Pat

Song of the day: “Royals”, but rather than by Lorde, I hear it from Jasmine Thomson, which is a really cute acoustic version.

Hi all. Sorry to have took so long, but my last post was difficult for me, and I was reluctant to return to the “scene of the crime” so to speak. But I’m back, and life has settled once more, so...let’s get to it.

Work as usual, although there have been some trials and tribulations in that regard. First off there was that little incident with my hip that took a couple of weeks to get back to normal. Seriously, do not slip when you are washing massive windows. I paid for that for a solid two weeks, thank you very much. And secondly, wear a hat, always, when working underneath the benches in the saunas, (for hosing it out, ya know) because builders are not picky about what happens underneath with screws and such. I was under there about four days ago and am still enjoying it. There I was, hosing out gawd knows what dirt (eeeeeewwww) and wham! I slammed the side of my head into one of the top beams. Wouldn’t have been all that bad either, had it not been for the screw end that stuck out and went straight for my temple, right onto the double-lined edge of one of my favorite baseball caps! (Love that cap even more now. I’m thinking of framing it.) Yep, yours truly has a genuine, if mild, concussion. Had a doctor’s visit and everything—meaning that we have an actual GP now, as is obligated round these parts, or so we discovered on that particular day—with this very nice older GP who will do just fine. His practice mixes traditional medicine with holistic and dietary, so it will be a good match.

The head hurt for only a little bit, but what worried me...and my colleagues...was the rising nausea and unsteadiness. In the end I got forced to sit down for half an hour with an ice bag on my head, while I struggled to keep down what little breakfast I had had. Did just that for a bit, then cowboyed up and got back to work. It was slow going, like wading through molasses, but still, got the job done. Had planned to finish my full Monday workday (which is usually nine to ten hours) but was feeling increasingly worse, so in the end I asked our teamleader if I could stop a bit earlier, and got permission to do just that. Went home, had doubted for a bit if I should drive, but only the nausea had remained by then, and being extremely tired (physically, not mentally, duh) so I risked it. No problems there, thankfully. Got home fine, went straight to bed, only to be interrupted by big brother with the concern that I might have a concussion. Debated a bit because I wasn’t experiencing any actual headache, except for an occasional stab and a somewhat floaty feeling in the back of my head, went over a list online about symptoms: nausea, dizzy, unsteady, blurry memory, light and noise sensitivity (I turned off my music player during work!!! *gasp*) sluggishness, etc. Finally we did decide to find a doctor, which isn’t all that easy. Did find one, and after explaining the symptoms, I was invited to come over within the next ten minutes. Since it is around the corner that actually was possible.

Had to wait for a bit, but since there were forms to fill in, that wasn’t a problem and before you know it, the doctor herded me into his office.

Talked for about half an hour, sort of like an intake. (He’s one of those starers, which could be uncomfortable, but is always better than a doctor who only stares at his computer screen while he asks you questions, hah.) Talked a bit about how I was raised, vegetarian, organic, holistic stuff, and how I am not really positive about traditional medicine except in emergencies, to which he assured me that he is not the kind to prescribe any medicine willy-nilly, so I could rest assured. We touched on sever topics, including my residual weight, and he agreed that the slow way which I have been applying is the best way to go. He is not of the diet mind, apparently, as seems to be the fashion this day and age. Balanced meals, an active life and going at it steadily is much better. Yay!

But back to my head thing. I went through a few tests, he checked my motor skills, eyes, pallor, etc, we went through a check list and he determined that though I could be bothered by the symptoms for up to eleven days, it was unlikely that it was more than a mild concussion. He did advise big brother waking me every two hours just to be on the safe side, which we agreed on.

Considering the next day was another working day, neither of us was happy about that, but what the heck. Wasn’t feeling worse the day after, and could find my Zen at times, meaning that I wasn’t bothered, so all in all that potential disaster finished with the proverbial puff of smoke.

What else...been incredibly busy. Went out to Cousin Ed’s a couple of times. Visited tenant who is now settled at a very nice senior home in her old home town (her choice). She’s got a nice double room, sitting area with an open kitchen and a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, with a gorgeous view of the place’s wooden garden and it’s massive pond where she claims herons come to hunt in the mornings. She was rather emotional when she saw us, making it clear that she had been feeling a tad down (the way I suspected when I first saw her, and she hadn’t seen us yet), she struggled with tears a bit, had trouble talking, but then she quieted down and we talking for a bit. Then the lure of TV became too big for her (it had just been installed the day before and she’d missed it dearly) so we only stayed for a little bit, considering it was late in the afternoon already and we still had to pick up a free rubber mattress for big brother, who’s been troubled by his back. Guess the spring mattress he got from our last landlady finally gave the spirit, because he’s been feeling the springs lately. Now he’s got a genuine rubber one that should do the trick.

Gotta admit to feeling a little sad about tenant when we left her new place. However cozy and pretty, it felt very much like we were leaving her to spend her final days in a strange place, which is not something I wished for her. Not that there is a different option, it’s just...sad. A pity that society has come to a point where it is considered normal to stuff old folks in a comfy corner where staff takes care of them rather than family, but careers, civil obligations, cramped living spaces don’t really allow for anything else, do they? Like I said, a pity.

On a more positive note, I went to a Bryan Adams concert. Cousin Ed swore that if he ever came to the Netherlands she was going to go see him, and kindly invited me to go along. So…Yay! Was an evening filled with traffic and waiting, standing in line and waiting, going through security, finding a spot within the Ziggo Dome and and then...you guessed it...waiting some more, albeit cosily chatting with BA fans, folks that had been dragged along to the concert by said fans, and youngsters who were surprisingly big fans as well. Were about five yards from the stage, right in front of BA’s microphone, so that was very cool, except for the extremely tall dude who sometimes stepped in front of me. (Bugger.) Then the band came on stage and the remainder of the evening rushed passed with singing, shouting, whistling and bouncing. It was splendid, despite the fact that I liked the Reckless tour performance better, and we didn’t get home until after midnight. Passed out for the night, and didn’t even hear Cousin Ed depart early because she had to go to a job interview.

Went to the fitness club (Yay!) and did about 45 minutes of kick boxing, core training, stretches, weight lifting and rowing...then about four hundred yards into my 1 mile full speed row I felt my energy levels drop (too little sleep the night before and forgot lunch) meaning I managed to hold out half a mile before giving up on the day’s workout. Considering big brother had down a full day’s work compared to my five hour sprint in the morning, that was convenient. Hah.

Did quite a bit of experimenting in the kitchen these past weeks. Had a gorgeous eggplant zucchini lasagna. Made a very tasty pumpkin compote, partly for a colleague at work who is following a diet on medical advise where she isn’t allowed to eat raw meat and cheese, which limited her breakfast options. Made her the pumpkin compote as a substitute spread, and she’s loving it. Yay. Added to that I was inspired to work with oats again. (Always on the lookout for those iron filled ingredients, hah.) Had a sudden vision of three types of oat cookies. Oats, apple, cranberry, and spices, which is yummy, and semi healthy with only some raw cane sugar and honey for sweetness. The salty version would be oats, red bell pepper, onion, Italian herbs and Parmesan, which was just as yummy...and filling, considering could only eat a couple before I was stuffed. (One cookie is about 2x2 inches, at most.)

Another experiment were buckwheat burgers. Gotta say that the Netherlands supplies this particular ingredient a lot easier than Spain. Also, it is much more affordable. Prices are reduced almost by half, which makes it something worthwhile in the kitchen.

Had several visits with our father and stepmother, one an impromptu one, because we got a tax form that we couldn’t make heads or tails of, so our father offered to come and take a look at it with us. The problem is that the form is for half in this country and half in Spain, which is a whole can of worms that I won’t even begin to explain to you. Let’s just say, it is a pain in the behind. We did sort most of it out, about how to file and everything, so let’s hope that this is the end of it. This little visit led to a nice dinner together, including the buckwheat burgers, leftover lasagna and the pumpkin compote.

No writing since the last time, just some editing here and there in the Greek mythology story. Big brother and I are working on getting some sort of schedule worked out where we can work on a story together again, because that is still our future for as far as we are concerned. Everything else is making a living and surviving, which is not something we plan on during for the rest of our lives. Keep your fingers crossed.

Been having some trouble missing the doggies lately. I tend to fawn over dogs that I come across in the streets, which is not a good thing. I think it could freak folks out. Hah. Like yesterday I came across a 14 year old greyhound, muzzled because he’d apparently killed a small dog in his youth and was therefore obligated to wear a muzzle for the remainder of his life, and ended up smooching with the sweetheart that licked my face and ears rather affectionately. Stuff like that is the pits when you try to not remember your own dogs. Grrrr.

The weather has been poor lately. Mostly cloudy, some thunderstorms (not as bad as in the south of the country where it had been declared a stage orange just the other day) and only an occasional day with full sun. Did enjoy those tremendously.

Finally found a place where I can get some decent Jeans that fit proper and are not extremely expensive. Regretfully I’ve not been at all successful in finding anything useful at the thrift stores lately, so I’ve resorted to wading through normal stores, darn it. But these are okay, sturdy and the fit is good, so Yay! Much relief there. Was already worried I’d have to go to work in a bathing suit, or something (Hah) when even the last of my pantses gave the spirit during one of many water tests. Am going to have to go the store to get a couple more and then I’ll be all set.

Our vacation is coming up, of which we will be spending five days in Finland. T’s invitation bore fruit and it is official. It’ll be an experience, for sure, in particular since the other option of vacation would be staying at home and sleeping the week away. Hah. I know, very unadventurous of me. But seriously, sleeping for a week sounds very tempting. Still, the trip will be fun, and it will be splendid to see T again, this time on her turf, and meeting her family, seeing E again, which has been almost a year when I went to pick up grandpa’s dog in Finland, and visiting a country where the sun now won’t set until the 26^th of June! Can you imagine? No night? I’m so curious!

