Song of the day: “Teenage dirtbag” by Wheatus. This is the first time I had this one in my head, I think. While working in the greenhouse and in the yard, it just kept going, and going, and going. Drove me bonkers, actually. Hah.
Okay, I’m actually early today, so lets get this thing rolling so I can get to my edits.
Oh dear, drawing a blank already, darn it.
Bus. Right. Caregiver’s bus, you remember the one, right? We painted it some months ago? Well anyway. The floor in the bathroom was getting to be too bad, so we ripped out the old one and put in a new. Since we were busy there anyway, we also put in the new toilet (had to get the old one out, so there was no sense in waiting with it)…we, meaning big brother and grandpa. It was a small space, so I ended up hauling in tools and supplies most of the time. Hah.
While waiting, I spent some time putting old clothes and such in storage. You never know when it might come in handy after all. The new floor is looking good, by the way, and so does the toilet.
Weather wise things have been pretty miserable these past couple of days. Yesterday I woke up to roaring thunder and pounding hail. Standing in front of my bedroom door, I couldn’t help but stare at the grayish/white ground and wonder “what the…” An inch thick layer of hail pellets covered the ground and it took my sleep drunk brain a solid thirty seconds to make a connection.
My dogs, on the other hand, took one look at the mess and rushed back to bed where they curled up on the still warm blankets. Smart little buggers.
Gada’s ear is fully healed now, thank you very much. Now if only the same treatment would work with Touri, I would be vastly relieved.
Both yesterday morning and this morning were spent making fresh cream cheese. I think I’ve got the recipe down pat now. It tastes rather wonderful and doesn’t cost all that much to make. Fresh herbs, some salt and pepper and it’s done. Added to that, the whey makes for a great soup. Had onion soup, and a vegetable soup in the past couple of days.
The basin is as good as full, by the way. Not strange, mind you, considering it came down in buckets last night. Big brother and I headed out after midnight to close the dam leading to the main tubing lest we got some serious flooding during the thunderous night. It was mighty interesting digging dirt and putting up the barrier with a flashlight in my mouth. Hah.
We had a wonderful run yesterday afternoon. We decided to head straight up the mountain taking Knight II along. He needed the exercise. Our friend Dani, and her dog Niobe went along as well. It was quite a hike, first going straight up the incline, (meaning it was steeper than a stairwell, mind you) and then taking the paths down at a run.
This was the first time Knight II ran on a leash with me, but he did great. He came to heel perfectly, didn’t pull, and kept pace with me without effort on his part. He was properly exhausted afterwards, and even though my foot was pounding like mad afterwards, I felt rather good about it too. My stamina is definitely improving.
This morning was spent reopening some ditches that slipped closed during the storms, but nothing big.
The lock of the carport gate broke the other day, so big brother and grandpa spent a couple of hours on that and managed to fix the problem. It now actually works better than it used to, seeing as they replaced the old spring with a much stronger one.
There was of course more gardening, thankfully. There were weeds to pull in the lower garden, which we did. I loved it, in particular because the sun came out for a bit. *sigh*
Then there was greenhouse work, meaning that we put up the second shelve on the south side, now filled with tomato plant pots, some lavender, and a lettuce. It looks so cute too, but since I don’t have my own phone (with camera) at the moment, I’ll have to wait with pictures. Darn it.
Afterwards we transplanted a full tray of tomatoes into pots, along with yellow peppers, which are absolutely delicious. While digging through the dirt supply under the work table, I freaked out a little due to the thousands of worms in it. Seriously, the earth was moving and to dig into that was a little icky.
Due to all the rain we’ve been forced to drain the garden pit twice, which has, of course, added to the basin level considerably. Lots of water coming into the pit, meaning that we’re really going to have to dig into the side and put a tube there somewhere.
Okay, this will have to do for now. I’ve got an edit to do.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Screaming?
Song of the day: “One hand in my pocket” by Alanis Morissete. I know, weird, huh? Still, cool song.
