Song of the day: “Don’t marry her, have me” by the Beautiful South. I’m not even sure that is the right title, but what the heck. It’s the part that sticks. Hah.
Okay, so there is not a lot to say about yesterday, really. Considering it was raining like heck, there wasn’t all that much I could do while big brother was messing around with the repairs of battery charged tools and grandpa was busy with his own stuff.
So I started out the day with the usual batch of laundry. That was of course followed by some cleaning, such as the glazed glass fixtures in the house, tackling spider webs and cleaning out another set of drawers. I know, very tedious, huh? I wish there was something of more interest to share, but basically that’s the high note of yesterday.
There were several hours spent in the carport making a couple of shelves for beside the laundry machine. The friggin’ mess there is P.O.ing me, and I really want to put the detergent and softeners somewhere neat. Luckily, everything I need was available and I let the lot dry from the lick of paint that got slapped on.
The last thing in the afternoon, while big brother tackled the back door of the Land Rover, was me taking Touri to the vet. Poor Touri’s bump on the hip has once again grown and now he’s once more in pain. I decided that it was enough and brought him over. Of course the vet’s first thought was that it was cancer or a swollen anal gland. I told her it was just a swelling, so she checked. I hate it when they start prodding a lump with a needle the way she did. Seriously, it hurt Touri more the rest of the evening than the bump did.
She made an X-Ray to see if the bone had been affected, but it wasn’t, and the anal gland didn’t appear affected either, so now I have an appointment on Monday morning where she’ll operate to remove the lump. She warned that there could be nerve damage, but she’ll have to see when she opens him up. Until then he’s on an anti-inflammatory and the dratted antibiotics. They really should be careful with antibiotics. It’s as if they are unaware that every time you take them you ruin some vital bacteria in you intestines that you then will never get back. Where will you be if they’re all gone, I wonder. *sigh*
But anyway, afterwards, once I got Touri home, I called my own doctor (I’ve postponed it long enough) and made an appointment for Monday afternoon. Had to do it in Spanish, considering the assistant doesn’t speak English, but it went well enough. These past few months of reading Spanish out loud have been paying off after all, I guess.
The evening ended on a rather wonderful edit of almost a full chapter, which then brings us to today, of course.
A beautiful day, in case you’re wondering. The day started with the sun coming out of the hill, and it stayed with us the entire day. Made use of it too, if you must know, but first there was the laundry (duh) and then making an apple/pear pie. Last night I was thinking of that particular flavor and for that very reason I just had to make a couple. Seriously, I was salivating and it took less than half an hour anyway, and considering grandpa and big brother had to go pick up grandpa’s moped again (it broke down on the way home from the village, darn it) they got me a bag of apples.
Got the whole thing done before noon, so I still had time to hang my shelves. They look very nice, thank you very much. Then I headed down to put the cauliflower plants outside. We’ve got to let them adjust to the cold gradually. And did a quick round of the garden. This effort left me with four tomatoes. Hah.
Tenant came down to sit on my porch again, of course, and she had a pleasant day, she claimed, reading, petting dogs and just enjoying the view.
Afterwards (after the garden, you know) big brother was home and we had breakfast prior to started on the day’s task.
The Basin! Yep. What the weather so splendid we thought it a great opportunity to start on the basin wall anew. Great stuff, building walls. Grandpa made cement, our friend Dani joined in again, and together we put up about a foot of wall, on half the length. Considering it is also part of the bulwark that is supposed to make the wall stronger and give us a stairs at the same time, that’s quite a bit of cement and rocks.
We went through five mixers of cement and most of our laboriously hauled rocks by the greenhouse. Before we can continue on the next time, we’re going to have to haul both first.
It looks nice and solid I’ll admit, and if this will topple under the pressure I’ll be properly impressed. Seriously, it looks like it will survive a nuclear holocaust. Hah.
By the time we were done for the day and had cleaned up the mess we were about ready to call it a day, hah. Once in the house I shoved the pies in the oven, warmed up the day’s dinner and then flopped down at my desk to write this…might as well have skipped it for all the “interesting” stuff in it, eh?
Ah well, maybe the next time I’ll have something fun to note. It will be my birthday after all. Hah.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Rocks totally rock...or something. :-)
Song of the day: “Who wants to live forever” by Queen. I know, a little melodramatic, but I heard and saw it last night and today I couldn’t get it out of my head.
