Song of the day: “Man down” by Rihanna. Had this one before, I think. Good song to have in your head, in particular with the accent, hah.
Sooooo, what’s been going on? I’m not entirely sure since I’m drawing an embarrassing blank again. *sigh* What’s with this forgetful head of mine anyway, two days disappear without a trace, and yet I can remember a mortifying incident 20 years ago at a supermarket of all places. Grrrr.
But okay, I know I have been taking it a little easy these past couple of days. Lots of yard stuff going on, because, let’s face it, it’s that time of the year. Spent several hours in the greenhouse hunting miners in the tomato plants’ leaves. Been slacking in that regard this past week, and it was noticeable. I found at least a hundred of ‘m, and can tell you right now that they weren’t all. Hah.
There was some transplanting involved with the young seedlings. A few cauliflowers, some Chinese cabbages and onions had to be let out into the wild, so to speak. And of course we had to place the smaller ones that just barely came from the ground into pots.
Weather wise we’ve been having a lot of clouds and a south eastern wind that was downright chilly. Grandpa calls it typical eastern weather. One minute it’s hot as heck and the next a cloud moves in front of the sun and ya wanna get out the winter coats for crying out loud. But no matter, stuff had to be done.
Harvesting, of course. I’ve been getting out beautifully big cauliflowers for three days now, along with nice batches of broccoli, chickweed and some tomatoes. Are getting loads of vitamin C these days, eh? No matter, since we all positively adore cauliflower. I’ve been doing loads of experimenting with this particular veggie of late.
A bit of bad news. Our regular dog food is out of storage at the store and management doesn’t know when they’ll have a new supply. Something about the factory not delivering. So, we’re trying to be frugal with the dog food, hoping we can coast this until they’re back, rather than go through the hassle of getting the dogs used to new food…which is a disaster for their bowels. Rather than giving them their usual “dose”, we’re mixing it with freshly cooked veggies from the yard, and old bread sticks that we got per box the other day. With a pumpkin added to the mix they were downright cheery devouring the lot.
Had a couple of nights of decent sleep, by the way, up to eight hours, which was absolutely divine. Yay. And the dogs, you won’t believe how much they enjoy sleeping ‘till our usual time. Chaos was stretched out along the length of me, Knight two curled against my back (curving my spine into an unnatural angle, of course), Dax under the blankets between my ankles, and Sitabah (grrrr) rolled into a ball in my neck. Blasted dogs. Hah. It’s a good thing I love them to pieces, or else I might…ah well.
Oh yeah, stupid moment of the day: I was drinking my first coffee this morning, slipping my right arm into my vest while checking the time…Yes, I wear my watch on the left side, and yes, I was holding the coffee in that hand. *sigh* Like I said, stupid moment.
Made patty dough yesterday morning. Went for a lentil/red bean mix this morning, which wasn’t bad, but also not the best. Ah well, it doesn’t really matter it will be gone a few days from now and then I’ll make a new combination. They did go well with supper, though. Even tenant loved it.
There were plants to water, despite the weather being somewhat rainy of late. Just not enough water coming down for the poor plants. All the new trees appear to be working out well. All, except for the apples, which are late bloomers, are now in bloom or in full leaf. And they look so cute too. We might actually get some cherries this year. Yay.
Had to go out yesterday, and thus we had to unload the car this morning. Same will have to be done tomorrow, of course, but who cares.
We practiced some Spanish today, as we’ve been trying to do every day for a while now. Nothing too serious, more like doing small talk. Tried to involve tenant as well, but she had a hard time of it because her hearing is not the best. The important thing is that she’s trying.
Did an edit/proof reading session of several pages, but since big brother had a headache we didn’t get very far (well, I did, just not the changes on the computer) getting through the changed pages. I hate it when we get into arguments about sentence structure, but we do, and yes, I was once again going through moments of wanting to bean him. Hah.