I am incredibly late again, and I know that I can’t foist today’s blog off with a picture gallery, so let’s just think for a minute (very hard, that) and do a proper update before I leave again to other more pressing ventures.
First of all, the Daewoo. Blast it all to heck, but it is once again going to cost a mint. Seriously, all the car trouble this past year are driving me positively bonkers, every time I think we have our savings up to date, something like this happens. But anyway, this little venture cost us two trips to town, half a day and, well, frankly I’m running on fumes.
Yesterday was pleasantly spent in the yard, thank Gawd. If not, I might have ended up screaming today. It was such beautiful weather, and since the mint was choking the strawberries, I spent half an hour infused by the scent of mint. In one word: Wonderful.
Added to that the strawberries have been busy this winter. They’ve multiplied at the very least meaning that we might actually end up with a strawberry field after all.
The pumpkin seedlings are doing splendid in the greenhouse, but we’re going to have to wait at least another month before we put them out into the yard.
We don’t know yet if the tomatoes will work in the greenhouse. They’re getting bigger, but insects are sparse in there.
The potatoes are looking wonderful, growing up rapidly. A few weeks from now and the ground will be invisible.
All the drips of the fruit trees have been located and are back in working order, several of the citruses have “mirrors” under them, to keep the weeds to a minimum. We have already used the basin twice, and have pulled massive amounts of weeds. Fun bit is that we ate a large portion of chard yesterday and it was absolutely yummy.
This afternoon we spent several hours working on my new laundry lines. The new carriers are up, and eight new lines are already in place. It’s looking beautiful, and I am (much to my embarrassment) almost ecstatic with them. How weird is that? Should I have kept that to myself, you think? Hah.
We took the fan off the ceiling in the sitting area and cleaned the entire thing up proper during the course of the afternoon. Which reminds me, before that I had to go to the village to bring Sally to her doctor’s appointment. I had fully intended to write this blog then, but since grandpa needed to have his mailbox checked, I had to park all the way at the beginning of the village and then needed to walk a good fifteen minutes towards the center, and then back. *sigh* I did manage to keep up a good pace, so at least I got my exercise…but no blog. Suffice it to say, I had just unlocked the car to get in when Sally phoned to let me know that I could come pick her up. *double sigh*
What else?
Oh yes, Touri had his stitches removed. Turns out there is very little left for the vet to do, and since it would have no use, she says, to operate again if the problem recurs, Touri’s body is either going to have to find a way to deal with this problem (with a little help, of course) or our days together are numbered…which depresses me to no end.
Another bit of depressing news is that it would seem that there went something completely haywire with out internet, bringing the bill up to a solid 200 bucks extra. I saw it, and felt my stomach plummet. Seriously, that’s freaky. We have no idea how it happened. We might need to visit with the phone shop to figure it out, because this is weird.
Grandpa is busy making a closet for caregiver’s apartment, with the help of Dani, who’s having a blast with it, I think.
This morning I experimented with making a herbal cream cheese, and it worked rather well, even though it was a tad sour. I’ll need to try out some other ways, but we’ll get it worked out, I’m sure.
There was a nourishing veggie soup today, even though I didn’t even have the time to drink a lot of it. In the end I had one cup, because we had to drive to town to pick up the Daewoo, of course.…And I really should make another thyme potion for the dogs with ear problems.
Edit wise we’re going strong. With a little luck we can start sending it out sometime next week…at which time we can also start the paper (and final) edit of A.T.O.L. I am looking forward to it.
I am incredibly late again, and I know that I can’t foist today’s blog off with a picture gallery, so let’s just think for a minute (very hard, that) and do a proper update before I leave again to other more pressing ventures.
First of all, the Daewoo. Blast it all to heck, but it is once again going to cost a mint. Seriously, all the car trouble this past year are driving me positively bonkers, every time I think we have our savings up to date, something like this happens. But anyway, this little venture cost us two trips to town, half a day and, well, frankly I’m running on fumes.
