Largely in the workshop

I asked the men to try and finish the replacement workbench in the workshop by the end of tomorrow so that was our main focus today.

Bekir drilling a hole

Halil grinds to size

Dipping into the paint

Bekir separates the first batch

Halil splits up the second batch

First of all, however, they spent some time completing the brackets that will hold the stair guides in place. Bekir drilled, then Halil trimmed to size and took the burrs off and then they moved on to painting. This was accomplished by threading a batch of brackets onto a wire and then dipping it into the paint. Once they had a solid covering they stretched the wire out between two poles (and the handles of a wheelbarrow for the second batch) and separated each bracket from its neighbour. Clever time and labour saving effort that.

Halil drilling holes into the frame

Adding more anchors to the feet

Another load of steel is delivered

Getting the sub frame in place

Halil sets to welding

Final task - the painting

The main part of the day was spent in the workshop as I wanted. First of all they drilled out the holes that will be used to afix the work top to the frame. Then we discussed how we would be setting the shelves underneath, including supporting the machines, and decided to go with more steel so they popped down and bought it cut nearly to size. They then cut and welded each length into place before getting started with the metal paint to ensure it doesn't rust. The end of the day saw the table frame all finished and tomorrow they can focus on shelves and tools and power and getting the room ready for me for the weekend.

Rosie watering her raised bed

I'll leave you with this picture of Rosie watering her raised bed. She's doing so well at this and is loving seeing what is growing.

So there it is. I hope that they do get it all completed tomorrow! Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Lots of fiddly stuff

Today has been lots of fiddly work for the men, but it's all progress towards the end goal.

Filling up my wheelbarrow

I did get some stuff done today myself; this morning I finished shifting the wood from the dead walnut tree, and then cleared up all the bark on the ground. I also got a little more soil into the raised bed.

Bekir trims down the carpet

Yet more underlay

Bekir smoothing the end of a pole

Halil cleaning up a fitting

Bekir getting his grind on as well

The first thing the men did when they arrived was to finish off the first section of carpet they had laid yesterday, trimming it to size. They continued with this and got the underlay down for the second half of the floor section up there. We then had a discussion about how we would be fitting the carpet down the stairs and they decided to get some metal to nestle into the back corner of each step to prevent the carpet from slipping. This ended up taking the rest of the day as they hand made all the securing clips. By the end of the day, however, all of them were made and the bars were all painted black.

Rosie with her awesome dress

After school it was time for Rosie to make the dress we've been making for her and it was a great show - there were some amazing costumes, including Rosie's of course. My favourite was the kid with a washing machine.

So there you are. That's the update. Thanks for reading.

Cutting the carpet

Here we go again, let's get to this update.

Whisky to try and help me sleep

Last night I did not sleep well at all and ended up at 1am sipping whisky to try and sleep. I'm now very tired indeed.

Starting to take measurements

A really lovely autumn morning, from the roof terrace

Halil uses the leaf blower to clean the patio

Measuring before the cut

Bekir making the first cut

Dragging out another roll of carpet

Underlay going in

Carpet is going down!

The men were in on time and they got stuck into the main task for the day which was to cut all the carpet into shape for the roof and also the stairs. There was a lot of measuring and checking and talking just to make sure that once we got to cutting everything was perfect. It was the time to start the cutting and they got all of the main floor area from the first roll, and then hauled the second roll out to cut the stairs. We were able to get a stairway cut as a single piece right from the top, round the middle landing, and to the bottom. With everything cut (including a section to go into the left hand storage area) they started laying the underlay and then, while Angela and I were out at an awesome show at Rosie's school that she was involved in, they laid out the first section. It still need to trimming and securing but that's some awesome progress!

Finishing touches from our mechanic

Rosie helps while Xena shadows

Pulling Mummy's trolley (with wood in it)

Stacking the wood up here

I was able to collect Thomas from the mechanic today, which wasn't cheap but hopefully he's now fully better and will be reliable for years to come. As I've already said we had an after school show where Rosie did a load of singing and dancing which was brilliant. When we got back Rosie and I went into the garden and she helped me to start to gather and stack the wood that Halil had cut yesterday. We didn't quite get it all done before dinner time so I'll wrap that up tomorrow.

So there you are; that was today. Great progress and I'm looking forward to more tomorrow. 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.