Close call

Song of the day: “Gold Forever” by the Wanted. Vastly annoying to have it stuck in your head, because of course the chorus is the things that keeps repeating, over and over again.

On Saturday I slept waaaaay too little. Seriously, didn’t get back to bed until almost three in the morning, and then the alarm went off at eight thirty. It was a busy day, with plenty to do. Chores such as laundry preceded feeding the dogs, and then some editing.

Preparing separate meals for tenant is taking quite a bit of time. She really refuses to eat anything that has salt in it, and since we want her eating healthily anyway, that means lots of experimenting with veggie mixes, salmon and chicken, chickpeas, lentils and barley. So far it’s working. She’s eating a regular three meals a day, and it’s the fruit mashes that work best. Such a relief. Sure, we can’t manage to get her to drink her full quota, but at least we’re getting in more liquids than she realizes. Regretfully, she has let herself become so weak, that she is now hardly able to get out of bed anymore. Most of the time caregiver, Big brother or I will have to fully support her and help her to her chair.

Sally is not doing badly, in particular since she is back on double steroids again. Less trouble with her balance, no more nausea, and for the most part she is keeping herself in good spirits.

There was a yard session, involving lots of weeding. Seriously, man, there are so many weeds growing down there, we could start a jungle. Hah. But anyway. Harvested a massive cauliflower, which went straight into the freezer, some more broccoli and some lettuce.
In the greenhouse we’ve got some nice tomato plants going, which we transplanted into the big containers just the other day, leaving only a few for outside, just as soon as the weather permits.
The first pumpkins are starting to grow, so are the zucchinis and peppers. With a little bit of luck we’ll be able to put them out into the yard soon…well, if this weather persists it will be a while yet. Hah.

Got a nice big donation the other day. Including lots of food for the dogs from that store which had a lot of excess this month. The dogs have been really enjoying the treats.

Empera, the Shepherd, is not showing much improvement, not even with the new prescription of diazepam and prednisone. Poor darling. Now she is basically passed out most of the day.

The car is at the garage at the moment. On Saturday we had a near miss while heading back home through the country. Suddenly big brother noticed that the engine was overheating and when we checked, it turned out that all the water was gone. Luckily we had one liter of water with us, which allowed us to head for the river where we got the remaining three liters to get us home. Nothing much we could do about it until Monday, so this morning we took it to town, and were sent off again ‘till tomorrow because he couldn’t find it at first glass. He’d need to have the car there for a bit to find the problem. About an hour later, when we wanted to refill the cooling liquid tank, we saw a small spray of water. So we were back at the garage, at which point the mechanic told us to turn off the engine and that, basically we were screwed for transportation for the day (had to call little brother to pick us up) because there was a major problem in the engine. Not so much the part (that will cost 2 bucks) but the work hours. Jeez. They’re basically going to have to take the engine out, which will take several hours. *sigh* At least we caught it on time, because this could have been disastrous.

Did get an interesting offer from the receptionist. She has a friend who wants to learn English, and since I am working on my Spanish, she thought we might be able to help each other. Got an appointment tomorrow morning, so we’ll just have to see how that works out.

Our fitness this weekend was hauling down eight hundred pounds of dogfood. Been sore for two days now, seeing as carrying eighty pound per trip, and then jogging back up didn’t go as easy as it did before we got the flu. *sigh* Seriously, by trip number two…or more accurately, dragging my butt back up the mountain, I was puffing like a freight train. By trip number four I was seeing black spots and had a to take a five minute breather before taking the last two bags down. Hah. But I survived, did my (not so) fair share. Big brother carried four more bags than I did, darn it. Goes against my feminist grain, I tell ya.

What else? I’m not entirely sure. I am once again drawing blanks. Well, there were the visiting dogs to walk, of course. Hairy is adapting fast, and really, really enjoys our walks in the morning and afternoon. A sweet little dog, but he also makes me want to take out his batteries. I mean it, that energizer bunny has nothing on him. Hah.

Made a large batch of zucchini soup, but I think something was wrong with one of the zucchini’s because it came out way bitter.

Cousin Ed has been busy trying to find a new job. She would love to do something like reception work at a hotel, so the majority of this morning, while we were tackling the garage and finding a Santander bank (had to pay for my ticket, remember) she had her bike and dropped of her resume at several locations. Which reminds me. The other day I trimmed her hair and dyed it. Looks rather nice. A little shorter, a little loser, so it should work well for her when she looks for a job.

