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.

Strange day.

I’m late, late, LATE! darn it. But then, considering that on the overall today was a crappy one, I don’t suppose it will matter much one way or other. Hah.

The day starts out with me oversleeping, aaaargh…I hate it when that happens…and to add to the insult I dreamt about building the wall, all over again. I am so friggin confused when I wake up that I stumble to the door to check if the darn thing is still there.

It is, of course, so with the dogs storming out into the yard, I start on the morning rituals, grumbling about dratted dreams and the way they can seem so darn real that it freaks me out.

Upon arriving at the house I am feeling a little under the weather for no good reason, and literally have to force myself to hang and fold laundry before using the same forcing to have the breakfast I don’t feel like and sit down to start working on the edit.

It shows in the amount of work big brother and I do this morning: Only two pages, darn it. It doesn’t help that I need to give our tenant a lift to the bar where the ambulance is to pick her up. It seriously interrupts the session, as life so often tends to do.

The fun ain’t over yet either, since we have stop the edit early too, because we really need to get a new load of rocks and end up finding none in our usual spot. Major disappointment!
Luckily, by that time the warm spring weather is improving my mood a bit, and little sister and I end up doing a short jog over the forest path, just for the heck of it.

We head on home, little sister has made plans of her own and really can’t spare the time when big brother and I decide to drive around a bit in search of a different location for rocks.
It is a nice drive really, one that takes us up a narrow winding road up the mountain.

Once high in the air, the plant life changes considerably and we do manage to load up the back of the truck to satisfaction. By the time we return home, the sun is setting and after unloading the new batch, big brother, grandpa and I spend some time clearing the mess in the carport and carrying down the forty pound bags of dog food for storage under the roof. It is during such chores that I really do notice that the workouts I’ve done over the month have improved my general health. I can carry two of those bags without much effort now.

Next, we shift the larger rocks that we unloaded there into the center garden, at which time I need to head on out again to pick our tenant up. I’m a few minutes early, but it doesn’t really matter since the sun goes down anyway and we have done all we could during the daylight hours.

Once back at the house and soothing my frantic pack, I end up making a quick snack for myself…no one felt like cooking, really…and eat it while we watch and episode of “Life”.
There are some news reports that snag our attention. Apparently there was an attempted attack of some sort on the Queen of the Netherlands, right there in a town we frequented a lot, back in the day.

It’s all quite impressive…shocking, sure, but impressive nonetheless. As it turns out, some nut decided to drive his car full speed into a large crowd, wounding more than a dozen and killing five. Always strange to see such disasters strike in places that you remember being at, at some point in your life. Brings it closer, I guess.

Afterwards, big brother and I attempts another edit session, but add only one more page before the evening draws to an end and I take my dogs up for the night.

Strange day.

Change in plans. Yikes!

Well, that was another busy day...totally unexpected too, considering it didn’t go at all according to plan, but what the hey, not much I could do about it.

So, what happened? It all started out like any other day, really. I wake up, lay staring at the ceiling for about fifteen minutes with the alarm screeching on the shelve beside my bed…and I don’t give a fig about the noise while I fight an internal battle about sleeping some more and getting up. The latter wins.

With a sigh, I roll out of bed, groaning a little at the sore muscles and hobbling towards the door to let the dogs into the yard. I do some reading…I found a book I’d placed on one of my shelves months ago, and forgot all about. Yay.

Once I’ve gone through the morning rituals, I head to the main house to start on the day with the usual little chores, breakfast, and joining in on the discussion between grandpa and big brother.

Today’s subject was the “wonderful” new potato that is being developed, which would be suitable for making paper. Oh my, stuff like that really sets grandpa off. The insanity of it all just makes him shake his head at those who come up with these kinds of “brilliant” ideas. Seriously, what with the world inhabiting the billions of people blithely walking about all needing food to survive, it is really stupid to start using precious soil to make something like paper.

This course of conversation inevitably leads towards another one that gets his hackles up:

Due to environmental reasons, crops are being grown for bio fuels. This takes up at least thirty percent of Europe’s capabilities just to have cars drive on stuff that is just as harmful…if not worse in some ways…for the better of the environment. Which is what ticks granddad off—a lot! Farmers that could be growing food–that now has to be transported from different countries (using the fuel they are growing instead) just so people can eat.

