Song of the day: “A happy place” by Katie Melua. Considering I was a tad under the weather today, it was an appropriate song. Do you know that feeling, that everything seems to be going a little too fast and that your head just can’t keep up. Well, that’s what today was like for me. Hah.
Be that as it may, I had a little nap, and that improved my “state of being” considerably, so all is well again. I think it was partly due to all the excitement going on the past couple of days.
First off yesterday morning, I headed out to the vacation cottage to pay the owner for the week’s use. Was a nice little visit, talking about how she ended up in Spain and how she built her home there with her ex, and how she now spent her life. Sometimes I wonder if I should start writing about real life. Seriously, sometimes the stories I hear are just better than fiction. Hah. Lovely woman, though. Friendly, chatty and all the good stuff.
While I was there, tenant’s daughter phoned because they needed the exact address for the car rental, so there was some confusion about that. The connection wasn’t all that grand, so the owner gave the phone to me so I could explain, then son-in-law couldn’t hear me properly and gave me to the car rental agent, whom I had to tell to hand be back to son-in-law, who could finally hear me so we could sort out the mess. That dealt with, I departed and went back home.
There was still tenant’s place to mop the floor and sort through the last bit of the mess together with cousin Ed before we helped tenant outside to the table we had rearranged to welcome the visitors. It looked so nice, and thankfully, despite being occasionally cloudy the weather was very accommodating.
Tennant was out there under the umbrella since noon, watching every car pass with grave impatience. She firs decline supper which we had there with her, but then, after seeing us eat, asked for “a nibble” anyway. Hah. She always changes her mind afterward. She was positively psyched when they called that they were coming, and then promptly arrived. Tenant’s daughter of course asked for a moment alone with her mom. The question made me laugh a little seeing as that was what we’d planned to do just as soon as we’d supplied everyone with drinks. Hah.
For the next half hour or so we went down to my terrace where we prepared the dog food for the next day. As for the rest of the day…well, didn’t get a lot done, really. Later we were invited to join the reunion, so I got a taste of what it was like to sit for an afternoon, petting Knight II and listening to stories of the past. It was a cozy and sociable occasion. The relatives were friendly and tenant’s granddaughter a sweet little thing that was definitely on the shy side. The most important thing of the day was that tenant loved every minute of it.
I did, at some point notice that all the adult stuff was boring the kid, so I offered to give her and her dad a tour of the premises, leaving tenant and daughter a moment of privacy. Always a pleasure to show off the yard, of course. All the trees that weren’t there when we got here, the yard, the greenhouse, the paths. You never realize all the work you’ve done until you see it through the eyes of others, so in that regard I really liked giving the tour.
The dogs were at their best. Not a single one threatened to bite, and even Tadaika behaved wonderfully as we walked down through the majority of the pack. There was some barking (Chaos in particular) from the scared ones, but on the overall they were just curious and sniffed “the strangers” with wild abandon. Guess all the years of taking in new dogs, the occasional visitor, and just easy living has mellowed the darlings enough to have this be such a pleasant experience.
So after the day came to an end. Presents presented (licorice for Ed and me, lots of cute little doodads for tenant with pictures and everything on it) cookies eaten, drinks drunk and the usual chitchat exchanged, the relatives departed for the vacation cottage…oh, before I forget, that was a success for sure. They love the place, so yay!...where they were going to unwind, have a dip in the pool and generally enjoy their vacation prior to returning the next day.
The aftermath talks followed, asking tenant how she felt and if she was happy (yes, of course) and then eating a snack before heading down to start up the fire for the dog food and turning on the computers for the day’s edit. Got the prologue done, thank you very much, and we were both pretty satisfied with the end result. Definitely improved lots after the last edit.
Were in bed on time for a change. Seriously, it was five past one in the morning when I pulled the blankets up to my chin and turned off the light. *blissful sigh*
Which brings us to this morning. I was running a little behind, but since Cousin Ed had things well in hand with taking care of tenant until her relatives arrived to take her out on the town for a day, I took my time. It was raining when I got up, which is splendid for the yard, mind you. Added half an inch to the basin during the course of the day, so YAY!
I had a shower prior to getting started on the morning chores such as laundry, chatting to the birds, chinchilla and rabbits for a bit. The new bird is adjusting nicely, though he doesn’t like dogs at all. He will move to his biggest perch as soon as he sees a dog. Hah. Poor fellow. He’ll have to be more like Tika, who has taken a liking to giving the dogs “the eye”.
What followed was preparing the dog food and starting the feeding frenzy. They loved the meal, of course, seeing as we had bread again and they do love that so. Even Knight II ate slightly more than his usual half of the bowl. But anyway, the dogs fed, I was just in time to help tenant settle in the rental and wish her a good day.
