Bull Dozers are Heavy...

We live and learn...

Last year I had the dozer in for a day to demolish and remove a collapsed mud brick, 100 year old shed which had been attached to the house.
I had a strange feeling all was not going to be well underground with the new septic pipes, which had been laid a few months earlier as that monster of a thing did its job of racing back and forth over the lovely new pipe trenches.

That dozer was one big boy and the ground over here is so spongy...I saw there would be an imminent squish happening under ground as if I had x-ray vision.

The pipes were deep enough, but I've felt uncomfortable about the whole thing ever since.

Hence, the loo never got connected.

This week we started digging the trenches again to connect the waste water and sewerage pipes into the new septic pit which we built before Xmas...

Disaster was underground right where the dozer went over the pipes...just as I feared.

So, poor old Zoltan had to dig all the trenches out again and lay 2 new pipe sections to replace the squished ones, plus lay new waste water pipes from the well to the new pit.

I have no shower or water inside for a week now while we get this new system all hooked up!
It's back to bathing in the big white dish again.
I also am dog sitting a big German shepherd dog for Sabina...for a time until he gets someone to take him. She has her quota at her farm, so people help her out. She is the dog whisperer for sure.

Sabina found this dog and asked me to help her house him until she finds a home for him! He looks like a lioness when his ears are both straight, so she called him Simba.

Decided to try and fix the wine vats, starting with the biggest one...I have 4 of these in different sizes, all in pieces.

Trying to hold the pieces together...But it was a hopeless task, so we headed for the verandah and had to make a workbench to hold it upright.

Eventually got a brick base set up and put the bottom of the vat on it and hung the slats from it, nailing them on. This was going to be my spa, but it's full of woodworm, fell to pieces, so am making a coffee table out of it for the deck which will go in the area there where you can see the dirt.

Cut down to a manageable size, we can now work on it, trim it neatly and finish it off with a bit of a sand back and a coat of flat estapol type protection. Probably will only last a few years, but why not try it!

Another perfect ending to another perfect day in Paradise...

Dog with her toy box...an old skull, bits of bones and wood, but she puts them all in one place in the paddock and lays out there, chewing away on them all day.

Best blue vein cheese I've ever had.

Twisted my ankle last week and by the time I thought to take a pic of the black, it vanished in front of my eyes..All OK now.

Church is the same the world over. Choruses projected onto the wall, a great group of young kids sing their lungs out and the muso's are very loud!

Looks like red and white will be the go for the kitchen...

Gabriella's hubby, Tibi, did this reno job on an old bath in their home...Amazing.

The lady who owns this home,, next door to Gabrielle's,  hand painted this lovely mural on the wall.

A lovely dinner of freshly caught fish at Gabrielle's place the other night.

Added some oilcloth to the kitchen benches until the real kitchen goes in, so I could use it and get the feel of how the layout should be. The window gets put in where the blue chalk marks are on the wall in about 3 weeks time and the kitchen goes in after that. Am thinking white bottom cupboards with hand painted flowers on them, little pine shelves either side of the windows and either a pine bench top or tiles...not sure yet.The floor goes down about July, when everything else in the house is done.

Digging a trench for the waste water pipes and we discovered the dozer had squished the septic pipes we laid last year.

Zoltan digging up the squished septic pipes...

Dog actually sitting still... The chalk marks on the concrete are where a glassed area will be built for hanging coats etc and give some extra privacy and space so you just don't fall into the kitchen. But that's how it was in those days!

Sabina loves her dogs!


Well, that is it for the last 2 weeks.
Have been as busy as a beaver. I don't know where the time has gone. Spring is almost here and with a lovely sunny to-day the air was full of birds tweeting and singing  away, it was lovely indeed.
Cheers for now.
M
xxx

2 years ago...

Wow,
Have just been looking back over some of my past blogs over the 5 years of travel.

Amazing.

Even I can't believe all that has been and is now captured forever on some incredible pictures.

Just pulled a few for fun...
Now I look, these are mostly food and champers! hahahaa...

