Song of the day: “Black Velvet” by Alanah Myles. An oldie, but still awesome. Heard it again the other day, and it’s been going through my head ever since.
I better start with yesterday and see where it’ll get me. From fear of blanking out I made a little list for myself so I could keep track if the worst happened. Hah.
First off, yesterday morning, we started the day with a good workout and clearing out the car, preparing it for today when the younger sibs would need it to load for the market tomorrow. Wow, that’s a confusing sentence, isn’t it, it has a yesterday, today and a tomorrow in it. Hah.
That, and breakfast over and done with, we headed out into the old horse paddock and jacked up the Opel. It’s been making a racket of late, and we wanted to check if there maybe was a hole in the muffler. We couldn’t find anything, and after checking everything we could out, decided it couldn’t be too serious (crossing my fingers, knocking on wood and all that carp).
There was a sharp wind yesterday, but the sun was out so we took tenant with us down into the yard where she sat in the sun while big brother and I worked in the greenhouse and yard. There were quite a few caterpillars to annihilate, along with leaf miners that just make it their business to take all the green stuff from the leafs. Seriously, there are times I’m surprised at finding the bugs every single day, in particular the bigger ones since I basically check every single leaf at least once a day. Somehow one or two escape my notice every time.
Since I was working in the greenhouse and tenant was helping big brother cook, I took the opportunity to fill a couple of big pots and putting in new tomato plants. Regretfully the leaf miners I playing rampant within the tomato plants and we’ve already lost quite a few.
After supper we headed on out to the village where we got a new fire extinguisher and inquired after getting the other two refilled. Apparently doing a refill is half the expense, so we’ll definitely be doing that in the near future. Also got a bucket of paint, considering we found another slat with some sort of termite in it, meaning that, for safety, we’re going to have to redo my cabin completely, lest we risk the wood to the eager little buggers that literally eat their way right through everything. Saw the larvae for the first time, by the way. Perfect horror story material, in case you’re wondering. A white ribbed, legless creature with this huge, cross like mouth that eats its way through wood, for crying out loud. They gave me the willies.
Shopping done we got another load of rock, loading up the car completely and letting Knight II meander about all the while. Not that he does a lot of running, or anything, but at least he gets some movement. *sigh* He’s soooo lazy.
Once we got home there was the usual edit of course, along with an internet search of real estate in the US for back ground research we’re doing for our next book. Got some nice locations, if I do say so myself.
For a change, I was in bed on time…sorta. 1:30 is definitely earlier that usual for me.
Woke to rain this morning, which made workout an interesting endeavor. I was on my own for a change, and was about halfway in when there was a phone call from grandpa. He was in the village and had been surprised by a flash flood that had soaked him and his moped straight up to his waist. Turns out, in his attempt to avoid the sideways downpour, he’d gone through the center of the village where all those tiny little streets open into, meaning that the water had no place to go except up, much to grandpa’s and other traffic’s chagrin.
Before big brother could go and pick him up, we first had to unload it of the rocks, meaning that there was a slight change in routine for me during workout. Hah. Luckily lifting rocks is not a bad way to get the muscles warm.
Once big brother was on his way, I finished what I could of the session, because what with the bad weather I had to drive caregiver to her other job too, rather than have her face the downpour.
Once I got home and checked on tenant, I went down for a much needed shower. My limbs were chilled to the bone, so I really have to be more careful in the future. Within an hour I was sore all over, making lifting Chaos on the bed not at all easy. Poor Chaos doesn’t like the cold at all, and it won’t surprise you to hear that he slept on the bed for six straight hours without a peep. Jeez. I don’t know how he does it, but he was psyched with the beauty sleep. Hah.
Big brother was back round then, and we headed into yard to check that everything was doing well. The basin is steadily filling (Yay!), and I found a few more caterpillars. More beans are finally coming up in the raised seedbed, and the pepper plants in the new lean too, were enjoying the moist heat for sure.
Everything checked we headed back up where I changed into dry clothes and hat. I’m loving my new Goretex boots, by the way. Went through puddles, wet grass and bushes, and they looked soaked through, but kept my feet dry. Double Yay!
Lots of rain and thunder going on for the majority of the day.
And since there wasn’t much else we could do we worked in the carport for the most part. But first we had to attach a big slate of granite in the corner of tenant’s room, which will hold her stove soon.
