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Song of the day: “Some nights” by Fun. Still an awesome song, and I don’t mind at all having it stuck in my head at the moment. Hah.

First off, I am terribly late (not even because of a jog. Didn’t go, because big brother busted his middle toe. Nail was slammed back into the skin and everything. Aaargh) and should really get to bed on time.

I had an utterly whacky dream the other night. We were spending time in our old trailer (haven’t seen the dratted thing in more than sixteen years, I think), staying at a camping site. There was a massive fire somewhere nearby, and in the late evening air I could see the red glow all through the night. Then it happened, some crazy psychopath thought it fun to start messing with people at the camping ground and was keeping hostages. Then, he came at me, and I panicked a little, so I started throwing stuff at him (not my smartest move in a dream, but what the hey). There was some pretty heavy stuff to throw, and most of it hit him, and yet he kept coming at me. Finally I got my hands on this big heavy wrench and conked him on the head with him, making him woozy, and the second send him to the floor.
That’s when I grabbed the phone I’d been trying to get at before he came after me, and ran. I kept trying to get through to the cops, but the connection was crappy, my Spanish nearly nonexistent, their English too, and too much staff occupied with the massive fire that was coming roaring over the mountain. I woke up breathless, to say the least, in particular since just before I woke, the psychopath had regained his footing and came at me. Grrr.

So yeah, been a busy couple of days. First off, we’ve been doing what we can to prepare for the arrival of the cabin. Yesterday there was the painting of the wooden boards of the toilet space behind it, and the floor with an anti termite stuff that had no color, and no smell, which freaked me out a little.

While cousin Ed and I (also grandpa at one point) focused on painting (both yesterday and today) big brother worked on getting the first bits of the foundation in place, and grandpa on sawing wooden beams that will suspend the cabin once it arrives. Yesterday even tenant helped out with the painting bit, which was nice. It’s been a while since she felt like doing something like that.
This afternoon’s painting involved adding white to the transparent varnish, because Sally likes it to be light, and I want her to feel pleasant during her recuperation, so light it is.

Yesterday morning involved making lentil burgers (she asked if I could make a few for her because the hospital food was so bland) and starting on the chili of our supper later in the day.
Both worked out well, actually, and I did manage to eat it even after I added very small bits of beef to the mix. Managed about three quarters of my portion before I started getting the gagging reflex when one of the beef bits turned out to be a bit on the big side. *sigh*

At the end of the afternoon big brother and I had to go out to pick up a donation prior to going to Marbella to visit Sally, but it turned out to be so much that we had to drive back home and unload…which took way too long too, so we ended up phoning Sally, who said not to bother, she was so very tired anyway, and she would see cousin Ed in the morning. Which was a bit of a relief, considering there was still the dog food to cut and an attempt at writing to make.

Didn’t manage much, though. My eyes kept falling shut during that, and I finally gave up after one page and just went to bed. Jeez. It’s been some long days of late.

And that refers to everyone, considering the younger sibs are hard at work in the main house to paint the walls (that haven’t seen a lick of paint in over three years) so that we won’t be embarrassed once our visitor arrives four days from now. Lotsa stuff got backed up these past few years. Just too much to do, ya know.

This very morning big brother and I did some more work in the igloo. The power is working, and so’s the water for that matter. We are going to have to figure something out for that, by the way. Because that tube is now lying about in full sunlight, you can actually scald your skin on it. It’s a pickle, and something we’ll have to solve fast. The clock’s ticking.

Had a wonderful watering session of the yard today (the basin is half full again. We had to drain the pool, because one of mom’s Cocker spaniels (he’s blind and not in good health) pooed in it. Eeewwww. I’ll share my pool with dogs, no problem, but I draw the line somewhere. Hah. But anyway, we had to drain it, meaning that the watering is going nice and fast again, and while I was at it, I took the time to harvest most of the red peppers, cut them and freeze them for later use. Those little bushes are definitely doing a splendid job. We can’t eat them fast enough.
But the watering is getting less, thankfully. What used to take up to three hours, now only takes one, so we’ve got it down to a manageable size at the moment.

There were the usual chores such as laundry, feeding the dogs, and cutting dog food, of course. They loved it this morning, in case you’re wondering, there were all sorts of treats in it. Barbecue pizzas, ham pizzas, turkey slices, ham slices. They devoured it. Hah.

As to the writing: I only managed a page yesterday, but went well into two today, so, maybe, just maybe I’ll get this stuff done yet. I really shouldn’t let all these troubles mess with my focus. This is my future, after all. *sigh*

Mom and the sibs were in a bit of slump today. Their market day wasn’t at its usual level, meaning that they only made half. Darn economy and summer. Both are making folks less prone to sell.

The dogs have been rather chipper today, seeing as I didn’t go out at all and they made a nuisance of themselves by getting my way constantly. Chaos is still the least forgiving in that regard. He’s still ignoring me a little, while Knight II gets so affectionate that I’m getting bruises all over the place. This very morning, he was throwing himself against me, slamming his bony behind into my thigh over and over again. It friggin’ hurt. Got out of bed ASAP.

Today’s supper, as opposed to yesterday’s healthy chili, involved wonderful pizza. Loved that. The fresh dough, the fresh veggies and sauce, and of course the cheese. What smells nicer than that combination? I just couldn’t make myself wreck it with meat.

Well, this is it for today. No time to dawdle, despite the fact that I could of course fill pages and pages with mindless banter. *snort*

Another one bites the dust

Song of the day: ......I actually have no idea which one to pick, because there have been way too many in my head these past couple of days. Annoying, that.

Yep, another couple of days past, and really, it goes ways too fast. We’re seriously in summer now. The temperatures are hitting the high nineties and at the moment it is just a tad above balmy. Wonderful. The sun has been shining brightly, the air is either extremely dry, or moist, with either of them pros and cons that have me fully enjoy this summer, if for no other reason than that it was high time. *sigh*

Big brother finished installing my new little Netbook, and I am, in fact, working on it right now. I’m starting to get used to it, but the small keys are still a bit of an issue. Not to mention that the screen is a 10.1” which is, like, tiny. Ah well, I’ll get used to it.

So lets do this in sequence, and start with yesterday morning, which started cloudy and yet sweltering. It was working the yard day that mostly involved trimming the tomatoes (removing disease) in the greenhouse and the yard. Seriously, I was sweating like a pig, but we got good progress there. Whatever looked bad got cut, and what still looked good we re-hung on the reed constructions. We lost a few to disease, but most of them are still growing. Yay.

While we were out there, we did some watering, of course, and harvesting, giving us a solid basket full of tomatoes, peppers and some onions. Yummy. We are going to need another canning session. Got three full baskets of tomatoes again.

In the afternoon we had to go to the garage again. The Opel, ya know, the flickering oil light and everything. *double sigh* We got there in time for our appointment, and while we waited for an hour, I managed to use the time properly and wrote two more pages for the book. It took my fingers about fifteen minutes to find the proper keys, but then the rattling sound was back, making big brother laugh. Yep, speed typing is essential when you’re doing a book. Hah.

Picked up the second hand pergola on the way back, and took some time loading it up. We don’t know where we’re going to put it yet (I’m thinking on the terrace under the new wall, btw) but it was just too good to pass up on.

Later in the evening I finished writing “V.L.” so yay. Sure, there will be a two to three month edit yet, but still, the story is done and though everything is likely to change during the remaining process, it is there for real. A very satisfying feeling, finishing a book. I kinda like it.

Was late getting to bed, but what the heck. Who needs sleep anyway? I’ve got better stuff to do…not really, but that’s what I keep telling myself. Hah. But anyway, I was understandably late this morning. Not that it mattered one way or other, but I hate oversleeping.

