Notice:

I can't predict when I have the time to post a new blog, but check occasionally. I'm going to try at least weekly.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Picking up archery

Song of the day: “Living Darfour” by Mattafix. It’s been going through my head off and on for a bit. Took my by surprise this song, by the way, I had stupidly presumed that it was sung by a woman, so when I then youtubed the video, I saw that I was completely wrong. Guess what that say about assuming is true, eh?

Lots of small things getting done these past couple of days. Nothing major, just little chores that need to be done and just take a lot of time.
First of all, we’ve been turning earth again. What with September being here now, time to plant potatoes has arrived and we’re going at it with a fervor. Every single spot that wasn’t used for potatoes last year, we’re preparing.

Afterwards, Dani, tenant and I, headed down to the basin terrace, where we were going to spend the majority of the day canning green beans and peppers. It was a cosy chick-day, once again, even though I missed the beginning of it. Since grandpa and big brother were digging, I went down into the yard to water the veggies that are, at the moment functioning without drops.

Then it was blanching beans, and peppers that tenant and Dani had prepared already. Filled a total of nine pots with beans and three with peppers, which look splendid, so colourful and yummy in their pots.

Next we made cream cheese, because, let’s face it, to buy cheese you’ve got to sell a kidney these days. We overdid with the herbs a little, but who cares, variety is the spice of the soul they say.

That done, along with supper of chilli sin carne with arepas patties, we had to hurry to get everything that wasn’t supposed to get wet under cover, because from the south west massive clouds (thunder) came rolling in. We didn’t get much rain from it, but the temperatures did drop drastically since then. It’s been 66 degrees off and on since then.

Grandpa wants a new little wash basin outside by his bungalow, so he and big brother put that in yesterday afternoon and poured a concrete square in front of it. I cut the tiles they needed to lay on it.

The end of the day was spent with edits, along with a wonderful workout session that had me pound the bag considerably. What with more than a week of too little time for a workout, this one was rather necessary. Did forget to do the cool down exercises afterwards, meaning that my shoulders hurt like heck all day today.

Got to bed way too late, but that didn’t stop me from getting up in time this morning.
After the usual morning stuff, you know, laundry and coffee, I headed on up to have breakfast at grandpa’s prior to going out to the old horse paddock where we were going to pour concrete this morning. What with the Opel being slightly lower than the last car, it’s been scraping against the bottom, so we’re filling the sweep up a little to prevent that from happening.

And since there was little more than wheelbarrowing the concrete in for big brother, and since grandpa could do that just as well as I could, I headed down to the carport to saw strips of the large MDF plating we have stored them temporarily. We need them to be shorter in order to store them in the storage up the mountain.

After wards I put together our new target for archer practice, after which both big brother and I took some time to practice. Hit the bullseye three times, the target 15, the board surrounding it, three times, and overshot twice. Progress, yay!

There was some more rain, but that didn’t stop us from going down to the basin terrace where we cooked dinner, made cacti lemonade, and I washed Gada. She’s not been doing well at all, and I’m really going to have to do something about that, or else take her to the vet.

I tagged yesterday’s preserves and took them up to the storage. All closed well…or at least they did so far, and since this seems to be the last batch of them, I think we had a successful canning season.

Now I’ve got to go. Got another edit to do after all, and…well, you know, busy, busy, busy.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Bugged...sorta anyway

Song of the day: “Haven’t met you yet” by Michael BublĂ©. So I’m not his biggest fan, but since this particular song is rather nice, I don’t mind all that much. Hah.

It’s been a busy couple of days, and by now I am more than ready to call it a day for today. Hah. Considering it is only six in the afternoon, this is a bit of a premature feeling, but what the heck. Can’t help the facts, can I?

