Song of the day: …I actually can’t remember. It doesn’t happen often, but there you have it. Today my brain was empty. Yesterday, on the other hand, I had “Torn” from Natalie Imbruglia in my head, and I blame it all on one of my social sites where they showed this mime artist, miming the song. Funny as heck, and afterward the song got stuck the way it used to.
It’s been a friggin’ long day, and I am not in the best of moods, considering I am feeling a little stretched thin. Sally’s back home, regretfully sooner than we’d expected, since the cabin is not completely done yet.
With today already being somewhat of a problem, it didn’t help that yesterday Djoti, little sister’s cocker had to be put down. His life had been stretched out for a couple of years already. There had been cancer, cataract that left him blind and with only one eye still in place, his spleen worked badly, his liver too, and then this morning his kidneys began to fail him as well. Meaning that little sister had to face the dreaded decision, and we are minus another dog. Not a good day.
And since I’ve no already mentioned yesterday, let’s handle that first. Woke relatively on time for a change. Was late by the time I finished the morning rituals, so I had to hurry through the morning laundry, and then my little swim. Afterward it was time for dog food, and feeding them. Not so much special stuff in it today, just veggies and some light cheeses from the last donation. While I was still doing breakfast, cousin Ed had to head for the hospital to visit with Sally.
Once breakfast was done, I got started with the floor, and finished it in the following three hours. Cousin Ed came home in time to help me nail the floor in place.
Tenant has been making herself useful painting boards for the cabin, and Sally, who simply had to do something after almost three weeks of inactivity. She too started on the painting, but she helped with the outside, which is turning nicely mahogany by now.
The end of the afternoon was spent sawing, measuring and varnishing the plinths. Had wanted to fit them in at the end of the day, but since there was cooking to do, and watering of the plants, we really didn’t get around to that part.
We got four sick people in the house. Basically all the sibs, which is interesting, what with everything that needs to be done. (Which explains my “stretched thin” feeling, doesn’t it?) Gawd, need to sleep fast, because this day has been way too long.
Today, when we headed for hospital, we were met by a worried Sally who told us that the new doctor had said that she could go home and that she would be discharged ASAP. It all went a little rude, really, considering nothing was explained to her, nor had he told her what the results were. And when we asked, the doc got all huffy, and started to explain all the stuff from the beginning, the problems and everything (like we didn’t know that already) without telling us the test results. Seriously, the guy ticked me off. We’ll just have to talk with the oncologist with whom Sally has an appointment at the end of September. I don’t get hospitals. Someone is seriously sick, and they’re going to postpone treatment for another two weeks.
Anyway, first priority was food. Sally hadn’t had breakfast, so she ate some sandwiches, had an ice cream and ate along with our supper of salad and French fries, because she had been hoping on the latter for weeks. I can imagine, what with hospital food being “good” but incredibly bland.
Finished the plinths today, they’re in and they’re looking good. The tar roof is on, which is what grandpa did the most of the afternoon. I just played the hand-up person, holding stuff, getting stuff, while in the meantime transferring some fortifying woodwork from the inside to the outside.
That done, while big brother gave up trying to fight his feverish exhaustion and went to bed while cousin Ed and I headed down into the yard. While she finished up with the watering, I made our salad for supper, and then headed back up to cut dog food.
After food for ourselves, while cousin Ed helped Sally and I headed up to give tenant a hand, the day came to an end without a single moment of writing in it. Grrr.
Luckily there will be a new day tomorrow. I’m heading to bed.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
More Cabin Stuff
Song of the day: “Unwritten” by Natasha Beddingfield. It’s been a while since I had that one, isn’t it? Hmmm. Still a good song.
Right. Where did I leave off the other day? The new cabin, right? Well, we’re still working on that, meaning that yesterday cousin Ed and I spend the majority of the day on ladders hammering in the boards that make up the roof. Seriously, we put up more than forty of them, spent more than four hours balancing on rungs and window sills until finally the whole thing was done, making the cabin officially a room. Yay. Of course I could barely walk afterward, but what the heck. As it turns out, standing on a ladder that long while you have Plantars, is not a smart idea. Was mighty uncomfortable for the remainder of the day, in particular since we had to go to hospital later in the afternoon and then do quite a bit of walking.
