Grout work

Song of the day: “Beneath your beautiful” by Labrinth and Emeli Sandé.

Long day, as usual. The way someone so aptly said on the for a, “stuff” kept me incredibly busy, which is not necessarily a bad thing, if only it wouldn’t feel quite as useless. Hah.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First there was yesterday. Yes, very bourjois of me, but alas, for me too the world goes from one day to the next. *snort* Wouldn’t it be grand if that weren’t the case? I mean, seriously, wouldn’t the blog be splendid if time shifted all over the place, the way my brain does sometimes? *snort*

Okay, yesterday. What happened? I’m drawing a blank. Jeez. Don’t you just hate it when that happens? Here I want to start writing it all down, only to end up thinking…and thinking some more…and more. Okay, I’m getting my diary…

Right. I’ve got it. Tuesday. *leafs forward* Here we go…
Woke at the alarm, wondering what the heck that annoying buzz was, feeling so friggin’ tired I just couldn’t help myself from calling big brother and asking him if he could phone me in another thirty minutes. I really needed those extra thirty (well, technically it was twenty) man, and felt distinctly more rested when I did finally get up.

The normal chores were waiting, naturally, but we quickly worked our way through them, fed the dogs and got to work on the computer while chewing on breakfast. Only did about an hour, and then had to go up to help Sally get ready for the day. At the moment she is so far out of it we have to help her with practically everything. Just the task of getting her showered took about half an hour, and that didn’t include getting her dressed and up later on. It is a tad sad to see that she can’t hold onto a single thought at the moment, or that she can’t make a distinction between reality and what’s in her head. I’ll tell her we’ve been there for ten minutes, with her sitting there mumbling to herself, worrying about getting up but not actually doing it. She’ll even get upset about me saying that she is not trying, and is fully convinced she’s been constantly trying (in her head). In the end I had to get firm with her, tell her to stop thinking, take my hand and let me pull her to her feet. There was some serious anger there, but she did manage to get to her feet and dressed.

That done, her breakfast dealt with, (tenant and caregiver were out and about…in other words, at the hospital) I went back down to the carport to get ready to do some work on the kitchen. Got some actual grout work done. In particular for the corner where the stove will be. For the rest the old glue remains were scraped away, tiles washed, so we’re starting to get a good idea of what it’s going to look like. I can hardly wait…but I’ve said that before, haven’t I? Hmmm. Well, it still counts. Hah.

Sally did come down to look at the kitchen, and ended up tripping on one of the steps, and scraped open her shin…not a smart thing to happen what with her blood thinners. *sigh* She was unable to get up, so when it became clear that support to her arm wouldn’t be enough, I had to move in behind her, wrap my arms around her from behind her, and literally put her back on her feet. Good thing I’m tall, otherwise that would never have worked. Gawd, her leg was a mess. I had to put my brain on zero in order to apply bandages (blood doesn’t have a good effect on my stomach, ya know) while big brother came up from the lower yard and cousin Ed got the wheelchair. We shipped Sally off to the local health center where they took care of the mess. We were afraid that we’d have to take her to the ER but they said that if it didn’t keep bleeding during the night, it would be okay. She stopped bleeding, thankfully.

Did get some edits done, thankfully, and I am slowly reading up on E.D., so I can get into it again to resume writing. Came at a good scene yesterday, which was fun to read…in particular since I no longer remembered writing it. Hah.

On the overall the dogs appear to be doing well. Knight II has been making a nuisance of himself by trying to get his collar off, Sitabah appears to be doing a little better, and Tadaika, the meloxicam appears to help against the pain of her sprained foot...did I mention that we took her to the vet the other day because we were afraid she broke something? Well, she didn't. It appears to be a sprain instead. Yay.

Had a bit of wine during the course of the evening, which had me in a jolly mood by the time it was time to go to bed. *snort* Was a little late, which wasn’t a smart thing to do, but there you have it. It made me less than jolly when big brother called this morning to make sure that the alarm would wake me…since it had been friggin’ bleeping for ten minutes already it was pretty good foresight on his part. Hah.

No time for sleeping in today because today is Spanish lesson day. *sigh*
After the usual chores and feeding the dogs a mix of kibble and veggies (grandpa was unable to get dog food at the local bakery, darn it), I was on my way up to tenant who needed help getting ready for the day. Getting dressed, settling outside in the sun and having breakfast just barely fit with my own breakfast and those last few sentences of homework, before it was time (were late by ten minutes again, darn it) to head out for the teach’s place. Did a wee bit of speeding her and there, so we were only five minutes late by the time we settled down for our lesson.
Didn’t get to go through all those laboriously constructed sentences, but spoke at length about life and such. It is fascinating to realize that you’re recognizing more individual words during the course of conversation. Apparently we’re not tossing the money for lessons down the toilet, eh?

That done, we had to head for the city (stopped several times along the way to take some pictures) to pick up a donation, but first some groceries, which was over and done with in about an hour. Then the donation took way longer than planned. Had to load it all up, reorganize along the way, and drive back home. It was already after six by then, and unloading took forever too, which made me rush through making supper. There were plenty of patties, so we used a batch of those on wholegrain buns with lettuce, cheese and tomatoes, which went down splendidly.

By then I was pretty much running on fumes and flopped down behind my computer to do some chats, to check my messages, and…well, to write this thing. Hah. Meaning I’m done right about now. Yay. I’m outta here. The car goes to the garage tomorrow. The brakes, ya know.

Knight home but...

Song of the day: “Crazy” by Patsy Cline, again. Gawd, I’ve got this one often, don’t I? It’s a nice one, so who gives a bloody heck.

Okay, there’s lots to tell, some of it good, some of it bad. But such is life. Can’t, and possibly, won’t change that. It’s the ups and downs that keep it interesting, doesn’t it? I'll skip the chores and gardening, both of which were par for the course.

So the good bit. Despite the fact that I had to miss the Knight all through yesterday (the vet doesn’t allow folks to visit on Sundays), today he was allowed to come home with me. Hallelujah! Poor darling was trampling in front of the door of the back room when I arrived, whimpering like the little s (120 pounds) sissy he is, and literally rammed his head into my side in an attempt to get as close as possible. He was trampling like a pony, wanting to go out, but not wanting to give up on contact, so I asked for a leash and took him out to the nearby field where he drained the lizard for a solid three minutes. *sigh*
We walked back and forth on the field for a bit, him basically keeping his cheek against my hip and basically making me trip every other step. Poor darling. I do hope he gets over this latest “I’m so insecure” phase soon, because having a Great Dane with abandonment issues is not easy in the least.
But, be that as it may, less than ten minutes later the Vet told me I could take him home, just as soon as she put a drain in his chest sutures because he developed a little bit of an infection there.

Another bit of good news is for tenant. Her family arrived on the dot yesterday and spent a nice afternoon in her company. It had her in a cheery mood, which is always a good thing. Regretfully I got a phone call in the middle of the “happy” reunion. It was mom, who was understandably upset from the news that her Cocker Spaniel Alexander had died during the course of the morning.

Poor Alexander. We’ve had him since he was a puppy, this gorgeous black and brown Cocker Spaniel and sweet to boot, so it was a hit to the entire family. And so unexpected too. Just days ago, after never having him really sick in his entire eight years of life, the vet told us only a few days ago that he was suffering from Hepatitis. When I spoke to the vet this morning she said that she knew it Sunday morning the moment she’d tested his blood. The values were off the charts, and she said that he was bleeding internally from the hep, meaning that it was only a matter of time. He was dead within two hours. Always tough, this bit. These first few days without a long term member of the pack. You’re just so used to calling out that name during feeding time, or when you go into the house, or whatever. As always I am reminded of Star Trek’s Data, who called it “missing the input” of someone or something. Very true.

But anyway, mom was upset, so big brother and I drove to the market to pick her up, rather than have her wait there until the end of the market…which reminds me, big brother and I opted to not go to the Funny Beach Marbella market due to the threat of some seriously bad weather. And boy was it bad, later in the afternoon. There were chilly winds, hail, rain and raging clouds. Very impressive. On our way home with mom our mountain looked very much like “Mount Doom” with its looming black clouds overhead.

It’s a pity we didn’t make it to our market, in particular since I had planned to try out my strawberry cheesecake and burgers there, but alas…at least I could use both the excesses for tenant’s family, who had a very nice lunch of veggie burgers and cheesecake with tea.

Cooking-wise I’ve kept it simple these past couple of days. Kale in mashed potatoes yesterday (the kale fresh from the yard just an hour prior to supper, mind you) and today, spinach with baked carrots and blank mashed potatoes on the side. All of it healthy as heck, and filling…the latter a bit too much, in fact. I’m still stuffed, darn it.

Editing. We managed twelve pages yesterday, which is a good thing because up until now we haven’t done ANY today. I’ve said it before, but seriously, there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

During a rather clear hour yesterday afternoon big brother and I managed to get something done in the kitchen. Yep, the first three roof beams are up, and it looks splendid. It’s going to be so great once we get the place done (if we ever get that far). I am already fantasizing about how the floor is going to look, and the cabinets, and the closets, and the sink, counters, shelfs…everything. *sigh* In particularly the china I've been gathering for the past few months. I want to see the end result of what's in my head, darn it.

A bit more bad news is that Sally had a charity doctor visiting today. Turns out that the doctors at the hospital failed to mention something about her last test results. Turns out that her cancer has spread like crumbs of bread. *sigh* I am most displeased about how they just "fail" to mention such things. How the heck is a body supposed to keep informed about such things. Added to the metastasis, her legs are retaining liquid, meaning that her heart isn't working properly. The fun just doesn't stop, does it?

Out of sheer necessity we had to sacrifice some precious time and go grocery shopping this morning. For the past two days we’ve been out of milk, eggs, cheese, and butter. Seriously, you don’t know how much you use that stuff until it’s gone right? Ah well, we survived, just barely. Hah. Added to that the coffee machine broke down the other day *ear piercing screech* so it’s been a trial. Luckily Cousin Ed and grandpa cleaned out a closet today and found an old coffee machine. That. Still. Works!!! Yay! I am saved.

Have been incredibly tired for the past few days. I think it has to do with the cold, really. Had a nap of an hour and a half yesterday, and then slept the night away with eight solid hours, and still I could have done a nap again today. Hah. Oh well, let’s see if I can back to bed in time again tonight, eh?

