The week ends

We have made it to Friday and the end of a week and next week the workmen will not be here so there won't be an update for a while now. Let's get to it anyway.

Fog gathers in the valley

Brian snuggled in his shredded cardboard

Bekir setting the sides on

They worked outside for a bit

Trimming down for a bit of edging

Starting to fit the diagonals

Trimming for the sides

One end done, now to the other end

Halil tidies up the wood

This morning the sun rose behind clouds and the mist stayed in the valley quite a long time; that is the first time since spring that this has happened so autumn is definitely on its way. Brian had been a bit noisy at night and was fast asleep first thing. The men went to get screws to finish the trolley job so were a little later in, and Rosie was off school today so went with Angela to get the preglet on her car then off to the doctors so it was a long day for them. At home Bekir and Halil cracked on with the trolley putting the sides on and reinforcing it before attaching a couple of diagonal end pieces to support the sides. It was all done by mid afternoon and while Bekir wrapped it up Halil did a load of clearing and tidying.

Puppies waiting to try and get on our land again

Removing the insulation; see the drain holes on the frame

Lots of stuff to clear up (which they did)

At lunch time there was lots of barking down by the gate so I went to have a look and found all the new puppies on our land. I spent some time securing the chain link better to the gate (and the young boy from the farm came out and apologised, though it was far from his fault as my gate wasn't secure) but then shortly after while I was talking to Rosie and Grandma on the balcony I saw all of them on the back bank. They ran as I approached and I followed them and found the gap in the wall they were using so I have now filled that as well. Ahh well, maybe a new front wall soon. The men moved onto the next task after finishing the trolley which was to look at the windows and why they aren't draining. You can see in the first picture how the idiot fitters who did our insulation covered up the drains from the windows; just so thoughtless. Anyway they chipped away at most of two before the day ended and will come back with a wide hammer drill bit to speed the process up a week on Monday (I hope).

A beautiful caterpillar; a swallowtail maybe?

Rosie uses Angela as a couch

Brian having a good old explore

After his run he was hungry

After work we all got out into the garden to look at the plants (and found a beautiful caterpillar) then went to see the chickens and ducks. I also had been running Robbie Robot today, twice, and he has done a marvelous cleaning job as always. After that Rosie, Grandma and I went up to the lounge and let Brian out for a run and he had a great time exploring. Angela also joined us while dinner cooked. It was a fun time.

So there it is; as I say I won't be back on Monday so have a good one and hopefully we'll be updating again a week Monday. Thanks for reading.

Grandma arrives

Today has been exciting for various reasons; you'll have to read on to find out why though.

Chickens get their breakfast

Bekir fills the hole for the overflow

Measuring and cutting for the trolley

This was my idea - it was a bad idea

The replacement wheels rotate and turn really smoothly

Bekir fits the floor

Side supports going on

This morning I took Rosie to school as Angela was getting ready to go collect my mum from the airport; as I left with Rosie the chickens had just been fed and were in their house. I got back to find the workmen in and Bekir up in the roof filling in the hole he had drilled for our overflow. This was a very quick job and after that they got started on the trolley that we need for moving the swimming pool around when it is disassembled. They worked out dimensions and cut wood then attempted to use the wheels that I had bought however even though they got them mounted they would not turn successfully at all; off to town they went and bought some new wheels with rotating mounts and brakes; these fitted much better. They made good progress despite the waste of time having to go hunt down the wheels and the trolley is nearly finished; just sides and the rope to add and we're done.

Rosie and Grandma having a cuddle

I am soaked through

Unfortunately just at lunch time we had a call from the school saying Rosie wasn't well; I went to collect her and she was really unhappy with a temperature and a bad head. I got her settled and we relaxed on the sofa until she was feeling a little better and then she was bouncing around as usual again however even as she's gone to bed she's still got a temperature. Poor little thing. Angela and my mum arrived back safely and Rosie was so pleased to see Grandma. We decided to head out for dinner tonight but just as we were going the rain started to fall and it was torrential when we left the diner however very soon after getting back home a real storm hit. The pool cover was being torn off the pool so I ran outside to save it and dragged it into the glass room but got totally drenched in the process. Angela had a lot of fun getting the chickens into the house and I also went to help and we were both again drenched. All good fun, but very dramatic indeed.

