Well, considering I still have a lot to do, I’m going to keep it short. Very lazy of me, but in light of the exciting news two days ago, something had to be notched down a little. The blog, regretfully, lost.
So, let me pack the last couple of days together. The song of the day was: “Nightfever” you know by whom. No song today, I fear.
We finished reading through the first three chapters of the manuscript again, and finished this particular chore. We’re going to take the remainder of the weekend to do some random reading and then send it out.
Of course, there is still the synopsis and the short message to do, but other than that, we should be able to get it all done in time. Yay.
Other than the reading, there is the glass and wood wall we’re working on. It’s been sanded and painted twice now, so ‘round this time tomorrow we should be ready to put it in and get a head start on the small office.
Grandpa’s fence on the little wall is up too, along with the pillar of rocks, so that is looking pretty good. It turned out differently than I intended, but grandpa is happy with it at least - he didn’t like the idea of a nice thick rock pillar (it would ruin his view) in front of the fence, so he’s got a wooden one instead.
Two of the puppies are doing well the other two are iffy. If things don’t turn for the better, we’re going to have to take them to the vet in the morning. Rather sad, but I don’t think they’re going to make it. It makes me even more angry with the folks who left them, darn it.
But that’s it for today. Still some stuff to do, so I guess I’ll be right back here on Sunday…Monday at the latest.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Oh my GOD!!! 4th one
Front note! I can’t wait to say it so I’m gonna jump the gun (details at the end) 4th publisher asked to read my manuscript. And it’s a BIG one. Pretty darn huge, actually, like totally commercial! Aaah!
Okay, here’s the usual blog:
I think I’m going to have to change the routines a little, ‘cause I’m starting to get more and more trouble writing the daily blogs. I’m thinking about once every two days, and we’ll see how that goes.
For some reason I can’t remember yesterday’s song of the day, but I do remember a rather hilarious moment in the afternoon where I belted out “Singing in the rain” while my teeth were chattering.
The day started off early, what with the new schedule, and a slightly overcast sky through which the sun peeked only occasionally. Cool, yes, but not cold yet, thankfully. The smell of rain was in the air, however.
There were the usual morning rituals, laundry, chores, etc, at which time I found out that Patrick Swayze passed away. I didn’t know whether to be surprised or not, in particular because the thought occurred to me…but then the totally out-of-the-blue thought that something would happen with Mia Farrow (I mean seriously, I know two movies of the woman and they didn’t leave that big an impression) popped up too, so my brain was probably just being a tad morbid. Hah.
Poor Swayze and family, though. Always came across as a sympathetic guy and he did have some wonderful movies.
But anyway…big brother and I spent the majority of the morning and afternoon working with the “Chicago Manual of Style”, going through punctuation and such (mostly checking what we already did, and changing a few) and then finding that time flew past before we’re even through the entire manuscript. Time does fly when you’re having fun. Hah.
We had just wrapped up the day’s session, and were getting ready to head outside when grandpa phoned that we had to get our butts up to the carport so we could carry the new wooden structure under the roof: it started to rain!
We got up to the carport just when the splashing started. Slowly at first, a distant rumble of thunder over our mountain, and then a massive bang-I’d just changed clothes and pulled on my hiking boots for today’s work-when the sky literally tore open.
Thorgal (golden retriever) and Chamea (Irish setter) both made a beeline down to the courtyard, safe from the downpour of hair and rain; Chaos was nowhere in sight (he felt that first drop and went straight inside before he got muddy, hah) and Nanook actually went down to the living room when she usually prefers solitude in mom’s tower room. The majority of dogs didn’t care a fig with the water coming down like small missiles…heck, Kolossus (German Shepherd) was actually just sitting at the top of the ridge, watching us.
Within just three minutes huge amounts of water were pouring down the path, rudely reminding me that the end of the gutter was still closed off. Considering both brothers and I were already soaking through from digging a quick ditch (we’d forgotten this particular part, right over the new stairs) so we were scrambling to keep mud from going down. I’m not kidding that within a minute not an inch of my body was left dry and I was literally floating in my boots. Hah.
While the brothers continue with the ditch, I use a hammer and chisel on the closed off gutter in the carport and jump back when the sudden release of the basin that formed behind the low wall sends mud sloshing right into my knees. Yuck!