First thing we did after a dip in the pool, laundry, coffee and breakfast (in that order) was looking for new plinths in the storage up in the old horse paddock. We did find some, which should be good enough once they get sanded and polished. I love my new floor by the way. It’s gorgeous and is so wonderfully warm and smooth to walk on with bare feet.

Which reminds me, the foot is really PO-ing me. I can hardly stand on it at the moment, and all because I was stupid in using it to wedge the floor boards. *sigh* I can be soooo stupid sometimes. Grrr.

Afterwards we unloaded the car and cleaned it up for the sibs and mom, for tomorrow’s market session. Luckily, it didn’t take all that long, leaving us enough time to give the dogs a tick bath. Seriously, the pests were getting out of hand again, so we decided to fill the bathtub and dip the lot. Of course, Chaos disappeared without a trace before I could get him. Same goes for Sitabah, but since their ticks aren’t that bad, I decided not to bother tracking them down.

Afterwards we went down to the basin terrace. Tenant went along, and arrived (after a dip in the pool) after I finished making supper. Which was rather tasty. Fresh tomatoes, peppers and onions with cream and macaroni. Yummy. It fell on my empty stomach rather well, even though the foot thing is playing havoc on my stomach. Am nauseous way too often again. Better not start the vomiting again. I’m just getting my blood levels up after the last stint of I-can’t-hold-anything-down.

So, considering I finished V.L. we decided to, as an in-between project, need some distance before I get to editing the new book, do a new edit for Saving Nina. Update it a little, and apply the suggestions of my marvelous test readers to make it better. It’ll take a while, but it will be worth it. Besides, after all this time I’m kind of looking forward to reading it again.

After going through the prologue, we quit and got down into the basin. It still needed cleaning. Dani and I were down there (big brother and grandpa had to fix the solar panel battery storage) and stumbled upon seven frogs. We got them all, with loads of squealing (I dislike slimy and slippery animals) and laughing, and chasing after the quick little buggers. With the last one, Dani decided to toss the little feller, and ended up throwing it against the wall, rather than over it. Poor thing just bounced off and died. Which made Dani feel bad of course, and me tease her some saying stuff like: “You’re so mean. Seriously, if you wanted to kill it, then why not smash it with the shovel, why throw it against the wall. That’s really cruel.” Within no time (after burying the poor amphibian) we were both laughing again. Accidents do happen after all.

And thus we have, once again reached the end of the day…at least we did after harvesting another full basket of peppers, tomatoes, and zucchinis. If all goes well, tomorrow I’m going to have to boil pots for the next canning section. Should be doable, but if not…well, I guess I’ll have to see.
I’ve got a book to edit again, and am feeling the post-writing blues just around the corner, dammit.

Experiments!

Song of the day: “I hope you dance” by LeeAnn Womack, and “Do re me” Julie Andrews in, none other than The Sound of Music. I know, isn’t it exciting? *snort* Oh wait, there was also “Weapon of choice” by Fatboy Slim. Hah.

I’ve been having incredibly weird dreams these past few days. Like this morning, I woke to a dream about both my grandmothers, conspiring to do crazy things (and they never even liked each other, for crying out loud) as if they were friendly with each others. Old cronies. No offense, I have some fond memories of them both, but as human beings they weren’t anything to write home about.

But anyway, in the dream, one was chasing me with a butcher’s knife in her hand, while other locked me in a wall-less elevator about six stories high. Then, if that weren’t enough, seeing as she was acting crazy and in the elevator, she jumped off like a bat out of hell. Suffice it to say that both women ended up in an asylum at the end of my dream, and I was, like, totally relieved waking up to my alarm. Jeez.

Good part: I got around to a work-out last night. Yay. Kick-boxed my a—ehm, butt out (it doesn’t sound the same at all) for about an hour and a half and loved every second of it. Seriously. I needed that. What with the weather so cool this month, the exercise is actually doable...despite the fact that I was practically floating in sweat at the end. But it went well. I had my “Shwung” as they say, and I kicked, punched, kneed and pounded that bag until I could barely catch my breath. Awesome. I was so wonderfully tired at the end that I literally slept within five seconds flat.

Bad part: In the wonderful world of screwy cars. The garage finally figured out the problem with the Opel Astra...and it’s going to cost us more than 400 Euros. Yep. Another hefty mint, and I just might have to sell my kidney, or something. Stupid effing &%€*+@#car. *takes deep breath* I’m okay. I got it out of my system now. Hah.
If all goes as planned, we should be able to pick the car up in about three days...which will be right after grocery shopping (aaargh) and the MOT for the Land Rover. Grrrr.

Spent lots of time with tenant. Two swimming sessions which are so very good for her arm so she can relax it properly. She also loves it, so that is two plusses right there. The walking down bit is a necessary evil for as far as she’s concerned, but at least we fill the time with idle chatter. Hah.

Cooking has involved my lentil/chickpeas patties, which we prepared like hamburger patties, put on buns with lettuce tomatoes and sauce, and devoured for the past couple of days just because they were just to darn good. Seriously, I should franchise them. It was McDonalds quality, but then healthy and vegetarian. Hah.

There was writing (naturally). Only 5000 words to go for me, and then I have to have it finished. Meaning that I’m scared shitless about not being able to wrap the last few scenes up. I hate a word limit, but this too is something I have to learn. If I don’t manage it, we’re going to have to go through the story and see if I can cut any of the scenes.

Funny bit: I fell asleep while writing last night. When I woke up again I had to delete three sentences about Haakon and Matte Marit from Norway (I know, insane, right) which didn’t make any sense, and had absolutely nothing to do with the book, darn it. There was also some serious gibberish through it. Seriously, I might have nurture this particular talent, because imagine what I could get done if I managed to write while asleep. OMG. I could write all night and then just work during the day without trouble. Hah.

Considering Big brother still isn’t ready with the addition to the imperial, I painted the ladder again. It’s starting to look pretty darn solid, and will fit the rest as if it was made for it...what am I saying. It IS made for it. *sigh*

We harvested, of course. Today we’re going to try to cook some prickly pear pads. I am so curious how it will turn out. I’m just going to experiment and see how it works. I’ll let you know how it works out later...or if it was horrible, I won’t. Hah. Other harvests were the normal ones, like tomatoes, onions, peppers and melons.

We watered too, of course. Even though we have the drip tubes in most spots now, there are some things that just need personal attention. I have to admit that yard is looking pretty darn splendid at the moment...Okay. Gotta hurry. What else?

I cleaned my cabin, which was high time. Managed to wreck some spiderwebs in the main house, scrub my bathroom and all that. *sigh*

Time to get to cooking, and then we’re going to shovel shaite from the basin. We still have to clean it of several inches of dried mud, then scrape everything out, clean it properly with water and chemicals, and then paint it...all before the rainy season starts.

More excesses to can

Song of the day: “Que sera sera (what will be will be) by Doris Day. What can I say, the oldies just sometimes come to haunt me.

Yesterday was totally awesome canning thirty pots of tomatoes, pumpkins, green beans, peppers and zucchinis...ehm, yeah...not thirty of each! But all together thirty, duh...for the winter. Sure it took ages, started around noon and didn’t finish until after eight in the evening, but what the hey. It got done, and several of the concoctions are once again experiments. I kinda liked them all, seeing as I made concentrated soups of them. I am definitely keeping several as recipes for the book later on. The way I figure, this winter I’ll pick a pot or two (whichever I’m in the mood for) toss it in a pan and add water until we have a full meal. Easy as pie, as they say. Hah.

