80 and a half.

The village

Notices to pay respects to the dead

 

Well hello there, it has been a while again... we've been so busy and what with the shorter days I just haven't found the time to update until now. I think I'll just do a week and half today and leave you all in suspense to find out about the end of this week next time!! We've been working away upstairs and have made a lot of progress, although have not quite moved in yet. The weather has been on our side as well and has been sunny and gorgeous for the last two weeks. So anyway, onwards with the post...

 

Tuesday 25th

 

Pete woke up at about 3am this morning feeling awful and needing to be urgently sick. He did not get back to sleep and he stayed this way for the rest of the day, poor him. :-( We think it must have been food poisoning, although I had no symptoms at all and we eat all the same food. Anyway, he couldn't move and was feeling very achy and cold (even though it wasn't) so when I got up, at about 7, I got the woodburner going and left him huddled up, in the dark, with a bucket by his side.

 

I got on with a few bits upstairs that I was able to do on my own. I did another coat of render on the stone wall, neatened up some of the pointing on the stone and did a few more electrical bits (will it ever end!?) I then concreted the step in 'the hole' as we had our new door arriving tomorrow and it needed a base to sit on - I forgot to mention that we ordered a new, plastic door a couple of weeks ago.

 

Wires in for the light switches

Another coat of render

Concrete step in 'the hole'

 

During the day I also went to the shop to get bread as well as pick up our cheese order from the goat people in the village. I bumped into a few locals, who I told Pete was sick, and everyone had their own cure to make him better. Unsurprisingly every single cure involved drinking rakia in various forms! Hristo said to make a tea with pomegranate skin and even gave me a pomegranate, so I made some when I got home but Pete said it tasted too much like sick to drink, so that was a no no.

 

Two types of goats cheese

Pomegranate peel tea (!?)

 

In the evening I took Lucy our for a walk and then, back home, made myself some dinner as Pete was definitely not up for eating. I had roasted veg with grilled goats cheese and it was bloody good. Then we watched some TV and had an early night.

 

Autumn leaves

Cloudy evening

Wednesday 26th

 

Today Pete had stopped throwing up (yay!) but was still feeling really crap and needed a day resting. Baba V called me over first thing and gave us a banista and an apple each for breakfast - so lovely! Sadly Pete couldn't managed much of his though. 

 

Gifts from Baba V

 

We had the man with the door arriving at about 10 so I spent the morning doing a few chores and tidying up upstairs to make access for the door. The guy arrived and I stood around awkwardly in case I needed to help him, but once I'd decided where it should go I left him to fit it in. It took him until about midday to finish and we are very pleased with it. We are not usually a fan of double glazing but we wanted this door to be entirely glass to take advantage of the fab view, which it really does as it makes it look like a picture. Happy days!

 

New door!

View through the door!

Door from outside!

 

I then spent the afternoon PVAing the stone wall. We wanted a thick layer of PVA on this wall to stop anything crumbling on to our work surfaces and cooker, so it took me a long time to do as I had to cover it properly and get it in all the cracks. We are very pleased with this wall too, and the PVA really shows up the beautiful colours of the stone.

 

PVAed wall

 

Once I'd done that I decided to make a batch of rosehip syrup as I'd defrosted the rosehips in the morning. We had only collected a tiny amount of rosehips this year as 1) there haven't been many around and 2) we have been too lazy to collect more! But I didn't want to waste what we had collected and it didn't take long to make the 2 small bottles of syrup. 

 

Crushing the rosehips with sugar water

Sealing the bottles in a water bath 

 

This evening was much the same as yesterday - I took Lucy for a walk, came home to make dinner, had an evening with the fire on watching TV and an early night. Whilst we watched telly I used a needle to prick all the slow berries we'd collected this year (which I had also defrosted this morning) and then put them in a big bottle with a load of sugar and 7 litres of gin. So we now have sloe gin on the go, which should be just ready for Christmas. Pete was feeling better now by the way and he even managed to eat a plain jacket potato, although still feeling achy and weak.

 

Sloe gin on the go

Thursday 27th

 

As Pete wasn't yet 100 % he decided he wanted to go to SZ today so we could be productive without working too hard! There were a few more bits and pieces that we needed from 'the city' that we couldn't get in Chirpan so off we went and we ended up spending pretty much the whole day out.

 

Scrap yard in SZ

 

In the afternoon our friend C popped over with a friend of hers, so we had a cuppa and a chat with them until it got too cold. C also bought us some herbs and apples from her garden, which was lovely. Once they'd gone we took Lucy out for a walk as she'd been in the house all day. We went a different route to what we usually go and headed for the hills behind the village. It was absolutely freezing but it was a beautiful evening. Back home the fire was lit instantly and after dinner we enjoyed a hot chocolate whilst watching a film.

