Tap tap tap tap tap

It's a Tuesday and I'm trying out the new schedule to attempt to avoid the super long update that trying to cover three working days in one update always seems to cause. Let's see how well I do.

Sun sets below a dark raft of cloud

Thelma and Louise with the last of their hand grenade toys remaining

A very red sky after the sun had set

We do, having said that, start off with a few pictures taken after the last update was published on Sunday evening; the sunset was beautiful so I got some pictures actually just as I was about to publish and then later on I went up onto the roof terrace with A and the puppies to again enjoy the view. It was a fitting end to a lovely day.

Scraping the ceiling of old paint

Setting out the reinforcing metal for the columns

Final chipping done on Sassy's Room

Four meter lengths of corrugated metal for the roof of the chicken house

Monday morning dawned before either of us was really ready for it. A had had another bad night and was on the sofa when I woke up, reading. I made her a coffee and offered to get the men but she said she was fine and so off she went while I got myself into Room 13 and started working. We were without Sally for a day for family reasons so it was only Bekir and Byulhan who were with her when they got back and then we only had time for a quick bite to eat before we headed out for our first Bulgarian lesson. This was really awesome; we learned a lot even though it was only an introductory session and we're both looking forward to next week very much. I did not get many pictures through the day on Monday as I was pretty busy with work and A was totally wiped out and I didn't disturb her but Byulhan was in Sassy's Room all day removing old paint and plaster while Bekir was in the coal shed carrying on building the forms for the columns. As I am my own boss completely while doing this contract I have been setting myself targets every day and stopping work as soon as I have completed them. This meant that I got to spend the final two hours of the day tap tap tap tap tapping on the walls helping Byulhan in Sassy's Room to get all the plaster down. It was a beautiful day and I'd far rather have been outside but this is such a horrible boring job that helping him out was the best thing to do. It meant that we finished the whole room before they left, even getting the blackboard chipped away while leaving the section that I want to preserve. A had headed out with Bekir to pick up the metal for the roof of the chicken house during the afternoon and this was delivered by a truck driver who offered to help as the four meter long sections were not transportable by Thomas.

A caught cooking my dinner

Home made burgers, sausages and sweetcorn

Louise nibbling on some corn on the cob

The sun descends towards the horizon

Local kids on their bike on the field

I'm just as excited as I look here

My painting station in Room 13

It was such a lovely day that we had decided on a BBQ for our dinner and when I arrived from dropping the men A was already up there and cooking away. We sat watching while the neighbourhood kids rode their bikes down a field across the way and then everything was ready and then sat ourselves down and really enjoyed our dinner. The sweetcorn was cooked to perfection and even Louise enjoyed it, chewing the corn off the cob carefully with her front teeth. Thelma was less impressed but did enjoy licking the butter off it. The sunset was lovely, less dramatic than Sunday's but then there was far less cloud around, and once we finished and went downstairs I headed out to water the two new silver birch trees. Rather than use the free water I decided to get very excited about filling the watering can from the rain collection reservoir. It's a bit tough to aim but once we have the correct attachment on there it'll be absolutely fine. The evening I spent doing some painting while A read and then we were both exhausted and finally slept well.

Sun rising above fog in the valley

Mist rises between the trees

Finally above the fog on the way to the men

Bekir welding big nails onto the clamps

Sally back at work and cracking on

A eating her breakfast, with an audience

Sweeping up the dust from the walls and ceiling

He's off to pour another wheelbarrow full onto the driveway

Despite the excellent sleep I woke up a bit tired this morning and was glad that A was up for collecting the men. It was a bit of a hazy start with a beautiful sunrise, and lovely mist rising around the trees in the field across the back. I gave the camera to A when she left in the hope of some pictures along the river however the fog was really bad and she had almost zero visibility a large part of the way. I was working away on my contract and making good progress but I tried to get out a little more than I had on Monday so as to capture some of the progress. I had asked Bekir to work on the drainage and focus on getting that completed before picking up any more tasks and so he was sat on the front porch welding bigger nails onto the clamps to improve the security of the pipes around the balcony. We had the pleasure of Sally's company once again today and he picked up where Bekir had left off on Monday, finishing the shuttering for the columns. A was out in the garden watering and planting up some seedlings and generally enjoying being out in the sun, though Rambo and the puppies were more interested in her breakfast. In Sassy's Room the Big Clean was underway as Byulhan pulled all the detritus from the walls and ceiling out and spread it on the driveway.

