Merry Christmas

Song of the day: “Chandelier” not by Sia, but rather by Jasmine Tompson, who did a wonderful cover of the song. Hah.

Right, another blog from the UK. No worries, I’m not driving y’all bonkers by being back here permanently, it’s just for the holidays, so the friends that we made over here, could have a break while the dogs were taken care of.

Wasn’t looking forward to it, I’ll admit, but that was emotional rather than realistic problems. Annoying, really, how in your head things get blown out of proportions and a part of you starts to forget that it is only for a few days, and not indefinitely. Strange how that works, in particular that panicky feeling that gnaws at your chest, while everyone was happy to see us, and welcomed us heartily. Messed up, for sure.

As to what has been happening since the last blog…well, there was the usual stuff at the house in Spain, added to the fact that the day before we left we spent several hours cleaning up the yard. Mom had a visitor coming, and the place was a mess, of course. Had been focusing more on the inside of the house, rather than the outside. *sigh*

Mom went to the doctor and got the OK to walk again, which is hard, of course. Having been pretty much immobile for the past six weeks, being bed-bound and everything, muscles are incredibly sore after one trip to town, meaning that she’ll have to start with little bits here and there.

Did manage to post several recipes on my other blog, you know, the one about cooking. At the moment I’m using basic pictures, and a prefab background, but as soon as I get a little more time, I’m going to take pictures of my own for it. Way more fun…but time. Time. TIME!!!

Had several weird dreams, but they didn’t stick, so no harm no foul. I do remember bits and pieces about it involving family members I haven’t seen in more than twenty years, at the very least. Odd that.

Heard from tenant, who isn’t doing all that well. She has a catheter in her kidney (again) due to a kidney stone that got stuck in the tube. She was once again forced to go to hospital with the infection, making her too week for the operation, which should be done on the 29^th…but regretfully, about two weeks after returning home, she got ill again, this time severe diarrhea bringing her near to dehydration, and therefore hospitalized, in hopes of keeping her strength up for the operation. Poor tenant. If only she didn’t find drinking so bothersome…otherwise she would have so much less trouble.

Managed to get some stuff done here in the UK, though, so that’s good. For me it’s hard, since the animals take a lot of time, so while big brother gets to put some backbone into whatever we need to do during the day, I have to interrupt all the activities for their daily care. Ah well, one does what one needs to, right?

Been putting up a fence, which is not bad work to do with weather that turned chilly, but sunny, at least. Fixed a gate. Did some serious cleaning, naturally. Sorting is part of it too, seeing as I left rather abruptly at the beginning of the month.

Also been doing bits and pieces all over the place, so luckily we’ve been outside a lot. I’m managing the cold reasonably well, at least. It helps that there is no wind at the moment, just cold and sunshine, the latter which was rather wonderful on the early morning walk…getting lots of walks in again, meaning that my feet are bugging me considerably. Seriously, by the end of the day I wanna remove them, violently, but what else is new in that regard, eh?

I heard from my pilot buddy, pen pall, yay. Alive and well, different location, but still saving people. Was such a pleasure to hear from him, in particular since it had been so long, and I had been thinking of him for about a week, and whether I should write to him, or just let the friendship fade naturally…in other words, or NOT bug him with senseless letters about my messy life. Hah. And suddenly there he was, out of the blue. Very nice.

Dax is doing really well. The reason, I think, is none of the meds we have been giving him. Nope. It was a week or two ago, late at night, me picking him up and something snapping in his spine (seriously, I freaked me out, it was such a loud pang) making me fear he’d broken his back, or something. No such thing, thankfully. Almost the next day we could see a change in him, his strength coming back. Yay.

On the down side, Knight II isn’t doing well at all. He is rapidly losing muscle tissue in his back legs, making grandpa afraid to have him going up and down stairs, because he has a tendency to topple over, poor darling. Added to that, grandpa is a little worried that Knight is depressed, because he doesn’t want to go up, and is just sleeping a lot. Poor baby. Just a couple more days.

Well, it is late now, so I gotta go. I’ll try to write another update soon.

Until then, I hope that all you readers have had a marvelous Christmas and are heading straight for a wonderful New Year.

Getting there

Song of the day: “Pencil full of lead” by Paolo Nutini. Sometimes if have these types of songs in my head and find myself doing odd little dances throughout the day in the appropriate rhythms. It’s so incredibly cheerful, which is a good influence on my mood. Hah.

Nothing like a bit of sweating to improve on one’s physical wellbeing. Yep. I did a workout this morning, which had my joints creak rather badly, my muscles protest but my brain wonderfully blank. I love that blankness, thank you very much, not aware of anything but the count of reps, over and over again. Wonder if I did enough to be sore tomorrow. Hah. We’ll see. I do need to find a way to hang up my boxing ball, because I need to let off some steam, rather than this air kicking and punching. Way too non-violent for me. *snort*

Since today is my day off, I took the opportunity to experiment a little in the kitchen. I had an abundance of apples and all the ingredients I needed to make some. The kitchen smells wonderful right now, I tell ya. Apple with dried cranberries, coconut shavings and peanutbutter in the vanilla dough. My friggin’ mouth is watering just thinking about it.

You’ll be happy to know that my foot is not too bad lately. The other day I ran around for more than eight hours without it becoming excruciating. That’s what we call progress, don’t we? I like.

The doggies…well, the cramped space is not doing my little pack good, that’s for sure. Knight’s affection at the moment is more than a little painful. When I come home, he’ll be bouncing toward me, grabbing my shoulder, or wrist to gain my full attention, and then bouncing on the bed some more until I put him in a headlock on the mattress. Of course he likes this form of roughness even more, and will lie there writhing, gnawing at any part of me that he can get to like some overgrown puppy. Waaaaay too much energy. Am going to have to take him out for a proper run soon…and then keep him from retiring to the car the moment he’s had enough, and keep him going until he’s exhausted.
The same goes for Sitabah, who has taken it upon herself to wreck my corner of the porch when she considers her lockup has taken long enough. Every other day I will come inside to find something wrecked, and everything shoved off the shelves. It’s as if she’s making some sort of statement with it for sure. Also, she and Dax are even less controllable than before. The moment they are let loose they will do a circuit of the house, searching for something to hunt or eat as if they haven’t had a decent meal in weeks. It’s insane.

The weather is persistently pleasant at the moment. Not too cold, crisply sunny and very dry. We really will need more rain before the end of winter otherwise we’ll be in trouble. Grandpa is using his time wisely and it putting in a vegetable patch, which makes me incredibly jealous. I wish I had the time. Nothing calms you down better than some time in the yard. Ah well, such is the status quo at the moment, I suppose. The gardening will return some day, I’m sure. Did do a rather nice flower arrangement yesterday, which was wonderfully calming, too.

