Saturday 16th April

Well the best laid plans of mouse and men and me....my visit is off.  He has just acquired three huskies with a view to breeding and unfortunately one of the little ones just didn't make it through yesterday so he was up all night tending to see if it could.  What a shame.....lovely little thing but I don't suppose there is anything like an animal postmortem here to see what the cause was.  Another time so I decided to work on my garden and my French beans and garlic are in and a new bed established.  Because the level of the land to the east of the house is high, my original garden has had to be dismantled and the level dropped by about two feet so that it is below the level of the concrete floors.  So tomorrow I continue and move the soil to its new resting place...a woman's work is never done.

Hoovered through this morning but I'm not sure why I bothered.  It's been blowing a gale out there despite the sun and every time I opened the door...in it came again.  It will be better when they put down the concrete by the front door....that is the next job after they have finished my overcoat.

My pasta is cooking ready to go with my pork in tomatoes and red wine, my fire is going and I'm going to have that shower that I promised myself for this morning.  As for pedicure and manicure....they can both wait for another day....I'm gardening again tomorrow and not sure if I have a Bulgarian lesson or not....admirers seem to take precidence these days and why not indeed.  I have plenty of books to look at and verbs to learn so it's really down to me....LN.....supper and a shower calls....just a few pictures of the 'White House' which won't be white for long believe me and the one of the local trying out my sunbed just had to be captured...I did threaten Facebook but this is enough.  

Sitting here I can see some very confused sparrows walking along the scaffolding.  I think they were ear-mrking the area for nesting but now that the tiles are covering the bricks....tough....this is my house,,,,LN

Sunday 17th April

Cold, cold wind but glorious when it dropped.  The sun was hot and the wind fluctuated from north to east but then decided that it would stick to the north.

I lit the fire this morning and it has been ticking over all day so first job was to get enough wood cut to last the day and then I got stuck into reconstructing the garden and now have the top bed completed and planted out with nasturtiums, honeysuckle from the parent plant and sweet peas that have wintered indoors.  Not sure if it is too early to put them out but they looked pretty sickly where they were so they have to chances.  Either they will or they wont.  I've also attached the root from the old grape vine that has been hanging around since I dug it up.  It resembles a phoenix come dragon but I think beauty is in the eye of....not everyone's cup of tea so to speak.

I've also added more wood to the fence and strung up supports for the honeysuckle, sweet peas and nasturtiums so we'll see how they do.  I've also planted three climibing gourds which did remarkable well last year and I spent the time researching what to do with 'butternut squash'.....wrong but I did have eight gourds until the  cows invaded and trod on four but I still have the other four and one of Sally's pretty little ones is going to be opened up for the seed and we'll see what they do.  I've also put up a metal support that I brough out with me purchased in Ikea for £1.00. Really very attractive but it was in one of their sales.

Had my Bulgarian lesson this afternoon and it was all about Easter and how they celebrate it here....bit different that in England where the objective is to get as many Easter Eggs as possible before Asda/Sainsbury or any of the other providers run out.  I also learnt from the test that we translated how the date for Easter is set....and this I didn't know.

So not much happening tonight.....I settled on eggs mayonnaise for a late lunch and not much enthusiasm to do my else yet a while....probably bacon and eggs.....a little later.  LN....early start for the men in the morning (weather permitting) although it's looking a little drab tonight.  LN...I'll let you know.

Monday 18th April

Cold, wet, miserable weather and Bekir has predicted SNOW so they are staying in bed this morning.  No workers so I have the day to myself.  I have just spent 35 minutes doing the Daily Mail online 5star sudoko and it's obviously not wake up time in GB since today's puzzle is not displayed....so I'll just have to wait.  

And yes looking out of the window there is sleet falling and so was one of the internal stone walls in my wreck earlier this morning.  I heard a rumble and went up to the top landing and saw the damage.  Most of the good stuff is supported by acrow props so not damage done but the wind is still howling so we'll see what's left of it by the end of the day.   

Looking at the Kardjali weather prediction on D of S's website, we are going to get the same for the next two days so I better get out there with my waterproofs on and start sawing wood enough to keep me going until the sun starts doing what it's supposed be doing at this time of the year....

