Song of the day: “The Pessimist (is never disappointed)” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. For some peculiar reason I’m feeling a tad down, so it is appropriate, I suppose.
Where to start, where to start? Ah, the edit, of course. Only ten more pages to go and then the very first edit will be over and done with. Yay. Naturally there are two more to deal with, but that isn’t important right now; this is a milestone and I will see it as such, darn it.
Harvest wise: lots of zucchini still, also chard and a slowly dwindling amount of lettuce, phew, we made it through the over production period, thank Gawd. Soon there will be more beets, though and that will be totally awesome…as you can undoubtedly detect, I kinda love beets, hah. Beets baked with onion, leek and cheese, or a cream sauce…jeez, my mouth is watering. Or fresh ones in a salad, yum! Hmmm. Maybe I should eat some beets soon.
Yesterday morning was spent making small constructions for the tomato patches. They’re crooked, uneven and look like a mess, but they are solid and will do the trick. It’s not as if we couldn’t make anything “better”, but it’s no fun to have something aerodynamic in the yard that will need to taken down again next year. I find it looking rather interesting, actually. When we finished, I was standing there and thought, hey, this looks very Indonesian, or something. I always enjoy making such comparisons, so bear with me, please. Hah.
After yesterday’s edit grandpa, big brother and I spent time the remainder of the afternoon pouring concrete in the carport. I’ve gotta admit that it was nice pouring concrete again. On the overall it really is a rather pleasant occupation to do. And, considering I had more than a wheelbarrow of cement left afterwards, I finished it off on a tiny little rock wall for grandpa who wanted it to park his moped on. It looks cute.
Strangely enough yesterday was still cloudy…as is today, for that matter. The clouds are still there, but so’s the sun, so it really is rather pleasant, albeit that I need a vest to sit here outside on the terrace, overlooking the valley and the sea.
A bit of bad news; Tallis (crossbreed) got into a fight this morning and has a large gap in his cheek that really needed stitches. So big brother and I headed out to the village and dropped him off for surgery. Poor old fella, he really didn’t like it. But, we should be able to pick him up again later in the afternoon.
I really should be getting to the edit so I’m going to cut this short…how very undisciplined of me, I know, but I simply have to prioritise.
Gotta go.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Residual frustration?
Song of the day: “All this time (pick-me-up song)” by Maria Mena. Still a splendid song, and I like having it in my head…so far anyway. Hah.
Okay, I’m thinking that maybe pigs learned to fly and that hell is about to freeze over ‘cause we’re having somewhat fierce bad weather. Nothing to drastic, mind you, just clouded all over and a miserly weather. Nothing to frown about in winter but definitely a first time this time of year for me…haven’t seen the likes of it since coming to live here in ’96, and admittedly it feels a tad weird.
Well, let’s get this thing going, ‘cause today is really perfect for editing and maybe even some more printing, and I really should get to that.
Right, yesterday, what happened…I’m thinking about blanking again, and thus I am blanking again, grrr. Oh, yeah. First thing in the morning big brother and I headed out to the village to get a new battery for the car, which, for some inexplicable reason decided to turn bad. Luckily the problem seemed to be resolved with the replacement, and while big brother finished putting it in I took the opportunity to clear out the mess the pigs that secretly live inside the car, made. Jeez, we really should evict those creatures ‘cause I think I took out an entire bag of garbage and debris, hah.
Editing is still going, but slowly. It usually happens when we have to spread the attention span to several tasks at the same time, and seeing as half the time our minds are on query letters and send-outs while we should be focussing the edit. It’s frustrating I tell you, but only 18 more pages to go in the first edit, thank Gawd. Then there are only two more edits to go, one of the computer the other on paper, aaaaah! Jeez, I really shouldn’t say this kind of thing, seriously, it feels like a massive task said that way.
Okay, other stuff, plants got transplanted, of course, seeing as seeding brings about eighty percent out of which another eighty percent make it to adulthood, of which a resulting seventy get to be harvested. I kinda like those odds, in particular since we don’t use any pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Just “home grown” doggy do and compost. Which reminds me, the potatoes I planted a week and a half ago are already coming up, so’s the corn, yay. Sunflowers are in full bloom, so our birdies are going to enjoy some home grown food as well.
The younger sibs went to their first real market today and got home psyched with €65 to show for the efforts. Ah, I remember those days fondly, when I stood on the market myself. They at least liked it enough to want to head out to another one tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes.
Poor Bommel (13 year old Bobtail) is starting to have more trouble to keep up, my old darling. Gawd, every time I think back of that birthday in ’98 when I came up from my room and found him standing in the living room, looking like a drowned rat because the sibs had attempted to wash him before I woke up. Seriously, it was the bested gift ever, in particular because he was a one year old who had been scheduled for “termination” because the breeder couldn’t sell him. We had us some good times, Bommel and I…and I gotta stop talking about this ‘cause I’m choking up.
