Renata's B-Day, drought continues, BBQ gets installed, and we all melt.

Please...make...it...rain.

So, it's like walking on the sun. To all the guests coming from Canada, wear cool, comfortable clothing. To all the Croats who mocked us for having the nerve to host a wedding in September because it would be so cold and rainy, all I can say is... well, nothing polite. Even the locals are staying indoors, too hot to do much of anything. It appears the guests will  be sitting on an unfinished deck, and we haven't even begun building the second garden. Eeech.

On the upside, our BBQ got delivered, and it looks awesome. Can't wait to throw down some cevapcici and some nice marinated chicken. Please note the bag of ready to mix mortor sitting there waiting for final assembly. (Looking at you there Dad)

Of course, Renata had her birthday on August 20th, and her sister, brother in law, and nephew came by for some drinks and cake. Happy birthday zlato, I can't wait to marry you again.

That's it folks, more guests arrive this week, looking forward to the company, and can't wait to 'Tom Sawyer' my way into some help with the deck. It's fun, really. Ok, it's more like a sweat lodge that never ends, but hey, that's why fans were invented.

Cheers,

K&R

Staining, Flooring, and Fred relaxing.

The title kind of says it all. It was a 14 hour day, the flooring got a good start, Renata and Eka sanded and stained like mad, and Fred slept. It hit 35 degrees today, and I spent almost the same amount of time moving tarps and umbrellas to provide shade as I did actually working. The ladies were fortunate enough to spend most of the day in the shade of the big walnut tree and plum tree while labouring. Although I'm quite sure Renata's hands are still tingling from the orbital sander. Here's a shot of Reny staining two nice chunks of walnut.

As it turns out, the woodshed and attic are filled with three kinds of hardwood that will be mixed into the flooring: Oak, Walnut and Plum. The plum is incredible, it has the most beautiful red tinge to it, while the walnut is a quiet lighter color, and the oak is deep, dark and rich. What a combination. The next pic is mostly oak, but gives a good idea of the 'aged' feeling I'm trying to accomplish.

The next shot is more floorboards with fresh stain, drying and almost ready to 'hit the deck'. Hehe, see what I did there? Yeah, I'm tired. Not sure if the buzz is from the exhaustion, or the handfuls of Advil that are keeping me from screaming in pain, or from the couple of pivos I washed them down with. Meh. Check out the awesome plum board on the bottom of the ladder. Oh yeah.

Finally, before I hit the shower, Fred. Damn, he is a handsome kitten. I wonder if he would like to learn English and come to Canada? Just kidding. Maybe. ;-)

Ok, the shower. Really. I smell like raw bacon wrapped in old socks dipped in sweat. Our first guests arrive tomorrow at 7:20pm, and we can't wait. If the flooring is ready by then, drinks on the deck tomorrow evening !!

Cheers,

K&R

19 days later...

Good morning all,

Well, 19 days after our arrival, things are really starting to take shape. The joists on the deck are complete, our garden is mostly dead (or mortally wounded, not sure yet), we have a beautiful new sitting area, and fire pit. I was going to make this posting last night, but was too exhausted, and got a little too much sun. Slept like a child. So, here is what roughly 2 days of blazing sun will do to a garden: Emergency measures have been enacted.

85% of our roses and begonias are dying, so we soaked it and put up a shelter. We can only hope it will live. The afternoon sun is unbearable.

Eka mentioned there was a giagntic chunk of walnut in one of the garages, and sure enough, we found it. We laid it on top of two large pieces of stone. One leg (left) is actually carved from stone, the other is created from cement to look like the first one. Renata put on a matte varnish (which turned out to be not-so-matte) and the results were wonderful. I have my doubts if the 'chairs' (stumps) will stay in place, unless we want constant back aches. I have to admit though, the whole effect is awesome. Gaze your eyes upon this:

As mentioned, the deck is ready for the walnut flooring. I am very proud of the work Renata, Bruno, and I have done.

Those of you with a sharp eye may notice the long plastic hose sticking out of the well in the upper left corner just past the deck. The old pump was rusted and busted, so we are going to put a new(er) pump in place.

I took a photo this morning of the fire pit and walnut table in the morning light. We lit a quick fire last night, and it worked fine. (How could it not? It's a circle of bricks.)

Please note the sun starting it's march into the backyard already. The house offers shade until about 0930, then we are soaked in sunlight. The sun-worshippers showing up for the wedding will get their fill, to be sure.

