Week twenty six - half a year already!

I'll try and get back to the weekly updates now, although after last weeks extravaganza it feels like a short one!

 

Thursday

 

As promised (to ourselves) we were up early and as the sun was shining we got straight to work on digging out the last corner of our cesspit. Pete was down there with the jigger jigger and I was close by to take the buckets of dirt and dump them. So as not to waste my time between doing this I got the sloe berries out and began to prick holes with a needle in each one (boring.)

The last corner had some mighty large rocks in, but Pete powered through and got the bottom of the hole looking pretty level. After a quick nip to the shop for bread and lunch we got back into the hole and made a basic shuttering for the base of our tank. We then set up the cement mixer and Pete got to work making cement whilst I was in the hole laying it. We want liquid to slowly seep away so we left a hole in the middle and just made a base for the walls. This didn't take too long and looked alright at the end - it feels good to finally be working in it and not just shovelling out!

Finished digging!!

Shuttering in, starting to put in hardcore and re-bar.

Done!

In the late afternoon we went for an hour or so forage for walnuts in our orchard - there are still alot on the ground, and plenty left in the trees as well by the look of it. And after that we even had time to go down the road to our paid job and shake two huge tubs of apples off the trees - rough cider making coming soon!!

Bagging up the nuts.

Shaking the apples down.

 

After a long days working we made some dinner, watched a film (pricking sloe berries at the same time) and had an early night.

 

Friday

 

Market day again - we had a big old shopping list (as usual) and got up early to leave for Chirpan at 8.30. DW needed a lift into town so we picked her up and she very kindly leant us her house Keys so we could have a hot shower this afternoon! The chilly evenings are not making the solar shower too tempting, even when covered in cement and mud. Some how we were in Chirpan until half one, but it was a successful trip and we got everything we needed.

We decided to go straight to DW's for a shower after shopping as we had no hard work planned for the rest of the day and couldn't resist the idea of HOT WATER!

Lovely views from DW's.

After getting clean and returning home we unloaded our new purchases, which included a brand new wood burner for the yellow room. We got this installed without too much hassle and tested it out straight away with a cup of coffee. We decided to get one with a window so we can look at the fire and it is lovely. :)

In place!

 

:)

 

After a short break we got back to it and screwed in all our new hooks we'd bought to the upstairs ceiling so we finally had somewhere to hang all our bags of walnuts. After that we went to the kitchen and made a massive load of sloe gin (hopefully ready for Christmas!) and sliced our pears to go in sugar syrup. We would have finished the pears that evening but one of the jars smashed everywhere so we decided to sack it off and finish them in the morning!

Walnuts everywhere!

Sloe gin

Pears ready

 

By now it was 6ish so we had a beer on the balcony in the last of the sunshine. When we were in Chirpan earlier we managed to find and order the right cement blocks to start building our cesspit - and for two pallets it was only 12 levs delivery, so we agreed! By 6.20 we were doubtful they were going to arrive today (as promised) and were feeling a bit annoyed as we wanted to start work tomorrow. But we needn't have worried as at half six we got a call saying the man would be in the village in half an hour! To save trying to give directions to our house we met him at the village shop and then helped him unload the blocks one by one off the tipper. Even our elderly female neighbour (Baba Villay) came to help and was unloading the blocks two at a time!! We tried to refuse but she wasn't having it - she must be super lady! We were also slightly peeved that they had actually delivered the wrong blocks (we wanted holes all the way through and these didn't) but instead of all the hassle of returning them we decided to just use them anyway.

Quick bullseye in the dartboard!

Arty dog photo.

Blocks! More inside the gate.

 

Woo, another long day and a lovely evening in the yellow room, by the fire - and no lie in tomorrow as it's straight to work on the tank!!