In case you’re wondering, the hospital of this area is located on a spot that has been under construction for the past five years or so. This means that parking there is a friggin’ mess, and even though I managed to find a spot close the hospital there was still some odd mile to walk to the entrance, up the stairs toward the main reception hall and then the elevators. Now normally I take the stairs, but my friggin’ feet were killing me, so I opted for the elevator instead.
Gawd, ya don’t wanna know what my foot felt like this morning. I’m betting I’m having a massive inflammation in there again. Aaargh.
This morning, when we went for another visit, in hopes of getting to know Sally’s test results (there was a possibility that they’d come in today). We didn’t, seeing as they hadn’t come in, so instead we just visited for a bit and then headed home again. But I’m getting ahead of myself…or rather not. Let’s keep this remotely interesting and let’s must mix up the last couple of days into one big day. Hah.
I was in a traffic jam, thank you very much. On the way to hospital, there’s a big market on Wednesday, so everything got stuck over there. Took about half an hour to cross a single mile, which was when the coppers got involved and got traffic moving again. I never believed I’d say this but, Yay! For the coppers. Hah
Visitor got robbed at a local shop. One moment she had her wallet and passport in her backpack and the next it was all gone. That sure put a damper on her vacation. She and mom spent the better part of the past couple of mornings at the police station filling in forms and such.
Another near disaster was big brother who (very smartly) left his wallet lying on the hood of the car. We’d been driving for some odd seven miles or so, when suddenly he sees something flutter passed the passenger window. There’s this moment of “hood, black, square, slap…Shit. Wallet” While he jogged back up the mountain in search for the darn thing, I backed up the Land Rover and followed him. Hah.
It’s a miracle the darn thing didn’t fall off sooner!
Had an exhausting trip to a variety of stores in search of computer bargains. Big brother’s computer now really gave the spirit, meaning he will have to settle for a Windows computer, rather than a Mac. No way can we afford a Mac at this time. He’s having some trouble saying goodbye to his favorite computer, but is trying to look at the whole thing as making due so we can practice our chosen careers.
Poor fella. I had the same trouble when I had to downgrade from a normal laptop to a Netbook with ten hours of battery life. Now at least I can work for five hours on end without needing power. It was a trade off.
Writing. It’s been going slowly with all that’s been going on. Writing and meals have been suffering most under the time limits that are at present my banes (does that make sense? Hmmm. I’m not sure), which isn’t smart at all. I can’t afford skipping nutritious meals, nor should I slack on the writing.
Sitabah only coughed once, for as far as I heard, in the past few days, so I think that the anti-inflammatory she got did the trick. Will keep a close eye on her, but I do hope that it will pass without the aid of the offered antibiotics. I really don’t want to use that stuff if I don’t have to.
Chaos, at the moment, is most displeased with our visitor. Whenever he sees her he’ll pale and start balking at her from a fifteen-foot distance, acting like some scaredy cat baby who doesn’t like strangers, for crying out loud. The only relief is that he would never really bit someone, which is more than I can say of Sitabah and Tadaika. I’m keeping a close eye on the two of them.
Most of the afternoon was spent inside the cabin. Cousin Ed and I (after coming back from the hospital) decided to just go for it and managed to put in about half of the parquet. It will be faux wood, of course, with six lines of anthracite and four mahoganies. I would have preferred going for solely anthracite, but regretfully I didn’t have enough of those and have a budget to work with. It looks nice, though. Fancy, and warm because of the mahogany. Managed to finish half the floor today, meaning we’re back to that tomorrow. Yay.