Afterwards, while big brother worked on a measuring stick for the basin, I took an old cupboard apart, getting out screws and anything else useful, for personal recycling. There’s nothing I dislike more than wasting building materials.
That done, I got metal plating from storage and prepared the section for tenant’s window that I had to cut with the angle grinder. It will be time for her stove again, so we need to finish getting it back inside. This meant that I had to cut the metal, make a perfect circle in it, and replace one of the small windows in her new doors so we can stick the tube through. Had a nice piece of metal tool. It was from the old geyser, so the white paint matches her door perfectly. (See. Gotta love recycling.)
We’re all set to put that stove back.
The rain stopped at last by then, and the sun actually broke through, and since big brother and grandpa went down to check waste water tracks and such, I took the opportunity to put away my clean laundry. Seriously, what with the wetness and cold, Dax has decided that my clean laundry is the perfect spot to cuddle up in, meaning I had to get it stored fast. One bag had to go back to the laundry, however. *sigh*
What followed was a meal of leftovers, which we made into a full meal by adding pancakes for dessert. By then the clouds had really broken apart, making sitting down on my terrace a pleasant experience since for about half an hour we were in the full sunshine…right before it dropped behind the distant horizon.
Which brings us to the now, doesn’t it. You’ll be pleased to know that Chaos (my Basset Hound, in case this wasn’t clear) was impatiently dancing in front of me, crooning rather pitifully right until I gave in and said, “Okay. Go then.” At which point he stormed into my bedroom and jumped up to stand against the bed, waiting for me to lift him up (I am so happy that my bed is too high for all except three of my dogs. Can you imagine how many of them would be on it if it was lower to the floor.
But anyway, delightedly Chaos flounced about on the blankets, threw his head down on the pillow and let the rest drop in an elegant flounce that had him prostrate and asleep in less than a minute. *sigh* I sometimes do realize that I have dogs that are absolutely crazy.
Going to edit, so…
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Hauling butt
Song of the day: “A little time” by the Beautiful South. Such a funny song, and an even funnier video. You should check it out if you ever get the chance.
Well, it’s been a rather heavy day for me, seeing as we (four pairs of hands and feet,. Ox came over to help out today. Good thing too, since it was quite a task) hauled 3 tons of clay down the mountain, through the courtyard and down the newly dug path under the wall that led to the new terrace we’re building in front of the house. (remember that wall we were working on this spring. There.)
Digging that thing was (thankfully) easier than anticipated. It took about half an hour to dig through rock, vines and dirt, place some building boards over the gaps, and voila, let the hauling commence…and it did. Time and again we went up the mountain with wheelbarrows. Heavy stuff, clay, despite the fact that it was rather dry by now. Still, we managed to get it all down within three hours, and it was exactly enough. I made pictures, but will have to add them to the string I will post some day of the wall. Sorry.
It was a little tricky, the hauling, by the way, seeing as Knight II and little brother’s dogs don’t go well together, and I had to go through the courtyard every time. We had two almost collisions with Knight II in the lower yard. Then after I decided to lock him in the empty pool, I almost got a heart attack when he got overly excited and hung from over the wall, almost falling a solid six feet down. Yikes. I ended up locking him in my cabin, which was fine with him, lazy idiot. Seriously, every time I passed, he’d be snoozing in his chair, his chin on the windowsill and his eyes closed in near ecstasy.
But anyway, as for the weather, it couldn’t have been much better than today. The sun was bright and warm, meaning I could wear a sleeveless, and the wind was cool. Tenant really enjoys that too, and the beginning of the day she sat up the mountain where we loaded up clay, and later down by the basin where we had supper together.
In one word: wonderful.
I was pretty much running on fumes by the end, but luckily by then it was time to start on supper, which I made with the help of tenant. We all stuffed our tired faces with beets and rice, over watering plants, yanking weeds and checking for bugs…which was wonderfully relaxing after that clay hauling, I tell ya.
Yesterday was mostly about hauling as well, seeing as Dani and I spent the majority of the day sorting through the tile supplies. There is a big selection of tiles going, in particular for grandpa’s kitchen. I wish the choices were less limited, though, seeing as it’s a big stretch of floor (about 24 square feet, or something). I’m just not happy with the color scheme yet. But anyway, working on the tiles took most of the afternoon, which of course followed a session in the greenhouse and the yard.
