Merry Christmas!!!!

Song of the day: “All comes down” by Alan Walker and Noah Cyrus. Cute song for sure.

Well, another blog has arrived.Not as long since the last one, but still, I should have been by sooner. Had planned to, but then on several occasions when I had planned to post one, something happened. The editor got back to me with the book. I was sick. Had to work. Always something isn’t there. Anyway, am here now, so let’s see what’s been going on.

First off…if all goes according to plan, we finished the final EDIT of the book yesterday. This was copy edits, so cross your fingers, toes, legs, and anything else that you can think of that this is it, finally. The Copy edits weren’t nearly as traumatic as before. Really basics, like missing words, grammar rules and formatting stuff, so it was done in just a few days. Yay. Got everything ready to send it before the last deadline and happy about it. Time to actually get to the end product, right? Actually had fun during this last one, considering we got to linger (if only a moment) on particular scenes we enjoyed writing.

Here a teaser of the cover...

Had my dinner party the other day. Had planned on a buffet party, but since so many folks turned out to be unavailable on the date, I decided to shift that to a later date (maybe a book party, some time next year, right?) and make it a dinner party for those that had already agreed to come. 

We were with a total of eight + a 1 year old, so it was a nice full evening involving plenty of food (spent about 5 hours on cooking spread over 2 days, so it wasn’t too much work) talk and laughter. Had a nice time, and everyone enjoyed themselves, I think. Had invited littlest brother as well, but he had an unplanned overtime session at work, so the only way he could have made it was to go straight to the station and travel our direction, and still be after eight…an hour after I had planned for dinner to start. The snacks would have tided us over for sure, but still, what with the baby there, stretching it out that long seemed unproductive, so we agreed he’d come the next day for a dinner of left overs. Hah.

Had prepared an elaborate dinner (was afraid I had cooked too much, of course) with hors d’euvres of toasted vegetable bread with herbal butter, small zucchini pastries and a rather sturdy butternut  pumpkin soup. We followed that up with a colorful salad, involving grilled mushroom and  pumpkin seeds and a dressing of choice. Next was the main course of a leek quiche with sweet potato mash garnished with grilled peppers and onions on a bed of raw arugula. Only to end it all with a freshly baked apple pie with whipped cream. Needless to say, everyone was thoroughly stuffed, and I wasn’t left with an excessive amount of left overs. In fact, I had exactly enough left to feed three people the next day for when littlest brother came to visit. Yay!

So all in all, it was a lovely evening, that lasted way longer than planned with everyone not leaving until eleven in the evening, and one guest even spending the night. Considering I had managed to spread the actual cooking out over a couple of days, I didn’t even have a massive clean-up afterward. In fact, two dishwasher loads, carrying chairs and tables back to their original sports and voila, things were all back to normal. I would call that a success!

My new job is official. Finally got and signed my contract the day before yesterday. Will be working for a big catering company, on several locations in company cafeterias, so that will be a nice change from the Wellness branch. I get to mess with food, maybe even express myself creatively in the future, since the manager promised that they try to stimulate creativity in their employees. We shall see how that goes. The company policy does look promising, since they aim for vegetarian since that is on the overall better for the environment, they do not make excessive amounts so there won’t be a lot of waste, and they try to focus on the veggies of the season, which all sounds good to me. They will be serving mostly lunches, which will include sandwiches, soups, salads and other finger food, so that should be fun at the very least. I will be starting in the first week of January, so who knows, the next time I write, we’ll know more. Haha

Spent a couple of days at my dad’s to help out painting his new place. There was a bit of a rush going on there, considering the new floor was going to go in the following Monday and they would have preferred to have the paint on by then. They didn’t make that, but at least the primer had been put on in 90 percent of the house. I had counted on being cold for a couple of days, but it wasn’t. The house needed to dry asap, so the heating was on high, meaning that within an hour everyone was sweating like a racehorse. Hah. Such a long drive, to and from, but it was basically the last time I could actually help, so I didn’t want to cancel.

Luckily by that time I was no longer sick. A week earlier would have been a lot less handy. Was sick as a dog, I tell ya. It all started as the sniffles, with a terrible runny nose, that didn’t seem to get worse than that, only to suddenly sink a day or two after I thought, “Hey, it is getting less bad,”. So there it went, a nasty little cough that stayed high up in my lungs rather than deep down below where I feared it would go, due to experience. Kept up my qigong during the whole thing, which includes several exercises for the lymphatic system and the immune system, which think helped keeping the cold’s damage to a minimum. I do know that normally, in the past, even as short ago as last winter, a could that sunk in my lungs would have been a disaster for a full two weeks, instead it took me 3 days to get over the worst of it. Yay.

There were quite a few cleaning sessions due to the dinner party, of course. Can’t have the house a mess if you get visitors, duh. So walls got emptied of spiderwebs again, floors vacuumed (had done the windows just a couple of weeks ago, thankfully) kitchen and bathrooms scrubbed, and everything tidied. And it looked good. Made relaxing on the night in question a lot easier.

Had to have the car fitted with new brakes…which costs a friggin’ fortune! Added to that, we had to have the yearly check, so the day before the appointment I spent cleaning the inside of the car. Got a cute mechanic so having a pigsty for a car really isn’t an option. Didn’t get to the outside, but considering it is winter and all cars are dirty anyway, I didn’t mind all that much. Instead I washed the thing today and it looks splendid for Christmas dinner with the family down south. Yay. 

Regardless, the car got through the yearly inspection without much trouble, so we’re all set for a year, thankfully.

Helped out at the store again a couple of weeks back, which was fun. Sorted out the majority of the top floor, which had been such a mess lately that they weren’t able to let customers up there to roam about. Not good for business that. Anyway, got most of that done, so I hope that this is now less of a problem…I should probably ask. Totally forgot. Hah

Did find a rather good 2^nd hand office chair. My old one was starting to give in to the demands of time and use, so it was a lovely find at the gift shore. Really a rather fancy one, and considering a lot of my work involves sitting at my desk, a good chair is rather vital.

Am all set for this year’s Christmas presents. Found one for everyone that I needed one for, except littlest brother, who I find difficult to find something for, so in the end I decided to make a quilt. Much like I used to back in the day. Used mostly recycled materials, Jeans in this case, so the quilt is in only blue hues. Worked out rather well, despite it being a pain in the behind to make because most fabrics were stretchy, but to different degrees, it made making it all straight rather difficult. Did finally manage so I hope he likes it.

If he doesn’t I’m going to take it back and give it to someone else, or maybe even try to sell it. I’ll let you know how that works out.

Also made myself a quilt. Nothing near as fancy as the quilt, but at least one big stretch of fabric (makes the bedroom look way more dressed I always think) that I’d had lying around for more than two years already, exactly for this purpose. Love my sewing machine for sure. Was nice doing some other activity than working behind the computer. It had been so long.

