Digging out for the toilet

Once again a super busy day for me so let's get to this without wasting time.

Getting started digging out for the bench

Cloudy start today, which was nice for the digging

All the helpers at my digging spot

I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30 and took the pick and shovel up to the top bank to start on the bench. I was digging for about an hour or maybe a little less and in that time I got all the area that I'm going to put sand and gravel on as as bed for the bench. Rosie came up and joined me while I was digging which was really great.

Pipes are gathered

Looking for a joint - there was none

Now looking below the woodshed slab

We discover that there is only one pipe

Digging the trench

Starting to dig out for the new pipe

All the trenches are dug

And so to the men. They were in on time and got stuck in first of all gathering together all the pipes that we had spare in the green building. Then it was time to find out where the pre-existing toilet pipe came out and this is where the problems began. After quite a lot of hunting we confirmed that when that pipe was put in, Bekir put it straight into the grey water drain (from the bath, the wash room and the kitchen) and so this fitting is useless. We cannot have the toilet flushing into the same system as our other waste water goes into. I was quite frustrated to have this confirmed as it is such a bad idea I cannot believe this mistake was made by the men. What it means is we are having to drill right through the wall anyway and putting an entirely new pipe through for the toilet. Angela got out today and did purchase a toilet so we have that at least. As it was a cooler day today the men got all the digging done for the new pipe. Now we need to break through the wall, fit the new toilet and plug it all together with the new pipes.

Water surface tension is strong!

After work I did more lawn mowing, with Rosie riding along, and then we did the watering and Rosie was very excited to see some water gather as a bubble on top of a leaf. She hasn't seen the strength of water surface tension before.

So there it is. Thanks for reading! Back tomorrow.

All about toilets

 It's so nice to have the men back, even if it is going to only be for a short while. I've had a crazy day myself but did get some pictures when I could. Let's get to it.

Very tasty with our own eggs

Before work, though, is the lovely breakfast that I cooked for me and Rosie. It is a holiday week so Rosie is at home all this week.

Checking out the pump house

This is the old broken part

Halil fixes the seat - he's a legend

The men were in on time and the first thing I asked them to do was look at the broken upstairs pump. I hadn't realised that we actually did already have a spare bellows in stock so they swapped this out which didn't take long and then we primed and checked it is all working. This is great as having the toilet up there working is big for when my mum is here. After that Bekir went to talk with the neighbours to find out about an old sewage pipe that is on our land and while he was gone I asked Halil to check out the seat on Mo and he was able to un-jam that so I can now slide the seat back.

Digging a trench to find the pipe

No pipe to be found here, sadly

Preparing to run the new pipe down

Going through the wall

The main task for the men is to put a "real" toilet in downstairs (and yes I am grumpy about this) so once we confirmed the old sewage pipe is available they started looking for it. They were able to find it quite quickly below the patio however despite digging a trench all the way along in front of the wood shed they could not find it there. I think we probably removed it many years go. This means that they are going to have to run a new pipe from the toilet down to the existing pipe below the patio. They worked away on this today and got all the way to down by the green building.

New bench up the top bank

This next is a surprise from my mum, though now it won't be any more. I got the new bench up to the top bank and this is my morning task this coming week - to dig out and gravel in a nice space up here on which to set this bench. It is super heavy and I'm very excited. I started mowing the lawn with Rosie after I finished work and then rushed to see Dincher for a meeting.

A busy day but successful. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Winter is done

Wow it has been some time since the last update; I planned on doing regular updates through the winter however of course as you can tell I never started and so now I'm sat here the night before the men are due and I've got to do an update to catch up. With a combined 574 pictures and videos to go through. So I'm just not going to bother. This'll be quite a quick update and tomorrow I should be back to normal service...

Rosie

Princess Rosie and a jigsaw

Another jigsaw

More completed jigsaw

She's proud of this one

Dinosaurs!

In progress (this one still isn't finished)

The one she finished today

Rosie has been really getting into doing jigsaws and is getting really good at them. Just today we did another together and I'm having to buy more and more, and bigger and more complex, to keep her entertained. It is really good for her though so I don't mind at all.

Fish being buried

Awesome shapes on the trampoline

Bicycling

Rosie playing her keyboard she got for her birthday

Out to the new restaurant for dinner

Helping me mow the lawn

Going for a ride at the park

Rosie made these

Doing a puppet show

Our bulbs coming up

First camping of the year

Enjoying the sun and the breeze

So more stuff with Rosie before we go on with a few more subjects and wrap this up. We had one dead fish which Rosie was determined to bury so out we went and put it into a little hole by the cherry tree at the front. She has also had lots of fun with the trampoline, her bike, her keyboard (she's getting good at it already, learning some songs!) and doing things with me like going out for dinner and riding along on the mower as I've already started having to mow the lawn! We also took her to the park a couple of days in a row with her bike which went really well. She's also made some martenichkas and we hung them on some trees. She did a puppet shows in the puppet theatre we made together, enjoyed the spring flowers and last night we camped. Today was lovely and she got to enjoy the warmth on the patio.

Building Progress

Window people fitting tilt and turn

Halil helps lift in the new sofa

Bekir and Halil fitting more posters

More plugs required

We've had a few things happen, all of which almost prompted me to do an update but never quite did. Firstly while Angela and Rosie were away visiting her parents I had the window people in to refit all the remaining windows that we needed to have swapped over. Halil popped over to help the delivery of our new three seater sofa which is now being used every day. They also replaced the broken and missing fly screens. Bekir and Halil were also in for one day only where they put up my picture frames for the stairs and fitted some more plugs in the music room.

Right I'm going to wrap this up here. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

A short day finishing up

Today has been the final day for the workmen for who knows how long. We only had Halil here as there was so little left to do and it only took him a short time this morning to get everything done.

Still only a small amount of snow, but pretty

Rosie attacking me with snow

Before that, the snow stayed over night, and a very small amount more fell as well. The hill was very very slippery and icy which made the drive down to Rosie's school a little interesting however when we reached school she had lots of fun throwing snow at me as we walked in to the school land.

Getting started on the tiling

Halil showing off his mop skills

Door rehung and done

Rose found a new hiding place

The task remaining for Halil was to complete the very last of the grouting in the cupboard under the stairs, then clean over multiple times to leave it ready for use. It really didn't take long; the fact of running out of grout did add some time as he had to go down to the shop to grab more. With the grouting done he then washed the floor multiple times before heading off to his summer break. When Rosie got home she was excited to have a new hiding place for hide and seek (at least until the cupboard is filled up!)

Rosie with her Den-den

I'll leave you with a picture of Rosie with her Den-den that she built after school with my help. She is taking it down now before bed.

So there it is. I have no idea when the next update will be so thank you for reading so far and back at some point in the future.