It's in the details

Song of the day: “Where have you been” by Rihanna. Very catchy, even though it is not her best by far. Good beat, though.

First off, visitor went back home, which followed a rather sleepless night for yours truly since I was stupid enough not to plug in my anti-mosquito plug, darn it. Seriously, I woke at least ten times during the night, scratching every bit of exposed skin. It didn’t help either that the night was extremely warm compared to the nippy nights we’ve been having lately.

On the evening before her departure, visitor came up to where big brother and I were already set up for the evening to start writing…not a lot of that again, seeing as by the time I finally sit down in the evening I can barely keep my eyes open, hah. But it’s sluggishly going forward and some movement is always better than none, right. But anyway, I digress, visitor came up and we chatted for a bit, saying our goodbyes. Let’s hope that the next visit won’t be in seven years, like the last. Time really goes way too fast. Seriously, it has been already more than two weeks since her arrival and the big fire. How weird is that?

A bit of sad news is that our eclectus parrot killed our small blue love bird. And that poor little darling had just barely survived the death of its mate some odd two years ago by constantly teasing yellow bird, and then the parrot, only to have it end with its throat cut by our big red and blue. I had no idea that parrots could be that predatory. *shivers*

There were the normal stuffsies like laundry, dog food and cooking (did a wonderful pumpkin paste on one of my patties yesterday, and a ratatouille today) and of course heading down into the yard. Admittedly I did very little in the yard, since the cooking had to be done, but what the hey, it’s the thought that counts.

As to the cabin for Sally.
While Cousin Ed hauled furniture and such up the mountain so we could start preparing the room, I worked on getting the power set up. Several power plugs (one more to go, this one a little more heavy for when she needs a heater this winter) lights and everything she might need to get through her first night in her new place. She was properly pleased with the cabin, loving the light colors and cuteness of it all. The thing she hated most about the old pool apartment was the darkness of it. Since it is partly submerged under the ground, that’s not surprising. But anyway, she spent the first night there, and claimed to have loved it when I saw her this morning. Details are so time consuming.

Today was all about working on the cabin again, of course. I set up a whole bunch of shelves in the bathroom. First off a closet in the corner, and then two heavy shelves over what will soon be her sink. Will have to work on that a bit soon, too. Ideas are already going through my head and maybe I’ll get to that tomorrow. Big brother and grandpa worked on the roof today. Though the basic roof that was supplied with it was already on, they put padding on top and attached one third of the plating we got second hand. She’ll need it in winter and summer for sure. The cold is just as bad as the heat in that regard.

Hung the window of the bathroom too, so she’d have some privacy, as well as a curtain for her bathroom, because a door would be so closed off, and because a curtain is cozier without taking up much place.

There was painting to be done, again, and planning for the porch overhang, along with planning the pagoda on top of Cousin Ed’s bus instead of the old covering that doesn’t let through any light. She finds it a bit daunting to do it on her own, but that’s the way to learn it. Doing it wrong is part of learning it, and it tells you a lot about what is the right thing in carpentry. Practice makes perfect, and all that jazz.

The car. I got an update yesterday. It’s like we expected, the transmission box, and all oil (2 L.) leaked out for some peculiar reason, since after they filled it up again, they couldn’t find a leak anywhere. So, rather than risk it happening again, they’re going to put new gaskets in. *sigh* It’ll be an expensive “little thing” to do, but also not something to skip since otherwise we might wreck the car.

Well, that’s it for today. In all likelihood I’ll be posting a picture update on Monday, and otherwise it’ll be on Wednesday. We’ll see, won’t we. I’m out.

Transmission box. Grrr

Song of the day: “Men in this town” by Shakira, of course. Still an awesome song, thank you very much, and it always reminds me of writing “A Taste of Life”. *sigh* I miss ATOL not to mention Addie and Rash. I’m going to try sending it to a few more editors and then, if that doesn’t work, maybe Kindle it on Amazon, just to see if vampires are still in fashion. Hah.

First for yesterday, Cousin Ed took Sally to her first hospital appointment with the oncologist. It was a five minute interview, with very little information, which is starting to get vastly annoying. Are they ever going to explain everything to the poor woman, or are they just going to radiate and chemo her without discussing all her options? Strange dealings, I tell ya. Sally is taking it all in stride, so I’ve no right to be frustrated about it all, but darn it, that is just wrong. From what they’re describing of the treatment it’s going to be a very tough time.
She was exhausted afterward, in particular since the exact same thing happened with her as it did with me when I had to take the AIDS patient there. The appointment had been made by phone and then when they got there, everyone was insisting on a paper she didn’t have. Grrr. Insane, I tell ya.