Okay, let’s see if we can get another edit done tonight. So far it’s not been going bad, but still, there’s the deadline. Shouldn’t dawdle, if at all possible. Gotta go.

50 yard sprint. Yay!

Song of the day: “Perhaps perhaps perhaps” by Doris Day, duh!
Good song, but I do have it a lot in my head, which could get annoying if it lasts too long.

Right. The past couple of days. I really gotta start doing something about this brain of mine so I can remember stuff better. Need that diary again…

Okay, woke semi-on-time yesterday, which is a problem lately, considering my alarm is acting wonky again. It fell the other night, so now, every once in a while, it stops running, darn it.

As is usual at the moment, the day started with taking the visiting dogs for a walk. They’re really used to it at the moment, are bouncing and barking when I let them out in the morning and take them for a walk…over coffee, of course. Can’t be without coffee doing that, or the laundry that follows. Thinking about it, that is a perfectly fine description for today and yesterday, including feeding the dogs and the two hour edit that followed.

Yesterday’s edit was really good, by the way. Managed to make our way through twenty pages during the course of two sessions. While today we added another fourteen pages to the hole, bringing us close to one third of the edit.

Spent some time in the yard, of course, watering stuff, searching for bugs, which was vastly relaxing. Couldn’t do much for the outside kitchen yesterday, seeing as we had to go out to do some groceries. That took quite a while, in particular since we had to go to the vegetable distribution center to get our load of veggies or the dogs, and some for ourselves, which are way cheaper than at the supermarket, which is awesome.

Cooked supper once we got home, which involved the newly bought carrots and potatoes which made for a great mix of food, which fell on the heavy side.
Good though it might be, today I opted to prepare pumpkin soup, which is something Sally likes a lot, and tenant, who both enjoyed it…me too for that matter.

Today we did manage work a little on the outside kitchen. Did some serious digging, in particular for the foundation, and removing rocks which I’ll use for the wall, later on. While cousin Ed and I worked on that, big brother dug, chopped, and wrenched out the eucalyptus tree trunk that was left from the one we cut down the other day. Took him quite some time, but by the time I’d picked my kitchen windows, he had it done.

Had to go to the vet tonight, where a massive bill still needs to be paid, but of which at least paid part again. *sigh* Took Knight II along, because afterward we headed for our usual spot to do some jogging. Went well today (also for Knight II, of course), I even managed a fifty yard sprint full out. Yay! Not bad, eh? And I think that the fact that I managed to choke down a small slice of beef again, this afternoon, helped with the jog. I hate to admit it, but red meat does give the body more energy.

According to the weather forecasts Sunday’s going to be a rainy day, which is a pain in the behind in regard to the outdoor, Funny Beach market. Supposedly it is going to be a special day, with lots of events, so if it goes through that would be splendid. It’s looking bleak though, which means I might be going to mom’s market to see if I can get a 2nd hand chainsaw if it rains.

Hmmm. Well, that about sums it up. I’ll be keeping track (with photos) of the kitchen project so that I can give y’all a full update once it’s done. That’s it, I’m heading out for some zzzzzs. The day’s been a long one.

Sweltering a little

Song of the day: “We are young” by Fun. Not as cool as the other song, but doable for as far as earworms go.

Bit of a wow experience. Hit 7000 viewers for the blog today, and shot right over it, yay! Isn’t that awesome? You’re part of the 7000 clicks of folks that came by here, and that got me excited every time I was up another fifty hits. Yay. I wonder if I’ll ever make it to 100K. Ah well, I am going to be pleased with this number, thank you very much (I mean that literally, by the way, thanks for dropping by occasionally). I should do something special for the occasion, but let’s just keep it to a private little happy dance, and move right along.

Just got home from a much needed jog, so I’m running late once more (pardon the pun) and better get this thing done. Went well, by the way. Did most of the distance at a steady jog, and where the mountains were just too steep, I managed to keep up a nice marching clip. Yay. Not bad for a girl who didn’t run since she was seven, or so.

Okay, writing-wise I did well enough the past couple of days. Though yesterday started out crappy with only three pages during the afternoon hours, I did manage to make up for it in the evening by adding another page, bringing me up for my daily quota. Today, on the other hand, I managed a solid six pages, despite needing to dig into the internet in search of some facts, which always takes way too much time. Was really digging into the Greek mythology today, which was a first. Earlier in the book I did some mentions on the flyby, but now we’re getting to the gritty parts. Gotta love research. Hah.

There were the normal chores of course, along with a quick trip to town to get some cheese and other groceries. Had some serious temps while we were at it. 100 up here at home, then down there mid-nineties and near the beach low nineties, which was a welcome change. Good thing too, considering that every time we exited a supermarket you got a hit in the face from the heat. That’s why I hate the ACs you know. They make life a lot less pleasant, seeing as you constantly have to readjust to the changes. I much rather be used to the heat and just enjoy the summer, thank ya very much.

Had a couple of gardening sprees. Yanked weeds, watered some plants, and harvested a few veggies. Life as usual, only a little warmer. Hah. Had to take Chaos, Labhana and Gada in the pool, because the poor darlings were just breathing to heavily. While the labs were good girls and went in and out, both times The Chaos, decided he hadn’t cooled enough and stayed on the second to the top step of the stairs, leaving his lower body submerged for more than ten minutes. Smart Basset. Afterward he was all energetic.

Despite opting to stay upstairs yesterday, tenant did decide to come down to the basin terrace, after an early morning dip in the pool. Later in the day she doesn’t feel like it, because the path down is so very hot. Understandable, of course, but she does miss out on a lot of pool dipping that way.

Cooking was a hasty affair these past couple of days. Yesterday I made chickpea dough for patties, which I had for a meal with the previous day’s leftover chili. Ended the day with some French fries, because, let’s face it, there wasn’t time for much else (stupid, I know). Today there were pancakes for breakfast, partly because tenant joined us and because big brother had to go into the yard to water what we didn’t have time for yesterday, and because on Sunday we never have fresh bread. Supper consisted of red beets with rice, and tonight, after the jog, again chickpea patties with mustard, Maggi, sweet chilli sauce and cheese. Gawd, that was good. I ate too much. Hah.

Other than that…well, not much more going on. It is still warm, though the temperature is lower than yesterday, I think. I might actually sleep without feeling like there’s a hairblower on my face. Hah.
Okay, heading out. Got a new day coming fast.

Fingers crossed

Song of the day: “Payphone” by Maroon 5. Not a huge fan of the band, but they do have a few nice songs…this one included.

I would prefer to do this one fast, seeing as I’m running terribly behind, and haven’t managed more than a couple of paragraphs for the book, because I’ve been forced to be out half the day, and then headed into the yard. So yeah, fast. Don’t laugh. I’m getting way better at doing my blogs shorter.

Yesterday.
Well, I was jarred awake by something, probably mom and the sibs leaving for market, and then passed out again until my alarm almost had me fall out of bed. Seriously, just barely prevented myself from going flat on my face.

Oddly enough the past couple of days have been so hazy the mornings have been downright nippy. Good for the plants, sure, but also extremely weird, all things considered. The sun’s out, there’re no real clouds, and yet it doesn’t feel like full summer (despite the late afternoon humidity) either. Most peculiar. For a while (last night) we were hopeful of a nice thunderstorm, but regretfully it didn’t happen.

There were the morning chores, the feeding of the dogs, and then helping tenant change so she could come down with me to the basin terrace (it was cool enough for her to sit in the sunshine for a change). Did some massive dishes in the field kitchen, and then had breakfast over Spanish. Can I just say here, for the record, that I have a biatch of a time getting my mind around Spanish. I think I’m getting too old to get the flexibility I need for it…on the other hand, maybe I just want to write too badly to bother with it. Hah.

But anyway, since the plan was to make pizza’s for supper, tenant got to work on cutting veggies while I wrote a few pages during the course of the afternoon. Have decided not to work chronologically with this book. It shaves some time off the schedule, which is necessary seeing as we need to have the book done by next spring. I had a really awesome idea for a scene later in the book, so I worked on that. By the time I was done with that for the day, we started on the pizza and baked five in the small grill that is now standing in the field kitchen. Worked out splendidly too, what with all the fresh veggies and the dripping cheese. I LOVE pizza, and it’s been ages.

That done it was down into the vegetable garden to water what needed watering and to harvest what needed harvesting. Not much of either, what with the different weather, but still, it was a couple of hours after all.
On our way up we had to take along about six bags of dog food from the spare storage, and boy, was I breathing heavy when I got up to the carport. Had to hurry back to the middle gate too because big brother, who was carrying up four (160 pounds) and took the one that was sliding off from his hands. Luckily, now with us making most of the dog food with fresh veggies and bread, the kibble lasts way longer.

Once recovered, I cut veggies for the dog food and then took a quick dip in the pool. What with all the sitting (or standing, in my case) we decided to head out for a nice relaxing jog at the end of the day. That was rather wonderful, despite the friggin’ foot. I’ve discovered that it goes well enough, as long as I do my stretches. Did decide to wear my special insoles in my sandals to see if that would help a bit, so, yeah, I’ll keep you informed. Hah.

Ended up doing five pages of the book in total yesterday, but was once again late getting to bed. Strangely enough that didn’t matter for my internal clock this morning, which had me wake up less than three minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off.

After the morning rituals and chores, big brother and I headed to town for a few groceries, and then the garage. Turns out the Land Rover is still acting funny. The engine sputters a little, and it just refuses to build up any speed up the inclines. Very frustrating. So we went to the garage where I discussed the problem with the mechanics. Though it could still be cylinder problem, I got the advice to try it a little longer, let the extra oil do its job before I decided to have the engine taken apart to see if they need to fix, or replace the problem thing. Since doing a huge, expensive repair at this time is really a thing that would require me selling a kidney, or something. *sigh*

But anyway, I was relieved, and we drove home with our fingers crossed that all will be swell in the end. Once we got home (greeted all the dogs) and changed into work clothes, it was down to the terrace where I made pea soup for supper (got some French bread while out) and then headed down into the yard (after eating, of course) to water the whiny plants again, and harvest a little. Beets and broccoli, mostly, also herbs, of which a big load went into the larger drying cupboard grandpa made for me this year. Am doing basil, Marjoram, oregano, thyme and mint at the moment, and took out the first batch of dry basil and chamomile, all nice and dry.

