77 & 78.

Hello again! Well, another 2 weeks have flown by - we've been busy and had another wonderful week with guests visiting. The sun is still shining but the mornings and evenings have become very cold and the colours of the leaves are telling us that autumn has definitely arrived. I'll try and keep the post short and sweet, so here goes.

 

Smoke over the village

 

Monday 26th - Thursday 29th

 

Looking back at last week I can't quite remember which days we did what, but we spent all of our time concentrating on working upstairs, so I'll just group them together.

 

We did a shopping trip to SZ and finally got our chainsaw back (but sadly not our strimmer) and got some other bits we needed for the kitchen. We've also been constantly on the prowl for a gas hob and oven and have been regularly checking second hand websites for updates, but more on that later.

 

The main work we've done upstairs is to build the two stud walls, so we are now ready to fit electric cables and plumbing. There is still a long way to go but having the stud walls in has made a huge difference and feels like real progress again after a month off.

 

Stuffed peppers for dinner

This horrible spider had all it's babies on it's back!

Starting the stud wall

Breakfast in the sunshine

Working

Nogs in

Bilko in the sun

Autumn crocuses

Walkies

Bulgarian moussaka at Hristo's 

Starting the other stud wall

Starting to build a small frame to plasterboard the gap above the stone wall

 

Friday 30th

 

Pete's dad and step mum - Kenneth & Rosemary - were arriving this afternoon so we did a big shop in the market this morning and then went home to give the house a good old tidy up. They were coming in a hire car and arrived at our place mid afternoon. We welcomed them with elderflower beer and lunch and then spent the afternoon catching up and showing them what we've been up to around the house.

 

Chirpan market

Welcoming our guests!

 

The evening was spent in much the same way with more yummy food, several glasses of wine and lots of conversation.

 

Saturday 1st October

 

K & R were keen to help us with anything and everything that needed doing around the house and garden whilst they were here. As we had our chainsaw back now, and with the nights getting cooler everyday, we decided to take advantage of having four extra hands and get our wood chopped and stored for winter. We bought 10 cubics back in March (I think) and it has been stacked, in metre lengths, drying out since then.

 

After a lovely, big brekkie we all got to work - K & R emptying the wood store into a large pile, me passing the wood over to Pete and Pete cutting it up with the chainsaw. It was all very efficient and was definitely worth doing this job with extra help as otherwise it would have taken us ages! We worked like this for a few hours and then, once the wood store was emptied, we stopped for a much needed lunch. 

 

Getting set up

All that wood to the left is ready to be chainsawed

 

It had turned into quite a hot day but we mustered up the energy to carry on working for a while. K & R remade one side of the wood store, using old mulberry sticks that we have lying around the garden - this is not only practical and necessary but it also looks very pretty so I am pleased about that :) Pete and I carried on chainsawing and then, once we'd had enough of that, Pete started to split some of the larger logs whilst I tried to organise the wood a bit and tidy up all the wood chippings (a free product that is perfect for our compost loo!)

 

Done for the day

End of the wood store looking lovely

 

At about 5 we finished work and all relaxed in the garden. We had a beer, all had showers (the solar shower is still in use by the way - in October!!) and then started to prepare dinner. Pete got the food ready whilst I made a fire to cook over. We decided to build a new fire pit around a huge tree stump that we have been unable to dig out, with the idea of burning it out instead! We had another lovely evening enjoying great BBQ food and chatting away.

 

The boys playing darts

We're going to burn this stump out!

Sunday 2nd

 

We had found an oven that we liked the look of on a second hand website and yesterday we had managed to get a Bulgarian friend to call them for us. As it was only in Plovdiv (45 mins away) we decided to go and have a look at it this morning. It wasn't going to be a very exciting trip, but Pete's dad wanted to come with us anyway so we left Rosemary at home to chill out in the sunshine.

 

We met the guy at about 10.30 and went to his house to view the cooker. The main thing we wanted to know is if the hobs had been converted to use with a gas bottle (as opposed to mains gas.) This oven came from Germany and the man had never actually used it, so we weren't convinced it would work with a gas bottle, even though he said it would be 'no problem.' And anyway, on top of that, the oven door didn't close properly (which, according to the seller was also 'no problem'!) so, disappointingly, it was a no no and we didn't buy it.

 

Empty handed we turned around to head home. We stopped for a coffee in the village and then stopped again at a huge wholesale market where we found a café to get some lunch. We had a little wander around the market, which was mostly closing down by now, and then set off and went home.