Talking of grandpa’s dog(s)...since tenant is unable to take care of a dog on her own, Cousin Ed was forced to find a home for grandpa’s wee dog Ollie, but he landed splendidly with a family that has two chihuahuas, which he now dominates like the little macho he is. Apparently he’s already very fond of his new mistress, so that is one worry less, at least. Pim, the one I fetched from Finland, has already settled with a bachelor in the North of the country, who lives on a boat (which Pim loves, apparently) and travels to the UK frequently to visit his girlfriend, taking Pim along. So there everything is all neat and pat.

Lots of folks pregnant or trying to be here. An interesting concept that. Makes me wonder how I feel about that. The way I figure, I gotta meet a very special dude to find the idea attractive, because at the moment it would just seem like a tremendous hassle, not to mention one big worry. Am having fun watching said folks being all excited, though. Some of them actually glow with pleasure.

Went with a colleague to a holistic doctor in Zoelen. Was an interesting experience, in particular when I discovered that the guy worked with Vega tests, which was a throwback to my childhood where mom worked with that too. Actually had a really nice talk with the guy, but was was a bit astounded that he couldn’t give me the ingredients used for some homeopathic remedy he prescribed to my colleague. I would think that if you prescribe it, you are at least interested in the contents, but apparently assuming that was a bit presumptuous. Hah. It amazes me sometimes, I tell ya. If you work with something, the least you can do is know as much as you can about it, right? I mean, even I am starting to learn about components of sanitary components. It comes with the friggin’ territory...or at least I thought it did.

Well, that about sums it up for now. Jabbered on for about four pages anyway, so it should tide us all over for a while again, right? Have a good one, I’ll be back!

Plenty to do

Song of the day: “Love Runs Out” by One Republic. I’ve heard that they’re all it, but this is the first song of theirs that jumped out at me. Yeah, I know. New song, right? Well, I have been listening to radio a lot again, meaning that I actually hear some new stuff occasionally, rather than just my favorites on iTunes.

Well, it’s been understandably busy. But for the good news is that Big brother was here for the last couple of days, which thankfully took the pressure off me for a bit. Good thing is, he managed to figure out how to operate the mowing machines, so we both spent a solid afternoon on a couple of mowing machines, mowing the two acres of lawn that had grown out of control. Was fun, for about an hour. Then it just got tedious. Added to that, it isn’t looking all that grand because the grass was so long, and really needed some serious hacking. But no matter. Will do it again in a day or two, which should improve the looks considerably.

Big brother also spent some time chopping firewood, which is one of our favorite occupations, naturally. Hah. Seriously, it is a wonderful bit of exercise.
In the meanwhile, as he sorted out the machines, the wood and a dying conifer…am going to have to order some serious support poles for a hedge of conifers. I think they were placed fully grown, meaning that they can’t keep themselves up yet. Will have to place about eighty poles when the time comes.

Been training the dogs here for quite a bit. They’re a disaster going through gates, so I’m either letting them through one at a time, or making them sit before they are let through. The youngsters are just so boisterous. Have had an occasional one sharing the night with me, which is nice. Reminds me of my four-legged-ones, which is a mixed blessing, really. Still miss them badly…but on the other hand, I’m going back for a two day visit, nine days from now, I should be able to survive that. Added to that, grandpa assures me that they’re doing fine, and that Sitabah is even rather fond of him, which is a pleasant surprise. He told me that this morning, Sitabah and Knight were playing on their way up the mountain.

So, what have I been doing so far? I’ve trained dogs, fed them, cleaned up after them, mowed lawns, hosed terraces with a pressure washer, cooked many a meal (a perk, that one), picked blackberries, fixed fences, fixed gates, trimmed trees, trimmed bushes, worked the yard, built a shoe rack, filled holes in walls, repaired a gate handle, set up a workshop, scavenged wood, did shopping, for food, clothes, and tools. Hung curtains, went to a salvage yard, several construction companies, DIY stores, vacuumed floors plenty of times, arranged flowers, cleaned out cat litter, played with cats and dogs and many more things that just aren’t worth mentioning. Let’s just say I’m keeping busy doing the stuff I know how to do. Not a bad way to spend the day…and so far the weather has been benevolent toward me. Might be it is lulling me into a false sense of security. Hah

Was a good girl and did exercises several times. Not as much as I should have, but some at least. Hah. Added to that, I had some treatments from a genuine physical therapist, who gladly tortured me for an hour both times he visited. Aaargh. Gawd, my back hasn’t been this sore in years.

Even managed an edit or two, despite the fact that after 10 in the evening my eyes start to droop somewhat badly.

My foot was absolutely fine, and then, on a dewy evening I went out for a walk on my new Wellies, and since then the stupid thing has been causing me all sorts of trouble. Seriously, I’ve been wanting to chop it off again.

But anyway, to get back to the fun parts. I did some serious experimenting food wise. Most in this place is organic and high quality and so far I’ve got a 90 percent success rate, I think. The trick is to keep cooking for yourself. The moment you start trying to guess what others will like, you mess up.
I got a squash again, so I’m definitely going for soup again. Nothing is quite a nutritional as a squash soup.

As to anything else…well, emotionally things are still iffy. I have my good moments when I’m just working pleasantly, content with whatever activity I’m busy, while there are other moments when a panic attack will hit me in the face, or I’ll miss something from home somewhat fierce. The latter doesn’t change anything, really. It is just a waste of time. I agreed to this “adventure” and I will darn well see it through, even when there is a part of me that still acts like that scared little six year old going out for a sleep over with a friend, only to end up insisting (in tears) that “mommy” comes pick her up. Annoying kid. It should just grow up. I’m nearing forty, for crying out loud! I should be friggin able to handle six months on my own, for EFFING sake.

But anyway. Three weeks in, only…well, that is depressing to think of, so let’s skip finishing that sentence, shall we. Hah.

Be that as it may, in the mean time I get to play with power tools. Got a basic set of hand saws, circle saws, jigsaws and hacksaws now. (used most already) Screw drivers. Hammers. Drills. Sanding machines. Crowbars. Axe. Got a chainsaw under way. Along with a hedge cutter and a strimmer. Got a nice assortment of screws, nails and the likes going, but that is going to take more time. I mean, I fondly remember our own workshop from way back when, before the disaster: A supply like that takes years to gather…darn it.
As it is, I got some wood from my scavenge trips all over the property, and from my trip to the salvage yard…the latter is ridiculously expensive, though, meaning that we’ll be better off getting new wood that we’ll then have to treat and batter until it looks like old. Hah.

Things I’m planning on making: A couple of night stands.
A small shelving set to hang in the kitchen. And a coffee table, which is starting to get very necessary. When I’ll have the time, that is the question. LOL
Added to that, there is loads of painting to be done. Barns, sheds, not to mention the woodwork in the house.
Then there is the garden to think of. Small trees that need to be transplanted. Bushes and trees that need to be cut back. Electrical wiring that needs to be put in for lighting around the house, as well as the fountain for the pond that I need to find and have installed. So I’ll have plenty to do this winter…and that brings us to the end of today’s blog, because it is after eleven, and already my eyes are starting to go half-mast…bloody things.

I’ll be back…at some point.

Sexist? I thought so.

Song of the day: “Marry you” by Bruno Mars. Such a cute little song, right? Not at all appropriate for the present situation, but what the hey, maybe my head needs a counterpoint, or something. I mean, seriously. Yesterday I had Paolo Nutini with Pencil full of lead in my head. Hah.

Right. What all has been happening of late. Well, work is taking a lot of my time, naturally, but you’ll be curious to know about if I have heard anything from the publisher yet…I haven’t, so you’ll just have to be patient, like me. *snort* Dontcha just hate the waiting game? I can’t stand it. Sometimes it gets so that it seems as if I’m always waiting, ya know. Ah well, I don’t like complaining (not too much anyway) so let’s move it along. I’ll let you know how it works out with the book as soon as I know.

The biggest event these past couple of weeks was that Julia, Cousin Ed’s dog, got grabbed by mine. Yep. The first consequence of cramped living space and fences that have to be shared by unsociable dogs…added to that, the present situation, with big brother and me being away for work so much, is heavy on grandpa, who catches a lot of slack with our dogs. He had just walked his small pack and brought them back so he could let mine out into the yard, when a lot of noise alerted him that he had somehow missed Julia in the head count. My Sitabah, Knight and Dax were right on top of her, apparently (I heard later), and the lot of them toppled off the high rock wall in the fight that left poor Julia with several cracked ribs and a hole in her lungs. It earned her almost week and a half at the vet hospital where they took good care of her. Poor little girl. She was such a brave trooper throughout the ordeal.
The whole thing has told us that we should hurry a bit getting her and Sammie (Tenant’s dog) to their new home ASAP. If all goes as planned a friend of ours is flying them out of the country by the end of February, so that’ll give us a little time to get them used to the traveling box while Julia heals.

The whole fight thing left Sitabah with a badly swollen paw. For a while I feared that she might have broken it, but then the skin broke and the swelling slowly subsided. By now she’s almost herself again, thankfully.

Cooking wise I’ve been doing very little lately. Time is a big issue there. On the most part it is necessity feeding, meaning a bunch of veggies in the pain, some sort of staple food with it, and shoveling it in. Have, however, managed a wonderful strawberry cream tart, which worked out splendidly. And just today I have experimented with buckwheat. A little while ago a friend sent me a basic recipe for buckwheat burgers, because buckwheat would be really helpful to me with my deficiencies. The bad part is, I hate the smell and taste of buckwheat, the good part is, the recipe allowed me to start at a basis, where I came up with a paste that worked rather well if I may say so myself. Just ate one (gave a couple to middle sister while I was at it. She liked it too) and though the buckwheat taste was still there, deeply underneath the spices, herbs and other ingredients, but not in a way that I disliked it. Yay! I can eat buckwheat!...I know, I’m a whiner and an incredibly picky eater. It is regretfully a side effect of always trying to sort out tastes and scents. You do it automatically at some point. *sigh*
But anyway, tonight’s supper will be buckwheat burgers, with brown rice and satay sauce on the side. Should work splendidly. Now all I have to figure out is what veggie to serve with it. Might go for baked cauliflower.