Did some cleaning in the field kitchen again, and then it was up to the car port to start on the day’s computer work. Not getting much of that done, though, seeing as I’m feeling unfocussed, and am still doing this blog thing. Grrr.

Ah well, no matter, tomorrow will be another day, and then…well, we’ll see.

Not much to tell

Song of the day: “A happy place” by Katie Melua. I know, it’s a bit harried, but that’s how I felt today, so it was rather appropriate.
Yes, I’m sure your guessing the cause of my mood, it is that time of the month again…no, not THAT time. I mean grocery shopping time. *sigh* I could talk about it endlessly, of course. I could go into detail of going into this shop, and then into that, guessing up ahead which one would have the cheapest sugar, or the best fruit; I could supply a step by step recount of how we loaded the carts full, packaged everything up and stacked it into the car and went from one side of town to the other, but…I won’t. Because let’s face it, who cares? It’s groceries, for crying out loud. We bought the necessities, and some extras…heck I even found some jeans (yay) that fit me and we actually got home in time before dusk so we could go into the yard to check everything and to close down the greenhouse and seedbeds.
Nothing like relaxing in the yard after a day like that, I tell ya.

The doggies weren’t happy with us, of course, but according to cousin Ed and grandpa they behaved well enough. Mine were staring at me angrily…or that is what it looked like when I opened the door to my cabin and let them out. Poor darling.

Luckily there was a workout this morning. It’s been a while, I know, but the pounding, the kicking and the weight lifting was rather splendid, thank you very much. Managed serious heart beat of 120 during the five jab session, and though my shoulder played up several times, I did manage the full workout without little to no problem. It was definitely the highlight of today…along with the morning trip to the yard, (harvested some serious kale for tomorrow’s dog food) and feeding the dogs the food we prepared last night. I don’t know how long we’re going to keep this feeding them healthy stuff up, but they’re enjoying it while it lasts.

That done, I went up to help tenant for a bit. Caregiver was at her other job again, so there was plenty to do before it was time to head on out.

So let me regale on yesterday (yes, that is sarcasm. How could you tell?) by saying that after waking fifteen minutes late, doing laundry and rearranging the grocery shopping list on the computer, it was time for opening the greenhouse (before it got to be too hot) and having breakfast.

The majority of the afternoon was spent in the yard, watering plants, harvesting veggies and on the overall just having a bit of relaxing time in the sunshine. I could continue telling about the marvels of the weather, of course, but there really isn’t a point. It is just the usual yard stuff, and I won’t bore you with that either. Then an edit, but okay, that's not new either, is it. Hah.

Since I’m not in the best of moods anyway, I figure I might as well keep this short. Heck, I managed to keep it under one page for a change.

Little accident

Song of the day: I have no idea…I’m completely blank and I’m blaming the rain. It’s coming down in buckets at the moment. Yay!!! The plants are going to love this. What with the drought of this winter, we were hoping for this, in particular since we’ve been going through the basin water like mad these past few months. This is good, this is excellent. All those trees we planted already (got half of them in now, I think) and the veggies of course, they’ll be soaking this up.

But anyway, I’m incredibly late. It is already ten thirty, and I haven’t even had time to edit yet today, which is nothing short of a sin. First off, the reason I’m so late is because first I had to see my foot doctor, due to those freaky insoles (for which I had to sell a kidney, mind you), then we had to go to town for a few groceries…with a pit stop at home before that, (couldn’t think, or drive had to pee).

Getting ahead of myself, I know. But since I have to keep this short anyway, it doesn’t really matter.
Let’s see. For the most part there was garden work. Watering got done by big brother, though, seeing as he pulled something in his back yesterday. This of course meant that grandpa and I were on our own continuing with the terrace for the citrus trees. Hauled down two wheelbarrows of rocks, and helped grandpa with his to add another four feet to the small terrace before we put in the blood orange.

That done, and with big brother watering the recently placed trees, grandpa and I continued clearing away years of bougainvillea branches, rotting tree stems and vibrant morning glory vines crisscrossing over it all. Then of course, there was the old Broom we found growing underneath, which had to be tackled with an axe. We’ll get the whole yard sorted out some day yet.

I had wanted to work a little on creating a path on the east side of the yard, but since caregiver was at her other job and tenant wanted to exercise on the home training bike, I had to go up early (harvested enough veggies for supper first) help her bike, and then head to the kitchen to get supper started at least.

Let’s see, what else was there these past couple of days…well, I made tomato soup…or was that even before the last blog. I can’t remember. These things tend to blur together.
Market went well for mom and the sibs yesterday. Not a lot of customers, but those that came bought well. Hah.

I really have to get back to the workouts…but on the other hand, all that rock hauling is really digging in too…so’s the digging for that matter. Ah well, I’ll get to that, once time is a little less tight again.

Knight II really got spoiled about our sleeping arrangements these days. I was once again wrecked this morning because pain in the behind Knight decided that it is nice to curl up in the unnatural curve of my spine. Ergo, he makes said curve, which I can’t appreciate for some reason. Hah.

Well, this is a short blog, in particular since this is the end of it. I can’t remember anything else that was…oh my Gawd, I almost forgot to tell the most exciting thing that happened. We bought three gallons of varnish (they were on sale) this afternoon, and while we were on our way home we heard “plop, glupglupglup”, and both glanced to the back of the car where a whole gallon of brownish liquid gushed through the car. It went EVERYWHERE. Shloshing back and forth, from side to side, and at times even up. Yep. That was definitely the highlight of the day, when groceries, stainless steel shelves that we’d picked up too, were all doused in this foul smelling liquid that started gushing out onto the street. I do hope that people didn’t think that it was something other than brownish varnish. Hah.
Once we got home, I headed inside to get supper done, while big brother and cousin Ed started on cleaning the mess up. Once I had dinner done, I went there to help, and I think we got the worst of it at least. Seriously, I should head back to the store and slap someone about not taping that canister shut. Grrr.

Okay, gotta go.

That time again

Song of the day: “More than Words” by Extreme. Hmmm. It’s been a while since I heard that one, and I think it’s the first time I’ve had it in my head. How weird is that?

So, yeah, yesterday. It was that time of the month, time for grocery shopping, time for…well, basically wasting a whole effing day. And no, I’m not going to describe it all to you. I’ll spare you the tediousness of it. Hah.

Instead I’ll regale you with the before and after events, and maybe, later on whine a bit, because, let’s face it, I’m in a whiny mood. *sigh*
First off, yesterday morning I woke right on the dot to start on the day with the chores, and heading down into the yard to water what needed watering, to pluck what needed plucking and to put outside, what needed fresh air. It was actually kinda nice, starting grocery shopping day that way. It calmed me, centered me, and allowed me to actually be nicely relaxed prior to getting into the car and setting out.

Was a long day, thank you very much. Left around noon and didn’t get back until after seven. Meaning that it took us ‘till after eight to put everything away, to make dinner and then finally sit down to devour sustenance.

Checked my messages, did some chats, and then, because focus was difficult to find at best, we decided to call it a day and put on a DVD that little brother rented. Colombiana with Zoë Saldaña. I was pleasantly surprised about the movie, I’ll admit, since the trailer didn’t do it justice at all. In fact the trailer looked a little cheap, while the actual movie rated right up there with the good ones. Knowing, and loving, Luc Besson, the creator, I shouldn’t have been surprised. I mean, (La Femme) Nikita, The Assassin, Leon, The Fifth Element, The Kiss of the Dragon, Unleashed/Danny the Dog, The Big Blue, Wasabi, Taken, From Paris With Love, just to name a few; it wasn’t all that surprising after all. Hah.
He does goooooood stories.

But okay, it was still early, and I was more than ready to hit the sheets and pass out while still settling…I swear, I’m slowly turning into grandpa who sometimes doesn’t even remember going to bed. *snort*

What with the temperatures oddly low again (I can’t explain it, but a few days ago the weather was almost summery, and since last night, we’re back to winter. Weird, I tell ya) Knight II was making a nuisance of himself during the night. No matter what I did, he kept pressing himself against me. Which in effect wrecked my back, (duh) and made me sore all over come morning. *sigh* Stupid horse doesn’t know his own strength for crying out loud.

No workout this morning, since I opted to sleep ‘till nine and then start on the chores immediately. Laundry and such dealt with, it was time for breakfast, and a short chat with tenant. What with the weather change, she’s feeling a tad miserable, which is understandable, if not sad. Despite the fact that she could be doing more with her days, she opts to sit in her room, watching TV and reading a book. Sure, it is hard to do new stuff, but if you don’t try, you never know your limits (if you have them) until you try.
Ah well, choice. Everyone has to make their own.

I had thought to give you an elaborate rant about the economy, and maybe fashion…oh right, how could I forget. I also tried to get myself a new pair of pants yesterday, and failed miserably…but okay, I decided to tone that down a bit. Could hardly fill a whole blog with a rant…well, I could, easily, but I won’t. It just wouldn’t be nice.

But fashion, I’ve got something to say about it. WTF???
Let me explain something to you. I’m a big girl. I’m 6 feet tall, I wear size 16 (used to be 24, but what the hey) and weary size 11 shoes. It is not easy to find clothes that fit me, but these days, with today’s fashion, it is nigh on impossible!
What is it with the huge hip model pants that have tiny ankle ends? I mean it. I tried six pairs yesterday and not a single one fit. And I didn’t just try size 16 either. I went all the way up to size 22 ‘till I just gave up and tossed them all back on the shelves. Sure, one 16 practically fit (stretchy jeans) but it just looked weird plastered to my legs like a second skin (despite it supposedly being bootcut. No effing way!). The other didn’t go over my thighs. Another two didn’t go over my calves while bagging around my waist. One was so tight around my knees I thought I was going to have to amputate, and the last one, the one that made me give up, didn’t even go past my hips. I just gave up in the end, and opted to wait for fashion to change again. (I’m dreaming long, long legs, going wide, like the seventies soul pants. *blissful sigh*)
What is wrong with clothes these days? Why the HUGE hips and no calves? What? No one has muscle tissue anymore down there, and just hoards it on top. Grrrr.
Bought a hat for three bucks instead, hah.

