A bit of everything.

Song of the day: “The men in this town” by Shakira, ever since one of the neighbors was playing it full volume. Hah.

Today was the weirdest day, weather wise, I have ever experienced this time of year. Seriously, we had clouds, around 25 degrees celcius and I was actually chilly. I kid you not, I was cold, and put on a blouse while we were working on the edit. It didn’t go as well as it could have, what with a miserly rain starting up, and then stopping again when we’d put the computer away from the splashes. Darn it. Guess, I’ll have to do some more after the blog.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First there was yesterday, of course. Duh, I knew that, really, I did…I think. Hmm. Well, anyway, I had that stupid doctor’s appointment, of course. Was there bright and shiny, right on the dot and was led into this really miserable little room, filled with supplies, a couple of chairs and a support where I had to put my arm.

Seriously, when this young little flower (yes, I know, I’m getting old if I start calling a 24-something a young flower, but I don’t give a fig) came barging in I though: “Aw hell, this is gonna hurt.” I swear, she hardly looked old enough for PMS, let alone skilled enough to draw blood…with a syringe that is, not in any other way, which would be downright easy, hah.

Okay, I’m POed at the moment: big brother is taking a nap in his chair beside me, and I would be doing the exact same if I had any say in the matter, grrrr. Lucky bastard for having to wait for me to start on the edit.

Anyways, the pricking when smoothly, barely even felt it, so kudos to the young RN or whatever the heck she was. I gotta say that the darkness of that blood freaked me out a little. It was almost black and the imaginative part of me is already seeing some wonderfully sci-fi story where it turns out that my blood is unusual, maybe acidic, so that when the next time I come it, these hazmat guys will be waiting for me, and pounce the moment I enter the office. Hah. I know, gotta keep that imagination on a leash. I blame a misspent youth of reading both horrors and sci-fi 24/3…the other four would be for romances, hah.

But yeah, I’ll get the results, of the X-ray and blood test Wednesday…yes, the suspense is killing, so exciting. Who knows the answers to this agonizing foot problem? I’m sorry, did I just dirty your screen with the sarcasm. That wasn’t my intention. Let’s just say that I call it a perfect waste of the morning, in particular since the answer can only be one of two things: In the end the only option that is there is make the best of it and mosey on.

Next…Considering grandpa’s moped had a flat, and we had to go to the village anyway (big brother drove me) we opted to do some groceries, like fresh bread and a bag of apples. Of course there was no mail, which like, was not unexpected, but annoying. I know, technically I should just be twiddling my thumbs waiting for that TP to give Saving Nina a yes or a no, but it’s frustrating to say the least.

After a pleasantly successful edit, big brother and mom brought our visiting friend home, and grandpa and I put in the poles for the future balustrade (I know; pictures! I will post them soon, I promise) of the path that leads to the greenhouse. We dug holes, put the poles in concrete, at which point it was time for me to head on down to water the plants. There was another short edit at the end of the evening and then it was up to the carport so we could fix grandpa’s tire…well, big brother did that, I was just there to read from this Spanish book we’re reading for practice. We were a little late with that, and I passed out proper by the time I finally hit the sheets.

Which brings us to today, at last.
Let’s see, hmmm. I made soup this morning, and yes, it was zucchini soup and no, we do not have an indefinite supply of them anymore. We’re letting four plants finish their cycle and are regularly taking off the little ones so we won’t have zucchinis from the ears anymore. Hah. The ones we have elected for next year’s planting are starting to get huge, several already have the size of an average upper leg…which is a little freaky on the imagery, I’ll admit.

Oh gawd, almost forgot, we also found a Pecan tree, which had spent the past few months in the shade, so the guy who sold it to us warned that we should let it get used to sun gradually before we planted it outside. We have the perfect spot for it, but since that is in the full sun, it will be a couple of weeks before we’re putting it there, really. Poor thing would think it’s burning alive…if the sun ever comes out again. Yep, that’s my pessimistic tendency rearing its ugly head. One cloudy day, and something inside me is whining that it will never be sunny again. Aaargh.

Since the rain started during the edit we stopped early (an hour and a half, in fact) and did some stuff in the yard. I transplanted seedlings into pots, big brother put potted ones into the ground and after cleaning the floors of the greenhouse with grandpa at last, we were properly pleased with the end result. The floors are clean at last, and now it is really starting to look like something more than just a pile of wood and concrete.

Afterwards, the weather was iffy, but only a few drops fell during the course of the day, grandpa and I headed on up to the paddock and got wooden slats from our supplies so we could put up the balustrade in full.
It took an hour at most and then the balustrade was done, looking pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Yes, pictures…I promised, didn’t I?