While the ladies were out, I helped tenant get ready to go out with mom, because she wanted to a see a doctor who spoke her own language, and wanted to ask about her swallowing problems and excessive liquid in her throat. Turns out that the stuff we looked up online is true, but she needed a doctor to tell her. Afterward she and mom came home to pick up visitor so they could go visit a friend who also takes care of dogs.

The remainder of the day I worked on putting the bathroom window into the cabin, while big brother installed the toilet. There is still lotsa painting going on, along with the final touches to the bed that went into the room today and looks grand. Sally sure is happy about it, in particular because everything is so wonderfully light, and because she’ll be able to see the mountains from up there, rather than oleander bushes. With a little luck she’ll be moving in tomorrow.

Worked on the electricity, and got two sets of three plugs installed, along with a shelving unit above her bed. Tomorrow I should be able to hang some lamps too, because without proper light she’s too scared to move in, but since a good new beginning is essential at this point, I think it is important that she gets up there fast.

While Big brother made spaghetti and cheese yesterday’s supper, Sally and I prepared today’s supper which consisted of a nice veggie lentil mix, with a hard vegetable salad on the side. After reading up on some diets for cancer patients, we’re considering doing more salads because raw veggies and nuts are apparently good.

Tenant is very tired lately, having been kept busy with some trips along with mom and visitor, who took several trips into the city. The bad thing is that it has Tenant doze a lot during the day, meaning she isn’t participating a lot.

Still a bit sick, despite two naps in the past couple of days. Didn’t manage one today, seeing as there’s a new problem…yep. Big brother and I were about to head to pick up a donation when the car started making a strange screeching sound. First we checked if it was the high gear being “out of place” somehow, but the sound persisted, meaning we had to head back home to check it out. Once I crawled underneath, the mystery was solved. There was greasy moisture all over the transmission box, so the plan was for me to call the garage in the morning (it was after six already) and ask if we should bring the car in, or have the tow truck bring it in. Gawd, I wonder was all the disasters are all about?

Visitor is leaving tomorrow morning, by the way. Boy did the past two weeks pass fast. I would have sworn that only one week went by since she arrived, but the calendar doesn’t lie, does it?

Oh yeah, before I forget, Chaos has a new collar (one that says Bull in big dark letters, hah) and he’s acting all macho because of it. You’d think he realizes that the color of the thing matches his fur, or something, because he is literally posing most times I glance in his direction.

Writing is going slow but steady (both yesterday and today) with a bare minimum of two pages a day. Am at the moment working on the “end” scene, where there will be a big showdown with the bad guy. Images are slowly starting to take shape in my head, which I’ll soon need to put into words, I guess. Time’s going too fast, though. Too much to do. Going to have to take a moment to prioritize soon. Hah.

But anyway, called the garage this morning and the mechanic told me not to risk the trip and call for a tow truck. Did exactly that, and by the time I caught up with it at the garage the mechanics confirmed that it was the transmission box and that it might cost us a mint or two to have the thing repaired. Something to do with the friggin’ Ford garage back in the beginning. The one who screwed us over big time by not doing that well.

It is going to take several days to do the fixing took, so, keep yer fingers crossed that it all turns out to be less expensive than I fear. While we were out, there were some groceries to do, along with a trip to the DIY store where we needed to get supplies for the cabin. Still more painting today, but the bed is inside and looks splendid.

Well, that about sums stuff up, except for the usual daily chores that of course always need to be done. Laundry, the yard, etc. Were a little late this morning with the dog food, though, seeing we had to arrange the tow truck and everything, and then the phone calls came in about Sally’s future appointments. Her radiation will start next week, and in the midst of that, the chemo is going to commence too. It’ll be a doozy.

My dogs were not happy with me, what with being away so much, but that’s nothing new these days, is it. Life gets so busy sometimes.

Saw the disturbing images of the US Ambassador that got killed in Libya, today, and I gotta admit that such things freak me out a little. Who in his right mind starts hauling about a dead body like it is some kind of trophy. You’d have thought that humanity moved past that in the past fifty to a hundred years, but apparently that isn’t the case. Scary how close that sort of thing is, really.