So, today is Discovery Day in Yukon, and here there is a Catholic holiday celebrating The Virgin Mary. Being a devoutely Catholic country, no work is permitted here today. Not like the police will come by and arrest you, but it is considered bad form. And truth be told, I'm dying for a day off, and plan to stay out of the sun, and do my best to relax and drink coffee. Maybe later I will dive into a couple of Pivo Limuns. Yummy. I hope everyone is well, and taking care.

P.S: I couldn't help notice that Whitehorse is raining and 12 degrees. Send some our way, will ya? Damn.

Cheers,

K&R

Radi radi radi - Work work work

Hey all,

Well, another busy day is behind us. Today included another trip to Kutina for more flowers, and an oil change for the car here in Popovaca. Tomorrow at 8am the car goes back to the mechanic for brakes pads and rotors. Today the joists on the side of the deck that will support the BBQ were completed, and a few more got laid in on the other side.

The joists on the BBQ side have to be set fairly close to one another, as that it will be created from brick and mortor. The others sit at plain-old 16" on center. The issue with the floor joists, as I have mentioned previously, is that because no lumber matches any of the joists for sale, each one has to be individually cut. 70 of them. Joy. Here I am getting ready to do the deed.

And here I am using a grinder with a steel cutting disk in order to 'fix' them to the proper size:

Good thing it was only about 28 degrees today. :-(

Renata and Eka got to planting after I installed the anti-Fred fence around the new garden.

And all that hard work really paid off. Nice job, ladies. We obtained some nice thick marble tiles from a hardware store in Kutina. We got them for a song, and I think they really set off the whole garden.

Well, that's it for tonight, I need a shower in the worst way, and will see if there is anything worthy of a post tomorrow.

Take care all,

K&R

Pivo Limun & Deck Update

Ok,

So I have fallen in love. Not just with my wife, and not just with a silly kitten named Fred, but with a wonderful beverage called Pivo Limun. Actually, that isn't a brand name, it means Lemon Beer. Now before all you Canucks start with the Eww! and Yuck!, let me tell you, beer mixed with lemonade is awesome. It's kind of sweet, and kind of tart, and lighter than light beer. Those of you that know me well are aware that I will partake of a drink now and again, but I'm not really into it for the effect, I'm in it for the taste. The stuff is 2% alcohol, and the best thing I have ever experienced on a hot day. The brand in the next photo is Ozujsko, but I have found that the 3 other brands really taste exactly the same. Delicious.



Please note this one somehow became empty. I have alerted the Croatian authorities, and they assure me they will launch a full investigation. I, however, doubt their sincerity.

Also, a few readers have mentioned there have been no photos of me. While I thought that would be a welcome relief, it appears not. So, here's a pic, I really am here. I commented to Renata after I saw the picture that it kinda looks lke I've been 'Photoshopped' into the shot. I can assure you, this is not trick photography, or digital manipulation. Oh, and if the deck looks smaller than I have reported to some of you, keep in mind I am the size of a small truck.

It was some pretty good progress today, managed to drop in a few more floor joists and put up a bunch more pergola posts. More to come in the future. Renata has finished the bulk of the painting in the house now, and she helped me a lot today. She is awesome.

Off to bed for me, everyone take care.

Cheers,

K&R

As promised... small update

Hey everyone,

Finally last night we got some rain and the temperatures started to drop. Hvala Boze! (Thank God!) It is a beautiful 22 degrees as I write this at 7:22pm. It stormed pretty hard, and lightning crashed all night long. Really nice. Today the work continued, Renata with more painting and me with more deck work. I started to lay in the floor joists, and threw a couple of the posts for the pergolas in place. Also managed to slap on a coat of stain to keep the wood from rotting. Pressure treated lumber is non-existent here.

Tomorrow, if the weather stays cloudy, I should be able to lay in the remaining floor joists that we started staining today, and then start the walnut floor by the weekend. Each piece of walnut is about 1x10, 1x12, about 4-5 feet long, and all rough cut. I mean, right from the frickin tree rough cut. It can't be a floor until each piece of this amazing timber is sanded down. It must be barefoot friendly, you know.

Once it is sanded, each piece has to be stained (we chose a clear stain, to allow the aged walnut wood color to really stand out), and then laid down on the joists. I hope everyone is familiar with the expression 'bite off more then you can chew'. LIVING IT. I am just hoping to have it pretty much complete in the next 10 days, if the weather agrees. I need some cloudy weather. :-)

Cheers,

K&R

Fred, The Car Saga, and the hunt for the house Eka grew up in.

Good evening all, (morning, afternoon? Time zones suck.)

So, first, I have to apologize for not making a blog entry earlier. Things have been crazy busy. We having been building, adopting, and driving around seeing people that haven't been seen for 50 years. This, my friends, is an odd place. Lovable, quirky, but odd. Hard not to fall in love with odd. We all have.

