Can't be helped

Song of the day…oh, who cares. It’s been a busy day…what am saying…weekend, and I don’t have a lot o time to get this blog done.

First off, I wanna say I was a good Sammie, because I ate meat today an Saturday. Seriously. Done. As promised to this malfunctioning carcass of mine. Grrr.

In regards to Sally, there really isn’t anything the doctors can do for her anymore. No more chemo, just making her as comfortable as possible while the stage 4 cancer does its thing. Very depressing, but not unexpected. She’s not doing well in any case, and whatever the doctors have explained to her, is gone from her head within half an hour. All the other stuff. It’s getting worse every day. Nasty stuff, cancer.

Since neither tenant nor Sally were doing well at all, we decided to cancel the market Saturday evening. No big event at Funny Beach anyway, so there wouldn’t be a lot of customers anyway. Jane did come over as planned to help with tenant, so that gave caregiver a bit of a break at least.

Went to a pick up a donation, which turned up last moment. Very convenient that we had time for that.

Saturday evening we decided, spur of the moment, to go work at the job a little early. We packed up the Land Rover with tools, tried think of everything we needed, let the boss-lady know we’d be going there, and then went to bed semi-early.

Took me a while to wake up, wondering what the odd symphony of two alarms meant, but then it was up and at ‘m. Were only half an hour later than planned on location and immediately got to work. First off big brother went through the storage looking for the mower, and then for fuel. Finally found some in the broken chainsaw, which was just enough for him to gut away the weeds that obstructed our working area. Did the planning, the measuring, and then, watering the plants in the meantime, got started on the digging. Seriously, I am totally out of shape. The temps were good, though, and during the hottest hours of the day we took a break, ate some mac&cheese, and then worked on the book for a couple of hours.
Strangely enough clouds came rumbling in around that time, making the temps even more comfortable, and when we did the biggest part of the digging it was actually more than just bearable. Got the majority of the digging done, made some plans to show to the boss-lady, and calculated a rough estimate of the cost.
Once we had the digging done, pins hit into the soil where the outer line will be. Then the fun part started. Hauling rocks from all around the property. Got quite a few down to the terrace where we’re working on, and while filling the last wheelbarrow behind the house, big brother and I had the weirdest conversation.

Me: Do you know where the scythe is?
BB: Huh?
Me: The scythe. I can’t find it.
BB: I don’t know.
Me: I put it in the window.
BB: You probably put it somewhere else.
Me: I didn’t. I put it right there.
BB: Didn’t see it.
Me: Maybe someone stole it.
BB: I doubt anyone would bother to steal that rusty old thing.
Me (looking around warily): Not if it is like the Texas Chainsaw massacre kind of thing.
BB (snorts): Then they’d have stolen the chainsaw.
Me: Why would they steal a broken chainsaw.
BB: You’re weird.
Me: Me? (outraged) You’re the one suggesting that someone would steal a broken chainsaw while there’s a perfectly fine scythe lying about.

What can I say, I’ve a wonky imagination. *snort* As I was we continued to haul rocks…and found the scythe lying on the other side of the house where yours truly had left it. *sigh* Knight II didn’t mind the day at all. He basically spent the majority of the day snoozing on the outside bed in the shade of the balcony we built last year. Hah

Got most of the foundation dug out, and the majority of the rocks are ready and waiting.
Finished at around nine, cleaned up behind us, checked we turned off the electricity and water, and went back home. Luckily the ladies hadn’t been a major problem while we were off, though grandpa did have a little bit of an accident with the dog meat he’d boiled that morning. Apparently he hadn’t closed the fridge door properly, so the dogs really, Really, REALLY enjoyed that meat. *sigh*

Were nicely sore and tired last night, so it was definitely a good day with loads of physical activity.

This morning started with a planned vet visit, as usual, but when I came up Jane informed me that tenant wasn’t well at all. She was shivering like mad, so we took her temperature twice, both with the same result. No fever.
.
Knight wrecked his bandages last night, so I had apply new ones that stayed on till this morning when grandpa and I took him to the vet. The wound is looking well, but the swelling is still there. At least the other paw is back to normal. Noticed on the way out of the vet’s that there was a small puddle of green liquid under the car. Darn it.

When we came back Caregiver informed me that tenant now had 102.52, which isn’t good. We gave tenant a paracetamol and called an ambulance. They didn’t actually pick her up until after four, which is totally out of whack in regards to her history with sepsis.
Can’t be helped.

But anyway, since caregiver couldn’t bring grandpa to his doctor’s appointment, and Sally for an emergency visit because she’s got so many new little wounds, that just keep getting worse. Didn’t get back from that until one in the afternoon. Once back I called the garage who are extremely busy, but who would have a quick look if we managed to get there within the hour. Had to wait for little brother to return. He needed to make a delivery of chairs.

Arrived at the garage within the hour. Probably nothing, thankfully. Just a seal that might have shifted a little. We’ll see on Thursday when we have to go to the MOT. Picked up a few things for mom, and then went back home in time to see the ambulance depart with tenant and caregiver.

We did some Spanish. Decided to load up the car and wagon for tomorrow’s work session up in the mountains, and did a quick trip to get the gravel we’re going to need tomorrow. What with everything going on (like picking up caregiver, and maybe tenant tonight still) it is going to be interesting to see how tomorrow will work out. Jeez.

But anyway, got everything done, even this blog, so it is time for me to see if I can do a nap now, before we have to leave for the hospital.

Again!

So there I was, crouched in the dark, blinking at the unfamiliar sounds all around. There was the gggrssss gggrssss off to the left that gave me the creeps, the steady drip somewhere overhead and the annoying thump thump of my heart creating a rather unpleasant symphony of utter eeriness.
That should teach me, seriously. Treasure hunt. How stupid was that. Just because I found a map somewhere that had looked legit and I recognized several landmarks, didn’t mean that this was a sure thing.
I sighed for the umpteenth time, tightened my arms around my knees in the cramped space that didn’t allow for much movement at all. I should have turned back when the big log had come sailing down from some hidden niche and missed me by a mere inch. Could still have turned back when those friggin’ spiders had come crawling from the de dark corners, meaning that I had to do some fancy dancing to squash each and every one of them. Then there had been the dangly bridge thing that had basically disintegrated behind me. That’s when it should have started to dawn on me that getting back out was going to be a problem. The thought hadn’t occurred, of course, since the first thing I did the moment I passed the latest obstacle, was check my map, and trying to figure out the next hurdle.
Troublesome, I tell you, greed. I pondered that very vice while I sat there. I had a scrape the size of Arkansas on my thigh, several rips in my shirt, and my hair…well, I didn’t even want to think about what was in there, since this latest debacle. I’d been about to cross a rather harmless looking corridor when a strange grating sound had made me freeze in the spot. In hindsight that was the worst I could have possibly done, but there you have it…or in this case, me, at the bottom of a of this roughly hewn tube that had gone almost vertically down, and had me land flat on my bum with a rather inelegant oomph.
Yikes, that landing had hurt…and added to that, the bag with my supplies had been lost somewhere along the “ride” down to this three by three prison.
“Drat!” My voice echoed through the tiny space like some sort of megaphone was aiding it. I winced at the sound of it, and then winced because the wince hurt too. *snort*
How the hell was I going to get out of here, preferably before I end up like the skeleton I had landed on top of.
I shivered at the memory. Remembering clearly she girlish squeak upon gazing into the black eye-sockets of the skull, I deliberately kept my eyes aimed at the small dot of gray from high above that had the sole source of light…right before the day had turned into night.
I’d been here for a while now. At least two hours, I guestimated, which meant that it had to be around ten in the evening.
Something wriggled between the toes of my one bare foot. I had the fall to thank for that too. The stupid sneaker had come undone somewhere midway, right in that spot where a sharp rock or tree root had ripped though my jeans and a large part of my upper skin. I pulled a face, and yanked my foot back, trying desperately not to imagine what had caused the sensation.
My phone was lost with the bag, of course, but somehow I doubted I’d have reception down here anyway.
The family wouldn’t come looking for me until much later, since I warned them I might be late, so I was pretty much screwed for the moment. Less numb from the fall now, though, my brain was slowly starting to function again. Using the wall as support, I slowly pushed myself up to an upright position. Should have tried it earlier, but somehow doubted I would have been able to. Even now I was more than a little dizzy from that effort. By the time I was fully up, and semi straight, I was breathing heavy, a sound that only added to the creepiness of my surroundings.
There was this almost uncontrollably urge to scream for help, but I knew that wouldn’t help and convinced myself somehow to save my strength.
Gawd. How could I have been so friggin’ stupid?
My palms felt slightly moist and at first I thought it was because they were sweaty. They weren’t instead it was the wall that was moist…better yet, here I found the source of that annoying drip. There, about the height of my shoulders was a small hole through which water steadily oozed.
I bit my lip, wondering whether the water was drinkable and gently probed the outline of the hole so I could bring moist fingers to my nose and sniff. Nothing detectable, except for the same musty scent that hung all around.
No. I wasn’t thirsty enough yet to attempt it, and when I put my fingers to the wall once more I noticed something odd. The section where the liquid dripped was soft, almost like a malleable clay and gave, ever so slightly, to me applying pressure.
Frowning, frustrated with the lack of light, I scraped the tips of my fingers over the clay, finding them coated in the substance, albeit only a little. I needed something stronger, something hard to do this with, but what.
Frantically, almost dizzy with excitement, I looked around my “prison” to find only a handful of tools that might do the trick. My fellow companion. The bones.
Oh yuck. The idea of handling them was repulsive, but I really didn’t see another option and reached for the biggest bone on the heap, hoping that it would serve well as a hammer of sort. Tentatively at first, I wrapped my fingers around the thinnest part of the thing, but then, discovering that it was dry and smooth, with more strength. For a moment I tried finding a proper position that would allow for the best swing, but then discovering that there was just no way for that to work, I just slammed the thigh-bone, hard as I could, against the softer surface in the wall. There, right where the joint had struck, sending a painful jar up my arm and shoulder, a slight indentation was noticeable under the gentle probe of my fingers.
Exulted I stepped back and tried again. And again. And again, until a foot by foot impression was awarded to me for my efforts.
Yes! I thought, somewhat madly, my hands, once more slippery, but this time from exertion. Again, over and over I hammered away until at last something cold and wet hit me right in the face. Water, the strength of it making me stumble backward, sputtering all the while, before I had the quick of mind to duck down and sideways out of the hard spray.
Well, that water better be drinkable, otherwise I was pretty much screwed right then and there. I wiped at my eyes and face, turning my head away from the point of impact and peering instead at where the water was coming in.
Already the icy liquid was gathering around my feet, and the smallish hole I had created, was rapidly growing from the pressure of the streaming water. Looked like a friggin’ fire hose at full blast, for crying out loud, and I shuffled passed the side wall as far away from the water as possible. I just might have chewed off more than I could handle, and I dropped the bone with a squeal when more of the wall broke free, bringing the ever-rising water level up to my hips. This was so stupid, I thought, looking around frantically as the water churned and rose at an alarming rate. I was so screwed, wondering how long I’d be able to stay afloat (I’m a good floater) in this cold water. I doubted I could hold out long enough all the way up to where I’d fallen.
Already my teeth were starting to chatter, and the water came up to my chin. So screwed.
More water burst through, the whole, taking more mud with it, almost bursting over my head, if I hadn’t set off with both feet and bobbed above the surface.
I sure was going to find out whether I’d make it, paddling like mad in an attempt to stay afloat in the center of the rapidly filling tube. I was going faster and faster, fear and relief battling for supremacy as I rose a yard, two, and so on and on. I bumped my shoulder, went under for a second or two, but managed to paddle back up. A slight bend in the tube, but going too fast now to do much maneuvering. It was all I could do to keep my head above water. Up there, the vague grayness approached, seemingly slower than I was going, but it was getting closer. My legs were burning, arm and shoulder aching, and leg throbbing like mad. Just a little longer. I choked on a mouthful of water, struggled against the panic of drowning and kicked harder. Come on! A little more. Come on…

