Dentist Time

Recently a horsey friend living not too far away recommended a mobile vet who was newly trained and looking for new clients in Bulgaria. He'd been to visit her horses and floated (rasped) their teeth so this week I've had him here to see our 2 girls and of course Maggie the donkey.

We've been asking locally for a couple of years to find a vet who had the right equipment and knowledge to come and make sure our girls were comfortable to no avail. In fact the locals just laughed at the idea of a horse needing a dentist! As time went on and hopes faded of finding someone our lovely donkey started having a bit of trouble eating her hay and keeping weight on, which usually mean there is a problem with the teeth.

So when Thursday arrived I was quite looking forward to meeting the vet and watching him work. I wasn't disappointed either. He was very nice, professional and kind to the animals. They were sedated and had probably their first ever teeth rasp done without any major hiccups. Then it was onto the cat - who was castrated on our dining room table!

All went well, everyone came round from their sedation and even the poor cat was back to normal within 12 hours and shouting to be fed again. I'm not even sure he's realised that certain parts are missing, but he's already in winter, lounge lizard mode and spends most of his days curled up with the dogs sleeping. Lucky animals!

And back to 2 again

We've had another busy week or so. First we had my sister in law and brother in law for a flying visit of 4 days, then another 2 volunteers arrived for a short stay too. Alex & Jodie popped over for a meal one night (with Yoshi the dog), and so for the last week there has been between 4 and 8 people here and never a dull moment.

Now life has returned to normal and I'm here most days on my own while hubby is off working. I'm back to cooking for 2 and we even have 1 less dog also. It was lovely seeing family again, meeting new people and getting together for a good laugh, a few drinks and the obligatory game of poker. But the silence here is now deafening!

Our latest volunteers were a lovely couple from Taranaki, New Zealand who have been exploring europe for some time and will have some fantastic memories. They helped with all kinds of things from fence building to dishwashing and collecting 1000 kilo's of loose maize from the village corporation. Great job guys :) And I'm glad you both managed to get a pair of Baba socks too.

Weather wise it's much colder now, but at least the flies and mosquitoes have gone. The fire has been lit most evening and some daytimes too, it's frosty on a morning and quite dull. We think there will be snow pretty soon although so far it's not forecasted on the local weather.

Yesterday was my daughters 16th birthday and I really missed being with her, even though we did speak on the phone. Where did all of those years go to? She seemed happy, is getting on well at school and has plenty of friends, the same as my son. I'm really proud of them both.

Lots to do and make

I've had a busy week again but don't seem to be achieving much when I look around the place. Yet the house is pretty clean, the stables are mucked out daily and I've been cooking and baking too, plus managing to fit in shopping, bill paying etc.

Paying bills and shopping usually means a trip into Gorna Oryahovitsa for me, apart from the electric and water bills that can be paid at the post office in the village. Yes we have shops here (approximately 9 of them) but they all sell the same things and cater for basic tastes. Which is fine for essentials like bread and lentils, but for anything other we do need to travel about a half hour in the car and hit the supermarkets in town. It's something of a mini day trip and I actually enjoy getting out and about for a while.

So today I've been to Kaufland and Lidl supermarkets and stocked up on a few items, plus the weekly village market this morning so a busy day. Home to offload the shopping and store everything away, then outside in the sunshine to shovel muck and get the stables all ready for the horses to come in for the night, and once all the animals were settled and fed I made a lovely brocolli and sweetcorn soup for tea.

We've had the fire lit every night for over a week now as it's much cooler when the sun sets. Daytime temperatures are still quite nice and we've had a flush of grass on the field and paddocks. I have a few late planted peas showing themselves and the lettuces and garlic are all in and ready to overwinter. We won't be having any of the vegetable patch plowed this year but will be starting to spread manure in the next week or so to try and further improve the soil.

My sister in law and brother in law are on their way to Bulgaria in a van and should hopefully arrive by Monday, so we'll be having a nice reunion for a couple of days before they have to leave. Then we'll be one dog less as Fudge is going with them to start his new life in the UK. He'll be missed, especially by his constant companion Butch, but will at least be back with his owners. I've also got new Wwoof volunteers arriving on Monday, a couple from New Zealand who are eager to do a bit of work around the place and learn more about Bulgaria.

