Samaya Young's World

A little jumbled

2012-02-10T19:56:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “Rapper’s delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang. Such a cool little song. Didn’t know it until some months ago, and if you’d have told me years ago I would like it, I’d have laughed in your face, but there you have it.

I’m going to mess this up again, since the past couple of days were a mesh of events that don’t mean a whole lot to me at the moment. Not that it matters what I did today, or yesterday, it all comes down to the same thing, in a strange sort of way.

There were two gardening bits, yay. Watering of the plants, checking for bugs, harvesting. They had become the stuff of routine that are simply the best of the day, since this allows me to go down into the yard and spend some time in the sun. Sure my hands freeze from the icy basin water, and my feet will tend to do the same if I don’t make sure to find a sunny spot, but still. It is wonderfully relaxing to be down there. Added to that, yesterday’s harvest consisted of broccoli and cauliflower, making a nice mix for supper, thank you very much.

That panel of the Opel got spray painted properly at last, also varnished, which was the final step. With a little luck we’ll manage to put it back on the car tomorrow. But only if the wind isn’t blowing again, because then standing out there on the top of the mountain ridge, really isn’t fun.

We finished the 1st edit of V.L. last night. Yay!!! We did it. We got through it without killing each other. At this point I have to say I am pleasantly surprised that we didn’t end up going for each other’s throats. The thing is done, and now we’ll have to print the manuscript out and see what that first edit achieved. Was it bad? Will it need loads more work? Only one way to find out.

What else? Well, there was the cooking session. Yesterday Broccoli/cauliflower mix with baked ravioli on the side. It went down really well. Today (big brother cooked) a veggie mix (big part of our own harvests) with noodles and a spicy satay.

Since grandpa has been complaining about cold hands a lot, I finally decided to take pity on him, lined out his hands and started cutting. He’s been wanting those old-fashioned gloves, you know, the one with only a thumb and no fingers? Kids use them while skiing. But anyway, I cut them out, (four pairs, one set stuffed, the other fake leather) asked mom to drag them through her sewing machine and then started fitting the lot together. They worked like a charm too…only I think I’m going to have to replace the fake leather with real leather, one of these days. Grandpa’s happy at least.

Tenant’s been busy as heck. She’s been wanting to write to her daughters, but is having a hard time of it, really. I can imagine that it’s tough to do, but this is not something I can help her with, I think. Some things are private. I did spent a while taking photographs of her. She wants to add a nice one to her letter, so I shot several of them and will go through them tonight to see which ones worked out well. She’s difficult with that sort of thing, is sometimes ashamed of getting old, or something. Silly really, but understandable, I guess. It doesn’t help that a picture never does her justice.

Next, there was a workout session in the morning, which went well enough despite me being unable to find my shwung. And a couple of jogging sessions that worked out darn well for as far as I’m concerned. I did a full half mile stretch in one piece, thank you very much. I started out with sixty feet with a break, then slowly worked my way here. Not bad for sporadic training, eh? The foot didn’t even kill me last night.

Mom’s closet got installed in her working area in the morning, and it fit exactly there where she wanted it. Yay. She and the younger sibs put everything in the same afternoon and the thing is now filled properly with all sorts of fabrics. It looks good.

Also worked a little in the pantry, where for some unfathomable reason the big freezer had shifted off its perch, standing there crooked as heck. We cleared away the mess behind it, put it back in place and wiped the thing clean while we were at it, because boy was that dirty.

Took Chaos to the vet. The poor Basset appears to be feeling poorly of late and when I checked (against his wishes) I found his teeth to be rather dirty, and the gums too red. He was soooo scared at the vet’s trying to crawl into my lap (which he NEVER does) keeping his tail down (also something he rarely does) all the while. He had to be weighed, 88 pounds!!!, and then lifted onto the table so she could check him out. Nothing too serious, just a gum infection and a slight ear infection. She called him beautiful (Chaos perked up immediately and agreed fully) because most Basset’s his age have drooping skin. And he is. He’s the Gorgeous after all. Hah.
But anyway, he has an appointment for dental cleaning on Tuesday, and since he’ll be under for that anyway, the vet will clean his ears while she’s at it. I’ll have to start him on antibiotics on Sunday, which I hate because it has so many nasty after-effects. Ah well, he’ll have to overcome those.

Well, I made some extra shelving for my own room while I was at it. Books were starting to pile up on horizontal surfaces and since there’s hardly any room there due to clean laundry piles (I know. How lazy am I? I really should put it all away, darn it.) new shelving was getting to be essential. It looks nice and I got to put away all those loose books that I had been shoving here and there for the past six months or so. I love book shelves.

We’re starting on a new project. What with the tomatoes doing relatively well in the greenhouse, we’re going ahead with building the small greenhouse under the small pool. There will be some serious digging involved, a little masonry, but it shouldn’t take all that long, allowing us to start earlier with the big batches of tomatoes for spring and summer. Already hauled down several wheelbarrows with rocks for the knee high walls it’ll have.

As for freaky news…we had three screws in three separate tires of the Land Rover, which send the guy at the tire shop into a chortle. I know. It’s a little funny. I mean really, what are the chances of getting one in three tires? But there you have it. Luckily one screw was really short and didn’t cause a puncture. As for the other two, for twenty bucks he fixed them both while we waited. *sigh*

That about sums the last couple of days up. I’ve got stuff to do, a manuscript to print and then…well, I’m planning an early date with my bed. Hah.

A bit of meandering

2012-02-08T19:15:00.003+01:00

Song of the day: “Fireflies” by Owl City. It’s been there off and on for several days but got the upper hand today. Hah.

Busy again, despite there not being a lot of activity. Just time filling on the most part. Let’s start with yesterday (if I can) and work our way to now, as usual. I am at times a creature of habit after all.

Okay, there was the workout, yay. Got another one in despite waking up a tad late (who can come out of bed with temperatures close to the freezing point?) and kicked, pounded and worked the bag until I had a 120 bpm heartbeat and wound down by lifting some weights. This is mostly to prevent my muscles from cramping, which is a nasty side effect of kick boxing, I must admit.

That done, I was ready to the face the day and went through the usual morning rituals such as chores in the house and breakfast. Since we have (had) two of those cheap white breads that needed to be eaten, it was grilled cheese sandwiched all ‘round. A little heavy on the stomach, sure, but not a bad way to start the day.

Yesterday was spent on the terrace in front of my cabin. At least six hours were spent sanding the new closet for mom, and then painting it twice in a nice yellow color that should liven up the corner in which we’re going to place it.

So there we were, tenant on my porch in the full sunlight, and making herself useful by varnishing wooden slats (which I needed today to finish the closet), while cousin Ed and I worked on the closet. There was laughter, there was singing (tenant had to laugh about that when I walked her up to her apartment later in the day) and on the overall good cheer while we finished most of the closet. For a while I feared that the two layers wouldn’t be enough. They were, and by the end of the day we bound the thing up against the carport to keep it from toppling over.

Big brother was still working on the box (today and yesterday) which is shaping up nicely as well.
That done we headed out to pick up a new load of sand and then went into the wild to take Knight II for a run. Cousin Ed went along with her own dog, which Knight II found fascinating, but we not so since he found something to roll in and smelled up the car on the way back. Seriously, I was hanging out of the window most of the way. Hah.

Once at home I prepared supper of mashed potatoes with kale, all mixed together in a tasteful hodgepodge. Gawd, I was starving. That half pancake that grandpa made in the afternoon really didn’t last long.

There was the edit, of course, which didn’t go all that bad yesterday, thankfully. We actually managed to do several pages rather than the 1-2 that we’ve been getting through in the past few weeks. Seriously, the first edit is almost done, and I am psyched about that. First edits are a pain, and this one really did prove that.

Got totally distracted by the end of the evening where I wandered around the information freeways of Wikipedia telling of the Spanish Inquisition and all its fascinating links. To me Wikipedia is incredibly dangerous. I can be totally consumed for hours on end if I don’t watch myself. Jeez. I just wanted to check something (Florence Nightingale) and then somehow ended up at the Spanish Inquisition. I find it incredible to discover that they too basically persecuted Jews, and slaughtered them, reminding me of WWII and even what is going on this day and age. The Jews always end up getting blamed for everything. I do hope that this time they’ll be able to prevent disaster from striking, and not let it drag on until thousands are dead. Better do a preemptive strike and show that they’ve had enough of being turned into a handy scapegoat for unscrupulous folk who want the fruits of their hard labor.
Regretfully, history has a way of repeating itself, so I fear that the world will just let something really bad happen rather than do the right thing. *sigh* That scares me sometimes, I’ll admit.

But anyway, no more meandering, let’s get on to today. It was cold enough this morning to deter me from a workout. Since I did one yesterday, along with a run later in the afternoon, I figured this wasn’t a disaster. After the usual morning chores and breakfast we headed down into the yard. Plants needed to be watered, outside as well as in the greenhouse and raised seedbed, and there were of course the harvest of broccoli and cauliflower that we had to get through. Got a nice batch for tomorrow’s supper, and soaked up some sunshine while I was at it. Seriously, down there it was downright pleasant. Less wind, more heat. I should have stayed, but there was the closet to finish. *sigh*

Got to work on that, sanding the finishing slats for the fronts of the shelves and sides, sawing them to the right sizes, and then hammering them in place. Put the back on as well, a nice big board that will keep some of the dirt out at least. I am contemplating doors, but not yet. Maybe at some point I’ll get around to that, but for now mom will have to settle for the open shelves.

Tenant didn’t brave the wind today, but opted for her cozy and warm apartment near the stove. Can’t say I blamed her, seeing as the wind was chilling. The dogs agreed with me, constantly looking for spot out of the wind but in the sunshine. Knight II, of course opted for a chair on my porch, while letting his chin rest on the banister. Hah.

Well, that’s it. I’ve got other stuff to do now. Did my blogging duty and all that. Yay. I need to go out still later on (mom’s boiler gave the spirit) so who knows, I might opt for a little nap soon.

All over the place

2012-02-06T19:22:00.002+01:00

Song of the day: “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield. It’s been going through my head on and off, but since it’s a cool song (along with Fireflies from Owl City) I didn’t mind at all.

A busy couple of days, yet extremely unexciting from your point of view, I’m sure.
No matter, though, it’s what I’ve got to tell, and so tell it I shall. Hah.

First off, there was the imperial to put back in place, which was an interesting experience, all things considered. The wind was blowing like mad, we were dressed in triple layers to keep the cold out, and those metal bolts and tools were freezing. Got it back in place though, and are now able to haul big stuff again. Yay.

I was a little late getting out of bed yesterday morning, seeing as the bed was so warm and I really didn’t feel like getting up, but then did when the wining alarm kept going, and made me groan out loud right before I rolled out of bed and stumbled to the door to let the dogs out.
They’re getting to be a little less noisy, what with me trying to teach them to keep their traps shut in the morning. It takes some effort, in particular to keep Knight II from yapping my head off, but gradually he is learning to settle on the chair while I unlock the door. They do still storm out into the morning, but at least it is the thunder of their paws, rather than the howling and the screeching.

The majority of one morning was spent hanging a cupboard in mom’s bedroom…well, two actually, and that took a couple of hours at least. That done (this was of course after the usual morning chores) there was a quick breakfast of chickpea patties and a pancake, before I headed down into the yard to water the alfa alfa patches and the smaller plants because the air is so terribly dry these days. We really need another rainy day, even though I am loathe to admit it. *sigh* Since I was out there anyway, I hunted some bugs and then headed back up to help tenant who was cutting potatoes for supper and needed someone to peel supper’s beets for her. We ended up chatting for a bit of course.

Cousin Ed went out to see about a job at a horse riding establishment, but doubts that it will come to anything. At the moment the company has more staff than they do customers. Hah.
Mom and the sibs had a good day at the market. At first they thought it was going to be a bad day, but then about two hours before the market was over, they had more customers than they could handle. It’s nice that stuff is selling so well, in particular since it is rather good for mom’s confidence.

Big brother and I also spent a couple of hours preparing a package for a publishers. We found one we tried to send a query letter to before, but never got a response for. Now it turns out that they’re looking for new material again, so the way we figure we might as well give it a shot.
Worst thing that can happen is they say no.

That done and put aside for mailing, we worked on the tool box for a bit, after which I headed to the kitchen to prepare most of supper, which I would cook after we got a new load of rocks. Then it was time to put the protective structure in the back of the car (we made a wooden box of sorts a long time ago to be able to haul rocks and sand in the Land Rover) and then changed clothes since we figured we might as well go out for of a jog (Knight II needed exercise too) after getting the new batch loaded.

Another quick trip down into the yard involved closing the greenhouse and seedbed before the evening chill settled in, and then it was into the car and away before twilight.

Though jogging uphill was not in the books, I did manage a sturdy pace, and then ran all the way down without pause. Yay. Of course, what for me is a run, is nothing more than a trot for Knight II, the lazy dog. I swear, if he could get away with it, he’d just wait in the car. What kind of a dog is that?

Once at home it was back to the kitchen to make supper because I was starving, and more than ready to call it a day. Food was devoured, at which time we got started on the day’s edit. Quantity was not a problem yesterday evening. We made good progress, at least better than the past week when every sentence seemed to provoke an argument. Hah. But anyway, yesterday’s edit went well enough and we managed to stop before fatigue ad frustration started to play parts on us.

Which brings us to today, doesn’t it? I was right on time this morning, but still had to hurry a bit through the morning rituals. Tenant and caregiver had to be at the new doctor’s place and since I had to be in town too, we thought we’d connect it. So, taking the country road, (we left a little early) we headed for the village where I dropped them off at the practice.

Tenant doesn’t like the fact that her hearing is so bad (it’s not all that bad really. It has more to do with focus than actual hearing), so she wants to know if there maybe is a hearing aid to assist her. She got a really expensive one a few years ago, but she hated that one. It just confused her. Also, she’s been bothered by dizziness, while otherwise she is in perfect physical health.

Heading further into the village I parked the car and then went to the post office to send the package to the UK, (there was a loooooong line going on the in post office. How come you always get the long lines in government run companies, huh?) then I headed for my own doctor, (podiatrist, really) to pick up my insoles…the old ones. They weren’t there yet, and despite the woman having told me to come by today in the late morning to pick them up, the assistant said that the doctor wouldn’t be in until later today. Grrr.

Then there was fresh bread and milk to pick up, at which time caregiver phoned to let me know that she and tenant could be picked up. Turns out that the doctor agreed that her hearing wasn’t bad enough to warrant a hearing aid. She just had to be careful to focus on one conversation at a time. Hah. Well, duh. But anyway, the visit reassured her, and that is all that matters.

We took the scenic route through the woods back, and after a very, very late breakfast for me, let tenant doze on my porch while grandpa and I headed for the storage to gather wood. Mom has a shortage of or shelves in her working area at the moment, so she asked if I could make her another shelving unit. It’ll be 7 feet high, and 4 feet wide and about one foot deep. It should hold some fabrics at least. Hah.

Cousin Ed helped me put the thing together during the afternoon, and we finished the main structure at around five in the afternoon. It’s looking good. :-) Tomorrow we’re going to paint it (if all goes as planned), put the back in, and maybe contemplate doors in front of it. It would keep the dust out. I’ll have to snap some pictures. Huckabee really liked the closet. He pied against it, the naughty boy.

That done it was time for supper, leftovers of yesterday with fresh tomato soup. Yay. I love tomato soup.

Well, I’ve gotta start on the edit, and hopefully will be able to keep my eyes open for the duration of it. Hah.

A tad nippy

2012-02-04T18:00:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “I hope you dance” by Leann Womack. Whenever I hear it, I keep thinking that it’s Dolly Parton, but there you have it. Gorgeous song, and it has been in my head more often, if memory serves me right.

First of all, it has been effing cold. I know, compared to the northern parts of Europe our measly 30 degrees (they’re having zero, thank you very much) is nothing, but still, I have become a worshipper of warmth, and these freezing temps are not my thing. Makes me want to crawl into bed an hibernate until the summer returns. *sigh*

No matter, though, life as we know it continues, and stuff needs to be done. I had fully planned to dig under the storage under my bed yesterday, getting out my winter sweaters, but for some reason didn’t get around to it. First off I headed down into the yard for some harvesting. I had hoped that the cold wouldn’t be as prominent there (it often is, due to it being behind the ridge of the mountain) but was disappointed after I checked up on the greenhouse (I took as long as possible in there, hah). The wind was coming from the west, so it blasted me full force while he checked everything and then quickly headed up.

There were chickpea patties for breakfast, both today and yesterday. There was no bread, so we had to make due. Didn’t work bad either with a slice of cheese on it, and a pancake to take care of the morning sugar craving. Yay. Since the below freezing temperatures weren’t doing anything for our productivity, big brother and I decided to get our computers and get to work on the edit, rather than try to brave the cold. We lit up the stove (the dogs loved that. It took them five seconds flat to come inside and cluster around the heat) turned on the machines and got to work.

About three hours later we resurfaced, both of us mentally drained and ready for a break. Since we had to go out later in the afternoon we opted for a nap. Poor Chaos was freezing, so I took him under the blanket with me. He was still shivering then, but with the arrival of a sudden weight slinking its way between us, started to growl ferociously. A glance down showed Knight II, crawling on the bed with us, wedging himself higher and higher until I caved and threw the blanket over him as well. Thankfully that made him settle down real fast, about midway between Chaos and me. I dozed for a few minutes and then…another thump, followed by desperate scratching at my shoulder I growled and looked up in time to see Dax dive under the blankets and settle into the crook of my knees. Nice and toasty. I didn’t mind overly much. Another five minute doze later, thump, and Sitabah just barely missing my nose as she vaulted over Knight II, Chaos, and my head to settle on the pillow and curling herself around my skull like a hat. She was shivering like mad, and ended up sticking her head under the blanket by my shoulder and promptly falling asleep. I didn’t have the heart to smack her out of the way, so I ended up lying there sandwiched between the dogs, enjoying the warmth, rather than actually sleeping. Isn’t it weird that of my dogs the Labs are the only ones who are not bothered by the cold?

But anyway, my so-called nap done, it was out and about again, braving the cold to head on down into the yard to water the plants. This infernal western wind is simply devastating. Already we have lost several plants to the chilling cold.

Afterwards it was to town for us, picking up an order and a small donation to boot, allowing us to come back home around 10 in the evening at which time I went through my messages, chatted some online and then worked on the edit once more.

Didn’t get to bed until two in the morning, but that was okay seeing as I overslept anyway. Hah. Yep. My alarm went off at nine and yet I somehow managed to not become disturbed by the beeping sound until nine forty. Boy was it could. I folded right then and there, yanked up my mattress and dug through the many bags underneath until I found all my winter sweaters. Yay. Am wearing one of them, thank you very much. A wool fisherman’s sweater from Norway, or some such country which is so long it covers my butt and wide enough to allow for multiple layers underneath. Double Yay. Seriously, my upper body hasn’t been cold all day. As for the lower part. I am wearing sweats under jeans, and could do with another layer but fear that I would look like a Michelin man if I did. Hah.

After breakfast and laundry, it was down into the yard again. The greenhouse was blissfully warm, and I spent at least half an hour in there to search for bugs. I would have stuck around longer, but again the plants down in the yard had to be watered, requiring time an effort. No matter this time. Though the wind was still the same as yesterday, the sun was also fully out warming us at least a little.

What else. Well, there were repairs to make. Alta (perro the agua) recently wrecked the rubber wind block strip (rubber) so I put a new one on. The tarp closure that we made to keep the wind out of the carport had a rip in it ad a slat broke due to the massive winds. Both had to be fixed and even replaced.

There was a trip to the storage to get supplies, and there was my cabin floor which absolutely had to be swept today. Seriously, I don’t mind a little dirt on the floor. On the most part I arrive in my cabin late at night, about half an hour before bedtime. I turn on the light, change into my pjs, crawl under the blankets, turn off the lights and pass out. It’s as simple as that. But it was getting bad. I startled the other day because a pluck of dog hair made think there was a rat lying in the middle of my room. Now it’s clean as a whistle…sorta anyway. Hah.

Well, that’s about it, I guess. According to the weather reports temperatures should go back up again the day after tomorrow. I for one can hardly wait. I am really spoiled when it comes to temperatures, or so I have found.

Right. I should get to work. Let’s hope I have more interesting news to report two days from now, eh?

Checker tiling.

2012-02-02T20:26:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “Mongo Bongo” by The Mescaleros, Joe Strummer. Weird song, really, but big brother and I got into it after the movie Mr. & Mrs Smith, and it’s been on our iTunes ever since.

It’s been a busy couple of days, mostly involving putting in tiles in grandpa’s kitchen. Not the actual cooking area, but the dining area. In checker pattern, no less.
When I suggested doing it on Wednesday a few days ago, he was adamant that it might rain and that he’d go bonkers from the barrier that we’d need to put up to protect the new tiles from the dogs. And then, suddenly, yesterday morning he threw it on me and said he’d changed his mind and wondered if I could put the tiles in after all.

Now I am very much about spur of the moment, but you gotta understand that grandpa is not at all good at it. When he suggests something spur of the moment you can bet that stuff goes wrong. And it did. Multiple things. So much in fact that there was a point in the middle of the afternoon (when the twentieth thing wrecked my concentration while I tried to figure out with which side, tile and whatnot to start) where I just had to laugh.

Things that went wrong:
1. A bucket broke. White stuff flew all through the carport and streamed down the incline. He was not amused…I was.
2. Wrong tile glue. Grandpa made the stuff that turned hard within an hour and a half, meaning we lost two buckets of the stuff (and the buckets) within the first two hours.
3. Lost a bunch of tiles. Walked back and forth about six times before I finally found them all.
4. Twisted my ankle. Nothing too serious, but the foot started whining because of it, so I wasn’t happy about that.
5. The dogs kept making a racket, until I locked mine up.
6. Grandpa had to head back down to the carport twice for every one time, because he kept forgetting stuff.
7. I forgot something four times, and had to head back from whichever location I came. Aaargh.
8. What could have been done in six hours, was done in nine instead…but who cares. It’s looking good. Hah.

Where was I? Ah, right. I was heading down to lock my dogs up in my cabin because Sitabah was constantly attacking the fence of grandpa’s little yard (she has a thing with his dogs) and it was driving him bonkers. Hah. But anyway, I’d been “preparing” to lay tiles for three hours already, and every time I tried to get seriously into it, something would happen. So I laughed, and then with cousin Ed helping I started laying the tiles.

In the mean time big brother was dividing his attention between spray painting the damaged part of the Opel, and small repairs in the carport.

Grandpa, of course, started getting concerned around that time, making multiple suggestions for me to only do half, rather than laying it in one day (because it was already late) because he can’t stand the thought of working past seven in the afternoon. Can’t blame him, but since I knew I would have another day of finishing the edges anyway, I rather finished the majority all at once. I confidently told him that now that we’d gotten started it would only take a couple, or three hours, and did it in five to six (I feared it would take seven so six was good for as far as I was concerned. Hah).

Big brother and grandpa finished up the day by putting a wooden barrier around that section of the room, and I headed for tenant’s to sit with her for a bit by the stove and hope that my feet would carry me down to my cabin. Hah. It is normal to have a sore lower back, aching thighs, calves, feet and shoulders after tiling, so I wasn’t at all surprised that my gait was a little unstable on my way down. I relaxed with a book for about half an hour, and then headed for the computer to start on the day’s editing session.

Cousin Ed thankfully offered to make dinner of leftovers, so there was no cooking involved either. Yay.

Editing…Oh. My. Gawd!!! We are having so many rows these days. I think that at the moment our problem is a difference in style really. Where big brother likes the straightforward and simple cause and effect, I like the drama and the flair. Guess we’ll have to settle on a middle ground somewhere. I did manage to hold onto my equilibrium, and though frustrated I didn’t fight the urge to conk him on the head. Hah.

Was late getting to bed because we decided to watch an episode of Dexter. Though I still like the concept a lot, I didn’t really enjoy the episode (had to do with me, rather than the show, I think) for some reason. In the end I wished I’d opted for bed instead, but there was no helping it, I guess.

As for this morning…I slept through the night without interruption, waking up toasty warm with four dogs tight around me. Jeez, I was wrecked. You cannot turn around properly with four bony bodies pressed against you. *sigh* But anyway, I was running behind but decided to have a workout anyway. I was sore as heck from the tiling, and some exercise could only improve my condition for as far as I was concerned. Went through the entire routine at top speed, then headed down to do a massive batch of laundry, and settled for a short time into devouring breakfast. Hah.

That done, we headed down into the yard to water stuff (the winds have been increasing again, meaning that the ground is drying pretty fast), check for bugs and harvest cauliflower and broccoli. The latter would serve as today’s supper.

That done we put the new berry bushes, raspberry vines, and three plants called Hardy Kiwis. Very strange little berries, supposedly tasting like kiwis, only sweeter. I wonder how they’ll flourish in this climate. We’re going to have to find a watery spot for sure. Be that as it may, we put them all in pots, and since they’re all weak little plants from the store, we’ve decided to try to nurse these in the greenhouse (and pots) for a year or so and give them time to develop a root system.

There were dog food stores to check. Expiration dates have a knack of sneaking up on us. Hah. Found a full batch that will need to be exchanged for a new batch within the next few months, so we did that while we were at it. Carla (red cocker spaniel) discovered the pile and spent the majority of the afternoon guarding the bags and snacking from the corner he’d chewed open. Hah.

As for my Jack Vance venture…I can’t admit to liking this one more than the ones I read already. (Lyonesse: Suldrun’s garden) In fact, compared to his other stories this one is a little grittier with a sometimes even unpleasant undertone. I get that the atmosphere of the “mid-evil” kind of era has something to with it (the others were leaning toward sci-fi after all) but still; there is a darkness to this story that unsettles me at times. Though I am enjoying the experience, in particular due to Vance’s colorful and elegant writing style, I do understand why I was unable to get into this particular writer when I was a young girl. His worlds, his vocabulary and his sense of adventure is splendid, but his sense of romance, character development and dialogue leaves me somewhat hanging, I fear.

Ah well, once outside work was done, and water for spagetti was on the fire, it was time to finish the tile floor of yesterday by putting in the final edges and cleaning out the grouts. Dani did the latter while I worked on the edges and grandpa supplied whatever it was we needed. I don’t know why, but I was in a strange mood today. Off humor, and giddy snorts and chuckles were the main theme by the time I started to get tired and it became clear that there would be no time to finish the actual grouting before the evening arrived. No matter, by that time I was so cold that I didn’t care one way or other (seriously the floor was freezing). Hah.

While grandpa and Dani finished up with the floor I started on supper. Broccoli, spaghetti and the satay sauce big brother made. I had planned to ad chickpea burgers (I made them during breakfast this morning) but since the broccoli was plenty, I decided against it. It was surprised how nice the broccoli went with peanut sauce. Hah.

So now I have to call this the blog, because I really, really want to go to bed in time tonight, and the edit is still waiting. Grrr.

Poor puppy...

2012-01-31T21:28:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “The voice” by Eimear Quin. There was something else earlier this morning, but by now it has faded into the bustle of no other than Grocery Shopping Day. Yay.

Yep, it is that time of the month again, and though I would have gladly postponed, it had to be done. For me it was a long day for sure. First of I had to head for the doctor’s (podiatrist, really) to pick up my insoles. The nice girl doctor was there again, but regretfully she forgot to bring my old ones in, meaning I have to go back around Monday to pick them up again. I got the new ones today, and at the moment, after walking on them for a solid eight hours, I am not pleased with them. Hah.
Seriously, they look cheap, as if they’re made of some sort of stuff that will fall apart within a week, and though they are softer (after a fashion) they are not all that comfortable. Seriously, it felt as if I was starting from scratch with the blasted things, and to add to the insult, they were twenty bucks more expensive. Grrrr. If I pay for something like that more than I do for the average shoe, I would like to see smooth edges, nicely trimmed colors and whatnot.
Ah well, no helping it now, I guess. I’ll just have to get used to them…or better yet, find a way to heal the effing foot. Yeah. That’s a much better idea. Hah.

But enough about today. It were just groceries and that really isn’t all that interesting. I mean, really, we went into stores, out, packed, unpacked, loaded, unloaded and again once we got home. All very boring…like usual, but since I can hardly just repeat any other grocery shopping day that I did before, we’ll just skip it.

Let’s do yesterday…which wasn’t all that more exciting but at least it was different. Hah.
Also an early day, by the way. We had an appointment at the MOT (blasted government demands that you have an all terrain vehicle checked every six months) and had to leave a little early because we wanted to stop at the gas station to pump the tires. Then it was off the Málaga where we arrived at the exact time of our appointment. Yay. There was some waiting involved, along with a short chat with a guy who also had a Land Rover and who was waiting for his turn. He ran a touring agency, like safaris through the local country-side. Got to talking a bit, since I was curious as to where he was located and how business was going these days. Though slower in the winter (which is normal, apparently) he was doing well. Good for him! By then our license plate number was broadcasted and we had to get into the hangar for our turn.

Gawd. The mechanic checking us over was there with about five percent of his attention, where he was with the other 95 percent, I don’t know, but he only checked the absolute basics, stamped our papers and sent us on our way. Now, personally I didn’t mind all that much, seeing as I consider the car’s condition/safety to be our responsibility and not that of the government, but I paid the obligatory 45 bucks for that check, and got a guy for it who stood staring vaguely in the distance the whole while.

Ah well, no matter. The brakes work, so do the lights, and that’s the stuff the cops look at, right? But anyway, we got our stamp and our sticker so we started homeward with only a slight detour to a Chinese food store to get coconut milk and a variety of noodles. After that it was on to home where the sun was shining beautifully and grandpa was waiting for help up at the storage. Big brother went there, while I headed down into the yard to water the greenhouse and raised seedbed, and then the sowed alfa alfa fields lower in the yard. Such a wonderful way to relax. I really wound down ‘round then.

The yard seen to, I headed up to the storage and helped sorting through panels and such which could be set in the sections big brother and grandpa had put together. It took until the end of the afternoon, but it was well worth the effort. It looks way better there now. Hah.

While we were busy there, the lady from the other day drove down with the her car. She was a bit upset seeing as she had found a podenco puppy by the side of the road. It was tiny, she said and had a ripped ear. And she was wondering if we could take him. We couldn’t, of course. We have strict rules about new dogs, and we made a decision not to take any anymore.

So I explained to the woman that we can’t risk a dog that isn’t vaccinated (seriously, we’ve had several contagious deceases raging rampant through the pack, and it’s not funny). She then of course offered to get him all his shots and whatnot, if only we’d take it. She clearly didn’t realize that getting the pup vaccinated wouldn’t do anything until a minimum of two weeks (which is the incubation period of most diseases) but ideally a good 3 months.

But that was all beside the point. We are trying to get less dogs, not more, and thankfully she did understand in the end. We ended the conversation with me giving her directions to two good vets in the village, and after she cooed a little with Knight II (who was being his beautiful self, of course) she departed with puppy and all.

So sad, puppies being dumped…gawd, the horror stories I could tell…but you can do only so much. There have to be limits, and ours is our present pack at the moment.

While big brother and grandpa finished up in the storage Cousin Ed and I went inside to start on supper. Noodles with veggie under a rather spicy satay sauce. Yummy.

There was a rather turbulent edit, where big brother and I really got into a row about several sentences. What I consider to be suspense, he thought tedious, which of course led to some serious discourse. Moments like that can make a body despair, and then I have to remind myself that every edit makes the story just a little bit better, so it really isn’t for nothing. *sigh* Sometimes there are moments I forget, however. *double sigh*

Well, I’m going to leave it at this. My doggie are demanding attention, and I for one wouldn’t mind an early night at all.

The wall, the wall...almost there

2012-01-29T20:37:00.002+01:00

Song of the day: “Living Doll” by Cliff Richards. The one with the Young Ones, of course, which is just too funny for words. Hah.

I’m going to have to stick with a disorganized sum-up again because it’s been a long day and for the life of me I can’t recall the right sequence. I know that there were two workouts, so that covers both mornings, doesn’t it. I was a little late, but I did manage to do the full sessions without dawdling. This means that I was only fifteen minutes later than usual. Am adding a new three minute routine to the whole, step ups, which should improve my stair walking some…I hope.

Rather than going for chickpeas, lentils or white beans, I made soy bean burgers yesterday. I’d put the dried beans in water for a whole night of soaking the evening before and after boiling them for a couple of hours they were ready to use. I like the result, I’ve got to admit. They’re a bit tougher than I usually make them, grainy too, but it gives you the idea that you’re eating something properly solid. In fact, since there was no bread this morning, I ate a couple of the burgers for breakfast. Hah.

Edits…it’s tough going at the moment. Whether big brother is a bad mood, or I am, I don’t know, but we get into fierce discussions about every other paragraph, darn it. First edits are a pain, I tell ya. So much to keep track of, and big brother watches different stuff than I do. *sigh* It is bound to give friction. Ah well, no matter. Seventeen pages to go and then the first edit will finally be over. Yay.

Had two sessions in the yard. First one was checking up on everything after the massive hailstorm the other day. The cabbages show some damage, but they’re flourishing regardless. Seriously, I don’t know on which steroids the red cabbages are on but when I checked on them they were standing proud and strong as if saying: “Hailstorm? What hailstorm? I’m growing here dammit!” Hah. Got a nice batch of broccoli from the yard yesterday…and then again this morning, which was once again spent in the yard. There were bugs to be hunted, and the greenhouse and raised seedbed to take care of.
Then there was the borecole that we gathered or supper. Big brother is preparing it as I write this, which is nice because I didn’t particularly feel like cooking today. Hah.

Big brother and I have been working on a toolbox kind of thing for in the back of the Land Rover. The friggin’ package of obligated warning triangles, reflective jackets, and all that stuff, is constantly sliding through the entire car, meaning that a proper box is necessary. Got the necessities from storage and sawed most of it in the afternoon, creating a big, multiplex tube that we’ll (at some point) attach in the back of the car.

My stomach is giving me some trouble again the past couple of days, so after making and eating dinner yesterday, I just had to take a nap rather than risk losing the whole lot again. Eating, at the moment, is not a pleasant endeavor for me, I have to extremely careful lest I risk chucking it all up again. Dontcha just hate it when you’re being reminded of your sick days? I do.

I was of course freezing after my nap. I don’t know why but for some reason my body thinks it’s a good idea to shut down while I sleep. It makes keeping warming practically impossible…you’d think that the nap would help with my foot, but nope, that one’s still bugging me too. I am definitely looking forward to getting my new insoles the day after tomorrow…heck, if I could get away with it, I’d call the guy now and demand them. Seriously! He’s taking forever.

We’ve spent about four hours working on the wall, which means hauling freaky big rocks, wheelbarrows full of cement, but once again we have added another foot or two to the height of the majority of the wall. Got about fifteen feet the way it’s supposed to be, with drainage pipes in it, and attachment points for the future balustrade. It’s looking, folks. It’s really looking good. I was standing under it after working there most of the afternoon, and, boy, is that wall high now. Seriously, you do not want to fall off that one.

