Friday 1st April

So what April Fool items are appearing in England on this special day?  I must check out the newspapers later.  They don't seem to be as funny as they did before but I think the best one is on the Lidl website in Bulgaria where they are offering cat scratching posts.  Now dogs and cats here are ....well....just here and I really don't think there is going to be much demand for this product.  Perhaps I should just offer myself up as an advisor.

This morning Bekir received a telephone call from the postman to say that there were letters for me to collect and could I do it soon because he was going into Djebel so in the car I got and yes there were two.  My bill from M-tel which somehow has the gigantic amount of 1500 leva but then is discounted to  show the usual amount.  Goodness knows what is happening to their computer but I think a well placed bomb would sort it out but perhaps I shouldn't be saying that in case somebody does and they come looking for me....oh well.  My other one was a parcel from my beautiful Princess and is for Mother's day.  I am saving it for Sunday but have thanked her in advance by text really to let her know that it had arrived safely.  Her reply was that she was panicking since she only posted it last Friday so not bad at all.

The digger didn't come today and we have had no phone calls to say when...All the shrubs are moved except one but it shouldn't be in the way but there again....I might just.  This morning I have sorted a lot of the windfall roof from the barn and it's now stacked or burning as we speak.  The wind is cold today so I thought I would light it so that the men can at least come in for a warm although Sally is so thin it probably goes straight through him before he notices.  

Onwards and upwards....the second coat of stuff is almost complete.  They do work hard and very thoroughly....hats off to them if you are wearing one....and so to find something else to do....so many choices....

Friday continued

Good news....the digger comes on Monday and we are also digging out the new toilet pit at the same time as shifting the stone and rubbish from the front of the house.  The scaffolding is down and that was an operation in itself.  I could hardly watch and the chunks of wood that they use are like...heavy and they have really worked hard this week.  

I have got rid of one of the bramble patches this afternoon and unfortunately I uprooted an hedgehogs nest in the process.  I was a bit concerned for the beauty but left it alone and when I went back about thirty minutes later it had toddled off so no harm done there then.  

Dropped the men off tonight, just got in an poured myself a beer and my neighbour arrived with a dish of hot banitchka which went down very well.  Homemade is so different than the bought stuff.  So on to my website, CSH website and then I'm off to bed....tomorrow I can lie in...no men to pick up and I mean that in the nicest possible way and I can meander in the garden or just go into Kardjali for a jaunt.  I might even take myself of to Assenograd and get some shrubs and annuals since the garden is looking pretty bare.  Let's see what tomorrow brings and how I feel.  LN

Saturday 2nd April

Well....it was a turn round with the weather this morning and the clout that I took off....ne're cast a clout 'til may is out....had to go back on.  Haven't a clue what a clout is but the vest, t-shirt and sweatshirt was reassembled and attired.  It was windy and cold and so much so that I had to light the small woodburner in the kitchen but with wood from the roof it was almost painless...free heat....yea.

Summoned up the courage to work in the garden this afternon and have found some lilac that I've moved into the hedgeline, removed the stone from round the old outside toilet and now have leveled the ground but I think there is more work to do.  I came in because the wind grew really cold and it was whipping round the urals so my fire and what is in the slow cooker couldn't be ignored.  I've just cooked the pasta and that is now finishing off with the spicey sausage with Indian seasoning, tomatoes and honey....now part of my repertoir but not to be ignored at any time.  Beer is flowing apart from the fact that I am running out and I missed the disco magazine this afternoon so I might go to bed sober tonight...

Tomorrow I have my lesson with Gouljan and since it is Mother's Day which is not celebrated here I shall open my present from my beautiful daughter and then I am out for a meal tonight in a restaurant that I have not been to before....The results will be published.  It is recommended by Gouljan so we'll see.

So Neil Diamond is pumping out his stuff.  I have 130 songs by him and at the moment Forevever in Blue Jeans is belting out and I always think of it as a 'Rever in Blue Jeans'.  Now I know not what a rever is but it comes in the same category as a clout and I shan't not worry about it.

Back to the kitchen Cinders....my supper is bound to be ready by now....LN....I have to eat and then relax with ...well a drink....LN....

How about this for an April Fool's joke?

[url] http://transitionculture.org/2011/04/01/trialling-the-relate-lettuce/[/url]

Sunday 3rd April

Good one Joanna....I'll remember it for next year

So today it is cold, windy and all the bits of styrofoam that the men left scattered have gone on to the hillside.  I thought at first it was snow....fooled me.  When Sally was cutting up the blocks on Tuesday he did look a little like a snowman as the stuff clung to his overalls and where was the camera....flat battery.  If I have put it on to the computer to take photos off you would think that it would recharge while it was attached....wrong it depletes it and then I see something that I want to take and ....stuffed.

