A Quiet Night

Peace and quiet returned here last night, there were no escaping pigs, we didn't get flooded and even the village dogs barked less than normal as the rain kept most people indoors. The sun has made an appearance today although it's still quite cool outside compared to the weather we've had lately.

On a wander around the vegetable plot I was quite surprised to see my onions hadn't been washed out and they seem to be sprouting well. Last year we had torrential rain a day after I planted onions and I had to replant most of them after they floated away!

The radish seeds I sowed last week are coming through nicely so hopefully it won't be too long before we're eating the first of this years produce again. I love most vegetables and fruit, especially home grown, and try not to buy things out of season if I can help it. I noticed yesterday in the supermarket that chillies were up to 14.99 leva a kilo! Pricey and even though hubby and I love chillies I'm loathe to buy any at that price when I know within a couple of months we'll be inundated with them!

As some of my chilli and pepper seeds haven't germinated so I'll have to sow them again - what usually happens is that as soon as I start off another batch the first lot germinate and I end up with twice as many as planned, but next to nothing goes to waste here so I don't mind. I do have a few pepper/chilli seedlings almost ready to go outside and also 2 varieties of cherry tomatoes.

 Just need the garden to dry out again so I can turn more over and get things in!

Rainy Days :(

The heavens opened overnight and it's still raining now. Everything including me is soaking wet and we're indoors with the wood burner on and back in our warm clothes.

Charlotte spent half of the night pacing around the yard calling for the piglets but has calmed down a little now. She's usually happy to stay in her house but last night she kept breaking the door open so we had to leave her in the yard with her door open in case she wanted to go in. I'm glad we put metal gates on the yard so at least she couldn't get out of there. The piglets on the other hand seem to be enjoying themselves and not missing their mum at all. We'll keep a closer eye on them all over the next week or so though and they'll all be getting extra attention too.

I've been and done the shopping today and paid a few bills, and unless I get the urge to do some housework I haven't much else planned for this afternoon. Really should pop and see our neighbour Slafka as it's her birthday and they didn't come for us to go to the cafe this morning, presumably because of the weather. She'll be worrying about her husband as he's due to go in for hernia surgery on Thursday, unbelievably he's been waiting 10 years to have this operation but until now either wasn't in regular employment and paying health contributions or didn't have the money to pay for the surgery and hospital stay. Hopefully he'll be home within a week and all will have gone well.

It's "W" Day!

Or Weaning day for the piglets, they're now 10 weeks old and really should have left mum 2 weeks ago but as they were happy and content we let them stay together a bit longer than we should have to be honest.

Poor mum is now pacing the yard (as she keeps opening the sty door), calling for her babies and tormenting the donkey! The babies however, seem to have enjoyed their tea, spent a bit of time investigating their new house and decided it was time for a snooze!

Today we've managed to get the barn yard cleaned up, hubby has been bricklaying on the partitions inside the barn - to keep the piglets contained as they are total hooligans! Eggs have been collected and we've found that our turkey hen is not sitting any more and also the layer chicken had left the nest.......so much for chicks coming soon! Our bantam hen is still on her eggs though which is typical, since we didn't really want any more bantams!

We're forecast rain over the next few days so the garden is going to have to wait. Tomorrow I'm off out shopping to restock the fridge, buy in the animal feeds and also pay the satellite company as I forgot when it was due (and we don't get bills for it) so it was partially cut off yesterday. It's also working time for most of the animals so I'll be popping into the vets which is always fun.

Update on our dog with the swollen face........she's better, no sign of swelling or infection and as happy as a pig in mud running around the garden getting filthy, so no trip to the vets for Sasha.

Celebrating Easter

We've had a lovely day - hubby went out fishing early this morning, the kids have had friends round and we've done the Bulgarian traditional egg bashing, which was great fun. Now I just need to figure out what to do with all the hard boiled eggs that are left over!

I've managed to get a fair sized vegetable bed almost dug over today and found my magnetic back support which has helped keep the pain at bay longer. Tonight we've been invited around to Jordani's house so that should top the day off nicely.

More flower seeds have been thrown randomly around the patch beside the house so in a few weeks it should start looking less barren. It will be a good surprise when the flowers come as I mixed all the seeds together so they won't have an order. Funny because I like the vegetable plots to look orderly, everything growing straight as I plant using string lines but the flowers seem to look much better randomly placed.

Our guests are leaving soon to make the trip back to Varna for their flight early tomorrow, I hope they've enjoyed their stay and will be back soon. We might even manage to get some more work done on the bungalow over the next couple of months and finish it in case anyone else wants to stay.

Tomorrow the piglets are to be separated from mum Charlotte, she's tired of them now and the pig house is a little crowded. They're old enough to be weaned so shouldn't get too stressed hopefully. We've been advised to take Charlotte back to the boar over the next week as she'll be fertile again and although I think it may be a little early to plan another litter she should be fine and will have time to rest and recuperate after caring for the piglets so well.