Wednesday 1st February

Another horrible night.  I've been having strange emails from my old internet security company and now it keeps telling me that my account is going to be closed if I don't pay but my subscription has elapsed anyway and I've deleted it from the system.  I've tried to block them but a message is returned saying that I can't block it because it is originating from a home company.  Now this worried me so I phoned my current subscription company and half one this morning and was on the computer for a couple of hours while they checked out my system and confirmed that the breach guard product that I use has not been breached and everything is as it should be.  Eventually I got to bed just before four o'clock, slept well until eight and have had nothing that's threatened me today.  

I lit the fire this morning but in the end there was no need to.  It was minus three outside when I started the day, this went up to plus nine and inside it was fourteen this morning and went up to twenty nine degrees in the stairwell so the fire was left to its own devices, it went out and I re-lit it at five tonight.  It was about ten when I made my toast and jam for breakfast, I decided that I would have a long leisurely bath and was in the tub for about two hours, topping the water up when it went cool.  I made my way to the kitchen and found some mince in the freezer, fried it off with onions, boiled and mashed potatoes and the shepherd's pie should be ready any time soon.  I skipped lunch, I nibbled on cheese and I'm really looking forward to supper.  I did manage to put a load of washing in the machine and that's drying as we speak in the bathroom on the airer so I've not been completely useless all day.

I've just been on to my present security subscription but this time on the phone.  I was offered a secure VPN for my mobile with the instructions to just download it to the phone and when I tried, connection was denied.  I checked on the countries that were supported and Bulgaria wasn't on the list so I've asked them why.  I explained that we are in Europe and should be included.....I'm just having a hissy fit.  They will get back to me....maybe one day.

So now the fire's going the house is up to temperature again, I've just turned the oven off, my supper is ready so I'm going to post this and settle down for the evening.  LN.....And now into my busy birthday month.....LN

Thursday 2nd February

Much better night, slept through until seven despite falling asleep on the sofa and crawling into bed around midnight.  It was a fairly cloudless sky overhead but there were long lines of very dark grey ones behind and peeping over the mountains.  Accordingly the sunrise was short-lived, reddened the lingering clouds and then when it came up it hid itself away.  It came out fairly quickly though, the clouds dissipated and it turned into a very pleasant and warm day for February.

Poached eggs on toast for breakfast, I finished watching a short series that I'd started on Netflix and eventually settled on ancestry for a while filling in some of the gaps in the chart that I'm constructing.  I'm back now to just before eighteen hundreds, running out of census covered years but into the parish record period where things are documented quite well, at least the ones that have been transcribed are have survived.  I went downstairs to find a ruler, decided to fill up the log basket for this evening, noticed that the rubbish bin inside the porch had a couple of bags in it so I did a bit of a recki.  I found another two to join them and went down to the bottom of the garden and had a burn up and again got distracted and ended up clearing one of the beds of Jerusalem artichokes and tossing them over the wall for the cows.  I sat on the wall for a while enjoying the view, normally in February I'm wrapped up well and struggling though snow to get the the bottom of the garden.  The outside temperature must have been around eight degrees and when I'd finished in the garden I sat on the terrace on the old bench.  Black cat was in the garden so I went to have a word with her and it was only when I'd come back in the house that I saw her limp to the other side of the garden.  

Nothing for supper so far, fire going again and it's time to switch off and relax.  I might head into Kardjali tomorrow, there are a few items on my shopping list.  LN.....A walk round the shops will do me good and exercise my Fitbit.......LN

Friday 3rd February

Seven thirty start this morning, not a bad morning but not as good as yesterday.  I lit the fire and went back to bed until the house was aired, it was a little nippy overnight but didn't take long to warm the place through. I was out of bed by eight thirty, decided that I'd make more coffee and swear at the breakfast television for a while but there was not really much to swear about.  The presenters were put in their place by one of the guests when they were told that they had a reputation for approaching interviewees with a 'gotcha' approach and I thought how concise that was and spectacularly accurate.  I hope they got the message.  I looked at the clock and it was just on nine my time and I remembered that it was Princess's birthday so I quickly phoned her, she'd just got out of bed (seven her time) and croaked her way through the next five minutes.  She had a throat and chest infection, was still going to school and taking in cakes, that's my girl, infect everyone!!  Breakfast was toast with spread cheese, the cat was out and about sitting on the terrace looking longing at me and all that I had was bread so I crumbled up a stock cube but it wasn't convinced.  It cat sat behind the Nipper, I put the food down, it tried some of it but then left it for anyone else that wanted it and I think it's still sitting there now.