Ended up sorting through, and hauling a few hundred tiles to the other side of the old paddock. What with the embarrassing mess up there during the fire, cleaning that corner up has become a priority of sorts. We had planned to work on that again today, but seeing as we might get some rain in the weekend, grandpa thought it a better idea to do the clay before it got wet. That would have made it twice as heavy for sure. I for one am glad that we got this done. One more task before winter seen to, is always good.
I’ve gotta admit that this country living is agreeing with me. You start the year preparing for spring, then during spring you plant everything so you have stuff to eat and can in the summer, and then at the end of summer you start preparing everything for winter. It’s all rather satisfying to say the least.
Oh right, Qaddafi died today. I know that a lot of folks are happy to see him go, but I gotta say that I am ambivalent about the entire thing. Not that I’m sorry to see the guy go, but don’t care much for such public pound/drag fests. I mean, if they’d have him kneel in the middle of a square and put a gun to his head, or something, I would have gotten it. Heck, even a public hanging, or a firing squat, or someone just being fed up with him and dealing with him for once and for all. No prob! But a mass killing, people shouting in glee, shooting guns, kicking, hitting, and dragging. I saw way too much pleasure in all that exuberance in the little video, regardless of the crap the guy pulled in his lifetime. I thought humanity was supposed to have grown more civilized than back in the day when a person could get pounded to death by the masses…oh wait, maybe it’ll become a fashion trend again.
In Qaddafi’s case I’m mostly wondering if it will not be a case of “better the devil you know” in the end. I mean, really, who knows what the guy who takes his place will be like.
You sure see emotions flare up mightily for just about anything these days, and we all know that people cannot be held responsible for their actions when they’re emotional, right?
*sigh*
Better not get started on emotions flaring high. What with all the protests going on in the world, I find myself gnashing my teeth these days. I mean seriously, where do the people get the time and money to protest so much, social security maybe? (where do they think they get it from? The government they despise. Who in turn get it from hard working taxpayers…who get their money from their employers and the banks. Talking about the hand that feeds you.) I sure wouldn’t have the time and money for such folly. I’m trying to survive here, thank you very much.
Okay, that’s my rant for the day. Sorry to kinda political on y’all there (I always try not to), but I was about to burst from restraining myself. Hah.
Well, I’ve got another edit to do (yesterday’s went reassuringly well, if you must know) so I better leave it at this.
Well, it’s been a rather heavy day for me, seeing as we (four pairs of hands and feet,. Ox came over to help out today. Good thing too, since it was quite a task) hauled 3 tons of clay down the mountain, through the courtyard and down the newly dug path under the wall that led to the new terrace we’re building in front of the house. (remember that wall we were working on this spring. There.)
Digging that thing was (thankfully) easier than anticipated. It took about half an hour to dig through rock, vines and dirt, place some building boards over the gaps, and voila, let the hauling commence…and it did. Time and again we went up the mountain with wheelbarrows. Heavy stuff, clay, despite the fact that it was rather dry by now. Still, we managed to get it all down within three hours, and it was exactly enough. I made pictures, but will have to add them to the string I will post some day of the wall. Sorry.
It was a little tricky, the hauling, by the way, seeing as Knight II and little brother’s dogs don’t go well together, and I had to go through the courtyard every time. We had two almost collisions with Knight II in the lower yard. Then after I decided to lock him in the empty pool, I almost got a heart attack when he got overly excited and hung from over the wall, almost falling a solid six feet down. Yikes. I ended up locking him in my cabin, which was fine with him, lazy idiot. Seriously, every time I passed, he’d be snoozing in his chair, his chin on the windowsill and his eyes closed in near ecstasy.
But anyway, as for the weather, it couldn’t have been much better than today. The sun was bright and warm, meaning I could wear a sleeveless, and the wind was cool. Tenant really enjoys that too, and the beginning of the day she sat up the mountain where we loaded up clay, and later down by the basin where we had supper together.
In one word: wonderful.
I was pretty much running on fumes by the end, but luckily by then it was time to start on supper, which I made with the help of tenant. We all stuffed our tired faces with beets and rice, over watering plants, yanking weeds and checking for bugs…which was wonderfully relaxing after that clay hauling, I tell ya.
