sally were on with the rest of the tiling, and Halil was using the table saw to chop some wood a few times.

Halil hammering, Sally stacking, Bekir sorting

Passing the ridge tiles up

Roof all done and looking great

Louise investigates the tortoise

The rest of the day was taken up with lots of roofing, and also Bekir did the electrics to put the light to the middle of the roof. I was on calls and therefore not able to get out to take many pictures but there was lots of noise of hammering all afternoon. After work, and a nap, and dinner, I took Rosie onto the lawn to give Angela a rest and we saw the sheep and then a medium sized tortoise walking along the front munching. Louise had a sniff and we stayed and followed it for a bit before heading back inside. I do love seeing tortoises just wandering around wild.

There you are; another day done and hopefully tomorrow they'll move on to the next tasks (though I still need the downpipe that drains onto the balcony to be moved so maybe not - we shall see). Thanks for reading.

Still stormy at times

After a day off for the men yesterday we're back again with a four day blog. I'm not, however, going to spend all night writing this so I'll do a bunch of photographs for the weekend and yesterday, and then catch up to today.

Chilling out in the shade of the vine

The vine is now giving a great shade

The Other Brother and son, with Rosie

A beautiful sunrise indeed

Some of the grass and weeds I have cut

Snoozing puppies (Louise JUST woke)

Stunning sunset

Moon rise the next morning

Huge cricket on the wall

Stag beetle on its back (watch video below...)

The weekend consisted of lots of time outside in the sun, including taking full advantage of the vines that have now grown up and over the framework to give a really lovely shade to sit under. Not that Rosie stayed still long but it was nice to be there for a bit. We had visits from the neighbours, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, I did some grass cutting in the orchard, Thelma and Louise snoozed on my knee, the moon was beautiful and we had some pool time and the wildlife around here amazed me a couple of times. Also Rosie has really been struggling to sleep recently which has been stressful and reduced the sleep we are getting. We think it is largely teething related but also she is starting to come off the bottle. Kids are hard work, huh.

A rainbow for the morning

Sun breaking through

Sally climbs up

Window man measuring

Tiles on the roof

Grinding down the metalwork

Halil lifts tiles up

Bekir working on the downspout

Downspout in place

End of the day state

Today started with a shower that caused a rainbow over the back mountain but it cleared up then and was a warm, even muggy, day all day. The men were on time and straight onto the roof and I was busy with work so didn't get many pictures really. Mid morning the window people arrived to measure up for an accurate quote for sliding windows around the balcony, fixing a few other bits, and glazing around the main porch entrance. Big plans but it'll make a huge difference. All day the men were tiling away on the front side of the roof, fitting metal for waterproofing between the wall and the roof, and then lifting more tiles up for the other side. At the end of the day Bekir was just fitting the downpouts when it started spitting large spots of rain. I went inside (I was carrying Rosie) and then the downpour began. It was SO heavy and the wind was blowing it inside the balcony roof onto the balcony so we really do need those windows! The roof is now half tiled, and should be finished tomorrow I hope. There are a few other bits and pieces to do, including more metal work if we do get the windows done, but at least we have a secure roof and tiles in place now.

So there you have it; hopefully get this roof finished tomorrow or Thursday and can move on to the next bit. Thanks for reading.