But anyway, today the majority of the day was spent in the yard again. Harvested a nice batch for today’s supper. Chard, and wild onions with chickweed and broccoli. The latter for a nice burger at lunch. Chickpea/lentil burger with fresh chickweed, lettuce, our own tomatoes (harvested another three pounds at least) some green peppers and a wonderful yogurt/mayonnaise/herbal sauce. Boy, did that work out well. Hah.

After that there was computer work. Yep. I actually sat most of the afternoon, and already my butt is complaining. I’ve gotta do something active soon, I tell ya.

Well, this will do for now, won’t it? I wanna work on the new book a bit. And I really do need to work on the V.L. edit.

Poor puppy...

Song of the day: “The voice” by Eimear Quin. There was something else earlier this morning, but by now it has faded into the bustle of no other than Grocery Shopping Day. Yay.

Yep, it is that time of the month again, and though I would have gladly postponed, it had to be done. For me it was a long day for sure. First of I had to head for the doctor’s (podiatrist, really) to pick up my insoles. The nice girl doctor was there again, but regretfully she forgot to bring my old ones in, meaning I have to go back around Monday to pick them up again. I got the new ones today, and at the moment, after walking on them for a solid eight hours, I am not pleased with them. Hah.
Seriously, they look cheap, as if they’re made of some sort of stuff that will fall apart within a week, and though they are softer (after a fashion) they are not all that comfortable. Seriously, it felt as if I was starting from scratch with the blasted things, and to add to the insult, they were twenty bucks more expensive. Grrrr. If I pay for something like that more than I do for the average shoe, I would like to see smooth edges, nicely trimmed colors and whatnot.
Ah well, no helping it now, I guess. I’ll just have to get used to them…or better yet, find a way to heal the effing foot. Yeah. That’s a much better idea. Hah.

But enough about today. It were just groceries and that really isn’t all that interesting. I mean, really, we went into stores, out, packed, unpacked, loaded, unloaded and again once we got home. All very boring…like usual, but since I can hardly just repeat any other grocery shopping day that I did before, we’ll just skip it.

Let’s do yesterday…which wasn’t all that more exciting but at least it was different. Hah.
Also an early day, by the way. We had an appointment at the MOT (blasted government demands that you have an all terrain vehicle checked every six months) and had to leave a little early because we wanted to stop at the gas station to pump the tires. Then it was off the Málaga where we arrived at the exact time of our appointment. Yay. There was some waiting involved, along with a short chat with a guy who also had a Land Rover and who was waiting for his turn. He ran a touring agency, like safaris through the local country-side. Got to talking a bit, since I was curious as to where he was located and how business was going these days. Though slower in the winter (which is normal, apparently) he was doing well. Good for him! By then our license plate number was broadcasted and we had to get into the hangar for our turn.

Gawd. The mechanic checking us over was there with about five percent of his attention, where he was with the other 95 percent, I don’t know, but he only checked the absolute basics, stamped our papers and sent us on our way. Now, personally I didn’t mind all that much, seeing as I consider the car’s condition/safety to be our responsibility and not that of the government, but I paid the obligatory 45 bucks for that check, and got a guy for it who stood staring vaguely in the distance the whole while.

Ah well, no matter. The brakes work, so do the lights, and that’s the stuff the cops look at, right? But anyway, we got our stamp and our sticker so we started homeward with only a slight detour to a Chinese food store to get coconut milk and a variety of noodles. After that it was on to home where the sun was shining beautifully and grandpa was waiting for help up at the storage. Big brother went there, while I headed down into the yard to water the greenhouse and raised seedbed, and then the sowed alfa alfa fields lower in the yard. Such a wonderful way to relax. I really wound down ‘round then.

The yard seen to, I headed up to the storage and helped sorting through panels and such which could be set in the sections big brother and grandpa had put together. It took until the end of the afternoon, but it was well worth the effort. It looks way better there now. Hah.

While we were busy there, the lady from the other day drove down with the her car. She was a bit upset seeing as she had found a podenco puppy by the side of the road. It was tiny, she said and had a ripped ear. And she was wondering if we could take him. We couldn’t, of course. We have strict rules about new dogs, and we made a decision not to take any anymore.

So I explained to the woman that we can’t risk a dog that isn’t vaccinated (seriously, we’ve had several contagious deceases raging rampant through the pack, and it’s not funny). She then of course offered to get him all his shots and whatnot, if only we’d take it. She clearly didn’t realize that getting the pup vaccinated wouldn’t do anything until a minimum of two weeks (which is the incubation period of most diseases) but ideally a good 3 months.

But that was all beside the point. We are trying to get less dogs, not more, and thankfully she did understand in the end. We ended the conversation with me giving her directions to two good vets in the village, and after she cooed a little with Knight II (who was being his beautiful self, of course) she departed with puppy and all.

So sad, puppies being dumped…gawd, the horror stories I could tell…but you can do only so much. There have to be limits, and ours is our present pack at the moment.

While big brother and grandpa finished up in the storage Cousin Ed and I went inside to start on supper. Noodles with veggie under a rather spicy satay sauce. Yummy.

There was a rather turbulent edit, where big brother and I really got into a row about several sentences. What I consider to be suspense, he thought tedious, which of course led to some serious discourse. Moments like that can make a body despair, and then I have to remind myself that every edit makes the story just a little bit better, so it really isn’t for nothing. *sigh* Sometimes there are moments I forget, however. *double sigh*

Well, I’m going to leave it at this. My doggie are demanding attention, and I for one wouldn’t mind an early night at all.

33

Song of the day: “Mr. Rock&Roll” by Amy McDonald.

Was late getting up yesterday morning, finding it rather hard to get out of bed with temperature that were just a handful of degrees above the freezing point. It made workout an…interesting event. Same goes for this morning, when it was just as cold, but I found a rather good sweater for this kind of thing in my closet, and managed to survive the ordeal. Hah.

Am still reading Jack Vance, this time “Night Lamp”, and still having a blast. I gotta say that the guy narrates well, despite it being very different from modern day books. He has a flair with words, and though his main characters are on the most part the mysterious (deadly) observers in strange exotic words (I wonder if he was a lot like that) the worlds and its people are fascinating to read about.

I was not in the best of moods yesterday (nor today for that matter. Can’t really explain why, but I’m just working through it, waiting for it to pass, thank you very much) but tried to keep myself busy on the most part.

There was the yard for a while, digging around in the dirt, harvesting some veggies, yanking weeds, squashing bugs, and opening the greenhouse and seedbed to let what little sun there was in. Since we were down there already we watered the young seedling and the beds of Alfa Alfa.

By the time I returned to the upper yard because tenant needed a hand to change, grandpa was already digging out the side of the path where I still had to put in portions of the stone wall. Once I was done helping tenant and walked her down to my terrace where she sat in the sunshine most of the day, I got to work on the masonry.

Big brother and grandpa worked on the wiring for the solar panels, leading it up to the carport, which has been elected to be the spot where we’ll use the power just to prevent the batteries from dying, I did masonry. Usually I have help, but yesterday we were spread a bit thin. No matter, though, stuff got done.

There was an edit, as planned, some chats online, answering messages and such, following a cooking session with nopales that worked out rather well. Other than that there were just chores and the like.

As for today… Not much different, except that I had my doctor’s appointment and we had to go to town before that. The morning was spent making my cake (yes, tomorrow is my B-day, and I’m treating myself by not having to write my blog then, hah) and afterwards taking apart an old desk, which is, even now being used as firewood. A pity too. It was such a nice desk, but since we don’t have some massive attic where we can store things such as furniture, it had to go. Ah well.

Also had to finish the wiring for the solar panels, meaning that I was working with hammer and nails to get wires out of the way while big brother finished up on his grand idea. By the time that was all done, we had to head on out to town for a spot of grocery shopping, a trip to the computer store and then off to the village for my appointment (podiatrist)…arrived about five minutes late, rushing and everything only to hear that the podiatrist wasn’t in today (apparently they had tried to phone me, but since my phone is at the repair shop, that didn’t do much good.) meaning that I have to go back tomorrow morning. Grrr.

On the new part bit: Cousin Eddi arrived today. It was very out of the blue, really, but family is family after all, and she’ll make herself useful. She’ll be moving in permanently, working for room and board, so to speak, and since she wants to become handy at construction and such, we’ll have an extra set of hands. Yay.

What else. After the debacle at the doctor’s it was back home to bring the groceries, and picking up the papers from the washing machine store. Turns out that due to the fact that the repairman didn’t show up within five weeks, we will be supplied with a replacement of our choice (either the same one of the same price, or we pay the difference of a different brand). We doubted for a bit, but then opted to go for SamSung. The Daewoo really isn’t anything to write home about and we’ve had so much trouble with it, I was just about ready to start treating the thing to a boxing session. Grrr. But anyway, we picked a new one, filled in twenty miles of paperwork, and will get the machine delivered on Thursday (I’ll believe that when I see it, thank you very much). It was all very casual, the staff was incredibly friendly, and it felt like a humongous waste of time for me. Ah well, no helping it.

My dogs didn’t like it, seeing as I was gone for more than five hours. They were pretty bonkers by the time I finally got home and tried to steer them away from the mess they had made in my cabin. Chaos somehow managed to get off the bed, by the way, so I’m lucky he didn’t break a paw, or worse, his neck. Nah, our Chaos cannot be called athletic in that regard. He’s about as elegant as a salami sausage…who thinks he’s irresistible. Hah.

As for me: I am, as of thirty minutes ago, 33 years old. Yay. You’d think you’d feel different, but you don’t, just another day in another week, another month and another year. *sigh*
In honor of this so-called special day, I do remember my very first B-Day. One year old, Big brother (then three) on the floor with our best friend B. My cream cake had been put on the floor in front of me and I remember (vaguely) loads (a handful at most, hah) of people there. I was strutting around excited about the cake, and a little miffed I had to share it with big brother and B...and that's about it. What can I say, I was a dictatorial little thing. Hah.
So much for memories.

Wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Happy NEW YEAR!!!

Song of the day: “Big spender” by Shirley Bassey.

I had thought to do a rhyme of sorts, but it felt kind of pretentious and unlike me to do it in anything except a mocking fashion, so I decided to just go for normal. It’s not as if the 31st of December is any different from any other day of the year, it’s just a date.

