Trundling back into routine

After the epic of yesterday we're back to a more normal update today.

Bekir cuts a hole for the light fitting

Conduit and cable in place

Drilling out for an in-the-wall box

Halil plastering over the top of the expanding foam

Light switch cable

The workmen were in and progressing the job upstairs all day. First of all Bekir cut out holes for lights at the top of the stairs and then ran the cables through conduit and down to where the junction box will sit. He then drilled that all out so when they get to plastering this back wall the conduit won't be in the way. Halil had a few bits to do in town but when he got back he worked on filling the little gaps at the top of the walls with expanding foam, then trimming it down and plastering over the top of it. Bekir was, the last time I got a picture, working on where the new lightswitch will go and making sure the cables were in place. I had to head into town to get the final bits done for insuring Maisie, which was a very easy task this time and so we're all ready for the trip.

So there it is; a nice short update thankfully. Back tomorrow and thanks for reading.

The men are back, finally

It was a few weeks longer than expected, but today we had the men back and working in the roof which was a relief. There are LOADS of pictures I've taken in the weeks since they were last here, however, so let's get to them first.

Getting the first full use from the push along

Rosie offroading her police car

Mowing the top bank

A lovely evening sky

Angela sets out the new decorations

Glowing eyed tortoises

Two frogs on a log

Snail with gnomes

In no particular grouping, these are just as they happened. I took out my new push along mower to cut the bits that the ride on can't get to and it was very good indeed. While I was doing this Rosie brought her police car down the ramp onto the lawn, across the grass and then up the driveway. The next day I pulled the ride on mower out onto the top bank and got all of that done. Half way through Rosie got home from school and she jumped on and road with me, which was fun. We have had some mixed weather, of course, but at least one evening was glorious. Angela has been picking up more ornaments for the garden including a cool glowing eye tortoise thing, two frogs and also a snail that is sat next to the gnomes.

Rosie working on her princesses jigsaw

Rosie sat in the boss chair

Sat out in the tent for our lunch

Now that is what I call a family tent

Lots of tug fun going on

Just a little bit of rain

Daddy Saturday (one of them, anyway) involved some fun with the jigsaw before we headed into town with Maisie to get a new part fitted on her engine. This didn't take any time at all, but Rosie did enjoy sitting in the boss's seat for a bit. On the way back we found out about the circus (see the previous update to find out about that!) and picked up our new tent from the courier. It is a bit big; it barely fit into Maisie's boot! It was also really easy to put up, which we did and then had lunch sat in it. I actually slept in it over night as well and it's very comfortable. Then we have a random picture of Rosie playing tug with Thelma and Xena and finally we have had some torrential downpours in the past few weeks as well.

Rosie blowing bubbles

The Tortoise Garden looking great

Out for food with Steve and Rosie

Rosie doing some painting

I walked in the room to find her like this

Rosie planting sunflower seeds

She just spotted one!

Weeding time in the spud garden

After the rain cleared Rosie got to go onto the back steps to play with her bubbles which was a lot of fun. We have also been enjoying all the flowers and bulbs that have been blooming now. During this time our friend Steve can for a visit which was a lot of fun, though I was sick for part of it. Rosie loves him being here and I got to play a few games that I've been wanting to and we got to take Rosie out for dinner as well. Rosie had time for art, for acrobatics and for planting sun flowers and then it was time for the easter egg hunt which was awesome - Angela did a brilliant job hiding the eggs and Rosie ran around squealing whenever she saw one. We have also been active in the garden, trying to get on top of the weeds in the spud garden here.

Rosie with her fairy decorations

The bird feeder waiting for birds...

... and here is our first one!

Rosie doing her own easter egg hunt

Little Tiny has come back

Rosie pretending to be a puppy dog

Getting a few games of Pitch n Plakks

Hanging more solar powered decorations

There were more non-plant related additions to the flower bed, these lovely fairies which Rosie placed herself. We also had a lot of excitement with the first birds arriving to use our bird table however now it is getting a bit annoying to have hundreds of "you've had a visitor" notifications that are just more sparrows. Gotta love our greedy sparrows. Rosie enjoyed her easter egg hunt so much that for several days afterwards she was "hiding" her eggs and then taking her teddies to go and find them. We had some excitement as well as I think Tiny has returned to the farm, no sign of Gizmo tho sadly. Rosie had some fun copying Xena who had been rolling on the grass and we got to play a few games including Pitch n Plakks which we hadn't done for a while. And Angela had bought some bee lights that are now strung out along the fence line.

Halil gets started on the plastering again

Bekir trimming and fitting the carpet

Working away together

Successful grafts

And so we finally reach today. It was great to see the men back and to get some progress upstairs again. Halil spent the day applying more coats of plaster to the walls and made a lot of progress. Bekir, for his part, was in the crawl space fitting the carpet properly along the front edge. This is not a quick process as it involves a lot of drilling and making plugs for screws into the blocks however he got it done. Angela also pointed out that the grafts that Bekir did by the Green Building have taken really well and are starting to grow!

So there it is; what an epic update. Back tomorrow, I hope, and thanks for reading.

We went to the circus

The men haven't been back since the last update however last night we all went to the circus so I thought I'd do an update just of the trip to the circus, with lots and lots of videos I took. Enjoy

Queueing up before the show

In our seats waiting for the show to start

A flying unicorn horse

Horse and pony show

Rosie on the pony going for a ride

Performing cats

Stroking the bunny rabbit from the magic show

A face full of feathers

An old fox

Performing horse saying hi to the kids

Rosie touches the four meter long python

First up a batch of photographs, then the videos below. We got to the ticket office about half an hour before it was due to start and managed to snag one of the last tickets for the little booths by the side of the arena which was a relief; it was cold enough in the tent however they put a blower on which took the chill off at least a little. I obviously could only take photos or videos so none of these is particularly in any order as such. I do know that the first thing to come out was the girl riding a horse dressed up to look like a flying unicorn. Rosie was entranced from the beginning. The horses put on another appearance as well and then it was the half time break and Rosie got to ride the pony around the arena like last time. After that there were performing cats, which were great, and a load more awesomeness that you can see in the videos below before the animal parade including a rabbit (which was part of the magic show) a peacock (which slapped Rosie across the face with its tail feather) an 18 year old fox and a performing and dancing horse. Rosie was most impressed with the four meter long python and she definitely got a good stroke of it as it went past.

And now for all the videos :) Enjoy!

I told you there were a lot. Thanks for reading, hopefully back to regular updates soon.