Title of the day: Your guess is as good as mine.

I had the strangest dreams this night, explosions, car chases, shooting the whole shebang...and that while I didn’t even watch a decent action film yesterday. Very peculiar. It all looked a little like “Vantage point” with Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox and Forest Whitacker, and it’s been like, months since I saw that movie, so why I would dream about it, is a mystery to me.

But anyways, by the time I wake up from the moronic pack making a racket I’m still sleep dazed and literally stumble my way to the door to let them out. What with the alarm not having gone off yet, I reset it to have thirty minutes extra and am off to lala land under ten seconds.

I can feel “it” lurking around the corner by the time I do get up and start on the day. That uncomfortable sensation in the pit of my stomach as tension begins to rise for no apparent reason.

Soon, after hurrying through the morning rituals, I’m heading down the mountain. Since the knee is giving me considerable grief for the past couple of days, I’m using the cane again, doing an excellent imitation of Hugh Laurie’s House and enter the courtyard with the dogs rushing around me.

First thing I do, as soon as I’ve deposited my bag on the kitchen counter, is head back out again to take down the laundry and hang a new batch. The knee might be a bitch at the moment but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let it stop me from doing what needs to be done.

Next I do a few exercises, careful to do them just right, without putting undue pressure or stress on the joint, and after fifteen minutes I head to the shower. This “lukewarm” workout is definitely not as satisfying as a real one, but at least I managed this much before feeling completely drained and more than a little sore.

Yadzia needs to be fed, and I get to it asap, pleased to see that he eats the chicken, bread, milk, broth and kibble mix with enthusiasm.
That done, I have a quick breakfast at the kitchen counter, the gnawing feeling heavy in the pit of my stomach and making the meal feel like bricks. I pour myself a coffee and OJ and head for the table to set up shop.

No time for messages today. There’s some writing to be done, (only manage half a page) along with editing…the latter just as soon as big brother is finished fixing the fences–again–and returns to the house, obviously feeling just as frazzled as I do.
We only manage about two pages for corrections, since we decide to rewrite narrative into dialogue to give a more “real” feel to the characters. By the time I get most of it down, our departure has drawn near enough for us to hurry getting ready.

A bit dizzy for some reason, I head up the mountain to get dressed and fifteen minutes later climb into the car so we can head out to town.

Upon arrival at the school we spend a harrowing hour in the brightly lit classroom, listening to “important” instructions of questions that might come up in the exams that don’t appear to make any sense (this from the mouth of our teacher). The light tubes overhead are bad on the eyes, starting a distant headache until we finally move on to the back room where we go through some more lesson material on paper until it’s closing time and we can call it a night.

We go by the video rental store, getting three movies for the weekend and then head for the home improvement store to get a roll of fence that should prevent new holes in ours in the near future.

By this time my knee is throbbing like mad, dizziness has resurfaced and I, for one am more than happy about going home at last.
Regretfully no one felt like cooking, so big brother and I are on our own for nourishment. We end up with French fries and a bowl of squared cherry tomatoes with cottage cheese that fills the empty spots well enough…and leaves me feeling nauseous for the rest of the night. Hah.

The bad feeling rapidly increases as we try to wind down from the day, and neither of us is able to enjoy the two movies we put on, but can’t finish for no other reason than that they both appear to be boring as heck.
A fight between Trin Trin the monster boxer and Prama (another monster, aargh!) certainly doesn’t help the mood.
We end up watching an episode of “Dead Like Me” before I head up to my cabin.

Once there, I just barely have time to deposit my bag on the bed, before I need to run to make it to the bathroom when my stomach decides to get rid of every single thing I ate during the evening. This, of course, leaves me feeling emptied and exhausted when I quickly feed the dogs and set up the computer to do a quick round of the messages and post today’s Blog.

There was one bright spot today, however. The new fan trailer is out. This one for W.I. Investigations/The White Doves, and it’s grand, as usual. Yay.

Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeIjQCCVv64

Wheww. Another day past.

So the morning starts reasonably on time, with the dogs causing their usual fracas and bursting outside the moment I open the door of the cabin to watch them go in the bright sunlight.

