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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.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Carpentry 101

Song of the day: “Heartbeat” by Enrique Iglesias and Nicole Sherzinger (sp?). Okay, so it’s not the most intelligent song, but catchy enough to get stuck. Hah.

Once again I am incredibly late, almost midnight now, and will have to see if I can keep this one short again. I’ve got to admit that it was a novel experience to skip a day of blogging by deciding to not do one in the weekend. I actually managed to get a few pages of writing done…albeit only a few, considering what with everything going on during the days I’m totally running on fumes at the end of the day. But what the heck. Nothing new there, right? Such is life at the moment. I’ll just have to live with the motto of “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” for a bit, and have a bit of an Eastwood gruffness about it all. Hah.
This too shall pass, and when it does, I’m sleeping in, darn it.

The fire has been beaten down, and came as far as the edges of Marbella. When I went to the hospital I saw that they managed to stop it less than a mile from the nature reserve behind the city, which is a relief too. There are some pretty impressive forests over there, and for those to burn down…well, it’s scary to imagine in this drought.

The past couple of days were totally all about building the new cabin. There was the painting, first with anti-termite stuff, then (those that needed it) the light white layer that would keep the wood patterns visible, followed by a varnish. It didn’t go half bad either, seeing as it was a task that was shared by myself, grandpa, Cousin Ed and tenant. The latter seemed to be having fun doing it too, so that was a plus at least. This morning she also tried to help painting the inside walls, but seeing as she’d have to bend in her chair constantly, her back started hurting and she decided to go back to painting stuff on the table. Luckily that went much better.
I love working with wood, as you know, in particular when it is just simple stuff of sliding beams in place, slamming wood together and hammering in massive nails. Good stuff, that. I love the smell of pine any time of the day. Hah.

Following the first day of actual building where we got the walls up hallways, we managed to get them up to full height yesterday. It’s cute, I’ve got to admit. Almost like a gingerbread house, which will be even more the case after we paint the outside proper. The walls will be Mahogany, and the framework we’ll be painting a bright light blue so we get a nice contrast going.

The inside walls got painted a light white today, along with a varnish to all but one wall. Cousin Ed did the honors with the varnish on the inside, since Tenant and I had already done the ceiling planks and grandpa and I proceeded attach one sixth of them to the roof beams. Boy, are those planks bent. It’s going to be a challenge to get them all in, I assure you…but then, brute strength will get you many places, Hah.

I visited Sally at the hospital yesterday (cousin Ed the day before that, along with Dani) and her mood had much improved. She’s sleeping better now, and the lesions in her brain are being battled successfully by the steroids she’s getting. She’s actually looking forward to coming home now, and that’s a big change. The first week she was more of a mind to want to disappear from the face of the earth. It’s a relief, I tell ya. In particular since the last biopsy was terribly painful for her (and had her in a two day funk) and for a while she looked like she was going to crash. Good news today was that the biopsy was successful. They removed a bit of the tumor and soon they’ll know the results. Now here’s to hoping that it will be a relatively harmless tumor, because if it isn’t and the doc gives bad news, I fear she’s going to crash a bit again. Ah well, no sense in worrying about that now. She was in a good mood yesterday (and me and grandpa visiting added to it, since she’d really enjoyed the visit of two lady friends of hers the day before, too) and that what matters.

On the 30th of September the temps changed drastically. I kid you not, but for the past few days the evenings have been downright nippy. The days too, for that matter. For the past couple of days I’m back to wearing long-legged pants to keep myself from having goose bumps. That goes along with sneakers during the day and a sweater in the evening, because at night it is not just nippy but cold. Brrr. We’ve had temps in the low eighties, and high seventies, for crying out loud.

But anyway, yesterday afternoon, after finishing putting up the walls, big brother and I put in the wooden floor that will soon support the parquet I plan on laying. It’s not pretty right now (cheap wood that is basically untreated) but it’s closed and sturdy, that’s what matters at a point where everything still needs to be painted. The windows (the ones I saved from mine during the last remodel) fit perfectly, and they give the little cabin a very fairy tale like appearance.

Visitor appears to enjoy herself this vacation. Just chilling, and going out with mom. They’re old buds, and admittedly I’ve known her my entire life. She hasn’t changed in the seven years that past since I last saw her.

The normal stuff got done as well, of course. Laundry. Watering the plants (less now, due to the change in weather. Drying out is less of a problem) and harvesting the last bits. I’ve got to admit that I’m looking forward to when the time starts that we have to start sowing for winter veggies. It will be soon now.

Day before yesterday supper was a veggie with spaghetti mix (added nopales and purslane), followed by yesterday evening’s Fondue made on a base of champagne and cheese, with just a tad too much garlic.

There were dogs to feed, food to chop and then dogs to be controlled while they ate. There are still some ticks, but by far not as many as a month ago. I think that the dogs are actually sorry for it, because it means less attention, however annoying the ticks are.

Took Sitabah to the vet on Saturday morning, as planned, and she had an X-ray that showed she only had a slight inflammation of her bronchia veins which could be battled with anti-inflammatory injections rather than an antibiotic. *phew* I was vastly relieved that that was all.

As for the rest? Well, big brother’s computer broke down again, and he is now seriously pondering getting a new one. Not an expensive one, but just one on which he can work at least, which is the smart thing to do…especially for a Mac lover. Hah.

Well, that’s it for today. I’m outta here. Seeya on Wednesday.

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