So lets get this thing going, I still need to go out to get a new load of rocks. Grandpa is wanting to build a small wall in his little courtyard, meaning that we have to get some hand-sized rocks. Big brother and I prefer to work with rocks of more than sixty pounds each, and even though grandpa tries, this is a bit too heavy and unhandy for him. Not that it matters. I’m in need for some exercise anyway. Hah.

Yesterday morning was the morning rituals and the ever-lasting chore of hanging laundry, big brother and I quickly headed out into the yard to check if there was watering needing to be done, harvesting, and so on and on. After about an hour we were done, and headed on up with another basket full of veggies. Yay.

Then it was time to head on out…yes, have you figured out what time of the month it is yet? You know, that day I dread from the moment it is done? The day of……..grocery shopping. *sigh*

Added to the day’s fun-stuff, was the fact that two of my sibs, mom and I piled into the Opel, and basically held our breaths on our way to town. Considering the car had barely managed to get us home the other day, and the fact that going to the village and picking up Sally was almost too much for the poor dear, it wasn’t outside of the realm of possibilities that the car might not make it to town without loosing every last drop of its cooling liquid.

Suffice it to say that we made it to the garage, where the Land Rover was ready and waiting. We could continue on with the breaks for another 700 miles or so (give us a couple of weeks *sigh*) and they had to refill the transmission box’s oil (still a problem there, apparently) but other than that the car was in top shape, allowing us to head on out into the day (leaving the Opel there) and face the grocery shopping.

All went as planned, and around five in the afternoon I could come and pick up the Opel again. The mechanic had taken a test drive before and after the repairs, he but in a more sensitive switch for the fan, which was a bit tardy for cooling the engine. Since he’d heard a strange thumping sound he also tightened some sort of tube (I had no idea what he was talking about but what the heck) which solved that problem. Yay.

So we got the groceries done and headed on home with both cars, where we unloaded, had a quick supper of yesterday’s leftovers. Afterwards big brother and I immediately got to work on the edit, interrupted by going through messages, followed by me, starting on a letter to a literary agent I’ve been thinking about contacting for quite a bit now. The letter is…hmmm, different, perhaps just a tad too honest and elaborate, but I do think that the message comes across. I’ll have to reread it a few more times, check everything a dozen times and then maybe, just maybe I’ll send it over. Hah.

Got to bed a little on the late side, but did manage to wake up in time, and as planned, around noon we were working in the yard taking out the green bean plants since this was the last harvest. It was a rather wonderful day for it. The temperatures mild, the sun bright and a cool eastern wind rolling in from the sea. Big brother and I were each tackling different sets of vines when suddenly it happened, from within the deep dark vestiges of the constructions I once so happily built, an egg-sized bug flew up and buzzed around me. What followed was five minutes of the creatures volleys towards me, the dogs--as a matter of fact it chased Sonia for a bit--and then it happened. I felt a stab in my lower back and with a squeal I dropped the basket full of beans I was holding. Madly I slapped at the painful spot, felt, and soon saw that the bug was literally ripping through my skin and crawling underneath. I started the screaming then, flaying my arms all the while, “Get it out! Get it out! Big brother is chasing me, trying to get to the darn thing while I’m basically running around like a chicken without a head. I can feel it crawling under my skin, a burning sensation similar to acidic, and then I see it. The moving bulge coming over my shoulder, going to my chest where my heart beats like mad. I scream louder, faintly hear big brother mutter something calming as he takes out his knife and comes at me. And then…I wake up.
Yeah. What did you think? That we have skin crawlers a-la “The Mummy” around here? Jeez. Of course it was a dream!
One that made me uncomfortable as heck, considering today was gardening day, and we did plan on taking out the beans while going through their last harvest. Got a nice full basket too, and even though there were unreasonable moments when I feared that it would, no flying bugs trying to attack me, or crawl under my skin. Hah.

Added to the beans, we also harvested four more pumpkins, bringing the total up to ‘round thirty, I’m guessing. Along with several zucchini, which are finally producing something again.
While I was working on the beans with big brother, grandpa got started on turning earth in preparation for the potatoes that we’re going to plant just as soon as we can.