And then I’m not even going to start about what granddad thinks about the way governments and commerce treat farmers (he was one himself, you see). In order to compete they are forced to grow or go under, which means that practically every farmer has to go into debt just to survive and grow into what can basically be called a factory.

It gives him shivers to think of what has become of the farmers: Especially since he remembers the postwar years where the farmers were the foundation that allowed Europe to survive those first years.
Now, if disaster were to strike (war, depleted fossil fuels, the fall of the economy, etc. etc.) and the commerce broke down, not a single country in Europe would be able to fall back on something as essential as supplying their own food.

The thing that scares him most is the fact that it could happen “just-like-that” and the fact that us “kids” would be there to go through it. It is during such days that he is actually relieved that he is getting on in age and that with a little luck he won’t have to see that day come.

Ah, doomsday thoughts, they make for the most interesting discussions I’ll admit. They’re loud, they’re heated, and they’re fun…in a weird sort of way. It is probably the reason why I’ve written several stories about the subject. Hah.

But anyways, once grandpa and big brother have moved to a different tangent, I set up my computer to do a bit more writing until the majority of today’s discussion is over and we can start on today’s edit.

We get about five pages done, at which time the change of plans arrives.
Tomorrow our tenant needs to go to rehab again, and considering we were planning to go grocery shopping then, that plan is quickly nixed. At first, we want to shift it up a day, Friday, but considering that May 1st is a holiday over here that won’t do either. It leaves only one option: Today.

But, of course, this opens a whole new can of worms. The car is still filled with a full load of sand, which was supposed to be used in today’s building session. After some debate, we finally decide that in order to fit everything that needs to be done into the afternoon, we will be forced to cut our session on the computers short and start building an hour earlier than usual.

So, by the time the younger sibs are out and about, I head outside to start hauling rocks and prepare for the early building session. Little brother and sister soon join me, and since middle sister is still doing some inside chores, little brother and I start mixing cement just to get things rolling.

For the next few hours we lay rocks on the wall like mad, adding more layers to the length of it, and even using the last bit of cement for a threshold under the gate (we need to get rid of that last bit fast, and can’t afford to spend more time on the wall) while one by one we head into the house to start preparing for today’s grocery shopping. We’re all grubby, so we all have to take turns with the shower. Hah.

We’re cutting it really short, all things considered. By they time we drive up to the road we only have two and half hours left to get all of the shopping done.
Underway we’re already planning on which stores to hit first…some close earlier than others…and arrive at the first one half an hour before it’s closing time.

Frozen goods get bought first, followed by a chain supermarket that has some products (for bargain prices) our regular store doesn’t carry. We rush through it, to make it to the next store, where I decide to treat myself with a bargain price dress, just because I’ll be able to fit into it now that I’ve dropped over sixty pounds. Hah.
It’ll be so darn cool this summer…why, I can hardly wait to wear it.

It’s one of those hippie things. Wrinkled cotton, spaghetti straps and a hem that goes all the way down to my feet (a miracle, that. It’s hard to get those lengths when you’re 6 feet tall. Hah). I can already see myself sitting on my porch on a warm summer day, working at my computer, ice tea beside me, writing away the hours blissfully cool. Wonderful.

The last store gets hit twenty minutes before closing time and we rush through it at top speed. We find a pair sandals for grandpa, sneakers for me and little brother and a couple of tops that are on sale too, so the entire grocery thing is a success when we head home after sundown.

We’re all pretty much exhausted by the time we arrive, the crazy pack waiting impatiently, but we still have to store everything away. Luckily, working together smoothly–the way we always do–we are done within half an hour and have dinner at ten in the evening.

Grandpa has made a mashed potato, carrot dish while we were out, so, much to our relief we aren’t required to cook at all today. The hardy meal certainly falls well on our empty stomachs as we spend the remainder of the evening (only an hour and a half) watching an episode of “The Evidence”. It hardly registers, though, considering we’re more than a little distracted from working on getting ticks off the dogs. Hah.