What with all of us being soaked already, we look around at the ditches dug, checking if everything runs properly, and see, down the mountain, that the big gutter on the main path really needs to be lengthened, because now it’s creating a delta all over the lower terrace. It’ll have to wait until the rain passes, however.
Five minutes later, the downpour stops as fast as it started. It’s a little eerie, really, but since we’d all changed into dry clothes by that time, we head down to check the damage by the guest room.
The room wasn’t flooded, thankfully, but the half bath and the hallway were. Apparently we didn’t a good enough job cleaning out the drain in front of it. The next half hour I spend, jamming the metal movable rod into the tube until, around two meters down the obstruction comes loose. Another stream of mud over my (clean) feet is the result. Darn it.
By this time the sun had come out again, and with it cheerfully shining down on us we decided to tackle the delta area by digging the ditch out straight to the end. It took at least and hour, but by then everything had dried enough for us to head up to grandpa’s bungalow to resume building the small wall around his yard.
So grandpa changed his mind about the pillar we had wanted to do for his gate, which means we don’t have to go through the trouble of building three, square sides, and just finish straightening out the wall with a handmade batch of cement.
Tomorrow (technically today, of course) we have to ad a few more rocks, but then we’re all done with this particular project. Done with that, the younger sibs headed down to the house (little sister was going to prepare dinner) I join grandpa and big brother in the carport where they are sawing wooden slats for the office wall.
We don’t finish the majority of the wooden structure until after nightfall, and what with all the debris (we’ve piled a lot up by the old stable, so we can take small bits at a time) that still need to be carried off, big brother and I head out to the landfill.
Oh-my-God! You won’t believe what we found this time: Some sort of office or store must have gone out of business because there was this massive pile of wooden boards that is going to be perfect for shelving and desks in what is soon going to be our office. Seriously. There was like 600 bucks worth of wood that was basically in pristine condition. Now that’s what I call REAL recycling: another person’s garbage, made into new furniture. It’s going to be downright beautiful.
It took us more than an hour to get it all in (we even had to leave behind four boards because we couldn’t possibly fit them in)…along with this high bed with four drawers below it…and get back home at precisely midnight.
What followed was a belated dinner, some sort of Idols program was on TV and it annoyed the heck out of me, and then it was up to my cabin where we attempted another proofreading session. Regretfully I was too tired by then; I really couldn’t keep my eyes open, so we called it a day and I got ready for bed.
Today:
A jumble of dreams whirled through my head during the night: something about a mineshaft caving in, and the top entrance being shut down by debris. Then, when some guy (I don’t know who it was but he reminded me of an actor) tried to remove them it caved in, almost sending the guy down with it all.
The day is comfortably warm and the sun is shining bright when I wake up, due to Trin Trin dragging my blankets off the bed a mere minute before the alarm goes off. I lock the monster boxer up in the back yard and then let the rest of the pack out in the open before I start on the morning rituals.
I’m in the midst of it when in the distance I hear a noisy bang, half a minute before the power goes out. It stays that way for almost an hour and doesn’t restart until I’m down at the house, just about ready to start thinking about some activity that doesn’t involve the use of electricity.
The proofreading can commence after all. Hah.
We go through the same routine as yesterday, using the book to go over the remaining errors and such and before I know it the hours reserved for manuscript work is over. (We are actually an hour late.) We head on up to start work on grandpa’s little wall, the wood/glass wall for our office (which needs to be sanded) and then I have to leave to take our tenant and her caretaker to town for a doctor’s appointment.
While they are there, I take a quick trip to the hardware store. Then, after we’ve packed the old lady into the car, we head out on the way home, taking the back way. It takes us past the local landfill, and much to our surprise we see this litter of tiny little puppies scurrying into the corner at the sight of the headlights.
Oh My God. It shocks me every time how people can do something like this. Two blacks, tummies round, on dotted gray and a black and brown that looks a little on the weak side. I can hardly believe it when I see those tiny little butts trying to crawl away, but when I get out of the car and squat down to look them over, it becomes clear that my mind didn’t play tricks on me.