Okay, that’s it for today. There’s still that edit to do, and let’s hope that I don’t give into temptation this time either.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Done for now
Song of the day: “Crazy” by Patsy Kline. I know, been there, done that, but what can I say, I had all sorts of songs in my head today, including (covers head in embarrassment) Miley and Billie Ray Cyrus with their Hannah Montana song “Butterfly fly away”. *sigh* Ah, who cares anyway, it’s a sweet little song.
So let’s get you up to date as to what’s been happening the past couple of days. We were up at the crack of dawn yesterday, and were looking at a sky that was pretty overcast even as the light of day began to spread across the valley. There was a miserly rain, a sturdy wind from the west, and after the usual chores such as laundry I was in the kitchen baking pancakes for our lunch. While I was doing that, big brother was checked the car and its contents, making sure we had everything we were going to need.
We were a little late, but if we kept the pedal to the metal, we were probably going to make it in time…or at least we would have if we hadn’t driven around the mountain and came upon the magnificent view of massive rain clouds masking the distant mountains where we have been working since the weekend. Seriously, there was some good black and dark gray working there, so we pulled over, debated a moment and then phoned to let the “boss lady” know that it wasn’t going to work. We had to pour concrete for at least ten poles (I forgot the count) and since that red mud has a tendency to gather around the boots like elephant skin, hah, it really wasn’t the smartest thing. Just the trip there costs a mint, so rather than waste time and money, we all agreed that it would be better that we skipped a day.
So we did, and cousin Ed and grandpa looked up funny when we returned five minutes after departure. Strange how such a change of plans can deflate you. Seriously, first I was revving to go, and slowly I started to “sag” if ya know what I mean. So, rather than hang limply around in the carport, I headed down into the yard (despite the rain) and started harvesting. Got a load of tomatoes from the greenhouse (yay), four cauliflowers from the yard, along with a big batch of broccoli. By that time I was really “sagging” so after a short discussion with big brother we decided to look up our respective beds and have a nice little nap.
Slept a solid hour and a half, and it was WONDERFUL. I had my doggies around me, they were plastered against me like a blanket and kept me nice and toasty…not to mention sore in so many places I didn’t even bother to categorize them. Hah.
Since I had a little time on my hands, I took tenant outside (we walked and chatted a little) and before the rain started up again, I managed to trim her hair. She really disliked her longer hair, and though I dislike short hair, it is in the end her choice, isn’t it. *sigh* Ah well.
What’s next? Well, big brother fixed one of the shovels. It snapped in the middle. And I started on supper of fresh cauliflower, tomatoes, and some potatoes. It was delicious, thank you very much.
The dogs have been behaving remarkably well through the entire ordeal. Sure, there were some hairy moments for grandpa and cousin Ed, but on the overall they’re managing the lot. Poor darlings. So patiently waiting all day, only to have for a couple of hours before we go to bed (of course they love the bed part as well, so, whatever). Oh, and tick season is once again in full swing. Grrrr.
There was a trip to town for picking up market stuff, which took big brother and me about two and a half hours (also in the rain) to get done. By the time we got home and settled down for the edit, we were pretty much pooped again, so we only managed about two or three pages (with both of us ending up a bit snarky about a particularly tricky sentence).
Was a little late getting to bed, of course, but was under the blankets and in the dark at one thirty in the morning. *sigh* Before I knew it (it felt like five minutes) the alarm went off at seven, and it was once again time to get ready and going.
No pancakes to make this morning, (had the ones from yesterday still in the fridge) so just a quick breakfast, lock up the dogs, except Knight II (decided to take him along again) and then heading out. Arrived right on time, again, announced our presence, and after a nice chat, got started.
