Things That Go Bump in the Night

Some nights it's so peaceful here and you can forget there are other people around, not that they're close by, but there are 807 residents in the village some of which we've probably never seen or met. Just this morning I chatted to a lady I have seen in the village but never spoken to and she was lovely. We talked about her dog which was called Suzy!

The sound and light show at Veliko Tarnovo

Lately though there have been some noises during the night and when we have investigated it turned out that our 2 horses have taught themselves to open the stable doors. Milka in particular has now learnt that if she leans her backside on the door hard enough the bolt will slide from it's keeper and she's free to roam around the yard and lick the feed buckets clean! This morning I found Maya waiting at the yard gate for me and whinnying hello as she had broken the bolt on her door. Luckily they are both ok and cannot get out of the yard so quite secure.

Milka in the winter

Tonight has been noisy too, but it had nothing to do with the horses. For some reason tghe village dogs have been barking like mad, which of course, set the 3 dogs we have outside off and I've had to go out and tell them to be quiet. Maybe there's a fox roaming around or something. At least they've gone to sleep now - and so am I......so goodnight all and sleep tight :)

Piggin Lovely

Once again we've been busy, and now there are a few more small jobs finished in the house and they can be ticked off the evergrowing list of things to do. The tiling in the living/dining room and on the staircase is finished and what a difference it makes. I've still got to grout some of it though but that's the easy part!

Yesterday evening we had friends around and roasted a half pig, it was such a beautiful sight and enjoyed by everyone who came along. Each person brought along a side dish and none of us really knew what the other would bring so that added an element of surprise too. The table was laden with food, drinks flowed nicely and all 6 of the children that were here managed to behave quite well mostly. The rain stayed away and although there was a slight breeze the weather was nice. I'm sure we'll have another pig roast (this was our second) or BBQ at some point this year as it's really nice to be able to enjoy an evening with great company. The only downside to last night was when hubby decided to have a quick dip in the pool and forgot to remove his full pack of cigarettes and lighter from his pocket, they're ruined but it was rather funny.

My garden is looking a little crowded, as admittedly I've not done any weeding for some time. But we are picking ripe cherry tomatoes daily and everything else looks well. Apart from the young onions that I grew from seed and the last chilli plants that went in as the dog has dug them up overnight in her attempt to stash leftovers from the pig roast! Poor Baba the Bulgarian mongrel is looking a little sorry for herself today and I can only guess that she may have eaten too much pork last night. Hopefully she'll perk up tomorrow and be back to her usual, happy self. Neighbours and friends have been giving us bags of cucumbers so we're eating a lot of salads.

Tomorrow we have to go and collect the barley from the village corporation that we ordered earlier in the year. We never know until it's been harvested how much we will get as you pay by the amount of land so some years the harvest is better than others. This year we have 2 decares of land and the harvest was 320 kilo's per decare, so we are collecting 640 kilo's of barley tomorrow which will help feed the pigs and horses over the winter months. There's still straw to order and maize to collect when it's ready too. We just need to sort out some storage for everything now.

I've already started on stocking the kitchen cupboards for winter but am finding it really hard to cook for just two of us, instead of 4, so the plastic freezer tubs are starting to be filled with things I've made that we can just reheat later in the year. Soon I'll be in preserving mode and I'm just waiting for the victoria plums to ripen fully before I turn them into jam. This year I will make less jam and simply freeze some of them for crumbles and puddings over the winter. I won't be making chutneys this year as we still haven't eaten all of the last batch I made. However, I will be turning a lot of the tomatoes, peppers and aubergines into sauces and soups again mmmmmm.

Well I'm off now to sort out leftovers for tea, feed the animals and spend a quiet night in front of the TV.

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 :)

One Day at a Time

Such a lot seems to have happened in the last week and I'm not sure where to start!

Firstly the trip to Burgas wasn't as bad as expected, ok so I did get lost in the city centre looking for my accountants office but the 3 hour drive there was goos, the roads were good and the scenery was lovely. Friends had given me easy directions as I'm a bit geographically challenged and that made the drive even better.

It was nice to finally meet the guy who does our company accounts too. I usually wouldn't use a company so far away but he is very, very good on price and helpful too, should have our company re-registration done and dusted before the deadline at the end of the year.

