Not all bad...

Song of the day: “International love” by Pitbull and Chris Brown, of course. Not the deepest song you can imagine, but what the heck.

Right. Lots of time past since my last post, hasn’t there? Well, I’ve been keeping busy, a necessary thing also because I get bugged a lot (in my head) if I don’t keep active. Rather annoying, but since I get paid to work anyway, I’ll consider it a good thing.

Sooooo, what’s been going on? There have been some trips into town. Basically getting the necessities that any workshop needs. Haven’t been able to find a proper work bench, either on-line, or at the local shops, so I decided to wait until I find something affordable, and good. Instead I’ve put together a couple of work benches from old pallets, and dove into the big pile of wood that was meant for burning in the near future to take out old wooden beams that have now been incorporated into perfectly fine work benches.

Did buy some wood. First to heighten gates that the dogs have been scaling. Managed one without needing to buy anything, but I simply didn’t have enough for two. Secondly, the main house needs proper shelving in one of the cupboards, so I need to get those cut…by hand, mind you, because I don’t have a circle, or a jigsaw yet. *sigh* Life is hard when you’re cooping. Hah.
Also been sorting through the meager supplies of tools, so far, digging through rubbish and finding old ones that are perfectly fine to use too. I’ll get this set up yet.

Also ordered three proper shelving units. Sure, I could have made them myself, but I’d have needed more tools too, along with wood, etc, meaning time. So I’ve got three proper units, nice and sturdy, that I’m putting together bit by bit.

Since the digs through the waste stack in the yard, I have managed to scrounge up some workable woods, which is reassuring. Not by far enough, but I can work with it at least.

Been trying to familiarize myself with the area. Went out a couple of times…first time I got lost on all the tiny little roads, found my way back, thankfully, and now there’s a TomTom in the car making that a lot easier…of course the second time I went out I’d tried so many roads the first time that I already knew where to go without it. Hah. Will be handy for new locations, though.

The supermarkets are very different here. The sequence of how the products are placed, the products themselves, the people, lots to learn…like the other day I had to gas up and couldn’t get the blasted thing to open. So I asked three guys that passed if they had a clue, and they either looked annoyed with the question (didn’t have a clue in other words) and one looked frightened as if he was expecting me to rob him, or something. Anyway, in the end I found this little lever under the front seat that opened it up. Phew. What a relief. Also had to “top up” my phone. Didn’t know it was called that, so the poor boy at the gas station was all confused when I asked if it was possible to charge my phone there. Had a good laugh about that later.

Had a visit at a builders supplier, which was fun. I’m going to need a friggin’ dictionary because they use completely different words for everything here. I asked him about certain sizes, materials, and the poor guy looked at me as if I was talking Chinese. We did figure it out in the end, though. And though they doubted that it would be possible before the weekend, the next day they came to deliver the lot for me. Yay. Then I didn’t have my work area yet, though, so all I could do with the stuff was put it away, but still. Yay. Nice fella. Will probably be seeing more of him in the near future.

What else. Well, I’ve been doing some tree pruning. I know, not the right time of year, but some of these babies are looking completely neglected, and I just can’t help myself. Spent about an hour doing that yesterday, and since the sun was shining that was rather nice. I mean, what more can you want, right? Sunshine, a bit of music, plants to talk with. I was very relaxed afterward.

Since no one is vying for the honor of cooking, I’ve been doing a lot of it, which is nice. Had a nice curry yesterday…I know, curry’s are not my favorite either, but it went down nicely enough.
Also, there was a rather impromptu dinner for a supposedly picky eater (nothing too spicy or too strong in taste), which came out rather successfully. There were jokes of stealing me away as a cook, so, I’m thinking it went well. Hah. The meal did work out nicely. I had a starter rainbow salad (all the colors I could get basically) with deviled eggs. They are very fond of their eggs here, apparently, so that whetted the appetite for the main course. A penne pasta with a white wine/cheese sauce, tastefully enhanced by fresh garden herbs. I was told that the guest didn’t like spices or herbs at all, but the way I figured it had more to do with the combinations and effects of said spices and herbs. I kept the tastes mild, soft, and creamy, and it was good.

Today I made a pumpkin soup for lunch, because I am trying to maintain my diet of proper feeding despite me keeping busy and sometimes forgetting to stop and eat. Luckily around six the work day comes to an end, and I can focus on cooking something that will keep my nutritional intake up-to-date, so to speak. Hah.

So far the weather has been relatively mild. There’s been rain, sunshine and lots and lots of clouds…which reminds me, there are lots of air balloons around these past, just yesterday one almost landed on top of us, which drove the dogs here a wee bit bonkers.

As for the proper attire over here…I’ve got myself some willies, aka rubber boots, (yay!) a good wax raincoat, and a matching Australian bush hat of real leather that is supposedly water proof. Let the rains begin…well, not right this instance, and not permanently, please, but I’ll take ‘m all for a “test drive” just as soon as the opportunity arises.

Hauled around some trees…nothing big, mind you. 5-6 foot long at most, ten, maybe fifteen inches thick. The gates here are not properly installed to keep lively dogs inside, so I needed to put in some emergency thresholds. They won’t be permanent, since it needs to look better than this, but for now it’ll do. I call it a workout. *wink*

Been working with the animals some as well, in particular obedience training. They are eager to learn but working with bigger groups than just one or two, is difficult. You’ll have the full attention of a dog, and are trying to make it sit, or lay down, only to have it be distracted by some other nimwit jumping at the treat you’re trying to use as a lure to make it obey. Hah. Still, all things considered; not bad.