The remainder of today was spent in the yard where we hunted bugs in the greenhouse, planted pumpkins, broccoli and herbs, while yanking weeds, harvesting our own supper. In one word: Wonderful. Despite the clouds still being there, while we were in the yard we didn’t have rain and could even occasionally enjoy the sunshine. Of course there was the interruption of Sally, who had missed her bus and who needed to be brought to her job, so I headed back up the mountain (all the way) and drove her. I was back in the yard within 20 minutes, though.
But like I said, I was feeling a bit off today, so I took a nap after supper of fresh veggies with patties and then got to work on preparing tomorrow’s dog food. Grandpa made a deal with the local vegetable store who gives us all the “bad” stuff he can’t sell, for the dogs and today he got a rather nice batch to supplement the small amount I’d gathered in the yard. They do love those mushy tomatoes. Hah.
Okay. I better get to work on the edit, big brother is getting a mite impatient with me, I’m sure.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
A little bit of this and that
Song of the day: “Sexual healing” by…well drat, now I forgot his name. *sigh* Anyway, it has been in my head most of the day and it is driving me friggin’ bonkers.
First off, the best bit of news for yesterday is that we sent out A.I.L. to a publisher so *phew* that’s a relief. It took some work, but we managed to cut everything that had to be cut, listed what needed to be listed, and described what had to be described and then send it out. Yay. So now we get to twiddle our thumbs for the next four months or so…oh wait, what am I saying. There’s another edit to do for V.L. and then (finally) I can start on the new project. *cheers* I can hardly wait, really. Ideas have been tumbling through my head quite frequently, so I hope that this edit won’t be too disastrous.
But anyway…I slept rather fretfully yesterday night…heck, last night as well. I don’t know what caused it either, but for some peculiar reason I just didn’t drop away. Kept waking up, and then the crazy Sitabah decided to leap over the fence and stand on the other side crying like some pitiful puppy until I came outside and basically lifted her off the roof to get her back inside. Spoiled mutt. I should have left her there, but let’s face it, she was screaming loud enough to wake the dead. *sigh*
For the most part we’ve just been busy with the kitchen building, and cleaning up the messy war zone we call home. There was the carport today, which is filled from top to bottom with building materials, and which really needed a good cleaning. Got most of it done, thankfully. No matter what we’ll end up with a little more order in the chaos, which is never a bad thing.
We have a new pet. An acquaintance of mom’s wanted to get rid of her parrot, so middle sister is going to see if our eclectus Parrot will be able to stand this new addition to our zoo. *sigh* Mom had hoped that it was the same breed as ours, but regretfully this appears to be an Amazon parrot. There was lots of screaming from our eclectus when the new fellow arrived, and according to middle sister she was more than a little curious about climbing all over the big cage that came with the new one. Let’s hope that they can be friends.
There were rocks to remove from the main path, of course, which took some effort…mostly be big brother since my shoulder is still playing up, and I really am not allowed to lift all that much weight. Gawd, this morning proved it. I tried to swing a dog food bag onto my terrace, and ended up with a nice stab of pain for my effort.
Dog feeding is par for the course these days, along with the preparation of it. Like today I had to gather fresh veggies from the yard first before we had enough. I gotta say, though, that with the way they enjoy the meals I find it well worth the effort.
Spent quite a few hours in the yard too. Mostly watering, weeding and harvesting. Yesterday morning it was so clear, I ended up standing in the lowest section of the yard, staring out to the sea where Africa showed in clear relief at the horizon. It was beautiful, in particular since the morning sun was bright and there was a fresh breeze whispering through the poplar trees. It was just too idyllic. I ended up just standing there soaking it up.
Painted the outside table up by the old horse stable. Had been planning to do so ever since we’d used it during construction of one project or other, but now, what with tenant’s family coming over, it seemed as good a time as any.
There were boards to store, planks to sort, and stuff to haul either up, or down as the past two days progressed. I managed to clean up my porch, in case the weather doesn’t allow tenant and her family to sit up there in the open. Thought I want nothing more than some rain (gawd knows we need it) but if the weather forecasters are right, it’s going to rain buckets this Saturday, which will be a total bummer for tenant’s family.
Did a couple of garbage runs. That pile-up there has been a thorn in our eye for a while, so we packed it all up in the back of the Land Rover and took it away. Heck, except for the massive amounts of building storage stuff, it is actually getting to look neat…well, neater anyway. Hah.
Made a nice little seating area for tenant and her family. The table looks better, and the chairs do make it appear cozy enough. Now let’s keep our fingers crossed on the weather, okay?
