Only a few days of freedom

Howdy! Firstly and before I forget, here is Thelma shouting at Rambo' Kong, which is almost as large as she is. I had forgotten to include this last week.

And so to the main post: What has happened? Well I have been unwell with a cold and lots of aches and exhaustion, but in true A style, got extremely bored. I did sit around for a few days, but with sudden bursts of energy, I did a few things - I have a list. The Beard keeps adding to it, just so he knows I am not being totally useless.

Sadly for you lot, the main focus of my week is the new petchka stove in the kitchen. I cannot tell you how awesome this is. The heat it is pumping out (up to 15kW I believe) is brilliant and not only does it make the whole kitchen/dining/nook areas really quite toasty, the heat is not escaping through the hatch and into the living room too much. It is taking a chill off up there, but there is a noticeable rise in temperature as I descend the stairs. Anyway, I have been quite excited to try the cooking in it, so I put it together as best I could and got it connected.

Hooking it up

I just could not wait to try something in the oven, so I tried (for my second attempt) to make a Banitsa (translated locally as Bathing Pie). This is a combination of a fair bit of butter, white (sheep's) cheese and yogurt, although I believe you can use milk also and filo pastry. It is one of my favourite local dishes.

First meal

The petchka was great but I think I hadn't put it together well enough because it did start to back up with smoke; so much so that I had to open doors and windows at one point.  But it is sorted now, as you will see later. It did warm the space up very well.

Warm glow

I have been lighting it around lunchtime some days just so that I can use it to cook. This is quite sad, I realise that but I simply cannot help myself. I am sure the novelty will wear off in a few years.

Lunchtime soup

Evening casserole

We had been waiting for Bekir to become free just to do a few bits to seal off the edge of the insulation before the frosts come. On Saturday morning at 7.30am (quite a shock to the system, it has to be said after all my recent lie ins) I picked him up from the cafe as usual and we headed home for him to get cracking. He didn't try to rush a tiling job for the top section and sensibly just sealed the edges to stop any moisture getting in behind the insulation. Fair enough and probably a better choice than putting himself under pressure to finish it all in one day.  He did finish off the chimney breast though and also put a lip of 5cm tiles around the wall to the attic, with silicon underneath as a double barrier to any gaps there. That was great to see as there had been some water coming in at that wall and getting down to the ceiling in Sassy's old room.

Trimming

Edging

Silicone seal

Happy with the roof and relieved to get that done, I had asked him to have a look at the chimney and check for blockages as initially, as I mentioned, the kitchen was quite smokey during the week and I was seeing smoke escaping from the chimney entrance, as well as from the pipe joints which is very dangerous. I obviously stopped using it until I was able to get him to have a look for me.  He did a sterling job and even checked it for me by burning the rubbish paper and cardboard he had brought down from the roof. What a man!

Arm deep

He had been up on the roof and I could hear a lot of crashing and banging coming from the chimney and when i went to look and get a photograph, sadly I could not get sight of him from any position and I was not going to give the Beard another heart attack by getting up there again myself. So he had been lowering this down the chimney to check for blockages. Improvisation indeed.

Found a dumbbell

Finally, he finished the job I was unable to do and he secured the pipes so that the did not sag and leak any more. I really don't know what I would do without him.

Securing the flue

Now, what else has happened? Well I did a few bits and pieces. I moved this all by myself - it was heavy - and put in place to see if it looks ok. It will hopefully house our recipe books and gardening and preserving books when we get around to moving them all down.

New bookcase

I also went to town on Friday to finish off the registration at the local vehicle office for Pat, which went surprisingly smoothly. She is now officially a Bulgarian car and fully legal. YAY. (I have no photos to post as it was all paperwork and garages and pretty dull).  I also went and had a couple of links removed from my watch and picked up this bad-boy for our bonfire and fireworks party. The puppies will not be impressed.

Bangs for the party

The dogs have been fairly good with the drop in temperatures and only really come inside when it rains. This does mean that a lot of the time, Louise is getting up to no good. We have several of these instances and I had ONLY just showered her the day before for doing this exact same thing. Little brat. I don't quite think she understands that there is no point in hiding your scent with fox or chicken poop when you are hunting things if you stand and bark at it before you chase it. However, she will learn, hopefully.

