Song of the day: “If I die young” by the Band Perry. Strange huh, but this song keeps going through my head a lot. Guess it’s an easy enough one (and a fun one) for my brain to get stuck on it.
Busy couple of days again (I know, I’m getting predictable) but the busyness had nothing to do with a big project, just lots of little stuff that took time more than anything.
There was editing, of course, but that I going slow and steady, with little change and little enjoyment on my part. Seriously, editing definitely sucks the fun out of the whole writing bizz…but it is a necessary evil, I suppose. Since writing is something I have chosen to do, and which I enjoy tremendously and wouldn’t stop doing unless someone held a hand to my head…well, I might stop for that…no I wouldn’t. Hah.
But back to the day…or more accurately, yesterday.
First off there was Sally’s bed. Apparently she’d slept dreadfully because the bed was too soft, so grandpa and I went down to take the springs out of the contraption. After that we put in a board instead, which, as it turns out today, works just fine. She slept a lot better this night. Phew. Such a relief.
Lack of storage is driving me absolutely bonkers, so we created some extra shelving in my cabin…or, let me introduce you to Ox (yes, that’s a fake name, duh), who has agreed to feature in the blog from now on. *snort* Sorry, but it took me forever to get him to agree to let me write about his visits (he helps out with project every now and then). He isn’t sure yet, so I’m going to include him a few times and let him decide. Okay?
Ox is a friend, and has been gradually getting used to DIYing over the past half year or so.
Yesterday he helped with the shelving, and will probably be around helping with building my new bed some time soon.
I never realized how much folks have with being written about like this. Seriously, you can’t imagine how often a friend says, “don’t write about this” etc, etc. Very frustrating. I really have to skip quite a bit of the days, just because they don’t want to be included. *sigh*
Okay, enough complaints. On with the rest. There was another rock hauling trip, wheeling sand down the mountain (still great exercise) and on the overall, just going back and forth, which the dogs absolutely adore. Amri will be running ahead of me, not caring a fig that the wheelbarrow and I are gathering speed and right on his heels. It’s almost as if he’ll be crowing: “Come on boss. Come on! I’ll race ya.”
Bonkers, I tell ya. Hah.
I’ve also be playing herbalist today, working on a potion for Labhana to see if I can get a swelling down. I’ll let you know how it works out. She got her first treatment tonight. I’ve gotta say I felt very witchy doing it. And the color. Seriously, the liquid turned into a hellish green color that literally hurts the eyes, and the smell…oh boy.
The majority of the afternoon was spent cleaning out the igloo (fungi aplenty there) sorting through the mess, putting in pallets to keep stuff (mattresses, pillows, suitcases, etc) from the floor. It took several hours, but in the end we stored everything that was salvageable back inside and closed the door to head over to the greenhouse where we had to redo some of the grout work over Sally’s room. Weather channel’s predicting rain come Sunday. This took about an hour, considering big brother had to use the angle grinder to get the old grout-work out.
My wrist is still giving me fits every now and then. It’s not funny, but it would seem that whenever one problem resolves itself, another one pops up. Very annoying. Hah.
What else? Well, there was laundry of course. But that’s not interesting in the least. There was also cleaning, which is even more boring, I guess, so we’ll have to make due with the rather delicious cauliflower soup I made this morning. It was delicious and so simple to make. 2 cauliflowers, 1 onion, 1 leek, some broth, two carrot and two potatoes. I just let it boil for several hours and voila. Lunch all done.
Tenant joined us again, of course. She walked all the way down with her caretaker this morning, and then I walked her back all the way up. Which is incredibly good for her. It makes her body work properly, tires her (guaranteeing a good night’s rest) and gives her pride. And she’s getting so much better at the walking bit…also the standing straight, which was so very hard for her in the beginning. *sigh*
First zucchinis are growing in the greenhouse, by the way. So beautiful, not to mention exciting. Added to that, we will be eating our first lettuce from in there within the next week, I think. I’m psyched about that.