Lastly I went visiting friends the day before yesterday (a couple that weren’t able to come to the dinner party) and spend the evening there playing with the dog and two babies. Was different, and fun in its own way, even though by then the edit wasn’t done yet, so I didn’t make it too late, and went home in time to finish another 40 percent of the manuscript. Hah

And that makes for today’s blog. There are sure to be things I forgot to mention, but that’s no surprise anymore, is it? Anyways… Wishing y’all HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! And that the past year gave you everything you’d hoped for the last time ‘round!

"Haven´t laughed like that in years!"

Song of the day: “Took a Pill in Ibiza” by Mike Posner…the remix. Cool song and it has been in my head off and on for a while.

I’m sorry. Bad Sammi! I took way too long since the last blog, didn’t I? I feel bad, but my excuse is that I’ve been busy at work (tired because of it) and that big brother got sick, resulting in me being sick as well for the past five days or so, which didn’t improve on my energy levels. Hah. Still, they are  excuses, which don’t do any good, so…moving on.

What’s been happening?

First off, I’ve got some good news. My best friend from Spain will be coming over for a few days in April, which has me very excited, thank you very much. She can only get a few days off, but still, it will be awesome to see her again. It has been over seven months now, and I’ve missed her somewhat fierce, so that is definitely going to be fun.

The weather has turned, meaning that the awful cold is gone at last and that the first blossoms have burst out…looks rather cute, too, from my top floor window which overlooks a little park with some sort of fruit tree in it. Hah.

Got good internet at last. We folded and took a proper contract on a hard line, rather than just the mobile phones. It was a pain in the behind, because whenever I connected my computer there would be a bunch of friggin’ updates, meaning that it ate away my bites to a point where any speedy internet was virtually impossible. Grrrr.  So there’s broadband now, meaning that I can actually watch an occasional movie and have in fact found my old favorite TV show on Youtube “the Young Riders”. Have been enjoying that quite a bit for the past week or so, whenever I plunked down on the couch and vegetated the last hour or two of the day away after work.

Cooking? Yes! Did some experimenting with noodles that other day and other than that about 90 percent of the time decent meals that fill the stomach and fit the requirements of daily nutrition. Can’t ask for much more than that, can ya…like yesterday I made a rather delicious 2 bean veggie chili that went down rather splendid.

Then, of course, on Tuesday we had New York Pizza, (Tuesdays have a sale of 5 bucks per pie if you pick them up yourself) because I was bushed from work and simply couldn’t stand the idea of having to make dinner after doing a 9 hour work day, sniveling the whole time.

Had another inspection of the company for which we’re in our apartments, which freaked me out a little because it had been a week from hell with the cold making me downright violent toward the idea of doing any more cleaning than for work. And I got that message of the pending inspection while I was doing a very necessary nap, meaning that I couldn’t sleep because let’s face it, I started to worry about all the things that I still needed to clean up before they came. Grrr. Anyway, it turned out okay. I vacuumed, folded laundry, did dishes and set stuff straight while I dusted. Meaning that it was all presentable within half an hour or so. Of course I was still at work by the time the inspection came by, so I didn’t actually get to talk to the folks. All we (yes, big brother had an inspection too…while he was at work) got was a mention of rehanging the fire detector that I hit off the ceiling the last time I burned rice on the stove. Grrr. But it’s fine, the “occupation was perfectly alright” so that’s that.

Last night was a strange night for me. First off, after dinner and relaxing a little big brother and I were talking about some woman who had been all insulted that a guy had been checking out her cleavage…which had been considerable, in a dress that barely covered the essentials and with a push-up contraption that basically brought that very cleavage up to her chin. I’m sorry. I like cleavage, a tasteful amount of it is gorgeous and I’m not shy about displaying my own from time to time, especially if I’ve spent several months as “one of the dudes” in work clothes, but there is a distinct difference between cleavage and Cleavage with a capital C. I’m not saying anyone should not be allowed to display it, I’m not saying it is wrong, I’m just saying that if you hang it out there for the world to see, you shouldn’t be surprised that some dude is going to be staring at it, maybe with a bit of drool seeping from his open mouth. Haha.

Now, this was not the bit that was weird. No, it was my laughing fit when we got to comparing the woman’s cleavage to if a guy ever decided to do tit for tat and display the rounded-ness of his “unmentionable” in a specifically designed pants. For some reason (partly due to the glass of wine I had consumed at that time, I’m sure) it struck me as incredibly funny. Things got worse when we debated the “new trend” and how men would go out to enlarge their dangling unmentionables so that they could better display that “southern cleavage” which had a sip of my wine come spritzing out in yet another laughing fit.

Gawd, I haven’t laughed like that in years, which is a sad thing to realize, but seriously, put down your beverage of choice and give it some thought as you get yourself a mental image of the next red carpet  event where this has become a trend.

*snort*

Anywaysssss, that was the first part of the evening, after which I had another glass when big brother went to his own place because he had work the next day. Then, for some inexplicable reason, I got sad, and I hate it when that happens. Wrecked a perfectly fine evening, too. Missed my doggies, all of them, somewhat fierce, so in the end I just decided to say “f**k it!” turned the show off and went to bed before I flooded the apartment with a sobbing fest. Don’t know what was in that wine, but that seriously went from one extreme to the next.

Work has been a tad stressful. They’re having some trouble, being a start-up company and everything, and this has led to about a dozen contracts that haven’t been renewed, so there were loads of folks stressed out, worried, angry and downright scared, which didn’t improve on the general atmosphere. There is still some frictions with the new colleagues in the sanitation department, so that’s not so pleasant either, but we’re working on it.

Fun bit of news is that we’ve been invited by one of our colleagues (Lola, the designer who’s from Majorca and with whom we get to practice our crappy Spanish) to come in for a night of poker. None of us can play, but what the heck: Should be fun.

Another couple of colleagues will be coming over for dinner in the next month or so, and we’ve been invited to come visit another colleagues place to haunt the old sauna location. I’ll keep you posted.

The exercises I got from the physio at work appear to be working. My foot has been bugging me a lot less lately. Of course my leg has been giving me fits (see how there always seems to be something? It’s just ridiculous!). Not enough trips to the gym, I’m thinking. Added to working in hot places without drinking sufficiently…it’s dehydrating me, which means that I have to pay better attention to that. Can’t afford that kind of risk, not now that I need to be at the top of my game for what sometimes feels like a friggin’ full time job. Seriously, I still don’t know how that works every time. I go somewhere for part time work, and end up doing way more than agreed on.

This was a plus this week, because there was actually something better to do than just cleaning and water testing. Instead I got to strip garden furniture and treat them with tropical wood oil together with a girl that works at the reception desk of the sauna. Had a fun time doing that, at least.