Yesterday was pleasantly spent in the yard, thank Gawd. If not, I might have ended up screaming today. It was such beautiful weather, and since the mint was choking the strawberries, I spent half an hour infused by the scent of mint. In one word: Wonderful.
Added to that the strawberries have been busy this winter. They’ve multiplied at the very least meaning that we might actually end up with a strawberry field after all.
The pumpkin seedlings are doing splendid in the greenhouse, but we’re going to have to wait at least another month before we put them out into the yard.
We don’t know yet if the tomatoes will work in the greenhouse. They’re getting bigger, but insects are sparse in there.
The potatoes are looking wonderful, growing up rapidly. A few weeks from now and the ground will be invisible.
All the drips of the fruit trees have been located and are back in working order, several of the citruses have “mirrors” under them, to keep the weeds to a minimum. We have already used the basin twice, and have pulled massive amounts of weeds. Fun bit is that we ate a large portion of chard yesterday and it was absolutely yummy.
This afternoon we spent several hours working on my new laundry lines. The new carriers are up, and eight new lines are already in place. It’s looking beautiful, and I am (much to my embarrassment) almost ecstatic with them. How weird is that? Should I have kept that to myself, you think? Hah.
We took the fan off the ceiling in the sitting area and cleaned the entire thing up proper during the course of the afternoon. Which reminds me, before that I had to go to the village to bring Sally to her doctor’s appointment. I had fully intended to write this blog then, but since grandpa needed to have his mailbox checked, I had to park all the way at the beginning of the village and then needed to walk a good fifteen minutes towards the center, and then back. *sigh* I did manage to keep up a good pace, so at least I got my exercise…but no blog. Suffice it to say, I had just unlocked the car to get in when Sally phoned to let me know that I could come pick her up. *double sigh*
What else?
Oh yes, Touri had his stitches removed. Turns out there is very little left for the vet to do, and since it would have no use, she says, to operate again if the problem recurs, Touri’s body is either going to have to find a way to deal with this problem (with a little help, of course) or our days together are numbered…which depresses me to no end.
Another bit of depressing news is that it would seem that there went something completely haywire with out internet, bringing the bill up to a solid 200 bucks extra. I saw it, and felt my stomach plummet. Seriously, that’s freaky. We have no idea how it happened. We might need to visit with the phone shop to figure it out, because this is weird.
Grandpa is busy making a closet for caregiver’s apartment, with the help of Dani, who’s having a blast with it, I think.
This morning I experimented with making a herbal cream cheese, and it worked rather well, even though it was a tad sour. I’ll need to try out some other ways, but we’ll get it worked out, I’m sure.
There was a nourishing veggie soup today, even though I didn’t even have the time to drink a lot of it. In the end I had one cup, because we had to drive to town to pick up the Daewoo, of course.…And I really should make another thyme potion for the dogs with ear problems.
Edit wise we’re going strong. With a little luck we can start sending it out sometime next week…at which time we can also start the paper (and final) edit of A.T.O.L. I am looking forward to it.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Picture gallery. ;-)
Yep, I'm cheating today. Here're some pictures.
Our mountain in twilight, a couple of miles of. Ain't it pretty?
So the snow is gone now, but it was just too pretty a view to pass up on.
Part of the pack on the hill. This is what they usually look like, and where they're lying when we're working in the veggie garden. They'd prefer joining us of course.
The covered seedbed over the basin. I think I posted a picture before, but now that the basin is beneath it, and the painting all done..
This is the basin(wall) its beautiful stairs (still in need of a banister) and the west side of the garden pit. So cute.
The inside of the greenhouse with perfectly growing chard, tomatoes and all that stuff. I love going in here.
The top of the courtyard garden, you know the humongous wall we built last year and which I couldn't stop talking about. Hah.
The igloo, all painted and semi-dry. It's such a waste we're using it for storage these days.
