The Nitty Gritty

We've had a good weekend, made a start on the concrete pad for the pool, spent an evening in great company with good food and a few drinks and then had a day off on Sunday to relax and recover from a slight hangover. Back to work it was today though and whilst hubby has been cooped up in the workshop for most of the day getting on with some woodworking projects, I've been indoors all day due to the weather and decided it was time to get on with some much needed housework.

So I've cleaned and scrubbed, washed and mopped, dusted and moved furniture etc and still the rain keeps on coming. The poor horses and donkey have been inside all day as they'd be miserable out in this weather. Parts of Bulgaria are on flood alert today and the field outside is once again like a river, but at least the spring will keep running all summer so we get free water for the animals. It would be great if we could fill the pool from the spring but unfortunately our garden is on higher ground so we can't run a hose pipe from it.

Our beehive is doing really well and the bees are producing loads of yummy honey, soon we'll have to harvest it and store it for using over the winter and spring. I'm hoping that it will help with my hay fever next year and also come in handy for any cuts, grazes or scratches we get. Honey has lots of medicinal uses plus being very tasty too. I'll have to find somewhere to buy extra jars from as most of mine already have jam in and I'm sure to be making more before the winter arrives.

There are a lot of things we need to do before winter gets here and as the days are longer now my internet time is a bit shorter as I struggle to catch up and keep going with things that need doing. Hubby is working most days which is great, and while the kids are still away I have the house to myself during the day. Next week I'll be even busier as it's almost time for Charlotte to give birth to the next litter of piglets which is exciting. This Saturday we're going to have a hog roast and I'm really looking forward to it. Our 2 male piglets are nearing the end of the time they can stay in with their sisters and another sow we have here so one of them will be on the menu this weekend. Whilst it is sad that one has to go at least they've had a nice life, been well fed and cared for, plus had plenty of attention, belly rubs and playtime. I'll let you know how it goes although I'm sure we'll have a great time and be very thankful to the pig for his contribution.

Result!

Just as I was bringing the horses in tonight the local policemen pulled up in their blue Lada. So off I went with the second horse to the barn and then to see what was going on. Our usual uniformed officer was there with another I didn't recognise and they needed me to sign yet another document relating to our recent theft. I'm quite wary of signing things that I don't understand but after asking the policeman I was assured it was because they have found at least some of our missing things and a court date has been set for the trial. Now they couldn't tell me who'd taken them but I don't have long to wait to find out as we're at court on Monday!

I'm not looking forward to court but have been assured there will be a translator present as is normal for a non Bulgarian. Let's hope that whoever did the theft receives more than a slap on the wrist. I'll be really glad to get the strimmer back as the garden is starting to look like a jungle again. All the rain we've had has ensured the grass and weeds are growing really well, and at the moment they're swamping my vegetables! with some of the land cleared we may even be able to get a concrete pad put down for the new pool to sit on.

There are a few things ready to crop here in the garden. The cucumbers that went in late have finally caught up and I should be picking the first one tomorrow, peppers are doing really well and hopefully should produce plenty, but the tomatoes are still not looking great, lots of flowers but not a lot of fruit so far and the broad beans are almost ready to be picked too.  The apples are doing well as are the pears but there aren't many quinces this year. Still there will be plenty of jams and preserves made to help us last the winter.

I'll bid you all farewell for tonight but hope you'll join me in a quick toast to the Bulgarian policemen who have brightened my day :)

Trip To The Vets

Well as I mentioned yesterday, we were having to make an extra trip into town to take poor Sasha to the vets this morning. Her back left paw was looking quite swollen, red and angry and there was a weeping spot on the top of it that she'd been licking at often and was obviously bothering her. The vet confirmed it was probably a grass seed that had become wedged under the skin and quickly sprayed the paw with local anesthetic and carefully removed 2 grass seeds without much trouble. I watched the whole time and couldn't believe how far in the little blighters had got!

After the initial examination and treatment the lady vet wanted to do a quick check of Sasha's ears as spaniels are prone to getting foreign objects in them due to running around like lunatics with their heads close to the ground, sniffing everything and behaving as they do. Obviously the amount of hair on their ears doesn't help and that's why we do clip the spaniels especially in the summer. Lo and behold in the left ear there was another grass seed wedged and although Sasha is quite a good patient it was painful, so sedation was the easiest way to have the treatment done without causing too much of a fuss. 15 minutes later and she's wobbling around like she's had one too many rakia's, then almost asleep on the floor and the procedure begins. It's all over quite quickly, another grass seed lying on the table and poor Sasha is by that time flat out and enjoying a snooze!

A quick sedation reversal injection is given, a couple more jabs for anti biotic and inflammation and within 10 minutes we were back outside in the sunshine relieved, happier and with Sasha trying to play but on very wobbly legs! Quick service, no appointment needed and to be honest even the cost wasn't too bad - I very much doubt we'd have got far past the initial consultation in the UK for the same money. So home we headed and Sasha is now fully recovered and back to normal.