One of MANY times

 Thelma has been wanting to chase her ball more than the rats, which is fairly standard.

The ball whisperer

And this daft big lump has just been taking life very easy. One thing I am very pleased about though is that the day I went to register Pat, I was gone for about four hours and when I got back he came trundling down the drive to get a good look at who was coming in. It is good that he makes himself visible when he isn't sure who has arrived.

Daft as ever

Finally and after many delay tactics, I did a pepper harvest. As mentioned, the weather has changed and I don't want to lose a whole harvest to frost. And what a harvest it was!

Pepper fest

I stopped picking at this stage as I knew I was going to struggle for time in getting them all processed. There is at least the same amount again in the garden but I simply cannot face another pepper for a few days. I pickled some (there are about another five jars in the pantry which I did after these two).

In a pickle

 I de-seeded and froze some.

De-seeding

I also roasted some (in the new stove obviously) and stored with roasted garlic, peppercorn and olive oil.

Roasted and steamed

So yes, we are not even close to finished at that stage however, I did finish what is in the bowl in the photo below on Monday.  We will be eating peppers for years!

Not even close to finished

So in other exciting news, IT IS ONLY A FEW MORE DAYS UNTIL HE IS BACK!!!!!!!

Sorry, but I have actually missed him a lot and cannot wait until Friday night and I will drive to Sofia to collect him at around midnight.  There is still a debate in my head about whether to take or leave the pups as it is such a long drive and as it will be night time they could probably sleep more than comfortably at home for 7 or 8 hours rather than being stuck in a  car. I will decide on the day. Next time I write will probably see this face feature a LOT.

The Beard

Off to eat the rest of my awesome casserole, cooked on my new awesome stove last night. Be good folks and I will see you all soon!

Leka nosht.

A xx

A big push

I left you on Wednesday without having updated you about the day.

On Wednesday morning we had Deveta Sally (Sally 2) with us as we may be getting the floors in the last two remaining rooms replaced and waterproofed etc. soon, if we can actually get a quote off the guy who did the kitchen and who currently is not responded to the request. I don't really know why they do this; perhaps they don't need the work! He didn't take long to get on with the job and before I had even had a chance to get photos, due to being out on a material run first thing, he had made good inwards!

The kitchen units we were unable to use in the kitchen are still being kept for use in the garage and he had already moved them all up to the attic by the time I got back.

Kitchen units all gone

Stored nicely in the attic

Our Sally was beavering away and tidying up around the door edges, making sure we are as sealed as we can be for winter. This was pretty important for me, given the rat issues over the last couple of years. Thankfully now our living space is sealed, even if they do get in to the unfinished section, there will be nothing enticing them to stay as there will be no food within that area at all, so fingers crossed.

Beavering away

Bekir was also cracking on and it was on Wednesday I realised (and I think so did he) that he was not going to get this whole terrace finished before they had to go to their next job on Monday. A shame, but he was feeling the pressure; I could tell, so no point adding to it.

More tiles

Thursday was another work day for me and I don't mind admitting that this week has been a shock for me. Getting up at 6.30, collecting and dropping the men off, working and also tending to all the normal chores has certainly taken its toll. However, I survived.  The men were back to it and Sally 2 was making great progress with clearing the room.

Of course, there were still the old windows and frames to move in the little back room, so he was far from finished.

Windows

What else has happened? Well, the birds are still enjoying their freedom and mostly have spend their time scratching around underneath the fruit trees at the top of the drive, so hopefully they will have been eating lots of nice natural stuff to make their copious amount of eggs eggsellent. Yes, I did.

Enjoying the freedom

By the end of Thursday, Sally 2 had been making a great start to the window room. I can vouch for the fact that this would have been quite hard work as the windows, if glazed, are actually quite heavy and with broken glass something to be wary of, it was not a simple fetch and carry job. He made an excellent space for them in one of the rooms in the green building though.

Window stacking

Bekir meanwhile was making progress on the roof. albeit, not as fast as I hoped, but he was doing a good job and taking care that it was done properly, which is the right way. We want it sealed for winter after all.