I don’t know what the heck is wrong with me these days, but I am way too emotional for some peculiar reason. I wanna sit down and cry my eyes out at the least provocation and I’ve had enough of it. I think I’m going to have to revert to the technique that worked so well two years ago. “Cowboy the f**k up; don’t care about things you cannot change, and remember that everything is changeable.” Yep, we’ll get back on track, some day…I hope. Hah.
What else…ah yes, we had more fried potatoes from our own yard, along with green beans and today we’re having chard, again. Gawd, I never knew that you could have such a good harvest from chard, but we’ve been eating the stuff three times a week, at least, without the plants showing any signs of stopping any time soon.
Only had to give a little water yesterday, and none today, so…yay.
Tenant is looking forward to swimming now that I finished the last bit or re-grouting in the skimmer. It was a son-of-a-bitch job, but someone had to do it. Gawd, I hate perching dangerously, and then working in a really narrow place…and I still gotta clean it, darn it.
But anyway…if all works out tenant should be able to get into the pool as soon as the temperatures pick up again. It’ll be cool to see what kind of exercises we can think of to do in the water. I think it will be very good for her.
At the moment Adma (female pocket beagle) isn’t feeling too well. We’re keeping a close eye on her, but I think she is just constipated, poor thing. I just hope she can be rid of the problem soon, ‘cause she just can’t find a comfortable position to lie in.
I’m going to have to walk Knight II more, because due to his mass and somewhat dangerous exuberance, he is leashed a lot, meaning that he’s got an extreme amount of energy that he really should get rid of one way or other. Jeez, he can be so friggin’ exhausting at times, seriously, I could tell tales. Hah.
But that’s it, I think. Lots more to do and, as always, so little time to do it in. Besides I’m running at least an hour behind because I wanted to do a kickboxing session and actually just did it. Hah. It felt great, thank you very much. Nothing like pounding a bag for a bit, and pumping some iron, to get rid of any residual frustration.
Okay, I’m thinking that maybe pigs learned to fly and that hell is about to freeze over ‘cause we’re having somewhat fierce bad weather. Nothing to drastic, mind you, just clouded all over and a miserly weather. Nothing to frown about in winter but definitely a first time this time of year for me…haven’t seen the likes of it since coming to live here in ’96, and admittedly it feels a tad weird.
Well, let’s get this thing going, ‘cause today is really perfect for editing and maybe even some more printing, and I really should get to that.
Right, yesterday, what happened…I’m thinking about blanking again, and thus I am blanking again, grrr. Oh, yeah. First thing in the morning big brother and I headed out to the village to get a new battery for the car, which, for some inexplicable reason decided to turn bad. Luckily the problem seemed to be resolved with the replacement, and while big brother finished putting it in I took the opportunity to clear out the mess the pigs that secretly live inside the car, made. Jeez, we really should evict those creatures ‘cause I think I took out an entire bag of garbage and debris, hah.
Editing is still going, but slowly. It usually happens when we have to spread the attention span to several tasks at the same time, and seeing as half the time our minds are on query letters and send-outs while we should be focussing the edit. It’s frustrating I tell you, but only 18 more pages to go in the first edit, thank Gawd. Then there are only two more edits to go, one of the computer the other on paper, aaaaah! Jeez, I really shouldn’t say this kind of thing, seriously, it feels like a massive task said that way.
Okay, other stuff, plants got transplanted, of course, seeing as seeding brings about eighty percent out of which another eighty percent make it to adulthood, of which a resulting seventy get to be harvested. I kinda like those odds, in particular since we don’t use any pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Just “home grown” doggy do and compost. Which reminds me, the potatoes I planted a week and a half ago are already coming up, so’s the corn, yay. Sunflowers are in full bloom, so our birdies are going to enjoy some home grown food as well.
The younger sibs went to their first real market today and got home psyched with €65 to show for the efforts. Ah, I remember those days fondly, when I stood on the market myself. They at least liked it enough to want to head out to another one tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes.
Poor Bommel (13 year old Bobtail) is starting to have more trouble to keep up, my old darling. Gawd, every time I think back of that birthday in ’98 when I came up from my room and found him standing in the living room, looking like a drowned rat because the sibs had attempted to wash him before I woke up. Seriously, it was the bested gift ever, in particular because he was a one year old who had been scheduled for “termination” because the breeder couldn’t sell him. We had us some good times, Bommel and I…and I gotta stop talking about this ‘cause I’m choking up.
I don’t know what the heck is wrong with me these days, but I am way too emotional for some peculiar reason. I wanna sit down and cry my eyes out at the least provocation and I’ve had enough of it. I think I’m going to have to revert to the technique that worked so well two years ago. “Cowboy the f**k up; don’t care about things you cannot change, and remember that everything is changeable.” Yep, we’ll get back on track, some day…I hope. Hah.