I don’t do celebrations, or resolutions (seriously, the fact that I stopped smoking two years ago around this time had nothing to do with New Years, I just gave it a shot and stuck with it), which I think are really not all they’re cracked up to be. If ya wanna do something, you can decide to go for it any given day. 31st of December is not going to change that. Ah well, it is tradition, and all that, and for that reason I don’t suppose I can complain about it too much. Traditions are important, seeing as they got us where we are today, eh?

So yeah, no celebrations, just a nice evening by the stove and working on the book, of course. Just like any other night. Personally, I am looking forward to it, considering yesterday was a busy one.

Yep, grocery shopping day is over and done with for a full month again, thank you very much. I would write about it, share with you all the details, but this is a special night for some of your, so I’m not going to bore you to death. Hah. Let’s skip yesterday as if it never existed, eh?

So let’s do today. Woke up a little on the late side, what with me having decided to sleep in a little, yay. No workout either, so it was rather awesome to wake to the sound of music, staring sleepily at the sun rising over the slope, shining right into my face.

It was a tad of a restless night. Chaos woke me a couple of hours before dawn by flopping down right on top of me, demanding to go off. The dog has some serious issues, and is smart to boot, because that is the one way he knows he’ll get lifted off the bed posthaste. Hah. Knight II, on the other hand, decided multiple times that he had to lie against me, and Amri wasn’t feeling well, and vomited twice. Poor darling. He totally overate yesterday.

Regretfully there were no edits last night. Our brains were just too mushy from a day in the city, so instead, after going through the messages, chatting online a bit, and catching up on the news, we decided to watch one of little brother’s movies: Fright Night.

I gotta say I was a little disappointed. The premises was nice (Gawd, it’s about vampires, what can possibly be wrong with that?) but the execution left me wanting more. Personally I like the more serious vampire flicks. “Interview with a vampire”, “Queen of the damned” (even though I wish Tom Cruise had played Lestat again. Not that Stuart Townsend did a bad job, he did fine, but in my head Lestat is still a blond Cruise. Hah), “Underworld” and “Bram Stokers Dracula”. “Fright Night” didn’t even hit my top five, even though it was funny at times, and not even badly played. Heck, there were even a few scary moments, which was definitely a plus.

But back to today. After the usual stuff like morning chores and breakfast, I made dough for today’s mid-day treat of…well, I suppose most people would call them a kind of donut. Tenant was feeling a little homesick, so I decided to make the traditional treat of her youth that is usually served ‘round this time of year. She liked it, had three in fact, before dozing off again.

The dough made and brought to the greenhouse to rise, it was time to head on out into the yard and fully enjoy the sunny day doing something markedly necessary: planting young seedlings.

Yep. It was that time again. Grandpa spent the last week turning earth down there. He keeps insisting, clearly determined to have it done right (in his eyes) and liking the task that reminds him of working the farm way back when. Liking the turning earth part myself (nothing like using a shovel to get your mind to shut up) I can relate.

But anyway, he’d turned earth, so for the majority of the afternoon big brother watered the older plants and I planted up to sixty plants of cauliflower, broccoli, white cabbage and kale. They look nice too, since they’re on these narrow little terraces in the lowest part of the yard.

Harvested a full meal of broccoli while we were down there, along with about ten pounds of potatoes and a few tomatoes too. There were lotsa bugs again, but that’s all part of the deal. We grow stuff, bugs necessary to pollinate try to eat stuff, I kill bugs, and the plants grow a bit longer. It’s the circle of life…sorta.

Tenant spent the afternoon with us, trying to read but dozing in the sun most of the time instead. She did enjoy coming down to the big terrace, rather than the one by the basin, because she hadn’t seen that part of the yard in at least a year. She walked all the way down, and several hours later, up again…boy will she sleep well tonight. Hah.

But we had the extremely fresh “donuts” for a late lunch, and I was stuffed. Big brother did a nap (so should I have, but what the heck) at which time I finished the baking and then helped grandpa loading up the car with garbage because we were going to take Knight II out for a nice long walk, lest the idiot drive me bonkers again. Hah.

And that, my friends, is all she wrote for today. I know, not a lot of interesting stuff, but life is just that, LIFE! We all have it, and I for one try to enjoy it while it lasts.
Gotta go. I have less then three hours to go before midnight, and I would like to have a teeny little nap before I start editing again. Hah.

And as a final bit: I wish you a wonderful, splendid, fruitful, adventurous, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

See you in 2012

Stuff

Song of the day: “What if” by Kate Winslet. It’s been going through my head for two days now, and…well, I still like it, so it doesn’t really matter.

Yesterday was grocery shopping day, and I will not give my usual response to it because it’s starting to become boring, regardless of how appropriate the scream is. Hah.

But anyway, yesterday was an incredibly long day. It started early with big brother and I heading out with the car to get a particularly good sale on light bulbs (can I just say for the record I find it stupid that I am now obligated to buy expensive light bulbs, that might very well be just as bad for the environment as the old ones, and are more expensive. Grrrr) in Marbella, and picking up tenant’s new washing machine. We finally got the call that it arrived, so we connected it with the sale, and managed to get it all done before noon. We arrived back home at exactly 5 past 1 in the afternoon, right on time to start on groceries.

Got all the shops done before seven, but were forced to unload in the dark due to wintertime. Dontcha just hate wintertime? I do. But what the heck. The big groceries are done for another month, and that’s well worth the nine-hour effort, thank you very much.

Editing just didn’t happen after it, though, both our focus was shot to blithereens, so after I took care of my messages, did a bit of chatting online, and messed around with the cover for the gangster novella, we decided to put on a new movie that little brother got.

Cowboys and Aliens. Not a WOW movie, but entertaining enough with some nice twists and turns that took me by surprise. I like it when that happens, and it so rarely does these days. Also, I liked that there was no gratuitous sex in this one. What little skin was showed, was tastefully done, and I can’t ask for more than that, I guess.

Was in bed an hour after midnight, and grateful for it. Decided to not let Labhana on the bed, which meant that I actually slept better than expected just because there was more room to sleep in. It helped too that it wasn’t so cold, meaning that Knight II didn’t insist on pushing himself against me.

But anyway, I was slow to start this morning, mostly because I insisted on wearing my Sancho boots yesterday, and paid for it today, hah. Not so much my plantars, but the rest of my foot, which made for a nice change.

Had a reasonable workout, despite me cutting most of the reps in half, since I knew it was going to be a busy day. We first installed tenant’s washing machine, almost got ourselves a heart attack to boot, because when we connected the water it started running. We messed around for a bit and then figured that it might be a good idea to connect it to the power too and have the program shut down the valve. Worked like a charm. *phew*

That done I went up to help tenant for a bit (caregiver at her other job again) and basically divided my time between that and going down to saw wood with the small chainsaw, while big brother worked with the big (motor) one. There was sawing, chopping with the axe, and on the overall enjoying the outside exertions. Seriously, the weather was once again perfect for it…and afterwards heading for the greenhouse, was just as grand. Toasty warm and killing bugs by the dozen. *sigh*

We had pancakes fur supper, which got tenant in a good mood, hah. And then it was time to head on out to the village. Grandpa wants to have his old moped checked out by a mechanic, but from the looks of it, he’s going to be better off getting a new one.

Took Knight II along (we were going to get rocks afterward), and I can tell you, he didn’t like sharing the car with the moped. In fact, he ended up with all four paws in my lap, while his butt was on the ground. He didn’t like it AT ALL! Hah. I had to laugh so hard I almost burst something painful.

He did do some walking in the end, while we hauled rocks into the car. He went back in as soon as we forgot the door, though. *sigh* I sometimes worry about that one.

Well, I better get to the edit now, enough dawdling, in particular since yesterday we didn’t get any computer work done either.

Finished!!!

Song of the day: “Woman’s intuition” by Shakira. It’s been going through my head most of the day, part of the problem being that it’s been going in mix of Spanish and English, which is a problem when you know both versions, hah.

First off, the good news for a change: The last edit of “Saving Nina” is finally finished! Yay! *dancing a little jig* It took some time, and sure, we’re going to start on the V.L. edit right away, but still, I’m always psyched when we finish a project like that. Three months, minus the few weeks we took to edit “Chicago Hope” this summer. Glad that we stuck to the time schedule at least, giving us time to start on the new project and finish it before spring so I can start writing the new book. I can hardly wait!

Yesterday very little got done at home. Sure, we managed to do some stuff on the stove’s pipes, prepare some more metal since there was a change in plan. Rather than risk a piling up of dog hair and dust, we opted to do a bigger opening around the pipe, meaning I had to cut, fold and shape metal strips to protect the wood of the second floor.

Didn’t get it all done before we had to leave, though. Mom had to go to traffico again to make arrangements for her driver’s license, and big brother and I agreed to go with her so she wouldn’t have to part and walk a long distance. Turns out she had to go there to hand over her old one and take a small note that will be valid for three months while she waits for her new one in the mail.

After that we went to town so she could go to a fabric store, and I to a sports store where I go new boxing gloves and thin leather shoes without soles for my kick boxing. What with the cold getting worse, I won’t be able to workout on bare feet anymore, and since shoes don’t go well with my PF, I’m going to try them.

What followed were some groceries such as milk and veggies, and then it was back home after three in the afternoon. Did most of it on my high heeled boots (it’s been ages since I wore them, and it took some getting used to) and boy did I feel it at the end of the day. First thing I did once I got home was exchange them for my work boots, hah.

The day was pretty advanced by the time stuff was put away and we got to work. Seeing as there was only little time before we had to start computer work, we got to work on the small storage under the main wall where we keep oil and such for the car. The old one was really starting to fall apart, so this time we decided to go fort brick walls and an actual floor. To keep the rats out, we decided to use half an inch thick glass for the back to close the lot. Only got as far as the foundation, though. The sun was about to set, and I had to go down to check on the plants and close the greenhouse and the seedbed.

By then I had to start on supper, which was late, but since tenant already ate, I didn’t feel inclined to start earlier. Turned out well, if I do say so, using the new wok I found at this little Chinese store. Stir fries like a charm.

But anyway, last night we finished the S.N. edit, so I didn’t mind at all that we were a little late getting to bed. Was exhausted, though, and basically conked out ‘till my alarm went off this morning, bright and early. Hah.

