Fair

Song of the day: “Grenade” by Bruno Mars. I know, right. Who’d have thought that I’d ever have a Bruno Mars song in my head, but there you have it. Nice song, though *shrugs* can’t change that fact.

Yesterday I didn’t sleep all that well, partly because grandpa needed something, about one hour after I went to bed, meaning that I was just about to drop off into deep sleep when I was jerked out. *sigh* No biggie, but, then of course my mosquito repellant ran out, and they were all through my bedroom (stupid, stupid, stupid me for leaving the doors open and the lights on) keeping me awake another two hours before I remembered having a spare re-filler lying about in my sitting room. Yay. Once I plugged that in, sleep fell over me within fifteen minutes. It wasn’t easy waking up in the morning, so since I didn’t have anything pressing to do yesterday, I decided to steal another 30 minutes rather than getting up my usual time. Gawd, that was nice.

Went down for laundry in the end, and had to skip the morning dip in the pool (which is a pain. Once you’re used to that, you don’t really wake up until you’ve had the coolness all over) because we’d drained it into the basin so we could clean it.

Fed the dogs, of course, and for a moment I considered calling the newspapers because--hold your breath--Knight II ate his whole bowl. I kid you not. Mr Anorexic ate every last kernel and was proud as a fiddle. Must have been the pots of herring we threw (donation) through the food. Who’d have thought that a dog of mine would like fish? I sure didn’t. Hah.

Went down to start on the day’s writing session and actually managed a nice five pages for the book. It was all very exciting, too. Had a fight to describe, danger and humor combined, which makes it fun to write, of course. Practically finished the scene, which is a pity because that means I have to think of a new one. *snort*

Made a potato veggie salad for supper, so that was a hasty but tasty affair on the most part. Tenant spent the majority of the day up in the old horse paddock. She had said she wanted to come down to join us in the morning, but then, when it was time to go down, changed her mind.
A pity, but her choice, of course.

Only went out for a short while, and that was to pay the vet. Almost had a heart attack when I saw the bill we had to pay…no pressure on their side, we can take our time, but, seriously! I just might need to sell my liver. Oh My Gawd *fans herself* I’m gonna stop thinking about it now, we paid two thirds so the rest we won’t need to worry about for at least another month.

Went into the yard. There was some harvesting to do, along with weeds to yank (when is there ever not weed to yank, for that matter) and by then the end of the day rapidly approached with the preparations for the next dog food.

Did help cousin Ed sort through clothes for Thursday’s market. We have a plan you see, and we’re going to see what will come of it. It has to do with second hand clothes and art. Let’s just say once we’re done with those clothes you won’t recognize them. Hah. Then, we’ll see what folks think.

Did some crunches in the evening, along with some reps just because I could. Seriously, it felt good.
Later in the evening, round the time I was getting ready for bed, Knight II and Jelly were making their usual racket facing off on my porch, which ended up in a near disaster since Knight II got so excited that he forgot that Dax is his best buddy and grabbed him around the chest, only to toss him off the porch. Gawd. Poor Daxie was shaking like mad.
Carried him inside, ordered Knight inside too and had him lie down on the bed while I told him how bad a boy he was. The most amazing thing happened. One second Dax was shaking, the next he saw Knight lie flat on his side, looking oddly sorry, and perked right up. He jumped about a little, played with Knight a little, and then went off in a dash. Strange. But anyway, I was vastly relieved. It could have been a disaster, since Dax is about the size of Knight’s head.

Which brings us to today. Had to get up early to drive the car to Malaga for the MOT. Grandpa had kindly already prepared dog food, so all we had to do was feed them and head out. Actually there without a hitch for a change, and arrived there on the dot of our appointment. No troubles, we were almost immediately called to line six and before you know it we were going through the hangar where stuff gets tested by the score. Passed without a hassle (much to our mechanic’s surprise, but much to our relief, since it gives us a little time for the major repair) and got our sticker for the next six month. Yay!

We made a small detour to the big Chinese supermarket for chili sauce, and then headed back to town to go past the computer repair dude. We got big brother’s computer back, the other day, did I mention that yet? Well, we did and whatever the dude did and said he failed at, big brother was able to erase everything on the computer and start from scratch…which seems to have fixed the problem. Double Yay! We figured that, since something the repair dude did was right, and since he cleaned it, fixed the frame of the laptop so that it closes again, we thought it fair that we at least paid the minimum (can’t afford much more, you understand) for his efforts, despite the wave-off without having to pay the other day. Fair is fair, and I would want to be treated that way if something I did turned out to be good. Can’t expect others to treat you fairly if you don’t do the same yourself, right?
Besides, this is a small company, not one of those big impersonal chain stores.
But anyway, when I came in, the guy behind the reception desk was a little surprised I wanted to pay regardless, but said, “if you want to pay, then sure, I won’t stop you.” Hah. I did ask if the money would end up with the repair dude, and he said it would, so, *phew*

I can’t help but wonder about his surprise, though. Why is it so unusual to do that? I don’t expect free rides in this world, and figure that fairness is something that should be important to everyone. Still, from the surprised look on his face he thought it somewhat weird…but then, I’m weird by nature, might as well be honest about it. Hah.

That done, we headed for the garage to talk with our mechanic. He explained that the back wheel was not a big problem and that all it took was tightening some bolts. The oil in the transmission box was only a little on the low side, so nothing big there, and they didn’t even charge us for it. Good thing too, since the Opel is going haywire again and since we’ll need to bring the Land Rover in for a major overhaul of the injectors in September, because right now the Spanish garages will charge an arm and a leg, while taking forever. (They have to hire out for recalibration of the injectors, or some such) August is not a good time in Spain. Everything dwindles down to near zero because of the “heat”. Insane. In particular in this economy.
But anyway, what with all the splendid service at the shop, I’m totally going to make a pie for them. Hah.

We headed home afterward, arrived at around two thirty, and settling by the basin no later than three. Of course my focus was shot, so I didn’t manage more than just a few paragraphs today, tonight included because I had to blog, duh.

So instead, cousin Ed and I got to work on the clothes for the market, which didn’t go bad at all. Got some interesting combinations going in the two hours that followed. Today, tenant did join us down there. In fact, she was already there when we got home and had cut most of the veggies for supper. Made a veggie potato dish in the grill/oven and it worked out splendidly. Only a little was left afterward in fact.

That done, it was down into the yard to harvest dog food for the day while big brother finished up watering the lot. We are slowly cutting back on the patches down there, more so to conserve water than anything else, so in a little while there will be very little watering to do.

While big brother cut veggies, I laid the fire for it, took a dip in the pool because I was so sticky, and then settled down to add the third paragraph to the book, prior to started on today’s blog…which brings us to the end of today. Bed time is just around the corner, and I, for one, am more than happy to call it.