We have a "normal" toilet

The men didn't come in yesterday unfortunately but they did today so this is two days in one. I'm camping with Rosie tonight so I'm in a rush to get this done and go out so let's get to it.

The tree is ready for planting

The sun slowly rising

Oak has a low shoot

Cherry tree planted and staked

Yesterday I was up early and out to plant the final cherry tree before anyone woke up. It didn't take as long as I feared and now we've three new trees over there around the Oak that I transplanted a few weeks ago. This has seemingly taken very well and is now showing very strong signs of life. The rest of the day was just crazy busy but did involve time sat on the bench on the top bank through the day.

Digging a trench by the green building

Rosie operates the shredder

Chicken house really needs cleaning

Rosie and Giant Dolly Rosie on Grandma's bench

Fortunately the men came back today as we really wanted to get the toilet fitted for the weekend. They got stuck straight in to working on completing the drainage down to the preexisting sewage pipe. Inside Angela and Rosie worked on shredding some more cardboard as we still have the vacuum toilet upstairs and may still end up needing the buckets. It was a lovely day and after doing this Angela went out and worked on cleaning the chicken house out; I just needed to help lift the roost up out the way and she got stuck in. It really was a lovely day and I spent a little more time with Rosie on the top bank enjoying the new bench in a short break I had.

Finishing the trench

Chiseling into the cement pipe

Plastic pipe drops into the cement one

Bekir wrapping up the install

Look at our new toilet

Back with the men they were continuing to work outside to get all the pipes done. This required chiselling through the old concrete pipe to drop the new plastic pipe in. We've decided to leave all the finishing off for Monday in case there is trouble over the weekend so we can fix any problems more easily. With the pipe done they headed inside and, other than a few trips to town for various things, this got fitted in super quick and now we have a "normal" toilet and Angela is very pleased.

Chicken house looking lovely

Angela did a great job cleaning the chicken house out and I put the hay in and spread it all out. Bekir turned up with a new duck as well and she has settled in well already.

So there it is; the last two days. We'll be back on Monday but then probably the blog will go quiet again.

Thanks for reading.

Winter arrived today

Welcome back and after a quite busy weekend it's been a miserable day today; let's talk through the weekend first though.

Rosie very excited about the tree

The sun rises again on Saturday

New sunglasses and huge smile

Grandma's gift

Hanging on the front of the shopping trolley

Rosie and the Grandson in the tree house

Tinsel up over the pictures

Friday night as I said in the last update Angela and Rosie put up the tree in the library. Rosie is getting very excited indeed for Christmas! Saturday morning dawned bright and it was a lovely day throughout. As Daddy Saturday I had fun with Rosie, first of all playing for a fair while with her and her dolls before we headed into town to pick up a gift for Grandma and do a bit of shopping. When we got back we went to the neighbours and she brought the grandson back to visit for a bit; they went into the tree house among other things, before a nap, then going back over to play with the grandchildren again. It was a fun day. Sunday I was up very early (think 3am) to drive our friends to the airport. I got back in plenty of time but I was exhausted so the only picture from the day is of some tinsel I put up in the library. Rosie and Angela had been putting the main tree in the lounge and it looked great but I didn't get the picture.

The mesh at the start of the day

Damp nasty working conditions

Not outside working weather

Rosie, her presents, and the tree

A huge bounce

Painting black on the sand

The forecast for today was for snow and when the men arrived I suggested they start one of the winter jobs inside and let the weather improve later in the week however they were insistent to finish this up. It was miserable and cold and damp but no snow arrived. They worked steadily to add the missing mesh over the remainder of the chicken run and then went round the entire area again adding more zip ties to hold everything really securely in place. As always they have done a very good job. Tomorrow they'll be starting on the roof including fitting the solar heaters I hope. I do hope the weather holds out for that work on the roof. Angela had another great day and among other things she got all Rosie's presents wrapped up ready for the tree (and there are a LOT!) When Rosie got home from school I showed her the Christmas Train that Angela and I had put under the main tree (though she was more interested in the presents) and then she did some bouncing on her trampoline before we came in here and did some hobbying. A lovely early evening indeed.

So there it is; thanks for reading as always and back tomorrow.

Ready for mesh

Another day done and in the bag so let's get to this update without any further ado.