I just checked, and darn it, there are clouds all over the place, darn it. What is that. For weeks we have been wishing for rain, and NOW, of all times, Mother Nature is willing to oblige us. *snort*
Took about an hour for myself this morning and finally sorted through my laundry pile. Got most of it back into the closets, but by going past all the horizontal surfaces, I gathered one big bag filled with dirty laundry. I’m such a pig…but seriously, by the time I get to my cabin at night, I’m crosseyed with exhaustion and can only think of dropping facedown in bed and drifting off to la la land.
I remembered the other day that I really should write to my pen buddy again. It’s been ages since I last wrote, and I dislike slacking like that. Besides, I’m curious as to how he’s doing over there in the war territories.
There was some serious sawing done these past couple of days. For the kitchen, as well as the boards that had to be stored. It took some creativity for sure, but I did manage to store everything properly. Yay.
Cooking…well, we had our first batch of spinach today, and it was divine, I tell ya. Baked potatoes on the side and, wow, it was marvelous. I don’t remember spinach ever tasting this good. Added to that we had beets yesterday, so, well the last couple of suppers were pretty darn good. Hah.
Ticks! Yeah. It’s getting bad again. We’re going to have to go through the dip ordeal soon, because with some dogs it is starting to get silly now. I’m killing an average of 150 ticks a day now and there only seem to be more every day. Little bastards. We’ll teach ‘m yet.
And that about sums up the day, seeing as I’m way behind and good and ready to call it a friggin’ day. Tomorrow morning I need to drive on out to the vacation spot to pay for the week, and then I should be home in time to do some final cleaning and preparing before the visitors arrive.
I for one am going to bed.
First off, the best bit of news for yesterday is that we sent out A.I.L. to a publisher so *phew* that’s a relief. It took some work, but we managed to cut everything that had to be cut, listed what needed to be listed, and described what had to be described and then send it out. Yay. So now we get to twiddle our thumbs for the next four months or so…oh wait, what am I saying. There’s another edit to do for V.L. and then (finally) I can start on the new project. *cheers* I can hardly wait, really. Ideas have been tumbling through my head quite frequently, so I hope that this edit won’t be too disastrous.
But anyway…I slept rather fretfully yesterday night…heck, last night as well. I don’t know what caused it either, but for some peculiar reason I just didn’t drop away. Kept waking up, and then the crazy Sitabah decided to leap over the fence and stand on the other side crying like some pitiful puppy until I came outside and basically lifted her off the roof to get her back inside. Spoiled mutt. I should have left her there, but let’s face it, she was screaming loud enough to wake the dead. *sigh*
For the most part we’ve just been busy with the kitchen building, and cleaning up the messy war zone we call home. There was the carport today, which is filled from top to bottom with building materials, and which really needed a good cleaning. Got most of it done, thankfully. No matter what we’ll end up with a little more order in the chaos, which is never a bad thing.
We have a new pet. An acquaintance of mom’s wanted to get rid of her parrot, so middle sister is going to see if our eclectus Parrot will be able to stand this new addition to our zoo. *sigh* Mom had hoped that it was the same breed as ours, but regretfully this appears to be an Amazon parrot. There was lots of screaming from our eclectus when the new fellow arrived, and according to middle sister she was more than a little curious about climbing all over the big cage that came with the new one. Let’s hope that they can be friends.
There were rocks to remove from the main path, of course, which took some effort…mostly be big brother since my shoulder is still playing up, and I really am not allowed to lift all that much weight. Gawd, this morning proved it. I tried to swing a dog food bag onto my terrace, and ended up with a nice stab of pain for my effort.
Dog feeding is par for the course these days, along with the preparation of it. Like today I had to gather fresh veggies from the yard first before we had enough. I gotta say, though, that with the way they enjoy the meals I find it well worth the effort.
Spent quite a few hours in the yard too. Mostly watering, weeding and harvesting. Yesterday morning it was so clear, I ended up standing in the lowest section of the yard, staring out to the sea where Africa showed in clear relief at the horizon. It was beautiful, in particular since the morning sun was bright and there was a fresh breeze whispering through the poplar trees. It was just too idyllic. I ended up just standing there soaking it up.
Painted the outside table up by the old horse stable. Had been planning to do so ever since we’d used it during construction of one project or other, but now, what with tenant’s family coming over, it seemed as good a time as any.
There were boards to store, planks to sort, and stuff to haul either up, or down as the past two days progressed. I managed to clean up my porch, in case the weather doesn’t allow tenant and her family to sit up there in the open. Thought I want nothing more than some rain (gawd knows we need it) but if the weather forecasters are right, it’s going to rain buckets this Saturday, which will be a total bummer for tenant’s family.