The dogs were, of course, their usual annoying selves during the work. At one point there was a line of six dogs lying on the exact path that we were constantly traversing with the wheelbarrows. All of them stretched out in the sunshine, literally ignoring us when we tried to get them out of the way. No respect. Hah.

Though working on the wall was absolutely divine due to the sunshine, I am now starting to get seriously chilled because I am standing on my terrace and the wind is coming from the north here (behind the house there was no wind, thankfully). I need to get this blog done and then get the stove on. I don’t like this cold at all, it is undoing all the good the sun did this afternoon.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. First the Land Rover to the MOT and then once we get home, hopefully working on the Opel’s flank. I finally managed to get my hands on the paint (we ended up at a specialized shop in town where they had to mix it up for me) and lacquer so with a little luck we’ll get that done tomorrow.

Well, that’s it for me. I still have to go out later tonight, but before that I do hope to be able to get some pages edited. I’m not holding my breath, though. Way too dangerous. Hah.

4 in a row once more

2012-01-27T20:04:00.003+01:00

Song of the day: “Man down” by Rihanna. Following “Men in this town” by Shakira, which was haunting me since I woke up this morning. Hah.

I am totally drawing blanks at the moment, so don’t blame me if I mess this up. I have faint memories of all that happened in the past three or four days, but to organize them would take way too much time. I’m just going to write them down as they come and leave you to guess as to which happened when.

Easiest memory of all is of course today, which was not only wet with rain and hail, but also freaky cold for as far as I’m concerned. I’m thinking low thirties, and I am not a happy camper. Seriously, my feet are all tingly because they felt frostbitten most of the day. Grrr. I am sitting in front of the stove now, though (about one foot away, hah) so I am gradually defrosting.

Another thing I’m most unhappy about at the moment is that for the past three days in a row, we have been forced to get out of the house every single afternoon. Seriously, it is enough o drive me bonkers. And if it were over now it would be fine, but nope, the fun goes on. Monday we’ve got to bring the car to the MOT, the next day I’ve got to head to the doctor’s to pick up my new insoles (please let them be done, my feet have been effing killing me for days now…seriously, I’m considering just chopping them off and getting it over with. It’s like walking on glass with bare feet for crying out loud!) And after that it is the day of days, the most splendid event of the month. Grocery shopping day. I am psyched, I assure you. *snort*

Okay, what else? There was the burning of six reed mats, which used to lie rotting in the yard. I finally had enough of them, got the big barrel down from storage and lit the whole lot up. It took a while, but finally the mats were gone, leaving nothing behind but half a barrel of charred remains that will serve as excellent fertilizer. Yay. The dogs loved this little venture seeing as it was cold out. They were all snoozing in a three feet radius, regardless of the rocky ground under them. I would have taken a picture but I didn’t get my phone back until this afternoon. Hah.

There were two kickboxing workouts. One went splendidly, the other only so-so. The wind was gone, though, so that made both rather pleasurable in my estimation. Nothing like standing on the terrace overlooking the valley (working out) while the sun comes up and crawls over the hills and valleys with fingers of gold.

Since four days past there were three mornings spent in the yard. We had to water (hopefully it will rain enough to fill the half-full basin again) the terraces on all occasions, in particular the newly sowed fields and the smaller seedlings.
I chased, hunted and killed bugs. The little buggers are extremely good at hiding, but I’m onto them *ponderous laugh* and will persevere.

Harvested a nice batch of broccoli, and yesterday two big bushels of kale which I bundled up with celery and fresh herbs to bring on over to the vet with a couple of pumpkins. She was most appreciative, also because we were there to pay for the latest operation (Amos had a hysterectomy, and there was still Amri to pay for, too). Her assistant was out, however. A family emergency.

One of the trips was heading to tow drop of mom’s computer at the computer repair shop, another was to pick it up…along with the one for little sister, both of them fixed, thankfully.

Since we were in town anyway, we went past the garage as well. The other day we detected a disturbing sound in the Land Rover engine, so we had the mechanic check. He couldn’t find anything, and that was reassuring at least. Best case scenario we heard something that isn’t different at all, just something we never noticed before. Hah.

The jackhammer! I worked with the jackhammer the other day…why did I…oh right. Now I remember. I had to take the ramp out of grandpa’s doorway. It was solid concrete and he asked me to do it so he could start mixing concrete for his new floor.

A long afternoon was spent up in the old horse paddock. There cousin Ed, Dani and I puzzled with tiles for several hours, coming up with a proper pattern for grandpa’s kitchen. At the same time grandpa and big brother were pouring concrete in the same kitchen, removing the knotted old concrete floor and making it smooth for tiling.
It took a while, and five different patterns to come up with a proper solution, but when we did we figured out a pattern and coloring that worked to everyone’s satisfaction. An apricot and white checker pattern in the dining area and a big L of soft yellow tiles in front of the kitchen counter and from the door. Gawd, for a while I thought we were never going to agree…in particular not with grandpa who can be really picky about such things.

Cousin Ed and I unloaded thirty bags of cement from the car, storing them behind my cabin for easy use. And at another time we unloaded groceries (several boxes of fruit juice, so we won’t have to get them on Tuesday) which were the result of a fruitless trip towards a different town than usual because we had to check if a certain sale was there. It wasn’t, darn it.

Oh yes, the argument with big brother. Seriously, I was this close to doing him some serious damage. He was going through a car scene and suddenly decided that this would be a good scene to take out, so we could put back the attack scene that we took out a couple of weeks ago. I was like, “WHAT?” You can’t take this one out, it’s vital, while the attack scene was a mistake I realized I’d made after I wrote it. Also, there was a certain point during the edit where big brother got all huffy and asked “Why did you do this that way?”
I ground my teeth and slowly turned my head to look at him. “What always makes you think that I do anything for any reason. This is a first edit. I wrote this in one session without conscious thought, just following the story as it developed. There’s no thought process involved, thank you very much.”
At which point he abated and gave up being huffy in favor of thinking along while we tried to find a solution to the sentence structure he found offensive, for some reason. Grrrr.
Seriously, though. I might complain a lot, but I do know that the edits are vital. With every edit we do, the story gets a little better. It is just a question of getting through the process without committing homicide. Hah.

I distinctly remember hauling stuff, which includes rubble, and several slabs of heavy marble, which will be part of my future outside kitchen, thank you very much. One was almost too big for carrying, but what the heck. The storage area is sure starting to look much better. All the messy plastic stuff is gone (had several garbage runs over the past couple of days), the tiles are all gathered in one corner on pallets and tables and the wood is neatly piled. Heck, some day we might actually look respectable up there. Hah.

Sally is having some health problems. She fears cancer, but the doctors can’t find anything so it is all just a matter of getting stressed out about the what ifs. I understand the reason, but I also know that stress is not going to help her. Ah well, none of my business, right?

There were several hours spent in the kitchen, making paneer and ghee (the latter took ages, but was well worth it). Since I was standing in the kitchen anyway for one, I figured I might as well make the other too. And since this was taking a long time anyway, I made dog food as well, figuring our little darlings needed a treat for a change. Afterwards I fled into the yard, thank you very much.

I did take an hour or so last night to get fully up to date with personal messages. I’d been postponing forever and ever, meaning that I was a handful of letters behind, which I went through ASAP before continuing on to the daily edit. Was nice to get that done at last…along with getting up to date on old friendships.

Grandpa is really happy with his new pocket watch. The other day I came up to his bungalow he asked, eyes shiny, “Do you know what time it is? I do!” and proceeded show how well it had dried and saying how much he liked it. Very gratifying, that.

Tenant is a little sleepy the past few days. Winter tends to do that to her, really. She’ll doze in her chair a lot, won’t want to go out to get a breath of fresh air, which makes it worse, of course. Ah well. Those are her choices to make, naturally.

And that is about the limit of my memories of the past couple of days. I’ve got an edit to do, a bed to visit, because let’s face it, the time is just past ten and it’s already luring me. Hah. Gotta go.

Interviewing C.S. Marks

2012-01-25T21:44:00.004+01:00

So the time is here, the complete shift of our usual routine here on the blog.

No talk about daily stuff; whining about edits, discussions about grammar and whether or not a scene fits in the plot or not, (big brother and I got into a heated one again the other day. Seriously it was bad, I wanted to conk him on the head with a blunt instrument again…okay, I won’t spill the beans now, but save it for later) but a fun interview with Christine S. Marks, who recently signed on with Sea Lion Books and will have her book “Elfhunter” coming out sometime this spring. Yay.

I’ll be doing a review at that time, thank you very much, and will be looking forward to see what changes have been made.

I hear you wonder, who the heck is Chris Marks? (although, if you’ve been following for a bit you will have at some point read the way-too-long review I did for her) No worries, the questions down here are going to satisfy at least a bit of your curiosity. And who knows, you might be so wowed that you’ll end up buying the book. Hah.

Right. Is that enough yapping from me, or shall I set the scene a little? Hmmm...

Let’s pretend I actually traveled to the States for this little chat, okay. (a girl can dream, right?) I met with Marks…Chris at a nice little pub where a cozy fire burned high in an old hearth. There’s a faint scent of peat in the air, and my Whiskey is golden while her ale…or shall we say mead? (she has a thing with honey...but you'll have to read the book to figure out what it is, hah) is warm.
There’s snow outside, there are a couple of dogs under the table that we occupy, and there’s a burr of other patrons enjoying a quiet evening out. Polished wood galore, and my chair is just a tad wobbly. Let's just say it added to the atmosphere. Hah.
Pen poised, recorder taping, and a secret camera set in the corner…this is what I got for my efforts...

(Aren’t the ears fun?)
We share a toast (gotta lull them with a false sense of safety *chortle*) and then I hit her with the first question...no, no, no actual hitting. Jeez! Have a little faith. *sigh*
Well anyway, plied with liquor, the atmosphere relaxed we got started. Just to be nice, I decided to go with an easy question: “Christine S. Marks: Renaissance woman, educator, writer, competitive horse rider and so on and on. This is how your bio describes you. Deep down, if you had to describe yourself in a single sentence, what would you say? Don’t think about it, just say the first thing that pops up. Who is Chris in one sentence?”

CHRIS: You know that guy, Voldemort? I’m who he runs from.

ME: “Alterra: The world that is”, in your biography you state that the Elfhunter trilogy is dedicated to your father, whose roots in literature clearly left a strong imprint on you. Can you tell us something about how the idea of Elfhunter came into existence?

CHRIS: Welll...it started as a short story involving four protagonists and a really cool villain. The really cool villain forced me to continue until I had told the entire story to his satisfaction (three volumes later). Trust me...I had to do it! Seriously, though, a guy like Gorgon gets into your head and you just have to keep going. Alterra is merely a setting for his story. Elfhunter is much more about characters than it is about world-building.

ME: One cannot help being reminded of Lord of the Rings while reading about Alterra, the world you have created. Do you mind the comparison?

CHRIS: Not at all. I’ve never denied the profound influence Tolkien had on my perception of fantasy. Readers will notice both Middle Earth and Alterra are earth-like, pre-industrialized worlds, and that Alterra is populated with some of the beloved fantasy ‘tropes‘ (elves, trolls, and so on) that Tolkien established. However, the story and characters are quite different. There are many unique aspects of Alterra with respect to magic, cosmology, and ecology (after all--Alterra was imagined by a biologist), but it’s the story and the characters who carry it out that are most important.

ME: Have you always wanted to be a writer, or is it something that just happened over the years?

CHRIS: Honestly, I’ve always loved reading and have appreciated the gifts a good storyteller can provide. I also have always enjoyed writing, but I never really imagined myself as a ‘writer’ until recently. My Dad was the writer; I was the scientist. I have written quite a lot of stuff over the years (mostly fantasy and some nonfiction, but also romance...I even tried my hand at erotica once on a dare). I’ve never had anything published until Elfhunter.

ME: Through the years, who has been your staunchest supporter?

CHRIS: Without a doubt, my husband, Jeff. He deserves a great deal of credit, as I’m probably not the easiest person to live with (especially when I’m really stuck into writing). He’s been there through every nail-biting moment, every bad review, and every major edit. Second place might have to go to Wally, the corgi, whose support has been unwavering for the past decade.

ME: Your characters are very detailed and specifically defined. Are any of them based on people in real life?

CHRIS: Some are, yes. I will say no more, lest my friends start trying to ‘find themselves’ and worry about whether I based Gorgon on them. ;-)

ME: Gaelen Taldin: Your main character is a temperamental, loyal and quite outspoken little spitfire. Any similarities between her and yourself?

CHRIS: At the college where I teach, I am known for being outspoken, independent, and non-political. I have always gone my own way as a pragmatic non-conformist who isn’t afraid to dream and be creative. Those are all Gaelen-like characteristics. I also know when I’m right, dangit! There’s a lot of me in Fima, the Dwarf, as well. I tend to express my world view through those two characters. I will say, though, that Gaelen sings better than I do. Physically, I’m a lot more like Fima (except for the beard, though at my age I won’t always be able to rule that out, either).

ME: Who is your favorite author?

CHRIS: I love Tolkien. For me, his writing is the essence of what high fantasy should be. I have always enjoyed Stephen King, too. The Stand and The Talisman are brilliant. On the gentler side, I love James Herriot and Richard Adams.

ME: Your passion for fantasy is apparent in your work. Any other genres that you might try your hand at in the future?

CHRIS: I have always wanted to write a light-hearted collection of essays dealing with graduate school, endurance riding, and college teaching . I have lived through some hilarious experiences--and some are quite unusual, such as riding the Australian National Championship hundred-mile race. One of these days, maybe.

ME: As a formerly self-published author, you’ve been at the helm (basically) on your own for years. How does it feel to have a full-fledged publishing house backing you up now? Are you enjoying the process?

CHRIS: Oh, my, yes! It’s wonderful to be a part of a team of professionals. I have a top-notch agent ‘watching my back’, an illustrator to die for, a savvy marketing team, and a creative publisher who’s committed to our mutual success. What’s not to like? And, have I mentioned that I love my new editor? She’s one of the best around, she is unbelievably perceptive, and I know we can take Elfhunter to a whole new level. The learning opportunity alone is invaluable to me as a writer.

I will say that I have not regretted my choice to self-publish, and that being ‘at the helm’ was not a bad place to be. I had no one to blame (or credit) for my failure or success. That said, I could only go so far with the project on my own--now there are doors opening that were closed before.

ME: So much has been changing in the publishing world. How do you, one of the success stories of self-publishing, think it’s going to go? Self-publishing: A fad, or here to stay?

CHRIS: Here to stay, but in a state of flux right now. Self-publishing is a more viable choice than it has ever been before, and I believe it will gain even more respect as a legitimate publishing path in the future. However, those authors who are unwilling to make the investment in the quality of their work will soon fall by the wayside. Quality ‘indies’ will be able to vie with the traditionally-published--some are doing so already--and those authors will draw the attention of not only the readers, but the industry as a whole. That’s a major shift, imo.

ME: How did your transfer to Sea Lion Publishing come about?

CHRIS: This is such a cool question, because it illustrates the idea that ‘you just never know’ what chain of events will lead to something wonderful. The short version: Two bloggers happened to be blogging (as bloggers are wont to do) about Elfhunter at the same time. One of the execs at SLB (their marketing chief, actually) happens to follow those blogs. Because he saw the same book on both of them (fortunately, both bloggers were very positive about the book) he checked into it. He went to Amazon, read the reviews from readers, and read the sample. The rest, as they say, is history. I owe my good fortune to those two bloggers, whoever they may be. You just never know.

ME: You’ve always been an avid, albeit modest and tasteful promoter of your work. Is that going to change now, or will you be as passionate about it as ever?

CHRIS: I am passionate about everything I care for. I intend to remain modest and tasteful (thanks for that), but I stand ready for SLB whenever and wherever they need me.

ME: You’re a busy woman. You teach, write, do book tours, have horses, dogs, cats and a significant other: How do you find time for it all?

CHRIS: I can blame several of my grey hairs on this. Thankfully, both my husband and employer are understanding and supportive. I write at all hours--late nights, early mornings--whenever I can (it’s 3 a.m. here at the moment). I have simply resolved to make time for everything that’s important to me, as I’m not willing to give anything up. I’ll retire from the College one of these days, and that will free up some time, hopefully for writing! :-)

ME: Two choices: spending a day out on your favorite horse, riding across sunny, long stretching meadows. Or a day a day inside behind your computer, finally writing down that scene that has been bugging you for ages. What would you do?

CHRIS: Probably get up extra early so I could do BOTH. Riding relaxes me and prepares me for writing. I used to try to get a morning ride in before an exhaustive day of final exams, too. My grades were much better for it.

ME: Your writing process, what’s it like? One big exhausting marathon right until the end. A steady clip that will get you to the end in due time. Or none of the above.

CHRIS: I write according to the time I have available. When I’m ‘on it’, I write for long hours and work really hard. Sometimes my schedule will not permit me to write for several days, but I’ve been known to basically den up in my ‘writer cave’ for several days afterward. The end of Ravenshade was written in two days and nights of almost solid writing--I could not get the story down on paper fast enough! When I’m working on a deadline, I try to write steadily as time permits. Now I’m going through a major structural edit, and I have to work steadily or I won’t meet my deadline.

ME: What about your surroundings. Do you need absolute silence to concentrate on the world your are describing, or do you prefer a more chaotic atmosphere?

CHRIS: Don’t like chaos. I have a pair of noise-canceling headphones for those noisy days at home. I play the same five cds as background...the music automatically gets me into ‘writing mode’.

ME: You’ve had a heck of a week, not a moment to spare. All your obligations are taken care of, those you love are content, and you have one blissful hour of free time to do with what you will. What do you do?

CHRIS: Since I only have an hour, I will probably cosy up on the couch, having built a fire in the fireplace, and cuddle a dog or two.

ME: Any advice for the writers out there with “the dream”? Some words of divine wisdom?

CHRIS: I don’t have any divine wisdom, but if I had to dispense advice to aspiring authors it would be this:
--Write because you love it.
--Work hard at your craft, and strive always to become a better writer.
--Set realistic goals.
--Realize that publishing a quality work takes investment, both in the quality of the writing and in the presentation and promotion of the work.
--Be prepared to enlist the aid of cover artists/designers and editors to help you make your book as professional as it can be.
--Try not to compare yourself with other authors. Learn from them, but understand that your work is unique, your experience will be different, and ‘your mileage may vary’.
--Keep writing because you love it!

ME: A last one about Alterra: What’s next?

CHRIS: A new, exciting Alterran series is in the works! The first book has been written, the second is in process. It takes the characters in a whole new direction, exploring the world of Alterra as never before. Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and I’m really anxious to get on with the writing.
I’ve recently finished a novella that is going in the back of the new Elfhunter--a special treat for my readers.

Naturally, I am looking forward to the comic book and graphic novel series with eager anticipation. We should see the first stirrings in 2012.

(I snuck in a few extra, in case I needed to rearrange stuff…but then of course, Chris gave fun answers so I can’t leave them out, grrr. I had wanted to do "20 questions", darn it!)

ME: For your first publication you created the cover art yourself, and did a fine job of it. What do you think of the cover art done by Ms Hoover?

CHRIS: Well, thanks for that. Ms Hoover is a real pro, she has read the book (and loves it), and she quite obviously ‘gets’ the character. I could not ask for a better cover artist! I will admit that I am a bit wistful to see my interior illustrations go, though. I know the new ones will be on a whole new level, consistent with the upcoming graphic novel adaptations, and so I understand why I must bid farewell to the ‘old’.

ME: Rumors are you’re an expert filk performer. How did that come about?

CHRIS: Ha! I taught myself the guitar when I was eight. I have always loved writing silly songs, I have a decent voice, I love to sing...those are the characteristics of a filker, even though I didn’t know it at the time.

ME: For those who don’t know what a filk is, would you explain?

CHRIS: ‘Filk’ is a musical genre that often includes parody/humorous songs, but also serious ones, with a fantasy/scifi theme. Filkers are most often found at conventions, ‘holed up’ in a room together, playing and singing until sunrise. They will then drag their guitars back to their rooms and not emerge until noon. It’s tough to work an author table and filk all night, but sleep is for the weak and sickly. I knew the job was dangerous when I took it.

That’s it. That’s all she wrote. I turn off the recorder, tuck away pen and paper, and slip the camera back into my purse. It was a wonderfully casual chat, I assured her, and as we exit the pub to head for our respective cars we give a cheery wave of goodbye.

*sigh*
Dontcha just love fantasy. Hah.

I am definitely looking forward to the new publication (I’ll keep you informed about that one) and was much appreciative of this opportunity to interview C.S. Marks, with what I hoped were at least some “genius” questions.

As or the normal routine of the blog…don’t worry, I’ll go all out and bring you all up to date next time ‘round. *snort*

A gift for grandpa

2012-01-23T20:00:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “So far so good” by Bryan Adams. Such a good song.

I had a couple of beautiful dreams in the past couple of days, but I will save them for a later date (jotted them down and everything) because at the moment I am running way behind and really should get down to editing rather than be here, wallowing in pretty dreams in far away places. *sigh* It was beautiful, if somewhat weird. But what am I saying, my dreams are always a little weird. Hah.

So yeah, I’m still reading Jack Vance, and having a blast. Has anyone ever noticed that like in those old comic books (Tin Tin and the likes) women only play a transient role and are at times not even there. I wonder if this is the example of the world having been a man’s world. I’ve gotta admit that with me being a overall female-heroine reader, it is refreshing to read.
While making my way through Vance’s “Adventure planet” omnibus, I have noticed that the character changed drastically between book one and the last two. Where Adam Reith was arrogant (to the point of being annoying) somewhat shallow and brash, he became considerably more sensitive (this time to the point of being startling) later in the series. Suddenly he’s experiencing debilitating fears and such, while the in the first story he faced trouble head-on. He still does the head-on thing, but has to overcome a whole bunch of fears in the meantime. I’m not complaining, mind you, just wondering what changed during the writing process to change the main character in such a fashion. Considering books are often shaped by events in the author’s life, I’ve gotta say I’m curious as to Vance’s life at that time. Hah

But enough of that. On to the day and that which occurred. Not a bloody lot, now that I think about it. Yesterday for instance involved yard work where I fixed one more fence, harvested some broccoli, wild onions, and a few late tomatoes. Being out there anyway there was sowing to be done. Grandpa finished two more fields (turning the earth) so I sowed alfa alfa seeds as well prior to going through the herb offerings in search for some proper ingredients for a coughing syrup. Mom and the younger sibs have a cough, so we’re going fast through my supply.

Took the selection up and stripped the branches off before putting it on a low fire with honey and sugar cane syrup for several hours.

Since grandpa was still down in the yard I took the opportunity to give his future pocket watch one last sanding and varnish. Had to do it secretly to boot, because it would have been a pity if he caught on at this point. Up until then he only knew that I was making something I’d dreamed about.

That done, and with the watch back to my room just second before grandpa came up, I joined him up at the storage where spent half an hour or so sorting through messes. Grandpa had been asking for several days if I could help him carry the mesh pergola structure towards the storage behind the camper. Since big brother was messing with his computer again, I figured I might as well see to that. So I sent grandpa off with the roof sections, looked at the remaining stack of eight or nine panels and then decided to just give it a shot. It wasn’t all that heavy, so I carried it through the gate and towards where grandpa was holding open one of the smaller ones. He looked at me funny, and asked if I’d taken them all with a half laugh. I don’t know why he asks that in that tone, but he had to laugh for some unfathomable reason.
Ah well, no matter. Together we carried away a granite plate for my future outside kitchen, and some crates with pool tiles, and then suddenly the storage started looking a whole lot neater.
I can hardly wait to see how it will look once we’ve got it all cleared out. Yay!

There was cooking and chatting with tenant who helped making supper, and then it was sitting down at last to the day’s computer work. I did finish rewriting the prologue, and I think that it worked out well enough. With a little luck it’ll add some extra layers to the plot. The edit went fine, and I was in bed around 1:30 in the morning, which wasn’t bad, all things considered.

Took the boarding dogs for their last walk this morning. Their owner came to pick them up late in the afternoon today. They’ll be coming back next month, when their owner has to leave the country for her job again. All things considered it didn’t go all that bad, so I don’t mind dog-sitting them. Hah.

This morning (after the usual chores) it was time to head to the raised seedbed and transplant the small lettuce seedlings. Did a total of sixty, I think, which are now in small pots where they will stay for a week or two before we started putting them outside in the hopes that we’ll get some lettuce this spring.

That done stuff had to be watered and cabbages checked for bugs (found only a few down in the yard, but more than fifteen caterpillars in one cabbage up in grandpa’s little yard) and debated the removal of several bushes so that we’ll have more sunlight, and less water stealing in the lowest level of the yard.

We’re going to have to clean Njanna’s ears again, the poor fellow’s ears are just pussing up again, so a good cleaning is the only solution. He sure won’t like it, that’s a fact.

Today was my doctor’s appointment, by the way. Arrived on time for a change (and thus had to wait ten minutes) and then was immediately directed to “the chair”. Well, I put a stop to that one. Hah. I immediately grabbed my insoles and held them up for him to see…startled him too. With a half laugh he stepped back and looked at the dratted things in horror. In crappy English (about as bad as my Spanish) he said, “you wear these a lot?” and I said, “Yes”. (Both him and the friggin’ doctor told me to wear them as often as possible, so that’s what I do. I wear them every single effing day, thank you very much.) I thought wearing them was the whole point of the darn things.
But anyway, he’s going to set me up with a couple of new ones, which are slightly softer (crossing my fingers for that one) and suitable for running. Yay.

Strangely enough, as if always the case when visiting a doctor of any kind, the problem for which I have sought advice/help, is worse than usual. Hah. Weird how that works, eh. At the moment you would think that my foot hasn’t seen that insole in a week for crying out loud. It’s burning like mad even though I have removed the dratted things less than a couple of hours earlier than usual. Bonkers!

Ah well, no matter. Next week I’ll have the new padded ones, and that will be all she wrote. Until then I’ll just have to cowboy up and grit my teeth, or something.

It was the so-called cute doctor again, by the way. He lost a little weight, was wearing Clark Kent glasses and I kept thinking if only the nice girl with the reasonably good English was here again. Hah. Not that it matters one way or other. He was “nice” in all the ways that matter. Strangely enough he reminded me of a somewhat nerdish Clive Owen…how’s that for a weird comparison.

What else…well, since we were in the village anyway, we drove on to a town fifteen miles further along the road to do a few groceries that will tide us over until the end of the week when the big grocery shopping day will be upon us once more. Aaaargh. Oh, no. Wait. I wasn’t going to do that anymore. No more negativity to make it into an unpleasant day. It’s not that bad, and who knows, I might actually enjoy myself. Yay.

Once we got home it was time to prepare supper, which consisted of yesterday’s leftovers and a mix of pumpkin, cauliflower, onion, leek and paneer from the freezer. It all was splendid, but for some reason my stomach was in knots, making dinner a bad thing for me today. Only at half my portion and then had to set it aside lest I risk losing it all the to the porcelain bowl. Hah.

My dogs were ecstatic when I got home, and Knight II was frustrated, rutting on the bed, striking at me with his paws like some five-month-old pup, making me lose balance and slam against the wall full force. Idiot. He can be about as elegant as a rabid elephant at times.

In regards to Amri. It is hard getting used to him not being here anymore. When I call my dogs in I’ve already made the mistake of calling him five times so far, and I do miss him whenever I do a headcount or automatically check out the spots where he used to enjoy lying. Strange how you miss the daily “input” of another living being, eh?
Okay, let’s talk about something else before I start bawling, or something.

Ooh. Grandpa’s gift. I almost forgot. I gave it to him last night. Hah. He had just returned from his walk with his dogs and I was leaning out the spy hole in the gate and asked for his hand. Not knowing what I wanted with it, he raised it and gazed at the small wooden item I put in it.
“Look at that,” I said.
He did. Smiling and looking it over, saying, “That looks really good, Sam. Is that what you dreamed about? It’s beautiful”
Me: “Uh-huh. Worked out really well too.”
He started giving it back to me, and I shook my head. “No. No. It’s for you?”
Grandpa: “For me?” He gazed at the wooden pocket watch, gave a choked laugh and turned away abruptly with watery eyes.
Me: “Yep. You said you didn’t want us to buy you a real one, so…there you go. A pocket watch.” While I was explaining about how I’d managed to get the hinge from an old wristwatch box, he walked off, still holding my gift in his hand.
I had to grin, muttered, “Well, that went well,” and went inside to cook supper. I gotta admit that it was a very satisfying response to the gift, eh?
(I'll post a picture when I've got my phone back.)

Well, this is going to be it. I’ve got an edit to do, an interview to tweak, another interview to write (am going to interview and indie writer soon) and then, maybe if I’m lucky, I get to see a movie tonight, or otherwise be in bed on time. Yay.

I had a dream...

2012-01-21T20:30:00.002+01:00

Song of the day: “Where have all the cowboys gone” by Paula Cole. Was reminded of it the other day, and just had to look it up before I iTuned it. Hah.

So…I had a dream…no, no, no, not that one. I had a dream about a small item, which I just had to see if I could make it today. Let me explain first, because otherwise this item won’t make any sense to you (no, I don’t have pictures, my phone is at the repair shop and the temporary replacement I have really won’t do it any justice). You see, Grandpa hates wrist watches. He says that he’ll snag them on things, forget them, lose them, and that he just doesn’t like them. So we bought him a pocket watch a couple of years ago, which had him ecstatic…for a while at least. Then the stupid thing gave the spirit and he tried to have it fixed forever and ever, until the clock guy finally said that it wasn’t worth repairing. It really disappointed him, but he didn’t want us to buy him a new one.

We didn’t, instead I took an old watch (found it in a drawer somewhere) without a wrist band, took a piece of woods from storage and started working. I worked in two sessions of several hours, and these two shell shaped wooden disks, made two matching holes on either side, a ridge around one, an indentation in the other, and then tore through my room searching for an old Seiko box. Found it, and yes, memory served me right, it had two tiny hinges in it. Cut one out, drilled holes in it, looked for tiny screws and used a wee chisel to create a small indent for the mechanism (one of those that stays open, or shut, whichever position you decide on) and put it together. More sanding, engraving his initial on the lid (secretly of course, grandpa wasn’t supposed to know) and then mixing a bit of color into a clear varnish so I could treat the wood.

It is drying at the moment, but if all went well, I should be able to give it to him tomorrow. Yay. Hope he likes it, and I’ll let you know in the next blog.

Okay, back to business as usual. Let’s get up to date on the daily toils. Yesterday:
Well, there was no workout, which was a good thing since later in the day I got plenty of that after all. Hah. Did the morning chores, as usual, walked the boarder dogs, had breakfast and then headed down into the yard to add a few more of the reed fences. Only two or three more to go, thankfully. Also watered the young seedlings, the raised seedbed and then, after chatting with tenant a little, it was up to the wall and the terraced on top of it. For the remainder of the day I added layers of rock along the length of the wall.

Got several feet up to the ultimate height at last. Beautiful, in case you’re wondering, and with some seriously big rocks in it that will make for an interesting view that’s a fact. Hah. But it’s looking good. I think we’ll need to do another masonry day soon, but by then it will be high enough for us to start digging behind my cabin again so we can fill it up straight to the house.

While I was putting in rocks, I got a phone call of the computer doctor to let me know that we could come and pick up big brother’s Mac, at last. They had reinstalled everything and since big brother has been waiting with bated breath, we unloaded the car of the latest rock load, changed into something semi-clean and headed for town.

Well, I am happy to report that the Mac is once again fully functional, yay, and that big brother was gone most of the day while he was working on getting everything just-so in his electronic sweetheart. (He’s insufferable when he needs to spend a full day inside trying to sort the dratted computer out, mind you.) Hah. But no matter, he busted his knee yesterday (almost had to catch him at the grocery store because his knee refused to support him for crying out loud) so the inside-day, sitting with his computer, reading and installing, was actually good for his knee at least.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. We picked up the computer, did a few groceries that should tide us over until next week at least, (grocery shopping day is nigh, darn it) and went past a variety of stores in search of a spray can with a color that matches the Opel. Turns out that the store that probably would have it was already closed for the day, so we headed back home where big brother spent the majority of the evening messing with his computer.

I, on the other hand, was a good girl and dutifully worked on the book. Worked for several hours on writing the last piece of the prologue; a gloomy pursuit scene. Two people fleeing for a third and then…well, I can’t betray the story, of course, but it was awesome. The scene flowed and I was done and about five minutes later swore viciously. I’d done it wrong. Seriously, I hate it when that happens. During previous conversations we had already decided on a certain sequence in the scene. Regretfully inspiration didn’t agree, and made me forget the plan. Now I’ll have to do an effing rewrite again.
Ah well, no matter. Time is on my side still.

Okay, good news. My interview with C.S. Marks was returned last night with all questions answered, nice and proper. I, of course, got to read them already, and had a blast, so y’all are in for a treat. Either the next blog, or the one thereafter will be a nice change of pace and let you read about another crazy author. Hah. I’ll keep you informed, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out when I post it.

Today, besides working on grandpa’s “new” pocket watch, cousin Ed, grandpa and I worked up by the storage, sorting through stuff. There were several piles, one garbage, one with keepers, and one with doubters. Also found a big pile of roof tiles, which we sorted through and stacked on a pallet out of the way.
Still a long way to go, but we’re getting there. We’ll get the mess neat yet. It sure would be nice if we no longer look like land fill up there. Hah.

Am a bit tired, and I really should work on that prologue still, so I’m going to call this a blog and see ya ‘round the next time, I’m sure. *snort*

A little bit of fleeing never hurt anyone

2012-01-19T21:41:00.000+01:00

Song of the day...seriously, you don’t want to know. It is such crap, and I have been trying to get it out all effing day, without effect. Aaaargh.

So yesterday I wasn’t I the best of moods (as you can undoubtedly imagine) so I decided to cowboy up and did a workout with doubled up reps. It did part of the trick at least, seeing as it got me pumped up enough to get started on the day.

First off we walked the boarders in the lower yard. They kinda liked that, running up and down, jumping against us and everything. I don’t get what the complaint of their previous boarding house. Apparently the big one was unmanageable, but he’s a sweetie and listens fine. They’ll come out when we say, go back in too, so for as far as boarders go, these are perfect.

Since grandpa was supposed to pick up his driver’s license at long last, cousin Ed offered to do it in our stead and set out early in the morning. Considering caregiver was out, big brother and I separated our time between yard stuff and tenant. She wanted to spent the morning in her room but opted to come down to my terrace later on.

