Hauling butt

Song of the day: “A little time” by the Beautiful South. Such a funny song, and an even funnier video. You should check it out if you ever get the chance.

Well, it’s been a rather heavy day for me, seeing as we (four pairs of hands and feet,. Ox came over to help out today. Good thing too, since it was quite a task) hauled 3 tons of clay down the mountain, through the courtyard and down the newly dug path under the wall that led to the new terrace we’re building in front of the house. (remember that wall we were working on this spring. There.)

Digging that thing was (thankfully) easier than anticipated. It took about half an hour to dig through rock, vines and dirt, place some building boards over the gaps, and voila, let the hauling commence…and it did. Time and again we went up the mountain with wheelbarrows. Heavy stuff, clay, despite the fact that it was rather dry by now. Still, we managed to get it all down within three hours, and it was exactly enough. I made pictures, but will have to add them to the string I will post some day of the wall. Sorry.

It was a little tricky, the hauling, by the way, seeing as Knight II and little brother’s dogs don’t go well together, and I had to go through the courtyard every time. We had two almost collisions with Knight II in the lower yard. Then after I decided to lock him in the empty pool, I almost got a heart attack when he got overly excited and hung from over the wall, almost falling a solid six feet down. Yikes. I ended up locking him in my cabin, which was fine with him, lazy idiot. Seriously, every time I passed, he’d be snoozing in his chair, his chin on the windowsill and his eyes closed in near ecstasy.

But anyway, as for the weather, it couldn’t have been much better than today. The sun was bright and warm, meaning I could wear a sleeveless, and the wind was cool. Tenant really enjoys that too, and the beginning of the day she sat up the mountain where we loaded up clay, and later down by the basin where we had supper together.
In one word: wonderful.

I was pretty much running on fumes by the end, but luckily by then it was time to start on supper, which I made with the help of tenant. We all stuffed our tired faces with beets and rice, over watering plants, yanking weeds and checking for bugs…which was wonderfully relaxing after that clay hauling, I tell ya.

Yesterday was mostly about hauling as well, seeing as Dani and I spent the majority of the day sorting through the tile supplies. There is a big selection of tiles going, in particular for grandpa’s kitchen. I wish the choices were less limited, though, seeing as it’s a big stretch of floor (about 24 square feet, or something). I’m just not happy with the color scheme yet. But anyway, working on the tiles took most of the afternoon, which of course followed a session in the greenhouse and the yard.

Ended up sorting through, and hauling a few hundred tiles to the other side of the old paddock. What with the embarrassing mess up there during the fire, cleaning that corner up has become a priority of sorts. We had planned to work on that again today, but seeing as we might get some rain in the weekend, grandpa thought it a better idea to do the clay before it got wet. That would have made it twice as heavy for sure. I for one am glad that we got this done. One more task before winter seen to, is always good.

I’ve gotta admit that this country living is agreeing with me. You start the year preparing for spring, then during spring you plant everything so you have stuff to eat and can in the summer, and then at the end of summer you start preparing everything for winter. It’s all rather satisfying to say the least.

Oh right, Qaddafi died today. I know that a lot of folks are happy to see him go, but I gotta say that I am ambivalent about the entire thing. Not that I’m sorry to see the guy go, but don’t care much for such public pound/drag fests. I mean, if they’d have him kneel in the middle of a square and put a gun to his head, or something, I would have gotten it. Heck, even a public hanging, or a firing squat, or someone just being fed up with him and dealing with him for once and for all. No prob! But a mass killing, people shouting in glee, shooting guns, kicking, hitting, and dragging. I saw way too much pleasure in all that exuberance in the little video, regardless of the crap the guy pulled in his lifetime. I thought humanity was supposed to have grown more civilized than back in the day when a person could get pounded to death by the masses…oh wait, maybe it’ll become a fashion trend again.

In Qaddafi’s case I’m mostly wondering if it will not be a case of “better the devil you know” in the end. I mean, really, who knows what the guy who takes his place will be like.

You sure see emotions flare up mightily for just about anything these days, and we all know that people cannot be held responsible for their actions when they’re emotional, right?
*sigh*

Better not get started on emotions flaring high. What with all the protests going on in the world, I find myself gnashing my teeth these days. I mean seriously, where do the people get the time and money to protest so much, social security maybe? (where do they think they get it from? The government they despise. Who in turn get it from hard working taxpayers…who get their money from their employers and the banks. Talking about the hand that feeds you.) I sure wouldn’t have the time and money for such folly. I’m trying to survive here, thank you very much.

Okay, that’s my rant for the day. Sorry to kinda political on y’all there (I always try not to), but I was about to burst from restraining myself. Hah.
Well, I’ve got another edit to do (yesterday’s went reassuringly well, if you must know) so I better leave it at this.