Careful laying

Our Sally was working carefully also and steadily making his way through as many doors as he could. The most important one being to Room 13 as again, we will be spending a lot of our days (or at least mine) in here whilst we work.

Sealed!

Next was the second guest room and the attic.

Guest room

Attic

And Bekir was pushing hard up on the roof. He really stepped it up a gear.

Almost there

Friday was brought to me with nausea and an very upset tummy. It may well have been my curry which poisoned me, but I was not very well at all on Friday. I made a start on cleaning out room 13 but I was overwhelmed with sickness, so I spent a lot of the day resting, sleeping or moping around. I am a terrible patient.  The one thing I needed to distract Bekir with was the chainsaw, so on one of his trips down to get water, I grabbed him and got him to have a look. It had been starting when the Beard was home, but stuttered and then cut out every time. Bekir opened it all up and very, very carefully pulled back the filter to expose quite a bit of sawdust which had made its way underneath and slightly caked around the entrance to what I think was the petrol chamber. Cleaning it out carefully and washing the filter in pure petrol, it was back to business and was up and running again. Great for me as I have a huge amount of chainsawing to do in the coming weeks as all of our oak we had chopped last year is now dry and ready for the winter burn.  He improvised and dried the filter out on Julian's aerial.

Chainsaw clean

Aerial dried

A couple of other things happened during the week and I cannot remember what days, so here you are. A delivery of stuff the Beard ordered and an early gift from his parents for Christmas.  In the middle you will see a nest of tables which is actually made from the same wood as our dining table and matching metal joins. Beautiful. The photo does not do them justice at all. Not content with his lazy-boy, he also decided to join me in the geriatric area with his very own rocking chair. And on the left is a wall mounted chiming clock which is surprisingly less annoying than I had feared.

Deliveries

The end of Friday was welcome for both Sally's. They had both worked hard and achieved all they were supposed to. Sally 2's efforts in the men's room and end room were brilliant.

Cleared box room

Cleared men's room

Bekir had been cutting and placing the last of the edge tiles and was starting on the chimney edge by the end of the day. Quite a big push made on Friday to finish as much as possible. He had agreed to also work Saturday to seal it with the grout and keep it right until he could come back again next week.

Light at the end of the tunnel

I didn't get much done really with room 13 due to feeling very queasy, so I left it and decided to get stuck in on Saturday when I hoped to feel a bit better.

The two Sally's had a spare half our or so at the end of the day and continued to tidy around the place, so I asked them to help me by moving the last two doors for the living room and the completed guest room out of the corridor to avoid any damage. They are now safely stowed in the twin guest room, which we hope to complete next year. So much for a year off, eh?! lol

Saturday, no lie in.  Up and at it, still feeling a bit rough and off to collect Bekir. He was grouting to seal the tiles off in case of any rain (none in 3 months, but would be sods law the minute you lay tiles that it will rain for 40 days and nights).  He said that we would not make a start on the walls until next Saturday as it was more important to seal what he had put down - fair enough. I really didn't intrude too much through the day, only with his coffees and when he needed to pop to the shop for more grout. He just cracked on and at the end of the day, we had this:

Floor all done

I did do a little bit throughout the day and moved myself back into Room 13 again.  The temperatures are dropping at night and in the morning, so it is better to be in here just in case the fire needs to be lit at some point and also, I had help to move my desk back in again, so I took full advantage.  Looking cosy.

Room 13

I managed to eat on Saturday night and decided I wanted something tasty after two days of toast and tea. White wine and garlic spaghetti with prawns (the ones that cost about a tenner, yes, I bought them, Beard. I did. In four weeks you will have forgotten) mixed with our own peppers and courgettes. It was extremely tasty and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Expensive dish

Today has been spent mainly with a little lie in, a brief shopping trip to town to pick up some more vegetables for dinner and pottering around, sitting in the sun on the balcony, playing with the dogs, watching the chickens roam and seeing how much happier they are and eating this.

Roast dinner

I am going to leave you now so that I can relax a while before tomorrow dawns and the chainsaw will have to come out. I am hoping my limbs all remain intact.

Leka nosht.