So I'm just going to get the remainder of the bacon from last night....yes I succumbed to bacon and eggs and fried bread last night and I'm going to have the same this morning.....down to it...breakfast, wood and then we'll see what happens next....

I think your Baba Marta has deserted you.  Snow here in Samodiva!  Easter = First Sunday after the first full moon, after the vernal equinox (21March).  One of the few things I remember from RE classes in school!  Your other red stuff will have to wait until the weather gets a bit nicer as I am staying in today by the petchka.  Guaranteed rain for the next two weeks Annie always brings Welsh weather with her.

Monday continued

Well you heard it here first folks....Annie brings the rain with her.  As for Baba Marta....it's because I took all those Martinitsas off and strung them round the trees!!

Pickies of the day....the confused sparrow looking either for a new home or one that he had started building and please note the blue sky which has now gone for what appears forever until Annie goes home....

Tuesday 19th April

It is so cold again and raining on and off all day.  Not nice at all.  The sheep seem to be running in all directions just to keep warm and thank goodness this year the farmer hasn't shawn them.  Last year he did it early and then we had a really cold spell.

Put some beans into soak last night and have made a bean and bacon thick soup which was for tonight but I felt so cold at lunchtime that I set about it and there might just be enough for tonight if I pad it out with pasta.  

So no men again....it's too cold to work outside and when I suggested that there were other jobs they could do inside Bekir said that those jobs create too much dust and are better done outside.  I think they like the break really.  They do have work of their own to do and really I should be getting ready for my visitor next week.  All my clothes have to be moved upstairs so that the bottom room is free.  He prefers a dark room so up I go.....I just hope the sun comes out otherwise I shall be investing in an electric banket.  

Now this new 3G mast that has been installed might be OK for some.....I have gone back to my original settings since it has been on/off / no connection for most of the morning.  D of S and my sheep farmer rave about the speed of the new mast but for me it has been a right pain.  The trouble is, I come on the overlap of the two so if there is a slight improvement in one, then it switches and drops off the other but then it tells me that someone else is using my connection...how?  Haven't got a clue since access is via a dongle......doh...

So I'm off to tend fires and throw another log on....LN.....it's a slow news day

Wednesday 20th April

So this morning's task was to get enough wood to see me through the day.  It was damp and the rip saw was just sticking to it so I resorted to part sawn...and the the axe came into play....result....I have enought to keep the small and large wood burner going but I really do need the blades for my recipricating saw that are coming out courtesy of my next visitor....on Tuesday.

The rain eventually stopped late this morning but the wind was in full flood until at least five this afernoon.  And it's a cold wind.   I wasn't lighting the little wood burner but this afternoon the wind was ....so cold ....so it had to be started and the difference it makes to the kitchen is amazing....and not only that but it seems to assist the other in its attempt to keep the house warm.

So I checked on my garden today and the garlic that I planted is just showing though but I think my tomatoes, peppers and cucumber are staying in the house for a few more days yet....we're guaranteed sun for the next four days but I'll check out the wind factor before I do some serious planting...My onions are doing well as are my over wintered broad beans and my shrubs are doing OK.   I put out two nasturtiums and they seem to be holding their own so I might put out the rest.  The sweet peas seem to have a better colour on them now that they are in open soil so I am keeping my fingers crossed....I am a novice at this gardening lark....I spent my working life on computers and systems...so bear with me

I have Visioed the plans for the wreck and I'll see what Bekir makes of them when they return to work....I have two different plans for the roof line and the one decided on will be the one that makes most sense on construction...I just trust his judgement.   I just see it as five concrete supports, concrete crossbeams, windows and a roof....that's the beauty of construction in BG....I suppose in the UK I never had to think about it..I lived in a house that was complete....and now everything seems so easy....it's probably not but that's the way it appears.  OK so a stone wall is half falling down...remove the other half and stick in a support and windows....and then we'll make good.

Enough ramblings...I have just had the mother of all omelettes.....onions, spicey sausage with a dash of chilli washed down with a little ....red....

LN....fires and empty glass spring to mind and both need attention ....

