A Merry X-mas...all over the place

Song of the day: “Perfect 10” by The Beautiful South. Love them, and such a funny song. Luckily it replaced Judy Garland which continued to haunt me for two solid days.

So I’m a mess today. Be grateful that you can’t smell me, because I haven’t had my shower yet and I worked with smelly mud most of the day. Yep. We got to empty the basin sludge again, and boy was it pungent. And I was covered in it by the time we were done. Seven wheelbarrows of the stuff, and I got to lift the bucket up to fill them. I don’t get why people pay good money to get covered in this stuff, because I’ve gotta admit that I wanted nothing more than to wash it all off afterwards…I did, btw. But it didn’t help, darn it. There I was, hosing myself down with extremely cold water from the garden hose, only to have the scent remain. Blast!

But no matter, I’m saving the best for last, and will head for the shower later tonight so I can head to bed all clean. *sigh* I can hardly wait.

Anyways, Yesterday was mostly spent doing fix ups. Sally’s room had some leakage so we poured concrete to see if that fixes the problem. We also planted some more seeds in the greenhouse: butternut squash. Added to that we spent some wonderful time in the awesome sunshine by heading into the yard to plant cauliflower plants, white cabbage and red cabbage. They were doing so well in the other field that we decided to do some more, just because it will be free food a few months from now.

It has been ridiculously cold since the rain stopped. The Mercury dropped down to three tiny lines above the freezing point. Now that is cold for Spain. In the fourteen years we’ve been here we’ve had freezing temperatures just once and that was in 2005. My dogs don’t like the temperatures at all, in case you’re wondering. Seriously, during the night we can’t get Knight II to move out of the way, and Sitabah woke me this night, by hitting me in the face with her paw until I finally just dragged her up and tried to shove her to the last empty spot on the bed. Apparently that wouldn’t do. Instead she preferred to play collar and wrapped herself around my neck. When she refused to budge, regardless of my efforts, I finally gave up and drifted back to sleep.

Labhana would have preferred to join us (did in fact for a while before I went to bed) but I’m afraid I have to draw the line somewhere. Seriously, the bed only holds so many.

This morning was spent making pumpkin soup again, while grandpa and big brother went to the gas station to get butane gaskets for the stoves. I’m happy to discover that this year I haven’t actually needed to stoves yet, so that’s saving some money at least.

This year we decided to skip Christmas entirely, and I’ve gotta say that it is rather relaxing to not have to cook a massive meal, the clean up afterwards and the heart-stopping receipt of getting the supplies, hah. Christmas eve was just like any other evening and that was just fine.
We did some good edits, in fact we managed to do an entire chapter, so Yay, and I had a relatively early night which psyched me into sleeping almost a solid 8 hours. Double Yay.

We did head into town last night at the last possible moment to get some last minute supplies from the DIY store. But the city was quiet, most of the stores already shut for the weekend. Those that were there seemed extremely cheerful. Hah.

While lifting bucket after bucket of foul smelling sludge up, big brother attacked the broken basin wall with a sledgehammer and got half of it down. Such a shame that we're going to have to redo it. Stupid rain came too early, darn it. In particular because we had to do only the fortification still. Guess we were slackers. *snort*

During the afternoon big brother and I spent about an hour finishing up his room. While he put the finishing touches on his bed, I put the plinths on his floor. Afterwards we put up part of the partition against the open section of his second floor room. Now all we have to make are narrow white-glass windows to top them off, and one more wall closet and we’ll be all done.

Maybe then my turn will arrive and we get to work on my floors. That would be totally awesome. First the parquet in my bedroom, then the hardwood in my sitting room, then the bathroom. Wow! It’ll be beautiful. Gleaming teak, polished to a shine. Whicker chairs on it, mahogany shelving. Very early 20th century. Warm light…

Gawd, I just got a scene for the new book in my head I really have to go…yikes! Seriously, I’ve gotta go. It’s bubbling out. This is bad. I’ve gotta…….bye.