Well, I’ve got another editing session ahead of me, so I better get to it.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Moving along steadily
Song of the day: “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Can’t help it. I had to look it up the other day and since then it has been in my head every now and then…along with The Band Perry’s “If I die young”.
Busy couple of days.
There was loads of stuff going on, but considering I’m running on fumes at the moment, I think I’m going to stick with the highlights and let it go at that.
After getting down a load of sand in the morning, we quickly got to the business of the day and started to lay the new bottom in the basin. The sky didn’t look promising, what with heavy clouds closing in on us from all sides, it seemed. But it stayed dry, and tenant joined us down below, spending the majority of the day reading on her chair in the corner by the papyrus bush. She seemed content there, looking up (she reminds me a little of Angela Lansbury these day, for some reason) occasionally, and nodding approval at whatever she thought I was saying at the time. Hah. Often I get the feeling she says “yes, yes, fine. I’m really comfortable” just to get me to stop asking. Poor thing. There I am asking her if she need anything while she’s submerged in a book.
But anyway, big brother and I worked on putting in the bottom, while grandpa mixed the cement for us and filled the buckets to lower to us. Our friend Dani joined in for the day again, and painted the new fencing for the garden pit. What with the new stairwell, we had to shift the balustrade around and use new slats for them. The dogs just snoozed in whatever spot they could find where the sun was shining, and when we took a break from the stucco work, we headed into the yard to plant some potatoes.
I’ve gotta admit that you can see that grandpa was a farmer his entire life, because the field he turned for the potatoes was perfectly smooth and void of any dead weeds. Seriously, that impressive. Hah. But anyway, we planted about a hundred potatoes, and soon we’re going to do another field, but after that first one, grandpa and big brother headed back up to resume with the basin while Dani and I stuck in the yard for a bit to build some reed fencing around the patch. Good thing too, considering Chaos barged through the gate just an hour later and decided to explore the lower garden again, like the tank he is. *sigh*
We finished the basin yesterday afternoon…or more accurately just before dawn, meaning that we really had to hurry to get our habitual batch of rocks after cleaning up the mess and bringing down a bottle of gas for Sally.
With our batch of rocks safely home, it was time to head inside and start to work on the book. We decided to go for a slight change in the routine and opted to work on the letter and synopsis, rather than the actual edit. Managed it too, much to my surprise. Seriously, we managed to fit the storyline of A.I.L. into exactly (meaning down to the last line) two pages, which is nothing short of a miracle…or the story is just that superficial. Hah.
But, it was a successful day in that regard, so when I finally hit the sheets at around two in the morning, I was more than a little happy.
Of course the dog woke me early, but since I could snooze for another half hour, I didn’t mind too bad. I only throttled two of them in the end. Hah. But anyway, clouds were still there this morning, but since the basin was ready, I spent the majority of the day, working on my terrace while tenant and Dani kept me company. I’ve been promising for weeks to make tenant a new bed, this time with drawers underneath it, so considering the hard work was done Dani and I worked on that. Got the thing done within four hours, so there was still enough time left to make another for Sally, who’s been sleeping on one of those metal cod frames for the past few months. The second one was harder, what with my supplies not being as affluent as with the one for tenant, but we managed in the end. Did manage to twist my wrist in the process. I was fooling around with the electric drill, and when I had to do it at an odd angle, the stupid thing yanked my wrist in a direction it didn’t want to go. Darn it.
Grandpa helped me carry the new bed down, at which point I was forced to get a mattress from storage because Sally’s mattress was one of those ancient spring ones, and too big for the bed to boot. Hope it sleeps well, because if she wants the old one back I’m going to have take that bed out again. *sigh*
That done we hauled gravel down the mountain. Still preparing for that wall under the house, remember? It is going slowly but steadily, meaning that within a few weeks we should be about ready to start with it. After grandpa’s porridge, big brother and I headed out for another batch of rocks…which was around the time I started running on fumes.
I feel much better now, by the way. I’m eating mac & cheese, and the tea is downright wonderful with it. Well, I’ve got an edit to do, messages to go over and…well, you know, the usual.
Busy couple of days.