As is par for the course these past few days, no workout this morning either, instead it was back to the grind of working on the stove. Not a lot we could do either. We forgot that we had to do a lot of drilling in the wall, so we could attach the pipes to the wall. So instead we worked on more metal in the carport, had breakfast and then headed back inside once everyone was out and about.

Got the pipes in okay, except for the one attached to the stove itself because the reduction pipe we ordered didn’t arrive at the construction company, we got it all in. Added to that, I varnished the woodwork around the glass bricks, which makes the whole look even fancier. Hah.

That done we headed down into the yard, and that was divine, despite that I once again found a whole batch of leaf miners in the tomato plants, darn it. The forecasts are predicting rain again, so I really soaked up what sunshine I could today. The wind was cooler today, but in the sun it was still nice enough to walk in a T shirt. Harvested a few tomatoes, a mini zucchini, a handful of purslane, and some peppers that were going to be today’s dinner.

After watering the new cabbage type seedlings, I headed up to start on supper. Made noodles with veggies and a satay sauce, which went down splendidly. The purslane was definitely experimental within the mix, but it actually made the pieces of pumpkin nicer. Besides, tenant enjoyed it too, and she’d never had noodles with satay yet. I think it went over well in that regard.

Dinner over and done with, and with me doing with less than six hours of sleep per night for the last week, or so, I took a nap of forty minutes and am therefore surviving this edit without my eyes falling shut. Hah. But anyway, it’s time to start on the edit. I made a serious start a few months ago, but I only did the first edit for about sixty pages. Can’t have big brother start on the edit without me reading through it at least once, now can I?

Time to start.

Phewey

Song of the day: “Sunrise” by Norah Jones. There were others in my head but this is the one that tumbled into my head when we got home about two hours ago.

Since then there was unloading, cooking a quick supper, and then finally sitting down to do the blog. Not necessarily because I’ve got a blog to write, but more because of the sitting. Boy was I ready for sitting. Jeez.
In case you haven’t guessed yet, yep, today was grocery shopping day, and I for one, am more than a little happy it’s over and done with for another month. Seriously, if I could get away with it, I do this particular shopping once every two months instead…which is silly since it would only mean that I would want to make that three months, and so on. Hah.

But anyway, it went off without a hitch. Right after helping tenant change (caregiver was her at her other job this afternoon) tenant wished us a nice shopping spree because she was under the mistaken impression that it would be a nice outing with mom, rather than the hard work it is. Hah. When I explained to her (again) that shopping consists of at least 5 hours of gruelling loading, unloading, loading and unloading, walking, jogging, searching, packing, unpacking, lifting, carrying, going in and out of stores (that range in numbers from 9 to 15 in any given month because we hunt for sales) and all the other FUN things we have to do, she looked a little startled.
Not that I blame her, seeing that it is a bit much. But, if you ya gotta watch the dimes, ya gotta go the extra mile.

Be that as it may, we, mom, little sister, big brother and I, were out from 1:00 ‘till 6:45 PM, during which time we went through a sum total of 13 stores that had the car filled to full capacity at the end of the entire thing. *sigh*
Which meant a helluva lot to unload by the time we got home…filled even further because Sally was done at work and we picked her up when we drove through the village. This meant that little sister had to fold up on top of some boxes in the middle of the back seat but it worked. We got home safe and sound where the dogs were absolutely bonkers, as usual, getting in our way, jumping up and down excitedly lame them either, I was ecstatic to be home as well. Hah.

Lemme just throw in a belated Aaaaaargh!!! here, okay?

I did lock my pack up in my cabin, seeing as the Knight and little brother’s mutts don’t get along all that well, as you know, and since there was storing to do, I thought having my crazy lot out of the way was not a bad thing at all. Knight II didn’t mind all that much, when all was said and done, in fact getting locked up at homecoming time, calms him down considerably…thankfully.

Which sums up today pretty well. Let’s hope that the splendid seven hours of sleep I managed to catch last night will allow me to hold out until at least midnight so that we can get some edits done. Seeing as yesterday evening we had to go out to get another donation, (very little this time, so we weren’t that late getting home, phew) we were a tad distracted and didn’t get all that much done on S.N.
I did manage to jot down half a page for our next project, but it’s still in the beginning stages so I really can’t tell anything about it yet. I’m basically still exploring the characters.

So what did we do yesterday? I’m not entirely sure, my brain is blanking out again, darn it.
The partition! Right, what with winter coming, along with more rain, according to the news casters, we decided to give the dogs, and ourselves a break, and set up a tent-like partition in the carport that will keep most of the rain and wind from there, keeping the dogs, and us dryer. Yay.

It took some time, but we did manage to get the contraption in, allowing for us to be out in the sunshine a lot. Yep, the clouds cleared a little yesterday and most of today, making for a wonderfully warm day, despite the air being nippy.

We did go into the yard, of course, checking everything, watering a little here and there, and finding another handful of tomatoes. Other than that, there really wasn’t all that much going on yesterday, except for another good workout (despite my being out of shwung, and Chaos getting in the way twice, and almost getting whacked by my foot swinging at the bag, hah) and the usual chores in-between.

Ah well, it really isn’t all that interesting, if it didn’t stick, is it. So let’s leave it at this and see if I have something remotely more interesting to tell the next time ‘round.

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

Song of the day: “Disturbia” by Rihanna. Totally inappropriate for a splendid day like today, but there you have it.

Been incredibly busy for the past couple of days, and yes, I have held up to my part of the deal (one I made with myself, of course), I have exercised every single morning for the past three days. Three days ago I…well we decided that it was time to do some serious cowboy-the-f**k-up…ping (I know, it’s not a real word, but I like it anyway) and schedule in some workouts. And we have, in spades.

There was punching, kicking, weight-lifting, jumping kneeing, sit-ups, push up, Aerobics and everything else that fits into an hour and a half workout. I moaned, groaned and puffed, but I made it through three sessions so far…and paid for it dearly.

Muscles trembling, but wonderfully warm, I headed down into the yard with big brother. While he went down to water plants, I headed into the greenhouse and discovered a new pest in the young tomato plants: leaf miners! That sure is a first, pesky little bastards are eating their way through the leaves and since discovering I have cut out at least fifty of them from no more than thirty plants. *sigh*

After that came groceries, and basically I knew it was going to be vastly interesting by the time I realized I almost couldn’t step into my jeans. Hah.

Nope, yesterday was no walk in the park in regard to my muscles. Every step screamed complaint, and that while it was grocery shopping day. I kid you not, but my head didn’t even bother to complain about this particular day. Instead there was a constant “ouch, ouch, ouch” as I went in and out of the car (slowly, infinitely slowly) in and out of the stores (more than a little wobbly) and tried to ignore the persisting agony. Hah.

Seriously, though, it was not that bad. I know the pain of workouts and I actually kind of enjoy them, because I know that I did it right if I can barely raise my feet to get up a stair. My only miscalculation was that we basically started the day before grocery shopping, darn it. Like today, for instance I have basically gotten used to it.

Ah well, no harm done in the end, the groceries got done, and Nata got to stay at home since his fever was completely gone. We did have to go to the vet (after grocery shopping) for her to take out the drip needle, and to check his fever one last time.
He appeared fine, and his test results showed that his liver was having trouble, but nothing else, meaning that with a ten day antibiotic course, along with a thirty day diet, he should be fine. Nata for one was thrilled to go back home with us again.

Of course we were so friggin’ tired by the time we got back, what with unloading, storing, etc., that we didn’t get around to doing a lot of editing. In fact, we did a single sentence before we both decided to call it a day and head to bed early…good thing too, since the alarm went off seven hours later…time for another workout.

Starting went incredibly slow, but once I got my muscles warm it wasn’t half as bad as yesterday. Got all the way through the session and afterwards headed up to tenants to make soup for supper, and prepare chickpea patties for either tonight, or tomorrow.
That done I hung tenant’s laundry as well, considering caregiver was at her other job again, and then helped tenant out to the old horse paddock where she could read in the sunshine.
The plan was that we’d work on fixing the trailer, but then reconsidered and headed down to the carport (with tenant) to work on stuff there.

For the past few weeks so much has been going on that we have been unable to finish stuff. Meaning that big brother started to do woodwork and gadget fixing while tenant helped me sand and wax the cupboard that has been waiting in the carport for weeks now to be put in my bathroom.

Hung that, and then got so annoyed about the mess all round that I cleaned the bathroom, and washes all my windows. Hah. Looking good now.
That done, I went in pursuit of big brother to see how his cabinet fixing in his own room was going…and got annoyed with the spider webs in the patio and big brother’s room because of it.

There were so many of them that most of the woodwork had disappeared. So I tackled the lot with a broom (mom’s ceiling too) and then grabbed a cloth and cleaned the linen closets as well. Might as well go for broke, eh? It all looks a lot better now, and once we had that done, and ate soup with bread, we headed down into the yard once more.

Harvested six pumpkins, some tomatoes and several zucchinis. Supper is going to be good tomorrow, that’s a fact. Hah.

Well, Nata has been following us around most of the day, and having fun to boot. Just five minutes ago he came toddling up the slope with an empty carton box in his mouth. Next he proceeded rip the box a bit, which gave him tremendous satisfaction, I would say.

This is it for today’s blog then. Soon in about fourteen posts, I think, we will reach blog 700, yay. Who’d have thunk it three years ago that I would hold out that long, but there you have it. 700. I still have trouble believing it.

Bugged...sorta anyway

Song of the day: “Haven’t met you yet” by Michael Bublé. So I’m not his biggest fan, but since this particular song is rather nice, I don’t mind all that much. Hah.

It’s been a busy couple of days, and by now I am more than ready to call it a day for today. Hah. Considering it is only six in the afternoon, this is a bit of a premature feeling, but what the heck. Can’t help the facts, can I?

So lets get this thing going, I still need to go out to get a new load of rocks. Grandpa is wanting to build a small wall in his little courtyard, meaning that we have to get some hand-sized rocks. Big brother and I prefer to work with rocks of more than sixty pounds each, and even though grandpa tries, this is a bit too heavy and unhandy for him. Not that it matters. I’m in need for some exercise anyway. Hah.