That agreed on, big brother and I went into the yard and used the chainsaw on the tree that was split in half during the last storm. Poor Eucalypti. There it was, growing fast and limber, only to have a two day windstorm blow it to smithereens. Don’t get me wrong, with this particular tree it doesn’t really matter since breaking only makes them grow faster, but at the moment it is looking quite mutilated.

Grandpa spent the past few days turning earth, and since one of the patches is on a rather steep incline, and he tried to level it a little, we used the new cut tree to create a small wall of sorts. Was interesting hauling two massive tree trunks through narrow paths and gates, but since the sun was coming through every now and then, being in the yard on itself was a wonderful thing.

It was so grand in fact that we spent an extra hour or two later on, sowing red beets and leek in the freshly turned earth. Considering we were out there anyway, I harvested the first real cauliflowers, some broccoli and a whole batch of borecole for supper. Being down there already we also watered a lot of the fields (using the basin of course) allowing for plenty of growing despite of what is being called a persistent drought this time of year.

Because big brother was unable to fix middle sister’s sewing machine for the third time, mom and little brother had to go out in the afternoon to go to the repairman in town. They had to take the Land Rover, seeing as we had ordered the left warning light that wouldn’t be there until after they left. First there was some gluing to do, though, since apparently two attachment points of the light also got damaged during the skid-crash the other day. No problem, though, big brother managed to fix that just fine.

Walked tenant down later in the afternoon where she enjoyed sitting in the sun and reading a new book. Funny how she sometimes tells that she used to want to read a lot, but never found the time. And now, after her stroke, she at least is able to do that.
And boy, is she doing that a lot. Hah.
There were boring chores, a sand hauling trip later in the day, a short walk with Knight II, and then back home to work on the edit, after we took the opportunity to shave Gaucho (black Afghan), who was starting to look like a reggae monkey with all his dirty dreadlocks hanging down his paws, thighs and neck. Poor creature looked so bedraggled and smelled so bad, that it was almost unpleasant to pet him.
Afterwards he looked much better…and felt it too, if his arrogant pose in front of the fence was anything to go by. Proud big bugger.

The edit didn’t go all that bad, but also not as long as it could have been considering I was absolutely exhausted and was more than happy to call it an early night. Sure did that. Heck, I was actually in bed before one in the morning. Yay.

Oh, right. Am still ready Jack Vance, only now I’m going through Tchai/Adventure planet (the omnibus). Again, a fun adventure, but compared to Nightlamp and The Demon Princes, I don’t like the main character as much. Nothing wrong with him, just a little less…I don’t know…innocence in him, I guess, which is a pity.

Today…hmmm. Another good workout (despite me being unable to find my shwung) Lots of this and that’s, but on the most part there was yard work. Some watering (in particular the raised seedbed where the iceberg is finally working) rearranging the tomato plants in the big greenhouse because they are getting to be too high for the tables. We set them on the floor instead. (Had to kill me some bugs, of course, the little buggers keep persisting.)

The warning light was set back into the Opel today, which means that we can use it again. Got so used to the two cars that I almost felt handicapped without it. Hah. Ridiculous how that works, really.

Did some rearranging up by the storage again. On the most part roof plating, which has been scattered about on a big pile for the longest part, which we now neatly stacked together, in an upright position, with pins to keep the lot in place.

That done it was back to the yard for me (it felt a bit like fleeing today, but what the heck, better flee into doing something useful than not, right?). Spent several hours reconstructing all the fences grandpa tore down to turn earth. Seriously, he hates my little reed fences with a vengeance, but it simply is the only solution to keep the dogs from barging through the veggie fields.

It was nice. The sun was out, and though the wind was a bit on the nippy side, I could do most of the work in a t-shirt, which is definitely a plus. At one point I did have to don my sweater again, but by then I was almost done so I didn’t really mind.

Did a short edit in the afternoon (could postpone supper for a bit because grandpa made pancakes for lunch) which got big brother and me into another heated discussion about grammar and plot issues. Seriously, things turned nasty for a bit because there were moments when he was saying “that is wrong” every time I changed something, but did expect me to come up with a solution for it even though he couldn’t actually explain the problem. Finally compromised on a completely revised sentence that held little of the old information. Sigh

No matter though, we had to get out for rocks. And rather than just walking Knight II for a bit afterward, I decided to go for a short jog. Uphill was a disaster of course, but down hill went splendidly. Did the whole distance in one stretch, thank you very much…and better yet, the Knight actually had to go in a stretched trot, rather than just a walk while I ran. Hah.

Well, that’s it for me. I had supper, did some more edits, did the blog, and now…now I am well on my way of being fully ready to call it a day. Jeez. I’m seriously running on fumes at the moment. Hah

R.I.P. Amri

2012-01-17T22:02:00.007+01:00

Song of the day: “The Pessimist is never disappointed” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Strangely enough it stuck in my head this afternoon. But considering the events of the day, that’s no big surprise, I guess.

Let me just start by saying that I had a crappy night, mostly due to the fact that it was friggin’ cold and thus the dogs kept squeezing up against me with Knight II actually squeezing in-between until I almost toppled out of bed (being even colder). It was my own fault, really, since I should have gotten my lazy bones out of bed and closed the door. Of course I didn’t. I would just grumble at the dogs, slap at some butts and snooze on until I was completely sore from curving into all sorts of angles.

Woke up with a massive headache, and being chilled to the point of needing a really, really hot shower. Since Amri (brown colored crossbreed, and I can't find a friggin' picture at the moment) was feeling poorly last night I decided to take him to the vet tonight. He’s not been himself for a while now, losing weight, while his tummy stays swollen, so after doing the morning chores we left for the vet and had him checked out because what with him drinking a lot as well, it could be a tumor, or his liver, or his kidneys.

It wasn’t good. The vet touched his stomach and didn’t like the feel of it. She tested his urine, which indicated that his kidneys weren’t working properly, at which point she made an ultrasound where it became very clear what was wrong. Apparantly the majority of his swelling was a tumor attached to his spleen, and what with the values of his pee, his kidney’s were most likely affected as well.

Amri went through the procedure with his usual aplomb. The shaving, the catheter, the prodding, the cold gel, but it was all for nothing. Sure, the doc could operate extending his life (not at all pleasantly) for another six to twelve months at the most under the best of circumstances, but all in all it was a bleak view of his future. I looked at him, the way he was lying in my arms looking rather vague about it all, and decided that I couldn’t do that to him.

He went gracefully, without a fuss, his head in the crook of my arm while I petted his neck and held him close until it was over. Crap!

Amri always was a proud dog, an alpha and for him to be reduced to that, it just wouldn’t be right. Gawd, I still remember getting him. It was in 2001 and we were visiting friends who ran an animal shelter. Sometimes, when Friday approached they would call us telling us of some splendid dog who had been placed on the terminate list, and we would be over there, walking amidst the cages and taking dogs week after week.

This was one of those days. We had come to rescue a young female German shepherd when I passed a cage and saw him sitting there. A small bundle of brown with a black snout. His fat little tummy bulging as he sat in the cage and then trundled over to get to bounce against the gate to draw me nearer. I was hooked. On him and his brothers, who were following right behind. Amri, Tayana and Asam. They were all gorgeous, some sort of boxer mastiff mix, undoubtedly, and maybe some Rhodesian Ridgeback thrown in to keep it interesting.

Amri wasn’t a dog prone to showing affection. But he was always there at a distance, coming over for only a daily petting and then just going his own way until it was time to go to bed. Always very composed, serious to the point of being grumpy in fact. He couldn’t stand puppies, but Gada was definitely the one he could stand best. Wherever he went she would bug him. And if I held her back, he would run ahead and bark in anticipation, waiting for her to catch up.

Gosh I hate it when this happens…and so unexpected. Seriously, I was still preparing for Gada, who won’t last much longer (or at least, I think so) if her hips are any indication, and then this. It really felt like a punch in the gut. Don’t you just hate cause and effect? Starting out (taking in dogs) you really don’t think about it. I mean for more than a year we blithely took in dogs, and now, as the years pass and the end of decade has come and gone, the consequence is digging in deep. Yes, lots of love and pleasure, and frustration, and aggravation, and more love, but also this: the losing bit. Not nice. Not nice at all, but a fact of life.

But enough about this. Spending the majority of the afternoon in the yard helped me numb things out for a bit (that works best in this situation, if you must know) and we planted more than fifty plants, which had to be done after all. Since we were busy anyway, we also sowed several rows of beets, which made up for the big field.

Afterwards we reconstructed the fences around the fields, because let’s face it, the dogs really like going through the freshly turned earth. Oh, before I forget, the first three cauliflowers are almost done. Yay. Looking forward to eating those.

There was the tent-flap door to repair in the carport. What with the storm of the past couple of days, it really wasn’t something we could postpone much longer. This followed a hauling session of dogfood. The delivery truck arrived in the late afternoon and the forty pound bags had to be hauled down to the storage where we had taken out the last few to check for mice again. Somehow the little buggers keep coming back, while we keep closing smaller and smaller holes. I really wonder where they’ll enter through now.

As for yesterday…not much of interest except for the fact that big brother and I almost got in a car crash. Yep. A car crash! It’d been raining most of the morning (started right after workout) and we’d been forced to head for the phone shop where our router was waiting.

Oh, in regard to big brother’s computer, the computer doctor says it will be several days before we can come pick it up. And we had so wanted to connect those two trips. But anyway, we were on our way home, actually not speeding for a change and went slip sliding into the railing on the passenger side of the car (my side, in this case). I remember saying, “Dude!” grappling for the door handle, as we bounced off and found grip again, and rolled down my window to see how bad it was.
Couldn’t actually see anything, so big brother kept going (4 mins away from home after all) until we got home and out to see.

Not too bad, all in all. Just a small dent in the front right panel, which we could (or so we saw after a short investigation) remove relatively easy to bend out again. All we needed to get was a new flashing light and some car paint…the latter will be tough, but the first should be here tomorrow or so.

But gawd, it was cold while I was working on the car outside. I’d put on several layers, a wool/alpaca sweater, turtlenecked T, fake fur bodywarmer and a leather jacket. I had gloves on, a baseball cap, hoody, gloves, and still almost froze my butt off. Got most of the bolts loose in the first three hours, at which point big brother was smart enough to suggest to put the car in the sun, which we did prior to getting those last pesky bolts that allowed us to take the panel off. Yay. Unbending it took a relatively short amount of time compared to the taking apart bit. Jeez. I was frozen solid all the way through.

The three dogs that we agreed to board for the next week or two arrived yesterday as well, by the way. A big golden mastiff/shepherd mix, and two crossbreed sisters will be spending the nights in my office, giving them some peace and quiet away from the pack. Their owner had to travel for work, and since she had no place to take them, mom offered to take them instead. Luckily the dogs don’t seem to mind so much. I for one know that mine would go absolutely bonkers if I left them somewhere for longer than a couple of hours.

As to the evening…the temperatures were low (low 40s), the winds high and the stove could barely keep up. Did a good edit, though, and actually got some writing done. We decided that I needed to add some extra background information to the story, meaning that I’ll be writing a prologue with a “what happened before” scene.

And now I’ve spent way too much time on this blog. I better get some more writing done before this day is fully over and I pass out in bed…looking forward to that, by the way.

Okay, I’m outta here.

Dream a little dream...

2012-01-15T19:21:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “I like how it feels” by Enrique. Been having a lot of him in my head of late, haven’t I? Ah well, no matter.

Let’s get started immediately, shall we?

It all starts in the Land Rover. Big brother is driving, Grandpa is in the backseat, and I’m looking around, wondering where the heck we are going. We are traveling in a straight line over bumpy knolls of grass, sparkly gray rocks and patches of yellow sand, with on either side of us a wall that is rapidly becoming higher.
“I don’t think this is going anywhere,” I point out, watching pampa grass knolls brush past the car at regular intervals, the white brick walls, interrupted by patches of piled up slabs of slate stone, on either side of the car. There are high reaching stems of bamboo, a little waterfall that pounds into a small basin situated in a niche we pass, and a grassy path on which we drive.
Overhead the sun is shining brightly. A clear blue sky with rapidly tumbling cumulus clouds, is almost too bright for my eyes. I can’t find my shades anywhere, and considering the car is bumping along on the road that appears to be getting bumpier and narrower within every passing minute.
A noisy scraping sound, along with a jostle that makes me wince, I ask, “Did you just hit something?”
“Uh-huh,” answers big brother, his features tight and dark. Something’s bothering, and it isn’t the narrowing passage.
“Two somethings,” deadpans grandpa from the backseat, looking a tad tense himself. I can’t blame him, since there is a sense of urgency and worry inside me as well.
On the side of the car two long, jagged scratches mar the white paint.
Up ahead, behind the left wall I can see occasional glimpses of a black roof building that for some reason reminds me of that big old hotel in that seventies horror movie “The shining”. Except that the roof is black, and that the beam structures, much like with those old cathedrals, stick out in clear contrast.
Big brother continues to drive on.
The pampas grass is blooming here, and the planters that are about as high as the wheels of the car become lusher with greens. By now I’m no longer wondering if the passage is getting narrower; it is. In fact by this time big brother has to pull to a halt lest we get stuck. We’re already close to that predicament, considering we are no longer able to open the doors.
“Now what?” I ask.
“I guess we should climb out and see if we can get over the wall to see where we are,” answers big brother, while grandpa in the back concurs and begins lowering his window. The three of us climb out, the planters supplying us with sufficient purchase to reach the top of the wall. Using pieces of black slates as foot holds, I climb onto the ledge and peer at the long drop down. There’s moss and grass at the bottom of the sheer white wall here, and before me, obscuring the view of the big house in the distance, is a rather vast pine forest.
I carefully slide my way down the wall, for as far as that is possible. I actually rip my pants, but no matter, with little trouble I land on the soft soil. A glance up shows that grandpa and big brother are nowhere in sight. I wonder about that for a moment, but see no other recourse than to head on out to the building and find a phone. As it turns out, I’m not carrying my phone. Strange.
For quite a while I walk through the woods, sunlight only occasionally touching the pine covered ground, and small tufts of green the only real color in this world of shadows.
Suddenly I come upon a row of buildings. They appear old and built on the exact edge of the woods. They are placed close together to a point of them forming a barrier through which I can barely see, let alone pass. There are glimpses of sun light and blue sky visible between the structures, so old that there are cracks in the clapboard walls, and even broken boards there where I thought I might be able to pass through because the last house on the row is build against a hedge of a wildly growing cypress hedge.
Worming myself through it, I basically stumble into a corridor of sorts. It is unexpected and I feel momentarily disoriented as I look around the almost sterile looking gray walls (two kinds of gray. Darker below, lighter up with a black border between them). The floor under my feet are olive green tiles, and every fifteen feet or so a dark puce colored door slashes through the gray. There are murmurs all around and a distant beeping that I can’t place nor locate.
I feel chilled in my short-sleeved white T, and the tiles make the soles of my shoes squeak rather ominously. I wince every single time I put my feet down, and yet the urgency that I sense doesn’t allow me to stop and wait to fully orient myself.
“Sam!” I spin around at the scream, see a young woman come rushing towards me. I don’t know her, and yet I do. Dark haired and almost fey in appearance, she’s only a few inches shorted than me. She has her arms raised in a somewhat imploring fashion.
“Sam! Help me,” she pleads, transforming before my eyes. Skin peels away from the protrusion of her cheekbones, showing fetid flesh, reddish and bleeding as her eyes sink deeper into their sockets and become vacant and pale. She makes an inarticulate sound, more a gurgle than anything. Her hair, lush and curly when she first came running towards me, is becoming greasy and dead-ish at the same time, hanging in dirty strands on either side of her now gaunt features where her once red lips have turned to a sallow blue.
“Help meeee!” she sputters, stumbling with a much familiar stagger as I scramble backwards. “’elp meeee” again while she reaches for me with clawed hands of which the nails have turned black and jaggedly sharp.
I have nowhere to turn, nowhere to run, what with my back against one of those bland gray walls, when suddenly a ponderous sounds explodes from nearby. The girl, I don’t even know her name, shocks comically, spins on her heel as dark blood fountains around her chest. She slams into the wall in front of me, as another explosions batters my eardrums. I close my eyes for a moment, determined not to watch the girl’s head explore in a gory mass of blood and flesh, and then glance in the direction from where the gun shots originate.
There’s a blond dude standing in the open glass doors. Strangely enough he reminds me of a very young Gary Busey (or his son) while he stands there in what appears to be a white nurse’s uniform. He is holding a smoking black shotgun.
“This way,” he calls, gesturing to the corridor behind him. He is looking at tad harried, I’ll admit, and for the first time I’m starting to wonder where the heck grandpa and big brother disappeared to.
“Come on. No dawdling. We’ve got to get out of here fast.”
Rather than look at the dead zombie girl, I start running towards the guy, but as I pass through the door I suddenly find myself on a Swiss balcony, overlooking snowy slopes as far as the eye can see. Behind me there are noisy screeches and growls, like a herd of monsters from a nightmare are rapidly approach, but a glance back into the corridor from which I come, shows only the dead zombie girl.
Again I have this sense of disorientation, but I have no time to ponder it as the guy with the shotgun urges me on at a run to the end of the seemingly endless balcony.
“This way,” he shouts over his shoulder, already climbing over the banister and letting himself fall down the three stories that we’re removed from the snow covered ground. Though usually heights disturb me, I don’t hesitate as I climb over and jump just as I feel a sharp scrape in the nape of my neck. With a noisy oomph I land in a thick pile of snow and scramble after shotgun dude.
“Where are we going?” I pant, daring a look up where a suspiciously zombie-like creature leans heavily over the banister I just climbed. Backing up the monstrous grunts and squeals is that distinctive beep that is seriously starting to bug me.
When I don’t receive a response from my companion, I glance back and realize I am once more alone.
Swearing (I won’t bother you with my creativity in this regard) I scramble away from my landing spot from fear of the zombie coming in pursuit and hurl myself head-first into the dark pine bushes that are located about fifty feet away from the building. Where’s big brother when you need him, I wonder distractedly, elbowing my way through the snow, and then squealing (somewhat inelegantly, I’ll admit) when the ground drops from under me, all of a sudden and I am send hurtling down a muddy slide. I come to a slippery stop at the bottom of the incline, covered in mud and feeling chilled to the bone as I slap at the muddy soil on either side of me. “Blast it!” I mutter the words, on a subconscious level aware that I should keep quiet, despite me getting the distinct impression that I am in fact dreaming. (Sometimes it takes me a while, as you might have noticed. Hah)
Ignoring the coldness of the mud and the smell that seems to come at me from all sides, I slip-slide my way to a rocky outcropping and use its steadiness to look up at what appears to be a long, long distance that I slid down. There, at the top of an uneven crater-like hole (in which I am shivering) I can see the Shining house loom high into the bright blue sky. There are sounds of music, laughter and talking voices drifting down, and I start my struggle to ascend up the rocking wall that leads up to the building.
The snow is gone, and by this time I’m pretty darn sure that I am dreaming, and wonder where the heck I’m going as I climb higher, and higher until I finally drag my butt up on solid ground and lay there behind a wildly blooming rose bush. I never get how I can be out of breath in dreams, and yet I am. The sound of an engine nearby makes me scramble into a squat (by this time my clothes are semi clean again) to peer through the rosebush. With the rumble of the car, that beep is once again becoming more prominent and I shake my head as I try to focus on what I can see through the branches of the deep red rose bush.
There, on the white gravel car sweep in front of the massive structure a black jag pulls to a halt and two women in black robes and red high heels (don’t ask me why, this is as weird to me, as it is to you) climb from the back seat to scamper up the brick dais whispering and laughing together like a bunch of teenagers.
I am about to slink my way down to the next bush, away from the building that seems threatening to me, even with all it’s apparent splendor, when a voice behinds me says: “What are you doing here?”
I start…and wake up with Knight II ramming his friggin’ paw into the small of my spine, and blink at the gray morning light falling into my bedroom.
As it turns out, the beeping I was hearing was my alarm, which, apparently, had been going off for a solid twenty minutes. Yup.
Knight II felt bugged by it and woke me up in the most effective way. Hah.

So, that was fascinating. I knew I was in the mood for a good horror movie last night when big brother mentioned that the younger sib got “The Eye” with Jessica Alba (he was so mean mentioning it. I’ve been wanting a good horror movie for weeks now, darn it.) on DVD. Clearly I wanted a horror so badly, my mind did it for me, eh? Hah.

But anyway, there were some clear old movie indicators in there. I mean seriously. Did you get the references? Gary Busy’s son in a nurse’s uniform? “The Frightners” anyone? The hotel in “The Shining”? “Labyrinth” from the eighties, maybe? Clapboard military housing from “The Bodysnatchers” in the early nineties? Zombies as in every zombie movie ever? The long stretching hospital corridors as in most Japanese horror movies?
Of course then there was the Swiss chalet-like balcony. I can’t really place that with a movie. Hmmm. Weird.

What can I say, I’m bonkers and my dreams proof as much. Gotta get the ideas for my dreams somewhere, don’t I? What better place then wonky dreams?

No matter though. Let’s do a quick sum-up of the past couple of days. There were chores, gardening, of course, and I spent most of the days working in the upper yard. I was in fact in the storage area sorting through the messes gathered there. Seriously. There’s two years of stuff lying about there, and just yesterday I needed 4 hours to sort through the last of my tile collection.
Then today going through plastic, tubing and all that stuff, which is fascinating for me, and not so fascinating for you, so I am more than happy that I could supply the dream for a change. Hah.

It was also quite nippy, meaning that Chaos spent most of his time on my bed, huddling under the blankets. No matter that I made my bed three times he kept pulling everything loose to make a nest for himself, the son of a gun.

Knight II insisted on joining me up by the paddock, and was cold for most of the time. It did get him an appetite, so I didn’t mind. Heck, for the first time in ages he ate a full bowl in the evening.

Well, this will have to do the trick today. Not much else happening except for a failed cooking experiment with Oxalis. It wasn’t gross, but it also wasn’t anything to write home about. Luckily I had also baked potatoes, meaning that I could open a couple of cans to supplement for the veggies that failed during tonight’s supper. Turns out Oxalis is really, really sour, and though I can see possibilities with it if it is mixed with other stuff, as a sole vegetables it won’t be a big success. Think sauerkraut, but then with a somewhat bitter aftertaste. A pity. I will try again in the near future.

Gotta go.

Hunting party. Hah

2012-01-13T21:05:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “I like how it feels” by Enrique Iglesias. Another cute song by this particular artist. Very catchy, albeit a little less profound than his older work. Ah well, not everything can be profound, I guess.

A strange couple of days really. I can’t really explain how, it was just weird. Maybe I should explain, but I don’t really feel like it. Besides, I wouldn’t know how to explain anyway. I’ll stick to the facts and leave you to guess for a change.

First off, we got the new washing machine delivered yesterday. Finally! Due to the repair dude never showing up in the past five weeks, a new policy started, meaning that we could either get a new (the same) machine, or another one where we paid the difference. Decided to do a better brand (Samsung) and paid for a difference of 120 bucks, rather than risk a third Daewoo washer in two years. Seriously, we’ve had nothing but trouble with the latter.
Let’s hope the Samsung does better.

So the guys delivered it in the morning, and for some reason it was a busy morning visitors wise. First a friend of mom’s whose dogs will be staying with us for about a week, next week. While she was inside, the delivery truck arrived, and while cousin Ed and I went up there to deal with them a small dog came trotting down our drive sweep.

I picked the little feller up, rather than risk him getting under the truck, and heard someone shouting from up the mountain. There was a lady waving there, and calling out that she’d be there in a minute. Cousin Ed was still dealing with the repair dudes when a black car came down the incline and walked towards it with the small curly dog under my arm. Turns out the lady was all surprised that I’d picked it up, because usually it doesn’t allow anyone to do so. Ah well, good thing I didn’t know that up front. Hah.

Chatted with the English lady for a bit, and then, as she drove off, returned to cousin Ed and the delivery dudes. They unloaded the new machine, loaded the old, and had me sign half a million papers before they were off and we could admire the new machine.
We took it down, added the usual protection (grating at the bottom) against rodents and such (they do love the noisy dark spots for some reason) and then wheeled the thing down the mountain towards its spot in the courtyard wash corner.
I was pleasantly surprised that we didn’t hear a thing from the engine when we started it up. Guess the quiet drive text on the front of the machine wasn’t for show. Hah.

Spent some time in the yard gathering borecole for dinner, and some broccoli because mom was really in the mood for it. When I offered the borecole to little brother, he pulled such a face that I almost laughed. Little brother is not a cabbage fan.

Finished the last of my birthday pie in the afternoon, spent some time with tenant who prepared the potatoes for dinner and helped me rip the borecole.

Did a sand fetching trip (followed by a walk with Knight II) and headed into the village to get Gada’s prescription for prednison at the vet’s. Also some supplies for mom at the sewing shop, and a quick stop at the ferreteria where I needed to get a light bulb for a sewing machine.

Did some more work on the moped shed (I still haven’t found the right descriptive word for this spot) did a spot of cleaning and spent the majority of the afternoon and evening working on checking the plot of V.L. We have momentarily suspended the edit in order to check details that really have to be correct for a suspense story like this.

Did a workout this morning, which might not have been the smartest idea since later today, in the afternoon we went to town and decided to do a jog past the boulevard with Knight II, and cousin Ed with her own dog. The dogs sure liked it, and I really noticed that I hadn’t done that for more than six months. Jeez. Of course my foot totally didn’t agree with that, but what the heck, I ran! (and so did Knight II) Yay.

This morning after the usual chores, we spent several hours in the yard. First of all we took out the last harvest of potatoes, which amounted to a total of two full 40 pound bags (all together that is). They’re looking splendid too. I took the opportunity to roast them in the woodstove just an hour ago. They were grand!

That done we watered what needed watering and sowed Alfa alfa and red beets in the lower yard. It was nice too, considering the sun broke out every now and again. We even harvested a late pumpkin and some tomatoes.

On the good news part, the computer doctor called and told us that they could repair big brother’s Mac by installing some replacement parts. This of course had big brother ecstatic, since he wasn’t looking forward to having to break in a new computer. So, for the price of a new computer, his old one will work again (knock on wood, cross my fingers) sometime next week.

We had to take the dogfood from storage again, and came upon a nest of mice (they’ve been breeding like rabbits the little bastards) underneath thirty bags and loads of droppings. Arthur finished one off, and was walking around proud as a peacock while Sitabah and Fortuyn were eying him like ostriches (“what’s that? What have you got there? Can I eat that? Is it a rock?”). There’re a whole lot of possibilities, but still ostriches are the best description. Little Dax took care of the baby mice, and Tadaika had a blast getting rid of all the spilt kibble (she’s like a doggy vacuum cleaner, for crying out loud).

While we went out for a visit to the phone shop and our insurance agent grandpa put in a tile threshold in the dog kibble storage, and hopefully that will keep the rodents out in the future.

There was soup (made with the help of tenant) which went down rather nicely, all things considered. I am going to try out a new recipe for red-bean patties. I found a pot of those, and am more than curious.

That done, and some last minute groceries tossed in the car, we headed for the boulevard and ran for about forty minutes. I think I’ll be sleeping really nicely tonight.

Well, I’m going to leave it at this, I’m sure I’m missing stuff, but what the heck, you’ll just have to fill in the blanks yourself.

Here and there

2012-01-11T20:00:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “Dirty Dancer” by Enrique, Usher and Li’ll Wayne.

So it was a most peculiar birthday, I’ll admit. I started the day by sleeping in for about half an hour, which was absolutely awesome. I love sleeping, I would do it all day long if I could…but seriously, who’s got the time for frivolous things such as sleep. So much to see, place to go and…well, you know the saying, right? *sigh*
But anyway, I debated doing a workout and then finally opted not to since I had that appointment at the doctor’s.

I was there right on the dot (poor assistants were sitting there packed in several layers because it was friggin’ ass cold in there) and was let into the exam room where this nice young girl doctor, (who actually spoke a wee bit of English, yay) let me sit down on a weird chair with my bare feet up so she could look at them.

After some chatting, some prodding, and then an examination of my “archaic” insoles (I got them a year and a half ago for crying out loud) at which point she informed me that I should come back on the 23rd because she didn’t have the equipment to measure my feet right then (last time the podiatrist let me stand on a piece of paper and made a drawing, hah). But she was nice about it, so I didn’t mind. Made it back home before noon, at which time I took to finishing the cake. Still had to put fruit on top, and the Jell-O kind of substance to pour over it. Opted to make that final ingredient on a mango basis, and boy did that work out well. Ended up with two cheese/yogurt forest fruit, strawberry, raspberry, peach, mango and cream pie. Gawd. It made me salivate, and the cookie bottom…divine! It was a huge success.

Went into the yard after finishing the pie (it had to settle in the fridge) and later cousin Ed joined me to plant more than forty little seedlings. This nippy weather (an average of 45 degrees in the morning) is really appreciated by these winter veggies. They’re growing like cabbages…oh wait, they are cabbages, or at least of that family. Hah.

It was nice, despite the air being nippy. The sun broke out occasionally, and due to the strong winds these days, we had to water most of the new plants with the basin. Poor plants should be enjoying the rain and yet we’ve been having a remarkably dry December and January. Weird, to say the least. Let’s hope that we’re not going to get a five-year drought, like fifteen years ago.

Big brother was busy with his computer most of the day, it was constantly crashing so he decided to take everything off, and reinstall the main operating system. This, as you might understand took some time.

Since there wasn’t a lot to do outside, (not to mention nippy) I fully intended to work in my cabin…only to have to go out again to bring Sally to work. Cousin Ed had planned to, but she was helping tenant preparing for dinner, so I offered to go in her stead. Dropped Sally off and then returned to dig through my closet and getting rid of clothes that had too many rips in them, spots, dirt, and were too small. I was about to
Start on the last shelve when big brother came in, looking a little wide-eyed and flushed.

Big brother: Well, now the computer is wrecked.
Me: What do you mean? (folding a top and putting it in my closet)
Big brother: I got everything off and was in the middle of installation when the effing thing shut down again.
Me: So?
Big brother: So now the computer says it doesn’t know itself anymore.
Me: Shit. Maybe we should get it to a shrink.
Big brother: Funny. Seriously, though. I tried everything.
Me: So call the local computer doctor, he’s in the paper.
Big brother: Hmmm.
Me: Dude. You just bought a new wire, and a new battery, that’s more than two hundred bucks.
Big brother: Effing stupid thing.
Me: Dude. Seriously, get the paper.
Big brother: Have you seen the computer; the screen doesn’t close, the keys sometimes don’t work, the…
Me: Call anyway. Maybe it’s a simple problem.
Big brother: So what? Why not go there now?
Me: Because I want to call to make sure that they’re even open.
Big brother: Oh. It’s only six. I rather just go by.
Me (eying him): Get the friggin’ paper and I’ll cal, for crying out loud!
Big brother: Yeah. Right. Which one…

So I told him, and called the computer doctor who was friendly enough to let me know that they’d be open ‘till seven thirty.
Getting underway took a bit. There were the piles of clothes that I had to toss someplace else than the bed, warm clothes to don, only to hear that mom was really concerned about little sister who’d been feeling poorly most of the day.
We talked for a bit about possible assistance, and then opted to wait it out while big brother and I left for town to drop off the computer.

Got that with fifteen minutes to spare, and yet all was dark when we arrived. I decided to call anyway and got the “doctor” on the line who said that they’d given up on me, and returned within five minutes. Hah. There was talk for about fifteen minutes, while we explained the problem (he wasn’t hopeful due to the computer’s age and the amount of trouble it was experiencing…has anyone noticed how computer repairmen never like repairing computers. It is very strange). He was going to try, though, and promised to let us know the verdict around Friday. Definitely hoping for the repairs to be under 200, because otherwise we’re going to have to dig into the savings again.

By the time we got home I was seriously sick and tired from being on the road most of the day, and was more than happy to dig into the meal cousin Ed had prepared, prior to heading for my computer and start on the day’s edit.

Got a nice bit done, but was more than happy to call it a day, I tell ya.

Which brings us to today, yay!

Was a little late getting up this morning (did you ever notice how much harder it is to get out of bed when the air is almost frosty) but did manage a full workout. Hah. Victory! Took a little longer than usual because we got into a heated discussion about politics and such. What can I say; we get passionate about that sort of thing. Cousin Ed joined us of course, so it was a lively debate to say the least.

After workout there was a massive pile of laundry, followed by a trip down to the yard to water the small seedbed, and check the greenhouse, and get a batch of chickweed and Alfa Alfa for mom’s salad. Decided to throw in some fresh herbs as well, since I was down there anyway.

Went up for breakfast, chatting with tenant a little, and next it was back to my cabin to finish what I’d started the day before. Chaos was still on the bed by that time, and I said: “Oh my gawd, Chaos. Are you still lazing in the bed?” He raised his head sluggishly, blinked at me twice and then nestled his cheek into the pillows with a visible snuggle of delight. Seriously, the Basset has no shame when it concerns sleeping (his favorite pastime). I dragged him to the edge of the bed and set him down where he grumpily moved past Knight II and Labhana who were watching him questioningly.

We carried up a new storage chest of plastic up to the old horse stable. This will be the spot to store wicker baskets and pillows until summer at least. It cleared up the storage a little, which made grandpa happy at least. Hah.

Big brother, still chagrined about his computer, worked in the moped stall for the most part, putting in two small shelving units. At this time I sewed the broken pillows of my armchairs, which I’d been planning to do for more than a week and yet somehow didn’t get around to.

That done, a second piece of pie eaten (yummy), I went to search for a piece of roof to finish the small closet section that we plan to attach to the side of the moped stall. Used the small angle grinder to cut it to the right size…and then it was time to call it a day (work-wise), and start on supper before getting on with the blog and the edit that I still need to do.

I’m thinking that I won’t mind an early bedtime tonight. Hah.

33

2012-01-09T22:53:00.003+01:00

Song of the day: “Mr. Rock&Roll” by Amy McDonald.

Was late getting up yesterday morning, finding it rather hard to get out of bed with temperature that were just a handful of degrees above the freezing point. It made workout an…interesting event. Same goes for this morning, when it was just as cold, but I found a rather good sweater for this kind of thing in my closet, and managed to survive the ordeal. Hah.

Am still reading Jack Vance, this time “Night Lamp”, and still having a blast. I gotta say that the guy narrates well, despite it being very different from modern day books. He has a flair with words, and though his main characters are on the most part the mysterious (deadly) observers in strange exotic words (I wonder if he was a lot like that) the worlds and its people are fascinating to read about.

I was not in the best of moods yesterday (nor today for that matter. Can’t really explain why, but I’m just working through it, waiting for it to pass, thank you very much) but tried to keep myself busy on the most part.

There was the yard for a while, digging around in the dirt, harvesting some veggies, yanking weeds, squashing bugs, and opening the greenhouse and seedbed to let what little sun there was in. Since we were down there already we watered the young seedling and the beds of Alfa Alfa.