The knee is sore from the night, dogs pushing against, or standing on top of it not helping the healing process, I’m sure, still I don’t feel like taking painkillers as I go through the morning rituals, read a bit and then get dressed to head on down to the house for the day.

While grandpa joins us with the mail–one for me, yay–I find a letter from a reader who loved the W.I. Investigations–all four of them–saying that she found it amazing that there weren’t any boring parts in the story and that it was so wonderfully easy to read and so exciting at the same time, and that she couldn’t wait to read the next one(s). Wow! How’s that for a recommendation. I was titillated for sure…but then, I always am when I hear that someone loves my stories, hah. I wonder what she’ll think of “Trust Me” Said the Spy. She said she was going to read it next.

But anyway, even wonderful news like that doesn’t stop the normal chores from needing to be done, of course: There’s laundry waiting, both hanging and folding, along with boiling some chicken for Yadzia who can certainly use the extra protein now that he isn’t feeling well. That done, I go through the usual cleaning and then have a quick breakfast while chatting with big brother and grandpa.

By this time the chicken if done and I take out two parts for cooling while leaving the rest in the pot. Adding some bread, dog kibble, milk and broth, I take it to the pantry with Yadzia hot on my heels. He soon starts eating, eagerly making his way through the bowl and following me, after he’s done, to the living area where he insists on lying by my side, rather than his usual out-of-the-way place.

I make a bed for him beside my chair and set up the computer when an interesting segment starts on CNN. Apparently–I’ve heard of it before, but now new numbers have come in–the bee populations all over the globe are rapidly dying out…which, as anyone should be blatantly aware of, is disastrous.

Here everyone is worrying about the economy when something as important as the death of the insects that basically supply us with food are on the verge of going extinct. From what I managed to catch of the segment, more that 34 percent has already died, and the death rate is at, like 99 percent. Gawd. And to think that the newscasters manage to bring this kind of news with a smile, it baffles the mind.

Doesn’t anyone realize that if there are no bees to aid the produce industry there will be hardly anything left to eat? I mean, say bye bye to fruit, vegetables, and every tiny little plant that needs pollen to survive. Sure there are other insects that do the same thing, but not in those numbers. My God, this is a genuine catastrophe in the making. Heck it’s already well underway, if not close to the end, from the sound of it.
It was kind of an OMG experience that makes the economy hassles pale in comparison, but is it brought as such.

Grandpa was a farmer when he was young, and he is fully aware of what will happen if there are no more bees. He says that such a thing doesn’t only affect produce, but practically everything, throwing the natural balance totally off.

I’m not even going to begin about the climate, which will affect insects too, because that would keep us here for another sixty pages at least, so for now I’ll keep that with me. Hah.

Where was I? Oh yes…I set up my computer and after filling time with about half a page of the vampire novel, big brother and I shove our laptops side by side so we can edit “Meeting the Archers”, which has been in our planning for several weeks, but we didn’t get to it until now. We rigorously edit six pages, spending several hours with it until dinnertime arrives and the dogs need to be fed.

After we’ve had a quick dinner ourselves, of couscous stir fried with veggies–prepared by little sister–I do a quick round of the ceilings with the duster, removing newly formed spider webs before I get back to my computer and go online so I can go over today’s chats and messages now, rather than later in the evening.

While I’m busy trying to keep track of the conversations going on, “House” starts, distracting me until I finally finish up and close the laptop so I can sit back for the last part and enjoy “The Mentalist” which starts up right after.

My knee is really bothering me by this time. I don’t think that yesterday’s little exploit with the car up on the mountain was a very good idea. I pop a painkiller and place a bag of frozen peas on my knee in hopes of easing some of the discomfort.
It does, and in the end with the cold and painkiller combined I can relax and enjoy the show.

Neither big brother nor I can muster up the energy to do any more editing tonight, so instead we while away the evening in front of the TV until it’s time for me to retire.
Once I’m up in my cabin and fed the pack, including Yadzia who gets another dose of tuna through his bowl, I take the time to really examine Knight II’s tail. It’s worse than I thought. He’s got a gash of an inch and a half at least, proving that he got himself into a ruckus with one of the other dogs at some point.