We took way longer today than planned, and silly me, forgot to ask grandpa to let my dogs out during the course of the day. So guess what all happened in my cabin for the duration of some odd five hours. Gawd, it was a mess! Not to mention smelly. The whole place had to be mopped twice with chloride and soap before the smell disappeared. Grrr. Poor darlings were all upset when I got home, I tell ya.

Luckily we did an eight page edit yesterday, because today we didn’t manage more than two, darn it. There was just too much going on. By the time we got home from the car debacle, and picking up another donation with the Opel this time round, I was more than ready to call it a day. *sigh* Of course that was before I even wrote this blog. Now it is already one in the morning, so I better hurry and get ready for bed. I got that appointment in the morning after all.
Gotta go.

Liking where it's going

Song of the day: “Sitting down here” by Lene Marlin. It flitted in and out of my mind most of the day, and though it is an oldie (comparatively) it’s still a good song.

I’m a bit behind again. (I know. What else is new, right?) Which is not surprising since I insisted on a nice jog tonight. The temps were so wonderful that I just couldn’t resist. So we (big brother, cousin Ed and me) packed up Niobe and Knight II, and headed for our usual spot. Did only a mile, or so, but it was enough. The running wasn’t anything to write home about, but the movement was rather nice.

And before that (might as well go backwards today), well, there was the dog veggies to cut for their breakfast tomorrow morning, preceded by eating the last bit of supper down by the basin terrace where we’d gathered after watering the yard. Luckily that was fast, since we didn’t really have time to eat before it. Had a few slices of zucchini with herbs and melted cheese (grilled it in the oven), and just headed out.

Spent the majority of the afternoon writing on the book, which went remarkably well. For some reason my focus was there, despite distractions, and got down a solid five pages, yay! Getting there, getting there. I also like where it’s getting so far, so that’s a good thing. The characters are interesting, they’re constantly surprising me with their responses, and there’re some new characters that appear to be working out rather well too.

Cutting off our Spanish reading session, was working at the igloo and sorting through the mess lying about there. There are spare mattresses, dog pillows, blankets. You name it, it’s there, and we had to go through it to decide what we were going to toss, and what we had to pile up to keep. Seeing as we’re going to have a visitor in September, we had to empty the igloo (aka guestroom) and have been postponing the sorting process ever since. It took almost an hour, but we made a good dent in it at least.

Fed the dogs, of course, did laundry, and skipped a dip in the pool because it wasn’t all that hot today, Yay! Seriously, the temps have gone down and now is definitely the Spanish weather I love round these parts. Cool winds, bright sunshine, dry air rather than the hazy mess the last few days. Love it.

Was on time waking up, and had a rather good night despite Sitabah waking me several times vomited. Silly dog decided to eat grass last night again, so I got to enjoy the consequences during the night. *sigh*

Yesterday.
Didn’t actually manage a second writing session in the evening, but since I did three pages that afternoon I wasn’t too upset about it. Instead I spent some time online looking at British real estate for the book. I needed to look at some styles and find that going to real estate agents is always the easiest ways to find typical descriptions.

After cutting dog veggies, big brother and I went to the igloo to get two mattresses up. The dogs killed his, you see, so we had to replace it with a smaller one and a piece to fill up the empty spot. Worked out well, big brother cut it up, and I sewed up the cover afterward. Took only half an hour that, but then we had to go to his room to drag his two hundred pound old mattress out . Oh. My. Gawd! Seriously, almost thought that we weren’t going to manage it. But finally we did, of course, and got the thing folded enough to tie it up and carry it up so we can bring it to the land fill one of these days.

Prior to that was yard work, of course, including yanking weeds, watering and harvesting. Zucchinis are still going strong and the green house tomatoes have reached their end. We’re going to have to start yanking the diseased plants out soon.

Cooked supper, which consisted of potato veggie salad that went down well. I still love anything potato, darn it. Seriously, I wouldn’t know what to do if they weren’t there anymore.

Another writing session preceded that where I only managed a few pages, which was frustrating beyond imagining. I hate it when that happens. Did finish a scene, however, so it really doesn’t matter in the end.