That done, head on up to the outside kitchen where for the remainder of the afternoon tenant and I prepare supper and then wash pots for tomorrow’s canning session. Yay! Got 22 of them, so we should manage getting all those beans in just fine.

Which brings us to the blog, doesn’t it. I started on it while I’m sterilizing the bottles, and have been doing exactly that for the past two hours, or so. I for one, am more than looking forward to getting a big load of rocks later on, if for no other reason than being able to use some serious muscle power again. It’s just a pity that we’re getting small rocks, eh?
Hah.

Monday, August 29, 2011

A little rant...sigh

Song of the day: “The Flood” by Katie Melua. I only recently discovered this beauty by an artist I’ve already admired and loved for a few years, and don’t mind at all having this song going through my head most of the day.

The past couple of days have been mostly about tenant’s ceiling. That change of plan I mentioned the other day, required removing the plating again, putting up slats and then redoing the plating until it all looked nice and shiny, sorta. Sure, it’s going to need another lick of paint, and finishing slats, but in the end it’ll look grand. Tenant, at least, appears very happy with it, which is the most important thing. I think it is important that she feels she’s special enough to have people do something nice for her. She’s blooming a little of late, and has even helped today, sanding the slats.

While we were working in the ceiling yesterday, we did find a single beam in her roof that had been eaten away at by some sort of bug, meaning that we had to get the angle grinder and cut through all the roof nails, and then hammer the stupid beam out. It took some effort (I only helped for a short time seeing as caregiver phoned and needed a pick up from her other job) but we got the beam out.

Next we went in search of a new one, and worked anti-parasite liquid in the surrounding area wood. We did check everything, and it doesn’t look like the bug spread. Luckily we also had a proper beam (technically two, since it had to be long) and we covered that with the chemical stuff as well it was put in place this morning.

Weather wise things have been bloody insane. Seriously, for the past three days the mornings are starting downright cloudy, and there’ve been winds that were nothing if not absolutely chilling. Would you believe me if I told you I’ve already been donning long sleeved stuff…in August…in southern Spain? Insanity!

We had a rather wonderful conversation with grandpa during all the remodelling going on. It was about his parents, and what is wrong with folks these day. Grandpa is wonderfully conservative that way, and on most parts I’m just going to have to agree with him. When I hear him talking about his folks, and how they took two years of hard, hard work before they could get married. And how they decided to take the biggest risk of their lives and started a farm together with nothing to back them except their own backs and hands, and lots of determination. How they had a bunch of kids, made it through the war and evacuation, again with their own kids, along with an 8 month old baby cousin, walking for three days and everything. Only to come back to their decimated farm that had nothing left except walls and a roof and lots of abandoned boxes and bullets. How they started to rebuild, raised their kids to be happy and hard working adults, all of it together, until in the end they could not imagine a day going past without the other.
I will listen to grandpa’s stories of how his dad’s first question would always be where is you mom, and vice versa, about how they always asked the other what to do and go about it. How they worked their butts off together, being two parts of a whole, without ever speaking a nasty word to each other in front of the kids.
What is better than working all your life to become the better par of a whole? What is nobler than being good people with happy kids? What is wrong with striving for that, because that appears to be the problem in this day and age, doesn’t it? No one wants to put in that effort anymore, not really. We live in a world with quickie marriages and quickie divorces, a quickie mistake is easily made, isn’t it? Well, at least you can also get a quickie fix, so no harm done.

But is it really. Does all this quickie stuff not do more harm than good? Are not more people than ever, lonelier than they ever imagined? Sure, you’ve got 5000 friends on Facebook, and whatnot, but we’re sitting at our computers, ignoring life around us and forgetting that the only way to share your life with that special someone, is to actually spend it with that special someone. It is about going through the good the bad, the pretty and the ugly without ending up hating the other for some silly faux pas you would forgive a stranger and yet not your partner.

