Diesel

Song of the day: “Come on” by Will Young. Still a good song.

I’m going to do a rush job. I’m late and I wanna be in bed on time tonight, darn it!
So yesterday. Well, it was busy, and I was out and about for five hours later in the afternoon so I was not a happy camper. Grrr.

There were morning chores, of course, dogs to feed, dogs to pet, dogs to search for ticks and dogs to chase when they left with my cheese! Aaaargh. Hah. No matter, though. There was plenty to do. Cousin Ed and grandpa were out to the dental lab. Grandpa’s teeth fell on the floor last night, so he had to have it fixed. He could come pick it up later in the afternoon, which we’d do once the car could be picked up. Got that call around noon. Our suspicions were confirmed. Somehow a few liters of petrol ended up in our diesel (we still haven’t figured out how) meaning that they had to drain the tank and change the filters. There goes the savings of this month, eh? Ah well, at least it was nothing more serious. I could come pick up the car at any time.

Tenant opted to stay up in the old horse paddock, she was so comfortable, she claimed, that she just wanted to sit there quietly writing her letters to her elderly relatives.

Over breakfast big brother and I did some Spanish, and then noticed Sally coming up from her apartment. Gawd, she’d cut her own hair and it was standing every which way, with uneven ends, so I told her to sit down so I could do some damage control. Hah. Seriously, I couldn’t let her leave the house like that. Having rather thin and slow growing hair, I usually don’t get folks who say, “Ah well, it won’t matter that I cut it wrong. It’ll grow back”. Drives me bonkers, I tell ya.

Little brother succeeded with his theory exam for driver’s license the other day, so he had to go to his school around four, so we agreed that he and mom would drop me off at the garage, which meant I had about two hours to write before that time came. Got some good stuff down, so I didn’t mind having to head on up to get changed into something a little less casual and headed for town.

Chatted with the mechanic for a bit, who assured me it shouldn’t be a problem. They drained the tank, poured in some diesel and a big splash of oil. They advised me to put in two tack oil as soon as possible then drive with it for a bit, and then fill her up again. Talked some with the receptionist as well, who told me of the shocker the other day when she came back to the office after she’d been gone a couple of minutes and found the cash box emptied of over five hundred bucks. Seriously! Can you imagine it. That’s gotta hurt.

But anyway, went home in a bit of a rush because grandpa had to be brought to the dental lab again to see if they fixed the thing right. (First had to unload the car, though. Was filled with wood.) The guy working there is a really nice guy. He doesn’t fuss about grandpa not talking Spanish, and isn’t bothered that he has to get grandpa to mimic him. He gave excellent service, even did the lower section so, yay. Finally the darn thing is no longer hurting. Strangely enough the dentist didn’t manage that feat.

The car is still sputtering a little, like she’s a little drunk, hah, doesn’t want to pull up the mountain as hard, but that’s supposedly going to get better once the oil and diesel have fully replaced the petrol.

Were home a little late, but I still did manage to add a few more pages to the book at the end of the day. Got my daily quota at least. Yay. Of course it did make me late getting to bed, which is a pain in the behind. Grrr.
We got loads of mosquitoes by the way, and I fully blame the basin for that. Seriously, they’re in the thousands, and they’re big suckers. My room is teeming with them every night.

Which brings us to this morning where I woke somewhat dazedly, wanting little more than turn over and continue on. Didn’t of course, there were once again chores to do, dogs to feed and a book to write. Got to it ASAP too, doing only forty minutes of Spanish before I started on the writing bit. Managed almost four pages this afternoon, finishing only to help big brother cook. He did spaghetti and cheese, while I made a veggie mix on the side. Worked out well enough, I just didn’t much like the paprika powder I used.

That done we headed down into the yard where we watered and harvested for the day. Zucchinis have gone into a little bit of lull, which is good, seeing as I didn’t much like the idea of another batch of canning right now. Way too busy what with the four to five hours of writing every afternoon.