Was thoroughly exhausted afterwards, however, and it took me a dip in the pool, supper and some staring-blindly-ahead for several minutes per hour before I recovered enough to start on the day’s writing session. Of course by that time was also thoroughly distracted by the whole debacle going on in Norway. Seriously, that is some far-out shaite, especially in this so called realistic world. *sigh* And here they say that movies are unrealistic when some villain starts on a killing spree. I can’t help but wonder what this fella thought to achieve with his actions. I mean, really, no one’s going to think much of his “message” now that he’s killed dozens of teenagers. I mean, I somehow get his his frustration (read a draft of his manifesto), in a weird way anyway, but this...

Totally book material...though if I had written it, I would have made him smarter. Personally I think, his message, if he had one, would have been far more credible if he had walked into parliament and started mowing down the politicians he blamed for modern day society’s problems. But a youth camp? Not smart! Not smart at all. They’ll dismiss him as a lunatic, and then what? He spends life in prison, foaming at the mouth about stuff he can’t ever possibly change anymore? Ah well, let’s just call the whole thing scary and leave it at that.

Okay, what else. I wrote about two pages last night, despite my distraction and my tiredness. The story is really rapidly developing now, and I really, really have to wrap it up now. I can add another eight thousand words, but that’s it. I need the remaining five for the edit, so that I can at least add extra necessities throughout the story, rather than first having to remove a few thousand words to make room.

So yeah, another trip to the garage is going to be necessary. The cooling liquid is still disappearing, so something is wrong. Aaaargh! So frustrating. Why can’t the friggin’ car just work fine for another year, or so?

Tick season (the tiny black ones) is in full swing, apparently. The little buggers are everywhere, sucking the poor dogs dry, and driving me bonkers because I can’t work on my computer without wasting at least a full hour picking ticks off of them, darn it. There are a few that are really considered a delicacy by the buggers.

This morning, seeing as caregiver was once again at her other job (for six hours this time) I spent a lot of time with tenant. First I helped her change, after which she waited in the kitchen for a bit while I prepared lentils/chickpeas patties for lunch. Then we walked down to my terrace where she sat reading in the shade while grandpa and I worked on sanding the boards of my future living room floor. They’re going to be beautiful, thank you very much, and it was a nice occupation early in the day.

Afterwards tenant and I both took a dip in the pool, and then headed on down to the basin terrace where we started on supper. The patties worked out just fine, and the vegetable mix to go with them...yummy. Seriously, is there anything healthier than fresh veggies in a cream-tomato sauce?

Well, I would like to do a bit of writing still, before the day is through, and after that...well, I just might hit the sack early today. Seriously, I’ve been getting way too little sleep again this week. *sigh*

Doing it the picture way

Song of the day: “I just wanna make love to you” by Etta James. I was thinking of the Coca Cola light commercials some odd ten years ago and since then have been unable to get the song out of my head.

Right. Let’s jump out of the same old routine and do a picture update. Yay.
Load ‘m up: (They're a messy jumble again. It's late and I'm lazy. Hah)

1 The lower yard, of course.



2 Knight II on Dani's lap. Isn't he gorgeously big?



3 The pool with everything in bloom. Yay!



4 The side of the old pool quarters. Love all the colors.



5 Tenant's room when we broke out the old windows.



6 Tenant's room now. So spacious!



7 A shot up the yard.



8 Oh yeah, the bricks Bambi keeps moving away from the storage pile. I wonder what he's making. Hah.



9 The construction for the berries. I told you I took pictures!



10 Knight II in the bushes. He was just too beautiful to pass up on.



11 The beautiful mimosa we had to cut down because it died. *sniffle*



12 The pole I mentioned recently so mom could display her purses at the market.



13 The yard again. As you might notice (it's a pattern, hah) I like my yard. Hah.



14 And another yard shot, of course.



Okay. Gotta go.

Borrowing...yuck.

Song of the day: “Country Roads” by John Denver. I know, it really is an oldie, but I can't help that.

Today's blog is going to be a little short. My computer has broken down, you see, and big brother is trying to fix it as we speak, so to speak...and he just told me that he can't do it. Darn it! I hate it when a computer does that. In particular when it is something extremely silly, like the on button that doesn't work. Aaaargh. Seriously, I get incredibly POed, cranky, PMS and all that crap. I wanna scream, I wanna swear and...well, I just don't like writing on someone else's computer. It's like borrowing underwear or something...ooh, bad example! That's just gross. Forget I said that. Jeez.

Okay, yesterday was a nicely sweltering day that was spent in the full sun, baking my behind...well arms anyway, and the backs of my calves, (my feet were on fire. The good shoes with the insoles that I need get waaaaaayyy too hot!) and anything that wasn't covered by leather, denim or cotton turned to a nice crispy red...or felt that way. Hah. In fact, by the end of the day it wasn't all that bad, really. Just a little darker than usual and more than ready to settled down behind the computer for some REAL work.

Even though I was seriously distracted I did manage three pages by the end of the day (was interrupted by a quick drive to town to pick up Sally, who has a part time job now and needs to be picked up at the end of the day. By then wind had started to blow and the temperatures went down to downright pleasant by then. I could have sat in that wind all night, but of course sleep got precedence.

This morning started early with a dip in the pool (Knight II and Chaos joined me)laundry, tackling spiderwebs and then heading up to tenant's place to do today's bit on her wall. There were sections that had to be glued on the doorposts that we put in the other day, stuff to saw by the storage...which was interesting since the wood just didn't want to get cut until we got creative. Big brother pushed the hardwood slats through while I pressed sideways to keep it tight against the lead beam. I always get tense from working with the big saw table...remember that scene in Saw (one, two, three, four or five...whatever) where someone saws through (length wise, mind you) his arm. Insane, I tell ya. No one in his right mind does that. I mean, really. I saw what a machine like that did to big brother's thumb and finger way back when. *sigh*

We did supper down by the basin. Tenant was right there with us after she and caregiver took a dip in the pool and even though it was a rushed affair, it was a wonderful moment in the day. Then, of course, we had to head for town to pick up the papers for the Opel Astra, and a quick trip to the sea for some exercise. Finally didn't forget to bring my goggles and ended up doing some serious mileage in crawl, and butterfly. The water was incredibly cold, but also wonderful. I enjoyed it.

Well, big brother managed to get my computer on after all, so we're going to do a backup and then see if we can have it fixed tomorrow. It better be, because if they can't fix it I'm going to scream like a girl...or a banshee. Stupid technology. It's a button for crying out loud!

Cooking wise, this afternoon supper consisted of fresh veggies with macaroni, which was wonderful. And tonight I did my first experiment with fish. There might be a party to cater in the near future, so I want to at least be able to make fish. Since I don't know what the stuff's supposed to taste like and since I wasn't going to try to taste it either, tenant gladly offered herself as a test subject. I made two different types and she liked them both, she said. I'll have to experiment some more, of course, but it doesn't seem too big a problem.

The dogs were absolutely insane when we got home, but luckily settled down once the smell of fish filled the air. *sigh*

Ah well, I'm going to see if I can get some more writing done, and then maybe call it an early day. I am a bit tired after that swim and hauling butt up and down the mountain most of the day. Building projects always involves walking, because I always forget to take at least ten things from the carport.

Right, heading out.

Shaking...Hah

Song of the day: “What’s a woman” by Vaya Con Dios. I heard it this morning on VH1 and it has been going through my head ever since. Ah, the good old days.