I might have good news in the near future, but I don’t want to jinx it, so I won’t share just yet. Might be nothing too, so it has no use to get you all excited about it anyway. Hah. We’ll see.

Will be going home for a visit in September, by the way. First big brother will come to visit, help me out a little, and then I’ll fly back with him to be home with my lovelies for a day or two. Can wait to see my Knight and Sitabah and Daxie…even Tadaika, and Indigo, and Jelly, and all the others. Very difficult to be away from the lot like this.
Less than six month to go, I have to keep reminding myself of that.

But, it’s not all bad. I am adjusting, I think. There are moments I can just let go and enjoy the scenery, or the work. Right now I’m still running on a basis, “be busy or crash” thing, but even that should get less bad at some point…I hope.

The foot…well, on that part things are pretty good at the moment. I wonder if it has to do with the flat ground, or the softness of it, or something, because despite the heavy boots I’m wearing most of the day, I’m not suffering from extremely painful conditions. How’s that for strange, eh. A positive thing.

Well, that about sums up the past week. Sure there have been unpleasant moments, and frictions and human interactions that might have gone better, but I rather focus on the nicer stuff, ya know. Heck, I even got some edits done.

Saying that, I have some concerns about the home front. Apparently Knight II is having some trouble eating, which could have to do with the warm weather there, but still. And grandpa had himself a scare while he was out in the yard. He stubbed his foot somewhere and ended up bleeding all over the place. Makes me worried that his blood thinners might be doing their job a bit too well. Apparently he had to apply pressure a long time before it stopped bleeding.

As to anything else. I’m too tired now…sorry. I’ll be back.

Face down

Song of the day: “Come on” by Will Young. I just looked at the original version by Kish Mauve, and I have to say that I like Will’s waaaaaay better. The complaint of one of the comments rung really well (but as a compliment in my head) Will Young’s version is too serene. Oh come on, how can someone be too serene. That’s the beauty of it, for crying out loud. There’s more than enough gritty out there. The serenity of how he sings it, is the good part. *sigh* People are wonky.

So, there really isn’t all that much to tell. I’m still battling my flu, which sank into my lungs and shaped into a nice cough. It doesn’t help much that I got way too little sleep during the past three days since the best way to recover from the flu is sleep, of course. Ah well, no helping it.

I can’t say that I have a lot of market details to share. For the most part of the day my head felt like my skull was missing the top and I was floating somewhere a foot or two higher. Jeez. There were times I couldn’t do anything but laugh about it. Seriously, bending over I’d see stars, lifting something up ditto, on the most part the best thing would have been for me to drop face down somewhere and sleep it off. Couldn’t do that, of course, but the thought did occur occasionally.

No fun stories of chats with other patrons, didn’t have all that many due to the flu and cough that forced me to stay at a distance. Wouldn’t want anyone to catch what I had. Did enjoy the many, many visiting dogs. I believe that we saw more than fourteen Yorkies (which is wonky if you think about it. You’d think there was some sort of dog show, or something) some crosses and plenty of doggies that wanted a serious petting. Made me wish I had the Knight along.

Writing-wise things have been incredibly slow lately. I added a couple of pages this Sunday while I sat at the restaurant at the market (had two coffee to stay awake), and over the past three days I have slowly, oh so slowly, added more pages. Passed the 30k word count mark so whatever you say, you can say it’s getting somewhere. I was a little stuck, so big brother and I did a brain storm in the car discussing the possibilities of the story’s progress. Thought of at least seven possible plot turns, so I’m all set.

Knight II is gradually improving. He’s stopped vomiting, is eating little bits again, and has stopped shivering throughout the day regardless of the nippy temperatures (hitting the low forties at the moment, darn it). You should see the lot right now, clustered around our feet, as close to the stove as they can get.

When I got home from market, I noticed a slash of blood and discovered that somehow Dax has managed to rip out one of his nails. Seriously, what’s up with the dogs, for crying out loud? They’re constantly getting into trouble. The entire nail is just gone, which makes me horror at the thought of how he must have managed that.

What else, nothing vastly interesting. Did laundry, naturally, cooked supper, loaded, unloaded market stuff…didn’t have a bad selling day, by the way. Sold a dog bed, a quilt, some kiddie clothes and a dog carrier bag. No bad at all.

This morning was another early one, by the way. The Land Rover had to go to the garage and we had an appointment at nine. So we dropped it off after feeding the dogs and such, did a few groceries, went to the post office where I had to wait forever in line, and didn’t get home until after two, at which point I was pretty close to crashing. Decided to just give up on the day and headed for my cabin for a nap. Gawd that was nice. I slept for a solid hour and a half, and could have continued on for the remainder of the day given half a chance. Hah
As it was, I made tomato soup for supper, got a phone call in the middle of it that we could pick up the car. Headed out and did just that.

Turns out the hand brake is fine again, and it only cost us 20 bucks. Regretfully the regular brakes problem he promised to check up on was a little more serious. Something about the brake cylinder leaking. He’s going to have to order the part which will set us back some. *sigh* As soon as he has the part, we’re going to have to get another appointment. He also checked our distribution belt (we’d heard some awful rumor that they’re bitchy expensive to replace) and told me that we don’t have one. Instead we have a chain, which should (so he told me after I asked if that was a good thing) last us a life time. *phew* A relief that.

