Bring on The Cabin Fever

This week hasn't been my best. We are still snowed in and although it's certainly not -20c something now it's still cold and there has been fresh snow overnight. Yesterday I felt really rough and could have quite happily gone to bed and given up on the day.

It's like living in Narnia without the fun adventures. Yes, the garden looks beautiful in the sunshine, all shimmery and clean. But I'm tired of the inactivity now. The poor animals are bored too. Bored animals usually means more repair jobs in the Spring and this year will be no different as the pigs have managed to demolish half of the barn wall. Having a bout of cold hasn't made thinsg easier for me and I'm still sniffling and coughing and short of breath at times but I'm getting better and since I decided to give up coffee I'm also sleeping much better than I have done for a while.

On a much more positive note, hubby is now a grandfather. His daughter gave birth to her first child, a son, on valentines day. The new arrival is named Ethan Jay and both mum and baby are doing well. Hubby flew off to the UK last weekend in the hope that he could be there when the baby was born and his wish came true. He's due home tomorrow though and it will be lovely to have him back and some company again :)

We had a slight mishap here last week. Eon turned up at the door and announced they were disconnecting our electricity. Apparently we should have had a letter to remind us that November's bill hadn't been paid, but to this day that letter has not arrived. There was nothing we could as they went direct to the electricity cables outside the house and cut them. Luckily we rang a friend, Dimitar, from Veliko Tarnovo and he went to Eon, paid the bill and the reconnection fee. We spent a strange night by candlelight and within 20 hours EON were back to switch us back on. Lesson learned, never miss a bill! Even though December and January had been paid they are well within their rights to disconnect the supply if there is a bill outstanding for 90 days.

Today there is brilliant sunshine, but a nippy wind. I've been to the village centre this morning for a cuppa with the ladies and a few essentials. If the weather forecasters are correct we're due to start thawing out over the weekend, so I'll have to try and finish the new ditch that hubby started, which should help drain the snow melt from the garden quickly. There's only a small bit to finish but I couldn't even see the ditch earlier today! It's time to check drainage areas in the hope that our garden doesn't get flooded. I'm looking forward to better weather, riding the ponies again and getting to work in the garden. I'm missing the long days, my shorts and flipflops and eating fresh vegetables that I've grown. What are you looking forward to this year?

Snow, Ice and Yet More Snow

Winter has totally hit us, and we've been snowed in for about 2 weeks now. Nothing really unusual in that to be honest but the temperatures here plummetted and were below -20 degrees c for quite a while, making any outside jobs truly miserable. The whole of Eastern Europe is in the midst of a polar winter and parts of Bulgaria are snowbound, roads closed and without power, while others are flooding terribly. This winter has been declared to worst in 100 years.

So far we've had snow, then a day of thawing, followed by more snow, freezing rain and snow again, falling heavily for the last 2 days. The animals are bored being cooped up and the cat has taken to sitting on the hall radiator to warm himself up - between shouting for food, sleeping on the sofa or screaming for attention! He's even learnt how to open the bedroom door and gave us both a fright a couple of nights ago when he appeared hanging on the door handle! He's been called a few names lately but I won't post them here to be polite.

Hubby's off to the Uk at the weekend, only for a week but I'll be alone with the animals. I've had a short dose of flu but am feeling better today and we finally managed to get out and do a small shop yesterday, stock up on dog food and pay a few bills. I was really quite worried that the internet would be cut off as it's one of the bills we can't pay in the village and I knew it was overdue.

According to the Bulgarian news this polar winter will last until 20th February and then the temperatures should rise and stay above zero. Let's hope it gently melts the snow, otherwise we'll be waterlogged - even living almost on the top of a hill we have flooded once. Luckily we've managed to add more drainage ditches at the top of the garden so they should help drain water away from the house.

Heere's hoping spring is soon here and work on the garden can start again :)

300 Posts & Happy New Year to all

Double whammy - Best wishes for 2012 and my 300th post here. So what does the future hold for us all? I'm not even sure I'd like to know if it was possible. Much easier to take things as they come and work out any problems on the way.

Speaking of problems - we've had no phone line now for 16 days thanks to Vivacom, their inept customer service and even worse, their ability to actually listen to clients and get off their backsides and fix the problem. How many e-mails and phone calls will it take to finally get sorted? I hope they don't expect to be paid for this month either.