Though it looks clean enough, I still apply a large amount of disinfectant and try to roll on a piece of gauze. But he removes it instantly, actually snarling at me before I soothe him with a long petting and by pushing three anti-inflammatory tablets down his throat before he knows what I’m about. Hah. You need to be sneaky sometimes.

By then the tasks of today have come to an end and I get settled on the bed with my computer for the last time today.

Tinkering.

Yadzia came through the night well enough. He didn’t cry, and peacefully slept in his place under the bed, where he feels safe from the other dogs. Gada was of course right beside him, the way she always is, but appears around morning to check out the ruckus when it’s time to get up.

The usual mess ensues, dogs bouncing about, barking, snarling occasionally and then storming helter-skelter over each other the moment the door bursts open to the bright and warm sunlight outside. Three seconds after opening the door quiet descends in the cabin, except for Chaos, who’s still standing on the bed and is waiting for me to come an help him to the floor.

Limping a little I make my way back to the bed and assist the dog in the controlled slide to the floor. The moment his paws hit the wood, he’s off in a burst of motion…for as far as this is possible with his massive bulk, and disappears around the corner of the door.

Shaking my head at his gallop I start tearing off blankets and the likes that have tangled considerably during the night and start remaking the bed from the bottom up so I won’t have to do so tonight when I return.
That done, I hurry through the morning rituals, get dressed and head down for the house with Bommel and Yadzia bringing up the rear.

After depositing my bag on the kitchen counter, I dig through the first aid box in search of some bandages and apply a large amount of arnica on my knee, which I then proceed to wrap loosely in the endless strip of stretchy fabric that is to help against the itchy burning sensation that’s bothering me since last night. I definitely did too much walking yesterday and am now suffering the consequences.

The cooling gel certainly feels good, and with that done I start on laundry. Grandpa and big brother insist on carrying out the new batches, and taking the dry inside for me, while I start hanging the stuff. The weather is really wonderful today. The wind is mild and the sun bright, making it a most pleasant task.

About half an hour later, after folding the dry laundry, we start on breakfast and are discussing the day ahead of us. There doesn’t seem to be much writing time, considering that the weather is so pleasant and we still need to take an old car wreck–set on our property–apart so we can move it out of the gate with the least possible weight to push. And I’ve promised the do Danni’s hair, both trim and dye.

With that in mind, I only get on the computer to do a quick round of the messages, answer a few while big brother already heads up the mountain to start on the fence that was opened up by the dogs again today.

While going over the mail of the day I find that Knight II has somehow managed to get bit in his tail, leaving a bloody mess that thankfully doesn’t appear to bother him much when all is said and done. A good cleaning and he should be fine.

The messages take longer than I’d expected, but in the end I finish up for today, grab scissors and a comb and head on up to do my hairdresser job for the day.
While I start trimming, big brother is already working on the car wreck, slowly taking it apart and by the time I finish with the dye job I join him.

The car is rapidly coming apart under his hands and tools. Dented doors being cut away, rusty engine taken apart, and all remaining extras removed to be piled in the back of the truck. It’s a mess, and the dratted thing has been rusting away on the property for way too long, that’s a fact.

The dogs, of course love the venture, all of them rutting about in the yard, and rushing up and down the mountain before finding various spots all around…most of them in the way, naturally. That’s the best part from their perspective, or so it seems. A day isn’t complete if you haven’t let one of the humans stumble. Hah.

It’s not that I can do much more than unscrew bolts and the like, while hobbling about, but still, I figure it’s the thought that counts when about an hour later we bring the dogs down to the courtyard and decide to do some practicing with the car for parking in line. Not that it is all that hard to do, but figuring that soon we’ll have to do exams we figure we might as well practice a little, just in case.
Four out of five times it goes well, and with that reassurance we head to the house to see about our evening meal.

No one is in the mood for cooking, so I make pita bread with lettuce, tomatoes grilled onion, red bell pepper and a yogurt sauce, which goes down well for everyone before I settle behind the computer, rather than the TV. Not much on anyway, so I might as well get some work done.