There was a rather wonderful wind blowing fiercely this morning. Regretfully it stopped around three in the afternoon, which had poor Chaos breathing heavy and Labhana hiding in Sally’s bathroom. Hah.

Tenant opted to spend the day with mom in the house today, so basically it was a quiet afternoon all way round. Had a nice dip after the yard, which was wonderful. The water is still somewhat cool, pretty clean, and I was properly refreshed to cut dog veggies for yesterday’s meal.

At the same time, Big brother made a lamp for terrace in front of my cabin. Since we’re doing most of the night computer work there, the darkness was driving me absolutely bonkers. So right now I’m standing in the glow of the night light, with the wind blowing around me like mad, keeping the mosquitoes at bay (yay) and making it wonderfully cool while I’m writing tonight’s blog.

Which means I’m done for now. Yay. The dogs are restless, and they really do want to go to bed (past midnight after all). So do I for that matter. Hah

Interviewed

Song of the day: “A little time” by the Beautiful South. Yay. Such a funny song, and definitely not bad to have in your head like an earworm. Hah.

Let’s get down to business first. Remember the interview I mentioned the other day? The one I got invited to do at Laurie’s thoughts and reviews? Well, it went live yesterday and here’s the link. (Be nice and click “cool” or “helpful” over there, okay?)

http://lauriethoughts-reviews.blogspot.com.es/2012/06/wi-investigations-by-samaya-young.html

Isn’t it awesome? My first requested interview, and she made it all look very professional and well taken care of. Not to mention that she made it a very pleasant experience, so for any of you indie published authors out there, she’s definitely someone to approach if you’re looking for some publicity. She is, apparently, actively looking for authors to feature, in a variety of genres, so here’s your chance, check her out.

Okay, enough promo stuff. There’s a couple of days to describe and I better get to it before the end of the day arrives (looking forward to that with a fierce passion, in case you’re wondering) rather than keep dawdling.

Yesterday:
Totally overslept, man. Seriously, I forgot to set my alarm and didn’t wake up ‘til nine thirty and had to rush through the morning rituals to get everything back to an even keel. *sigh*

There was laundry, there was dog food and all those other little things that need to be done from time to time. It mattered none to me, mind you, I was already looking forward to writing, so my head was up in the stratosphere thinking of how I was going to continue the scene I started the day before.

Spent quite bit of time with tenant yesterday. First we walked down (caregiver had to be elsewhere) to the basin terrace where I got her settled for the day. Since big brother was fretting over the world economy and surfed the news channels, we skipped Spanish over breakfast, after which I got to work on the book. Added another few pages, having a few more ah-hah moments during the epilogue which turned out to be somewhat different than I’d planned. Still, I think it’s working out. Also, the death scene (no, not in the end. It’s…oh well, don’t ask. I’d spoil it.) worked out, and the first meeting is starting to be somewhat funny. I like…and so far the playlist I put together on my iTunes fits well with the scenes. Not surprisingly, the songs are all somewhat sad.

Since I don’t like all the sitting down for hours on end, I put a bucket on the table and did most of the writing standing up. Hah. Worked out well enough, and my butt didn’t feel like a chunk of wood afterward. Of course my foot (effing plantars) was seriously complaining at the end, but what the hey, gotta chose one discomfort over the other sometime, right?

The dogs kinda liked my choice to stand through most of the writing, it freed up some serious space under the table, meaning that two more of ‘m were trying to use my bare feet as pillows during the course of the day. Seriously, there are days when I truly regret their severe dependency issues. Especially when it’s a tad hot (not now, by the way, last night clouds tumbled in and they’ve been persisting somewhat) and I’m trying to stay remotely cool. Ah well, thus are the issues of our wonderful pack. You get used to them at a certain point.