Thursday 21st April

So I did not have a phone call from Bekir this morning so I phoned and yes they could work....so in the car at 7.40 to drive the 15k to get them. I only knew that there had been a frost because I had to remove the ice from the windscreen and it wasn't obvious since it wasn't white over and there was a beautiful sunrise with the moon still up.  When I got there they thought I had forgotten that we had to go down to the builder's yard since I turned up in Beauty but we still went.  We needed two packs of 4meters of the under eaves tongue and groove so I said no problem, cut it into 2 meter lengths and we can open the sunroof and it can stick out of the top which is exactly what we did.

Today had been a bit of a fiddly day and I could hear them huffing and puffing but it got better as the day wore on.  I set to and got out the wood preservative and sorted out the wood so that it is ready for tomorrow and nipped in to Djebel when they ran out of 2cm thermo jacketing so that they could finish the outside.  Tomorrow should see things speed up....the net coating and then the two layers of 'stuff' should be quick that's once they have the under eaves wood work done and my is it high up....I did suggest that we strung them up on wires and forgot the scaffolding but it went down like a lead balloon.  

So from Djebel I phone Gouljan since it was about her finishing time but she had got a private student so wasn’t ready to come home.  So I said, another time, but then at 6.40 tonight I got a phone call saying that she had missed the bus and could I pick her up from the next village when I was coming back from delivering the men.....things get really complicated her sometimes but mission successful....they are home, she is home and I am home....  

Hamburgers for tonight, the fire is going, the glass is full of beer, enough wood cut for the next few days so I'm going to enjoy the rest of the evening.... LN

Friday 22nd April

What a day...it's been really busy today and I made an executive decision to employ two new workers.  I watched Sally's face.  He looked at the stone and rubbish that had to be removed before the concreting for the garage can go in and believe me, every picture tells a story so I recruited two if the lads from the village just to put a smile on Sally's face and put Bekir in charge of the whole affair.  Unfortunately I had to step in and go out to work with the new recruits.  When I say separate...stone from polythene from glass from dirt....they seem to have a problem so I had to work alongside to show them the easy way to do it....time management....

Jobsagudum....everything achieved and pictures tell a thousand words.  Went to see D of S tonight since Annie is over and came back with books and a yellow cherry tomato that will astound the locals so I'm told...just can't wait where D of S lost his cucubers to the frost ...mine are bedded in in my indoor garden...bugger the polytunnels....I'll stick to what I know best....

Saturday 23rd April

What a super day.  I was out at 6.30 this morning and had a bonfire to get rid of all that rubbish that was accumulated yesterday and then I went out and cleared the lane of Star Mush's rubbish from his hedge that runs down the lane and burnt all that as well.  The smoke was going out over the hillside so no complaints from anyone.  Then set about digging up some wild rose bushes that were just in the way and clearing an old concrete path  from the side of the house.

Popped in to see D of S last night and came back with four books from the 'library' and one down already.  It was such a beautiful day that I got my 'armchair' out in the sun and started on 'The Alchemist' and after finishing it I'm still not sure of the message. Annie loved it, Dom thought it was a load of rubbish but since he believes in nothing except physics and mathematics I'm not surprised that it did nothing for him but as for it being a 'classic', think it might need to be reclassified.  So the library provided me with four books, one down and three to go and the next one that I'm reading is again about the second world war.  Born at the tail end and really know nothing about it.  Hitler opened it up for me and now I can't seem to get enough of it.

So this afternoon the plan was to meet up with Gouljan in Djebel at 4.00 and we were going in to Momchilgrad but at 4.40 I was still waiting on the carpark and that's not something I'm really in to.  Cinders is usually late but this time I decided that Momchilgrad wasn't really on the cards so home James.  She was apologetic but they only work for so long.  Got back and finished the book and as I said, not sure of the message and then got enough wood together for tonight.  So much outside and so little inside.  I think I have to get a chain saw.  The reciprocating saw is OK but not really heavy duty.

Tonight, some of the local hamburgers from the slow cooker but I fell asleep in front of the fire and have just opened and eaten a tin of pineapple rings.  The intention was to eat half and put the rest into the remaining hamburgers for tomorrow but the temptation was just too great.

So LN.  It is half past ten for me and as I said I am late tonight and ready for bed....Tomorrow's work is scheduled unless the weather and the book are good and I might just have a day off...