The foot has been behaving, despite the fact that the past week’s activities have stretched my newly earned “painlessness”. 8 to 10 hours is still too much, but I can easily do 7 now, so, yay for me. Also, due to sales, I managed to get those good sneakers I got this summer again, but this time almost half the price. Bought two pairs, so I should be fine for a while. Thankfully these aren’t fluorescent yellow, but a very bright turquoise instead. Still very bright, but not as bad, at least.

Made several potions these past two weeks, and am frequently drinking infusions, which also appears to help with most ailments. So far I don’t have the flu yet, despite having met more than five people in my circle of acquaintances who had it. Keeping my fingers crossed.

My poor doggies have been feeling terribly neglected, which is not surprised what with me spending so much time away from home. Poor darlings. Can’t be helped, though. I try to spend as much time with them as possible, like now, on my free day, I’m doing most in our small kitchen and in my room, so they can stay with me. I have to keep reminding myself that they are not alone, or anything. They’ve got each other, and grandpa is here, too, so it’s not as if they’re in solitary, or anything. I better wrap this up and take ‘m out for a bit. The weather is too fine at the moment to spend the day inside.

At the moment big brother and I are getting a little too little sleep because we’re getting up an hour earlier. Since in the evening we’re often too tired to do much edits, we’re trying to do it in the mornings instead. It’s not perfect, but we’re one third into A.T.O.L. Regretfully we’re less than three weeks away from the competition, so better keep your fingers crossed that we can get it done in time to enroll. I am happy with how it turned out. There is some serious good stuff in the PNR, and the characters…I love them.

I am, however, looking forward to writing something new again. I might pick up on Earth Drawn again, seeing as that was the one I was working on prior to the revision of Chicago Hope, but “Gun” (I know, silly working title, but I haven’t figured an actual one out yet) has been playing on my mind a lot too. It’s so very different from the other stuff, and writing in 1st person again would definitely be an interesting challenge. We’ll see.

Only one workout these past couple of weeks. Like I said, time is short and I’m constantly prioritizing. Regretfully that means that exercise gets pushed aside.

Had a small job in the city, by the way. Hauling furniture. Of course there were two guys to help. One was a rather nice fella, from York, apparently, while the other, a French dude, was a down and dirty sexist. My first real confrontation with it, actually. Big brother and I arrived and this guy literally sneered at me from top to bottom, and mumbled in a mixture of French and Spanish, what he had done wrong to get a woman to help him, but that it wasn’t my fault, I was just “a woman”. I almost laughed in his face…in particular since we had to move this humongous mirror that weighed in at at least 200 pounds, if not more. Big brother, the nice dude and I were already in the midst of lifting it, when Frenchy practically elbowed me out of the way and “took over”. He was about to drop his side of the mirror to when I decided to have pity on him and hooked my hand under the edge to keep it from slamming down. So there we went, the two men moaning and groaning, in the middle and on my side, while big brother met my gaze over the mirror, with a questioning look of “what are they making this so difficult, we could do this way much faster just with the two of us” but what can you do? On the most part, I was just there to keep Frenchy from pulling his back, but okay, I got paid for it. Like some sort of impaired beast with eight legs we maneuvered through the building. We got the mirror to the street, the two fella’s cheering that we’d managed the feat, and Frenchy patting my shoulder and muttering something about “respect”, having realized that I saved his behind twice during our trek through the building. While big brother went out to get the van, I did a quick repair job on the back of the mirror. It was coming loose, since some smarty pants had used nails to keep it in place. (aaargh) Didn’t have any tools with me, but the wood was old enough for me to be able to do it by hand, or in some cases fist, which had Frenchy jump with shock when he saw me slam the wood back in place. Hah. Gawd, I should have had a camera. I would have thought that I would be insulted by the guy’s behavior, but basically it just amused me. He can’t help being sexist, and he did finally forget I was a mere woman, so, whatever.
Anyways, we got the mirror loaded, then the rest of the furniture, and were back on location four hours after departure. Of course that was at eleven in the evening, but what the hey.

Lastly, we had press at the door again the other day, did I mention that already? Well, luckily they didn’t make too much of a nuisance of themselves again. One visit, and that was it. What on earth they want now, I’ve no clue, but I’ve decided not to care anymore. The life we had, one big family by choice is over now anyway. Sad, but such is life. Better to flow with it, than regret what’s no longer there.

Well, more has happened naturally, but my brain isn’t working properly because this is all I can think of so far. Hah.
Gotta go.

Stupid is stupid does.

Song of the day: “Thank God I’m a country boy” by John Denver, of course.

Another busy couple of days, naturally. What else is new, right? That seems to be par for the course this summer.

Yesterday was an official workday for big brother and me. The temps weren’t as pleasant as the other day. The Mercury hit the nineties around noon and so much went wrong that I wondered for a bit if it was worth staying.

First off, big brother was feeling a little off. The night before he’d vomited. Caregiver had to stay at the hospital until two in the morning, meaning that we got a call to come pick her up about an hour after we went to bed. We’d planned on that by going to bed despite the fact that she wasn’t home yet, and since we didn’t think it smart that either of us would drive there alone with our sleepy heads, we opted to go together for safety reasons. He was already feeling bad when I phoned him awake, and then when we got home round four in the morning, he started retching in the middle of the terrace. Fun, that. But anyway, we both rushed to bed and slept ‘till nine instead of the planned eight, went through all the necessary chores such a feeding the dogs and checking everything that we didn’t leave home until ten thirty. Then, just as we were about to reach Alozaina (village near the job site) to get the first load of sand, I discovered that I had forgotten my purse and…the house keys!!! Aaaaargh. "Stupid is, stupid does," right?
So I called home to have grandpa check (yes it was at home), at which point he agreed to drive the moped half the way (he remembered the route pretty well from back in the day when he had a gardening job in the area) and then give me my purse and a bottle of pre-mixed fuel for the mower. Luckily he rather enjoyed the ride.
But anyway, before I could meet him halfway big brother and I had to unload the car of some 800 pounds of gravel and some 1900 pounds of sand from the trailer. Then there were all the tools to get out, and the wheelbarrow from the top, and before that was done it was already one o’clock, meaning that I had to hurry to get at least the bags of cement from the construction company…
Which reminds me. I LOVE• computers. I had ordered ten bags of cement and three times half a cubic meter of sand which I would come pick up during the course of the day. Now, the trick is that on cubic meter of sand costs about 18 bucks, while half a cubic meter will cost you 13 bucks. Fun part would be that the computer would accept three halfs and kept making it into one and a half. He ended up having me pay for one cubic and a half, meaning we got a bit of a discount paying our expenses for hauling it up there. The location is a little iffy for bigger transports so our solution is to haul it up there bit by bit…which would be practically impossible without a 4X4.
But anyway, I had planned to take the trailer so I could pick up both cement and sand on the way back from meeting grandpa, but since unloading took so long I decided to not take the trailer and only pick up cement before siesta closing time. Had to explain to the women at the counter what had occurred that morning and waited outside while the youngest of the two followed me out and looked at the lift truck. She doubted and then asked me to put the car with the pallet of bags. I said fine, put it there and then shrugged when she disappeared inside. There were ten of them, so I loaded the ten up, not realizing that there was this dude watching me do exactly there somewhat confusedly. I was just about done when the guy who’d helped me that morning arrived. Apparently the girl had called him to load up, so he was a tad surprised when I’d already done it. Like I’m going to give up a chance on weightlifting now that I don’t have time to do that at home. *snort* Spanish folks get it even less when a girl does construction work. Hah.
I got back on site at one thirty where big brother had spent his time spreading the gravel where it needed to be and watering the plants, and doing some more mowing. We unloaded and then took some time to eat lunch, do some writing, and a very, very short nap, all three during the hottest two hours of the day.
At four, once they were open again, I arrived at the construction company where I got another load of sand. The entire trip takes me about forty minutes, seeing as going back up the mountain means going about 9 mph in many places.
Third trip over and done with, and nicely sore from unloading and wheelbarrow-ing the cement and first two loads of sand to where big brother had set up the concrete mixer for me, I got to mixing concrete. Unloading the last load would have to wait until the end of the day.
All in all, I hauled about 15 70 pound bags of cement around the place, so I definitely got my fitness done.
Mixed several loads of concrete for big brother while he did the masonry on the small wall that is going to keep the new floor in place once we start pouring. It will be natural rock, so it’ll look nice at least, and fit the general idea of the yard.
Did get my fair share of puzzling with rocks, though, while I shoveled concrete for big brother and hauled more rocks in for his use.
Since I had Knight there on his own, I decided, when I saw that his foot was rather swollen again, to remove his bandage entirely and just keep track of him. He did rather well most of the day, but regretfully, by the end of the day, he tore open one of his calluses, which had me wrap him back up just to be safe.
After seven the temps dropped nicely, and boy was I happy for that fifteen minute nap when we finally called it a day at nine fifteen (had to make the normal eight hours after me messing up like that after all) and started cleaning everything up…not to mention that we still had to unload that sand. Hah.
That took until well after dark, and driving home certainly was interesting. Hah.
Was in bed at twelve thirty and out for the count about three minutes later. *sigh*

Tenant is still at the hospital, and not happy about it. I can imagine, but since she refuses to drink most of the time, there is really nothing I can do about it. She’ll have to decide what is more important to her. Getting out of hospital or holding on to her dislike for drinking. We’re going to look her up tomorrow after the Land Rover’s MOT.

Then, before I knew it my phone was ringing. Cousin Ed telling me it was nine in the morning while I had told her the night before that I was planning to get up at eight so I could get some writing done. Drat. Did have enough sleep, so in that regard it wasn’t a disaster, eh?
No time for anything this morning, though. I had done no substantial Spanish the entire week, and since I first had to go to the vet (he’s doing well so I won’t have to be back until four days from today, yay!) then had to go through the village getting all sorts of stuff for mom in establishments that had miles of rows waiting at the registers. I was all in a tiffy about the complete shortage of time when I finally got home, about fifteen minutes before we had to leave for Spanish lessons. I would have been able to get some of my homework done too, if I hadn’t needed to change out of my grubby sweats, and get some food into my gut before the morning coffee departed entirely and left my stomach bare. Grrr.