Which was just about when my alarm went off this morning. Don’t you just hate it when a vivid dream gets broken off just before the climax? I tried to go back to sleep for another ten minutes to see if I could finish it, but alas it was not meant to be. The dream was gone, and I didn’t get to know if I got out of there, or if I found the treasure. Funnily I don’t even remember what the supposed treasure was. Hah.

So, Song of the day: “If you’re going through hell” by Rodney Atkins. Dontcha just love country music? I sure do.

It’s been a crazy couple of days. First off yesterday started early when grandpa phoned me out of bed to get me an big brother to come up to help Sally who had fallen in the bathroom, and whom he and caregiver couldn’t get up any more. We couldn’t do much either, seeing as the moment we tried to get her to her feet she started screaming as if the end of the world was nigh and we were torturing her to death, even after we both let go she continued to swear and cry. *sigh* Ended up calling the ambulance people to come and help out, because there was no way to convince her that they were going to do the same when they arrived.

And they did. They each went to one side of her, tried to lift her, at which point she started screaming again. At that point caregiver warned her that if she didn’t let them help her up now, they were going to leave again, which she apparently believed, because the next thing you know they grabbed her by the armpits and set her right on her feet. Of course in her memory there were five strong guys who came to her aid, while in truth they were two medium sized middle-aged men. *double sigh* The old noggin’ just ain’t working all that well. Same goes for her lying down. The doc told her that when she sits she has to put her legs up on a chair, but when she sits, she doesn’t. No, instead she puts them on the chair when she lies down on the bed, which is, in turn wrecking her back, a new problem. The ambulance folk suspected a mild hernia. *triple sigh*
Added to that fun, today she had her appointment at the Málaga hospital for a full body scan to check if perhaps her cancer has spread to the bones, because she complains about a lot of discomforts.

That was part of today’s fun filled activities, by the way. First Sally had to go to the village health center for her legs…they’re still not healing well, and she has to start taking antibiotics again…after which we had to go to the consulate for Cousin Ed’s passport, then on to the Málaga university hospital, where we dropped caregiver and Sally off, while big brother and I rushed back to the MOT appointment for the Opel.

Went through the registration bit without a hitch, then had to wait for half an hour for our turn, at which point we had to let the car jump through all the proverbial hoops. We passed just barely, because the errors with the car weren’t deadly…or at least, that’s what our mechanic said when I went by to have him look at the results of the test. He told me not to worry about it now. None of them were something that was mandatory to fix, and we could do that whenever we have enough fund. *phew* A relief that.

Once the MOT was done, we headed for a supermarket for some cheap ice cream because it was hot and we didn’t have cold water with us…which reminds me of yesterday…I’ll get to that afterward then.
With ice cream to battle the heat, we received a call from caregiver that Sally would be another two hours, so that meant we better find a cool spot where we could take out our computers (we were smart enough to take those along) and get some work done. Did part of this blog, with the aborted dream in it, and before you know it it was time to go pick ‘m back up.

Once at home I took a quick dip in the pool, made supper of sandwiches grilled in garlic/herbal butter and loads of fresh veggies, which I just finished eating. Hah.

So, yesterday. After the ambulance was gone, we basically started planning. The small shower cell tenant and Sally have been sharing with grandpa just won’t do anymore, so we’re going to have to put together a new cell that is accessible for someone with a walker and a wheelchair. It is going to have to be behind Sally’s place, so we had to skip the morning editing session (drat) and get to work.

Because the big fridge was standing there where the bathroom is going to be I quickly had to tile that part of the kitchen floor so we’d be able to put the machine there later in the day. Got that done while big brother went to the yard to quickly water the veggies.

Then the planning bit started. We talked materials, budget, and sorted through storage until we had something to work with. It’s not going to be gorgeous, but it will be serviceable. We’ve got the tiles, the plastic partitions for the walls, and the space, so…
Most of the plumbing got set up during the course of the day, with me playing gopher most of the time.

Good bit of news is that tenant came home at last yesterday. She was in good spirits despite the fact that she is once again carrying a urine bag...at least until the latest kidney stone has passed through.

Had to leave early to boot, because Knight II had a vet appointment. His ear was a problem again, several inches of swollen tissue once more, and added to that, he wrecked his paw, again, too. Gawd! That dog will give me ulcers, I tell ya. Had to leave him there, again.

Regretfully we couldn’t do much on the bathroom afterward because big brother and I had to go to town to get a donation for the dogs. A big load of canned goods again (remember that friend with a store?) a good variety of them to boot, giving us something to fall back on if we can’t get fresh veggies some day. Loading took forever, so I had to phone Cousin Ed to ask her if she would please go to the vet hospital with the moped, before closing time and pick up Knight so she could wait outside with him until I arrived.

Luckily we came only fifteen minutes later at which time Knight was in a near panic and basically jumped into my lap the moment I opened the door…while we hardly had space for him yet. *sigh* Poor guy. He was not a happy puppy.

Was too friggin’ tired yesterday, meaning I could hardly get any work on the edit done at all. In the end we decided to go to bed early and see if we could catch an extra hour, or something.

Which I’m going to call the end of today’s blog. Gotta go.

Stress?

Song of the day: “Please don’t say you love me” by Gabrielle Aplin. Such a gorgeous little song. One of my favs at the moment.

Another weekend past. Time does fly, doesn’t it? So strange how that goes. Here I was, happy that the Friday blog was over and done with, looking forward to an entire weekend without blogs, only to be back at it again.

Let me just start by saying that it is friggin’ cold right now. I don’t know what is up, but I had to put on a sweater by the time the sun began to set. It’s June for heaven’s sake! The wind is, autumn-like, I swear. It is downright freaky, I tell ya.

Saturday. I woke at the usual time, but something inside me was screaming for an extra 30 minutes, so I caved in and closed my eyes again…regretfully cousin Ed needed something, so that nipped that in the butt, since I was really awake after that. Hah. Couldn’t be helped, I fear. She wanted to take tenant to town so they get her some new reading glasses, and needed the car.

Poor Knight II had several of his stitches removed, the poor darling. He didn’t like it at all. In particular not since he is still wary of men, and doesn’t know the new male assistant yet. Also, I think it hurt a little, so he was sitting on the floor, me holding his hand, making kissy noises, holding him tight while the vet poked and prodded at his ear and removed about five stitches. He was not amused, my big lug.

Big brother and I spent some time in the yard again. Plantsies need to be watered after all, and though this year the yard is minimal (just too little time this time round, darn it) it still takes some time. Only enough for eating, nothing for storing, much to my regret. I did love the canning two years ago. But what with all the hospital trips this year, the vet trips, the markets, it is just not doable. It saddens me sometimes, but such is life. You roll with it.

Did some groceries for mom and the sibs, they too have little time, so, since we had to go for a donation anyway, we picked some stuff up. Got to do some more photography, not as much as I would have liked, but some at least. I’m going to have to see how they worked out soon. I still haven’t taken them off the camera.