Lots of activity the past couple of days. Seriously, there is never a shortage of something to do, and in a way I really like that.
First, a really great bit of news. I found a book on my bookshelves that I haven’t read yet. Yay. It has been ages since I had a new book from an author I really like. Amanda Quick’s “The Wicked Widow”. I know what you’re thinking. How can a title like that be any good, but I don’t care, Quick has got a wonderful writing style that is just so easy and fun to read that everything else becomes secondary. I do have to say, that since I recently read another one of her books “Ravished” (yeah, another tacky title) I discovered she was more elaborate and detailed in her description of the era (1800s). In her newer works, she takes less time to give the author the flavor of that time, and it’s a pity, really.
Be that as it may, I’m enjoying this read, along with the review reading I’m doing on a nightly basis. It makes me wonder what other treasures are hiding on my shelves. Hah.
Okay, on to the business at hand. Yesterday.
It was a friggin’ beautiful day, so it was outside work for us. Yay. Tenant came down to my porch and we got to work on a variety of projects.
First there was some cleaning. The kitchen drawers in this case. They’ve been an eyesore for quite a bit, so I quickly did that after laundry.
Since big brother had to work on the moped, there is something wrong with the cooling system, I headed down to the pantry. Had to level the floor behind the kitchen and then pour the concrete grandpa had made, but first big brother had to come down to help me. The tubing of our water system has been a mess for ages, and now I’d had enough of it. We took this really big loop that disappeared underneath out, and just connected it straight through. It looks much better at least.
There was also a hole in the small wall we built there last year, so I put fencing against that lest the dogs slipped through. After some serious digging and raking, I could start pouring concrete. Our friend Dani had joined in for the day again, and she hauled the concrete in and levelled it up to where I was working. Very efficient working that way, really.
Considering there was a wheelbarrow and a half of concrete left, we poured that by the plant containers on the other side of the house where a rock had tumbled out and a big crack was forming. The big bulb of bigger rocks we put in front of it should do the trick in keeping the container from crumbling.
Next it was down to the basin. While big brother worked on the electrical wiring for the greenhouse, I decided to start hauling rocks there for building the wall ASAP. But, the place was still littered with debris, so grandpa came down to help me clean it away. It took the remainder of the afternoon, and hauling away six wheelbarrows of the stuff, but by then it was nice and clean in there and the lights of the greenhouse could be turned on. It looked beautiful, thank you very much. Hah.
Once we were done, and I’d hauled a new gasket up to the house, we quickly cleaned the mess we’d made in the pantry and then got to the day’s edit. Seeing as I was pretty tired, we didn’t get all that much done, but progress was made anyway, so who cares.
Didn’t get to bed until after two in the morning, but I had a good night’s rest.
Today was another sunny day, even though the weather forecast had predicted differently and so we got to work after the usual bout of laundry and chores inside.
First there was more work on the moped and tenant coming down to sit on my porch. It is such a marvellously sunny spot for her. She can look out over the valley there. And it will have all of us coming past frequently, and the dogs do love keeping her company.
But anyway, today was rock-hauling day. Yep. It’s that time again, and it was rather grand. Seriously, who needs fitness if you can cart a wheelbarrow up and down the mountain with 300 pounds of rock in them. Hah. We got a good solid load down to the basin (it’s for the new wall, remember?) and afterwards spent another two to three hours hauling down sand for cement down into the bag we put there. Ended up with a good 2000 pounds, so we should be set just as soon as we want to start on the project.
There was a bit of tree trimming in-between, taking the cauliflower plants out of the greenhouse because they don’t like the warmth and then at the end of the day putting them back in.
Afterwards we finally finished with the wooden partition on the back of the bus. It looks rather nice, I’ll admit…but I was totally bushed afterwards. Jeez.
Put the cauliflowers back inside at the end of the day, and then headed up to the carport to take some old constructions apart for proper recycling.
What with the need for so many rocks for the basin and in the near future the new wall under the porch (I discovered it is still sagging) we headed out to get a new batch again. I do admit to liking this particular part of this type of work. It allows me to take Knight II with me while we roam through the wild in search of rocks. Hah.