Ended up reading some of Jack Vance’s Dirdir in the car, meaning I at least had Spanish in my head when we arrived at class. The lesson didn’t go bad either, so I guess not all was bad. Actually learned quite a bit and she complimented us that we are coming along nicely. Good thing, that, because in my darkest moments I sometimes doubt. Hah.

Spanish lessons over and done with, we headed for town for a pick up, which thankfully didn’t take as long as it could have. Then we rushed back home to work on the car and prepare it for tomorrow’s MOT.
Yep. There were the seatbelts that had to be fixed, all sorts of messes to remove from inside and outside, and the whole thing to wash from top to bottom. Our baby is looking beautiful now, thank you very much, with everything that we could get fixed, fixed. Hah.

Got a phone call from AuthorHouse trying to sell me a promotion package for “Trust Me” Said the Spy. Not that I don’t want to invest in my book, but seriously, at the moment we worry about paying the month’s bills and buying frivolous stuff like food, paying some odd 600 bucks for promotion that didn’t work the first time round is not even on my top hundred list. *sigh* Was a nice young fellow, though, and I could hardly blame him for needing to make a living. So I let him do his spiel, explained the situation to him, before we chatted a little about the dogs and said our goodbyes. By then I was starving because I missed lunch and was well passed supper time. *sigh*

Next there was a quick dip into the pool, followed by a short writing session before my stomach started to crawl its way up and started hitting my brain demanding where the food was. Headed up to finish up the tomato soup Cousin Ed had started on, made fondue and took the whole lot down for a quick supper while working on my computer.

Managed about a page at least, at which time I had to start on today’s blog…which I now declare done. I’m off to bed. Yay!

Strange

Song of the day: “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia. It’s been a while, but it’s still a good song.

Been a strange couple of days. I am not entirely sure why, but still, fact’s a fact. Strange.

Writing has been going rather well. Yesterday I managed a solid twenty pages, the day before thirteen, and today, again ten. The story is definitely getting there. There are rare moments that I really have very little to change in a sentence, and then other moments where I basically have to throw out the entire sentence, or paragraph and start over. I gotta say that I am happy to notice that I have improved considerably. These days, I can read a paragraph, and continue on reading while I am already starting on rewriting the beginning of the sentence. It makes for speedy rewrites, that’s a fact. Hah.

At the moment I am waking to Tadaika using me as a rubbing pole. Very painful, I admit. Silly dog thinks it’s a good idea to ram the top of her head into my shoulder, chest, of back, whichever spot is in her reach. Waaaaay too affectionate, but what can you do, right?

The usual stuff, ya know, laundry, cleaning, feeding the dogs, chores, blah, blah. Nothing special to report there. There was stuff to do in the yard, of course. Bugs to find…rather nice since there was a bit of sunlight and less wind down there…and plants to water.

Saturday night, before cooking dinner, we first loaded up the Land Rover in case the market would go through on Sunday…it didn’t. Despite the clouds having evaporated during the night, the winds were apparently horrible over by the beach (here too, for that matter), meaning that it had to be cancelled. Meaning we got to unload again, for no real reason, and fill our day with other activities.

In this case I opted to do some serious writing (ergo the twenty pages) and cleaning in my cabin. Took out the two chairs that the dogs wrecked these past six months or so. The rug, and then proceeded to sweep the floors, mop them, and tuck away some of my clean laundry, at last! Looks much better in there with a new chair and rug. Hah.

Since we were cleaning anyway, we hauled stuff from around the yard to the car as well (were going to do a garbage run later in the afternoon) and took the opportunity to fix a loose plate on my roof. The thing had been flapping during the night, which could drive me bonkers.

Hauled wood up to storage for drying. Got quite a bit of wood from that last eucalyptus. The lower part really was massive. Had to get up at least five wheelbarrows…and the chainsaw works really well.

Manage to eat some meat, which earned me a “good Sammie” pat on the head. Hah. Strangely enough it didn’t manage to keep me awake when we had to go out for a donation again, so I napped in the passenger seat until it was my turn to drive. Once home supper consisted of a fresh salad and fries.

Poor Knight isn’t feeling all that well at the moment. I suspect it has to do with the cold. Neither he nor Chaos are fans of low temps with lots of wind.

Which brings us to today, right? Well, there were the usual chores, naturally, followed by a much slower writing session and then me going up to trip tenant’s hair. We’ve decided to try out a pageboy-bob. It will take a while to develop, but what the heck.

That done, big brother and I packed up our tools and headed for the village for our paint job. Did a final circulation of fire on the wall…that really helped against the mold, by the way. There was none this time either. That done we applied the latex (caucho) layer to the stripped wall, and went on to clean the bathroom, (gawd, does that bring back memories of carpy cleaning jobs) the bedrooms, and generally mopping the floor all over.
Two, maybe three more trips to go, and then it should all be done. With a little luck we might even be able to do it cheaper than promised, which would be a nice change.
Did notice a parasite problem while working there. The woodwork is riddled with holes, so unless they had the place fumigated at some point, it doesn’t look good. Yikes.

The cleaning of the day done, we headed for the vet to drop of the muzzle I had borrowed for Knight II some time ago, along with mail and a school graduation book for one of the kids of the house’s owners. Then it was off to town to pick up some groceries. Actually did a good Samaritan thing today, hah. We were driving to the village when we noticed a box in the middle of the road. We debated for a moment, and then stopped to pick it up and check its contents (there’s always the fear of live puppies that were dumped after all). Turns out that it was a delivery that must have dropped off a delivery truck, so we debated again and then decided to see if we could find the address in the village. We couldn’t, so we stopped at a local farmer’s market (to a guy we know there) and asked if he knew the street name. He didn’t either, but he did offer to phone the number on the box and reached the woman it belonged to. He explained what had happened and the woman promised to come and pick it up by the time he put down the phone and assured us that he’d take care of it from there on.

Before you know it we were headed home where big brother made spaghetti and cheese for supper so I could start writing immediately.

And so we have reached the end of this weekend’s rundown. Nothing really strange to explain the hinky feeling I’m experiencing, but what the heck. Tomorrow’s a brand new day and I’m going for it. Hah.

Blindsided

Song of the day: “Sympathy for the devil” by Guns ‘n roses. I know. They’re not the original band, but this is the version I always hear at the end of “Interview with the Vampire”, and it is perfect there.

Sooooo. Another weekend gone. Stuff happened, of course, but as usual it is late while I write this and my mind’s pretty much mush. Hmmm.

Oh yeah, Saturday afternoon was the foray to town to meet with the guy who’d paid that deposit on one of the dog beds. We’d been holding on to the thing ever since (had decided to wait two more weeks in fact) when suddenly he phoned to ask if we still had his basket. Yep. Since I had to go to town anyway, we agreed to meet in front of the mall.
Big brother and I arrived a little early. We had to be in the big supermarket and by the time we came out, I saw the guy…or at least someone I thought looked like him. He and his girlfriend were standing on one part of the stairwell, I on the other, so I called out the dude’s name and saw him take a moment before recognition hit.
Had my hand out and everything to shake on it, but before I knew what he was up to, he moved in for a hug and a kiss on both cheeks that totally took me by surprise. First one was about eight inches off the mark, and the second one almost had us bump noses before he scraped the stubbles on his cheek over mine (ouch!). Seriously, I was considerably blindsided by that one, hah. Spoke to him a total of five minute once, some odd two or three months ago and there he was, dragging me into a hug. Jeez. That’s the Spanish for you, I guess. They’re very expressive that way. *sigh*
Next, he absently introduced his girlfriend to me, and then followed me to the car where big brother was waiting for us with the dog bed. The transfer was made, me the money, they the basket and five minutes later I was laughing in the car, relating the event to big brother.

Gawd, some odd five years ago I would have been mortified, not to mention red like a lobster, but now I could laugh heartily at the event…same happened the other day when I brought Liane’s car to the garage so it could be serviced. The English speaking mechanic wasn’t there, so there I was, looking at the very round and friendly and expectant face of the Spanish one. I could not think of a single Spanish word, and, looking at his face, I promptly burst out laughing, apologizing for not knowing what to say. Luckily most of it had already been explained to him, so we could in the end agree that he would phone as soon as the car was done.

That turned out to be sooner than expected, and because his was not actually a full work day, we had to cut short our editing session to go pick up the blue Land Rover. There was something about the car computer, for which he asked us to come back on Monday so he could do a proper diagnostic on it. *sigh* Sure. It’s not like we have anything better to do. Hah.

Sunday. Yep. You guessed it. Market day. Not a bad one again. Sold two big products and some small 2nd hand stuff, which didn’t make it big bucks, but enough to make it worth our while.
I often hear folks complain about the unloading and loading on Market day and I don’t get it. On the most part, that is the best thing about the whole market day debacle. At least you’re actively doing something when you’re loading or unloading. Seriously, the rest of the day you’re just standing there (if you’re lucky, you’re chatting with someone) waiting for someone to come and buy something. Considering our biggest attraction are dog beds, quilts and purses, we don’t cause big runs. Most folks take a few bucks to a market like that, so most of ‘m are not prepared at all for a big expense. Ah well. They’ll just have to get to know us, I guess.

Starting to recognize the regular stand holders like ourselves, which is fun, because you get to chat with them, compare notes, so to speak and ask pesky questions about where they come from, what they usually “do” and where they’ve been etc. etc. It’s fun.

We were late getting home yesterday afternoon (don’t actually know why since we started loading the same time as usual), but big brother had made supper with leftovers from the day before, allowing me to eat quickly before we had to head out again for a donation in town…we really should start thinking of not doing those on Sunday’s anymore.