Yesterday was mostly about hauling as well, seeing as Dani and I spent the majority of the day sorting through the tile supplies. There is a big selection of tiles going, in particular for grandpa’s kitchen. I wish the choices were less limited, though, seeing as it’s a big stretch of floor (about 24 square feet, or something). I’m just not happy with the color scheme yet. But anyway, working on the tiles took most of the afternoon, which of course followed a session in the greenhouse and the yard.
Ended up sorting through, and hauling a few hundred tiles to the other side of the old paddock. What with the embarrassing mess up there during the fire, cleaning that corner up has become a priority of sorts. We had planned to work on that again today, but seeing as we might get some rain in the weekend, grandpa thought it a better idea to do the clay before it got wet. That would have made it twice as heavy for sure. I for one am glad that we got this done. One more task before winter seen to, is always good.
I’ve gotta admit that this country living is agreeing with me. You start the year preparing for spring, then during spring you plant everything so you have stuff to eat and can in the summer, and then at the end of summer you start preparing everything for winter. It’s all rather satisfying to say the least.
Oh right, Qaddafi died today. I know that a lot of folks are happy to see him go, but I gotta say that I am ambivalent about the entire thing. Not that I’m sorry to see the guy go, but don’t care much for such public pound/drag fests. I mean, if they’d have him kneel in the middle of a square and put a gun to his head, or something, I would have gotten it. Heck, even a public hanging, or a firing squat, or someone just being fed up with him and dealing with him for once and for all. No prob! But a mass killing, people shouting in glee, shooting guns, kicking, hitting, and dragging. I saw way too much pleasure in all that exuberance in the little video, regardless of the crap the guy pulled in his lifetime. I thought humanity was supposed to have grown more civilized than back in the day when a person could get pounded to death by the masses…oh wait, maybe it’ll become a fashion trend again.
In Qaddafi’s case I’m mostly wondering if it will not be a case of “better the devil you know” in the end. I mean, really, who knows what the guy who takes his place will be like.
You sure see emotions flare up mightily for just about anything these days, and we all know that people cannot be held responsible for their actions when they’re emotional, right?
*sigh*
Better not get started on emotions flaring high. What with all the protests going on in the world, I find myself gnashing my teeth these days. I mean seriously, where do the people get the time and money to protest so much, social security maybe? (where do they think they get it from? The government they despise. Who in turn get it from hard working taxpayers…who get their money from their employers and the banks. Talking about the hand that feeds you.) I sure wouldn’t have the time and money for such folly. I’m trying to survive here, thank you very much.
Okay, that’s my rant for the day. Sorry to kinda political on y’all there (I always try not to), but I was about to burst from restraining myself. Hah.
Well, I’ve got another edit to do (yesterday’s went reassuringly well, if you must know) so I better leave it at this.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Blasted geyser
Song of the day: Well, a whole bunch of Katie Melua songs, actually. They’ve been flip-flopping through my head all day.
It was a busy day today, but first I better get to yesterday.
First off, after the usual morning rituals down at the house, I went up to help tenant out and made paddy dough while I was up there. This time I experimented with white beans, rather than chickpeas and lentils. I didn’t dislike it, that’s a fact, and it did go rather well with supper later in the day.
But anyway, after that, leaving tenant to watch Animal Planet, which she loves, I went down to the greenhouse to water plants. Same went for the raised seedbed, in which I had to re-sow green beans and lettuce. I think the ants got to them, seeing as they really like lettuce seeds. As for the green beans, I have no idea why only five of the twenty three I put in came up. So I redid that, watered the whole lot and went through the yard in search of veggies. Found enough for a full meal, and then started checking the cabbages and such for caterpillars and leaf miners. (Still got a bloody lot of them.) By then, I had to go back up the mountain to check on tenant.
She decided to come down with me, after all, and chatting all the way, we headed down to the sunny, windless spot by the basin, where she could enjoy the remainder of the afternoon. Having gotten her settled, I went to the igloo to get out three pillows for my dogs. Gada has been disagreeable with the floor now that temperatures are dropping during the night. In fact, in the evenings, when big brother and I work on the terrace in front of my cabin, we are obliged to put down blankets on the floor for our poor little four-legged darlings.
Though I was a bit in a rush, grandpa did talk me into cutting the big rugs that we’re no longer using. We decided to cut them in strips for storage and use them through the winter instead of blankets…at least in our office. It’ll sure be warmer.
It took a bit to cut those things into eight manageable strips, but in the end I handed them over to grandpa and went back down to start on supper with tenant. What with her cutting most of the veggies, it was basically a question of throwing everything together for me.