What else…ah yes, we had more fried potatoes from our own yard, along with green beans and today we’re having chard, again. Gawd, I never knew that you could have such a good harvest from chard, but we’ve been eating the stuff three times a week, at least, without the plants showing any signs of stopping any time soon.
Only had to give a little water yesterday, and none today, so…yay.
Tenant is looking forward to swimming now that I finished the last bit or re-grouting in the skimmer. It was a son-of-a-bitch job, but someone had to do it. Gawd, I hate perching dangerously, and then working in a really narrow place…and I still gotta clean it, darn it.
But anyway…if all works out tenant should be able to get into the pool as soon as the temperatures pick up again. It’ll be cool to see what kind of exercises we can think of to do in the water. I think it will be very good for her.
At the moment Adma (female pocket beagle) isn’t feeling too well. We’re keeping a close eye on her, but I think she is just constipated, poor thing. I just hope she can be rid of the problem soon, ‘cause she just can’t find a comfortable position to lie in.
I’m going to have to walk Knight II more, because due to his mass and somewhat dangerous exuberance, he is leashed a lot, meaning that he’s got an extreme amount of energy that he really should get rid of one way or other. Jeez, he can be so friggin’ exhausting at times, seriously, I could tell tales. Hah.
But that’s it, I think. Lots more to do and, as always, so little time to do it in. Besides I’m running at least an hour behind because I wanted to do a kickboxing session and actually just did it. Hah. It felt great, thank you very much. Nothing like pounding a bag for a bit, and pumping some iron, to get rid of any residual frustration.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Stinking bureaucracy!
Song of the day: “Under di mango tree” by the Mango kings. I know, weird huh. The stuff my mind thinks about, well, I never claimed it made any sense, hah.
Oh dear, here I’m sitting in the summer sun, overlooking a somewhat hazy valley, and I’m drawing a complete blank as to what I have been doing these past couple of days. It is rather frustrating I’ll admit. Hmmm. Looks like this is going to be a short one.
Okay, I made zucchini soup from our own yard harvest, and it was delicious. For a big two gallon pan I just filled it three quarters with sliced zucchini, vegetable broth powder for the same amount of gallons, one leek, two onions, grinded chili peppers, salt, a bit of sugar, minced fresh basil (a lot), parsley, oregano and chives. I tossed the lot in, and put the heat on. I let it boil for about ten minutes then mashed the stuff with the emersion blender until it was a nice even soup. After adding half a cup of cream and two spoonfuls of cream cheese, it was ready for consumption.
Gawd, I’ve been eating it for two days now and it still tastes great.
What else…well, of course we’ve been harvesting our meals almost every day now. Green beans aplenty, zucchinis, naturally, leek, onions, potatoes and my favorite: the herbs. I love those. Hah.
Yesterday started early, by the way, mom and the younger sibs had wanted to go to the market, but then the car battery decided to be depleted, so the first thing we did was head on up to the car and hook it up to the battery loader. Then it was to hoping that it was hoping that it was JUST an empty battery and not something huge that would force one of us to sell a kidney, or something, hah.
Around ten in the evening, after cleaning the pool mind you, (yes, it is high time for that) we attempted to start the engine and YES, the engine worked just fine so, phew! Had a hauling trip to celebrate it.
Also cleaned out the little courtyard in front of the greenhouse, because, let’s face it, it was a bloody mess. Debris, plastic, dirt, and Gawd knows what else. It took me eight trips with a couple of huge buckets but in the end the courtyard thingy was semi clean…I gotta say that I am rather looking forward to when we’ve added the natural rock wall to it, along with the plant containers; it should give the impression of a little slice of paradise in the end…I hope.
Seriously, I have been paying way too little attention these past few days, ‘cause I’m having the hardest time remembering activities. There was weeding involved, I know that much. Hmmm. I actually managed some chats on Amazon. Cleaning, yep, I remember prune hands.
Apparently, Ambah’s passing affected me more than I had anticipated, ‘cause I was a little sobby yesterday. Didn’t help much either that at some point I couldn’t find Bommel and I promptly burst out in tears from fear that he was just lying dead somewhere. Jeez. Talk about stupid thoughts, sometimes I really don’t know where ever the hell that stuff comes from because I sure don’t look for it. *sigh*
But anyway, Bommel was fine, just snoozing away in the office, where he had somehow managed to get while I was gathering my computer.
I would like to say that I managed an early night, but I didn’t, so that means I got too little sleep again today when we had to get up early to take tenant to the consulate where she had to renew her passport.
Almost went wrong to boot, considering her passport had expired three years ago, just prior to her stroke, in the end we did manage, however, with a form from town hall, but it was a close call.