I toyed with the idea of going into town but didn't get round to having a shower until eleven thirty, I washed my hair, got dressed and then dried my hair and by then the urge to 'go shop' had gone so I resorted to setting up my new Windows 11 laptop and got thoroughly lost in the whole process.  Nothing seems simple, passwords for this and that and passwords doubling up and difficult to set up between all machines, I stuck with it and think that I battened down most of it.  I think I=m going to have to resort to the old machine in the third bedroom to work on the excel version of the ancestry that I'm doing and I'm thinking about moving it on to this desk on the landing so that I can check any details that are missing with the ancestry programme.  I old one is not on the internet by choice but it can be to get stuff printed off.

At five thirty I found belly pork slices in the freezer, thawed them out in the microwave, put them into the oven to par-cook, chopped up and onion and mixed it with Worcestershire sauce and tomato sauce and spread the mixture over the belly pork slices.  To go with it frozen chips went into the air-fryer and everything was good to go around six thirty,  Supper was delicious, nothing left for the cat though, it was almost licked clean.  I watched the end of Tipping Point and the Chase, cleared the kitchen and washed up and now I'm into shut down mode myself. LN.....Blog and bed and tomorrow, computer moving......LN

Saturday 4th February

Birthday greetings this morning to my mother ...no longer with me in body but definitely in spirit a lot of the time.  I've had some lovely memories of the good times and the memorable times that I put her through....I wasn't easy, I had dreams and so did she but times were different for me.  Some of my achievements weren't dreams, it was making decisions which prompted me to other decisions and fortunately, most of them turned out OK.  I get my work ethic from my father, he was underground in the mines for around fifty years, helped his mother in the Fish and Chip shop and even worked for a butcher part-time on Saturdays so that he could put meat on the table.

As for my morning.....I woke up at six thirty, decided that I wouldn't light the fire but as the day wore on I did and it's been going all day.  I made toast for breakfast, started to watch a mew mini-series on Netflix and it was a beautiful morning when the sun finally came out that I switched of the TV and went to fill the log carriers.  I got so engrossed that I ended up working outside until three this afternoon.  There were a few logs in the store room that were just too big to go on the fire so needed splitting so I used my big ax, the chuck hammer and a wedge and I cleared quite a lot of them.  After restacking the fourth row of logs on top of the third row which is where some of the big ones came from, I swept the wood store, reorganised some of the ladders etc., oiled the step leading at the entry door and found some wood stain which is more like a paint and spruced up the door and surround.  I'm not sure it is the right time of the year to be doing such maintenance but it's done and I'll check it out in the morning.  I also swept up the leaves from under the Beast and the rest of the garage, loaded them into a log carrier and into the compost bin with them.....another job done.

I came in and urged the fire to keep going, felt sudden hunger pains come over me so made chippies in the air-fryer, thawed out a chicken fillet with breadcrumbs and that went in the air-fryer too.  I also managed to find some choc ices in the freezer for dessert and by now I was ready to settled down on the sofa and find something else to watch.  I flicked round Netflix and saw that there were more episodes of Outlander that I'd never got round to watching so I got stuck into that and remembered how I'd enjoyed the earlier episodes.  At dix thirty I remembered that I wanted to watch the England Scotland rugby, I've watched a little of it and then thought better of it and came up to write my blog.  So I didn't go shopping, goody box is looking really empty and I'm thinking the freezer could do with a few more items but I'm saving it until Monday, I have a phone bill to pay.  LN.....Time to check up on the rugby.......LN

Sunday 5th February

Another early start and I was surprised to see that we had a few snow flakes being tossed around in the gale-force winds that were around.  I made coffee and went back to bed after lighting the fire, it was the warmest place until the fire took hold.  I eventually got going at around eight, the outside temperature was minus one as reported in by the weather station. inside, the other side of my curtain was fifteen degrees but with the fire it soon went up to eighteen which is really adequate.  As the temperature went up inside, it went down outside and is currently sitting at minus four degrees....we're heading for a cold night.