Still, I think it has something to do with the fact that I’m…well, we, are very useful, don’t mind hard work, don’t say no fast when more is asked of us, and give most tasks the full 100% of effort. This is not something that I see a lot among employees. On the most part folks are saying no to tasks that they don’t like, or weren’t hired for, and when they do take it they immediately start asking if that changes anything in their salaries. Personally, I wouldn’t mind a change in salary, but I put in my full effort because that makes me feel good, not because it gets me something. To me it seems that very few people are out there working their butts off because that is what makes them feel better, instead they’ll slack because of the “that’s not what I’m paid for” attitude. This is a pity. It makes very few people feel good about themselves in general, I think. *sigh* There are exceptions of course. I’ve been working with some pretty awesome people that don’t whine about the little things and put in quite some effort, so maybe I just need to meet more of those to restore my belief in the working force. Hehehe.

Did do some work at my own place. I sanded and white-washed a nice chest of drawers that looked horrible when I got it from a thrift store for 7 bucks, and now looks like new. Yay. Oddly enough, I'm ending up with lots of white stuff in my place, interspersed with bright colors such as red, green, blue and yellow. I like it! 

Got a new pic up on my blog, and my Whatsapp, and have been getting mixed responses. Some said you look awesome, others said: what are you, like, 16?  Which had me chortling and fretting at the same time. I should be happy that I can look younger like that, right? But then I never did like myself at 16, so...  *snort*

Writing-wise I have been slacking as much as writing the blog, I’m thinking. The old problem, too tired, too scatterbrained and sometimes disheartened due to the difficulties of becoming a traditionally published author. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been doing the whole writing bit too long to give it up now…it would be like having studied to be a doctor for ten years and then just when you’re about to get that important position at some major hospital, after interning for years, you say, like; ah, this is too hard, I’m just going to give up…It would be ridiculous! I’ve been writing for almost 25 years, wrote at least 30 stories with many more in the making, and to give that up now would be…stupid is the word for it. Be that as it may, it doesn’t stop you from sometimes feeling it, does it? Don’t worry, I’ll get there some day, and I’ll get there writing the stuff I love, one way or other.

Until then…well, you’re stuck with me. Hah!

Done

Song of the day: “Diamonds” by Rihanna. Not the best of songs to have in your head, considering it is rather repetitive, but what can you do, right?

Writing has been going a little slow these past couple of days. Can’t really explain why, seeing as there is no noticeable reason, it just is, which leaves me a little frustrated. Like you’re wading through mud, or something. *sigh*

But anyway, part of writing time was also used to check the pitch and blurb for the competition. Only two more days to go before everything is set and you can’t edit anymore. Scary thought that. Two more days, and then it will be locked and rolling, and there won’t be anything I can do about anything anymore. Yikes.

Yesterday I was a little on the late side. The alarm was going off, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what the annoying sound was for. Hah. But anyway, the day got started late, coffee got consumed, the visiting dogs were out for a run, laundry was hung, and the morning’s writing session went past.

Had Cousin Ed phone the doctor’s office for me. I’ve had it with the stupid hole in my head that just won’t heal. She got me an appointment later in the evening.

We debated working on the kitchen, only to realize that fixing the stove was by far more urgent. The hole had been getting bigger for months, and so we decided to just do it. First big brother went up to storage and came back with a piece of metal that was just too thick to bend properly. So I went up to storage, rummaged around for a bit, and there it was. Part of a rather large metal tube only a few inches narrower in diameter than the actual stove. Took it down, showed my find off to big brother for him to agree on. Took us about an hour to fix the stove, and afterward it was as good as new. Yay.

That done we had to head on out to town to pick up a donation (tiny, almost not worth the trouble) and drove straight through to the job site where we added another layer to the wall, and spent some time washing all the windows and digging inside the kitchen cupboards to give them a proper cleaning. By then it was almost time to go to the doctor’s. Quickly changed clothes (can’t go there in paint splattered clothes) and then headed over. Was let into the room immediately, only to discover that by now there was a new doctor working there…one who didn’t speak a single word of English. Aaaargh. Try explaining something like that. Went through two assistants, and then another doctor before it was finally decided for the doctor to refer me to a dermatologist. Couldn’t explain a single thing, but what the hey. Someone better look in that hole and fix it, darn it.

Food wise it’s been unimpressive…but then, I think it has more to do with my taste buds than food quality. It was all bland, sandy and…well, not nice, so let’s skip that, shall we?

Today. Again a bad writing session after the morning chores, and me being completely under temperature when I finished at last. Since I really needed to warm up, the first thing big brother and I did was head up and chop some wood. Big brother started out with the chainsaw, cutting the tree into manageable pieces that I could split. That sure got me heated up. In fact, afterward my hands were tingly warm. Hah.

Wood dealt with, grandpa made a batch of cement for us. Added another layer to the kitchen walls, bringing five spots up to the final height. Are running out of rocks, though, so we are going to have to do a rock pick up again soon. Maybe tomorrow. We’ll see.
While I worked on the outside with natural rocks, big brother worked on the inside with red bricks. We’ll get there yet. Slowly, but there. Hah.

That done we headed out to the job site again for the final layer and mopping the floor of what was left undone of the first floor. It went well, and everything got done at last…all except me taking a picture of the end result, darn it. But it's DONE.

We took Rammi along today, so that while I went vet to pay for part of our massive bill, she could get checked out. As we feared the lump on her ribs is most likely cancer, and considering her age, her skinniness and general appearance operating really wasn’t a viable option. She is fourteen or fifteen after all. *sigh*
The decision we went for now is just to let her be and wait until she starts to experience pain. That is when we will have to take that next nasty step.

Got some veggies at the vegetable distribution center, which is always a special experience. You wouldn’t believe how folks over there stare at a 6 foot woman and a 6 foot 4 inches man. Seriously, the average size there is 5’ 5”. Hah.

Well, that will have to suffice for today. I’m running on fumes, so I better cut it off right here.

Not enough hours in a day

Song of the day: “Coconut” by Harry Wilson. Fun song to have in your head, only a little repetitive.

First off, we’ve been working on cutting down a tree. It was the strangest weather yesterday, however, and every time we wanted to start, either the wind started blowing, or the rain started to fall. In the end there was a lull, however, allowing big brother to climb up on my cabin, onto the ladder and start sawing. Cousin Ed and I were on the ropes, but after the first few inches, the darn top got stuck in one of the others, leaving us standing there with no way to go. There was some debate going on, at which point big brother tried chopping it looser, but that didn’t work either. So instead he attached another rope, and started yanking on the other side with Grandpa. Darn thing still didn’t move, and we had to hurry because the wind was picking up. So while Cousin Ed went up to help grandpa pull the other rope, I stood there debating with big brother and we decided that he would go up and attach the rope to the car and pull. While he was doing that, the wind picked up again, and of course that is when the tree top started to go. There I was, holding on to the rope, shouting “a hand here, I need a haaaaah” as it went, and me with it. Seriously, I’ve never been so happy wearing rubber gloves. For a moment there, I was up in the air, before I managed to crouch down and lock the rope. By then Cousin Ed joined me, and grandpa, and finally big brother. There were the ropes that hung over my terrace which had to be cut, the vines growing there that had to be untangled before we could start processing the tree.