During this time we find out that my submission to the publisher of my short vampire story never arrived, so we have to resend it, preferably tonight. No biggie, but it is rather annoying that due to hearing this now three whole months have gone by for nothing. Ah well…nothing to do about it now, I guess.

I go over the remainder of the messages, chatting a bit on Amazon and then about an hour before midnight big brother and I decide to go over the book project and discuss the scenes that still need to be added. We’re halfway through now, so about sixty more pages need to be written before we come even close to finishing the story. Still, with ideas for scenes aplenty it should all work out well in the end.

By the time we finish I hurry up the mountain, only to realize that I need a new bag of dog food, and call to the house to ask big brother to follow me up to get it. He comes, and we end up talking about books and ideas for almost an hour. While he’s here anyway we also trim Mosha’s nails, of which one has been rapidly growing round and towards her skin. I hold her aloft as big brother sees to the task, our talk going well into the second hour and making me late…again. So frustrating!

At last I declare that I really need to get started on my Blog so he departs and I can start on the usual night rituals before getting to work.

Rush trip to the vet.

The day felt endless, even though it really wasn’t.

I wake up early this morning for some reason…oh wait, it was the dogs. They were restless and they woke me up from a wonderful dream by bouncing and pulling and drawing me out of bed long enough to check what the heck’s going on.

After a quick peek out the window, seeing nothing that could explain the ruckus I stumble back into, only to almost fall helter-skelter over Yadzia. Something is wrong I see with a single glance. He’s all tense and tiny shivers run all over his body while I try to figure out what’s up.

I can find no real indication as to what’s bothering him, and in the end, I carefully lift him on the bed…even though I barely manage it with the dratted knee making such a movement rather uncomfortable…and settle him in the center of the bed so I can curl around him in hopes that he’ll at least warm up. He whimpers a bit, and this continues during the course of the hours that follow.

We lay there for a long time, him shivering and me worrying until sleep wins and we both snooze for a while.
He seems to be a bit better–even when he still exclaims an occasional whimper–when the alarm goes off. Keeping a wary eye on him, I let the other dogs into the yard. He doesn’t join them, but carefully jumps off the bed to settle on his favorite spot underneath it instead.

Hurrying through the morning rituals, as seems to be the standard these days; I hobble on down to the house less than half an hour later. Yadzia is following at a short distance and then miserably heads into the house. Keeping a worried eye on him, I quickly hang and fold laundry and then head on back inside–Yadzia follows me around consistently even though it obviously hurts him–to make a bed for the sick dog, there where he can see me at the table, without being overrun by the other dogs.

He settles there, barely looking up when big brother and his pack arrive with their usual noise and I explain the problem. We check if he has a fever…he doesn’t. Then his gums…they’re pink, so that’s not the problem either, and yet there is this pallor about him that makes it clear that there is a big problem. I’m thinking that it has something to do with his back, since he keeps tensing up, but it could also be, as big brother suggests, his bowels. Some sort of blockage that’s hurting him.

In the end we decide to wait a few hours to see if things get better, and if they don’t we’ll head for the vet as soon as the sibs arrive. For several hours, with my eyes constantly straying towards Yadzia, I try to write, only managing a page or so of the latest vampire project, until a sudden pained howl from the poor dog settles it. We’re heading for the vet, hoping to be able to get him looked at immediately so we’ll still be able to go to school for at least an hour.

There are two customers/patients before us when we arrive, but after about fifteen minutes we are led into the examination room where the young female vet and our regular vet look Yadzia over. He’s bravely wagging his tale, but is obviously pained when they start to examine his spine. X-rays need to be made, and while I walk along so Yadzia won’t feel so scared, the vet and I talk a bit about how I got the dog from this very hospital several years ago.

Together with Gada, Yadzia had been left at the vet’s for termination, and since he really didn’t want to put the two wonderful Labradors down he’d asked if we would like to take them. The vet hadn’t even recognized him ‘till now, and was amazed at how attached the dog was, especially since he’d already been five years old when he came to me.