Sunshine, sweet sunshine

Song of the day: “Get Happy” by Judy Garland. That’s a first, I think. The first time I had this one in my head anyway. Such a lighthearted song.

Busy couple of days, and last night was spent in candle light due to a four hour black out. Yep, that’s Spain for you. They’ve gotten a lot better, because ten years ago you’d be without power five minutes after the rain started, but when things are bad, it can sometimes take a whole night for things to get back in order.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start off with yesterday morning that started with a solid rainstorm that continued on most through the day.
We drained the basin again, from fear of flooding Sally’s room.
It is working so far, and as soon as stuff dries off a little, we’re going to have to build that wall proper.

The remainder was spent in the carport, working on big brother’s bed some more. The last drawer got done; I got the bent out of a particularly nice piece of wood, which was put on the bed this afternoon. The friggin bed looks bloody gorgeous and tomorrow, or the day after I’m going to take pictures to post here…or at least try to. Hah.

Nothing takes as much time as building furniture, but around seven we did head into the house where I had just barely enough time to answer my messages when suddenly the power went off.
Not that I minded, I could nap for a solid fifteen minutes before we decided to work on the books the old fashioned way. Pen and paper, baby. There really is nothing like it. That is REAL writing after all. Hah.

Got a couple of good pages going, and by then in was time for a quick run to the garbage dump, because the mess had been piling up during several days of rain.

Which brings us to today, thankfully.

I woke up with the sun in my eyes, and I lay there with a smile, fully enjoying it. It was beautiful. I hadn’t seen the sun in days and now the sky was clear and the sun fell right in my face. Then I remembered that everything has been damp for days and jumped out of bed to hang my linens out in the wind (it was blowing somewhat fierce) and sunshine. It all smelled wonderfully fresh this afternoon.

There was a big stack of laundry waiting, and the wind had already dried some of the massive amounts already hanging on the lines. The washing machine has been going almost non stop today.

This morning, I headed down there first thing to hang a curtain rod for her, as well as a little coat rack. The water is still streaming from the storage beside her room, but luckily it is staying out still. It didn’t take all that much time, and afterwards I went up to clean veggies while big brother and grandpa were out to get supplies.

Then, when they got back, we both headed down into the yard to plant some cauliflower, chard, white cabbage and red cabbage. Soon we’re going to try to plant another butternut squash because they turned out really well. I’m looking forward to seeing if it will manage to go all through the greenhouse.

It was rather pleasant working, first in the warm greenhouse and then the windless part of the yard. In fact, I would have preferred staying there for the remainder of the day if other chores hadn’t been waiting. You should have seen the dogs, they were all lounging about on the sunny spots, preferably out of the wind...except for the Labradors, who couldn't care less about the wind, and just lay in the sun.

Tenant’s caregiver had made cauliflower soup for us, and we wanted to build another water table for in the greenhouse. Once we ate and got the supplies we needed from storage, it was too late however, so instead we finished up big brother’s bed and hauled the twenty bags of cement to their special spot of storage behind my cabin. Once the seventy-pound bags were wrapped in plastic and we put the finishing touches to the bed, it was getting dark and we headed inside for today’s edits.

That’s it, off to other stuff…like edits, yeah.

Passing on.

Song of the day: “Leaving on a jet plane” by John Denver. I know, I don’t have a clue where it came from, but I think it is because I was thinking of the movie Armageddon earlier. Maybe it is Ben Afleck I’m hearing (which is bad) ‘cause lord knows I don’t think I heard the original in a couple of decades. Hah.