Sunday. No Funny Beach Marbella market this time round. There was apparently some big San Juan feast going on on Saturday night, meaning that the place would be a mess, and that they would not be able to get everything set up for the market the very next morning. A pity in regards of earnings, but not a bad thing for as far as I was concerned. I’ve more than plenty to do at home, thank you very much.

Of course, when mom asked if I could check out a market for her in Villafranco, a town off to the north, I couldn’t say no, and agreed to go there with cousin Ed, just to see if it was anything for us.
First there were the chores, however, and since that took longer then expected, no breakfast to talk about. Instead I wolfed down half a portion of cereal before I had to leave to bring Jane to the village. Since we were home, we didn’t need her to stay until two. Just as I was about to leave with her, tenant called after me that she would so much like to go with us to the market, so Cousin Ed got her ready while I drove Jane home, and then returned asap.

We loaded tenant up, packed up her wheelchair and all other necessities and left for the little village where the market was supposedly located. First off, the town looked like a ghost town from one of those spaghetti Westerns, and what’s worst, that image didn’t change. So we stopped at one of those ice cream stands where the market was, and were told to go down the road and at the end we’d come right upon it. So we went, came upon a restaurant, but no market for as far as we could see. Cousin Ed went in to ask again, and then came back out gesturing that we were there. I drove back, parking in front of the restaurant, with Ed whispering that I wasn’t going to believe this.
It was cute, I’ll say that much about it. Definitely a nice thought, but for our purposes it couldn’t be called a market. Seriously there were about eight tables inside a big room, and if we were to put our wares with it we’d probably fill half the room. Added to that, the majority of the customers this market had, were the those who came from the market my mom’s on, so that would totally defeat the purpose. A pity. It would have been fun. The folks were nice at least. Lots of Brits.

Did practice my Spanish, both yesterday and today, thank you very much. Not enough yet, but some at least, so I’m not a complete slacker. Gawd, who’d have thought that fitting in half an hour, or something, would be that hard. *sigh*

Then, considering my camera really needs the protection, I worked with leather yesterday afternoon, after we got back. I took a dip in the pool, got out a knife, and started cutting. Within three hours I had something resembling a bag with stuffing to protect my new toy. I did a rough design, that I will, at some point brand all over to make it look nicer. Felt somewhat odd afterward. I am not used to sitting that long, focusing so intently, I guess, so I took another quick dip and then got to work on supper.

Helped tenant in-between, who revisited an old milestone, which had both of us relieved. Regretfully Sally is getting worse at the moment. Her mind is not right, I fear. So much anger, which is just not healthy in the state she’s in. Did get a wonderful tip from one of my online friends, who suggested a walker for Sally. Gawd, I hadn’t even thought of that. We still had the one mom once bought for tenant standing around, and it will sure do the trick for Sally…when she remembers to use it.
She’s an incredibly stubborn old lady, but then, that’s nothing new. She always was, it is just more noticeable now, I guess.

But anyway, while I was working on my bag, big brother and grandpa worked on the roof of the carport where it connects to the new kitchen. It looks nice, actually. Yes, I’ll take pictures of that as well. Hah. At the same time cousin Ed did some masonry where the third window will be, and though I would have loved to do some in the kitchen as well, I need to make that bag. *sigh*

Cooking in the past few days involved red beets with rice and cheese yesterday, mushroom pastries with red cabbage and mashed potatoes on the side the day before that, and pasta with ratatouille today. All leftovers together, should make for an excellent meal tomorrow.

Got some serious writing done these past few days. Yay. Along with some edits, double yay. Going slower than expected, and hoped for, but such are the ways of writing. Some take time, some come out like a brain fart (pardon my French).

Am, as of yesterday, experimenting with creating a herbal wine. It’ll be strong, it’ll be different, but most of all, it’ll be fun to try out. Got this massive pot filled with a pinot, tossed in a selection of herbs from the yard, some spices, a clove of garlic (hey, this is my wine, don’t wrinkle your nose at it until you’ve tried it) and some dried cranberries with one disk of beets…I’m cheating and making it a red wine. Hah. Took out the garlic this morning, otherwise it would become too pungent, but the other ingredients are still in. I’ll let you know how it works out once it’s done.

Also, today I spent some time on my potions. I was out of a lot of them since the last flu, and especially my Sage potion was starting to become incredibly necessary. But anyway, gathered it all during this afternoon’s yard session and set it to seep in brandy so it should be done in about an hour, or so.

What else? Well, that fella from Texas is persisting. Am not really sure what to think of it all. On the overall we’ve been sparring online…in a rather public place, thankfully…but he keeps insisting I write to him personally. With the emphasis of me contacting him first. Now, call me paranoid but I keep thinking that if I do I’m going to hear “You’ve been Punk’d” or something. Hah. What can I say, I’ve a paranoid mind, and see conspiracies everywhere. Ah well, so far it’s been fun games, we’re just going to have to see where it leads and hope that he doesn’t turn out to be some sort of whackjob. A little whacky is fine, but a whackjob would be cause for concern. Hah.

Had to go out for a donation again today. Didn’t get much, but enough for expenses at the very least…if we manage to sell any of it, that is. What with the way the markets are going these days, that is a big if, by the way. Everyone is feeling the pinch of the economic crisis, me and the family included. Added to that, there’s another big vet bill waiting, along with the impending inoculations which are obligatory these days, which are going to hurt our finances severely. *sigh*

The stress is a little high at the moment, I think. Too many changes, maybe. The threat of losing our way of life at some point in the future. Or just too much overall stress. There are some recurring headaches playing, (I’m managing those, thank you) and the day before yesterday I revisited the good old days by upchucking my supper. I hate it when that happens. I am working hard at getting my deficiencies under control, only to have my stomach decide that supper just wasn’t necessary. As was par for the course back in the day, my stomach’s had that scraped out feel for hours afterward. Very annoying. I am not going back there, I tell ya. I will enjoy a stress-less life even if it kills me. Hah. Gawd, I need a jog, or a boxing session!

Well, on that cheery note I’m going to call this a finished blog and say my goodbyes.
Goodbye.

Hah.

Knock-off

Song of the day: “Promise me” by Beverly Craven. Such an awesome song. I suddenly remembered it the day before yesterday and downloaded it, and it’s been going through my mind ever since. It definitely was one of my favs back in the day.

But anyway, the past couple of days have been relatively quiet…with me doing a solid nap both days because I was once again cross-eyed with exhaustion in the middle of the day on both counts. Yesterday was pretty bad, almost slept two hours straight, and today another hour. Those two end burner weeks are a killer, right?

Yesterday was another example of too short a night, but okay, we had an appointment we had to get to. The Opel fix. While Big brother and grandpa took the Land Rover to the village to get bread for the dog food, I headed for town to drop of the Opel. Chatted with the receptionist for a bit while the mechanic got to work on the car and big brother phoned that he was on his way to pick me up. Was still waiting when it became clear that not only the back brakes were bent out of shape, but the front ones were basically non-existent. *sigh* Up went the price, of course, and added to that, we also needed a new driver-side rearview mirror, so caching! But anyway, they were going to try to get the car done in one day, but I shouldn’t hold my breath. I didn’t, so I wasn’t too surprised when it turned out that they didn’t make it.

There was writing both today and yesterday. Not a lot, I’m still spending some time reading up on the story, but slowly and steadily I’m shlogging myself through this particularly difficult piece. I do know that so far it doesn’t read like romance, which is good, because that is what I’m aiming for. Hah

Spent some time in my kitchen both yesterday and today. The tiles had to be scraped clean and then washed, the latter of which Cousin Ed did today. They look beautiful, by the way. In particular since I used at least five different types of white tiles. Also sorted through the lazuli and turquoise tiles which I want to use over the counters, and discovered that I might not have enough of them. Gotta ponder that for a bit, try to figure out a solution that will work for me and my wallet, eh?

Had a rather fascinating experience at this rather big pawnshop in the city. I’ve got this ancient watch that I wanted to have a price estimation on, so I decided to go to this upscale place. It’s not that I want to sell it, I just want to know the price so I can consider it in an extreme emergency. So strange. He was looking at it, mumbling, saying that it was unlikely to be anything of considerable worth (most likely a fake), fifty to a hundred bucks at most. Then he put his tooth on it, had his colleague look at it, and kept mumbling about there being something off about it. He ended up offering me sixty bucks for it, and advised me to go to a specialty shop to get another opinion. I should just go there and say that they sent me, which I did, thinking all the while why he would offer me 60 bucks for a knockoff. *sigh* But anyway, the weirdness continued at the specialty shop, where the girl behind the register knew nothing about it, the old lady who mixed in on the talk and took out catalogues to check, and the guy who suddenly appeared from the upper office, took one suspicious look at me, glanced blithely at the watch and then said that it was a knockoff. Weird! I seriously don’t know what to think. I think I’ll look around some more. If they were lying to get it for a cheap price, they made a big error, because if that really is all you can get for it, I’m not selling it. Might as well use it then, right?

While I cooked, big brother went with Sally and Caregiver to the local health center for Sally’s leg. Considering the Opel wasn’t there, they’d need him to get Sally in and out of the car. Ate, edited and, well, I was of course late getting to bed. *sigh*

Today. Well, it started at six past nine when the receptionist at the garage called me to let me know that the mechanic had come in an hour early and that our car was ready and waiting for us. Yay.
It did mean rushing about. First rushing up to Sally’s place because apparently she’d fallen in her bathroom and was no longer able to get up. Took both big brother and me to get her to her feet, and she had another gash on her arm. We’re really going to have to work with her to get her mobile again, this is not going to work.