Did a couple of garbage runs. That pile-up there has been a thorn in our eye for a while, so we packed it all up in the back of the Land Rover and took it away. Heck, except for the massive amounts of building storage stuff, it is actually getting to look neat…well, neater anyway. Hah.
Made a nice little seating area for tenant and her family. The table looks better, and the chairs do make it appear cozy enough. Now let’s keep our fingers crossed on the weather, okay?
I just checked, and darn it, there are clouds all over the place, darn it. What is that. For weeks we have been wishing for rain, and NOW, of all times, Mother Nature is willing to oblige us. *snort*
Took about an hour for myself this morning and finally sorted through my laundry pile. Got most of it back into the closets, but by going past all the horizontal surfaces, I gathered one big bag filled with dirty laundry. I’m such a pig…but seriously, by the time I get to my cabin at night, I’m crosseyed with exhaustion and can only think of dropping facedown in bed and drifting off to la la land.
I remembered the other day that I really should write to my pen buddy again. It’s been ages since I last wrote, and I dislike slacking like that. Besides, I’m curious as to how he’s doing over there in the war territories.
There was some serious sawing done these past couple of days. For the kitchen, as well as the boards that had to be stored. It took some creativity for sure, but I did manage to store everything properly. Yay.
Cooking…well, we had our first batch of spinach today, and it was divine, I tell ya. Baked potatoes on the side and, wow, it was marvelous. I don’t remember spinach ever tasting this good. Added to that we had beets yesterday, so, well the last couple of suppers were pretty darn good. Hah.
Ticks! Yeah. It’s getting bad again. We’re going to have to go through the dip ordeal soon, because with some dogs it is starting to get silly now. I’m killing an average of 150 ticks a day now and there only seem to be more every day. Little bastards. We’ll teach ‘m yet.
And that about sums up the day, seeing as I’m way behind and good and ready to call it a friggin’ day. Tomorrow morning I need to drive on out to the vacation spot to pay for the week, and then I should be home in time to do some final cleaning and preparing before the visitors arrive.
I for one am going to bed.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Cleaning frenzy
Song of the day: “Come on” by Will Young. It was a deliberate earworm, if for no other reason than to get Gotye out of there. Seriously, three days was enough.
I’m late. I’m sooooo late, darn it. Why are there only twenty four friggin’ hours in a day darn it? Oh yeah, right. Because if there were more I would be even more tired right now. Hah. Never mind then. Let’s see. Well, yesterday started a little early because Cousin Ed’s birthday was there, and I had to make a apple pie for the occasion. Didn’t take all that long, really. Half an hour at most and then…wel, it was worth every minute, seeing as we still enjoyed pieces of that today. Yay.
Regardless of the happy occasion normal food had to be made as well. I’ve been wanting to experiment with chickpeas and chicken broth for a long time now and I figure they worked out rather well. Tried them today on burger rolls. They were yummy. For a moment there they tasted like McChicken. Yay.
Had to go out after breakfast to pay for the cottage. Was worried for a bit that I might not be able to find it again, but I did, and the lady was really nice, again. She invited me into her own home while she wrote out a receipt, and was proud as a fiddle about showing off her designer skills. It did look charming, I’ll admit, despite all the reds on white. Hah.
There was tiling to finish. The final edge before the new kitchen counter, and since Cousin Ed insisted on doing the actual laying, I did the cutting while cooking supper in the meantime. There was some serious debate with grandpa prior to starting, about whether to use a red tile, or a yellow one, but (thankfully) he opted for the yellow, which is good since red would have been really busy. *Phew* I was much relieved.
Most of that done (grandpa and big brother were in carport working on the cupboards) big brother and I had to go out to pick up a donation. A very nice Schottish woman who was sorting through the “mess” in her house and wanted to get rid of a lot. It was an experience, I tell ya. Hah.
Once home we got to work on A.I.L., of which we have to cut a 1100 synopsis into 750 something words too. OMG, I hate this part, but it’s gotta be done. Luckily this is not such a complicated story such as Saving Nina, because over there ever single cut felt like I was amputating an arm, or something.
Was a little late getting to bed, seeing as I got distracted (after work) online. Those Amazon Chats are just too much fun, darn it. But no matter. I was up on time this morning to get to the workout. Did the double time thing again, adding some extra reps just to see if I could. It didn’t help that I did some situps last night, but all in all I managed well enough. Whatever else I can say about that workout this morning, my body felt nicely oiled in the joints today.
There was laundry, two dog feeding sessions (yesterday too, of course) and breakfast…after big brother picked up Grandpa. His moped is playing up again, meaning it had to be brought to the shop for an overhaul. The guy checked it through during the day, but except for the fact that there was not smooth enough oil in it, (or something along those lines) he couldn’t find anything wrong.