What else.
Right. There was the big trailer to unload of sand still in there from working in the mountains on the terrace. The rainy day in-between hadn’t allowed for it. Saturday morning turned out to be bright and clear, though, so there was plenty to do in open air. One of which was loading up for the market, and later going out for another donation…the food one. It comes from the drug rehab place where they need to get rid of the overdue dates. Works just fine for the dogs, of course.
Were on the late side, but got more than enough to last us through several days.

There were the normal chores like laundry, cooking, and feeding the dogs. I did some writing still, mostly because without big brother the edit hasn’t got much use so I used an hour at the market to sit somewhere private and type away the time. Also this morning, partly due to the fact that big brother was distracted and working on the big house computer to see if he could get it to function again. Took him hours, so I got several more pages done, rather than editing.
Managed only a few of that, since we had to change a full paragraph which took absolutely forever. What is it about Saving Nina that makes us so friggin’ picky. We got into quite a “discussion” during the episode, I tell ya, and took almost three hours for only two pages. Insanity. Grrr.

Got the info as to how much the repairs of our Land Rover’s brakes will be. First round of chats gave a price of 335 bucks, which gave me heart palpitations. Second round, after a talk with the mechanic about how we were going to have to postpone that ‘till next month at the very least, brought the much more doable news of 215 bucks. *phew* Still almost half my salary, but what the heck.

Went into the yard for about an hour today. Didn’t have much time due to the appointment for the blue Land Rover’s diagnostics session, but did manage to whack some odd six (or so) caterpillars trying to molest our cabbage plants. They’re not doing well this year…except for the ones all the way down in the yard, which are doing splendid. Wonder what that is all about.

Other than that…well, BLANK! No matter. Almost two whole pages, so that’s more than enough. Gotta hit the sheets and catch me some Zzzzzzs.

One after another

Song of the day: “Dream a little dream” by the Beautiful South. Along with some other oldies, like Crazy by Patsy Cline and Ain’t that a kick in the head, by Westlife. What can I say, I was in that type of mood, I guess.

So yeah, I’ve been somewhat busy these past two days…well there were three, of course, but since Saturday was a wonderfully quiet one at home, that was only interrupted by loading the big wagon (after cleaning it) and loading the small one for the Sunday market at Funny Beach Marbella.

There were of course the boring events, such as laundry, feeding the dogs, cutting the dog food, but I won’t bore you with that. Nothing new, right? So yesterday morning I was lying in bed, wondering what the heck that annoying sound was, ringing in my ear for more than half an hour. Turns out it was my alarm. *snort* So I was late and had to rush through the morning rituals in order to make it on time. I did, thank you very much. Who the heck needs a full breakfast anyway, hah.

At one point I thought, what the heck? A quarter to eight? We still have forty minutes before we need to leave. Turns out my watch was stuck, which is why grandpa took it to the clock shop in the village. Luckily, it turns out that it was only the battery. Guy said that according to his notes on the inside of the back plate the battery lasted almost exactly two years. Good watch, eh?

The weather looked abysmal during our ride toward Marbella. Clouds everywhere, cold temps, but luckily, by the time we reached the beach and started setting up the temps were more than bearable. Setup took a while, though. Not that it mattered, since customers didn’t start trickling in until noon. Not a lot going on during the course of the day. If there were more than seventy people, I’d be surprised, but I had some nice social contacts that made it more than bearable.

Chatted with a Dutch Interior designer who was there selling the majority of her garage contents. She wasn’t a big fan of markets, which I can totally get since you have to make a conscious decision to like being a vendor at the market. You can’t make it about the money because that is not something you can control, nor can you make it depend on the buyers and their respective moods. Nope. Ya gotta try to make it about something that you can actually control. For me it’s the setup and the contacts. Makes all the difference.

But where was I, oh yes, the Dutch lady. We chatted something, exchanged some superficial history tales and compared notes of living in Spain as a foreigner. Her complaint was that friendships were so transient…which I could understand after hearing that she moved here on her own. I went with my whole family after all.

The Argentina girl was there again, and we went through the hellos, the how are you selling and why is the sun not coming out, darn it. Hah. Then there was the English fella with the Paul McCartney mouth who loved the dog beds, but didn’t have dogs, and was there to see if he was going to be a vendor next week. He’s moving back to England and needs to get rid of excess baggage.

Had half a dozen people come over, looking around desperately for Knight II, and expressing their disappointment that he was no longer there. It was actually kind of fun to see them come to our stand, smiling a greeting while peering behind our tables. Hah.

Since Knight wasn’t there, I did get the chance to take an hour and a half to write. Managed 3-4 pages, so that was a success. Oh yeah, that Dutch interior designer. I gave her my number in case she needs to have any work done for a reasonable price. She is located in a nearby town after all. We’ll see.

Oh, I bought this tiny little computer (7” screen) for €25. It’s only a couple of years old, barely used, and if we manage to figure out a way to put Kindle on it, I’ll be using it as an E-book reader. It’s not a bad little, machine, by the way. The battery lasted more than three hours, the basics, for as far as I know work, and…well, we’ll see how that goes too, I guess.

Sold two dog beds, yay, with the promise of a couple of more. Also a handful of baby clothes, which still get a lot of attention, thankfully. Actually made a bit of a profit, so it wasn’t for nothing. Hah.

Didn’t arrive home until twilight, which forced me to rush a little through a toilet break, and stuffing food in my mouth prior to leaving again with big brother, so we could go pick up a donation. (How big a pain is it that this almost always happens on a Sunday.) Didn’t get home until after nine, at which time I barely managed another half page.

Was in bed right after midnight, meaning that I was once again listening to an annoying buzzing sound that I couldn’t identify this morning.
There was loads of loading to do this morning, and though we did our best to think of everything, we ended up forgetting to take working gloves and (this is embarrassing) the wheelbarrows. Aaaarrrgh! Seriously. How stupid is that. There was not a single thing we could do without those. Luckily Liane had a broken one standing by her shed, and we managed to fix it up (nicely, if I do say so myself) so we could make use of it during the course of the day.

Phew. Big relief that…in particular since we had to dig out a couple thousand pounds of dirt, then haul sand and concrete (I mixed while big brother worked on the masonry for the border of the terrace we’re putting in). Underway, we stopped at the local construction company where we bought ten cement bags of 65 pounds. It was the oldfashioned Portland, the one I’ve been missing like mad. The kind that makes concrete look dark and oily. *sigh* We can’t get them around these parts anymore…which is why we’re planning on loading up on a big amount of those bags the next time we drive past with an empty trailer.

Around four in the afternoon it became obvious that we weren’t going to make it with the sand (darned stuff is either too much, or to little) so I went down the mountain with the trailer, and acquired a wagon-full of the stuff. That did meaning lots of unloading, but since we won’t be able to get in more than about 2400 kilos before Thursday, the extra was well worth the hassle.

It was nippy out there, in particular since the sun didn’t show, and a wind kept picking up right until the end of the day when the rain started. (Some odd thirty minutes after we finished clean-up.) Knight II didn’t like the cold at all, so he spent a lot of the afternoon inside the car. Unless of course, if there was something to eat. His nose was literally against mine while I was having lunch…until I shoved him back that is. Hah.

Finished the pouring well after sunset, so it was a good thing that we didn’t forget to take the light big brother put together for this very purpose. The basis of the floor is in, so Thursday we can put in the last layer with the tiles. Let’s hope we can manage it in one day.

Bad news is that while we were working, Cousin Ed phoned that Sally had a light fever. The doctors had warned for this, so Ed packed up Sally and took her to hospital, where they are, even now waiting for a battery of test results. I don’t expect to see them back before one, or two in the morning…which is when I hope to be in bed, already. *sigh*

Well, that’s it for me. Once we got home I had to help tenant get ready for bed time because caregiver was otherwise occupied, then ate some fries, and wrote this blog, which means, for me that this is the end of a freaky long day. I’m pooped.

Looooooong day

Song of the day: “Tease me” by…I’m not entirely sure. It’s been too long since I last actually heard or saw this song.

Well, considering I’m pretty much running on fumes, and can’t wait to hit the sack. It’s been a heavy couple of days. Yesterday was spent mostly loading gravel and sand, and hauling it over to Liane’s. Since we were there anyway, we spent some time adjusting the poles of the fence. The corner holders were, apparently the wrong ones, because they didn’t hold properly. Had to use the car to straighten the mess back up. By the time we got home I just barely managed to cook supper, and then head out again to pick up a load of gravel for today, which took some time to load since the stupid stuff refuses to go on the shovel most of the time.

Then, of course, there was this morning where we had to get up early to load everything up on the car, fill the big trailer with sand (Cousin Ed did the honors on that one) cut the metal works for inside the concrete (this Grandpa did) feed the dogs, do laundry, and all that jazz. Didn’t arrive at the job until eleven in the morning because we were heavily loaded and almost didn’t make it up the mountain.

Got started immediately, seeing as we were going to need every hour we could squeeze into the day to pour concrete on the 165 square feet terrace balcony. Almost didn’t make it either, seeing as the measuring, preparing, and placing the ceramic plating took longer than anticipated. In the end the actual pouring took 7 and a half hours. Of me mixing cement, hauling sand, filling buckets and handing it up to big brother who was on the ladder spreading the stuff, and coming down to take over some of the hauling by the time my body started to protest a little.

Took a fifteen minute break around two in the afternoon, but quickly continued on because were short on time. Didn’t finish, also with cleaning up afterward, until nine in the evening, some odd two hours after sunset. Hauled two tons, thank you very much. Gawd, I need sleep…which I’m going to do fast. I took pictures, and as soon as we’re done I’m going to show you the progress. It is looking rather splendid, if I do say so myself.

Knight II behaved splendidly, except for the fact that he wrecked his sock, and some of his bandage, the idiot.
Bad news is that little brother had to have one of his dogs put down. Old Barahm has been part of the pack for some odd eleven years, so he’ll be missed. He’s been in a bad state for a while now.