Then big brother and I (without coffee) headed out for town to pick up the car because caregiver had to leave for the hospital with Sally at 10:30. Pushed the speed limit a little, had big brother drop me off, paid the humongous bill and was back on the road five minutes later. Arrived home at 10:28 so I congratulated myself with my timing and went to have some breakfast. By the time big brother came home too, I had to head out again to bring Jane (tenant’s help) to the village. Chatted a bit of Spanish with her, and was back home in fifteen minutes or so. Put the stove in my kitchen! *bows* Thank you. Thank you very much. Hah

Made rather wonderful burgers with my patties. Again on the brown buns, which go splendidly with the lettuce, tomato, cheese, pepper and sauce. Stuffed our faces with lunch, had that nap I mentioned earlier and then had to take Knight II to the vet for his ear check-up. He still has some inflammation, so she could only take out half the stitches. Poor darling. He didn’t like it at all. Did manage to snatch a photograph of the vet’s receptionist, who’s a very nice lady, and I snatched some really good ones, I think. At least one of ‘m is going to end up at the photo blog site.

Picked up a batch of veggies at the distribution center for the dog food and arrived home in time for me to start on supper. Cauliflower with mustard seeds, mushrooms in cream on the side, and rice. Was happy with the end result, in particular since both tenant and Sally enjoyed it too.

Did some writing tonight, chatted some online including a whacky dude from Texas who’s trying to convince me to marry him. Hah. Poor guy for actually thinking that to be a good idea. He wouldn’t have a moment’s rest if I took him up on that. *chortle*

Well, that’s about it for me today. Almost one in the morning. Time for some shuteye, we have a yard to see to in the morning…oh, and there won’t be a market at Funny Beach this weekend. Nope. There’s some big party going on “San Juan” meaning that they won’t have the time nor space for stand holders. *does a happy dance* I’m gonna have a free weekend to get stuff done on my kitchen…hopefully. *winks*

Confusion

Song of the day: “Wild Rose” by Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave. Strangely dramatic song. Also not the most comfortable since it is rather depressing. I ended up singing “Things” by Nancy and Dean, just to get rid of it.

Right, the past couple of days have been hectic as usual, and because it is already late, I totally don’t feel like sharing. *sigh* Gotta do it, though, promised to keep the blog as accurate as possible, and frequent, come hell or high water…well, okay, if either of those last two happen, I am not going to blog. Hah.

Well, let’s see if we can keep this remotely short, alright? There were of course the usual chores. The ever pleasant laundry, feeding the dogs, doing some cleaning (yes, I did some in my cabin, yay!) and cooking. Nothing too fancy, mind you, but today there was a rather nice veggie mix to go with the burgers I made last Friday (90 of ‘m at least). It was perfectly edible.

Made a kiwi cheesecake, but it didn’t work out well. I did something wrong with the amount of gelatin. Such a pity. I bet it would have done well at the market…well, maybe not.

Writing wise I managed a total of six pages, I suppose. Both yesterday while at the market, and Saturday morning. The story is processing well. I also took the time to read some of it yesterday afternoon, so I could better remember what I’d already described. The flow is going well, and it reads very different from romance, which is good.

At the moment we are spending the evenings doing some proof reading for ATOL, which we want to send out one of these days. It is going well, I must say. Hardly any errors in the structure, only a few typos so far, so I’m very pleased. Also, the tone is still there, the flow pleasant and fun. We’ve been laughing quite a bit while going through the first forty pages or so.

Had to pick some stuff up, and while at the market I visited with Sally. She’s getting more and more confused, not to mention angry for everything not going the way she wants them to. I had to talk to her a long time before she realized that the things she thought were true weren’t. It was rather sad, really, in particular since the hospital is still not happy with her blood thinness, meaning that she can’t come home yet.

Getting way too little sleep. If I make it through six hours per night it’s a lot, and it ain’t good for me. I really need to find a way to change something about that. It won’t do. Oh, I managed some leather branding the other day, a Scarab that worked out rather well, but the picture didn’t do it justice, I fear.



The market was, profit wise, a bust. Barely sold enough to break even. A very strange audience today. Not at all the usual market folks that tend to come by. Added to that the weather wasn’t all that nice. In fact, there were a lot of clouds, and I was very happy about the fact that I had a sweater with me. Regretfully, the white blouse I was wearing got really dirty with a dark smear on the top, meaning I had to change into to tie dye mid-day. It didn’t look bad on me, so it was no big disaster, I just liked my blouse better.

Loading took quite a bit of time, meaning we were late getting home. Then of course we still had to unload (first eating, though, because I was friggin’ starving), get grandpa and big brother up to date on the day (talked with a nice Irish fella) who was on his way to Brazil with his German Shepherd.

Did manage some more proofreading after we got home, and then passed out during the night. Today, we opted not to do any computer work in the morning, meaning I wanted to work on the kitchen today. Got quite a bit of tiling done, again, yay. Most of the higher horizontal levels where the kitchen cupboards will be. Won’t be seeing much of them in the future, but it will be vastly cleanable. Hah. While cousin Ed and I worked on that (tenant kept us company) big brother did some masonry on the corner of the kitchen, and then took to looking at the future counters.

Big brother talked me out of the green cupboards, by the way. Instead we’re going for real wood again, to really get the “rustico” atmosphere going. I wasn’t too particular about it anyway, so if we can make this work that’s fine with me too. Just as long as it is easy to clean. With a little luck I’ll be able to cook in there next week, or the week thereafter.

Took most of the day, after which the whole cooking thing happened. Loved the garlic burgers. Hah. Oh, and Alexander II got "snipped" today poor darling. No choice there, what with so many of the females in heat. Waited too long, in fact.

Well that’s gotta be it for now. I’m ready for bed…almost.

Cooking up a whirl

Song of the day: “Things” still, by Robbie Williams and Jane Horrocks. Good song.
Woke at the alarm, as usual, of course. (I’m referring to yesterday, in case you’re wondering.) There were the normal chores, such as the average laundry of two batches per day. Feeding the dogs too, of course. Knight II doesn’t like it at all that he’s not allowed to eat along with the rest of them. In fact he’ll be in my cabin standing behind the glass door, trampling like some impatient horse. *sigh* Poor darling.

The paper edit is gradually progressing, still, despite all the distractions. We’re at a third, more or less, so that’s not bad. I’m pleased about what the last two edits achieved, I’ll admit. I’m finding very few typos and the glaring mistakes are gone. The changes now are semantics on the most part, which is incredibly good.

Big brother managed to fix the adapter of the computer, so we saved ourselves an odd forty bucks. Yay. Stupid plug didn’t work, so he had to attach a new one for it to work properly.
Managed to do some work in the kitchen. Tiled part (both cousin Ed and I did, anyway) of the walls, cleaned debris from the floors, and then had to abort right in the middle of that because we had to do a pickup.

Sally isn’t doing all that well. In fact, she is getting mighty snappy because she constantly forgets why certain things have to be done in a particular way. Like today she was all upset because she didn’t get a painkiller when she wanted one, and had completely forgotten yesterday when I’d found her with stomach pain because she’d been mixing up her medication. So we agreed that she wouldn’t control any of her pills, but let grandpa handle it completely. Since she’d forgotten all that, she was a tad upset this afternoon until I’d explained the whole thing once more. Very troublesome when someone’s memories start failing them. There are times when she is completely disoriented, not to mention upset. Like yesterday, before the pill discussion. She hadn’t taken a shower in more than a week, and when I asked her why not, she promptly started crying. Turns out that she worries so much about the effort it takes to see to that chore, that by the time she should be stepping under the shower, she’s basically scared herself out of it. I am well familiar with the problem, having seen it before. You can’t give into stuff like that, because if you start giving up on the most basic stuff, you will soon be left with nothing. *sigh*

But anyway. I’ve got a new hat. Fabric, this time, a bit Ausie, I think. I’ll have to take a picture when I try it on, eh? While I got my hat, I was also able to pick up my computer at the store and get this, they figured out the problem: The (hold your breath) battery (really, you would never have guessed) is (I couldn’t believe it) broken!!!
*sigh*
Seriously, why else did I bring it there, for crying out loud. A year and a half, and the battery dead. And that while I followed instructions and drained the battery completely every time before loading it again. *double sigh* And of course the battery’s warranty only lasts 6 months, meaning I’m screwed and in need of a new battery. Grrr.

Cooking, yesterday involved red cabbage with mashed potatoes, while today we had the same mashed potatoes with cauliflower. Both worked well enough when it concerned hunger, thank you very much.

Spent several hours in the kitchen, by the way. Made three batches of burgers. One on a lentil basis, one on white beans and one on chickpeas. All three worked out well, and each left me with 26 burgers for selling, while the remainder will be enough for the testers.

Also made two chutneys, an eggplant curry and the same pumpkin chutney of last week. No pie this time…at least, not yet. I might change my mind later, but we’ll have to see how it goes.

We had to load up the Land Rover today. Normally we do that on Saturday, for the Sunday market, but we’re going to try the market on Saturday as well, so that means a day earlier. Took a bit, but we’re getting a hang of it now.

Sonia is doing a teeny weenie bit better. There seems to be less paralysis in her back legs, and her pain is less severe as well. Phew. Luckily. Let’s hope she’ll be as good as new within a few days, because this was a big fright.

Well, that’s it for me. It’s been a long day, and I need to be up again in less than seven hours. Before I hit the sheets, I’ll be an hour further along at the very least, darn it! I’m goin’! I’m goin’ already. Grrrr.

A bunch of stuff

Song of the day: “Beneath your beautiful” by Labrynth and Emeli Sandé- Gorgeous song. Never mind having it in my head.