Once at home, I resumed making dinner and prepared cauliflower with broccoli with mashed potatoes on the side. It went down really well prior to heading down and starting on today’s writing session. Added a page or two, and then started on the blog. I really want to get back to the morning writing sessions. This evening writing is getting to be pretty impossible. My eyes keep falling shut. *sigh*

Time for bed.

Back to projects

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*

Going out

Song of the day: “Wherever you will go” by Charlene Soraia. Gorgeous song. A cover, I understand, but what the heck. I like this version.

Ten thirty in the evening, meaning that I’ve gotta hurry a little.
Had another scorcher, not unpleasant, just warm. The only thing that made it pleasant was the occasional breeze from the sea.

Writing went well today…yesterday wasn’t bad either, for that matter. Three pages yesterday fitting in a scene written out of chronological order and adding another half so all the pieces fell together where they should. And Five and half pages today, so, yay. Getting there. Just eight pages short of one hundred. Had a good scene today, it took off, meaning that after page two, I suddenly lost track of time and just kept rattling on the keys (faster and faster because I had to go out and didn’t have enough time to cook, hah) ‘till the last possible moment. Et voila, five and a half pages added to the whole.

Yesterday’s dinner involved slices of zucchini with herbs and cheese baked in the grill to a fine crisp, with fried rice on the side. It was light, it was tasty and somewhat different. In other words, splendid.

Today’s main meal consisted of the same (leftover) rice, but with fried beets on the side, which were crusty with cheese and paneer, making the meal absolutely filling…something that I needed today. But I’ll get to that later.

Yesterday, besides, the usual chores like laundry, dog feeding, dog food preparing, and all that jazz, big brother had to head up to grandpa’s place early. Grandpa really wants a fence up there so he can let his dogs walk free during the day, so big brother helped him with the first piece while Cousin Ed and I headed down into the yard for some serious watering.

Harvested enough for the dog food, and some for ourselves (we should do another canning session soon) and then had to get back up to cut the dog food before big brother and I had to go out for a donation. Didn’t come home until close to midnight, so, yikes. Didn’t get to bed until two in the morning (stuff to do, and all that) so I was not at all my perky self this morning. Hah.

Strange night, by the way. Though oppressive warm, I woke up being cold around six in the morning. Had to grab my sheet just to be able to continue sleeping. Being cold doesn’t help my sleeping pattern, hah. Already I’m starting to look wearily at the calendar. Summer is passing way too fast, darn it.

Big brother discovered that there was something wrong with the chain saw, so the plan was to go to Malaga today to bring it to the store because it is still under the warranty. Then, of course, by the time I was done getting dressed and rushing through supper (stuffing my face, ya know) while running up the mountain, he managed to fix the problem, meaning we didn’t need to go to Malaga anymore.

Since we were dressed anyway, we decided to drive to the village to drop grandpa off at the moped repairman. The stupid thing had to stay over for the weekend, because it was being a pin again, and luckily he could drive it home today. Grandpa feels somewhat hampered if his transport isn’t there. Hah.

Also went to the vet to pay for the latest dog bills…most likely we’ll have to go there again tomorrow (Nata is not doing well), and made an appointment for this week to have the dogs vaccinated for this year. Gawd, that’s going to take a chunk out of the savings, I tell ya.

Had lots of dips in the pool, which was a necessity, considering he temps were approaching 100 on several occasions. Take yesterday evening for instance, when Cousin Ed and I were working in the yard and stood in the full glare of sunshine. Yikes. I was sweating like a racehorse by the time we were done. Hah.

Dog-wise. The smart ones prefer the bathroom down by Sally’s apartment, what with all the cool tiles, and the not so smart ones also prefer that spot, meaning there will be five dogs lying in there heating the place up like a sauna. Hah. Seriously, I wish I could take a picture. Chaos and Labhana will be lying in the open closet, pressed against the walls and floor alike, and then, without a single hesitation, Sitabah will rush inside and just flop down on top of the two of them. *sigh*

Knight II on the other hand, prefers tenant’s chair when she’s not there (she was yesterday, since caregiver was out, so we were basically on our own) and will lie there in the strangest positions. Folded double, stretched out with all fours dangling over the arm rest, his head high into the air, or on top of his hip. It’s embarrassing really, he had absolutely no shame or pride. *snort*

The markets went relatively well for such a warm day, by the way. Regretfully tourists are not the best buyers for stuff that you can’t take along on the plane ride home, eh?

Well, this is it for me. Almost midnight (I got momentarily distracted by my messages, darn it) and I still have to finish my messages, so I’m outta here.

Yard stuff aplenty

Song of the day: “Bruises” by Chairlift…again. This wasn’t voluntary either, I tell ya. The problem with this song is that I really don’t know it well enough. Can you imagine hearing the chorus all day long. The same problem occurred yesterday, but then with Train’s “Not a Flyby”, aaaaargh.
What is it with my head picking songs it doesn’t really know? Very annoying.

But anyway, two busy days have passed since the last post, and only three hours of those were spent away from home, so, yay!

First off both yesterday and today were mostly spent in the yard. Yours truly watered plantsies twice, a lot today, in fact so that maybe tomorrow the adult plants won’t need anything.
Also, there was planting involved. Pepper seedlings, about thirty of them, and some tomato plants. They are all looking splendid, after two watering sessions. The peppers sure are liking the warm spring weather. They’re going strong in the full-sunshine spot, with not a sign of suffering from the transfer.