Unloaded the car, and sorted through some tiles. The supply piles are a mess after all the work we did with them so far. Jeez. It’s going to take me ages to get that cleaned up again.
Couldn’t waste too much time there, either, since we had to head down to the yard and water a large part of the terraces. Took a moment to clean up most of the mess in the greenhouse, since I was there anyway, checking the tomato plants. There was some harvest too, but since we already cut most of today’s veggies yesterday, there wasn’t much needed. Did get some nice lettuces for consumption, along with a big batch of broccoli and a white cabbage.
The remainder of the day was spent cleaning up. First hauling pallets to the storage. There were six of them lying about, so those had to be gathered and carried away. What followed was a big stack of plants, which grandpa wanted in the storage, covered by a blanket to prevent them from curving from the sunshine. Lastly was carrying some more tiles to the corner of the storage. For the record, I’ve got to say here for a moment that I calculated the amount of tiles for the kitchen just right. Yay. *pats own shoulder* “There’s a good Sammi.”
I finished up, up there by gathering building debris which we’re going to have to drive to the dump one of these days. It does look way better over there now, which is a good thing, and about time.
That done, I went to the carport to get a broom and shovel (big brother and grandpa were working with the cupboards in the kitchen) and moved on to the basin terrace. Took most of the furniture from under the plastic coverings, set it all up for the field kitchen in a few weeks, and then swept the floors until there was actually space to move again. Yay. Looking much better now, if I must say so myself. I promptly felt like sitting down there, hah, watching Gada stretch out in obvious bliss.
That done, it was back up where tenant was waiting to go on up to her cottage, and to bike on the bicycle for a bit. She held out for about five minutes, but then it was agreed that she still had to walk up the mountain, so that was enough. She was a little embarrassed about taking to long, but I was honestly grateful for the quiet moment where I just needed to stand there, making sure she didn’t lose her balance.
Which brings us to now. Another editing session through the synopsis behind us and my eyes already halfway shut. Seriously, it is time to call it a day.
I’m late. I’m sooooo late, darn it. Why are there only twenty four friggin’ hours in a day darn it? Oh yeah, right. Because if there were more I would be even more tired right now. Hah. Never mind then. Let’s see. Well, yesterday started a little early because Cousin Ed’s birthday was there, and I had to make a apple pie for the occasion. Didn’t take all that long, really. Half an hour at most and then…wel, it was worth every minute, seeing as we still enjoyed pieces of that today. Yay.
Regardless of the happy occasion normal food had to be made as well. I’ve been wanting to experiment with chickpeas and chicken broth for a long time now and I figure they worked out rather well. Tried them today on burger rolls. They were yummy. For a moment there they tasted like McChicken. Yay.
Had to go out after breakfast to pay for the cottage. Was worried for a bit that I might not be able to find it again, but I did, and the lady was really nice, again. She invited me into her own home while she wrote out a receipt, and was proud as a fiddle about showing off her designer skills. It did look charming, I’ll admit, despite all the reds on white. Hah.
There was tiling to finish. The final edge before the new kitchen counter, and since Cousin Ed insisted on doing the actual laying, I did the cutting while cooking supper in the meantime. There was some serious debate with grandpa prior to starting, about whether to use a red tile, or a yellow one, but (thankfully) he opted for the yellow, which is good since red would have been really busy. *Phew* I was much relieved.
Most of that done (grandpa and big brother were in carport working on the cupboards) big brother and I had to go out to pick up a donation. A very nice Schottish woman who was sorting through the “mess” in her house and wanted to get rid of a lot. It was an experience, I tell ya. Hah.
Once home we got to work on A.I.L., of which we have to cut a 1100 synopsis into 750 something words too. OMG, I hate this part, but it’s gotta be done. Luckily this is not such a complicated story such as Saving Nina, because over there ever single cut felt like I was amputating an arm, or something.
Was a little late getting to bed, seeing as I got distracted (after work) online. Those Amazon Chats are just too much fun, darn it. But no matter. I was up on time this morning to get to the workout. Did the double time thing again, adding some extra reps just to see if I could. It didn’t help that I did some situps last night, but all in all I managed well enough. Whatever else I can say about that workout this morning, my body felt nicely oiled in the joints today.
There was laundry, two dog feeding sessions (yesterday too, of course) and breakfast…after big brother picked up Grandpa. His moped is playing up again, meaning it had to be brought to the shop for an overhaul. The guy checked it through during the day, but except for the fact that there was not smooth enough oil in it, (or something along those lines) he couldn’t find anything wrong.
