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 :)

No Complaints Here :)

I can honestly say I've really enjoyed the last week. The weather here has been fantastic, my garden is producing and we have some wonderful friends around us that make life in Bulgaria even better. What more can we ask for?

Some people want to win the lottery, others want the latest gadgets etc but we're happy with life. It may not be everyon'e cup of tea living in rural Bulgaria, but I still say it's the best move we ever made. Yes, it's not perfect but I seriously doubt that a perfect place exists.

I'm still missing the kids and guess I always will. This week is also the 11th anniversary of my youngest sisters death and what would have been her 30th birthday so a bit of sadness and memories going on, but onwards and upwards as they say. I was very lucky to have her a sister and will never forget her. Anniversaries and birthdays of loved ones can be hard when we're so far away. Even the postal system here isn't very reliable so now I tend to keep in touch more with facebook etc.

We have people staying with us at the moment, they're house hunting so are trekking around the area with various estate agents looking for something that says "Home" to them. I really hope they find what they're looking for, but if not I may know a few properties in their budget so we'll see what happens.

Temperatures are set to rise again by the end of the wek so the garden will need more watering, but I'm happy with the way things are growing. We will hopefully have our first WWoof volunteers arriving soon and i'm looking forward to having some help with things. We might even get the paddock fence done! or at least the straw bales stacked away for winter. Either way it should be fun :)

Oh So Quiet

Today our friends and family left for their flight back to the UK and it's been lovely seeing them again. Hubby has taken himself off fishing so I'm home alone and it's really, really quiet. So quiet that I'm actually bored and don't know what to do with myself. I've settled all the animals down for the night fed and watered them, watered the garden and made some lovely plum and ginger jam but now I'm twiddling my thumbs.

We've had a great week here and I'm feeling a lot more positive. A friend painted me 2 wonderful abstract paintings for the lounge wall and they look fantastic. The house in general is starting to look more like a home and even the summer house now has most of it's roof done. Still no paddock though!



The 2 Spaniels have had another hair cut as temperatures are set to rise here over the next few days. Our little Cocker Spaniel looks hilarious but she's happy and must be feeling much cooler. Poor Charlotte the pig is very hormonal again and refusing to eat, she's pacing the doorway looking for a mate and wanting attention from hubby lol of course he just strokes and she's all a fluster. In a couple of days she'll be back to normal but while she's like this the smaller pigs think it's great as they get all the food!

Well i'm off to see if I can find something to do. maybe i'll go to bed with a book or watch TV. Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend and the weather isn't too bad where you are

Hidden Treasures

Over the last few days we've been busy catching up with long overdue jobs around the house and I'm pleased to say we're making good progress. It's great to see things finally coming together and some rooms looking almost finished.

The garden fence is now finished so we can have a totally animal free area (apart from the cats of course lol) and looks lovely, but the star of the show are our original oak beams in the living room area. We uncovered them when we first moved in, they were hidden by years of muck, tongue and groove boards that had been painted and awful shade of green and above them small oak planks with mud as an insulator. What an awful, dirty job it was clearing it all out of the way but it was well worth it as the beams now look fabulous. They've been woodworm treated, cleaned and varnished, which brings out the wonderful rich colour and gives them even more character. To think that they have been hidden away for years is amazing.

So a few more tiles on the living room floor (hubby's job for tonight), skirting boards to add and a coat of paint on the ceiling and that's a room done. I have tried to paint the ceiling in the living room but it's so hot that the paint is drying instantly and giving it an awful, uneven finish so that is a job for October time when it should be cooler.

We've had more wood delivered for my paddock fence so fingers crossed it will actually get done this time and I can ride in safety. For now though the wood is outside of the garage gates and will be fine there until we need to use it. Once the paddock is done we can remove the temporary wire fence that is currently there and re-use that elsewhere.

Our family and friends are still here and so far enjoying their stay. there's the half pig roast to look forward to on Friday and the kids are having fun in the pool as I type this. Although by the sounds of it one of them is getting told off at the moment lol I'm sure hubby's new BBQ will be getting some use and the chilli vodka went down well too.

Lastly, Alan left a comment on my last post with a youtube video, unfortunately my internet is so slow that I can't watch any videos online. Thanks for the thought Alan, maybe you can tell me what was in it?

Plodding Along

Changeable weather here again with more storms thrown in for the dramatic effects, in fact we were sat outside last night watching the lightning flash across the fields with the rumbling, rolling thunder right overhead. It was fantastic and again I got off from garden watering duties as the hevens opened and did it for me.

We had friends and family arrive on Tuesday who will be staying for a couple of weeks, so things are a little less peaceful here and it's lovely to see them again. I hope they enjoy their holiday.