Did do a bit of Spanish before that, so that was good at least. Unloaded the car in the morning, before breakfast, of course, seeing as the sibs had to load up for their market day…same goes for cousin Ed, who spent most of the day preparing her own market.

I wasn’t in the best of moods, due to Sitabah, who drove me bonkers in the morning. She’s scaled the fence, and then stood barking on the roof as if she couldn’t get off…until I got out of bed and called out for her to get her butt inside before I got out there and throttled her for waking me up. Hah.

Am not happy with tenant at the moment, by the way. She’s still floating in her head somewhere and is letting her motivation for getting better escape completely. She’s doing less and less, and is then surprised when she finds stuff she’d gotten better at difficult to do again. I know that it is none of my business, and that it is her life, but there are times that it is more than a little frustrating. It is hard to see several years of hard work disappear because she has decided she’s too old for all the hassles. Makes me want to scream. *sigh*

And that’s it for today. I’m sure I’m missing something vital, but who gives a heck. There’s almost two pages going on, so…gotta go.

Walk on the beach and some thoughts.

Song of the day: “Our life is gonna change” by Simona Barbeiri. Beautiful! Now, if only I knew the complete lyrics, it would have actually sounded good. Hah.

So, let’s skip the morning rituals (as appears to be par for the course, I’m way behind again, aaargh) breakfast, laundry etc. etc. and jump right into the edit: I completed the new scene for “Saving Nina” which is turning out very well, if I do say so myself.

The one page I was aiming for did turn into four, however, so now the total word count of the manuscript has reached an approximate of 100.000 words (260 pages). This means that it has turned from the standard novel length to a full length, with still twelve pages to edit and thus earning itself another page or two in the process…if I restrain myself, that is.

No matter though: The book won’t be too long until I reach 120K, so I’m safe. Hah. It’s a good scene. It will need an edit…or three, but then it’ll fit into the story just fine. Some technical terms get treated in it, explaining some more about the MPD (or technically correct term DID) patient, and the main protagonist to boot. Good stuff.

We didn’t do any building today, what with our friend coming for a visit. Instead, both sisters and I drove her back home to Puerto Banus and spent an hour walking the beach while we waited for our tenant to finish her rehab.

It was a wonderful day for a stroll on the beach. The water was a bright blue today, the sky clear, the sun warm and the breeze cool. Can’t get any better than that. We walked a mile or two (lots of tourists catching a sunbath) had ice cream and skipped stones on the waves. Considering that it’s been at least ten years since we last walked the beach, it was a rather novel experience.

Our tenant was delighted for the pick-up, in particular because it meant that she wouldn’t have to sit in her uncomfortable wheelchair for hours until the ambulance finally delivered her home.

Since the drive to and from Marbella is rather long, we had a road trip to boot, and we enjoyed the sights of a places we used to visit back in the days when we still vacationed in that particular area. We even passed our old camping, where we spent plenty of winters, living our lives in a trailer. Little sister was actually amazed at how well she remembered everything.

Once back home, little brother is making dinner while big brother and grandpa are putting up the fence on the wall that was built in the past couple of weeks…not the big wall, but the one the younger sibs worked on instead.
It’s a small miracle, but the fence that is taken off the old one, is the exact size they need. Talk about serendipity.

I hang some more laundry, still thrilled at the ease of the washing machine being right there beside the lines, help big brother and grandpa a bit and then head out with them to get a quick load of rocks for today’s gathering session.

We find a particularly nice spot again; lot’s of rocks dismissed in a messy pile that fills up the truck bed really fast. They get added to the large selection at home, at which time we head inside to have dinner: A simple dish of macaroni with sauce and veggies on the side that goes down remarkably well.

Dinner over and done with, big brother and I do a short edit on the new scene…a page and a half at most…and then decide to do a Spanish test, just to see what our level is. Not bad, considering we hardly ever speak the language but still, a little practice won’t go amiss.

I head on up to my cabin where we spent a couple of hours checking books for semi-colons and colons. The “Eats, shoots and leaves” book confused us both, so we go over a massive amount of books to see what they’re really used for.
Like we already figured out from several author sites, they are hardly ever used anymore…which is strange, since colons and the semis add flavor to a story, more than anything.

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but now that I think about it, I do miss them and it makes me wonder about something…Could the lack of using these two very distinct symbols explain why stories are becoming rather bland these days? Food for thought.