 

Cafe

At the market

Driving views

 

Back home we found Rosemary had been hard at work - she'd finished the screen on the other end of the wood store and had started to varnish the steps of the toilet block (the steps are not covered by the roof so need protecting from the rain.) We all relaxed for a bit and had a cup of tea and Baba V called us over to give us two huge tubs of veg from her garden as she was going away for a couple of days - what a lovely lady! :)

 

Both ends now looking fab

Veg from Baba V

 

Pete and I then got to work on building a new roof for the wood store. The previous roof had only been temporary and made from plastic sheeting (and it also torn and broken) so we needed to build something stronger to hole the weight of snow. We'd bought some corrugated plastic and some strong wood so were able to build the new roof in the afternoon. It took some time to get the frame sturdy and then attached the plastic so it was taught and we didn't finish working until about 6 o'clock. Whilst we were doing that K & R took Lucy out for a walk and then relaxed in the garden.

 

New roof finished

 

We ended up having dinner quite late and then another lovely evening outside. Although the nights have been chilly we have been able to sit in the garden comfortably with just a few layers on and not yet resorted to a bonfire to keep warm!

 

Monday 3rd

 

Rosemary wasn't feeling well this morning so she stayed in the house all morning whilst the three of us had a big breakfast and then got on with the first job of putting the roof on to the wood store. This didn't take much time at all and now we were able to start stacking the wood that was ready. Kenneth was on stacking duty whilst Pete and I powered through the rest of the wood and got it all chainsawed up.

 

New roof on

Wood being stacked

 

We then stopped for a lovely lunch in the garden, which R was able to join us for, before getting back to work. I helped Kenneth with stacking whilst Pete worked through the big logs and got them all split to a useable size. After a couple of hours Kenneth went to have a lie down so, as Pete was still axing away, I decided to move all the remaining wood to in front of the wood store and then clean up the garden. You wouldn't think it but it's actually pretty hard work lugging wood around all day!

 

All wood moved and chippings being collected

 

Splitting wood with the axe

 

In the evening we had a well deserved beer and a tasty dinner, but called it a night quite early as everyone was feeling knackered.

 

Beer time

Tuesday 4th

 

We lay in a little later this morning and didn't get up until about 9 - only to find that Kenneth had been up for two hours stacking wood! Hardcore! Anyway, we needed to get bread from the shop so we all went out and took a stroll around the village before coming home to have breakfast. Pete made poached eggs with spinach on toast, which is always a winner.

 

Walk in the village

Kitten :)

Breakfast time

 

We had a slightly more chilled out day today - Rosemary spent the morning finishing the varnish on the steps whilst Pete, Kenneth and I finished stacking the wood store. This is not the whole 10 cubics as we have kept several of the larger logs to possibly be used as furniture etc. in the future. But we are pretty sure this will be enough to keep us going this winter as it is about double what we had last year.

 

Varnished steps

 

Got wood

 

In the afternoon everyone relaxed a bit, had siestas and we made a start on harvesting the walnuts, which are now ready. We haven't collected them all yet, but already we can tell that this years crop is tiny compared to what we had last year, but we have heard this is the same all over Bulgaria due to the dry weather. We have also found that many of the nuts are already rotting on the tree, which is a massive shame.

 

Autumnal walnut orchard

 

Not a great harvest

 

After we were feeling more rested we got back into gear and all had a massive clear up of rubble and rubbish and loaded the van ready for the dump. We then drove out to dump it all and afterwards went for a short look around the next village and stopped for a beer in the local bar. Back home we got clean and dressed up and went out to the nearby hotel for a lovely dinner. I had the steak, which was a real treat as beef isn't available in the butchers here. It was a great evening.

 

Dump!

Tasty dinner

Wednesday 5th

 

Over the last couple of days we had found another cooker online which we were interested in buying. This time it was in Sofia so we really didn't want it to be a wasted journey as it is over 2 hours drive. From what we could make out  (via Google translated messages) the seller had used the oven in the past but was now downsizing - this was a good sign that it had been run on gas bottles. We decided to risk it and Pete and I set off first thing to drive to Sofia. K & R decided to stay at home today as we weren't sure how long we'd be out.

 

We managed to find the meeting point easily and luckily the guy lived on the outskirts of the city so we didn't have to do any stressful inner city driving! The cooker had definitely been used - it needed a good scrubbing and had a couple of small dents - but we tested it with our gas bottle and all 5 hobs worked a treat, and so did the electric ovens. So finally we have our cooker!! Yay! And we even did a bit of haggling and got a discount. We got the oven loaded in the van (well, Pete and the man did as it is extremely heavy) and drove off feeling happy. We then decided to take a quick detour to Ikea as we'd been wanting to go and we were here now, so thought we might as well. In the end we didn't buy anything big (too expensive for us) but we did have some meatballs for lunch. We then drove home and got back in about 2 hours, which is good going.