Today was Spanish lesson day, of course. We were right on time, too, so that was a good thing. Had to take Knight along, of course, which I think our teacher didn’t like all that much. Either she doesn’t like dogs, or she’s afraid of them.
Went well regardless. Actually had some conversation throughout, though we end up appearing pretty wonky to the poor woman. I mean, who in his right mind lives with 50 something dogs. Heck, who lives with a family of eight, plus two old family friends, right? Ah well. Being normal is overrated anyway. Hah.
Did well, and let’s keep it at that.

Wanted to work on restoring an old cabinet I was planning on selling someday, only to discover that it was donated for the sole reason that it was riddle with fresh woodworm holes. And that while I had already repaired one of the drawers, gathered paint, brushes, and sanding paper. The whole shebang, and then…well, it all turned into firewood. *sigh* Such a pity. It was a nice little cupboard.

Everything was closed today, due to a national holiday. The whole town was out into the woods, plucking rosemary which they could sprinkle over the streets for la Virgen. Big pooha, all very traditional. Been hearing singing down in the valley all afternoon.

Yesterday was a bad night for me, partly because I woke at six in the morning, and then proceeded to lie awake for a full hour worrying about…well, everything. The dogs, money, life in general, blegh. So annoying. Did finally manage to fall back to sleep, but I had far too little sleep, of course.

Practiced Spanish, though not as much as I should have. Who’s got time, for crying out loud, I barely manage the essentials during the course of the day, let alone fit in an hour of friggin’ Spanish practice. Darn it.

Had to take Empera and Knight to the vet, the latter because his drain disappeared from his stitches (he didn’t need a new one) and the first because it has been more than two weeks. The vet didn’t like it that Empera is so skinny now. She says that we can wait a little longer, but if by Thursday she has lost more weight, we’re going to have to do a blood test. Her back is a little better, though. Later, when we got home, Kollosus (Empera’s sister) pooed blood, so as soon as the vet was open again, we took her there so the vet could check her poo. She couldn’t find anything, so now both Empera and Kollosus are just on a general antibiotic, and something for their intestines (seeing as they’re equally skinny) and we’ll have to see how it goes.

Sally still isn’t doing well. Her health is rapidly declining lately, partly due to her inactivity, I think. It is such a pity that she won’t work on her health. I think that with some decent exercise and active lifestyle, she would be doing way better.

Rather than edit, I added a short scene to the book. Both big brother and I thought that the story would benefit from some added information. Edits are still steadily continuing. Are now halfway through the script, so that’s not bad. As soon as this edit is done, we’re doing a paper one.

Yesterday was also very cloudy, while today we basically had sunshine all day. It was grand. Really comfortable. Could actually walk around in a sleeveless most of the day. Am already getting my tan back, thank you very much.

Cooking involved baking ravioli in cheese, a fresh tomato sauce, and baked mushrooms on the side today, while yesterday with had fried rice with veggies.

There were the normal chores, fascinating as always, I know. And the rusty parts of the 2nd hand cooking stove for my kitchen got painted. Yay! Most of the beams are done now, too, and grandpa is working on painting the boarding of the ceiling (they’ll be a light cornflower blue) so that in a few days from now we’ll be able to start putting in the roof for real. Am also working on putting together a small pamphlet offering folks affordable construction work. I'll be putting that out at the markets and some spots, like the vet and such.

Tenant had her family visiting today again. I think it did her well, seeing as she is more active at the moment than she has been in a long time. She isn’t solely demanding to be put into bed, thankfully, and actually sits in her chair or outside in the sun most of the day.

Knight II is doing relatively well. I have to figure something out, because he is trying to lick his stitches, which isn’t smart at all…but then, I never was able to call him the smartest of the litter in that regard.

Are going to have to do a tick bath soon, because it is drying me insane again. I’m picking up to 25 ticks per dog off every single day, and my fingers are starting to get numb from it, for crying out loud.

Well, that’s it for me. I need some shut-eye fast. It’s late.

It's that time of the year

Song of the day: “Love is in the air” by…gawd, I don’t remember his name. I just know that the song was for Strictly Ballroom. Fun song, even if he does have a bit of a wonky voice.

First off, let me just get this one out of the way:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

*phew* Almost forgot it, but I didn’t. Kudos for me. Hope you’re having a splendid one.

Right. Let’s get to it then….

Well, today was a total bust, so I’m just going to ignore if for no other reason than the fact that we didn’t manage to do much today. Only thing we did was the piping for the future kitchen, which wasn’t much. Normal stuff, too of course, hauling some wood for the stacks, laundry, dog food, and cooking, but nothing remotely fun, so let’s turn this toward yesterday’s market which…well, which wasn’t a big success either, I fear.

Packing-wise, it was a lot easier seeing as big brother opted to go along. Loading, and unloading was a matter of an hour, rather than two in that regard. Had it all set up before noon, in fact, and we did manage to get home before sunset. Yay. But that was the only real plus to yesterday.

Not that I minded, on the overall my day wasn’t a bad one. We sold for the wondrous amount of two and a half bucks, and my day was…well, okay. Hah. The market was a slow one. If there were fifty customers it was a lot. Did manage to get some nice chats in with Dutch and German folk. There was a couple, who were vacationing these parts, who loved dogs (they weren’t in the market for a dog bed, regretfully, because their dog was killed through the means of poison) and we ended up chatting for a long time about how to train dogs.

Then with a father and son, who were there enjoying the day with friends and family and their little girl. Lots of laughter there, which was fascinating to observe. Big brother and I took a couple of hours in the middle of the day to sit down in the back of the restaurant where we edited over coffee. Managed about five pages, which wasn’t too bad, all things considered.

Also had a chat with the nice lady who organizes the market. She was a little down, as is the case these past few times. She’s taking it rather harshly that the customers are not coming, and since that makes the stand holders unhappy, she gets tossed in the middle a little. Not her fault that folks are watching their pennies, if you ask me, but I can relate. She is putting lots of work into it.

But anyway, afterward it was rushing to get to town in time for the weekly donation bit. Still haven’t managed to arrange it for a different. Well, we did sorta, seeing as Saturday we had another. That guy I met at the market the other week, who wanted to get rid of his stuff before moving back to the UK? Well, I got around to calling him, and we made an appointment at the mall for him to give over his stuff.

Gawd, that guy had some stories. Turns out he’s been away from the UK since ’66. And has basically traveled all over the place. First off he traveled all the way to Timbuktu, and then hitchhiked from England to South Africa. It took him a year, but he got stuck over there in…Mozambique, I think, for the following twenty year.
Then, he somehow ended up here in Spain where he put up this cute little business of designing terrace gardens, which he also maintained. And now he’s returning to the UK to take care of his 90 year old mum, which he feels he should do (as is the right thing, of course) but which he also dreads since he hasn’t been in the colder countries for more than thirty years. Yikes.

Did have a very good edit day on Saturday. It made yesterday’s five pages less disastrous for sure. I think we managed a total of twenty pages, so we’re not actually behind with today’s nine. Yay.

Cooking…well, I didn’t do any yesterday. We settled for fried stuff. But Saturday I made an Indian dish that didn’t work out the way I’d planned, and today there was a rather nice pasta fungi that went down really well.

Digging was part of Saturday, preparing for pouring the concrete foundation (which we didn’t get around to today, darn it). Finished digging the gutter for the tubing, set the concrete blocks of the wall in place (I carried two up while big brother used the wheelbarrow…almost wrecking it…with the remainder) and basically scraped as much rock as possible away.

Still haven’t gotten around to cleaning Chaos’ ear, nor Carla’s. That is something we’ll have to do tomorrow…after the edit. *sigh*

Weather wise we’ve been very lucky (except yesterday, since Funny Beach Marbella was completely in the fog) with clear skies and a warm sun. Strangely enough the valley has been mostly obscured by this thick blanket of clouds that lay on the hills and valleys like a thick fog. Up here, we’re not bothered by it, but the village, town and the sea have been utterly obscured for days. The only thing visible is Africa. The mountains are higher than the clouds, which makes for a rather splendid view. Jutting peaks of green in a blanket of cotton. Fascinating. Reminds me of horror movies, really. You know, the Mist, the Fog. Ya can just imagine dangerous creatures lurking within, or some sort of acid raining down and eating your face right off, or something along those horrible lines……I know, I have a rather gross imagination going there. Hah.

Well, that’s about it. I’m sure I’m missing something vital, but since you won’t know if I do, we’ll just leave it at this. *snort*

50 yard sprint. Yay!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

April 11, 2011. Mosha

Song of the day: “Yellow taxi” by Joni Mitchel. It’s been a while since I had this one, and the last one I did have it in my mind, I think it was the Counting Crows feat. Vanessa Carlton instead.

I wish I had some good news, but regretfully I don’t. In fact, I’m not really in the mood to talk about it, let alone write about it, but since I have made a pact with myself to just tell of my life here on the blog, I figure I better get it over with. It is an important aspect of my life here in Spain, and since it is bound to come up at some point anyway, there is no point in avoiding the inevitable.

