Toilet done, men away for a while

The men were back in today, for the final day of working with us for a couple of months, but first of all let's go through the weekend.

Camping time with Roo

A quality early morning sky

Setting the stones under the bench

Old bench and new

Rosie on the swings

A party display at the park

Picnic in the garden

Friday night was awesome as I pitched the tent and me and Rosie camped the night. She just loves camping, and slept really well. I was up super early, as usual, and went out to do the final tasks on the bench which involved bringing up stones and spreading them, and shifting the big pile of spoil left over from digging out the footing. It looks great and Rosie has been sitting up there loads. She really likes the heart shaped stone that I dug out and have leant up against the fence. We headed out to the courier midmorning and stopped off at the park for some fun before heading home in time for a call with my family and then we took the blanket into the garden and had a picnic lunch.

The huge tent is set out for erecting

Rosie fits inside the bag for the tent

This tent is just superb

Excited to be back here again

Louise is grumpy that Angela isn't around

In the afternoon Rosie and I took down the small tent we'd stayed in, and then put up the huge family tent as Angela and Rosie camped on Saturday night. It went up really well, despite the wind picking up quite a lot, and then we rushed out the door for dinner and playtime at the restaurant up the road. It was a very lovely time, and we met a Bulgarian couple who live in the UK and were over for a holiday to visit family. They had a daughter the same age as Rosie and we invited them to visit next time they're in the area. That evening the camping was a relative success (though it rained heavily) and I had the puppies up with me who were sulking a bit that they weren't able to cuddle with Angela.

Smashed hatch glass!

This was so tasty!

A stunning sunset

Sunday was super busy for me but there was some drama. I was working and Angela was cleaning when I heard a huge crashing sound and went running to find out what had happened. It turned out that Rosie was trying to put the hatch down and it slipped out of her hands and slammed down super hard, smashing and scattering glass everywhere. Rosie was, of course, distraught and had run off to hide on the balcony. It took Angela and I about 40 minutes to clean up all the glass and make it safe to let the puppies back in and for us to walk around again. We're now waiting for the window people to come quote for a replacement with safety glass. Later on I took Rosie to karate, had a very lovely meal (that I cannot remember what it was called) and then as I collected her the sky was stunning.

Halil gets started sorting the spoil pile

Pipe is now being bedded in

Loads of bricks to be skipped

Drain from the downpipes being re-attached

Breaking out for an access hatch

Cementing in to finish up

Boxing off done and dusted

And so to today. The men were in on time and got stuck in to the final jobs to finish the toilet install. They sorted through the spoil from their excavations (they had dug up loads and loads of stones and old bricks) and then secured and covered the pipe over. With that done Bekir reconnected the drainage pipe into the main feed down to our grey water system and then put in the inspection hatch over both the access points (so we can clean the pipe if we get a blockage) and finally boxed off the hole in the wall as well. It was a good and productive day and Halil's friend also came past to do the annual service on Mo the lawnmower, who was immediately put to work as the grass is growing so fast right now.

Balcony dinner time

I'll leave you with us having dinner on the balcony for the first time this year. We even got to watch some cycling, which Rosie really enjoyed. A great way to end the day.

So there it is. The men won't be back for a fair few weeks so I doubt I'll be updating soon but thanks for reading.

Halil is a hard worker

Hey it is Monday again so another update covering the last three days. It's been a good one so let's get to it as I'm tired today and don't want to be typing all evening.

Lots of sheep poo on our garden

Rosie looking at the moon through the telescope

There's the moon

Happy Rosie camping with me

First of all a picture I meant to include in the previous update, showing the sheep poo spread on the raised beds. It's going to really improve our soil! The evening was very exciting for Rosie as on Friday our friends came past with a load of stuff they don't want any more and that included a small telescope. Just before bed I set it up and Rosie was able to look through it and see the moon. She loved this. Camping that night was also a lot of fun, it was quite windy at first but we still slept until the alarm at 5am went off to remind us to get up and look for shooting stars. I saw one while we sat out but it was quite chilly and after about ten minutes we headed back in the tent and slept until 9am!

I dug a hole for this bush to go in

Planted with lots of manure dug in

Two more of the bushes

The new BBQ getting going

Playing a ghost game

Saturday was a fun and busy day. After that super long lay in I was very busy with tournee (which wasn't very welcome to be honest) and when I could get away I got into the garden and planted out four bushes in the garden. The day ended with a BBQ in the new BBQ and that went very well, then we had time to play a new game, also left by our friends who had gifted us the telescope, and had a fun time.

The next raised bed is getting full

Rosie's lovely flower gift

Rosie does love picnicking

Rosie on our walk

Lots of great sand for me - well done Rosie

Sunday was another busy day. I did get time to shovel some more soil into the raised bed and now I think I've only got one more lift to do and we can start using this one. Rosie picked me a flower while I was pushing her on the swing so I made a nice arty photograph. We had a picnic on the lawn, as Rosie was insistent she wanted to eat out even though it was cloudy and very windy. Later in the day it was much nicer weather so Rosie and I went for a walk up to the headland and collected a load of pine cones and sticks for decorating the Christmas tree, and a bucket full of sand for my hobbying.