I’m more than a little relieved when midnight arrives, and I can head up to my cabin for a bit of R&R before calling it a day.

No title, I guess.

So, last night, after writing the day’s Blog, I find my very first official reader review posted on Amazon. A strange experience, that. I mean, I have heard from readers before. People I hardly know…don’t know…and those I do know. I’ve had readers that loved the W.I.s, I’ve had those who hated them, and some who just “liked“ them but they’ve always been personal. Messages directed straight at me. For all means and purposes, they were my own little pleasures, which I enjoyed in semi-secrecy. Hah.

It is a very strange experience. Heck, up until a year ago, I didn’t even know that actual reviews were important.
I certainly don’t read them when I’m out looking for a book, so it never occurred to me that they were a necessity–especially for unknown authors.

So the first came up yesterday, and it was a good one, fair and honest for as far as I can judge it. It had pros and cons, and was very nicely written. But still, I’m not entirely sure how to deal with it emotionally. It’s just too new, I guess. (Undiscovered territory for me, if you will.) We’ll have to see how the ol’ noggin’ files it away for future purposes. Hah.

But let’s start on the day:
I wake up right on the dot, reasonably rested and ready to start the day. There’s a bit of the eye drooping thing, but other than that I get into working mode pretty fast today. Ah, what a good night’s rest doesn’t do. I can actually move without feeling joints pop with every movement.

But anyways, once I get to the house, finish up with the morning chores and have had my breakfast, I switch the computer on and work a bit on a different project.
In the kitchen, big brother and grandpa are having their usual debate, but since I’m so focused on the screen, trying and succeeding to get some work done, I am unable to keep track of today’s subject.

At last, almost two hours after waking up, big brother and I settle in for the day’s edit. It goes well again, at least five pages get worked through, and the scene is good. Complicated, yes, but still good and lots of fun to work on.

We’re still in the midst of it when my phone rings, announcing a short break in the routine since I need to head on up to grandpa’s place. Our tenant needs to go to rehab today, and considering that the ambulance driver is afraid to come down our steep drive sweep, I’ll need to give the woman and her caretaker a lift to the nearest bar.

The weather is sunny and warm on the most part, but while helping our tenant into her wheelchair and towards the ambulance that will take her to Marbella for a two-hour rehab session some clouds mar the beautiful spring sky.

Fifteen minutes later I’m back and we continue the edit…almost too late since the sibs are already present and are pushing to start on the wall. I’m just about to shut down the computer, when I decide I want to let big brother read at least a portion of the scene I wrote yesterday…which results in another read that stretches on for another half hour.

Big brother is properly impressed. Edits are practically unnecessary as we go over the five pages, laughing at the characters’ whit, and nod our approval every time we realize that I wrote something down just right.

I think I’ll have to explain, again, what the scene describes.
As you’ll recall from the past Blogs (if you read them) the main female character suffers from a multiple personality disorder, and is inhabited by five very distinct identities.
So this scene is when these characters discover that in order to heal, they will have to stop existing. Of course, not all of them agree, resulting in bickering and snarling, which leads to the most amusing conversation I’ve written yet…I think. Hah.

It is hard, actually, to write a scene and get involved while never being able to actually describe any physical actions for the four that are having the dialogue.
And you can’t just write down, she said this, the other said that and so on, and on. No. There is a need for variety in such a dialog and it took considerable thought in the two hours I needed to get it all down.

Now the nice thing about this latest scene is that all this editing we have been doing these past months, has improved my writing to a point that most of the few improvements we had to make to the scene were typos, rather than actual mistakes. It was somewhat of a mind-boggler for me.

But anyways, we are running a little behind when we finally start on the wall, but the younger sibs and I are determined to start even with the small amount of sand left from yesterday. In the mean time, big brother and grandpa depart to get a new load of sand for cement.

The actual building is going nice enough several more layers along the length bring the project closer to completion. Little sister and I are working on it, when big brother returns and starts hauling one humongous rock towards the end section of the wall. There a wide set of stairs will give perfect access to the patio door, in the near future.

The friggin’ rock is so big that at one point, even little brother needs to pitch in with the carrying, just so they can get it in place.
I’m in the middle of placing a particularly heavy stone high on the wall, too, when suddenly my phone rings, startling me enough to almost drop the darn thing on my feet. Hah.