So there it is; grandma is here and the weather is dramatic and here's hoping Rosie is better in the morning. Thanks for reading.

Working in the attic

First of all and before anything I want to wish Angela a very very happy and wonderful birthday. First thing this morning Rosie gave her the presents that we had bought on Saturday and just now I blew up the balloons and put them on display at the dining table. Rosie and I also sang and it was lovely :) So there you are.

Happy birthday Angela!

Sun sets over the trees at the back

Arty shot of the sunset through the windows

Brian eats his dog food

The clouds that were flickering away

For the blog, back to last night and a lovely sunset as Rosie was heading to bed that she really enjoyed seeing. We also fed Brian who was very hungry and scarfed a lot of the food down before disappearing back underneath his bedding. There was a lot of stormy weather blowing around so I headed onto the roof terrace to shut the doors and while I was up there took some pictures and a video. In the night the storm again didn't really come over us, but it did rain.

Bekir fitting metal

Bekir drilling through for the overflow

The pipe work in progress

Wood shifted downstairs the easy way

For the day's progress it was all spent in the roof space. First of all they completed fitting the metal around the edges of the chimneys so that is a really good improvement. Next up was the overflow for the water storage tank; we are putting this in so that if a valve breaks again the water will go outside and not come down through the house like it has twice now. During the day I took some time to get back up and do more clearing of the rubbish up there and Halil got involved and helped by shifting a load of the wood downstairs (by lobbing it off the roof terrace). We're getting closer to me being able to shift some stuff up there out of the games room so I can start on the next model railway project!

Angela feeding Brian

Brian exploring the lounge

A lot of after school has been taken up by Brian as he managed to escape the cage. I found him trundling down the corridor! I've now wrapped some small chicken wire all around the top half of Sassy's old cage (I'll do the other half tomorrow) but we had some fun times with him running around the lounge and Rosie was fascinated.

So there it is. Tomorrow my mum arrives and we're all very excited to see her. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Animals arrive

I was in bed for about 8:30 last night I was so tired and I am starting to think today may be similar so let's get this update on the go.

Lots of clouds, but they came to nothing

Picture of the family

Going back to last night the storm clouds built then disappeared before I went to bed; Rosie and Angela did some drawing on the balcony while I was writing the update and then it was bed time and as I went the storm was building in the distance. It did rain over night but I slept like a baby so have no idea if anything more than rain came near us.

Removing the shuttering (it will be used for the next roof project)

Perfectly ripe apple

This is the chicken that Rosie picked

Two red chickens

Two more chickens

Starting to fill the pond

So to today; the men were in and started working on the final steps for the chicken enclosure which involved removing all the wooden shuttering, and removing the final tools from inside the house. While I was down getting pictures I saw a really lovely bright red apple so I'm looking forward to sharing that with Angela and Rosie; in fact I meant to this evening and forgot. Angela then got back from dropping Rosie and she had six chickens in a box in the boot; we opened the box and let them out and they have seemingly settled in pretty well already. We also got the water running into the duck pond (but Bekir did have to quickly re-fit the tap so it didn't all just drain out again.

Angela paints the nook

Fitting a stop to the bottom of the chicken roost

Meet Brian the Hedgehog

Halil splits a log

Fitting some metal to seal around the chimneys

Inside Angela was hard at work applying paint to the little nook in the dining room; it's going to be really lovely to start to decorate rooms like this as, up until now, we've left everything deliberately neutral. Outside the next task was underway with Bekir and Halil fitting a stop at the bottom of the hen roost frame that Angela made a few years back. They also took the hinges off the top hatch for the toilet collection points as one of them had rusted completely shut. At one point today Angela heard Thelma barking at something and went to check it out and she found a tiny hedgehog, now called Brian, who she brought in, fed and watered (and it was hungry) and he is now living in Sassy's old cage in the lounge. He's way too small to fatten up enough for winter so we shall try to keep him alive until Spring. Outside the task was now removing the outside shuttering which they completed and the Halil did some log splitting while waiting for Bekir to wrap up. The final job that they got to today was fitting metal around the edges of where the chimneys go through the roof as there was quite some gap in places and we were getting lots of bird nest falling through, and some birds. They didn't quite wrap that up so that'll be done tomorrow and then there are lots more little jobs for them to do while we wait for the plans for the car port.