Also harvested Sugar peas, along with broccoli, red cabbage, red beets, fresh spinach, and a handful of fresh herbs. Used most of it today and yesterday for supper, despite there being really too little time for cooking. Had to go out yesterday afternoon for another donation, so eating was a matter of filling a plate and stuffing it down my gullet. *sigh* Since we had to go out anyway, yesterday, we also got a handful of groceries. Didn’t come home ‘till later. Did manage a solid edit of ten pages or so, so it was not a problem.

Had to harvest dog food too, three kinds of cabbages and herbs against parasites, because let’s face it, there’re some pesky critters around these days. I ain’t kidding. Whenever I touch one of the pack, I find another cluster of ticks.

Two dog feeding sessions. The training of the pack is going rather well. These days we can just feed them from a set of six big bowls without the lot of them going at each other’s throats. And since we’re getting annoyed with the trouble of grandpa and tenant’s dogs colliding with ours in the fence, we have decided to work on that particular problem as well. Actually managed to leave the bungalow dogs outside today without the lot of them constantly attacking each other through the fence. I’m so proud of them!

Set up a new (second hand) storage shed up in the dog paddock. Nothing too big, but essential since we are getting a shortage of places to put stuff. *sigh* It took some time figuring out how to put the thing together, and to straighten a piece of ground to put it. It will work well enough, I’m sure.

Worked on creating a crate of sorts for the classic car decoration. Since it will allow easy traveling, it has to be sturdy, and since it would be best that they don’t need to unload it from the box at the markets, I’m going to make one side of the box transparent. Should work out well enough, once it’s done.

Was feeling a tad poorly today. Stomach problems and such, had me chuck my lunch this afternoon while big brother and I were working in the old horse paddock, fixing the new trailer. One minute I was loosening a bolt, and the next I was doubling over in the bushes, getting rid of the pancakes grandpa had made. *sigh* I hate it when that happens. But no matter, we managed to fix most of what was wrong with the small trailer. We straightened the axels, removed rust and painted the wheels, removed and replaced broken and bent bolts, discovered cuts in the wiring and will deal with those tomorrow.

Tenant was out most of the day, giving us some serious work time, since we didn’t need to keep an eye on her. She went to the city with mom, middle sister and little brother, and really enjoyed the trip.
Also took some pics of her that I will have to send to her family one of these days. First I want to see which ones look best, and if I need to do anything about the lighting.

Today the hours were a little short for a good edit. Only did about three or four pages, but what the hey, we’re only fifty five pages from the end, so it’s not as if it is going bad. Hah.

Well, it’s late…well past midnight in fact, so I better get this posted and get some horizontal time in. I’m seriously running on fumes right now.

Poor Chaos

Song of the day: “Do you really want to hurt me?” by Culture Club. I know what you’re thinking? Culture Club! Why? I don’t know. I can’t explain it. It’s been going through my head all day, darn it. And I don’t even like the song! *sigh*

Ah well, no helping it, I guess.

So, I’m running on fumes tonight. I was out most of the morning, taking Chaos to the vet for his dental surgery. He really didn’t like me leaving him there. All obediently he went into the cage, sat down and looked at me morosely (shivering all the while) while I headed back out to get my bodywarmer. Put that over him and then promised I’d be back to pick him up ASAP. He has such doggy eyes. It just broke my heart leaving him in that cage, but there was no helping it. Had to head for town to pick up some supplies, along with a grocery or two. Wasn’t back longer than an hour when I had to go back again to pick him up. Gawd I was startled. He was so apathetic! He barely even responded to when he heard my voice. Didn’t in fact respond at all until I squatted beside him and put my hand under his nose. Then he finally raised his head, only to let it drop again as if it was just too heavy for him. Poor Choas.
I tried to rouse him for more than ten minutes (apparently he has a really slow metabolism) and when that didn’t work (I had serious fears that I was going to lose him to anesthetics. It has been known to happen) the vet assistant and I carried him out to the car and put him in the back. Our gorgeous weighs a whopping 88 pounds, thank you very much.
On the way home I stopped once to check on him, he wagged his tail once, and by the time I got home he was raising his shoulders from the floor of the car.
Big brother and I carried him inside to a sunny spot. He was more comfortable this time around, lounged in the blanket we used to carry him. Hah. Around six in the evening he was walking around again, and is now lying at my feet begging for food. That’s my gorgeous!

But that was a slight spoiler of today, wasn’t it? Let me just rewind a little and tell about yesterday. Now, if only I wouldn’t blank at this very moment……..right, I did some sawing. Cousin Ed is remodeling her place a bit, putting up panels under her windows because the old panels were looking so bad.

What else…made zucchini soup for today, rather than yesterday. We had some major bags of frozen zucchini in the freezer, so I took out three. Two for soup and one for a ratatouille that I made later for supper. Ate that with chickpea burgers last night and then got down to the edit. Yay.

Good news on the “doing-the-blog-different-every- now-and-then. Soon there will be another interview with an author from the States. Tanner Artesz, and as you might have guessed I already did a review for him some time ago. I can’t say anything specific in regard to the date, since the interview is still in the beginning stages, but I just thought I’d give y’all a heads up.

There was an unload-the-car session, after which I repaired a kid’s kick scooter back to functionality and worked on the table lamp I’m fixing up for mom. What with all the sowing she needs a proper light there.