Got in all the poles, yay. Also trimmed a few more olive trees, listened in on the Spanish neighbor talking to his gardener (good to practice my Spanish) played with puppies, (so adorable, puppies, in particular if you can just enjoy them) dug some more, hauled six piles of olive branches into the woods, (went rather well with wrapping a rope around the bunches and just dragging it along) aligned, realigned and checked the poles, and then…well, then it was the end of the day, and we spent some time cleaning up the messes we’d made because, much to our regret, we can’t finish the fence until we get the gates. And since it is Semana Santa, the gates won’t be there until next week, which means that we couldn’t set one of these today, and thus we had to inform the “boss lady” that we need two more days (while she’s out of the country) once we have the gates. I hate it when this happens, in particular since I hadn’t counted on that extra trip. So I was forced to ask for another twenty bucks, which I severely dislike. Ah well, I can give up time, but not expenses. Darn it.
Ah well, no helping it, boss lady is a nice one, and she understood, so all is well. While she’s out of the country, (and as soon as the gates are there) we’ll be back out there to finish the project, of course.
For what it’s worth, I’ve rather enjoyed the past four days. It made for a nice change, I think.
Got home right on time, and went on down into the yard to check on everything, and to harvest four more cauliflower and a basket of broccoli. Since cousin Ed had already gathered chard and boiled potatoes, all we had to do was bake the chard and broccoli, and then it was time to eat supper. *sigh*
Well, that was about it. We decided not to do an edit today, but are watching Tin Tin instead. So far so good.
I am definitely ready to call it a day.
So let’s get you up to date as to what’s been happening the past couple of days. We were up at the crack of dawn yesterday, and were looking at a sky that was pretty overcast even as the light of day began to spread across the valley. There was a miserly rain, a sturdy wind from the west, and after the usual chores such as laundry I was in the kitchen baking pancakes for our lunch. While I was doing that, big brother was checked the car and its contents, making sure we had everything we were going to need.
We were a little late, but if we kept the pedal to the metal, we were probably going to make it in time…or at least we would have if we hadn’t driven around the mountain and came upon the magnificent view of massive rain clouds masking the distant mountains where we have been working since the weekend. Seriously, there was some good black and dark gray working there, so we pulled over, debated a moment and then phoned to let the “boss lady” know that it wasn’t going to work. We had to pour concrete for at least ten poles (I forgot the count) and since that red mud has a tendency to gather around the boots like elephant skin, hah, it really wasn’t the smartest thing. Just the trip there costs a mint, so rather than waste time and money, we all agreed that it would be better that we skipped a day.
So we did, and cousin Ed and grandpa looked up funny when we returned five minutes after departure. Strange how such a change of plans can deflate you. Seriously, first I was revving to go, and slowly I started to “sag” if ya know what I mean. So, rather than hang limply around in the carport, I headed down into the yard (despite the rain) and started harvesting. Got a load of tomatoes from the greenhouse (yay), four cauliflowers from the yard, along with a big batch of broccoli. By that time I was really “sagging” so after a short discussion with big brother we decided to look up our respective beds and have a nice little nap.
Slept a solid hour and a half, and it was WONDERFUL. I had my doggies around me, they were plastered against me like a blanket and kept me nice and toasty…not to mention sore in so many places I didn’t even bother to categorize them. Hah.
Since I had a little time on my hands, I took tenant outside (we walked and chatted a little) and before the rain started up again, I managed to trim her hair. She really disliked her longer hair, and though I dislike short hair, it is in the end her choice, isn’t it. *sigh* Ah well.
What’s next? Well, big brother fixed one of the shovels. It snapped in the middle. And I started on supper of fresh cauliflower, tomatoes, and some potatoes. It was delicious, thank you very much.
The dogs have been behaving remarkably well through the entire ordeal. Sure, there were some hairy moments for grandpa and cousin Ed, but on the overall they’re managing the lot. Poor darlings. So patiently waiting all day, only to have for a couple of hours before we go to bed (of course they love the bed part as well, so, whatever). Oh, and tick season is once again in full swing. Grrrr.
There was a trip to town for picking up market stuff, which took big brother and me about two and a half hours (also in the rain) to get done. By the time we got home and settled down for the edit, we were pretty much pooped again, so we only managed about two or three pages (with both of us ending up a bit snarky about a particularly tricky sentence).