Mosha:
It was 2001 or 2002 that I first met her. Mom was carrying her on her arm, and Mosha was this teeny weenie puppy of six weeks old at most. She was black and white (dots all over) with one brown and one blue eye. It was love at first sight, even though Cockers aren’t by any means my favorite breed. Mosha was different, though. I guess part of the reason for this was because at eight weeks I came home from grocery shopping and had her walking beside me. Back and forth we went, and I was on the way inside when I heard a sudden squeal.
Behind me, in the doorway, Drisha (a Husky, Pyrenean mountain dog mix) had Mosha flat against the floor, his teeth sunk into the top of her shoulders. I dropped the groceries and went running. Drisha was of course already gone by the time I got there and Mosha was writhing on the floor like the tiny little girl she was, whimpering miserably, looking pale. (I know that sounds weird to say about a dog, but they do turn pale-ish when they hurt. Their gums will turn white, so does the skin around their eyes) I picked her up and cradled her against my chest as I ran inside. She was barely responding, even though she wasn’t actually bleeding, or anything. There were a few puncture marks on her shoulder, and I finally managed to lure her out by feeding her a couple of lady-fingers. She perked slowly, started whimpering again, and we could establish the damage.
There was quite a bit of damage, but back then we didn’t have a good vet yet, so there really was no place to go with her. All I could do was keep her comfortable and keep the wounds clean.
For the next two weeks Mosha couldn’t walk, and basically hung on my arm with her front paw hanging limply down and her just cuddling against my chest day and night for that time.
No one was happier than I when about two weeks later I was able to wrap a scarf around her upper body and help her walk with the full support of it. Gradually she got better, living of freshly cooked chicken meat, yogurt (she refused to eat a lot in those two weeks) and ladyfingers.
It created a bond between us, I guess. She was the only dog I ever owned who would blindly jump off a high elevation into my arms without hesitation. She freaked me out for months in that regard, seeing as I often didn’t expect her to do so. Mosha Sweet-pea. She was a special little darling for sure.
So she kept her limp for the rest of her life, considering she barely had a shoulder joint, I think that due to the swelling, fracture and whatever else was damaged, the shoulder blade never really matured. But it didn’t bother her. There was one incident about three months after the incident where she jumped off my bed and squealed like mad. Her limp became even more pronounced for a few days, but then gradually got better, even going as far as developing some muscle tone. I think she went through the cartilaginous bone that had formed after which she could finally start using it proper.
Mosha kept her attachment intact in the years that followed. She was never more than a few feet away from me, and she more than any of my other dogs hated it when I was gone for extended amounts of time.
As it turned out her cancer was malign and considering it was located on three sides of her anus there was absolutely nothing the vet could do about it.
When I got the results, I wasn’t really surprised, really, just sadder than I’d imagined. She had refused to eat the evening before and that very morning, and pain was affecting her mood as I took her with me on some errands. She wasn’t as attentive as usual, and would lay uncomfortably on the back seat. Once I got to the vet I had already made my decision, but it was still hard.
The vet did say that it was the best thing, and even though I could wait, there was no point to it. It was a downward slope, and having her go through it would have been for me, and only me. I was seriously tempted to be that selfish, really, to have her just a few more days, to not miss her for that amount of time, but I couldn’t, she was my Sweet-pea and I wanted her last days to not be so bad that they were miserable.
So the dreaded decision was made, and I was an effing wreck for two days.

And I’m choking up again, so let’s talk about something else, shall we?

What’s been up? Well, the usual shaite, really. Stuff going on, in particular since we are now in the midst of spring and planting like fiends. Another field of tomatoes had to be planted, reed constellations built to support them, and lettuces to be put out into the wild, so to speak. Everything is looking rather nice, and yes, I have taken pictures. I will see if I can fit them into the blog within the next week or so. Don’t hold your breath though; such things have a way of taking longer when I’m concerned.

I got sunburned a lot yesterday, by the way. I was wearing a sleeveless, and what with the cool breeze, I didn’t notice until it was too late that the sun was pounding on my shoulders. I ended up picking out a cotton blouse this morning, keeping the damaged area protected. The fresh Aloe Vera last night really did help last night, though.

Tenant had her birthday yesterday, so I started the day making a cheese cake, which was her choice. Considering mom and Sally took her out on a trip to town she had a wonderful day.

Edits had to be done, of course, and seeing as I really couldn’t handle thinking in general I gladly threw myself into physical activities. We did a couple of sand hauling trips, and built on the new all under the house. We’ve got a solid two layers going now, and it’s starting to look like a wall already, not just a string of rocks. Also took pictures of that, no worries, but you won’t see them until the wall is finished. I’ll post a string of them of the whole process.

Through the roof

Song of the day: “Love is strange (Come here Loverboy)” by Silvia and Mickey...which I didn’t know until I looked it up the other day. Seriously, in my mind it will always be the song Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey fool around with in Dirty Dancing. Hah.

So my mind is muddled again, meaning that you’re going to have to make due with a sum up that is as messed up as my brain.
There were, as always (it is like death and taxes, hah), laundry to tackle. Big batches too, because for some reason everyone is constantly throwing stuff in the laundry, meaning that there is a lot of hanging and folding for me. Ah well, luckily Sally insists on doing her fair share, and now does two batches or so in the afternoon.

Since tenant’s caretaker has a part time job again, I get to spend a lot of time with tenant again. For the past two mornings I’ve been helping her out, get ready and changed and then down the mountain towards my terrace where she will then enjoy the afternoons in the sun. Luckily she loves it so much, otherwise all the outside sitting might get annoying for her.

So yeah, the past couple of days were a tad busy, especially what with summer time starting. Yikes. This is the first time ever that daylight savings time is hacking into me. I feel completely harried for some reason, just because I can’t seem to adjust to it right now. Had to take a nap today because I was actually nauseous from tiredness.
Ah well, luckily the nap was rather pleasant, not to mention that the dogs were estatic.

Okay, a bit of bad news. The other day, Dax (pocket Beagle) got snarled at by one of my other dogs (I think Touri, who’s getting more grumpy every day. Can’t blame him either) and I didn’t know that something was wrong until I saw blood lying about. Turns out a part of his ear (half an inch, or so) had been ripped, meaning that for the past couple of days I have been walking around with bandages keeping track of both him and Knight II who is also insisting on ripping his off every other minute. Aaaargh.
Luckily Dax’s wound only looks bad and needs time to heal, because it stopped bleeding and as long as he doesn’t shake his head to get rid of bandages, (he’s wearing a cut off sock as a hat to keep it immobile a little) it will be fine.

Right, seeing as we really needed to put the new patio roof in place, we started with it yesterday, and were still at it today.
First we had to take of the old, and while big brother and grandpa did that, Dani and I worked in the old horse paddock to hose down the panelling that we’ve been saving for at least six months. It was pretty dirty, so it took a while.
Afterwards grandpa cut one of them, and I did the other using a thin disk on the angle grinder. That thing always freaks me out, but what the hey, gotta be able to use it, eh?

The old plating was taken off and hauled up to storage (got a nice batch of glass fiber on my cheek and left arm, but what the hey) and the old support beams screwed loose so we could clean and paint them. Boy were they rusty. Now they’re a nice and shiny silver, and it looks far better, believe you me. Hmmm. I have to promise pictures of course.

Old woodwork had to be screwed loose, dirt removed and hauled off, scrape work and paintwork done (today and yesterday) and estimates made for what still needs to be done in the near future. A lot of the woodwork is going to need a lick of paint soon, because it has suffered considerably in the past ten years or so.
I’ve gotta admit to being a little nervous about hanging out over balustrades while wielding heavy equipment, for some reason I always get a sense of falling, even when I don’t.

This morning big brother and I spent the majority of our time in the yard. The potatoes, cauliflowers, leek, sprouts and such had to be watered (we used the basin, yay) and of course we had to check if everything was doing well.

The pumpkins, tomatoes, the passionflowers (that we sowed in the greenhouse last fall) and the wild grape all had to placed outside for their “hardening”, and of course, before sunset be brought back inside.

The raspberries, strawberries, brambles, blue berries and all the other fruit types got watered too. What with the temperatures rising, we’re going to have to make a habit of this again. We’re going to see how long the basin holds for sure.

Since we were in the yard anyway, I gathered chard, fresh herbs the last of the peppers and lettuce so we could have lunch of French bread with fresh veggies and a herbal yogurt sauce over it. Tenant ate with us, of course, and afterward we had cake as desert, at which time we went on with the roof.

While big brother and grandpa tackled the roof, I worked on the window frame that is going to be part of the support on the east side of the patio. It used to have wooden paneling, rather than glass, but since we’re going for light, we decided to put a window in there. Worked out well too, what with the solid wood serving dual purposes.

Today was ended with a bout of pancake baking, which was rather nice, even though porridge is far more soothing for some reason.

Edits have been going atrocious, partly because of the tiredness, of course. When I’m tired, big brother is doing fine, and when I’m fine; big brother can’t keep his eyes open. Very frustrating. Ah well, we’ll get back to our normal routine in time, I’m sure.

That’s it for today. Time for me to try to tackle more typos, grammatical errors and Gawd knows what else.

Rain, rain and cold. Blast it.

Song of the day: “Low rider” by War. Such a good one to have rumbling in your head.

There is very little to tell about today, considering we’ve been having some dreadful weather with rains that are making me itchy.
Added to that, we had to go out yesterday morning and cooled our heels at the company where we got tenant’s stove. According to the instruction manual it needed a grille inside, but then, after waiting for an hour and checking all the others, the smaller models didn’t need one after all.

We did get tubing too, so the trip was not for nothing in the end.
Did a test run as soon as we got home and since the fire was on anyway, I took the opportunity to bake some pancakes on top of it. They worked out rather nicely if I do say so myself.

By the time ate lunch, we headed out into the yard and planted another small field of potatoes. It was rather nice, even though it was cold and windy. There was an occasional patch of sunshine, and that made all the difference.