So there it is. Before dinner we managed to get the chickens in the house and also Rosie and I went and bought two ducks from The Little Lady. I will get more pictures of our flock as they settle in. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Weekend and then several jobs done

Back to real normality today as Rosie was back to school and I was back to work. But first, let's look to the weekend.

The tortoise on the front lawn

Rosie feeds the ants

The end of our game

Rosie riding the machine at Kaufland

More ants, more leaves

After I finished the update on Friday I went down to wait for Rosie and Angela to get back from the neighbours and heard a rustling on the front lawn; I went down to find a tortoise making its way up towards me. I did make sure to show this to Rosie when she got back. More wildlife with Rosie as we went over after this to check out her ants nest and she fed more leaves to them. I then played games with Steve and we finally managed to finish it up. On Saturday morning he headed off back home and I took Rosie into town to do some shopping (Angela's birthday is coming up) and we stopped for a chance for Rosie to ride on the machine at Kaufland. When we got back it was time for a chat with Grandma and Auntie Nods and I am pretty sure we went into the pool as well because the clock stopped and that was very frustrating. We've changed the batteries now and it seems to be doing ok. We also went back down to see her ants and feed them even more leaves.

Rosie jumping in puddles in her boots

I filled 7 big black bags with XPS

Rosie painting her room sign

The sun sets on Sunday

Saturday night I was woken by high winds, and there was a storm forecast, so I went around the house shutting windows; in the morning we found that it was still raining though eventually it did stop. Rosie put her boots on and went to jump in puddles while I got on with a few chores including tidying the workshop, hoovering the stairs and then finally  I went into the roofspace and did an epic tidy of the polystyrene pile up there. Angela and Rosie had a lovely day together, Rosie was full of beans. I got to watch them painting together making a display to hang on Rosie's play room door. Finally here's a shot of a lovely sunset that night.

Bekir removing wall plugs and tidying|

Halil prepares to plaster

Bekir takes down the wooden frame

Spare plaster applied to the sink front

Taking down the old baby chick enclosure

Cleaning, burning and raking

We have a clean duck pond again

And so to today; this morning I put Bekir and Halil to a couple of small but important tasks before they went back to the chicken enclosure. First of all was the little nook in the dining room that needed cleaning up and replastering so Angela can get the walls painted while my mum is visiting. While Halil was doing the painting Bekir went out and removed all the wood from around the garden sink and cleaned it up. Halil then used the last bits of plaster he had mixed to finish the front of the sink. It was then into the chicken enclosure to get stuck into tidying and clearing in preparation for our new flock. First of all the temporary enclosure I'd built for the chicks was taken down; it had lasted very well for having been thrown up in such a hurry all those years ago. With that task done they blitzed that area and removed all the weeds and raked all the stones (15 wheel barrows full, apparently) and burned a load of trash and also cleaned up the pond. There's still a few bits and pieces to do but we are now pretty much ready for birds.

Rosie with the sandcastle we built together

The tortoise once again on the move

After school I went out to the sandpit to play with Rosie and we made an awesome sandcastle together. Then while Angela was making dinner I finally got to switch over the humanure collection point to the newly draining one; my feeling is we should leave the old one to dry for quite a long time before going in there however I may have to get the drill and put some drainage holes in myself as it's very very wet in there - not good. After doing this I heard more rustling and sure enough the tortoise was making its way along the front of the lawn. I do love having tortoises on our land.

So there it is; as I write this a storm is rumbling towards us so that could be some fun. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.