Yesterday morning was the morning rituals and the ever-lasting chore of hanging laundry, big brother and I quickly headed out into the yard to check if there was watering needing to be done, harvesting, and so on and on. After about an hour we were done, and headed on up with another basket full of veggies. Yay.

Then it was time to head on out…yes, have you figured out what time of the month it is yet? You know, that day I dread from the moment it is done? The day of……..grocery shopping. *sigh*

Added to the day’s fun-stuff, was the fact that two of my sibs, mom and I piled into the Opel, and basically held our breaths on our way to town. Considering the car had barely managed to get us home the other day, and the fact that going to the village and picking up Sally was almost too much for the poor dear, it wasn’t outside of the realm of possibilities that the car might not make it to town without loosing every last drop of its cooling liquid.

Suffice it to say that we made it to the garage, where the Land Rover was ready and waiting. We could continue on with the breaks for another 700 miles or so (give us a couple of weeks *sigh*) and they had to refill the transmission box’s oil (still a problem there, apparently) but other than that the car was in top shape, allowing us to head on out into the day (leaving the Opel there) and face the grocery shopping.

All went as planned, and around five in the afternoon I could come and pick up the Opel again. The mechanic had taken a test drive before and after the repairs, he but in a more sensitive switch for the fan, which was a bit tardy for cooling the engine. Since he’d heard a strange thumping sound he also tightened some sort of tube (I had no idea what he was talking about but what the heck) which solved that problem. Yay.

So we got the groceries done and headed on home with both cars, where we unloaded, had a quick supper of yesterday’s leftovers. Afterwards big brother and I immediately got to work on the edit, interrupted by going through messages, followed by me, starting on a letter to a literary agent I’ve been thinking about contacting for quite a bit now. The letter is…hmmm, different, perhaps just a tad too honest and elaborate, but I do think that the message comes across. I’ll have to reread it a few more times, check everything a dozen times and then maybe, just maybe I’ll send it over. Hah.

Got to bed a little on the late side, but did manage to wake up in time, and as planned, around noon we were working in the yard taking out the green bean plants since this was the last harvest. It was a rather wonderful day for it. The temperatures mild, the sun bright and a cool eastern wind rolling in from the sea. Big brother and I were each tackling different sets of vines when suddenly it happened, from within the deep dark vestiges of the constructions I once so happily built, an egg-sized bug flew up and buzzed around me. What followed was five minutes of the creatures volleys towards me, the dogs--as a matter of fact it chased Sonia for a bit--and then it happened. I felt a stab in my lower back and with a squeal I dropped the basket full of beans I was holding. Madly I slapped at the painful spot, felt, and soon saw that the bug was literally ripping through my skin and crawling underneath. I started the screaming then, flaying my arms all the while, “Get it out! Get it out! Big brother is chasing me, trying to get to the darn thing while I’m basically running around like a chicken without a head. I can feel it crawling under my skin, a burning sensation similar to acidic, and then I see it. The moving bulge coming over my shoulder, going to my chest where my heart beats like mad. I scream louder, faintly hear big brother mutter something calming as he takes out his knife and comes at me. And then…I wake up.
Yeah. What did you think? That we have skin crawlers a-la “The Mummy” around here? Jeez. Of course it was a dream!
One that made me uncomfortable as heck, considering today was gardening day, and we did plan on taking out the beans while going through their last harvest. Got a nice full basket too, and even though there were unreasonable moments when I feared that it would, no flying bugs trying to attack me, or crawl under my skin. Hah.

Added to the beans, we also harvested four more pumpkins, bringing the total up to ‘round thirty, I’m guessing. Along with several zucchini, which are finally producing something again.
While I was working on the beans with big brother, grandpa got started on turning earth in preparation for the potatoes that we’re going to plant just as soon as we can.

That done, head on up to the outside kitchen where for the remainder of the afternoon tenant and I prepare supper and then wash pots for tomorrow’s canning session. Yay! Got 22 of them, so we should manage getting all those beans in just fine.

Which brings us to the blog, doesn’t it. I started on it while I’m sterilizing the bottles, and have been doing exactly that for the past two hours, or so. I for one, am more than looking forward to getting a big load of rocks later on, if for no other reason than being able to use some serious muscle power again. It’s just a pity that we’re getting small rocks, eh?
Hah.

Groceries and writing

Song of the day: “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson. Not surprisingly that I have this in my head, eh, considering.

Okay, let’s do it the other way around this time and start backwards.

I just finished todays’ writing session which included another three pages to a project that officially can have another 4,500 words, but no more...well, there are 5000 more but I want to keep those for edits, giving me some additional space. Tonight’s was a fun scene to write, in particular because it was about and argument between two somewhat heated people. Hah.

Before that, (I was starving) there was a quick cooking session involving veggie burgers that went perfectly on sesame buns with cheese, tomato and lettuce. Seriously. Snack food the healthy way is delicious. It took me about fifteen minutes to prepare, but I survived the ordeal hah.

The starving part started around six, when we got home from grocery shopping (I know, aaaargh!) and little sister and I were in the kitchen unloading the endless string of bags that brothers and middle sister kept hauling inside from the overfull car. Jeez, I’m surprised every time that we managed it. Oh, I did find tenant a proper watch this time. Yay.

Groceries were...well, yeah, groceries. Going in and out of stores, loading, unloading, and then some more from one in the afternoon ‘till six, with lots of walking, lots of carrying and sorting through stuff that in the end go to three different households and need to be separated for ten people and 70 something dogs.

But first, prior to groceries, there was the fun bit. Big brother and I went into the yard! Yay. There was some watering to be done, and of course veggies to pluck while big brother set up the drip tubes for the day. Everything was looking good, so we were done well in time before departure.

As every day, the first chore up is always laundry. Considering I was up early (woke about three minutes before the alarm went off, hah) I didn’t even need to rush through the morning rituals to get it all done, and actually had a nice dip in the pool as well. *sigh*

Of course, last night I was late going to bed. Since I was a tad down from getting a “no thanks” from a publisher who I’d sent the experimental “DITGW” novella, I decided some relaxation was in order and watched X-Men: First Class. I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t dislike it at all. Hah.

Before that there was more writing, of course. Though it didn’t go at all as well as it did today, where the words just came tumbling out. Deadlines always do me good, for some reason. My mind picks up the pace a bit, I guess.

The writing was a nice change too, since the late afternoon was spent pouring concrete up by the drive sweep where we laid the second half of the path with a three feet wide, three inch thick concrete slab. It looks rather good, even though I was the one who laid it. Big brother was going to, but Sally’s toilet broke, so he had to put in a new mechanism before the night started.

He also finished the watering, which I had already started before going up to take his place. I was just in the middle of it, when grandpa called to let me know that I had to turn off the water because they needed pressure up by the road. Since I had harvested tomatoes already, that wasn’t too bad. I had gotten a wonderful time in the yard from it.

More writing was there, following a very early supper that was downright yummy. I love spaghetti al dente with tomato veggie sauce. Added Nopales to it too (prickly pear cactus pads) so it was a wonderfully successful experiment once more.

Yesterday morning was spent digging the gutter for concrete pouring at the drive sweep. It was friggin’ hot in the full sun, but the gentle breeze from the sea made it more than bearable. Actually liked working with the jackhammer and pick ax, if for no other reason than to exercise the muscles. Hah.

There was breakfast and more laundry, but with that we have reached the beginning of the past couple of days, and the end of todays blog. Yay. I’m hitting the sheets, thank you very much!

Doggie update

Song of the day: “My favorite things” by Julie Andrews. Yes, I am able to do Julie Andrews again. Guess to stop smoking DOES have SOME advantages. Hah. But seriously, sometimes I’m amazed at how the brain is able to remember obscure lyrics from movies that you watched a millions times when you were a kid. *sigh* Guess I get to file that under useless information too, huh?

Yesterday I had some classics going through my brain, including Jackie Wilson with Reet Peteet, which is an absolutely hilarious song.

Right. The past couple of days. Well, yesterday was grocery shopping day. Much to our regret we didn’t make it to week four this month, which is a total biatch all things considered. On the other hand, now it’s over and done with again for (hopefully) another months, so YAY!

So yeah. Yesterday started early because we had to bring Chamea to the vet. She got spaded, and they took out part of her left-side milk gland. I saw both her ovaries and the strangely mottle growth that was removed and...well, I was properly grossed out. *sigh* Seriously, there is something distinctly uncomfortable about seeing flesh with a small puddle of blood around it, lying on a stainless steel dish. Yuck.

But anyway, turns out (not surprisingly) that Chamea (Irish Setter) is a very sensitive dog, meaning that she can’t handle the pain as well as, for instance, labradors, who stoically continue on with life as usual after an operation. Nope. Poor thing has to be doped up with a hundred milligrams of rimadyl, part anti-inflammatory, part pain killer. She’ll be on that for the next five days, probably.

Amri...is not doing too well. His swelling has been increasing for the past couple of days and by now (regardless of the medication) his face is almost twice the normal size. Seriously, if it gets any bigger I’m going to bring him to the vet again, because already he is starting to have difficulty drinking. Strangely enough his mood is not all that bad.

We did ask about Kenneth, and her having a growth in her glands as well. There is of course the option of having it removed, but on the other hand, what with her being blind and her abilities tenuous at best, we don’t think she would manage an operation. Seriously, coming out of anesthesias, in a strange place, with nothing familiar there, it just might break her.

After doing groceries in record time yesterday (4 hours and a half...seriously, I was astounded...for six stores) we barely had time to have a quick meal before we had to head out again to pick Chamea up. She wasn’t happy about the situation, but at least she was happy to see big brother. She couldn’t get out of the hospital fast enough, I know that much.

Afterwards I tried to do some writing during the course of the evening, but after reading through the query letter again, and then the synopsis for DITGW, I was seriously wiped out for the day and decided to go to bed at one for a change. I think I’m getting too young for this shaite, Hah.

But anyway, after all that running back and forth yesterday, today was wonderfully relaxing.
Since we have been slacking with the wall a lot this past week or so, we decided to use the cloudy weather to its best advantage, and went down for some masonry.

Since grandpa first had to mix cement (he insists on this particular task) I could spent about fifteen minutes in the greenhouse to sow broccoli and more herbs. Since my drying cupboard is as good as done, I decided to go for more thyme, basil, parsley, chives and marjoram. Not too much, just a few more to plant in various spots of the yard where I can harvest them for drying.