A few days ago big brother got a stomach flu, disabling him from work, and the day before yesterday it hit me too. Most unpleasant, last night I even had a slight fever. Thankfully it’s not to severe, because today I am almost myself again. At least it didn’t bother me during my workout.

The edit is going a little slower, but not bad still. Well past half now, and content with the changes. Some stuff really worked out well, giving a good sense of the ‘20s and its bootlegging gangsters. The humor elements had us laugh, in particular the unexpectedness of it, so…yeah, I think it will work out.

The other day grandpa and I worked on the fences together. We still have to fix some of those due to all the changes, and it felt like old times. Nice, regardless of the cuts in my fingers the work inevitably causes. Strange, huh, how you can enjoy cuts on your fingers and an icy wind biting your skin, just because you enjoy the work. Hah. Big brother is having his fun welding the old gate for recycled use in the yard. A few more days and we’ll have the fence functional again, which will be satisfying.

I am going to enjoy a change of scenery, though. Working outdoors is definitely better for me. Being inside so much is grating on my nerves for sure. I mean really, who wants to be stuck inside when you could be outside digging in the dirt, of piling rocks, or hauling stuff? Not me.

Well, I am sure that there is stuff I’m forgetting, but that is the down side of doing a blog once a week. Details fade from the mind so fast…much like this awesome dream I had the other day. I fully planned to write about it on the blog, but then by the time I was ready to jot it down, the details had faded. Remember that awesome dragon dream I had some years back, and that alien from outer space. This one was of such epic proportions as well. *sigh* Such a pity.

Gotta go. The end of the day is rapidly approaching, and I would like to get some more done in the yard before then.

Another day, another project

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.

Barely made it

Song of the day: “Come on” by Will Young. Still a good one, and in this case deliberate since I’m trying to get a very annoying children’s rhyme from my head. *sigh*

First off, yesterday was a “working” day at Liane’s so we once again got up early for that. An hour earlier than the normal wake-up time, gave just barely enough time to get the normal morning chores done. A dip in the pool, walking the visiting dogs, hanging laundry and then up to feed the dogs for the day. Barely had any time left to feed ourselves after that, but what the heck, we were on our way only five minutes behind schedule, meaning we arrived at work at the appointed time.

Was a clear and sunny day, and we didn’t dawdle because there was a big chance that we had to go home in time to pick up the Opel at the garage. Since Monday the garage is closed, we’d be without it for another three days, so if at all possible, we wanted to pick it up. But anyway, first thing up was checking if the pool was still properly attached everywhere, and then, with that ascertained we got to work on the fence itself.

First came the lines with the tensors, which took us a solid two hours and sore fingers…not to mention a load of little cuts because I forgot we had gloves in the car somewhere.

Me: How do you want this wire?
Big brother: Just attach it.
Me: Like this?
Big brother: Sure.
I started attaching it, he turns and frowns.
Big brother: Why are you doing it that way?
Me: What way? You said you wanted it attached like this.
Big brother: No. Do it the other way around otherwise the fence will float there.
Me: Then why didn’t you say that when I asked?
Big brother: I didn’t realize until you started attaching it.
I sigh, laboriously unwind the wire and start over, the other way around.
Big brother: Why are you doing it like that.
Me: Like what?! (exasperated)
Big brother: You like cutting up your hands?
Me: Not particularly.
Big brother: Then why are you not wearing gloves.
Me: I hate those clunky ones you took. The seams cut in my fingers.
Big brother: So you rather have metal cut in your fingers.

He had a point, so I donned the clunky gloves, worked with them a solid hour before I went to the car to get something from my bag and discovered that grandpa had put my good gloves in there. *sigh* Only ended up with about nine cuts in the end. Hah.

Knight II didn’t mind yesterday at all. I think that he is finally getting used to the other place, seeing as there are now moments that he will actually stay on a different terrace because he wants to lie in the shade or sun while I am elsewhere. Now he only checks on me every ten minutes or so, and occasionally follows me from car to working location and back again, hoping I forget to close the door, letting him get in on the soft couch. He’s such a couch potato!

After three hours of work, we took a short break, ate some grilled cheese sandwiches under the house overhang and discussed our progress. Decided that we’d hang the fence in the next couple of hours, then take another short break, eat some more, and then finish up attaching the fence everywhere. Of course, in the midst of hanging the fence, putting tension on it, my phone rang. The car was ready for pick up, so our time limit just went down by a full hour if we wanted to manage leaving at 16:45 h.

We discussed again, continuing to hang the fence, decided to skip our second meal and worked straight through until at ten to five we finished the fence…well, I finished my part, and while big brother finished his by tacking the fence to the corner poles, I ran back and forth gathering tools, pieces of plastic, metal pieces and everything else that wasn’t supposed to be there. It was exactly five when we turned off the power, the water and tore down the mountain as fast as the car would go…which isn’t all that fast considering the state of the road. Hah.

Went home doing our best not to break speed limits, and at fifteen to six, about two miles from home I was forced to call the garage to tell them we weren’t going to make it before six. There was some discussion as I suggested they leave the car out and I would just pick it up with the spare keys, at which point they suggested they wait for us before closing up. Yay.

Picked up mom and little brother who needed to go to Malaga, and then rushed down our mountain to town and the garage. Got the keys, discussed the problem with the mechanic, paid the bill and were on our way. Phew. Got it all done…and got news that we could pick up a donation of food for the dogs…double yay.

Oh, before I forget. I got some new shoes. I saw them at the store, these rounded soles, with thin heels and thin toes. I’m going to see if that is at all beneficial to my feet, seeing as it is bound to stretch my plantar tendon. Walked on them most of the day, and though my feet are tired, the burn isn’t all that bad.

Really finished the book’s writing yesterday. The last scene is in, and the connect scene is in place. Such a relief there. At the moment we’re discussing our options. Since big brother is still in the middle of the first edit, and I need some distance from the story before starting on it, I’m either going to write the next book, or am starting on an edit of Commanding Morgan, of the Rising Sun series. I’m not sure yet. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

This morning Sally discovered that she is losing her hair. She rubs through it, and a whole bunch goes out, so she decided to have me shave the whole lot off. Not a pleasant experience for her, since her head is hurting somewhat fierce. Strangely enough her head felt better after the shaving bit, some of the pain left.

The majority of the afternoon was spent loading up the car, sorting through the tie dye selection, hanging them out, folding them up and then putting them in a suitcase for transport. Luckily there wasn’t as much to load as usual, seeing as we’re not sure as to the size of our spot yet. This will be our first time at the day market, and they run it differently, apparently. Let’s see if tomorrow work, okay. Who knows, it might end up in a disaster, or a success. Only one way to find out. All I know is that I have to get up early to get there in time. Hah.