I mean, look at the world, some celeb proclaims divorce of a so-and-so-years partner because said partner didn’t make them happy. That is not a partner’s task (at least no in my book), it is your own. Your happiness is always in your hands and what you want to put into gaining it. The way I figure, the old adage still counts here, you get what you put in, so if you go into a marriage with just 50 percent because you can hardly be expected to just put your everything on the line, just for something as insignificant as marriage, you can’t expect to get anything except maybe fifty percent. It’s a tough fact, but there you have it; it applies to most anything worthwile in life, doesn’t it? I mean, you can’t be the best doctor on earth unless you go for it a 110 percent, now can you? If you think you can, well than I don’t suppose that you have ever put in your everything into anything. *sigh*

But enough ranting. I get carried away sometimes, I know, but I couldn’t help myself after that conversation with grandpa. It makes me hope that I will get to be in that place sometime too, where I won’t be able to imagine what it is like to be without a certain someone. *double sigh* Guess I’m just a romantic at heart, eh?

After yesterday’s efforts in putting the new ceiling plating in, I decided for a short nap lest I wouldn’t make it through the edit awake…good thing too, considering I conked out and blearily stumbled out of bed an hour later.

Both big brother and I headed down into the yard after that to check on the plants and to toss a big batch of home-made, all natural insecticide in the big planters of the greenhouse. We have a little mite problem in there, and hope that the natural insecticide will curb it.

The edit went well enough, but nothing remotely interesting happened during it to have me share at this moment. There really is only so much anyone can say about editing. It is frustrating, and we end up in tears of laughter, or frustration, but in the end it is just that: Editing.

The book I complained about the other day, has, much to my relief improved vastly. The writer is a good one after all and during the course of the plot, the in-gratuitous has become less gratuitous…if that makes any sense? He does have beautiful sentence structure, and a wonderful way with words that will make me blink in awe every now and then as I wonder if I could have gotten away with a particular sentence the way he did. I doubt it, but it is wonderful to wonder sometimes. Hah.

Started the day today by going into the yard. There was water to be given, harvests to get in (we’re rapidly nearing the end of that, by the way. Soon we’ll start having less fresh veggies for sure, darn it) and another friggin’ snake to get rid of. Once again it was slithering in the pepper planter, making a nuisance of its poisonous self (I checked online) until big brother captured it with a shovel and a bucket. We set it out far away where it won’t bother our dogs, thank you very much.

Afterwards we continued with tenant’s ceiling. The new beam went in, and grandpa and I sawed the slats that will covered the attachment points and make the whole look darn pretty. I didn’t have a lot time, but tenant enjoyed helping out by sanding the sides. I made a contraption on her table so the slats could stand up straight, allowing her to sand the edges. It took longer than for me to do it myself, but what the hey. It’s good practise for her motor skills, and I don’t see why we should do rehab exercises if we can catch two birds in one hand with just every day stuff that will make her feel better about herself because she is making herself usefull.

Afterwards I rushed down to make supper for us. We had an appointment in town to drop the Land Rover off at the garage, and then rushed back home because grandpa had to go to the village to pick up his moped (the stupid thing is playing up again). We were incredibly late because the Opel (of course) is screwing around again as well. The engine got overheated and we had to pull over lest we risked blowing up the engine. The cooling liquid was boiling, and we lost most of it while we stood halfway up the mountain. Luckily there was a store just a few hundred meters up, and big brother got us a tank of cooling liquid that we added to the tank just as soon as the boiling stopped. Grrrr.

Afterwards grandpa had to go to the village, also with the Opel, and he had to stop underway to prevent overheating. Then, by the time he finally got back, I had to head out to pick up Sally, all of it, with an engine that was about five degrees from overheating all the while. Yikes12

Which brings us to now, and me having to wrap this up so I can start working on the edit once more.