What did involve cooking was a big batch of zucchini soup, which tenant absolutely loved. This was partly due to the fact that I didn’t have time to do much fiddling with it. Basically it was pure zucchini and onion with some broth blocks in it. Which explained why she liked it a lot, while I liked very little of it.
There was of course laundry to hand and fold, and dog food to make, feed and cut, but that is really boring to write about, so I’ll save you from that. Hah.
As for the rest…well, there’s bits and pieces, but I think I’ve managed to hit the highlights again, at least. Being busy doesn’t make up for excitement, does it? Hah. Ah well, better luck next time.
Right. Where did I leave off the other day? The new cabin, right? Well, we’re still working on that, meaning that yesterday cousin Ed and I spend the majority of the day on ladders hammering in the boards that make up the roof. Seriously, we put up more than forty of them, spent more than four hours balancing on rungs and window sills until finally the whole thing was done, making the cabin officially a room. Yay. Of course I could barely walk afterward, but what the heck. As it turns out, standing on a ladder that long while you have Plantars, is not a smart idea. Was mighty uncomfortable for the remainder of the day, in particular since we had to go to hospital later in the afternoon and then do quite a bit of walking.
In case you’re wondering, the hospital of this area is located on a spot that has been under construction for the past five years or so. This means that parking there is a friggin’ mess, and even though I managed to find a spot close the hospital there was still some odd mile to walk to the entrance, up the stairs toward the main reception hall and then the elevators. Now normally I take the stairs, but my friggin’ feet were killing me, so I opted for the elevator instead.
Gawd, ya don’t wanna know what my foot felt like this morning. I’m betting I’m having a massive inflammation in there again. Aaargh.
This morning, when we went for another visit, in hopes of getting to know Sally’s test results (there was a possibility that they’d come in today). We didn’t, seeing as they hadn’t come in, so instead we just visited for a bit and then headed home again. But I’m getting ahead of myself…or rather not. Let’s keep this remotely interesting and let’s must mix up the last couple of days into one big day. Hah.
I was in a traffic jam, thank you very much. On the way to hospital, there’s a big market on Wednesday, so everything got stuck over there. Took about half an hour to cross a single mile, which was when the coppers got involved and got traffic moving again. I never believed I’d say this but, Yay! For the coppers. Hah
Visitor got robbed at a local shop. One moment she had her wallet and passport in her backpack and the next it was all gone. That sure put a damper on her vacation. She and mom spent the better part of the past couple of mornings at the police station filling in forms and such.
Another near disaster was big brother who (very smartly) left his wallet lying on the hood of the car. We’d been driving for some odd seven miles or so, when suddenly he sees something flutter passed the passenger window. There’s this moment of “hood, black, square, slap…Shit. Wallet” While he jogged back up the mountain in search for the darn thing, I backed up the Land Rover and followed him. Hah.
It’s a miracle the darn thing didn’t fall off sooner!
Had an exhausting trip to a variety of stores in search of computer bargains. Big brother’s computer now really gave the spirit, meaning he will have to settle for a Windows computer, rather than a Mac. No way can we afford a Mac at this time. He’s having some trouble saying goodbye to his favorite computer, but is trying to look at the whole thing as making due so we can practice our chosen careers.
Poor fella. I had the same trouble when I had to downgrade from a normal laptop to a Netbook with ten hours of battery life. Now at least I can work for five hours on end without needing power. It was a trade off.
Writing. It’s been going slowly with all that’s been going on. Writing and meals have been suffering most under the time limits that are at present my banes (does that make sense? Hmmm. I’m not sure), which isn’t smart at all. I can’t afford skipping nutritious meals, nor should I slack on the writing.
Sitabah only coughed once, for as far as I heard, in the past few days, so I think that the anti-inflammatory she got did the trick. Will keep a close eye on her, but I do hope that it will pass without the aid of the offered antibiotics. I really don’t want to use that stuff if I don’t have to.