A staining up the second of the airers for the kitchen

The platform is broken up

Extra supports put in for the balcony pipes

Chunks of the platform chucked out the window

A had to head out again mid morning to get cement as I was quite busy with my work, and hers has gone quiet this week due to holidays in the UK. This worked out really well, however, as she has been able to really enjoy the weather and be outside rather than cooped up in the office. She also got to stain up the wood for the second airing rack that will be hung in the kitchen. It was such lovely weather that both sides have been done and now it is up to me to hang it. In Sassy's Room, with all the dust swept up, Byulhan got the big breaker and took out the platform. I was initially going to keep this as well but have decided that it is not worth while. Bekir was working away hard going around the edge of the balcony putting the extra supports in and this took him longer than he expected, I think. I gave Byulhan a hand carrying the big ladder round to the front so he could remove the flyscreen (left non-hinged by the insulation people, which isn't very good really) so he could chuck the chunks of platform down and out the way. He was grinning away while he did this.

Sat in the sun and loving it

Wetting the walls and floor

Sally has been forced off his machine

Pouring concrete into the columns

Bekir working on more pipes

The wall, sealed ready for plastering

Lunch was lovely, sat out on the patio in the sun once again and the weather was so good that as soon as I finished my target for the day I got into my shorts and vest top and lay in the sun for a bit. Of course the workmen didn't have this luxury and upstairs Byulhan was spreading water, lots of it, all over the floor and walls of Sassy's room. He was also mixing up some cement and this meant that Sally was back to hand mixing as he was now onto making a mix to put into the forms. I stood with him and we had a laugh as he slopped the mix through the gap at the top and it slurped down to the floor level. The progress in there is now speeding up and hopefully the roof will be started very soon. Bekir was continuing with his making good around the drainage however wouldn't get to the overflow pipes today; looking at the forecast I hope this is done before the weekend as we're due more rain and thunderstorms. Byulhan had finished soaking everything and was now sealing the worst parts of the walls and ceiling with a dry cement mix. This would provide something secure for the plaster to attach to.

The Tortoise Garden blooming marvellously

BBQ loaded with meat (the veg came later. Honest)

Only one cloud in the sky; right in front of our sun

Eating the pork skewer, and how lovely it was

Finally the sun appears but it is already too cold

Over exposed, but showing the clouds

This moon was orange. Honest

I really enjoyed my time sat in the sun but then got restless so rigged up the hose for the orchard and watered all the trees in there; it was a good thing that the sun was so warm as I got drenched several times while trying to get it all plumbed correctly. After this I took a short stroll and got a closer picture of the Tortoise Garden which is looking superb. Then it was time to take the men and once again we decided on a BBQ though this time the weather was changing rapidly and a storm was building to the west of us. We stuck the whole evening out there however it was rather a cold wind that was blowing on the edges of this storm and its position put it directly blocking the sun for most of the time we were eating. I was actually cold at times but it was so pleasant to be outside and up there that we just put up with it. The puppies were shivering so they went into the enclosed part of the roof and sat on a cushion in there rather than shiver outside. A had made some amazing pork skewers using the sword skewers I saved from rust a few years back (long time readers may remember them). Anyway eventually the storm shifted and the sun came out but it was still too cold so it was down here to Room 13, A lit the fire, and I've been sat here since apart from just now when I spotted the moon rising and it was an amazing orange colour. Of course the picture doesn't do this sight justice in the slightest but still.

So there you have it. A much more sensible length and I'll try and be back again on Thursday for another two day update.

Half a week of progress

After my last update, which ran to 90 photographs and I don't know how many words, I have decided to pick up the update baton a little earlier this week and get a quick one done this morning. It is now Wednesday morning and A is out collecting the men. I've finished my morning chores (fed Sassy, done the washing up, lit the fire to take the chill off) and thought I'd get this done as well. So here goes.

Red sky in the morning...

The broken wheel is removed

Sally making use of his new machine

Coal shed being dug out into Thomas

Up the top of the village throwing the dust into the dump

Yulhan gets the ceiling painted white

The wheelbarrow is fixed

This update begins with me writing the previous post as it took me all day, on and off, to do that. So let's go back to Monday and the glorious sky that greeted us when we got up to collect the men. It was not very long lasting, indeed it had faded from its initial colours by the time I had the camera, but while it was visible it was stunning. Indeed it was quite an efficient morning photograph as A, heading downstairs already, heard me walking across the living room and guessed to pass the camera up the stairs to me. Teamwork. The workmen got stuck straight in, and we had an extra body starting to do my job of digging out the coal shed. Bekir ground off the old broken wheel on the wheelbarrow and welded a new one on so we're back to having two builders barrows which is great. Sally, after a little nudge, got the mixer running and since then he has seemed to be loving it. As I say our new guy, I've not caught his name accurately yet, is doing the disgusting job of digging out the coal shed and was straight in there chucking the dust into the back of Thomas. When we did the first empty we dropped down into town and bought him a new shovel as our old one wasn't good enough. Finally inside the painting had started on Room 13. What an exciting time!