Then today, since the wind picked up after that near disaster yesterday, big brother and I were at it again. This time it was the majority of the trunk, which went a lot easier now that the top was gone. We took it down in yards, and after about half an hour the whole thing was over and done with. Yay.

Lahbana apparently has absolutely no fear of being crushed, because while I was slowly lowering the heaviest trunk to my porch, she kept lying underneath it, staring up at the massive piece of wood that was coming right at her. *rolls eyes* Insane dog! Had to actually call her away from the porch, for crying out loud.

Got to haul trunks up the mountain. Had some beauties (two of ‘m to heavy for me to lift), which are going to be fun to chop. Excellent exercise for when I get too cold in the mornings, eh?

Mom had a little bit of trouble driving the van from the yard and bumped into one of the trees. This meant that the back door was a little bent, and neither little brother nor middle sister could open it up. So I went there to help out and…well, yanked it open. Hoping that it would be easier this time round, little brother closed it again, and tried to open it…no go, so again I pulled it open. We repeated the whole thing twice until finally the door was unbent enough for little brother to do it himself.

We went over to our job twice too. First another layer of caucho that had to be applied, and then tonight the first layer of paint. Didn’t take too long, but it was late, and already dark in the case of tonight. Gawd, what with all the other stuff going on, there just isn’t enough time in the day, is there?

There are always chores to do, and cooking to be done. Like last night there were boiled potatoes, a veggie mix with a herbal sauce, joined by a fresh salad that was partly chickweed. Rather tasty if you must know.

Writing is going well…at least yesterday I did about twelve pages, and today about eight, so not bad. Sometimes my concentration is wonderful, and the pages just flow out, while today I had several moment where I had to really work at it.

There were dogs to feed, of course. No tasty meat these past few days, which is a pity, but not disastrous since the dogs like pumpkins a lot. Those were plenty in the food. Hah.
Personally I have the nausea problem again at the moment. Stupid pressure point on the head, I’m guessing. Vomited twice already, which means that I really should start thinking about visiting the doctor again, darn it.

The temperatures have been incredibly icy these past couple of days. Up on the north western mountains there’s snow. Quite a bit of it in fact, and it gives a bite to the air during the days…and nights. Boy are the latter cold. In particular since I have that extra dog on the bed who is now also hogging the blankets. Seriously, they’re vying for warm spots, and seem to think it a good idea to work me out of the equation, or something. Like last night, I had to get up so I could move Knight II over and put a blanket around him, just to keep him out of my way a little. Grrr.

There were a couple of small pick ups during the past couple of days, and Gadah is losing more and more strength in her hips. Still bravely cheerful, which is so much Labrador that I sometimes doubt that she is actually cheerful, or just acts that way while she hurts like mad. I do see that she is steadily losing weight again, which means that it’s not going well.

Had wanted to fix the stove this afternoon, but didn’t get around to it, regretfully. Like I said, not enough hours in the day. Ah well, better luck tomorrow, right? As for now? The day is to an end for me. It’s been a long one, and with a little luck I’ll be in bed within an hour. Yay.

Strange

Song of the day: “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia. It’s been a while, but it’s still a good song.

Been a strange couple of days. I am not entirely sure why, but still, fact’s a fact. Strange.

Writing has been going rather well. Yesterday I managed a solid twenty pages, the day before thirteen, and today, again ten. The story is definitely getting there. There are rare moments that I really have very little to change in a sentence, and then other moments where I basically have to throw out the entire sentence, or paragraph and start over. I gotta say that I am happy to notice that I have improved considerably. These days, I can read a paragraph, and continue on reading while I am already starting on rewriting the beginning of the sentence. It makes for speedy rewrites, that’s a fact. Hah.

At the moment I am waking to Tadaika using me as a rubbing pole. Very painful, I admit. Silly dog thinks it’s a good idea to ram the top of her head into my shoulder, chest, of back, whichever spot is in her reach. Waaaaay too affectionate, but what can you do, right?

The usual stuff, ya know, laundry, cleaning, feeding the dogs, chores, blah, blah. Nothing special to report there. There was stuff to do in the yard, of course. Bugs to find…rather nice since there was a bit of sunlight and less wind down there…and plants to water.

Saturday night, before cooking dinner, we first loaded up the Land Rover in case the market would go through on Sunday…it didn’t. Despite the clouds having evaporated during the night, the winds were apparently horrible over by the beach (here too, for that matter), meaning that it had to be cancelled. Meaning we got to unload again, for no real reason, and fill our day with other activities.

In this case I opted to do some serious writing (ergo the twenty pages) and cleaning in my cabin. Took out the two chairs that the dogs wrecked these past six months or so. The rug, and then proceeded to sweep the floors, mop them, and tuck away some of my clean laundry, at last! Looks much better in there with a new chair and rug. Hah.

Since we were cleaning anyway, we hauled stuff from around the yard to the car as well (were going to do a garbage run later in the afternoon) and took the opportunity to fix a loose plate on my roof. The thing had been flapping during the night, which could drive me bonkers.

Hauled wood up to storage for drying. Got quite a bit of wood from that last eucalyptus. The lower part really was massive. Had to get up at least five wheelbarrows…and the chainsaw works really well.

Manage to eat some meat, which earned me a “good Sammie” pat on the head. Hah. Strangely enough it didn’t manage to keep me awake when we had to go out for a donation again, so I napped in the passenger seat until it was my turn to drive. Once home supper consisted of a fresh salad and fries.

Poor Knight isn’t feeling all that well at the moment. I suspect it has to do with the cold. Neither he nor Chaos are fans of low temps with lots of wind.

Which brings us to today, right? Well, there were the usual chores, naturally, followed by a much slower writing session and then me going up to trip tenant’s hair. We’ve decided to try out a pageboy-bob. It will take a while to develop, but what the heck.

That done, big brother and I packed up our tools and headed for the village for our paint job. Did a final circulation of fire on the wall…that really helped against the mold, by the way. There was none this time either. That done we applied the latex (caucho) layer to the stripped wall, and went on to clean the bathroom, (gawd, does that bring back memories of carpy cleaning jobs) the bedrooms, and generally mopping the floor all over.
Two, maybe three more trips to go, and then it should all be done. With a little luck we might even be able to do it cheaper than promised, which would be a nice change.
Did notice a parasite problem while working there. The woodwork is riddled with holes, so unless they had the place fumigated at some point, it doesn’t look good. Yikes.

