After a good flight back to Europe, it was lovely to look out the plane windows and see the whole of the European landscape, covered in a beautiful blanket of snow!
The street where I live was a foot deep in snow and had been scraped clear for traffic and it looked amazing coming back in the dark, seeing so much snow everywhere.
The plane trip was interesting and with a 19.5 hr stopover in AbuDhabi, it wasn't too bad at all.
Once before I had a similar long layover time and they offered us a hotel room for the day.
I thought the same would happen again, but not so as Ethiad said their job was just to get us to AbuDhabi and another carrier (KLM) would collect us in 19hrs time for the final 2 legs of the journey!
So much for that gamble on the long trip over...hahaha...
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| How good is this camel? All made from Lego blocks. Amazing. In AbuDhabi... |
I only drink champers now, so asked a hostie as we boarded the plane from Amsterdam to Budapest if they had small bottles of bubbly and she said no, only red and white wines.
Little did I know a good Samaritan overheard me and halfway through the 2hr flight, a gift bag turns up on my meal tray, containing a bottle of champers and 2 bags of salted nuts. The hostie said it was from a secret admirer (kind person) but in the rush to get off the plane I couldn't find him to thank him.
He had bought the picallo bottle from the shopping magazine on board...how amazing was that?
So, on Trump's inauguration on Friday evening I enjoyed my special bubbly with smoked salmon, cheeses, the lovely nuts and other delectables, suitable for such an historic and awesome event!
The volunteers I had here to look after Dog and keep the house warm had left without telling me for a few weeks, as I think the heater must have gone on the blink early on and I came home to a freezing house with dogs running all around inside in the dark!
The dogs must have been locked up for long periods of time in the dark as Dog had destroyed the front door by scratching it to shreds. She must have been very afraid, cold, lonely and scared out of her mind...poor thing.
The volunteers said it was too cold for them as one is from Mexico and the other from Croatia/Poland. I guess not everyone enjoys primitive adventures in the snow, battling and overcoming nature and enjoying the stimulating challenge of survival in the wild, so to speak!
My broom and mop handles were broken, the mop missing, the hotplate and heater had both broken, the breadboard missing and the shower full of a pile of wet washing!
Amazing...
The water mains also froze and shattered and there was no water inside the house, obviously, for a shower, loo or cooking.
So, the next day, after getting the heating sorted out, I have been melting snow on the stove to wash up, and it's back to ye olde white bathing dish again for the daily ablutions!
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| Fresh as the driven snow! |
Imre came and chopped all the wood in the woodshed and it only took 2 days to get the house warmed up from 3C to 20C in 2 rooms.
I haven't had time to go into the big front room yet, but will start warming that one as soon as I get the blessed piddling and poo-ing pups organised!
It has taken me 2 entire days to cleanup and work out how to keep them contained in an area that is manageable.
Dog is weaning them now and they are eating and drinking OK, so next week 2 or 3 of the pups can go to good homes.
They are very big and fluffy and terribly cute!
One of the smaller pups was very ill when I first arrived and was having fits and vomiting etc...
I thought at first he had a cerebral problem, and was ready to get it put down next day.
But a bit of TLC, some warm milk and a change of bedding and 2 days later his little ears were at half mast!
5 days later he is as fit as a fiddle.
Have no idea what was the problem, but they are all well and full of fun now.
I wormed them all yesterday...boy, what a job puppies are, especially in the winter over here.
I'd rather have 3 sets of quadruplets at once, than to ever go thru Dog having pups again in winter, 14C mins temps, snow all over the place.
I love this weather but it is not ideal for me, who does not like animals in the house, to go thru the drama of peeing and poo-ing pups!
The wee's they do are non stop and now I'm running out of old papers I saved for the fire, so they will have to go outside from the week-end onwards...for the daylight at least.
Their names are Dora...(the explorer), Yappy, Bear and Cutiepie. Real original name, I know, but that's how they turned out!
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| Chomping on their first chicken carcasses and loving it. Check out Cutiepie, the black one at the right front...reclining as it eats...so cute indeedy. |
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| Bear trying to get up the front steps. they love it outside and love romping in the snow. |
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| Eating the last of a small packet of dog food the volunteers bought. |
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| Poor Dog...they attack her without mercy. Next week, hopefully she'll have them completely weaned and she'll dry up quickly, I think. |
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| The station about 20 mins from Tiszafured...So romantic and lovely in the setting sun...4pm ish! |
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| My first morning back...Sun shining, birds chirping, pups fighting, snow everywhere...how perfect! |
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| Fixing the water metre, 2 metres down, in a steel enclosure...but it still froze and shattered. |
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| Men at work! |
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| Shattered water metre... |
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| Looking out my window, over the neighbours yard... |
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| 10am in the morning...a nice foggy day, minus 12 C today...warming up a bit! Hahaha... |
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| Deliciousness everywhere you look...beautiful indeed! |
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| The peach tree,, a-bloom with snow flakes as blossoms... |
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| Did some washing and thought I'd peg it out in the sun! hahaha... |
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| Dog in her basket...having a private time with only 2 of the pups. I keep them separated for most of the time now, except when they are outside. |
More pics next blog...
I'm fairly organised now, with Imre back on the job, the pups organised and in a routine, all the washing caught up now the water is back on, the dogs blankets all have been washed too, so it's all systems go for lots of work ahead.
Have changed a few things here, rather dramatically, after visiting OZ and doing some measuring in my son's homes! More on that later...
Getting the doors all sanded back this first week back on the job, so they will all be ready to paint in the warmer weather.
Then Imre is going to work his magic on the walls and ceilings in the 3 first rooms in the house where it's warm.
He somehow gets rid of the loose flaky plaster without taking it back to the mud bricks and it looks amazing. I've only painted over it in the past, to clean it up a bit, but the way he treats it is superb.
He'll do a room each week, along with chopping wood and a few other tasks that come up all the time in these old houses...
He works only 3 days a week just now, so by the time it's warmer, he'll only have to paint the window and door trims in enamel, so the place inside will look schmick at long last!
Bye for now and it's great to be back.
Miss my family already, but will see them all again in 10 and a half months time at Xmas!
Cheers,
Mary
xxx