Unloaded the car, and sorted through some tiles. The supply piles are a mess after all the work we did with them so far. Jeez. It’s going to take me ages to get that cleaned up again.
Couldn’t waste too much time there, either, since we had to head down to the yard and water a large part of the terraces. Took a moment to clean up most of the mess in the greenhouse, since I was there anyway, checking the tomato plants. There was some harvest too, but since we already cut most of today’s veggies yesterday, there wasn’t much needed. Did get some nice lettuces for consumption, along with a big batch of broccoli and a white cabbage.
The remainder of the day was spent cleaning up. First hauling pallets to the storage. There were six of them lying about, so those had to be gathered and carried away. What followed was a big stack of plants, which grandpa wanted in the storage, covered by a blanket to prevent them from curving from the sunshine. Lastly was carrying some more tiles to the corner of the storage. For the record, I’ve got to say here for a moment that I calculated the amount of tiles for the kitchen just right. Yay. *pats own shoulder* “There’s a good Sammi.”
I finished up, up there by gathering building debris which we’re going to have to drive to the dump one of these days. It does look way better over there now, which is a good thing, and about time.
That done, I went to the carport to get a broom and shovel (big brother and grandpa were working with the cupboards in the kitchen) and moved on to the basin terrace. Took most of the furniture from under the plastic coverings, set it all up for the field kitchen in a few weeks, and then swept the floors until there was actually space to move again. Yay. Looking much better now, if I must say so myself. I promptly felt like sitting down there, hah, watching Gada stretch out in obvious bliss.
That done, it was back up where tenant was waiting to go on up to her cottage, and to bike on the bicycle for a bit. She held out for about five minutes, but then it was agreed that she still had to walk up the mountain, so that was enough. She was a little embarrassed about taking to long, but I was honestly grateful for the quiet moment where I just needed to stand there, making sure she didn’t lose her balance.
Which brings us to now. Another editing session through the synopsis behind us and my eyes already halfway shut. Seriously, it is time to call it a day.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Couldn't help it
Song of the day: “Somebody I used to know” by Gotye and Kimbra. Yep. It’s been those sort of days again where a single song will be stuck in my head for endless hours, driving me bonkers, while at the same time charming me too. Strange how that works, really.
Right. Got less done then planned, but we found a rather wonderful location for tenant’s relatives, so it wasn’t for nothing. By some miracle I had forgotten to tell Ox that we had already had found a finca in the country, so when he called yesterday morning, and said he had found a nice place just outside the village with a nice English lady as the owner, and a better price than the other one, we couldn’t resist and headed out to see. The owner met us half the way, drove ahead and led us straight to this cute vacation paradise, overlooking the village. Gawd, I can tell ya we were properly stunned and could do nothing but nod and say, wow, while she led us around. It was so cute, a neat living room, kitchen, new bathroom, two bedrooms and a recently filled pool. Cousin Ed and I were more than a little relieved at the realization that we had been reluctant to make any deals with the nice fellow of the finca, because this one would be so much more suited for a nice vacation. And the owner was such a nice lady, too. And she had two dogs. And the views, well, they were splendid. Luckily tenant’s relatives didn’t mind the third change in plans at all and really took our wishy washy-ness rather well. Hah.
But okay. One disaster dealt with, we are of course on tenterhooks about the fact that the owner of the cottage won’t be home today, and wasn’t home either yesterday, so I’m crossing all my appendages that this doesn’t go wrong again. Never knew that renting something was this much of a bother, but there you have it. *sigh* Did get to see lots of fun places, though, going on roads that I otherwise would have no business traveling. So there’s a good side to everything, right?
So let’s get to business as usual. What with grandpa and big brother still working on that kitchen counter, I’ve been scrambling a lot to keep things going that need to be done routinely. Like the dog food. Two batches of vegetables that needed to be cut. Leftover leaves from the cabbages, nopales, tomatoes that are getting wrinkly, pumpkins that can’t be saved anymore, the leaves from beets, and all that good stuff which they so clearly love. There was most of that to chop, which takes about thirty minutes a day, and in the mornings, after the veggies have boiled on the woodstove for most of the precious evening, it is time to knead water soaked bread and mixing the lot with dog kibble. Gawd, it is rather nice to do this part. I will be standing at the table, mixing everything up, while around me more than twenty dogs are watching every move I make. If I raise my hand (I know, very mean, but it’s hilarious) all heads will tip back and tongues will slide over lips in restless anticipation. It is almost like a cartoon. Hah.
But anyway, they will dig in fast enough…too fast in fact, seeing as Chaos, Indigo, Ama, Labhana, Gada, and Tadaika need to be separated in the carport to prevent them from reaching their ultimate goal: the bottom of the bowl. Jeez. Those babies can seriously eat. If we don’t set them aside, they’ll eat about two thirds of the total…and they’re already fat, for crying out loud!
