The day we had the crane

Today has been super exciting! Let's get to it.

The moon rises above the hills

Such a beautiful moon rise

Halil splitting logs. Again.

Burning some rubbish, and tidying the small bits

Rosie has her viewing point all set up

Getting the vine frame painted

First of all, however, are two pictures of the incredible moon rise last night - it was so beautiful but sadly my camera really doesn't do it justice. Stunning. The men were in on time this morning and set themselves to splitting logs and doing some tidying up while they were waiting for the crane to arrive. Someone else was also very excited about the arrival of the crane and she sat up on the swinging chair all morning waiting and refusing to move. The men had had enough of splitting and went to another small task I suggested to them which was painting the frame for the vine. It has been out there unpainted for years now and the steel was getting very badly damaged. They did a great job of this and hopefully now this'll last a long time.

Everyone is watching the crane. Literally everyone

The first beam is lifted into place

Bekir puts a quick spot weld in to hold the beam steady

More lifting of beams

Putting the end one in place

Everything is finished for the day, and Rosie loves it

Late morning finally the crane arrived. It was the same truck who delivered the steel to us and the driver was very complementary of Bekir and Halil saying they were excellent "maisters" and the best he'd ever seen working, so that's a thing. The task went really quickly, and just as efficiently as I had hoped with getting a crane. They lifted each beam into place then quickly spot welded it at the bottom to prevent it sliding before moving onto the next. They were not going to spend lots of time positioning to the mm with the crane as they could do that final by hand later. Rosie watched it all and was so excited, though at first a little concerned that it would knock the house down. By just after lunch the whole thing was done and the driver left to another job. The men spent the rest of the day positioning each beam exactly one meter apart and then securing it in place. They haven't quite got every one done but I think only a couple remain for tomorrow. What a great day and Rosie was so impressed!

Very big birds flying over head

I'll leave you with this picture of three eagles, or maybe vultures, which flew over head and circled for a bit. Bekir said they were looking for sheep - big birds!