Let’s get to it. I feel a little shaky at the moment, considering I just had a massive scare. Silly me had intended to put my computer on standby while we moved up to the terrace in front of my cabin, rather than the one by the basin, and forgot to save the two pages that I’d written in the two hours down there in the fresh summer breeze. Aaaaargh!!! Seriously, I haven’t made a mistake like that since I lost seventeen pages of “A Deadly Legacy” in ‘98 due to a power outage. Gawd! What a horrible feeling. Even now, my hands are still trembling. I know, it is a weird thing to get upset about, but even though you’d think that you can just rewrite the pages, it just won’t ever be the same again. Somehow you just always keep stumbling over “that lost scene”. Really frustrating. *sigh*

But anyways...for the past two days I’ve been friggin’ sore from the six hour tiling spree, which was followed by the two hour grouting spree, which then was again followed by today’s six hour tiling spree. Seriously, there was a change in plans at the last possible moment, meaning that I couldn’t use the already picked-and-ready earth-red tiles for the finishing edge of tenant’s bedroom. Instead I had to head back to the storage to find out if we could use something else. I ended up working with the last few spotted gray, and light yellow tiles of the floor. This of course meant that I had to measure and cut every single tile in the right size, and then make sure that the finished decorative edge was pointing outward. Have you any idea how much cutting and measuring you have to do on four whole tiles and about six damaged and broken ones to fill a four inch ledge that is about twenty feet long? Well, it took six hours, so, blegh. Luckily it looks good, because otherwise I would be seriously Poed.

Which reminds me, yesterday’s grouting went well. It only took a relatively short time and it really did make the floor look like a whole. The small error I made during laying was still there, but on the overall the whole looks good. Of course the grout work won’t be white for long. It never is. Have you any idea how hard it is to have anything white while you love with several scores of dogs? Impossible! I mean it.

Cooking wise, yesterday was relatively simple. Left over sauce hollandaise mixed with left over pasta and fresh veggies. Nutritional and tasty. Can’t ask for more can you? Today, on the other hand, was an absolute treat. Though I was feeling a tad harried (due to being behind on everything) I did manage to put together a nice batch of baked red beats with potatoes, onion and cheese. Seriously, we ate our way through the entire pan and left only traces of red for the dogs to lick off. Hah. It was delicious, and since it was seven and my breakfast was at eleven, I was friggin’ starving.

While I did the cooking, and before that finished up tiling, and helping tenant to the pool for a dip before she walked down with me (didn’t get there until past six) all refreshed and up for dinner until caregiver returned from her day job.

Yesterday afternoon was spend shaving Nata (golden retriever) who’s now that he’s getting older, less capable of keeping himself clean—strangely enough, we have noticed that as soon as dogs get old, or sick, their fur no longer stays clean. Perhaps it’s a lack of grooming, but I think there is more to it—meaning that we had to do something about the mess on his thighs and chest. So he looks like a badly trimmed poodle at the moment, but at least he’s a lot more comfortable.

I did finally get around to taking my winter sweaters from my wardrobe and stuff them in the storage box under my bed, but I still have horizontal surfaces covered with clean laundry that I really have to put away soon.

This morning I also finally got around to doing some cleaning in the house again. Seriously, in there all the vertical surfaces are the problem. Hah. This morning I rediscovered the redness of the kitchen drawers, the transparency of the glass doors of the storage closet, and that the corners of the house are indeed square...or so the sudden disappearance of spiderwebs showed me. Hah. Afterwards I managed a quick rub-down of the washing machine and the flat surfaces around it. Phew. Glad that is over again.

Took Knight II and Chaos along for a dip in the pool too, since the latter is really bothered by the heat. Chaos was downright uncomfortable during the night. He was crying and didn’t quiet down until I dragged him onto the bed and allowed him to lie in the stream from the fan.
So anyway, I took him and Knight II into the pool. Chaos went into the water like the amphibious tank he is, and when I called Knight II, he took two steps down the stairs (staring at me wide-eyed) and then leaped until his front paws almost speared me. Jeez. I just barely managed to dodge, and then he spent the next two minutes demanding that I keep him in my arms like the puppy he really isn’t. *snort* Seriously, he’ll pull all fours to his body and float against me for eternity if I don’t order him out of the water...looking all insulted, of course. Hah. Idiot!

Be that as it may, I’m going to try to get back into the writing spirit now that the scared-shakes of almost loosing two pages (only lost a few paragraphs after big brother go involved and discovered an unexpected backup hidden in a folder somewhere) and then call it a day.

Faking it

Song of the day: “Country Roads” by...well, not John Denver. I heard it on youtube with some sort of line dancing group and it was great. Only bad thing is that it was blaring in my head the moment I woke up, and it sounded as if the stereo volume was way too high.

But anyway, I’ll get right to it without (too much) dawdling.
Once again a busy couple of days. Take yesterday, for instance. While mom and the youngest sibs were at the market we took the opportunity to pour concrete on the drive sweep.
While grandpa and big brother finished that, Dani and I hauled bricks and concrete blocks into storage. Turns out Bambi (crossbreed) has been watching us haul stuff for the past year or so, and decided that it was time he offered a helping hand. Turns out he picked up and carried about a hundred red bricks to the middle of the dog paddock and laid out his brinks in some intricate pattern that made me ask grandpa what he was doing laying the bricks out like that. Seriously, I could barely believe that Bambi did it, but there you have it. He did. I took pictures so maybe, someday we’ll figure out what he was trying to make. Hah.

As it was, it took me about half an hour to stack everything again. And no, I didn’t put it back in the same place. Duh. I ain’t THAT stupid. They’re now nicely stacked on the concrete blocks in the upper dog paddock. Soon I’ll start stacking the roof tiles there as well, along with outside tiling. The mess in the old horse paddock is driving m friggin’ bonkers.
In-between, I hauled up bags of cement to grandpa. Had piled three in the wheelbarrow, but apparently I was stronger than the wheelbarrow, because the wheight threatened to go right through the wheel. *sigh*

There were laundry batches, of course, along with that kick boxing session I mentioned the other day, which worked out splendidly. Seriously. It was the first time since last autumn that I was able to do it barefoot (though I paid for it dearly afterwards, stupid foot!) instead of on sneakers. My balance is so much better barefoot than it is when I wear shoes. *sigh*
I was in excellent form, thank you very much, even managed to double some of the exercises. Yay.

This morning, due to a late night, I overslept by a friggin’ hour, which was weird, to say the least. Made me rush through all the morning rituals, and less able to enjoy the strangely cloudy weather.
More laundry (is there ever not?) in the morning and at the end of the day I dug some more behind my cabin. At least there are parts now where I hit rock bottom, meaning that I’m getting there. Yay.

In the morning there were some plants left to water, if only due to the fact that the day before we didn’t manage to do it all before nightfall.

Wrote six and a half (wonderful) pages for V.L. Yesterday...which is good, because I just don’t have the time today. Went great, the scenes just flowed from my hands and were rightWhich brings me to the business of today. First of all, it started out fine with some work in the yard. We made constellations of reed to support the melon plants, which were starting to choke each other...and the Chinese cabbages. The constellations are a new idea and we’ve no idea if it will even work, but it’ll be interesting to find out, won’t it?

Then, after some chores, such as working on the ladder for the back of the Land Rover, harvesting zucchinis and tomatoes, and sorting through storage, it was time to head for town to meet with the guy who has a Ford Fiesta for sale. First we had to go to the garage, though, where the Daewoo was. I had to sign a paper to have it towed to the junk yard. Then they showed me a 2nd hand car in the back that they’d sell to me for 900, if I want it. I told them I already had an appointment to look at the Ford, so the mechanic started explaining to me what I needed to pay attention to.

