Toilet done, men away for a while

The men were back in today, for the final day of working with us for a couple of months, but first of all let's go through the weekend.

Camping time with Roo

A quality early morning sky

Setting the stones under the bench

Old bench and new

Rosie on the swings

A party display at the park

Picnic in the garden

Friday night was awesome as I pitched the tent and me and Rosie camped the night. She just loves camping, and slept really well. I was up super early, as usual, and went out to do the final tasks on the bench which involved bringing up stones and spreading them, and shifting the big pile of spoil left over from digging out the footing. It looks great and Rosie has been sitting up there loads. She really likes the heart shaped stone that I dug out and have leant up against the fence. We headed out to the courier midmorning and stopped off at the park for some fun before heading home in time for a call with my family and then we took the blanket into the garden and had a picnic lunch.

The huge tent is set out for erecting

Rosie fits inside the bag for the tent

This tent is just superb

Excited to be back here again

Louise is grumpy that Angela isn't around

In the afternoon Rosie and I took down the small tent we'd stayed in, and then put up the huge family tent as Angela and Rosie camped on Saturday night. It went up really well, despite the wind picking up quite a lot, and then we rushed out the door for dinner and playtime at the restaurant up the road. It was a very lovely time, and we met a Bulgarian couple who live in the UK and were over for a holiday to visit family. They had a daughter the same age as Rosie and we invited them to visit next time they're in the area. That evening the camping was a relative success (though it rained heavily) and I had the puppies up with me who were sulking a bit that they weren't able to cuddle with Angela.

Smashed hatch glass!

This was so tasty!

A stunning sunset

Sunday was super busy for me but there was some drama. I was working and Angela was cleaning when I heard a huge crashing sound and went running to find out what had happened. It turned out that Rosie was trying to put the hatch down and it slipped out of her hands and slammed down super hard, smashing and scattering glass everywhere. Rosie was, of course, distraught and had run off to hide on the balcony. It took Angela and I about 40 minutes to clean up all the glass and make it safe to let the puppies back in and for us to walk around again. We're now waiting for the window people to come quote for a replacement with safety glass. Later on I took Rosie to karate, had a very lovely meal (that I cannot remember what it was called) and then as I collected her the sky was stunning.

Halil gets started sorting the spoil pile

Pipe is now being bedded in

Loads of bricks to be skipped

Drain from the downpipes being re-attached

Breaking out for an access hatch

Cementing in to finish up

Boxing off done and dusted

And so to today. The men were in on time and got stuck in to the final jobs to finish the toilet install. They sorted through the spoil from their excavations (they had dug up loads and loads of stones and old bricks) and then secured and covered the pipe over. With that done Bekir reconnected the drainage pipe into the main feed down to our grey water system and then put in the inspection hatch over both the access points (so we can clean the pipe if we get a blockage) and finally boxed off the hole in the wall as well. It was a good and productive day and Halil's friend also came past to do the annual service on Mo the lawnmower, who was immediately put to work as the grass is growing so fast right now.

Balcony dinner time

I'll leave you with us having dinner on the balcony for the first time this year. We even got to watch some cycling, which Rosie really enjoyed. A great way to end the day.

So there it is. The men won't be back for a fair few weeks so I doubt I'll be updating soon but thanks for reading.

We have a "normal" toilet

The men didn't come in yesterday unfortunately but they did today so this is two days in one. I'm camping with Rosie tonight so I'm in a rush to get this done and go out so let's get to it.

The tree is ready for planting

The sun slowly rising

Oak has a low shoot

Cherry tree planted and staked

Yesterday I was up early and out to plant the final cherry tree before anyone woke up. It didn't take as long as I feared and now we've three new trees over there around the Oak that I transplanted a few weeks ago. This has seemingly taken very well and is now showing very strong signs of life. The rest of the day was just crazy busy but did involve time sat on the bench on the top bank through the day.

Digging a trench by the green building

Rosie operates the shredder

Chicken house really needs cleaning

Rosie and Giant Dolly Rosie on Grandma's bench

Fortunately the men came back today as we really wanted to get the toilet fitted for the weekend. They got stuck straight in to working on completing the drainage down to the preexisting sewage pipe. Inside Angela and Rosie worked on shredding some more cardboard as we still have the vacuum toilet upstairs and may still end up needing the buckets. It was a lovely day and after doing this Angela went out and worked on cleaning the chicken house out; I just needed to help lift the roost up out the way and she got stuck in. It really was a lovely day and I spent a little more time with Rosie on the top bank enjoying the new bench in a short break I had.

Finishing the trench

Chiseling into the cement pipe

Plastic pipe drops into the cement one

Bekir wrapping up the install

Look at our new toilet

Back with the men they were continuing to work outside to get all the pipes done. This required chiselling through the old concrete pipe to drop the new plastic pipe in. We've decided to leave all the finishing off for Monday in case there is trouble over the weekend so we can fix any problems more easily. With the pipe done they headed inside and, other than a few trips to town for various things, this got fitted in super quick and now we have a "normal" toilet and Angela is very pleased.

Chicken house looking lovely

Angela did a great job cleaning the chicken house out and I put the hay in and spread it all out. Bekir turned up with a new duck as well and she has settled in well already.

So there it is; the last two days. We'll be back on Monday but then probably the blog will go quiet again.

Thanks for reading.

Lots of digging, lots of progress

Today has been a long, busy and productive day. I'm rushing as always so let's get into it.

A beautiful start to the day today

Weed matting put down

The sun is just starting to show

Broken paving slabs as edging

Getting the sand all flat

Squaring the ends and fitting a few slats

This bench is just perfect

We are really liking the new bench

I dragged myself reluctantly out of bed just after 6:30 this morning as I was tired after a very late night last night, but then I got up onto the top bank and the fresh air and stunning view made it worth while. There was some more digging to be done, just to finally shape the bottom of the trench I dug yesterday, before I collected some weed matting and multiple loads of sand and spread that out to make a base. I got it nice and flat and added some edging to the front and it was looking excellent. When the men arrived I got them to pop up and help me with lifting the ends into place and getting the first few slats attached and then I was able to complete fitting them and it was done. We did lift it slightly further back, and also added a little more sand under one side to make it totally square, but it's awesome and we all got to sit on it for a bit later on in the day.

Careful removing the vacuum toilet

Bekir breaks through the wall

Here is a pipe - that shouldn't get blocked!

Lots of playing around getting this to fit

All tidied up

The men were continuing to work on the plumbing for the new toilet today. First of all they removed the old toilet (which was full of wee as that pipe had become completed blocked unfortunately) and then knocked through the hole for the new drain. It was a bit of a pain trying to run this pipe down and through under all the other drains in the area so they ended up rationalising everything and simplifying it. We have put in an inspection/cleaning access port in just up by the top, and will have another below the patio so we can keep on top of any problems. By the end of the day all the complex parts of the plumbing were completed so tomorrow I'm really hoping they can get it all connected and the new toilet will be useable. They headed into town at one point today as the toilets we had bought had some very small manufacturing defects however when the shop owner looked at all the other stock he found that every single one looked the same!

New trees getting planted

I actually forgot to include this in my catching up update the other day but I've been working very hard digging out the invasive tree species over by the wild area by the entrance gate. Today I took three new cherry trees I bought on Saturday and just before dinner got two of them planted. The third will have to be done in the morning. The oak tree that I transplanted over to this area is budding and looking really healthy which is just awesome!

So there it is. A busy and productive day indeed. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.