Fence fixing too. The sun was out, the wind gone for about 24 hours, and we put up a section of fence that Tadaika had wrecked for the gazillionth time. This time we did a large strip of diamond metal fence, so that oughta do the trick. Yay. In fact, while we were digging today, none of the dogs (except Abacara who just squeezes herself through a three inch gap between fence and gate) joined us for a change. It was awesome. Hah.

I distinctly remember a very short nap, which was wonderful since the weather was nippy. Heck, it was downright cold because despite the other dogs throwing up a racket outside, Knight II, Chaos, Sitabah and Dax didn’t even bother to raise their heads while we cuddled together on the bed. Hah.

There was watering of course (today cousin Ed did the honors, due to my having to go out and bringing Chaos to the vet and everything) along with a nice little harvest of tomatoes from the greenhouse, fresh parsley and another broccoli. I did hunt bugs, naturally. The little buggers keep turning up.

Well, of course I did laundry, cleaning and all that sort of boring stuff. I hauled stuff, I dug and on the overall was kept nicely busy.

We managed another edit somewhere along the way. Not a huge amount of pages, but enough to be able to say that we’re making progress.

And I’m going to leave it at this. My days is as good as over, and since I can already think of bed (with a barely concealed whimper) fondly that is a good thing. Hah.

.

Another one lost

Song of the day: “I put a spell on you” by Nina Simone. I rediscovered it on youtube last night and now it’s stuck. Hah.

It was a busy couple of days, and even though the weather is still acting out of sorts, the overall temperature is steadily increasing. Strangely enough clouds keep returning. In fact, right this instant the sun has disappeared behind a stack of them. Looks impressive, sure, but I wouldn’t mind just a bit more stable summer weather, thank you very much.

Let’s get to the bad news first, shall we, that way we’ve got it over and done with. Last night little sister phoned me out of bed because we had to rush to the vet with Bhumi, one of our twelve-year-old cocker spaniels. Apparently the poor darling was screaming with pain and her stomach was swollen, meaning that an emergency trip was inevitable. We arrived to find the vet already waiting for us (mom had phoned ahead) and after an examination that basically left the poor dog prone on the table, we decided against further examination and had her put down. It was over in less than a minute, which was a relief for both of us humans and the dog. Most likely it was a case of colic, which is terrible painful, not to mention dangerous. I should know, considering we lost a horse to that once. *sigh*
It is a relief to know that she has a led a relatively long life in extremely good health, and had fun right until the end. Still, that age can hit them like that...

Well, I prefer to look at sad events like this as cause and effect. Cause: we took in more than a hundred dogs over the past fifteen years or so. Effect: We will lose them one way or other, one at a time.
I can be depressed about it, or enjoy the remaining pack. I’ve decided to do the latter, and will jump right to a fun bit. I went for a run with Knight II. He’s a lazy SOB, and the only way to get him to exercise is to be there right along with him. It’s good for both of us, and it is fun to do since he is such a klutz that there are times he trips over his own feet. Hah.

Another good bit is that the time to get the pool ready has finally arrived. Yesterday morning grandpa, big brother and I finally got around to draining the pool (in the basin, of course, earning us another couple of of days of watering for the plants), cleaning out stuff that’s been piling in there for the past half year (it was smelly, I tell ya) with buckets and then hosing the tiles clean. It went remarkably well too, making me wonder why it was such a horrible task in the past? I mean really, it took us a couple of hours at most. Last year we took half a day, I think. Ah well, all we needed to do this morning was sweep out some dry sand and have been filling her up for the remainder of the day. Yay.

After cleaning the pool it was time to head on out into the yard where the remainder of the day was spent watering the plants...all of them. Which was interesting to say the least because even though there were clouds, it was pretty hot, and I got sunburned again. Did managed to write a solid five pages while standing there waiting for the garden gutters around the plants to fill. A very peaceful job to do, by the way.

Afterwards I was considerably overheated, though, not minding in the least to cook a nice macaroni and fresh veggie meal on the outdoor cooking plate. Was good too, revitalizing me for the rest of the evening...well, sort of anyway. I had pain in my back, and I had to lie down for just a minute...next thing I knew a horse was coming right at me, I dodged and drove the Land Rover off a cliff right before I woke up. Phew. Apparently I’d dropped off there for a minute. Hah.

Right. Anyways, the book is coming along nicely again. Finally got to that dialogue I’d wanted to write in the first instance, even if it turns out they have it later in the day. Hah. Sixteen pages in total, so Yay!
While grandpa and Big brother were working on the roof of the courtyard (there’s often leakage where we hung the new shelving, I headed into the courtyard garden to pull a big load of weeds and saw off some excess tree branches. Boy does it look pretty in there now. Even a lot of flowers survived winter.

This morning, about a month too late, but what the heck, we finally got around to shaving Njanna (Golden Retriever) the poor darling was lugging around a huge load of excess hair and clumps of dirt, and now he looks like a badly trimmed poodle, hah. Ah well, he doesn’t need to win a beauty contest; he just needs to be comfortable.

After that big brother and I were forced to head for town. My bathroom sprung a leak and we had to get some new tubing rather than risk getting an even bigger leak during the weekend. Since we were there anyway we bought some dairy products and then went back home to get at least something more done. While big brother went into the yard to check on plants and veggies, I sorted through half our storage boxes to see if we could get some room for other stuff. Managed to sort through quite a bit in the end, so that was no wasted effort at least.