I made bacon, egg and fried bread for breakfast around nine thirty and haven't taken the camera out all day.  The snow finished before it got really started, there's a distinct lack of snow in Europe and no real predictions for droppings of the white stuff in the long term forecasts.  I washed up from breakfast and today has been about keeping the home fire burning, I swept through being too lazy to get the hoover out, finished watching the end of the last published series of Outlander and then set about creating the ancestry chart on paper but this time trying to get the family links where new families are incorporated by marriage.  I've now got it stretched over two sheets of A3 and am writing it up before I start doing it on the computer to get the spacing right.  If families only have a few children, the chart's not so big, some of the families I'm working with had between seven and twelve children.  I went without lunch, breakfast took a while to digest and I'm not feeling very hungry now so will forego what I don't really need.  My eyes were getting crossed this afternoon so put the pencil down and watched the France-Italy rugby and it was two teams playing leapfrog with the scoring with France just managing to steal it in the last few minutes.  Good game.

I had my nap which unfortunately was longer than I intended, in fact I don't think it was intended at all but obviously needed.  It's nine my time so food is definitely off the agenda, a big log has just gone on the fire and hopefully it should go through to the morning keeping the house temperature up.  LN.....Not making plans for tomorrow, it depends what the weather does overnight.......LN

Monday 6th February

Another reasonable night, I didn't light the fire straightaway but when I went outside to put out some left-overs for the birds, I made a decision that I wouldn't be going into Kardjali.  It was cold out there, minus four degrees, wind was blowing a gale so I came in and lit the fire.  I'd had trouble last night finding logs small enough to get everything burning brightly, the logs all seemed too big so today's job was to find more small ones and chop the really large ones into two and maybe three logs.  I put this task off until I thought it might warm up but it never did.  It did get to minus two outside but that was it.  I made breakfast but using up the last of the bacon and almost the last of the bread, it didn't fill the gap so I ended up having cheddar cheese with the crust of the bread to fortify me for the chopping.

I wheeled out logs that I'd already wheeled in to use in the house....split the ones from the house and put them back into the log carrier, then found some of the smaller ones from the log store.  A couple just wouldn't split, the heavy chopper just bounced off them so they are back in the porch for burning.  Job done I remembered that I' d some wild bird seed from last year in the little house so I brought it in to the porch, found a under-pot water holder, filled it up and put it out on the terrace.  I'd see a robin this morning and it jogged my memory.  It was slow going today, it will be on the bird news tonight and I should get more takers in the morning.  

Sleep this afternoon, not much action to be had outside, but I did put the plastic covering back under the elastic that's holding it in place.  The wind was getting underneath it and I didn't want it removing it.  My fingers were numb when I came in from chopping the logs, the weather report for the day was snow, between three and ten centimeters and what have we had so far...nothing and looking at the clouds, they don't stay around long enough.

Fire going well and the house is comfortable, Monday night is quiz night for me so I shall be hoping that I stay awake.  I've had my afternoon nap so that might be enough to see me through until bedtime.  Not much of a sunset, there were too many clouds hanging over the mountains to the west leaving too little a gap for the sun to show it's face.  LN....Student tomorrow...must find a decent text......LN

Tuesday 7th February

Another disturbed night but eventually I settled down again and out of bed this morning at six thirty. I lit the fire, it was minus five outside and the inside needed warming up a little until the sun came out, what little there was of it.  The birds were dipping in and out of the dish of food that I'd left, the robin didn't seem to fancy much of it but the sparrows obviously found something worth hanging around for.  For some unknown reason, I've started having those itchy red patches on my arms again so I must have eaten something that's not agreeing with me.  I think I've now got to start keeping a food diary and probably should have started it long ago and it would be good to identify and cut out whatever it is that's causing it.  I used to put it down to the tablets that I was taking for blood pressure but since I've not taken any tablets since I've been back from the UK, they're obviously not to blame.  Back to the drawing board we go.