First of all, the sad news. Rhumba (11 year old Samojeed mix) slipped in the courtyard the day before yesterday and fractured his upper paw. Poor darling cried like mad, and when it became clear that his left front paw was dangling middle sister (his mistress) and I rushed him to the vet hospital. The vet felt him up, injected him with an anesthetic, took a picture and showed us the problem in glorious detail.
It was broken just an inch above the join, the fracture jagged and at a sharp angle. What we were looking at was a four-to-five hundred euro operation that had only a small chance of succeeding and, in a best case scenario a five month recovery afterwards.
Taking in consideration his age, chances, quality of life and of course the costs, Middle sister had to make the horrid decision of putting him out of his misery.
The vet agreed that it really was the best thing, considering that due to his age he was unlikely to create new bone where he needed it.
Suffice it to say, it was a rather bad afternoon on the overall.
After being with us, this stubborn, snarky and waaaay too enthusiastic dog, for a solid eleven years (he was one of our earliest saves) Rhumba departed on a Sunday afternoon, sleeping on a table with middle sister (the love of his life, hah) stroking his head. A sad day to say the least

Okay, before I start to bawl, or something, let’s move on to life, rather than death. Big brother and I have been working on his bed for the most part. Sunday we built these huge wooden boxes, which would be his bed, and today (after Monday workday, of course) we made the first two drawers to go in them. It’s looking rather grand, and I really ought to make pictures of it. It’s going to be a bit difficult what with the room being a tad dark, but I’ve gotta show off my design. It worked out splendidly. One more drawer to go and then the thing is all done.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. There were lots of stuff going on, seeing as the majority of the morning was spent digging ditches and cleaning out floods in both guest room and tenant’s kitchen. Boy, has the rain been coming down bad of late.

There was a bit of gardening, of course, seeing as we headed into the yard to get peppers, and everything else we could get our hands on. Not a bad harvest either, and the stuff in the greenhouse looks absolutely splendid.

So let’s get to yesterday. We had to leave a little early for work because Dewey (the new delivery guy, remember) is a lot faster getting all the way here from the Costa Blanca. Big brother and I loaded up our papers nice and easy and before you knew it we were on our way.

Was a good day, paper distribution wise. Sure there was still a bit of rain, but there were no disasters and even (for me) hilarious moment when I entered a rather big restaurant and delivered my papers as usual. The owner was there, and when I was done putting the bundle on the bar, he said thank you, and then “Happy Christmas” while making this very Godfather-ish waving gesture with his hand. Seriously, the guy just might be a gangster of old. From the way his pictures (taken with all sorts of celebrities at his side) hang all over the place, I wouldn’t be surprised. Maybe he’s in a witness protection program, or something, wiling away the end of his days in Southern Spain. *chortle*
I always feared that some of the characters in my books might be too theatrical, but much to my relief, real people can be far worse. Hah.

Prior to going out on the route, we had to go to the phone shop. Sally has been getting prank calls, and since we all have a joined phone contract, big brother and I had to go there to change her number. It did cost twelve Euros but in the end we managed to leave with the problem solved.

Next we had to go to the Daewoo dealer to finally pick up the papers. I don’t know if I already talked about this, but last week they let us know that to get the papers we still had to pay the Gestor, an expense they hadn’t informed us about. So first I got a bill of € 286 and then after I balked some about not having been told about this expense, they brought it down to € 240. A good thing too, because I was of a mind to have the papers reported stolen and pick them up myself. In the end I was just happy to be rid of the entire hassle.

Back to the route. There was some rain throughout, but in the end it wasn’t the worst of days. I didn’t have any accidents. I call that a good day in any book, hah.

While we were working middle sister’s boxer Lubika had to go back to the vet…she’d had a tumor removed on her ribs (seriously, dogs didn’t used to have this much cancer…heck, humans didn’t either) and had ripped open her stitches. Poor little boxer. Nutter than a hatter (or something along those lines) but still sweet as can be. She just can’t stand any kind of discomfort.

So anyway, today was spent working on the drawers for big brother, and some supply hauling. My dogs once more spent a lot of time in my cabin. They don’t like the rain at all, I assure.
Oh, and I discovered that there is no ordinance against dogs in this area, meaning that I no longer have to be careful about mentioning their numbers. Yay.

Well, I’ve got edits to do, and maybe just a little catnap…yeah, that sounds good. I think I will.