Of course Knight II, who wasn’t adopted by me until he was over six months old, is an absolute city dog. Seriously, who ever heard of a dog that would rather stay on macadam rather than dirt? He looks like a friggin’ ballerina if I insist he joins me in the bushes, and tiptoes towards me all annoyed for my insistence.
Well, I’m calling it a day…on the blog anyway. Heck, I might even have a nap before getting to work on my blog. Hah.
Lots of activity the past couple of days. Seriously, there is never a shortage of something to do, and in a way I really like that.
First, a really great bit of news. I found a book on my bookshelves that I haven’t read yet. Yay. It has been ages since I had a new book from an author I really like. Amanda Quick’s “The Wicked Widow”. I know what you’re thinking. How can a title like that be any good, but I don’t care, Quick has got a wonderful writing style that is just so easy and fun to read that everything else becomes secondary. I do have to say, that since I recently read another one of her books “Ravished” (yeah, another tacky title) I discovered she was more elaborate and detailed in her description of the era (1800s). In her newer works, she takes less time to give the author the flavor of that time, and it’s a pity, really.
Be that as it may, I’m enjoying this read, along with the review reading I’m doing on a nightly basis. It makes me wonder what other treasures are hiding on my shelves. Hah.
Okay, on to the business at hand. Yesterday.
It was a friggin’ beautiful day, so it was outside work for us. Yay. Tenant came down to my porch and we got to work on a variety of projects.
First there was some cleaning. The kitchen drawers in this case. They’ve been an eyesore for quite a bit, so I quickly did that after laundry.
Since big brother had to work on the moped, there is something wrong with the cooling system, I headed down to the pantry. Had to level the floor behind the kitchen and then pour the concrete grandpa had made, but first big brother had to come down to help me. The tubing of our water system has been a mess for ages, and now I’d had enough of it. We took this really big loop that disappeared underneath out, and just connected it straight through. It looks much better at least.
There was also a hole in the small wall we built there last year, so I put fencing against that lest the dogs slipped through. After some serious digging and raking, I could start pouring concrete. Our friend Dani had joined in for the day again, and she hauled the concrete in and levelled it up to where I was working. Very efficient working that way, really.
Considering there was a wheelbarrow and a half of concrete left, we poured that by the plant containers on the other side of the house where a rock had tumbled out and a big crack was forming. The big bulb of bigger rocks we put in front of it should do the trick in keeping the container from crumbling.
Next it was down to the basin. While big brother worked on the electrical wiring for the greenhouse, I decided to start hauling rocks there for building the wall ASAP. But, the place was still littered with debris, so grandpa came down to help me clean it away. It took the remainder of the afternoon, and hauling away six wheelbarrows of the stuff, but by then it was nice and clean in there and the lights of the greenhouse could be turned on. It looked beautiful, thank you very much. Hah.
Once we were done, and I’d hauled a new gasket up to the house, we quickly cleaned the mess we’d made in the pantry and then got to the day’s edit. Seeing as I was pretty tired, we didn’t get all that much done, but progress was made anyway, so who cares.
Didn’t get to bed until after two in the morning, but I had a good night’s rest.
Today was another sunny day, even though the weather forecast had predicted differently and so we got to work after the usual bout of laundry and chores inside.
First there was more work on the moped and tenant coming down to sit on my porch. It is such a marvellously sunny spot for her. She can look out over the valley there. And it will have all of us coming past frequently, and the dogs do love keeping her company.
But anyway, today was rock-hauling day. Yep. It’s that time again, and it was rather grand. Seriously, who needs fitness if you can cart a wheelbarrow up and down the mountain with 300 pounds of rock in them. Hah. We got a good solid load down to the basin (it’s for the new wall, remember?) and afterwards spent another two to three hours hauling down sand for cement down into the bag we put there. Ended up with a good 2000 pounds, so we should be set just as soon as we want to start on the project.
There was a bit of tree trimming in-between, taking the cauliflower plants out of the greenhouse because they don’t like the warmth and then at the end of the day putting them back in.
Afterwards we finally finished with the wooden partition on the back of the bus. It looks rather nice, I’ll admit…but I was totally bushed afterwards. Jeez.
Put the cauliflowers back inside at the end of the day, and then headed up to the carport to take some old constructions apart for proper recycling.
