Week 29

Well this week did not go exactly to plan, as usual!

Monday we went to Ruse with Monica to officially register our business. Moni had prepared all the documents and we were in and out of the notary office in no time. Then off to the bank to set up a company bank account which you open with a set number of shares in your company, it is then closed and your shares refunded. Then your proper business account is opened. Its a bank. They open and close accounts all day you would think. Well probably just one a day, as it took hours to open and close a single account. Then they charge you a crazy sum for doing so. As Pammi says, just go with it. Finally that was done then off to the lawyers who double check everything. Well charm was not high on the lawyers personality traits and despite her being as officious and rude as possible we finally had all the paperwork approved after a couple of adjustments. Then pay another huge sum of money. This was turning into an expensive day. But for now we were finished. We officially exist as a Bulgarian business. To celebrate we all go out to lunch and Moni takes us to this restaurant with a lovely garden courtyard. But as all three of us are vegetarian there is a limited menu and the only vegetarian dish is off the menu. So bean soup or nothing. We decide to leave. Off to a favourite restaurant of ours but again the menu today was lacking in vegetarian dishes. We ordered what we could which was fine until the chef offered to prepare us something specially. Happy days. It was a fine bean, pea and cheese dish which was gorgeous. After lunch Pammi and I went off to do our monthly shop and to buy a freezer for all our upcoming produce. Then home. That evening as we sat in the courtyard we saw a firefly. We have seen it nearly every night since.

Tuesday was a lovely hot day and I spent the day preparing materials for the new fencing in the sundeck area. We have decided not to take the mudbrick walls down but to encase them in wood paneling and cap with cement and roof tiles. The bottom of one of the walls would not support the fence idea we originally had and the wall above the garage is too flimsy. We will have to rethink this next year so for now we will mend and make do. Pammi spent the morning making Mediterranean chutney and then back to weeding. That evening TH comes round to tell me that I am making the fences all wrong as we expected he would.

Radish and spinach pasta

Wednesday and the freezer is due to be delivered. It is a large chest freezer and usually they just deliver to the garden gate so we have no idea how we will get it up from the entrance to the palace where it will live. The delivery arrives mid morning and the driver is so helpful, he helps me carry the freezer right in to the Palace. We are so grateful that Pammi gives him a big bottle of beer.

 As usual I have been unable to buy all the materials I need for the fencing locally and as our plans have changed slightly I have to go off to Ruse to get some brackets. Typically I cannot get the right amount despite going to every store in Ruse that may sell them, despite huge DIY superstores I cannot even get the right size bolts I need. Whilst I am gone Pammi's day is spent in the usual way  - breakfast, cleaning, meditating and then gardening.

Our daily salad with lettuce and radish from our garden and walnuts from our neighbours garden

This beautiful lizard lives in the potting shed

Thursday is a beautiful hot day and I manage to get the preparation of the fence parts completed before assembly can start. Then it is off to Opaka to pick up the bolts I could not get yesterday. Of course they do not have enough but I get what they have. On the way back I pop into Opaka centre where they have a large market on a Thursday. We have never been there early enough to see it as it finishes at lunchtime but there was a good mix of stalls so was worth a visit. Back home I start drilling the metal fence posts and manage to burn out 3 titanium drill bits in no time. What the hell do they make these posts out of? So work on the fence comes to a grinding halt, so frustrating. It goes without saying that Pammi was cleaning, meditating and gardening, same as yesterday, same as tomorrow and probably the next day.

2 huge lettuces from the garden

Friday we pick fresh strawberries from the garden and have melon with them for breakfast. They were gorgeous and a good start to the day. Then off to Ruse to get drill bits, this is beginning to feel like a daily commute. I buy four of the most expensive professional drill bits I can find and am assured that these are impossible to break. We'll see. Back home they are great and slice through the metal. At last we are making progress and I manage to get a couple of panels made. I protect the rear of the panels with a lacquer but it is new wood and soaks up the paint. I quickly get through all the tins we have. We have tried on many occasions to get this paint locally with no success so yet another trip is planned for Ruse tomorrow.

Fresh from our garden for breakfast

Saturday morning up early and into Ruse. Would you believe that the store had none of the paint we needed. This job is turning into a nightmare. I get the closest colour I can find as it is only for the back of the panels which will be against the walls and therefore unseen. There are still no more brackets in stock, they will be in next week. Back home I assemble and paint a trial panel. To our utter horror the brackets will not support the weight of the panels. Disaster. A few struts around the garden, sitting with head in hands and some choice words I decide to rotate the brackets from side to front and see if that helps. The idea being that gravity will force the brackets downwards and hold the panels. Amazingly it works and they are rock solid. Game back on. Luckily I had decided to move the car out of the garage as I would be drilling support bolts through the concrete above the garage roof. Thank goodness I did. When I went to put the car away that night there were chunks of masonry all over the garage floor.

This tree stump was growing up out of the garage roof and had to be cut away. Of course you could not get a saw close enough so I had to axe it out.

Lacquer going on to seal the new wood

Sunday is a scorcher with temperatures of 27 degrees. I manage to get a good number of panels up before I ran out of bolts. Back then to Opaka to get more. I buy every nut and bolt they have in the size I need but it is still not enough. But for now I can crack on. Late afternoon and we have a heavy rain shower before it is beautifully sunny and hot again. But by the time it stopped I had put all my tools away, so time to write the blog then. Pammi has spent the day weeding the potato plot which is a mammoth task. It will be interesting to see how much these plants produce as they have had no attention from us, no weeding or watering compared to the ones in the lower garden yet they look just as strong, if not stronger, than the pampered plants.

Getting ready for the paneling to go up

Nowhere near finished but you get the idea.

Aubergines being planted out

Lower garden looking good. We now have 84 tomato plants outside with 36 in the potting shed. Pammi thinks this is excessive but Bulgarians grow tomatoes and beans by the field for their own consumption.

Broccoli coming on

Broad beans

New baby lemon

Pammi weeding the potato jungle

Tomorrow is our first day off in two weeks, cannot wait. Pammi may still be in the potato jungle this time next week..............

Happy Birthday to Minty for Tuesday.

Have a great week and take care all.