The airport was our next destination and I found that easily too, again thanks to directions from friends. Found a parking space, and unloaded the huge amount of luggage the kids had and set off to find their dad, who was waiting for them under the shade of some trees. I stayed with them for a while chatting but left before I got upset. I felt a bit of a coward on the drive home and was quite emotional too but would rather leave a situation where everyone is happy rather than sad. By the time I got home it was dark and hubby had cooked a lovely meal, all the animals had been fed and watered and tucked up for the night too.

I've been trying to keep busy and stay positive but I do really miss the kids, even though I can still chat to them online or on the phone - it's not the same. As it's too hot to work outside for most of the day now I've painted the living room and even made a start on making the curtains I'd promised to do over the winter months. My sister in law, her daughter and a friend with her children arrive Tuesday afternoon so they'll help to keep me busy.

We've had an amazing storm tonight which has saved me watering the garden, even the horses were happy to stay out in it as it kept the flies from bothering them. But the forecast for the next 10 days is hot, hot, hot so I think we'll be using the pool a bit more and maybe even having a siesta during the hottest part of the day.

The Blues

Not a lot of blogging going on this week and to be honest not much of anything else this week. The weather has been glorious but I'm feeling pretty blue. Down, disparaged, discouraged and unable to look to the future at the moment.

The daily teen angst, arguments and everything else that parents go through isn't helping but what's worse is that I've been watching my kids packing their cases to leave on Monday. Instead of having a nice week together, there have been shouting matches, bickering, pettiness and nastiness, plus one or 2 threats of violence. It's all wearing me down and I'm constantly fighting back tears. Maybe I feel worse because I'm not letting the tears flow - I don't know?

And to top everthing off our fridge freezer broke down today and one of the dogs got stung by a wasp! Let's see if tomorrow is a better day. We are actually going out tomorrow afternoon as it's the yearly horse fair in a villge not far from us. Normally it's quite a big event and I do like to go see the horses too.

Speaking of horses, my daughter has ridden our 2 girls (on the lunge) a couple of times in the last week. All was going great until Maya spooked as daughter got on and deposited said daughter on the floor. Poor thing has hurt her wrist (nothing serious) and not been back on since. But at least it's given me a better idea of ghow they react when ridden and I've seen things from a different view (ie the ground) and noticed how they move etc.

Hubby is looking for work here in Bulgaria at the moment and has a few small jobs lined up. It would be nice to find more though. Luckily he has great references from past jobs and word is starting to spread that he's good, reliable and doesn't charge the earth. Unlike some, who are not even trained builders trying to make a living by doing skilled jobs they don't necessarily have the expertise to do.

I meant to post this yesterday but just didn't have the heart, today I really enjoyed getting out to the horse fair even though there were friesian horses there that I couldn't afford (my favourite breed). It was nice to do something different but the yearly horse fair is turning the same way as Appleby fair in the UK and there are far too many stalls selling clothes, melons, bedding etc and of course not forgetting the beer tents that seem to expand every year. One thing different this year was the cordon stopping people from driving up the narrow, cluttgered street near the fair and it was an improvement. The police were there and making their presence known too. 

But, like every other market that goes on where animals are sold (and not just here in Bulgaria), there are always the "Poor" looking animals. Most I have to say were in good condition and there were plenty of people ferrying water to their livestock. Still there were a few that looked emaciated, ill and generally awful and my heart goes out to them. I'd love to bring them all home and make whatever time they have left full of kindness, but I can't. It breaks my heart, but I did notice more people stopping to comment on the bad state of one horse in particular so at least they can see what a horse shouldn't look like.

Internet Madness

Firstly I'd like to say thank you for the recent comments mad on this blog. I have been trying for days to reply to them and have no idea why I can't.........technology eh?

Maybe it's just our almost useless internet connection or this old pc which really should be retired. Please bear with me while I try to sort this out and in the meantime I'll reply to comments here.

Pat & Nev, I'm so glad we got the hay in on time too, makes a huge difference to winter feed stocks and I'm really happy that it's done now. And who knows with all this rain and cooler weather we may even get a second cut of hay. Don't worry about the pectin as I have a load here that probably needs used up. Enjoy your marmalade

Alan Fenn, thank you for your nice comment - ordinary yet extraordinary makes total sense to me and I shall take that as a compliment. I've enjoyed browsing through your blog too and have added you to my blogroll too :)

Jak, please do come and visit us if you have the time - we'd love to meet you. Any day except the 11th July and 19th July would be good. Also if you need any help while you're in Bulgaria please let me know and I'll do my best to sort anything out - house hunting here can be rather frantic!

That's all for today folks. I'm off for another coffee