Can I just say a special Mother's Day greetings to my daughter and daughter in law this morning.....and to all other mothers out there.  I opened my parcel from my Princess and two cards, one from her and one from CJ to nanny and a book entitled 'A Book for Mum'.  I filled up at this point and emptied a little.  The card was typical and so I shall just quote it for you:


So the next question is.....how much?

I have just received a phone call from my son and their card is still on the way via snail mail.  Normally takes about seven days so we'll give it another few.  Had a little conversation with my grandchildren who have both got colds so my thoughts go out to Luey.....children and colds....to be avoided at all costs and I reminded Evie P that it was her feet that are supposed to run not her nose.  I left my son to explain that one.

Having seen the stork it's time for the Martinitsas to come off and I have yet to decide where to put them....I have five cuttings that I took last year that have survived the winter so they deserve some recognition and my broad beans that have also survived might even be up for a reward.  I don't even like them but everyone said that they wouldn't make it through but not only have they made it, they are flowering.  And I suppose one for my sweat peas that are still there despite my best efforts to kill them off through lack of attention.

Pictures first.....it's cold on the landing and I'm going to light my big fire....and then snuggle up with my new book.

Monday 4th April

Weather has completely changed for the better again....wind from the south so that can't be bad.  Picked the men up promptly at 8.00 this morning but there was not mobile wagon for their breakfast so I offered to take Bekir into the next village and that shop was shut so we ended up in Djebel.  Not that I was exactly dressed for Market day as I had been whisked out of the garden when the hunger pains started.  They ended up having hamburgers with half a loaf each....as is pretty normal in this neck of the woods.

So what have I been doing in the garden?  Still digging up the wayward damson suckers and planting them in the hedge.  I decided to remove all the dead wood that has been added by previous generation and also some by me, restraighten the old wire fencing until I get it replaced when the men have little else to do.  I took down my outside rubbish burning pit in preparation for the digger coming and just as I had finished....we had the message that it would be here on Wednesday....ah well.  I shall just have to save up all the empty bags that the men are producing, the old wood and have a great big bonfire when the digger has been....smashing..nothing like a good burnup.

As you can see. the scaffolding is up again but this time of the other wall.  They have worked really well today and it's winter coat is on now that it's spring and tomorrow they drill and fill, then the mesh wrap and then the first coat of the finishing and finally the second.  

Lovely night tonight as I was driving home and just caught the sunset...early night for me....I'm feeling a touch nacked, it's been a busy day....nothing for supper tonight....feel a bit of a dodgy tummy coming on...so I'll starve myself for a change....LN...a demain....

Tuesday 5th April

Picked up Gouljan on a mercy text and headed for Rogoche and she was going to wait for a passing vehicle to take her into Djebel.  Now on the way she saw the milk collection wagon and said that that was going to Djebel so could I stop.  Now this vehicle is going at one hell of a pace and almost attached to my exhaust pipe so I did the only thing I cold think of....applied my hazard lights and brake lights.  Now this beauty indicated that he was about to overtake so I stopped in the middle of the road so he couldn't and told Gouljan to get out NOW.  She did and that was the last I saw of her......I cancelled my hazard lights and carried on to pick up my men....I just hope he was going to Djebel.

So on the way to my house we got the message that the digger would be here at 8.30 so at eleven I suggested to Bekir that we find out where it's got to and we were told 1.00 and it arrived at 11.30.  This is Bulgaria.  Now a digger brings out a crowd and the neighbours came to watch the sport and direct operations.  I had put Bekir in charge but it was a fight to the finishing post....Emaulat decided to take a break during operations and I caught a shot of that....Bekir was a little concerned that we were very near Star Mush's famous well and Sally just enjoyed the sport.  So what have they achieved?......I have a new toilet hole in the ground which if I have the runs from now until I am a hundred I'm sure I'll never fill....the big tree stumps have been removed which would have taken me ages to grub out, the brambles are less than they were....and most of the walls/ rubble from the north side of the house has gone. When he left I spent a couple of hours tidying up the lane so that the neighbours could get through and I think I've decided to have a gate where my old garden used to be so that visiting 'gypsies' can get their caravans on to my land....makes sense now that it is down....A nice stone wall and a grand entrance....

Pasta in the spaghetti bolognaise in the slow cooker....I'm hungry, thirsty and am about to satisfy my body's demands....LN....