Okay, last bit: So I’ve been reading Harry Harrison’s Deathworld omnibus this past week or so and I’ve got to say that the last one, part three, was by far the best. Sure, the idea of Pyrrus was marvelous, and the concept pretty darn fascinating, but he was a little lightweight on the characters; from part one to two, I hardly had a clue what the leads looked like and besides the sometimes humorous thoughts, very little of their motivation was explained.

I wonder if it is the times or the genre, but reading the whole series together, I didn’t start to like Harrison’s writing until book three. He grew in those twelve years of writing, I think. He was very basic and to the point in the first two, but luckily there was a lot more depth of feeling in the last one. It reminded me of why I had liked the story and the characters so much, and that was a good thing, since, until part three I was starting to get a bit annoyed.

Enough. Now, I’m going scare the bejeezus out of big brother and get some more work done, hah.

Doctor's visit. Yay.

Song of the day: .....you really don’t wanna know. Nursery rhymes are a pain in the behind, and I am fighting a battle of epic proportions to get rid of them. Aaaargh. And that while the day started so promising with Chris Brown’s “Forever”, darn it.

Well, I don’t have much time today…I know, this is not unusual for me, but what the heck…and considering that I only have about five hours for an edit, this blog is going to take the fall for my second doctor’s appointment later today. Seriously, it is a pain in the butt.

Oh wait, you don’t know of the doctor’s appointment yesterday yet. Really, those people (doctors) freak me out. Sure, my friggin’ foot hurts and yes I had such a bad cramp in my calf the other night I almost passed out, but that doesn’t mean that the guy needs to look as if I’m already on the way to the crematorium. Jeez. I swear, I was more upset (and pained) by the guy’s morose behavior than I have been of feeling like I’m walking on glass for the past few weeks.

Now doctor’s preliminary solution (prior to an Xray and blood test) was padded inlays for my shoes, take it easy (“the work you’re doing isn’t helping” duh, it’s gotta be done still doesn’t it? Unlike you I can’t bill an insurance company an extra hour to make ends meet, grrrr) and a heavy painkiller. Uh-huh, very helpful that. The fastest way not to be careful is not to feel the hurt area. But then, how he thinks Voltaren is going to help, is a mystery to me, considering I’ve learned that the only thing Voltaren helps for is back pains. *sigh*
Thanks, but no thanks, doc. Jeez, if I wanted a painkiller, I would have popped a few…

And there was a ten hour break in the blog, seeing as the edit couldn’t wait, and right after it was time to leave for my appointment. Gawds, talk about wasting a perfectly good day. What with picking up our friend from Marbella for another sleepover, (2 hours lost) and then the rather asinine trip to the hospital (strike off three hours) for an Xray or two.

Luckily there was not a lot of waiting involved, seeing I arrived just when it was my turn, yay. Got to lay down on the dreaded machine again, felt the burning sensation again while they took pictures of all sides of my foot. The “photographer” was nice enough for a change. She didn’t do English, my Spanish is atrocious, so we took our time getting the procedure done, but it went by without a hitch. Now the stupid photos need to be sent to a different town, so an expert can have a look at them (I feel so honoured to be worthy of an expert, really, I do…Aaaargh seriously, been there, done that) so I’ll have my results sometime next week.

Of course, just like always, I was completely and utterly nauseated afterwards, and after big brother and I went to get rocks (yes, we’re still doing that) I chucked up somewhat fierce. Boy what a relief, I definitely felt better after that. Ah yes, the good ol’ days of not keeping anything in, hugging the toilet bowl three times a day (if not more) and just hopping out of the car whenever that stomach decided the filling wasn’t to it’s liking. Gotta love them days. Hah.

But anyways, no matter, afterwards, properly empty, my mouth washed, (feet too…don’t ask) and gum chewed upon so I wouldn’t completely lose my voice, and we could start hauling rocks into the back of the car. We decided not to do a full load, seeing as I was a tad wobbly, but what the hey, not a completely wasted day after all.

Did I say we managed an excellent edit. Yes, we did. Got through a solid 15 pages and were, on several occasions doubling over with laughter…have you guessed what we were reading yet? No? Well, I’ll tell. A love scene, of course. I don’t know why but considering it is vivid, more detailed than anyone needs to know, and looooooong, and exactly the way it is supposed to go in a romance story, the laughter really is inappropriate. Hah.

Be that as it may, I’m going to cut this short, seeing as I need to get up in time tomorrow morning. Another doctor’s appointment, this time a blood test. *sigh* Really, this thing better be serious, or else I’m firing this body. Hah.