That done it was up and got to work on my messages and then wrote some more for the Banshee story. That done there was of course an edit, which didn’t last as long as it should have, but since we wanted to do a workout in the morning, I figured some zzzs wouldn’t go amiss…of course I ended up lying awake most of the night. I can’t even explain why…well, there was the nightmare that continued after waking up six or seven times through the night. It was about bugs, thousands and thousands of bugs, and they were crawling all over me, and I was itching and scratching and that kept waking me up, time and again, until in the end my alarm went off and I had to get up. *sigh*
Had a good workout this morning regardless, even though my shwung was a little off.
That done, there was laundry, followed by breakfast and being startled by a huge truck arriving at our neighbors. They were from the phone company and they worked there for a solid day with this humongous generator roaring like mad. They did make for life entertainment for tenant, who finally wanted to go out into the sunshine around 3 in the afternoon.
But anyway, a trip down to the greenhouse to open everything up and water stuff followerd. With big brother’s help, we finished checking everything in about two hours, at which time we headed up with a big crate filled with young plants to put in the ground up in grandpa’s little yard up by the storage.
Those set, we tacked this humongous branch of a eucalypti that was really starting to become too big and threatened to break off, right on top of grandpa’s roof. It took a while, but we did manage taking it off, without damaging anything unduly.
Now that the wreck is gone from the storage, I got the chance to cut up a couple of pallets and started hauling the tile supplies to the far corner of the old paddock. The majority is now in place- While I was doing that, grandpa and big brother hung an old geyser in grandpa’s bathroom, but after they went through all that trouble, they discovered that there was a leak after all, meaning that our arching session was cancelled and we had to head for the city to get supplies and a new boiler. Sure, in summer it doesn’t matter if you don’t have hot water, but in winter that’s a little uncomfortable. Blast that old geyser for being broken, darn it.
My foot was downright killing me by the time I came back up from the yard, where the greenhouse and raised seed bed had to be closed for the night. Since the seedbed looked rather dry, I also watered it quickly, and went up to change clothes for the trip.
We went to several stores, and ended up with a semi cheap one that is going to be a bitch to hang, what with grandpa’s bathroom being so small that we’ll have to make adjustments to fit it in.
The dogs were upset with me when I got home and let them out the cabin. Knight II grabbed hold of my arm, and Sitabah was screeching at the top of her lungs. When she does that, I have a severe inclination to wring her little neck, darn it.
And just about now I’m starting to get cross-eyed, my foot hurts, and well…it’s been a long day *sigh* and I'm outta here.
It was a busy day today, but first I better get to yesterday.
First off, after the usual morning rituals down at the house, I went up to help tenant out and made paddy dough while I was up there. This time I experimented with white beans, rather than chickpeas and lentils. I didn’t dislike it, that’s a fact, and it did go rather well with supper later in the day.
But anyway, after that, leaving tenant to watch Animal Planet, which she loves, I went down to the greenhouse to water plants. Same went for the raised seedbed, in which I had to re-sow green beans and lettuce. I think the ants got to them, seeing as they really like lettuce seeds. As for the green beans, I have no idea why only five of the twenty three I put in came up. So I redid that, watered the whole lot and went through the yard in search of veggies. Found enough for a full meal, and then started checking the cabbages and such for caterpillars and leaf miners. (Still got a bloody lot of them.) By then, I had to go back up the mountain to check on tenant.
She decided to come down with me, after all, and chatting all the way, we headed down to the sunny, windless spot by the basin, where she could enjoy the remainder of the afternoon. Having gotten her settled, I went to the igloo to get out three pillows for my dogs. Gada has been disagreeable with the floor now that temperatures are dropping during the night. In fact, in the evenings, when big brother and I work on the terrace in front of my cabin, we are obliged to put down blankets on the floor for our poor little four-legged darlings.
Though I was a bit in a rush, grandpa did talk me into cutting the big rugs that we’re no longer using. We decided to cut them in strips for storage and use them through the winter instead of blankets…at least in our office. It’ll sure be warmer.
It took a bit to cut those things into eight manageable strips, but in the end I handed them over to grandpa and went back down to start on supper with tenant. What with her cutting most of the veggies, it was basically a question of throwing everything together for me.