Angie, middle sister’s Basset is improving a little at least. She made it through surgery, drank some and is holding it down, so keeping our fingers crossed on that one. Little sister’s Panni is still suffering from a fever, poor darling. Apparently he’s suffering from a bacteria that’s basically resistant against all antibiotics. And to add to our dog troubles, I’m coming very close to making the horrid decision again. This time with Gadah, who is clearly starting to be bothered more and more by her hips. The pain killers are no longer helping, and to let her continue while it’s gotta hurt like hell, would just be mean. I mean, I could let her suffer through it for my own sake, she’s a lab, she’d bravely shoulder on, but I don’t think I can. It’s going to be soon.

Did write some yesterday, added two or three pages at least.

Okay, that’s it. I’m off to bed.

No more Saturdays

I will apologize in advance for the fact that I couldn’t keep my eyes open, and actually nodded off on occasion during this blog. If there’re any massive mistakes, blame it on that, okay. Hah.

Song of the day: “Perform this way” by Weird Al Yankovich. I know that the Gaga song is supposed to be great, but let’s face it, who can compete with Weird Al? Hah.

So let’s do this fast because I’m pretty much beat. I think it has to do with winter time having started, meaning I’m completely off balance again. *sigh* Ah well, it will pass, I hope.
Saturday. Right.
Well, of course it started out at the vet’s. Knight’s foot got bound again, after they had cut him open a little again. Yep. Otherwise the healing would last way longer, so they used this scoop sort of thing and scraped away closed skin to make it into a bloody mess again. Then new stitches were applied and bandage wrapped before I was sent off to go home and not come home until Monday…thankfully. The day afterward was a nicely quiet one, involving normal chores, like dog food, fixing a copper pot, loading up the wagon and Opel for Sunday and going out for a food donation for the dogs.

Lost the L little brother needs for the back window of the car (it’s a law in Spain that new drivers carry it visibly in the back of the car for a full year) which caused an exchange of words.
Me: “I put it “over there” because it was breaking over there in the car that I was loading it up.”
Little brother: “You have to leave it in the car.”
Me: “It was breaking.”
Little brother: “Why didn’t you put it in the dashboard cupboard?”
Me: “It’s full!”
Little brother: “Why not somewhere else like the door.”
Me: “I didn’t think of it.”
Little brother: mutters darkly.
Me: “Jeez. It’s not like I lost it on purpose.”
He stomps off.
As usual he sounded like you do something like that on purpose, just to spite him. *sigh* Little brothers are a pain in the behind, I tell ya. It also strengthens my belief that it never has any use to point an accusatory finger afterward. It is completely futile since it’s not as if you can change anything. Sure, you can snark a little, whine, complain, but that’s not because it’s remotely useful. It’s just to make you feel better. *double sigh*
No matter. What’s done is done. It is something I try to live by.

Not much writing, but I hadn’t expected as much what with everything going on. Am, however nearing the 12,500 word count, so that’s good. Only problem at the moment is that by the end of the day I can barely keep my eyes open, let alone write constructively.

Got to bed on time, and since there was the winter time thing starting, I actually got a decent night’s sleep prior to the market. We’d loaded in such a way that Knight II fit in the backseat and drove through morning twilight to arrive the market. Knight was a poster child of good manners through the day. First when we arrived, Cousin Ed and I hauling the small wagon to our stand, and Knight II nervously following me. The leash I made the other day worked like a charm, by the way. In the beginning he was a little nervous, but in the end he settled down in a chair and sat there keeping track of people and me as we moved back and forth.

There were awed and startled expressions at the sight of him sitting there in the chair. A millions of questions about his pay and pictures were taken. There were the two ladies who wanted to pet, and who ended up putting their face half an inch from his so he could sniff them. Knight very shyly obliged. My hand on his collar, just in case.
Had the quilts beautifully installed on this big constellation thing (foldout aluminum) and we were in awe of the sight…until the wind suddenly picked up and killed my constellation.
There were those who just wanted to see, those who wanted to pet, those who we chatted to about what would be a suitable dog for a small house and two small kids, and at the end of the day the three kids who had been playing all over the place all morning already and suddenly froze in the middle of their game to stare at the huge dog.
They clambered closer, hands outstretched, the boy on the shy side, keeping his distance while one little girl sat down beside the Knight and the other wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled closer.
Poor Knight II suffered through the ordeal vibrating with tension, his golden eyes tight on me as I smiled at him, and kept my hand on his collar once more. No disaster there either, he was a true gentleman throughout the day.
As for sales, we sold some baby clothes and such, along with one of the Tika Art snugglies. There was this woman who came to look at the clothes. She picked one pair of ribbed pants for her baby, and then pushed her baby into my hands as soon as I waved at the kid. Yikes. And here I had planned to offer taking her bag so I could deposit it on the table. No such luck, instead she said: “Here, take this,” and plopped the baby in my hands. Gawd, they’re so tiny. Can’t hold them too tight, but can’t hold them too loosely either, eh? But anyway, by then she ended up fascinated by the snuggles and asked to try one on. The poor tyke looked mighty uncomfortable, and when I suggested the woman did the ties a little looser, the women did the opposite by reaching back to tighten it even more. Seriously, I was having nightmare last night just thinking about how tight she’d pulled it. Ended up running after her, tying one of the long strips on her back that she hadn’t managed to knot yet. Said goodbye to both and watched them go at the end of the day and slowly started loading up. Again Knight II behaved wonderfully, charming our marked organizer and everyone else who came in his neighborhood. He refused to pee and sleep all day so he passed out during the drive home and when I let him out he literally peed for five minutes in one piece.

Oh, by the way, as of Sunday there is no more Saturday market, darn. I liked the Saturdays better than Sundays. Sundays might be busier, but there were more serious buyers on Saturday.

By the time we got home I was starving, but first we had to unload and then big brother had to head out for another donation. He had apparently forgotten that he had promised to cook.
No worries, there is a deep fryer, and there were French fries and fresh cauliflower to toss in.
I was so wonderfully exhausted last night, that I don’t even remember hitting the pillows.

Knight and Chaos on the other hand, managed to make it a restless night. It was cold, you see, and they decided to use me as their stove. *sigh*

Caregiver and Sally spent the day at the hospital for Sally’s chemo. She had been dreading it, since the last treatment (only 80 percent) had her feel miserable for two weeks, but she went through it okay, working hard to stay positive, which is admirable.

When I came from the bathroom this morning, I found that Knight had somehow managed to get under his denim sock and was wrecking his bandages. Taped him back up and took him to the car. Of course there was another vet visit this morning for me. The vet did say that she thought Knight’s paw was looking good, so no disaster from his attack on the sock this morning.

Once at home breakfast and dog feeding over and done with, I supplied tenant with veggies for her to cut for supper. That done, I walked her down to the main house where she spent the remainder of the afternoon.

Big brother and I worked in the yard instead, sawing down a dead mimosa tree trunk and hauling it all up to the wood storage. What was next was hauling plant debris down the moment, and the good stuff up to the storage where they could dry for the winter. Afterward I cooked supper. Didn’t like it, but blame that on the lack of mashed tomatoes.

Some writing at the end of the day , a pick up trip to town before that, and then…well now, I want to go to bed, because I can’t keep my eyes open, darn it.

No Cabin after all

Song of the day: “Call me maybe” by Carly Ray Jepsen. Cool song, if a little simple. I always end up with only the chorus repeating inside my head.

So the weekend is a bit of a blur inside my head, which isn’t unusual considering they both involved the same activity. Market days. Yes, I know, it’s weird, but what the heck. The only way I can keep them separate is because on Saturday we had the Land Rover and the big load, while on Sunday we were with the Opel and wagon, and only half the load. I tell ya, the big load’s a lot, in particular since our new spot is waaaaaay inside the place (a good 150 yards) and we needed about ten trips to get everything in there. I kid you not, it took us a solid two and a half hours to get everything there and then set up. No major sales either (and us keeping a constant eye on the weather because there was a threat of rain) just some baby clothes, a cat house and a down payment on this massive pink dog bed that we’ve got to hold onto ‘till November. They loved it at first sight, and barged right in to hear if they could do a down payment so they could pay the rest when they came pick it up. Sure, no prob. *sigh*
Other than the sales, they were fun days. Lotsa stuff to see, lotsa folks to talk with, including other stand holders, and the organizer. So busy, keeping track of everything, trying to keep everyone happy.
There was a shortage of clothes’ racks, and since she was desperate for it, I figured she could give ours to the stand holders beside us. Instead I asked for three small tables, which I used as a closet of sorts to put my tie dyes in. Managed to have it look nice in the end. The way I figure, there’s no sense in getting set in my ways. It’ll just make me lazy. A bit of change every now and then will keep the creative juices going at least, have me think, rather than do stuff on automatic…which I hate. If I do something on automatic that means I’m not actually doing “IT” and if I’m not DOING it, what is the point to that at all?...I know, that’s way to confusing. Forget I said anything.
Where was I…who cares. There was some really nice music during the day, and while we were packing up I danced to Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the soles of her shoes”. I love it when there’s music like that.
The guy I spoke to on the other market the other day came by and we talked a lot about art being underpaid and how folks really don’t like spending much at markets. *sigh* It’s a well-known problem.
The ordered dog bed was picked up while I was writing at the restaurant (did a total of nine pages in the past two days…a good thing, considering I’m a bit too tired tight now to do anything more constructive than write this blog) and according to cousin Ed she LOVED it. Yay.

Saturday ended with taking half the stuff from the Land Rover and reloading everything into the Opel and wagon while the younger sibs started loading up for their own market. The evening was a bit of a late one, so I didn’t get all the much sleep. Added to that, I wasn’t feeling all that peachy by the time morning arrived and it was time to get ready for departure. I was nauseous, had a tickle in my throat, and suffered from a light fever, I think. Dozed a little on the way to the market and felt better once the unloading bit started.
Last night I was almost on time getting to bed, which brings us to this morning, doesn’t it. Not the best of mornings, I tell ya.
First off, we had an appointment with Liane (you know the lady from the fence, right?) so the plan was that big brother would feed the dogs and gather tools while I took Knight II out to the vet so she could exchange his bandage.
Had to wait a bit when I arrived, and when my turn arrived the crapper had happened, somehow (we still don’t know how since his boot hadn’t been off) Knight II had managed to wreck his stitches during the weekend. Aaaargh! So that meant more than an hour of holding “the Knight” down while he had a mild sedative and local anesthetic and they took out the old stitches, scraped everything clean and started stitching again.