Did you make any New Year's resolutions? I will admit to not making any at all this time round, nor even really thinking about it. Christmas and New Year have been a very quiet one for us and my days have been much the same as normal. Animal feeding, mucking out, riding the ponies and not much else. But the weather has been good, bright and sunny even though we've had a fair amount of snow.

I've figured out that Maya really likes snow, and loves to go out hacking in it. Instead of being quite laid back and happy to plod she can get quite exciteable but does calm down after 10 minutes or so. The snow has almost melted now but we're due more at the weekend but hopefully if all is well on saturday Karen is going into town so I can hitch a lift and stock up on provisions again. Karen has been over today so we managed a nice leisurely hack out with both of the ponies. It went well apart from Milka getting a fright when my dog Baba ran up behind her twice. Baba doesn't usually come with me but must have decided she fancied a change of scenery!

The 2 dogs we have been caring for over the holidays will be going home this weekend. Their owners Alex and Jodie are due back from Texas and are looking forward to seeing their pets again. It'll be a little quieter with 2 less dogs and a cat and great to see our friends again.

I'm already thinking about what to plant this year in the garden, but will have to wait until the ground dries up before I can really do anything. I'm hoping we have more volunteers too as there are plenty of jobs and I really do need the help. Plus I enjoy having friendly, interesting people about the place. It's always lovely to hear their stories, swap ideas and generally have a laugh.

Our friend Neville is back in hospital unfortunately as he has an infection. He's been rather ill again but hopefully is on the road to recovery. Get well soon Neville xxx

White Christmas

We've had snow this week and it looks like it might actually stick around for tomorrow so it's a white christmas here. Everything looks crisp, white and clean, but the temperatures aren't that low - Yet!

As it's only the 2 of us here we aren't making a big thing of christmas but will be having a nice home reared pork joint with all the trimmings for lunch and a quiet day. There's a possibility of alcohol being involved too :) I'm also making up 2 spare lunches for our friends Patrecia and Neville and will walk down with them on boxing day. Poor Neville was meant to be coming here for christmas lunch as Patrecia should have been going to the UK to spend the holiday with her grandchildren, but Nev took poorly and ended up in hospital having major surgery and is lucky to be alive. He's home now and comfortable so I thought it would be nice to make them a lunch too.

Unfortunately we won't be able to telephone friends and family tomorrow as Vivacom have recently renewed our phone. We now have a fixed wireless connection instead of the old analogue line, but it's not working properly and we cannot dial out at all. Not even to customer services! I'm hoping it may miraculously be fixed tomorrow but that may not be the case :(

I've not been riding as much this last week due to the weather, but have the last 2 days managed to get out on one of the ponies. Maya and I had a lovely canter across the fields today in the snow. Certainly warmed me up and I felt completely free. I'm leaving off riding Milka again until the weather clears a bit, as she's a bit more of a handful and I don't fancy falling off in the snow - what a wuss eh?

This morning we had a visit from Karen and Peter, friends who live in the village. Karen has made us a lovely Christmas cake and also brought me a pair of Mountain Horse riding boots, designed for cold weather. Plus a rug to cover the horses back during cold weather. Maya and I certainly appreciated them both today, my toes and lower legs were toasty warm. Thanks Karen.

Well I'll sign off now and hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas time. May all your dreams come true and enjoy the festive season. Love to you all xxxx

A Funny Old Week

After the rain and dull skies last week I'd half hoped the weather would be nice, and so it has been today and yesterday. But we woke up to snow on Tuesday morning and boy was that a shock! Yes, it had been colder than average but that's when the realisation that winter is coming actually hit.

Every year it's a battle to try and stay ahead of the weather. And each year we seem to get a little better at it thankfully. The central heating system is up and working correctly, the barn is full of straw and hay for the animals and we have plenty of firewood chopped but not all split yet. That doesn't worry me though as it's good exercise and can be done even on cold days.

In other news, I've been a bit poorly, but think it was just a bug and I'm almost back to full strength now. Plus one of our dogs bit me during a fight so I've had a sore leg too. Nothing serious and she certainly didn't mean to bite me.

Hubby has some red wine fermenting from grapes he was given by a lady he recently did some work for. We're not huge wine drinkers but I think it will be nice to have something different for a change.