First of all, apparently Ford Fiesta’s are known for having problems with the starter, so the first thing I had to check was if the tubes were hot. If so, the owner had already started the engine to prevent us from knowing there was a problem. Next there was the suspension. While driving over bumps, if there were creaks and Gawd knows what else, getting new suspension in would cost me 130 per wheel, or something. So that was a no no. Lastly, after test driving it, I should open the oil lid and if blue-ish fumes came out, I should just turn around and walk away.

Now that was fun instructions. Always good to know that, so we went there, (fifteen minutes early, in fact) and I went through the motions of checking the bottom (Not too much rust, etc.) and saw lots of denting, but otherwise it looked fine. The wheels had been painted, and though there was quite a bit of cosmetic work to do, the overall impression wasn’t bad.

The guy arrived, and I followed the mechanic’s instructions. Funny bit (apparently I’m good at faking it) the first thing he asked me was if I was a mechanic. Seriously, I almost burst out laughing. Then the test drive came, and some more looking at the hood, and so on. I can honestly say I didn’t dislike the car. It was very stable on the road. The steering was a little heavy, sure, but it steered well, and the brakes were new. So was the suspension. All the filters had been replaced, and (the owner’s a mechanic, hah) he basically said that he never had a single problem with the car.

Personally I like the car, and I would probably go for it if our mechanic agrees that it’s a good buy. But since mom will be driving it most, and she likes the Citroen more (it has an AC btw), and since little brother thinks both cars are a bit too small, we probably will keep on searching for a bit. Hah.

When we got home, we heard that grandpa forgot to close the gate of the little courtyard up by his apartment and tenant’s bungalow. This meant that Tadaika and some of the other pounced on tenant’s little Olivier (Ollie) and even pierced some skin. Poor little mutt. He’ll be okay, though. They’re sturdier than they look, those little dogs.

Luckily, before we left I’d put on tomatoes to boil, so I only needed to add some spices to have spaghetti and fresh tomato sauce for dinner. I was starving after all. It’s too late now to do much more writing, but I succeeded in writing this at least. Let’s hope I’ll have more time for real writing tomorrow.

Steady as she goes...

Song of the day: “Rome wasn’t built in a day” by Morcheeba. Such a sweet little song that can easily just go round and round inside your head, eh?

First of all, it is now official that the Daewoo is a lost cause. (They would have to replace the engine, which is of course an expensive endeavor and definitely not worth the expense.) Which means that we are now once again looking for a new 2nd, 3rd or 4th hand car that will get us around without being fancy, because, let’s face it, that is just not something that we can afford. *sigh* Don’t suppose any of you readers has something affordable standing around, eh?

Ah well, it was worth a shot.

So yeah, what with this abysmal news we’ve been driving around a bit looking for cars and prices, which takes loads of time and is...well frigging annoying. Stupid, friggin’ Daewoo. And we liked it so much. Apparently that makes no difference whatsoever. Hah. (I know, sarcasm: It becomes me. *snort*)

What’s been going on? Well, summer’s here, finally! Seriously the mercury is rising to a comfortably sweaty mid nineties, going towards a solid hundred in the full sunshine. *blissful sigh* I’ve been looking forward to this for the whole winter, so allow me to continue sighing for a bit here. Take this evening for instance. We were watering the lower garden when an absolutely wonderful breeze picked up. I looked towards the higher terraces and was momentarily stunned by all the color overhead. The plant-life showed an array of six different greens at least (the setting sun helped, of course) there were the pink and white oleanders, the hot pink and deep red bougainvillea, the last few crimson roses, the purple mimosa and suddenly snatched up by the western wind were the bright, deep yellow acacia flowers drifting in the air like a golden rain. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I just kept staring because I couldn’t stop. *sigh*

Besides the watering some small stuff has been going on, of course. What with the afternoons so perfectly hot these days, we’re using the afternoons for writing again, so projects are being spread thin in the first and last hours of the day.

Like yesterday, I spent the morning (after watering seedlings and the greenhouse, of course) cleaning and painting outside lamps. The pitch blackness while walking up to my cabin is driving me bonkers so I decided that it was time to fix up the outside lights and put in new wiring. Grandpa has been helping of course.

Big brother and grandpa have been working on the drive sweep. The plan is to dig out two big gutters and pour concrete one of these days (maybe tomorrow, we’ll see) and while they were doing that, Danni and I dug out the mess behind my cabin. I’m not kidding, no. For the past three years or so dirt, leafs, roots, and scrap metal has been piling up behind my cabin, and getting it all out is starting to become a pain in the behind. Just barely managed to dig out two wheelbarrows of the stuff (roots mostly) before the morning came to an end (watering took longer than anticipated because I had to harvest some ripe tomatoes) and it was time to start writing.

Writing went rather well since yesterday. Got a solid seven pages down, of a new scene no less. And though I will need to write the “in-between” at some point, it is going well. Definitely doing more dialogues this time, not mention lots of “thoughts”. Ah well, a gal’s gotta try everything once, right?

The character’s are forming nicely. The heroine is secretive, sweet and too cute for her own good. The hero big, strong, a little older and easygoing. Just the way I like ‘m, eh? Hah. He is of course going to have to be a hero of old, ready to save the damsel in distress. And she’s going to be in some serious distress, I assure you. Seriously, there are some scene’s going through my head these days, meaning that the poor girl is going to suffer some serious trauma. *sob* I am so friggin’ mean to my characters!

Ah well, it will all work out. All’s well that ends well, eh? Or won’t it. I do play with a not so happy ending sometimes, but I always end up going for a good one. Guess I’m not satisfied until the reader needs to grab a toothbrush, or something. Hah.

Doggie news: Sitabah is in heat, which is pretty darn annoying since she keeps trying to seduce Dax who is (surprisingly) not at all interested. You won’t believe this, but Dax falls for Spaniels for some reason. Seriously, you can’t keep him off them with a stick, but Sitabah, who is a ballerina compared to the sturdy cocker lasses, is of no interest whatsoever for him.

There was cooking, of course. Chili sin Carne, again, because, let’s face it, I need to eat palsies a lot and beans come close when it comes to nutrients. Besides the beans, sweetcorn and mushrooms, everything else came from the yard making it one friggin’ nice meal, thank you very much. Not to mention that with a bit of extra veggies it was perfectly fine for two days.

So now I am pretty much drawing a blank as to what is going on of late, so this is going to be it. I still want to do a kick boxing session before going to bed, and...well, it’s late, I won’t be able to write more for the book now. Darn it!

Back and forth, over and over

Song of the day: “Never no more” by Patsy Cline, again. *sigh*

Right. The past couple of days.

I did manage to get a bit of writing done. Not a lot mind you, but I’ve got a fun total of twenty-five pages. Yay. Got another dialogue going. This one a little more relaxed, mostly about cars, seeing as the majority of the story plays out in a garage. Hah. Who’d have thought I’d end up writing about a mechanic some day. Let’s hope I don’t mess it up, eh?

Yesterday was a busy day. We had to rush through the morning rituals because we had an appointment in town to have the Daewoo’s AC fixed. Mom and the sibs really can’t handle the heat at the moment, so driving around without it just wasn’t possible. Regretfully we need to do the same for the Land Rover, whose AC ain’t working either. I’ve got to admit I don’t miss it at all, but then, having a non-functional one is silly too, so what the heck. It’s gotta be done one of these days.

Since it was going to take at least a day for the garage to put in the new compressor for the AC, check it and then fill it up with gas, we headed home immediately and headed out into the yard. Well, I did anyway. Big brother had to work on the metal ladder he’s making for the back of the Land Rover. Though I would love to help with that, welding is not my strong suit.