Then, cement mixed, I could get started on the wall. Got quite a bit done, too (managed to get a 1 foot by 4 feet, by 7 inches rock in at a height of 5’ 10” at least. It took some effort, and it took three of us to get it there, but boy does it look great. Hah. The stairs are coming nicely. Five steps in one direction, three in the other, meaning that it is starting to look really interesting over there.

After that bit...we added a good 5 by 5 feet to the entirety of the wall...it was time for lunch. Opted for a lentil paste with fresh veggies from the yard. Tomatoes, zucchini, red cabbage, onion, garlic, with two pots of lentils, a can of sweet corn and a pot of mushrooms. All in all it was a colorful little mix, not to mention tasty due to the handful of garden herbs that made the whole absolutely delicious and healthy.

After lunch, which was served with whey pancakes, it was time to head down into the yard. Managed to water the upper terraces with the basin, which took me about three hours, meaning that tomorrow we’ll have to water the lower terraces as well. That basin is worth it’s weight in gold, so to speak. We barely used any tap water so far. Sure, we won’t be able to keep it going all through the summer, but it will save some money at least.

Writing wise there is very little news. In particular because I had no time, nor the inclination to write last night, meaning that I barely added half a page, darn it. Let’s hope I get some down today.

Dipping and dunking

Because I couldn't face looking at a picture of her during the last blog, here's a picture of Mosha (the black and white in front) and Knight I back in 2005/2006



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

I’m doing better today. Life does have a way of continuing on no matter what, and even though I have my bad moments (coming home and expecting both Mosha and Touri jumping around me. Getting some dogs on the bed, and then remembering that I only need to help Chaos these days. Etc.) things are slowly getting back to normal.

This very morning was spend working with the dogs, of course. What with the tick population growing exponentially, it was time for a tick bath. Because the sibs don’t have time today, the pack was separated in two for this, meaning that we did one half (mine, big brother’s grandpa’s and tenant’s and her caretaker’s, rounding up at around 40, I think) while they do the other at some later date.

Chaos was his arrogant self, and was all dignified as he let me haul his heavy butt into the tub and dunk him. He did look at me balefully all the while, doing his best to keep his tail above water, as if that would make a difference in his “undignified” circumstances. It was almost as if he was saying: “What? You want me to get into that dirty water (ten dogs had been before him). Me? The Gorgeous? How can you expect me to go bath in that filth. Bah!”
By the time I lifted him out again and let him trot off, he ignored me for about fifteen minutes before getting over it and finding his good humor.

I couldn’t lift Knight II, (he’s finally gaining some weight) so I had to make him step into the tub, and ended up in a fit of giggles because the water didn’t even reach to his ankles. Suffice it to say that it had no use whatsoever to dunk him. Instead I used a pan to douse him in the stuff, and rubbed it all in until every single part of him was wet. He didn’t give a fig about it and just looked at me with a bored expression on his face.

Doing Dax II after him was a tremendous relief. I picked him up like the purse-size dog he is and dunked him solid before letting him go off like a bullet out of hell. *sigh* He and Sitabah (she hates the water too) ignored me for a solid two hours. Hah.

It was a bit tough for me, seeing as compared to last year’s dipping, I had half the amount of dogs. I don’t know what the heck is going on, but apparently I lost at least five dogs this year, which is…well, incredibly sad. There were Yadzia, Bommel, Touri, Mosha and Trinity (the Monster Boxer) leaving me with a personal pack of only six now. Big brother and I have been talking about me taking one of two of his twenty or so, but this will take time because we’ll have to get the dogs adjusted into the change. We’re in particular focussing on Tadaika at the moment, who has already spent several evenings at my cabin (maybe I mentioned it already?). Sure she’s scared yet, but I think that in due time we manage it somehow.

But anyway the dipping went expediciously. It took us about an hour, which followed up on my usual morning routine of laundry, naturally. After that there was a quick breakfast, (with preparations for lunch) at which time I went up to the old horse paddock where I unloaded the car from yesterday’s load…which reminds me of yesterday. I forgot to mention yesterday, didn’t I?

It was (do you see it coming? There usually is an outraged exclamation with it) grocery shopping day. We did it fast but it was a doozy once more. Lots of stores to visit, lots of carts to fill (what with the big groceries only being done once a month now) and the car to be up-and-un-loaded.
Everything got picked up, everything fit in and brought out again by the time we got home at around six in the afternoon. Another hour was spent putting everything away, which is always a joined effort, and then I was free to head outside into the yard. Yay.

We checked veggies, sprayed a bit of water, took out some onions, and then headed up to do some paper edits before leaving to get clay soil (for behind the new wall, remember?). Grandpa baked potatoes so we’d have something in our bellies (I was feeling faint most of the day, for some peculiar reason) before we headed out for the soil.

We were running a bit behind, so we loaded up in the dark, mostly. Not that it matters, but I don’t like shoveling in the dark all that much. Hah. Knight II liked the walk however, and was calm as you please for the remainder of the evening while big brother and I headed for our office and spent the remainder of the evening making changes to the manuscript.

I do admit to running on fumes by the end of the day, and was more than happy to get horizontal and catch some serious Zzzs.

Which concludes today’s blog, naturally. I’ve got water tubes to check, because the meter implies that we have sprung a leak somewhere. The challenge is finding it.

Poor Knight II

Song of the day: “Viva la Vida” by Coldplay. I never thought I’d say it, but there is a song from Coldplay that I like and this is it. Hah.

Okay, let me just tell you why I didn’t write yesterday, but after we got home from grocery shopping and big brother and I were about to head out into the yard for some serious relaxation, grandpa asked me to help him out in the old paddock for a moment. So I got Mosha, Sitabah and Dax through the little gate and was just about to pull the gate shut behind Knight II when, from the corner of my eye I saw his tail swing in-between the post and gate just when I pulled it shut.

He jumped, squealed, and right there, before my very eyes, I saw the slightly disfigured part of his tail pop right off. Iiiiiiih! Seriously. I made that indignant, girlish sound before I started swearing like a sailor. The tail immediately started dripping dark blood, and for a moment I was unsure what to friggin’ do. I let him through the outside gate, knowing full well that I’d have to get him to the vet, and tenant’s caretaker offered to stay with him while I ran down to get big brother from the greenhouse.

Then it was rushing back up to get my dogs locked up, only to be rushed up to the gate by grandpa who was telling me to get to Knight II who was starting to bleed more and more.
I tried, I really did, but Knight II wouldn’t let me grab hold of the bleeding stump until we had him in the car and he was starting to get a little faint. I had climbed into the back to sit with him and try to stem the bleeding, but while I did that, he’d blearily climbed to the front seat. So we ended up with Knight sitting beside big brother in the front, and me leaning over the back with a towel clamped firmly around the stump.

Blood was everywhere! A stream of it on the floor by my feet, a puddle on the seat beside me, and while we drove, the towel in my hands began to overflow. I was seriously nauseated and covered in the gooey stuff by the time we got to the vet, who took one look at the tail bleeding all over her floor before she left the folks she’d been talking to and wrapped her fingers around the severed piece. That is how we moved to the operating room, me holding Knight by the collar, big brother guiding his behind, and the vet trailing behind holding the tail as we weighed him and then injected him with a tranq.

It took a bit, but he did quiet down and slowly dropped off to sleep while a tourniquet was applied and I stroked his massive head. He made a few attempts to get up when the vet told me I could go and could come to get him in the morrow, but after only a bit of insistence it was agreed that I would come to get him around closing time and take him home with me.

We did agree to having the tail amputated at least halfway, since with Knight II’s tendency to wag his tail to bits in pure enthusiasm, having it heal from this would have been practically impossible.

So we went home, and while grandpa and caretaker offered to clean the car up a bit we headed inside to have a quick snack. What with grocery shopping just behind us, we hadn’t even had lunch yet, so ‘round seven in the evening, my stomach was balancing precariously between wanting to hurl or travel up in search of food itself. Hah.

Within no time at all we were back on the road to pick up. We arrived one minute short of closing time and headed on out to the back where Knight II was just coming to from the anesthetic. The vet’s assistant wasn’t sure he’d be able to walk, but when his gate was opened, he came tottering towards me like a lush…only to flop down on his butt again when he reached me.

Poor Knight II; so much leg and bone, and hardly any coordination to work them with. *sigh*
We ended up half carrying him back to the car, his tail only half the length and covered with a white bandage. I was advised to put a collar cone around his neck if I noticed him touching his tail, but knowing Knight the way I do, I decided not to take the risk and went for the collar the moment we got home…he wrecked it within six hours, by the way.

He spent the majority of the evening doped up on the couch, trying to keep track of me (doing edits) but finding himself incapable of keeping his eyes open for longer than five minute stretches. By the time we headed up to my cabin, he had regained some of his strength and dashed off with his usual enthusiasm…if with even less grace. *sigh*

I can honestly say that Knight II knows how to milk an ailment, for he was pitiful throughout the evening, and later when we were back in my cabin. He refused to lie down unless I was sitting beside him. He kept looking at me woefully, and when I didn’t give him the attention he craved he would try to go for the bandage and thus gain me full attention again. Smart big bastard. Hah.

The night was spent with him squeezed against me, of course, because he would not move an inch and I didn’t dare giving him the usual elbow in the ribs from fear of hitting the stump somehow.
Let’s just say that I was properly wrecked this morning and was more than happy to let the dogs out of the cabin. *sigh*

Of course he is once again on antibiotics…seriously, those things will be the death of him yet…and since he whined after knocking his tail into my leg, I decided to pop him a couple of pain pills as well.
He is still milking his affliction, but other than that things were back to normal today.

I spend the morning making cheesecake for mom’s birthday (which was yesterday, mind you), doing laundry, helping tenant (caretaker has a job again, since the day before yesterday), going into the yard to check up on everything we couldn’t check on yesterday, and then tiling my laundry corner. I know, that’s a lot of information to put in a single sentence, but what the heck.

Considering that the elevation we put in near the washing machine, was dry, big brother and I spent this afternoon putting in beautiful light blue mosaic tiles. It is not done completely yet, mind you, but I can see the somewhat “Turkish bath” idea coming along. Hah.

Well, that was it, I’ve got an edit to do, messages to check and…lots more. Gotta go.