By the time I returned to the upper yard because tenant needed a hand to change, grandpa was already digging out the side of the path where I still had to put in portions of the stone wall. Once I was done helping tenant and walked her down to my terrace where she sat in the sunshine most of the day, I got to work on the masonry.

Big brother and grandpa worked on the wiring for the solar panels, leading it up to the carport, which has been elected to be the spot where we’ll use the power just to prevent the batteries from dying, I did masonry. Usually I have help, but yesterday we were spread a bit thin. No matter, though, stuff got done.

There was an edit, as planned, some chats online, answering messages and such, following a cooking session with nopales that worked out rather well. Other than that there were just chores and the like.

As for today… Not much different, except that I had my doctor’s appointment and we had to go to town before that. The morning was spent making my cake (yes, tomorrow is my B-day, and I’m treating myself by not having to write my blog then, hah) and afterwards taking apart an old desk, which is, even now being used as firewood. A pity too. It was such a nice desk, but since we don’t have some massive attic where we can store things such as furniture, it had to go. Ah well.

Also had to finish the wiring for the solar panels, meaning that I was working with hammer and nails to get wires out of the way while big brother finished up on his grand idea. By the time that was all done, we had to head on out to town for a spot of grocery shopping, a trip to the computer store and then off to the village for my appointment (podiatrist)…arrived about five minutes late, rushing and everything only to hear that the podiatrist wasn’t in today (apparently they had tried to phone me, but since my phone is at the repair shop, that didn’t do much good.) meaning that I have to go back tomorrow morning. Grrr.

On the new part bit: Cousin Eddi arrived today. It was very out of the blue, really, but family is family after all, and she’ll make herself useful. She’ll be moving in permanently, working for room and board, so to speak, and since she wants to become handy at construction and such, we’ll have an extra set of hands. Yay.

What else. After the debacle at the doctor’s it was back home to bring the groceries, and picking up the papers from the washing machine store. Turns out that due to the fact that the repairman didn’t show up within five weeks, we will be supplied with a replacement of our choice (either the same one of the same price, or we pay the difference of a different brand). We doubted for a bit, but then opted to go for SamSung. The Daewoo really isn’t anything to write home about and we’ve had so much trouble with it, I was just about ready to start treating the thing to a boxing session. Grrr. But anyway, we picked a new one, filled in twenty miles of paperwork, and will get the machine delivered on Thursday (I’ll believe that when I see it, thank you very much). It was all very casual, the staff was incredibly friendly, and it felt like a humongous waste of time for me. Ah well, no helping it.

My dogs didn’t like it, seeing as I was gone for more than five hours. They were pretty bonkers by the time I finally got home and tried to steer them away from the mess they had made in my cabin. Chaos somehow managed to get off the bed, by the way, so I’m lucky he didn’t break a paw, or worse, his neck. Nah, our Chaos cannot be called athletic in that regard. He’s about as elegant as a salami sausage…who thinks he’s irresistible. Hah.

As for me: I am, as of thirty minutes ago, 33 years old. Yay. You’d think you’d feel different, but you don’t, just another day in another week, another month and another year. *sigh*
In honor of this so-called special day, I do remember my very first B-Day. One year old, Big brother (then three) on the floor with our best friend B. My cream cake had been put on the floor in front of me and I remember (vaguely) loads (a handful at most, hah) of people there. I was strutting around excited about the cake, and a little miffed I had to share it with big brother and B...and that's about it. What can I say, I was a dictatorial little thing. Hah.
So much for memories.

Wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Drat...can't think of a title

2012-01-07T20:32:00.003+01:00

Song of the day: “Black coffee” by All Saints. It’s been a while since I last heard this song, but then I found it the other night, and here we are: Stuck with it. Hah.

What to write? In all honesty my brain’s a blank again so I’m just going to take this one event after the other, not bothering with the proper sequence. Sorry.

First of all, I wasn’t in the best of moods today, so my activities were suitably lethargic by all accounts. I hate days like that, by the way. As if everything is dragging on for no particular reason. Ah well, it was not to be helped and I did get stuff done in the end.

So lemme think…
Had a workout yesterday morning…not this morning. I just couldn’t drag my lazy butt outta bed, and decided to sleep for those extra thirty minutes, rather than getting jiggy with it. What can I say, sometimes the lure of the pillow and warm blankets is just too much for a body to resist. Hah.

There were two ventures of unloading the car. First building materials, and the second sand. Both got done in due time, though there was an incident with glass fiber incident that turned out to be most unpleasant. Nothing serious, however, just, itchy on the most part.

Yesterday the weather was splendid, the actually was a warm breeze and the temps were in the low eighties, which was…well, splendid. Hah. There were moments that I could almost imagine myself being in summer again, and that…well, splendid too.
In particular during the gardening. Did a watering session for the young seedlings (divine, despite the basin water being downright chilly) and checked all the big cabbage plants for caterpillars. Killed at least thirty of the little buggers. Today, weather-wise, it was still sunny, but due to a southeastern wind, working in the greenhouse for a bit was absolutely wonderful too. Seriously, the mercury went up to at least the high eighties in there…which reminds me, I was late getting down there, so a few of my young seedling green beans might not have made it. Sure, they’re still standing up straight today, but some of their leaves are downright wrinkly.

But anyway, dog-wise, little has changed. Gada is loopy from the prednison she’s getting against the pain…I miss her real character (despite the fact that I haven’t seen that in a while now due to her hip problem) but at least she’s not suffering now. In fact, she is downright cheery as she runs after me most of the day…also her appetite is so big that she gained at least 10 pounds in the last two weeks. Not good that, not with her hips like this, but the way I figure, she might as well enjoy herself in what little time she has left. Which reminds me, she didn’t eat tonight. Darn it. I wonder if the pill is no longer enough. It was bound to happen but…well drat. I better check later tonight if she wants a snack.

I put together an old plastic doghouse. There was some damage in the corners, but it took me only a few hours to replace one section of a wall, put slats in the corners to make it sturdy, and to make rubber hinges. We should be able to use the darn thing for dog-blanket storage now. It will be water proof at the very least.

Tenant was downright ecstatic these last couple of days (heck make that two weeks), with the weather this splendid she has even managed without the stove and that is a definite plus for her. You should see her sit in her chair in the sunshine sometimes. That’s what you call enjoyment. Hah.
Can’t blame her either. In summer nothing quite competes with the warm sunshine.

As for food, I wasn’t entirely happy with yesterday’s experiment of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots with macaroni. Today’s veggie mix (our own canned tomatoes, green beans and peppers) some broccoli, nopales (cacti leaves) sweet corn, dried herbs from this summer, an onion and garlic, really went well with the chickpea/white bean Patties I made dough for this morning.

There was a venture to the igloo to store the metal rack I took apart the other day, along with the mobile toilet that used to be tenant’s a long time ago.
Did some sowing. Both Alfa Alfa and new chard. I’m not at all happy with the amounts we have from the ones I sowed several months ago, so I decided to do another row.

On an embarrassing note: I was complaining to big brother the other day, about how I noticed that so few people mind their posture these days (yes! Posture is important. Pull back those shoulders, raise that chin, no sense in slouching, for Gawd’s sake) and that it is such a pity. Posture says a lot about a person, and if your nurture it you’ll find improvement in mind and body both. *sigh* I know, I shouldn’t be preachy. Forget I said anything. But okay, I was complaining about it, and then found myself using what grandpa refers to as the “German handkerchief”. Which, in effect means that you hold one nostril shut and then blow…(I can hear you gasp)…I know! Very inelegant, but it is sooooo easy when you can’t find anything to blow your nose with, darn it. I’ll try to do better in the future, and to reassure you, I never do that sort of thing in public. Hah.

What else…well, big brother and I spent some time working on the solar panels, and I am proud to announce that the lot is working again, and that the box in which we installed the actual converter is working excellently as well. Next time the power goes off, we’ll have light at least. Yay.

Edits were somewhat different the past couple of days. Due to this being a suspense story, I have to get the facts right, so I've been busy doing a chapter by chapter, noting the amount of days, to make sure that they're consistent, and checking spots for information sharing. There're a lot of those, so I think it is going to take at least two more edits to get those right.
Well, that’s it for me today, I’m sure I missed something again, but what the heck, a blog’s a blog.

Row

2012-01-05T21:36:00.000+01:00

Song of the day: “Love the way you lie” by Eminem and Rihanna. Yeah, I know. Eminem, right? So unlike me, but the song is nice enough and regretfully catching. Of course I don’t know the lyrics well enough to actually sing the Eminem pieces, but what the heck.

What with getting to bed rather late the day before yesterday, getting up in time was a bit iffy. Did manage (with difficulty) and got down my workout at about ten to nine. Had a good session, if a bit hurried. Not so much less, just faster than usual to make up for lost time, which has its own advantages.

The weather has been divine these past couple of days. Sure the nights are a little on the chilly side, but the skies are clear and the wind has been behaving (on the overall). Seriously, right now I’m standing on the terrace in front of my cabin the sun shining from the south west (twilight is only a couple of hours away) there’s a gentle northern breeze, and right now things could hardly be better. It’s beautiful, golden light touching green eucalypti leaves, purple bougainvillea flowers, the spry light green of the night blooming jasmine and the much darker hue of the passion flower vine clinging to the carport. Shadows dance over the ground, the walls, soft grays interrupted by a bright gold and even pink as everything looks vividly alive in the advance of sunset. On the slope green grass grows in spare tufts that are lit up as if they’re covered by fairy dust, and the dark green cypresses are swaying like dancers against the blue horizon. There’s a haziness to the air over the valley, but this only gives the view a somewhat fairy tale quality that makes me feel as if I’m on a different world. (The fact that I’m still reading Jack Vance could be part of the reason for this, hah.) But anyway, this weather is what you live in Spain for: Sunny winter days that will make living outside absolutely wonderful.

But right, I was talking about yesterday. After workout and the usual chores in the house I had breakfast because I was absolutely starving for some reason. That done, the car unloaded of another batch of sand, I went down to the carport to pack the Middle East style, coffee table I’ve been restoring this past week or so. It worked out really well, by the way. It looks beautiful, and it should make a nice buck or two at the market at some point.

Afterward it was down to the yard with the lot of us. I did some harvesting (chickweed, broccoli, wild onion, pumpkin and some lingering tomatoes) while big brother hosed down the new plants that really can’t handle the wind and sunshine yet. Since it is basin water, basically these plants are free, which is an excellent way to save money, I have to say. Not to mention that it is devilishly healthy. Hah.

I liked it, the being in the yard bit. The sun was warm, the wind practically non-existent and with a little luck I will retain some of my tan this winter. Most of the day’s harvest was used for dinner to boot, so yay.

Tenant opted to stay on my cabin terrace the majority of the day. She does enjoy the spot a lot, what with it being out of the wind and the sun shining there for several hours. Luckily, in summer, it will be far more shady there.

Once done with the yard big brother and I worked in the carport, designing and putting together a proper box that holds the converter for the solar panels, or at least it will hold it once it’s done. It is a simple design, really. Grate work on the sides, wooden panels for the top, bottom, and the back, with on the back another grille for the optimum of ventilation. Got the majority done pretty fast, and were done for the day in time to head out for another batch of rocks. Since we were out anyway, Knight II had a nice little walk, despite the fact that he still sees the great outdoors and “Yuck, dirt between my toes!”
*snort*

Afterwards was a quick cooking session, followed by wolfing it down and working on the edit. Since I had to wait for big brother to finish his part, I managed a catnap and enjoyed it to such an extent that I was in a bad mood after waking. I had asked big brother to wake me after half an hour but he forgot, so I slept more than an hour, which is not at all conducive. It just makes me grumpy to have that long a nap.

But anyway, we got into a row about a scene, where he suggested (and I use that term broadly) to sake a large piece and added, after I said, “but if I take that out, the next piece won’t work,” “so put a sentence there to connect it again” as if that is not difficult at all. Seriously, have you ever had to compact half a page in one sentence. Grrr.
Be that as it may, we got through the day’s edit without killing each other (it was a close call, though) and got to bed way late because of the row. Hah.

Well, I was over it this morning, and since there was no workout, I went down to the house where I did the normal morning chores (you know, laundry and such *snort*) before having breakfast and heading on up to visit with tenant who joined us later on by the carport while we finished the box for the solar panel controls. Added a trap door for it (with a window in it so you don’t actually have to open it to check the lights) a proper electric box and on the overall finishing everything up that we didn’t manage yesterday.

Since big brother had taken apart metal shelving earlier in the day, I spent about half an hour sorting through the screws and bits, and then taped the whole unit together lest we lose something during storage.

As for the dogs, well, the majority of the day they spent snoozing in various spots in our vicinity, except for Chaos who opted for the bed and snored the afternoon away. He’s such a lazy Basset.

There was a quick trip into the yard, closing everything up for the upcoming night, removing some bugs, watering a few thirsty seedlings and then went back up to do the blog and a short venture into today’s edit. Big brother and I still need to go out tonight. We’re going to attempt to get a battery for his Macbook pro which is giving a lot of trouble because his died. I do hope that they have it, otherwise this trip to friggin’ Marbella will be for nothing.

…okay, I’m back. We got the battery for big brother’s computer so it wasn’t for nothing, and since we could pick some other stuff up as well, it didn’t feel like a complete waste of time either.

Right. I better get to the edit. We’ll be leafing through the whole lot today in search of the time-line and plot holes.

Diversity

2012-01-02T19:19:00.003+01:00

Song of the day: “Come on” by Will Young. I only recently discovered this song, but it’s catchy and it has been going through my head most of the day. The video wasn’t the best choice, but the song makes up for that. He should have gone for something impressive, though (I love dogs, but this was a little silly) like he slouching on a couch in a coffee shop, or something, being really depressed, and then a girl comes in, the sun shines behind her just as the music picks up. It would have suited really well, I think.

But anyway, that’s my idea on it. What can I say, I’m a sucker for romance. Hah.
So what’s been going on these first couple of days of the year? Oh yes, I can hear you wonder about that. Bet you’re on the edge of your seat right now. *snort*

Okay. Yesterday morning I woke early due to a rather tense dream about a post-apocalyptic world. I remember too little of the dream to do a proper recount (darn it) but I do remember that Viggo Mortenson and Eric Bana were in it. Which is weird because Mortenson looked like he did in “The Road” a movie I haven’t seen yet, and Bana looked like the movie Hannah, which I didn’t find all that impressive. I’m always confused when I have dreams like that. But anyway, we were on the run for something and in the dream I was kinda impressed with myself for being able to run up a mountain at top speed without losing my breath. Hah.
I reached the top and then woke up shaking my head. I snoozed for another thirty minutes before it was time for a workout. Had a good one too.

There were the normal morning chores, you know the ever lasting laundry and such. Did some organizing in my cabin, because stuff is falling off my horizontal surfaces. Yes, I know, it’s a mess in my place, and though I changed the sheets the other day, I really should spend a few hours in there cleaning up. But seriously, who’s got time for shaite like that. There is so much to do, and since I basically drop in bed the moment I come inside in the evening, it really isn’t all that pressing. *sigh*

Had to unload the car, and spent about half an hour hanging the oak wood door on my new bathroom cupboard. Then put the sink in the wash basin, and prepared it all for installation in the near future. For the rest of the day I worked on the wooden coffee table I’m restoring for market sales. It is starting to look pretty darn good. I’ll post a picture once I’m done.

I did work on too long, considering I crashed a little once I called it a day. For me personally, (in particular emotionally) the first couple of days of the year felt rather peculiar, if you must know. I don’t know why, either, it just felt off, if that makes any sense. I often have that with New Years, so I can’t really say that I was surprised, but it is always a tad disconcerting.

It didn’t help either that I was bothered by a dizzy spell. Seriously, I had to ask Grandpa to take tenant up, because I was afraid that I might lose my balance along the way.

Did have a wonderful meal of veggies dipped in dough and fried along with my chickpea patties. All very tasteful, in particular when dipped in a sweet chilli sauce.
Ate way too much, of course, but that doesn’t matter. I do have to admit that eating enough to get all your nutritional values back up to normal is exhausting. Seriously, I should be eating two full warm meals a day just to keep up (let alone to build them) my blood levels. We were talking about that just today, in fact. It requires planning, creativity and time (not to mention that unpleasant stuffed feeling from time to time) to get it done.

Our edit yesterday evening got done…though we were a page short, mostly due to midnight having arrived and me being unable to keep my eyes open another second longer. Since the dizziness persisted through the evening, I was glad to hit the sack at around one thirty in the morning.

Which brings us to today, doesn’t it?
Well, no workout due to a rather fierce wind this morning, and me staring at the swaying trees (my head still on the pillow) too long, trying decide about whether I was getting up for a workout or not. By the time I finally woke up for real it was too late, really, so no workout. Pity too. No matter that I sometimes don’t feel like it in the morning, I do know that the rest of the day is usually better when I do one.

After the usual chores in the house, I headed down into the yard to open the greenhouse and the raised seedbed. Finally the lettuce are coming up, along with the new beans I sowed. Yay.

That done, I headed down to water the new cabbages/cauliflowers using the basin, of course. They’re all looking pretty good, I was pleased to note, in particular since young plants often can’t stand the wind all that well.

Afterwards I helped big brother with rearranging the solar panel batteries. The old spot was developing too much rust and we feared that the darn things would drop through the bottom, so we put them elsewhere.

Helped grandpa bending this big heavy grate work that soon will be an arch over by the old bus. The intention is to let a jasmine vine grow in it, and personally I think it will look grand.

The dogs kinda liked this time in the lower yard. I actually have a picture with at least eighteen of 'm on it. Gawd, if only it were easier to post pictures. I'd put it on here on the spot.

While there, Dani (she came over today) climbed into one of the eucalypti trees where five tips broke out during the latest storm.
I’d already climbed in before her, but opted not to risk a fall since the tree isn’t all that big and the branches hung through way too much. Since I’m bigger and heavier, with Dani they seemed to hold well enough, so I stood underneath trying to assist where I could and then grabbing hold of the branch she was sawing through, and yanking it down the last few feet. Didn’t manage all of the broken branches, what with three of them being to high, but two at least came down.

That done big brother and I headed up to work on installing my new bathroom cupboard. There was some improvising involved, but we did manage in the end, and it looks rather marvelous. I’ve got pictures, no worries, but basically it’s of oak wood, a dove gray/lapis blue/soft pink top and a white porcelain wash basin. It fits, but it did get to be a bit bigger than I’d intended, darn it. No matter, though. It’ll allow me to store some stuff at least. I’m getting to be sick and tired of having to stuff everything on an open shelf.

Used silicone to kit the basin in, connected all the tubing and were done at around twilight. I like it. It’s even a little fancy. Hah.

And that brings us to the end of the day. Mom and the sibs had a reasonably good day at the market, but they’ll be happy when they go back to the regular Sundays now that the big holidays are over.

I still have an edit to catch up on, and then I’m hoping for an early night…which is doubtful, since it is quite possible that I still need to go out.

Happy NEW YEAR!!!

2011-12-31T20:08:00.005+01:00

Song of the day: “Big spender” by Shirley Bassey.

I had thought to do a rhyme of sorts, but it felt kind of pretentious and unlike me to do it in anything except a mocking fashion, so I decided to just go for normal. It’s not as if the 31st of December is any different from any other day of the year, it’s just a date.

I don’t do celebrations, or resolutions (seriously, the fact that I stopped smoking two years ago around this time had nothing to do with New Years, I just gave it a shot and stuck with it), which I think are really not all they’re cracked up to be. If ya wanna do something, you can decide to go for it any given day. 31st of December is not going to change that. Ah well, it is tradition, and all that, and for that reason I don’t suppose I can complain about it too much. Traditions are important, seeing as they got us where we are today, eh?

So yeah, no celebrations, just a nice evening by the stove and working on the book, of course. Just like any other night. Personally, I am looking forward to it, considering yesterday was a busy one.

Yep, grocery shopping day is over and done with for a full month again, thank you very much. I would write about it, share with you all the details, but this is a special night for some of your, so I’m not going to bore you to death. Hah. Let’s skip yesterday as if it never existed, eh?

So let’s do today. Woke up a little on the late side, what with me having decided to sleep in a little, yay. No workout either, so it was rather awesome to wake to the sound of music, staring sleepily at the sun rising over the slope, shining right into my face.

It was a tad of a restless night. Chaos woke me a couple of hours before dawn by flopping down right on top of me, demanding to go off. The dog has some serious issues, and is smart to boot, because that is the one way he knows he’ll get lifted off the bed posthaste. Hah. Knight II, on the other hand, decided multiple times that he had to lie against me, and Amri wasn’t feeling well, and vomited twice. Poor darling. He totally overate yesterday.

Regretfully there were no edits last night. Our brains were just too mushy from a day in the city, so instead, after going through the messages, chatting online a bit, and catching up on the news, we decided to watch one of little brother’s movies: Fright Night.

I gotta say I was a little disappointed. The premises was nice (Gawd, it’s about vampires, what can possibly be wrong with that?) but the execution left me wanting more. Personally I like the more serious vampire flicks. “Interview with a vampire”, “Queen of the damned” (even though I wish Tom Cruise had played Lestat again. Not that Stuart Townsend did a bad job, he did fine, but in my head Lestat is still a blond Cruise. Hah), “Underworld” and “Bram Stokers Dracula”. “Fright Night” didn’t even hit my top five, even though it was funny at times, and not even badly played. Heck, there were even a few scary moments, which was definitely a plus.

But back to today. After the usual stuff like morning chores and breakfast, I made dough for today’s mid-day treat of…well, I suppose most people would call them a kind of donut. Tenant was feeling a little homesick, so I decided to make the traditional treat of her youth that is usually served ‘round this time of year. She liked it, had three in fact, before dozing off again.

The dough made and brought to the greenhouse to rise, it was time to head on out into the yard and fully enjoy the sunny day doing something markedly necessary: planting young seedlings.

Yep. It was that time again. Grandpa spent the last week turning earth down there. He keeps insisting, clearly determined to have it done right (in his eyes) and liking the task that reminds him of working the farm way back when. Liking the turning earth part myself (nothing like using a shovel to get your mind to shut up) I can relate.

But anyway, he’d turned earth, so for the majority of the afternoon big brother watered the older plants and I planted up to sixty plants of cauliflower, broccoli, white cabbage and kale. They look nice too, since they’re on these narrow little terraces in the lowest part of the yard.

Harvested a full meal of broccoli while we were down there, along with about ten pounds of potatoes and a few tomatoes too. There were lotsa bugs again, but that’s all part of the deal. We grow stuff, bugs necessary to pollinate try to eat stuff, I kill bugs, and the plants grow a bit longer. It’s the circle of life…sorta.

Tenant spent the afternoon with us, trying to read but dozing in the sun most of the time instead. She did enjoy coming down to the big terrace, rather than the one by the basin, because she hadn’t seen that part of the yard in at least a year. She walked all the way down, and several hours later, up again…boy will she sleep well tonight. Hah.

But we had the extremely fresh “donuts” for a late lunch, and I was stuffed. Big brother did a nap (so should I have, but what the heck) at which time I finished the baking and then helped grandpa loading up the car with garbage because we were going to take Knight II out for a nice long walk, lest the idiot drive me bonkers again. Hah.

And that, my friends, is all she wrote for today. I know, not a lot of interesting stuff, but life is just that, LIFE! We all have it, and I for one try to enjoy it while it lasts.
Gotta go. I have less then three hours to go before midnight, and I would like to have a teeny little nap before I start editing again. Hah.

And as a final bit: I wish you a wonderful, splendid, fruitful, adventurous, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

See you in 2012

Catching up

2011-12-29T19:43:00.002+01:00

Song of the day: “Big Spender” by Shirley Bassey and “Leaving on a jet plane” by John Denver. The first has been going through my head most of the afternoon, and the other started about an hour ago.

Sooooo…four days to catch up on, eh? Let me see if I can keep it a little short, rather than blabber on endlessly. Wouldn’t that be grand? Me, keeping it short? Yeah, I know, we just might have to contact the dailies afterwards. *sigh* Let’s not hold our breaths, okay?

No worries, there were four days of laundry, as usual. See, that was fast, eh? Four separate events dealt with in a single sentence. We might actually get through this within a decent time after all.

First of all, Monday (day after Christmas) big brother and I took tenant to the market with us. A nice outing for her, a surprise for mom and the younger sibs, and an opportunity for us to roam and look for power tools, generators, shoes and jeans. We found several, but nothing that suited our needs at that time. After helping mom and the sibs pack up, we took the scenic home, making the experience as adventurous as possible for tenant.

I gotta say that going into the yard afterwards, and the greenhouse, because we had transplant some of the new seedlings into pots, was wonderfully relaxing…despite the fact that there were bugs all over again. Hah. Definite plus was the big harvest of Broccoli which I used for our pasta with veggie dinner.

Since we had to go get rocks that night anyway, we took Thorgal to the vet, but apparently the clinic was closed for the holidays, so we took him along on the trip and let him run with Knight later on.

There was dinner, edits and then, because our focus was shot anyway, a nice hour or two watching Tears of the Sun with Bruce Willis and Monica Beluchi. Still a splendid movie.

The next day I had a solid workout, really punished the bag, thank you very much. I’m afraid I’m going to have to make a new cover soon, because the fabric is really wearing now, and the duct tape won’t hold indefinitely. Hah. The car had to be unloaded, and I made new chickpea patties for supper.

What followed was getting Njanna outside (Golden retriever with agoraphobia, really) and getting him up on the table (he’s also overweight) and cleaning his ear. He’s developed a new infection, so we’re going to have clean it frequently again. Since we were busy anyway, surgical gloves on and all, we got Carla (similar ear problem) up as well and cleared the cocker’s ears as well.

Spent most of the afternoon washing out my chairs. Gada’s becoming more incapable of controlling her bladder, so there you have the reason for this sudden cleaning spree. Luckily the sun was out, so I could just hose it all down, scrub it with soap and then let it dry most of the day.

I worked some on the new cupboard for my bathroom, three days ago, yesterday, and then again today. It’s going slow, but I’ll get there…someday. Also more work on the parking spot for the moped, which is slowly coming together now. The roof’s on, one wall panel is shut, and we only need to add a little more to the rock wall on the other side.

More yards work, followed by a quick trip to the igloo where I got out a couple of new pillows for my dogs, and some supplies for mom’s quilting.
There was another outing for building supplies, a walk with Knight II, and then the picture blog of the last time.

Which brings us to yesterday at last…see, I compacted two days in a single Word page, thankfully. We might get through this before midnight after all. Hah.
So yeah, yesterday:
First off, it was Big Brother’s birthday. We didn’t celebrate it. He hates pie and cake so I didn’t make any. We agreed he would get a full bag of paprika chips during tomorrow’s grocery shopping (yeah, the time is there again, yay).
One of the covers for my chairs didn’t get clean properly, so I had to rewash that after doing laundry this morning.

Next it was up to the terrace in front of my cabin setting Thorgal on the table and taking him in a chokehold with the help of grandpa so big brother could take out his stitches. We cleaned him up some as well, and then it was time for me to have breakfast and make some more of the special cleaning stuff we use for dog ears and open skin such as Thorgal’s .

I had to unload the car, and help tenant down to my terrace so she could spend the day reading and enjoying the sunshine, but then I went back to work on my cupboard. It is starting to look pretty good. Fake marble of lapis and gray color, over real and fake oak wood. All that remains now is attaching the door and then installing it. Yay.

Got another load of rocks, took Knight II for another walk (I try to do that as often as possible because he eats better if he had some exercise) and then spent another evening on the edit…which went rather well despite our time crunch. We still had to go out for a donation and didn’t come home until two in the morning. I was miserably cold, considering we spent more than half an hour loading in the full wind, but no matter, it was a good donation. Lots of stuff mom can use for the market.

And we have reached today. Still in page two…let’s do this fast.
Today’s activities were blissfully simple, really. First of all (after the usual chores such as laundry and breakfast, hah) there was the unloading of the car, followed by heading down to the greenhouse for watering and such.

That done, it was back up to the carport where big brother started to work on the moped corner again, while visiting Dani and I unloaded several hundred of pounds of dog food (in bags) from the storage behind me cabin. Apparently mice are still getting in there, but no matter that we emptied it completely, all we found were mouse droppings. Luckily Sitabah and Dax really enjoyed the endeavor. Seriously, you should have seen their tails wags a mile a minute.
Considering a new batch of food was brought today as well, filling the storage up again took some time.

Afterward I helped big brother with sawing a bit for the moped corner, followed by a bit more work on my bathroom cupboard, adding the finishing touches to the top while grandpa painted the oak doors up by the old horse paddock.

What followed was another trip to get sand, and having Knight II run some more. He’s getting better at the going out bit, I only had to get his butt out of the car once today. Seriously, before I had Knight II, I never knew a dog would rather stay in a car than go out and run around in the wild. *sigh*

Well, I still have an edit to do today and then, if I can manage I’m going to go for an early night, what with grocery shopping coming up tomorrow. Well, okay, going now.
Guess I will be back on Old Year’s Eve. Let’s see if I can make it a little interesting…I doubt it, but we’ll see. Hah.

Pix for a change.

2011-12-27T22:27:00.011+01:00

So we're doing it slightly different today. No talk, just pictures and a short description. I'll bring you up to date in the next blog.

A good starter right here. The mutilated Acacia. *sigh* Luckily the view is still good. Hah.

The greenhouse from way up...where we recently trimmed the big-leafed mimosa.

The new floor for grandpa's moped, cordoned off for the dogs, of course.

The wall halfway done for the moped.

The back wall done.

A piece of wall of the road up to the gate, with Chaos and Labhana.

Did I do this one yet? The stove in the house. So cozy.

An average cloudy day. Makes me depressed, but it does look impressive.

Recently pruned olive tree in the courtyard. Quaint, eh?

A bunch of dogs (Dax in the middle behind the rope) enjoying the evening bothering us by sleeping around our feet in the carport. See all the old rugs there. They love those.

Our mountain from the west while we were walking the Knight. Hah

Our mountain top as seen through our eucalypti.

Grandpa's new porch roof.

Grandpa's little square, recently poured. Nice and smooth. See Sitabah back there.

New storage thingy I mentioned. You know, for car stuff.
This is the before shot, obviously.

Car stuff storage as good as done.

Digging in progress behind my cabin. We got a couple of tons of rock and dirt away here.

Wood storage by the old bus. Got triple this down there now, though.

The chimney I made on the house. Works like a charm.

Just because the view was so nice. Just look at that light. I love it when the light does that.

Knight II sleeping by the stove, half on top of Sitabah.

From the top to bottom. Indigo with Huckabee to the left, Tridatu under her head, and Kolossus at the bottom.

On the left, Sitabah, Chaos, Labhana and Chamea. On the right Knight II, of course.

Knight II. How's that for elegance? Jeez. Such a mighty beast, and then acting like a pup. *sigh*

Chamea, curling up less than a yard from Big Brother. Must. Stay. Close!

Sitabah on top of Chaos, something she often does. Hah

Here she's on top of Labhana, which also happens a lot.

Thorgal after his operation. Gawd, in the picture he looks dead! He isn't. It's healing nicely now.

Knight II, of course. I sometimes worry he breaks his legs when he lies like this.

Sitabah over Gada. Gada doesn't like it when she joins her in the chair, but Sitabah doesn't care. Hah.

That's it for today. I'm more than happy to call it a day.

Merry Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T19:22:00.003+01:00

Song of the day: I don’t remember the title. It was some childhood diddle anyway, so who cares. It was a little embarrassing since at some point big brother gave me a baleful look and asked, “What the heck are you singing?”
*sigh*

Ehm…yeah…thinking…darn it…I can’t…
Oh wait, I have picked up workouts again, and had a couple of excellent sessions both yesterday and today, though this morning I cheated a little by half-ing two particular reps my foot didn’t agree with. But other than that, it went well enough.

Spent most of yesterday digging into rock and clay beside the path leading down from the gate to my cabin. It has been years that we’ve wanted to finish this particular low wall, but until now, after making the parking area for the moped, we never did get to it. But anyway, because of that I spent several hours using the jackhammer on the ground and wall, until finally I cut away enough to start masonry. Finished about half of it before the end of the day was there and it was time to head out to get sand…and let Knight II run for a bit. He did quite a bit of that too, so there was a definite plus. Hah.

Both today and yesterday there was greenhouse work. Bugs to seek out, water to give and all that. I think that, looking back…in particular on this afternoon while I was crawling my way through the dirt looking for caterpillars in the borecole and cauliflowers, it was probably the absolute best of the past couple of days.

Which reminds me of this morning. We had a rather peculiar phenomena going on right outside. It started last night really. Once I was preparing to go to bed the city in the valley had disappeared under a thick blanket of clouds that only lit up at the horizon. Then, this morning when I came out for the workout, you could see those same clouds still there, only slowly, but gradually making its way into the valley and up onto the mountain. We were just about done with the workout when the cloud reached the lower neighbors, and while I was taking a shower they crawled right over the property. Seriously, it was a tad creepy. Some odd thirty feet of visibility was all that remained and the atmosphere had suddenly turned decidedly chilly. In particular compared to the rather pleasantly warm days that we enjoyed since the day before yesterday.

But anyway, tenant was attempting to catch some sunshine just outside the old horse paddock, but by the time I got there it was a waning bit of light that barely penetrated the thick mist all around us. I could see the horror movies of old, “The Fog”, “The Mist”, nothing but white all around you, and then, topping the rise, something weird, something dark, something horrific. *sigh* I definitely saw too many horror movies. Seriously, I gave myself the creeps out there. Hah.

There was pumpkin soup making, along with a fresh chickweed/nettle/chard mix today which went down well enough, despite it being a bit wiry. As desert I also experimented a little. This time with fennel. I suddenly had a certain taste in my head and I just had to see if it would work out. It did, and I am considering putting it in my cook book.

While I was doing masonry, grandpa and big brother worked on clearing a spot where they could temporarily store the new moped, without the dogs wrecking it.

Added to that, there was the unloading of sand from the car…twice, you understand. This is an excellent way to supplement the daily workout, in case you’re wondering. Hah.

I had a wee bit of a confrontation with grandpa, by the way. I was working on the small wall, and while I was explaining my technique, grandpa realized that I wasn’t going to build a straight wall. Which got him in a bit of a tiff, because he wants stuff straight, while I like to go in curves, make it more natural. Straight is what always gets him into trouble. In particular since when you are working with natural rock, straight is a relative concept. Ya gotta go with the flow, keep to the Bob Ross attitude of “There are no mistakes, only happy accidents.” But anyway, grandpa doesn’t see it that way. He’s a farmer of old: when nature doesn’t want to work with you, you ram through it. *sigh* He does forget, of course, that it doesn’t work. Nature always finds a way, and that goes for a rock wall as much as anything. Take the last straight wall we did, for instance. I spend several hours some odd ten months ago, to add a bulwark just to keep it from toppling over. There goes the straight wall. *double sigh*

I hate confrontations like that, but it can’t be help. Considering that I was the one doing the building, I compromised only a little by creating one curve, rather than two, and left him dissatisfied regardless. No helping it. If I’m charge of building something, I bloody well will build it the way I like it…I expect no different from him when he’s working on his (despite the fact that I don’t like straight walls, hah).