Okay, short interruption. Had to bring The Chaos to bed. The moment I mentioned “bed” he jumped up (for as far as that is possible with his sausage body) and ran after me to the cabin to throw his front paws against the bed and hop there ineffectively as he waited for me to lift him up. *sigh* No pride for that dog when it’s about the bed, is there.

Whatever.
So that would have been all to it, in regards to Knight II, but in the midst of the “operation” there was a phone call of another customer who needed his paperwork emailed ASAP because he needed it to get his dog on the plane to Australia of all places. So that meant waiting half an hour with a passed out Knight before they returned to wrap his paw back up and helping me get his half sleeping body to the car. Gawd, he’s a heavy bugger.

But anyway, since I had to go home to pick up big brother (slurp coffee and grab a sandwich for breakfast) we were terribly late for our appointment. Did manage to send a short SMS just when we were about to embark on the journey there, Knight snoozing on the backseat. *sigh* Arrived about forty minutes late and got to it.
The pool had to be broken down (it had almost blown away at some point, forcing Liane to hang on to the thing for half a day) so while big brother worked on the geyser (it was plugged again) I started on that.
It only took about two hours to get the whole lot cleaned up, and in-between we discussed the plans. No cabin after all, but a large balcony instead, and maybe tiling the terrace in front of the house. It’ll take a while to set up, but I think it’ll look good in the end. Actually already checked prices for wood (love carpentry) which means that I have to put together an estimate of sorts. Not tonight, though. Too tired. We’ll see how that goes.

Well, that’s it for me. It’s not like I’m getting any writing done right now…and it’s past midnight again, darn it. Grrr.
I’m outta here.

Done at last

Song of the day: “You gotta be” by Des’Ree. Awesome song. Have known it for years, and it is still good.

I’m done, I’m done…well, technically anyway. Yay!!!
Oh right, you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about. I finished the book. Another one. At last. 96,901 words (only slightly over the maximum) amounting to 309 pages. Sure. I’ll need to add stuff, change stuff, remove stuff, edit, proofread and all that jazz, but the story, as is, is basically done! Double Yay!

I cried buckets last night during the end scene, smiled my relief today with the conclusion of it, and on the overall spent some odd ten hours (spread over three days) in an emotional roller coaster. My characters were milked for all they were worth, their lives put at risk, their love toyed with, and their happiness set on that precipice of “will, or won’t they?”. It is mean, I know. I am infinitely mean to my characters as I take them on this road of discovery into the lives they live inside my head. At the start we are as oblivious about what will happen, creating a journey of discovery for every party involved. I do admit to moments of insanity when they start arguing with me about some horror or other that I put them through, but such is life. Can’t change it, and wouldn’t if my life depended on it. Hah.

Let’s just keep it on, “I’m done, I’m done!” Yippeeeeee!

But anyway, we’ve been living in a world of clouds and rain lately. Winter is coming, and you can feel it in the air. For that very reason we started on the carport wall yesterday so we’ll be able to work there regardless of the weather. First off, since big brother was still pretty much worthless in regards of heavy lifting and such, grandpa and I spent considerable time sorting through the storage in search of the wood we’d need for the project. Door posts, terrace doors, beams, slats and boards got hauled down and in a matter of hours the first semblance of a door with post began to take shape. I dislike the planning stages, in particular when I can’t hold onto a thought…which is often the case when we start on a new project. Once I’m in it, it’s not a problem, but beforehand…*shakes hand*…not pretty.

We were in the midst of the endeavor when mom and little brother returned from a trip to town with the new (second hand) industrial sewing machine mom managed to find. Apparently, after carrying the dratted thing (five people, apparently) to the car and putting it there, they forgot to tie it up, meaning, that during their trip home it tipped over and smashed the back window. *sigh* There’s another trip to carglass for a replacement. Thankfully broken windows are part of our insurance package, because otherwise, yikes. Got an appointment on Monday.

Since big brother was not allowed to do any heavy lifting, grandpa and I got the machine’s table from the car, while cousin Ed carried the relatively small machine down to the house. Though no featherweight, by any means, I don’t entirely get why they had to carry it with five people. Grandpa and I managed just fine. The fun part was removing all that machine oil from the back of the car, which little brother saw to, along with the glass while I taped up the window.

What was next involved supper. Chili sin carne (could have added meat, of course, but I totally didn’t feel like it) which, despite my best effort became so spicy that I was almost incapable of tasting anything except the spiciness, darn it. Sure, I added some sweet chili to the mix, and some dried pepper, but what was really the cincher was the hot pepper that somehow ended up between our sweet peppers this year and really added some zest to the meal. A whole pack of cream, two cottage cheese and tortilla wraps didn’t significantly change matters. Luckily neither big brother, Sally, nor Cousin Ed minded, and since tenant didn’t mention anything either, I figured it wasn’t too bad. Hah.

That done, big brother and I headed for town, first to check if carglass was still open, but it wasn’t. Seeing as we had to go out to get rid of the piles of garbage that have somehow ended up mounted in the old paddock, it was not a complete loss.

The rain yesterday was miserly…at least until the night fell and I spent it restlessly waking about every hour. First there was the wind, which made my door open and close at an annoying rate, so I wedged it open with a small wooden stool. Second there was the thunderstorm that was right overhead. One second I’m sleeping and the next light blasts straight through my lids, followed instantly by a clap of thunder that made our mountain shake impressively. Now I don’t mind thunder all that much, so I fell right back to sleep, but within an hour the wind changed, and before I knew it, I was slammed in the face by ice rain that somehow made it all the way to my bed. Aaaargh. Next wake-up call was from Knight II, who thought it a good idea to slam his spine into my ribs and disrupted a rather nice dream, by then I had so much adrenaline in my system that it was all I could do to doze the remainder of the night, until my early alarm went off, because the bad weather required me to drive grandpa to the village for dog food.

First I took a dip in the pool, however. I know, insane right? It was barely seventy degrees, it was raining, but I was in desperate need to taking a cold dip to get rid of the cobwebs in my head. I’m thinking that very soon the pool will cease to be useful, because boy was it cold. Hah.

Dog food picked up in the village, grandpa and I made a quick stop at the supermarket, and then went back home, where I called big brother out of bed, and walked the visiting dogs prior to doing laundry. Not much drying happening at the moment, and the lines are getting to be pretty full so far. It better not be this weather too long, because there’s plenty of laundry now that I did some serious cleaning in my cabin.

That done, and the dog food prepared and distributed to the hungry pack, it was time for my own breakfast and a continuation of the most recent project. What with the doors hung yesterday, and with big brother working on installing a handle, grandpa and I continued with the side panels. A new support beam had to be set in place, slats sawed, and more parts looked for up in the storage. In the end, grandpa finished up the last bits while I tried to catch a few winks in my cabin. Knight II, Sitabah, Dax (he crawled under the blankets with me) and Chaos loved it. We all snuggled together. Ended up with about fifteen minutes of rest, at which time big brother and I headed out to the construction company to get the supplies for the fence we’re going to put up next week.

Got a small discount, which is always nice, and which will allow us to stay under the price we agreed on. Nothing annoys me quite as much as wrong calculations. We’ll soon see if we missed anything.

But anyway, once we were back, and dined on French fries, and pumpkin fries, it was back to writing the ending of the book, and this blog, of course. Luckily both are now done, because I am in serious need of some horizontal time. *sigh*

Carnivorous attempt #1

Song of the day: “Cooler than me” by Mike Posner (sp?) I’m too friggin’ lazy to look it up, in particular since it is already past midnight and I haven’t had a minute to spare all day. Ah well, almost over now. It doesn’t really matter this time of night, does it? Soon I’ll be heading for lala land, and happy about it. *sigh*

So yeah, after yesterday’s catch up blog there were four pages added to the book. What with today’s five, a nice portion of the book got done. There was the grandpa chat today, my heroine talking to him, reassuring him that everything was fine. I’d almost forgotten to add it, which wouldn’t do of course. Family gets worried…in particular when someone doesn’t get in touch.
Ah well, that problem is solved now, as well as this very intense conversation between hero and heroine today. Not near done, but I’ll get it right soon, I’m sure.

Right. What else has been up. Besides writing, there was the venture into working at the igloo yesterday. The water is connected now (isn’t it a biatch when you turn all that off and then have to redo the lot because years passed) all that still needs to be done there now, is connecting the power. Seriously, we’re going to have to dig a little to find the old lines, otherwise we’ll have to put new ones in.

What else. Not much gardening for me. Just no time, since when I’m done and can go down, it’s time to make supper. Made Samosas yesterday, which worked out splendidly, if I do say so myself, and today I made pasta with summer veggies.

Most worrisome news at the moment is Sally, who really isn’t doing well, she’s constantly forgetting things, falling, and by now it is starting to become a habit to walk her down to her apartment at the end of the day from fear that she’ll fall underway and break something. I had a talk with her the other day, and discovered that the doctor prescribed her something which after a quick search on the net, accounts for all her problems. Darn doctors, even before I went to Wikipedia to check it out that was pretty clear. No one goes in a downward slope that fast without something nudging her along. Jeez. And here the woman’s been fearing that she is suffering from dementia.
Heck, even tonight she fell on her face, and cut her hand, meaning that tomorrow morning she will have to go and have it stitched.

As for today…after feeding the dogs, as usual, writing, cooking and chatting with tenant, big brother had to go out for a food donation for the dogs. Got a nice batch of veggies, bread and even some meat. Seriously, you should have seen the dogs when we got home and started cutting everything. There was like four pounds of liver, and while big brother cut it, all the dogs were quiet as you please all around him, noses in the air, and for the first time in, like, forever, didn’t try to steal a single raw vegetable from the pan.