Wednesday 6th April

Went into Djebel with a shopping list and came back with everything including a prescription for Sally that had gone down by 40 stotinki...how good is that.  Got new drill bits since the stone fair wears them out, nails so that I can reconstruct my fence now that the digger is no longer around and today I tidied the garden of all the old wood from the hedge, cut it into petcka size pieces and delivered it to my Avatar....she's a good girl and gives me eggs and the likes so I like to give something in return that is useful...and wood certainly is.

Her grandson has done a so-so job today according to Bekir.  They are young, they spend a lot of time on the telephone and they are not sure what hard work is....but at 25 leva a day I can handle that.  Perhaps by working alongside Bekir and Sally he might find out and tonight I said to Bekir that even though he is the grandson of Avatar...if his work is not up to their standard....I can say bye, bye...not a problem for me.

I went out to move a couple of trees that were removed yesterday and lo and behold, my front tyre on the jeep, driver's side was down.  I got out my foot pump and the sheep farmer insisted on helping and then demanded that I go into Djeble straight away before it went down again which I dutifully did.  It turned out to be the valves that needed replacing on two tyres and my question was, why didn't you do that when you replaced the tyres...lateral thinking.....   Two tyres, ten leva not going to break the bank but the inconvenience of it all.

Phone Gouljan to see if she wanted a lift since I was in Djeble at the time of shift end, came back, delivered cut wood to my Avatar, tidied up a few rogue shrubs that the digger had missed and rescued another that I didn't want destroying......and now my supper is ready.....I have a whole heap of wood that has been removed from the old roof and I'll put pictures on tomorrow......Rain has been forecast so I might not have men or help mate tomorrow....let's see how the day pans out....LN ....I'm into supper and a little drinky poo.....

Thursday 7th April

I'm going to try and post the pictures first and then give you the script later....I have to take the men home....so now I'm back, I've pan-fried spare rib pork chops and fried a couple of eggs, got the woodburner going and now just filling in where I hadn't the time before.

Two men collected, one walked across the road and three for coffee and breakfast.  Men worked on house and insulation and while Bekir was finishing off Sally has even raked my garden and I didn't notice until he had gone so a big thank you on Monday.  As for the demolision man, Sally had to come to the rescue and at one point there was so much dust that I was shouting to see if he was OK.  So the roof is down, Avatar's grandson has done a good job but youngsters do not like too much work.  Roof down though....ready to sort out what I want to do with the house....it's on to the drawing board and see what comes off....

A lovely one this morning.  Bekir had found a photograph of my sheep farmer taken when he was about 20 years old sitting on a donkey....in his underpants trying to look very cool.  There were others in the photo, with a little bit of editing and cropping we have....one lad on a donkey...blown up into A4 and framed.  Now this guy takes the mick out of everyone so we thought this was a just reward.  This photo has been shown to the favoured few but at lunchtime Bekir said that I had a 'visitor' that wanted to speak to me so in my broken Bulgarian I told him that I had a photo of him which he said was impossible.  I waltzed in the and came out clutching the photo wrong way round to my buzoms and slowly turned it round.  He just didn't know what to say and he recognised the other person as being a police officer in Djebel so perhaps I should carry it and when stopped and asked for my documents.....display the said photo....how cool would that be....

So I'm off to bed...water bottle goes before me...washing cooking....LN

Friday 8th April

No men so expected to sleep in and...no...awake at 5.30 ready to start the day.  Tried going back to sleep but eventually decided that my DS brain machine needed to get into action but didn't have any record scores....maybe next time.

Lazed around until 12.00 trying to decide what to do but I did put chicken and pork in the slow cooker with spices and thought that I could have the chicken for lunch and let the pork run until night time and put some rice in with it.  Cleaned the house so that it looked reasonable, builder's rubbish capture in the hoover bag and now deposited on the bonfire talking of which it was a mare to get to going and is still not up to speed.  I have so much to get rid of and it's a pain.

Reconstructed my fence as a cow deterrent and now have to decide whether to have an entrance or not.  Not really pressing, low on the list of priorities but needs to go on the master plan.

Wood chopped for tonight and both fires going.  Last night it really went cold and it was uncomfortable....just try it tonight...I am prepared with wood also stored in my sand sack that I managed to keep from the deliveries.

Anyway short post tonight....I was almost asleep this afternoon in my chair but then kicked in to say 'no'....get on with something.  In my brain it's Saturday with no men being here....but only Friday.   Well the noisy sheep are wending their way home....it's the lambs making all the noise trying to find mum.  LN...I'm off to tend fires and sort out supper....