Okay, we let bygones be bygones, so in the end it really didn’t matter.
What else…oh dear, I’m drawing a blank again. What is it with my brain these days? I slept enough last night, darn it.

We made some repairs in the igloo. One of the support beams of the shelving had broken down, so we had to fix that. We brought the broken washing machine into the carport, where the dogs can’t mess it up again. So I washed that, along with the mirrors in the house, some shelving and all that sort of thing. Laundry, and bla, bla, bla. I know, that’s boring.

Hmmm. There was some carpentry, mostly regarding the future parking spot of the moped. Some small fixings for whicker baskets.
Tenant walked all the way down to my cabin, all on her own. Sure, big brother and I were watching her with hawk-eyes, but she managed, and was darn proud of it too.

Sawed wood! Ah, I haven’t lost my mind completely yet. Big brother and I sawed the beams for the new section of roof (for the moped) and that is always a bit of a tense thing. Big brother once sawed off his thumb and index on that big sawing table, so we’re always extra careful. It is doubtful that the docs could fix it that well again.

Still reading Jack Vance, this time “The Killing Machine”, and I’m still enjoying it. Vance does have a rather wonderful writing voice…despite it being a tad old fashioned.

Well, this is going to have to be it for today. I can’t think of anything else anyway, and I still have to go out later tonight for a donation. Maybe we should arrange for these kinds of trips during the day. Hah.

But in case I don’t “see” y’all before then (almost forget to do the well wishing bit): Have A Marvelously Merry Christmas!

Another wall, however small

2011-12-23T00:27:00.003+01:00

Song of the day: “Never no more” by Patsy Cline again. Yep, this one’s a keeper apparently. Hah.

Let’s see if I can speed this one up a little, because I had a friggin’ long day and I am seriously contemplating an early night…again. Oh right, I forgot I had one last night as well. Okay, never mind then, I’ll probably be late. Hah. I might not be entirely coherent either. You see there was a sale of Fondue, so that just made up for my supper and it was absolutely delicious. *hiccup* It doesn’t help that I haven’t gotten around to sipping anything more alcoholic than a cherry bonbon, so seriously, the wine went straight to my head.

Good news on the interview/guest blog with C.S. Marks. If all goes well I’ll be on the receiving end around New Years. Yay! With a little luck we’ll either end the year with it, or call in the new one, let’s wait and see.

Okay, on to business as usual.
Yesterday:
It was a windy day, but not cold thankfully. The plus side of all the wind, though, is the laundry that dries incredibly fast. Seriously, by the time I get there in the morning, everything is dry as can be, which not usual for winter at all. But anyway, the green soap experiment is still going well. I kinda like the lemony scent to the clean stuff, and the fact that we could reuse the water for the yard is definitely weighing heavily in the equation.

Finished the first one of Jack Vance’s “Demon Princes” and was pleasantly entertained. Personally I truly enjoy the way he plays with words, and the way I hear some old English teacher in my head when I read it (like there’s a narrator) but I also fear that in this day and age, the way books are written now, he would not have been published. There is an old fashioned courtesy to it, an unpretentiousness and a patience that you rarely come across with new writer.
I think I will have to do a review once I’m done with the whole series.

Oh, oh, before I forget: Grandpa’s moped arrived. Yay! Big brother and I went to town to fetch it tonight, and it looks so cute…though grandpa obviously needs to get used to it. He doesn’t like change all that much. Hah. Good thing about the moped is that it’s small enough to fit in the back of the Land Rover…which was a total pain in the behind with the old one. Not this one, though. It weighs barely a 140 pounds and we got it in without any trouble.
Of course grandpa is not going to use it yet, first he’s going to ride the old Katana to death, and then start on the new one.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, darn it. Where was I? Right, yesterday:
The sun was out so I had to open the greenhouse and raised seedbed up to prevent funguses from going rampant. Did a half-hearted search for bugs, but then headed up because grandpa had already made me a batch of cement to start with the wall…after helping out tenant who needed to change and head on down to my terrace where she could enjoy the sunshine and a book. :-)

Which reminds me, she finished mine “Trust Me” said the Spy, her first English book ever, and she said she really, really enjoyed, despite the fact that she had to check every fifth word or so in her trusty dictionary. I for one, gotta commend her for making it through the book at all. If I had to check so many words, I’d have given up already. Hah.

But anyway, grandpa had made cement, so it was time to start on the wall for the moped parking spot. The trick about building a straight wall of natural rock, is not to think about it too much. Usually the first instinct of where and how to place a rock is the right one, and if you start thinking it won’t work. So I didn’t think, I just started putting up whichever rock I came across and ended up with a rather peculiar selection of jagged peaks. Now, if I had started thinking at that point (I will post pictures in the near futures, just not now, I’m too tipsy and too sleepy) I might have worried about which to fit on top of those, but for the first four or five layers there wasn’t a single problem. It was then that I decided to go for a cake shaped dist with tilted sides which really put me to the test in finding (without thinking) one to match the tilt. But I managed, and by the end of the day three fourths of the wall was standing.

Of course that meant that today I had to work on it again, but this time there was only half a foot or so to go, and I need only two wheelbarrows of cement, rather than yesterday’s five. We sure are going through our supply or rocks fast. It will be nice to see the old gate wall again after all this time, while it was hidden behind the piles. Hah.

Where was I? Oh, right. After the masonry, big brother and I went out for another batch of sand, taking Knight II along so we could take him on a short walk afterwards. Good thing too, because the big lug spent most of the day in the back of the car, which is his favorite spot because it gives him such a good vantage point of the carport.

Once I got home it was time to cook a quick supper, and then off to the edit. Didn’t get a lot done, but enough at least. Three pages at least, and let’s face it, the first edit is always a massive pain in the behind. The story’s still new then, more a road of discovery than anything else, it’s edit number two, plus the paper edit when stuff really starts to get together. I did discover that during the next edit we’re going to have to remove more than a thousand words, which is going to be massively interesting.

Like I said before I had an early night, so that basically brings us to today, doesn’t it?
Let’s see…laundry, of course, followed by tackling the mirrors in the house, taking the small grill oven up to the carport so we could clean and fix it (the on off switch broke down). Also middle sister’s sewing machine was acting up, so we worked on that during the day as well, and since he was busy in the carport anyway, big brother decided to work on the house computer as well to see if he could speed it up a little with some extra memory gadgets that I don’t know the name of.

The greenhouse and raised seedbed had to be opened again (yes I remembered to close them last night, yay) and then it was up to have breakfast and help tenant again because caregiver was at her other job. She was in a cheery mood today (tenant) and I let her walk most of the way while I took the car out to the old paddock and started to unload since Grandpa and big brother were down by the carport to catch her. So nice that she can do simple stuff like that on her own now.
The car unloaded and having spent the majority of the afternoon finishing the wall for the moped, (no wind today, it was actually a worm day with temps in the high sixties) the end of the day was spent cleaning the grill oven and carrying it back into the house. Next there was the greenhouse, which had to be checked for bugs and such. We’re going to have to transplant cabbage kinds again tomorrow. They’re getting to be too big for the multipots.

Then there was the trip to town to pick up the moped (got the call this morning) followed by some groceries, and picking up the biodegradable oil for the chainsaw, along with the new blade for the circle saw. And finally around nine in the evening we were back home where we could eat fondue, write this friggin’ blog and then go to bed early, because, let’s face it, the edit is NOT going to work tonight.

No mater, though. Another early night will allow for a workout tomorrow morning (weather permitting) Yay!
Heading out and signing off…gawd, this fondue is potent.

Oh darn it. I still gotta go fetch Amri from up on the mountain. Bye.

Rocks and sand

2011-12-20T21:16:00.002+01:00

Song of the day: “Step by step” by Whitney Houston, of course. Big brother has been playing it since yesterday, so it goes without saying that it gets stuck in my head. Hah.

The day started a little earlier than usual yesterday. Thorgal III had to go to the vet to have his drains removed, and since we had to go anyway I decided to take Gada as well. Her walking is getting to be more difficult every day, and though I suspect that it was arthritis and there wasn’t a lot the vet could do, I decided to have her checked anyway.

Thorgal was doing fine, and the vet told us to keep an eye on his cuts, but other than that it is just business as usual. Gada on the other hand…you should have seen the vet’s face when she tested The Labrador’s hips. It wasn’t good. She explained that if she were to make an X-ray, we would see that probably the majority of the bone would be degraded. Poor Gada. For now, she’s on Prednison, which is not going to make her better, but which will numb the pain some, and when I notice that she isn’t enjoying herself anymore, the vet basically let it be known I should start thinking of putting her out of her misery.

I gotta admit that I’m not ready yet, though I know that it is mean towards Gada who must be going through some serious discomfort these days. But Touri and Mosha are still rather fresh and if she’s gone too, that means I’m down to Amri, Knight II, Chaos, Dax, Labhana (who’s not responding well to the massive losses of my personal pack. She gets depressed) and Sitabah. That’s six dogs, which is a measly amount from what I’m used to. Darn it, I used to have thirteen and that was just five years or so ago. Added to that Amri is not doing all that well, age catching up with him as well (at least ten years of age) so I fear that around this time come spring I’ll be down to five. Grrrr. Age and sickness are horrible things, that I have to admit.

Right. Thoughts like that depress me, so let’s move it along before I start bawling my eyes out.

Oh, yeah. I’ve been experimenting with green soap for the laundry, and so far it’s been going rather well. If stuff keeps getting clean, I think I’m going to keep using it. That way we could connect the washing machine to the basin and use the water for the yard, which would be, like, totally awesome.

After breakfast I hauled the cement mixer up for Grandpa. He did help, and tried to stay in the lead at first, but he hasn’t recovered that much yet, so he left the heavy stuff to me while adding his weight to getting the thing up the mountain. I am rather pleased with the concrete path. It made the hauling that much easier. I remember last year being a total pain when we had to get the machine either way.

While grandpa and big brother got to work on pouring concrete for the parking spot of the new moped, Ox and I began hauling rocks down the mountain. Only managed about 10 wheelbarrows myself, but since we filled most of the small ledge in front of the house, it should do well enough once we decide adding to the wall again. I think that, not counting the extra half foot that will be part of the balustrade, it will be enough to finish the wall in its entirety. Yay!

By the time I was done for the day, big brother and I went out to get a new batch of sand (standard procedure after using one for concrete or masonry, of course) and then took Knight II out for a nice long walk. He liked it too, gallivanting around as if he wasn’t scared out of his mind. Hah. Seriously, though, he did well despite the fact that the rough earth patch we came across smelled like wild boar. He didn’t like that, poor fella.

Once we got home I quickly cooked supper involving the lupine slices that baked rather wonderfully in butter. It was a nicely meaty substance for sure, not to mention rather filling.

That done, and wishing I had time for a nap we did edits for the remainder of the evening. At the end of it, I did some reading on the Falkland Islands, just because, and then we watched an episode of “Castle” in Spanish. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Fillion was on Cortisone.

I also started reading Jack Vance’s “Demon Princes”. Funny thing is, folks don’t write like that anymore, and what a shame that is. Seriously. The best way to read Vance is out loud, that way you also get the chance to practice you upper class English pronunciation. In particular the excerpts, which would otherwise be absolutely boring. Hah.

What with a temperature drop to no less than forty degrees, I was a tad restless during the night…if for no other reason than the fact that Knight II was so cold that he refused to lie anywhere except firmly against my back. My back did not agree with this, but lost the battle many times over. *sigh* Suffice it to say I was a mite stiff and sore when I did the laundry this morning.

No matter, though, it was time to get started so I tried a new experiment for patty dough. This time a chickpea pumpkin dough, which would work as a perfect substitute for meat since it has such a high protein value. Ah well, we’ll see how that works.

Next it was time to maneuver the car into the old horse paddock and unload yesterday’s load of sand. What followed that rather quick session, was loading it back up again because Dani had offered to the take our pile of old metal to town and sell it at the local “old metal scrap yard” Went well enough. Got more or less what we expected and that was nice.

Time to head into the yard. The greenhouse could be opened, and the seedbed needed water. After doing that, I focused on the tomato plants to remove miners and caterpillars alike. In this case there were a lot of the first, while after I went down into the yard to check cabbage, cauliflower and kale, the latter were all over the plants. Buggers. Those little bastards will eat a whole plant in a day if I let them. *sigh*

Afterwards we worked in the carport a bit, trying to take big brother’s computer apart. It all went well, but in the end we didn’t manage to fix the problem at hand, meaning that it was all for nothing, if it weren’t for the fact that we know a little more about computers again. Hah.
While we were working on this, grandpa worked on taking apart the Honda for spare parts. This is turning out to be not as easy a task as you would imagine. Turns out a moped is complicated too. Hehe.

Next, after crawling over the floor for about half an hour to find (and failing) to find the screws big brother lost due to a picky dog, it was time I headed up to start on supper. The burgers worked out splendidly too filling the stomachs and all that. Hah.

Well, that should do it. I’m outa here

Chilly

2011-12-18T16:20:00.000+01:00

Song of the day...isn’t there for some peculiar reason. I know, weird huh? It’s been ages that I didn’t have a song of the day. Feels very strange, I tell ya.

Right. What’s been going on? I’m not sure, once again I am drawing a blank, which might have something to do with the fact that it is now afternoon rather than evening, when I usually write my blog. I think I better grab my diary to see what happened yesterday, because otherwise I will have to fill this blog with mindless blather…which is completely different from the usual highly intellectual narrative I usually apply, right?

*snort*

Okay. Diary in place….
Well, first off I woke prior to my alarm and lay there with the wind howling, and my head still involved in the semi-nightmare that had woken me up. I was seriously contemplating getting up early, but it was chilly, the dogs were draped all over me (in other words keeping me nice and toasty) and I really didn’t feel like heading out into the early morning for a workout. I would have (pondered it every time the wind died down, but then another would tumble through the door and I stayed in place) but ended up dozing (still with that freaky dream) until my alarm went off.

Finally I couldn’t drag it out any longer and got up to head up to the paddock to fix the left-side mirror of the Opel.The stupid thing keeps falling but I managed to get it back in place within a few minutes. That done I went down for the morning chores, and then up again for breakfast, and making tomato soup for later in the day. A time which was mostly used to discuss the day’s plans.

While big brother and grandpa tackled the solar panels and their batteries, I went to the greenhouse to open it all up and to sow some lettuce, green beans and five pots of wysteria, which want to have some plants for ‘round next year. Gotta sow them some day, don’t I? But anyway, that done I transplanted fifteen more of the seedlings into small pots and checked the tomato plants for leaf miners and caterpillars. Not a lot of them, but a few.

Next it was going into the yard itself, big brother joined me, to check on the veggie plants and to take out a field of potatoes. Got a nice batch, with about half a bag that didn’t have the disease which we can use for replanting early this spring.

That done it was time to go up, peel the potatoes that aren’t good for saving, eat some soup, and then go for a nap while the potatoes boiled. I did sleep a little, though I was so friggin’ cold afterwards that I had to sit in front of the stove (writing, of course) for a solid hour before I was finally warm enough to get settled in my usual spot. Seriously, the cold is not funny. Even Knight II is now constantly trying to get under the blankets, and Chaos was so cold he was moaning and shivering until I dragged him half under me so he would warm up at last.

The lupine patties worked out splendidly. We had them as a snack with fried potatoes last night, and they were delicious with a slice of cheese on them. Jeez. I didn’t expect that from the smell I caught from them yesterday. I rarely like something if the smell is not to my liking. But there you have it. It was darn good, and I might need to consider making them part of the batch that I want to try to sell.

But anyway after that there was the edit and some writing to connect that scene (still. I’m going very slow with that) as the night rapidly advanced. Got to bed only a little late, dogs piled on top of me again, of course.

Today was mostly about hauling butt, again. After the usual chores, dressing in a multitude of layers and drinking coffee by the gallon, rock and dirt got dug from the in front of the carport and behind my cabin, followed by hauling several wheelbarrows of rocks down to the terrace under the house. Almost got the level up to the height of the rock wall now, meaning that as soon as we’ve added one more layer of clay and rocks, we can start masonry again.

There is still some work to do now, before we gotta start on the day’s edit. That hot cup of soup an hour ago really did fill the gaps well enough for me to have my energy levels back up a little, but since I’m cold, I really should get some movement. My teeth are about to chatter, for crying out loud.

Okay, gotta go.

Windy

2011-12-16T20:38:00.000+01:00

Song of the day: “Break my Stride” by Blue Lagoon. Well that’s something different at least. I might have had it in my head once or twice before, but not often. Cool. Also, yesterday there was “Amazing Grace” by the Maverick Choir, which is a really awesome version.

Have been catching up on a little bit of sleep by managing 6 to 7 hours a night at least. Been noticing it too, since my eyes are less droopy later in the day. Hah.
In fact, yesterday I slept at least seven and a half hours, which had me, like, totally ecstatic.

There was the usual stuff like laundry, breakfast and half a gallon of coffee, hah. Gawd, I definitely got me a dependency for the brew going. There are times (when I forget) that am just incapable of waking up without it.

Thorgal is looking pretty impressive with his massive stitches, drains and shaved neck. Poor fella. He doesn’t appear to be bothered by it much, but it looks horrible for sure. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was mauled by a bear, or something.

My shoulder was a little better, and I actually managed to haul a couple of wheelbarrows of rocks down to the terrace under the house. Then, after opening the greenhouse and seedbed, I went up to work on the wall. Added another foot at least to the entire length, and I gotta admit that it is looking pretty darn fine.

We’ve been in an almost constant wind storm for the past couple of days. If we had a total of four hours without wind it’s a lot. A little scary, really. It messes with your equilibrium, and there have been some debris that we had to run after lest it was dragged along.

Chaos and Sitabah have been sticking close together, imitating ying and yang whenever they find a warm spot. Seriously, you’d think they consider each other their personal pillow. If one isn’t lying on the other, it’s the other way around.
Knight II gets a little freaked out from all the wind too, looking like a horse that’s about to bolt most of the time. Poor fella, he doesn’t like the wind at all.
As for the other dogs, most of them don’t give a fig. They follow us around, nap, and follow us some more. Hah.

The afternoon was spent in the yard checking the veggie plants for bugs. Found quite a few clusters of caterpillars. Always a little freaky to come across a one inch spot with more than fifty of the bugs piled together, but at least at that stage they’re easily removed. Also snatched some miners from the chard leaves. Since weeds had to be removed anyway, there was a fresh batch of chickweed and another small broccoli, which made a nice added bonus for the night’s supper of spaghetti with a veggie mix.

Supper downed, we headed for town. Didn’t feel like it, but sometimes you just can’t get out of something like that. We needed new oil for the car, a few groceries, like milk and such, and a trip to the DIY store for chainsaw oil…which they didn’t have. This means we’re going to have to search for the stuff at a later time.
Did discover that grandpa’s moped had arrived, and it still looks cute, despite the fact that he opted (quite insistently) for a black one, rather than a white one. If all goes well, it should be done just in the beginning of the new year. Paperwork and etc. I forget what else. Hah.

Anyway, we were too tired for an edit once we got home, so I handled my messages, checked everything online that had to be checked and then headed to bed for some reading and then to bed early…well, semi-early anyway.

The storm had us lose two treetops so far. This morning I stood staring at the 45 angle of most of the trees for a solid five minutes before I finally sighed and got dressed to face the day.

First thing up after breakfast was sawing the sides for my future basin cabinet in my bathroom. The long board was driving grandpa bonkers so we did that first.

Then we took down tenant’s chair. She declared yesterday that she wants to be able to get out of her comfy chair herself, so she can move around a little even when caregiver isn’t there, so we decided to take out the useless one inch nubs from underneath it, and replaced them with beautiful wooden paws that make it exactly three inches higher, after a test sit+rise (a success) she approved of the change and we brought it back up again.

That done, big brother and I finished the side wall of the little storage of the spare fuel and such, which looks great. I’ll post a pic soon.
This was followed by unloading the dog food storage. I’ve been hearing sounds there for several days, fearing termites, only to discover (after removing thirty bags, or so) that there was a tiny little mouse living in there.

I had called Sitabah and Dax to deal with the rodent, but they were too excited and the mouse too sneaky for them to be of any use. The mouse got away and the two dogs were uselessly sniffing and snorting their way through the dog food bags. Such disappointment was just sad to witness, I tell ya. You should have seen Sitabah look at me sorrowfully when she realized that she’d lost the creature and that I started reloading the bags.

The imperial got painted again. Hopefully it will be done tomorrow, which is when the sibs will start loading up for the market again. It should be, but it is always a worry. It had to be done, though. The rust was getting to be ridiculous.

Other than that, the day was spent digging and hauling dirty down the mountain. In this case we’re trying to put together a parking spot (easy to close against rodents and such) for the new moped when it arrives. Some serious digging involved there, the humus layer for the storage for the yard, and the rocky dirt for the terrace under the house. We’ll need a lot of that yet, so every wheelbarrow counts. Got about five of them down, and as a joint effort we put about twelve, or fourteen in place. I do hope we have enough.

While supper of leftovers and pumpkins was simmering, I experimented with a new patty. A lupine mix this time, and if I’m to go for scent, I don’t think that this one will be a favorite of mine. Seriously, I’m not the biggest fan of Garlic, but I put four cloves in the mix just to mask that particular smell. Also, it better be extremely special, because otherwise it won’t be worth the extra effort and expense…in particular if we do decide to go to the market with them.

Supper done and eaten I headed down for the yard to see if big brother was done watering the plants, and to close the greenhouse and seedbed for the night. The sky was completely clear, but over Africa there was a massive depression that was so black that it looked like a land mass. Quite impressive.

That done it was out with the car to get a load of sand and to let Knight II out for a walk. I had to lock the poor fella up most of the day (not that he minds when the wind is blowing like mad) because I had to head into the courtyard time and again. Knight II and little brother’s pack don’t go together well, and I rather not have the hassle.

But anyway, sand got picked up, Knight II had his run, and I got home running on fumes. Was more than ready to sit down by the stove and start on today’s computer work. Hah.

Blowin' up a storm

2011-12-14T20:37:00.003+01:00

Song of the day: “Never no more” by Patsy Cline again. Though admittedly this one wasn’t stuck in my head, I just put it there to counteract another one that was really bugging me yesterday. Hah.

First order of the day (yesterday) was taking Thorgal to the vet. Poor fellas neck was swollen even more, and they were going to have to put him under to treat him. Since we were out anyway, and had dropped grandpa off to pick up his moped, we did some quick groceries (bread and milk) and went over to the construction company to get another batch of cement. Loaded up and headed for home where big brother and grandpa unloaded.

Turns out that beside the busted knee (which is almost over and done with btw) I did something with my shoulders (I’m guessing the jackhammer. The new one is heavier than I’m used to) that has been more than a little uncomfortable. There are points where I can barely raise my arms, and there’s the resonating sensation from my shoulder blades that resonates straight into my skull. Very unpleasant, obviously. Hah.

But anyway, it was business as usual, and since the sun was shining rather beautifully, I decided to wash the Land Rover.
First I gotta tell ya about the wind, though. The day started out completely still. Not even a whisper of wind and I was up by the gate when I suddenly heard a distant roar. It was rather weird, really, this rumbling sort of sound, like when you’re close to the ocean and the waves are particularly high.
I looked out over the sloping hills to the west, pinpointing the sound to be coming from that side, and stared for the longest time into the distance. Nothing. Not a tree was moving, and yet the sound was getting worse, coming closer even.
And that’s when I saw it, the row of trees at the top of the first, most distant ridge began to sway like mad, and then the row in front, and in front of that, rumbling steadily closer, making a stretching meadow of knee-high grass undulate impressively. It skipped across the opening, set the eucalypti in the narrow valley below us to a mad sway and then it tumbled over us, setting my hair to dance, while the trees and plants around me took up a cheering dance. Rather awesome, actually.

Reminded me of one of my books, that’s a fact. Had never experienced the wind quite like that before, but it was beautiful to witness that way.
But anyway, I washed the car, waxed it too, kept company by Dani who was washing her car at the same time. In the beginning it wasn’t at all unpleasant, but as the afternoon advanced (heard over the phone that we could pick Thorgal up after five) and the sun lowered from its zenith the chill increased and so did the wind.

I for one, was more than happy to finish rubbing the wax out (very Karate Kid, really: “Wax in, wax out” Hah) and heading inside to cook some dinner. Opted for red beets with rice and fresh cream cheese.

By then it was time to pick up Thorgal, and since we were out anyway, we got another batch of rocks into the back of the car. Had I known then that we’d have another donation run later that night (heard when we got back) I would have opted not to get rocks. As it was, Knight II and Thorgal really enjoyed the free run they had while we loaded up.
Had and extremely short nap once we got home. I had planned to just lay on the bed for a bit and relax my shoulder and back a bit, but ended up sleeping for about thirty minutes. Felt much better after that.

Rather than only editing, I did some writing immediately after. That scene I still need to insert needs two segues, and one of them I managed to finish last night. The edit of the night done, we headed out to town again. *sigh*

Boring, I know. Didn’t get to bed until three in the morning, so you can imagine my mood when I got up this morning. Hah. Was a little haggard for sure, but today I had “I like it” by Enrique Iglesias in my head, which was a definite improvement. Great song again.

There was the usual laundry, followed by busywork up by the carport (after breakfast naturally). I had to fix a rubber curtain. The glue wasn’t holding so I bolted the rings instead, which should work better at least. Grandpa and I hung it as soon as I was done, and yep, it’s holding. Yay.

Next there was the dismantling of a small electric wagon. Since it was broken, I basically took it apart for parts while big brother worked on grandpa’s moped, which battery wasn’t working. He fixed that problem, but while he was doing that, he drilled a hole through another important part, meaning that we were standing there beside the dismantled moped, swearing at his inattention.

Me: “Why’d you do that?”
Big brother: “I didn’t do it on purpose. I just wasn’t thinking for a moment?”
Me: “Does it still work?”
We checked, numerous times. It didn’t.
Grandpa: “What happened?”
Big brother is mumbling.
Me: “He drilled a hole through the Ducatti part?”
Grandpa: “Ducatti? What’s that?”
Me: “This thingy.”
Grandpa: “Oh darn. I think that’s the power diverter.”
Me: “The what?”
Grandpa: “Power diverter. It’s connected to the fireplug.”
Big brother (mumbling still): “I can’t believe I didn’t notice that.”
Me (exasperated and amused): “Yeah. How could you not notice? That plastic is an eighth of an inch and you drilled through about four inches of material.”
Big brother: “Dunno.”
Me: “Can we take it out?”
Big brother: “Dunno. Let’s check.”
We do manage, examine the little gizmo, stumped as to what it does.
Big brother: “Darn. We’ll have to go to the village and order a new one. This won’t be stocked.”
Me: “Not much choice.”
Big brother: “Stupid. Why didn’t I…”
Me: “Hey, you know, you could just flog yourself and get it over with. Jeez. Accidents happen.”
He mumbles some more, shakes his head, and then lets it go while he tosses the broken part on the table.
Me (the proverbial light bulb pings): “What about the Honda?”
Big brother: “What about it?”
Me: “We can’t fix it and won’t it have the same, or similar part?”
Big brother (perking up): “Probably. We can check.”
Grandpa: “I doubt it. Most engines have a different firing point.·”
Me: “Let’s check anyway. You never know.”

We check, and yes, the part was exactly the same. After we broke through the old plastic of the Honda we managed to get it out easy as you please. About half an hour later we had it in the Katana and it started on command. *phew* Major relief. The stupid moped has to hold out ‘till the new year at least until the new one arrives.

But anyway, for the next hour we put the carcass of the moped back together and then head on up to the horse paddock where the imperial waits. Since big brother treated it’s rust spots yesterday while I was washing the car, it was now dry enough for us to paint it again.

By then the sun was starting to lower on the horizon. Big brother headed down into the yard while I went to the kitchen to make dinner, partly with yesterday’s leftovers. Tenant helped out. She had a nice afternoon with caregiver who took her to the library and then out for coffee and pie.

Which wraps up the activities of the past couple of days, really. Right now I’m (dogs and big brother alike) sitting by the stove enjoying the sit down and preparing to get started on the day’s edit. Yay.

Lotsa vet stuff

2011-12-12T20:55:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “Tonight I’m loving you” by Enrique Iglesias. I don’t know how he manages it, but on the overall most of his songs grow on me at some point. Hah. Besides, his rhythms are perfect for workouts.

No workouts for me, though, at least not the fitness kind. I have been physically busy, so that makes up for it at least. Lemme see if I can remember some of the stuff that went on in the past couple of days.

Yesterday mostly involved shovelling and using the jackhammer on the rock wall behind my cabin. Mighty interesting, the jackhammer, in particular. After about three hours of working with the thing, my hands were shaking so bad that I kept dropping stuff. Hah.

But anyway, got quite a bit of rock out, shovelled it into a wheelbarrow and let Ox haul it down. (What with me busting my knee again…I know, why aren’t I more carefull, eh? I try, it just doesn’t work.) But anyway Ox hauled it down while I filled the wheelbarrows, got two rocks on the top of my foot, which pounded like mad for half an hour. POd me, it did. Took out an extra piece of rock and dirt out, just to get rid of my mad. Hah.

Wheelbarrowed (I know, still not a real word) four loads down and then got some tools and supplies to hang the water tube under the house, rather than risk sand slides taking it down. Looks better at least, and it will keep the tube out of our way once we restart masonry on the wall.

Looks nicely filled right now, but since time still needs to make all the new dirt settle, and since we still need to build another two to three foot on top of the wall, that will change soon.

Was seriously running on fumes by then, so I ate some cookies for a sugar boost and then headed down the mountain with my trusty chainsaw and spent the remainder of the afternoon cutting firewood for next year. So I am getting a hang of the chainsaw, I mean, really, I only almost cut off my foot twice yesterday. Yep, soon I’ll be an old pro at it, I’m sure…I hope. Hah.

Went to the greenhouse for a bit, relaxed clearing away bugs and such from the tomato plants. Got a nice batch of tomatoes for our efforts by the way.

Mom and the sibs came home tired from the market, but didn’t do too bad, considering the bad economy. Since big brother and I had to go out again later that evening for another donation, they did manage to clear out the car in time for that.

Had a nice supper of fresh pumpkin, corn, onion, chickweed, and tomatoes through a big batch of paneer. Different, but definitely worth a repeat in the near future, in particular since we added chickpea/white bean patties for filling.

Tried to have a nap, but I was too cold, so I ended up huddling in front of the stove and working on the book. Turns out I had missed a scene during the pasting of all the individual sales, meaning that I had to put it in, and then work on connecting it to the one before it, and after. It was nice to do some actual writing again, that’s a fact.
Left for our trip a little late again, but managed to get home only half an hour after bed time…meaning I got too little sleep again, darn it.

Anyway, this morning there was no time to linger in bed, instead I had to go down to the house, shower, get dressed and then head on out with Tridatu. Our appointment for his teeth at the vet was today, after all, and he didn’t like the trip at all. But anyway, he was in good hands, so we picked up grandpa who needed his moped fixed again (just another week before the new one should arrive) and left it at the shop.

Once home, it was time for breakfast, unloading the Land Rover and then heading down to the greenhouse and then the yard. It was wonderfully peaceful down there, and since I was in no mood to mess with my cupboard for the bathroom up by the carport, we opted to work by the woodshed again.

Sawed through most of the mess (or at least big brother did) and I used the ax on the bigger blocks so grandpa and Dani could load them into the woodshed. I gotta say I like working with the ax. It’s like boxing, a perfect way to get rid of frustrations. Hah. Nothing is quite as plenty as work that allows you to shut off your brain, isn’t it?

By the time it started to cool down due to twilight, it was time to head on out to the village and pick up Tridatu. Since Sophie (Dalmatian) and Mesha (cocker spaniel) needed a checkup for their ears, and Thorgal needed to be checked out because of this huge swelling that is disfiguring the left side of his face, and grandpa needed to pick up his moped the car was quite packed.

Then Sophie thought it smart to go number two in the back of the car, making the cab smell like a chemical waste plant. Jeez, that was rank. And of course he is a klutz, so he ended up lying in the stuff, making it all worse. Jeez! My eyes were watering, and once we arrived at the vet we took him straight to the back and hosed him down while big brother tackled the back of the car with nappies and all that stuff. Gawd, I’ll smell that for days to come, I’m sure. Hah.

But anyway, Sophie got cleaned, he and Mesha got checked, Tridatu could go home with us (they had to take out eleven teeth), and because the swelling was so big they wanted to keep Thorgal overnight. Since they were incredibly busy, we decided to take him home and bring him back in the morning. No one was happier about that than Thorgal, who was already screaming his head off in the back of the clinic. Poor darling.

So, we got home, unloaded the dogs, let mine out of my cabin because they weren’t appreciative of being locked up at all, hah, and had some of the supper I’d started on prior to leaving.

Which brings us to now. The stove’s on, the dogs have quieted down after their meal, and they’re all clustered around our feet and the stove, fully enjoying the heat. Smart dogs.

Well, I better see about that edit, because I don’t suppose I’ll hold out long tonight.

"...in the woodshed"

2011-12-10T19:21:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “Big Spender” by Shirley Bassey. That’s a first, I think. Haven’t had this one before.

Well, be that as it may, let’s start with yesterday, and then do the usual by working our way to now…or should I just turn it around and mess with your head. I could, you know, but then, I don’t wanna be mean or anything…maybe I do…nah. I’ll try to remember accurately.

First of all, I was properly exhausted from all the dirt hauling in the wheelbarrows Thursday. In all seriousness I woke sore enough to have to do quite a few stretches before I could roll out of bed and limp my way to the bathroom. Gawd! Stupid effing foot! It just didn’t want to support me at first, but then strength returned at last and I could start moving again.
It didn’t look like wheelbarrowing (I know, not a real word, but it sounds nice. Hah) yesterday’s amounts was going to be possible, but there was only one way to find out, eh?

Anyway, first there were the usual chores such as the ever lasting laundry and tackling spider webs throughout the house. Since the whole cream-cheese making debacle was long enough ago, I took a bag out of the freezer for defrosting, along with the two patties I put there to see how they taste after they were frozen. Fine apparently, because we ate them for a snack later in the day, along with the rice burgers I made from leftovers. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

During the course of the day I managed to haul on 10 wheelbarrows. Not bad, all in all, considering the way my body was complaining. I could even have continued on if it hadn’t been for Chaos, who thought it smart to walk in front of my wheelbarrow, making me swerve out of the way, only to end up driving the cart nose first into the dirt while my legs thought it was okay to carry one. My knee figured out that it wasn’t, and I’ve got a big ol’ bruise on it to prove it. Stupid Basset. Moseying along as if I wasn’t hauling 250 pounds of dirt, for crying out loud.
Had to ice the silly joint.

