Sick as a dog.

Song of the day: “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne. And boy was it appropriate.

I don’t know what the heck happened last night but for some reason I got sick as a dog after we got home from grocery shopping. Seriously, there was bowel movement going God knows where, vomiting and then, basically, passing out an hour before my bedtime.

The fun continued through the night, and then persisted during the morning where I woke (beyond being able to snooze some more) still feeling “the love” so to speak. I went down to the house under a cloudy sky, had several trips to you-know-where during the course of the morning.

We did some proofreading, and when big brother and grandpa left for the village to get a wheelbarrow (it’s been driving us daft to have only two what with all the projects going on) and cement for today’s outside work, and I dozed off in my chair for ‘bout half an hour. Afterwards I did some more proofreading, studied the Chicago manual thing, and then went out to start for the day.

The project of the day is pouring concrete, but instead of being able to just haul sand down from our supply I have to scrape the majority off the ground (it’s a collection of the spills from the last few weeks) sieve it clean of dirt and then use it for mixing concrete.

It’s a slow process, what with me still feeling poorly, but luckily after an hour or two, I’m deep enough into the project not to mind. With the younger sibs coming at the usual time, we manage to put down the path rather well. We finish at least and hour before sundown, and by then we have one wheelbarrow of concrete left.

Big brother and grandpa have worked by the old stable, finishing up the roof and walls, in case the predicted rains come. Though big brother is supposed to finish up the last bit of concrete, middle sister and I end up laying in a small concrete ditch by the lower gate, so the water won’t erode the ground.

Strangely enough the stomach ache doesn’t return until we’re done, so I take a long hot shower, which does improve my condition enough for me to have dinner - big brother made mac ‘n cheese - and start on the Blog. Hmmm. So now, I’ve recounted the day and I’ve not a clue as to what else to…oh yeah.

A bit of good news: Since the day before yesterday I’m officially under the triple digits (kilo wise, of course) with my weight.
Oh my, who’d have thought that I’d ever see the day that I’m going under the weight I haven’t been under since I was twelve years old; I sure didn’t.
But I gotta admit I’m noticing the weight loss more and more, heck, almost every day I’m finding bones in my body I never thought I had.

Apparently, I’ve got hipbones, shoulder blades, knees and even tendons…and I can actually just look down and see them, go figure! Hah. Big brother is warning me that a handful of pounds more and I’m going to have to be careful that I don’t get to skinny. Seriously, if someone had told me that I would need to watch out for weighing too little, I would have laughed in his or her faces.

Quicky.

No song of the day; it was just too busy for there to be room.

So, this morning our book “The Chicago manual of Style” arrived today. Yay. And considering we got up about two hours earlier, we dug in during the edit, just to see how much we had wrong. Not at all bad, the amount of “rules” we went through was stuff we basically knew already and hadn’t done wrong. Phew.

After five hours of pouring through information it is time to head up to the car to put in the boxes and the like so we can go grocery shopping. Over at our place it’s rather cool, but then when we arrive in town the temperature is a lot better, almost hot, which is rather wonderful.

I could of course go on and on about how we went from store to store all day long, but I’ll spare you. Oh yeah, we got out on the highway at one point, and then had to drive to the next town before we could turn around again, darn it. The entire thing, along with another wrong turn, cost us at least an hour, which made us take six whole hours to finish.

Seriously, by the time we got home it was dark, and the three of us (big brother, little sister and me) completely done for. Considering we did groceries for two weeks again, it was worth it. We got some stuff from the hard ware store too, so for the projects we’re set too. Can hardly wait.

And today is over (I’m actually watching “The Grand Torino” with Clint Eastwood, good one.)
Yep. With a little luck, I’ll turn in early, maybe do a little more proofreading, and then get up early too, to start fresh.

Just pictures.

Song of the day: “Mr. Rock & Roll” by Amy MacDonald.