I'll blog again soon and let you know how we're all getting along :)

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.

A Change of Pace

I babble on about the weather in most of my blogs posts and this one is no different! We have had rain, and a fair old amount of the stuff - just what the garden needs after at least 8 weeks without it. Hopefully as temperatures aren't that cold we may even get some grass starting to come through as the field has been looking pretty bare and parched.

We have filled the central heating system back up and had the fire burning, luckily all of our winter wood supply is indoors and nicely seasoned so should burn really well. There is still a fair amount of logs to split but that can be done over time, a little a day and soon it will be all ready for the winter.

At the moment we have 2 workaway volunteers with us and they are really nice. We've enjoyed having both lots of volunteers stay and help and I think we'd be hosts again, but probably not this year as there is less to do now. Next spring we'll probably start accepting volunteers again to help in the garden and with a few projects that we haven't got round to doing this year.

I'm quite looking forward to winter, snuggled up with a book, fire roaring away and not worrying about whether or not my clothing matches as no-one will see it anyway. There will still be the animals to take care of and the usual cleaning and cooking but there should be more time to chill out and relax too.

My garden is looking a bit bare since the pumpkin harvest and now most of the other plants have been pulled out too. I do have garlic, peas, lettuce and radish planted so we may get a late crop of a few things. If not at least the garlic should grow well and be established before winter arrives, then have a head start in the spring. This year's garlic bulbs were wonderful and pretty big, the best to date. I have saved a couple of chilli plants and potted them up to come inside for the colder months, this week all of the small potted trees, flowering plants in pots and a few other bits and pieces will have to be brought in to the house until spring. Every year the number of pots in the house grows and I struggle to find places for everything!

Well I'm off to find something to do, woke up this morning with backache and have had a headache lingering on since around 10am - I doubt looking at this pc screen is helping!

Ciao for now :)

Autumn has Arrived

The leaves are falling from the trees, we've had cooler weather and even a few spots of rain! Autumn is definitely here. The horses and donkey are starting to get their winter coats and the nights are drawing in now.

But it is now October and the cooler weather means I can get outside more comfortably and work in the garden. I've sown a few seeds as an experiment and need to pull the tomato plants out next week to make space for garlic. All of the pumpkins have been harvested so we know what we'll be eating this winter! Lots of pumpkin recipes needed so please feel free to send me some :)

We have new volunteers arriving this next week, Workaways this time. So hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things and make progress again. It'll be fun to have new faces around and some help too. Plus I get 2 new guinea pigs for my cooking skills, or lack of depending on how you see things!

I'm off to hang some washing outside to dry while the sun is shining. Already I'm sorting the autumn/winter wardrobe out and starting to pack away the shorts, but not all of them yet.

Feeling a Bit Lost

I'm struggling to get back into a routine now that the Wwoofers and our guests have gone. Seem to have lost the urge to really do much but I'm muddling along as usual in my own time and thinking that it's far too quiet here again.

Meanwhile my garden is struggling too, we've not had any rain for about a month and the constant sunshine and lack of water is weakening the plants. It's almost time to be pulling out the tomatoes and thinking about clearing the plot to make way for overwintered stuff like garlic. I'd like to plant lots more garlic this October and have the space for it, we use it almost every day so would save money by growing more.

I'm also going to overwinter lettuce and try growing a late crop of radishes this year. Work has started on a polytunnel(ish) structure but until it's finished I might make a couple of small cloches to extend the growing season slightly here. Not that it's cold enough for them yet - it's still mild and sunny most days with temperatures quite high during the day. Nights are cooler though and I'm actually wearing a cardigan tonight :)

Poor little Baba dog has learnt a lesson tonight, the hard way! She loves to come with me when the horses go out or come back in for the night. They usually tolerate her quite well and are used to seeing her following me around. Tonight she got a little bit too close to Milka's back feet and ended up getting a quick warning kick! Luckily for her she's fine and wasn't hurt, but it might make her a little more wary of getting too near a half tonne animal with big hooves.