Halil painting the frame

The frame is painted and looks great

The old chain - yeah, we needed a new one

Getting started cutting this tree down

Cut up and started to be split

Halil puts his back into it

Halil cleans up the stump

Unfortunately Bekir couldn't make it today due to family commitments but Halil came on his own and got a few tasks done. First of all he put two coats of metal paint on the workbench frame so that's done now and can be left to dry for 24 hours. With that finished Halil then fixed the chainsaw with a new chain and blade guide (the old one had been sharpened until it was almost not there) and then set to cutting down the dead walnut tree. He spent all the afternoon cutting and then splitting this wood. We'll need to tidy it away into the wood store tomorrow as it may rain on Wednesday. The wood is very hard and strong and there was a huge swing employed by Halil to split it. He cut the stump at a good height for Rosie to sit on it. There are so many ants in the wood (that is what killed the tree) but Halil treated the wood a bit and we will continue to treat that stump and paint it and varnish it so it remains good for Rosie to sit on.

So there it is. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Lawn mowers and carpet

This is going to be a long update so grab a brew and enjoy.

Mummy heads off to the airport

Rosie the artist with her hand drawing

Friday evening Angela got away as planned to collect our friends from the airport and bring them back to their house which left me to have lots of fun with Rosie before it was time for bed. We did art and played games and read books.

Rosie the princess ready for the road trip

Getting ready to run the mower

Rosie waiting like a very good girl

Back in the trolley-with-a-car

Checking out the mower for the first time

Angela was back very late on Friday and so I got to choose Rosie's clothes for our trip out on Daddy Saturday. She asked to be a princess so the pink dress was chosen. It was a glorious day and we drove to the Husqvarna shop to look for a small petrol powered push along mower. They remembered us and the lady gave Rosie a banana and some cookies while I went with the man to check out the mower I thought I wanted. It was good so we bought it, then went past Praktic to pick up some more fruit trees, some potting compost and some boxes for the trip to the Whisky Festival. When we got back Angela was awake and I wasted no time in getting the mower out and pushing it along for a bit to test it out; it is very good indeed, and I'm very pleased with it.

Rosie tests her sleeping bag

A lovely day for a picnic on the lawn

Rosie having fun with her bubble machine

I pulled all these tiles out of the back bank

First mow down; feeling good!

We'd also had a delivery and included in that delivery was some new sleeping bags for Angela and Rosie. It was so lovely that we pulled the rug out onto the front lawn and had a lovely picnic out there for lunch and then after that I got the mower going again and mowed the back bank while Rosie was watching and blowing bubbles on the back patio. I had to pull so many more old chunks of roof tile out of the ground it was crazy - the amount of regret I have right now for throwing the old roof onto the back bank and not paying a digger man to clear it all up!

The tent is up and ready for us

Rosie happy with her new sleeping bag

Sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows

A very very excited Xena

Later in the afternoon I set the tent out so we could camp as we hadn't been able to on Friday night with Angela being out all evening. I tested out the new sleeping bag I got for Angela and it was very nice; Rosie also loved hers. We had the traditional hot chocolate and then Xena came and joined us and she was even more excited than Rosie. Once I got them both calmed back down we slept pretty well and it was a good night sleep for all.

A lovely sunrise as we left the tent

Moving rocks from by the chicken enclosure

The top part is completed

Working my way down the side

I broke the wheelbarrow

Rosie along for the ride in Thomas

The lizard making a run for safety

Second load going to the neighbours

Ready for another picnic

Rosie on the monkey bars

Sunday we woke with the sunrise, which was very lovely across the valley, and after I got my vlog done and we had breakfast I headed outside to do some chores. The first part was finishing up clearing all the stones from around the edge of the chicken enclosure. It didn't take me as long as expected however the wheelbarrow is starting to look very old and needs some urgent repairs. This had been so quick that I decided to jump to the next job which involved backing Thomas up over the patio to load the old wood from the original raised beds and shift it over to the waste area. While clearing we disturbed a lizard which dashed for safety as we held the dogs back. I did the first load and then The Little Lady came running over and asked me to deliver the next load to her which I did with pleasure. It was then time for lunch and once more we had a picnic on the lawn. After a good rest (I was pretty shattered from all my chores) we headed out to our favourite restaurant and Rosie had lots of fun in the play area.

Red sky in the morning...

Bekir cuts out sections of the carpet

Running the underlay

Setting out the carpet

Fitting the skirting board

Angela making soup with produce from the garden

It's not an orange...

And so finally we reach today. It was a purely stunning sunrise and with the clocks changing Rosie was awake in time to see it. I had had a text from Halil saying that they weren't coming in this week which I initially didn't mind but then I asked if they could come just to do the carpet. They agreed but then Halil's car broke down so in the end it was only Bekir here today. I helped him lift the carpet out onto the patio and then he got stuck in measuring and cutting and fitting. Today he has done everything I wanted, including putting the skirting board along the back wall. I'll be able to start to put stuff away inside this crawl space now which is a relief. Angela harvested some experimental early broccolli today and made some soup with it and stilton. It tasted lovely! We also had what we thought were small mandarin but turned out to be Calamondin, whatever they are. They were quite sharp but I liked it.

Rosie's peach tree

Two apple trees

Very happy Beard on a Mower

Rosie watches

Grass all cut

After work I went out and planted the three fruit trees that I'd bought on Saturday with Rosie - two apples and a peach. Angela had soaked the roots during the day and it was a very easy task to plant them. After that I thought I had to go and collect Halil however he worked out that I didn't need to so I jumped onto Mo and cut the grass all along the front. Rosie sat in her tree house and watched. It was very exciting for me and I didn't stop grinning once. It was also perfect timing as while we were eating dinner a thunderstorm blew in and it has rained quite heavily while I've been writing this update.

So there it is; it is now Rosie's bed time so I'd better run! I won't be back until at least next Monday as the workmen are taking the rest of the week off to do their own thing. Thanks for reading.