What ups and downs

I am sat here months after my last attempt to write an update on this blog and I don't know how I'll compress and express everything that has happened since the last time I posted, January 1st at the beginning of this 2019.

I'll not be putting my pictures, I just need to get this blog back on track and moving again, and maybe this will be part of my healing process.

To put it mildly 2019 has been a remarkably difficult year.

Of course as mentioned in the last update I found that Sassy was dead, though she had been off her food for a few days and I was wondering whether she would get better or not. That was my first grave I have dug this year, up next to Mo near the Silver Birch in the top corner. She was a good rabbit though I always think I should have made her a tractor run and let her have a more natural life than up on that balcony. Then my Nana passed away of the illness she had been suffering, which was very sad but not unexpected.

What a wonderful thing; this is a Very Happy Beard Daddy

Then a pure moment of true amazingness. Little Rosie came into the world and my life changed immeasurably. She was healthy, and remains so to this day (though I've had to come away for work so I'm missing her every day). Nothing can prepare you for what fatherhood actually means. Nothing. She is certainly the only really meaningful thing I've ever had a part in. Amazing. She will not appear regularly in photographs on this blog (that isn't what this is about) but as of today, just over two months later, I've got more than 1,000 photographs and videos of her and this number will only grow.

Then my life fell apart; a freak accident put my father into a coma and he never came out of it. He died having never met my daughter and with such suddenness that there was no time to prepare. One minute the greatest man I've ever known was there, the next he was gone. We were helped IMMEASURABLY by the wonderful embassies in Sofia, both the Irish and British embassies went beyond the call of duty to help us get traveling documents for Rosie so we could all get back to the UK for my mum. Sadly we were not able to get back before my Dad passed; there was nothing that could be done about that.

I really cannot speak highly enough of the help from Sofia; they truly made a huge difference to me, and more importantly my Mum.

The funeral was an intense day, and humbling for the people who made an effort to be there and show their love for my Dad. I can't remember all that much of the day right now, except trying to stay next to my Mum. Some people were there I've not seen since I was in single digits as well as friends I've known since then as well. A truly incredible day, but one I would give up for having him back.

The previous attempt to write a blog was the day of my Dad's accident, but I did not know as I was writing it that he was in such a way.

Digging the grave for Rambo

The Cairn I have built over his grave site

And so to the next thing; Rambo is now no longer with us either. He collapsed one day and managed to get back up but over the next few days his state became so bad he could not move at all; I had to carry him out to the toilet but of course I wasn't there all the time. We had to take him to the vet and have him put to sleep. I spent that entire day digging another grave, this one much larger than Sassy's, and then building a cairn over the top.

And so it has taken me a long time to write the second blog post of 2019. I have taken nearly 2000 pictures since the 1st, many lovely moment as well as the horrible ones listed here. We had some snow (Rambo loved that) and Bekci the new guard dog is settling in. Rosie has been an unending source of joy and this year our focus for building work has to be the bedroom and playroom for her off the Kitchen. I've managed to get work again, though I've had to be away for a month while I'm settling in the company. After this it should be fully remote which is perfect. The week after next I'll be driving back to Bulgaria again, this time with my mum, and I cannot wait to get home.

I'll close this update with a couple of videos that A took the other day, stood on the balcony, of nightingales singing in the dark.

And I'll dedicate this blog to my Dad. He was everything to me and he'll never leave me; I now have to live up to his example.

Thanks for reading - normal service will be resumed in a couple of weeks time.

Building work and snow

I'm once again a week later starting an update than I expected to be; it has been such a busy week, during which I've come down with a cold which has sapped any spare energy I may have had, and so Saturday morning after a day off yesterday and I've got the energy to begin. A lot has happened and as I sit here now we're without workmen until next year with pretty much everything done that we wanted for this year.

Hopefully this will be a picture heavy update with fewer words - let's see how well I achieve that.

Blocks and cement turn up for the new wall

The scaffold is finally taken away as well

Sally saving the hedgehog

We are running out of sand, it seems

Foundations for the wall

Bekir finishing the basic parts of the wood store

Petchka in the Art Room

Fiddly work doing electrics on this old light fitting

Waiting for the water, chilling in the winter sun

Monday was just Bekir in the car with Sally following behind, not long behind either, in the truck from the builder's yard which brought blocks and cement and took away the scaffold. After this Sally got stuck into finishing the job that Okhtay had started, making the trench deeper and wider before he started on the footings. He found a sleeping hedgehog in the brush that had blown into the trench and at my insistence put it somewhere safe. It disappeared not long afterwards so hopefully it found somewhere to sleep. Bekir was working away inside finishing putting the wood storage up and then securing the petchka pipes in A's art room. His final inside task before going to work with Sally was to fix the electrics inside the light that is going in the porch. It was a cooler day but at least it was dry so cement work was possible.

Chips of old brick to fill the gaps

Making very good progress

Guest Room Petchka

The Games Room

Lovely patterns cast by the new light

Most of the rest of the day was taken up with building the wall around the humanure; the wood I was using was, obviously, rotting and only lasted about 3 years so this was quite an urgent task. With the big cement blocks it didn't take much time, though of there was some element of extra work put in to improve the strength of the walls. To end the day they secured the pipes and, while I didn't know he'd done it, Bekir put up the light in the porch. When I went to feed Bekci and Rambo that night it was a really pleasant surprise to see it hanging and lit.