After loading up, it was time to head on down into the yard, give the peppers some water, harvest a lot of them, and then, while big brother cut dog food, I got to work on supper. Had a fresh tomato sauce, fried peppers with corn, and spaghetti with grated cheese over it. Went down well, thank you very much.

Did some reading for a different project, spent more time on it than planned and then at ten thirty headed out for a late jog, which I really, really needed. Didn’t even go all that bad, all things considered. Was somewhat exhilarated afterward, despite the fact that I was a tad sore from yesterday’s hauling and bending.

Time for bed. Gotta be up and about in six hours.

Yikes. A sieve.

Song of the day: “Tonight in Babylon” by Bryan Adams. Definitely not his best song, but it got stuck on replay in my head regardless.

Yesterday was an “official” working day so I was up an hour earlier than usual and rushed through morning rituals. Walked the visiting dogs, did laundry in record time, and then started on feeding the dogs since grandpa had kindly already prepared the big bowls. After breakfast we were on our way less than two hours after the alarm went off.

First thing we did when we arrived on the spot was set up, unload, and hang a tube in the almost-empty pool so we could start on fixing it. While it drained we got started on digging holes for the fence. Since there was recent rain, meaning that the digging went relatively easy.
That didn’t mean that the digging went fast, though. Not at all, seeing as our attention was divided by the draining and then the going under the liner to see where the hole was…well, lemme tell ya, I found plenty, two of them filled with grass that had somehow made its way through. We suspect a tiny hole that the grass thought suitable to pass through.
Since all the water was out, I was under there on all fours and went from one tiny hole to the other, until I could savely say that the liner would do well as a sieve. *sigh*
This got me a little worried so I dove under, once more, in search of the cause because I wondered if perhaps we had made a mistake while installing. But no, we didn’t. We went over the booklet, checked for sharp stuff, but everything was exactly the way it was supposed to We examined the holes, where they were located (along the edge at the bottom) when it struck me. The vacuum cleaner! Got the thing out, and yes, in all the difficult spots, the angles, indents and curves, the tiny little holes fit to the corners of the vacuum cleaner. Blast it! Either the quality of that liner is poor, or whoever suggested that vacuum cleaner had no clue as to what was good for the pool. I do remember that when we had our own liner-pool, we had one of those jelly fish shaped automatics completely made of rubber and plastic. Since those are also the ones in the back of the booklet, I’m guessing you’re supposed to use those.
Ended up on the phone with the boss-lady, and then SMSing some while we tried to come up with a solution. Whichever is decided upon in the near future, it’ll take several days to fix at least.

But anyway, the pool was drained and we removed the liner so we could take it out for drying…in case the boss lady wanted the holes glued…after which big brother went down again to work on the fence, while I put the pool together again. There’re tough winds there, so we didn’t want to risk the lack of sturdiness from removing the liner causing it to blow away. While it dried on the big terrace we went down to work on the poles again. The holes got dug, poles got set, and concrete was poured to set it all in place. Supports went in as well, and by the time the day drew to an end, some odd eight hours after arrival, a chill fell and we were hard at work cleaning everything up. The pool was shored to the ground, tools were stuffed back in the car, and everything was locked down and shut off. We didn’t get home until eleven hours after departure, and I can assure you I was properly whipper. Hah. Did a report to the boss lady online, discussed the options with her some, but since the pool is shored properly (keeping my fingers crossed it’s good enough) we’re not in a hurry with that particular fixing right now. We’ll see that later once the boss lady is back home.

This morning I woke right on the dot, hoping I could go right back to sleep…which I couldn’t of course. The new day had started and there was plenty to do. *sigh* There were the morning chores, feeding the dogs, and then it was time for me to walk tenant down to the main house, where she’d decided to spend the day.

Mom and the younger sibs were out for a bit. Little brother now officially has his drivers license, so yay on that. I’ll be curious to see what he’s going to do with it.

Tenant down and settled, I headed back up to the carport to help big brother shaving the ears of Carla. Poor bugger is filled with thick clusters of dirt, and we really had to see to that before it got any worse. His ears are doing better, though. Since we were busy there anyway, I also shaved big brother’s head, which was slowly being covered by hair again. He doesn’t like it, and admittedly the bald head looks good on him.

Tie dye. Yep. Since the market is closing in again, Cousin Ed and I worked on adding to the tie dye collection this afternoon. The weather was splendid for it. Sun was out, a cool breeze blew from the west and we could do the whole batch without much trouble. A few failed, but what the heck. The majority worked out well. Added to that, Sally helped out, which she seemed to enjoy.

Had lunch, which I shouldn’t have. I’m serious, I had a pancake, some cheese, a piece of apple and a peanutbutter and honey sandwhich. Big mistake. I know better than to mix that much. While I was drinking water afterward the whole lot came back out, in the middle of the path down to the yard. Jeez. It’s been a long time since it surprised me like that. But there you have it. Too much of this and that, will screw you over…well, me anyway. Hah. Luckily supper, much, much later, settled better, so I had zucchini, peppers and paneer that stayed down. *sigh*

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Went to the greenhouse after the hurling bit (I know, that is such a tasteful thing to mention, right? I’m nothing if not elegant. *snort*) and we sowed a new batch of filderkraut. We’re not exactly sure what the problem is, but twice now we’ve sowed this particular veggie, and twice it didn’t come up, despite the fact that the broccoli, cauliflower, red and white cabbage are doing just fine.

Since the waterworks were still open since the last rain storm, I took a moment to cover those up, rather than risk someone breaking their leg, or something. Jeez. Then went back up to the old horse paddock and cleaned up some of the tie dye mess. Only had a few minutes because big brother and I still needed to head for the construction company. We still needed tensors, along with three more poles.

Once we got back, it was time to cook some supper. The soup Cousin Ed made yesterday (something was wrong with the freezer, so we had to make something of the frozen zucchini and peppers in there) along with a nice batch of paneer.

Got a message from an acquaintance who asked if we knew some sort of solution for the young dog that came walking up to her place. She was a little desperate, seeing as she's moving to the city soon and can't keep him.

Here, have a look.

Isn't he cute. If you know a good home for him, do let me know. I'll "connect" you.
I do of course know that she was hoping we'd take it, but let's face it, we're trying to get less of them, not add to the pack. *sigh* He's cute as a button, though, and if I didn't have dogs coming out of my ears already I'd be tempted as heck.

Ah well....

Supper over and done with, I tried to write some, but I only managed half a page or so. Guess the day was more taxing than I’d imagined, so with a little luck I’m going to try to get to bed in time today. Hah.

Seriously hating hospitals

Song of the day: “Under the sun” by Cheryl Cole. It is starting to get a little old now. I’m ready for something else. If it is still in my head tomorrow, I’m going back to singing Will Young’s “Come on” darn it. Works like a charm to kill another song that keeps haunting me.

