sanitary items

today we had the hydra guys over again, they explained how we need to set the water system and also checked what we already have done. it has been a bit tricky to make the right hole into the walls to fit the water container system in, so we were a little nervours. but massimo did the thumbs up and now our toilet system is approved by hydra.. :-)

next step is to finish all the piping for the waste water and then start the incoming water. and then the floor heating....

Hände det som hände i Harrisburg?

"Sannolikt va, det betyder väl nåt som är likt sanning. Men riktigt lika sant som sanning är det inte om det är sannolikt." Så säger Tage Danielsson i sin fantastiska monolog från "Under dubbelgöken" från 1979. Den som inte hört den borde lyssna på den här:
http://www.folkkampanjen.se/danielsson1979.html
Jag kom att tänka på den monologen efter att vår första byggentreprenör fått en hjärtinfarkt, samt att i torsdags morse fått veta att Dennis, lagbasen från byggentreprenör numero due, varit inblandad i en bilolycka och brutit armen.
Det är sant men knappast sannolikt!
Arbetet på vårt tak avbröts för några dagar men kom igång igår med delvis nytt manskap. Idag hade vi 4 man anställda som ovanifrån försåg de välvda taken med armeringsnät och en blandning av betong och lecakulor. Ovide hade marktjänst och försåg Pete (i svart keps) och Max (i blå keps) med material. Jimmy anslöt efter lunch men kom inte med på bild. Jimmys hittills enda engelska ord är: "Nicolas, very good". Därför blir allt just: Very good!

conflict solving

today we had the first disagreement with our building guys. they are currently taking away all old dust and debris from the space under the roof, so they can work on a clean surface when they need to strengthen the structure. the neighbour had a comment about the dust they created and they took that comment really to their hearts. and then they said, 'we need to put some water on it so it won't be so dusty'. sure we thought.. but then they watered so much that we had another serious roof leaking situation, so we asked them to stop. one of them felt that he should really go on as he pleases, but niklas put his foot down and said that our walls had had enough of water and that we would take the complaint of the neighbour if there was one to come.. this led to a little growling. and he was a little angry all the time until it was time to go and have a break in the shade with some coffee i had made for them- but then he gave in and together we dealt with the dust by watering down the stuff down in the container the rest of the afternoon.

one interesting observation.. niklas and i have been commenting to each other that our neighbours, in fact everyone in this village, has their doors and windows closed and the shutters closed all the time, as if a war has broken out. Just today, the one day that we were producing some dust, they decided to open all doors and windows. Yes it was very warm, but why do i feel a little bit this was not a coincindence. I don't think this will be a big problem in the future, but some kind of point was made today, and i think it was a little silly.

Diano d'Alba

today was the first real hot day. we have had warm summer days before, but today was real hot, and no wind, which seems to be unusual for casario.

We went to the wine area to stock up on some dolcetto, and those little villages are litterally baking in the sun now. it was too hot to do much sightseeing even in serralunga, but what an impressive castle they have. lots of real little villages with either castles or churches dominating the place. and now we realised we are looking a bit differently at the brick work, really admiring the work of those that built these buildings.

Then it was time to go to Diano d'Alba and visit the communal wine cellar. It really is a fantastic place and one of my absolute favourites since we first came to visit this area a few years ago. A man is sitting there and watching all those good dolcettos, barberas, nebbiolos and barolos and tells you.. if you want to taste some wine, go ahead. open whatever you want. hands you an opener, puts up a box with crackers and a box with wine glasses and lets you go ahead. A little sad it is that our italian is not better cause he probably knows everything about all the producers.

we bought some good organic dolcetto and barbero and nebbiolo. obs all todays pics are ripped off the internet.. it was too hazy and we were too lazy

La scala - Trappan

Vi har öppnat en ny dörröppning mellan köket och det berömda badrummet. Höjdskillnaden är en dryg meter så vi behöver så klart en trappa. Antingen väntar man på en italiensk entreprenör som kan tänkas göra en om några veckor eller så gör man den själv. Vi valde det senare alternativet. På några dagar har vi byggt en form, Armerat med 15 meter armeringsjärn och idag på midsommardagen har vi fyllt formen med 500 liter betong.

