Diary entry for 7th August 2011

Hello Everyone

Monday
Well Woody and I were not feeling quite as refreshed and rejuvenated as we had hoped and were late up but normal jobs continued and after that I started packing up some of the stationary for the back to school packs we are making, while Woody moved some straw until we both gave in for a late lunch and got ready for a trip to Constanta. Gizmo had to take a trip to the vets to have his first kitten jabs. He is getting quite used to travelling on the bus and apart from the initial tantrum about being in the cat box he settles down quickly. Our first stop was to the Rom shop to try and find out what was happening with the phone and internet unfortunately they were not able to give us any information but did submit a report to say neither was working and told us to expect a call before midday tomorrow. From there we went to the vets, the normal vet was not working today and Gizmo saw a lady vet who was pregnant, when I asked how long she had left both Woody and I were shocked when she told us a week and she was still working. Gizmo was very good at the vets although he is a huge baby when it comes to injections. From the vets with a very dozy Gizmo we head shopping and back to the bus station and home. We got home at just after 7 for all evening jobs to start it was a nice evening and after the evening jobs we both decided to take a tea and piece of cake and have a relax up the lucerne with the animals for a while. It was lovely.
It was a quiet night Gizmo was still dazed due to injection and the dogs all seemed unusually tired. After everything was done we had dinner and called it a night and went to bed.

Tuesday
After all morning jobs finished it was time for us to tackle the washing pile. Normally I would sort this myself but with no piped water and a lot of carrying of all water needed Woody kindly helped me, and we became a well oiled machine I did the washing and rinsing while Woody swapped water for me and put clothes into the washing machine for it to spin and be hung out. By the end of the day we had clean clothes and my washing pile had gone down, phew. While watering the greenhouse tonight, we were pleased to pick our first proper crop of tomatoes and cucumber and noticed we had a lot of picking to do. Tonight we only picked enough to deliver to two families we work with who we knew had no garden, tomorrow morning was going to be busy picking all the tomatoes and cucumbers. Before we started our evening jobs Woody decides to give Rom a quick call as we hadn't heard from them that day, we found it was a major problem they were experiencing somewhere in Constanta, they were working hard on getting the problem solved and hoped it would be sorted by the end of tonight, and sure enough by 8pm the phone and internet were back on and we even received a courtesy call to check everything was working. The computer worked over time receiving 4 days worth of e-mails and updates and we decided to wait till the morning to try and do anything. After all evening jobs were finished it was time for dinner and to relax.

Wednesday
A nice early start and after morning jobs I was finally able to send the diary to you good people and then it was time to head round the greenhouse and start picking, by the time I had my container full it was getting hot so I headed inside to start preparing the tomatoes and cucumbers for the various different uses each was going to have. All afternoon was spent in the kitchen preparing and cooking and bottling, and by the time I had finished I was knackered and sick of the sight of tomatoes and cucumber, but on the plus side we have now got the start of a good stock of preserved products for use in giving out to the poor families in the winter. Just before the evening jobs started, we notice we have water so we rush round getting everything refilled and the green barrel re filled to the top. Then on with the evening jobs and another hour enjoying the weather with a cup of tea on the lucerne. It was a busy day and we settled down for dinner and quite night.

Thursday
The water was on again first thing this morning but was off again by lunch time. It was a miserable cloudy day and we were expecting rain, luckily it didn't come to anything. I spent most of the day working round the greenhouse clearing the jungle of weeds that had appeared, while Woody sorted mucking out of the animals. After I was fed up of weeding I started collecting more tomatoes and spring onions, and also noticed we had our first 2 watermelons growing. The greenhouse was going to take a lot of work getting rid of the weeds but during the cool period of the morning and evening I enjoy spending time in the garden and find it very relaxing. I head indoors with yet more tomatoes and while Woody sorts the evening jobs I start making a tomato and onion base for soup for during the winter and by the time Woody had finished I was just finishing the 2nd 1 litre batch of soup base. It will be a good start for me in winter and I can just pull it out of the freezer and add other ingredients for it to go out as a hot meal to some of the families we work with. It seems silly that when we are still in the summer months, I am already planning for the winter but in Romania the weather can change so quickly that planning is a very good thing. It was another quiet evening and just before we headed to bed we heard light rain on the roof we hoped it would stay like this and with in half an hour it had stopped.

Friday
We were up bright and early and after all the morning jobs I was looking forward to another day in the garden and Woody had planned on moving straw, unfortunately on the morning check of e-mails these plans had to be changed and Woody and I were busy for the whole day, discussing and typing some correspondents needed for the UK. It is not our favourite job but unfortunately one that has to be done. By 7am we both had a headache and evening jobs were still needing to be done. We saved our work and got on with evening jobs, by the time we had dinner we couldn't face opening the computer up again so put a film on and then went to bed to try and ease our heads.

Saturday
Woody luckily got rid of his headache mine was still there though. After all morning jobs is was back to talking and typing on the computer. We decided to take a break at lunch and have a picnic lunch up the lucerne it was nice to get out of the lounge and away from technology, but after an hour and a half we knew we had to get back to work. By the time evening jobs were ready to start the paperwork for UK was nearly finished. Evening jobs went smoothly and we relaxed for the evening.

Sunday
Morning jobs complete, It was time for me to put the finishing touches on the paperwork and at lunchtime after 2 and a half gruelling days sat in front of a computer screen it was finally finished and ready. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Woody had finished the mucking out and when we finished lunch we, pottered in the garden and Gizmo came with us to explore, it was a nice afternoon and when Woody started the evening jobs I once again took my place in front of the computer screen to write to you good folks. I don't think this is the best diary I could have written but I have still not got rid of the headache I got about 4pm on Friday, SORRY.

So that has been our week here in Siminoc, and I look forward to starting a new week with no headache, fingers crossed.

So for now I am going to say L8RZ peepz.