There was loads of stuff going on, but considering I’m running on fumes at the moment, I think I’m going to stick with the highlights and let it go at that.
After getting down a load of sand in the morning, we quickly got to the business of the day and started to lay the new bottom in the basin. The sky didn’t look promising, what with heavy clouds closing in on us from all sides, it seemed. But it stayed dry, and tenant joined us down below, spending the majority of the day reading on her chair in the corner by the papyrus bush. She seemed content there, looking up (she reminds me a little of Angela Lansbury these day, for some reason) occasionally, and nodding approval at whatever she thought I was saying at the time. Hah. Often I get the feeling she says “yes, yes, fine. I’m really comfortable” just to get me to stop asking. Poor thing. There I am asking her if she need anything while she’s submerged in a book.
But anyway, big brother and I worked on putting in the bottom, while grandpa mixed the cement for us and filled the buckets to lower to us. Our friend Dani joined in for the day again, and painted the new fencing for the garden pit. What with the new stairwell, we had to shift the balustrade around and use new slats for them. The dogs just snoozed in whatever spot they could find where the sun was shining, and when we took a break from the stucco work, we headed into the yard to plant some potatoes.
I’ve gotta admit that you can see that grandpa was a farmer his entire life, because the field he turned for the potatoes was perfectly smooth and void of any dead weeds. Seriously, that impressive. Hah. But anyway, we planted about a hundred potatoes, and soon we’re going to do another field, but after that first one, grandpa and big brother headed back up to resume with the basin while Dani and I stuck in the yard for a bit to build some reed fencing around the patch. Good thing too, considering Chaos barged through the gate just an hour later and decided to explore the lower garden again, like the tank he is. *sigh*
We finished the basin yesterday afternoon…or more accurately just before dawn, meaning that we really had to hurry to get our habitual batch of rocks after cleaning up the mess and bringing down a bottle of gas for Sally.
With our batch of rocks safely home, it was time to head inside and start to work on the book. We decided to go for a slight change in the routine and opted to work on the letter and synopsis, rather than the actual edit. Managed it too, much to my surprise. Seriously, we managed to fit the storyline of A.I.L. into exactly (meaning down to the last line) two pages, which is nothing short of a miracle…or the story is just that superficial. Hah.
But, it was a successful day in that regard, so when I finally hit the sheets at around two in the morning, I was more than a little happy.
Of course the dog woke me early, but since I could snooze for another half hour, I didn’t mind too bad. I only throttled two of them in the end. Hah. But anyway, clouds were still there this morning, but since the basin was ready, I spent the majority of the day, working on my terrace while tenant and Dani kept me company. I’ve been promising for weeks to make tenant a new bed, this time with drawers underneath it, so considering the hard work was done Dani and I worked on that. Got the thing done within four hours, so there was still enough time left to make another for Sally, who’s been sleeping on one of those metal cod frames for the past few months. The second one was harder, what with my supplies not being as affluent as with the one for tenant, but we managed in the end. Did manage to twist my wrist in the process. I was fooling around with the electric drill, and when I had to do it at an odd angle, the stupid thing yanked my wrist in a direction it didn’t want to go. Darn it.
Grandpa helped me carry the new bed down, at which point I was forced to get a mattress from storage because Sally’s mattress was one of those ancient spring ones, and too big for the bed to boot. Hope it sleeps well, because if she wants the old one back I’m going to have take that bed out again. *sigh*
That done we hauled gravel down the mountain. Still preparing for that wall under the house, remember? It is going slowly but steadily, meaning that within a few weeks we should be about ready to start with it. After grandpa’s porridge, big brother and I headed out for another batch of rocks…which was around the time I started running on fumes.
I feel much better now, by the way. I’m eating mac & cheese, and the tea is downright wonderful with it. Well, I’ve got an edit to do, messages to go over and…well, you know, the usual.
Monday, February 7, 2011
My B-day present, finally.