That done it was up and got to work on my messages and then wrote some more for the Banshee story. That done there was of course an edit, which didn’t last as long as it should have, but since we wanted to do a workout in the morning, I figured some zzzs wouldn’t go amiss…of course I ended up lying awake most of the night. I can’t even explain why…well, there was the nightmare that continued after waking up six or seven times through the night. It was about bugs, thousands and thousands of bugs, and they were crawling all over me, and I was itching and scratching and that kept waking me up, time and again, until in the end my alarm went off and I had to get up. *sigh*
Had a good workout this morning regardless, even though my shwung was a little off.
That done, there was laundry, followed by breakfast and being startled by a huge truck arriving at our neighbors. They were from the phone company and they worked there for a solid day with this humongous generator roaring like mad. They did make for life entertainment for tenant, who finally wanted to go out into the sunshine around 3 in the afternoon.
But anyway, a trip down to the greenhouse to open everything up and water stuff followerd. With big brother’s help, we finished checking everything in about two hours, at which time we headed up with a big crate filled with young plants to put in the ground up in grandpa’s little yard up by the storage.
Those set, we tacked this humongous branch of a eucalypti that was really starting to become too big and threatened to break off, right on top of grandpa’s roof. It took a while, but we did manage taking it off, without damaging anything unduly.
Now that the wreck is gone from the storage, I got the chance to cut up a couple of pallets and started hauling the tile supplies to the far corner of the old paddock. The majority is now in place- While I was doing that, grandpa and big brother hung an old geyser in grandpa’s bathroom, but after they went through all that trouble, they discovered that there was a leak after all, meaning that our arching session was cancelled and we had to head for the city to get supplies and a new boiler. Sure, in summer it doesn’t matter if you don’t have hot water, but in winter that’s a little uncomfortable. Blast that old geyser for being broken, darn it.
My foot was downright killing me by the time I came back up from the yard, where the greenhouse and raised seed bed had to be closed for the night. Since the seedbed looked rather dry, I also watered it quickly, and went up to change clothes for the trip.
We went to several stores, and ended up with a semi cheap one that is going to be a bitch to hang, what with grandpa’s bathroom being so small that we’ll have to make adjustments to fit it in.
The dogs were upset with me when I got home and let them out the cabin. Knight II grabbed hold of my arm, and Sitabah was screeching at the top of her lungs. When she does that, I have a severe inclination to wring her little neck, darn it.
And just about now I’m starting to get cross-eyed, my foot hurts, and well…it’s been a long day *sigh* and I'm outta here.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Getting down and dirty
Song of the day: “The arms of an angel” by Sarah McLachlan. A little melodramatic, but a beautiful song.
If I were to believe my brain at this particular moment I spend the past couple of days sitting on my hands doing absolutely nothing, but...knowing me the way we do, that is highly unlikely. *snort*
Okay, made a list whining to big brother about “what did we do, what did we do” knowing that it really didn’t have that much use since he is even worse at keeping track than I. *sigh* But okay, I have a small list so let’s see if I can make it into a semi-cohesive description.
First off, yesterday...Oh. My. Gawd! Time out, time out. One of the dogs just farted. Must. Not. Breathe. Through. My. Nose. Gawd, it’s like chemical waste. What the...okay, I can breathe again. Jeez. That was bad. Where was I?
Oh right. Yesterday.
It was time to dip the dogs. The fleas have been breeding beyond imagining since the temperatures dropped and the ticks started disappearing...well, the big ones anyway, the little black ticks are still having a feast on the dogs. Rather then risk a flea plague, we decided to do a full pack dip, which took us a solid hour, I’m thinking.
There are some dogs who don’t mind all that much, like Knight II for instance, I led him into the bathtub and then took five minutes pouring the stuff over him because there was no way in heck that I could dunk him in a human sized bathtub.
Chaos, on the other hand, went through it with long suffering dignity. I lifted him in and he sat there, looking at me balefully as I grabbed his paws and pulled him under. It was as if he was saying, “Okay, boss. I can’t stop you, but that doesn’t mean I’ve gotta like it.” The way I figure, he’ll be without fleas for a bit now, so I’ll suffer through his ire.
Jelly refused to come down from the mountain, and was eyeing us from high above. We had to resort to trickery by pretending we were going down the mountain, and snatched him right before we went through the gate. Same goes for Indigo, who big brother literally had to drag up, because our little walrus refused to walk on her own.