Can I just say (again) that I seriously dislike bureaucracy? Really, they added another ten bucks to the cost of a passport, bringing it up to €60.10 so they could put a chip in the little booklet. And as an added bonus tenant got to have her fingerprints taken to boot, which is just honkeydory. Did she get asked if she wanted that? Did they ask me, seeing as I will need to get a renewal in just a few more years.
Truly, there are days when I would like to join those curmudgeon conspiracy theorists, ‘cause let’s face it; it’s just bonkers. Who do they think this is going to help, really? It’s like no gun laws. The only people who end up without them¾or in this case end up with the full hassle, are the good citizens, ‘cause criminals really won’t bother with following all those rules. It is exhausting, really.
Okay, that’s gotta be it for today, I’ve got an edit to see to…which reminds me, the query letters for publishers went into the mail today, so keep your fingers crossed for me, please. There’s gotta be some savvy editor out there who is just waiting for a manuscript like Saving Nina, darn it.
Time to get to it!
Oh dear, here I’m sitting in the summer sun, overlooking a somewhat hazy valley, and I’m drawing a complete blank as to what I have been doing these past couple of days. It is rather frustrating I’ll admit. Hmmm. Looks like this is going to be a short one.
Okay, I made zucchini soup from our own yard harvest, and it was delicious. For a big two gallon pan I just filled it three quarters with sliced zucchini, vegetable broth powder for the same amount of gallons, one leek, two onions, grinded chili peppers, salt, a bit of sugar, minced fresh basil (a lot), parsley, oregano and chives. I tossed the lot in, and put the heat on. I let it boil for about ten minutes then mashed the stuff with the emersion blender until it was a nice even soup. After adding half a cup of cream and two spoonfuls of cream cheese, it was ready for consumption.
Gawd, I’ve been eating it for two days now and it still tastes great.
What else…well, of course we’ve been harvesting our meals almost every day now. Green beans aplenty, zucchinis, naturally, leek, onions, potatoes and my favorite: the herbs. I love those. Hah.
Yesterday started early, by the way, mom and the younger sibs had wanted to go to the market, but then the car battery decided to be depleted, so the first thing we did was head on up to the car and hook it up to the battery loader. Then it was to hoping that it was hoping that it was JUST an empty battery and not something huge that would force one of us to sell a kidney, or something, hah.
Around ten in the evening, after cleaning the pool mind you, (yes, it is high time for that) we attempted to start the engine and YES, the engine worked just fine so, phew! Had a hauling trip to celebrate it.
Also cleaned out the little courtyard in front of the greenhouse, because, let’s face it, it was a bloody mess. Debris, plastic, dirt, and Gawd knows what else. It took me eight trips with a couple of huge buckets but in the end the courtyard thingy was semi clean…I gotta say that I am rather looking forward to when we’ve added the natural rock wall to it, along with the plant containers; it should give the impression of a little slice of paradise in the end…I hope.
Seriously, I have been paying way too little attention these past few days, ‘cause I’m having the hardest time remembering activities. There was weeding involved, I know that much. Hmmm. I actually managed some chats on Amazon. Cleaning, yep, I remember prune hands.
Apparently, Ambah’s passing affected me more than I had anticipated, ‘cause I was a little sobby yesterday. Didn’t help much either that at some point I couldn’t find Bommel and I promptly burst out in tears from fear that he was just lying dead somewhere. Jeez. Talk about stupid thoughts, sometimes I really don’t know where ever the hell that stuff comes from because I sure don’t look for it. *sigh*
But anyway, Bommel was fine, just snoozing away in the office, where he had somehow managed to get while I was gathering my computer.
I would like to say that I managed an early night, but I didn’t, so that means I got too little sleep again today when we had to get up early to take tenant to the consulate where she had to renew her passport.
Almost went wrong to boot, considering her passport had expired three years ago, just prior to her stroke, in the end we did manage, however, with a form from town hall, but it was a close call.
Can I just say (again) that I seriously dislike bureaucracy? Really, they added another ten bucks to the cost of a passport, bringing it up to €60.10 so they could put a chip in the little booklet. And as an added bonus tenant got to have her fingerprints taken to boot, which is just honkeydory. Did she get asked if she wanted that? Did they ask me, seeing as I will need to get a renewal in just a few more years.
Truly, there are days when I would like to join those curmudgeon conspiracy theorists, ‘cause let’s face it; it’s just bonkers. Who do they think this is going to help, really? It’s like no gun laws. The only people who end up without them¾or in this case end up with the full hassle, are the good citizens, ‘cause criminals really won’t bother with following all those rules. It is exhausting, really.
Okay, that’s gotta be it for today, I’ve got an edit to see to…which reminds me, the query letters for publishers went into the mail today, so keep your fingers crossed for me, please. There’s gotta be some savvy editor out there who is just waiting for a manuscript like Saving Nina, darn it.
Time to get to it!
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