An attempt to prevent the dust getting EVERYWHERE

Bekir showing how thick the wall is, roughly

Starting to chisel a hole

The hole gets bigger, while Sally clears the rubble

Using the correct tool

Lunch time status

Tuesday morning saw A and I up on ladders around the kitchen putting up dust sheets in preparation for what was going to be a filthy process. They did an OK job but fell down rather quicker than we hoped. Anyway the hole in the wall between the kitchen and what was the tool room, but would now become bubba's room, was to be begun. At first Bekir used his hammer and chisel and when I pointed at the big breaker he said no he didn't want to use it however as you can see eventually he gave in; some of those stones are very hard indeed. By lunch time we had half a door way - half way through, I mean; these walls are about 60-80cm thick!

Bekir just bashed a hole in the wall

Sally checks it out as well

The demolition continues

Getting ready for the lintel to be built

Such a dusty process

Bending the metal for the lintel

The lintel is created

Where we were at the end of the day

We had Emma and family over for a visit, which was lovely, and as we were stood in the kitchen as they were leaving there was a big crash and the first block fell through into the kitchen. There was cheering and laughter and then Bekir set some padding down on our kitchen tiles before carrying on with the knocking through. With the help of the breaker, and a lot of effort, the end of the day saw us with a huge hole in our kitchen wall and dust everywhere. Sadly I have no pictures however that evening we met up with our very good friends Lee and Melly for Iskander Kebabs and good company; perfect timing for this plan as the kitchen was not fit for use. It was snowing a little bit as we went and when we left so they didn't come back after but headed home straight away; they live a lot higher in the mountains than us.

A snowy scene for the morning

Thelma stole a stick from the fire

Mixing cement the old fashioned way

Repairing what they just knocked down

We woke to far less snow than the forecast had predicted and A was OK to collect the men; it was cold enough but clear on the main roads. The task for the men today was to get the walls repaired and the lintel in place so the doorway could be done  to give us a sealed kitchen for the weekend and they made good progress through the day. Sally works so methodically and carefully when he's bricklaying; it's fun to watch. They still refuse to use tools like the cement mixer, however, which does annoy me slightly; it barely gets any use and was not a cheap aid! oh well. The best bit of the day was Bekci getting to explore the snow for the first time and she loved it.

A doorway takes shape

Cement into a bucket...

... and then into the lintel form

A stole the puppy bed because she was cold

A kebab and cheesy chips

The sides of the doorway were built back up straight and then the men started working on the lintel, pouring the cement in with a bucket and carefully tamping it down to make sure it got into all the nooks and crannies. It was a good way to end the day, to leave it to go off over night, but it was cool enough that A stole the puppies' bed and I worried that the cement would still be wet in the morning. Again we had no useful kitchen and I persuaded A not to stand in the cold but that we should go grab a kebab and that is what we did; it was a very nice meal as well.

Rambo and Bekci stroll around the land together

Checking out the snow

The lintel had dried perfectly fine

Bekir fixes the hinges on the side gate

About to fit the door

Making sure it isn't off kilter

Finishing the edges of the door way

Sweeping up the mess

A small electric heater for the bathroom

Sally builds the floor up

Improving the wood storage a bit more

The next day was snowy again but it was melting; A headed out for her normal shop leaving me with the puppies and I was most enthralled to watch Rambo and Bekci doing "the rounds" together, exploring the top bank. She has really settled in, though Rambo is getting more and more grumpy into his old age. Bekir removed the battens around the lintel and then left Sally to fill the gap above and cement the sides of the doorway while he got on with a few small odd jobs like making the side garden gate work easily again. They then fitted the door (which is perpendicular, but the lintel isn't - standard!) and then Sally then got to tidying and Bekir fitted the bathroom heater A'd got for taking the chill off in that room, particularly for bubba. There was quite a gap under the door so Sally laid some cement, reinforcing it with stone chips, while Bekir fitted cross beams to the wood storage so I can easily stack odd sizes of wood on there.

A red sky for a winters morning

There was dust everywhere!

I've hung the bedroom curtains, for once

Bacon and Egg butties and Louise wants some

The Eye is back on the wall

An amazing Sunday Roast

Louise wants her bone

The weekend was a tidying weekend; we blasted through the kitchen together, me dusting and doing some hoovering and A cleaning behind with mop and bucket. It was so dusty, though the dustsheets had helped somewhat, but we took everything off every shelf and cleaned it all. A very satisfying thing to do. I got the curtains up in the bedroom and finally also stuck the two other sections of cork onto the wall of Room 13 so I could put my Eye back up. A cooked the most amazing Roast Pork for Sunday roast and it wasn't just me who was excited - Louise was over the moon with her huge bone.

Bekir showing how solid this store is

Sally does the first of two coats of plaster

The other side is finished off as well

Thelma found the sun

These kebabs are just the best

Monday was a tidying and finishing day for the men; Bekir continued to put cross pieces on the wood storage unit, I was getting him to do every shelf, while Sally was plastering and clearing up and generally finishing off around the doorway. The sun had come back out so Thelma stole A's chair as soon as she left the room - pretty standard. A and I went out to do chores and went for lunch at the kebab place in town which my dad always goes to for his birthday so we took a photograph for him to get jealous of. At the end of the day everything was done and I did get the men to try to put the Old School Sign back up but we didn't have the correct fixings so that can now wait until next year. I took them home while it was still daylight and that is our building work done for the year.

Since then, all of last week when I was supposed to be writing this blog, I've been non stop working and haven't had a chance to do anything very much. I have dug out the old humanure so we can start using the new block and I've also cleared some more of the wood from around the land but both those things I did today. It's been an intense working week and hopefully that's done.

A is over the moon with her new shoes

I'm not sure when I'll be back with the next update; sooner or later I'm sure. We're getting ready for the new arrival so that'll be taking most of our time up I reckon. For now, here's A with her lovely new Doc Maertins! Amazing :)