Was a little late getting to bed, of course, but was under the blankets and in the dark at one thirty in the morning. *sigh* Before I knew it (it felt like five minutes) the alarm went off at seven, and it was once again time to get ready and going.
No pancakes to make this morning, (had the ones from yesterday still in the fridge) so just a quick breakfast, lock up the dogs, except Knight II (decided to take him along again) and then heading out. Arrived right on time, again, announced our presence, and after a nice chat, got started.
Got in all the poles, yay. Also trimmed a few more olive trees, listened in on the Spanish neighbor talking to his gardener (good to practice my Spanish) played with puppies, (so adorable, puppies, in particular if you can just enjoy them) dug some more, hauled six piles of olive branches into the woods, (went rather well with wrapping a rope around the bunches and just dragging it along) aligned, realigned and checked the poles, and then…well, then it was the end of the day, and we spent some time cleaning up the messes we’d made because, much to our regret, we can’t finish the fence until we get the gates. And since it is Semana Santa, the gates won’t be there until next week, which means that we couldn’t set one of these today, and thus we had to inform the “boss lady” that we need two more days (while she’s out of the country) once we have the gates. I hate it when this happens, in particular since I hadn’t counted on that extra trip. So I was forced to ask for another twenty bucks, which I severely dislike. Ah well, I can give up time, but not expenses. Darn it.
Ah well, no helping it, boss lady is a nice one, and she understood, so all is well. While she’s out of the country, (and as soon as the gates are there) we’ll be back out there to finish the project, of course.
For what it’s worth, I’ve rather enjoyed the past four days. It made for a nice change, I think.
Got home right on time, and went on down into the yard to check on everything, and to harvest four more cauliflower and a basket of broccoli. Since cousin Ed had already gathered chard and boiled potatoes, all we had to do was bake the chard and broccoli, and then it was time to eat supper. *sigh*
Well, that was about it. We decided not to do an edit today, but are watching Tin Tin instead. So far so good.
I am definitely ready to call it a day.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Blessed sleep
Song of the day: “The bright side of life” by the Monthy Python gang, of course. Seriously, I can’t think of that song without hearing curly dude’s accented voice in my head.
So it this is the third day at on “the job” and all things considered it isn’t going all that bad. Yesterday, despite some hiccups, involved a change of plans, which I will regale you with a little later on, I assure you, hah.
Let’s start at the beginning. We were up at the crack o’ dawn (7 AM), of course, rushing through checking everything we were going to need (not too much, since we were using the Opel…Market day, you know, aaaargh) having breakfast and stocking a bag with food before rushing out to the car and driving off.
As planned we arrived a little earlier than the first time, seeing as “boss lady” had to go somewhere and would wait for our arrival before departing. Got started without little trouble, and despite the fact that we had planned to put up the corners of the fence, we had to change that plan as well, due to faulty parts from the construction company. *sigh*
Did end up with on corner pole, and the middle pole with two supports because we had managed to take along four bags of sand, a couple of bags of cement and a handful of poles. Seriously, going up that mountain we doubted several times if the poor car was going to make it. Hah
But it did, of course, and we spent the majority of the day using shovels, jackhammer, and chops to finish the remainder of the holes. Regretfully, while digging the last two we realized that the ground did a drastic upward pitch. So we conferred and in the end decided to ditch four holes and dig five new ones…or was it three holes and exchange them for four? Hmmm. I can’t remember. Either way, I made a good dent in those while big brother used to the jackhammer in the last corner. He had to get through several layers of rock, and did another session there today, in fact, but made good progress. Yay.
Managed to trim an olive tree, which is fun, a favor for boss lady, and, well, necessary. Hah. Poor olive trees, all its sunlight blocked out. I doubt I’ll manage them all, but who knows.