 

Saturday

 

So as the blocks had no holes in we decided we would cut one hole in each block ourselves - probably better anyway as the liquid wouldn't flow out so quickly. We started the day by both cutting a few blocks and bringing in some sand so we had stuff ready for when Pete got in the hole! Once we'd done enough to keep us going Pete went down and started laying. Whilst he did this I was going up and down the garden with the wheelbarrow bringing the blocks over and cutting holes in them with the circular saw. I also made sure he always had pug - which as they don't do builders sand (sand with no stones in basically) here in Bulgaria it meant I had to sieve every shovel of sand into the wheelbarrowm which was obviously quite time consuming (and also quite gross as the local cats have used our sand pile as their litter tray for the last few months. Eurgh.)

Cutting holes

Sieving sand

First blocks in!!

Amazing lunch - fig chutney and blue cheese salad.

The first layer took a little while as it needed a solid base but Pete is a pro and we had the second layer down much quicker. This did, however, take up most of the day and we stopped early evening with enough time to clean up and go over to our paid job in SG to pick up some logs. We only got a few for now but we are pretty pleased as there is loads of wood in their barn and as it is only a holiday home they kindly said we could take as much as we needed. Oh and we finished preserving our pears!

We got about 3 boxes this time - plenty more to come.

Pears in syrup.

 

For dinner we had a yummy stew and watched a film in the yellow room.

 

Sunday

 

Annoyingly we had to stop on our cesspit as we needed to make a trip to Stara Zagora to find a semi-permeable membrane. Our plan is to build a french drain around the tank to hopefully stop mud getting in and to control the liquid coming in and out a bit. We had looked high and low in Chirpan for something that would work for this, but to no avail, so it was another early start and straight to SZ for another shopping trip! We also needed several other things and managed to spend a good few hours picking tiles and argueing about what type of radiator to have in the bathroom! It was a successful trip though and we came home with everything we wanted - including the membrane, a HUGE top loading freezer and a bottle of good whiskey which Pete bought with his birthday money.

Tiles and Talisker.

 

Once we were home we unloaded the van, which took a while. We still had to leave the freezer in the van though because I couldn't help carry it as it was too big! By the time we'd done all that it was too late to start work so we had a chilled out afternoon.

Testing out new axe.

 

In the evening we were about to take Lucy for a walk when M & D called to ask if we could feed their pets tonight and tomorrow. We took the opportunity to ask if we could borrow their tipper (we needed gravel for the french drain) and they said yes, so we decided we would walk Lucy to SG and drive back from theirs. It was a gorgeous sunset walk over the forest and through the fields and I was annoyed that I forgot my camera!!! Back home we had left over stew for dinner and another cosy evening in.

 

Monday

 

Yet another early start as we wanted to get to Chirpan quickly so we could crack on with building the tank. We were in Chirpan at 8.30 and the first stop was to the guys who was supposed to be making our window. I haven't written about this but every time we've been to Chirpan for the last week we have stopped by his house - sometimes even twice - and he has not been there. We even left him a note (in Bulgarian) with our phone number, but he never called. This morning though we were early enough to catch him as he was literally leaving his house on his scooter. Disapointingly he said he hadn't had time to make our window as he'd been working on other jobs, so we tole him not to worry as we could ask our neighbour. Anyway, we got the gravel and headed home.

 

The first task was to make the first layer of the french drain, so I was in the hole laying out the membrane whilst Pete was bringing in huge wheelbarrows of gravel to pass down. We did layers of gravel and layers of hardcore and it took alot longer than we expected but we think it is looking pretty good! :)

All level and looking good!

Pretty sky from the hole

 

So once that was all done we got back in the swing of it with Pete laying blocks whilst I made pug and cut holes in the blocks, and we got another three courses done.

 

Once we'd done this we went down to our paid job to mow the lawn and then drove the tipper back over to M & D's to feed their pets. They'd also kindly let us use their shower so we scrubbed up and got nice and clean again! As we'd enjoyed the walk so much yesterday we decided not to take our van and we walked back home from SG. The weather wasn't quite as nice but it was still a lovely walk - and I took my camera this time!

SG

 

Izvorovo - our village.