With the assurances of the vets that they will take good care of Yadzia we hurry on out to head for town, on the other side of the mountain, hoping that we’ll make it to school in time.

Forty-five minutes before closing time we arrive, and after seriously setting the appointment for our exams on the 25th we head on to the computers for more tests.
It goes well enough, only one mistake for me, which was due to reading the question wrong, so when eight PM arrives, big brother and I are both relieved that yesterday’s disaster was an anomaly.

Middle sister joined us today, so after we depart from school we head to the photo booth again, for the sole purpose of her headshots, which she’ll need to renew her passports a month or two from now too.

That done we have less than half an hour to get to the hospital again and see how Yadzia is doing. By this time I’m starting to feel a little frazzled, I’ll admit, hurrying into the building the moment the car stops and following the serious looking vet into the exam room so she can show me the X-rays.

Due to age and some growths on his spine Yadzia has multiple hernias…too narrow spaces between the discs of his spine…which is causing the discomfort. Now, if it had only been one disc they could operate but since the photos show that there are at least five of these spots it is something he will have to live with from now on, until it gets too bad. Damn!

Still, they are able to make him more comfortable with an anti-inflammatory injection that’ll work for five days, which is when he’ll need another. With that bit of distressing news we pack Yadzia back up in the car and head on home.
He’s looking about as discouraged as I feel, his head settling on my shoulder as we follow the familiar road until arriving at the gate.

After the pack has welcomed us, and Yadzia alike, we have the dinner little sister prepared during our absence and try to wind down from the long day with some entertainment on the TV.

Yadzia sleeps peacefully at my feet during the entire thing, and actually gets up without prodding when it is time to head up to our cabin.
While the other dogs eat their kibble…he doesn’t feel like it…I give him two small cans of tuna, which he seems to enjoy, thank God.

I do hope that the injections will make him feel better soon, ‘cause otherwise I will be forced to make that dreaded decision again in the near future. I rather have it later than sooner, thank you very much.

Medical check up. Hmmm.

I’m running a little behind again, so I’ll have to hack my way through this Blog and hope for the best.

I slept without the knee support this night, on the off chance that it would be less painful, and though my knee is bothering me considerably when I finally drag myself out of bed this morning, it isn’t excruciating like yesterday.

Hurrying through the morning rituals and getting dressed so I can head down to the house in time, I still don’t manage to catch up. The knee needs its exercise and the gel massage, after which the hour of departure is rapidly drawing near. I try to get some writing done, but fail miserably when I can’t seem to gather my thoughts enough.

I get online instead, doing some quick reads and chats and then it’s time to leave.
Quickly I change clothes, gather the copies we’ll need into a folder and then head for the car where big brother and little sister are already waiting.

First stop is the photo booth where I went the last time I needed pictures for this sort of thing. I get in first, having three pictures snapped of which I pick one that looks the least bit annoying. It turns out okay, definitely compared to the last one I had to take for my passport–it was horrid, the way all passport photos seem to be.

Next up comes big brother, who has even more trouble in the booth, ‘cause he’s at least four inches taller than me. His pics come out all right, too, all things considered, though a smile wouldn’t have hurt, hah. Last one is little sister, who of course comes off looking downright gorgeous the way she always does. I would be jealous if I could. Since I can’t, there’s really no point to be anything but pleased for her.

That done we head deeper into the center of town, where big brother and I need to get our medical check up before we can register for our exams. Big brother goes first, spending about fifteen minutes with the young physician who okays him for the exams with a ninety-five percent approval score.

I’m up next, at which time I need to answer some questions about my general health…added with an explanation as to why I’m limping and using a cane, she needs to make sure that it’s nothing permanent…after which comes the eye tests, light tests, balance, etc. etc. Hundred percent, yay!

After we’ve paid for the mandatory service, we head on over to our school, which is right around the corner and settle in for about an hour of tests that go disappointingly bad for me. My knee is throbbing from the walking and it keeps distracting me enough to have me read the questions four times on occasion and then still end up getting some wrong, drat!

