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I can't predict when I have the time to post a new blog, but check occasionally. I'm going to try at least weekly.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Ambah R.I.P.

Song of the day: “Forever” by Chris Brown. Weird, but now as summer is rapidly settling in, the song so reminds me of last year when we were going through the one week edit of horror that at times a shiver just shivers up my spine. Yikes.

But let’s start off with some good news: The younger sibs insist that they want to take part of the responsibilities of financial problems and such, so that big brother and I have more time to focus on my books. On the one hand it feels a little weird, on the other it is kind of a relief: there really is very little fun in carrying all the responsibilities, and now that they want to do this…well, I can relax a little, maybe have some actual time to promote the W.I.’s…who knows?

Let’s wait and see how it all works out. All in all I can only see the positive sides to it…the only thing that bothers me is to shift gears, really, so it might seem I’m a little short at the moment, hah.

On to the next item, I was rather mean with that miserable excuse of a blog the other day. A rhyme really doesn’t count, but there was much to do, and, well, it doesn’t matter.

The dogs have been dipped through the anti parasite bath, so that was done at least. It took an hour or so to do them all, but we got through it.

Bad news: Ambah, the 12 year old cocker spaniel I have mentioned on occasion these past weeks, regretfully didn’t make it through the week, which had me a tad sad for the past couple of days. It shouldn’t, not really, considering he was old, blind and deaf and didn’t enjoy life anymore (weighing quantity and quality comes into play) but still, it is always a bad hit.
Strange that you can form such an attachment to a dog who has basically always been a tad nuts. I mean seriously, he was bad tempered, liked to fight and an ankle biter if we'd let him, and still I cried buckets when it happened.

Phew...well, let’s get back to less sad stuff, ‘cause I can feel myself fill up again. Tubery has been attached to the pool drain so we can use the wastewater for the plants (half went out this very morning) and it worked rather well. We actually have three or four Barr pressure in the lowest part of the garden.

We are doing some early potato harvesting, considering it will take less water, they are big enough and tasty, and because the leaves have developed some sort of fungus which could seep down through to the roots if we take too long. Luckily two new patches of potatoes have been planted already, and soon the chard and corn will be done, allowing for a third. So far I’m really satisfied with what the garden is supplying, however.

We’ve already had our first two white cabbages, more chard, leek, pickles, cucumber and beets. Within the next couple of weeks, the first tomatoes should start to get red, meaning that they should be ready for consumption in that time. Oh my, almost forgot, our first pepper is steadily growing and we’ve had our very first Tayberry (raspberry) just yesterday. Yummy.

Old Bommel (bobtail) isn’t feeling too grand, which reminds me that we have just been informed that due to a case of rabies in northern Spain, causing all sorts of problems in France, has affected the local authorities. Now we are obligated to microchip all the dogs that aren’t already microchipped, and give them an obligatory rabies vaccination, no matter whether or not they ever come outside the yard. The shot costs €17, a booklet per dog €13 and around €30 for a microchip: you do the math…it freaked me out a little, I’ll tell you. But, luckily, it is not something big brother and I need to decide on alone. Phew.

Okay, what else got done? We transplanted potted plants into the “wild”: Melons, pumpkins, onions, peppers and so on. We are also trying out different techniques by working with tubing, gutters, dams and, of course, puddles. It is all rather exciting from where I’m standing, but I won’t bore y’all with the details.

The dogs are finally getting used to the entire us-working-in-the-garden-thing and now that we have put reed mats against the fences in the corner of the garden, so they won’t be able to see the neighbors and bark at them.
Amri and Chaos might not like it, and bark in the middle of the hill instead, but other than that it is working well. Hah.

The balustrade around the basin is just about done, it goes from the stairs all the way round to the greenhouse…and considering most of it has been painted now, it looks rather quaint. Sort of like a mix between a gladiator pit and ranch fencing, I can’t decide which. Hah.

We’re about done with the letter, which is “working” again, I think. There is a business like tone, without being cold, a nice flow, grammar correct, punctuation checked, containing all the necessary elements and just a hint of a risk; I wouldn’t know HOW to improve it even if I wanted to.

What with us focusing on sending “Saving Nina” out again, editing is on a slow burn, of course. We only managed a handful of pages in the past few days, but that will come again, I’m sure.

So that’s about it for today. It’s time for me to fill in letters and such while big brother cuts paper and whatnot. I’d ask you to wish me luck, but…I’ve gotta go.

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