And we have another workaway volunteer arriving at the weekend too. So more help for me and someone to ride the horses for a while. When our last volunteer left I joked that she should write a blog post about all of the new foods she tried while travelling - but I bet yorkshire pudding and scotch eggs wasn't to be expected in Bulgaria.

Fudge, the dog above, will be leaving us in a few weeks to start a new life in the UK. He's my sister in law's dog and has been staying with us for about a year until she got settled and his passport and paperwork were in order. A strange but funny dog (in the nicest way), who was used to being pampered and living in the house until he came here. Since he's been here he's adapted very well and loves to live outside with one of our other dogs, Butch. It'll be all new to him in the UK but at least he'll be back with his owners and little miss will be delighted to have him back.

Fingers crossed the weather holds out a bit longer. I've been trying my hardest to get the horses and Maggie's (the donkey) feet into shape and this morning managed the donkey's 2 front feet on my own - I was amazed at how well she behaved! Tomorrow morning is village market day (and also the mayoral elections) so I'll see if Maya will be good for at least 2 feet trimmed then. Slowly does it, but I am making progress and they look better than when the village so called blacksmith comes :) I'll post some photo's when I'm finished.

Chestita Baba Marta

Once again it's the start of March and for the Bulgarians that means Martenitza's. Lovely red and white bracelets or broaches given to friends on the 1st of March to appease Baba Marta.

I really do like this tradition and so do the kids, who were busy last night making red and white plaited bands for all of their friends at school. Last year I blogged a piece about the day so here's a link to it for anyone that would like to have a look. Baba Marta

We still have snow on the ground despite a week's reprieve and higher temperatures. Just goes to show how unpredictable things can be here weather wise. One day we were out in the garden working in T-shirts in +17 degrees C and the next the snow was back again. Temperatures have been pretty low and rarely above freezing for the last week, even during the daytime. And according to news reports we're to have a week of higher temperatures mid march then back down to freezing again. Best not put the thermals away yet!

Still spring is only just around the corner then the hard work will start again. We've got fence building, gardening and planting to do, a compost heap to spread and various other outside jobs that need attention this year. Sounds like it will be a busy year and I'm looking forward to it.

Bright, Snow Filled Days

We've got snow here again but at least the sun is shining and the animals can be outside in the fresh air. The kids on the other hand, are spending the days inside as they're off school for a week on flu alert. Having the kids at home during the day has muddled my system up and I've lost track of the days - my brain has been on weekend mode all week and I have to keep reminding myself that it's only Thursday.

At least the Bulgarian government is being proactive in the spread of flu, a lot of the schools are off around the country and it should hopefully help with keeping flu sufferers to a minimum. I do worry about some of the older folk in the village when the weather is bad. This winter has so far, been better than last and we aren't hearing the church bells ringing every day which is a good sign.

February is almost here so it's time to start garden planning again. Soon I'll be sowing chilli and pepper seeds indoors and also getting a few other things ready. I'm still undecided as what to grow this year but will be checking this blog to remind myself of what has done well in the past before I make any firm decisions. I'll be watching the weather too and hoping for a good, not too wet spring.

What will you be growing this year and why? I'd be interested to hear from anyone growing organically. Oh and I'm looking for more charities for the Pimp My Project pages I started a while ago, so if you know of a worthy cause please get in touch.

Snowy Driving

Well we've been out today to stock up on much needed supplies, the kids had started complaining about being made to eat my "When the snow's here" winter stock piles of food from the freezer and we were almost out of dog food too (and vodka!).

Once winter has truly arrived we make the decision to stay at home with the log burner on and a good book rather than risk our lives and make unnecessary trips anywhere. It may seem boring to some but it's quite nice to be honest. Being able to slop around in your pj's all day is great too - although I do put on over trousers for going to feed and check the animals!

So our trip out today made a change although the roads were far from ideal and the temperatures dropped to -10 degrees C the closer to town we got. The closest large town to us is 22km's away and usually the drive takes no longer than 25 minutes. Today it was double that as the other half was going steady to avoid slipping and sliding on the snowy roads. We were amazed that the roads had been gritted though as in past years they haven't been - is Bulgaria moving forwards? I'm not so sure about that.