I mean, seriously. Why do this? Why dump wonderful young puppies this way right beside a busy road where they could be run over, starve to death or eaten by predators. If someone can’t afford dogs, at least have the decency to find a new home for them, or have them put down at the vet…better yet, abort before they’re actually puppies. But this…this…this is just cruel. For God’s sake, people. Step up.
We pack the little mutts (I think they’re Labrador mixes) even though we really can’t take in any more dogs, and knowing that we’re going to have to find a new home for them, or bring them to an animal shelter, and take them with us.
At home, the majority of the family is already waiting (I phoned ahead) and after some examination, cuddling and such, big brother and I take them down to the guestquarters where they’ll be warm, but separated from the rest of the dogs. It’s not that puppies would be a problem with the other dogs, it’s just that we can’t risk bringing in unfamiliar bacteria in the pack…been there, done that - it was almost disastrous.
Not wanting to get attached to the little darlings, we don’t fuss with them too…………Oh My God!!!! I just got an E-mail…ANOTHER publisher is interested in looking at “Saving Nina” ohmygodohmygodohmygod! That was a friggin good query letter! Fourth reaction, and this one even asked if the story was still available. Aaaaaaahh!
Okay, gotta get to work. First few chapters are basically done, but I wanna be sure and read them through! Again...and maybe again. Hah!
Okay, here’s the usual blog:
I think I’m going to have to change the routines a little, ‘cause I’m starting to get more and more trouble writing the daily blogs. I’m thinking about once every two days, and we’ll see how that goes.
For some reason I can’t remember yesterday’s song of the day, but I do remember a rather hilarious moment in the afternoon where I belted out “Singing in the rain” while my teeth were chattering.
The day started off early, what with the new schedule, and a slightly overcast sky through which the sun peeked only occasionally. Cool, yes, but not cold yet, thankfully. The smell of rain was in the air, however.
There were the usual morning rituals, laundry, chores, etc, at which time I found out that Patrick Swayze passed away. I didn’t know whether to be surprised or not, in particular because the thought occurred to me…but then the totally out-of-the-blue thought that something would happen with Mia Farrow (I mean seriously, I know two movies of the woman and they didn’t leave that big an impression) popped up too, so my brain was probably just being a tad morbid. Hah.
Poor Swayze and family, though. Always came across as a sympathetic guy and he did have some wonderful movies.
But anyway…big brother and I spent the majority of the morning and afternoon working with the “Chicago Manual of Style”, going through punctuation and such (mostly checking what we already did, and changing a few) and then finding that time flew past before we’re even through the entire manuscript. Time does fly when you’re having fun. Hah.
We had just wrapped up the day’s session, and were getting ready to head outside when grandpa phoned that we had to get our butts up to the carport so we could carry the new wooden structure under the roof: it started to rain!
We got up to the carport just when the splashing started. Slowly at first, a distant rumble of thunder over our mountain, and then a massive bang-I’d just changed clothes and pulled on my hiking boots for today’s work-when the sky literally tore open.
Thorgal (golden retriever) and Chamea (Irish setter) both made a beeline down to the courtyard, safe from the downpour of hair and rain; Chaos was nowhere in sight (he felt that first drop and went straight inside before he got muddy, hah) and Nanook actually went down to the living room when she usually prefers solitude in mom’s tower room. The majority of dogs didn’t care a fig with the water coming down like small missiles…heck, Kolossus (German Shepherd) was actually just sitting at the top of the ridge, watching us.
Within just three minutes huge amounts of water were pouring down the path, rudely reminding me that the end of the gutter was still closed off. Considering both brothers and I were already soaking through from digging a quick ditch (we’d forgotten this particular part, right over the new stairs) so we were scrambling to keep mud from going down. I’m not kidding that within a minute not an inch of my body was left dry and I was literally floating in my boots. Hah.
While the brothers continue with the ditch, I use a hammer and chisel on the closed off gutter in the carport and jump back when the sudden release of the basin that formed behind the low wall sends mud sloshing right into my knees. Yuck!
What with all of us being soaked already, we look around at the ditches dug, checking if everything runs properly, and see, down the mountain, that the big gutter on the main path really needs to be lengthened, because now it’s creating a delta all over the lower terrace. It’ll have to wait until the rain passes, however.