Tenant is gradually becoming more independent. Both today and yesterday she managed to make herself a cup of coffee almost completely on her own, which earned her a definite Yay, even as she dropped a tear or two. So great to see her become more independent every single day.

Edit wise, or maybe I should call this proof reading, we’re two chapters into A.T.O.L. and it is going well. I have to admit that after A.I.L. getting back into the fantasy theme is more than just a relief. It is downright thrilling…in particular since it would appear that the last edit really had effect. The changes that we now have to do are typos, commas and a missing “the” and “and” here and there.

Touri’s discomfort appears to be off and on, on the most part…jeez, Dax just scared the crap outta me by jumping on top of my file cabinet. Phew. Sometimes he’s just like a cat. Seriously, he’s perched up there, sitting in a rather feline position and looking miserable on the overall just because everything is wet at the moment…But Touri, where was I? One day I’ve got the idea that he is doing worse, and the next he appears fine. I don’t get it. By his scar there is some tension, but he also runs at times as if he has not a single problem.
I’ll just have to keep my eye on him, and keep giving him his herbsies.

My new laundry lines are really to my liking, btw. They’re still splendidly clean, and so far they’re not full yet. Of course, what with the weather predictions claiming this crappy weather will stay for another three days, that’ll change fast.

I totally overslept this morning, which makes me out of sorts to say the least. Seriously, more than an hour lost to useless sleep.

I’m almost done with my review book: Shadow of the Ghost by Tanner Artesz. Ten more pages to go and then I’ll be able to get started on the review. I’m afraid that if I do agree to doing more reviews for anyone, I’m going to have to insist on a paperback version. It is downright embarrassing that getting through this one took me more than a year, darn it. Now, I can of course start to worry about what to write down about it. Reviews are so very difficult that way.

I am also rapidly making my way through M.M. Kaye’s Trade Wind, and am enjoying myself tremendously. I find it amazing that politically I am seeing so much comparisons to today’s troubles. I mean really, this book was written in the sixties and it refers to the late eighteen hundreds at best, but the troubles are very similar. Strange how history keeps repeating itself. Hah.
At first I definitely couldn’t like the main protagonist, but as the story continues she’s becoming more likeable as the world around her teaches her some valuable lessons. Always good to read.

For the past couple of days I have of course continued to work on my field kitchen. The oven part is in and it went splendidly. Yay. It fit like a clove and the ash drawer is now also fitted. The doors are going to be a pickle for sure, but I’ll think about that when I get to it.

We did a quick tour of the yard and greenhouse this afternoon. The basin is filled to the absolute limit and we managed to find two persistent snails hiding between the plants. They’ve killed quite a few peppers already, the little buggers.

Oh, before I forget: I was looking for metal the other day and got the crap scared out of me. Seriously, I almost stepped upon a green snake lying between the scraps.
I shouted for big brother and chased the dogs away, lest they got bit. Big brother got there with a shovel, but it turned out to be for naught. The snake was already dead. Turns out it had gone between some boards with holes in it, and must have rested there for quite a bit. When it went out through the hole again it must have gotten stuck and died. Phew. I hate snakes, and promptly ended up dreaming about an even bigger on. *sigh*

Well, this will have to do. Not much interesting stuff going on anyway, so I’ll just say by bye and leave in hopes of a better subject in the near future.

New edits. Yay!

Song of the day: “Wouldn’t it be nice” by the Beach boys! Yay. The friggin’ song has been in my head for 52 hours, 17 minutes and 34 seconds, give or take, and it is driving me (and everyone else) bonkers!!!

I had a great dream the other day (I was moving to the States, yay) and I had a sucky dream this night, so since they cancel themselves out, I’m not going to bother telling about either. Hah.

Okay, so what’s been going on? I can vaguely remember some details, so I am not going to bother figuring out what was when and just hope for the best.

First off, we finally found an affordable woodstove for tenant’s place. It is tiny, simple but perfectly serviceable. It’s going to be fascinating to install in the near future. I never did a stove before. Hah.

New project, for as long as the weather is this iffy, is working on a field kitchen. Seriously, I kid you not. I’m going to put together a portable wood-burning kitchen, because I can’t stand going inside in the middle of the day, and waste away the hours behind the stove, when I might as well do it outside.
Fascinating, I tell you. Not only am I going to try to make a furnace kind of thing that will run on wood, nope, I’m going to put an oven in the back so I can make bread, pizza and oven dishes, just because I friggin like doing it.

The oven is coming along nicely FYI. It will be of stainless steel, and I’ve already got the shape in place. There will be a stone bottom, for the stone baked pizzas, you know, and by the time I’ve attached all the sections I spent hours bending yesterday, it is going to be mighty exciting to see if it will fit. We’ve got this huge carcass of metal, you know, and that will be outer shell of the furnace.

Talking about the actual furnace…it will have only one cooking plate, meaning it is relatively small, but that’s okay. It’s gotta remain portable after all. I was aiming for wheels, but considering the heat it will give up, I think I’m going to have to go for paws instead. It will require some thought yet, I’m thinking. Hah.

Since the sibs are going to need more space for their market stuff, we’re looking around as to how we can create more storage space. It’s not going to be easy, I tell ya, but it’s gotta be done one way or other.

Touri is feeling poorly again, poor darling. I think the problem is returning, meaning that if something doesn’t happen in the near future, I’m going to have to make another one of those horrible decisions again. Darn it. I hate it when that happens, in particular because he is still such a young dog, really, and when he isn’t in pain, he does enjoy life so much. Damn it. I’m not going to choke up about this yet. Nothing has happened so far and who knows, maybe his body is able to tackle the problem if just given a little bit of time. I’m just going to look at it one day at a time and see how it goes.

A.I.L. is now genuinely done until an editor asks for it, so let’s keep appendages crossed, eh?
As of today we’re working, once more on A.T.O.L. Yay. I am genuinely looking forward to it, in particular after doing a flick like A.I.L. Vampires here I come. Hah.

On a literary note, I started rereading M.M. Kaye’s “Trade Wind” last night, and I am psyched. Seriously, that is the type of book that made me want to be a writer. In the sentences, and structure of the story on itself, there is art. A perfect example of how a story is supposed to be told in florid and intricate language that speaks not only to the imagination but also to one’s sense of adventure. It makes me almost regretful that I wasn’t born fifty years ago, because this is the type of writing I would love to do: Sentences a whole paragraph long, flowing from one subject to the next and keeping the reader fully on his/her toes until there is this intricate painting inside your head that is as real as the book you hold in your hands. *sigh*

But I wasn’t born fifty years ago, and these days readers (and thus publishers) like short, to the point sentences that do not require more than a single glance to understand. Time is of the essence these days, and therefore the simplicity of less-is-more is the fad. *double sigh*

I splurged a bit of time this morning and changed my sheets. Really, I will not regal the horrors of what all has happened to my bed this week, but let me tell you that clean sheets were a prerogative what with muddy paws and soppy furs slapping down on top of the blankets.

I also hung a new little cupboard in my bathroom, because the old one simply won’t do anymore. It’s a bit small, but I’ll ad another shelf to it in the near future.

Made chili sin carne yesterday and it was yummy, thank you very much. In particular with pancakes that I made from the whey of the cream cheese I made the other day. Who would have guessed that pancakes of whey could be so friggin’ delicious? It surprised me really, but since I had more left, I also made them this morning, which had tenant rather thrilled. She loves pancakes.

There was of course the usual trip for rocks, even though we have decided to lessen our trips now that the supply is starting to get high. We will need to get some more sand in the near future, but by then the weather should start to improve and we will be able to start with the wall.

Gardening was part of the schedule too, of course. The greenhouse is a rather wonderful place to stay at when the weather is like this. The temperatures are at least five degrees more in there.

Well, I’ve got to get going. My new edit is waiting, and I am more than eager to dive into it. We’ve got a deadline, you know, so…by bye.

Temporary change?

Song of the day: “Strange” by Wet Wet Wet. It has been a while since I had anything in my head from this band. Makes for a nice change, I say.

Well, I think it is safe to say that today is going to be a short blog for a change, considering yesterday was Monday work day, and except for the fact that I didn’t get paid yet (I sent an email but haven’t gotten an answer yet) and that John Doe wasn’t there, but a new guy. Let’s call him Dewey, shall we, ‘cause I’ve got a feeling I’m going to be mentioning him more often. Hah.

Dewey is a strange little fellow. He’s rotund, short and doesn’t say much, apparently. Personally I wouldn’t have hired him, but then, I never hired a person in my life, so who knows. Maybe he’s ridiculously good at his job…what, it’s possible, right? *sighs*

So anyway, the job went flawless. We could start at two thirty due to Dewey, so what with the route so very neatly lodged in our heads already, we arrived home at nine thirty for a change. It was a novel experience, I’ll say that much for it. Heck, we even managed to do a four, or five page edit in the end, which is always a good thing for as far as I’m concerned.

Got to be in bed in time, and had to get up at eight in the morning to pick up our friend in Marbella again. First we did a quick tour of the village to disperse the last few of the papers and then headed to the city.

Turns out this was the last time we needed to pick her up. After many months of complaints about her employer (she’s a caregiver for the elderly) she quit her job today and will be staying with us for a bit at least. A good thing too, since she’s been looking pretty bad late. Heck, I feared she was going to keel over any minute but she insisted on seeing the job through.
Her decision naturally, but I think she wouldn’t have had such a bad time of it if she had done it several weeks ago.