So yeah, the end of the weekend, and back into the new week, darn it. Why do the weekends go so fast as opposed to the…wait a minute, the entire week goes way too fast. Grrr.
But anyway, I had a wonderful dream about going to Ireland the other day. Was absolutely splendid, so I am totally going to do that one of these days, just to see if my dream compares to reality. I would fully describe the dream, but let’s face it, I’m late again, and wouldn’t be able to go into that much detail if my life depended on it. It comes down to the fact that I’ve had a ridiculously long day and am looking forward to calling it a night. Hah.

Oh gawd, I don’t know how I could have forgotten (or didn’t I) to mention that we have the Land Rover back. Yay. They fixed the transmission box, and she’s purring like a kitten again, so double yay on that, despite the fact that now there appears to be a problem with the speedometer. The mechanic promised to look at that later, because they weren’t sure if the problem had been there (it hadn’t) prior to them fixing the car. We’ll get to that later. I’m just happy it’s working again. Of course (this comes as no big surprise to me, by the way) now the Opel has an appointment again because there’s this weird screeching sound. Aaaargh. Stupid cars! Hah.

Saturday: Right now, thinking about it, I’m drawing a complete blank. Hah. Lemme just get my diary here…right. We went over to Liane, the lady with the fence we built, to check out the pool and to take measurements for the adjustments she would like us to make.
It didn’t take long to figure out what the problem with the pool was. After crawling through the water for about an hour I found a small hole about three inches from the wall, which had created a path toward one of the supports and literally streamed out there. Soaked through, and wary of the swarm of bees that had decided to make the leak spot their watering hole, we finished up our foray about two hours after arrival and headed back home.

There was cooking, and yard stuff. First cabbage seeds are in the multi pots. Coliflower, broccoli, white cabbage, red cabbage and kale, which should make up for part of this winter’s suppers. That done, big brother and I went back out for a donation, which took way too long of course, meaning that I didn’t have a lot of time to write…it’s a procrastinating thing, I assure you. When I do get to sit down at my computer, my focus decides to take a flying heap. No worries, though, I’ve reached the three hundred page line today, and that’s a yay too. The end is nigh.

That night I had a rather scary dream about finding a splash of blood on the floor, and then finding the cause of it. In the dream Arthur had basically been ripped to pieces, which make feel all icky when I woke up. Decided to give Arthur a good petting when he came outside, just because I felt like it. Hah.

Had our visiting dogs for company while I hung laundry, and rushed through breakfast so big brother and I could head down into the yard and take apart a wooden constellation because we’re going to use it for the wooden partition around Sally’s cabin. It took a few hours, and there was full sunshine, but the breeze kept it bearable at least. Only managed to drill out two of the poles, by the way, because apparently I put them in well last year, hah, because the jackhammer had trouble getting through it. Ended up with two poles before I had to rush up so I could drive middle sister to the gas station where mom had made an appointment with two separate couples who offered to take “yellow bird” and the chinchilla off our hands. Tight finances call for extreme measures after all. Both couples seemed nice, and the ones who took the bird said that if we ever needed a place for birds, we should just call them because they had three (or five) aviaries to fill yet. A reassuring thought what with the parrots still in the cage in the house. It is nice to know that they have a place to go if things ever get dire.

There was supper, of course, and though it was wonderful, my stomach did not agree with it last night. Half of it came right back up, darn it. I hate it when that happens. It reminds me of the times when that was a normal occurrence for me and depresses me. *sigh*

Sally’s been very tired, which is basically the only side effect she suffers from during the treatment. Which reminds me, this morning we headed out early because we had to go to two hospitals in a row. First in Malaga, where she got radiated as usual (after having to wait for a full half hour after we had been specifically asked to be there at one thirty on the dot. We were) and then Marbella where she had her first meeting with her oncologist.

Almost didn’t make it there either, seeing as there was some sort of traffic jam going on that appeared out of the blue on one of the most dangerous roads of the area. I had about three seconds of warning while the bloke in front of us stamped on his brakes and put on his flashers. I pumped my own, once, twice, and then came to a full standstill with the third, less than a yard behind the car in front of us. Jeez. My blood dropped straight from my brain, leaving me a little breathless as I looked from the stopped cars to Sally and Dani (she volunteered to go along to translate) to see if they weren’t plastered against the front windshield. Double jeez. That was close, but the brakes held true, I didn’t go into a skid, and we got through it without damage. Yay!

At the hospitals, we went through the whole song and dance, she was examined, all the questions got asked and filed and then there was the talk. The nasty business of what her previous doctors hadn’t gotten around to explaining: “You’re tumor is not curable, and there is nothing we can really do except treat your symptoms.” Yikes. She was startled, but not sure enough about her English to respond to it. That came later while we were in the car with her, and at home. She had thought that they were going to cure her, that the test result would come out as relatively harmless, but now she heard that they were basically aiming to make her life as pleasant as possible for what time was left for her. *sigh* She’s taking it well, so far, agrees that the doctors don’t know everything and that she’s going to make the best of it. I’m sure she’ll have some bad days coming, but so far her attitude toward it is admirable. Let’s hope she can keep up the positivity, which is one of the most important things at this stage.

The fence building job is going through, and despite the fact that I went through the majority of the DIY stores in the area to look at prices, Liane decided to keep it simple and picked the metal fencing to close it off. Good thing, since it will take the least amount of time…in particular with the predicted rain, and the yard stuff we still need to do. As it is, we’ll be busy with it, two to three days, which is going to make it all a tight squeeze.

My doggies are bound to be upset with me again, but it can’t be helped. Knight II will be going along, of course, but the Chaos will be resentful, to say the least.

But anyway, once we got home today, I was seriously running on fumes. I dislike hospitals severely, and the bummer is, that when Sally’s chemo starts we should prepare to spend a full day there because they will try to fit as much treatments into one appointment as they can. I better have a book and computer along for the occasion.

Luckily big brother cooked, so I didn’t need to do that. After walking through two hospitals (buildings and parking lots) and two massive DIY warehouses, I really wasn’t in the mood to cook. I was actually jealous of big brother and grandpa who spent the majority of the day in the basin, mucking out sludge. Seriously, it is preferable to hospitals. Hah.

Work on the most part

Song of the day: “Wherever you will go” by Charlene Soraia. There were some other song too, but they didn’t stick.

So yeah, busy couple of days, and from the look of things it is not going to get any more quiet anytime soon. Tomorrow we have to head out for the last time, and afterward need to head for a market in Marbella. Added to that, the day after, the Land Rover needs to go to the shop, and then after a semi-quiet weekend, the Land Rover has to go to the ITV. *sigh* Yep. It’s going to be a splendid week. Hah.