Seeing as I’m way too tired. Spend four hours finishing the supportive wall, then digging ditches up by the main gate in case the weathercasts are correct and rainstorms drop in.

So instead of doing the usual blog today, I’m throwing in some pictures, just for the heck of it.

The support wall underneath the veranda day one. Right hand corner are the first two rocks, hah.



Day two. Coming along nicely. Sonia is taking a nap on top.



Day three. Big rocks all 'round.



Day three too. Wish I'd taken some tonight too, but I was too late.



The path leading towards the new support wall.



This is the outside wall of the courtyard.



Another one, just because.


The inside of the courtyard, taken from the east.



Other way round. That's our "big" olive tree in the center.


The view down from the terrace of the house. We're thinking about a veggie garden here.


My cabin and the new terrace below it. Love it!



The stairs big brother worked on today and yesterday. It's beside the wall that crashed.



The square between all the walls, with on the right the stairs you see above, and on the left last week's stairs. Yay.



The garden by the wall. Finally managed to capture the flowers.


This 'll do for today. Tomorrow is grocery shopping day. Aaaargh.

Autum's approaching rapidly...darn it!

Song of the day: “Pop goes my heart” by Hugh Grant and band from the movie Music and Lyrics. The song cracks me up every time, especially when I imagine the clip they made for it.

Today’s proofreading went well after the usual morning chores. We managed a solid chapter in the hours that passed, doing a few more random fact checks while we were at it. Yep, definitely a good day for the manuscript.

The weather was wonderfully (at least the sibs thought so) cool. Me? I’m already missing the heat of the summer darn it. Still, the sun was shining, a fresh breeze came in from the sea and well…it was an excellent day for outside work, and we used it wholeheartedly.

Went out about half and hour earlier than usual, and since the sibs were still doing…well, whatever the heck they like to do before the workday starts, I go down to the new wall to start hauling some rocks to the site. I’ve got a nice stash going, when little sister begins making cement. The wall goes really well today, middle sister and I add a good foot and a half on top of the section we did yesterday.

The dogs are constantly in the way, of course. They love nothing more than lying down exactly there where we have to walk back and forth. Now the little cockers aren’t much of a problem, but labs Knight II (Great Dane) well, they’re hard to step over, especially when they decide to get up just when you’re trying to step over them. Aaargh. Almost fell flat on my face while carrying two huge buckets of cement up the narrow path.

Big ass rocks today, make it a speedy process. One rock was actually so big I couldn’t lift it at first, but then after warming up with some smaller ones, I do manage it…of course by then I’d already forgotten that I tried the weight out and found it too heavy…still, I didn’t remember until I had already placed it beside the wall.
We use cement for the façade of the wall, clean and smooth for the flat big rocks; concrete in the back and then pour a really thin mix over the entirety. That wall isn’t going anywhere, that’s a fact. I’m going to have to post pictures to do it justice. Hah.

What with the days getting shorter, about half way through a bikini top gets to be too cold, so I had to get a shirt. Soon I won’t be able to do shorts anymore either, darn it. I’m actually cold during the cleanup afterwards, but manage to warm up a little when I start hauling down wheelbarrows of sand for tomorrow’s work.

That done and with twilight already starting up, I head towards where big brother is finishing the three steps of yet another stairs he is making. I help out, by throwing in some rubble and then we smoothen out the last step of the day.

It is almost completely dark when we continue on our way up to make measure out the gate so big brother can start making plans for the new gate we intend to build in the next few months. What with yesterday’s batch, we should be able to make it too. Yay. The only thing we need now is steel, which we’re going to have to buy next month or so. I’m actually looking forward to it.

So that brings another successful day to an end. Maybe some more proofreading tonight, and then I’m done.

Foundation.

Song of the day: “Foundations” by Kate Nash. Very appropriate in reference to today’s activities I think. Besides, it’s a happy song so maybe we can say I was in a cheerful mood, hah.

