Song of the day: “Que Sera Sera” by Doris Day, of course.
Today was a busy one. Woke up just after eight and quickly went through the morning rituals of laundry and feeding the dogs. Loading up took a while, but still, not as long as the previous few times. We left a little early for a change, meaning that we arrived forty minutes early. Yay.
Was still sore, thank you very much, but not as bad as the day before. I can now bend over without moaning, again. Hah. First thing we did after arriving was remove the mold. The floor worked out splendidly, thank you very much…I will show you pictures soon, but not tonight. Haven’t taken them off the phone yet, so you’ll just have to be patient.
For the remainder of the day, most of our activities involved clean-up. Yep. There was plenty of that to do. Scrubbed the walls. Scrubbed the beams. And by the time half of that was done, with big brother continuing on, I painted the walls and then the beams while big brother worked on the concrete slab to shave of any ridges and fill the tiny air holes that inevitably happen.
Then there was the hauling, taking everything back down to the trailer, putting the concrete mixer in place and planning the next stage of the project where we’re going to put in tiles underneath the terrace so Liane can use the spot for relaxation in the near future. It’ll be another two to three days for sure, I hope. Longer would be a total pain in the behind, since at the moment we haven’t even been able to get started on my outside kitchen, the way we had planned.
Hauled some rocks, and then worked on the fence to put the corner poles up straight, the way we had wanted to do the last time, but didn’t manage. Took some figuring, along with the car that we had to use to pull everything straight again, but in the end we managed it. Put some screws in to keep it all in place, and then, when darkness had already fallen, we started on our way home.
Did some writing, not much, but since I did at least four pages yesterday, my one today was not disastrous. Would have tried for more, but the blog always takes a lot of time, and I just couldn’t postpone that any longer.
And now I totally forgot to tell about yesterday, eh? *sigh*
Did load up what we could, spent the morning (after the usual rituals) doing some fixing on the Land Rover. Put a temporary handle on the passenger door (still can’t find that one from wherever we stored it), replaced some screws in the back door, and sprayed clean the feet section of the back seat because a pack of fruit juice emptied all over it.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent working on my Chinese boxes, of which I’ve almost finished the first lid. It is actually starting to look pretty awesome. I’ll have to take some before and after shots, eh?
Time passed way too fast, and before you know it, it was time to start cutting the dog food so we could put it on broil prior to heading out for a donation. Not a lot of useful stuff, except for these rather wonderful terrace doors. Won’t be able to sell them, of course, but we’ll find some use for them, I’m sure.
Knight II got the okay from the doc yesterday, so I left the bandage off for a bit (hoping for some drying). Then I got to town where he started trying to lick the former damage. To play it safe I put his sock on without the tape I usually use to keep it in place. By the time I got home he’d pushed the sock out of place, tightening the rope that held it precariously in place until blood ooze, of course, friggin’ idiot. Had to tape him up again, of course. *sigh*
As for the other dogs, they were grumpy again when we got home tonight (around eight this time) but I’m starting to get used to that, at least.
Well, that’s it for me today. I’m absolutely ready to call it a night.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Practically done!
Song of the day: “Coconut” by Harry Wilson. Awesome song. Makes me want to shake some booty, if you must know. Hah.
So let’s get this blog thing going. It’s rapidly getting late, and though today was a quiet day, all things considered, I’m close to calling it a day.
Yesterday: It was an early morning, really, seeing as there were plenty of preparations to be made before big brother, grandpa and I could depart for the balcony job. There were tools to load, cement bags to be hauled, wooden molds to be carried, and all those other little things that you need on a work day.
We left later than I had planned, but that mainly because binding stuff took more time than anticipated. One of which was the ladder we almost forgot until the last possible moment. Hah. No matter though, we arrived at eleven and immediately got started unloading everything we needed and setting up the molds. Regretfully they always took longer than anticipated and though I did a lot of preparations beforehand the actual concrete pouring wasn’t possible until 14:30.
First we tried it with me mixing cement and grandpa lifting the buckets up the ladder so big brother would be able to smoothen the floor. But that turned out to be impossible since the buckets were too heavy for grandpa to carry up. Since I am not a big fan of heights, and since that floor was well over 8 feet in the air, I couldn’t do much of the lifting because my limbs start to shake some when I stand on a high edge and I get out of breath, that was off too. So we ended up with grandpa mixing the cement and big brother hauling everything back and forth.