Writing wise, I managed a whopping total of two paragraphs, and that's it.
But back to the present. Yesterday was a long day (so was today, for that matter) we managed to even out the ground, set up most of the pool, get in the tarp, and prepare practically everything for hanging the liner. We had hoped to finish it all, but regretfully didn’t manage it. It was decided we would come another day (today) meaning that we were up early once more, going through the motions of feeding the dogs, doing laundry and then heading out. Were later today than yesterday…which wasn’t bad considering we worked late yesterday.

Knight is coming along every day now, and not is, without a doubt, scared to death for the three puppies there. Hah. Seriously, you’d think he is five weeks old himself. Today it got so bad that every time I forgot to close the door to the car, he disappeared into it.
We were about ready to start the hanging of the pool liner when suddenly the manual (without any warning earlier on in the book) declared that beside the covering tarp we’d already put down, there also was the need for some sort of filt, or carpet…Stupid manual. They have a list of stuff you need in the beginning, except for the that carpet, a file, sanding paper and duck tape…all of which we discovered well into the building of the pool. Grrr. That’s bad instructing, if ya ask me.

Played with puppies again, who are smart little buggers, and who keep escaping the large dog pen we built there. Meaning we had more work to do today: adding more fence while we waited for Liane to get the filt from Malaga. Built with some natural rocks, used up a total of two cement bags and a 1400 pound load of sand. The latter which we had to sieve and load late last night, and the night before, but thankfully not now. Hah. But anyway, puppies are already learning to sit for a treat.

Had to haul a massive rock that wrecked part of the wheelbarrow. Big brother did manage to lift it, though, so we took it off Lian’s water main and hauled it to a different spot. There was also a stint with the freaky geyser that’s always playing up…and of course meeting her boyfriend, who tripped over something on the terrace and send Knight scrambling with his tail between his legs (squealing a little) and scared half out of his mind.

Today’s hanging of the liner was interrupted by a massive thunderstorm and rain soaking my top straight through (luckily I was wearing a bikini top underneath) not to mention the bottoms of my trousers. We were happy that the rain started when it it did and not an hour or two earlier when it could have been near to disastrous. As it was, the line was in place, so, whatever. The water couldn’t harm anything.

The last thing we have to do now, is install the pump an skimmer, which is what we’ll do tomorrow. A little later, this time, seeing as my day will be a long one tomorrow. Gawd, I need some sleep…you know what, I will get some because I’m going to cut this blog short without further ado.

Done for the day.

Song of the day: “Another point of view” by…hmmm. I can’t remember exactly. It’s something with Boulevard, and I am too lazy to look it up. *sigh*

Well, it was a friggin’ long day. It is eleven in the evening right now, and big brother and I didn’t come home until nine forty. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s do yesterday.

There were of course the usual chores such as boring laundry (no workout darn it) and the likes, but that’s like yada yada, right? Been there, done that. Same goes for feeding the dogs. They devoured it, by the way. They love the mixes.

First off, there was gardening. Loads of it. Grandpa had turned earth for me, so I could head on down into the yard and sow this year’s beans. I’m going for a full field, because freezing them went rather well, and the canning too, so any that don’t get eaten will be well used. While I was doing that, big brother sowed corn. The sun was bright, the air warm, but all in all it was most pleasant as I went on to water some plants, yank some weeds and harvest.

That done, it was on to the carport where big brother put together cousin Ed’s table for the market. I was supposed to help him, but dog food had to been chopped, so cousin Ed and I ended up doing that instead. It worked out well, though.

Cooked too, spaghetti and sauce, our last pot of tomatoes from last year, darn it, but it was delicious. Ate it again just an hour ago too. Nothing like day-old spaghetti.

But okay, after that we had to load up the car for today’s job. Got everything stacked in the back, two wheelbarrows on top, and plans for both breakfast and lunch. Only managed a couple of pages of the edit, because I got distracted by an email later in the evening.

As for the night…I was going friggin’ insane. I kid you not. If I slept two hours in a row it was a lot. For some reason I thought it was too warm, mosquitoes swarmed around my head with an annoying buzzzz, and I got all claustrophobic, which forced me to drag Chaos off, if for no other reason than to create some space for myself. In the end, I fell asleep with my head at the foot end of the bed, face in the stream of the fan, and a sheet pulled up to my chin. I was not a happy camper when the alarm went off at eight. *sigh*

But anyway, there were some pressing chores, followed by feeding the dogs, ourselves and checking if we had everything. We left home at nine thirty and were on our way on a rather sunny day. Were there just after ten and immediately got started.

Made good progress. Four sections of fence and we did one section per two hours…for the first four. Then the difficult parts started…uneven ground. Seriously, that’s a pain when you’re putting up fences.
Be that as it may, I twisted my ankle, which would have been bad if my foot didn’t hurt anyway. Friggin’ plantars! Managed to trim two more olive trees, which is a pity. But the lady asked me to do the rest of them as well, so I will be going back there in the near future and make a day of it.

Didn’t finish until after nine in the afternoon, and almost not even then, seeing as we were finishing up the last section that had tilted part , and our focus was shot. It took some effort, but finally we did manage to figure it out. The fence is as good as ready. There will be some final tweaks and fixes, naturally, but it's there, closed and in place, like planned. A full week's work. *phew*

Big brother even got sunburned today. I mean seriously, that is newsworthy. I cannot remember a single time in the past that he got sunburned, but there you have it. I feel vindicated, am even gloating a bit, because let’s face it, there is some justice for us pink skinned blondes after all. Hah. Big brother is stoic under it, though he too is running on fumes tonight. Hah.

Knight II behaved like a darling all day. Not a sound from him, and he even was confident enough to snooze away some of the hours without looking up to see where I was every five seconds.
According to cousin Ed, the doggies at home behaved well enough as well. That feeding them in the morning thing is really working out. Who’d have thunk it?

Well, I’m sure I’m forgetting something. No matter, though, I’ll posts some pics soon again. As for now…I’m sooooo ready for bed. Considering it’s midnight and grocery shopping day is just around the corner, I better hit it.

Picture update at last

Song of the day: “Dream a little dream” by the Beautiful South.

Yes, yes, yes. We’re doing a picture update. You’re psyched, I know, hah. Here we are, another day, another blog, and I won’t bore you with…oh wait, I will bore you with words, because let’s face it, the world has not come to an end yet, pigs don’t fly, and hell didn’t freeze over. *sigh*
But really, here are some pics as I've been promising for months.


PICTURES!!!

Tenant's floor. Isn't it cute? In the corner is Ayaana.

The water tank spot before the platform was build...that's Fortuyn by the way.

The beginning of putting in rocks. And yes, Fortuyn is still there, along with Kollosus and a bunch of others. It's a joint effort, working here. Hah.