Tuesday

 

We were obviously feeling a bit tired of all the early starts as we woke up late today and decided to stay in bed for a bit whilst we drank our tea. We were forced up just after nine though with our neighbour calling us through our gate. Yesterday we had seen Hristo and managed to ask him if would be able to make our window. He hadn't had time to chat as he had workers at his house, but he was here now to come and have a look at what we wanted. We quickly got up and he came in to see the window. He told us what wood we needed to buy for him and said he would charge 60 levs, which is a bargain, and he is a lovely man and we are happy to give business in the village!

The window that needs replacing

 

Once he'd gone we slowly finished our tea and eventually got to work. To start it was the same routine as before - me laying out the membrane whilst Pete got the gravel in. The gap was bigger today so it took a while to fill up as we had to bring over hardcore from around the garden (there is enough of it!) and keep bringing in loads of gravel.

French drain course finished

When we'd finished doing the french drain we noticed that it had clouded over and there looked like a storm coming over the hills. We didn't want to lay blocks and then have it rained away so instead we got the end of the soil pipe ready (cutting it off in the right place and putting the 45 degree angle on it) and walked down to the shop to get bread. When we were walking home it didn start to rain a bit, but it didn't last long and clouds had passed over, so we decided to risk it and carry on with laying blocks. Luckyily the rain didn't come and we got a few more layers down. Whilst Pete was doing this I bought over the last of the blocks and even managed to fashion a bench outside our bedroom window with the blocks we weren't going to use!

End of pipe ready

Bench! :)

Sloe gin already looking good

In the evening I cooked a yummy beetroot soup with radish, apple and feta cheese and we another another evening inside. It's actually quite nice having hot days and chilly evenings, as we get to curl up on the 'sofa', watch movies and cuddle the cat!

Wednesday

This morning I took Lucy out for a walk which was lovely in the chilly morning - although slightly scary as we have been told (and can hear) that it is hunting season so have to be careful. Once I was back Pete got back in the hole to lay the last couple of layers of blocks. As I'd bought over and cut all the blocks I was only helpful to pass down pug when he needed it, so decided to start clearing and organising the barn as we need space to store our wood for winter.

Our land

View to Chirpan, where the lavender once was

Most of the day carried on like that, with a stop for scrambled eggs and coffee in our new seating area! In the barn I was rumaging through a chest of drawers that we were storing stuff in, only to find that some of my pillows and curtains had been chewed - and surrounded by suspisious droppings. Thankfully I didn't actually see any rats but I took out everything I didn't want eaten - hopefully they've moved on.

Brunch

Rats have eaten my curtains!

Once Pete had finished the top layer of blocks we decided we would lay one level of bricks. This is because we needed to cover the soil pipe but want the top of the tank to be level with the rest of the ground - and another layer of blocks would be too high. This didn't take too long and by half three we FINISHED BUILDING OUR CESSPIT WALLS!!! Celebration!!!

Pipe in place

Bricks at the ready

FINISHED!

Animals being helpful as ever, asleep on the membrane!

In the afternoon I finished clearing the barn as much as I could. The only bit left is the corner where we actually want to store all our wood, but there is a huge pile of sticks in the way which we want to make into kindling bundles. I had a go at making budles for a while but soon realised it was the most tedious job ever so gave up. Pete used his new axe again to split a few more logs and then we went up to the orchard to get some more walnuts - they are still coming can you believe it!

A mess before

After

Before

After - only that bastard pile of kindling still to go!!

Made a feeble start on the bundles!

Chopping

Another sack of walnuts from the orchard

In the evening we cracked open the first of our ales that mum had bought from England - mmm the taste of proper beer is good! I have written the blog and Pete has chilled out playing his guitar. Tomorrow we will finish the french drain in the tank and hopefully have the cap on by the end of the week. Counting down the days now until we can have a shower in our house and go to the toilet INSIDE!!!!!!!

Ale!

Dog sitting comfy!

Leka Nosht xxx