Building a foundation for a garden oven - Part 1

10 August, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 5 seen

Idea to have a nice garden pizza oven were sit first already last year, together with the works we started shaping a form of our rural house, we recently inherited. Thus we had to wait for more than a year, before actually proceeding. 

The other day, while the pond guys were finishing digging pond, I dug some soil, to lay in the foundation for garden brick.

Laying foundation for garden oven

With the help of a shovel, I will dug off the ground surface

Shaping the form of foundation

We will go for a L for garden oven, attached with a sink and water (nice outdoor kitchen)

Laying in bricks

I'm using old clay bricks from the chimney we took down some time ago.

Base foundation formed using old clay bricks

Now it's time to fill the foundation base with a concrete, but later on that.

Pond Digging - Part 3 - The Result

9 August, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 25 seen

This morning started with a surprise, I was still sleeping, when my partner awakened me and told - pond guys are digging. I was surprised, because I didn't heard a sound. Maybe I was too tired from yesterday's pond draining or as it turned latter - the modern excavators are quiet. 

Anyway, I was not surprised at all - because when pond guys started, they didn't even informed me, see how it started in part 1.

I made (more correct, my partner did it) my morning coffee and took my camera to document the progress.

Excavator digging pond from the road side

I was a bit worried about the road, because we are sharing it with one another neighbor, and few days ago he informed us, that today he will be adding some load of gravel on the road surface. And that for a few hours he will block any access to the road. I told that to the pond guys and they replied with a smile, he will have to wait. 

Digging the pond

At the Spring we constructed three greenhouses, and they were actually an obstacle in today's digging works, but we agreed not to touch them.

Excavator demolishing and old buildings foundation

As we had access to the excavator we asked could it be possible to demolish one old and collapsed building. Not a problem for these pond guys. Later it turned out there are huge rocks made in foundation. We will use them as our rock garden. More on that later. 

We are almost there

Cats discovered that there is a pond

Panoramic photo of new pond

Now it will take some time for grass to grow in, and a lot of time for water to get the pond level (there are a few underground water sources and a lot of rain/snow waters)

How to drain a pond with a pump and hose - Digging Pond - Part 2

6 August, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 6 seen

Today I had a chance to excel in pond works - I was left with no choice but to drain the pond. Luckily the pond guys brought an electric pump to make my life much easier. 

If you are new to home remodeling series, make sure you check out an article on how it all started about a year ago. And of course check out first part on pond digging, when we discovered that pond have been dug without our presence. Surprise pond digging in the middle of Summer.

Now, pond guy phoned me and told me that it would be great that we should drain the pond, he will bring a pump and all I have to do - just to watch for the water level going down and turn of the pump once the works are done. In fact it turned out to be a bit complicated, but in short yes, nothing hard.

Inserting pump in the pond

Luckily I had bought an electrical extension cord 40 meters long to plug the pump to the electricity. 

Pond drainage

With help of about 30 meters long hose I had an option to drain pond water to the nearby cherry tree garden. 

Pond drainage - few hours later

In total it took me about 6 hours to drain the pond. Next morning pond guys will return and fill continue (finish) digging the pond.

Chasing Sunset Photography with a Strong Foreground (Pāvilosta / Jūrkalne)

5 August, 2016 | | 10 seen

Chasing sunset photography with a strong foreground is a brief story, which happened on the next day after Summer Solstice. We took our moms and a little doggie and decided to visit coastal Latvian beaches. 

At start we headed to Pāvilosta piers, I left girls wandering around while installed a tripod and thought I will make a few HDR's here. I have been into HDR photography since the day 1 I discovered this lovely technique back in Tbilisi. The rule of thumb for a great HDR is so called Golden hour - 30 minutes before sunrise/sunset to get interesting colors.

Pāvilosta piers

I have felt in love with the city of Pāvilosta since the day one I first visited it. Read my review of Pāvilosta piers or see Piece of Life postcards from series post - Postcards from Pāvilosta.