Today has been breezy and cool so I managed to get in the garden and clear another raised bed ready for other things to be planted. I have some carrots, beetroot and chard that need thinned out so they'll be transplanted later on once the sun has gone down. We've eaten our first cucumber and tomatoes from the garden and they were lovely. Hopefully there are plenty more to come.

We are having a half pig roast next week and it will be lovely to have more friends around and catch up. As there are a few kids coming I've decided that they will have their own table and picnic food - I'm not the most patient of people and like to eat my meal without a lot of fuss and kids grabbing at things so this seems the easiest option. Plus they can get in the pool and have fun while the adults chat etc. let's see how it goes, I may even take some photos for this blog as it's lacking in a bit of colour lately :)

Making Hay While the Sun Shines

Once again we've had a busy week. Our tractor driver finally turned up so the large paddock was cut for hay, only 2 weeks later than originally planned but at least he did get here in the end. This morning we've been out and forked all the hay into piles to be loaded onto the truck later today when it's a little cooler.

We rarely work during the middle of the day now as it's too hot and there's a high chance of getting sunstroke. This week we've also managed to get 100 kilo's of pork into the freezer, of course this meant that one of my lovely ladies had to go but at least I know she had a very nice life. You really can't beat home reared pork, supermarket pork just doesn't have the same depth of flavour or even texture. Some of the pork will be made into bacon and gammon and possibly even ham. Plus hubby has decided to try making pepperoni and salami too.

I've spent 2 days trying to add this blog post as our internet has been playing up as usual. One day we may get broadband here but none of the companies will or can say when. In the last 2 days we've managed to get all of the hay stored in the barn, and it's lovely just knowing that it's done for another year! I even had time to go food shopping although the garden has suffered a little and needs a really good weeding. So at least I know what's on my job list for the next week or so!

In the garden my pea plants are ready and I've been harvesting them over the last week, also ready are the garlic and onions and I still have a few lettuces to pull up too. The tomato plants have gone crazy and are flowering well, but the pumpkins are trying to take over and have to be pushed back so they don't cover up the aubergines. I've spotted flowers on the chick peas and the galia melons so our diet should be a little more varied soon.

This week we've also made a a start on getting our bungalow ready for family and friends who are coming for a holiday. The water and electric is back on and the few small jobs that needed done have been sorted out. I've been tgrying to evict the spiders that have taken residence there over the winter but may need to do it again - only next time I'll be armed with the hoover lol, then it's a good old clean out, beds to make up and a few more pieces of furniture to add and we should be ready for people arriving :) Better still they are coming with gifts of marmite ......yummy!

Hubby and I are off to a car boot sale tomorrow morning, not to sell or indeed buy anything but just to have a look around and catch up with friends new and old. Let's hope the weather is nice as it has been very windy today, overcast and threatening to rain. On the plus side if it does rain at least I won't have to water the veg plot

Change is in The Air

Since the rather wet car boot sale on Sunday there have been some changes here, quite dramatic but necessary at this point in time. Hubby's dad (and my father in law) has had swelling on the brain following a stroke and had to undergo emergency surgery and is currently in Intensive Care. This has brought forward my sister in law's plans to return to the UK, which is completely understandable in the circumstances, but also means that from the weekend I not only lose her company, shopping partnership, wit and fabulous cooking but also that hubby will have to go with her as co-driver and to see their dad.

I'll really miss her and little madam, her daughter, and will also miss hubby for the time he's away but know I can cope and will be fine here with the children and animals. It's rather hectic this week trying to sort out various things, clear sister in law's house and close it down and also deal with everything else going on.

Yantra the new dog is a total escape artist and opens the front door when she feels like it - twice in the last week I've woken up to find her gone and the front door wide open! She comes back but I find it unnerving that she just disappears and worry each time she goes, especially as she's not spayed yet. Next step will be the vets although we have no idea how old she really is, just that she's young and has her adult teeth. Sister in law's 2 dogs will be coming to stay with us until she can get them back to the UK and her 2 cats will also be staying with us, so once again we're full to the rafters with animals!

The piglets and Charlotte their mum refuse to be separated, each time we try there's pandemonium so we've left them all together in the large barn until they're ready to wean themselves. We still have one older pig from the first litter left but she is earmarked for our freezer at some point over the next 3 months. Our friend and neighbour, Yordani, arrived with 11 chicks a few days ago and left them on our dining room table in a banana box! 11 has become 9 today as the 2 weakest died unfortunately but the remaining 9 are snug in a bigger, better box but still on the dining room table where the temperature is quite steady and warm enough for them. I'd imagine they'll be bantam or bantam X's but as our laying hens are getting on and egg production is dropping they will stick around to supply us with fresh eggs next year.

Well I best get off now and have a shower as I need to be up early for a meeting at the school around 7.30am! Hope things are ok with you and I'll be back in a few days to catch up again.