 

On the road

LOVELY COOKER!

Meatballs in Ikea

Driving home - what a beautiful country we live in

Cows in Chirpan

View of Chirpan

 

Back home we found the place looking the tidiest it had ever been - K & R had been hard at work all day clearing and organising the garden and it looked fab! Rosemary had also varnished and fixed a set of wicker table and stools we had, which otherwise would have ended up going to the dump. Rosemary had also prepared dinner, so not long after we got home we all had a glass of wine and enjoyed a delicious early dinner whilst it was still light. After dinner the sun came out below the clouds and we were given an incredible sunset to enjoy.

 

Varnished table and stools

 

Dinner time

 

Lovely sunset

Gorgeous colours in the orchard

 

Today had been slightly overcast in our village and this evening was feeling much colder, so once we'd eaten I got the fire roaring and we spent the night sitting around it and keeping toasty. 

 

Getting the fire going

Thursday 6th

 

Already it was K & R's last day here so we took it a bit easier and all did odd jobs around. We had breakfast in the garden but today was much colder and we are now really looking forward to having a communal area inside the house!

 

Rosemary carried on clearing the garden and managed to get a whole side of the garden cleared that we have just completely ignored this year. It looks great and has opened up the space again, but it has also revealed the huge rubble pile we dumped there last year and have been trying to forget about since!

 

Rosemary hard at work

Rubble area now clear

 

Kenneth started work on painting the inside and the reveals of the front doors as this needs to be finished before we can put glass in them - another necessary job now that it's getting colder.

 

Kenneth painting

 

In the morning I did the washing up (a mammoth task with four people here and only cold water to use!) whilst Pete made some bread and prepared a butternut squash soup for lunch. Pete and I then went up to the orchard to carry on collecting walnuts - Pete climbed the trees and shook them whilst I was below picking them all up. We've kept them in the husks for now and will de-husk them at a later date.

 

Collecting walnuts

Todays collection

 

After a very scrummy and warming lunch we all got back on with said jobs and I also started to rake the leaves in the orchard. To give my self a break from this very dull job I went inside to research about using dried leaves as mulch/making leaf mould/using leaves in compost. I read several sites and got myself quite excited about all the amazing nutrients we can get from these leaves, only to then find that walnut leaves actually contain a toxin that inhibits plant growth. Bloody typical! You can add a small amount to compost and you are able to make leaf mould with them, but that takes two years and we need nutrients in our beds asap. This was a bit disappointing and made the job of raking leaves even more boring! Oh well, I've since decided we can at least burn them and use the ash in our compost toilet, so they won't be completely wasted.

 

Interrupting Bilko's nap

Homemade bread for lunch

Raking leaves

 

We stopped working earlyish and enjoyed a cup of tea with homemade cinnamon buns, made by Pete, which was very yummy. In the evening we had another big fire going to keep us warm and actually had to eat our dinner sitting around it as it was too cold to sit at the table. It was a beautiful clear night though and the stars were amazing. As K & R were off first thing we didn't have a late one and all went to bed at about 10.

 

Cinnamon buns

Chickens

Another pretty sunset

 

(Oh by the way the fires this week have done their other job and the old tree stump is completely burnt down!) 

 

The stump has gone!

Friday 7th

 

We got up with the alarm at 6am and by about quarter past we were outside and saying goodbye to K & R as they drove off in the dark. It's been a lovely week with them here and all the hard work they've done has been fantastic! :) Once they'd gone me and Pete went back to bed to sleep for another couple of hours and then got up at 8.30 to get ready for the market.

 

We had the usual morning in the market and stocked up on a few building materials before heading back home. In the afternoon I went down the road to do some gardening in the sunshine whilst Pete stayed at home and cleaned the house and did all the washing up. The rest of the day has been spent writing the blog and Pete has finishing tidying, chilled out and is now preparing dinner (liver and onion - a real winter dinner!) Inside the house is not actually too cold but we are still considering a fire just because we had chopped the wood, but we'll see!

 

Baba V's cat has been very friendly this week since Baba V has been away

 

As of tomorrow work will commence on the kitchen again and we have just over 2 months until our next guest, so fingers crossed it will be useable by then.

 

Chao for now everyone! xx