Katterna går ute nu, utan sele men under viss uppsikt. När man kommer in för en stund efter att ha jagat ödlor och gräshoppor kan man va så här dödstrött!

alternative midsummer

today is swedens most important holiday, the fest of midsummer. Even though i have been away for work most years even during the seven years i have lived in sweden, so i don't have such a big connection to it feel a little weird to have a normal friday at the work site. when you know that the whole country of sweden is partying away. Niklas was putting iron into his mold for the stairs, and i was sandpapering the iron bars in the upstairs kitchen ceiling and then painting them with some anti-rust paint.

But there were some ingredients of midsummer that we did not miss, here comes a list of what we did or did not have today:

preserved herring: nope
strawberries: yes
snaps: nope
fresh potatoes: yes
dancing around the tree: no, but does picking cherries in a tree count?
bbq: yes

so not such a bad score after all. And for tomorrow morning, we have ordered another ton of little stones to be shlepped into the cellar with buckets.... when half of sweden is still in serious hangover mode..

construction art

while the house gets a frame of concrete all around it on the top, the ceiling in one of the rooms in the upper floor needs a little extra support. a forest of support beams have been set up until the ceiling has been repaired and secured.

Idag är det onsdag och det har inte regnat på 3 dagar och vi har haft 3 man som jobbat på taket 9 timmar om dagen 3 dar i rad. Ibland, som idag, kommer chefen förbi, Felice (i ljus-grå tshirt), och talar om vad som ska göras. Dennis lyssnar och förmedlar senare arbetsordrarna till Jimmy och Ovide. Dom kommer halv 8, jobbar oavbrutet till 12, åker och äter lunch, kommer tillbaka vid 1, får en liten kaffe vid 3 av Martina och slutar vid halv 6.

Martina har slutfört grovputsningen av köksväggarna på övervåningen idag och jag håller på med en form att gjuta trappan till badrummet. Vi har också haft besök av en snickare som gör dörrar.. Det går med andra ord framåt!

safety check

as mentioned before, paolo michelis, our direttore di lavori, director of works, is a very serious man. today he came unannounced to check the safety at the site. luckily he had no big complaints. as a bonus, we got some good advice from him about the stairs from the bathroom to the kitchen which is our current project. niklas had hoped that in the kitchen we can leave the walls without taking away all the plaster, but felice just knocked at them, said: you hear they are hollow, you have to redo them otherwise you will regret it. so another container full of stuff that will have to leave the house and then be replaced with more new plaster. Harri, did you say you wanted to come and do some demolition? this might be your last chance..

but until the guys have secured the wall and the ceilings on the upper floor, we can not really go in and out without some danger of stuff falling down, so we are a watching the works from safe distance until tomorrow. even the cats.

Life goes on

Tydligen lyckades vi pricka in den kallaste och regnigaste sommaren i Italien på 100 år. Vi har läst om, och sett hemska översvämningar utanför Nice som inte ligger särskilt långt härifrån så vi får vara glada för att vi bara behövt tömma några hinkar med regnvatten från vårt läckande tak. På tal om taket. Alla tegelpannor är borttagna, alla "plankor" som teglet legat på är borta, balkarna som plankorna låg på är borta. De större balkarna som är friska kan sparas ytterligare hundra år eller så... Det är ingen vacker syn huset. I kväll är det täckt med pressenningar. I morgon börjar återuppbyggnaden... om det inte regnar...

evening delights

we have no oven but we can fix nice dinners anyway on the grill if and when it does not rain

this one was grilled makarel with asperges..

a few things are new and remind us how spoilt we are in sweden/stockholm. Mobile phone coverage is so so here in the mountains, some work, others don't. Internet is slow. And when it rains, there is not even TV.

Now i was not aware that clouds and rain can interfere with those signals, but apparently they do. So even though Silvia gave us one of her TVs as a loan for the world cup, there is no footbal match watching for Niklas tonight. The only message is 'no signal'. And even the internet connection is extra weird tonight. the weather is strange, maybe global warming is to blame?

what a difference a day makes

two guys started to take off the tiles from the roof yesterday, they started after lunch and were halfway done at half past 5 when they left and said, 'see you tomorrow' and how sweet that sounded in our ears. especially since they were back before 8 this morning. the good tiles are stapled on the scaffolding, the bad tiles are thrown in the container. and then the old wood, probably a hundred year old. or more. some of it will stay, some of the big beams, the rest will become nice heating source for our neighbour and our special bathroom.

today is friday, they said 'see you tomorrow' again tonight...

