March 2010
Planting season is upon us again, spring is in the air & finally the snow has gone for good!
We have had temps of 28c but the last two days have been wet & misty good for the garlic though!
We will wait till the ground dries out a bit then start planting our seeds!
This year I plan on Green beans, pumpkin, melon, carrots, tomatoes, peppers & strawberries. I may add to this but its time more than anything & the dogs, who so far have wreaked my garlic patch! Nigel is building a fence around that area if it works then we will have to do it around all the planting area
We have adopted another dog a Bulgarian Karakachan cross called Reggie. He is gorgeous & a real guard dog, so no more break ins!
We went all the way to Samokov near Borovets to get him from a great couple Steff & Ken, ex pats who have made Bulgaria their home for 5yrs. It took us hours to find them as got ourselves lost & ended up doing the scenic route through Borovets. I am quite pleased we got to see it though. Samokov is a little down the mountain from Borovets & 2000 mtrs above sea level. The scenery as you can imagine is fantastic in this area. We 21met Ken in their bar & had a coffee before going back to their Guest house to meet Reggie & the other cats & dogs. All the animals were great a real testament to their parents! We had a great meal out, so nice to socialise with English speaking people who love Bulgaria over Rakia & Bulgarian food.
In the morning Steff made us a wonderful breakfast before Nigel & Ken sorted getting Reggie & his huge house in the back of the Beast (our green luton box van) what wonderful hospitality & friendliness was shown to us & I feel I have made a friend for life, just wish we were closer!
Poor old Reggie turned up at Steff & Kens house with terrible injuries to his rump, legs & his tail hanging off, he was also starving to death & had septicaemia setting in. He had been attacked by a pack of dogs & a man took advantage & started to beat him too. His tail was amputated & Steff & Ken nursed him back to health literally saving his life! Reggie's tail is still a problem & he is having an operation tomorrow to try & sort it out.
Reg is a lovely boy around 4yrs old & he & Sophie get on like a house on fire, although she won't let him have anything she will take it from him & she shows him naughty things to do like jumping the fences!
The main problem is the cats, Sophie instigates chasing them & they are scared just looking at Reggie! Boris has taken to living in my bedroom which I thought I had got back since Sophie has taken to living outside with Reggie & Edo is also ensconced with him! Saskia custard & Bell are being fed on the roof of the pump room as they cant get back in & sleep in the eve's of the garage or barn roof, I miss them!
So we have had almost a week of fantastic weather 25c 28c & I actually got to wear my summer outfit of swimming costume under sarong, got in some sun bathing while reading a book & have done some weeding. the weeding will take at least 2 months to do then its on going to keep it down all summer. The main problem is chick weed its everywhere & very dense & grows prolifically! Bane of my summer!!! Also I've been getting the summer furniture out & cleaning it as well as washing the cushions in the bath! Just managed to get them dry before the rain came :(
The second part of our grape harvest is complete, 3 ltrs of rakia. Nigel went to Yovo's place yesterday & distilled it in the rain, LOL..... The first part was the red wine then what is left from that is sort of left to dry then a bit of water is added also with meth's LOL a fire lit under the still & off you go! apparently Yovo's gadget says its 40% proof, is this good????? Let me know!
As I have been writing this the sun has come out lets hope it dries out in a day or two!