Finally, the patio door I made a couple of months ago. I mean seriously, isn't it gorgeous. Hardwood and everything, and the closing mechanism works perfectly.
My new bedroom floor. *sigh*
I couldn't resist, a dogpile in my doorway. They had to be in the sunshine, of course, and well, you can hardly go outside when it's chilly. *snort* Sitabah (gray) Chaos (orange white cow in the middle) Gada (black on the right) Mosha (white and black in shade) Labhana (black middle up) paws beside her Knight II and in the chair, Touri. What can I say, they're all nuts.
One of the big containers in the greenhouse.
So yeah, I know, these weren't at all in sequence, but I'm incredibly late and I need to get more done yet.
We've been building arches today, in case you're wondering. Oh, and the paper edit is finished, so, Yay!
Gotta go...oh, song of the day: "Mercy" by Duffy.
Our mountain in twilight, a couple of miles of. Ain't it pretty?
So the snow is gone now, but it was just too pretty a view to pass up on.
Part of the pack on the hill. This is what they usually look like, and where they're lying when we're working in the veggie garden. They'd prefer joining us of course.
The covered seedbed over the basin. I think I posted a picture before, but now that the basin is beneath it, and the painting all done..
This is the basin(wall) its beautiful stairs (still in need of a banister) and the west side of the garden pit. So cute.
The inside of the greenhouse with perfectly growing chard, tomatoes and all that stuff. I love going in here.
The top of the courtyard garden, you know the humongous wall we built last year and which I couldn't stop talking about. Hah.
The igloo, all painted and semi-dry. It's such a waste we're using it for storage these days.
Finally, the patio door I made a couple of months ago. I mean seriously, isn't it gorgeous. Hardwood and everything, and the closing mechanism works perfectly.
My new bedroom floor. *sigh*
I couldn't resist, a dogpile in my doorway. They had to be in the sunshine, of course, and well, you can hardly go outside when it's chilly. *snort* Sitabah (gray) Chaos (orange white cow in the middle) Gada (black on the right) Mosha (white and black in shade) Labhana (black middle up) paws beside her Knight II and in the chair, Touri. What can I say, they're all nuts.
One of the big containers in the greenhouse.
So yeah, I know, these weren't at all in sequence, but I'm incredibly late and I need to get more done yet.
We've been building arches today, in case you're wondering. Oh, and the paper edit is finished, so, Yay!
Gotta go...oh, song of the day: "Mercy" by Duffy.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Summer-like
Song of the day: “Irish son” by Brian McFadden. Good one, and so very easy to sing. Yay.
The past couple of days have been incredibly boring, but since it is the only thing I’ve got, I will just have to write about it, won’t I? Hah.
Most of it was busywork again, really. Finishing stuff up before we start on the big project, the veranda wall…you know, the one that we’re going to have to build soon lest the house comes tumbling down the mountain, hah. Seriously, though, there are a lot of things still needing that last bit of work. *sigh*
First off, big brother’s closet is now in place, and the MDF wall behind it has been painted and attached. So it took a couple of hours this morning to finish it off, but thankfully grandpa offered to paint it while big brother and I screwed it in place and then hung the new storage closet for mom in the living area.
I put the thing together yesterday, along with a new shelving unit for Sally, who’s been asking for more shelves for weeks now. I finally decided to make use of the wonderfully warm weather, and put it together. It took less than an hour, and then big brother and I carried it down before we headed out into the yard.
The new cauliflowers are doing well, even though we still need to protect them against the elements such as wind and bright sunlight. We put in leek as well, as much to protect the cauliflower as for consumption. Most of my newly sowed herbs are coming up, so yay for that.
Since we were in the yard we liberated the overrun strawberries, (lost one of them) and attacked the thistles that are jumping up all over the place. I’m hoping that because we’re ahead of the blooms, there will be less next summer.
