Working on a chain. Hahaha

Well, at least I got my early night, leaving me with the hours I need, even though I’m more than a little sore and stiff by the time morning arrives and it’s time to get up.
The dogs, though used to staying in an hour later, are more than eager to get out of the cabin, and I stumble to the door to open the door for them.

I do about ten minutes of necessary stretches, just to get the blood pumping, and then slowly go through the morning rituals before I head on down to the house. Rather than save it for later, I do the laundry first…I’ve a feeling that after work I’ll be too tired anyway, so I might as well get the most of it over with. Considering that the dirty laundry pile seems ‘bout a mile high, there’ll be more to hang later on. Drat!

After breakfast, and doing some of the average morning chores, big brother and I settle behind the computer to do our daily session on the edit of “Saving Nina” and are more than a little surprised when at the end of it, we find that we’ve rewritten more than eight pages. Either it was a scene that needed little correcting, or it went so well that neither of us noticed the pages we flew through.

With that excellent bit of work behind us, it’s time to go outside and get cracking on the wall of the courtyard. The first thing we do is carry a big load of rocks down the mountain to pile them up in the small yard where the beginnings of the wall is already reaching as high as our knees in the center. On the right and left, the foundation isn’t even laid yet, but still…seeing that first actual wall part is a cheering sight.

While the two youngest sibs help me haul in rocks, (we work in a chain to get it done faster) big brother starts to dig into the soil in the niche, where a natural rock stairs is going be build to reach on up to the higher level of the yard, providing accessibility and prettiness, of course.

Once middle sister starts making cement…her turn today…we are working on a chain to get a nice row of rocks to work with, ready and within reach. Finally the first batch of cement is ready, and while little brother hauls the cement to us in buckets, I start on the heavy task of placing the huge rocks in the gutter that is to be the foundation.

Now, it isn't easy to build a wall with massive stones on any day, but when you have to navigate your way through a huge pack of dogs that would prefer to snooze on your feet, if you let them, it gets just a tad more complicated. While moving from one side to the next, we literally have to go over, past and through dogs to get where we need to , so this might impede on the process a little. Hah.

An hour later, I’ve laid out the rest of the foundation, bringing the complete length of the eighteen feet, while little sister continues to build up yesterday’s section. Huge rocks, some of them weighing up to eighty pounds improves the progress considerably, and by the time the day draws to an end, we have the wall at knee height from one side to the other, with the in the center double that. Excellent.

A job well done, to say the least, and a good progress for what is basically only day two. We gather the tools, clean them up and head inside to eat the pancakes grandpa has made for our dinner. We’re all starving, but like yesterday I know that if I rest now, I won’t be able to get going again.

There’s another batch of laundry to hang, and after a quick shower that I so very much need…everything is sore, hah…it is time to eat at last. Though grandpa tends to make his pancakes on the greasy side, I don’t care. I just need filling and do so by adding a salad of beets, carrots, cheese and lettuce, which fills in the gaps just fine.

While watching some TV, I pick ticks of passing dogs, fighting exhaustion and trying to muster up the energy I need to hook up my computer and do some more work…or in case I can’t focus (which is definitely the case) at least start on today’s Blog.

Since everyone is pretty much exhausted, we call it another early day and head to perspective quarters to start on the evening rituals, such as doing a quick relaxing read–which is something I really need after a day like this.

Once my pack is fed, clean laundry is put away and pjs are on, I settle on the bed to do my nightly session online.

Considering we went through our supply of the one cubic meter of sand today for the cement, tomorrow we won’t be doing any more building. Semana Santa (Easter) has arrived in Spain and everything is closed while the festivals are celebrated. This means that we’ll have to get a new batch on Saturday, or otherwise resume building on Monday. We’ll see how it works out. It’s not like we don’t have anything else to do.