Arthur thought to be smart and was hiding somewhere in the upper yard behind the bushes, but grandpa caught him, luckily. Bambi pretended he was being killed and ran off just as soon as he was dunked. As for the shepherds...seriously, they’re such whiners. They went through such acrobatics that big brother was soaked afterwards. *sigh*
There was some gardening afterwards, mostly checking if anything needed water, taking caterpillars off, leaf miners and hunting for pumpkins. Actually found three more, one of which was hiding so effectively that I literally had to dig it out of vines, leaves and branches. That’s why I call it hunting pumpkins, those babies know how to hide. No matter how well you look, there’s always another one hiding somewhere.
Then it was to the outside kitchen to experiment with the four baskets of carob we gathered a couple of weeks ago. What with us never using the stuff there were a lot of unusable pods. But in the end we ended up roasting a full pan of them. First we tried it as black coffee, which was, like, eeewww, but then with milk and a bit of sugar, it actually tasted like some sort of mocha. Not bad. As the remainder of the experiment I made a sweet paste that should function as a chocolate substitute, and Dani, who offered to play guineapig, says it was good. Hah. Considering my stomach is playing up again these past few days, I decided not to test the stuff myself.
Next there was some cooking. Mashed potatoes with carrots, onions and cheese, most of which grandpa was so kind to already prepare. Gawd, I love mashed potatoes like that, didn’t even mind that we could eat more of it today. Hah.
There was a nap. What with the recent illness, I’m still catching up, I guess, and since we did a workout early in the morning yesterday, I was kinda happy for it. It was such a nice nap, too. All warm and cosy, with the sun on my face. I love that.
What followed was reading on the review book I’m doing, followed by a short bout of writing on the Banshee story that’s been going through my head for a while now. Did about half a page and then we really had to get to editing again.
Which brings us to today. For the most part we worked on hauling the old car wreck away from the storage corner. Mostly because the fire reminded us that it was such a humongous mess over there (seriously, I was embarrassed when the fire men came) so we pushed it out, partially helping ourselves out by using the Opel in the hard spots.
Then we took about an hour of lying underneath the wreck taking out excess screws, pieces of metal that are merely there for ballast, and then rolling it into the gate so that at some point we can start working on it, without standing out there in the open where winter winds will literally chill you to the bone. Since we don’t have time for this at the moment, it will have to wait for later in the year for sure.
It was kinda nice getting my hands dirty on grease and such, even if I did open up a lot of skin again. Don’t tell anyone, but I always get strangely giddy when I have to unscrew bolts that are so tightly bolted that it takes a solid minute to get it to move at all. Only one had to be done by big brother, because I couldn’t dislodge it, other than that, I could handle most that grandpa was unable to. Always a pleasure to discover that you can beat an hydraulic drill, eh?
The car wreck settled and tucked in plastic, it was time to head down to the basin (tenant went along) where I checked the cabbage type plants again, removed caterpillars, again, and then started on dinner.
It was left over day, really: the pasta of a few days ago, the mashed potatoes from yesterday, with pancakes as desert. Were nicely stuffed afterwards. We finished up cleaning more of the basin terrace. Soon we’re going to have to thoroughly wash the greenhouse. That rinse I did the other day won’t do the trick much longer, that’s a fact.
What with still being tired, I took another nap...had a strange dream about Jessica Biel of all people, and then woke up just in time to start today’s blog. Since we’re going to have to go out again later tonight, another pick up, thank you very much, I’m going to have to leave it at this and say bye, bye.
If I were to believe my brain at this particular moment I spend the past couple of days sitting on my hands doing absolutely nothing, but...knowing me the way we do, that is highly unlikely. *snort*
Okay, made a list whining to big brother about “what did we do, what did we do” knowing that it really didn’t have that much use since he is even worse at keeping track than I. *sigh* But okay, I have a small list so let’s see if I can make it into a semi-cohesive description.
First off, yesterday...Oh. My. Gawd! Time out, time out. One of the dogs just farted. Must. Not. Breathe. Through. My. Nose. Gawd, it’s like chemical waste. What the...okay, I can breathe again. Jeez. That was bad. Where was I?
Oh right. Yesterday.
It was time to dip the dogs. The fleas have been breeding beyond imagining since the temperatures dropped and the ticks started disappearing...well, the big ones anyway, the little black ticks are still having a feast on the dogs. Rather then risk a flea plague, we decided to do a full pack dip, which took us a solid hour, I’m thinking.