A bit of excitement.

Song of the day: “Irish Son” by Brian Mcfadden. Lovely song, though why I’d have it in my head is a mystery to me. Maybe it came past on my Itunes yesterday evening when I went to bed.

So there was a wee bit excitement yesterday.
I say a wee bit, because even though I wish I had some heroic story to tell about, it basically was just a relatively small wild fire on the mountain. I mean seriously, what could have been better to write about than bravely fighting the flames with our bare hands, saving a hapless damsel in distress, or some such, keeping the fire away from the house with back breaking work…but alas, it all was all quite harmless in the end.

Here’s what happened:
Big brother and I were, calm as you please, sitting on the terrace editing (going rather splendidly, I might add, we did 12 pages) when suddenly a helicopter came thundering overhead. Now, on any given day this is not much of an event, but five minutes later another one comes across the property, (no higher than twenty yards over our heads) and this one is hauling along one of those big orange bags filled with water.

This, of course screams FIRE ‘round these parts, so we get up to see where the heck it’s headed.
Turns out it is going right over the slope on our left where this massive brown plume of smoke is towering high into the air. Now, I blame the poplar, eucalyptus and acacia for obstructing our view so much that we didn’t notice the mess going on until it was this big.

Crap, the siren started to howl again right now, (the friggin’ thing drove me and the dogs bonkers all day yesterday) and from the moment I started writing my blog a chopper is flying over again with one of those water bags underneath it. Darn it! I wonder what’s going on now?

But anyway, back to yesterday:
Chopper number three arrived by that time and a small fire-department plane was circling overhead…you know, when we discover the smoke.
With horror images of 2001 (and the big evacuation) in our minds, big brother sound the proverbial alarm and head for the car to check out the location where the smoke originates from and to our shock discover that it is actually the exact same location as eight years ago. What are the chances of that, I wonder?

At least four acres have already lit up (luckily there is relatively little to burn since 01 already took down most of the pine woods overhead), the main road is closed off because it leads right through the core of the fire, firemen are on the ridges slapping at the flames and chopper #4 and 5 arrive. Two of those big freighter types, and one has a bad exhaust because every rotation sounded like a tiny explosion. Jeez.

Having found the location…less than a mile from home, mind you…I made a 180 in the middle of the road, under the watchful eyes of the stoic looking Guardia civil, and head back home where dogs and humans are waiting impatiently for our return. What with the memories of ’01 and our determination not (and inability) to leave with our pack (last time we had to rent a moving truck to get the task done) we start preparations of filling every single bucket in the house.

Buckets, bathtubs, the pool and everything else that will hold liquid, get filled and put in strategic places, the same goes for fire extinguishers and heavy cloth blankets, just in case the fire department loses the battle. Two more helicopters and a big water plane arrive to battle the ongoing sea of flames. There’s a lot to be said about the local authorities but they do not slack when there’s a fire, the fire department kicks butt!

Once all the preparations were made, we kept a weary eye on the progress and resumed the daily projects and chores. With one eye on the mountain ridge…yes there were some very nice Hollywood images and yes, I took pictures (just haven’t loaded them up yet)…big brother and I worked on the water well by the small gate, occasionally stopping to see a steady decrease in the amount of smoke.

When the well was done, we headed to the carport to build a small wall behind where grandpa wished to create storage space. By the time dusk approached the air traffic calmed down a bit, only three were going back and forth with the bags in the setting sun.

After watering the plants in the last bit of daylight, luckily the water wasn’t turned off this time, big brother and I headed inside for dinner and doing some more editing in the office. The only difference today was that instead of heading to our respective bedrooms around midnight, we headed out in the car to check out how it was going. Sure the helicopters had stopped around nightfall, but the fire trucks and everything were still howling nearby.

Turns out the volunteer firemen were standing on watch just around the curb, and we weren’t allowed to drive through the area yet, so they kept a close eye on the area during the night. By now they are still flying one helicopter back and forth, probably tackling the persistent hearths, but otherwise the only indication that anything was wrong is the persistent smell of fire in the air.

A nasty thing about this relatively harmless fire is that we lost one of our dogs. Vara was a golden retriever, about ten years old, and we think that all the excitement got to be too much for him. We found him lying in the living room, pretty much as if he’d fallen asleep and just didn’t wake up again. Poor Vara, we buried him this morning and comfort ourselves with the knowledge that he had a good life with his big brother Nata…I do hope that the latter won’t feel the loss too badly. I know that Gada mourned for at least two weeks when her best pal Yadzia passed away.