Song of the day: “The bright side of life” by the Monthy Python gang again, of course. So weird. And Gloria Gaynor’s “I will survive”, which are odd choices of music for my brain to get stuck on, I think…oh and there was this new song I recently heard from The Band Perry with “If I died young”. Such a cute little song. I’ve gotta say that every now and then I do thoroughly enjoy country music. Oh boy, I had no idea that I had this many songs in my head these past couple of days. And considering I usually sing out loud, and that sometimes others start singing along…well, much to my embarrassment things might look a bit like a musical. Hah.
Don’t hold it against me, please.
So what’s been going on, and for a change I’m not blanking. Weird, isn’t it?
Yesterday. Oh my, it was a splendid day, I assure you. Most of it was spent gardening and really there isn’t much that can beat that. I sowed lots of pots with herbs, seeing as grandpa promised to help me put together a cabinet in which I can dry them this year. It’s going to be fascinating.
In regard to experimenting, in our yard we’ve got lots of cacti, and I found a recipe on-line to make prickly pear jam, so I’m going to have to try that soon too. I’m not sure what to do with the taste description they give, though. Kiwi, melon and natural bubble gum. I mean, really. Eeewwww, but then I tasted a bit of the fruit’s flesh and it turned out it wasn’t bad at all. We’ll see once I get around to it.
Grandpa was turning earth, so we can start planting potatoes soon. He really is the expert there (having been a farmer most of his life) and he appears to want to do it “right” rather than have us bungle it. Hah.
Other than that there was basin cleaning, with a little luck we can paint the thing tomorrow…or at least the walls, while big brother puts a final layer of cement on the bottom. Then, if only we have five more days for it to dry…it’s unlikely, what with clouds already gathering over the mountain. Ah well, we’ll see, I guess.
There were edits, naturally, just like there will be more tonight. We’re not going fast, but not going slow either. It is going well enough, though.
Touri’s ear is doing well, and Gada appears to be improving as well. At least her recent deafness appears less bad. Carla is still pretty bad with his ears, so we’re going to have to continue with him for a while yet.
At the end of the day, big brother and I removed most of the furniture from my bed room, so we could spend today putting in my new floor…did I forget to mention that. Of course I didn’t, I just figured I would do it in the proper sequence. It took us about an hour, leaving on the bed for the night, and then had to leave for our daily trip to get rocks…again.
Chaos is absolutely enjoying the fact that my bed is presently half the height it usually is. Finally he can just climb up on his own (which he doesn’t do, he’ll put his front legs up and then wait for me to lift him up) and stretch out whenever he bloody well pleases.
So let’s start on today, because I finally got to my birthday present. I. Got. My. New. Floor! Yay!!! Seriously, it’s beautiful. We worked on it most of the day today and the bedroom has a completely new and perfectly spotless floor. Awesome, wonderful, and I can’t wait for the day to be over so I can go up and try to organize a bit before I go to bed. Seriously, I haven’t had this smooth a floor in…well, ever. Hah. But I’m serious. It’s wonderful, and yes, I did take pictures and I will post them at some point.
Which reminds me, I got an SMS from the people I did a babysitting job interview with. Apparently, their old babysitter was coming back from the UK after all, so they wouldn’t be needing me after all. Can’t blame them, really. The baby was already used to the woman, and changing sitters is rather difficult after all.
Ah well, better luck next time. I ain’t desperate yet, so I can afford to keep looking at my leisure for now.
Afterwards we headed down for the guest rooms to check up on the geyser in the bathroom, Sally was starting to get desperate with only cold showers in the morning, so big brother decided to tackle the thing again. We did manage to get it back to working order. Not scorching hot, but warm at least. After that we did a round of the yard, checking the berry bushes, giving some water where necessary, and just enjoying the outside for a bit.
More stones to be fetched at the end of the day, poor dogs meandering by the sides of the road…have I complained about this yet? What with the economic crisis, more and more dogs are being tossed out on the streets, meaning that they’re everywhere. Seriously, it makes me wish we didn’t already have all our dogs, because I definitely want to save some more. Can’t though, so I clench my jaw and we continue on our way after throwing out some food, and whatnot wherever we know lots of dogs frequent. I hate this!