So, what with my wheelbarrowing forays over, I joined big brother (wielding the jackhammer) by filling the wheelbarrows for Ox to haul down the mountain in my stead. Filled about six…or was it eight of them, getting some excellent abs workout for free. Nothing’s quite like using work to get your daily dose of exercise. Hah.

Had to stop around four to head for the construction company. We need to put sewage tubes underneath the future terrace, so we had to go fetch those. Since we were out already, we took Tridatu to the vet so she could check out his mouth. (Took Knight II along for company.) We’ve been noticing swellings and a really, really bad smell, and as we suspected she’s going to have to remove several of his molars. Poor Tridatu.

Since he also had a swelling on his chest, we were there for a while due to the x-ray the vet preferred to take. This meant that Knight II and I sat in the waiting room, where he proceeded to make a laughing stock of himself because he kept sitting down on my lap.
Seriously, the vet’s assistant kept getting laughing fits, and a bunch of kids who’d come in with their tiny Pincher mix, kept chuckling because it was just silly to see a pony-sized dog cower the way he did.

But anyway, he behaved fine otherwise, meaning that he helped pass the time. In the end Tridatu was cleared for surgery, and we headed home with antibiotics and an appointment for Monday morning where she’ll remove the offending teeth.

There was of course the edit, followed by a rather late bed-time that had me out of sorts this morning…the fact that I felt like I cracked my ribs didn’t help much either. Hah. Luckily that passed during the course of the day while muscles warmed up and movement took away sorceresses that keeps insisting. Whoever says that a workout is a good substitute for hard work, doesn’t know what the heck he’s talking about, I tell ya. No amount of weightlifting, Stairmasters and gawd knows what else, will substitute hauling rocks and dirt. It will literally use ALL your muscles.

Ah, gotta love a good workout, eh?

So, no wheelbarrow for me today, not that it matters, considering there was enough other stuff to do. First off, we laid the new tubing in place, followed by me getting the necessary supplies for the cupboard I’m making for my bathroom. I am not at all happy with my present wash basin, so a new one is becoming quite necessary. I managed to cut out the top today, and get the majority of the woodwork sawed.

By then I put it all away and went down the mountain to help grandpa making a woodshed for the firewood…which kept reminding me of the movie “Cold Comfort Farm” with Kate Beckinsale. “I saw something nasty in the woodshed” it is a phrase that is often repeated throughout it, and it kept going through my mind. I ended up telling grandpa about the story a bit, making him chuckle.

We finished the new woodshed around six in the afternoon (had supper of macaroni with satay sauce that big brother made in-between) and then headed on up to prepare for today’s blog and the edit. Which brings me to now with the blog done and ready to start some real work. Better do it fast too, because I’m already way tired. Hah.

Haulin', haulin', haulin'

2011-12-08T20:35:00.000+01:00

Song of the day: “Que sera sera” by Doris Day kept going through my head a lot, along with some other songs that I can’t remember at this point. Lots of oldies, though.

Busy couple of days, part of the busy-ness being due to the trip to town, which always takes waaay too much time, if you ask me. (I know, you didn’t, but what the hey. Hah) But anyway, we had to go to town, first of all to get a tab thingy for inside mom’s toilet tank. It had been leaking, and what with all the holidays going on, we had to time it right to get to town while the stores were open.

Had to get some groceries as well, such as dairy products, which, regretfully one can never buy too much of in advance. *sigh* The reason we stayed away ‘till after three in the afternoon was because we went looking for a store where they sold solar power. You see, your batteries of the solar panels are degrading, and we really need to get our hands on a set of new ones. But first we would like to know the prices, you know, so we can chose what we’re going to have to sell, an arm or a leg. Jeez. It was all for naught, though, once we found the store it turned out that the tech who knew the prices (yeah, apparently the woman working there was just eye-candy) wasn’t in, so we’d have to call at a later time.

Right. There went one customer. I know, that sounds weird, but I dislike when business is done that way. I think one of the biggest reasons why people don’t buy solar power is because it is so much work to get your hands on it. I tell ya this, if some smart entrepreneur would make them available, like off the rack, in an average electronic store, or a mall, people would start buying them. I mean seriously, who wouldn’t by a new flat screen that’s a few inches smaller so you’re able to afford a panel that will provide you with free power for it?

But okay, we got home and got to work on the wall under the house again. While grandpa made cement, Dani and I added another foot to sections of the wall. We got to talking about possible jobs and I am now pondering the idea of trying to find a market for my meat substitute patties. They are working so well these days, that it would be wasteful not to try. But we’ll see how that works. I’ll need to make some preparations if I really want to go through with this, and be willing to spend time on it. We’ll see.

Didn’t finish masonry around twilight, at which time the greenhouse and seedbed had to be closed and I headed down to the old pool apartments to help big brother make some electricity repairs.

After that followed the day’s edit and some net surfing while I went searching for a nice location for the next book. Ended up looking at real estate in Oklahoma, just to get a feel of the architecture over there, and the general atmosphere. Found some cute houses for sure. Hah.

But anyway, I got to bed a little late, which led to me having some trouble getting up in time this morning for workout. Yay. No matter, though. Had a good one anyway, priming me for what was going to be a long day.

First up was breakfast, though, (that is after the usual batch of laundry and cleaning a glass partition in the house) and boiling a batch of rice for supper. I like to have that sort of thing done in the morning so I only need to do the finishing touches later on.

There was a quick foray into the yard, consistent of hunting bugs in the plants (lost another cauliflower to core rot, darn it), yanking out weeds and getting a handful of chickweed to see if I can make something eatable of it. Recently I discovered that beside the purslane (edible plant) we also have this chickweed in our yard, which should be totally edible. I tried it raw and it to me it tastes like a mix between spinach and chard, which is awesome.

That done I fetched tenant and walked her down to the basin terrace where she was going to spend her afternoon now that caregiver was off to her other job. We walked at a rather brisk pace, which meant that big brother didn’t make it in time with her chair. This of course forced me to head on back up to fetch it for her anyway, but no matter, I got my extra workout today anyway. Hah.

Once I got her settled, I went back up and started loading up the first wheelbarrow with rocks and dirt because grandpa was still doing something else. Then, I went up to peel some pumpkin and get broccoli, which I took down (on the full wheelbarrow) with a cutting board and knife. Tenant was kept busy cutting the lot while I started hauling wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow to the wall.

The dogs love this particular part. They keep running along, up and down, up and down, until they get tired and then they find a vantage spot where they can keep an eye on me without all the exhausting walking. Hah. That meant that half my dogs were snoozing in the sun in the lower garden, and the other half lay on the terrace in front of my cabin, also in the sun. The only one who kept the "dogging" up was Labhana, which is good because she's still a little fat. Hah.

Had a short break after wheelbarrow eleven, which I spent with tenant, chatting and helping her a bit with the pumpkin that was turning out to be pretty tough for he to cut. It was so ripe that it was almost like cutting through stone. Luckily that doesn’t matter when you intend to use it for soup.

Ended up with sixteen full wheelbarrows, filling up quite a bit of the gap, allowing for easier access in the future…like tomorrow since we really have to haul rocks down again, hah. I made a rough estimation and figure I hauled about 2500 pounds of dirt on my own, and big brother, who took over from me after four because I had to see to tenant, added another 1000 to that, I’m guessing. We’re getting there, but whether we’ll have enough dirt to fill it all, remains to be seen.

Dirt hauled, tenant back up to her bungalow and it was time to start on supper with the veggies tenant cut, and the rice I cooked in the morning. I was in the mood for fried rice today, and fried salted peanuts, coconut shavings and an onion before adding a curry mix that made the rice absolutely delicious.
The chickweed worked out well. I actually liked it a lot. I’d prepared it the same way I do spinach and that was a success. Heck, even grandpa liked the taste. I love finding free foods among weeds. Hah.

After that I needed a nap, I really did. I slept for about 70 minutes, and could have continued on, but didn’t because there is this blog, of course. Which reminds me, I have more to do, in particular editing, so I better leave it at this.

More wall stuff

2011-12-06T22:03:00.000+01:00

Song of the day: “Hollywood tonight” by Michael Jackson, of course. Not his best song, but the clip is fun, and whenever I watch it, it will stick in my head for a while. So there you have it.

Busy couple of days with heavy physical labor, so on the most part I don’t really mind that we skipped a couple of days’ worth of workouts. Yep, workout consisted of hauling rocks, and let me tell ya, that works splendidly. Hah.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s do this right and start at the beginning of yesterday (whether I remember enough we’ll have to see, but I’ll try anyway) while gradually working the blog to today. Okay, let’s see…

Started the day a little late, but that was semi-planned considering the “no workout” plan. Hah. First there was the usual laundry, of course, quite a bit of it too, followed by scrubbing one of the glass and wood walls in the house. It’s been a while since I did that, and it is visible.

Next I headed down to the greenhouse and raised seedbed to open them up to the sunshine…which was still iffy considering we’ve been having a considerable windstorm raging overhead. And when I say windstorm I mean freaky hard winds that’ll knock you off your feet if you’re not careful.

Had to unload the car after breakfast, which was very interesting to do in that wind. Luckily we have a closed gate now, though, blocking the worst of it and allowing a semblance of peace while we sort through messes and decide where to haul them. It was more than the last few times (donations, you know) and there’s this cute little Moroccan table I’m going to restore to see if the sibs can sell it at the market.

But no matter, we decided to work on the wall in front of the house, meaning that we were out of the wind and in the sun. In one word: Awesome!
But anyway, we added another foot to the length of the wall, including a particularly low piece where I put a two-hundred pound rock, which almost was too much…well, it was too much, since I could only lift it about two inches before I had to resort to pulling and pushing. But anyway, with brought the wall up considerably. Yep. Made excellent progress, and finished most of the rocks we’d hauled in…meaning another hauling session. Yay.

We were pretty much running on fumes by the end of the afternoon, and since tenant had spent the majority of the day nearby, reading in the sunshine and well out of the wind too, we headed on up to heat up the leftovers of the day before with a bag of macaroni for filling.

Had to head into the village afterwards, get some lamp oil and another batch of sand since we’re going through a lot of it while working on the wall. Since we were out anyway, I decided to take Knight II for a short walk too, and he liked it, I think. Took him on a trip around the block and he kept nicely to heel.

There was a short edit, often interrupted by big brother’s problematic computer of the moment. He still hasn’t sorted it all out, and is pretty much consumed by the dratted thing for hours on end. Ah well, luckily we’re not in a hurry or anything. Besides, it was not as if I sat there twiddling my thumbs. I do still need to finished the first edit (so it’ll be legible for big brother at least) and am not sixty pages from the end.

Sleeping didn’t go well for some unfathomable reason last night. I lay awake for at least an hour, itching all over the place. Heck, at some point it drove me so bonkers I stripped down to check if there was anything crawling around in my PJs. There wasn’t so I had no choice but to dress again and try again. Successfully this time, but too short a night after all.

Today’s workout consisted of hauling over twenty wheelbarrows of rocks down to the house. It was a good workout, admittedly. First loading them up, wheeling them down, and then unloading each and every rock onto the ledge under the house (chest height) until my every muscle trembled in complaint. In other words; a perfect workout.

This “workout session” followed another big batch of laundry that had to be folded, while a new one had to be hung. But anyway, the rocks done, it was high time for breakfast, (and making dough for patties) at which time big brother took the Land Rover out and parked it where I could unload it from the 1600 pounds of sand we’d left in it for the night.

Must have pulled something right then, because my shoulder has been friggin’ hurting ever since. I think I’m going to have to hang on the pole for a bit again, might have dislocated it a little like the other time. That really goes way too easy these days. Grrr.

Checked the greenhouse for bugs again (opened her up too) and yes, found the buggers digging through leaves again. Heck, I even captured a couple of massive caterpillars that were trying to fade into the background by imitating branches. I sure showed them. Hah.

Helped tenant down to my terrace, where she could sit out of the wind, and while she sat there, big brother to the opportunity to trim the eucalyptus that robs her of most of the sunshine. Since he was busy with the chainsaw anyway, I asked him to trim the other tree as well, so for the next bit we were busy hauling branches down the mountain where they will have to be stripped of leaves, cut into pieces, and then piled into a dry storage spot.

I worked a little on the little coffee table for a bit, and then remembered that I still had to fix the controls of the main stove in the big house’s kitchen. They sure don’t make them like they used to. Those knobs started giving the spirit a month after we bought the dratted thing. But anyway I made three simple replacements so they are manageable, and with big brother’s help fixed the fifth (biggest) burner by taking out a rusted screw and adding a new one. Works like a charm now.

Worked a bit on one of the broken covers of the old bus, and then had to leave that to big brother because Sally needed a ride to work. Once I got back I went down to give big brother some supplies and then went to the greenhouse to close it all down. Apparently, while I was making patties this morning, big brother shifted all plants around, which took me by surprise for a bit. Hah.

That done, we had to hurry a bit. Twilight was already falling, and we really had to hurry if we still wanted the time to pick out a new batch of rocks. Almost didn’t make it, time-wise and physically for that matter. Boy, there were some rocks there that I almost couldn’t lift due to being low on foodstuffs. I’d only taken the time to nibble on some crackers since breakfast, so the first thing I did once we got home start on dinner.

Used the patty dough to make pan crusts, and made an Italian vegetable mix to top it off. Added some parmesan and voila, instant pizza…sort of anyway. It was tasty regardless.

Which brings us to now. A little worse for wear, a little more tired and totally ready to call it a day…now if only there wasn’t an edit to see to, eh?
Hah.

The Wall

2011-12-04T19:34:00.000+01:00

Song of the day: “Ain’t no mountain” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrel. Such a cute little song…and easy to remember, which is always a plus.

Busy couple of days, mostly involving “the wall”. Yep, since we need to dig a section out behind my cabin, the wall under the house just got shifted back to priority. Seeing as it will be a perfect spot to get rid of dug out rock and dirt, and since we would have to haul it from elsewhere otherwise anyway, we figured we might as well connect the two.

As of yesterday, a foot or two got added to about fifteen to seventeen feet of the wall. Cement was hauled, shovelled up and rocks flopped into the soggy beds until we literally ran out of rocks…which annoyed the heck out of me and made us haul a double amount down to the terrace today. I kid you not, it was some serious hauling for sure today. I think we brought down a ton or two, along with a couple of REALLY interestingly BIG rocks that I couldn’t get onto the wheelbarrow on my own. It was a fascinating (not to mention giddy) experience to get them scooped up, since I refused to wait for big brother to come up and do it for me. Hah.

But anyway, we should have enough down there to add another two feet to the entire length (23 feet) of the wall. I’m actually looking forward to that, seeing as those terrace doors of the house have been shut for years. Can you imagine being able to walk out of them and stand on a terrace surrounded by tree-high reed, a big ol’ fig tree and bamboo. Very cozy.

What else? Well, after the morning chores, and getting the laundry hung, I headed out into the yard to check the veggie plants for bugs. Same went for the greenhouse and raised seedbed, which could be opened for some fresh air. It was sunny after all. Since I was out anyway, I gathered herbs from the yard to make mom a cream she needed. Worked out really well, by the way. Incredibly good for the skin, not to mention that it smelled delicious.

There was some clothes mending last night, a harried looking sweater with a hole big enough to let a hand through, which I sewed shut while watching Red Planet with Carrie Ann Moss and Val Kilmer. Such a fun movie, and unlike so many movies today, still possessing characters that are interesting.

More garden work this morning, including checking for bugs again…not to mention weeding and gather foodstuffs for supper. Decided to go for a rice and veggie dish, covered by a satay sauce…despite the fact that big brother’s macaroni leftover from yesterday was looking mighty tempting. Hah.

Other than that there was fire to make, wood to haul, cleaning to do, and little things to see to, while the dogs trundled along all the way…except for Chaos, naturally. Poor Basset hates the winter and will while away the hours on the bed if he can get me to lift him up…since he’ll be whining pitifully and shivering otherwise, I’m usually easily persuaded. Gada too is getting a harder time of following, though Gawd knows she tries. Her poor arthritis hind legs are having a harder time carrying her every day…and she’s getting skinnier again. Darn age anyway.

Well, that about sums it up, I guess. I still have to go out later tonight, another donation, and I better do some edits before then. Been doing very little of that for the past couple of days (only two pages yesterday) because due to the computer problems, big brother has been working with his computer for the majority of that time. Luckily I didn’t need to twiddle my thumbs since I am still working my way through the first edit. Hah.

Okay, better get to it then. Not much interesting stuff going on, but life gradually moves along as usual. Hah.

The hunt was on

2011-12-02T21:15:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse...which sucks, since I only know parts of the song, making it a repetition of the same bit, over and over again.

Not much fascinating stuff going on…not that there’s much of that on any other given day, but what the hey. I’m going to tell you about it anyway. Hah.

First of all, Kollosus is in heat, meaning that she’s driving Arthur bonkers. Poor Breton, doesn’t know what to do with himself, he does. I do her interests stick with Arthur, or else we’ll have half the males going bonkers around her.

Panni, one of little sister’s cocker spaniels had to be operated today. A rotten tooth and a rapidly growing tumor that appeared just last week. It worried the vet a little, so they decided to do it fast.

There’s been quite a bit of moped hunting going on. What with grandpa’s moped close to the eternal hunting fields, (so to speak, anyway) getting an affordable replacement is starting to get a necessity.

We hunted through a variety of stores looking for something that would cost us a kidney, or maybe a liver. *sigh* Grandpa of course liked the Hondas and the Piaggios, but seriously, 1400 bucks, adding IVA and whatnot to get it on the road (leading up to a whopping 1600) would cut in our budget waaaaaay too much. So yeah, seven stores and three days later, we struck gold, figuratively speaking that is, and found a nice little Keeway Milan that will do trick…I hope. It won’t be here until the New Year, since grandpa insisted on a black one, rather than the readily available white one, but what the hey. Patience is a virtue and despite the song, you don’t die from it. Hah.

Cooking: Nothing really special, just throwing stuff together at the end of the day because we were hungry and not feeling too picky.

We did finish hanging those doors in front of the little storage, and though they still have to be painted that’s about done, finally. All this needing to go out is taking soooo much time, if we manage to get one thing done during the day it’s a lot.

There is of course always getting wood, the laundry, the dogs, the edits, and well everything else, but that really doesn’t feel all the interesting to tell about at the moment. To me, what with all the going away bits, it feels like I’ve wasted a couple of days, despite the fact that they were of course necessary.

I should get some reading done, I think I can because I finally warmed up (practically sitting with my butt against the stove here, hah) a bit, and then…well, I don’t think that there will be a lot of edits done since big brother is trying to fix the program of his Mac, which has been giving fits for months now. This means that nothing is working properly at the moment, and if he does manages it, he’ll be busy the rest of the night reinstalling all his programs. *sigh*
According to him, things are looking good, though, so with a little luck we’ll be doing edits again tomorrow.

Okay, a bit of news about my upcoming interview with author C.S. Marks. As soon as I get the answers back (I’m wondering when that will be btw, I haven’t a clue) I am free to post it on the blog whenever I want, so I’m thinking before Christmas, or otherwise between Christmas and New Years…ah well, we’ll see how that goes.

Big brother just reminded me that a nice tidbit to add in today’s blog was to mention that we slayed two dragons today, but who would believe that, right? That seems so totally out of there, not to mention like space fill, so scratch that…it wasn’t filmed anyway. Hah.

Well, I’m clearly starting to get a tad giddy here, (must be the blessed heat that’s making me sleepy too) to I better quit while I’m ahead.

Stuff

2011-11-30T20:59:00.002+01:00

Song of the day: “What if” by Kate Winslet. It’s been going through my head for two days now, and…well, I still like it, so it doesn’t really matter.

Yesterday was grocery shopping day, and I will not give my usual response to it because it’s starting to become boring, regardless of how appropriate the scream is. Hah.

But anyway, yesterday was an incredibly long day. It started early with big brother and I heading out with the car to get a particularly good sale on light bulbs (can I just say for the record I find it stupid that I am now obligated to buy expensive light bulbs, that might very well be just as bad for the environment as the old ones, and are more expensive. Grrrr) in Marbella, and picking up tenant’s new washing machine. We finally got the call that it arrived, so we connected it with the sale, and managed to get it all done before noon. We arrived back home at exactly 5 past 1 in the afternoon, right on time to start on groceries.

Got all the shops done before seven, but were forced to unload in the dark due to wintertime. Dontcha just hate wintertime? I do. But what the heck. The big groceries are done for another month, and that’s well worth the nine-hour effort, thank you very much.

Editing just didn’t happen after it, though, both our focus was shot to blithereens, so after I took care of my messages, did a bit of chatting online, and messed around with the cover for the gangster novella, we decided to put on a new movie that little brother got.

Cowboys and Aliens. Not a WOW movie, but entertaining enough with some nice twists and turns that took me by surprise. I like it when that happens, and it so rarely does these days. Also, I liked that there was no gratuitous sex in this one. What little skin was showed, was tastefully done, and I can’t ask for more than that, I guess.

Was in bed an hour after midnight, and grateful for it. Decided to not let Labhana on the bed, which meant that I actually slept better than expected just because there was more room to sleep in. It helped too that it wasn’t so cold, meaning that Knight II didn’t insist on pushing himself against me.

But anyway, I was slow to start this morning, mostly because I insisted on wearing my Sancho boots yesterday, and paid for it today, hah. Not so much my plantars, but the rest of my foot, which made for a nice change.

Had a reasonable workout, despite me cutting most of the reps in half, since I knew it was going to be a busy day. We first installed tenant’s washing machine, almost got ourselves a heart attack to boot, because when we connected the water it started running. We messed around for a bit and then figured that it might be a good idea to connect it to the power too and have the program shut down the valve. Worked like a charm. *phew*

That done I went up to help tenant for a bit (caregiver at her other job again) and basically divided my time between that and going down to saw wood with the small chainsaw, while big brother worked with the big (motor) one. There was sawing, chopping with the axe, and on the overall enjoying the outside exertions. Seriously, the weather was once again perfect for it…and afterwards heading for the greenhouse, was just as grand. Toasty warm and killing bugs by the dozen. *sigh*

We had pancakes fur supper, which got tenant in a good mood, hah. And then it was time to head on out to the village. Grandpa wants to have his old moped checked out by a mechanic, but from the looks of it, he’s going to be better off getting a new one.

Took Knight II along (we were going to get rocks afterward), and I can tell you, he didn’t like sharing the car with the moped. In fact, he ended up with all four paws in my lap, while his butt was on the ground. He didn’t like it AT ALL! Hah. I had to laugh so hard I almost burst something painful.

He did do some walking in the end, while we hauled rocks into the car. He went back in as soon as we forgot the door, though. *sigh* I sometimes worry about that one.

Well, I better get to the edit now, enough dawdling, in particular since yesterday we didn’t get any computer work done either.

More mutilating

2011-11-28T19:17:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “Shaking the tree” by Peter Gabriel and Youssou N’Dour (sp?). I’m too friggin’ lazy to check, so what the heck. It’s a nice song and somewhat appropriate. But let’s start with yesterday, shall we.

A busy couple of days, to be sure. And I for one was pretty darn happy that yesterday was Sunday and it was a non-workout day. Yay. Instead I slept in and it was friggin’ blissful…despite Knight II, Chaos and Labhana, who refused to get off during the night, who kept pushing me to the side o the bed, to the point of toppling off. Gawd, I was wrecked. Hah. Still I got a solid eight hours of sleep and that went over pretty well, for as far as I was concerned.

After the usual laundry session, I made breakfast of veggie stir-egg, sorta, which did a good job of filling our stomachs along with fresh bread. I do love experimenting with stuff like that, and it worked out fine.

Spent a little while up at the wood supply, sorting through plywood sections we can’t burn due to the plastic attached to it. Had to throw that in the waste corner, so we could haul it off to the garbage later in the day.

Next we did some organizing, and with that done it was time to head on down into the yard.
The Acacia trees needed to be trimmed. Heck, they’ve needed a trim for more than three years and we finally got to it. It was quite a task, and big brother spent most of the afternoon in the trees (with a chainsaw, mind you) while grandpa, me and Ox worked stripping greens of the massive branches, and hauling the whole mess away.

Nothing like working with an axe, eh. I do enjoy it, and the weather was downright splendid for such activities. A bright sunny day, with hardly any wind. Since we needed to get under the Acacias too, I was forced to trim the bougainvillea and Oleander as well. Lost a few branches after all, once the big ones started coming down.

The three trees looked absolutely molested afterwards, but it had to be done. When the sawing was done the heavy work came, hauling it all away and disposing of anything that wouldn’t be suitable for the stoves.

We didn’t finish until five thirty in the afternoon, and then I had to head on up to start on supper with tenant’s help. She had spent the majority of the afternoon with us, and insisted on helping out with the cutting at least.

Mom and the sibs got back from a successful day at the market. Apparently they had lots of people interested in their products, so…Yay!

Once we had supper and big brother and grandpa hung a door of the small storage section, and Ox and I loaded up the car prior to him heading home. Big brother and I took out a big load of garbage and went to pick up a new rocks or the future was, at which time I was pretty much running on fumes, but by far not as tired as I was the past week. Bet that full night’s rest was just what I needed. Hah.

Had a good edit for a change. Got several pages done for V.L. and I finished the evening working on ideas for the gangster story’s cover. So difficult a choice to make, isn’t it? The cover is very important after all. Ah well, I’ll figure something out in the end.

On to today. Seven hours of sleep, not bad, and in a pretty good mood while I started on the day’s workout session. Went well, and the fact that it wasn’t friggin’ cold for a change, helped I guess. Hah.

That done it was down for laundry, only to discover that the friggin’ machine has broken down…again. Aaaargh! So big brother would haul that up later, and I went up to have breakfast and make preparation for supper and a late-night soup of fresh pumpkin.

I made all the preparations and then handed them over to tenant who spent the majority of the day cutting veggies, while I boiled the pumpkin soup and rice.
Since caregiver was working at her other job today, I didn’t have much time to shoot the breeze with tenant, but I think she enjoyed herself well enough between reading and naps and such.

With her settled, big brother and I tackled the mimosa tree over the small pool. This one too, appears to be suffering from a disease…or else, old age, which is weird, because it’s less than ten years old…but anyway, there’s lots of light coming through now that we removed all the excess dead branches, and the Oleanders underneath should start growing again. It took a little longer to get through all the leftover branches we dragged down the mountain for stripping, but we managed most of it. Whatever we failed to get to today, grandpa will do tomorrow.

We’ll be having a busy day tomorrow, what with a trip to Marbella again, and then a full grocery-shopping day afterwards. Grrr. I’m trying not to think of that, darn it. I rather spent a whole day chopping wood again, but what the hey, it needs to be done.

What else, well, by the time we were done for the day, we cleaned up a little and went up to start on supper. What with most of it all cut already, it took me only a short time to get it all done, and that was good, because I was running on fumes.

There was wood to fetch, but then the stove was turned on, and I dressed in a warm sweater that should see me through the evening. Now all I need to do before turning in is finishing this blog (almost done) and another edit. Then I’m calling it a day. Hah.

Milk, milk, milk

2011-11-26T20:41:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “Haven’t met you yet,” by Michael Bublé. Thankfully the classics gave me a rest today. Yesterday, however, Doris Day’s “perhaps perhaps perhaps” was still there. Hah.

So I’m a tad tired, which is weird, since I slept more than enough hours last night. Ah well, I’ll just have another early night today.

Did a workout yesterday morning, naturally, but today I totally didn’t feel like it, so instead I opted to run up our incline a couple of times, which really makes for a fantastic substitute. It’s a 45 to 55 degree angle, and works better than a Stairmaster. By the time I reached the top of the drive sweep, I almost passed out. Hah.

But anyway, yesterday’s workout was business as usual, followed by a laundry session and then getting ready to go to Marbella. Yep, time to face the masses in search of glass fiber putty. We need to make repairs on the old camper (springing leakage all over the place) and in town they no longer have the tube of hardener. In fact they haven’t had it in more than three months, which makes this trip kinda vital.

Did a few groceries, visited a friend at the same time. Turns out he had 140 liters of milk that had expired the day before. He wanted to get rid of it, so we offered to take it of his hands. Which brings us to the majority of the activities since then. Processing 140 liters into a cheese-like substance is not easy, I assure you, and apparently 140 liters is more than approximately 70 dogs can devour. Hah. The whey is incredibly good for them, but since the stuff won’t hold they’ll have to go through it fast. And boy have they been trying.

Seriously, there is fortitude necessary to make your way through a child’s bathtub in search of the bottom, but Chaos, Tadaika, Labhana, Bambi and Indigo made an effort. They round as barrels at the moment. Knight II, on the other hand, who could easily eat up to twenty pounds according to the program on animal planet, barely managed to liters. He’s such a whiner when it comes to food. I swear, if I didn’t put it in front of him, he wouldn’t bother.

But anyway, made some serious fresh cheese last night, this morning and right now. I’ve got nine 2 liter bottles to go and then the lot is processed. Have I ever said that processing food is exhausting? It is…but also worth it. Yay! I love nice gifts like that.
Added to the pleasure was old bread for the dogs, which they positively love. Seriously, there are times I think that our dogs enjoy bread and raw veggies more than meat.

Also went out to get sand last night, which allowed for a short walk with Knight II. He was of course his whiny self (seriously, for such a majestic creature he’s incredibly whiny about some things) and rushed back to the car vying for his favorite spot.

Yesterday’s edit went rather badly. It didn’t help that I really wanted to go to bed, but still, another three pages got done. Just hope that today will allow for that at least too.

Which brings us to today, eh?
So there was the run, I mentioned, and my doubting for a minute or two…or twenty to go back to bed.

A busy day, all in all. I started it off with…well, the L word, and then started on breakfast of stirred eggs and veggies. That done, along with a quick chat with tenant whom I set up to paint her cabinet doors on her own, I unloaded the car of sand, and cleaned the lot out so the sibs could load up later for the market.

Next I went down into the yard. Big brother was digging out the batches of potatoes that didn’t survive the rain, and ended up with two crates of potatoes for his efforts. I decided to hunt pumpkins. Found five of ‘m hiding in the vines and bushes. Also gathered some tomatoes, herbs for cream cheese later on, and a few peppers.

Only found a few bugs during the whole episode, which is good, and the first broccolis are forming at last. After that rather calming session in the yard, we went up and decided to change the schedule a little and managed to (after preparing dog food with the many, many liters of whey) get in two hours of editing before we resumed work by starting on a frame and door for the storage of fuel and oil changes and such.

Dinner was next, and since tenant had already cut all the veggies for me, it was easy as pie to prepare. Hah.

Which brings us to now, five hours later and 30 liters more of whey that has been separated from the future cheese. Am going to freeze most of it, mind you. Can hardly expect us to eat that much of the stuff. There’s like endless pounds of it.

Well, I’m going to enjoy my tea now, put my foot up, because it is burning somewhat fierce, and try to get some edits done. Gotta go.

Little things

2011-11-24T19:02:00.000+01:00

Song of the day: “Perhaps perhaps perhaps” by Doris Day, again. Luckily it’s a nice song so I didn’t mind.

It’s been two days of doing this and that, not necessarily bad, just that it comes across as very little, despite it needing to be done.

Had a full workout yesterday morning, it was still a little nippy, but all in all it didn’t go bad at all. Did need a friggin’ hot shower afterward, but that is hardly a bad thing, is it? But anyway, afterwards I tackled the laundry and then headed up to tenant’s place after opening the greenhouse and seedbed.

There was the usual breakfast, followed by a short session by the storage looking for wood to make a box for firewood. I finished up with the paws and big brother would finish the rest while I headed back up to tenant’s. She and caregiver joined me outside, and for the remainder of the afternoon we worked on cleaning tenant’s favorite cupboard.

She helped cleaning, sanding and then painting, and didn’t do bad at all. In fact, I think she did it markedly better than the last time she tried helping out, besides, it is good for her to be involved in the beautification of her apartment. She used to be an avid DIYer after all, no reason she can’t learn again. Heck, grandpa’s niece lost an arm in the war, and the nuns even managed to teach her how to tie her own laces again. I guess there’s a reason why the saying goes that you can have the patience of a nun. If I’m to believe grandpa’s stories, they taught her everything she needed to know to be self-sufficient in six months.

But anyway, it went pretty well, all things considered, and by the time it got to nippy for her to be outside, we were ready to start on supper, with which she helped again. Personally my stomach didn’t much appreciate the fare we prepared, but all in all it wasn’t bad at all.

Next I unloaded a small cupboard inside tenant’s apartment, brought the repaired and repainted one back inside and cleared up the mess we’d made during the course of the day before I went to fetch a batch of wood for the night.

There was of course the edit. We did the usual amount of pages, partly because I was rested due to an hour long nap. Hadn’t planned on it either, seeing as I’d only lied down to relieve some of the tension on my back (it was nagging somewhat fierce). Had planned to lie there for about fifteen minutes and then I woke up a solid hour later. Ah well. Got the edit done, and didn’t even fall asleep on our charity run later that night.

Today. Got to bed late, so we didn’t do a workout this morning, which was a good thing because we had some serious activities later on. First off, there was of course the laundry. Hah. But next it was up to work on the doors of tenant’s cupboard for which I didn’t have time yesterday. They’re in now, but I’m not happy with the results. Will have to think of something better for that. Those antique doors are way too torqued.

That done we worked behind my cabin for a bit. We still have to dig out a tone or two of rock there, and we really shouldn’t take ages for it, but there you have it. We took down about six wheelbarrows and then changed occupations by tackling the mimosa tree down the mountain.

Lots of its branches have died (I think it’s that disease again) and there were these really big branches that were steadily starting to hang on top of the bus. So for a couple of hours we worked with chainsaw and axes (making me feel very pioneer-ish, hah) taking down enough wood to see us through at least a week of firewood next year.

Chaos loved this part, he kept going through the fallen branches, petting himself. The other dogs, in particular the labs thought it a good idea to be there where the big pieces of wood were going to land. And Fortuyn, well, he went bonkers because he first got to chase every single shovel of dirt, and THEN also falling branches. Seriously, he was in doggie heaven!

The wind was blowing like mad, clouds hung low all around, and I was happier than ever with my favorite body warmer. Jeez, the moment I stopped moving, the chill would get me. Other than that it was nice work. I like wielding an ax despite that I’ll undoubtedly end up with achy muscles tomorrow (already have it) because my muscles are not used to that particular motion.

Next there was supper to make (tenant prepared the veggies prior to my arrival) a veggie mix plus nopales (cacti) and potatoes. It was actually kind of yummy, but again my stomach did not agree with it.

By now it’s time for me to get ready to work on the edit again, though I wouldn’t have minded another nappy right about now. Hah.