Was pretty much running on fumes yesterday, and the occasional rain didn’t improve that. Seriously, I was pretty chilled by the time we got home…and once home things didn’t get much better since the stay-over dogs made a lot of racket during the night, robbing little sister of her sleep. This meant that the younger sibs spent a good part of the afternoon emptying the igloo of storage, which in turn meant that big brother and I had a load of stuff to carry away, before we got around to loading up the Land Rover for today. There was sand to upload, rolls of diamond fence, a wheelbarrow and other tools, cement, and o course the thirty or so poles that we somehow had to fit in the back without them being a menace during driving. Also, we had to leave enough room for Knight II, who I was determined to take along today. In particular since he can be a handful for Grandpa, not to mention be a menace toward the other dogs when I get home. *sigh*
Chaos has been pretty outraged with me these past three days, by the way. He just doesn’t get why I would leave him, the Gorgeous. Neither can I, but life can sometimes be a tad unfair, eh? Hah.
And FYI I’m missing the yard. All sorts of veggies are growing up without me being there to check on them. *sniff*
I was pretty out of it during the night, and quite disoriented when the alarm went off. For a moment there I couldn’t remember why I would have to wake up before dawn…then of course the usual aches and gripes of this ol’ body started to make themselves known, and I groaned as I rolled out of bed.
There were chores to do and breakfast and lunch to make since cousin Ed had to go to work herself and was unable to help out by making it for us. *sigh* So, after laundry and such, I rushed up to bake pancakes while packing leftover spaghetti and all that.
We were loaded to full capacity, Knight II was in the back, and we made it up the mountain with little difficulty. Got started, after introducing Knight II to the local dogs. He was scared out of his mind, and would have fled back into the car.
Trimmed three more olive trees, which was an excellently calming way to start the day. Dug more holes and set a total of twelve poles during the course of the day. Used the chainsaw on a dead tree, trudged through the mud since there was lots of rain…even had to stop for about half an hour because it was coming down in buckets. Had a nice cozy visit with the boss lady, though. Chatted some, drank hot coffee and then headed out again to finish for the day.
Hauled three rolls of fence up an incline (my face looked red like a lobster afterward, hah) 19 poles or so, metal wire and all that nice stuff which we’re going to need to finish this job up. Having cleaned up after ourselves we headed back home, and stopped at the construction company to get the gate, which is the bad news. Grrr.
The gate we’d set our eye on was sold, so now he has to order both, and what with it being Semana Santa (Easter) pretty much the entire country is on hold. *sigh* Darn it. There goes the plan of finishing this all this week. I hate bringing news like this, but of course this is part of the construction bizz. It is always more than planned. Double darn it.
But anyway, two more supports bought, the last roll of fence having arrived and loaded into the car (I was horrified by my pants. I had red mud up to my knees, and all sorts of other messy colors all over my clothes. Hah) we finally headed home.
There we loaded (grandpa was kind enough to insist on doing that) up the necessary sand and some extra tools, prepared what we could for tomorrow, and then settled down around 9:30 PM to unwind a little.
And now I need sleep, so I am going to sign off and see if I can do a better blog the next time ‘round. Hah.
So it this is the third day at on “the job” and all things considered it isn’t going all that bad. Yesterday, despite some hiccups, involved a change of plans, which I will regale you with a little later on, I assure you, hah.
Let’s start at the beginning. We were up at the crack o’ dawn (7 AM), of course, rushing through checking everything we were going to need (not too much, since we were using the Opel…Market day, you know, aaaargh) having breakfast and stocking a bag with food before rushing out to the car and driving off.
