I mistakenly scheduled the draft of this post to be published today (18th) thinking that I would have finished writing it – but I didn’t and so it got published at silly o’clock this morning only 1/5 complete with just a few pics and without some momentous news! So for those of you who are subscribed to our blog (especially Becky in USA and Angela in Bahrain who both wrote to me after it was posted) please forgive the few repetitions in the text of this post :-).

Three months ago Toby and I arrived in Sofia from Abu Dhabi – it seems like a lifetime ago already and the days are still flashing past. It’s just six weeks to go before family arrive for Christmas: Jane from Abu Dhabi, Ray (Jane’s Dad) from Horsham and our daughter Ashleigh and her husband Dave from Harrow. And as I had mentioned Ashleigh and Dave we can announce some very special news from them ….

Ashleigh & Dave are going to have a baby!!

Yes, my little girl is expecting and due in May – Jane and I are both so happy for them (as are Mike and Maria, Dave’s parents) and we will patiently enjoy the coming months as Grandparents-in-Waiting! This fantastic news will make their Christmas visit to Alekovo even more special, that’s for sure.

So what’s been going on since our last proper newsy post?

As I write this post we are possibly (lol) only hours away from officially finishing our house, i.e. everything inside the walls and roof plus Jane’s flower garden. Really just hours away – maybe 24 hours, or 36 – but after over 3.5 years what’s a few days between friends. Seriously though, all that’s left is for Nigel (our Project Manager for over 3 years) to clear out all his tools and equipment from the garage so we can sort out all the remaining materials and bits and bobs and then start putting it into some sort of order, well maybe, possibly, perhaps 🙂

I won’t bore you by writing at length about each thing – I’ll try to let the pictures tell more about at least some of the stories;

The heart of the home 😉

And the walls came tumbling down – in area #3

Self-mulching path around raised beds

Usable wood for sorting

Gates protected now

It’s a bit medieval – but traditional

So here goes – petchka’s and central heating final testing, distribution (fuse) boxes all labeled, brackets for curtain rails fixed, toilet seat fixed :-), pickled onions and cucumbers for Christmas put away in the right place, Jane’s garden bed ready for the winter and planted with bulbs, new top fence in paddock finished, demolition of mudbrick house started (separate post will be published soon), bench fitted in garage, tons of green sticky plastic wrapping tape removed from hundreds of shipping boxes so it can be re-purposed as weed suppresant, new frame fitted for the garage side-door and a nice new lock fitted to it, cardboard and straw laid as a foundation for a mulched path between and around the raised beds, steps fitted to raised bed area, baby Christmas tree moved to final position (hurray!!), 4 out of 5 raised beds ready for winter, pig nipple waterer (separate post to follow) Mk1 construction failed :-(, new raised bed made to grow runner beans in the spring, wood preservative applied to new gates and pig house, main gate painted inside and out, fence rails fitted to orchard fence, and of course more unpacking and trying to make the kitchen look like a proper living space – phew!

Engineering the pig nipple waterer Mk1

New fence rails around orchard

Jane’s garden area being prepared

New fence ready for railings

Max (dog) has twisted something or sprained a muscle in one of his back legs, causing him to limp or sometimes walk 3-legged.  But he still races full pelt up the drive when he wants to and doesn’t whine about it either – so he’s on a course of Aspritin for a week.  Bess (baby dog) is on chamomile in her food twice a day to see if it will calm her nerves – she exhausts herself by going frantic every time a door opens or someone walks in the kitchen – perhaps it will work or perhaps she will calm down when there are no workers around??

And a piggy update of course. They are doing well, eating well, exercising well and digging very well – and no escapes yet! They are definitely enjoying the larger size grazing area and are doing a good job of rooting around and turning over the soil. We are watching closely to see how well they do before they start compacting the soil too much – but it’s fun just being in their pen with them. They are definitely much more vocal than dogs when it is feeding time, and one of them is showing very gentle characteristics – perhaps a future breeding sow rather than heading for the freezer. But we will see!

They have made great progress in clearing the ground

In their first extended grazing area

Pigs with their house now “preserved”

And we’ll leave you with tonight’s beautiful sunset.