Rosie brushing Angela's hair

This morning Rosie was up very early and in good form. She did Angela's hair for her and then tried on her new coat for the first time. I had the pleasure of taking her to school and when I got back it was still foggy, and the ducks were still sleepy. Angela headed off with Halil to collect her car from the garage then went on to see some friends while Halil brought Thomas back and while this was going on Bekir was busy running the thick wire between the poles and the fence. They also trimmed down some of the fruit trees to fit below the mesh. After lunch Halil again went out, this time to get the mesh from the shop which finally they had. When he got back he finished up sweeping and clearing the logging deck. I went out at the end of the day and assisted shifting the wheelbarrows of mulch to the garden and spreading it out. We've now got a very clean area, and three full wheelbarrows ready for Angela for tomorrow.

And that's that; a short update today. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Very busy weekend and Monday

I am starting to write this update at 2:40am on Tuesday as I've had the worst day ever with tourn.ee and work... Just crazy. Anyway, I want to get this written before bed so let's get stuck in.

Scraping Thomas' windscreen for the first time this year

Chicken house ready for a sweep out

Nice clean hen house again

Xena the escape artist

Lovely clean and tidy Glass Room

Can barely move down this corridor

A barrow of kindling to start our fires with

Some little bird nested here

Corridor nice and clean now

An awesome celebratory meal

Saturday was a super busy day. I started early going shopping and had to scrape frost off the car for the first time this year. When I got back I unpacked then got stuck into my chores. The first chore was to clean out the chicken house which I managed, after a minor panic when I couldn't get the power washer to work from two different plugs. I got there in the end though. While I was working in there I could hear Xena yipping and I found that she had managed to slip through a gap in the fence to the outside! This gap is now filled. With the chicken house done I tidied up the Glass Room then brought all the pots that Angela wants inside, inside. I wasn't done yet, however, as next I attacked the Green Building and cleared all but a few stray twigs from the far corridor. I did two barrows full of kindling into the container in the garage, two barrows to the bin and shifted everything else out of the way. I also found a nest. After this I was exhausted and rested for a bit before cooking an amazing steak dinner.

The sun rises, and Xena watches

Beautiful dippy duck eggs

Old window ready for glass removal

I made a level base, which was very hard work

How I left it at the end of the day

A very well welcomed Sunday Roast

Sunday was a day of two halves. The morning was a bright start without frost which Xena clearly enjoyed, and I really enjoyed my dippy duck eggs for breakfast (which I didn't over do this time). I then did a few bits and pieces of hobby and wasted time relaxing before deciding to go and do some more clearing in the Green Building. I sorted a few of the old windows, removing the glass as safely as I could, when suddenly the urge to build a tree house for Rosie overtook me so I went down to the tree house tree that we had picked (the one Rosie was climbing in over summer) and set to. It was very hard work, some of those beams are incredibly heavy, but I managed to get three support beams level and then put planks over about half of the floor before I had to call it a day and get my chores done and cook dinner. Dinner was a roast chicken and I was so hungry by the time I ate it. It was another celebration dinner and this time I had a Belgian Beer.

Bekir takes some Ondolin for the roof

Starting to lay them back out again

Louise and Xena on the roof saying hi to Bekir

Thelma dancing for Bekir

A touch of silicon to seal

Halil cracks on with the splitting

Bekir making good progress on the Ondolin

Grinding the gap

Roof really starting to look good now

Halil surveying the completed splitting

And so we reach today. First thing the men went down to the shop and picked up a box of silicon sealant and then they got stuck in to fitting the Ondolin into place. I was not so busy first thing today and got to go and check a bit, including letting the puppies out onto the roof to go and see Bekir which was awesome. Halil was helping with passing up materials and spent free time splitting the rest of the wood. It was a good day of progress and about 2/5 of the roof is now done. By the time I became so busy I couldn't leave my desk Bekir was grinding a slot into the wall into which the Ondolin will slot and that will prevent any water getting in and under. Amazingly as well today Halil finished all the splitting!

And there it is. My plan was to finish the tree house today but tourn.ee put paid to that. It's just past 3am now so I'm going to publish this and go get some sleep before work in the morning.

Thanks for reading! Back tomorrow.