So anyway, while he did that, I headed into the yard to water the plants. Since we have full fields at the moment that would take about four hours, and since there was a decent harvest of zucchinis I took the opportunity to put on a big pan of zucchini soup in the outside kitchen. Hah. I kinda like the giving water bit, since it gives me several hours to write the old fashioned way. By hand! It does my good to do that, in particular because characters shape better in my head that way.

It was wonderfully hot yesterday...still is, in fact. Summer is finally here (knock on wood) and it’s showing itself with low to mid nineties temperatures. It takes some getting used to, but I like it anyway. The watering of the plants was hot, not to mention the going back and forth, and then up to the bungalow to help out tenant, who was (according to her) feeling lazy and stayed up in the horse paddock until mom came home with the puppy, (it had to go to the vet for its second round of shots) and helped her down to my terrace.

Once the yard was done, watering it all, binding up the rapidly growing tomato plants, harvesting some of them, taking out an onion or two and basically gathering what will be tomorrow’s meal. Hah. Getting a steady harvest of strawberries and tayberries now, along with a nice batch of peaches. We had supper of the soup with bread changed into something remotely clean and headed back to town to pick up the little car. Since we were in town anyway, we headed for the beach and the took the opportunity to do some swimming exercises. Didn’t go at all bad, even though the water was close to frigid. Hah.

But anyway, by the time we got home I was running on fumes, and more than happy to sit down with the computer for some writing.

Which brings us today, of course, which was once again a nicely summery day with a full glaring sun that made working outside extremely...interesting. Hah. But anyway, I started out with a dip in the pool, and laundry, naturally. Then it was out into the yard to check on the young transplants, my drying herbsies, and of course sneaking a taste or two of the tayberries, hah.

After that it was up the mountain again to help out tenant. Her caregiver is back to working elsewhere a few days a week, so I’m getting to spend a lot of time with her this week. It’s good, though. We get to practice her walk, and overall mobility.

The majority of today was spent cutting down the smaller branches of the dead mimosa on the square. It took some doing, but now only a man-sized stump is left, allowing us to work on the new plan for the terrace in front of my cabin.

What with the mimosa gone, it is in the full blare of sunlight there on the terrace, so the new plan involves installing three pillars of wood with wires criss-crossing towards my cabin and the carport. Then, in the next few months, and years, the vine that grows up from the courtyard garden will be able to cover the entire terrace, providing us with shade in the summer, and sunshine in the winter, because, thankfully, this one is a vine that loses all leafs in winter. Yay.
I think it will look rather well once we’re done. Of course I damaged another body part during the procedure. I was sawing through a bolt and then didn’t pay attention for a full second, meaning I was through the metal to fast, lost counterweight and went right past the vise, missing it by a hair. Regretfully my nail didn’t miss it, because it folded double and I was dancing around trying (and failing) not to swear, and keeping lunch in. *sigh* Stupid.

Lastly there’s this nice little story about Knight II and Chaos, who are going through their competitive phase.
So Knight II isn’t eating well, while Chaos loves to eat, in particular Knight’s soaked kibble when it stands around too long. So anyway, Knight had left it standing, and though I had taken Chaos up on the bed, he wasn’t happy about it. In particular not when Knight joined us. Chaos started to whine, so finally I helped him off the bed, laying down again myself, figuring he was just going to have to sleep on the ground then. It was dark, it was humid and I wanted to sleep.
Big mistake. Five seconds after Chaos got down, *boff*, so was Knight. Instantly the cabin was filled with vicious growls. They both stood over the bowl, at the verge of going at it for sure.
I took Chaos back to bed, ordered Knight to eat and he did, for about three minutes before he came back to the bed. Ergo Chaos wanted to get off, and *boff* Knight went back too, snarling and threatening.
I honestly didn’t have patience for it, so I opened the door, put the bowl outside and headed back to bed.
Knight was right there with me, but Chaos, whose nose is too good and whose memory work way too well, had different ideas. He started howling, scratching at the door, and not listening worth a damn when I growled for him to stop messing around and go to sleep. Nope. So I got back up, snatched the bowl and put it on the floor inside. *boff* Knight was back, and I would have none of it. I grabbed him by the collar, dragged him onto the bed and wrapped myself around him until we both drifted off to sleep. Chaos and Sitabah quietly ate the contents of the bowl. *sigh*

Okay, gotta go.

All over the place

Song of the day: “I got life” by Nina Simone. If you’d told me that this song was sung by a woman I’d have laughed in your face, but there you have it. I looked it up when it started going through my head et voila. *sigh* Wonderful song, even though it does remind me of some commercial in the nineties. What was it for again? Hmmm. Can’t remember. How weird is that?

Okay, the past couple of days. There were some unplanned events that really got in the way of writing, so I only managed to add about three pages to “V.L.”, which is mighty frustrating. I could totally have used yesterday to slam down a solid four to six pages, but nope, the leak in my bathroom started again so we had to go to town to get another replacement connection. This time we went for metal, rather then risk another leak.

So, since we were in town anyway, I took Knight II along so we could take him for a run past the river. I really have to work on my run, I use way too many muscles, tiring me before I should. Did about a mile, I think, and thankfully Knight was properly out of breath afterwards, meaning he ate properly at the end of the day.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. There was other stuff of course. Watering young plants of course. Even though the big watering is now down to every three to four days, the young seedlings don’t have big roots yet, meaning that the surface needs to be moist at least.

While I was doing that, and taking in some harvest, big brother and grandpa worked on the greenhouse by pulling rattan shades over the top. Temperatures were hitting 110 in there, and this brought it down at least ten degrees. It causes a bit of a draft, which will keep the heat from settling, I hope. Got a steady flow of two to three tomatoes a day now, and about one zucchini per day, so it’s going well, I would say. Same goes for the lettuces which are really forming heads now.

The tayberries are ripening rapidly now, and we’re plucking four or five a day. Strawberries too, which have a handful at times...Oh, my gawd, did I mention the peaches yet? They’re delicious!!! I’ve had two so far, and boy am I going to enjoy myself by the time those trees are big enough to carry baskets full of fruit. Hah.

There was the inevitable weeding, naturally. The sun rose, didn’t it? Taxes got paid, right? Well, so did weeding, and laundry, which I won’t bother telling more about in this case.
More sorting through the mess in the supply boxes this afternoon, and finally got it done, meaning that there’s place in three empty boxes now. Never knew that we got that much clothes hanging around. *sigh*

For the most part the past couple of days have been filled with chores that took precedence over the less important ones. I hung the little gate by the berry bushes fence. Big brother worked some more on the future bathroom’s door. We hung the tap in the lower garden on a pole that we set in concrete the other day.

There were two dips in the nippy pool water on my part, and though it is not for leisure floating yet, I rather enjoyed cooling off after being in the full sunshine for the day.

And a trip walking tenant down to the basin terrace where she could spend the day in half sunshine, half shade. I was kinda pleased that she agreed to go down with me this morning, since at the moment she is not feeling much like making an effort. Not that I can blame her, but it certainly not beneficial for her health. She did have her stroke due to lack of movement. But she is an adult, of course, and I can hardly force her, so she’ll just have to figure it out for herself.

Amri’s swelling is almost completely gone, and he’s acting as if it all never happened. A good thing, that, since he can be such a complete grouch.

There was sand to haul, of course, and there still is my cabin to clean (again!) loads of clean laundry to place in my closet, and...well, it’s a pigsty. Luckily I’m not expecting visitors. Lastly there was a kick boxing session, of course, and though I wasn’t in the best shape, I did enjoy it.

Herbs drying. Gawd, I almost forgot. That drying cupboard that grandpa made for me is working, because just yesterday I took out my first batch of dried chamomile. Now I’ve got parsley, oregano and more chamomile in it.

