Jacquie's diary for 17th August through the eyes of Woody and Sian.

hey all guess who!? It' Woody back for a 4th week. As me and Sian decided to give Jacquie and Lew an easy week Jacquie thought it only fair that we do the diary for 1 last week. So here goes..

Monday
Got up today knowing that it was going to be a long day. Jacquie and Lew were flying back late this evening and we had to be there to pick them up. The majority of the day was spent clearing up and preparing for kids club. We also took the day to try and finish any odd jobs that had been started and not finished. Most of the day was spent clearing up the front yard as over the past couple of weeks various piles had formed that we hadn't found time to sort out. Also there were still a few barrels of wheat that we hadn't moved inside that was the 1st thing we got to. Only problem was they were a lot harder to move then we 1st thought so the plan became to move them out of the way of the goats instead. That done and after clearing various piles of wood etc we were done. Next was to carry on with kids club prep. Sian's been working very hard colouring and painting various pictures that will be used to decorate areas around the smallholding. I'm sure there will be lots of photos once it's all prepared so I won't say too much. Around 6pm we got a phone call from Lew saying they the bus for Constanta was due in an hour (a bit earlier then we thought) and that they would ring us when we got to Cernavoda. So now we start thinking about making sure us and all the animals are fed by the time we left. Feed all goes to plan and we manage to get the security and mousing crew fed early, which just left us to have a shower and feed ourselves. Just as were dishing up dinner we get a call from Lew saying they have just gone through Cernavoda. So we scoff our dinner down and head off. We arrive at the airport at 11pm and sure enough there they both are waiting for us. After a quick catch up were on our way home again. Once home and after a bit more of a catch up it's off to bed as we've told Jacquie that we'll do feed in the morning.

Tuesday
After about 5 hours sleep we wake up and are both pretty tired. To our surprise Lew is already up (don't think he knows what a lye in is). Feed went fine, which was a good thing as Sian needed to go to Constanta with Jacquie to visit the accountant. Jacquie joined us halfway through feed and seemed surprised to see us up already! At 10am Flori appeared. We found out last week that she is leaving for a job in Germany despite the fact she doesn't speak a word of German!! After a few tears and a quick goodbye she is on her way. Jacquie and Lew carry on with unpacking while me and Sian spend most of the morning chasing the goats up the field. They seemed to have developed a bad habit of going out into the road despite all our efforts to stop them. At 11.15am Sian and Jacquie leave for Constanta. While they are gone Lew gives me one of the presents they bought back from the UK for me. It's a Diablo. I don't know if any of you are familiar with them but basically they are a form of toy that involves 2 sticks and a piece of string and when your good enough you can pull off some very fancy looking tricks. So most of the day for me was messing around with that. Sian and Jacquie returned from Constanta around 3pm and surprise they have to go back again tomorrow!!!. Once feed was out the way we all sat down to dinner to have a proper catch up about what we had all been doing for the past 2 and a bit weeks.

Wednesday
Another early morning but this time Jacquie was up to help feed. She had to be back in Basarabi for yet more paperwork but today Lew decided he would go with her. When we got up to the animal house we realised that the sheep had escaped their run and were blocking our way into the door!! After a bit of encouragement they did eventually move. We are a bit worried about Mr Murray as he seems to have quite a bad cold and we are not quite sure what to do so we are going to see the vet and see if he will come up. Jacquie and Lew left for Constanta so Sian took the time to carry on with more kids club prep (so much to do so little time to do it) and I carried on practising Diablo for the kids club week. Jacquie and Lew returned with a bit of a surprise. They didn't have to go back tomorrow...... They had to go on Friday instead! Jacquie and Lew have had plenty of hellos form various passers-by and everyone seems very happy to have them back. Lew went over to Nico's to ask if he could come and attach the gate to the gate posts and he explained that he has been very busy over the past couple of weeks (hence why he hasn't been over sooner) and will pop over as soon as he gets the chance. Other than that quite a quiet day in all.