As planned we arrived a little earlier than the first time, seeing as “boss lady” had to go somewhere and would wait for our arrival before departing. Got started without little trouble, and despite the fact that we had planned to put up the corners of the fence, we had to change that plan as well, due to faulty parts from the construction company. *sigh*
Did end up with on corner pole, and the middle pole with two supports because we had managed to take along four bags of sand, a couple of bags of cement and a handful of poles. Seriously, going up that mountain we doubted several times if the poor car was going to make it. Hah
But it did, of course, and we spent the majority of the day using shovels, jackhammer, and chops to finish the remainder of the holes. Regretfully, while digging the last two we realized that the ground did a drastic upward pitch. So we conferred and in the end decided to ditch four holes and dig five new ones…or was it three holes and exchange them for four? Hmmm. I can’t remember. Either way, I made a good dent in those while big brother used to the jackhammer in the last corner. He had to get through several layers of rock, and did another session there today, in fact, but made good progress. Yay.
Managed to trim an olive tree, which is fun, a favor for boss lady, and, well, necessary. Hah. Poor olive trees, all its sunlight blocked out. I doubt I’ll manage them all, but who knows.
Was pretty much running on fumes yesterday, and the occasional rain didn’t improve that. Seriously, I was pretty chilled by the time we got home…and once home things didn’t get much better since the stay-over dogs made a lot of racket during the night, robbing little sister of her sleep. This meant that the younger sibs spent a good part of the afternoon emptying the igloo of storage, which in turn meant that big brother and I had a load of stuff to carry away, before we got around to loading up the Land Rover for today. There was sand to upload, rolls of diamond fence, a wheelbarrow and other tools, cement, and o course the thirty or so poles that we somehow had to fit in the back without them being a menace during driving. Also, we had to leave enough room for Knight II, who I was determined to take along today. In particular since he can be a handful for Grandpa, not to mention be a menace toward the other dogs when I get home. *sigh*
Chaos has been pretty outraged with me these past three days, by the way. He just doesn’t get why I would leave him, the Gorgeous. Neither can I, but life can sometimes be a tad unfair, eh? Hah.
And FYI I’m missing the yard. All sorts of veggies are growing up without me being there to check on them. *sniff*
I was pretty out of it during the night, and quite disoriented when the alarm went off. For a moment there I couldn’t remember why I would have to wake up before dawn…then of course the usual aches and gripes of this ol’ body started to make themselves known, and I groaned as I rolled out of bed.
There were chores to do and breakfast and lunch to make since cousin Ed had to go to work herself and was unable to help out by making it for us. *sigh* So, after laundry and such, I rushed up to bake pancakes while packing leftover spaghetti and all that.
We were loaded to full capacity, Knight II was in the back, and we made it up the mountain with little difficulty. Got started, after introducing Knight II to the local dogs. He was scared out of his mind, and would have fled back into the car.
Trimmed three more olive trees, which was an excellently calming way to start the day. Dug more holes and set a total of twelve poles during the course of the day. Used the chainsaw on a dead tree, trudged through the mud since there was lots of rain…even had to stop for about half an hour because it was coming down in buckets. Had a nice cozy visit with the boss lady, though. Chatted some, drank hot coffee and then headed out again to finish for the day.
Hauled three rolls of fence up an incline (my face looked red like a lobster afterward, hah) 19 poles or so, metal wire and all that nice stuff which we’re going to need to finish this job up. Having cleaned up after ourselves we headed back home, and stopped at the construction company to get the gate, which is the bad news. Grrr.
The gate we’d set our eye on was sold, so now he has to order both, and what with it being Semana Santa (Easter) pretty much the entire country is on hold. *sigh* Darn it. There goes the plan of finishing this all this week. I hate bringing news like this, but of course this is part of the construction bizz. It is always more than planned. Double darn it.
But anyway, two more supports bought, the last roll of fence having arrived and loaded into the car (I was horrified by my pants. I had red mud up to my knees, and all sorts of other messy colors all over my clothes. Hah) we finally headed home.
There we loaded (grandpa was kind enough to insist on doing that) up the necessary sand and some extra tools, prepared what we could for tomorrow, and then settled down around 9:30 PM to unwind a little.
And now I need sleep, so I am going to sign off and see if I can do a better blog the next time ‘round. Hah.
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