Chaos, at the moment, is most displeased with our visitor. Whenever he sees her he’ll pale and start balking at her from a fifteen-foot distance, acting like some scaredy cat baby who doesn’t like strangers, for crying out loud. The only relief is that he would never really bit someone, which is more than I can say of Sitabah and Tadaika. I’m keeping a close eye on the two of them.
Most of the afternoon was spent inside the cabin. Cousin Ed and I (after coming back from the hospital) decided to just go for it and managed to put in about half of the parquet. It will be faux wood, of course, with six lines of anthracite and four mahoganies. I would have preferred going for solely anthracite, but regretfully I didn’t have enough of those and have a budget to work with. It looks nice, though. Fancy, and warm because of the mahogany. Managed to finish half the floor today, meaning we’re back to that tomorrow. Yay.
What did involve cooking was a big batch of zucchini soup, which tenant absolutely loved. This was partly due to the fact that I didn’t have time to do much fiddling with it. Basically it was pure zucchini and onion with some broth blocks in it. Which explained why she liked it a lot, while I liked very little of it.
There was of course laundry to hand and fold, and dog food to make, feed and cut, but that is really boring to write about, so I’ll save you from that. Hah.
As for the rest…well, there’s bits and pieces, but I think I’ve managed to hit the highlights again, at least. Being busy doesn’t make up for excitement, does it? Hah. Ah well, better luck next time.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Carpentry 101
Song of the day: “Heartbeat” by Enrique Iglesias and Nicole Sherzinger (sp?). Okay, so it’s not the most intelligent song, but catchy enough to get stuck. Hah.
Once again I am incredibly late, almost midnight now, and will have to see if I can keep this one short again. I’ve got to admit that it was a novel experience to skip a day of blogging by deciding to not do one in the weekend. I actually managed to get a few pages of writing done…albeit only a few, considering what with everything going on during the days I’m totally running on fumes at the end of the day. But what the heck. Nothing new there, right? Such is life at the moment. I’ll just have to live with the motto of “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” for a bit, and have a bit of an Eastwood gruffness about it all. Hah.
This too shall pass, and when it does, I’m sleeping in, darn it.
The fire has been beaten down, and came as far as the edges of Marbella. When I went to the hospital I saw that they managed to stop it less than a mile from the nature reserve behind the city, which is a relief too. There are some pretty impressive forests over there, and for those to burn down…well, it’s scary to imagine in this drought.
The past couple of days were totally all about building the new cabin. There was the painting, first with anti-termite stuff, then (those that needed it) the light white layer that would keep the wood patterns visible, followed by a varnish. It didn’t go half bad either, seeing as it was a task that was shared by myself, grandpa, Cousin Ed and tenant. The latter seemed to be having fun doing it too, so that was a plus at least. This morning she also tried to help painting the inside walls, but seeing as she’d have to bend in her chair constantly, her back started hurting and she decided to go back to painting stuff on the table. Luckily that went much better.
I love working with wood, as you know, in particular when it is just simple stuff of sliding beams in place, slamming wood together and hammering in massive nails. Good stuff, that. I love the smell of pine any time of the day. Hah.
Following the first day of actual building where we got the walls up hallways, we managed to get them up to full height yesterday. It’s cute, I’ve got to admit. Almost like a gingerbread house, which will be even more the case after we paint the outside proper. The walls will be Mahogany, and the framework we’ll be painting a bright light blue so we get a nice contrast going.
The inside walls got painted a light white today, along with a varnish to all but one wall. Cousin Ed did the honors with the varnish on the inside, since Tenant and I had already done the ceiling planks and grandpa and I proceeded attach one sixth of them to the roof beams. Boy, are those planks bent. It’s going to be a challenge to get them all in, I assure you…but then, brute strength will get you many places, Hah.
