Week 19

Monday is a lovely day, sun out , Pamela's seeds germinating and me starting work on a new project.

Pamela spends the day planting out beans, courgettes, rocket, cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and butternut squash. There are even flowers sprouting up in the potting shed. She is making areas in the garden for each type of vegetable but is staggering the weeks that she plants them out so that we get a steady flow of produce throughout the year. She is using old roof tiles as footpaths to make it easier to pick the produce. 

Pam loves her garden

I have started work on digging over the land that will be the chill out area for our guests before being able to rake and then grass seed it.

Tuesday is the same again, Pamela in the vegetable garden and me digging over the soil. Unfortunately it rained last night so the soil is so heavy to turn over but I am on a mission now. Once a have a goal I just go for it, but what I wouldn't give for a rotavator. But the first area is soon dug over, raked and seeded. The stones are laid for the strawberry patch and we plant 2 new apple and 2 new pear trees.

Marple helps flatten the grass seeds into the soil

That evening I try to write the blog having been drying out the laptop since 'the incident'. But it soon becomes apparent that there is some damage that I cannot work  round. Off to Ruse then tomorrow to get a new keyboard or laptop.

The rain comes in bucket loads today so it is just as well that I am not gardening. We are not complaining though, it is the best possible start for our new lawn. I get a plug-in keyboard in Ruse and amazingly it solves our laptop problems, and for only £3. To make the most of the trip I also order the  new flooring for the holistic barn which we won't need for a few weeks but if possible I do not want to have to come into Ruse again for a while. I have been badgering Pamela for weeks now to let me buy a gun, I grew up with them, they are a great hobby and being in the countryside now you never know when you may need one. Pamela is 100% anti guns so I am really surprised when she says that this is a once only offer that if I want one, to get it whilst she is not with me!! This is awesome, akin to her finally letting me ring Nicole Kidman back and agreeing to her request for me to be her lover (OK, OK, that puts this blog firmly in the fiction section but you get the idea). So a few hours are spent drooling over every gun I can find (and that's a LOT out here) until I make my purchase of a sensible but very powerful pistol (just going to have to work on Pamela to get that rifle I really want though....... small steps, small steps).

Maizi loves her cuddles

Some troughs out of the barn that Pamela has filled with bulbs

Thursday back into the garden but the weather is cloudy and wet and makes for hard work turning the soil. It is too wet to be sensible for Pamela to work on her plots so she gets writing some more meditations, so is time well spent.

For the last couple of days a van with loudspeaker has been going round the village. We have no idea why so take a walk into the village square to see if we can find out. No joy with that task but we do find a notice that tells us our house tax is due and that if we pay it before April we get a 5% discount but we have to go to the Municipality office to pay it which is 10km away. A job for tomorrow.

Friday morning, despite heavy rain, I finish turning over the soil for the new chill-out area. The soil is far too wet to rake so that can wait for another day, at least all the hard work has been done. In the afternoon I go off to pay the house tax whilst Pamela writes more meditations. The office was fairly easy to find and I had previously researched all the documentation that I needed. I wanted to try and do this on my own without Monicas help. Yea right. The cashier must have missed the course on customer service and definitely did not go to charm school! I handed over all my documents, my ID and Bulstat card (shows that we are the registered owners of our house) and explained in what turns out to be incomprehensible Bulgarian that my wife and I are the only occupants. Despite her repeated shouting at me I cannot understand what I am missing / have done wrong so a call to Monica ensues. As usual she sorts it in minutes. At least I tried I suppose.

Monica also later tells us that day that the van that was coming round the village was collecting lamb leather. ... we have so much to learn.

Ready for raking and sowing grass seed

Apple and Pear trees in, Strawberry bed planted and using bottles as small propagators

(wish she was growing bottles of wine though)

Cannot wait for the vodka beds to start growing!!

As the weather seems set on rain for the next few days I spend Saturday and Sunday working on the holistic barn. All the beams are finally stained and protected and a first coat of paint goes on the walls. Whilst the first coats are drying Sunday is spent pointing the brickwork, a tedious job but is starting to look good. I can just chill out listening to the radio whilst doing it and it is a nice respite from all that digging. Pamela spends Sunday morning digging in the garden until yet again it starts raining. We both stop mid afternoon and have a lovely meal of egg mayonnaise followed by chilli bean balls in a blue cheese sauce, honey drizzled carrots, corn and jacket potatoes. Yummy. Just finish the blog and then a nice glass of wine in front of the fire whilst it rains - again.........

Starting to look good