Our tenant needs to be picked up, and I need to wade my way through the dogs in order to get to the car…still partially filled with sand, naturally.
As it turns out, when I arrive, our tenant and her caretaker have just ordered their coffee at the bar, leaving me to wait outside. I’m a mess from building, covered in dust and wearing old clothes to boot, so I really don’t much fancy the idea of joining them.

At long last they are done and I can drive them both home. Ten minutes later I’m back and help big brother finish up the last bit of cement before we take our dogs inside, where little sister is preparing dinner.
While she is finishing up, and little brother is feeding the dogs, I quickly hang and fold the day’s laundry, wash up and sit down to wolf down the meal. I’m literally starving.

What with running behind on time again today, we don’t manage to fit in another editing session, much to my regret. But since we’re all pretty bushed anyway, we take the opportunity to watch this week’s episode of “NCIS” and “Burn Notice”.

And with that, the day comes to a blissful end. At midnight, on the dot, I head up to my cabin to start on the night.

Zzzzzzzzzz

Gawd, I’m so friggin’ exhausted, I can hardly think. Let’s go over this fast, shall we?

Lots got done today. I managed to write three pages of a scene…finishing it at last…then edited at least four pages of the manuscript (the work in progress, if you will) because, let’s face it, the story needs to get done so I can start sending it out to agents and publishers. Enough dallying already! I want it over with so I can write again.

It goes well enough, I guess, even with all the distractions going on during this particular morning when big brother and grandpa headed out to get more sand for cement. I get most of the actual writing done while they’re out.

Then, six hours after waking up, I put the computer away to head out to the wall so I can start hauling rocks for today’s session. We’re going to need lots of big ones, considering the wall needs to be as strong like the first one. Also, mid-sized ones to lift up high (you really don’t want to do the heavy ones higher than chest level) and small ones to fill up the gaps. Basically, every size available needs to be hauled. Hah.

Little sister and I…she joined me after about fifteen minutes…have moved at least half a ton of rocks so they’re accessible while we’re building when everyone finally arrives.
Building start about an hour later once middle sister has mixed the cement. With little brother supplying buckets of the mix to us, we begin the puzzling once more.

We add quite a bit to the wall today. The middle section is only two feet away from completion…with the rest rapidly following. Also, the second to last missing section is added, connecting the wall to the tower. Yay.

Around sundown we call it a day, and every muscle in my body is literally screaming. Hah. As promised grandpa baked potatoes, but in order to get our dose of veggies I still need to throw a batch of zucchini disks (grandpa gratefully cut everything while we were busy) in the oven. I sprinkle some herbs and spices over the top, add some cheese and let it bake while I head for the shower.

We have dinner, which was good and more than a little necessary, watch “CSI” and “Bones” while removing more ticks of the dogs.
For the last portion of the evening big brother and we do another edit…only a page and a half this time…make some more improvements to another project we’re working on, and then it is finally time to head on up to my cabin.

Gawd, I need some Sleep with a capital S. This was a horrid blog. Hah.

Around 200, I think.

When the alarm screeches this morning, I have the serious inclination to smash the bloody machine into tiny splintered components. The blasted thing! Why do I use it again? Oh yeah, I remember now: Never mind.

It’s a horrid day…weather wise. Clouds cover the sky like thick rain-heavy blankets and water has been coming down since dawn. Everything is wet and when I open the door, the dogs take exactly five jubilant steps off the porch before they suddenly realize that there’s mud on the ground, and hurry back inside.

Bloody idiots. And such whiners. Here they are, bouncing like crazy to go out, and when they can, it’s too wet. Aaargh. But anyway, after the morning rituals I head down to the house, almost falling flat on my face due to the slippery mud. Klutz ‘R us, anyone?

The dogs hurry on inside since the rain starts up again when we pass through the gate. It’s freezing, and the fact that I didn’t get enough sleep (I know, it’s my own fault. I was dawdling last night) doesn’t help at all. So, as a result my eyes stay half-stock through the first two hours of the edit…and writing part of one of the new scenes.