Cereals and hot milk for breakfast since the last of the bread went last night. I plumbed back into Netflix and picked up on a series that I'd started and not finished and watched three episodes before I switched it off and went up to have a bath.  I put the heater on for the boiler to keep it topped up and emerged from the tub around twelve, dressed and moved to the computer on the landing and found a text for my student, printed it off and I was all set for later in the day.  That done and ready to go I watched another episode of Netflix and set off for Djebel at two thirty heading for the car-parts shop.  It was so good to see his mother again, we cheer each other up and spend lots of time laughing with each other and almost have face-ache moments.  Student arrived back from the dentist, he'd had his 'train tracks' adjusted, he headed up to the apartment and I followed about fifteen minutes later.  We worked through a text about Africa, colonial rule and who the main countries involved were, how many languages were in use and the four main language groups and what the main imports were.  Some of the names of the new countries even I didn't know and how many coups there had been until the country was more or less stabilised.  I suppose I take him out of his usual learning zone and as I told him, each day is a school day even when you get to may age.  Of course we had to have the game of football and he said that I'm getting better which is good to know.

Back to the shop for five, his father had closed the garage early there was no one out and about, it was much too cold.  Again snow was predicted but it just didn't happen and as I used to tell my daughter, it's too cold for snow.  I stopped off and bought bread, spicy sausages and a few sweet treats for the goody box, supper was spicy sausage with onions both cooked until brown and the onions caramalised, a little tomato sauce was added and some Worcestershire and half a can of baked beans to top it off.  I put it all in a bowl and had it with the crusty end of the new loaf.  I finished it off with a éclair and a cup of coffee, fire going well and now about to settle in to the evening.  I've had a good day, it was good to get out again and see people and I do enjoy my student,  LN ....just checked and it's minus five.....time to throw another log on......LN

Wednesday 8th February

Six thirty start, got the fire going from last night's embers, minus seven outside so it was a good reason to stay inside.  I went back to bed with a coffee, forgot all about it so it was into the microwave with it and had it about an hour later. Put a load of washing in the machine at cheap rate electric knowing that with the fire going all day, it would dry on the airer in the bathroom and now it's ready to put away.  Settled on the sofa and put Netflix on for a couple of episodes, I thought about going to Kardjali but the late shop last night had taken away the necessity so I stayed by the fire.  Breakfast called and I fried off half of one of the spicy sausages, added an egg to the pan and put everything between two slices of bread with a little brown sauce...had to be done.  I then had a fit of pique, stripped the bed down and washed the quilt cover and under sheet with a couple of pairs of socks that had found themselves at the bottom of the bed.  The socks went with the others on the airer and the quilt and sheet went on the upper landing balcony rail, the washing is all dry and is back on the bed ready for tonight.  The secret is, I made the quilt cover out of two fleece blankets, the bottom sheet is another one so they're almost dry as soon as they come out of the machine and ready to go on in quicksticks.  I also managed to get the hoover out and do all through downstairs including the porch...not much danger of anyone calling this weather but it does look so much better.

I little nap this afternoon, Transponder TV is not working so obviously they are having technical problems or have been closed down...who can say.  The website is also unavailable so I'll give it until tomorrow and then start making waves.  I'll really miss it if it's no longer working and so will lots of other people....it's a link with home and something to shout at when the presenters start going for it with the 'experts'....they have them in every field.  So five thirty my time and it's been a good day.  I did try to start the ancestry chart in the new version of Excel and got totally lost, I'm out of practice and haven't got the same patience as I used to have.  I'll put the simplified chart together first and then add the children...just so many of them.

Not sure about supper tonight, I've still got sausage and beans so I might concoct the same as last night but add beetroot to the mix.  As for the bird seeds....I saw a couple of jays on the dish this morning and a magpie, a few blue tits around and a very little bird with red tail feathers that I've got to investigate.  The Robin put in an appearance but nothing stays around too long when it's this cold.  The ginger cat perched itself on the stone next to the dish, ever hopeful so I sent it packing.  LN....Another cold one predicted so plenty of logs at the ready as every girl guide should be.....LN

Thursday 9th February

So another silly night.  I went to bed at eleven, no Transponder TV and finished my series on Netflix so headed as I thought to 'Dreamsville'.......wrong.  I slept through until one thirty, wide awake despite my warm bed and clean covers so settled down on the sofa banking up the woodburner to keep me company.  I found a Netflix four part series, watched them well into the night and at the end of it wasn't sure how to react.  It was a court room drama where the defendant was doing his own summing up at the end of his trial for murder and the final scene was where the jury gives its decision based on the evidence and firstly it found him guilty and his reaction and then found him not guilty and came the second reaction.......and I still don't know.  So off to bed at five thirty this morning, slept through until nine so not much missed over night from my usual sleep pattern just elongated into the morning.  