What with the need for so many rocks for the basin and in the near future the new wall under the porch (I discovered it is still sagging) we headed out to get a new batch again. I do admit to liking this particular part of this type of work. It allows me to take Knight II with me while we roam through the wild in search of rocks. Hah.
Of course Knight II, who wasn’t adopted by me until he was over six months old, is an absolute city dog. Seriously, who ever heard of a dog that would rather stay on macadam rather than dirt? He looks like a friggin’ ballerina if I insist he joins me in the bushes, and tiptoes towards me all annoyed for my insistence.
Well, I’m calling it a day…on the blog anyway. Heck, I might even have a nap before getting to work on my blog. Hah.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Timberrrrrrrr. Yikes!
Song of the day: “Coconut” Harry Nilsson. Had it before, but it is still an incredibly fun song.
Okay, today was a busy one, and considering it followed grocery shopping day (yeah, yeah, I know: aaargh!) I’m going to skip yesterday and start right with today. Besides nothing of interest happened anyway. In fact we did the chore in little over five hours so that was good.
Soooooo, today: Yay! I mean it. Seriously. The sun was out all day, the temperatures were in the high seventies, low eighties and we made the best possible use of the day.
You see, there is this big mimosa tree growing over the house, and we have been planning to do some serious trimming for the past few weeks. Today was perfect for it.
First off, thought, there was laundry, of course. I’m turning overtime for it, since I want it all gone before the rains start again (according to the weather channel it will be tomorrow, or the day after) and just half an hour ago I pushed in the last batch. Yay.
Afterwards I tackled the glass partitions in the house for a bit. The dirty windows have been driving me bonkers for quite a bit, so last week I finally said, enough, and have been cleaning the smooth surfaces every morning for fifteen minutes or so. The result is rather pleasant, I must admit. There really is nothing more pleasant than walking in the house and seeing gleaming black patches where the windows are…perfect spot to see King’s “It” in. Hah.
But anyways. I had a quick breakfast while big brother went out with grandpa to pick up the moped. Apparently the darn thing panged somewhere along the way, so grandpa had been forced to walk home. Turns out something is wrong with the cooling liquid tank, and we don’t have a clue as to what caused it.
Be that as it may, within no time at all we were ready to start on the task of trimming the mimosa. Both big brother and I climbed onto the roof, and while he continued to climb up into the tree itself, I would be below catching the branches and trunks. That went just splendidly too, until the biggest one came down suddenly and basically landed on top of me. Yikes. Luckily my reflexes are a lot better than they used to be, and I dropped down into a tight ball as the trunk’s V came right at me.
I remember taking one step back, covering my head with my arms and then it was on top of me. I was right between the V, so no real harm was done. I’ve got some cuts and bruises on my back and sides, and that’s it. Heck, it didn’t even stop me from continuing on.
Big brother was worried for a bit, though, since I disappeared under the foliage, he asked me if everything was okay (from within the tree where he perched with the chainsaw) four times before I could answer him. Seriously, how come you’re always unable to answer someone while taking inward stock of the damage?
Soon we were back and sawing and hacking, and in the end the big offensive part of the tree that was a hazard was hauled away. Next came the fun part. Cleanup! Yep. I think that took longer than the whole operation on the tree. There was about twenty square meters of roof tiling to clean, and more than eight full wheelbarrows of composting leaves, branches and whatnot to haul away.
The fun part of it, is that I had to use this child’s toy rake thing to drag the stuff from between the roof tiles. It was pretty tough too, considering there were roots, bugs and such all over the place. Still, it was kinda nice working on the roof in the full sunshine. Heck, I might actually end up with a winter tan. Hah.
Didn’t finish the task (carting it all down the mountain took some extra time) until dusk, but that was okay. The dogs had a blast attacking the downpour of debris and then running up and down with me, so, like I said, a successful day.
When we were finally done, I was sore, itchy, sweaty and more than a little achy. I need a shower, food and a chair, and not necessarily in that order. Hah.
Well, I’ve got more edits to do, of course. When don’t I need to do edits? And considering yesterday’s edit went atrociously, I really should try to get some done today…after a nap.
I’m outta here.
Okay, today was a busy one, and considering it followed grocery shopping day (yeah, yeah, I know: aaargh!) I’m going to skip yesterday and start right with today. Besides nothing of interest happened anyway. In fact we did the chore in little over five hours so that was good.