Five minutes later, the downpour stops as fast as it started. It’s a little eerie, really, but since we’d all changed into dry clothes by that time, we head down to check the damage by the guest room.
The room wasn’t flooded, thankfully, but the half bath and the hallway were. Apparently we didn’t a good enough job cleaning out the drain in front of it. The next half hour I spend, jamming the metal movable rod into the tube until, around two meters down the obstruction comes loose. Another stream of mud over my (clean) feet is the result. Darn it.
By this time the sun had come out again, and with it cheerfully shining down on us we decided to tackle the delta area by digging the ditch out straight to the end. It took at least and hour, but by then everything had dried enough for us to head up to grandpa’s bungalow to resume building the small wall around his yard.
So grandpa changed his mind about the pillar we had wanted to do for his gate, which means we don’t have to go through the trouble of building three, square sides, and just finish straightening out the wall with a handmade batch of cement.
Tomorrow (technically today, of course) we have to ad a few more rocks, but then we’re all done with this particular project. Done with that, the younger sibs headed down to the house (little sister was going to prepare dinner) I join grandpa and big brother in the carport where they are sawing wooden slats for the office wall.
We don’t finish the majority of the wooden structure until after nightfall, and what with all the debris (we’ve piled a lot up by the old stable, so we can take small bits at a time) that still need to be carried off, big brother and I head out to the landfill.
Oh-my-God! You won’t believe what we found this time: Some sort of office or store must have gone out of business because there was this massive pile of wooden boards that is going to be perfect for shelving and desks in what is soon going to be our office. Seriously. There was like 600 bucks worth of wood that was basically in pristine condition. Now that’s what I call REAL recycling: another person’s garbage, made into new furniture. It’s going to be downright beautiful.
It took us more than an hour to get it all in (we even had to leave behind four boards because we couldn’t possibly fit them in)…along with this high bed with four drawers below it…and get back home at precisely midnight.
What followed was a belated dinner, some sort of Idols program was on TV and it annoyed the heck out of me, and then it was up to my cabin where we attempted another proofreading session. Regretfully I was too tired by then; I really couldn’t keep my eyes open, so we called it a day and I got ready for bed.
Today:
A jumble of dreams whirled through my head during the night: something about a mineshaft caving in, and the top entrance being shut down by debris. Then, when some guy (I don’t know who it was but he reminded me of an actor) tried to remove them it caved in, almost sending the guy down with it all.
The day is comfortably warm and the sun is shining bright when I wake up, due to Trin Trin dragging my blankets off the bed a mere minute before the alarm goes off. I lock the monster boxer up in the back yard and then let the rest of the pack out in the open before I start on the morning rituals.
I’m in the midst of it when in the distance I hear a noisy bang, half a minute before the power goes out. It stays that way for almost an hour and doesn’t restart until I’m down at the house, just about ready to start thinking about some activity that doesn’t involve the use of electricity.
The proofreading can commence after all. Hah.
We go through the same routine as yesterday, using the book to go over the remaining errors and such and before I know it the hours reserved for manuscript work is over. (We are actually an hour late.) We head on up to start work on grandpa’s little wall, the wood/glass wall for our office (which needs to be sanded) and then I have to leave to take our tenant and her caretaker to town for a doctor’s appointment.
While they are there, I take a quick trip to the hardware store. Then, after we’ve packed the old lady into the car, we head out on the way home, taking the back way. It takes us past the local landfill, and much to our surprise we see this litter of tiny little puppies scurrying into the corner at the sight of the headlights.
Oh My God. It shocks me every time how people can do something like this. Two blacks, tummies round, on dotted gray and a black and brown that looks a little on the weak side. I can hardly believe it when I see those tiny little butts trying to crawl away, but when I get out of the car and squat down to look them over, it becomes clear that my mind didn’t play tricks on me.
I mean, seriously. Why do this? Why dump wonderful young puppies this way right beside a busy road where they could be run over, starve to death or eaten by predators. If someone can’t afford dogs, at least have the decency to find a new home for them, or have them put down at the vet…better yet, abort before they’re actually puppies. But this…this…this is just cruel. For God’s sake, people. Step up.
We pack the little mutts (I think they’re Labrador mixes) even though we really can’t take in any more dogs, and knowing that we’re going to have to find a new home for them, or bring them to an animal shelter, and take them with us.