This was the wall for the tank platform we built this week. Huckabee on top, Empera hiding behind.

The actual platform. Really sturdy...and right on time. Hah.

And the actual tank. 3000 liters.

Something different now.

General cuteness. The puppies that were at our job a month or so ago. I know. Took way too long, but there they are.

And onto the job. The fence/gates...in case I didn't already overstate it. Hah.

The double we placed yesterday.

The single. Duh.

The fence, of course. Isn't it wonderfully straight. There's still some digging to do, but we'll do that on the last day.

Now some dogs because...well, just because. They're too great to pass up on. Hah.

Our Thorgal.

Huckabee, the circus dog. Totally bonkers, but sweet.

Indigo, who likes to squeeze her massive body underneath the sawing table. I don't know how she manages to fit, but she does.

Knight II at the job. He was just to pretty to pass up on.

A pack shot. Empera, Kollosus are the two shepherds. Bambi is in the back and Carla in front.


Okay, the actual blog. First off, let’s start with the work day.

Big brother and I got up at seven thirty yesterday morning because there were the morning chores, and of course feeding the poor doggies that would have to do without us for the day. I had decided to take Knight II along, seeing as grandpa would be home alone with tenant and the dogs for several hours. Though Knight is really quite manageable, he does worry grandpa a bit, so seeing as the poor Dane likes to go along anyway, I figured it was the best solution all round.

Dog food went well, despite some of the pack being a tad snarky for some peculiar reason. Maybe they felt the impending desertion. Hah. But anyway, that done, we had some breakfast and left at about 15 past nine in the morning, to arrive on site around ten. We started just as soon as we took stock of what we left the last time, and opened up house and shed to make sure that we could work straight through.

Big brother was extremely positive about the hours of work ahead of us. For some reason he seemed to think that we would be unable to fill the full eight hours and would be heading home around five in the afternoon…nuh-huh. Since we started with the gates, we didn’t finish with the blasted things until four in the afternoon. Strangely enough until one in the afternoon time went eerily slow, and then, suddenly, it was past four. Very strange.

We did take a short break around two. Chowed down on some grilled cheese sandwiches, and then walked up the mountain behind the house just to see what was beyond. Surprise, surprise, there was a valley there, hah, and…yes, hold onto your hat, more olive orchards. Seriously, though, it was beautiful. We saw an old ruin and walked over to see what was what. Turns out that there were a cluster of beehives there too, and while we were walking past (a respectable 20 feet) we got attacked. Boy, were we off (in the wrong direction) fast. Hah. Even Knight II went off in a gallop, not stopping (whacking around me with my hat…got stabbed once, big brother thrice) until we lost the violent little creatures. *sigh*
Had to go back the long way round, with another bee finding me, of course. Hah. But anyway, we returned to work none the worse for wear, with Knight II conking out in the bushes…then the full sunshine…and then back in the bushes, never taking his tired eyes off me for longer than five minute stretches.
Poor fellow, so much to keep track of in a strange place, eh?

But where was I, ah yes, we finished the gates around five, and then started hauling out the rolls of fence so we could place the big stretch as our final task of the day. We didn’t think it would go so fast, but apparently we got better at building fences because just before seven we were done hanging the 90 feet of fence, pulling it tight where we could without digging. The digging will come next time ‘round, I assure you. The land is uneven, and in places we’ll need to heighten it, while in others we’ll have to go down. *sigh* Such is life. Luckily in general digging is a good thing.

Regretfully I didn’t have time to trim more olive trees, which reminds me. The neighbor had his done during the course of the last month and boy, did those get mutilated. I sure hope that once they start growing again that they’ll fill out, ‘cause they looked like plucked chickens. Poor trees.

Sun was out the whole time we were at work. Pounding down relentlessly, but not uncomfortably since there was a cool breeze that made it downright pleasant. Of course the breeze didn’t stop me from getting thoroughly sunburned. I kid you not. Shoulders, collarbones, cheekbones and the back of my neck and arms were…well, let’s just say, I could have been mistaken for a traffic light. *snort*

Added to my “flaming” color, I, while squatting down to attach the fence, ripped a hole the size of a foot in the front of my pants, so you can imagine why I opted to stay in the car on our way back, stopping at a grocery store for a can of soda. I sooooo needed a shot of sugar. Totally didn’t take enough food. Hah.

Got home after nine, put the dog food for tomorrow…well today, on the fire and devoured supper prepared by cousin Ed. We made a valiant effort to focus enough for an edit, but ended up catching up on emails, some chats, and then watched Blood Work with Clint Eastwood to get through the last couple of hours of the day.

Of course, my sunburn didn’t much help my sleep. I think I woke up at least seven times, before finally dropping off around sunrise. Not that it mattered, seeing as today was a day at home with a late start that involved laundry, feeding the dogs and then an easy breakfast.

That was followed by a trip down into the yard where big brother watered some of the newest plants, while I planted fifteen pots of chamomile. I am determined to get enough chamomile for the whole winter, darn it. The planting spree was followed by a harvest of cabbages and broccoli. The latter for our supper, the first for the dogs…and white and red cabbage for the vet…along with a couple of pumpkins.

With full baskets we head up, where tenant spent most of her time in front of her bungalow involved in a new book that held her so captivated that she didn’t want to go elsewhere. After assisting her with some necessities, (caregiver was off to her job) big brother and I headed out to the storage to see about materials to start on the foldable tables cousin Ed will need. She had opted to help mom and the sibs out by trying out a new market on Sundays. For that reason she’ll need a couple of tables so she can display the goods…and we had to try out if they would fit in the small car. They did, so we’ll be putting some time in that for the coming week or so. In between I cut the veggies for tomorrow’s dog food.

After that (leaving tenant to cut veggies for supper) big brother and I headed out to the village to pay an outstanding bill at the vet’s and to bring over the veggies. Seeing as she agreed to let us use her address to have our biological seeds delivered, we have long since agreed to give her a fair share of the produce. So far the deal is working out fine.

Tomorrow will be a busy day for tenant, who has a doctor’s appointment and a dentist appointment. A good thing, since we discovered the day before yesterday that she lost a lower tooth during the night. She has no idea how it happened, but it demonstrates once more that a dentist visit is high time.

And that about sums it up for me. It’s late and I really need to get me some shuteye…considering we already did a nine page edit tonight, it’s high time.

Done for now

Song of the day: “Crazy” by Patsy Kline. I know, been there, done that, but what can I say, I had all sorts of songs in my head today, including (covers head in embarrassment) Miley and Billie Ray Cyrus with their Hannah Montana song “Butterfly fly away”. *sigh* Ah, who cares anyway, it’s a sweet little song.

