100.

View of the house from the orchard

Tuesday 14th

 

Today was horrible and very rainy. We had a slow start to the day and then went out to Chirpan to do a few bits, so as not to waste the day. We stopped at the garage as we have a problem with our reverse lights, but annoyingly he told us to come back to tomorrow. The weather wasn't letting up so the rest of the day was spent not doing a lot. That is just the way it goes sometimes!

Late sunset from the kitchen

Wednesday 15th

 

We were up early-ish and got to the garage at 9.30 - when it opened. We didn't have to wait long to been seen and, even better, all was fixed with a quick spray of WD40! And all for free! We had been prepared to spend the entire day waiting for the van, so this was a result and we headed home soon after. The weather was still wet and cold today so back home we chilled out for a bit and had some lunch.

Oh also, when we were in Chirpan we saw that the local stork had returned from his winter adventures in Africa - the first real sign that Spring has arrived!

The stork is back

 

Mid afternoon the rain turned to a fine drizzle so we took the opportunity to go out and get a few things done. We started by going up into the orchard and dismantling the old fence up there. We then proceeded to dig two more new posts into the ground. This used up all the pre-painted posts, so the next job was to make some more. 

Taking down the old, broken fence

A couple more posts in

 

We wanted to get the rest of the posts cut and painted with bitumen so they would be ready to go into the ground tomorrow. Pete cut the posts using the chainsaw and I spent an hour or so bitumen-ing them. Once they were done we thought we'd use up the petrol in the chainsaw and made a start on chopping wood for our summer bonfires (this is wood from pruning trees and scrap wood.) Once that was cut and stacked there was still daylight and still no rain, so we planted the raspberry canes that we'd bought last week. At the moment they look just like sticks with roots on, but fingers crossed they'll live!

Cutting more posts

Painting more posts

Starting the bonfire wood pile

Planting raspberries

Thursday 16th

 

The posts we'd already got in the ground were sturdy and properly secured in with gravel. We decided today that we would start the rest by just making all the holes and come round again to secure them in afterwards. So that is what we did. We were lucky because the ground became less rocky so using the cork-screw tool was slightly easier (although still hard work!) By lunch time we'd already finished the holes for the sloping side of the orchard and were making good progress along the top. :-)

All in before lunch time!

After lunch we had some clearing to do before we could carry on with the holes. We tore the old fence away from the vines that were holding it down and cleared it of old plants before rolling it up so we could keep it. There was then another large section of fence that had fallen down many years ago and was so completely covered with clematis that you wouldn't even know it was there! We decided to try burning this area, which worked a treat and cleared enough grass and vines so we could see what we were doing. Once this entire side of the orchard was de-fenced and cleared we could carry on making holes for more posts. By the end of the day we'd dug 20 holes! Woo, it was hard work!   

We cleared and kept this piece of old fence

Uncovering yet more fallen fence

No more fence here

No more fence there

How many more times can I write fence!       Fence.

And that's 20 posts in one day

Lovely sunset

Friday 17th

Market day! We did the usual shop and stop at the builders merchants before getting home around midday. We then spent the afternoon doing some gardening at our friends house. The weather was finally perking up a bit and we even saw a bit of sunshine. Back home there was just time to cut and bitumen the final six posts in preparation for tomorrow, before calling it a day and going inside for dinner. Despite the spattering of sunshine we still had to have the fire going again this evening, I hope the cold doesn't last too much longer or we will run out of wood!

Painting the last of the posts

Saturday 18th

So, with only 13 posts left to dig holes for we thought we would have them all finished by lunch time and we would move onto to securing them in with gravel. But of course this wasn't the way, it couldn't be so easy could it!? On the first hole of the day we hit bedrock only 20 centimetres down (we were digging down 40-50 centimetres.) The only way we could get through the stone would be with our jigger-jigger and luckily, with the aid of four extension leads, it just reached to where we needed it! It was slow going but we eventually got the last holes done - now all 40 posts were in.

The neighbours came over to watch

All posts in

Job's a goodun!

We then spent an hour or so clearing away all the old concrete posts, which we piled into the van and drove them down to stack by the house. We also got a fire going and started to clear the area of plant debris and just generally tidying up a bit. Once the area was cleared we began to secure the posts in place. We levelled them and then filled the holes with stone and gravel and hammered it all down until the post was sturdy - a dull and time-consuming job. We did this until the sun was nearly down and by then we were feeling tired and ready for dinner and a drink!

Driving in the orchard

We have to come up with some creative ideas for these concrete posts

Half the posts are good and sturdy now

Yummy dinner of Asian pork and stir-fry veg

Sunday 19th

We had our Sunday lie in today and had a lovely slow morning eating brekkie and doing the crossword. We then spent the rest of the morning watching a film by the fire and I finished making another plastic bag bowl, which I have made specifically to tidy up a few loose bits and pieces in the bathroom. It was an extremely windy day today but in the afternoon we went out for a walk to the lake. I had hoped that the surrounding hills would block out the wind but instead it was coming through the valley and we were walking straight into it! Anyway, it was a lovely walk and we were pleased to see that the lake still has water in it this year. We were much less happy to see how much rubbish the local fisherman had left on the waters edge (sadly, a huge problem all over Bulgaria) and we have come up with a plan to put some bins there and encourage keeping it tidy.

Home made bowl from plastic bags

 Walking to the lake...

Monday 20th

On with the fence today - and the sun was shining for us! We spent the morning finishing the gravelling and securing all the posts. Pete then used the chainsaw to cut all the posts to the same height and then it was time to put the wire across. I had naively thought this would be a simple job of quickly rolling out the wire and pinning it to the posts - will I ever learn that nothing is ever so easy!? The wire tangled every few metres and we had to pull it very tight to avoid it sagging and looking awful. You buy the wire by the kilo rather than the length, so annoyingly we were slightly short f what we needed. But still, it took us the rest of the day to use up what we did have anyway. We are actually pleased with how it looks like this, but we do plan to weave sticks through the wire and perhaps grow some kind of vines along it in the future. Once we were done we did a big tidy up and then enjoyed a glass of wine on the balcony whilst watching a glorious sunset. :-)   

Wires across

And there are wires here, although you can barely see them

Packing up as the sun goes down

Beautiful evening