They are not in order, but are all over the place, but are fun to remember for sure.

Vienna, of course. Waiting to go see Phantom of The Opera, in concert, in Vienna with a 50 piece orchestra...Awesome.

Vienna...Right up there in the revolving restaurant...the little bulge under the needle in the image on the serviette...

Vienna with  2 Aussie friends...and the biggest schnitzels in the world.

When you waken to Bubbly, smoked salmon and sacher torte, you know it's going to be a great day. Ball day, Vienna, Jan 2014.

Strangely the property, while being on the market for 5 years, was sold the day we went up there to see it!

Too funny for words...Budapest.

No hang ups over there in Prague...

Prague...crystal heaven...

Vienna, ice cream heaven...2nd only to Split in Croatia!

Have a go...

This was written in 2013...I brought this picture of me breaking a board with my hand a few years ago, to remind me...I can do this house thing. 
You can see the 2 bits of board in pieces on the floor ?...and that's me, just on the downward thrust after amazingly smashing the board into 2 pieces without really touching it, it seemed. 

It took me 3 goes to finally splat it, full on and I remember, not being afraid of trying to break it, but afraid of....I can't even think what I was afraid of, it was so silly, but that fear feeling affected my power and strength. I didn't break or bruise my hand, but the fear that rises while taking aim and trying to focus, was ridiculous.

It is a great reminder to me, to keep on going and break past those silly little fears that can hold us back and weaken our resolve to do. I was a bit wobbly over the past few weeks, with all that happened and did not happen and needed to speak to myself a bit there! (This was when I lost my cards in Amsterdam, in October 2013, had no cash for a month and when the new card arrived, the ATM gobbled it up and I had to wait another 2 weeks for a second one).

I hate doing nothing and having no mission or purpose to accomplish, therefore I felt very lost for a while there.
Petr (my friend in Prague) has been great here, loaned me some cash, helping me a few days a week with looking at online properties, chatting about areas etc. 
I'm full on OK now that I have found a few great places to begin looking at. So let the games begin...in the next few days... October 2013... 

Update Feb 2016....Czech Republic was a starting place for me with this idea to live in Europe. 
You have to make a start somewhere and be guided as you go along. It wasn't meant to be over there in Czech Republic and I ended up here in Hungary! 

Perfect choice of village with all amenities, bus past the door about 12 times daily, a city of 14,000 people 8 klms away and an easy train ride to Budapest.

There are so many cheap air fares to every destination in Europe from Budapest, which now becomes my central hub for touring Europe from.
Was looking last night , checking out flying to Spain or somewhere I haven't been yet, once my visa for EU kicks over again at the end of March. 

I only have permission from the Hungarian Govt to stay here in Hungary without worrying about the Schengen visa, not the rest of the EU. I was rudely awakened to that fact when I was booking to go visit an American friend in Hamburg in March to see Love Never Dies!

Anyways, the air fare return to most places here in Europe is under $200 Aussie dollars return, most being about 80 or so dollars return...if you click through to find the best days, of course!

These are from London, but check them out. They are GBP, double those numbers for AUSD.

Check out the difference in prices . Just imagine if you didn't know this stuff! The cash saved pays for your food and accom, so why not be flexible and have more trips ?

7,500 ft is $38 Ausd to fly to Switzerland from Budapest...then you could fly on from there to say Paris for a few days for less than that, then fly back to Budapest for a similar amt. Probably do the whole lot for about $100 AUSD. 

These fares are with EasyJet. 
If I tried Wizz Air, the Hungarian airline, it may be better prices again. 
Ryan-air is another good one too...very cost effective, but uses out of the way airports to get cheaper taxes and so on.

Have to get all these trips planned out now I have sorted out what is needed.

From April onwards, I can go anywhere in EU, anytime, as I won't be staying anywhere more than a week or so.
It will be another learning experience to have that wonderful freedom to travel Europe at whim...in between Lodge guests to start off with, but once I get it all set up, will have a manager and caretaker in here, so...look out Europe, here I come!!!