Dax and Sitabah ate sausages. They discovered them on the hood of the Land Rover before I managed to stop them, and there was a chasing moment when Dax got a hold on a chicken paw. Seriously, he a fast little macho, and it wasn’t until I cornered him that he dropped the darn paw. Both he and Sitabah are swollen from their late-night snack. Hah.
Chaos has been walking around with his nose in the air ever since we came home, snarling at the other dogs, and constantly getting in mischief. “I’m a fierce predator. I can kill and rip like the best of ‘m.” At least that’s the attitude he is projecting. Hah.
Knight II…gawd, he was sniffing and staring as if hypnotized at that raw liver, and looking up at me occasionally as if saying: “Boss, I don’t know what it is, but something, I think my instinct is saying that, for the first time in my entire life, I am smelling real food. Can I have some? Can I? Can I?” While all the while his nose was drifting closer to the tantalizing red meat. Hah. Poor Knight. He’ll just have to wait, like the rest of ‘m.

There were veggies and meat to sort through. All of it had to be cleaned of plastic and rotting pieces, and then hauled down to the storage. All the while we had the dogs following us back and forth, sniffing the air due to the smoked cheeses that were overtime. Hah.

But anyway, everything got stored away, Sally is safe in her room. Food has been cut, and this blog is almost done now. Yay.

Let me see if there was anything else to mention. Well, I am trying to learn how to eat meat, because let’s face it, with my deficiencies it might be the only solution if I don’t want to resort to heavy pills that have only temporary relief. Tried preparing a sausage this morning by adding a load of herbs, garlic, onion some chili sauce, and still, when I put it on a whole wheat sandwich with lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, ketchup and cheese, I could taste way too much of it. Jeez. How much taste are they giving meat, darn it. How am I ever going to eat that stuff if it tastes like that. Seriously, I managed a total of seven tiny slices on four sandwiches before my gagging reflex got to be too much. If I didn’t stop at that one, it was all going to come out again, which would kinda defeat the point, wouldn’t it? Hah. I’m such a whiner. I mean really, folks eat that stuff all the time, and I bet they don’t have a gagging reflex. Darn stomach’s a whiner too, seeing as I kept “tasting” the vile stuff all day (ridiculous, I know) and my stomach kept knotting up. Who’d have thunk that becoming a carnivore would be so darn hard? Ah well, better luck next time. Grandpa swears that normal red meat, unprocessed doesn’t taste as bad as pork sausages, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

So that was it. I’m sure I forgot something vital, like the fact that big brother and I helped cousin Ed unload yesterday morning, putting all the Tika Art in the sunshine because the market is at the beach, and when the night falls condense makes everything moist.

I’m outta here. I need sleep.

Diggin'

Song of the day: “It’s only pain” by Katie Melua. Gorgeous song.

I am incredibly late today, not to mention pretty bushed, so let’s see if I can keep this one remotely short. *sigh*

First off, yesterday was a great writing day. Yay! Managed eight solid pages that just rattled out onto the screen. They (meaning the characters of course) just kept talking and talking, making me wonder if they were ever going to stop. They did, once the end of the writing session arrived, basically in the middle of the conversation, which the characters hate, I assure you.

I was a tad late yesterday morning, but that was okay, I needed the extra winks what with the shorted nights before that. Not that fifteen extra minutes is a lot, but what the hey, I’m not picky.
My dogs were absolutely psyched by the lower temps, making them behave like quiet angels when the market folk (mom, the sibs and cousin Ed) headed out at the crack of dawn, letting me sleep through it for a change. Hah.

After the normal chores, the writing and some chats online, I decided to make fondue for supper, using an old bottle of champagne, a few leftover blocks of cheese from the fridge, while also working on the salad for the next day (work day, remember). That done, while big brother was up loading up the car, cousin Ed and I headed into the yard to water the plants. And then up for a quick dip in the pool, some research for the book, and then to bed…

Of course friggin’ Sitabah and Gada decided to argue, twice, before four in the morning, keeping me from my REM sleep, which made this night a carpy one. Seriously, if I slept a solid four hours, it was a lot. But no matter, I was up on time, got coffee, did some laundry, fed the dogs and then gathered our own meal for the day.

We were ten minutes late leaving, (took Knight II along) but no matter, we arrived only five minutes late in the end, hehehe. So today was all about digging. I kid you not, the chosen spot for the pool needed to be dug free of no less than fifteen wheelbarrows of dirt. We dug, we chopped, we wheelbarrowed and dug some more until finally we leveled fifteen by five feet and were done for the day. Exactly eight hours of work, plus an hour and a half for traveling, and then when we got home, make more potato salad for food, sieving 1400 pounds of sand and loading it up. Along with six blocks of concrete that I had to haul up from the LOWER garden, for crying out loud! Had four loaded up, only to realize that I couldn’t get the lot up the incline. Had to carry two of them up separately, rather than risk falling flat on my face. Finally, by the time it turned dark, we were done loading u, and went down to eat some French fries and write today’s blog.

Which is where I’m going to leave it. Tomorrow will be another long day, I think. Despite it having been heavy (it was a good day for it, since there were clouds all over the place) eight hours of digging, ya know, we are right on schedule. Who’d have thunk that putting a pool together would take that much work, eh? I am taking pics, don’t worry…oh, and there were puppies. Hehehe.

Last bit, little brother will be doing his exams tomorrow, so he’s all nerves, of course.
Well, I gotta go. I’m going to try for an early night.

As promised: Pics!

It’s time, it’s time. The picture update time has arrived once more. Yay. The job is over and done with, so, yeah, here we get to see the end result. You’re psyched, I’m sure. Hah.

Here we go, first some befores then some afters:

See, all in their natural glory. Front.

Here too. Back.

And this is all nicely pruned. There's the Knight. Trying to sneak out of the shot. Hah.

All neat and groomed beside the road.

Front shot again. Notice the difference?

East side...with the fence cutting right through. All's still standing, and looking good.

Same spot, different angle.

Same back shot, but then trimmed, of course.

Another trimmed front shot. Hah.

This one isn't pruned. Neither did I do it, because it's an Almond tree. It was too beautiful not to shoot a picture, though.

The small gate. Had to take a shot from the sun gleaming on it. *snort*

The steepest part. Went up there at least fifteen times during the course of work. Boy, did I have a workout.

But okay, enough about the trees and fence. On to the daily stuff, right?
Here we have a couple of shots (before and after too) of the classic car thing I restored. Isn’t it gorgeous?

Before. Sides were broken, the paint chipped, the body mangled. This was the stage where I'd used glass fiber to put it back together. The shape was still off though.

The after. All done. Reshaped, painted and polished to a shine. I sure like the end result. *sigh*

So, here we are, let’s do the blog and get it over with, eh?

Song of the day: “Manic Monday” by the Bangles. How weird is it to have that song in your head on a Tuesday. Made me all confused, I tell ya. But okay, it wasn’t a problem, really, more than enough to keep me distracted, eh?

Yesterday was pretty darn busy, if you must know. I had to get up at seven in the morning due to the appointment with the garage at nine. I hate waking up and having to jump into the car immediately, so it is a matter of getting up in time for me to be able to enjoy a coffee, and to get some morning chores done.

Since yesterday was a working day as well, Cousin Ed and I headed out with the cars to drop off the Opel for the day (getting a pull bar, in case you’re wondering) while grandpa went out to the village (on the moped) to get some groceries and big brother stayed home to prepare lunch and make breakfast for the dogs.

Heard some complicated stuff concerning having a pull bar installed. There is official paper work to be done. A check up at the MOT, followed by informing your insurance of the darn thing. Then I’m not even talking of the price (I’m considering selling a kidney again, for the love of gawd!) which was so high that I’ve decided to postpone the repairs and do the MOT first to see what really, really needs to be done. *sigh*

By the time we got home, he had most ready, and I ate breakfast while we went over the plans and waited for grandpa to return.

We left home a little late and arrived on site to start work at 11 in the morning, luckily there wasn’t as much to do. Added to those two trees I still had to prune, I found two more I missed, so big brother started dragging debris while I got to work on those.

In the five hours that followed, I went through the whole garden one more time, checked the trees, cut off some lower branch growths, cleared some leftovers that we’d missed, all the while having Knight II following me around, or watching me from whichever vantage point he picked. Luckily he got used to the work location enough to relax a bit during the day, and even catch a few winks every now and then.

This time we did plan properly, and were done in time to load up and head on home to drop everything off and then immediately head to town to pick up the car. Made it barely in time before closing time, paid the bill, chatted with the nice mechanics, and laughed along when one couldn’t remember where he’d parked the Opel. It took him a couple of minutes of worrying, and rushing about, but then he located it in a side street, and waved me off while I was still laughing my head off. I sooooo know the feeling of forgetting something like that. Hah.

We got home around eight in the evening, to find mom and tenant on my terrace. Helped tenant on the home trainer for a few moments, and then set her on her way up to her bungalow. By then it was time for some very late supper (don’t ask me why, but I hadn’t been hungry all day, and never got around to having lunch) which I barely managed to choke down. Luckily Knight II (he was exhausted and slept most of the evening away) was starving and really appreciated the spaghetti and sauce through his food a lot. Hah.

While we did a six page edit during the evening, I had a momentary heart stab with the thought of, “OMG what if I had forgotten to load up Knight II in the car?” Seriously, I almost had a seizure at the idea. He would be wandering around there, lost and alone. Aaaah. I really shouldn’t be having thoughts like that. Bad for me.

Had a long night, almost made it a whole seven and a half hours and managed to roll out of bed without my foot messing me up. After the morning chores we headed straight out into the yard. There was watering to be done, a view to be admired, and seedlings to be planted.
Got in a solid field of peppers, and several tomato plants, and genuinely enjoyed the hours spent there.

Tenant went to the dentist again. The new teeth have to be adjusted and such, which makes everything a little difficult for her. It worked out well, though, and she’s back home relaxing in her room.

Besides gardening, big brother and I planned a traveling box for the classic decorative car (see pics) and I made a button nose of wood for a toy dog cousin Ed wants to use as an example on the market.

Well, I still have stuff to do. And then, well…more days to follow, of course. *sigh*