Ah well, no matter. What’s done is done, and this means that the budget is going to be a wee bit tighter once more. Not that I mind. Heck, I can do without cookies, cornflakes and other luxuries. I’m going to look at this as another good exercise in cowboying up, that’s for sure. It sill sure be interesting to see how things go. For the sake of her probably being in more blogs in the near future let’s call her Sally. Hah.

Okay, project wise. Once we got home this morning, we got to work immediately. Big brother’s floor…seriously, it’s a disaster. He sleeps with about thirty dogs and you can only imagine how bad it is…now, tenfold that and you’ll maybe have a slight idea how bad it is, hah.
So yeah, we ripped out about three square meters of his floor, just in time too, mind you, and then the same amount of ceiling of the living room, because the mess had seeped through. Grrr.
I was nauseous, I tell ya.

I spent most of the day measuring and sawing while big brother, grandpa and our friend Dani (she was visiting too and since she wants to learn DIY it was a perfect opportunity) ripped out the old floor. Rather than try to salvage anything of the mess, we sawed the old rotting wood to pieces and burned it in our winter vat without delay. It was nice and warm working near the vat, by the way. I didn’t think we were going to make it, but we did. The old is out, the new is in, painted and all, and come tomorrow (with a little luck) we’ll start laying the parquet tomorrow.

The day was beautiful, tenant joined me on my porch, keeping me company most of the day while she sat reading in the sunshine, and enjoying it.

The dogs were happy that we were home for the day, and happily alternated between sunbathing and lying around the burning vat. Boy do they like that. Sitabah was literally twisting into odd angles to get as close as possible to the heat. Dax likewise, and Knigth II sat at a slight distance, his head high and his eyes closed in bliss. Seriously, we’ve got some heat loving dogs here. Hah.

Well, I should get some more work done on the book, and I’ve got some messages to see to fast.

KO...almost anyway. :-)

Song of the day: “Samson” by Regina Spector. It’s been coming and going for two days so it will do as song of the day.

Let me just start off by saying *sigh*. Seriously, I am glad that these first days of the week are over. If there are no disasters I just might be able to get some stuff done at home.

First of all, yesterday morning was spent heading for the doctor. Remember the Anemia? Well, apparently the doc thinks it smart to test it again, and thus draining me of more. Seriously, I don’t get the medical branches. How am I supposed to get my blood levels back up to level if he’s constantly getting more to test? Bonkers, I tell ya. But anyway, I was lucky enough to get a newbie drawing blood from me. Seriously, I was wondering why the seven people before me were taking a solid twenty minutes each (along the lines of, how much blood are they drawing, fer cryin’ out loud?). I realized what was up the moment the girl could not locate a vein and basically swabbed my entire arm before she settled on the back of my hand. She wasn’t delicate either, seriously, it felt like she hit bone or something, hah.

But anyway, big brother drove with me to Marbella where we went to pick up our friend for her weekly visit, and even though I drove back, I was gradually feeling worse and worse. I don’t know what the heck happened, but by the time I finished correcting that price list error at the insurance company, and the bed linen store (for my sales job, remember. They were good sports about it, in case you’re wondering) I had a splitting headache and was seriously contemplating passing out. Rather than risk going off the road, I kicked big brother from the passenger seat, and had him drive us home.

By then it was really bad so I went directly to bed and hauled the dogs on the mattress with me. Chaos was absolutely ecstatic and actually liked the fact that I flopped down on top of him. Knight II didn’t mind either, and started stretching out against me, almost pushing me off the bed before I drifted off to sleep and was gone for a solid hour.

By the time I resurfaced I was feeling decidedly better and headed to the carport to help big brother sawing MDF boarding for the closet grandpa wants built there. We first had lunch, of course, seeing as we’d skipped breakfast, but then got right to it. While I was asleep I apparently missed some of the excitement, seeing as mom and the younger sibs had decided to take our visitor and tenant out to town for a late lunch.

We were done with the sawing and other preparations by the time they returned, and headed out into the yard to check the veggies and water some of the spots that wouldn’t make it through to today. Such a wonderful way to end the day, heading out into the yard like that. *sigh*

The rest of the day was spent writing a bit, and editing several pages. Almost done with both, by the way. I’m 2000 words short of the minimum required for this type of book, so, knowing me, I will probably end up making it too friggin’ long again. Darn it.

So what I have I failed to say, besides the fact that even though I had fully planned to spent today at home, we had to head on over to town because the car dealer rang to tell me that the gestor, or traffico had lost my paperwork. Aaaargh. Knowing them, they probably lost it themselves, but what the heck; I had to go there so they could make copies once more. (Third time, round, in case you’re wondering, hehehe.)

This morning big brother and I worked on the Land Rover, where I fixed the handle above the left back seat, and we worked on the passenger front door which has been “wobbly” for several weeks now. Apparently one of the bolts got loose and there was a fraction in the metal covering. Managed to fix both, so, no biggie.

Oh gawd, I haven’t mentioned grandpa’s moped yet, have I. Well, that sent us out as well, seeing as the poor vehicle died this very morning and according to the garage it will take more than two-hundred bucks to fix it. Rather than just shell it out, we have decided to try to fix the Suzuki Katana first, rather than just shell it out. If we manage it, we’ll be able to save at least a bit of money.
Big brother and grandpa are working on it right now, in fact, so I’ve got to wrap this up and head on down to the yard.
Since they are busy, I’m going to have to do the watering on my own. Not that I mind, seeing as it is getting mighty chilly and I really should get some movement to warm up.

This and that.

Song of the day: “The boy does nothing” by Alesha Dixon.

Stuff is basically going steadily on, much like the track we’ve been on for the past week or so.
The new office is going slowly, but is showing considerable promise. Plans have been altered a little, however, considering big brother and I spend the majority of an average day working on the computers, we’ve opted to make the office slightly bigger. At first we were going to make it nine by twelve feet, but now we’re going to make it nine by twenty instead.

During the course of the past two days the walls have been painted, repairs have been made and the foundation of our future desk has been set up. It doesn’t look like much yet, but we’ll get there in the end.

So yesterday (I had “Staying alive” in my head from the moment I woke up, by the way. It was insane, really) there was a garbage run again, due to which we ended up with a nice stash of wood that is going to come in really handy during the latest (and future) project. It looked like some sort of carpentry store got rid of leftovers because there were all sorts of sizes, wood types and whatnot, so we’ll definitely be able to use a lot for sure. Grandpa was pretty much ecstatic, hah.

Mom spend the majority of today making soy-veggie burgers, which made for a sturdy dinner and filled the house with delicious scents. Afterwards she pitched in with starting the paint job of what is going to be our desk, so that is one task less for us to take care off in the next few days.

I, on the other had was busy walking back and forth to the carport to get tools and supplies…because I kept forgetting stuff, aaargh. Ah well, at least I got my exercise, just like yesterday when I hauled this week’s dog food DOWN to the carport where they’re all nicely stacked under the roof now.

Though yesterday’s weather was downright marvelous,-sunny with a fresh breeze-today started out cloudy but around noon, those very clouds started leaking a soft drizzle that does miracles for the garden, but makes me crabby. It does the same for the dogs, naturally, since they want to go with us everywhere and end up soaking wet.

I worked a bit with plaster cement, both today and yesterday, covering up holes and the likes before the sibs painted the lot, but it was definitely worth the effort when I hung up two lamps tonight that light the place up. I can hardly wait until it is ready.

While big brother departed for another garbage run, I stayed behind to hang a small kitchen cabinet (the mess on top of the ones already there was driving me bonkers, so I decided to add a new one) and then settle down for today’s messages and the blog, of course. Can’t forget the blog, now can I. Soon I will have been at it for a full year, and I should at least describe every single day until that time.

Yes, I might decide to make some changes by the end of the year…I don’t know what yet…but still. Doing this for a full year was a deal I made with myself, and I will see it through, come hell or high water. Hah.

As for the proofreading…it is going relatively well. Remember that scene I mentioned the last time? Well, even though big brother stumbled one a few snags, we did manage to get through it without major arguments, (which was what happened the last time…it was so darn frustrating) and could just focus on adjusting said snags in a mutually satisfactory fashion. Phew. I was seriously worried there for a bit, and had to do my very best not to watch him wield the pen on the ones so pristine pages like a butcher. Hah.

The scene leading to it was good, though…which was a surprise since we remembered that one being a hassle too. But all in all, we’re getting there, I think. Just five more chapters or so to go and then we don’t have to worry too much when (and if) the editor wants to see the rest. Some of the random reading, sure, but no more editing, thankfully.

I have found out that I’m going to have to get some new pants soon. The ones I have are now official at least four sizes too big, and even the ones that I used to wear around the age of sixteen are starting to sag, so…yeah, waiting for sales to begin. There really is no helping it, unless mom manages to take them in, in a way that they won’t look like…well, crap. Hah

Well, that about does it, I guess. Not much more to tell other than that I am missing about an inch of skin on my thumb because the idiot Knight II decided to flop his paws down on a board I was in the process of lifting off the floor. Yikes! That skin went off as if someone decided to use a cheese grater on me, for crying out loud. He’s just such a moron sometimes. Heck, there are days that I think he’s a small pony, rather than a dog.

Oh yeah, I had the “brilliant” idea to do some exercises last night…it was high time for it too, since I was sore as heck this morning. I really need to start doing exercises again…and I will, just as soon as I can find some extra time…somewhere.

And that brings today’s sum up to an end. I feel like I’m slacking, but for the life of me I can’t come up with a way to drag this recount out. Sure, I could whine a little about politics, ‘cause lets face it, there have been some doozies…don’t get me started ‘cause I get riled when I think of those who are supposed to rule the country. Morons, the lot of them!