Still not normal, however, is the weather here - while I'm typing this there's another huge thunder storm going on outside. Flashes of lightning, heavy rain and loud rumbling. I'm expecting the electricity to cut off any moment so will post this update now just in case. Catch up with you all soon :)

Possible Solutions

Yesterday afternoon because it rained so hard and we had hailstones bouncing around in high winds it was decided that work was over for the day, it was Sunday after all and all work, no rest makes for a very dull life. After a cup of coffee and a chat with a few people on the internet it was nice to be invited out for tea and to collect a rather large easy set pool which hubby had been looking for (and in the shops was beyond our budget). Ex-pats in a village near us had one for sale and said they'd sort everything out so we could go over and pick it up. So off we went and had a lovely time, chatting, eating great food, swapping tales of village life etc and collecting loads of new plants for the garden which were very kindly given to us.

It was rather late when we got home and dark but we managed to get the horses in and settled and everything tucked away for the night. So we now have a pool to cool off in, but first we'll have to make a flat area in a sunny part of the garden for it to sit on. The kids will love it when they get home and while they're away we'll enjoy it too! Photos will follow when we get the thing set up and filled.

This morning I planted all of the lovely flowers and herbs I was given and generally pottered about as usual. My pepper plants are finally starting to fruit and despite the harsh winds we had yesterday afternoon everything seems fine. Except my washing which blew off the line and had to be retrieved from the field lol.

We're getting even closer to Charlotte's next litter of piglets being born and I'm just as excited as the first time, in fact, probably more so as it won't be minus 27 degrees C outside! We've yet to get round to sorting out her house for the babies but it's on our list of "Must do" jobs as urgent. We have to remove the raised sleeping area that hubby built as the piglets managed to take it apart almost so it's probably safer for the new litter if we just take it away and give them some straw to sleep on. The pig house needs a thorough clean out, disinfected and left to dry before Charlotte can go in and make herself comfortable.

Tomorrow I'm off to the vets in town with Sasha our Springer Spaniel as she appears to have something in her back right paw, it's very red, weeping and she's been constantly licking it for 2 days without any sign of improvement. She's not poorly at all, eating well (as normal) and isn't limping but there's something definitely wrong so best go get it checked out. We think there may be a grass seed head wedged in under the skin which would need removed under sedation/anesthetic.

Trying to keep the dogs out of the long grass is a daily chore here, both of the spaniels love water too and are quite fond of jumping into the spring outside the house when they want to cool down or get a drink. Here's hoping her foot can be sorted quickly, painlessly and without much fuss. Vets here on the main are quite good, there is a vet in the village but I'm not too impressed with his services and practices so it's off to the big town we go where the vets there have a proper surgery, speak english and will take the time to find out what the problem is instead of just doling out medicines. So once again my painting/gardening plans have been altered but for a good cause, I'll let you know how we get on tomorrow.

Ladies Don't Sweat They Perspire Gently

The heatwave is back on, temperatures here have returned to around 35 degrees C during the day and about 5-10 degrees cooler overnight. I'd love to say that ladies don't sweat but in all honesty some of us do. I fall into the category that does and today feel like I've been disco dancing whilst wearing a fur coat! Thank god for deodorants lol.

Having no strimmer now means I have to scythe the garden to keep the grass and weeds down. It's really hard work and the whole time I'm busy at it I'm hoping I may shift a little weight. When we first moved to Bulgaria I lost 3 stone in weight in 6 months, not through dieting but because of the total change of diet. I really did need to lose some weight and felt much better than I had in years. My self esteem was also boosted and everyone kept telling me how great I looked. In the last year or so, I've gradually started putting weight on, my body has adjusted to the different foods here and started storing fat once again. I kept telling myself it was because the winter was quite long and there isn't the weather to be out gardening but maybe it's because I just love food.

Weekends we usually try to chill out and take a break. Hubby works really hard during the week and deserves some time off. Today, however, he decided we needed to get the concrete pad in for the new wood store before this winters wood arrives. So this afternoon we set the cement mixer going and got on with the job. Wheel barrow and shovel at the ready, in and out of the gate we went, getting sand and ballast, mixing a load, dumping the load where it was needed and hubby then leveled it off etc. We were almost done when a huge truck appeared with the 8 cubic metres  of timber I'd ordered - on a saturday and it wasn't due for another week! So we've got a huge pile of logs to shift as they've been dropped outside the garage gates while we wait for the concrete to set!

So that was today, and now it look like we'll be working hard again tomorrow to get all those logs cut down and stored ready for winter. And my tea time break is now officially over because Vasko is waiting and barking outside of the front door to let me know it's tea time for the animals too. Oh well, I best go get on with it or there will be no peace lol

Warning, Close Your Ears - Bad Language Imminent!