i made a phone order of two pallets of bricks for tomorrow morning. it was a little exciting to first make sure the lady at magazzino edile knows who is talking to her and then to place the order and make sure they really deliver on saturdays.. she said 'bene'. Will be interesting to see whether we get two pallets of stones tomorrow morning or two turkeys.. :-)

byggmöte ett

Rapport från byggmöte nummer 1: (ja jag vet att vi har varit här i 10 veckor men det här är Italien)
Paolo Michelis, vår director of works eller byggtekniker/arkitekt, är en seriös man. Han hade idag kallat till byggmöte för att titta på hur arbetet går och för att kontrollera säkerheten. Han hade bara lovord att uttrycka. Lovord över hur Felice har planerat placering av betongblandare, avspärrningsnät mm, ännu mera lovord över Martinas och mitt arbete inomhus. "Its incredible! So much you have done" sa han och såg ärligt förvånad ut när vi visade honom runt i huset. Vi vet ju att vi har jobbat hårt att vi har gjort mycket men det är inte så mycket som syns. Vi har mest tagit bort.. Avloppet syns.. Blondie syntes nästan inte alls när hon kröp in i en påse som råkade ligga på köksbordet när vi kom hem...

Ösa grus...

När jag pratade med mamma på telefon i söndags och hon frågade om det regnade svara jag att det regnar inte här på sommaren. Nu har det regnat KONSTANT i 36 timmar och då menar jag REGNAT! Regnat så att det har forsat på gatorna och för några timmar har vi haft rinnande vatten i vårt lilla hus :-)
Halv nio i morse anlände mannen med lastbilen från Magazzino Edile med 1,5 kubikmeter grus. Gruset ska till bli nytt golv i vinkällaren. Problemet är att för att komma till vinkällaren måste man gå ner för 3 trappor och vi lyckades inte att bygga en ramp så vi kunde transportera gruset i skottkärran. Då återstod 2 hinkar, en skyffel och många, många vändor. 1,5 kubik grus väger väl sådär 2 ton och kanske kan man orka med max 10 kg i varje hink så många vändor blir det.. Räknar man efter så blir det 200 vändor men det gör vi inte... Vi turades om.. jag tog 5 vändor.. 4 skyfflar grus i varje hink.. Martina 5 vändor och 4 skyfflar.. osv osv.. Att det är ett hårt jobb som kostar blod, svett men inga tårar framgår av bild kallad Bevismaterial 1!
Vid lunchtid var vi i alla fall klara och i eftermiddag har vi varit hos Simone och svetsat. En "liten" vinhylla blev resultatet och titta så bra det blev.. eller?

in and out

we are thinking tons these days. Today we got a little container delivered for some disposal. We had almost filled it by lunchtime and did the rest in the early afternoon. 3 cubic meters, equalling about three tons. the container will be replaced by a clean one tomorrow, cause we have more old plaster to take out of the house.

Then we went into town and ordered one and a half cubic meters of little stones for the wine cellar floor. So tomorrow we have another good workout.

not all of us are hard working though, the dynamic duo is excelling at relaxing.

garessio water festival

today we woke to the sound of people working on and at our scaffolding. The front side had to be taken away when the crane left, and now it was time to set it up again. Yes it is sunday but that does not stop some companies. A few hours of work and the job was done.

For lunch we went to Garessio where a water festival was held - the mineral water company now bought by Nestlé as sponsor. There was a parcours with 12 stations throughout the old town, and the stations where held by restaurants from the city or area, each serving a starter or main or dessert. At the start, you bought your tickets, each for 2 euros which are good for one plate or one wine, and you get a paper bag with a wineglas, a plastic fork and knife and a serviette and a bottle of water.

Then we were off to enjoy the different plates. The old town felt so much bigger with this parcours and we saw new places. The white polenta was a favourite with many, one can see at the long line, and we skipped the steamed cow stomach..

Elddopet

Folk eldar här. Alla samlar små eller stora högar med pinnar och torrt gräs och tänder på. Något eldningsförbud tycks aldrig råda utan det är alltid fritt fram..

Som utlänning gäller det ju att anpassa sig så därför samlade vi oss en försiktig liten hög med torrt gräs och pinnar och tände på vägen bakom huset. Snart kom grann-farbrorn med en grep och pekade på den STORA högen med kvistar och grenar som han och Martina fick ihop när dom ansade vinrankorna. Säkert hade han retat sig på att högen bara låg där utan att nån hällde en skvätt bensin på och tuttade på.. Nu såg han chansen. Snart hade vi inte bara en försiktig liten eld utan en brasa som en majbrasearrangör skulle varit stolt över!
Bilden är alltså från första stadiet..