At home, the majority of the family is already waiting (I phoned ahead) and after some examination, cuddling and such, big brother and I take them down to the guestquarters where they’ll be warm, but separated from the rest of the dogs. It’s not that puppies would be a problem with the other dogs, it’s just that we can’t risk bringing in unfamiliar bacteria in the pack…been there, done that - it was almost disastrous.
Not wanting to get attached to the little darlings, we don’t fuss with them too…………Oh My God!!!! I just got an E-mail…ANOTHER publisher is interested in looking at “Saving Nina” ohmygodohmygodohmygod! That was a friggin good query letter! Fourth reaction, and this one even asked if the story was still available. Aaaaaaahh!
Okay, gotta get to work. First few chapters are basically done, but I wanna be sure and read them through! Again...and maybe again. Hah!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Yep, another two at the same time.
Song of the day (well, yesterday, technically): “Open Road” by Bryan Adams. Beautiful! *sigh*
I hate it when it happens (this blogging thing is a horrible addiction) but it happened again last night: I didn’t have time to write the BLOG! (insert classic horror movie scream here)
But anyway, I’m over it…sorta.
Let’s see if I can remember everything. Yesterday:
I’m slowly getting used to the new schedule, I think, ‘cause yesterday the eye-droopy thing wasn’t as bad as the day’s before.
There were the morning chores after wrestling the monster Boxer to calm…I think it’s the moon position, or something, ‘cause she is behaving horribly again, darn it.
Okay, I’ve lamented Trin Trin’s insanity often enough, so let’s skip that.
There were the morning chores; a huge batch of laundry, going through the laundry closet to check out why so much is still in there and “certain folks” aren’t taking theirs up to their quarters, followed by digging out a cabinet that somehow was piled with so much junk that the stuff got up to the ceiling. So frustrating.
That done, and with my habitual coffee in hand big brother and I settled down for the proofreading corrections in the manuscript project. Managed another chapter, thankfully; it seems like an endless process, but we are getting closer to the end, phew.
After five hours of correcting, shuffling around punctuation and doing some more reading through the “Chicago Manual of Style” (rather handy book that, lots of interesting suggestions…or rules, whichever way you want to look at it. I prefer the first, hah). And we laughed ourselves silly over the “love scene” and needed only few improvements. Hah.
About an hour earlier than usual, we head out in the cloudy day, hearing thunder rumble behind our mountain. Just in case the rain starts, I decide to start working on the gutter/ditch again, this time with the help of little brother, since the sisters opt to paint the gates with this really pretty cobalt blue Hammerite I bought Thursday.
Rather than dump the sand that lies under the carport somewhere, I decide we might as well save it and have grandpa get one of the one-ton bags in which our sand is usually delivered.
Little brother and I set it up in the corner and start filling it up with the vast amount of sand that still litters the ground.
We actually manage to fill it up completely, which is somewhat astounding, but pleasant since that means we’ll still be able to build even though we won’t be able to buy new sand until next month. (Dontcha just hate a budget. I do, hah.)
With little brother still shoveling sand, big brother and grandpa work on the semi-new door in the courtyard and then start repairing the small stand for the drill (we’re going to need it once we start on the gate) which has been rusting somewhat fierce for the past few years.
There’s a bit more drilling to be done in the gutter too, jutting rock from underground is persistently getting in the way, but by then the thunder is no longer audible, so it really is just cosmetics on my part. The bruises on my wrists aren’t all that bad, or so I’ve found, uncomfortable yes, but otherwise they don’t hinder the chore.
With twilight’s approach more clouds pack together, but considering this is (was) Sunday night, big brother and I decide to go out on a garbage run for all the debris that have been piling up again. On the way to the landfill, a few minor drops of rain come down, but other than that the heavy clouds are just blustering. The drive there is actually kind of pretty, what with lightning flashing to the west and north.
So yeah, we dump a full load on the location, and then end up filling the back of the cab up to full capacity again. Some idiot (and I use that term with the full meaning of the word) decided to dump up to ten, 7 feet long, 4X4s of perfectly fine wood right on top of the garbage. I mean, seriously. No wonder the world is getting short on wood with waste like that. They are basically in pristine condition and, well, the moron can dump more there any day for as far as I’m concerned, because now we’ll be able to build a partition in the carport, hah.