Ahhhh, worth all the to-ing and fro-ing of the past 5 years!

Talk soon
xxx
M

Heading into the Finishing Straight...

...of the first section of renos, that is!

But it has a nice sound to it for sure.

Mucho worko yet to happen, but for this part of the Lodge, most of the real heavy lifting will be fairly well completed by end of next month, Marcius.

Awesome wash basins....

Little bits, done here and there are really noticeable now and that is so exciting.
Before when I'd spend a bucket load of money and time, you couldn't see much because they either buried it or it was hidden from view or lost under a ton of dust and rubble.

Men call that stuff...Infrastructure...
Women call it...Hurry up and get on with things will ya!

On Wednesday I'm off to 'Fured to buy a million little things, like screwdriver sets, heaps sand paper, little nails and screws, the odd pipe that's missing from hooking up the loo, a connector for something, a new window for the kitchen, a new door knob and back plates for the front door, a set of lower kitchen benches, a kitchen sink and so on.
It's all those little things that make such a difference, either to the appearance of the place, or to the job of getting things done.

Then we paint in here, the lounge room, finally...couldn't carry the paint home last week. Forgot that bit...my super powers couldn't carry the buckets of white wash home on the bus as they are almost as big those old 10 gallon kero drums!

So on Wednesday, off we go shopping for all those things and then the fun begins.

Electro Pete will be booked for the end of Feb to put in the rest of the power points and lights and it will finally look and feel like a real house once poor old Zoltan goes around and patches up all the new gouge holes the electrician will make!

Then it gets that final lick of paint, including doors and windows in Marcius, that will say...it is finished!

Then it will be time for soft furnishings.

  ***

Am feeling so expansive just at the moment...a really strange and joyous feeling.

It is really very interesting now, after 5 years of back packing, travelling to and fro, back and forth and all over the Schengen place...to now and just being still...in one place...WOW.

There is so much head space happening, I can't believe it.

It must have been a massive price on my inner nervous system, that I paid for this search for the freedom I desired. This urge to follow my inner knower and go in search of something I had no idea of what it was to be, but once I found it, I knew I'd know what that elusive and indescribable urge was.

I suffer badly from some types of travel...you would not think so, but it takes about a month for me to gather my thoughts again and catch up, then I'd be off again somewhere and while I loved it and was prepared for the travel bit of the first 3 real backpacking and totally exciting years, the last 2 years were not so great!
That was because I was trying to renovate here and had to keep stop-starting all the time. I was in a state of haemo-stasis or whatever, but just ate, slept, did whatever needed doing at any given time and followed Schengen's laws around the place until finally, it gave up and let me stay here!

My head feels so empty inside...no jokes please...but there is such a lack of noise in there now.
It has slowly happened, I guess, from the date of receiving my staying visa notification card on 4th Jan this year.

5 weeks ago...wow.

To-day, I felt so in control of my life, the first time since around the early 1990's, when my world I knew, was turned upside down in so many ways, it was hard to know where to turn, what to do, where to go for ever so long.

Empty nest, parents both gone, young brother died, kids had babies, I contracted a very virulent and debilitating strain of Ross River Fever, lost the plot big time and honestly wandered in the wilderness for all those long and strange years since.

I did stuff, of course, puddled through, but was never in contact with me. I always felt I was looking out of someone else's eyes...in another dimension, on another planet or something, but never living in my own skin or present inside myself. I just could not get it right, connect or whatever they say, so very weird, but true.

So, tonight I'm doing my blog, a day late, while eating far too many peanuts and yummy figs, burning up all the last wood scraps and rubbish before I get rid of the wood heater next week and am totally besides myself with pure delight at the state of my world.

Sabina's art work.

See the placement for my new kitchen window....

Blue walls are out, bright colours are in...but gingham?...not real sure yet.

Well, that's it for now...

It is warming up fast here now, buds are popping out on the fruit trees and one little daisy has popped it's head out of the ground, in full bloom...after all that freezing weather and week of snow.

Not many pics this week.

See you next week with some good pics.
Bye
xxxx,