I give big brother a laughing fit really, considering I was sitting there with my eyes shut, typing away at the keys and writing half a page before I realized I was actually falling asleep. Insanity! But anyways, after rereading the scene, it wasn’t half bad…once I removed the typos. Hah.
Muscle memory and a rambling brain: Ya gotta love the combination of both.

Gawd, I almost forgot, but I got a message this morning from a reader who just finished “W.I. Investigations/The White Doves” and according to her it is the best one yet of the series.
The White Doves is definitely taking the lead in the which-duo-is-favored” game. I think it’s up to seventy percent now, with the others following closely behind, battling for second and third place, hah.

Ah, Ashley and Elyse Cooper. They do make a wonderful pair in the W.I.s…with so many opportunities to deepen the intrigue in the near future. Yay.

But enough of that. Back to the day:

Doing some physical exercises thankfully gets my mental juices flowing and for the remainder of today’s edit (aided by strong coffee, naturally) I am actually coherent. We manage the wonderful total of six pages to add to the done section of the book.

By the time the sibs arrive, the sun appears at last and an hour later we head on out with the truck to get a load of rocks. Since our usual track is getting boring we decide to take a different dirt road today, and stumble upon a rather marvelous open section in the woods. There are so many rocks lying about that we can literally toss everything in the back without the strenuous task of going up and down slopes unless we want to.

There are some beautiful specimens available, and I’m almost bouncing around like a four year old as I hurry back and forth exclaiming oohs and aahs over this piece of rock and that. Gorgeous. They’re going to be a pleasure to put into the wall that’s a fact.

Cheered with the new spot for loading, we head back to the house to drop off the large batch…with the help of the sibs it takes only ten minutes to get it all out…and then head out again to get more.

Admittedly, big brother and I get a little overexcited by some of our finds, adding perhaps a rock…or ten…too many to the load. When we finally realize that it is getting too much for the truck we cease looking entirely just to resist temptation.

Middle sister has joined us on this trip and she’s just as bad as we are. So instead, we take the opportunity to look around in hopes of finding a plant or two that can be dug out and put into pots for transportation. We find a few very pretty ones before we finally head on home, red-cheeked and a little out of breath from the exertion in the now warm spring sunshine.

Driving home is slow progress, since we have to be careful not to damage the car with the heavy burden, but we make it without mishap, and spend another fifteen minutes unloading. Then it is time to head inside to eat the meal little brother had prepared for dinner.

During consumption, we watch an episode of “Medium”…something changed about the show. About half way through, I already knew the plot, and then the actors kept dragging it out before finally realizing what was up. I hate it when that happens. I will be having a dialogue with the TV, saying over and over what the so called mystery is…and then spend an hour or two picking ticks of the dogs. It isn’t until an hour and a half before midnight that we decide to do another quick edit.

It goes well. We’re pretty excited about the separate project that has been keeping us from working harder on Saving Nina…or at least we’re getting very close to being excited about it. Hah.

So, at midnight I head on up to my cabin for the usual evening routine and of course today’s Blog, followed by a quick round of the forums.
My, how the weeks fly. I’m guessing that by now I’ve just about reached post number 200, meaning that I’ve been doing this Blog thing for exactly that amount of days. Who’d have thought that I’d hold out that long? Hah.

Picking up Yama and building, of course.

I managed to get in almost eight whole hours of sleep this night. Gawd, it felt like an eternity. I kept waking up, wondering why the friggin’ alarm didn’t go off. Hah.
My eyes don’t droop for the first three hours of the day, however, so that was definitely a plus.

Whatever dreams visited me, I don’t recall them, which is a good thing, considering that I have every intention to keep today’s Blog short again, just so I’ll be able to get another proper night’s rest.

Let’s see, I go through the morning rituals as usual. Spent at least fifteen minutes stretching the kinks from spine and limbs alike. I wonder if it is age that is playing up already. Seriously, I refuse to believe that it is normal to be so friggin’ sore in the morning that a body can hardly move. Hah.

Once I arrive at the house I start on the laundry real fast, ‘cause a friend drops in for a really short visit–half an hour tops–and then have breakfast while chatting with big brother and grandpa…as usual. Rather uninteresting, I know, but I can’t change the facts.
The most recent subject of conversation is the swine flu breaking out in Mexico City, and even Kansas, I believe.