So let’s get you up to date as to what’s been happening the past couple of days. We were up at the crack of dawn yesterday, and were looking at a sky that was pretty overcast even as the light of day began to spread across the valley. There was a miserly rain, a sturdy wind from the west, and after the usual chores such as laundry I was in the kitchen baking pancakes for our lunch. While I was doing that, big brother was checked the car and its contents, making sure we had everything we were going to need.

We were a little late, but if we kept the pedal to the metal, we were probably going to make it in time…or at least we would have if we hadn’t driven around the mountain and came upon the magnificent view of massive rain clouds masking the distant mountains where we have been working since the weekend. Seriously, there was some good black and dark gray working there, so we pulled over, debated a moment and then phoned to let the “boss lady” know that it wasn’t going to work. We had to pour concrete for at least ten poles (I forgot the count) and since that red mud has a tendency to gather around the boots like elephant skin, hah, it really wasn’t the smartest thing. Just the trip there costs a mint, so rather than waste time and money, we all agreed that it would be better that we skipped a day.

So we did, and cousin Ed and grandpa looked up funny when we returned five minutes after departure. Strange how such a change of plans can deflate you. Seriously, first I was revving to go, and slowly I started to “sag” if ya know what I mean. So, rather than hang limply around in the carport, I headed down into the yard (despite the rain) and started harvesting. Got a load of tomatoes from the greenhouse (yay), four cauliflowers from the yard, along with a big batch of broccoli. By that time I was really “sagging” so after a short discussion with big brother we decided to look up our respective beds and have a nice little nap.

Slept a solid hour and a half, and it was WONDERFUL. I had my doggies around me, they were plastered against me like a blanket and kept me nice and toasty…not to mention sore in so many places I didn’t even bother to categorize them. Hah.

Since I had a little time on my hands, I took tenant outside (we walked and chatted a little) and before the rain started up again, I managed to trim her hair. She really disliked her longer hair, and though I dislike short hair, it is in the end her choice, isn’t it. *sigh* Ah well.

What’s next? Well, big brother fixed one of the shovels. It snapped in the middle. And I started on supper of fresh cauliflower, tomatoes, and some potatoes. It was delicious, thank you very much.

The dogs have been behaving remarkably well through the entire ordeal. Sure, there were some hairy moments for grandpa and cousin Ed, but on the overall they’re managing the lot. Poor darlings. So patiently waiting all day, only to have for a couple of hours before we go to bed (of course they love the bed part as well, so, whatever). Oh, and tick season is once again in full swing. Grrrr.

There was a trip to town for picking up market stuff, which took big brother and me about two and a half hours (also in the rain) to get done. By the time we got home and settled down for the edit, we were pretty much pooped again, so we only managed about two or three pages (with both of us ending up a bit snarky about a particularly tricky sentence).

Was a little late getting to bed, of course, but was under the blankets and in the dark at one thirty in the morning. *sigh* Before I knew it (it felt like five minutes) the alarm went off at seven, and it was once again time to get ready and going.

No pancakes to make this morning, (had the ones from yesterday still in the fridge) so just a quick breakfast, lock up the dogs, except Knight II (decided to take him along again) and then heading out. Arrived right on time, again, announced our presence, and after a nice chat, got started.

Got in all the poles, yay. Also trimmed a few more olive trees, listened in on the Spanish neighbor talking to his gardener (good to practice my Spanish) played with puppies, (so adorable, puppies, in particular if you can just enjoy them) dug some more, hauled six piles of olive branches into the woods, (went rather well with wrapping a rope around the bunches and just dragging it along) aligned, realigned and checked the poles, and then…well, then it was the end of the day, and we spent some time cleaning up the messes we’d made because, much to our regret, we can’t finish the fence until we get the gates. And since it is Semana Santa, the gates won’t be there until next week, which means that we couldn’t set one of these today, and thus we had to inform the “boss lady” that we need two more days (while she’s out of the country) once we have the gates. I hate it when this happens, in particular since I hadn’t counted on that extra trip. So I was forced to ask for another twenty bucks, which I severely dislike. Ah well, I can give up time, but not expenses. Darn it.

Ah well, no helping it, boss lady is a nice one, and she understood, so all is well. While she’s out of the country, (and as soon as the gates are there) we’ll be back out there to finish the project, of course.
For what it’s worth, I’ve rather enjoyed the past four days. It made for a nice change, I think.

Got home right on time, and went on down into the yard to check on everything, and to harvest four more cauliflower and a basket of broccoli. Since cousin Ed had already gathered chard and boiled potatoes, all we had to do was bake the chard and broccoli, and then it was time to eat supper. *sigh*

Well, that was about it. We decided not to do an edit today, but are watching Tin Tin instead. So far so good.
I am definitely ready to call it a day.

A day on the road

Song of the day: “The Banana Boat Song” by Harry Belafonte. Still a good song.

So I am totally late today. Since I wasn’t home most of the day, that wasn’t surprising, but I’ll get to that later.
First off, let’s start on yesterday.

I slept really long, partly due to the fact that I was absolutely exhausted the night before. Seriously, I was nauseous from it, and could barely keep my eyes open. Finally decided to just give up on the edits and got to be early…which meant I slept a couple hours more than usual and woke up completely sore the next morning, hah. It was worth it, though. That was a nice night. Hah.

Spent quite a bit of time with tenant, what with caregiver being at her other job again. Ended up settling her in the sunshine on my terrace with some pumpkin and tomatoes to cut for supper. That done, it was time to head on down into the yard where plants needed to be watered and a small reed fence needed to be build around the new field where big brother and I planted a batch of potatoes.
What followed was a quick harvesting session, including the wonderfully fresh ingredients for the vegetarian hamburgers I planned to make for lunch, and which worked out so well that we were all a little disappointed that I’d made only two per person. Hah.

There was another trip to town, which I won’t bore you with, and by the time we got home it was too late to cook supper. Instead we had some fried potatoes while we worked on the edit and went through a solid four pages at a sturdy clip.

Which brings us to today. I was up in time for a change, and decided to do a good workout. Went well, I’ll admit, and managed a full session in record time. It felt good. Yay. I’ve been missing the workouts somewhat fierce, and since I was getting more achy with every passing day, I really didn’t want to postpone it any longer. Did the usual hour and a half, of course, and then had to rush through the morning chores.

Managed to fix the second hand 3 heater gas stove that we got the other day. There was gas leakage all over the place, so I took the darn thing apart, cleaned out all the tubing, knobs and whatnot, and yes, success! We had plans to get to work in the yard, but then we got a job opportunity out in the country, for which we had to drive quite a distance to see what all was involved. I’m optimistic about the possibility, despite it being a big job. If we get the job, big brother and I will be out working for about a week, putting up a fence of about 230 feet. It’ll be interesting to see how that goes. Hah.