The above picture was not yet post - processed and I already knew - I have a good picture for my 365 days photo project. So we left white sand beaches of Pāvilosta and headed to nearby tavern - Āķagals, and spent there about an hour. My better part told me - hey, but we must get you a better sunset photography - let's visit the nearby Jūrkalne seashore bluffs... I wandered, how does she knows that above picture is not good enough if it's not yet even post-processed? But I agreed.. and we continued our route for chasing a better sunset photography.

Sunset photography near Jūrkalne seashore

This was actually first time I visited Jūrkalne, here I have covered a brief description - Jūrkalne seashore bluffs. And then it happened.

Sunset photography near Jūrkalne

​She was right - we were driving Pāvilosta - Venstspils road and then it happened - a strong foreground (tree) and sunset. The rest was the matter of technique. We spent a good amount of time at this meadow, made some selfies and even videos. 

This brief story of chasing a better sunset photography with a strong foreground reminds me times when my beloved told me at 4AM - hey, let's go and photography Tbilisi in morning... Want to see the result? See Tbilisi - Fairyland in Winter

I can only say thanks to my better part for awakening me up at 7,6,5 or even 4 AM or suggesting to chase for a better foreground to support me in my 365 days photo project. Piece of Life after all!

Jurkalne Seashore Bluffs

4 August, 2016 | Tourism objects | 20 seen

The Jurkalne Seashore bluffs (Jūrkalnes stāvkrasti) are one of the most picturesque parts of Latvia's Western part seashore, located some 20 km from Pāvilosta.

Jūrkanle bluffs are great for photography or quiet walk near the beach. The bluffs in Jurkalne belong to the landslide-landfall type. The largest amount of erosion can be observed in Jurkalne.

Seashore near Jūrkalne

A quiet beach untouched by civilization and bluffs of up to 20 metres high. 

The stairs that lead from the top of the bluffs to the beach have been replaced many times, due to the shore receding after powerful storms. It has been noticed that the shore can recede as fast as a few metres a year.

Sunset near Jūrkalne

Jurkalne offers ample opportunities for spending your holidays — either quietly in front of the see, or more actively: this is an excellent location for paragliding, windsurfing, kiteboarding and paddle boarding.

Jūrkalne from a drone flight

Postcards from Pāvilosta

3 August, 2016 | | 6 seen

In today's Piece of Life photo series - Postcards from Pāvilosta. I made an article about Pāvilosta and Pāvilosta's lighthouse a while ago. This time we headed to Pāvilosta in company of five after we celebrated Summer Solstice.

 I was equipped with a tripod and I already knew - I will catch a sunset today

Pāvilosta piers

Much of the Pāvilosta history and foundation is related to harbor here - Information(link is external) about the history of Pavilosta dates back to the period of Duke Jekabs (1642-1682) when ships could enter the Saka River and Pavilosta served as Aizputes harbor. This harbor was used to export wood, grain and other products to various other harbors in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Trade agreements with Danish merchants were especially prosperous. 

Pāvilosta beach

It might sound a little bit overstated, but allow me to say - Latvians have their own Portofino (hmm, should we call it part of Latvian Riviera?)

Catching Sun Set at Pāvilosta

Rude Manor

2 August, 2016 | Tourism objects | 53 seen

Rude manor (Rudes muiža) is located in Laidi parish, Kuldīga district Latvia. According to Kuldīga tourism information center it's one of the best preserved Empire style manors in Kurzeme.

Rude manor complex with a simple, but elegant Empire stylemaster’s house, a stable, a few barns and servants’ houses is located on the picturesque Rude hill.

Rude manor

In 1819 the estate became Firck family’s property. In 1882 Rude changed its owners again, and was bought by baron Paul von Manteuffel, who was its owner until the manor was expropriated in 1921. However, the Fircks family gave the most significant input creating the basis of the manor complex which has survived until this very day.

Rude manor

Q2 2016 Blog Traffic & Online Income - 133,939 Users / $3,034.76

30 July, 2016 | Blogging | 8 seen

Welcome to the second quarterly traffic and income report for Q2 2016( April, May and June) . Make sure you check out previous quarter report or go thought the income report archives starting 2014. 

If you are new here - I have been collecting and sharing data for my online success or failures since January 2014, back then my blog was 3 month old and I decided to start online experiment - can someone actually make money through blogging? Now, I know it for sure - yes, you can, but it takes a time and determination. These online income reports helps me to track my success or failures, and hopefully can inspire you as well.