Soooooo, today: Yay! I mean it. Seriously. The sun was out all day, the temperatures were in the high seventies, low eighties and we made the best possible use of the day.
You see, there is this big mimosa tree growing over the house, and we have been planning to do some serious trimming for the past few weeks. Today was perfect for it.
First off, thought, there was laundry, of course. I’m turning overtime for it, since I want it all gone before the rains start again (according to the weather channel it will be tomorrow, or the day after) and just half an hour ago I pushed in the last batch. Yay.
Afterwards I tackled the glass partitions in the house for a bit. The dirty windows have been driving me bonkers for quite a bit, so last week I finally said, enough, and have been cleaning the smooth surfaces every morning for fifteen minutes or so. The result is rather pleasant, I must admit. There really is nothing more pleasant than walking in the house and seeing gleaming black patches where the windows are…perfect spot to see King’s “It” in. Hah.
But anyways. I had a quick breakfast while big brother went out with grandpa to pick up the moped. Apparently the darn thing panged somewhere along the way, so grandpa had been forced to walk home. Turns out something is wrong with the cooling liquid tank, and we don’t have a clue as to what caused it.
Be that as it may, within no time at all we were ready to start on the task of trimming the mimosa. Both big brother and I climbed onto the roof, and while he continued to climb up into the tree itself, I would be below catching the branches and trunks. That went just splendidly too, until the biggest one came down suddenly and basically landed on top of me. Yikes. Luckily my reflexes are a lot better than they used to be, and I dropped down into a tight ball as the trunk’s V came right at me.
I remember taking one step back, covering my head with my arms and then it was on top of me. I was right between the V, so no real harm was done. I’ve got some cuts and bruises on my back and sides, and that’s it. Heck, it didn’t even stop me from continuing on.
Big brother was worried for a bit, though, since I disappeared under the foliage, he asked me if everything was okay (from within the tree where he perched with the chainsaw) four times before I could answer him. Seriously, how come you’re always unable to answer someone while taking inward stock of the damage?
Soon we were back and sawing and hacking, and in the end the big offensive part of the tree that was a hazard was hauled away. Next came the fun part. Cleanup! Yep. I think that took longer than the whole operation on the tree. There was about twenty square meters of roof tiling to clean, and more than eight full wheelbarrows of composting leaves, branches and whatnot to haul away.
The fun part of it, is that I had to use this child’s toy rake thing to drag the stuff from between the roof tiles. It was pretty tough too, considering there were roots, bugs and such all over the place. Still, it was kinda nice working on the roof in the full sunshine. Heck, I might actually end up with a winter tan. Hah.
Didn’t finish the task (carting it all down the mountain took some extra time) until dusk, but that was okay. The dogs had a blast attacking the downpour of debris and then running up and down with me, so, like I said, a successful day.
When we were finally done, I was sore, itchy, sweaty and more than a little achy. I need a shower, food and a chair, and not necessarily in that order. Hah.
Well, I’ve got more edits to do, of course. When don’t I need to do edits? And considering yesterday’s edit went atrociously, I really should try to get some done today…after a nap.
I’m outta here.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Not much to say.
Song of the day: “Forever” by Chris Brown. I think it’s because this is the song my phone plays as an alarm. It is a rather nice song to wake up to, I’ll admit. Makes me smile every time.
I’m running a little behind again, seeing as I just got back from getting rocks. Yep, it’s that time again. Since we’re going to have to double to get the basin done before the end of February, we’ve gotta start stockpiling the rocks. Only got a relatively small stash today, what with the labor being somewhat unpracticed again, but we’ll get into full swing soon enough.
Okay, yesterday was spent working on the upper patio door. We took the old frame apart, replaced the rotten and broken part, and then covered the lot with hardwood slats. They’re of a red color with beautiful black burn marks on them. A side effect of the sawing machine that works really well for something such as this. We worked on the blasted thing (two of us) for eight hours, but managed to finish it enough to have a door during the night. Hah.
I made pictures of the process, of course…but of course my camera messed up and the friggin’ pictures are gone. Darn it! Now I can’t show the before and after. Grrr. I’ll have to make some new pics, but those will only show the after, blast it.
Stupid camera.