Possible pandemics make for such intriguing discussions. What with today’s globalisation, containing such diseases is going to be darn hard. It always brings to mind those end-of-days movies, where some horrible virus has wiped out the world’s population. I mean, I can see it already. Some crazy doctor thought to see what the effect of the Spanish flu would do, when injected into a pig, and voila, a totally new disease that can be transferred to humans breaks out. Hah.
But seriously, it’s scary news for sure. However, it makes for excellent book material too, there’s no denying that little fact.

But okay, before I start wandering off to different tangents that are bound to keep me tied to my computer for another hour…or three, I’ll continue with today’s report.
Once breakfast is over, big brother and I settle behind our computers to start on today’s edit.

Though we don’t manage as many as we have on other days, we do get three more pages done…Good scene. One of the characters (the MPD kind, that is) dives headfirst into a dangerous situation, seriously pissing off the hero of the story, who is desperately trying to keep her safe. Hah.

Three hours pass with the edit, and then it’s time to head on out to resume with the wall. Lots of rocks to move again today, and rather than getting them from the rapidly dwindling pile on the path, I decide to get into the little garden. There are several handfuls that still lie about, so I start picking them up and throwing them over the wall just to be able to use them for the second wall later on.

By the time I toss the last one up, the sibs have joined me, and together we start laying the last part of the foundation while we wait for middle sister to start mixing the cement.

We had wanted to put most our efforts into the wall tonight, but since we don’t have enough sand for a full session, we decide to lay part of the path leading to the small garden that splits the walls in two. Many massive stones get put into the ground, cement welding them together before we use the last three wheelbarrows of the mix for the foundation that we already laid out.

There are several rocks that big brother and I need to put up together…they’re huge…while little sister works like mad to fix them in place with the cement.
About two hours before sundown there’s no more sand, and it is time for us to head to the village. We need to pick up Yama from the vet nonetheless.

Since we’ll be out anyway, we decide to go the long way ‘round on the way back so we can get another batch of rocks. When we arrive at the vet hospital, we have mom’s Cocker Spaniel vaccinated (he’s out of the yard a lot, so it is better to be safe than sorry) and walk to the back of the clinic where Yama is curled into the corner of her little cage.

She looks pitiful, poor thing. The vet explains that when they tried to walk her, she was so scared that she tried to run off, so they decided not to walk her for the remainder of the day. She’s so frightened that for a while she just stares at the vet, at which time I stick my hand out to her and croon soothing words at her.

At long last, when the vet takes several steps back from the cage, Yama cautiously makes her way out of the cage, squeezing herself between my squatting form and the wall before moving on to big brother who has come up behind me. Big brother is definitely the safest place to be in her opinion. Hah.

Once she has fully caught our scents, she is more than eager to depart, so while I pay the bill (yikes, three hundred bucks and change) and take the remainder of the medication she’ll need for the next week, big brother takes her out to the car where mom and grandpa are waiting for us. She went through the operation just fine and doesn’t seem to be bothered by the ordeal too much.

We depart moments later, heading towards the bumpy forest path that leads towards our usual spot of rocks. Working quickly, while mom takes Alexander (her Cocker Spaniel) and Yama out for short stroll, we fill up the truck bed to the top and head on back home.

The sibs are waiting for us when we arrive, and we rapidly unload the rocks to re-supply the pile that is getting smaller every day. We’re going to have to do two trips tomorrow if we want to continue building at the rate we’re going.

Inside the house, with the dogs going crazy over our return, along with the unfamiliar scent Yama carries, we take a moment to calm them down and then settle at the table to have dinner of the meal mom prepared before our departure. Spaghetti and tomato sauce. Nothing goes down better than carbs at the end of hard day’s work, hah.

After watching the recorded episode of the today’s “The Closer”, we switch to “Crazy in Alabama” (cute movie. I’ve seen it before but it stays fun) and switch on the computer for another quick edit. We only manage about an hour, before midnight arrives and I head up to my cabin to feed the dogs and prepare for what will hopefully be another early night.