I’ll have you know that I conquered some of my height issues and did haul up an odd hundred or two up there, while I spent the majority of the afternoon on my heels and bending over smoothening the new floor surface. Gawd, that was a lot of bending over (have been suffering from severe muscle aches all day today) and of course we didn’t manage to finish the pouring at sunset. Worse, turns out we miscalculated the amount of sand we needed, meaning that Liane and I headed out at dusk to the nearest construction company and had to somehow manage to get a batch of sand to finish up our task. Luckily the place was nearby and still open, so we got a good load for ten bucks and headed back up the mountain so we could finish up.
Didn’t actually manage until nine in the evening. I did the whole floor minus the last two square feet that big brother did. Of course my foot decided to cramp up the moment I started down the ladder after many hours of squatting, which made for an interesting moment of teetering high in the air. Jeez. Stupid effin’ foot. Had to sit down for a bit afterward just to catch my breath. Scared the bejeezus out of me, I’ll tell ya.
As for the balcony...except for the finishing touching, it is practically done, so, yay! Right?
What followed was an hour of cleaning up and hauling stuff to the car. Grandpa, who’s usually in bed around nine in the evening, was pretty beat, so he retreated to the car after having done his fair share, leaving us to the last bits and pieces.
The ride home, feeling rather satisfied that we had managed it all in one day regardless of the hour, I drove home on a basically deserted road. That was rather nice, basically having the road to myself. It certainly shortened our traveling time by more than five minutes. Yay.
Once at home, and after eating the potatoes Cousin Ed had baked for us, we didn’t linger long (only some networking online, and some chats, of course) and managed to be in our respective beds before one in the morning.
Labhana was upset with me yesterday. She’s sit at a slight distance from me, looking at me balefully and turning her head away whenever I’d call her. Poor darling. She doesn’t like me being away most of the day. Chaos on the other hand broke through the door to come and greet me, which his did by jumping up against me, and almost making (shaky) me fall flat on my face. *sigh*
Having learned from the last thirteen hour work-day, I remembered to take a painkiller before going to bed, and slept a solid 6 hours without interruption and managed to catch a total of 7 and a half hours. I was remotely human this morning.
There was a big load of laundry waiting for me this morning, followed by feeding the dogs and then unloading the car from tools and rubbish. Since we were so late yesterday I missed my vet’s appointment with Knight and had to take him this morning instead. He is now only wearing a small piece of bandage and a sock, so let’s hope that he continues to heal so he’ll be without any trouble within the next few days. The vet was hopeful about it.
That done big brother and I headed for town so we could get some small items from the stores and make an appointment at the garage this Monday. The mechanic wasn’t there, but I did end up chatting a little with the receptionist who, as usual, was bored out of her mind sitting inside the office staring at the computer.
The appointment made we went home…with a slight detour because I talked big brother into taking a turnoff that I’d been curious about for months. Ended up back in town, and arrived home just a little late.
There I took some time covering up the sibs their market stuff with plastic because we’re going to need the trailer again on Friday when we go over there for the last time to pack up and clean up from the job. Cooked supper of cauliflower and chard, which took longer than expected because there was quite a bit of dirt clinging to the chard leaves.
Did manage to eat another piece of beef this afternoon (decided to do it for lunch with a fresh Satay) and though my stomach felt heavy most hours afterward, I didn’t get nauseous of it this time. Yay.
Worked a little on my second wood sculpture this afternoon too following the delicate shapes of the wood with relaxing pleasure.
As for anything else…nope, that’s about it...well, except for actually managing a bit of writing this evening. Not whole lot, mind you, but some at least.
So let’s get this blog thing going. It’s rapidly getting late, and though today was a quiet day, all things considered, I’m close to calling it a day.
Yesterday: It was an early morning, really, seeing as there were plenty of preparations to be made before big brother, grandpa and I could depart for the balcony job. There were tools to load, cement bags to be hauled, wooden molds to be carried, and all those other little things that you need on a work day.