Next there was cooking, fresh beets with our own potatoes, cheese, onion and lotsa green herbs from the yard. I ate way too much, and since I really need to get to writing right now if I want some time left to do a kick boxing workout session tonight, I’m going to wrap it up now.
Not much else to tell anyway, seeing as the only thing there is left to mention is another sand hauling trip (sure it takes time and effort, but it is well worth the savings in cost) that’s okay.

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.

This and that.

Song of the day: “The Pessimist” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. I’ve had it before, and I will undoubtedly will again. Considering I know the lyrics well, I don’t mind all that much. It’s a cool song after all.

Busy couple of days again. If I had five minutes…wait, I actually killed some odd thirty minutes on Amazon yesterday, by reading up on the ongoing discussions. Except for my usual post or two in the KTT, I kept out of the discussions. Seriously, however tempting it is to jump right into the occasional fray, I have learned to stay out the most interesting topics, if for no other reason than knowing full well, I can’t do justice to any ongoing discussion, what with time-not-being-on-my-side and all. *sigh* But no matter, I had fun reading anyway.

I finished Sue Crafton’s “C” is for Corpse, yesterday. Research, you know, I do manage to find time for that, hah. But seriously. I enjoyed the story a lot, even though I am not a huge fan of 1st person narrative. It was funny, funky and fast-paced, nothing wrong with that. I’m now reading “J” is for Judgment, by the way…oh, don’t you just love them donation books. Yay.

Though yesterday was a beautifully sunny day, real summer like, today the sky is once again overcast. Sooooo weird, but rather wonderful in light of outside work, which is definitely my favorite…in case you hadn’t noticed. If we reach the mid-eighties right now, I’d be amazed. Heck, if it keeps up like this, I’ll be needing sleeves soon.

But anyway, what’s keeping me busy? Edits, of course, the paper kind, and it is driving me bonkers, I swear. I don’t get how those typos could still be there after the two thorough edits that we already have behind us, but there you have it. Insanity! Still, we’re shlogging our way through the pages, reaching chapter four, I think, which isn’t too bad, if not totally frustrating.

Other than that, we’ve been putting a lot of work in the new wagon for behind the car. Seeing as it was relatively cheap there is a lot of work to be done about it. Rust needs to be removed, the metal treated, a new bottom plate that we had to saw and paint, and so on. It takes time, but in my head I can already see the end result, which will be nice, I’m sure.

Also, yesterday we had to do some serious harvesting, meaning that we ended up with two massive pumpkins, a crate full of beets and two big baskets full of tomatoes. Boy, did the dogs enjoy the large basket that we had to empty of tomatoes that were rapidly getting to be too ripe. Oh, and I plucked our first yellow cherry tomatoes yesterday. I LIKE them. They’re a little less sour and with a pinch of salt I devoured at least a handful of them yesterday, hah.
Other than that we’re still enjoying our chard, tomato, cucumber, beet, onion, pepper and zucchini sandwiches with cheese and sauce.

What else…gawd, still them ticks, they’re driving me insane, I swear, whenever I look at one of the dogs, I’ll see a gleaming bulbous peeping from the fur and end up picking out ticks for half an hour. It is an endless task, and I am seriously pondering a bath for them really soon, rather than risk one of them having anemia soon, we almost lost Ayaana to that a couple of years ago, the poor cocker had so many that they’d practically drained her. I know, TMI this early in the morning, but I do find it fascinating when stuff of real life resembles a bad horror flick.

Tenant went for another swim the other day, and because her caregiver went to her other (part time) job, little sister and I did the honors. We had fun with her, and she was properly tired by the time we got her back to her bungalow and got her settled until her caregiver returned.

This weekend we did manage to put in two sections of the path, meaning that two more weekends in the near future, should get the darn thing done. Already getting the wheelchair down is getting to be a lot easier.

Well, I should see about lunch, we’re going to experiment and try something new with pumpkin. I’ll let you know how it went, considering I don’t like pumpkin at all. Hah. We should get something done, however, I mean really, how hard can it be?

Sunshine and death...weird.

Song of the day: “The four seasons: Spring” by Vivaldi. Weird how this one keeps returning time and again.

Well, let’s get to it shall we. I can’t believe I’m here in the first place, locked behind my computer because I promised myself (and others) last night that I would deal with the blog as well as my messages (for real this time) and be done with it. This entire thing is seriously eating into my writing time, and there are days when I’m actually contemplating to stop blogging, just to have more time left to do other things. Ah well, we’ll see, I guess.

Yesterday, it was a busy but relatively mild day, weather wise at least.
The first thing we got to after laundry and breakfast was, head on up to the gate (and bungalow) and help our tenant outside into the tentative sunlight. There was very little of it, of course, but still being outside always does her well. Seeing as she is getting to be so much more “there” these days, we decided to put her to some miniature gardening, hah.
In her case that means getting the potted, baby eucalypti trees and oleanders on a table in front of her, so she can remove weeds. She appeared to be enjoying herself.

Leaving her to it, big brother and I got to working on the two doors I wrecked the day before. It took some hammering, bending, unbending and then some more to get the majority worked out, but once we sand, polish and spray the sections, it should look presentable again…or at least, I hope it will.

The windows back in place and all the bolts fastened once more, we left the doors without covers and went out separate ways for the day. I continued working on grandpa’s little wall with the younger sibs and big brother went down the mountain to tackle the woodpile with the chainsaw. Got a nice pile going down there, by the way, should see us through quite a bit of fire, hah.