The alarm goes off as usual and I start on the morning rituals, stiff and slightly sore from yesterday’s sand hauling. Once the morning’s chores are over and done with, breakfast had, big brother and I settle down for a working session like yesterday too. It goes rather well, this fact checking kind, and it is rather necessary, considering we made so many changes during the rewrite edit.

We steadily work our way through three different scenes before it’s time to head out into the cool afternoon. What with the preparations done already, little sister can start making cement immediately while I head to the old terrace below the house and prepare the section where we’re going to need to build the fortification wall. Though big brother had intended to start working on a new set of stairs, it soon becomes clear that I’m going to need some help to get the foundation in.

In the next few hours, we dig, hose dirt away and then start laying the foundation of the new wall.
Big loads of concrete and rocks get hauled in, piled together until we end up with a solid wall that is one foot high, two and half wide and solid enough to hold a house, should such a thing be necessary.

Today’s cement and rocks put in, we spend about half an hour cleaning up the mess we made, before big brother and I haul two wheelbarrows each down for tomorrow’s building session. By then the sky is fully overcast, and rather than spend some time on minor chores, big brother and I decide to head out to get the batch of wood we’d intended to get last week, but didn’t get around to.

The trip goes well, and when we arrive, the wood is waiting for loading. Within half an hour, we have the cab filled to full capacity. Once I’ve shut the door…it didn’t go all that easy, but I managed in the end…we start back on our way home. Grandpa is thrilled when we return, especially since the batch will replenish his supplies considerably. By now, we should have enough to actually build a new gate for the property. Yay.

A very late dinner follows when we get home, and the temperatures have dropped to such a point that it is actually too cold for a dip in the pool, darn it. Well, that about sums today up, I guess. Hopefully there’ll be another proofread check, but if not, I’ll be happy to turn in for the night.

Lotsa stuff.

Song of the day: “Downtown” by Petula Clark. Gawd, can they be any older.

So let’s keep it short again, lots got done, just nothing that was particularly exciting.

I started out getting up in time, but then about an hour later I literally couldn’t keep my eyes open, which is why I took a seventy-minute catnap on the couch before big brother and I got to work. Since the lack of focus that bothered us yesterday is still very much in presence, we spend the remainder of writing time going randomly through the manuscript, picking out scenes, checking facts etc. It is a rather relaxing way to work, so we just might do the same thing tonight.

Okay, today’s projects: The path worked out fine, and by the time we finish computer work, the temporary fencing can be removed and we are able to try it out for walking. The ridges we put in, so we won’t skid are deep enough while not feeling unpleasant underneath our shoes, so all is well.

Next we head for the terrace underneath the veranda, to check on what needs to be done before we can start fortifying the old wall. As it turns out, it will be easier to build a new wall at a slight distance and build a terrace in front of the house. Sure it’ll be a lot of work, but in the end it will be less than when we have to tear down the old one…which could be slightly dangerous as well.

So yeah, more wall building ahead, but it is a project that won’t have a lot priority once we’ve build the supportive part on the east side of the house. Next we haul the cement mixer down to the old pool terrace and while the sisters and big brother begin hauling rocks closer to the veranda, little brother and I head up to the gate.

Armed with a shovel and wheelbarrows, we make a joint effort to get a large amount of sand down so we can start under the veranda either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. After eight loads, we stop with the sand, figuring that we’ve got enough for at least one day of cement mixing. By then big brother has started using the sledgehammer on a large outcropping in the main path. It’s the place where for the past ten years cement was made, so there’s a lot of dried concrete that we proceed to haul down to save for filling up the empty space behind the future wall.

With that done we do some cleaning up, after which we head for the carport to do some minor repairs. The glass gets set in my new window, the lock put in and since I’m busy anyway, I repair the doors of two closets in my cabin.

Now all that’s left for today…after this Blog that is. Yep, I’m just about ready to call it a day…you know what. I am calling it a day! Hah.