The cleaning of the day done, we headed for the vet to drop of the muzzle I had borrowed for Knight II some time ago, along with mail and a school graduation book for one of the kids of the house’s owners. Then it was off to town to pick up some groceries. Actually did a good Samaritan thing today, hah. We were driving to the village when we noticed a box in the middle of the road. We debated for a moment, and then stopped to pick it up and check its contents (there’s always the fear of live puppies that were dumped after all). Turns out that it was a delivery that must have dropped off a delivery truck, so we debated again and then decided to see if we could find the address in the village. We couldn’t, so we stopped at a local farmer’s market (to a guy we know there) and asked if he knew the street name. He didn’t either, but he did offer to phone the number on the box and reached the woman it belonged to. He explained what had happened and the woman promised to come and pick it up by the time he put down the phone and assured us that he’d take care of it from there on.

Before you know it we were headed home where big brother made spaghetti and cheese for supper so I could start writing immediately.

And so we have reached the end of this weekend’s rundown. Nothing really strange to explain the hinky feeling I’m experiencing, but what the heck. Tomorrow’s a brand new day and I’m going for it. Hah.

Another day, another project

Song of the day: “Que Sera Sera” by Doris Day, of course.

Today was a busy one. Woke up just after eight and quickly went through the morning rituals of laundry and feeding the dogs. Loading up took a while, but still, not as long as the previous few times. We left a little early for a change, meaning that we arrived forty minutes early. Yay.

Was still sore, thank you very much, but not as bad as the day before. I can now bend over without moaning, again. Hah. First thing we did after arriving was remove the mold. The floor worked out splendidly, thank you very much…I will show you pictures soon, but not tonight. Haven’t taken them off the phone yet, so you’ll just have to be patient.

For the remainder of the day, most of our activities involved clean-up. Yep. There was plenty of that to do. Scrubbed the walls. Scrubbed the beams. And by the time half of that was done, with big brother continuing on, I painted the walls and then the beams while big brother worked on the concrete slab to shave of any ridges and fill the tiny air holes that inevitably happen.

Then there was the hauling, taking everything back down to the trailer, putting the concrete mixer in place and planning the next stage of the project where we’re going to put in tiles underneath the terrace so Liane can use the spot for relaxation in the near future. It’ll be another two to three days for sure, I hope. Longer would be a total pain in the behind, since at the moment we haven’t even been able to get started on my outside kitchen, the way we had planned.

Hauled some rocks, and then worked on the fence to put the corner poles up straight, the way we had wanted to do the last time, but didn’t manage. Took some figuring, along with the car that we had to use to pull everything straight again, but in the end we managed it. Put some screws in to keep it all in place, and then, when darkness had already fallen, we started on our way home.

Did some writing, not much, but since I did at least four pages yesterday, my one today was not disastrous. Would have tried for more, but the blog always takes a lot of time, and I just couldn’t postpone that any longer.

And now I totally forgot to tell about yesterday, eh? *sigh*
Did load up what we could, spent the morning (after the usual rituals) doing some fixing on the Land Rover. Put a temporary handle on the passenger door (still can’t find that one from wherever we stored it), replaced some screws in the back door, and sprayed clean the feet section of the back seat because a pack of fruit juice emptied all over it.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent working on my Chinese boxes, of which I’ve almost finished the first lid. It is actually starting to look pretty awesome. I’ll have to take some before and after shots, eh?

Time passed way too fast, and before you know it, it was time to start cutting the dog food so we could put it on broil prior to heading out for a donation. Not a lot of useful stuff, except for these rather wonderful terrace doors. Won’t be able to sell them, of course, but we’ll find some use for them, I’m sure.
Knight II got the okay from the doc yesterday, so I left the bandage off for a bit (hoping for some drying). Then I got to town where he started trying to lick the former damage. To play it safe I put his sock on without the tape I usually use to keep it in place. By the time I got home he’d pushed the sock out of place, tightening the rope that held it precariously in place until blood ooze, of course, friggin’ idiot. Had to tape him up again, of course. *sigh*

As for the other dogs, they were grumpy again when we got home tonight (around eight this time) but I’m starting to get used to that, at least.
Well, that’s it for me today. I’m absolutely ready to call it a night.

Out of sorts

Song of the day: “Don’t worry, be happy” by…gawd, I always forget his name. What was it again…well, you know the one I mean, right? If you don’t…well, you’re obviously too young to remember. Look it up, it’s great!

So yeah, I’ve been feeling a little under the weather for the past couple of days, if you must know. Everything just appears to be…whatever. I haven’t done all that much, all things considered, seeing as the weather was, most of the time abysmal.

Yep, we’ve had flooding all over the place, in particular last night while we were all asleep and some massive rainstorm swept over the mountain. When I came to the house the corridor had two inches of water in it, the living room a couple of inches too. Then, when I got to the carport grandpa complained that water went every which way, and he told in detail how much friggin’ water came down during the night, we had a river streaming down the main path at one point. Added to that the garden pit beside our greenhouse was filled with water right up to the door of the greenhouse, and water had also streamed inside the basement apartment down by the basin.

But let’s try to do this in a bit of the original sequence, okay?
First off, I wasn’t late getting up for a chance, yesterday morning, so after chores and such (the laundry lines are filled to full capacity. Couldn’t do any laundry today) I settled behind my computer and wrote some odd 4 pages of the new book. Got that up to 60 pages now, thank you very much, and at the moment my heroine is trying to understand why she if covering for a complete stranger. All very confusing, seeing as this isn’t a romance novel and he doesn’t make her “hot”. Hah.

Oh, and before that, we were up at the Opel, putting the new side mirror in place so mom and little sister could head on out to the vet to have both Djoti III and Manni II neutered. Luckily this was in a momentary dry spell, seeing as we were up there at the top of our mountain ridge with the full wind pulling at us from all sides.

The writing done for the day, and the dogs fed (Knight ate a full bowl, my big lug.) cousin Ed and I hauled the recently painted beams back up to the storage area right before the rain started coming down again. Since we had the plastic open to store it away safely from the storm, grandpa immediately took out dry firewood.

The bad weather, me feeling a tad unsettled, I wasn’t going to be worth much, so instead of allowing myself to slide into a bad mood, I went to bed and napped for a bit. It was wonderfully warm, what with most of my dogs clustered around me, and I was sorry to get up again. Do you know that feeling on a cold wet day, when you suddenly fully understand why some animals hibernate? Hah.

There was tree planting in the past couple of days. A total of six, if my calculations are correct. Eucalypti, mostly, which are now standing proudly amongst the small woods we’re creating at the top of the property.

Seeing as Sally and tenant did the cutting of yesterday’s vegetables, I cooked supper late in the day, after big brother and I returned from picking up a donation. Supper was a noisy affair, in particular since the storm had picked back up when we were gone, and thunder tumbled right on top of us. Was seriously startling, I’ll tell you. The power stayed on, though, which was a good thing since we spent the majority of the past couple of days without it. Turns out that there was some major damage to the main line, meaning that the power people were up in the mast most of those days. Luckily they fixed it before nightfall.

Which brings us today, doesn’t it?
Woke in the dot, of course, and went through the usual rituals, despite still not feeling all that well. I wonder if it’s the weather. It does seriously cramp my style, so to speak. But anyway, grandpa and I went to the village this morning. I dropped him off at the supermarket and continued on to the vet where Knight II had to be for his bandage change.