Ax

Meanwhile, back in Bulgaria

Apologies for my recent lack of updates. The truth is, apart from work and a few bits and pieces, not much has really happened. I have been struggling to get back into my routines since my three week break and I am trying to set that right this week. Let's see.

I left you in a bit of a hurry in the last update because I was tired and had much unpacking and tidying to do. I still have! But I will try to update you on some of the few things going on.

One of the first things I did and didn't mention when I got back was to get myself into the garden and harvest some of the hundreds of peppers we have here. This is a Belfast sink:

Pepper harvest

I packed a load of ice in there because I was trying to keep them as crisp and fresh as possible until such a time in my day when I got a break fro work for enough time to process some of them.  The first lot were being pickled, so they were cut in half, de-pithed and de-seeded and popped into a sterilised kilner jar with peppercorns, garlic and pickling spice (I did two, one without garlic).

What a pickle

The third batch, after some research, again were de-seeded and de-pithed and sliced into casserole, curry and stir fry size bite pieces and frozen for just over an hour on a baking tray with anti-stick paper to aid the removal and packed into freezer bags ready for use. I liked this method best. It was easier.

Frozen solid

So the big arrival was on Thursday night/Friday morning when an hour earlier than expected, the Beard pulls up to the Old School and caused chaos. The dogs in the village were barking, our dogs were barking and all I was trying to do was get some sleep! I did, but not before I was up to greet him with my best sleepy face and a hug. Was so good to have him home again, albeit very briefly.

I am known to like a little bit of blue cheese and having inspected the local Belgian cheese whilst over with him, I had asked him to bring a few back. He did. A very blue cheese, infused with lavender of all things! It was actually very nice and we both enjoyed it along with a small piece of each over lunch the next day.

Very blue cheese

The Friday consisted of a brief shopping trip, some tidying up of the mess the logs made in the wood store (him) and moving of several large and heavy planks of wood for the raised bed to their drier store inside.  This was quite hard work, although they were much lighter now having dried out in the sun for a few months.  We had a lovely evening and went out for tea, but we were both tired from the broken night's sleep and headed to bed quite early. I won't go over all the details, as he covered it in his own post, but I did allow him into the kitchen to help with the banana and walnut cake that he requested to take back with him.  Here he is crushing his nuts.... (not even sorry).

Nut crusher

And the final sprinkle.

Finishing touch

Most of my afternoon was spent in the kitchen and we experienced for the first time what a really excellent social area this will be. We chatted while I baked and cooked a lasagna for dinner, me in he business end and he on his lazy-boy. Perfect.

Requested dinner

Sunday morning was a bit gloomy, both weather wise and in mood. There were some sad faces and soon enough it was time to wave him off again. Six weeks. And counting.

Obligatory goodbyes.

Puppy cuddles

The puppies were all set for Belgium!

Quite happy to go!

Sunday was left feeling a bit meh. So I did very little. I think I watched some film or other and huffed and puffed and did not sleep well.

Monday arrived and I was determined I would do something constructive. The spud towers need emptying, so I made a start. A bit of a disappointment again with these, but never mind. We live and learn. The yield was not as expected and nor was the size of potato. It was also hard work as all of that dug out soil had to be relocated. I stopped about a quarter way through due to the heat and generally not feeling the love for it. I did take a harvest and have some for dinner as chips and they were tasty, obviously. I will finish this task off throughout the week.

Spud harvest 

Low yield

What else have I done? Work mainly and cook a curry. That is about it. However, tomatoes, peppers and chillies all from our own garden. Not to forget the almost finished garlic. It was ok, if not a little too spicy, but I ate it then and I will eat the remaining batch tonight. Second day around is always nicer anyway.

Curry

In other news, the ducks are now both off the Christmas menu after laying their first eggs in a couple of months! Looks like the local goats will have to be on guard again!

Two in 36 hours

I am going to leave it there for this update as the leftover curry awaits and a very patient puppy (Thelma) with her ball which will need to be thrown a few times before play time finished for the evening.

I will try very hard to keep you updated more regularly and IF we have the men back, which is still uncertain, I will certainly be more regular with the posts.

Leka nosht.

A xx