Rocky edit.

Well, at least there is no wall-building dream this morning when I wake up and blink at the back door.
Trin Trin is bouncing up and down on the small porch there…apparently I’ve waken up at some point during the morning to lock her outside, there’s a vague memory of that at least…the usual froth gathered around her fat lips, and the crazy glint in her eyes. Hah.

Knowing that, even though we won’t be building today, there is a lot to do, I resist temptation (for sleeping another half hour) and get up to let the dogs out of the cabin for the habitual morning run. They dash into the sunlight, actual dirt flying up when they hit the ground and storm off, to head up the mountain. Their amount of energy amazes me every time.

I’ve postponed changing the sheets on my bed long enough…too much to do and too little time to do it in, and all that…and really need to do it today. Delightedly I pick up the fresh linens (bought them for 6 bucks during the last grocery shopping spree) and start. Everything goes. Quilts, sheets, pillowcases, and even a sweater that somehow ended up squeezed between the wall and the mattress. Weird. Knight II might be responsible. He likes sneaking away with a piece of clothing every now and then.

An hour later, I arrive at the house burdened with three bags of laundry, Trin Trin hanging on her stick (as usual) and my computer bag over my shoulder. Big brother is already there, waiting, and thankfully grabs the monster boxer so I can head to the kitchen to dispose of the computer and make a beeline for the laundry room.

Though I don’t really feel like it, I make myself eat breakfast (one of those days, I guess, stupid stomach) and grab a cup of freshly made coffee before we set up the computers to start on today’s edit.
A difficult scene today: I had to do a lot of rewriting, rather than shuffle just a few words around.

Dialogue about background information is always a tricky thing, especially when there are more than two people involved. While working on the edit, we changed the plot line just a bit, so there is a lot in this conversation that didn’t “fit” the way it should. I always have trouble changing plots, especially since they tend to develop automatically, as if I have nothing to do with it. So, making a change always feels as insurmountable as needing to travel back in time to change the past. Hah.

It seems to take forever, and goes so darn slowly that by the time today’s session draws to an end, I’m kind of surprised that we’ve managed to tackle more than four pages after all.

Instead of building the wall, today we decide to clean the pool. The dogs need a chemical bath, so while we’re at it, we have made the decision to use the pool for this particular washing session that is going to be a royal pain in the butt…literally.

Seriously, you cannot imagine what it feels like to have to wash over ninety dogs. Heck, by the time you’ve done three, your back will be whining. Around number six every disc will scream in agony and by the time number ten arrives you feel as if your back will never again return to it’s original shape. It is NOT funny.

So, since we need to drain, clean and then refill the pool anyway, we might as well just fill it up halfway and toss the pack in, rather than go through the trouble of treating them one by one. With a little luck the majority of them will be so pleased for a swim that they’ll rush into it headfirst before they smell something funny. Hah.

Regretfully, the cleaning takes more time than we counted on. And when the sun suddenly starts to hide behind clouds with the arrival of a chilly western wind, we have no choice but to change out plans and do the actual washing tomorrow…if the weather permits, that is. We need a hot day for this particular chore, because our pack is definitely spoiled rotten. Can’t have the pretties cold, now can we?

Done with the pool for today, all the tiny little tiles scrubbed clean and the debris of winter removed, we change into dry clothes and head on up to the car. More rocks need to be hauled in, so with that in mind five of us pile into the truck to drive around our mountain.

About an hour before sundown we reach the top of the mountain’s backside, turn around and start on the slow descend, throwing rocks into the truck bed while we go. On this side of the mountain the sun is shining brightly, but what with the elevation the air is decidedly thinner and fresher. Little sister, who has never been in this particular spot in all the years that we live here, finds the view as stunning as we do.

With the truck filled to full capacity we return home. The other sibs are already waiting and together we quickly unload the rocks. The plan is to get a few more batches in, before we actually continue building, so with that in mind, we take some extra time to move the new piles to more manageable positions along the wall. I do need to navigate the path in the dead of night. It’s not smart to have rocks lying about willy-nilly then. Hah.

That done we head into the house where the meal mom has prepared for dinner is waiting. Rather than dig in—I want to, since I managed to work up an appetite at last—I spend about half an hour taking down and hanging laundry and am relieved when I return to the house to find that mom has already folded the majority while I was busy outside.

After dinner we watch a recorded episode of “The Mentalist”, once again constantly picking ticks of the dogs…the darn parasites! I do hope that the chemical bath will do some good, because it’s starting to get freaky on some dogs. They are clustering again. Big marble-sized blood suckers in pairs, or threes, surrounded by sometimes more than a dozen little crawlers. The darn things are bound to give me nightmares again.

About an hour before midnight, big brother and I decide to do another quick edit, managing another two and half pages, which brings today’s work to almost seven pages, yay.

However, I am more than happy when the evening draws to its natural conclusion and I can head up to the cabin to feed the dogs and do some recreational reading. I am so happy I found an, up until now, unread Linda Howard book, stuffed between some other books in the corner of my bookshelves. I really needed a new read, if for no other reason than to forget about editing for a bit.

And so the day has ended with this blog, making me wonder if by this time tomorrow we will have tackled the dog washing already.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see.