There was a screaming puppy in the back, and I just couldn’t resist. I took Knight with me to the back and spent a solid ten minutes petting and cuddling the little screamer. Knight didn’t like it at all, and promptly turned his back on us. Hah. The little one reminded me of Moekti, a halfbreed husky we once had. Sweet though, and not at all happy. Turns out he was found inside a garbage can, but luckily the person who found it, was keeping it.

While I was there, mom and little sister also arrived because Panni, little sister’s Cocker Spaniel, was feeling poorly. His stomach hurt, and he had a fever, so they had been sorry to have missed me by ten minutes, since that would have saved on a trip. Ah well, stuff like that happens. The vet couldn’t find anything wrong, but she’s doing a blood test to see. Regretfully she thinks it has something to do with the pancreas.

Once back big brother and I went into the yard to look in on the visiting dogs. Played with them a little, petting them and just keeping them company for a bit. Next it was down to check how everything was going with the new veggie seedlings (alive and kicking despite the gutters being so saturated that they’re filled with water) and hunting the remainder of this year’s pumpkins.
We also put the hose into the garden pit, to drain the over abundance of water and let it run down the mountain where it won’t drown our potted plants. Jeez.

That done we went up to paint the last of Liane’s beams (the big one of more than fifteen feet) and to work on the wind fence behind Sally’s cabin. We’ve been working toward it for weeks, but until today, when the rain finally stopped and the sky broke open, we didn’t get to it. It’s there now, in place and sturdy, and looking rather nice, if I do say so myself. A relief that it’s done now, in particular since we worried every time the wind picked up, that it would damage the cabin. No more. The barrier of wood is there, breaking the worst of the wind when it needs to. Didn’t finish until twilight, and by then it was time to start on supper.

Rather than something new, I used yesterday’s leftovers to make veggie burgers, which went down rather well with mustard on bread. Which brings us to the end of the day, where I am desperately trying to finish this blog, so I can still do some writing on the book.

Wood experiments

Song of the day: “Crazy” by Patsy Cline. This was really a conscious choice on my part because I had nursery rhymes such as Old McDonald had a farm in my head, for crying out loud. Talk about torture…was I talking about torture? I think not. Alright then, never mind. That’s weird thing to say, isn’t it? Forget I said anything.

First off, due to the rain, Sunday Market was cancelled. Yay and darn it, right? On the one hand it was nice to have a day off, on the other it is a pain in the behind because of the guy who paid the deposit could have shown up. Ah well, let’s just hope he’ll turn up the next time, eh. Third important point is that mom and the younger sibs sold more than nine dog beds, meaning there will be lots of work to do to replace them. Had them all understandably stressed out.

There was the trip to the vet. Not our usual one, since she was sick, but her replacement. Though he is nice enough, he’s not as experienced in applying bandages and such. I was there with two dogs, Knight II and Chaos, who has somehow managed to get his ear damaged the other day, leaving a small peace to dangle. Knight II behaved like a charm, and nicely waited his turn while Chaos braved the treatment (cutting the piece off without sedation,yikes) without a snarl of whimper. Good Chaos. He was a true gentleman, and more than happy to get the heck outta there as soon as we were done. Hah.

Might have an option of a little job through the assistant of the vet. She and her hubby are leaving for Madrid, so they are going to try to rent out their home. If they need someone to fix anything, they are going to give us a ring. We’ll see.
While I was there, waiting for my turn, I was chatting with a nice English lady who spends her time looking for homes for dogs she rescues, and ended up telling her about our pack. While she was repeating the number, the lady behind her (who’d just adopted one of her rescues) gasped. I assured them that the number was quite correct, and when she asked how we afforded to do such things, I pointed out the dog beds and that my mom and sisters make them to make some extra money. The lady with the new adoptee promptly walked to the basket, eyeballed the four samples, grabbed the most expensive one and said, “I’ll take this one.” Hah. Good way of doing business. That was about a twentieth of our present vet bill. *phew* Luckily the vet doesn’t make much of a problem of us sometimes paying it in parts.
*sigh*

Apparently this morning, a woman, who was going to leave for Morocco tomorrow, came out of the exam room with her dog, only to have the dog walk directly to the pile of beds and settle in one of them. She took one look at him in there and said she would just have to buy it. (Nice doggie) It had made the vet assistant laugh. If Knight’s progress stays the way it is, we’re going to try to go without bandage by the end of the week, and only have him wear the sock. Yay.

The beams for Liane. Cut the decorative shapes out. We sanded the lot of them yesterday. By hand, thank you very much. Started out with the machine, but I didn’t like the effect so opted to do it the old-fashioned way, which worked a lot better. Smooth as a baby’s bum (eeewwww) as they say, and ready for treatment with the varnish and anti-parasite stuff. Went with the color of mahogany, which is good, because they look friggin’ beautiful. Got the first layer done today, and should be able to to start with the second tomorrow, if weather permits it. Liane herself came to visit for a bit this afternoon and approved of the color (a relief, that) so I continued right on and managed to get the whole lot of them done right before the rain started. Yay.
Did some leather branding again, yellow leather this time, and am starting on my latest experiment of working on wood sculpturing. The way I figure I’ll be spending a lot of time working in the carport during this weather, so I might as well have some fun. I’m going for art, mind you, and I will show you the before and after shots the moment I feel like it.

Also worked on my hardwood Chinese boxes and glued together the small slats that will make up the lid in the near future. They’re starting to look gorgeous and I think that you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the end result. Yes, I’ll take before and after shots of that too.

Got lost a little in Wikipedia again. *sigh* A dangerous place, that. Went to check out chestnuts, only to end up reading about the history of the tree, which cost me some valuable time. Fascinating, eh, history, nature. I had no idea that they could be that old, by the way.
Now, I hear you wonder: Why the heck is she looking at chestnuts?
We had a donation again on Saturday and it held a batch of chestnuts. Personally I only know them roasted and fresh, but apparently you can also fry them (they were a staple food in Europe before the arrival of the potato) which tells you what today’s meal was, eh? Hah.

Writing. Well, considering I am so very sleepy in the evenings, I have decided to give up the battle and have been going to bed early for the last two or three days, so I can get up a little earlier and try to do my writing then. Am not sure how it is going to work in the future, but what have been single pages for the past week, or so, were three per morning instead. Not bad. Now, if only I could catch up a little. Am past fifty pages now, and it feels not at all like a romance novel so at least that is going well.

Had to go to town for a few groceries, which I didn’t like at all. Why do groceries disappear, huh? Why can’t the shelves just stay full? It is vastly annoying, I tell ya.

There was laundry, there was feeding the dogs, cutting the veggies, picking up veggies, cooking supper, carrot in mashed potato the day before yesterday, and spaghetti through veggies yesterday. Today we settled for fried pumpkin, fried chestnuts, some nuggets and some fries. Went down well enough.