Blog Traffic Q2 2016

Blog traffic for the past quarter has been pretty steady. By now each month my blog gets about 45,000 monthly users, compared with previous quarter it is a small dip by -3.09%. 

Blog traffic Q2 2016

I wouldn't say that I'm satisfied getting more than 130,000 users to blog in three months right now, as it is well bellow my overall goals for 2016. In my 2015 year review I did set a goal to attract in total 650,000 users to my blog. Which would be about 162,000 users quarterly. Thus the gap is not huge, it still makes me concerned-  will I be able to manage my goal. On average it will ask about 190,000 quarterly users for the next two quarters. Of course, there might be larger traffic gains in following quarters (What I'm looking to have), but a much worst scenario could happen and traffic might drop. Because of that - I'm not completely satisfied with 133,000 users, thus I'm thankful and grateful for having them.

On the other hand, this blog has experienced 118% user growth (that's more than double) during last 12 months, if compared Q2 2015 vs Q2 2016

Blog traffic Q2 2015 vs Q2 2016

From 60,000 users at second quarter of 2015 to 132,000 users in 2016. I would say that's a decent year-to-year growth.

Income Q2 2016

I believe most of the readers are more interested in actual income rather traffic stats, but let me remind you, in online business (If we can call it so) income is dependent on traffic. It might differ niche from niche - there are niches where a lot more money is made from traffic I have. And this is another interesting thing I would love to talk about.

You already know the numbers from the title, but let me cover some details.

Q2 made me a nice revenue of $3,182.23. 

Combined RPM from different revenue channels stands at $17.03 for Q2 2016, what is up from $13.01 at Q1 2016. . RPM - stands for earnings for 1000 page views/impression - Reach per Mile.

Q2 RPM 2016

What does it means in short? I received on average $17.03 per every 1000 page views. Since I had about 185,000 page views it totals up in a nice sum of about $3,000. RPM rates are not stable for my blog, they fluctuate month after month, but speaking of Q2 I feel a bit surprised after seeing RPM close to $20. Higher RPM rates means more income. I hope I will be able to keep such RPM rate in future.

Income streams for blog

Q2 I had an affiliate marketing (Amazon Associates, Booking.com) and display ads (Google AdSense). The most money is made with Amazon Associates, then Google AdSense and then Booking.com

Affiliate Marketing:

• Amazon Associates: $2,968,8 (+$596.56)
• Booking: $59.01 (- $16.98)

Display ads:

• Google AdSense:$155.41 (+ $27.31)

Total: $3,183.22

My top performing channel for almost two years already is Amazon Associates. Pretty much of the earnings come from older posts back from 2015 and even 2014. I'm using separate tracking ID's for each year. At Q2 of 2016 I stopped promoting Amazon products in May and June, and they turned out to be one of the most successful months in terms of income. I had a free time to focus on other issues and it still helped me to earn almost 3K from Amazon Associates.

Booking  - it's the toughest affiliate I ever have done - 59 dollars are not much, I know, but it' s decent.

Google AdSense performs pretty good, again 155 dollars are not much either, but I call it a free money - which comes pretty easy (slowly but easy), observing a small gains in AdSense is nice.

Expenses

This quarter I spent money on hosting and Facebook Ads.

• Linode: $127.5
• Facebook Ads: $19.97

Total: $147.47

At the start of my blogging career I set up a goal - to break even my hosting expenses by reaching with Google AdSense at least $40/mo, now I can say for sure Google AdSense breaks even not only hosting expenses but also covers expenses on Facebook Ads.

Other Stats:

Twitter: 6,642 followers
Facebook: 1,787 likes (+346)
Flickr: 120 followers (+3)
Email subscriptions: 51
Alexa global rank: 198,448 (-2693)

Goals for Q3 2016

Before digging in for the upcoming goals, let's see did I completed my previous goal for this quarter:

My goals for second quarter (April, May, June) of 2016 - Traffic combined should be at least 120,000...

Income - aggressive goal is to crack $3,000 at the end of second quarter....But, anything above $2,000 and I will be satisfied. 