A short announcement

2011-11-22T19:17:00.003+01:00

Song of the day: …well, there were several going through my head today. Some Patsy Cline, some Doris Day, and The Beautiful South. Strangely enough, my head insisted on a song without actually settling on one.

Right. I have a bit of news. An author I met some years ago (online, mind you) has bagged herself a contract with a publisher, and I was asked to do another review of her book, along with an interview. I said yes, of course. It was a good book, and it will be interesting to see what changes have been made. Also, I put together a nice bunch of questions that you should find interesting and hopefully a little funny at least. We’ll see how it goes, and I’ll keep you informed, naturally. Hah.

So let’s get to yesterday first…wait a minute, I gotta change my position. I’m freezing so I’ll…yep, sitting with my back towards the stove now, less than a couple of feet away, thank you very much. I think my back is warm for the first time today. Yay. We’re having some seriously nippy weather. Low forties at most.

But where was I. Right, yesterday. Around eight it was just too cold and windy to do a proper workout so I called big brother and suggest we get an extra hour of sleep instead. Since he wholly agreed, we actually got close to seven hours of sleep yesterday, which was, like, AWESOME.

The day started a little late for that reason, but since we had to go to town anyway (some DIY supplies and groceries) I didn’t mind all that much. Luckily we were back in less than three hours, giving us a bit of time yet to do stuff.

There was the wheelbarrow-ing of rocks down to the house, so we could start storing them on the edge of the terrace. If we want to start building on the wall again one of these days, we’re going to have to make the effort of getting rocks down there so we have something to work with.

Didn’t get a lot done, five to six wheelbarrows at most, since by then it was time to start on supper, which would consist out of soy beans and fresh veggies. Though very different from the ones I usually make, the recipe was definitely a successful one. I am playing with the idea of putting the patties in my cookbook as well.

Tenant for one really enjoyed the endeavor. She helped cut the veggies, and then we chatted while making the burgers themselves. I’ve found that she really gets a kick out of such things. I noticed the same while we were canning. I think it reminds her of when she was a little girl, and she would sit at her grandmother’s kitchen table watching her make meals.

While tenant and I were working on supper, big brother and grandpa worked on the roof that had to be altered so the rain wouldn’t wreck it again. They brought the front down two inches to get a better angle, and prepared for the next step (for today) before stopping for the day.

Together with caregiver I got two wheelbarrows and one big basket of wood from storage, and then went down to the house to help big brother install the last thing of the woodstove for the house. Fit like a glove, and we both stood in front of the thing staring at the glass front to see smoke gather inside, and then the first licking flames burst forth as we started it’s virgin fire. Not bad, and apparently really warm. In fact the sibs are already complaining that it is getting to hot on the second floor, hah.

Chaos ate too much, and so did Tadaika, we had a little treat for them during their dinner, and yikes, they were animals digging in. Chaos has been digesting most of today, and could barely get up the stairs. Seriously, I’m going to have him skip a couple of meals before I let him in with the pack again. Jeez.

Only managed a short edit, seeing as I did spend some time putting together those questions for the interview and send them out. Sure, I could wait, read them over twenty more times, but I really don’t like dallying over such things. The way I figure, I and the author have better stuff to do then mulls such things over too much. It’s supposed to be a bit of fun after all. In the end it is the book that matters most.

So there was a short edit, and then it was off to bed, slightly earlier than the day before that, but still too late for me to get more than six hours of sleep. No matter though. Started with a solid workout this morning despite the cold and wind that made me feel frozen through and through. Did do the workout, and that’s what matters in the end, doesn’t it.

There was laundry of course, a solid batch too, since most of the full lines were dry after all that wind.
That done, it was up to grandpa’s kitchen where I made a batch of fresh cream cheese, and pancakes for breakfast because grandpa forgot to take a bread from the freezer for us. That dealt, it was down to rearrange some of the storage spaces, and then the greenhouse to check for bugs.

Big brother replaced broken glass in there while I headed out into the yard to check the rest of the plants, and then helped big brother rearranging the sagging rubber strips holding the glass in place. By then the sun was wonderfully warm, in particular because there was no wind there. Since we were busy anyway, we planted some tomatoes in the lean-to. The peppers aren’t doing all that well. I think they don’t like the short days.

Next, while grandpa and Dani worked on a set of drawers on the terrace (keeping tenant company to boot) big brother and I worked on grandpa’s roof again. We put in two new supports to prevent bending, and prepared crossbeams to add tomorrow.

Knight II, Sitabah, and Dax were cold most of today. I resorted to locking them up in my cabin just to have them warm up a little. Seriously, you’d think they’d be smart and head on inside, but no, they have to be where I am. Hah.

Then there was supper again, thin schnitzel kind of patties, with mac&cheese, which went down well, despite that I didn’t eat enough because big brother ate most of it while I was out to bring Sally to work. Apparently the idiot thought I’d already eaten, darn it. I’m starving!
Luckily big brother is frying stuff. Yay.

That done, I headed out into the chilly afternoon wind to get a batch of wood for the stove and then was more than happy to call it a day and settle behind my computer. Boy, was I ready. Now, only an edit to go and then another day bites the dust.

That’s it. I’m outta here.

Rainy weekends...slow!

2011-11-20T20:37:00.002+01:00

Song of the day: “If I were a boy” by Reba McIntire. Wonderful cover of this song, and though Beyonce doesn’t do it bad, I think I like Reba’s version best.

This is going to be a boring blog, seeing as it has been raining rather badly, off and on for about two whole days and there really isn’t all that much to tell…except maybe during the biggest downpour yesterday afternoon where it came clear that we hadn’t finished grandpa’s little roof in time. There was so much of it that it filled up the roof and came pouring down on all sides. This meant that big brother had to pretend being support beam while I ran back and forth through the rain getting supports and slats to keep the lot up. The water came up to my ankles, thank you very much.

Did have an eye-roll moment during the entire thing. I went to the carport to get grandpa, and when I told him what was going on, he kept repeating: “I told you, told you, told you,” in that annoying tone that has absolutely no use in moments like that, and when we full well knew that, but simply didn’t have the time to finish it, prior to the rain. Hah. Ah well, we got the supports up now, so it’ll hold until the weather dries out again.

Workout yesterday morning (none today, thank you very much. Too cold and wet) was a chilly venture, where standing still wasn’t wise, since it would cool you off in five seconds flat, getting goosebumps to break out all over. Despite that, workout didn’t go bad at all.

Checking the garden was oddly reassuring, considering this kind of weather makes me want to crawl up the walls and howl at the moon, or something…or am I now just messing up my metaphors? Well, whatever. I’ve had enough water for now, thank you very much. The weather Gods can take a bloody vacation and give me back my sunshine. Grrr.

The dogs are not enjoying the wetness either. By the time the wood stove goes on, they will cluster around it (like us whiners) and literally go up to it with only an inch to spare. Seriously, you should see Sitabah. She is sitting in front of it right now, her eyes drooping and her body tight and languid at the same time while she lets the waves of heat roll over her. Same goes for the others who are lying on their blankets, fully enjoying the rolling heat.

I worked on tenant’s embroidery frame yesterday, seeing as there wasn’t much we could do outside once I got into dry clothes. Sanded the wood, made the metal clamp around it, and put an old blouse in it, with a patch to see if tenant wanted to fiddle with it. I’m not sure she’s going to try it much, but we’ll see. Gotta try it anyway. Besides, if she doesn’t like working with it, I’ll have a frame myself. Hah.

Started the edit early in the afternoon, and got into a heated argument about sentence structure again. Big brother likes to go the well-travelled road when it concerns writing, while I like to take a bit of risk every now and then, hah. It can lead to fierce conflicts…luckily I didn’t feel the need to conk him on the head this time.

Decided to finish the day with a movie. “The final cut” with Sam Elliot. Such a cute little movie, and it keeps being nice. They don’t make ‘m like that anymore, do they?
It did make me late getting to bed, so I slept little over five hours last night, darn it. Knew I needed a nap today, even as I got up to start on the day.

So what was today? Making zucchini soup over breakfast of course, which followed the usual session of laundry hanging and hot coffee. Laundry is a science in this kind of weather. What with laundry for seven people, you gotta fill every single line to full capacity to get everything hung in hopes that it will dry enough for your to rotate the new batches. Luckily I’ve had lots of practice. Hah.

That done, I did some sorting in the storage area. Would have liked to haul stuff around, but since the rain kept going, that didn’t happen. Instead I went down to the greenhouse to check the plants for bugs, and water the raised seedbed. Knight II took the opportunity to run around like a lunatic and almost bowled right over me in his enthusiasm. Seriously, you do not get in the way of a Great Dane when he’s enthusiastic. Strangely enough, it gets Dax excited as well, and he’ll get Knight II riled up even more, making being around them a tad dangerous.
Luckily Gada knows this, and stays carefully out of the way in these moments.

But anyway, the soup ready, macaroni was boiled for supper, while I chatted a little with tenant and then headed down to my cabin for some cleaning up. My bathroom needed a scrubbing, and since big brother was busy with the computers (one of the fans gave the spirit, blasted things! Can’t even handle an inch or two of dust) I put away the piles and piles of clean laundry that I’d been stacking on top of my horizontal surfaces for the past month or so. *sigh* Glad to be able to see those surfaces again, even though they are dirty, meaning that I’ll have to spend another few hours in there cleaning them in the near future. *double sigh*

That done I did some sewing. First my jeans. The dogs got their teeth in it, so I had to fix the waistband and one of the belt loops. I had also wanted to fix one of my bed sheets, but Knight II and Chaos ruined that one good by removing a square foot or so. Mom is going to see if she can put a new piece of fabric in it. She and the younger sibs came back from a successful market day, and she sat in the carport with us for a bit while the sibs put away what couldn’t stay out in the rain. Those dog baskets are going like fresh bread, really.

There was supper made by big brother, and then some more sorting in the carport followed by that much anticipated nap. Didn’t drop off well, however, seeing it was so nippy. The temperature dropped below 45 in fact, and I wasn’t appreciative of that fact. My fingers and toes felt frozen, despite my ski boots…by now I’ve warmed up a little from the stove though. Yay.

Well, this will be it for today, I guess. Sorry that I have nothing scintillating to tell, but life is just that, life. Nothing glamorous, it just IS.

Making a new roof...sorta

2011-11-18T20:06:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “Never no more” by Patsy Cline. I’m having a lot of classics in my head these days. Like yesterday, I had Jackie Wilson’s “Reet Petite” which is hilarious, not to mention infectious. It’ll just keep going, and going and going.

Right. Let’s get to it. It’s been a long day and I’m tired, and I still have to edit. It’s not going as fast as I want to, but at least we’re making progress, in particular for a first edit. I mean really, have you ever read a rough draft of any story? Like the completely unedited stream of consciousness of an author. Well, let me tell you. It’s like making a sword. The first draft is like that first stick of metal hot from the coals. Once that’s there, you’ve got a hone it, hammer it, and hammer it some more. Then you gotta shape it, sharpen it, polish it and then, in the end, after months and months of work, maybe, just maybe you might have something nice to look at.

Ooh, I like that analogy. I’m going to save it. Hah.

So okay, yesterday: I had a dream, and it was in fact quite apocalyptic. By now I don’t remember all that much of it anymore...if I don’t jot it down immediately, I won’t be able to remember it at all. Which was the case in this instance. It was impressive, however. I wouldn’t mind seeing that in a movie...or at least that is the impression the dream left me with.

Before starting on the day...that is, after workout, a shower, and laundry, of course...I first had to send out a message that I just couldn’t postpone any longer. That done there was breakfast, followed by starting to get together stuff for grandpa’s new porch roof. He’s been complaining somewhat fierce about getting wet when it rains (his connection to kitchen and bathroom is through the outside) so we figured we might as well change plans a little and put that transparent roof up.

While we were at it, we decided to also get the replacement beam ready for the one that’s infested with termites. Got a good start by the end of the day, and the new beam (had to get a replacement for the replacement because oddly enough it had the same problem) was ready for painting.

The weather is slowly turning, by the way. We’ve been having heavy clouds rolling in constantly and a rolling thunder in the distance about twice a day. Did manage to work a bit on the embroidery frame I’m trying to make for tenant. I do hope that it works and that she can do something with it. Sometimes I worry about her wanting to feel more useful.

Had to go to town for some groceries and hardware store supplies. It is rather disturbing to see prices rise practically everywhere. Makes me worry about the future for sure. Ah well, nothing to do about it, is there. We’ll just have to wait and see what the future brings.

Got home for a late edit, which didn’t go all that bad except for the fact that I was so friggin’ tired I could barely keep my eyes open. Hah. Finally got to bed (didn’t manage to do much good around midnight anyway) and conked out long enough to feel refreshed this morning when it was time to get up for today’s workout.

It went well. Time passed really fast, and by the time I was done I had developed a nice sweat, which is what counts when you’re doing a workout. Hah.

What followed was the morning chores and then working on grandpa’s roof again. Replaced the beam...and found another infested one, darn it. Will have to replace that soon too...after finishing with wood filler and paint, and put the last roof sections up.

Since the sibs already loaded up the car for the market on Sunday, I had to improvise with the repair job for mom’s purse stand. Rather than make the replacements the same as the last ones, I made singular sticks they can put in, hoping that it will stay in place. If not, I’ll have to figure something else out.

There was the yard, of course, checking the plants for caterpillars (buggers are still there, darn it) watering some things, and generally just enjoying being out in the yard for a bit. Found three more pumpkins, yay, one of which was used for today’s supper.

Did a wonderful experiment with my vegie patties, with slices of baked pumpkin on them, covered by a cream and cheese sauce with mushrooms, peppers and onions. It was yummy, even though I am once again hungry. *sigh* My stomach is just a bottomless pit these days. Hah.

Last bit would be a dog tidbit. First of all we shaved Carla, whose hair has been matting for a while now. Also, we discovered he had a bad ear infection, meaning we had to clean it...which drove him absolutely bonkers for a while, I felt forced to give him an anti-inflammatory, ‘cause I was afraid he was going to give himself a heart attack. Poor Carla. He’s quiet now.

Chaos wanted on the bed again...he really doesn’t like the cold. When I checked on him earlier he barely even raised his head and this eyelids were all wrinkled around his eyes in his attempt to keep them open and look at me. In the end he gave up, and dropped his head back on the bed, rubbing into it and promptly falling back to sleep. Lazy effing Basset. Hah.

Knight II, and most of my other dogs have discovered the pleasure of the wood-stove. Seriously, we’ve got about twenty dogs clustered around it at the moment, all of them as close as they can possibly get so the heat rolls over them in waves. It’s quite a sight in fact...not to mention difficult to navigate through for us poor bipedal creatures.

Well, I better see about something to eat, and then it’s edit time, again. Aaah.

This and that

2011-11-16T20:17:00.003+01:00

Song of the day: “Perhaps perhaps perhaps” by Doris Day. Had no idea that Doris sang it, but it’s such a fun song.

I’m feeling a blank coming up again, so I’ll be doing this with my diary/journal beside me once more. It’s cheating, I know, not to mention lazy, but what the heck. Gotta be accurate, don’t I?

As before there was an excellent workout yesterday morning, went through all the usual reps and even added a few new ones…which is something you have to do sometimes, if for no other reason than to keep the workout fun. It was friggin’ chilly that early in the morning, no more than fifty degrees, in fact. Had to move fast and a lot to keep warm a little. My foot didn’t agree with it all, but then, it hardly ever does anyway, so who cares, right?

Afterwards there were the usual chores in the house, followed by hanging that shelving unit I mentioned the last time, which fitted well enough over mom’s work table. It took only a short time to hang, really, which allowed us to head on out into the yard immediately afterward.

There was some watering to be done, bugs to be annihilated, and plants to talk to. I doubt the plants actually need it, but I like doing it. I always get the best songs in my head when I’m working in the greenhouse, hah. For some reason Harry Belafonte’s “Shake Shake Sehnora” always comes up.

Don’t know what kind of bug we got this time, but two tomato plants got snapped off. I’m thinking it was some big arse snail that hides during the day, but you can just never know. Guess I’ll have to do a nightly trip down there one of these days.
Some plants in the yard itself got killed as well, and I replaced them while big brother harvested peppers for supper.

That done we finished the chimney by installing the metal roof we designed for it. It looks a little strange, really. I think we’re going to have to make something new in the future. Maybe bigger paws that will make it look more solid. Don’t like the spindly little legs at all. Ah well, it’ll work and for now that’s all that matters.

For the remainder of the day we worked on the storage thingy by the wall, putting in shelves of sturdy wooden boards, and roofing that we masoned in, rather than screwed. The latter was a possibility, but the masonry was easier and better to keep out rodents and such. Now all we need to add is plating over the wooden ceilings and some doors, and then we’ll be all done.

What’s up next, is expanding the roof in front of grandpa’s bungalow a bit. What with all the rain, he would prefer to stay dry on his way to the kitchen, so we’ll fit that in sometime tomorrow, or the day after.

There was a tap replacement up by the bungalow, too. We had to place it over grandpa’s new outside counter. Since we will have to work on his kitchen floor in the near future anyway, that has to happen too.

Cooked supper of the veggies tenant chopped. Good thing she likes being helpful. Cutting stuff up keeps her busy, and saves me fifteen minutes to half an hour of work when it’s time to cook. Made a nice veggie spaghetti mix and devoured it prior to heading out to get wood for the stove.

When we did finally settle down for the edit my focus (well, both of us, really) was so shot, we didn’t manage more than four pages in the end. By then I was so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open, let alone write in my journal/diary. Hah.

Chaos is insisting more and more to sleep on the bed during the day now (lazy idiot) and when I come in to check if he's ready to go out yet, he would raise his head to look at me, all perturbed and stretch out, rubbing his snout into the blankets with total abandon. Not ready to get out, apparently. Hah.

Still, it was a late night, because we forgot the time while editing, and I passed out in five seconds flat.

No workout this morning, which is good since there was a lot to do again. First of course the morning chores, and trimming the olive tree in the center of the courtyard. I don’t like the chore all that much, since it feels as if I’m mutilating the poor thing, but then, it’s got to be done, and at least I’ll be able to guide it a little.

Then there was breakfast and making a batch of dough for my patties. Did a new recipe experiment, chickpea with white beans and garlic through the broth. Made enough so mom could have some for dinner as well, and then started working in the carport, putting together the wooden cover for the pipe of the stove. First there was the lid, which was part metal work, part carpentry on my part.

That done, big brother and I started putting it in place. It took some time, and we didn’t manage to finish it completely, but it’s getting there. I took some pics, so when it’s done I’ll post them…I hope. Hah.

Some more metal work to be done, to protect the ceiling, wiring, and the beams. Am starting to get good at it too. Know how to cut it now, clean it up, bend it into the shape I need. I love stainless steel for this sort of thing.

We had paddies on sandwiches for supper today. A lot like a hamburger, only then vegetarian. It tasted rather well, and this one is definitely going in the cookbook. By then big brother no longer needed my help and continued with the cover on his own.

So I got to work on the embroidery frame I’ve been mulling over for more than a week now. Since tenant so clearly wants to be helpful, I figured I would make her a frame so she can do some sewing. Don’t know if it ‘ll work yet, but we’ll see. If she doesn’t like it, I’ll have an embroidery frame myself. Hah.

There was another trip for wood after I sanded the disk, and then we settled down for the day’s edit. So much to do, and so little time, darn it. I still think the day should be 28 hours, rather than 24. Grrr.

Pumping Iron. Hah.

2011-11-14T19:33:00.002+01:00

Song of the day: “When I’m 64” by the Beatles, of course. Gawd, I memorized those lines back in ‘89/’90. Can’t believe they stuck after all this time.

Yesterday it was back to the grind, workout wise. Had one right on the dot, and though I was totally out of shwung, I did go through the entire session, bar none, and was pleasantly sweaty by the end. I punched, kicked and pounded, crunched, pulled and pushed and have been properly sore ever since. Hah. As for pumping iron after a week of going without, that went splendidly. That’s always the case with weightlifting, really. Pump some serious iron, don’t for several days, et voila, suddenly you’re pulling that weight with barely an effort. Awesome. Of course today I paid for it in spades, but what the heck.

So what happened after the workout…my memory is shot again, but I’ve got my diary lying beside me, so that should take care of the details at least.

First off we went to the house to re-hang the shelving unit that we’d needed to take off prior to hanging the stovepipes. This time in a different spot, and measuring the empty spot left so I could make another closet for it. It won’t be pretty, but at least mom will be able to store more of her fabrics. Hah.

So I wasn’t entirely there yesterday morning, meaning that at some point, while I was supposed to be getting that shelving unit, big brother found me standing in the doorway, staring at the dratted thing, still wondering what the heck I’d come in the round room for.

Big brother: “You know, that thing is not going walk itself inside.”
That shook me awake a little, and I watched him head into the room to grab one side of the big unit.
Me: “Yeah. I know. I was just trying to, you know…” I clapped my hands in a very ‘bewitced’ kind of way and sighed dramatically. “Nope. It just won’t listen.” And then, with big brother’s chuckle, joined him to haul the thing into the house.

We got into a slight argument about how to carry it into the working area and get it over the table, but then we got it there, me going first and climbing over the table, and him following behind. Within half an hour it hung back in place as if it had always been there. *sigh*

After the usual chores such as laundry, and then having breakfast, we got to work on the small storage that needed an overhaul up by the wall. There was this little section for car oil, a spare tank of diesel, etc, and since it was gradually falling apart we decided to replace the wooden walls with brick ones, while taking the time to pour a concrete floor as well.

That took most of the day, seeing as there were three little walls to build, and quite a bit of concrete to pour. Did most of it with grandpa since big brother was working in the carport to weld the braces for the pipe cover in the house that we’re designing.
By the time we were ready to pour the concrete however, he joined in and finished it up.

Supper consisted of mashed potatoes with fresh beets from the yard. The first ones this winter, and they were absolutely divine. So happy that they worked out. Not a lot of underground veggies work in out hard-packed clay soil, but the beets don’t mind at all. Hah.

There was getting the wheelbarrow of wood for the stove, followed by a nice, albeit very short archery session on the stretch of land that got cleared by the fire, and then it was time to head on out for a new batch of sand. We’ve been using quite a bit of the stuff of late, meaning that we have to replenish the pile.

Since big brother and grandpa did the loading, I volunteered to do the unloading once we got home, and took the time to take Knight II for a short walk. He behaved mighty fine, even when we came across another walking couple with a leashed dog, reminding me that I hadn’t taken one for Knight. Luckily he’s well behaved and I only needed to grab hold of his collar as we walked on, his gaze nervously shifting back to the people and the other dog, dribbling like a horse and pressing himself against me like the sissy he really is. Seriously, I think he’ll be ferocious when he needs to be, but until that time, he just hide behind my proverbial skirts. Hah.

While big brother went down to attempt at least a few pages for the new edit of V.L. (the manuscript I want to start sending out to publishers within three months if we can manage it) I tackled unloading and made a wager with myself to see how fast I could unload the 1400 or so pounds of sand. Took me less than fifteen minutes with that massive shovel big brother prefers, the one that makes my arms burn from strain, hah.
I was properly exhausted afterwards and went for a short nap of less than an hour, only to have big brother forget to wake me, making it a solid 90 minutes instead.

Well, much like the words with which big brother excused his forgetfulness, “at least I slept” hah.
Considering that after the edit we still had to head out for a donation, I needed it. This is the first edit (only half a reread), so it’s going to be a close call, I think, to get it done in time, but we’ll try.

Chaos managed to get his snout into Knight’s food yesterday evening. He ate so much of it that through the night he looked like he was going to burst. In fact, when it was time to go to bed, he could barely get his front paws up against the bed, let alone assist while I hauled him up. The bloated gut was still there this morning, and afternoon, and through out the day he kept farting. For Gawd’s sake, that’s foul! Chemical waste in nothing compared with that stink. I sure hope he gets rid of that stuff fast. Hah.

Which brings us to today then. Another workout done…and yes, I felt yesterday’s session in every movement. Hah. Did bust my friggin’ knee again, which just goes to show that I wasn’t relaxing enough during the jumps. Silly body just doesn’t do stuff like that on automatic anymore, eh? I gotta learn to just relax and let my body do it on its own, without interference. *sigh* Ah well, only one way to learn, right?

After workout it was all about breakfast, unloading the car and preparing stuff so tenant could cut pumpkin for our lunch which would consist of soup. We had some stems and leafs from yesterday’s beets left and they went well in the soup. Made it lighter somehow.

Activity wise, stuff today mostly evolved around the carport. It was pouring rain several times during the day. Painted the braces for the pipe cover, then bent metal for the chimney roof, attaching paws, which will allow us to screw it in place later on. That got painted too, followed by woodwork, seeing as I might as well get mom’s closet done. Since all the necessities were there it only took me a couple of hours to get a nice shelving unit together.

Grandpa plastered the walls I built yesterday, and later big brother and I joined him to put on the first pieces of roof. Wood first, then corrugated glass fibre. There was quite a bit of walking for me involved, seeing as big brother was doing the building and I the hauling, but it allowed me to go through the motions of keeping my foot, and knee in the right position to prevent further discomfort.

Since pumpkin soup lunch was several hours ago big brother and I snacked on the noodle/satay leftovers after getting another load of wood down, and started on computer work at last. I gotta say that I was more than ready for some feet-in-the-air action. Nothing like using the brain after a day full of physical activity.

Finished!!!

2011-11-12T19:58:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “Woman’s intuition” by Shakira. It’s been going through my head most of the day, part of the problem being that it’s been going in mix of Spanish and English, which is a problem when you know both versions, hah.

First off, the good news for a change: The last edit of “Saving Nina” is finally finished! Yay! *dancing a little jig* It took some time, and sure, we’re going to start on the V.L. edit right away, but still, I’m always psyched when we finish a project like that. Three months, minus the few weeks we took to edit “Chicago Hope” this summer. Glad that we stuck to the time schedule at least, giving us time to start on the new project and finish it before spring so I can start writing the new book. I can hardly wait!

Yesterday very little got done at home. Sure, we managed to do some stuff on the stove’s pipes, prepare some more metal since there was a change in plan. Rather than risk a piling up of dog hair and dust, we opted to do a bigger opening around the pipe, meaning I had to cut, fold and shape metal strips to protect the wood of the second floor.

Didn’t get it all done before we had to leave, though. Mom had to go to traffico again to make arrangements for her driver’s license, and big brother and I agreed to go with her so she wouldn’t have to part and walk a long distance. Turns out she had to go there to hand over her old one and take a small note that will be valid for three months while she waits for her new one in the mail.

After that we went to town so she could go to a fabric store, and I to a sports store where I go new boxing gloves and thin leather shoes without soles for my kick boxing. What with the cold getting worse, I won’t be able to workout on bare feet anymore, and since shoes don’t go well with my PF, I’m going to try them.

What followed were some groceries such as milk and veggies, and then it was back home after three in the afternoon. Did most of it on my high heeled boots (it’s been ages since I wore them, and it took some getting used to) and boy did I feel it at the end of the day. First thing I did once I got home was exchange them for my work boots, hah.

The day was pretty advanced by the time stuff was put away and we got to work. Seeing as there was only little time before we had to start computer work, we got to work on the small storage under the main wall where we keep oil and such for the car. The old one was really starting to fall apart, so this time we decided to go fort brick walls and an actual floor. To keep the rats out, we decided to use half an inch thick glass for the back to close the lot. Only got as far as the foundation, though. The sun was about to set, and I had to go down to check on the plants and close the greenhouse and the seedbed.

By then I had to start on supper, which was late, but since tenant already ate, I didn’t feel inclined to start earlier. Turned out well, if I do say so, using the new wok I found at this little Chinese store. Stir fries like a charm.

But anyway, last night we finished the S.N. edit, so I didn’t mind at all that we were a little late getting to bed. Was exhausted, though, and basically conked out ‘till my alarm went off this morning, bright and early. Hah.

As is par for the course these past few days, no workout this morning either, instead it was back to the grind of working on the stove. Not a lot we could do either. We forgot that we had to do a lot of drilling in the wall, so we could attach the pipes to the wall. So instead we worked on more metal in the carport, had breakfast and then headed back inside once everyone was out and about.

Got the pipes in okay, except for the one attached to the stove itself because the reduction pipe we ordered didn’t arrive at the construction company, we got it all in. Added to that, I varnished the woodwork around the glass bricks, which makes the whole look even fancier. Hah.

That done we headed down into the yard, and that was divine, despite that I once again found a whole batch of leaf miners in the tomato plants, darn it. The forecasts are predicting rain again, so I really soaked up what sunshine I could today. The wind was cooler today, but in the sun it was still nice enough to walk in a T shirt. Harvested a few tomatoes, a mini zucchini, a handful of purslane, and some peppers that were going to be today’s dinner.

After watering the new cabbage type seedlings, I headed up to start on supper. Made noodles with veggies and a satay sauce, which went down splendidly. The purslane was definitely experimental within the mix, but it actually made the pieces of pumpkin nicer. Besides, tenant enjoyed it too, and she’d never had noodles with satay yet. I think it went over well in that regard.

Dinner over and done with, and with me doing with less than six hours of sleep per night for the last week, or so, I took a nap of forty minutes and am therefore surviving this edit without my eyes falling shut. Hah. But anyway, it’s time to start on the edit. I made a serious start a few months ago, but I only did the first edit for about sixty pages. Can’t have big brother start on the edit without me reading through it at least once, now can I?

Time to start.

Stove update with pics

2011-11-10T19:34:00.006+01:00

First of a few pretty pics.

View while planting trees. Too pretty to pass up on.

Here's Tallis on the first section of the new wall underneath the house. Doesn't it look great here. Those plants really took this summer.

Labhana rutting on the floor. I just couldn't resist, she was so sweet...and practically smiling to boot. Hah.

Knight II, impatient when I didn't come inside fast enough. That window in the main gate starts at chest height. He doesn't mind.

DOGPILE! It happens every now and then, and of course they were right in the way of where we were walking. Hah.

And Chaos, stroking himself on both the downed eucalyptus branch and the plastic. Insane dog. He enjoys that waaaaay too much.

But okay, let's get started.

Song of the day: “The wild rose” by Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave. Such depressing song, but pretty regardless.

Yesterday wasn’t an entirely good day for me. Most of it because I was feeling a little under the weather, and no matter what I did, that didn’t change. Ah well, it was a day, it’s not like there won’t be others.

Work involved inside stuff mostly, despite the sunny weather, and that didn’t help either. These days I’m not at all good at being inside for long anywhere. I wanna be out there in the fresh air, preferably in the full sunshine and with hands and feet in the dirt.

But anyway, we were putting up the glass brick wallsies, which got done with quite a bit of effort. It’s our first time with the friggin’ things, and figuring out how to get them stuck together and sturdy wasn’t as easy as it should have been, but it got done, and it looks good. Very eighties, for some reason, while the stove definitely looks antique. Those two styles, along with the rustic atmosphere of the house, should make for an interesting combination.

We didn’t finish yesterday’s masonry until well after three in the afternoon. At which point I was just about ready to go up the walls. Hah. It got a wee bit better when I headed down into the yard and hunted for pumpkins and caterpillars.

A new field of cabbages got planted, and there was some watering to do, but all in all that was about the extend of yesterday’s activities, prior to a fruitless nap (was too wired for some peculiar reason) that I gave up on after half an hour, there was a cooking session of instant mash potatoes and fresh chard plucked from the yard. Yay. Very delicious, thank you very much.

Yesterday’s edit went well despite my being tired, and we’re now less than a dozen pages away from the end, which is…like, totally awesome! In fact, we had to stop in the middle of the last action scene since we had to go fetch another donation in town. Not a lot of it, but well worth the effort in the end. Heck, I didn’t even fall asleep on our way home. Hah.

Which brings us to today…I will be so glad when this whole stove thing is over and done with. That way we can start the morning workouts again at least, because I miss them somewhat fierce. But it will be another two days at least, so I better not think about that right now. Grrr.

We hauled the wood stove in today, put it in place, started hanging the pipes and cut a good-sized hole in the ceiling to get the pipe up to the chimney. There was some more metal working for me to do, like making a covering for the inside of the hole, getting the stuff big brother needed to get it done, and all that. Making progress is grand, I’ve got to admit.

Here are some pics of the whole process.

First off, tenants stove after I painted it the other day. Cute, eh?

Day one of the stove thing...and so on on consecutive days.

All finished, except for one tile which I put in right after this picture. I know, I should have put it in first, but I got impatient.

Looking good, I'm thinking.

Today’s work inside (cleaning left over glue, scraping dust, dirt and rust) was interrupted by a quick trip down into the yard to check the greenhouses, the tomatoes for miners (lots of those again) and the cabbage species for caterpillars, less of those what with the temperatures lowering.

There was a lot of wind this past week, but since about three hours after the last blog the wind suddenly died and things have been blissfully quiet since then. Seriously, if you find a spot away from the shade, the sun is wonderfully warm.

Once we finished what we could of the stove today, there was some serious tree-trimming going on. Grandpa needed to have space on top of the old bus, so we took off a couple of big branches, and we needed space behind the upper wall, meaning that we had to take out a rather big branch of the eucalyptus that was growing over the wall.

We also had to unload the car, but that was done relatively fast, and lunch consisted of pumpkin soup, which was delicious, meaning that in the evening I could fix an easy supper of baked carrots with mash potato on the side. It filled me up pretty well, since it is still there, hah. While food was simmering I managed to fit in a quick session with Dani’s hair. I’ve been promising to cut her hair for more than a week now, so I figured we might as well get it over and done with. I think it looks nice.

Well, I better get to the edit. We might actually make it to the end of S.N. tonight, and I can hardly wait. Yay!

Dreams of reality?

2011-11-08T19:37:00.002+01:00

Song of the day: “Sunlight” by…I have no idea, actually. Hmmm. It’s an annoying song anyway.