All the new berries are coming along nicely, all but one now have leaves and are starting to grow. Plans for the next couple of days involve building three arches for the up-hill raspberries and brambles, because they are starting to become too big for the poles we set there last year.
Grandpa has been sawing the wood for it most of the day.
While he was doing that, I spent an hour or two drilling holes in the metal beams for my new laundry lines. Seriously, I can’t wait to put them up. The old one is gradually succumbing under the daily weight it has to endure.
I also tackled the cacti in the lower garden. We’re planning to plant them over by the old horse paddock and create a natural barrier of sorts on the steep incline on the west side of the property. Added to that, I recently discovered that the fruits of the cacti would make suitable jams and lemonade, so I am most eager to try that out in the near future. Talk about free nutrition. Nasty side effect: I’ve got prickles all over my hands, along with those from the nettles I’ve tackled this afternoon.
Touri was feeling poorly yesterday. He kept looking miserable, and was having trouble keeping up with me. Strangely enough, Sonia (big brother’s black cocker spaniel) appeared to be suffering from the same affliction today. She kept crawling away into corners and wouldn’t even come when called. Strange.
Went for another jog this evening. It didn’t go as well as the last time, but I made the full stretch cross country, again. Something to be proud of at least. The new shoes do well enough. Sure my foot is sore at the end of the day, but Knight II is exhausted from the trip, even though he barely needs to trot to keep up with me (sigh) and keeps quiet most of the night. The moment we get back to the car and head to our usual spot to get rocks, he’s in the car like a shot, lounging on the back seat like some sort of lion king. Hah.
I’ve gotta say that grandpa’s porridge goes down nicely after that. Warms you up (today that was necessary because the wind picked back up and clouds have been rumbling in range) and fills the gaps quite nicely.
I made apple pie the other day, by the way. Sally’s birthday and all that, and even though that stupid gas oven is still giving me fits it was yummy with a big blob of whipped cream.
We had another go at the Daewoo, and took out the spark plugs for a proper cleaning. It appears to run as usual, but I think a trip to the shop is going to be a requirement in the near future. Pour second hand cars. They need so much maintenance, eh?
The snapped eucalyptus got a trim. It looks horrible now, and so does the trimmed oleander, by the way. I sure hope they will start growing properly this summer because this is just bad. Thinking of it, I really should attack the mimosa outside the courtyard one of these days.
Yesterday afternoon I finished reading “A.I.L.” so we’re almost through the edit, meaning that I might actually find time to finish reading the review book I’m doing. It was actually rather nice. It was wonderfully warm outside (the greenhouse temperature went up as high as 95 degrees) and after lunch of cauliflower with potatoes, onions, green herbs and cheese, we did a bit of reading on the terrace in front of my cabin.
Tenant was there, along with our friend Dani, and I was reading out loud, laying it on thick, just because I felt like it. I’m afraid it went in Hugh Grant English, in case you’re wondering, and for romance novels that is absolutely hilarious. Tenant really enjoyed the casual interlude, I think, and since I was at it anyway, I grabbed a Linda Howard and a Judy Garwood to compare the ending. It worked out…I hope.
The ending is wonderfully tacky, sweet and funny, so it should be just fine.
And I’ve got to wrap this up. I’ve got an edit to finish after all, if for no other reason than to start with the new one. Hah
The past couple of days have been incredibly boring, but since it is the only thing I’ve got, I will just have to write about it, won’t I? Hah.
Most of it was busywork again, really. Finishing stuff up before we start on the big project, the veranda wall…you know, the one that we’re going to have to build soon lest the house comes tumbling down the mountain, hah. Seriously, though, there are a lot of things still needing that last bit of work. *sigh*
First off, big brother’s closet is now in place, and the MDF wall behind it has been painted and attached. So it took a couple of hours this morning to finish it off, but thankfully grandpa offered to paint it while big brother and I screwed it in place and then hung the new storage closet for mom in the living area.