The little wall is progressing nicely, even though the corner went down three times for the duration of construction (it is still not entirely done, if you must know). First one due to the wheelbarrow passing too closely, second time by Bora (crossbreed) who thought it grand to jump on top of the barely laid rocks, and third time…well, just because. Finally, I gave up trying to get it up to the height it’s going to need for completion, and decided to leave it half done, so I can add the last rocks today.

Next up was heading out for a jog and a batch of sand. Considering we need to get it as cheap as possible, we get to do the shoveling ourselves, which means that we get a full workout. Hah.
The jog went well, managed to complete the full course, only to look up at the massive clap of thunder and the black clouds that hung overhead. Jeez, startled the crap out of me, I’ll admit. Had exactly thirty minutes to get to the sand, and put in half a load before we got soaked. Hah.

Driving back home was a tricky venture too, what with the rain sheeting down, thunder roaring, and lighting blinding, but we managed without mishaps this time. Considering that it was also scavenge day, I was a bit grumpy about the fact that we couldn’t immediately unload the sand, (had to wait for the rain to let down after dark) but headed inside for a shower, food and then work on the computer.

Three more pages and then I can start writing the last two scenes. The culminating climax; the place where the entire book has been working towards; and the completion of this particular story, which has been an intricate part of my life for the past three months…I don’t know whether to be thrilled, or not.

I was tired from the long day, but still, considering the rain had let up and the stars were out I wasn’t too disgruntled about heading out, unloading the car and then leave for our habitual Sunday scavenge: Located a particularly nice batch of wood, which will do nicely for the next project, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Okay…

First, I had to take my dogs up to my cabin and that caused quite a ruckus for some peculiar reason. Some of the sibs’ dogs thought it would be fun to attack Knight II when he came in my pursuit, which ended it a fight that literally had me drag Knight away and out of the courtyard, a pissed off Labrador and boxer coming in our pursuit before middle sister could grab them. Gawd, startled the bejeezus out of me; so much in fact that my stomach decided to pick up old habits and chucked up my late snack the moment I arrived at my cabin. Darn it, I hate it when that happens. Reminds me of when I had that particular problem for more than a year, and the memories are not fond ones. Grrr.

Right, over and done with, let’s forget it and get on with the night. Ah yes, the scavenge, and the nice batch of wood for the project… Oh my Gawd, I haven’t written about the new project, have I? Well, it’s an outdoor kitchen. You know the kind I mean, right? A barbecue, pizza oven and a sink, all put into a nice little natural rock nook. Maybe a small roof in front of it, open to the fresh summer breezes, a clean concrete floor, a railing, maybe…yeah, I can see it. It’s going to look grand, I’m sure.

But anyway, we didn’t get home until after two in the morning, loading up always takes an eternity, and I was so friggin’ tired I literally passed out the moment I hit the sheets.

Which brings us to today, it has just barely started, but the weather looks incredibly promising. Sun’s out, only a few clouds in view and it just might be a grand day for some serious gardening. I hope we can find the time for it.

The day didn’t start of too well: while I was folding laundry I noticed that Simmy, one of our Chinchillas, wasn’t greeting me at the fence the way he usually does. Turns out he died in the large pot that serves as his little cubby hole, meaning that grandpa had to crawl into the cage (he smaller and lighter than me) to get him out. It sure explained why Sammy (the female of the couple had been looking so darn miserable this morning. She was hiding in the corner, shivering a little. Poor little girl, lost her husband, she did.
We’re going to have to get the young from the lower cage now, so she won’t be alone…poor babies.

Well, that wraps up the recount for the day, I really should get to my messages and then head on outside. I want Sunshine!

Raaahain! *sobs*

Song of the day: “Viva la Vida” by Coldplay. It’s been a while since I had this one in my head, I think. Still cool.

Rain, rain, rain! It’s bahaaack, and that after yesterday’s wonderful sunny weather. Seriously, I’m going to ignore today entirely and focus solely on yesterday, just because it was so much better.

So yeah, I woke up at the sound of the alarm after six hours of sleep, and guess what, there were clouds but also, peeking just over the eastern mountain ridge was the sweet sun that I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of for several days. It was beautiful, and after a rather adventurous dream involving the cast and location of “Lost” I was fully prepared to face the new day.

First thing I did, after rolling out of bed, was grab my blankets (ehm yeah, I’ve got five of them, not counting a quilt and afghan. What can I say I’m a whiner) and hang them out over the banister of the terrace and the windows I’d opened to let in the fresh morning air. Though the sky looked kind of threatening, it was just too good a chance to pass up on.

There was laundry prior to breakfast and then it was time to head out to unload the car of supplies and the new batch of plants, which I was determined to put in the ground. Was about ten minutes into the gardening session too, when the clouds from the west arrived and let loose a light shower that had me run up to my cabin to get my blankets back inside. I had just returned to the plants when the sun broke out again, so…well, let’s just say I repeated this hanging and pulling down of the blankets about four times yesterday. Hah.

In and around the carport, quite a mess had gathered over the past week of rain, so I spent some time cleaning it up, while big brother and grandpa worked at the old stable to build frames for wood storage.