Oh yeah, we also found a damn pretty cabinet of wood on rubber wheels that I know we’re going to be able to use once big brother and I start working on the little office. Oh yeah, we intend to make a small office on the veranda…it’ll allow us to continue work in the winter while the rest of the family is watching TV (did I mention that before). But anyway, maybe we’ll be able to make the cabinet into shelving, or something.
And with the full cab we head on home to start on a midnight dinner, more laundry and then to our quarters…I need to sweep my floor, ‘cause grandpa is putting borders in my cabin against the winter winds, and hadn’t managed to get to sweeping up the mess.
There is a quick hand-bath some proofreading and then I really need to get to bed ‘cause I was seriously done-in-for for the day. Hah.
Which brings us to today:
Song of the day: “Blame it one me” by Maria Mena. Such a sweet little song. I really do like this artist.
I wake up slightly sore from yesterday’s (and the day before) work, but after some stretches, bending and turning, I manage to get out of bed (after tossing the monster Boxer in the backyard, the nut hung in my blouse, for crying out loud! aaargh) to start on the morning rituals.
Down at the house there is more laundry to be done, and some more planning as to what we’re going to do today. It’s still up for grabs, what with the next four to five hours reserved for proofreading, so right after the morning chores we set to it.
I do some improv writing, along with yesterday’s part of the blog, and afterwards we go through another chapter of improvements, which bring us another ten pages or so closer to the ending. Done with this, I quickly hang another batch of laundry and then head outside.
While grandpa and big brother start working with the wood we found yesterday (it is going to be perfect for the new office on the veranda; heck it almost seems as if it was made for it) and I take the younger sibs up to grandpa’s bungalow, so we can start making the small wall in front of it. Up until now, he has had a temporary in front of his place, and it simply won’t do any longer.
There’s some digging while little sister makes cement, and then we start hauling rocks in to make a wall of about one foot high that stretches in front of the bungalow. It works pretty well, and I even managed to find a reasonable amount of square shaped rocks that will make up the pillar for his little gate.
The dogs don’t particular enjoy this project, since I am behind the fence while building the low wall, they lie along it to stare at me rather miserably, trying to get in every time little brother comes through the gate with the wheelbarrow full of cement.
By the end of the afternoon, we quit building for the day…can’t get those pillars higher until tomorrow when everything has dried a little. After cleaning up the majority of the day’s mess, I head down to the carport to help grandpa and big brother for a bit…the frame is almost done…and then, once we’ve cleaned up we go inside for dinner.
Little sister has made mac & cheese (it’s really all my stomach can take these days) along with some fresh tomatoes in it. First a shower, of course, and then food, which is pretty much the conclusion of the day.
Maybe some proofreading later on, but then I’m definitely ready to call it a night.
I hate it when it happens (this blogging thing is a horrible addiction) but it happened again last night: I didn’t have time to write the BLOG! (insert classic horror movie scream here)
But anyway, I’m over it…sorta.
Let’s see if I can remember everything. Yesterday:
I’m slowly getting used to the new schedule, I think, ‘cause yesterday the eye-droopy thing wasn’t as bad as the day’s before.
There were the morning chores after wrestling the monster Boxer to calm…I think it’s the moon position, or something, ‘cause she is behaving horribly again, darn it.
Okay, I’ve lamented Trin Trin’s insanity often enough, so let’s skip that.
There were the morning chores; a huge batch of laundry, going through the laundry closet to check out why so much is still in there and “certain folks” aren’t taking theirs up to their quarters, followed by digging out a cabinet that somehow was piled with so much junk that the stuff got up to the ceiling. So frustrating.
That done, and with my habitual coffee in hand big brother and I settled down for the proofreading corrections in the manuscript project. Managed another chapter, thankfully; it seems like an endless process, but we are getting closer to the end, phew.
After five hours of correcting, shuffling around punctuation and doing some more reading through the “Chicago Manual of Style” (rather handy book that, lots of interesting suggestions…or rules, whichever way you want to look at it. I prefer the first, hah). And we laughed ourselves silly over the “love scene” and needed only few improvements. Hah.