But anyway…
Today we spent most of the day working on putting in a doorpost for the door, and the majority of the morning I scrubbed the pantry, made a fresh tomato sauce for tonight’s pasta, hung a humongous load of laundry, because I really have to make use of the good weather. Seriously. The sun was shining when I woke up this morning, and I was determined to get through the load ASAP. Almost done now, thank you very much
Considering tenant’s caregiver was out to her other job, I helped tenant after my chores and walked her down to my terrace so she’d have company for the remainder of the day. She appeared to enjoy the sunshine at least, and joined us for lunch. Baked pumpkin slices with onion, peppers and cheese on French bread. It hit just the right spot.
Yesterday’s edit didn’t go as well as it should have, but we’re past half the story now, so we’re still making good progress.
Mom and the sibs went to the market, like they do every week, and did well. Apparently they had good sales going, which is a definite plus.
Sitabah has formed a slight cough of late, so I’m going to keep her inside a bit more for the next few days. Can’t have a sick dog right now, so a bit of caution is warranted. They sure don’t like the cold nights, considering the bed crawlers of them are determined to cuddle close in the night. Seriously. Knight II wedges himself between us on the bed and will stab, hipbones, shoulder blades and anything else pointy (which covers a lot of ground with him) into my back, gut and legs. Yikes, that hurts.
Well, I’ve gotta get to work, so I’ll cheat today and not be too elaborate. Nothing really new to mention anyway. *sigh*
Oh wait. I saw a movie last night. "Law Abiding Citizen" with Gerard Butler and Jamie Fox, I think. Not a bad movie, but also not stunning, much to my regret. I do have to admit that it was an excellent revenge movie. Boy, did Butler take it to the limit. Ouch!
I’m running a little behind again, seeing as I just got back from getting rocks. Yep, it’s that time again. Since we’re going to have to double to get the basin done before the end of February, we’ve gotta start stockpiling the rocks. Only got a relatively small stash today, what with the labor being somewhat unpracticed again, but we’ll get into full swing soon enough.
Okay, yesterday was spent working on the upper patio door. We took the old frame apart, replaced the rotten and broken part, and then covered the lot with hardwood slats. They’re of a red color with beautiful black burn marks on them. A side effect of the sawing machine that works really well for something such as this. We worked on the blasted thing (two of us) for eight hours, but managed to finish it enough to have a door during the night. Hah.
I made pictures of the process, of course…but of course my camera messed up and the friggin’ pictures are gone. Darn it! Now I can’t show the before and after. Grrr. I’ll have to make some new pics, but those will only show the after, blast it.
Stupid camera.
But anyway…
Today we spent most of the day working on putting in a doorpost for the door, and the majority of the morning I scrubbed the pantry, made a fresh tomato sauce for tonight’s pasta, hung a humongous load of laundry, because I really have to make use of the good weather. Seriously. The sun was shining when I woke up this morning, and I was determined to get through the load ASAP. Almost done now, thank you very much
Considering tenant’s caregiver was out to her other job, I helped tenant after my chores and walked her down to my terrace so she’d have company for the remainder of the day. She appeared to enjoy the sunshine at least, and joined us for lunch. Baked pumpkin slices with onion, peppers and cheese on French bread. It hit just the right spot.
Yesterday’s edit didn’t go as well as it should have, but we’re past half the story now, so we’re still making good progress.
Mom and the sibs went to the market, like they do every week, and did well. Apparently they had good sales going, which is a definite plus.
Sitabah has formed a slight cough of late, so I’m going to keep her inside a bit more for the next few days. Can’t have a sick dog right now, so a bit of caution is warranted. They sure don’t like the cold nights, considering the bed crawlers of them are determined to cuddle close in the night. Seriously. Knight II wedges himself between us on the bed and will stab, hipbones, shoulder blades and anything else pointy (which covers a lot of ground with him) into my back, gut and legs. Yikes, that hurts.
Well, I’ve gotta get to work, so I’ll cheat today and not be too elaborate. Nothing really new to mention anyway. *sigh*
Oh wait. I saw a movie last night. "Law Abiding Citizen" with Gerard Butler and Jamie Fox, I think. Not a bad movie, but also not stunning, much to my regret. I do have to admit that it was an excellent revenge movie. Boy, did Butler take it to the limit. Ouch!
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