The thieving, rotten, gypsy b@stards have been at it again! Low life, work shy scum that they are, have broken into our small tool room yesterday when we were out and stolen 2 petrol  strimmer/brush cutters, one not even 2 months old and an almost new angle grinder that hubby bought for a job he was doing. And I'd have never noticed if I hadn't wanted to use the strimmer again this morning! Not only did they leave our small tool room looking like it was safe and secure, they also must have chased or hurt poor Vasko dog as he had disappeared without trace.

To say I'm a little p*ssed off right now is putting it mildly, not even my lovely Dahlias (pictured above and please correct me if they aren't Dahlia's) can lift my mood.I've gone through such a wide range of emotions today and feel like I've been on a psychotic rollercoaster. There's been disbelief, doubt, wonder, anger, sheer amazement and everything in between plus a whole load of worry. You see, there aren't any real laws here protecting animals, and cruelty happens a fair bit. From past experience I know that the gypsy's don't care about animals and have no qualms about hurting them just for the hell of it, so I was really worried about Vasko being missing. I've spent hours hunting through the gardens, getting my legs all scratched and scraped, calling his name and eventually resigning myself to the fact that he'd gone. Or so we thought.......until hubby found him wandering about on the edge of the village, near a fairly busy road at tea time today. I was overjoyed when he brought him home and even Vasko looked happy to be back, and hungry of course! In the time he's been here with us he's never wandered off before so something must have happened to make him go. I've checked him over, hubby fed him something a bit special for tea and he's soundly asleep in his kennel where he belongs.

So the police have been here twice today to find out what had happened and take statements, the village mayor and her assistant were brought along too, and some very likely suspects have been noted, especially one who's had to get a tetanus jab this morning. As the plain clothes police officer pointed out that Vasko dog does bite! He should know as he did belong to him. Then came the village security men, quite scary looking they are too. Again asking a few questions and then they told us not to worry as it will be sorted out! That done I was just about to get on with the nightly feeding etc when one of the horses made a bid for freedom and spent 10 minutes galloping around the field until she'd worn herself out. So a busy, hectic and stressful day it has been. Nothing like the bit of strimming and spot of painting I'd planned.

I must point out that the so called gypsy's here are not true roma stock, most of them are of unknown origin, some have an indian look and colour to them while others are paler, stockier and seem to hail from turkey. They all speak turkish or gypsy, rarely attend school and most of them are unemployed and claiming from the state. Others go abroad to "Work" but more often than not are actually robbing and pickpocketing to fund their lifestyle here which can be quite extravagant. They like the nice things in life but are not prepared to work hard for them. Of course I won't tar them all with the same brush and neither am I a racist but I do wish that more of them would live on the right side of the law and then we wouldn't need the likes of the village security firm etc.

Village Living

The last couple of days has seen the weather improve greatly, so maybe there's hope that some of my vegetables will ripen. The locals are complaining that their tomato plants are dying off and the dreaded Blossom End Rot is back. A neighbour is spraying his daily with some chemical concoction that is probably banned in a load of other countries. Luckily so far for us there seems to be no signs of it here, and I'm still adamant that I won't be using any pesticides or chemical fertilizers, my plants seem quite happy in their organic, homemade compost.

Today I managed to get half of the garden strimmed down, mainly because the electric kept going off so I decided to get off my backside and away from the laptop and get something done! After lunch I did some more painting for our friends Nev & Pat, then popped in to see another friend quickly before I came home. Hubby wanted to have a quick trip into the big town so off we went in search of a cheap above ground pool. A few shops later we hadn't found what we wanted so headed home to get the animals in and fed and have ourselves a late tea. Lo and behold when we got back we were missing one horse - Maya, found happily munching away not far from where we'd left her, and also Scruffy Vasko seems to have taken himself off for a wander. He's not returned yet but something has eaten his tea! Hopefully he'll show up by morning. Usually he doesn't go far but since his tea time was a little delayed tonight he may have gone off in search of food! I've been out with a torch and called for him, but will have to wait until morning to have a proper look. I'm quite fond of him now and hope he's ok.

My chilli and pepper plants are really starting to look well, a few of the plants already have some chillies on and I was curious to see if they were really hot as they'd come from a packet of mixed chilli seeds my mum had given us. Hubby took a bite and said mmmm sweet taste, I agreed after the first tentative bite....but soon my tongue was tingling and after munching a bit more I was getting a little hot! They are nice though and look like they may produce well so I'll be saving seeds and pickling chillies soon. We really do enjoy pickled chillies and the vinegar livens up soup a treat during the winter. Pickled garlic is also a favourite but it does make the cupboard pong a bit!

I'm off to catch up on some sleep now and hope you've all had a good day. Need to be up early to water the garden before it gets too hot.