Not me !!! Baba marta!!…
Crikey, she really is grumpy. We had screaming gales with snow on Sunday night and last night the wind howled like a Banshee all night. And because my house is so high and has so many corners, the wind seems to scream around every one, so it can be quite disconcerting lying in bed listening to it. Last night it was -10 degrees, the coldest night I think we’ve had all winter… even though it’s now Spring.
And did I say the wind was cold the other day ??? I clearly had no idea what I was talking about. I just went out to get some coal and kindling. I was rugged up to the nines including having a big thick pair of gloves on and by the time I got back inside the house, about 10 minutes, my hands were completely frozen and numb. That is cold !! Gina has already been informed that there will be NO walk today.
There is good news from all this though. Firstly, Baba Marta’s great gales are clearly blowing the last vestiges of winter away. Even though the wind is still screaming down from Siberia, the place is bathed in sunshine today and if you can find anywhere out of the wind, it’s really quite warm.
The forecast from here on in is getting better and better, Days with temperatures in the mid teens and nights around the 5-6 degree mark. This means that very soon I can stop lighting the fire and get the house cleaned properly. I love a wood fire, but holy mother of god they are dirty bloody things. The amount of grey dust I clean up everyday around the living room and kitchen is unbelievable. I want to wash all the walls down, but no point while the fire is still on every night.
But with good weather around the corner, I’m looking forward to getting to work again..
Secondly, I seem to be winning the battle to seal this enormous house of mine from the elements. I have spent years replacing windows that have blown open and smashed during big wind storms. And during the big gales I also used to have little gales blowing in through all the gaps in the windows and the house itself. I couldn’t even begin to count the hours I’ve spent wandering around this house armed with a tube of selastic, nails and various other bits and pieces for repairing windows and closing gaps. I seem to be succeeding. The rendering of the house has certainly reduced the gaps in the brick work and the icy fingers of winter that used into sneak in through the windows have been reduced enormously following all the work I’ve done on them.
Today is Women’s Day here in Bulgaria and I’m supposed to be up at the bar with all the local ladies having another knees up. Sadly, I’m sitting at home writing this having pinched a nerve in my neck. I’ve done this before and it seems to flare up about twice a year. I just wake up and my hands and arms are numb. !! Not a great experience, and even though I’m saying ‘numb’ the pain is excruciating. I took myself off the Yambol yesterday and had a massage and though things are markedly better today, I’m still in discomfort and figured that drinking and dancing probably wasn’t a smart thing for me to be doing, especially as the masseuse told me to go home and do nothing.
I took Gina with me for her yearly top up for rabies, parvo and all the other things she’s protected from. It took me a while to drag her out of bed but once she was in the car, she was as happy as a sandman. She loves a day out. Now, Gina and I have had a pretty good ‘pasture’ this winter. I’ve certainly plumped up a little and was concerned that perhaps Gina was a wee bit ‘debel’ (fat) as well. I asked Yanko yesterday if it was diet time for her, but he said No, that she is ‘perfect’ and I should leave her be. He reminded me of the starved dog that he first met, around the same time as I met her, and told me she’s fine…though she wouldn’t want to get any plumper.
I did ask about the nipping incident. He told me she’s protecting me, this is what my dog should do. I did mention that I had guests coming, but he thinks that because she’s living inside with me over winter, that she possibly perceives people who come here as a threat to me, especially if they are behaving in a loud fashion, which Donna was the day Gina nipped. I’ve already decided that she’s back out side as soon as the weather warms up, so I’m pretty confident there won’t be any problems with her. And as I’m sitting here writing this while she is flea-ing my leg, I couldn’t imagine her hurting anyone.
Because it’s really cold and I not up to doing a lot, I’m making yoghurt again. My first attempt was pretty successful, though I only had fat reduced milk and it was a bit runny. So today, there’s no poncing around with stupid weak milk..I got me two litres straight from the cow. It’s thick and rich and gorgeous and overnight it formed a 2 in slab of cream on the top. At the moment it’s on the stove top cooling down before I put the culture in. I foresee really nice thick yoghurt this time…I hope, anyway.
I’m also making bread, but this time without the machine. I’ve been experimenting for a while now, making different things like bread rolls and pizza dough.
There’s a couple that I’ve become friends with, Mike & Mandy, who come here for holidays. He’s a baker and has convinced me that hand made bread is better. So today I’m starting completely from scratch and if it works, the bread machine can go. If it doesn’t, perhaps Gina will get a nice brick to eat with her dinner tonight and the machine will live to cook another day. 🙂
next mission…Cheese !! I’m already on the internet finding out how. I have no idea, so this could be fun…or not, as the case may be.
Some time later: Someone told me cheese was really easy to make. Hmmmm… I’m looking at these instructions and my brain is turning to mush. I’m going to leave you now and direct all my brain power to the ‘art’ of making cheese.
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