Sally laying more bricks as the house grows

A bucket full of flowers to plant out

Border flowers

Three tonnes of sand

After Sally had done his mix he got straight back into building the housing for the reservoir and the generator. The big cement bricks that we bought are making this go very quickly and should also have some insulating properties as well I hope. I was out to the shops a couple of times and one of those times A headed out into the garden and did some planting out. We had been given some lovely bulbs by the Little Lady the other day which had kept well in a bucket of water but now they are planted along the border near the garden, with my ice follies, looking beautiful. The busyness of the morning continued with two truck deliveries, one of sand and the other of stones, which have replenished our diminishing stocks. We also did two trips up the mountain in the morning to empty Thomas; this new kid is really doing well.

Bekir measuring for the drain

Tiles laid

Sally getting close to done here

First course of the next building laid

Half way down the wall

There was even more progress in the afternoon as Bekir got into the downstairs shower and laid the tiles in there. He suggested a nicely patterned layout which I immediately agreed to and I think you can see just how well it looks. Outside Sally finished the walls for the first housing and moved round the back of the building to make a start on the next and at the end of play the first course of bricks was done there as well. The painting inside was also cracking on and we could finally see the colour I had selected on the walls; I am very pleased with it indeed.

Clouds and rain on its way

The sweetcorn seedlings, getting covered

Courgettes under custom made cloches

A very happy sight; a pea seedling

All afternoon the weather had begun closing in with heavy clouds and some wind picking up. I headed out with the cloches to protect the sweetcorn and courgettes which A had planted out earlier on. I also found a wonderful sight of the peas finally starting to show; we've yet to have any success with these plants; hopefully this year we'll get a crop. They are in the old spud beds which means we can easily build a framework for them to climb up. Because of the wedding our Sunday roast occurred on Monday night and it was superb but I ended up having a bit of an upset stomach and had a bad nights sleep.

Bekir measuring the metal

Cutting up our sections

The light fittings being moved out 15cm

Already made good by the end of the day

A damp bricklaying day

Over half done by the end of the day

Tuesday had a rainy start, Sally was able to get a mix done and begin work but then it started to rain quite heavily. I headed out with Bekir to the metal yard to get the materials for making the legs for my work bench in Room 13. It took a little bit of time but eventually we were served and came home with enough material to do the job. By this time the rain had largely stopped and as it happened Sally could work outside all day. Inside Bekir was grouting in both bathrooms, as he's also put the tiles around the window in the upstairs one, and then at the end of the day I suddenly realised that the light fittings above my bench would be too close to the wall as I've gone for really deep shelves. Without a grumble Bekir was up and channeling and moving these fittings. This morning he's moving the final two and then a small amount of paint will be required. Yulhan completed all the painting in Room 13 and the colour is just perfect; it was glowing so much that I thought a light had been rigged up. Perfect colour. Sally, meanwhile, had made some good progress again outside and the second little house is coming on well.

Some of my scenery, set up for a game

Louise waiting to go to bed

Looking towards the quarry

The coal shed is getting clearer

After a dinner of an absolutely superb lasagne we set up and played a short game of SBG which was a lot of fun. A was quite tired, after working all day, but as she's going away tomorrow for a holiday we both wanted to get a game in as we haven't done it for a while and also we've been sat watching TV programmes a lot recently. It was a good game and I enjoyed it more because I finally beat her! We had a quick brew before bed but Louise thought this was very much an unnecessary delay and sat on the stairs waiting for us to go up. This morning was still very overcast but we've had a few glimpses of sun every now and then. Sally is still able to work outside currently while Bekir is shifting light fittings before getting on with all the rest of the electrical work in there. Yulhan is tiling the vestibule outside the upstairs bathroom and outside the young kid is cracking on with his job; this was the state of play first thing this morning and you can see he is about half way done. Excellent.

Right, that was a good idea, getting this blog written now. That's a much more reasonable length. See you at the end of the week.