Fred. Ohhh, Fred. Fred came to join us here at 86 Sisacka (pronounced see-satch-kah) 4 days ago, and hasn't left since. We think he may be just shy of 2 months old, as per my earlier post, Renata and her love of animals...well, here's Fred. Relaxed as a kitten can be. So happens it was about 34 degrees outside when I took this photo. We were all pretty much working, taking frequent breaks, but all felt the way Fred looks.

He's a good boy, and prefers to sleep in the woodshed. Cats are mostly outdoor animals here, but not for long if Reny gets her way. As well as the woodshed, Fred also prefers to poop in the Portulacas. A lovely stone planter filled with flowers has been destroyed, and Fred now gets his own flower box, void of anything but fresh soil, in order to do his business. He is now, officially, the most spoiled kitten in Croatia.

So again as per my earlier post, we had a deal all lined up to get our hands on a car for 'a mere pittance'. Fail. The deal fell through, and we went on the hunt. Truth be told, not much of a hunt as that we bought the first car we saw. How sick were we at that point of not having a vehicle? We bought a 1994 Ford Escort CL (semi-stationwagon I guess you could call it). Diesel, noisy, gutless, hard to look at, but seems to run well, and will for sure fit passengers and luggage. Oh, and 16 foot pieces of lumber and half of a Jysk store.

Out cruising in Osekovo, (pronounced oh-seh-ko-whoa) we went looking for the house (sorry, remains of a house long since torn down) that Eka (Reny's mom for you first time readers) grew up in. Well, lo and behold, we stopped at a street that Eka felt was familiar, and we went walking into someone's corn field looking for an old well, the one that was beside their house when Eka was a child. Having no luck, Eka walked across the street and rang a doorbell. Turns out it was a fellow she had gone to school with many many years ago. I mean MANY. In typical Croatian fashion, they didn't simply answer our  question about the possible location of the well, but took us for a tour to find it. The property is actually for sale now (hmmm) and a prime location in a quiet little village. Here's Toncek (pronounced ton-chek) and his wife after dragging out water, juice, coffee and cookies for us:

Then, off we went. Turns out that Toncek's wife knew exactly where the well was. Buried in a little clump of trees was an open well. Very cool.

We went walking through the property for about 20 minutes, and Renata and I decided the best place for our new house, horse pasture, and barn. C'mon Lotto 649. The property is partially treed, and the some of the trees are incased in the most amazing English Ivy. Beyond description, so I won't even try. Here's a photo instead:

It's noteworthy to mention that on our way to finding the well, we were driving along when we saw what was obviously a bride and groom getting photos taken on the side of the road. The best man, heavily intoxicated, flagged down our car and forced us to stop. He screamed some well wishes in Croatian, and then shoved a bottle of Kruskovac (crew-sh-ko-vitz) into my face. It is a delicious pear liquer, and very popular here. Not being in a position to insult him, I took a swig and then I drove on. As they small group passed into our rear view, it was obvious the the best man was catching hell from the new bride for his foolishness. What a country.

Now, no fooling about the hard work. I have been building the deck, and Renata has been painting and cleaning. As a woman of many talents, she also plastered the wall when a large section of it collapsed while she was painting it. In Croatia, a professioanl in his / her field (most often a trade) is referred to as a Majstor (pronounced my-store). Renata, plastering, looking great. Truly a Majstor.

After waiting the night to allow for drying, it was painted and the next room was begun and finished the same day. Ujo (pronounced ooo-yo) Stef (pronounced sh-tef) came over to help. he was a huge help, and two rooms were completed top to bottom, and the day ended with Renata painting the floor in the last room.

The next photo shows the beginnings of the deck, and the car. Also shows the garden that we have to cover in order to make sure Fred doesn't use it as a washroom. Once it gets planted, I think we may have to surround it with chicken wire to keep the little doofus at bay.

That's it for now, more photos to come. The deck is well beyond the point at which it appears in the above photo. Sidenote to folks wanting to do a 'little project' here in Hrvatska. Bring your own lumber and joist hangers. Hardware stores sell joist hangers that don't fit any of the lumber they sell. How nice. I have had to deal with twisted 6x8 beams, slapping two 1x6's together to make a 2x6, and various other craziness. Oh, and I have developed a new respect for the 'builders of old', as that I have had to use such tools as a manual drill, a hatchet to 'adjust' the size of some of the lumber, and so on.

The tale will continue. Mabe new photos of the deck tomorrow.

Take care all,

Kevin & Renata