“So. Where are we going?”
The man, walking ahead of me, doesn’t pause, nor does he glance back. I double up, stumble a little as I try to shift the bulk of my backpack into a more comfortable position. It is a cold day, somewhere near dusk I think, and we’re walking through a forest cast in a variety of grays that range from white all the way to black. It is like I’m walking through one of those old B&W movies where you can only guess which color is what. But this isn’t the movies, this is real…or is it?
Ahead of me, the man points straight ahead, and seeing as I’m not paying attention to where I’m walking, I stumble over a big root sticking out of the floor. My boots, heavy with mud and even some specks of snow, are in good shape, and for a change I can’t feel my heel. I think part of the reason why is because of the cold. It is pressing against me from all sides, penetrating through several layers. A padded coat covering a ragged woollen sweater, two flannel shirts and a tight T at the bottom. My legs are encased by heavy Jeans and a thick sweatpants which just barely keeps me from freezing my bum off.
“What’s over there,” I wheeze at my companion, doing a clumsy skip, and then again as I try to keep up with his quick pace. From what I can see, his face partially concealed by a deep red scarf that is wrapped around his jaw up to his mouth, and a snow cap pulled down to his brow, he, for some reason, reminds me of a bearded Vin Diesel. Which is weird, since he doesn’t share any resemblances to the actor at all. He just reminds me of him. Must be some long forgotten movie, or something.
On his back, over a bulky backpack that is twice the size of my own (damn, the man doesn’t even have the decency to appear out of breath from the brutal pace he is setting) he carries a heavy duty riffle that gleamed from a recent polishing, I’m sure.
It might be my imagination, but it looks like he shrugs. I can hardly believe it, and hurry up to grab hold of his arm.
“Did you just shrug at me?” I demand, holding on for dear life while he continues on as if I am not even trying to stop him. “I want to know what’s over there in the direction we’re going?”
The way I figure, I have a right to know, what with me following his lead because he appears to know what he’s about. I’ve gotta be on time, after all…for what, I’m not entirely sure.
Strange.
He stops at last and turns to look at me. He’s got dark eyes, high cheekbones and more than just a five-o’clock shadow, and perspiration coats his wind-blown face. Thankfully he doesn’t appear to be as impervious about our stark surrounding as I first thought.
“I don’t know.” His voice is heavy, gravely, as if he hasn’t used it much.
“I beg your pardon?” I blink at him, for a moment not having a clue as to what he’s talking about. Then it hits me. “You mean you don’t know where we’re going?” I demand, outraged all of a sudden. How can he walk with such purpose and not know where we’re going, darn it. It just isn’t fair.
“Sure I do. We’re going that way.” He jabs a thumb in the direction we’d been heading. “But you don’t know what is there?!” I practically shout at him,
“Doesn’t make a difference,” he points out calmly, as if he is making all the sense in the world. “We’re going where we need to go, and it’s over there.”
“I swear, if you point your thumb in that direction one more time, I’m going to break it,” I threaten, getting a mite huffy when he only laughs at my threat.
In hindsight, I can understand why, seeing as he is at least a foot taller than I which is…well, weird, considering I’m six foot tall, but what the heck.
“Ron, we can’t just walk around aimlessly. It’s freezing out here and we…”
“Trust me,” he cuts in, and I can only stare at him as he shakes off my hand and continues his way through the muddy trail that we’ve been following for ages, or so it seems.
“This is not a matter of trust,” I call after him, scrambling to catch up, and almost landing flat on my face when another root appears to wrapped itself around my foot. Drat.
When I do finally catch up with him, I just barely manage to catch a branch he lets go after his passing, and grimace at the sudden increase of light now that we have reached the end of the forest.
“What are you trying to do, have me…” He stops and I literally slam into his backpack and the cold metal of his riffle. I swear under my breath and scramble back a step or two before going to the side so I can give him a piece of my mind. But before I can open my mouth to do so, the view beyond him takes my breath away.
There, in the distance, following a mountainous slope that leads straight into a long stretching valley a city lays. At first it is a city like any other, high-rises and suburbs surrounding it, but then I see it, the biggest difference of all. All through the mega city plumes of smoke rise high into the evening air, light glimmering, but it isn’t street lights. Fires rage within the streets, and the skyscrapers that should have glimmered with light on any normal day are dulled with age and lack of glass. Even from this distance I can see the damage to several stories, but it is not that which holds my attention. Instead my gaze is drawn to where something dark, something dangerous lurks. I know, and yet I cannot see it, but then, my hand automatically latching onto Ron for support, I…wake up with Knight II slapping his paws onto my chest with enough force to slam the air from my lungs. Jeez!

What did you think? That’s not my reality, of course. though admittedly at the moment it is chilly enough for me to feel as if I’m face a snowy day of sorts. Hah.
It was a dream, naturally, but it was so vivid that I just had to share.

Okay, enough dawdling, let’s get down to business and get this over with. I’ve got another edit to face (getting nearer to the end of this one, yay) so I better rush through this a little.

I woke up, sore all over. I’m thinking that Knight II thought it a good idea to press himself against me throughout the night, meaning that I spend the majority of the night trying not to fall off the bed. *sigh* I love Knight II to pieces, really, I do. But sometimes I also want to strangle him. Aaaargh.

No workout, again. There just isn’t time. What with winter rapidly settling in, we are putting more of a rush on the stove in the house, meaning that we went down there early once more to get to it. Change of plan though, seeing as I discovered a load of water in the hallway when I finished my morning shower and fully intended to start tiling.

Turns out the main pipe of the house’s sewage was plugged, filling the hallway with all sorts of nasty. This meant that the next two hours were spent unplugging the pipes with a garden hose. Big brother shoved it up there and a few minutes later the whole mess came sloshing out. Eeewww! Then came the cleaning bit, mopping up the mess and everything, trying to breathe through my mouth rather than anything else, and failing miserably since the smell stuck to my nostrils the rest of the day, darn it.

So by the time we finally had it all done, the only thing we could do for the stove was clean the tiling of the day before, check if it hadn’t sagged, take off the small moulds and then cover it all up again when the younger sibs got up and let their dogs out. Rather than risk some serious “discussions” between the pack, I totally don’t feel up to that early in the morning, we took out tools and postponed the efforts to today.

What followed throughout the day was painting the storage barrel, which was starting to get seriously rusty. That done, there was the metal works waiting for me. To fully install the stove, we need to make a hole in the second floor, through which the pipe needs to be led, and a protective coating for around the beam of wood under which it passes. This took some time, the cutting, bending and then polishing, but I’ve got it ready and waiting.

While big brother made dinner (red beets with mashed potatoes) I made a tomato soup for later in the evening when that little snack would go down really well.
Next I hauled wood down to the terrace where we burnt a nice barrel fire to chase away the cold of the evening while we worked on the edit. I love an open fire. Hah.

Which brings us to today, doesn’t it? Well, the morning started early once again, and the chill was pretty intense. Grandpa estimates that we’re only a few degrees away from the freezing point these days. (Bonkers! Especially for Southern Spain, for crying out loud.)

Did work on the stove spot today, though I started after big brother who is working with those glass bricks to create a protective corner for the pedestal. While he was doing that, I headed down into the yard to water the small seedbed and open her up for the sunny day (too windy to be warm, but sunny at least). Same goes for the greenhouse, which needs to dry whenever possible, lest we’ll have plants dying of molds. Lost another top of a tomato plant to leaf miners who think it funny to dig into the young top stems of the plants and kill them.

That done, I headed down to check on the cabbages and such. I watered the young ones, checked them for caterpillars, and then did the same with the big ones. Found only a few of the pests, but then went up to see if I could start tiling the last bit of the pedestal yet.

Yep. The pedestal is basically done for the stove now. All we need to do is build the glass brick corner around it (big brother only did one edge today. We need to add three more layers) and then we can start putting the thing in. It is going to be interesting to see if we’ll manage to get it in place without disaster occurring. The stupid thing does way a ton, and we will need to life it a solid foot + several inches. Ah well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

The day’s efforts successful with the last tiles added to the construction, it was time for breakfast and other tasks. Which consisted of some repairs for mom today. Big brother worked on her sewing machine, while I fixed the large construction we designed for her bag designs at the market. Apparently they lost four pegs during transport at some point, so I had to see if I could make new ones. Ended up fixing suitable replacements, so all’s well in that regard.

Next the barrel had to be painted again, followed by a session of working on the gate, which needs a new lick of paint as well. Rust was breaking out everywhere, and since we found the right paint once again (don’t understand why they stopped making it) and managed almost half before it was time to head out in the car and drop Sally off at her job.

That done it was time for more soup (I had one cup during the paint job) some crackers, and then making tea on the barrel stove before I started on the blog and the ever-lasting edit…for which the time has arrived now.

4 days, right?

2011-11-06T19:01:00.001+01:00

Song of the day: “The Flood” by Katie Melua. Jeez, this one is sticking a lot, isn’t it. I do hope that it isn’t prophetic. I hate rain, darn it. Hah

But okay, I’ve got four days to bring you up to date about, and I completely forgot to do something special for my 700th post the last time. And here I’d been thinking about something fun. Like a competition, or something. Ah well, too late now, isn’t it?

Four days…no way am I going to be able to do that without help, so I’m going to get my diary and check it out. Seriously, my brain is already blanking out. *sigh*…

Right. The third…well, I had a solid 7 and a half hours of sleep is like…well totally awesome! (Could do with more of that goodness, but seriously, I can sleep more when I’m dead, can’t I? Hah) It didn’t help that I had some whacky dream about working at some company. I was a newbie around there, and my boss, or one of my bosses, called me into his office and had me close the door behind me. Then he proceeded to tell me about this new client that was coming in from Germany, and that he had read my application form where it stated that I speak German. Next he touted some cockamamie story about needing the money of this client really bad and that he had told this elderly lady that he had a friend who would join them, just so the dinner appointment wouldn’t be a “business” dinner…which it was, of course. Now the thing was, since my form also said I worked with handicapped elderly, he wanted me to come along and pretend I was his “close” friend. And then, while having dinner, smooch this potential new client.
It basically came down to my job being on the line if I said no, so I said yes. Now as dreams tend to be, this one started to get odd around the time the boss and I went to a supermarket and met his invalid client. Rather than driving a wheelchair, she was sitting in a shopping cart, and thought it grand fun being carted through the store. Like I said: Weird.

No workout on Thursday. Too much rain, and since we don’t much fancy getting soaked during the workout, we decided to skip it all together. Instead we worked on small stuff in the carport. Stuff like preparing the braces for the woodstove in the house and a couple for tenant’s stove as well. By then that one was almost completely done, and all that was left was putting it in place.

Once the weather dried out, we headed into the yard and spent some time checking plants in the greenhouse, and draining the garden pit. Though the plan is to get a big drain tube in there, we haven’t gotten around to it. Instead we’re using the garden hose and siphoning the lot out.

No cooking for me that day, considering big brother made mac&cheese with mushrooms, which is one of his specialties, and then headed for town to get some supplies from the hardware store…and ended up drooling at the power tool section for about half an hour. Seriously. In one word: Beautiful!

Right. The next day was no fun. Kenneth, who’d started to feel poorly on the 3rd was doing worse on the fourth. She had been living on borrowed time for more than a year now, really. She’d turned blind in less than six months, was starting to lose her hearing, and had a big bulb of cancer in her lower belly. We considered having her operated, but what with the deafness, blindness and a fragile mental state, decided against it and went for letting her live her life out without the trauma of waking up in a place she didn’t know by feel and scent. If she’d been younger (we got Kenneth in 2001/2002) we might have considered it by insisting to stay with her, but we feared that the mental trauma would rob her of what little confidence she still had.

Kenneth always was a weird dog. Even as a puppy she had the most ferocious growl, and whenever you petted her, (and she enjoyed that more than anything) she would growl somewhat fierce. As a young dog she would actually snap at you, but as the years passed it turned into a mellow growling that would have done a lazy lion justice. Hah. We’ll miss her. In fact, I already do. We are rapidly losing out Cocker Spaniels, darn breeders who go for looks rather than health!

So anyway, Kenneth she lived vicariously for the past year, and now when her eye began to look bad from cataracts, we took her to the vet and had her put down, which was really the best thing to do. With both big brother and me there for her to smell and feel, she went quietly, without a peep, or even a complaint and just fell asleep…permanently.

Phew. That’s depressing. Better move it along.
No workout again, this time due to the Kenneth incident, so we headed into the house to do some more measurements for the wood stove, and laundry, of course. I know. Annoying eh, all those mentions of laundry. So unglamorous. *snort*

But anyway, I trimmed a full centimeter off my hair, yes, three whole hairs gone off the length, hah. Seriously though, my hair isn’t all that bad anymore. It’s actually growing back…finally! Since it was starting to look a bit like straw, I decided to trim some of the tips off.

We went into the yard, and then up the mountain to the top of the property to replace some of the trees that died during the fire and others. Decided to also plant three fig trees at the absolute top of the land, because I don’t like it that the wild palm that was all lush and beautiful up there got burned up. It might still come back, but a nice hedge of fig trees will look nice and…well, green. I like green. Hah.
The weather really cooperated while I was up there, Dani helping me by hauling the pots up and putting them in the holes. The sun was out, and while digging I could actually strip down to a T-shirt, rather than the three layers of sweaters that the wind and rain had demanded earlier in the day.

We were just about done when the weather changed for the worse again, and clouds packed angrily together once more. We’ve been having a lot of 45 degrees at the moment, which is not normal this time of year, I assure you.

Which brings us to yesterday which started at eight in the morning so we could work on the pedestal of the woodstove in the house. Rather than do it when everyone is up and about (not to mention an extra thirty dogs, or so, big brother and I worked on it early. We had planned to finish this first step before eleven, but ended up working through to noon before we had everything cleaned and covered against the dogs.

Tenant, who had been chilled considerably because she insisted on staying inside due to the morning wind, finally agreed on a walk down to my terrace and ended up staying there for the rest of the afternoon because she discovered (once again, because she always forgets this) that the sun warmed her up in five minutes flat. Seriously, no stove can compete! At the moment she is making her way through my novel, “Trust Me” Said the Spy. Sure, she has a dictionary with it, but other than that she appears to like it.

In the afternoon we finished tenant’s stove as well, and lid it up for the first time since putting it away this spring. It took a while for the smoke to stop. Something to do with the new paint, of course, and we used a fan to get it out of her bungalow, but then it worked fine. She’s been toasty in the mornings ever since.

That done we worked on sawing slats of wood for the second floor chimney pipe cover. Rather than hiding it completely, we decided to go for tasteful wooden grill work that will allow heat to disperse as long as possible.

And finally we get to today. I know, I should wrap this up, but I’m already skimming the really boring parts, darn it.

Had an early night, so we were up bright and early this morning to work on the pedestal for the stove again. I tiled most of the thing, while big brother and grandpa worked on the protective wall of glass bricks that will be around it. Can’t have the dogs hurting themselves against the hot steel after all.

That done, we worked on inventory, most of the afternoon. Checking supplies, restacking piles, sorting through stuff, and so on and on, while tenant once again sat on my porch (out of the wind) and in-between reading cut veggies for today’s lunch.

Hauled dog food to storage, which is interesting, really. I might not have had a workout this morning, but walking UP the mountain with two forty pound bags on your shoulders is nothing to sneeze at. I tried to keep up a slight jog, but all I managed was a fast walk that had me wheezing at the top of the incline. Jeez! I definitely need more workouts. Hah. Today I finally understood why I used to be wheezing whenever I had to make my way up the mountain. I used to carry that weight around all the time, for crying out loud.

That done, and with mom and the sibs back from a successful day at the market, it was time to start on some dinner. Had potatoes with cauliflower, onion and cream today, and it was abso-friggin’-lutely delicious after all that walking.

We checked the upper veggie patch for caterpillars, got wood stacked for tonight’s use and then started preparing to start on the day’s computer work. Though yesterday’s session didn’t went bad, we would like to get this friggin’ edit done so we can start on a new one…”V.L.” has been lying around for months now, and we really should get to it. Can’t waste too much time on “S.N.” after all.

The dogs are loving the “stove we have on the terrace in front of my cabin now. It’s one of those outside things, and they look so cute, all of them huddling around it and our feet. It’s still doable, being outside like that, despite the 44 degrees. I actually like it so far…though admittedly you won’t be able to keep me out her with a stick if I decide that it’s starting to get too cold. Hah.
But anyway, that about sums the past four days up right well. ‘Bout time too, considering I’ve been yapping our way into page four right about now. Hah.
Gotta get to work.

A review

2011-11-04T20:47:00.005+01:00

So, I'm going to cheat today. Instead of doing a full blog, I'm going to put a review of my most recent read up, and leave it at that.
The weather was miserable, we had to put Kenneth (10 year old Cocker Spaniel with a lion complex) down this morning, and since we've been mostly been doing carport work, and putting in trees to replace the ones that died during the fire, there's not all that much to share anyway. I'll update y'all the next time 'round.

Here's the review for Mighty Hammer Down by David J. Guyten

In my own review system of 1 to 7 stars this one gets 6. Not bad for an indie published author.

* * * * * *

A six for David Guyten’s “Mighty Hammer Down”. It took me a while to get through Guyten’s book, but this had more to do with the length (almost 400 pages) than the story. In fact, I went through it at a sturdy clip, so to speak.

But let’s get started. Even though I have some criticism, as you’ll undoubtedly discover below, on the overall I truly enjoyed reading Mighty Hammer Down.
First of all, the first chapter is an attention grabber. Well-described action that would look well in a movie, I think. Though there is a slight lapse after that, my curiosity stuck with me to the end of his tale. A definite plus for any book.

Writing style:
There were a few minor hiccups during my multiple reading sessions into Guyten’s full-length novel, but on the overall his prose was steady, solid and consistent. Some typos, as is inevitable, but nothing disastrous.
Personally I would have liked the author to take some risks in his narrative, change the pacing a little every now and then just to keep me on my toes but he stuck to consistency instead.
In any case, whatever can be said of his style, Guyten has enthusiasm and a bright passion for his content and that came across on every page.

Setting:
The setting of Guyten’s world was a bit reminiscent of a childhood favorite called “The Trigan Empire” in regards to the Romanesque influences that definitely shined through. Architecture, clothes and appearances…the fact that this registered means that Guyten manages to portray the world he created, so a reader “gets it”. I do admit that the content of his…well, I suppose one would call it “his characters’ philosophy” outran his settings by far, making them secondary, and perhaps not even that.
Personally, I found the views of his characters, and the way he described them, fascinating. Very politically oriented, and let’s face it, politics never fail to interest or capture. Though there were times when the author appeared to become a little preachy, as in observations his hero made, it was not so that it annoyed. In fact, it actually managed to fully entertain me. It will however cause a love or hate response to readers, I’m thinking. Since I’m on the side of the first, I don’t consider the tendency to be much of a problem.

Plot:
Guyten’s plot is complex and you will be smart to keep track of it. Several evil parties eager to “rule the world” so to speak, and a handful of heroes trying desperately to stop them, while they’re trying to deal with careless Gods, vicious politics, sneaky assassins and evil men in general.

Characters:
Rommus: Guyten’s clear-cut hero appears to be a somewhat over-sensitive fellow at first. He is adrift in a world he doesn’t understand, and doesn’t understand him back. He’s gentle, intelligent, and big of heart and body, and yet still took a while to grow on me. In fact, I had a serious liking for his father from the very start. In the end Rommus lived up to his potential however, and managed to have me root for him.
Alana: She appears to be a little less clear-cut, and to my regret she was a bit two-dimensional because it was never really explained what her motivations were as she started out as foe and then ended up as friend. I would have liked to see more of what drove her, and how that affected her relationships towards the other characters. The thing that was clear throughout the book was that she became a close friend to Rommus and is destined to be more in the future of this series…at least, I sure hope so.
Tannis: Rommus’ father and a warrior of old. Set in his ways, loyal to the bone and…well, the way he viewed life fascinated me every time. I found myself looking forward to his dialogues, if only to see what he would say next.

The Villain:
There were several in fact. The evil emperor’s son who strove to destroy his father’s hard work. The sneaky “king” of the enemy seeking to destroy the land of our heroes with whatever means available. And a God wanting to rule all on his own. They were properly evil, they were appropriately present and well described, and vocal about their wants. There will be no doubt about any of their intentions.

Violence:
Guyten’s violence was graphic and yet so to the point that it left little impact on me. The brutality of certain actions were added in almost negligent manner that almost made me miss them altogether, and unlike the many fine scenes within this tale, they failed to impress me with vivid imagery. Which is a pity, but not a disaster since not everyone likes violence in the first place.

Conclusion:
Mighty Hammer Down is an interesting glimpse into David Guyten’s world, which is part one of the Legend of Reason series. It is not for everyone. If you’re not inclined to read long narratives about his heroes’ views towards life, religion, politics and more politics, this is not the book for you. If you want to get into heated discussions with your book club, family, or whatever, you shouldn’t miss this one. It is bound to set tongues wagging.

I, for one, am looking forward to the sequel.

Here's a link if you want to check it out:

http://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Hammer-Down-David-Guyton/dp/1440486077/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320436532&sr=1-1

Funny grandpa

2011-11-01T21:34:00.000+01:00

Song of the day: “Rapper’s delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang. We looked it up the other day and it’s been going through my head ever since.

Yesterday started out pretty sore. It was chilly during the night, so Knight II, Chaos and Sitabah thought it a good idea to press up against me during the night, resulting in me lying in all sorts of weird bends and angles to prevent falling off the bed. *sigh* Nice and warm, sure, but my back was absolutely killing me.

The workout was good for getting those disks back in line, but the discomfort did persist for a bit as I started on the day after a quick shower and hanging of the laundry, of course.

While having breakfast pumpkin soup was prepared for supper, creating a rather creamy mixture that smelled up the small kitchen really well. What followed was the unloading of the car. Only a small donation, but you can hardly be picky. Every little bit helps.

A small arm chair had to be carried down next. Do you know what happens when you lift up a 40 pound chair (about twenty dogs around your feet) and broken staples sticking out, right there under your middle and ring finger? It wasn’t pleasant I tell you, and what with the dogs under me, I could not drop the darn thing to check out the damage. Nope. Instead I had to shift my fingers (the staples still piercing skin) as not to loose hold. Now imagine what happens with skin then. It wasn’t pretty, I tell ya, but in the end no harm done. I iodined the lot, sprayed oxidized water over it and then bandaged the lot

Next I gathered tools and such before heading down to the basin terrace.
Sally needed some shelving in her room, and wanted to have a lampshade replaced by a white one. Big brother worked on the electricity, adding a three-way plug to her room.

There were several moldy spots on her walls, so we couldn’t postpone it any longer. What with Dani there for the day, we took out a hammer and a chisel and started taking out the old grout work. No easy task, I tell ya, but also not bad since the weather was still wonderful (the sun was out and tenant sat with us, enjoying herself in the warmth).

It took several hours, in all. And at some point we decided that it would be a good idea to test out if we could use the high pressure air gun to clean the strips we’d cleared. Grandpa went up to get the machine while we chopped, scrubbed and scraped some more. After several minutes he returned with the hose spindle and…well, I’ve got to do a dialogue here.

Me (to Dani): “Ah, there he is.” We both turn
Grandpa: “Got it.”
Me: “Good.” Wondering about the winch with hose he carried.
Grandpa: “There you go.” Setting the winch down, and turning away.
I clear my throat.
Me: “What about the machine?” He stops, his back towards us for a moment, and then turns to look at the winch.
Grandpa: “Darn! That completely skipped my mind.”

Seriously, Dani and I almost doubled over with laughter as he headed back up the mountain mumbling to himself all the while. Hah.

While we were working on the grout work of the terrace that also serves as Sally’s roof Big brother and grandpa spent the majority of the day in the yard turning earth and planting seedlings. The potatoes are so not liking the rain that was there. Better hope that the weather persists just a few more days, because one more rain and we can kiss the first potato field goodbye. Disease is raging rampant.

Finished the workday, after the grout work was done, by close the greenhouses and heading up the mountain for another edit, and some review reading. I know the review is going incredibly slow, but the book is 318 pages long and I do want to do it justice.

In the end it turned out that we were both too tired for a proper edit, so after a few pages we decided to give up for the night and tried to get to bed early. Of course then I still had to feed my dogs, clean up my cabin a bit, and all those nightly rituals that take so much time. I was lucky to get six and a half hours last night, for crying out loud!

Another workout this morning, which went well, and barefoot despite the chill. What with my foot playing up so much, I decided I rather have the foot cold than painful, and am noticing some improvement as of today, thank you very much.

There were the morning chores, followed by breakfast and heading on up to the old horse paddock where I set up a pallet to work on today. Time to get tenant’s stove ready. Grandpa already went through the trouble of cleaning it proper these past couple of days, so I just had to set it on the pallet and start painting it. What with the rust already starting on the old, cheap paint, we decided to go for black with gray for the loose elements like the small lid, grating, paws and adjuster for contrast. It looks good. At least it did after I painted it, and the tubing completely black.
Sure it still has to be put in, but tenant will be able to use it once the temperatures start dropping. Yay.

While I was doing the painting and keeping tenant company (caregiver was at her other job) big brother was working on the new grill he’s designing for the little stove. What with the cheapness of the design, some adjustments are necessary. We noticed as much last winter.

I cooked dinner of mixed veggies with lentil pancakes on the side. Not bad at all, despite being incredibly “hot” from the spicy pepper that somehow ended up in the dish. We are still not sure where it comes from, but it happens more often…and that while we test the stupid peppers before using them. So weird that there are parts of the peppers that are jot sharp at all, while others will make you run for water.

Did a bit of organizing afterward and then drove Sally to work, since her bus doesn’t come by at the right time on Tuesday. Since the trip only takes me about fifteen minutes, I don’t mind all that much.

Went to the yard afterward, checking everything for caterpillars, snails, and leaf miners, all of which were a lot of. Next I closed the greenhouses, checked everything and went back up to start on today’s edit, of which half if already done, and the blog.

All done. Hah.

Chimney fun

2011-10-30T20:35:00.006+01:00

Song of the day: “Hold my hand” by Michael Jackson, of course. Beautiful, and nice to have in my head, in particular since big brother had the same problem for a change and was belting it out as well.

Well, it has been an incredibly busy couple of days, in particular since we’re hurrying through a lot of stuff due to the predicted rainy days. According to the forecasts we’re going to be pelted for a solid five days (Noooooooooh!!!) and if not that, at least three. I’m hoping that it’ll take another few days before it actually starts. Seriously, I have been enjoying the sunny weather these past few days so much, I wish it would never end.

But anyway, yesterday started early with a jog up the mountain for a change. Yep, we sometimes need a little diversity from workouts, so we climbed up the mountain and then jogged down the path and road. Knight II was along, and big brother might be pondering taking Thorgal III (his Golden retriever) along the next time. Thor sure would love it.

The jog went well, and the hot shower afterward was divine, in particular since the wind was downright chilling. I was properly warmed for the massive amount of laundry that had to be folded next, and then headed up to grandpa’s place to have breakfast.

After some minor chores, and grandpa heading out to the village to pick up tubing for water that needs to be rerouted, big brother and I headed on up the roof and started cutting into the roof tiling, the layers of concrete, and then the wood until a hole was created right in the middle of the top. It was weird being able to look inside from that angle. Hah.

Though I was up on the roof too, I did a lot of walking up and down the mountain. What with grandpa being away (he is usually the supply guy) I had to get whatever was needed while big brother used hammer and chisel (whacked himself on the hand twice *snort*) and the angle grinder and made the hole bigger.

That done, we plugged the hole and started talking about how the tubing should be ready for pick-up right about then, so we planned an outing to the city to see.

Next we headed down to the greenhouse, checking everything, taking out dead stuff, and so on. Sally has been having some electrical problems in her room, so we went there next and messed around with the wiring and the plugs for a couple of hours. First we had to install a new breaker down there, and then by the time we’d attached a new three way plug, it turned out that the wiring leading there wasn’t at all functional anymore. So, one of these days we’re going to have to put in new wiring, until then, she’s got some extra extension cords. *sigh*

We went through the yard, checking everything, and were about to head up for supper when grandpa phoned to inform us that the meal that had already been prepared had been devoured by a bunch of hungry canines who really appreciated the snack. *double sigh* I decided to laugh instead of cry and we decided to have fries to fill the big hole in our gaping stomachs. Jeez, I was hungry.

Improvised supper eaten, it was time to head on out to town, where, yes, we managed to pick up the tubing, and all but one corner we are going to need to build in the new wood stove. We got home around nine and by then I barely managed to get through my messages, let alone do a full edit. We made a brave effort, however, and then gave up to head for our respective beds at around 12 winter time. Yep, it’s that time of the year and we are back to winter time. I for one, am rather happy with the extra hour of sleep in the morning, and what with early bedtime yesterday, I had two! Yay!

No workout this morning, thankfully. Considering we had a full day planned I was pretty psyched about this fact. Hah. Had another big batch of laundry, of course. A good thing too, since the weather is threatening to turn again and we are having a lot of dirty laundry these days.

First there was yard work. Watering the elevated seedbeds, transplanting white cabbages into pots and then putting cauliflowers and cabbages into the yard. More checking, finding three more pumpkins and then heading on up to the house to see how we had planned the tubing for the woodstove.

Our minds made up we headed up the roof again, chopped out more stone, wood and concrete, and fitted a mould in place. I headed up to storage to get sand and made fresh cement to pour in place. Then I got a wheelbarrow of bricks, and then, with big brother’s help put in the stone tube that will be connected to the metal black ones. At first I had anticipated that I would have to pour the first section and then continue with the rest tomorrow, but as it turned out, I had enough time to do the masonry and the resulting plastering afterwards. It is looking pretty darn fine, I do say so myself. Here, have a look.

Not bad for my first chimney, eh?

And these are...well, just because the Knight looks awesome waiting for a ride in the car, and the greenhouse looked pretty in the clouds after the rain. Hah.

Anyways...While I was working on that, big brother worked on relaying water tubes behind my cabin. And Dani, who had volunteered to help out today (good thing, because we don’t have all that much time) by cleaning out the outside kitchen, and clearing the terrace so we can check the grout work one of these days. Keeping her company was tenant, who kindly enough worked diligently on preparing veggies for our supper, because, let’s face it, otherwise we would have had to eat French fries again.

Once I came to the kitchen, I only had to heat stuff up and mix it all together. Of course, I then remembered that I had to go down to the greenhouses and close everything now that the sun was almost down. (Damn that missing hour at the end of the day!)
Supper was a nutritious affair of spinach, potatoes, onions and cheese, which went down well after the long day.

Since we missed and edit yesterday we went over four pages big brother did manage to do last night, and thankfully already did today’s share…good thing too, because we have to go out in about fifty minutes. Darn it!

Power off

2011-10-28T20:47:00.002+02:00

Song of the day: “Say say say” by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, of course. Downloaded it the other day and it is still an awesome song.

Right. Whazzup…not all that much. Mostly just busywork, and, well, seeing as that is no different from usual, I’ll tell ya all about it. Hah.

Seriously, though. Let me just gather my thoughts here for a minute. First of there was the workout yesterday morning. It was nippy to start off, but once I got into it, I could stand the chill well enough. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t thoroughly enjoyed the extremely hot shower afterwards that did a great job of heating my sweaty and icy skin.

That done there was the usual laundry stuff, followed by breakfast and then down to the carport to gather tools for the day. Caregiver needed some extra storage space in her apartment, so that meant us going down there to add some decent panelling under her bed where she can store a big load if she wants to. It took most of the day, since getting the materials down took a while, and then there was the measuring, sawing, screwing, and of course the dogs getting in our way all the while. *sigh* They do love doing that while you’re trying to get stuff done. Chaos, for instance, insisted on getting on the bed for a full five minutes before he finally accepted that it wasn’t going to happen. In the end he trudged out of the apartment with a huffy look back at us.

As for the other dogs, they just snoozed around on chairs, the bed (they could get on themselves, mind you, hah) and on the floor…while Dax and Sitabah made a nuisance of themselves looking for mice. Seriously, you should have seen Dax. He got stuck between the wall and the cabinet, and his tail was wagging like mad while his paws flayed around looking for purchase to get out. I just burst out laughing watching his antics.

But anyway, the remodeling job done, big brother and I headed down into the yard to check the basin, water some plants, tackle caterpillars (not as many after all the rain, but still there), leaf miners and checking to see if nothing was drowning. Some was, so those had to be taken out for some air.

There was some harvesting still. Pumpkins are still appearing every now and then and soon we’ll have to go for another hunt within the morning glory vines because the plants are now starting to die. Pity. But considering the dropping temperatures not surprising.

Potatoes are not liking all the rain either, seeing as most of them are already developing diseases that will quickly put an end to them. Let’s hope we’ll get a decent harvest from them before then. As for the tomatoes. They too are rapidly dying, but we still have a few coming…as long as we keep the dogs (like Tadaika and Sitabah) away from them, because they will literally go out into the yard in search of fresh tomatoes. Red ones, mind you, not the green ones. We lost at least a dozen big ones to these two monsters. Grrr. I’m keeping a closer eye on them now, I assure you.

Though yesterday’s edit was marginally better than the one that followed the last blog (big brother and I got into a massive argument about semantics. He wanted speed in a certain paragraph, I wanted suspense. In the end we needed a while apart for me to calm down and think clear again. Seriously, I might have conked him on the head from sheer frustration. Hah) but all in all we got further after all and didn’t get to blows,

There was another workout session this morning. It wasn’t as cold, but still we’re packing up in several layers by now. The wind (this is the place where the wind is born according to legends, remember) is blowing somewhat fierce, mostly from the north, so that’ll make the air feel like it’s freezing.

First off today was the electricity failing. One minute everything was working just fine and the next, nothing. Checked the fuses, but nothing, so it was once again a problem with the power company. We just hoped that it would be solved fast this time.

Workout went fine, it was later that my lack of sleep these past few weeks was starting to play parts on me. After the usual chores and going down into the yard, I did a five minute catnap on a chair in the sunshine, then hauled large pots of earth to the greenhouse to transplant tomatoes from the multipots’ little slots. There was that and checking plants down in the yard for caterpillars again. Several plants were flat on the ground from the wind that has been raging most of the day.

There was cooking, of course. Supper has to be made and eaten after all, and since we were all starving come 4 in the afternoon, tenant’s cutting of the vegetables while she sat in the sunshine down by the basin, was a welcome form of assistance. Half an hour later I had supper ready.

By this time we had called the power company, where we were informed that they haven’t had any complaints, meaning that we had to phone for a technician (on our own expense) to find out what it was. Big brother had already tested it out, and we knew that the main line wasn’t working, but no, they needed an assessment of a professional.

It took us a while to figure out where to get one. Finally got a number for one through the owner of the fresh produce store in the village who was kind enough to call the fellow for us and arrange everything. The guy arrived within the hour, and agreed that the main line didn’t have power, meaning that we were right and that the power company should deal with it. Nice fellow, who arranged everything (which he should since he got twenty bucks for basically confirming what we’d already said) and told us that if the power company guys didn’t arrive within an hour and a half we were to call him and he would shout at them some to get stuff done.

The fellows arrived right on the dot, took one look at the problem, turned around and came back with the proper tools within half an hour. They were properly impressed with the greenhouse, which is indeed looking pretty fine now that the rain has washed the windows properly for us, hah. Next they waded their way through mud and jungle, climbed up the pole and reattached wires that has somehow gotten loose during the night’s windstorm. Five minutes afterwards we had power again. *sigh*

Which brings me to now. I’ve got an edit to do, hot tea to drink because, boy is the wind chilly, and maybe haul Chaos’ lazy butt of the bed. He’s been snoozing there since six this afternoon and is looking way too content just wiling the evening away. Hah.

Power off

2011-10-28T20:47:00.000+02:00