Snake! Yikes.

Song of the day: The boy does nothing” by Alesha Dixon, followed by “Hit the road Jack” by...I don’t know who. Hmmm. Maybe I should look it up some time.

But anyway, what happened yesterday…well, it was mum’s birthday, of course, so there was lots of pie. Mango, peach, forest fruit, raspberry and pineapple on extra creamy yoghurt, and actual cream, it was friggin’ delicious.

There was sunshine, wind too, but sunshine nonetheless. It was rather wonderful being outside, so basically I spent most of it in the yard. I dug in the dirt, sowed some seeds and hauled bricks down to the old pool, which reminds me; there’s a slight change regarding the first project we’re working on this spring. Remember that greenhouse I’ve been drooling about for more than six months?

Well yeah, the way we figured there was this big concrete structure right in the center of the garden: The old pool. We were actually standing beside it, contemplating the previously picked location for the greenhouse when suddenly I saw this flash of a nice rectangular shape in the shallow end of the pool; a perfect little greenhouse with in front of it big square containers constructed out of natural rock walls, no higher than our knees. Yep, I could see it, and with a sideways glance I noticed that big brother was eyeballing the pool and, as it turned out, thinking the same thing I did.

So, seeing as the old pool will never again hold water without a complete overhaul, and what with the new smaller pool doing the job of cooling us really well, the location will be perfect for the greenhouse…which meant that there was work to do.

Big brother and grandpa got to work on a wooden stairs so we can move in and out of the old pool without having to climb the bare walls all the time, so basically I was walking up and down the mountain, getting supplies and such. And then in the last few hours of daylight watering the plants and checking to see the progress everything is making.

All in all, beets are coming up, lettuce and…well, anyway, it was a busy day and today was more of the same. I actually woke up early, ‘cause, let’s face it, the weather was once again splendid, albeit windy and I couldn’t wait to get started.
There were the usual stuff such as the dogs, laundry and then breakfast, but then, once our tenant was ready, big brother and I brought her down to the old pool terrace, so she could be in the hubbub of things, rather than alone in her bungalow. She was all excited too, claiming that it felt like she was going out on a trip, or something.

Good thing she felt that way, ‘cause it was a bloody long day.
First thing up was I, turning earth in the lowest part of the yard. Not an easy task what with eucalypti roots all over the place, rocks and whatnot, but I did finally find my swing as I dug out two patches, one for spinach and the other for lettuce, cucumber, garlic and eggplant…in case you’re wondering, we’re experimenting with a chaotic garden. Taking our cue from nature, so to speak, we are just putting stuff together and are more than a little curious as to how things are going to look in the near future. Life’s an adventure, if you let it.

In that regard (it being an adventure, that is) my imagination was running off with me again today. Yep, once again I was managing to freak myself out while working on the yard this morning, the sun pounding down and the wind trying very hard to cool me off.
Seriously, I don’t know where it came from, but while digging, I got this rather freaky what-if (a residue from my childhood, no doubt) scenario spinning through my mind: What if a snake jumped from the tree/bush or grass, coming for me? which totally freaked me out while I bravely tried to tell myself that I would of course wield my shovel like some sort of sword and slice up the evil fiend. Hah.

Sometimes I think my own imagination is my worst enemy, ‘cause I literally had goosebumps all over as I set my jaw and continued work while keeping a hawk’s eye on my surroundings.
Which brings us to today’s excitement: I was blithely digging up dirt, turning the green under ground and happily chopping my way through a couple of yards when suddenly a snake (gawd, I almost had a heart attack) slithered right at me through a clump of clay that I’d just dropped into the ditch I’d been turning over. How freaky is that, I ask you?

I jumped and then, instinctually, without even thinking about it, brought the (sharp) shovel down and decimated the thing in three smart chomps with this (embarrassingly) girlish squeal. I mean, for gawd’s sake; from the way that shovel came down on what turned out to be a teeny fifteen inch snake, you’d think I didn’t even flinch. But I did and then stood there, bouncing around, squealing “eeewww, eeeewwww, eeeewwweeee!” for all of ten seconds, before I got a hold of myself and shook my head at the twitching remains.

I have a serious dislike for snakes, in case you’re wondering, but even I know that it was a totally unnecessary and extreme reaction to such a tiny creature. Still, I can’t feel bad. Nature’s a bitch, and in the end it came down to survival of the fittest. Today I was fittest, hah. If the event occurs again, I do hope I am a little more stoic; really, the girly squeals have got to go. *snort*

Today’s shovel work, sowing and planting was followed by tackling the side of the old pool, where I needed to remove old tiling, while the younger sibs were working on the path that leads to the guestrooms…the path when downhill TOO the room, now they’re working on getting it downhill FROM it…much more efficient that way, hah.

Then there was more hauling and walking up and down the mountain, ‘cause our tenant had to be wheeled back up to her cabin. We still had to go out to the hardware store, now that we need water tubing for the yard, along with work boots for me since my old ones are starting to fall apart…quite literally. Got a two inch hole on the left side, the seem is unraveling on the right one and…well, the rest is starting to go too.

Since we were out anyway, big brother and I took the opportunity to get sand as well, loaded up the car to full capacity and then decided to do a quick run up the rocky incline, just for the fun of it before we headed back home with the arrival of the evening.

And now I’ve got to work on putting “W.I. Investigations/The Martyr” on Kindle, ‘cause we’ve been postponing it way too long and I really should just DO IT, and get it over with for once and for all. Grrrr.

Gotta go, I still have to check out the back cover information, and maybe even rewrite it…again, because I just can’t make up my mind which will work best. Ah, the annoying part of self-publishing, so many choices to make, and so little guidance in the matter.