I decide to cut today’s session a little short and head on to the front desk to discuss and arrange for our exams with our teacher. All the paperwork seems to be in order, and depending on tomorrow and whether or not we receive any mail in the new mailbox, we have to give an address necessary for getting our results. If that doesn’t work out we’ll have to figure something out ASAP, or else postpone the entire thing until a later time.
I do hope it works!

Though I’m already dreadfully weary (seriously regretting the fact that I didn’t take painkillers before leaving) the hardest task of today doesn’t arrive until we leave the school and join little sister in the car.
Grocery shopping. It is that day again, and with mental lists being erected in our brains we head for the supermarket to get it done.

Two overfull carts later and about four hundred bucks lighter, we’ve got the three household grocery loads sorted and bagged in the back of the truck and are heading back home, much relieved that the next grocery shopping spree won’t arrive until another three weeks have passed.

I’m starting to get a little irritable when we arrive home, and start unpacking the loads by putting them away. My knee’s being a pain in the butt, so to speak, and the excited canines are constantly walking into it, but in the end we get it done. Big brother reheats yesterday’s leftovers and we can finally sit down and catch our breaths.

We only have time to watch the rented DVD “Mirrors” with Keiffer Sutherland…it was a massive disappointment. Heck, it wasn’t even scary…before the evening comes to an end and it’s time for me to drag weary limbs and hyper dogs up the mountain to start on the final stage of the night.

Another lesson tomorrow…we’re going to have to do some extra work the next couple of weeks, just to make sure that we’re at our best for the exams…along with another photo shoot, this time for one of the other younger sibs, and then…well, I don’t want to think about that right now.

Just another fun day, I guess.

Snooze.

I find that I have very little to write about today, which seems to be a recurring problem of late. Drat! When did life get to be boring anyway? Hmmm I might have to think of a way to figure that out.

But first, lets do the usual and sum up the day’s events so we’ll have that behind us.
After I wake a little later than usual–on purpose for a change, I need to catch up on some serious zzzzzs–I can still hardly keep my eyes open and my knee is positively killing me!

It was incredibly cold during the night; even Trin Trin wakes me up at some point because she NEEDS to get up on the bed, like, right now! And slams her paw in my sleeping face just to get that point across.

I can certainly relate, seeing as I’m freezing myself, now that I’m only covered by the thin blanket I’ve been using since the knee debacle. With Trin Trin’s wake up call I decide to risk the heavy blankets instead, folding both of us inside, and pay for it, dearly, when it’s time to get up for real.

I can barely walk through the bedroom, let alone get to the sitting room without using the support of either a wall or doorway, and swear a blue streak when, in their enthusiasm, the dogs slam into me from every side. The worst of it is that while I move about–something which helped yesterday–that the serious ache doesn’t subside at all, making dressing and then walking down to the house pretty darn excruciating.

The first thing I do upon arriving in the main living area, is literally throwing my bag on the kitchen counter, and stumble my way to the table with arnica in hand. After I’ve shuffled on top of it, removed the knee support and laboriously toed off the shoe I barely got into up at the cabin, I find my lower leg to be swollen considerably and feeling pretty darn frozen compared to the hot throb in the knee.

For a while I rub in the gel, doing yesterday’s flexes to get some of the stiffness out of the joint, and sigh my relief when the painkillers I popped up in my room start to take effect. Finally! By this time I’ve calmed down considerably, and can actually chat with big brother and grandpa who have arrived by then. Seriously, I won’t try to write down all that was said, such conversation tend to be random switches of topics that won’t make any sense unless you’re there…and even then, hah,

After a little while, I do some minor chores and have breakfast, at which time I find my eyes drooping once more now that the adrenaline rush has subsided. I really can’t see myself getting through the day in this state, and end up curling up on an armchair-my legs propped up–and dozing off almost instantly.

For about two hours I’m drawn into a tangle of dreams that mash with the sounds of family moving around, dogs bumping into me, and even a couple crawling on top of my lap while I’m stretched out on the two seats. None of it matters, I’m “out” for all intents and purposes making me feel somewhat refreshed by the time five in the evening arrives.

Though it’s late and I need to make dinner at some time, I do manage to set up my computer and start writing without the annoying eye-drooping thing and work on the vampire story for two solid hours that earn me five more pages by the time I resurface when I need to start on dinner.