We left later than I had planned, but that mainly because binding stuff took more time than anticipated. One of which was the ladder we almost forgot until the last possible moment. Hah. No matter though, we arrived at eleven and immediately got started unloading everything we needed and setting up the molds. Regretfully they always took longer than anticipated and though I did a lot of preparations beforehand the actual concrete pouring wasn’t possible until 14:30.
First we tried it with me mixing cement and grandpa lifting the buckets up the ladder so big brother would be able to smoothen the floor. But that turned out to be impossible since the buckets were too heavy for grandpa to carry up. Since I am not a big fan of heights, and since that floor was well over 8 feet in the air, I couldn’t do much of the lifting because my limbs start to shake some when I stand on a high edge and I get out of breath, that was off too. So we ended up with grandpa mixing the cement and big brother hauling everything back and forth.
I’ll have you know that I conquered some of my height issues and did haul up an odd hundred or two up there, while I spent the majority of the afternoon on my heels and bending over smoothening the new floor surface. Gawd, that was a lot of bending over (have been suffering from severe muscle aches all day today) and of course we didn’t manage to finish the pouring at sunset. Worse, turns out we miscalculated the amount of sand we needed, meaning that Liane and I headed out at dusk to the nearest construction company and had to somehow manage to get a batch of sand to finish up our task. Luckily the place was nearby and still open, so we got a good load for ten bucks and headed back up the mountain so we could finish up.
Didn’t actually manage until nine in the evening. I did the whole floor minus the last two square feet that big brother did. Of course my foot decided to cramp up the moment I started down the ladder after many hours of squatting, which made for an interesting moment of teetering high in the air. Jeez. Stupid effin’ foot. Had to sit down for a bit afterward just to catch my breath. Scared the bejeezus out of me, I’ll tell ya.
As for the balcony...except for the finishing touching, it is practically done, so, yay! Right?
What followed was an hour of cleaning up and hauling stuff to the car. Grandpa, who’s usually in bed around nine in the evening, was pretty beat, so he retreated to the car after having done his fair share, leaving us to the last bits and pieces.
The ride home, feeling rather satisfied that we had managed it all in one day regardless of the hour, I drove home on a basically deserted road. That was rather nice, basically having the road to myself. It certainly shortened our traveling time by more than five minutes. Yay.
Once at home, and after eating the potatoes Cousin Ed had baked for us, we didn’t linger long (only some networking online, and some chats, of course) and managed to be in our respective beds before one in the morning.
Labhana was upset with me yesterday. She’s sit at a slight distance from me, looking at me balefully and turning her head away whenever I’d call her. Poor darling. She doesn’t like me being away most of the day. Chaos on the other hand broke through the door to come and greet me, which his did by jumping up against me, and almost making (shaky) me fall flat on my face. *sigh*
Having learned from the last thirteen hour work-day, I remembered to take a painkiller before going to bed, and slept a solid 6 hours without interruption and managed to catch a total of 7 and a half hours. I was remotely human this morning.
There was a big load of laundry waiting for me this morning, followed by feeding the dogs and then unloading the car from tools and rubbish. Since we were so late yesterday I missed my vet’s appointment with Knight and had to take him this morning instead. He is now only wearing a small piece of bandage and a sock, so let’s hope that he continues to heal so he’ll be without any trouble within the next few days. The vet was hopeful about it.
That done big brother and I headed for town so we could get some small items from the stores and make an appointment at the garage this Monday. The mechanic wasn’t there, but I did end up chatting a little with the receptionist who, as usual, was bored out of her mind sitting inside the office staring at the computer.
The appointment made we went home…with a slight detour because I talked big brother into taking a turnoff that I’d been curious about for months. Ended up back in town, and arrived home just a little late.
There I took some time covering up the sibs their market stuff with plastic because we’re going to need the trailer again on Friday when we go over there for the last time to pack up and clean up from the job. Cooked supper of cauliflower and chard, which took longer than expected because there was quite a bit of dirt clinging to the chard leaves.
Did manage to eat another piece of beef this afternoon (decided to do it for lunch with a fresh Satay) and though my stomach felt heavy most hours afterward, I didn’t get nauseous of it this time. Yay.
Worked a little on my second wood sculpture this afternoon too following the delicate shapes of the wood with relaxing pleasure.
