Good edit and another scorcher...in the yard, that is.

I got way too little sleep this night, considering I stayed online until well after five in the morning. Ah the price we pay for having a bit of fun, huh? I’ll sleep when I’m dead, I guess. There are so much more fun things to do then wiling the hours away in bed. Hah.

Well, I get up when the alarm goes off, of course and stumble to the door to let the pack out into the bright sunshine. They storm outside, the usual melee making me shake my head at their antics and quickly go through the morning rituals so I can get to work on the edit.

Once arriving at the house, the pack dashing in the back and front while Trin Trin literally hangs from her teeth on the stick I always carry with me for this very purpose. Once I’ve deposited my bag and other luggage inside, I tackle the laundry. The large batch on the lines has dried beautifully and the new is hung within half an hour so I can get on the computer and answer a few necessary messages.

That dealt with, big brother and I resume our edits, diving into “Saving Nina” for several hours and doing four solid pages before the younger sibs arrive and we head back out into the yard. It is going very well, and we would continue, weren’t it for the fact that the ongoing project of making the yard accessible again is just as pressing as getting this book ready for sending.

Another burning of yard debris is on the today’s schedule, and we head down in the hot afternoon sun to climb into the massive piles waiting in the old pool. Little sister and I start by putting reed canes s and branches together and spray on some lamp oil.
The debris won’t take, however, there’s a light western breeze making the afternoon heat just bearable that keeps blowing the flames out.

While grandpa heads on over to the bus to get a newspaper, we continue to break endless amounts of reeds into manageable pieces and then light up the fire as soon as we have paper to stuff between the tines.
Little brother arrives around this time, a bag full of silver wrapped potatoes and carrots in a bag, so we won’t need to cook tonight.

Today’s burning session isn’t as easy as the last one, I’ll say that much for it.
What with the hot sun overhead and the hot hearth in the center of the old pool there really no escape from the heat that literally feels as if it burns skin from a two yard distance. Let’s say that I’ve done my share of sweating today. Hah.

I have a particularly fierce rush of relief when in the midst of piling more garden debris on the flames, I suddenly remember that we won’t need to postpone or forego anything to go to town for tedious lessons. Gawd, I can still hardly believe it. Hah.

Luckily the pile of reed canes burns rapidly and within the next few hours the huge amount of debris dwindles down until there is nothing left but a thin layer of dirt.
Time to eat, and standing around the table on which the scorching hot vegetables have been gathered, we eat our way through the delicious offering.

Afterwards, little brother and sister head on up to the house to feed the dogs, while big brother, middle sister and I make our way towards the septic tanks where the new cover still needs to be put up. Luckily this takes only little time and before dusk arrives we return to the house for the much needed showers.

I’ve got a hand-sized bruise on my right leg, or so I find once hot water is pouring down on my. I hadn’t considered this particular problem while I was breaking reed canes over my leg, hah. (I should have, I know.) The spot is actually swollen, and I wonder how I managed to continue doing the chore for hours on end, without actually noticing the rapidly forming bruise. Interesting. Now I’ve got a swollen finger and a swollen leg to match it.

But anyways, once I’m clean and dressed in sweats, I head back to the main living area to set up my computer. Though ticks are rapidly becoming a bigger problem, (in-between tasks we’re constantly removing the little buggers) the dogs are wonderfully exhausted after wandering about for hours on end. This allows a relaxing atmosphere and quiet settles in the house when the TV is shut off in favor of some more work on the continuing edit.

It goes remarkably well, all things considered. We’re pretty darn tired from the long day in the yard, but still we manage to add four more pages, bringing today’s total up to eight. It is good scene that we go through today, one that gives an insight into the main characters, and offers several dialogues that has both big brother and I chortle out loud on several occasions.

We work steadily until midnight, when it is time to retire for the night. I head on up to my cabin to feed my dogs and my reading, and am momentarily startled when big brother suddenly appears in the doorway. Though I would have enjoyed a bit of reading, I do realize that there are more important things that really do demand our attention.

In the end we talk about our plans and future projects for more than an hour until I insist that I need to get my blog done and get online for a bit if I want to get to bed in time for a change. He agrees and departs, allowing me to switch on my computer and relax for an hour…or two at most.