I visited Sally at the hospital yesterday (cousin Ed the day before that, along with Dani) and her mood had much improved. She’s sleeping better now, and the lesions in her brain are being battled successfully by the steroids she’s getting. She’s actually looking forward to coming home now, and that’s a big change. The first week she was more of a mind to want to disappear from the face of the earth. It’s a relief, I tell ya. In particular since the last biopsy was terribly painful for her (and had her in a two day funk) and for a while she looked like she was going to crash. Good news today was that the biopsy was successful. They removed a bit of the tumor and soon they’ll know the results. Now here’s to hoping that it will be a relatively harmless tumor, because if it isn’t and the doc gives bad news, I fear she’s going to crash a bit again. Ah well, no sense in worrying about that now. She was in a good mood yesterday (and me and grandpa visiting added to it, since she’d really enjoyed the visit of two lady friends of hers the day before, too) and that what matters.
On the 30th of September the temps changed drastically. I kid you not, but for the past few days the evenings have been downright nippy. The days too, for that matter. For the past couple of days I’m back to wearing long-legged pants to keep myself from having goose bumps. That goes along with sneakers during the day and a sweater in the evening, because at night it is not just nippy but cold. Brrr. We’ve had temps in the low eighties, and high seventies, for crying out loud.
But anyway, yesterday afternoon, after finishing putting up the walls, big brother and I put in the wooden floor that will soon support the parquet I plan on laying. It’s not pretty right now (cheap wood that is basically untreated) but it’s closed and sturdy, that’s what matters at a point where everything still needs to be painted. The windows (the ones I saved from mine during the last remodel) fit perfectly, and they give the little cabin a very fairy tale like appearance.
Visitor appears to enjoy herself this vacation. Just chilling, and going out with mom. They’re old buds, and admittedly I’ve known her my entire life. She hasn’t changed in the seven years that past since I last saw her.
The normal stuff got done as well, of course. Laundry. Watering the plants (less now, due to the change in weather. Drying out is less of a problem) and harvesting the last bits. I’ve got to admit that I’m looking forward to when the time starts that we have to start sowing for winter veggies. It will be soon now.
Day before yesterday supper was a veggie with spaghetti mix (added nopales and purslane), followed by yesterday evening’s Fondue made on a base of champagne and cheese, with just a tad too much garlic.
There were dogs to feed, food to chop and then dogs to be controlled while they ate. There are still some ticks, but by far not as many as a month ago. I think that the dogs are actually sorry for it, because it means less attention, however annoying the ticks are.
Took Sitabah to the vet on Saturday morning, as planned, and she had an X-ray that showed she only had a slight inflammation of her bronchia veins which could be battled with anti-inflammatory injections rather than an antibiotic. *phew* I was vastly relieved that that was all.
As for the rest? Well, big brother’s computer broke down again, and he is now seriously pondering getting a new one. Not an expensive one, but just one on which he can work at least, which is the smart thing to do…especially for a Mac lover. Hah.
Well, that’s it for today. I’m outta here. Seeya on Wednesday.
Once again I am incredibly late, almost midnight now, and will have to see if I can keep this one short again. I’ve got to admit that it was a novel experience to skip a day of blogging by deciding to not do one in the weekend. I actually managed to get a few pages of writing done…albeit only a few, considering what with everything going on during the days I’m totally running on fumes at the end of the day. But what the heck. Nothing new there, right? Such is life at the moment. I’ll just have to live with the motto of “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” for a bit, and have a bit of an Eastwood gruffness about it all. Hah.
This too shall pass, and when it does, I’m sleeping in, darn it.
The fire has been beaten down, and came as far as the edges of Marbella. When I went to the hospital I saw that they managed to stop it less than a mile from the nature reserve behind the city, which is a relief too. There are some pretty impressive forests over there, and for those to burn down…well, it’s scary to imagine in this drought.
The past couple of days were totally all about building the new cabin. There was the painting, first with anti-termite stuff, then (those that needed it) the light white layer that would keep the wood patterns visible, followed by a varnish. It didn’t go half bad either, seeing as it was a task that was shared by myself, grandpa, Cousin Ed and tenant. The latter seemed to be having fun doing it too, so that was a plus at least. This morning she also tried to help painting the inside walls, but seeing as she’d have to bend in her chair constantly, her back started hurting and she decided to go back to painting stuff on the table. Luckily that went much better.