As for anything else…nope, that’s about it...well, except for actually managing a bit of writing this evening. Not whole lot, mind you, but some at least.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Something different.
Song of the day: "Under African Skies" by Paul Simon. Such a gorgeous song…reminding me of being a little girl.
So yeah, since the market in Marbella didn't go through yesterday (it was raining friggin' buckets…what am I saying, swimming pools, hah) I decided to the take the opportunity and do tenant and myself a favor. I took her to the big market where mom and the younger sibs work. I dropped her off at mom's and then took Knight II (yes, I took him along) through the market several times.
First round he was shaking like crazy, pressing himself against me every time someone wanted to pet or take a picture. *sigh* There were plenty of those. Seriously, three times that I remember, I was surrounded by a friggin' crowd of twenty or so who all wanted to pat the horsie. That sure is the last time I'm taking him along. Sure, I had loads of nice chats with complete strangers (dog lovers, of course) but finding what I'd come there for was rather tricky.
I'll have you know that I did end up mostly successful (like 70 percent). I found the requested underwear for Sally. Yay. I found a sanding machine for grandpa, and myself. Did some wonderful haggling with a nice, very short and old, Spanish guy. We were gathered around his selection of sanding machines, and he was trying to sell me one with some damage on the sanding paper surface, and I wanted another one that looked just a little less used. We talked about Knight, of course, who was definitely top of the conversation all through the afternoon. He too had some dogs, seven of them, in fact…which were, according to him, about the size of Knight's head. Hah.
But anyway, we did some haggling and I managed to shave off an odd three bucks before we shook on it. Gawd, that is such fun, in particular if the vendors are good sports about it, know the score.
Came across several small TVs, prices varying between fifteen and eight bucks. Almost did a deposit on one, but was happy I hadn't when I came across a friend who said I could have one of hers since she wasn't using it anyway. Good deal all round, since Sally would really like to be able to watch a movie or two in her cabin, every now and then. Saves on money and on risk, for as far as I'm concerned.
Talked with an Irish couple who had friends with a Great Dane they often "babysat" for. Very typical people. Very big, very round, dressed in all cottons (old hippies is my guess) and extremely nice. Knight got patted again, hugged and then we went on once more, now looking around at a roof rack for the Opel.
Came across a couple that cost a solid fifty bucks a pop, so that wasn't happened. Then I stumbled on a small stand in a corner somewhere, where there was a couple lying about that looked reasonably good. I was examining them closer, wondering if they were suited for an Opel Astra, and asked the price (€50) when I started to doubt once more. It is very hard to scramble back once you've already asked the price and had the things in your hands, so I was already shaking my head and saying "maybe some other day". The guy actually came out of his stand and asked me what I was willing to pay for it then. He was looking pretty desperate, and I was feeling pretty bad already for getting his hopes up, so I thought I'll ask a ridiculously low price so he'll send me off.
Let's just say I now have a car rack for twenty bucks. *sigh* I feel horrible, but once he went that low, I could hardly not take it. And we do need it, ya know. But anyway.
Funny how having a large dog with you provokes a variety of responses. There are those who startle and jump away, others who are drawn to it like he’s a magnet. Some stop, stare and point, while others look annoyed.
On the most part folks responded positively, and talked a mile a minute, which is fun. In particular kids who are just bursting with questions. How come he’s so big? Will he grow more? Can I pet him? How old is he? Does he bite? And so on and on.
Talked with a Belgian woman who suggested I use a chalk paste on Knight’s paw. Works like a charm, she claims.
Chatted with an elderly Spanish couple who loved the way Knight looked and showed me pictures of their Bordeaux Bulldog. Sort of like the electronic version of proud grandparents yanking out their wallet to show sleuth of grandchildren. Hah. But they were beautiful, those dogs. So massive.
There was the Dutch family who claimed they had two dogs and a Shetland pony that was smaller than Knight. An Italian woman who started telling me about her two lap dogs and her Pyrenean mountain dog, and how her friend in the mountains of Italy had a Great Dane that was 14 years old (gives a girl hope, that).
Had a long talk with two Irish guys, one of which had two Irish setters and a pit bull. He loved his dogs, imported their food from the UK and thought Knight gorgeous. Then he started talking about his daughters, one of which had a Shih Tzu, while the other had a bitch Rottweiler who really was a bitch. Hah.