Once the writing for the day was done, tenant and I joined forces and cut veggies for supper. Went well enough as I told her about the new book, and she told me about the book she was reading. Also spent some time with her reading through a mail from her family, and then writing back a short one. She seemed cheerful yesterday, if a tad distracted. She’s been thinking a lot about the past again (I’m afraid it does her no good since it pulls her away from life at the present, and makes her more than a little vague. But those are her choices to make. *sigh* Sometimes I dislike caring about others, I really do, in particular when you see certain choices are not in their best interest) in particular since she is looking forward to writing to old friends and relatives. It was one of the reasons for the mail, seeing as I was unable to google the addresses she needed.
Once supper was finished and devoured, and cousin Ed got called to give Sally a ride to work, I walked tenant back up to her bungalow. A long trip that passed with chatter and song, the way we usually do. It makes the time pass faster, and she seems to enjoy it.

Once caregiver took over two thirds of the way, I rushed back to the yard to help big brother finishing the watering chore so we’d have enough time to go the city to pick up a computer adaptor for mom (hers died again) and a spare pair of shoes for big brother. While we were on our way home the Land Rover suddenly started to make a weird sound, rather than risk driving further with it, we parked near our garage, phoned cousin Ed and waited for her to come pick us up.

Which brings us to today, where big brother and I rushed through the morning chores so we would be able to take the Opel and drive back to town, straight to the garage, where we explained the problem. Regretfully they were incredibly busy today, so we had to leave the keys there, and drive back home hoping they’d have time tomorrow. It was reassuring to see that they picked the car up within half an hour (we were at the store across the street from it) so I’m pretty confident that they’ll try to fit it in somewhere. *sigh* Dontcha just hate car trouble?

Once home, I headed down to the basin terrace where both big brother and I spent the majority of the afternoon behind the computer. I wrote a few more pages, bringing the story up to eighteen pages and half (approx. 5000 words) which is not bad for day six. Hah.

That done, it was time to head down into the yard where a few more plants got watered (have been stretching our basin water for several days now, due to the clouds, what’s usually for one day, is now going for three. Gotta be frugal!) and stuff had to be harvested. Since grandpa was unable to get anything at the fruit and vegetable distribution center, we took most of it from the yard. A good thing, since a lot of the cabbages are nearing their end. Also cut some Alfa Alfa, which is high on omega three and incredibly good for the dogs.

But first there was our own food to make. Had beets with cheese and rice, which worked really well…overate in fact. *snort* That dealt with, the area cleared somewhat of what we’d used, and my bag stuffed with everything that needed to go back up to my cabin, we went up.
Took a dip in the pool, nothing like a refreshing dunking in the pool (Chaos loved it) and afterward playing a little with the puppy. He’s doing better, by the way. The only thing that remains is the snotty/running nose, which is blamed on an infection.

While I got to work on the dog food, cutting veggies and such, big brother fixed a blower in the car port, and then got out our table so we could start on this final stretch of computer work. Yep. The day has come to an end, and I’m glad for it. I definitely need a good night’s rest.

Writing, writing and some other stuff

Song of the day: “If I die young” by the Band Perry. It was about time that this one returned. I do enjoy it much. Hah.

I’m running way behind again, darn it, partly because most of my afternoons are now filled with writing, and, well, there’s other stuff that needs to be done as well, making me late for little things like writing the blog. So sorry. Let’s see if I can write this fast without skimming the details and still giving you a taste of my tiny little world.