Little sister has already begun, chopping red beets and onions so I won’t need to stand on my bum leg too long, the sweetheart. It takes only half an hour or so to finish up, so soon everyone is enjoying the favored dish of red beats with cheese and rice. It is so good that I actually eat too much. Hah.

Long talks concerning random subjects (what else) pass, along with a couple of TV shows before I get up and restart my computer to do most of the messages and chats now, when I still have time, instead of later on when it will impede on my sleeping time.

Around midnight, I gather my things, deciding to circumvent the knee support since it seems to be doing more damage than good by cutting off proper circulation, I head on up the mountain at an annoyingly slow pace. Once arrived, I feed the dogs and do some fun reading in Crusie’s “What The Lady Wants” which is still hilarious, and then start on the remaining evening routines.

I have to say that I’m not looking forward to tomorrow. There’s school, a medical test, a visit to the insurance company, getting headshots for our exams and perhaps even grocery shopping. Gawd, it’s going to be pure hell if we manage all that.

Way too tired.

I hate it when it happens, and even more so when there’s nothing I can do about it, but when I wake up this morning I can barely keep my eyes open. I drag my butt out of bed and laboriously make my way to the door, all the while my eyes being half shut and my brain completely and utterly blank.

With the dogs storming outside, I hobble on back to the bed crawl under the blanket for forty more minutes of snoozing.
They pass way too quickly, the alarm screeching the second time practically a minute after I close my eyes…or so it feels anyway. Groaning I shut the darn thing off and in the end I get up to head for the house…once again leaning heavily on the cane, but decidedly easier than yesterday.

Once I’ve deposited my stuff in the kitchen I head back out to the courtyard to get down the laundry I didn’t get to yesterday. Not too much, thank god, just three or four lines. Grandpa arrives around this time and insists on carrying the dry inside before getting the new batch from the laundry room.

I’m certainly not going to disagree at this point, and with his help we get the chore done pretty fast. Afterwards we have breakfast, talking about the latest news and whatever it is grandpa has heard while staying at his own place, as usual getting into heated discussions about world politics and the insanity of politicians.

Breakfast done and with coffee percolating noisily, I settle on the table so we can unwrap my knee, (talking all the while) give it some air and exercise–bend up, down, up, down, etc.– to see if the swelling is going down. Yes on both counts, so after a little while I rewrap the joint and climb off the table.

For a while I try to write, managing only a page and a half since I’m exhausted and just can’t keep my eyes from sagging during the entire process. I don’t get it. Yes, I’ve been a little short on sleep, but not so that I shouldn’t be able to keep my eyes open for C’s sake. Seeing the futility of it, I give up, get online for a bit and then put the computer away to do something a little more active.

It takes me a moment to figure out what it is I can do with my gimp leg and finally settle on the supply shelves and the two in the big closet that are still filled with paint cans, tools and whatnot from building the kitchen. It takes several trips to lug it all out to the courtyard room, along with getting supplies that were still stored in boxes, onto the now empty shelves, but I’m pretty pleased with myself by the time I finish up.

With nothing left to do, I make a salad to go with the fries big brother’s making for dinner, at which time the painkiller stops working again, of course, so I end up staggering towards my seat rather clumsily. I have dinner quickly, what with the dogs watching me attentively and as always ready to pounce. The meal remains untouched by the eager pack, allowing me relative peace afterwards while I reapply the bandages. Once again I apply a large amount of arnica that should ease some of the recent discomfort.

By the time I’ve recovered a bit from cleaning, the eye drooping starts again, which makes the rest of the evening pretty much a bust. Still, rather than spent too much time online tonight, I do a quick round on the net and start on today’s Blog before I hit the shower and then get ready to head on up to my cabin.

I feed the dogs, of course, clean out the mop bucket and have a relaxing read of Jennifer Crusie’s “What the lady wants”, which is a fun read each and every time, now being no exception.
Finally the night (which I intend to end early) draws to an end, bringing me back online and perhaps to a quick read into the review book I’m still working on.