Spring has Sprung, into Summer

It's been a while since the last update, the main reason being Tracey is broken.   Not broken terminally or even permanently but definitely broken.   More about the reasons will appear in the blog update Bastards, Banks, Blablacars, Bees & Blowjobs.

Right then March we had -  French doors in, but surrounding walls unplastered,   They are now plastered, but I cant find photographic evidence.




No corridor ceiling,

There are also lights in the corridor for the first time ever

 





no door connecting the kitchen/mezzanine area with main house,





we were still camping  out in main house, veggie stockade. aka kitchen garden, requiring mesh fencing, greenhouse was still being used as a dry storage area.


The veggie stockade was dug to 3 fork depth and 9 builders trugs of weed roots removed, unfortunately far too many were missed and weeding that area is still a daily chore.   The future fruit/perennial garden is on hold due to lack of enthusiasm/energy/time.

Veggie Stockade producing well

  

Tracey continues to smuggle none meat meals into the menu, much to Paul's disgust   (leek, walnut, bean sausages)     The ducks geese and chickens decided to see who could lay the most eggs so we have more jars of pickled eggs in the cellar, a collection of assorted quiches in the freezer and 24 duck eggs were dehydrated for winter baking, in case the birds decide not to lay in the snow.    One thing Tracey does do when she feels she's 'slacking' and unable to pull her weight is cook, often batch cooking for the freezer as well as that nights, and the next nights, meals.

Labneh in olive oil

Pickled Eggs

One of a number of quiches for the freezer

 

Onion Bhajis, for freezer

Individual pizza bases, for freezer

Dehydrated eggs, for winter bajking

Cookies, just because

 

Rhubarb Pie, for freezer

Bacon, Onion, Mushroom Suet roll (a collection also in freezer)

Tracey was also asked to complete an interview by expat.com who list this blog on their site, this is the link for those who haven't read it  http://www.expat.com/en/interview/573_tracey-in-bulgaria.html



We got 10 new chicks at the beginning of April unfortunately due to fox attacks we lost most of them, so the area that was going to be rabbit grow out enclosures (needed in about 3 months) has been moved up the priority list to provide secure inside/outside secure area for the poultry.   Despite the urgency Tracey is still assembling materials and trying to find a location for the (none burning) wood that is currently in there seasoning.   She has a location in mind but needs to work out if the current contents of new location have any potential future use.   In addition she is having to take more breaks as seems to be suffering from heat stroke like symptoms much more than previous years - it could just be Paul recognises the early warning signs more and makes her stop working and get in the shade and have fluids.

Since we have lived in Bulgaria Paul's youngest 2 children have been coming out for the summer - we said we'd pay for their flights until they are 18, but when the flights were being booked in December James decided he didn't want to come and Ruby could come on her own.  Whether this was because Ruby is now 17 we don't know, what we do know is in April Jim asked if he could change  his mind  and come.   He is now coming after phone calls to the airline because although at 15 he is old enough to fly by himself it is not possible to do an online booking without someone over 16 being booked at the same time.

April also saw Paul and Tracey visit friends in France and family in the UK, but we'll write about that in Bastards, Banks, Blablacars, Bees & Blowjobs (coming before the end of the month)



As the house is progressing we thought it was about time we got some grown up furniture.   We have a 'new' king sized bed in exchange for some garden benches, to be made/delivered by next spring (the benches not the bed).   Tracey has been keeping an eye on the expat selling groups and we have 3 chairs for the kitchen/diner area, to replace the one big leather recliner that dominated the space, unfortunately they were cash transactions rather than barter.

1st purchase

2nd purchase a pair of matching chairs

Tracey also has a new residency card, as although we got the originals at the same time Paul's runs until November  and her's expired May, joys of living in Bulgaria.   This meant Tracey got to practice her filling in forms in Cyrillic, as the friends son we took with us wasn't confident about writing.    Saying that he proved most useful as even though the questions included words he didn't know he had the language skills to ask for clarification.    Some answers were put in the wrong places but instead of rejecting the form the official made corrections, obviously impressed with the effort (however feeble) made.

That's it for the overdue update, but another blog will be with you within days