 

Gifts from C

Autumn evening walk

View to the village

Love these colours

Friday 28th

 

Market day today and we were much quicker than usual as we'd done so much shopping yesterday. Once we'd got home and unpacked we decided to go down the road and do a bit of gardening, although there is not very much to do at this time of year except a bit of weeding and raking up leaves. Pete also went over to SG to do a bit of gardening there and then we headed home together at about 4 o'clock.

 

All the locals are burning leaves everyday

 

In the evening I cleaned out the chicken coop - this urgently needed doing but we'd been putting it off as the shop where we used to get straw has stopped selling it. But I decided I would use all the leaves we'd just raked up instead as I assumed that would be comfier to sit on than their own poo! Whilst I did that Pete was making dinner - which was a delicious Caesar salad - and then we had another cosy night in. Although the days have been gorgeous, the nights have been getting very cold this week as it has been so clear. But this has also meant that the stars have been amazing (not that we want to stand outside too long to look at them.)

 

Happy chickens

Huge salad

Saturday 29th

 

This morning we woke up to the first frost of the year. By the time we'd got up it was actually almost melted, but the walnut orchard was sparkly and pretty. We also found that the taps in the toilet block were frozen - which is not good as it can damage the pipes, so it is now on the list the drain them asap.

Frosty morning

 

The frost made all the leaves fall over night ^

 

There were a couple more wires to put into the walls - we have taken a wire for power and lights outside, which will eventually go to our summer kitchen/balcony. We had to drill through the soffit to get these out and whilst we were up there we tried to put a cover on the vent, but it snapped as we unpacked it - very annoying! Anyway, now those last wires were in it meant we could plasterboard the last section of the ceiling, which was so small we could use old off cuts to finish it.

 

Wires outside for future projects

Last of the ceiling is boarded



We actually only managed to get that done today as in the morning George popped by to say hello and then in the afternoon we had a visit from some people we hadn't met before but they'd found us through my blog! They were a lovely couple and we were very happy to meet them and hope to see them again :-) They also bought an awesome present, which was a Kombucha SCOBY, so now we can make our own Kombucha (not that we've ever tried before but we've heard people love it!) We showed them around our place and they stayed for a cuppa.

George and Pete

 

Once they'd gone we finished off the last bit of plasterboarding and then I made dinner whilst Pete used up some of the apples we'd been given the other day and made an apple crumble. We then enjoyed eating both these things by the warmth of the fire!

 

Smoke over the village

 

Crumble by the fire :-)

 

Bilko's new sitting spot

Sunday 30th

 

An early start today. Now the clocks have gone back we've decided to make sure we get up an hour earlier and want to be up and at 'em by 8 o'clock - which is early for us! So the alarm went off at 7 and after a cup of tea in bed we were ready to crack on by 8. We spent the morning going over all the electrics, making sure we had enough noggins, putting in more noggins and drawing a plan of where all the electrics and studs were. We also foamed a few gaps around the door and finished off the final bit of plumbing for behind the wall and got the water coming out to a stop tap.

 

Plumbing now coming out of the wall

Foaming the gaps

 

Once we were confident everything was okay it was time to insulate! We covered ourselves up - including masks and gloves - and got insulating. We went double thickness on the north wall and 1 and half thickness on the south (we couldn't fit in double as the stud wall wasn't as deep.) We need to keep this room as insulated as possible as we are slightly worried it will be cold, what with the stone wall and high ceiling.

 

 

This took us until around 3.30 to finish, when we stopped and both had showers and washed the clothes we'd been wearing - rock wool insulation is horrible, itchy stuff. We are very happy to have that all done now though, and we are now ready to put up the WALLS!!

 

Pete then chilled out before making dinner and I decided to go up and disconnect and drain the pipes in the toilet block. Whilst I was at it I also did the garden tap as we don't want this freezing either. The temporary washing up sink and washing machine are on their own pipe so we are able to leave them on for now.

 

 

A very early end to the day and a long and dark evening inside - it'll take some getting used to these short days again!

 

Monday 31st

 

We set the alarm early today as we wanted to be in Chirpan for 8 to get building materials for the day. We were buying our walls today so the list included plasterboard, plyboard and tounge and groove wood for the wooden wall. All went to plan and we managed to get everything we needed and were home by 10. We were both feeling hungry by the time we got home - I wanted a smoothie for breakfast but Pete wanted eggs, so in the end we just had both! We ate brekkie out in the warm sunshine and fuelled up for the days work.