It was a beautiful sunny morning, minus four out but eighteen in the stairwell without a fire so I didn't bother to light one.  I made beans and sausage on toast for a late breakfast, wandered upstairs and got washed and dressed and then started up the computer and carried on with finding a few more links on the ancestry chart I'm working on.  This took me through to about two in the afternoon, I made coffee and opened a packet of biscuits, looked at the woodburner and decided to take the pipes out and give them a clean.  The wood is exceptionally dry when it burns and it proved it in the caliber of soot that came out.  So up on the ladder, removed pipes, got the brushes from the wood store and cleaned them out, took the lids from the top of the burner and gave the inside a good going over especially the nooks and crannies.  Everything back in place, lit the fire and it's burning very gently, the house is warm, curtains are all drawn to keep out the minus five outside where it should be.

I got settled again and made more coffee and more biscuits and found a David Tennant BBC series on Netflix and have just finished watching it.  I found it quite exaggerated at times, really ot believable but in the absence of Transponder it had to do.   Still no news of the service, fingers crossed it returns but I'm not holding out much hope.  Not bothered with supper, nine thirty my time and hopefully I should make it through the night without having to search for things to do in the wee small hours of the morning.  LN.....Definitely Kardjali tomorrow, phone bill to pay, a few items on my shopping list and I need to go to the office supplies shop....need some very fine nib pens......LN

Friday 10th February

A very peaceful night, woke up at seven, minus ten outside and was relying on the sun to warm up the house.  I was heading into Kardjali so didn't bother lighting the fire and I did feel sorry for the birds, it was a cold one for them.  One or two came to visit the dish on the stone but didn't stay long so I went out and checked it and as I thought, the seeds were frozen to the dish so it's a wonder their beaks weren't bent over.  I topped it up and they were soon back again, didn't see many of the bigger ones but they'd obviously found better pickings.

I made an omelette out of a half of the spicy sausage that was in the fridge and sat in the stairwell eating it.  I noticed black cat by the forsythia in the frog garden, it was at aguess lining up any of the birds using it for shelter but they were quicker than the cat and everyone seemed to go unscathed.  There was still no Transponder tv and I wondered or not it was to do with the list of sites that I wanted to be made available for me.  I've got so many different little programmes running from my security company that I'd forgotten how to enter the companies so I called them up to see if they could help out.  They were brilliant, they did a virus check for me, cleared out some of the things that I was unclear about cleaning, got the system running at one hundred percent and eventually confirmed that it wasn't me or my internet provider that was blocking access to Transponder, you just can't raise the dead so to speak so I shall have to go about it another way.  So just checked up on FB and apparently they have had their servers knocked out sited in the Ukraine...what a bugger.....

Eventually set off for Kardjali after I'd finished with my security company and my bank and that was two items from the list, it was getting shorter and I hadn't left the house.  I stopped off at the carshop and had a few words with my student's mum, took her a present of stainless steel cleaner to use on the woodburner glass.  I'd mentioned to her that I use it, had suggested she got some but thought I'd get it for her instead.  I carried on to Kardjali, paid my phone bill, strike off list, went to the office supplies shop and  strike more things from the list, checked out the cheapy clothes shop and managed to resist the offers, nack in the Nipper and off to Kaufland.  I topped up on fresh meat for the freezer and bought a few more items and then carried on to Lidl carpark.  I didn't go directly there, I went to the printer store next door and found four new cartridges for my Brother printer.  I'd tested it yesterday and all the colours were very feint so hence the replenishment.  The into Lidl, steaks were on offer and I couldn't resist, a few more basics like bacon and butter and crisps, drove to the gas station and topped up for nineteen leva and got home for six.  Unpacked, managed to get everything in the freezer that needed to go there, haven't cooked supper yet and that might go on the back burner...not really hungry.  

Tomorrow is a day for enlarging the photographs that Guldjan's mother gave me before Christmas, printing them out that's after I sorted my printer and see what frames I have going spare.  If not I'll be heading into Djebel and the Leva shops to see what they've got.  LN.....Netflix calls.....I need to find something to keep me going until bedtime.....LN