All in all the dogs behaved well during the mess of the day. They weren’t as noisy as I’d expected them to be with the ongoing noise of helicopters and planes thundering overhead. To them it was just another day, I’m guessing.

So all’s well that ends well…unless of course the fire that is still persisting blazes up again today, grrrr…no harm done to our beautiful yard and house. Seriously, I was already going over emergency scenarios of which trees we’d have to take down, where we’d have to drench in order to save the property. All was, thankfully, for naught however, and by the time we went to bed the events were already fading in our minds.

Well, that about sums it all up, I guess. This morning was spent using a blowtorch (of all things) on the basin walls for me. Yes, grandpa bought a new one for me, since the old one blew up on my hands a few weeks ago. Hah.

It was the plan for me to do it yesterday, but in light of the blazing wild fire, we figured it would be sorta like tempting fate, hah.

I’ve gotta go. I’ll be back…that is, if the fire doesn’t return to burn me alive, or something like that. *snort*…just kidding, I’ll be back.

Coming soon.

Song of the day: “Strength of a woman” by Shaggy. Fun song, though admittedly I don’t listen to it all that much.

Still not a lot of new stuff going on, really. For the majority of the past couple of days big brother and I were in the yard building constellations (I know, that’s not the correct term for it, I just like calling them that, hah) for the tomato plants. It’s all looking pretty darn cute. Yes, we lost a few tomatoes because we were too late with this particular chore, but no matter, we’re still going to have more of the things than we can possibly eat. It might even turn out that we’re going to be grateful for these particular losses, hah.

I’ve gotta admit that it is a rather wonderful chore, all things considered. Very calming to be up to your hips in tomato plants, figuring out where to put which stick in order to save the precious fruits. We’ve gotten to be rather creative in the entire process; the “constellations” literally go every which way making it rather jungle-ish down there in the yard. Considering the temperatures are rather wonderful, not too hot, even on the cool side, the effect is a personal little paradise. Yes, I’m seriously contemplating never going inside again. Hah.

Of course that is not an option, but it is nice to dream like that. I can see it, really. A hammock between the trees, my computer nearby, the dogs around me and I’d be all set.
Okay, enough fantasizing; let’s get to the important stuff like editing:

Yes, the read through is done…in record time, I might add. It was nice going through it one last time, in particular because my writing style changed so much over the past couple of years. I was far more…ehm, fluid, back then. More like a stream of consciousness rather than a symphony of words that I strive for these days.

Next week at the latest, W.I.’s “Hero” should be available on Kindle, yay. It will be nice to have that over and done with at long last, so I can focus fully on the big 2nd edit that officially resumed as of yesterday afternoon. On the high of the read through, big brother and I shot straight through into the first ten pages of “ATOL”. It was fun reading, so hopefully the remainder of the edit will stay that way.

I did some cleaning in my cabin, because let’s face it, it was a gawdawful mess…still is in fact, but at least my clothes are no longer lying everywhere. Hah. I still have to do the bathroom, the floor and…well, most of everything actually. No matter though, it is not like it’s going anywhere, the mess will be there tomorrow and the day after and after and…well, you get my drift. Hah.

The waterworks by the greenhouse are done, except for waterproofing the basin wall. We’re going to have to start with that one of these days and in all honesty I’m not really looking forward to that particular task. Especially not in full summer when the sun is shining straight down on the bowl of concrete, which is where I would be standing during.

At the moment I am sitting in a rather colourful spot. I’ve got yellow acacia overhead, loosing their blooms and sending them all over the place. A purple rain is blooming to the right, purple bougainvillea on the left with white and then pink oleander. Straight ahead there’s another purple flowing, with deep red oleanders and behind me a bright red hibiscus is proudly following the sunshine.
In one word, what with all the green around it: Beautiful!

Down in the valley there’s some sort of local festivity going on…just like every year, really. An hour or two ago there was a noisy procession coming past. Girls in colourful dresses, boys racing on mopeds and cars pulling colourful trolleys, or something like that. Now we’ll be listening to really loud music (it ain’t pop, I assure you) for at least three days, if not more. Seriously, you know how a carnival sounds, right? Imagine that 24/7. It can drive ya bonkers...it can and it will drive the dogs bonkers too, considering they get freaked out by the explosions coming from that way.

Well, time for me to get to the real edit. I just finished breakfast/lunch of French bread with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, fresh green herbs and onion, plucked right from the yard an hour ago, and with a nice sprinkling of salt, mayonnaise, curry gewürz, some grinded chilly peppers and of course cheese, it went down splendidly with the potato cookies grandpa made. I’m stuffed.