Yesterday, what with big brother and grandpa so busy, I spent most of the afternoon on my own in the yard. The plan was only to water some of the plants that really needed it, but after I checked, I saw that really most of them needed water, so what followed was three hours of watering, going up and down the incline, harvesting, gathering our own veggies as well as that of the dogs. I was seriously pooped by the time I came up, had cut everything up and then headed for the kitchen (I want my outside kitchen, darn it. The day was too grand to spend it inside) to cook supper. Not bad at all, a mix of cauliflower, broccoli and corn, served with macaroni and a white green herb sauce…in fact, it worked out so well, that grandpa stole it this morning, and used it for his own meals. Which had me scramble a little today, since I had counted on that particular leftover, hah.
We sent out “Saving Nina” last night. Yay. It took some doing, we spent the past few evenings hacking our way through that synopsis, a character description, best line of dialogue, best scene, the query and all that jazz. A pity that you can’t just send a story without anything extra, but such is not the nature of the beast. It has to be just so, and like in any other business, you have to adhere to the standard. *sigh*
This afternoon, due to the fact that somehow we didn’t manage to get around to it before, cousin Ed and I spent most of the time on our knees scrubbing the tiles that we did the grouting of the other day. Yep. It was a royal pain in the behind, seeing as all the excess had been stuck in place, and we had to use scrapers, sanding paper and in the end a mop to get the job done. It is beautiful, though (got pictures, I promise, I just haven’t taken them off my phone, yet) and exactly as we planned. The colors go together splendidly, and it is more like art than a floor. Hah.
Yesterday evening was spent fixing the old chainsaw. Rust, grease and whatnot had stuck everything together, so everything had to be soaked in petrol and then put back in place. Nothing quite as exciting than turning a machine on that wasn’t function before. Yay.
There was a workout this morning, of course. I was a little late getting up, but since I didn’t have to account for the dogs of the younger sibs, (market day) I could take that little extra time before going down for a shower and doing the laundry.
Made patties, despite the fact that the kitchen is momentarily missing. Got a bit annoyed when Ayana decided to steal part of the dough, though. Little monster. I turned my back for five seconds (and of course I can’t expect big brother to notice something like that) and a third of the dough was gone without a trace. Grrrr. Luckily there’s enough left, eh? Went for a chickpea with chicken broth mix today, to see if I can make it taste more like chicken.
Was starving again about two hours after supper, so when big brother went back to the kitchen to deal with his own problem, the conversation went like this:
Me: “Take something nice down, yeah?”
Big brother: “You want a hotdog?”
Me: “Eeew. Never mind. Don’t take ANYTHING down for me. Jeez”
At which point I grabbed for a bag of cornflakes and dug in. Hah.
Tick hunting: Yes, the time is getting to be in full swing. One of the few things I really dislike about summer ‘round these parts. Sooooo many ticks. They’re everywhere, and about an hour a day is spent removing ticks. Not one session, or anything, but every time you pet a dog, there’s another one, and another, and another to remove. Luckily they love the attention.
Well, that’s about it for today. I’ve got to prepare A.I.L. for sending out to a publisher as well, so that ‘ll take a few more days at least, and then, yes, I am already gladly anticipating the grand event (don’t trip over the sarcasm) it is…(drum roll please)…back to editing. *sigh*
Right. Got less done then planned, but we found a rather wonderful location for tenant’s relatives, so it wasn’t for nothing. By some miracle I had forgotten to tell Ox that we had already had found a finca in the country, so when he called yesterday morning, and said he had found a nice place just outside the village with a nice English lady as the owner, and a better price than the other one, we couldn’t resist and headed out to see. The owner met us half the way, drove ahead and led us straight to this cute vacation paradise, overlooking the village. Gawd, I can tell ya we were properly stunned and could do nothing but nod and say, wow, while she led us around. It was so cute, a neat living room, kitchen, new bathroom, two bedrooms and a recently filled pool. Cousin Ed and I were more than a little relieved at the realization that we had been reluctant to make any deals with the nice fellow of the finca, because this one would be so much more suited for a nice vacation. And the owner was such a nice lady, too. And she had two dogs. And the views, well, they were splendid. Luckily tenant’s relatives didn’t mind the third change in plans at all and really took our wishy washy-ness rather well. Hah.
But okay. One disaster dealt with, we are of course on tenterhooks about the fact that the owner of the cottage won’t be home today, and wasn’t home either yesterday, so I’m crossing all my appendages that this doesn’t go wrong again. Never knew that renting something was this much of a bother, but there you have it. *sigh* Did get to see lots of fun places, though, going on roads that I otherwise would have no business traveling. So there’s a good side to everything, right?