About an hour earlier than usual, we head out in the cloudy day, hearing thunder rumble behind our mountain. Just in case the rain starts, I decide to start working on the gutter/ditch again, this time with the help of little brother, since the sisters opt to paint the gates with this really pretty cobalt blue Hammerite I bought Thursday.
Rather than dump the sand that lies under the carport somewhere, I decide we might as well save it and have grandpa get one of the one-ton bags in which our sand is usually delivered.
Little brother and I set it up in the corner and start filling it up with the vast amount of sand that still litters the ground.
We actually manage to fill it up completely, which is somewhat astounding, but pleasant since that means we’ll still be able to build even though we won’t be able to buy new sand until next month. (Dontcha just hate a budget. I do, hah.)
With little brother still shoveling sand, big brother and grandpa work on the semi-new door in the courtyard and then start repairing the small stand for the drill (we’re going to need it once we start on the gate) which has been rusting somewhat fierce for the past few years.
There’s a bit more drilling to be done in the gutter too, jutting rock from underground is persistently getting in the way, but by then the thunder is no longer audible, so it really is just cosmetics on my part. The bruises on my wrists aren’t all that bad, or so I’ve found, uncomfortable yes, but otherwise they don’t hinder the chore.
With twilight’s approach more clouds pack together, but considering this is (was) Sunday night, big brother and I decide to go out on a garbage run for all the debris that have been piling up again. On the way to the landfill, a few minor drops of rain come down, but other than that the heavy clouds are just blustering. The drive there is actually kind of pretty, what with lightning flashing to the west and north.
So yeah, we dump a full load on the location, and then end up filling the back of the cab up to full capacity again. Some idiot (and I use that term with the full meaning of the word) decided to dump up to ten, 7 feet long, 4X4s of perfectly fine wood right on top of the garbage. I mean, seriously. No wonder the world is getting short on wood with waste like that. They are basically in pristine condition and, well, the moron can dump more there any day for as far as I’m concerned, because now we’ll be able to build a partition in the carport, hah.
Oh yeah, we also found a damn pretty cabinet of wood on rubber wheels that I know we’re going to be able to use once big brother and I start working on the little office. Oh yeah, we intend to make a small office on the veranda…it’ll allow us to continue work in the winter while the rest of the family is watching TV (did I mention that before). But anyway, maybe we’ll be able to make the cabinet into shelving, or something.
And with the full cab we head on home to start on a midnight dinner, more laundry and then to our quarters…I need to sweep my floor, ‘cause grandpa is putting borders in my cabin against the winter winds, and hadn’t managed to get to sweeping up the mess.
There is a quick hand-bath some proofreading and then I really need to get to bed ‘cause I was seriously done-in-for for the day. Hah.
Which brings us to today:
Song of the day: “Blame it one me” by Maria Mena. Such a sweet little song. I really do like this artist.
I wake up slightly sore from yesterday’s (and the day before) work, but after some stretches, bending and turning, I manage to get out of bed (after tossing the monster Boxer in the backyard, the nut hung in my blouse, for crying out loud! aaargh) to start on the morning rituals.
Down at the house there is more laundry to be done, and some more planning as to what we’re going to do today. It’s still up for grabs, what with the next four to five hours reserved for proofreading, so right after the morning chores we set to it.
I do some improv writing, along with yesterday’s part of the blog, and afterwards we go through another chapter of improvements, which bring us another ten pages or so closer to the ending. Done with this, I quickly hang another batch of laundry and then head outside.
While grandpa and big brother start working with the wood we found yesterday (it is going to be perfect for the new office on the veranda; heck it almost seems as if it was made for it) and I take the younger sibs up to grandpa’s bungalow, so we can start making the small wall in front of it. Up until now, he has had a temporary in front of his place, and it simply won’t do any longer.
There’s some digging while little sister makes cement, and then we start hauling rocks in to make a wall of about one foot high that stretches in front of the bungalow. It works pretty well, and I even managed to find a reasonable amount of square shaped rocks that will make up the pillar for his little gate.
The dogs don’t particular enjoy this project, since I am behind the fence while building the low wall, they lie along it to stare at me rather miserably, trying to get in every time little brother comes through the gate with the wheelbarrow full of cement.