Backwards...

Song of the day: “Perfect 10” by the Beautiful South. Very funny, not to mention way too catchy.

I’ve got my usual issue again with trying to remember what I did for the past couple of days, sorry. Drawing a complete blank frustrates me to no end. It’s as if the moment I start thinking about what I should write down, my brain just refuses to dig into the databases, so to speak.

I could of course write my dream down, I had a rather splendid one after all, but I’m going to save it for another day when I remember even less of what happened in the days beforehand. Hah.

Well, let’s start on this morning and work our way back, maybe then I’ll get to remember everything.

Prior to starting on today’s blog, there was some satisfying concrete-block-hauling, where, between the four of us (Dani and grandpa helped big brother and me) we managed to haul down 20 blocks of 80 pounds a pop blocks that will soon be used for the new septic tank. Excellent way to get the muscles lubricated, if you ask me. Hah.

While I was helping tenant this morning, I made pumpkin soup for lunch. Worked well too, seeing as I just ate it. Gawd, seriously, it worked splendidly. I put lentils, leek, onion, broth, garlic and some mango juice in it. I need to write this one down. *sigh*

There was laundry of course, after waking up late this morning (slept through the alarm a couple of times) because I was also late getting to bed last night. Watched “John Rambo” which was hilariously gory. Seriously, I don’t get people’s problems with that type of movies. In particularly not since the message behind it is so very powerful. Ah well, better not start about that. I’d be at it for a page or two.

Preceding to the movie I had a wonderful kick-boxing session in the carport. Worked up a serious sweat, got my heartbeat up to 120 and felt wonderfully energized afterwards. I never would have thought that I would turn into a person who turns peppy after exercise, but the proof is there. Heck, I didn’t even have muscle aches this morning. Hah.

Had dinner of nuggets (doctor’s orders, remember? B12 shortage and all that. It’s gross, but what the heck) and fries, seeing as we’d had backed potatoes (with jackets) with a big salad for lunch. Not to mention grandpa’s wholewheat porridge, which still fills the gaps rather well. Added to that I also ate a couple of pears, so some snacky kind of food was basically just for filling.

Bad news is that the Mimosa tree we trimmed drastically recently, didn’t show any improvement, and even goes as far as dying right before our eyes. Such a pity. For a while we pondered putting a fine into it, but since that won’t change anything, and since we’d only have to kill the vine four years from now when the tree start rotting away, we’ve been discussing its replacement. We want something similar, something fast and something that is affordable. We’re going to have to pay a visit to a nursery to see what’s available.

Around eight in the afternoon we headed into the yard and spend several hours watering the veggies (with the basin, of course), building fences of reed to protect the new terraces and put in some seedling onions, along with two more rows of green beans and several melon plants.
The few dogs that are allowed to stay with us while we’re in the yard (they have learned not to barge through the plants) snoozed most of the afternoon away, as is their habit.

This was all after spending the majority of the afternoon on the greenhouse/basin terrace working on the in-between project. Still going steadily, and rapidly coming to the point where we’ll print it for a proof read. I kinda like it, even though it is ridiculously short. Hah.
In the mean time we also had lunch, which was what I mentioned two paragraphs higher.

The morning was spent work in the yard, of course. We took pumpkin and melon seedlings from the compost heap up at grandpas. They’d just come up, and that was just too good to pass up on. Now we have about ten more standing in the greenhouse, waiting to be put out in the wild. We potted them, and then took peppers and tomatoes down into the yard for planting. The peppers are looking well, but the tomatoes are not at all happy with the bad weather we’ve had.
The melons and pumpkins are slowly recovering though.

That outside foray was of course preceded by laundry, chores and the morning rituals.
See, I more or less managed to cover everything, even though it was once again extremely boring to read about, I’m sure. Can’t help that. It’s the days as they are.

Okay, dog update. There are lots of ticks again, which is frustrating beyond compare. It means that we’re going to have to do another dip in chemicals soon, because the friggin’ parasites don’t give a fig that they’re supposed to die from that crap. It’s like grandpa always says about grass and weeds. “Ticks (too) don’t bear a grudge. They’ll come back, and back, and back, and...” Aaaargh!
Of course except for Ayaana and Pim, who literally get attacked and almost sucked dry by the creatures, the dogs don’t mind at all, seeing as it earns them lots of attention. Whenever we pet them, we’ll be pulling ticks off. Grrr.

Well, that’s it for today. Not much more of interest to share, so I better get back to work.

You never guess...

A picture update, yay.

First of all, song of the day: "Can't stop loving you" by Phil Collins.

Let's start right off with a view I'm presently enjoying a lot. Our neighbor's horse, grazing just down from our property.



Knight II, in the car, impatient to go for his run in "the wild"...also known as asphalt, since the weenie refuses to walk on dirt. *sigh*


The blooming eucalyptus over the seedbed. Ain't it pretty?


My Chaos. Cold so fast, the Gorgeous. He has no shame, seriously. He was posing for this one.


Sonia (L) and Chamea (R) two bitches who can't stand each other, but also refuse to leave each other's side. Exhausting!


The yard view from the top. New fencing and everything.


Little Kenneth. So pretty, our blind little girl.


From left to right: Abacara, Knight II, Dax and Sitabah. They were watching the neighbor's dog, Maya. Sometimes I fear they'd eat her if they ever got out of the yard. *sigh*


Okay, now I'm going to have to keep track. White one is Fortuyn. Crazy as a loon!


Thorgal (middle) Amri (behind)Fortuyn (white) and Arthur (head front).


Indigo. Fat as a cow, but sooooo sweet. We need to put her on a diet, but seriously, it is difficult.


Arthur. So scared, but sweet nonetheless.


Old Tridatu...he's got a brother (blind as a bat, and fat) called Chiuma. They used to be identical, but time has had it's effect.


Part of the pack, waiting for big brother to head on up. Front brown one is Rammi (half Rotweiler).


I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this. Sitabah (gray) lying on top of Chaos. Equal opportunity that they alway make use of, I assure you. She wants something soft to lie on, he likes the heat. *sigh* Have I ever told that my dogs are bonkers? They are!


Knight II, in his favorite chair. Nuts too, but who's counting?


The Greenhouse at night. Ain't it gorgeous?


Knight II lounging in the sun in front of the new fence part near the berry bushes.


Little Carla on top of my table in front of my cabin. He was just too cute.


The new pergola with Mosha (RIP, sweetie. Miss you still) in it.


Again part of the pack while I was walking down to the veggie garden.


The view of the veggie garden from the west on the main terrace.


Same terrace but then from the bottom of the property. Hah.


My new bed with Knight II on it. He loves it high. The others can't get up. Hah.


My new bed. I kind of like the end result. Very light and easy to clean. Not to mention that it goes splendidly with the new floor.


My laundry corner. I kinda love the tiling and the dark woodwork. Not to mention that it is all finally on an easy (for me) accessible height. Yay.


The laundry baskets which are working absolutely splendidly. No more dirty laundry lying about in full view, thank you very much.


And the last one: The yard a couple of weeks ago. See those cabbages? Well, they're bigger than heads now. Hah.


I decided not to post pics of the wall yet, because I want to do a before, during and after row. Hah.

Other than this, there was just the usual stuff that I'll undoubtedly blab about two days from now, so...Bye, bye.

Bummed...literally, that is

Song of the day: “Summer Holiday” by Cliff Richard. Talk about oldies. Jeez. It’s been ages since I really listened to this song, but apparently I still remember the lyrics well enough. Hah.