The stuff people tell complete strangers, eh?
Did look around for some pants again, but couldn’t really find anything nice this time ‘round. Three hours after arrival, the rain had stopped at last, and I rode tenant back to the car while little brother carried the stuff I bought for us. The rain didn’t resume until we reached our mountain and started on the incline.
There was a river on our drive sweep, and we both got solidly soaked through before we were inside.
So what else? Well, there was some writing of course. Passed the 80 pages mark and am liking the progress so far. The tension is slowly building, the suspicion increasing, the hints becoming more frequent. Very different from my usual style, I’ll admit. More serious, less dramatic and not at all focused on the romance side of things. We’ll have to see how it works out.
There were massive batches of laundry to do, in particular since today’s weather was a vast improvement to yesterday.
Cousin Ed took Sally to hospital today, by the way. It was time for her third round of chemo, so she’ll be feeling pretty out of it again for the next two weeks, or so.
She’s not looking well, despite the fact that the doctors say that her test results are okay, but she hanging in there, and that’s what matters.
Been working on my Chinese boxes only a little. Time is presently spare. Luckily I’m not in a hurry. The wood is starting to look pretty good, though. I love the reds, and it’s getting smoother with every treatment.
This afternoon was mostly about preparing for tomorrow’s job (we’re going to work on that balcony again). Big brother worked on putting together materials for the mold which we’re going to need tomorrow, while I emptied the trailer of the market merchandise and then shoveled it full with sand for the concrete. It took a while, but it’s now ready and waiting. We are going to have to get a batch of cement before leaving in the morning. Our own stack is almost completely gone.
There was dog food to cut and dogs to feed, of course.
Angie (the Basset with the torqued stomach) is doing better, but she will have to eat and drink small amounts n the future to prevent the problem from recurring.
Panni, little sister’s cocker is still doing badly, and the vet can’t figure out what it is exactly. At the moment he’s on prednison and antibiotics. Poor puppy.
Well, I’m going to cut it short here. Other than the stuff I’ve mentioned all I could jabber about from here on out would be cooking anyway…oh and some wood chopping, which was wonderful to get the muscles working again, so who cares. Bed time is nigh. Yay!
So yeah, since the market in Marbella didn't go through yesterday (it was raining friggin' buckets…what am I saying, swimming pools, hah) I decided to the take the opportunity and do tenant and myself a favor. I took her to the big market where mom and the younger sibs work. I dropped her off at mom's and then took Knight II (yes, I took him along) through the market several times.
First round he was shaking like crazy, pressing himself against me every time someone wanted to pet or take a picture. *sigh* There were plenty of those. Seriously, three times that I remember, I was surrounded by a friggin' crowd of twenty or so who all wanted to pat the horsie. That sure is the last time I'm taking him along. Sure, I had loads of nice chats with complete strangers (dog lovers, of course) but finding what I'd come there for was rather tricky.
I'll have you know that I did end up mostly successful (like 70 percent). I found the requested underwear for Sally. Yay. I found a sanding machine for grandpa, and myself. Did some wonderful haggling with a nice, very short and old, Spanish guy. We were gathered around his selection of sanding machines, and he was trying to sell me one with some damage on the sanding paper surface, and I wanted another one that looked just a little less used. We talked about Knight, of course, who was definitely top of the conversation all through the afternoon. He too had some dogs, seven of them, in fact…which were, according to him, about the size of Knight's head. Hah.
But anyway, we did some haggling and I managed to shave off an odd three bucks before we shook on it. Gawd, that is such fun, in particular if the vendors are good sports about it, know the score.
Came across several small TVs, prices varying between fifteen and eight bucks. Almost did a deposit on one, but was happy I hadn't when I came across a friend who said I could have one of hers since she wasn't using it anyway. Good deal all round, since Sally would really like to be able to watch a movie or two in her cabin, every now and then. Saves on money and on risk, for as far as I'm concerned.
Talked with an Irish couple who had friends with a Great Dane they often "babysat" for. Very typical people. Very big, very round, dressed in all cottons (old hippies is my guess) and extremely nice. Knight got patted again, hugged and then we went on once more, now looking around at a roof rack for the Opel.