I do love to see the beautiful Bulgarian countryside all covered in snow, the trees looking sparkly and the fantastic icicles hanging everywhere. Hubby's not so keen and could quite happily never see snow again in his life. The kids aren't interested in sledging or snowball fights this year and the 2 spaniels come in from the garden looking like Yeti's. Although Yantra the latest dog has decided that her place is right in front of the fire and she's not moving for anybody.

All in all we're still happy in our little world, Bulgaria has, and continues to be full of new experiences and things we'll remember for a long time. Each year has been different and encouraged us to try harder. There were no new years resolutions made here but I'm hopeful that 2011 will be a good one. We'll just have to wait and see. Another few weeks and the snow will be disappearing, then we know it's only a matter of time before the summer sun will be back.

Shovelling My Way into 2011

I'm back and hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and new year. We've enjoyed a bit of a break, a few drinks and some lovely meals and are now raring to go again ish!

Christmas here was a quiet family day, it was also a muddy but very warm 17 degrees C, not at all like you expect for the time of year. Alas winter has reared her ugly head again and we currently have a rather good covering of snow and even day time temperatures have stayed around the zero mark. Snow and cold weather means the woodburner is lit early and the animals don't get out as often as they should do, which leaves me more time to read books or watch films.

Daily life goes on for the villagers and they still manage to get to the cafe every morning (even Christmas day) to discuss the gossip or find out what's been happening. New years eve is a bigger celebration here and the whole village was alive at stroke of midnight as the fireworks were set off and the locals celebrated, some were even out bringing in the new year to the sounds of kalashnikovs being fired!

So that's the excitement over and done with for another 11.5 months approx now and we've been thinking long and hard what to do with ourselves in 2011. We're hoping that new challenges may present themselves and the weather is good for the veggie garden!

What are your hopes or dreams for 2011?

Winter Essentials

Well winter finally landed here, although to be honest it's not that bad. The snow is making the garden look pretty and the woodburner is keeping us all snug inside. Bit of a change from last week when we were sitting outside in the sunshine in over 20 degrees C and now it's just about freezing.


The donkey is refusing to go outside now and some of the pigs are enjoying their last few weeks of life - not that they know they won't be here in the new year! So it's pork on the menu for christmas lunch and I'm really looking forward to it. The kids have been cajoled into decorating the xmas tree but as they're both now teenagers a small part of the magic seems to have disappeared.

As I'm typing this the village bells are ringing, such a shame as it means that one of the residents has passed away. It's a sound we'll more than likely hear quite often in the next couple of months as the harsh winters do tend to affect the elderly a lot more. Just last week a lovely man we know fell and broke his shoulder after slipping on ice, luckily he'll be fine but it is a worry.

So on to my winter essentials list, for anyone living or thinking about living in Bulgaria there are some handy items that can save a lot of hassle and help you survive the worst months.

Top of my list has to be a decent chain saw with a good chain. Unless you're planning on heating your village home by electric, which is expensive and we do have power cuts, you will have a woodburner. Of course woodburners are fantastic but unless you have a supply of dry, aged timber, cut to a reasonable size to fit in your fire then you may be in trouble. Having a chain saw is essential to keeping your winter wood supply going.

Next I'd have to say thermals - I live in mine almost and they do help. Although they are possibly not an essential they are definitely worth investing in, along with decent gloves and a warm hat. Try to wear layers rather than one or two thick items.

Snow chains and/or snow tyres are incredibly useful here. And best not left until the last minute as you may find yourself stuck!

Books, candles and a freezer full of food will also help if the weather gets so bad that you're snowed in for weeks. We've learnt from past winters to never underestimate how much snow can fall overnight or how long it can take to thaw enough so we can get the car out safely. Safely being the key word, if you don't NEED to make a journey why risk it? There's nothing worse than getting stuck or having to crawl home in dangerous driving conditions. Always carry a shovel in your car boot in case of emergencies and make sure you have a working mobile phone in case you need to call for help.

In the house there are things to do too - make sure your water pipes are lagged to prevent freezing. Switch off any outside taps and put those hose pipes away. Make sure your chimney has been cleaned, this will help your woodburner to work efficiently and also lessen the chances of a fire starting due to soot build up. Don't forget that animals will need access to water and shelter at all times too. Try to keep paths clear from ice and snow and don't forget to put antifreeze in your car!