In fact I did complete both of my goals, traffic at the end of Q2 were more than 130,000 users, and I cracked my aggressive income goal and reached $3,000 milestone. I'm pretty pleased.

Now, speaking about goals for the third quarter (July, August, September) of 2016 - Traffic combined should be at least 150,000. Speaking of Income - I will stick with a modest $3,500 goal. It is tempting to set a higher milestone, but in fact $3,500 goal for now seems a bit too high, so I'm always humble in money things. $3,500 would be ideal to crack, but anything above $3,000 and it will be a good result.

How I grew my blog to 1 million Pageviews in 34 months

28 July, 2016 | Blogging | 9 seen

It took me 34 months or almost 3 years to get to the 1 million page views milestone. In this article I will reveal 3 simple tactics (no tricks here) how I achieved it.

I took the title and inspiration for this post from Chris Lema article: How I grew my blog to 1 million pageviews in 18 months (without tricks)

1 million pageviews

Now I can read with a smile my previous milestone - 10,000 users in 10 months. A lot of has changed since then, but here are things that don't. 

34 months later since I started this blog, I can call myself one of the lucky guys, who actually is getting paid for blogging. That 1 million page views have helped me to earn about $18,000 from different advertising channels, starting Google AdSense, including Svorn Ads, Amazon CPM, Booking.com (some other) and Affiliate marketing. In fact thanks to the blogging I have spare funds to invest in our rural country house remodeling works. Here are some major milestone were blog fund have helped in home reconstruction works: Changing roof (~$5,000), drilling a bore hole (~$3,500), digging a pond (~$700). 

It would be much harder to find funds to invest into our rural country house, and probably we wouldn't even start this project without spare funds.

Yup, quite an interesting last 34 month were from text based articles at start I have developed many new categories featuring rich photography. I can say, with help of blog I have become a better photographer at least ha ha. 

I hope it won't take another 34 months to break 2 million page views, if things will continue as now, I should crack second million after 10 months, let's see will I manage to double my earnings from that, but for now, thanks for being with me and have a wonderful day. 

Pond Digging - Part 1

27 July, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 10 seen

Today come with a huge surprise, we were not on site, when a pond digger called and informed - we are heading toward your house to clean (dig) your pond.

The thing is, we negotiated with pond guys such tasks a few week ago, but didn't agree on terms. Huge was our surprise when arrived on site we saw following:

Freshly dug pond

Well, not completely, pond guys called me and informed me, tey couldn't finish works today as they need to pump of the water from pond.

Blue skies and a... mud

New Holland excavator 

The works will be completed in a few days, before that I (and not the pond guys will pump of all water from pond)

Peony Nursery „Ziedoņi”

24 July, 2016 | Farms | 18 seen

Peony nursery Ziedoņi is located in the Western Latvia, district of Kuldīga in Pelči village. I had a chance to visit this garden mid June 2016, at time when flowers did bloom.

I wouldn't call this a little Latvian Keukenhof, but some great impressions some could get here. In fact more than flowers I actually enjoyed a short conversation with husband of the garden owner and we were talking about grass mowing.

Peony display garden

In June this nursery welcomes visitors to their display garden where visitors can witness amazing variety of peony flowers. 

Peony flower

Nursery grow peonies for almost ten years and have gathered collection with over 200 varieties – tree peonies,herbaceous peonies and an itoh hybrids.

A small vineyard

Peony flower

„Ziedoņi” offers to buy plants in Autumn (August – October) and spring (April – May). Plants are delivered in European Union, by mail. See bellow for contacts.

Ziedoņi peony nursery in Latvia

Visit ziedoni.lv to learn more or follow on Facebook

Meson del Asador Restaurant review in Jerez de la Frontera

23 July, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 24 seen

I now have a new personal favorite restaurant (with the other one been located in Izmir, Turkey - I will cover it in future, when will plan a trip to Turkey) - Meson del Asador in Jerez de la Frontera in Spain. 