A busy few days, and since I cheated with Chaos’ day, I have four days to catch up on, don’t I? (Not that anyone is keeping track, but what the heck.)

First of all, the bearings (inner ones) of the washing machine gave the spirit. I suspect that we loaded the thing to heavy, meaning that we had to get a repair dude coming over. Had to wait all weekend too, considering the holidays, but Jeff, that’s his name came by as agreed upon…I had to go to the top of our drive sweep to wave him down because we are so friggin remote that he missed the turn twice. But anyway, at first the problem appeared to be a safety pin, because when he took it out the racket had stopped for some reason, but then, after he’d gone, the infernal racket started again, and he promised to come pick it up the next day. He did, and today we got the news that it’s going to take ‘till Friday to fix it. For little over a hundred bucks. Which is a lot, but doable in the end.
Luckily we have a spare machine because otherwise we’d be without clean clothes already. Hah.

There was gardening, naturally. Watering plants wasn’t necessary, but there were weeds to pull as always, the garden pit to empty of rainwater, and herbs to plant. Since I really like basil way too much I sowed another six pots of them. Yay!

What with my bum knee…yes, it is seriously bum again, I really should be more careful, darn it…I am obliged to take things a little easy again. Yep. No more rock hauling (not as much anyway) wheelbarrowing sand, gravel and clay down (only one or two, really) and no more wood lugging (just one little trip last night). And that while I had planned to start Kick boxing again the other day…blast it. This so friggin’ boring. It leaves very little activities that I am allowed to do…but I did get around to washing the Land Rover this morning. Yay! It is looking all nice an shiny again. Heck, we even did some of the inside while we were at it.

We did work on the wall again a couple of days ago, so that is looking well at least. We got it to a height now where we’re not as scared for “crashing” stuff anymore. So, we’ll have a bit of time to build it now.

Edits are going slow but steady. I am two more (paper) pages away from the end, while big brother is about one chapter behind me. Since we don’t manage more than four or five pages on the computer anyways, it doesn’t really matter. Ideas of the new story are haunting my brain, so that’s good. It means I’ll have something to dive into when I get on the post WIP blues. I am dreading that, by the way. I always hate finishing with something, even though I will undoubtedly have to reread the first three chapters (at the very least) again before we can send the actual manuscript out.

Ooh, yesterday I made spinach quiche, which worked out really, really well. *sigh* I finally got the gas oven temperature pat, and I didn’t burn any of it for a change…same as the apple pie recently…and the over dish that was absolutely delicious. Gawd I need to make that again soon, because it was…my mouth is watering again, darn it!

Okay, different subject please.
Weather-wise things are gradually improving. Weird thunder storms off and on, pouring rain, but more and more sunshine too, which has me ecstatic in a way. I love this weather. The fresh breeze, the hot burning sun. If only I didn’t have to take it easy on my bum knee, then we’d be working the wall right now…Blast!…or at least later today. But no! Stupid bloody knee.

Knight II’s stump tail is almost completely healed now, yay, and strangely enough his foot is also looking better, and the cut he had on his front paw (the one that happened during the fight the other day) is gradually closing as well. Dax’s ear looks a little ragged, but otherwise it’s closed. Thankfully.

Well, I’ve got more edits to do, and…the usual. Gotta go.

Weird storms

Song of the day: “Respect” by Aretha Franklin, I believe. If not, feel free to correct me. Hah.

Okay, let’s hurry this along, because I still have to edit and I would rather not sit at the desk all day when I could be outside in the sporadic sunshine, darn it. I’ve been missing the sun for almost a week now, and I want to be in it every minute I can.

First of all, we stopped outside work a little early after the last blog, what with the horrible weather not allowing us to do much outdoors anyway, and made quite a bit of progress with the edit. After yesterday’s chapter, we’ve only three or four chapters to go yet, so, YAY! If it goes remotely as planned we should be able to add another “done” one today, so the end is finally nigh.

The mimosa tree we mutilated the other day (due to what appears to be an illness it was looking close to dying) still looks horrid, and I really hope that it will make it, if for no other reason than that my view would be a lot less attractive if it’s gone.

We had some crazy storms these days past. Incredibly loud and fast thunderstorms. One even hit the electricity pole at the top of the property. It lit up grandpa’s bungalow, apparently, and tenant saw it too. And while it happened Labhana thought she was dying and I felt it go through bone and marrow. Seriously, for a moment I thought I pulled something in my spine. Hah.
Poor Labhana insisted on sleeping on the bed that night. She was terribly upset. I never realized that she was so afraid of thunder, but maybe it was because these storms were very different than usual. One moment everything would be clear and the next clouds would tumble overhead making the ground tremble with thunder.

For the most part yesterday was spent doing little stuff. I started the day (no. No laundry for a change. What with the bad weather the lines are full and nothing dries. *sigh*) bringing mom’s extra little table to the carport so I could adjust it and ad extra fold-out sections to both sides. What with her quilting being so big, she’d been making due with this little bed stand so I figured I might as well widen the top. It’s now double the size and looks cute.

Big brother fixed Sally’s sowing machine. What with her being out of a job these days, she’s decided to join mom in making quilts and such for the market, which is keeping her nicely busy, I think.

We also fixed up an old white glass bulb lamp, which we hung in the patio later in the afternoon. It took some doing, what with the roof being 13 feet high. So big brother was on top of the ladder. I was under the ladder holding it, while Ox (oddly enough I was allowed to mention him this time. Hah) helped with handing over tools, the lamp and doing everything what big brother would have had to get off the ladder for. It took maybe half an hour, the whole process, but the result was absolutely gorgeous. It looks so very neat.

There was the edit, of course, but at some point (after page three, or so) I was so bloody tired I stumbled to my bed and napped for half an hour. Dax immediately joined me, of course, crawling under the blanket with me, and curling up against my stomach, while Knight II took about five minutes to realize where I was, and joined us by slamming his bony butt into my spine. Jeez!

At the end of the afternoon the sun broke out for a bit, and I more or less bounced out into the sunshine. Oh my Gawd, it was so bloody wonderful to have bright sunlight again, and to stand in its warmth, if only for thirty minutes or so. It cleared my head from the bad-weather-lethargy I always suffer from.
We went into the yard to check everything, and though some tomatoes look like they’re drowning, and we had to drain the garden pit into the basin, and the drain of the basin overflow was working overtime, everything was looking pretty darn good, all things considering.

Before I forget, we also got some gravel (for concrete), which we spent unloading most of the morning…much to the annoyance of the sibs who were waiting to load up the Land Rover with market stuff.

Which was today, of course, meaning that today I did manage to do some laundry. Though a lot was still wet, I did manage to pick some items of the line, creating space for a new batch. This was also the time that we decided to check the washing machine, because it appears to be making more and more of a racket, of late. It is probably something in the bearing, meaning that a washing machine of less than a year old could be totally wrecked. Aaargh! Spent about half an hour trying to reach a repairman, but due to Semana Santa going on, no one is really reachable.

But anyway, I headed down into the yard and started planting herbs in the garden pit. Parsley, sage, basil and chives now have a good spot, and though I will be planting more there, it looks rather nice there.

Afterwards there was lunch to see to. Considering tenant could use a good meal to, I made it up there. Baked potatoes with white cabbage, onion and red peppers. It turned out rather well, in particular because of the large batch of fresh herbs I poured in. Hah.

Knight II’s tail is looking good, and the cut on his foreleg is healing properly. Dax’s ear is good too. Though there’s a flap hanging loose, the part is still on, and is no longer looking red around the edges.

Well, that about sums it all up. I should do some reading, and then maybe some cleaning, and then…well, I’ll see about that later.