Thursday
To be honest we don't have any notes on what happened today so will do my best from what I remember. Jacquie was up with us again for feed this morning. She was taking the time to get re acquainted with the animals in the hope that they won't give her too much hassle when she comes to feed. Also as how much feed they all have can vary week to week Sian and I take the time to fill her in on whos eating what at the moment. For the rest of the day most of it was spent on kid's club and unpacking. For lunch I took a trip down to Marella's to get some bread and a few other bits and bobs. Spent some of the time chasing the goats and sheep up the field again as well. We were hoping that Jacquie and Lew may have some effect on them but it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference. Next was to feed, with which Jacquie helped and everything went smoothly. After that it was time for dinner and a bit more catching up. Seems like you all kept Jacquie and Lew very busy while they were in the UK.

Friday
Woke up to a very very hot morning and we wer e late!! We thought there were going to be some very angry animals but to our surprise Jacquie was already up and had started feeding phew! She was up early as she had to be in Basarabi to finish the paperwork for the accountant. While she was there she also popped into a bank to see if she could set up an account for Nicoleta's wages to be paid into as it had occurred to her in the UK that she doesn't actually have any proof that Nicoleta has been paid. It turns out that they were very helpful and even had an English speaking manager. All that needed to be done was to take Nicoleta to the bank and get her to fill in a form so that's on the agenda for the next couple of weeks. She also popped into the veg market but being the time of year it is there wasn't a great deal to choose from and she ended up only getting cucumbers. Once she returned it was time for Lew to shoot out. We had rune out of pig and goat feed so off to the mill he went. Jacquie continues unpacking while Sian carried on getting things for kids club ready. Once Feed was finished Jacquie and Lew went down to see Nicoleta to give her, her monthly wages. She was very pleased to see Jacquie and Lew and even more pleased when she realised that it was pay-day. She had forgotten!!!

Saturday
Another quiet day today. Sian was busy with kids club while Jacquie and Lew went into Constanta. I spent most of the day up the field cutting Lucerne. It's hard work and is going to take a little while but as there is no cutter in the village at the moment there isn't really any other options . While up the field I notice that the field next to ours is slowly being cleared of the unbailed hay. I don't envy the people doing that either. There are only 3 of them and a horse and in this heat it must be gruelling work. Sian pops up every now and then to show me her paintings, which are coming on very well. She must have close to 100 by now!! Sian came up to the field at 6.30pm and said it was time to feed. So off we go to get that done. Feeding finished the plan was to go and collect the Lucerne after Jacquie had gone up the field to collect some stray for the goats. However while putting the straw in for the pigs I noticed that a rather big pig (Snowflake) had decided she didn't want to stay in and had broken out of her run and out into the yard. So I get her in and start repairing the gate only for her to break back out and straight through the gate i'd tried to repair ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!! After that while trying to get her in she ends up getting me on her back somehow but facing her back end and as she ran out the gate I catch my arm on the doorframe. After shouting a few obscenities at her I try once again to get her in a tread on some nails which go straight into my foot. I was in quite a bit of pain and decided that I was going to eat this pig right now if I didn't calm down a bit so I went and had a sit down for 5 minutes. After I had calmed down I hobbled back up to the animal house and fixed the gate leaving Snowlake outside.

Sunday
Woke up this morning rather late but was relieved to find out that Jacquie had done the feed as I really didn't think I could. My foot and elbow was giving me a lot of hassle and I was in quite a bit of pain. Luckily for me though Sian and Jacquie had put me on light duties for the day so I had time to rest up. Sian carried on with more kids club prep. The paintings she has done look very, very good and I'm sure the children's eyes will light up when they see them all. I spent most of the day keeping Sian company while Jacquie and Lew wombled around sorting out bits and bobs. The house that is being built across the road form us has started to take shape and people have been busy on it all day. Lew's been busy cooking us a nice roast dinner as we haven't had one since they left!!! I'm not much of a cook and something always seems to get in the way! Evening feed went without any problems except that the little piglets had managed to escape and were running riot around the back and front garden. We decided to leave them to it as they seem to enjoy the run around and their not really in any danger of being squashed or anything as there all so big now!!!

What's been happening in Siminoc this week.....
There hasn't really been a great deal happening this week. Flori has now left for her job in Germany and we wish her all the best. The House over the road finally has it's 1st brick. They had a big delivery of supplies during the week that was full of bricks and wood for the roof. Other than that as I said earlier it's been quite a quiet week with the main talk around the village is about Jacquie and Lew being back!

Well that's it for this week. Jacquie should be back with her regular diary next week. Unless of course she decides that we do it better and gives it to us to do!!!
L8AZ PEEPZ