Came across a couple that cost a solid fifty bucks a pop, so that wasn't happened. Then I stumbled on a small stand in a corner somewhere, where there was a couple lying about that looked reasonably good. I was examining them closer, wondering if they were suited for an Opel Astra, and asked the price (€50) when I started to doubt once more. It is very hard to scramble back once you've already asked the price and had the things in your hands, so I was already shaking my head and saying "maybe some other day". The guy actually came out of his stand and asked me what I was willing to pay for it then. He was looking pretty desperate, and I was feeling pretty bad already for getting his hopes up, so I thought I'll ask a ridiculously low price so he'll send me off.
Let's just say I now have a car rack for twenty bucks. *sigh* I feel horrible, but once he went that low, I could hardly not take it. And we do need it, ya know. But anyway.
Funny how having a large dog with you provokes a variety of responses. There are those who startle and jump away, others who are drawn to it like he’s a magnet. Some stop, stare and point, while others look annoyed.
On the most part folks responded positively, and talked a mile a minute, which is fun. In particular kids who are just bursting with questions. How come he’s so big? Will he grow more? Can I pet him? How old is he? Does he bite? And so on and on.
Talked with a Belgian woman who suggested I use a chalk paste on Knight’s paw. Works like a charm, she claims.
Chatted with an elderly Spanish couple who loved the way Knight looked and showed me pictures of their Bordeaux Bulldog. Sort of like the electronic version of proud grandparents yanking out their wallet to show sleuth of grandchildren. Hah. But they were beautiful, those dogs. So massive.
There was the Dutch family who claimed they had two dogs and a Shetland pony that was smaller than Knight. An Italian woman who started telling me about her two lap dogs and her Pyrenean mountain dog, and how her friend in the mountains of Italy had a Great Dane that was 14 years old (gives a girl hope, that).
Had a long talk with two Irish guys, one of which had two Irish setters and a pit bull. He loved his dogs, imported their food from the UK and thought Knight gorgeous. Then he started talking about his daughters, one of which had a Shih Tzu, while the other had a bitch Rottweiler who really was a bitch. Hah.
The stuff people tell complete strangers, eh?
Did look around for some pants again, but couldn’t really find anything nice this time ‘round. Three hours after arrival, the rain had stopped at last, and I rode tenant back to the car while little brother carried the stuff I bought for us. The rain didn’t resume until we reached our mountain and started on the incline.
There was a river on our drive sweep, and we both got solidly soaked through before we were inside.
So what else? Well, there was some writing of course. Passed the 80 pages mark and am liking the progress so far. The tension is slowly building, the suspicion increasing, the hints becoming more frequent. Very different from my usual style, I’ll admit. More serious, less dramatic and not at all focused on the romance side of things. We’ll have to see how it works out.
There were massive batches of laundry to do, in particular since today’s weather was a vast improvement to yesterday.
Cousin Ed took Sally to hospital today, by the way. It was time for her third round of chemo, so she’ll be feeling pretty out of it again for the next two weeks, or so.
She’s not looking well, despite the fact that the doctors say that her test results are okay, but she hanging in there, and that’s what matters.
Been working on my Chinese boxes only a little. Time is presently spare. Luckily I’m not in a hurry. The wood is starting to look pretty good, though. I love the reds, and it’s getting smoother with every treatment.
This afternoon was mostly about preparing for tomorrow’s job (we’re going to work on that balcony again). Big brother worked on putting together materials for the mold which we’re going to need tomorrow, while I emptied the trailer of the market merchandise and then shoveled it full with sand for the concrete. It took a while, but it’s now ready and waiting. We are going to have to get a batch of cement before leaving in the morning. Our own stack is almost completely gone.
There was dog food to cut and dogs to feed, of course.
Angie (the Basset with the torqued stomach) is doing better, but she will have to eat and drink small amounts n the future to prevent the problem from recurring.
Panni, little sister’s cocker is still doing badly, and the vet can’t figure out what it is exactly. At the moment he’s on prednison and antibiotics. Poor puppy.
Well, I’m going to cut it short here. Other than the stuff I’ve mentioned all I could jabber about from here on out would be cooking anyway…oh and some wood chopping, which was wonderful to get the muscles working again, so who cares. Bed time is nigh. Yay!
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