So let’s get to business as usual. What with grandpa and big brother still working on that kitchen counter, I’ve been scrambling a lot to keep things going that need to be done routinely. Like the dog food. Two batches of vegetables that needed to be cut. Leftover leaves from the cabbages, nopales, tomatoes that are getting wrinkly, pumpkins that can’t be saved anymore, the leaves from beets, and all that good stuff which they so clearly love. There was most of that to chop, which takes about thirty minutes a day, and in the mornings, after the veggies have boiled on the woodstove for most of the precious evening, it is time to knead water soaked bread and mixing the lot with dog kibble. Gawd, it is rather nice to do this part. I will be standing at the table, mixing everything up, while around me more than twenty dogs are watching every move I make. If I raise my hand (I know, very mean, but it’s hilarious) all heads will tip back and tongues will slide over lips in restless anticipation. It is almost like a cartoon. Hah.
But anyway, they will dig in fast enough…too fast in fact, seeing as Chaos, Indigo, Ama, Labhana, Gada, and Tadaika need to be separated in the carport to prevent them from reaching their ultimate goal: the bottom of the bowl. Jeez. Those babies can seriously eat. If we don’t set them aside, they’ll eat about two thirds of the total…and they’re already fat, for crying out loud!
Yesterday, what with big brother and grandpa so busy, I spent most of the afternoon on my own in the yard. The plan was only to water some of the plants that really needed it, but after I checked, I saw that really most of them needed water, so what followed was three hours of watering, going up and down the incline, harvesting, gathering our own veggies as well as that of the dogs. I was seriously pooped by the time I came up, had cut everything up and then headed for the kitchen (I want my outside kitchen, darn it. The day was too grand to spend it inside) to cook supper. Not bad at all, a mix of cauliflower, broccoli and corn, served with macaroni and a white green herb sauce…in fact, it worked out so well, that grandpa stole it this morning, and used it for his own meals. Which had me scramble a little today, since I had counted on that particular leftover, hah.
We sent out “Saving Nina” last night. Yay. It took some doing, we spent the past few evenings hacking our way through that synopsis, a character description, best line of dialogue, best scene, the query and all that jazz. A pity that you can’t just send a story without anything extra, but such is not the nature of the beast. It has to be just so, and like in any other business, you have to adhere to the standard. *sigh*
This afternoon, due to the fact that somehow we didn’t manage to get around to it before, cousin Ed and I spent most of the time on our knees scrubbing the tiles that we did the grouting of the other day. Yep. It was a royal pain in the behind, seeing as all the excess had been stuck in place, and we had to use scrapers, sanding paper and in the end a mop to get the job done. It is beautiful, though (got pictures, I promise, I just haven’t taken them off my phone, yet) and exactly as we planned. The colors go together splendidly, and it is more like art than a floor. Hah.
Yesterday evening was spent fixing the old chainsaw. Rust, grease and whatnot had stuck everything together, so everything had to be soaked in petrol and then put back in place. Nothing quite as exciting than turning a machine on that wasn’t function before. Yay.
There was a workout this morning, of course. I was a little late getting up, but since I didn’t have to account for the dogs of the younger sibs, (market day) I could take that little extra time before going down for a shower and doing the laundry.
Made patties, despite the fact that the kitchen is momentarily missing. Got a bit annoyed when Ayana decided to steal part of the dough, though. Little monster. I turned my back for five seconds (and of course I can’t expect big brother to notice something like that) and a third of the dough was gone without a trace. Grrrr. Luckily there’s enough left, eh? Went for a chickpea with chicken broth mix today, to see if I can make it taste more like chicken.
Was starving again about two hours after supper, so when big brother went back to the kitchen to deal with his own problem, the conversation went like this:
Me: “Take something nice down, yeah?”
Big brother: “You want a hotdog?”
Me: “Eeew. Never mind. Don’t take ANYTHING down for me. Jeez”
At which point I grabbed for a bag of cornflakes and dug in. Hah.
Tick hunting: Yes, the time is getting to be in full swing. One of the few things I really dislike about summer ‘round these parts. Sooooo many ticks. They’re everywhere, and about an hour a day is spent removing ticks. Not one session, or anything, but every time you pet a dog, there’s another one, and another, and another to remove. Luckily they love the attention.
Well, that’s about it for today. I’ve got to prepare A.I.L. for sending out to a publisher as well, so that ‘ll take a few more days at least, and then, yes, I am already gladly anticipating the grand event (don’t trip over the sarcasm) it is…(drum roll please)…back to editing. *sigh*
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