It was a good trip, however. Beautiful country up there, traveling through olive orchards that spread out across countless hills and mountains. Got to play with a puppy (perro the agua) and some other dogs while we tried to fix a geyser to boot. Potential client had a hankering for a shower after having to do without for two weeks. Aaawwww.

But anyway, we’ll see how that goes. Afterwards we had to head to town to pick up a load of bread. We are seriously pondering to get the dogs accustomed to homemade food again (on a bread basis) because it would definitely improve their health. You wouldn’t believe how much sick dogs we’ve had ever since we were forced to go for kibble. Homemade stuff made them much healthier, not to mention did their teeth a world of good.

Suffice it to say that when we got home tonight the dogs were absolute ecstatic. Poor darlings had been without us for a solid nine hours, and didn’t like it in the least. Knight was absolute bonkers, and Chaos has been looking at me balefully ever since he came sauntering up the mountain to greet me. I’ll be giving them an extra petting tonight for sure, poor darlings.

No edits today, no time I’m afraid. And since it is already past midnight, I am going to have to cut this short.

Busy days...*sigh*

Song of the day:...seriously, you do not want to know. I know, and I’m telling you, you don’t want to know. It’s just too horrid for words.

Well, this will not come as surprise to you, but I am once again running behind so we’re going to rush through this thing even if I have to beat it out of me. Hah.

The day before yesterday ended in what I had secretly expected. Yama (the crossbreed that was at the vet’s) turned out to have tumors all though her lungs. They showed me the X-ray and at a glance I could see at least eight plum-sized growths spread through both lungs. Added to that “little” problem the tumors had led to a practically unheard of disease, called…well, I only know the Spanish version…Osteopatía Hipertrófica. Apparently, this little beauty makes the bones start making to excess; thus explaining the deformation of Yama’s paws. Saw the X-rays of her paws too, and you could literally see ribbed-like new bone all over her paws.

So strange, all the problems we’re going through these days. Tumors are bursting all over the place, eye cataracts, more tumors, failing kidneys, livers and hearts, dammit. It is P.O.ing me and even the vet had to agree that we were going through a Mala Racha (a slump). Are we ever? Lost up to eight dogs in the past year alone. Okay, admittedly, a lot of them are getting on in age, seeing as several of them date back from the late ‘90s when we first started taking in dogs, but still, this is downright ridiculous.

But anyway, seeing as there was nothing they could do for Yama, and she was rapidly declining, due to a lack of appetite and bad arthritis, we decided not to drag the entire process on for her and had her put down peacefully with both big brother and me hovering over her, petting her face, letting her smell us until she passed on.

As is usual with this particular procedure, my blood was pumping through my veins the rest of the night, making me more than a little irritable through the wonderfully mind-numbing run that followed and the remainder of the evening, which was spent working on the book.

Which brings us to yesterday: Seeing as we really wanted to keep properly busy, yesterday involved me writing a bit in the morning while big brother went to town to get some tools and fence. I would have done more if the dogs hadn’t decided to use this particular morning to mess up the living room, and if our tenant didn’t decide, just when I was about to sit down, that she rather go inside where she could be kept warm by the stove.

Seeing as she could use the exercise, we took half an hour for the walk there, and it went pretty darn well, even though she was rather sore still from the first time. Had to laugh rather hard when she confided that she’d been afraid that I’d come up and that she’d then have to get up just when she was sitting so comfortably. Hah. Then, when I suggested leaving exercises for the day and take the wheelchair to get inside, she wanted to see how far she could make it. That’s the spirit.

While writing a page, I also prepared an early supper of veggie mac&cheese and then headed outside to start on the wonderful chore of hauling (I’m wondering if you’re guessing it already) Yes! Rocks! Yay. Hah.
But seriously, we hauled a friggin’ lot of rocks during the course of four hours, and seeing as we wanted to use it as a means of exercise to boot, the way down was done at normal pace, what with the heavy wheelbarrows, but the way up were done at a jog. Oh my God. You do feel the love of gravity after a few trips like that, I’ll admit. Jeez, gravity wanted to hug me face first, I tell ya. Hah.

Anyways…I managed the personal sum of twelve trips, which was like, yeah, awesome. *grunts like a jock* Hah. And afterwards…yes the day wasn’t through yet…we headed out to get another load of rocks at our usual jogging spot. Well, I was there, and so was the Rocky-ish hill, and well, I couldn’t resist. Went up…I tried the macadam, but seriously, it hurt my heel like mad…and then down without any problem whatsoever. I love that mountain. I am really out of breath afterwards, but when I then do the big parking lot afterwards, I barely break out a sweat so it is definitely worth it. I remember that two years ago, before I started doing the running thing, I could barely cross twenty yards without passing out. Hah.

So, yeah, I was a wee bit tired last night when we finally got home, stuffed back dinner and then flopped down behind the computer, but I hadn’t thought of the Yama debacle once throughout the day. Annoying though it might be, I had a wonderful ten minute nap during writing, which saw me through the last hour of the evening before it was time to head up to my cabin and retired.

Passed out for the night (about half an hour later than I’d intended) but then snoozed right through the night, which was definitely a plus too.
The muscles…well, joints, really. Imagine them screaming “nonononononononono” all the way through wake-up time, and every time I tried to do something through the course of the morning. Hah.

Today we worked on the fence again. Got it all up, dug the bottom in so the dogs can’t dig underneath it…or at least, I hope they can’t; it’s still debatable, really. So basically I dug up twenty yards of soil, killed my fingers on metal wires and then, since I was having so much “fun” in the rather chilly wind (during the day it was really bearable in the sun, but when dusk arrived it got really bad), I decided to get the younger sibs to join me in going up and down the mountain again with rocks. Hah.

We did a rather good load, really. Also piled the flat rocks, which, at some point need to be used for stairs into low little walls, and so we are slowly getting a tad organised up there beside the path that leads to the almost finished gate. Here are some pics by the way:



The pile. Isn't it grand? I'm guessing that there about thirty wheelbarrows of rocks here. Hah. Dax left, Amri right.






Well, these I just added because it looked so darn pretty when I walked past them. Fourth time this year that the vines are blooming.





So here's the old gate. It broke down several times during the course of the past ten years or so, and those green squares are from a multitude of patch jobs.



Inside shot of the new one. Solid wood, metal casing. Just needs another lick of paint and pins of the top, and then we're all done.




Full shot from the outside, with the wall and everything. I wish the shot had worked out better, but the stupid phone doesn't work all that well for this kind of thing.





Outside shot from just the gate. Looks rather solid, doesn't it. I'm thinking of adding a crest, or something.




Some visitors the other day. Dax (the tiny Beagle you see on the Pile picture) really got his knickers in a twist when they were looking at him. Hah.

Well, I’ve got some writing to do, so I might as well get to it.