But I’m not going to linger on it. It has no use anyway, so let’s wrap this up, shall we?
There were some supplies to be bought after getting rocks, and then it was back home for a quick snack prior to starting with today’s blog.
I think I need a nap.
Don’t hold it against me, please.
So what’s been going on, and for a change I’m not blanking. Weird, isn’t it?
Yesterday. Oh my, it was a splendid day, I assure you. Most of it was spent gardening and really there isn’t much that can beat that. I sowed lots of pots with herbs, seeing as grandpa promised to help me put together a cabinet in which I can dry them this year. It’s going to be fascinating.
In regard to experimenting, in our yard we’ve got lots of cacti, and I found a recipe on-line to make prickly pear jam, so I’m going to have to try that soon too. I’m not sure what to do with the taste description they give, though. Kiwi, melon and natural bubble gum. I mean, really. Eeewwww, but then I tasted a bit of the fruit’s flesh and it turned out it wasn’t bad at all. We’ll see once I get around to it.
Grandpa was turning earth, so we can start planting potatoes soon. He really is the expert there (having been a farmer most of his life) and he appears to want to do it “right” rather than have us bungle it. Hah.
Other than that there was basin cleaning, with a little luck we can paint the thing tomorrow…or at least the walls, while big brother puts a final layer of cement on the bottom. Then, if only we have five more days for it to dry…it’s unlikely, what with clouds already gathering over the mountain. Ah well, we’ll see, I guess.
There were edits, naturally, just like there will be more tonight. We’re not going fast, but not going slow either. It is going well enough, though.
Touri’s ear is doing well, and Gada appears to be improving as well. At least her recent deafness appears less bad. Carla is still pretty bad with his ears, so we’re going to have to continue with him for a while yet.
At the end of the day, big brother and I removed most of the furniture from my bed room, so we could spend today putting in my new floor…did I forget to mention that. Of course I didn’t, I just figured I would do it in the proper sequence. It took us about an hour, leaving on the bed for the night, and then had to leave for our daily trip to get rocks…again.
Chaos is absolutely enjoying the fact that my bed is presently half the height it usually is. Finally he can just climb up on his own (which he doesn’t do, he’ll put his front legs up and then wait for me to lift him up) and stretch out whenever he bloody well pleases.
So let’s start on today, because I finally got to my birthday present. I. Got. My. New. Floor! Yay!!! Seriously, it’s beautiful. We worked on it most of the day today and the bedroom has a completely new and perfectly spotless floor. Awesome, wonderful, and I can’t wait for the day to be over so I can go up and try to organize a bit before I go to bed. Seriously, I haven’t had this smooth a floor in…well, ever. Hah. But I’m serious. It’s wonderful, and yes, I did take pictures and I will post them at some point.
Which reminds me, I got an SMS from the people I did a babysitting job interview with. Apparently, their old babysitter was coming back from the UK after all, so they wouldn’t be needing me after all. Can’t blame them, really. The baby was already used to the woman, and changing sitters is rather difficult after all.
Ah well, better luck next time. I ain’t desperate yet, so I can afford to keep looking at my leisure for now.
Afterwards we headed down for the guest rooms to check up on the geyser in the bathroom, Sally was starting to get desperate with only cold showers in the morning, so big brother decided to tackle the thing again. We did manage to get it back to working order. Not scorching hot, but warm at least. After that we did a round of the yard, checking the berry bushes, giving some water where necessary, and just enjoying the outside for a bit.
More stones to be fetched at the end of the day, poor dogs meandering by the sides of the road…have I complained about this yet? What with the economic crisis, more and more dogs are being tossed out on the streets, meaning that they’re everywhere. Seriously, it makes me wish we didn’t already have all our dogs, because I definitely want to save some more. Can’t though, so I clench my jaw and we continue on our way after throwing out some food, and whatnot wherever we know lots of dogs frequent. I hate this!
But I’m not going to linger on it. It has no use anyway, so let’s wrap this up, shall we?
There were some supplies to be bought after getting rocks, and then it was back home for a quick snack prior to starting with today’s blog.
I think I need a nap.
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