I love working with wood, as you know, in particular when it is just simple stuff of sliding beams in place, slamming wood together and hammering in massive nails. Good stuff, that. I love the smell of pine any time of the day. Hah.
Following the first day of actual building where we got the walls up hallways, we managed to get them up to full height yesterday. It’s cute, I’ve got to admit. Almost like a gingerbread house, which will be even more the case after we paint the outside proper. The walls will be Mahogany, and the framework we’ll be painting a bright light blue so we get a nice contrast going.
The inside walls got painted a light white today, along with a varnish to all but one wall. Cousin Ed did the honors with the varnish on the inside, since Tenant and I had already done the ceiling planks and grandpa and I proceeded attach one sixth of them to the roof beams. Boy, are those planks bent. It’s going to be a challenge to get them all in, I assure you…but then, brute strength will get you many places, Hah.
I visited Sally at the hospital yesterday (cousin Ed the day before that, along with Dani) and her mood had much improved. She’s sleeping better now, and the lesions in her brain are being battled successfully by the steroids she’s getting. She’s actually looking forward to coming home now, and that’s a big change. The first week she was more of a mind to want to disappear from the face of the earth. It’s a relief, I tell ya. In particular since the last biopsy was terribly painful for her (and had her in a two day funk) and for a while she looked like she was going to crash. Good news today was that the biopsy was successful. They removed a bit of the tumor and soon they’ll know the results. Now here’s to hoping that it will be a relatively harmless tumor, because if it isn’t and the doc gives bad news, I fear she’s going to crash a bit again. Ah well, no sense in worrying about that now. She was in a good mood yesterday (and me and grandpa visiting added to it, since she’d really enjoyed the visit of two lady friends of hers the day before, too) and that what matters.
On the 30th of September the temps changed drastically. I kid you not, but for the past few days the evenings have been downright nippy. The days too, for that matter. For the past couple of days I’m back to wearing long-legged pants to keep myself from having goose bumps. That goes along with sneakers during the day and a sweater in the evening, because at night it is not just nippy but cold. Brrr. We’ve had temps in the low eighties, and high seventies, for crying out loud.
But anyway, yesterday afternoon, after finishing putting up the walls, big brother and I put in the wooden floor that will soon support the parquet I plan on laying. It’s not pretty right now (cheap wood that is basically untreated) but it’s closed and sturdy, that’s what matters at a point where everything still needs to be painted. The windows (the ones I saved from mine during the last remodel) fit perfectly, and they give the little cabin a very fairy tale like appearance.
Visitor appears to enjoy herself this vacation. Just chilling, and going out with mom. They’re old buds, and admittedly I’ve known her my entire life. She hasn’t changed in the seven years that past since I last saw her.
The normal stuff got done as well, of course. Laundry. Watering the plants (less now, due to the change in weather. Drying out is less of a problem) and harvesting the last bits. I’ve got to admit that I’m looking forward to when the time starts that we have to start sowing for winter veggies. It will be soon now.
Day before yesterday supper was a veggie with spaghetti mix (added nopales and purslane), followed by yesterday evening’s Fondue made on a base of champagne and cheese, with just a tad too much garlic.
There were dogs to feed, food to chop and then dogs to be controlled while they ate. There are still some ticks, but by far not as many as a month ago. I think that the dogs are actually sorry for it, because it means less attention, however annoying the ticks are.
Took Sitabah to the vet on Saturday morning, as planned, and she had an X-ray that showed she only had a slight inflammation of her bronchia veins which could be battled with anti-inflammatory injections rather than an antibiotic. *phew* I was vastly relieved that that was all.
As for the rest? Well, big brother’s computer broke down again, and he is now seriously pondering getting a new one. Not an expensive one, but just one on which he can work at least, which is the smart thing to do…especially for a Mac lover. Hah.
Well, that’s it for today. I’m outta here. Seeya on Wednesday.
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