Vinkällaren igen och liten italiensk språkkurs!

Som av en händelse kommer vinkällaren med stor sannolighet bli det första rummet som är HELT klart. Det beror inte på att vi har jobbat extra hårt i rummet utan snarare av att det inte behövs så mycket jobb där. Vi har plockat ut lite skräp och grävt bort lite av jordgolvet. Nu tänkte vi oss att lägga in grus på golvet, skaffa vinhyllor och sen är det i princip klart.
Vi var på Gran Casa häromdan och tänkte köpa några vinhyllor men när den enda vi gillade kostade 50€ och rymde bara 6 flaskor tänkte vi om. Nu satsar vi på armeringsnät i stället. Ett nät 2x3 meter kostar 16€ och kommer (efter att ha kapats, justerats och svetsats) att rymma ca 200 flaskor. Snyggt blir det det kan jag lova.. några dar till sen är en hylla klar... Bara Simone (han med bilskroten) har tid att hjälpa oss att svetsa)


Så några italienska ord som vi har daglig nytta av:

Rete= Nät, (armeringsnät mm)
Cemento= Cement såklart
Sabbia= Sand, (att blanda med cement till puts)
Siempre lavoro= Bara arbete (en av dom få orden jag kan säga till tanterna som brukar stanna till utanför huset
Trippa= Komage (serveras ganska ofta här och rätt som det är har man det på tallriken om man inte passar sig!)

morning mist

often in the mornings the sky is clear and a few clouds are sneaking around the higher tops of the mountains. sometimes they lay like a sheet on some lower parts of the slopes. this i assume is the same phenomena which gives the 'nebbiolo' wine its name, mist wine. in early summer mornings it is a great view.

happy hens

there are eggs and there are eggs. we have been looking for organic eggs in the stores here without success, the best we could get was 'having access to go outside'. but then we got eggs from our neighbour, from her own. she has a little den for them, and her three hens can go out, but have no green space. so she brings them a handful of greens in the mornings and evenings to pick on. and .. i swear i have seen it, she caresses them. and they like it, i had never seen a hen snuggle up to a person before. so these eggs are from real happy hens. and did i mention before that they give the cats endless joy when they sneak up as close as they dare and watch and watch and watch..

wine cellar

this is what the part of the cellar that is supposed to become our wine cellar looked like when we bought the house. The only difference today is that we have cleaned out the barrel and the junk. next step is to dig out as much of the dirt floor as we can and then put in a new layer of small stones. And then put in light and shelves for the wine. Niklas has an idea which we will try out as soon as we will get access to a welding machine, sometime next week probably. gotta find a nice place for those good barolo wines we bought yesterday.

barolo wine tasting paradise

today is niklas birthday so after he spent the morning plastering a wall in the upper kitchen, we took ourselves to the wine area north. this week is the presentation and tasting of the 2006 Barolo wines, and in Barolo, where we have rented us a nice room for the night, in the communal cantina, they are having more than 100 wines open for tasting. it works like this, you come in, pay 15 Euros per person and then you get a glass and can taste all the Barolos. you won't be able to try them all, not even in three and a half hours.. one could come back the next day, but we will be heading home to the renovation tomorrow morning.

now we are resting in our room and get prepared for the most amazing series of antipasti in one of my favourite restaurants.

Stadsvandring i Casario

Idag är det söndag... och Sveriges nationaldag.. På söndagar jobbar vi inte och särskilt inte på nationaldagar.. i stället passade vi på att se oss om i omgivningen.

Casario ligger högt det har väl alla förstått och antingen går man brant uppför eller brant utför. Bra för motionen och benstyrkan...

Vi hittade några fler renoveringsobjekt som vi stannade och drömde om och dessutom hittade vi riktiga plastblommor som tycks växa vilt här... titta bara!

junk food heaven

on the via nationale, the big street between ceva and imperia, just before garessio, is the barbero grissini factory. factory or factory, it is a rather small establishment, but they have an outlet store. today we went. it is complete junkfood heaven. no fiber as long as the eye can see. but fantastic grissini in all shapes and with interesting stuff in it and also all the other cookies and goodies they produce in other towns. for example a dangerous cookie called tartufo dolce d'alba.

the guy in the store is a fantastic marketeer. we bought 3 different kinds of grissini, one with walnuts, one with olives and one with rosemary plus those dangerous tartufo dolce d'alba and we got 4 samples of other delicious sweets with us. he knows we will be back!!