Song of the day: “In my secret life” by Katie Melua. It’s been going through my head several days now, luckily I like the song well enough, otherwise it would have driving me bonkers.
Another week gone, and we’re well into August. Before you know it we’ll be in autumn, rushing straight toward winter. Aaaaargh!...ehm, yeah, as you can see I’m not looking forward to that. Last year wasn’t all that bad seeing as we were gone most days anyway, but what with being out of work this time round, I’m anticipating claustrophobia. Grrrr.
But okay, not thinking about that yet. Summer is still here, autumn hasn’t even started yet, and winter is still nothing but the future. There’s still plenty of time for things to change, isn’t there? I mean seriously, a few years ago, when we were busily writing and editing, and restoring and building everything around the house, while at the same time rushing from here to there to take care of the old ladies, I wouldn’t have believed it if someone had said that things would turn out this way. I’m not kidding. In my mind things were completely unchangeable, probably set in stone until further notice, but there you have it. I’m not going to try to anticipate anything, I’m just going to wait and see where life takes us from here on…nothing else to do about it anyway, not yet.
So what’s been happening? Not a whole lot, although we have been busily editing a lot. It’s not going badly either, it is just that there are times when our focus is completely shot. No matter, we’re keeping at it regardless, and aren’t unhappy with where we are at the moment.
Been doing some work on my future sink. Should be doing more but we’ve had some pick up trips lately, which is taking more time than I like, and of course there were jobs to be done. Had to escort four dogs to the vet the other day (not ours, no worries). Neutering time, it had been a while in coming, but now the day was here. They behaved like troopers and seemed none the worse for wear afterward, thankfully.
Also had a cleaning up/maintenance job. Which meant working on sun-exposed terraces for four hours, sweeping them clean, hosing them down and reorganizing furniture. There was a gentle breeze that made it bearable, but it also tricked me into thinking that I wasn’t dehydrating. I was basically in the zone when suddenly I realized that I was seeing black spots in my vision. A glance at my watch told me that I’d been at it for two hours without a break, and that I really should get some water into my system; temps were hitting 100 degrees after all. Drank four huge glasses of water (was sooooo thirsty) in one go, and didn’t even have to pee afterward, hah. (I know, TMI, right?) Strange how that works.
Anyway, after that I paid better attention and drank regularly, so I was none the worse for wear…except for being sore as heck the next morning because of using the broom and mop for about 2700 square feet.
Not glamorous, I know, but it pays the bills, right?
Had a couple of turns preparing the dog food at home. That was sure nice. It’s been ages since we had time for that, and since grandpa deserved a break in that regard, I was happy to do it. Nothing like standing in the shade up in the old horse paddock, dogs around my feet trying to steal bread and veggies, chopping away with a small hand ax until it’s all done.
No big cooking events this week, though I did make a rather nice batch of chickpea patty dough. Ate them for several days. As bread replacements for breakfast and as supper with chili. Also as the meat replacement on a burger bun, and so on, until we finished the whole batch and were thrown back into less nutritious meals, like a load of pasta fungi. Hah.
As to the party plans…not a lot of changes there. I do now have a semi-confirmed guest list of 13 people, so it should get interesting. There will probably be kids there, though, so that means we’re going to have to keep the majority of the dogs separated at the very least.
I have a date with a couple of “girls” my age to go hiking next week. We’re going to meet up at a nearby parking spot, take the Land Rover into the country toward a spring and then walk along the river (if it is there during this drought) for an hour or two. Should be fun. An all-girls outing. Never did that before, so we’ll see how it goes…will be going armed, though. It’s a hunting area, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and some nitwit might think that three women are easy pickings, so it is better to be safe than sorry…thinking about that, I think I’m going to take Knight along after all. Will be good for him, and he’ll be the best deterrent for trouble. Hah.
Now I still have to think about what I’m going to make for lunch. Seeing as after the walk we’re planning on taking a dip, and have a snack. Both of them are on a gluten free diet so I might have to resort to my patties with fresh veggies on it…yeah, I think I like that.
Did have a few more nice workouts, along with a jog, but not for the past couple of days, much to my regret. The schedule was just too busy.
So, who’s worried about everything going on in the world? I mean, who is not seeing the comparisons to the Second World War when it concerns anti-Semitism? It’s scary, really. You see terroristic acts from certain parties all over the world, and yet you have the world tripping over the fact that Israel is protecting its people and borders…and all because supposedly the country belongs to the terrorists. What? Folks hate Christianity so much that they’ve forgotten the bible saying that some odd 5000 years ago it was already of the Jewish people? Just because it was conquered after that (mostly through slaughter) doesn’t change that fact. They got it back fair and square, by buying land and then reclaiming their heritage from the Brits. Basically they conquered their country back, and now everyone is complaining. Just because this only happened less than a century ago doesn’t make their claim less valid than those who conquered it 5000 years ago.
Also, folks are saying that both parties should just live together in peace, but all I hear from the non-Israeli side is that they don’t want to live with the Jews, they want their land back, and drive all the “filthy” Jews into the sea, annihilate them, erase them from the face of the earth, as claimed by various parties on the radio, TV and whichever social media you want to visit, which is apparently cheered for by the majority…I don’t see much compromise there. Added to that, it makes me wonder why no one is taking those statements/threats seriously, because the Western world must think that these claims are just hot air, or else why would they keep insisting that the Israeli people roll over and play nice? Would you try to have tea with the attacker bombing your house and threatening to slaughter your family?
I mean, let’s look at it differently. Russia won’t just be allowed by the UN to reclaim Ukraine without a fight.
If Mexico would claim parts of the US and started bombing cities, no one would look funny at America for defending itself.
If Germany declared that the Netherlands really is theirs because it was German territory way back when, everyone would tell them to F off.
How come this is looked at differently?
All this measuring with different measuring tapes is driving me bonkers sometimes, not to mention the illogic of it. I mean, if you pay attention to how the news from the Middle East is brought, you will start to notice that about 70 percent is pro terrorists…as in, “those poor backward people are just misguided. They don’t know any better. We should just give them a little more time to become more civilized, to educate them, and just sacrifice some folks for the “cause”. Insane!
This ostrich behavior astounds me at times, not to mention frightens me…especially when I hear left-wing feminists picking sides.
Do these “righteous” women not realize that women in general will be pretty much screwed if the scales of power shift toward to a culture that has not yet gone through the battle of female emancipation? At least not in the way that there is even a semblance of equality.
Astounding, that is all I can say about it, really…
But sorry, I didn’t mean to go off on a tangent on world politics there, but sometimes you just can’t help but notice such things. I’ll shut up now.
Went grocery shopping yesterday, which went well. Got almost everything on the list and kept the bill well under 100 for the next two to three weeks worth of food, yay. Do need to get some wine still, and fruit juice, but that shouldn’t kill the budget.
As to the doggies…well, no change with Knight. Kollosus (German shepherd) is in heat, meaning that Arthur (Brittany) is mightily interested and doesn’t give a fig when Knight glares at him. Hah. On the other hand the whole lot is rather happy that we’re home a little more. They’re just making a wonderful nuisance of themselves getting in the way whenever they can.
Well, my mind has been blanking out again as to the events of the past week, so I’m going to leave it at this.
Gotta go.
