Continuing the wall

It's been another lovely day today, not too hot but also not raining, and the progress has been good.

Breaking up the dirt to fill in the gaps

Now they start laying the blocks

The first (and probably final) course is completed

Mixing a bit more cement

Another small course that will be cut along the marked line

The pump is fixed and fitted back in place

Hammering in a length of rebar

Trimming another one down to size

Rosie was off school again today and spent the day with Angela while I was very busy at work. The men were also at it all day, first of all their task being to finish filling in the sides of the foundations which was hard work (the soil pile they were moving has been there a year, and also was driven over by the cement mixer so it was VERY compacted) but they got it done really nicely. Then it was onto the laying of blocks which goes very quickly indeed. They laid the single course up the slope and then after some discussion we decided to lay a second course on this part, but marked to be cut down to become an angle rather than having a step. Halil was mixing cement by hand again as well. With the walls done Bekir fitted the new part to the toilet pump and put it all in the place however we haven't yet had time to test it; that'll be a job for the morning I think. The final part of the day for the men was drilling holes in the cement and then hammering in steel to reinforce the small pillars that will have the uprights in them. The project is progressing nicely.

"That's Daddy's hat, Mummy!"

The tortoise that was walking just down the lane

The hunter caught its prey

Angela and Rosie weeding together

Rosie helping with a shovel

Watching the cow eat our throw-aways

Before I started clearing the piles of dirt

Not quite finished, but I was done in

After school and work we all went out into the garden to do some tidying. Rosie told Angela that her new hat was actually mine (it isn't, I bought it to give to her) and then we saw a tortoise in the side lane making its way towards the main lane. The puppies were most put out. I saw a spider that had just caught its dinner but I didn't show this to Rosie this time. She then spent time helping Angela with the weeding before joining me in my next task which was to flatten out and spread the big piles of soil that were left after the patio work. She found it too hard to break the soil up so after a bit ended up being really useful taking stones and putting them over the fence and then later on taking grass I was digging up and giving it to the cows as they went past. By the time Angela called us in for dinner we had made very good progress on this part of the ground. Tomorrow hopefully I'll finish this entirely.

So there you are; another day done. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.