Yesterday…well, it started just as usual, with me running late and going through the laundry and heading on up to start on feeding the dogs. Then, due to a rather heated discussion about politics (I know, I should just talk about what we talked about, but I have found that readers and politics don’t go together all that well. Maybe politics is just something too private. Could that be it, I wonder? I mean seriously, good friendships get wrecked over different view points on politics for crying out loud.) *sigh* So no, I’m not going blab about my views…at least not too much. I do have to say that I don’t get the whole Greece problem. Folks are complaining over there while they’ve been bailed out several times already, and are saying that they refuse to bow to austerity. It makes me wonder about where they think money comes from. I am a firm believer in the concept that one cannot spend what is not there, and though it would be nice if someone can wave a magic little wand and solve it all, the only way things will turn around if folks start thinking logically. Something has got to go. If the spending is higher than the income something is seriously wrong and yer doin’ somethin’ wrong. If ya get my meaning. Personally I would do something incredibly drastic if “my country” was in such debt. I’d probably do a press conference, show the proverbial empty coffer and say: “Folks, we’re broke. Either we continue borrowing until no one will borrow us anything anymore and we’ll leave our offspring as proverbial slaves to our debtors, or we stop all government expenditures for a solid six months. That means, no streetlights at night, no more road repairs unless people start falling into bottomless pits, no more new parks, no social security unless you’re dropping dead, and no more aid than a soup kitchen in the poor areas. No new art supplies, fancy government buildings, uniforms and gawd knows what else. Except for the bare essentials, from six months up to a year, nothing, nada, zilch.”
I know, very unrealistic, but seriously, what are the other options. I know that if my funds were in such a bad way (and believe me they were some odd five years ago) I would start some drastic cutbacks. I don’t think folks realize how little you really need to be happy anyway if stuff gets bad. I think that some of ‘m would even be pleasantly surprised about themselves afterward. I know I was.

But anyway, enough about that sort of thing. I guess it all started playing in my head while I was doing research about riots in the eighties (for my book) and read about the big riots in Argentina. It was basically the same and things got really ugly before it got better. I do know, if Spain is going in that direction, I won’t be leaving the property for a solid month as I wait the mess out. Jeez. Nothing is quite as dangerous as an angry mob. Makes ya remember that we’re not that evolved after all.

Right. There I go again. Most of yesterday afternoon (and today for that matter) was spent sitting comfortably in the shade as I wrote, wrote, and wrote some more on the new book. Got the thing up to 14 pages now and I gotta admit that I’m starting to get “into” it, if you get my meaning. Hah. Seriously, I’m smiling again during the day, and that wasn’t the case while we were hacking our way through the details of the thriller. Guess I really am too much of a romance girl to invest myself into something that would be little more than a challenge in regards to writing it. This (paranormal romance) I can get excited about. I can reach down into the bottom of my soul and do horrible things to my character that will make a reader want to weep with sorrow and wonder, “Oh. My. Gawd. How will this ever be okay again?” (I’m totally going for tear jerker this time. Hah) Don’t worry. It will be. It is romance after all. Yay!

So what else beside writing and doing Spanish. Well, there was the yard, of course. Harvesting, watering, weeding. Doing that late in the afternoons now, by the way. What with four to five hours of writing during the day, those few precious hours in the yard are during the most pleasant moments of the day, when the sun is low, the light golden and the temperatures going down. I love it.

That done, there was of course dog food to cut, and cook (today cousin Ed did the honors because big brother and I had to go out for a small donation of market items) and basically doing all those little things that we’re not getting done in time due to the writing. *sigh* Always sacrifices to be made, right?

There was cooking to be done, naturally. Yesterday part leftovers with fresh white cabbage, baked on the side, and today zucchini veggie mix on the side of baked potatoes. It was wonderful, I assure you.

I am not happy with Labhana at the moment, by the way. She is losing her hair, and her melancholy appears to be worse than usual. If she doesn’t do a turnabout, I’m going to have to take her to the vet. I am starting to recognize the symptoms of the Sandfly, and that would be a genuine biatch. Gawd, I hope that she will somehow figure out to not let her immune system try to handle it. Ah well, we’ll have to wait and see, if it gets worse, I’ll got to the vet for the test, but in the mean time I think I’m going to try the same potion as I used for Gada.

Yesterday evening we did manage a nice jog, Yay! Went a lot better than the last time. Seriously, at a certain point I was jogging, and decided, hey, I’ve got enough breath, I’m going to go a bit faster, and then again, a bit faster, and then I was running flat out feeling for just a moment as if I was actually athletic. Hah. But anyway, the jog went well, and I was pleasantly bushed by the time we got home and settled behind the computers for another short session.

And, well, that winds up the day for me, I am going to try to go to bed in time today, because, seriously, I am definitely not getting enough sleep of late. *sigh*
I’m outta here.