As to the rest…I don’t have a clue what I’ve forgotten, of course. I bet there is plenty, but it’s the end of the day and I’m more than ready to call the end of it.

Transmission box. Grrr

Song of the day: “Men in this town” by Shakira, of course. Still an awesome song, thank you very much, and it always reminds me of writing “A Taste of Life”. *sigh* I miss ATOL not to mention Addie and Rash. I’m going to try sending it to a few more editors and then, if that doesn’t work, maybe Kindle it on Amazon, just to see if vampires are still in fashion. Hah.

First for yesterday, Cousin Ed took Sally to her first hospital appointment with the oncologist. It was a five minute interview, with very little information, which is starting to get vastly annoying. Are they ever going to explain everything to the poor woman, or are they just going to radiate and chemo her without discussing all her options? Strange dealings, I tell ya. Sally is taking it all in stride, so I’ve no right to be frustrated about it all, but darn it, that is just wrong. From what they’re describing of the treatment it’s going to be a very tough time.
She was exhausted afterward, in particular since the exact same thing happened with her as it did with me when I had to take the AIDS patient there. The appointment had been made by phone and then when they got there, everyone was insisting on a paper she didn’t have. Grrr. Insane, I tell ya.

While the ladies were out, I helped tenant get ready to go out with mom, because she wanted to a see a doctor who spoke her own language, and wanted to ask about her swallowing problems and excessive liquid in her throat. Turns out that the stuff we looked up online is true, but she needed a doctor to tell her. Afterward she and mom came home to pick up visitor so they could go visit a friend who also takes care of dogs.

The remainder of the day I worked on putting the bathroom window into the cabin, while big brother installed the toilet. There is still lotsa painting going on, along with the final touches to the bed that went into the room today and looks grand. Sally sure is happy about it, in particular because everything is so wonderfully light, and because she’ll be able to see the mountains from up there, rather than oleander bushes. With a little luck she’ll be moving in tomorrow.

Worked on the electricity, and got two sets of three plugs installed, along with a shelving unit above her bed. Tomorrow I should be able to hang some lamps too, because without proper light she’s too scared to move in, but since a good new beginning is essential at this point, I think it is important that she gets up there fast.

While Big brother made spaghetti and cheese yesterday’s supper, Sally and I prepared today’s supper which consisted of a nice veggie lentil mix, with a hard vegetable salad on the side. After reading up on some diets for cancer patients, we’re considering doing more salads because raw veggies and nuts are apparently good.

Tenant is very tired lately, having been kept busy with some trips along with mom and visitor, who took several trips into the city. The bad thing is that it has Tenant doze a lot during the day, meaning she isn’t participating a lot.

Still a bit sick, despite two naps in the past couple of days. Didn’t manage one today, seeing as there’s a new problem…yep. Big brother and I were about to head to pick up a donation when the car started making a strange screeching sound. First we checked if it was the high gear being “out of place” somehow, but the sound persisted, meaning we had to head back home to check it out. Once I crawled underneath, the mystery was solved. There was greasy moisture all over the transmission box, so the plan was for me to call the garage in the morning (it was after six already) and ask if we should bring the car in, or have the tow truck bring it in. Gawd, I wonder was all the disasters are all about?

Visitor is leaving tomorrow morning, by the way. Boy did the past two weeks pass fast. I would have sworn that only one week went by since she arrived, but the calendar doesn’t lie, does it?

Oh yeah, before I forget, Chaos has a new collar (one that says Bull in big dark letters, hah) and he’s acting all macho because of it. You’d think he realizes that the color of the thing matches his fur, or something, because he is literally posing most times I glance in his direction.

Writing is going slow but steady (both yesterday and today) with a bare minimum of two pages a day. Am at the moment working on the “end” scene, where there will be a big showdown with the bad guy. Images are slowly starting to take shape in my head, which I’ll soon need to put into words, I guess. Time’s going too fast, though. Too much to do. Going to have to take a moment to prioritize soon. Hah.

But anyway, called the garage this morning and the mechanic told me not to risk the trip and call for a tow truck. Did exactly that, and by the time I caught up with it at the garage the mechanics confirmed that it was the transmission box and that it might cost us a mint or two to have the thing repaired. Something to do with the friggin’ Ford garage back in the beginning. The one who screwed us over big time by not doing that well.

It is going to take several days to do the fixing took, so, keep yer fingers crossed that it all turns out to be less expensive than I fear. While we were out, there were some groceries to do, along with a trip to the DIY store where we needed to get supplies for the cabin. Still more painting today, but the bed is inside and looks splendid.

Well, that about sums stuff up, except for the usual daily chores that of course always need to be done. Laundry, the yard, etc. Were a little late this morning with the dog food, though, seeing we had to arrange the tow truck and everything, and then the phone calls came in about Sally’s future appointments. Her radiation will start next week, and in the midst of that, the chemo is going to commence too. It’ll be a doozy.

My dogs were not happy with me, what with being away so much, but that’s nothing new these days, is it. Life gets so busy sometimes.

Saw the disturbing images of the US Ambassador that got killed in Libya, today, and I gotta admit that such things freak me out a little. Who in his right mind starts hauling about a dead body like it is some kind of trophy. You’d have thought that humanity moved past that in the past fifty to a hundred years, but apparently that isn’t the case. Scary how close that sort of thing is, really.

But okay, let’s not get started about that sort of thing. There’s enough scary stuff in this world, and you don’t me to put them on here. This little blog is supposed to be my little world, after all. Hah.

Sick as a dog

Song of the day: “Under the sun” by Cheryl Cole. As long as I don’t see the clip, the song is a cute one. Hah.

Well, there’s bad news, so let’s get to that before we get down to business. Practically everyone here is sick. Yep. Isn’t it grand? Little brother and sister got some sort of bug, and it spread through the entire family like a wildfire. Seriously, this is a nasty little bug. Big brother wasn’t worth a damn for the past couple of days, seeing as he had a bad fever, and is coughing somewhat fierce.

I tried, I really did, keeping away from the bug, keeping out of the house, staying in the open air, but I seem to have caught a wee bit of it regardless. Probably this is partly due to the fact that I spent about an hour in the car with Visitor who (regardless of having caught the bug too) really wanted to see mom and the sibs at the market. So I drove her there, and wandered around for a couple of hours. Actually got myself some books, yay! But I’m drifting. I was already a little woozy in the morning, and had a doozy of a headache, and though I could go past it during the course of the day, it was there in the sting at the back of my throat, and my swollen tonsils.

Took lots of tinctures from my own herbs, made some good mixes, because despite some feverishness, I managed to get through the today without too much trouble (and one nap) without it affecting work.