 

 

We started with the plywood - this will be behind the work surface so it is a cheap and easy material to use, which won't be seen in the end. This was quite straight forward and quick, although we did have to add a new set of noggins as our original ones were too high!

 

 

 

Once we'd done that it was straight on to plasterboarding the opposite wall. Again this was a breeze as the stud wall is straight and only the top beams are slightly wonky. Having this up has made a huge difference and it is finally beginning to look like a room at last. The last job of the day was to do the final square of plasterboard on the lower ceiling, which also involved putting in a socket back (this is our ceiling fairy light socket!)  

 

 

We stopped around 5 with just enough light left to have a beer in the sunshine but not enough warmth to do the washing up outside. It had been a long day and we were feeling pretty knackered, so it was another evening of dinner and a film.

 

Tuesday 1st November

 

We have been looking after our friend George's fruit mixtures for his rakia for the last month or so, and today was the day it was going to the still. We were expecting him and his dad to come over at about 9am, so we got up early to unload the tounge and groove wood from the van and do a few chores. I washed up outside which was very unpleasant as the sponge was frozen and the water like ice! George turned up on time and Pete helped them bottle up the fruity mixture ready to take to the still - we were giving them a lift to return the favour of them taking us back in September.

Bottling the mixture

Loading the van

The village

Pete with George and his dad

 

We went to the still for 11 but there was a bit of a queue so we had to wait a while before we could unload. There were already four men there, half way through a couple of litres of wine and a buffet of food out on the tables! Anyway, the still eventually became free so we all helped unload the fruit mixture and the wood out of the van and got the process started. We then drove home and left the boys to it. By now it was gone 1 o'clock and we were expecting George to come by again this afternoon to make more fruit mixture for MORE rakia (like they need it!?) so we didn't want to start work upstairs just to get interrupted. Instead we decided to do as the Bulgarians do and spent the rest of the day raking up and burning the leaves in the garden. Whilst doing this we also gave the garden a big tidy and put a few things away for winter.

Goats outside the still

Inside the still

Lots of leaves to collect

Fire

Smoky garden

Tidy garden

 

Whilst I carried on with that Pete went up to the kitchen to do a bit of foody stuff. We had a load of aubergines that needed using up so he roasted all of those. He also used up a few beetroots and made a huge load of soup and used up the rest of the apples in another apple crumble. Yum. 

Lucy keeping warm

By the end of the day the garden was looking lovely and we saw Baba V who gave us a few jars of pickled veg (to save for Christmas, she said) and a load of tiny carrots which she didn't want but we thought we could freeze for winter. I then took Lucy out for a walk just before the sun set and when I got home George had finally turned up to make his next load of rakia mixture. He's making it at ours as he is only in the village part time so we have to look after it and stir it for him every day. He got on with making the mixture and we left him to it as it got dark and too cold for us to be outside!

More gifts from Baba V

A beautiful evening

Once he'd gone we skyped Pete's mum and then had beetroot soup for dinner and watched a film. 

Beetroot soup

Wednesday 2nd

 

An early start today as we wanted to crack on with getting the tounge and groove wood up. Before we started that though I made a batch of sweet tea and later on added the Kombucha SCOBY, so in a week or so that will be ready to drink.

We got started on the wooden wall and after we'd got up about half a metre we realised we needed to know how thick our work surface was going to be to make sure we put the wood in the right place. We ummed and arred whether to just risk it and put it up, but it would be an absolute disaster if it was wrong, so we locked up, jumped in the van and headed to Stara Zagora. We knew which work surface we wanted but we hadn't bought it yet and, more annoyingly, we hadn't measure how thick it was - which was what we needed to know. We got to the shop, bought 4 metres of the surface we wanted and then headed back home. We also stopped for a quick lunch and were home again by about 1 o'clock.  

We had to stop here!

Shopping

 

Feeling determined to get as much done as possible we got straight on with work as soon as we were home. Before starting the tounge and groove again we first fixed big timbers across the wall, which will later support our work surface. We worked away until about 6.30 - which isn't actually very late but it was pitch black outside by this time and felt like the middle of the night! We decided to stop where we did as there were several holes that needed cutting for sockets and lights and we didn't want to mess it up in our tiredness.

Support for the surfaces

Done for the day

Dark outside!

 

For dinner we had beetroot soup again, warmed up over the fire, and another early night.

 

Right-o, I'm going to finish there as we want to watch the new Planet Earth, so you'll have to wait until next week for the next instalment! Good night all xx