By the end of the afternoon, we quit building for the day…can’t get those pillars higher until tomorrow when everything has dried a little. After cleaning up the majority of the day’s mess, I head down to the carport to help grandpa and big brother for a bit…the frame is almost done…and then, once we’ve cleaned up we go inside for dinner.
Little sister has made mac & cheese (it’s really all my stomach can take these days) along with some fresh tomatoes in it. First a shower, of course, and then food, which is pretty much the conclusion of the day.
Maybe some proofreading later on, but then I’m definitely ready to call it a night.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Backwards.
Song of the day: (this is so embarrassing) “I see you baby—shaking that ass” by Groove Armada. It’s not even a real song just repeats of the title for crying out loud; it was appropriate, however seeing that we spent the majority of outside work, hacking out rock and dirt, and me using the jackhammer.
Seriously, by now, several hours after using the darn machine for three hours, my hands still feel shaky, and I’ve got huge bruises on my wrists, where the friggin’ thing kept slamming against my arm, so…yeah, I should have expected it.
No matter though, dug (or more appropriately, chopped out) a ditch of maybe a foot wide, half a foot deep and ten yards long in the rock path leading from the carport up to the gate. We’re gonna have to do another three or four yards tomorrow, but still, good progress. Yay.
The dogs love this kind of projects, especially since they can lie in the recently made ditches, get in the way and be in front of our feet whenever they can. It's particularly fun when I'm trying to push the wheelbarrow up the path (fully loaded of course) and then end up toppling it over because friggin' Gadah was lying there. Aargh.
While the younger sibs and I were doing this particular task, big brother and grandpa worked on some wood projects and making a winter hatch for the front door. Considering that we can never close it when the cold starts (closed doors and more than ninety dogs really isn’t smart, I tell ya) they made half a door with thick cloth flaps below it, so it’ll keep the wind out at least.
Prior to the outside work, there was the proofreading, of course. Since we did at least a chapter last night, we managed to implement the changes in the five hours of this morning’s session. It went well, really; got ahead, and that’s what that counts.
Woke up and hour early too, which is a tricky change to make. It actually sucks, I’m always tired when I change my normal routine, it’ll take me weeks to get into it, but since the summer is over and shorter winter days are approaching, we’re going to need the extra hours for outside work.
This of course means that the writing/editing schedule needs to be changed too. We figured it out, though. Once the days are really short, we’ll do the outside stuff in the morning, and work at the computer later at night. It should work.
Okay, that about sums up the day…all backwards, naturally. Makes for a nice change, I guess. Hah.
Seriously, by now, several hours after using the darn machine for three hours, my hands still feel shaky, and I’ve got huge bruises on my wrists, where the friggin’ thing kept slamming against my arm, so…yeah, I should have expected it.
No matter though, dug (or more appropriately, chopped out) a ditch of maybe a foot wide, half a foot deep and ten yards long in the rock path leading from the carport up to the gate. We’re gonna have to do another three or four yards tomorrow, but still, good progress. Yay.
The dogs love this kind of projects, especially since they can lie in the recently made ditches, get in the way and be in front of our feet whenever they can. It's particularly fun when I'm trying to push the wheelbarrow up the path (fully loaded of course) and then end up toppling it over because friggin' Gadah was lying there. Aargh.
While the younger sibs and I were doing this particular task, big brother and grandpa worked on some wood projects and making a winter hatch for the front door. Considering that we can never close it when the cold starts (closed doors and more than ninety dogs really isn’t smart, I tell ya) they made half a door with thick cloth flaps below it, so it’ll keep the wind out at least.
Prior to the outside work, there was the proofreading, of course. Since we did at least a chapter last night, we managed to implement the changes in the five hours of this morning’s session. It went well, really; got ahead, and that’s what that counts.
Woke up and hour early too, which is a tricky change to make. It actually sucks, I’m always tired when I change my normal routine, it’ll take me weeks to get into it, but since the summer is over and shorter winter days are approaching, we’re going to need the extra hours for outside work.
This of course means that the writing/editing schedule needs to be changed too. We figured it out, though. Once the days are really short, we’ll do the outside stuff in the morning, and work at the computer later at night. It should work.
Okay, that about sums up the day…all backwards, naturally. Makes for a nice change, I guess. Hah.
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