I put the thing together yesterday, along with a new shelving unit for Sally, who’s been asking for more shelves for weeks now. I finally decided to make use of the wonderfully warm weather, and put it together. It took less than an hour, and then big brother and I carried it down before we headed out into the yard.
The new cauliflowers are doing well, even though we still need to protect them against the elements such as wind and bright sunlight. We put in leek as well, as much to protect the cauliflower as for consumption. Most of my newly sowed herbs are coming up, so yay for that.
Since we were in the yard we liberated the overrun strawberries, (lost one of them) and attacked the thistles that are jumping up all over the place. I’m hoping that because we’re ahead of the blooms, there will be less next summer.
All the new berries are coming along nicely, all but one now have leaves and are starting to grow. Plans for the next couple of days involve building three arches for the up-hill raspberries and brambles, because they are starting to become too big for the poles we set there last year.
Grandpa has been sawing the wood for it most of the day.
While he was doing that, I spent an hour or two drilling holes in the metal beams for my new laundry lines. Seriously, I can’t wait to put them up. The old one is gradually succumbing under the daily weight it has to endure.
I also tackled the cacti in the lower garden. We’re planning to plant them over by the old horse paddock and create a natural barrier of sorts on the steep incline on the west side of the property. Added to that, I recently discovered that the fruits of the cacti would make suitable jams and lemonade, so I am most eager to try that out in the near future. Talk about free nutrition. Nasty side effect: I’ve got prickles all over my hands, along with those from the nettles I’ve tackled this afternoon.
Touri was feeling poorly yesterday. He kept looking miserable, and was having trouble keeping up with me. Strangely enough, Sonia (big brother’s black cocker spaniel) appeared to be suffering from the same affliction today. She kept crawling away into corners and wouldn’t even come when called. Strange.
Went for another jog this evening. It didn’t go as well as the last time, but I made the full stretch cross country, again. Something to be proud of at least. The new shoes do well enough. Sure my foot is sore at the end of the day, but Knight II is exhausted from the trip, even though he barely needs to trot to keep up with me (sigh) and keeps quiet most of the night. The moment we get back to the car and head to our usual spot to get rocks, he’s in the car like a shot, lounging on the back seat like some sort of lion king. Hah.
I’ve gotta say that grandpa’s porridge goes down nicely after that. Warms you up (today that was necessary because the wind picked back up and clouds have been rumbling in range) and fills the gaps quite nicely.
I made apple pie the other day, by the way. Sally’s birthday and all that, and even though that stupid gas oven is still giving me fits it was yummy with a big blob of whipped cream.
We had another go at the Daewoo, and took out the spark plugs for a proper cleaning. It appears to run as usual, but I think a trip to the shop is going to be a requirement in the near future. Pour second hand cars. They need so much maintenance, eh?
The snapped eucalyptus got a trim. It looks horrible now, and so does the trimmed oleander, by the way. I sure hope they will start growing properly this summer because this is just bad. Thinking of it, I really should attack the mimosa outside the courtyard one of these days.
Yesterday afternoon I finished reading “A.I.L.” so we’re almost through the edit, meaning that I might actually find time to finish reading the review book I’m doing. It was actually rather nice. It was wonderfully warm outside (the greenhouse temperature went up as high as 95 degrees) and after lunch of cauliflower with potatoes, onions, green herbs and cheese, we did a bit of reading on the terrace in front of my cabin.
Tenant was there, along with our friend Dani, and I was reading out loud, laying it on thick, just because I felt like it. I’m afraid it went in Hugh Grant English, in case you’re wondering, and for romance novels that is absolutely hilarious. Tenant really enjoyed the casual interlude, I think, and since I was at it anyway, I grabbed a Linda Howard and a Judy Garwood to compare the ending. It worked out…I hope.
The ending is wonderfully tacky, sweet and funny, so it should be just fine.
And I’ve got to wrap this up. I’ve got an edit to finish after all, if for no other reason than to start with the new one. Hah
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