But okay, let’s not get started about that sort of thing. There’s enough scary stuff in this world, and you don’t me to put them on here. This little blog is supposed to be my little world, after all. Hah.

Sick as a dog

Song of the day: “Under the sun” by Cheryl Cole. As long as I don’t see the clip, the song is a cute one. Hah.

Well, there’s bad news, so let’s get to that before we get down to business. Practically everyone here is sick. Yep. Isn’t it grand? Little brother and sister got some sort of bug, and it spread through the entire family like a wildfire. Seriously, this is a nasty little bug. Big brother wasn’t worth a damn for the past couple of days, seeing as he had a bad fever, and is coughing somewhat fierce.

I tried, I really did, keeping away from the bug, keeping out of the house, staying in the open air, but I seem to have caught a wee bit of it regardless. Probably this is partly due to the fact that I spent about an hour in the car with Visitor who (regardless of having caught the bug too) really wanted to see mom and the sibs at the market. So I drove her there, and wandered around for a couple of hours. Actually got myself some books, yay! But I’m drifting. I was already a little woozy in the morning, and had a doozy of a headache, and though I could go past it during the course of the day, it was there in the sting at the back of my throat, and my swollen tonsils.

Took lots of tinctures from my own herbs, made some good mixes, because despite some feverishness, I managed to get through the today without too much trouble (and one nap) without it affecting work.

So let’s do a cabin update. The floor was varnished today. I didn’t have time for it, so grandpa did the honors. The floor in the bathroom is all set, and big brother, who was feeling better today, managed to get most of the toilet installed. If all goes well that part should be done tomorrow. The roof of the bathroom is in now as well, which was something grandpa and I did today. Though I didn’t mind working with the circle saw with my feverish head, I drew the line at the sawing table, so grandpa ended up doing that too, poor fella. What I did manage to do without too much trouble was put together the window frame for the bathroom, and yesterday afternoon, together with Cousin Ed, putting together the bed I designed for Sally’s cabin. It’s a beauty (I’m taking pics for an update soon), in particular since Cousin Ed painted it a soft peach today. Sally is really looking forward to moving in. She told me this morning that she barely slept a wink during the night because she was so excited about her cabin. That’s always nice to hear.

There were two cooking sessions. Pizza yesterday, which Sally helped prepare while Cousin Ed and Big Brother watered the yard, and Pasta with fresh tomato sauce today, for which tenant cut the tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers. Both meals went down rather well at the end of a long day.

Sally is working hard trying to make herself useful. We’re keeping a close eye on her, not wanting her to overdo things and nap whenever she’s tired on this comfortable foldout couch that we put outside so she can sleep out in the fresh air. She’s loving that after almost three weeks of imprisonment at the hospital. Tomorrow Cousin Ed is taking her to the hospital in Malaga for her first radiology treatment. Sally’s taking it well enough, and is handling the entire affair with loads of her old aplomb.

Tenant’s rather tired these days, practicing her walking, and doing more of her own dressing and such. Sometimes I worry a bit about her, but it is always her choice, of course. She will have to find her own boundaries, and the only way to find those, she’ll have to push them a little.

After a quick dip in the pool this afternoon (despite the temps dropping, working out there in the old paddock in full sunshine makes you sweaty and dusty…and the feverishness is not helping any) we drained it. What with everyone being ill, Big brother forgot to throw in chloride so the entire thing was green. Ended up deciding to fill part of the basin with it, and go for new water, rather than waste half a bucket of chloride. While I went to my cabin for a much needed nap, (my doggies sure loved that!) big brother went down into the yard to water the yard. Once he finished that, he woke me up because he had to go out to pick up a donation, while I was left to head for the pool and clean it for reuse. We’re really going to have to do some repairs before spring. There’re cracks and some missing tiles that will cause considerable leakage.

Beside all the building stuff, there are the normal chores, of course. Laundry, as usual, dog food to prepare and feed, and the cleaning that I am just not getting to, darn it. Seriously, where are those extra hours in a day I keep asking for. *sigh*

Last bit is the writing, naturally. At the moment (in particular being feverish and all) I’m lucky to get two pages a day, and the fact that I also need to do my blog again today, doesn’t help that much either, hah. No matter, though, there is some progress and that’s all that matters right now.

Well, that’s it for me today. I need to get horizontal and do something about this whacky immune system of mine. *sigh*