So let’s do a cabin update. The floor was varnished today. I didn’t have time for it, so grandpa did the honors. The floor in the bathroom is all set, and big brother, who was feeling better today, managed to get most of the toilet installed. If all goes well that part should be done tomorrow. The roof of the bathroom is in now as well, which was something grandpa and I did today. Though I didn’t mind working with the circle saw with my feverish head, I drew the line at the sawing table, so grandpa ended up doing that too, poor fella. What I did manage to do without too much trouble was put together the window frame for the bathroom, and yesterday afternoon, together with Cousin Ed, putting together the bed I designed for Sally’s cabin. It’s a beauty (I’m taking pics for an update soon), in particular since Cousin Ed painted it a soft peach today. Sally is really looking forward to moving in. She told me this morning that she barely slept a wink during the night because she was so excited about her cabin. That’s always nice to hear.

There were two cooking sessions. Pizza yesterday, which Sally helped prepare while Cousin Ed and Big Brother watered the yard, and Pasta with fresh tomato sauce today, for which tenant cut the tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers. Both meals went down rather well at the end of a long day.

Sally is working hard trying to make herself useful. We’re keeping a close eye on her, not wanting her to overdo things and nap whenever she’s tired on this comfortable foldout couch that we put outside so she can sleep out in the fresh air. She’s loving that after almost three weeks of imprisonment at the hospital. Tomorrow Cousin Ed is taking her to the hospital in Malaga for her first radiology treatment. Sally’s taking it well enough, and is handling the entire affair with loads of her old aplomb.

Tenant’s rather tired these days, practicing her walking, and doing more of her own dressing and such. Sometimes I worry a bit about her, but it is always her choice, of course. She will have to find her own boundaries, and the only way to find those, she’ll have to push them a little.

After a quick dip in the pool this afternoon (despite the temps dropping, working out there in the old paddock in full sunshine makes you sweaty and dusty…and the feverishness is not helping any) we drained it. What with everyone being ill, Big brother forgot to throw in chloride so the entire thing was green. Ended up deciding to fill part of the basin with it, and go for new water, rather than waste half a bucket of chloride. While I went to my cabin for a much needed nap, (my doggies sure loved that!) big brother went down into the yard to water the yard. Once he finished that, he woke me up because he had to go out to pick up a donation, while I was left to head for the pool and clean it for reuse. We’re really going to have to do some repairs before spring. There’re cracks and some missing tiles that will cause considerable leakage.

Beside all the building stuff, there are the normal chores, of course. Laundry, as usual, dog food to prepare and feed, and the cleaning that I am just not getting to, darn it. Seriously, where are those extra hours in a day I keep asking for. *sigh*

Last bit is the writing, naturally. At the moment (in particular being feverish and all) I’m lucky to get two pages a day, and the fact that I also need to do my blog again today, doesn’t help that much either, hah. No matter, though, there is some progress and that’s all that matters right now.

Well, that’s it for me today. I need to get horizontal and do something about this whacky immune system of mine. *sigh*

All lit up

Song of the day: “International Love” by Pitbull and Chris Brown. Irrelevant, really. But what the heck.

So…there’s been some serious excitement over here for the past couple of days. It’s not Sally’s cabin, despite the fact that it arrived this afternoon and we did get started on it. Nope. It’s by far more serious than that. And no, I’m not talking about Sitabah. I haven’t taken her back to the vet yet, despite the fact that I’m pretty sure now that there might be a problem. At first I thought that maybe her cough was only during the night, but since I’m paying attention, I now know that she coughs every time she exerts herself. Darn it.
It’s not the arrival of our visitor, who is going to stay over for the next two week. But that’s not it either. Nope. There’s a fire raging over here in these parts and at home we had front row seats.

I kid you not. While cousin Ed and I were at the Thursday market in Marbella, big brother phoned to let me know there was a fire starting in the wilds across our valley, and that it was moving fast. Worst part was, it was two hours before sundown, meaning that if the firefighters didn’t manage to get it under control in time it would have ten solid hours to rage through a country side that hasn’t been this dry in more than fifteen years.

Here’s a shot of what I was able to see from the beach some odd 25 miles away from the scene.



Gawd, it looked impressive…not to mention frightening. Basically we spent the evening checking up on the progress, keeping an eye on things, in case we had to pack up and hurry home to start evacuating dogs. Luckily the wind was away (slightly to the side) from our property, but you never do know how that works, do you, it can shift, just like that.

Considering the market was a slow day, and considering several of the folks working there lived in the rapidly threatened area and were leaving to check if their homes were in danger, we too started packing up around 11 PM. 50 minutes later we were on our way home, not taking the beach road seeing as big brother informed us that it was highly likely that they would close that down at some point, so we went the opposite direction, being treated with some awesome views, I totally didn’t get around to photographing, because it was late, I was stressed, and well… we wanted to get home.

It was past one in the morning when we did, and it was to finding the rest of the family standing around, watching the action going on. There were flashing lights all through the valley, and I tried to take a pic, here:



but am disappointed with the result. It looked way more impressive.

Didn’t get to bed until three thirty in the morning. Seriously, I saw some really big bushfires going on the mountain facing ours. A really expensive area which is usually hidden within trees and bushes, went whoosh with such speed and ferocity, and I could see it light big brother’s face up despite the fire being miles away. Scary.

It was still going strong this morning.
Two shots during the course of the day:





Further away (thankfully) but the firefighters started attacking the fire by air again, so that helped a lot. Bad news was that most of the roads to Marbella was closed off, meaning that we couldn’t make it to the appointment at the hospital…worst of it was, the option was there that the hospital might needed to be evacuated, too, so we really hoped that Sally wasn’t stressing too much. We couldn’t ask, because we couldn’t reach her for hours on end. She wasn’t stressed at all, the nurses at the reception didn’t even know anything about the fire, and Sally said she had thought it was just a small fire near Ojen. A big relief that, in particular since she was feeling bad after the biopsy that had been far more painful than the last one.

So, keeping an eye on the smoke that swelled and diminished constantly…and had planes and choppers swarming around like bees around a hive, Sally’s new cabin arrived. We unloaded that, and in the hours that followed cousin Ed and I painted about a quarter of the wood, while grandpa and big brother worked on putting the beams of the floor down (I took some pics and will post them in sequence when it’s done) on the foundation big brother already made.

Before sundown, we took a quick tour of the damaged area…here are some shots:





Above: To the left is our mountain, all that stopped the fire from going into the valley, was the road. *shivers








Worst part is, we can still see red light behind the mountains, meaning it is still going. I gotta say I'm properly impressed with the firefighters once again, they saved lives and properties like the best!!!

Other than all the excitement, life went on as usual. There was cooking to do, plants to water, tenant to take care off (she was a little worried, but stated it would give her a good incentive to walk again)and garbage to take out...good opportunity to do that while we went out, in particular since the roads were filled with disaster tourists.

And that’s it for today. The dogs didn’t mind the tension all that much. They ate like pigs regardless. Hah.



Gawd, I’m tired…and tomorrow will be another long day.