There are some dogs who don’t mind all that much, like Knight II for instance, I led him into the bathtub and then took five minutes pouring the stuff over him because there was no way in heck that I could dunk him in a human sized bathtub.
Chaos, on the other hand, went through it with long suffering dignity. I lifted him in and he sat there, looking at me balefully as I grabbed his paws and pulled him under. It was as if he was saying, “Okay, boss. I can’t stop you, but that doesn’t mean I’ve gotta like it.” The way I figure, he’ll be without fleas for a bit now, so I’ll suffer through his ire.
Jelly refused to come down from the mountain, and was eyeing us from high above. We had to resort to trickery by pretending we were going down the mountain, and snatched him right before we went through the gate. Same goes for Indigo, who big brother literally had to drag up, because our little walrus refused to walk on her own.
Arthur thought to be smart and was hiding somewhere in the upper yard behind the bushes, but grandpa caught him, luckily. Bambi pretended he was being killed and ran off just as soon as he was dunked. As for the shepherds...seriously, they’re such whiners. They went through such acrobatics that big brother was soaked afterwards. *sigh*
There was some gardening afterwards, mostly checking if anything needed water, taking caterpillars off, leaf miners and hunting for pumpkins. Actually found three more, one of which was hiding so effectively that I literally had to dig it out of vines, leaves and branches. That’s why I call it hunting pumpkins, those babies know how to hide. No matter how well you look, there’s always another one hiding somewhere.
Then it was to the outside kitchen to experiment with the four baskets of carob we gathered a couple of weeks ago. What with us never using the stuff there were a lot of unusable pods. But in the end we ended up roasting a full pan of them. First we tried it as black coffee, which was, like, eeewww, but then with milk and a bit of sugar, it actually tasted like some sort of mocha. Not bad. As the remainder of the experiment I made a sweet paste that should function as a chocolate substitute, and Dani, who offered to play guineapig, says it was good. Hah. Considering my stomach is playing up again these past few days, I decided not to test the stuff myself.
Next there was some cooking. Mashed potatoes with carrots, onions and cheese, most of which grandpa was so kind to already prepare. Gawd, I love mashed potatoes like that, didn’t even mind that we could eat more of it today. Hah.
There was a nap. What with the recent illness, I’m still catching up, I guess, and since we did a workout early in the morning yesterday, I was kinda happy for it. It was such a nice nap, too. All warm and cosy, with the sun on my face. I love that.
What followed was reading on the review book I’m doing, followed by a short bout of writing on the Banshee story that’s been going through my head for a while now. Did about half a page and then we really had to get to editing again.
Which brings us to today. For the most part we worked on hauling the old car wreck away from the storage corner. Mostly because the fire reminded us that it was such a humongous mess over there (seriously, I was embarrassed when the fire men came) so we pushed it out, partially helping ourselves out by using the Opel in the hard spots.
Then we took about an hour of lying underneath the wreck taking out excess screws, pieces of metal that are merely there for ballast, and then rolling it into the gate so that at some point we can start working on it, without standing out there in the open where winter winds will literally chill you to the bone. Since we don’t have time for this at the moment, it will have to wait for later in the year for sure.
It was kinda nice getting my hands dirty on grease and such, even if I did open up a lot of skin again. Don’t tell anyone, but I always get strangely giddy when I have to unscrew bolts that are so tightly bolted that it takes a solid minute to get it to move at all. Only one had to be done by big brother, because I couldn’t dislodge it, other than that, I could handle most that grandpa was unable to. Always a pleasure to discover that you can beat an hydraulic drill, eh?
The car wreck settled and tucked in plastic, it was time to head down to the basin (tenant went along) where I checked the cabbage type plants again, removed caterpillars, again, and then started on dinner.
It was left over day, really: the pasta of a few days ago, the mashed potatoes from yesterday, with pancakes as desert. Were nicely stuffed afterwards. We finished up cleaning more of the basin terrace. Soon we’re going to have to thoroughly wash the greenhouse. That rinse I did the other day won’t do the trick much longer, that’s a fact.
What with still being tired, I took another nap...had a strange dream about Jessica Biel of all people, and then woke up just in time to start today’s blog. Since we’re going to have to go out again later tonight, another pick up, thank you very much, I’m going to have to leave it at this and say bye, bye.
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