We went here just shorty after checked in Hotel Exe Guadalete, located few blocks from this restaurant. At start it looked just like just another restaurant, let's say nothing special. We were brought our menus, we started to look through, nothing interesting popped out. So randomly on good luck we opted for Iberian steak mix. As well we had red that Jerez is a famous of it's sherry making traditions, and Jerez de la Frontera might be actually even the birthplace of sherry, thus some argue that it originated in Shiraz, Persia. We ordered a glass of fino sherry wine to give it a try.

Menu at Meson del Asador

As you can see, there are many items to choose from, which makes it even harder for restaurant visitors. After I opted for a plate of Iberian steak mix, waiter with a help of sign language (Little to no English here) showed me something, which at that moment I understood means will be cooked on the grill, instead of pan. It turned out, I was wrong, he tried to ask me - would I love to cook my steak by my own, or let it to handle to their chef, and I replied, even don't realizing, that I asked to bring the grill to me, so I can cook our meal tonight.

Fino sherry wine

I actually didn't tried it, but my partner told me - it's good one, and I believe her. Fino ("refined" in Spanish) is the driest and palest of the traditional varieties of Sherry and Montilla-Moriles fortified wine. They are consumed comparatively young, and unlike the sweeter varieties should be consumed soon after the bottle is opened as exposure to air can cause them to lose their flavor within hours.

Iberian steak mix

Above plate were brought to us with selection of finest Iberian steaks, the steaks were unprepared yet, and I had to grill them by my own.

Author of this blog captured in action - grilling Iberian steak

Fun, thus unexpected experience. 

Iberian steak on grill

Iberian steak served with chips

Mmm, juicy, delicious, there is a reason I call Meson del Asador restaurant my new favorite.

Meson del Asador restaurant in Jerez de la Frontera

The Bottom Line

We spent a few hours at this place in a very pleasant atmosphere, for a chance to grill my steak by my own we paid EUR 40.00 (including tips). I will return to this place by the first chance. Highly recommended!

Hotel Exe Guadalete in Jerez de la Frontera Review

22 July, 2016 | Hotel reviews | 11 seen

We booked hotel Exe Guadalete in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain for one night at the start of June, 2016. It's a nice, decent hotel with free parking and cozy bed. 

Right in the heart of Jerez... Is it a hotel with a convention centre or a convention centre with a hotel.

Hotel Exe Guadalete in Jerez

Set in gardens, Exe Guadalete is located in Jerez de la Frontera, 15 minutes’ drive from the Costa de la Luz. It features an outdoor swimming pool with chill-out area and free Wi-Fi.

Bedroom

The Exe Guadalete offers simple, attractive décor with wooden flooring. Each air-conditioned room has satellite TV and a minibar. The hotel‘s café-bar serves a range of light meals and snacks. Guests can enjoy a drink in the cocktail bar, or on the hotel terrace.

View through the window

Jerez is famous for its sherry and there are several sherry-making tours on offer within walking distance of the hotel. 

Huge plant of Devil's Seed at hotels parking

We paid about EUR 60 for one night stay here, in overall - decent hotel. Book online on Booking.com

Venta El Loro

21 July, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 11 seen

Venta El Loro is a small tavern located next to the Barbate - Vejer highway, we got here randomly, just passing by. Turned out to be a nice, little tavern, where with the help of sign language (No English here), we managed to order some really delicious Iberian ham and cheese sandwiches. 

Located in the Natural Park of La Brena and marshes of Barbate, just 3.5 km from the beaches of Barbate and 5 minutes from Zahara de los Atunes.

Venta El Loro

From this beautiful place some can see the marshes of Barbate on one side and by others pinanes of La Brena. Rio Barbate establishes a system of marshes at the mouth of the utmost importance as rest area
and numerous migratory birds nested each year passing between Europe and Africa.

Flowers in Venta El Loro exterior 

Want some more flowers in the pots? Visit Estepona. 

Iberian ham sandwich

Visit ventaelloro.esy.es to learn more.

Ebb in Spain

20 July, 2016 | | 3 seen

For the first time in my lifetime I has to chance to see an ebb, or more precisely - the result of an ebb - an empty space in te place where a sea should be. That happened at the start of June, somewhere around Barbate, region of Spain.

The result of an ebb

Lonely boats after an ebb

Ebb in Spain