In-between the ongoings big brother and I searched the house for the receipts of middle sister’s Mac laptop. It gave the spirit the day before yesterday, and since it is a problem that has been known to happen to the computers of that year, we’re going to have to find the receipt in order to get a new hard drive. Though we didn’t find the receipt, we did locate the antibiotics we needed for Knight II (he’s still swollen on the side), which means that he is now getting the required dose.

The dogs were a tad restless during the day that involved being herded in and out of the courtyard, to prevent utter wetness. Hah. They didn’t care much about that, of course, but since we didn’t much appreciate the prospect of the house utterly wet, it seemed more prudent to keep them contained during the rain. The plants all got planted, though.

While grandpa and big brother were still working at the stable, little sister and I tackled the crack in the wall of the veranda. It has been a sore spot for months now, so I figured I might as well mix a bit of cement and seal it shut. Worked out splendidly, if I do say so myself. We got the entire wall ready for painting this spring. Only eight more walls to go. Hah.

The mountain bike has been an eyesore for several weeks too, ever since we rearranged the carport, so once done with the wall, little sister and I hung it behind my cabin, nicely out of the way, and safely tucked high up from the ground.

It was approaching late afternoon when it was time to haul garbage to the car, and get ready for our agreed upon run…only to remember that mum was working on the new covers for the car seats and the driver’s seat was, at that particular moment covered in needles to keep the new fabric in place.

Determined to go for our run after all, we headed out by foot, mounted the drive sweep, followed the main road for a bit and then went straight up the incline for the path that curls high up the mountain over our house. We set a nice brisk pace, chortling a little about the fact that we were likely to be wiped-out by the time we reached the upper path, and got there breathing heavy after only three skids on the incline. Hah.

A nice run, I’ve got to say, and while we were on the trail, we came upon a spot where a mudslide had taken down a young pine tree. Since it was lying there, it’s roots laid bare and everything, we decided to take it home with us, stick it in the ground and see if it would survive.
Would be nice if it did, seeing as the four pines that we used to have, back in the day, didn’t survive our hot summers. It will make a nice change to the eucalypti, mimosas and poplars that basically make up our garden.

Solidly exhausted from running back with the tree in hand, I took a quick shower and then settled behind the computer with dinner over and done with.
Only managed to write three pages, what with the day having been a tad busy, but progress after all.

Which brings us to today: Rain! Again. *sigh* I’m not happy, in case you couldn’t tell.
Now it wouldn’t be all that bad, (got a friend visiting, and that is usually fun) if I weren’t totally scatterbrained today. I swear, I’ve had to lumber up the mountain seven to nine times already, just because I forgot one item or other (for painting the wall) in the carport.

And that makes up my recount for today, I guess. A pity, but I really don’t have anything else to say other than I seriously DISLIKE rain. *sigh*
Let’s hope the weather improves before the next blog. Hah.

Cooking and writing. :-)

Song of the day: “Relight my fire” by Take That feat. Lulu. Oldie, I know, but it’s there, it’s easy and not all that bad. Hah.

It is a rather miserable rainy day at the moment. We’ve had cloudy, misty, thunder and rain in all shapes and form, so suffice it to say that everything is either damp or soaked right through. Grrr.

But let’s start with yesterday, ‘cause compared to today, it was absolutely divine. No wind, no clouds; perfect. We did of course make the best possible use for it and went down into the yard to plough the “field” hah. Nothing like working up a sweat in the winter sun and ending up with a nice even terrace where we can put seedlings in at any time now.

While I was blissfully digging in the dirt, big brother and grandpa were working on fixing the fence in the south corner of the property. Due to our recent tree trimming down there, we discovered that the struggling tree had been leaning heavily on the poles, so some repairs were in order. They finished the task today, so it should be fine from now on.

Considering I’ve been having a hankering for a rich veggie, oven dish for more than a week now, I figured I might as well give into temptation and do some cooking as well. Eight veggies with and egg, milk and cheese base was a unanimous success, I’ll have you know. It came out perfectly and with today’s lunch combined, I’ve had three portions, hah.

Let’s do a recipe, shall we. It’s easy enough to make and the veggies can be substituted to personal taste. Here goes:

Potatoes. 8-12 chopped in cubes.
Carrots. 4-6 chopped in cubes.

Potatoes and carrots boiled together in water with a spoonful of sugar, salt and some mixed pepper grinds until they’re done: Stick a fork in a piece and if it slides off, you can drain the water and let it cool for a bit.

Cauliflower. Half a mid-size one. Sliced thin.
Bell peppers. 1 green, 1 red. Chopped in small cubes.
Sweet corn. 1 teacup.
Sweet peas. 1 teacup.
Onion. 1-2 chopped small.
Leek. 1 diced.
Green beans. ½-1 teacups.
Zucchini. ½-1 sliced thin.

Just mix it up raw with a bit of sugar, salt and pepper, and set it aside for a bit.

Herbs/spices:
Paprika. 1 teaspoon.
Pepper. 1-2 pinch.
Salt. 1-to taste.
Parsley. 2-4 table spoons.
Basil. 1 tablespoon.
Oregano. ½ teaspoon.
Thyme. 1 pinch.
Garlic. 1-4 smashed and then diced.
You can add a pizza herbal mix too, along with a provincial herbal mix…much easier that way.

Throw it all in half a teacup of olive oil, or sunflower seeds oil and let it stand for about half an hour.

Base:
Nutmeg. 1-3 pinches.
Salt. 1 pinch.
Pepper. 1 pinch.
Milk. 3-5 coffee cups.
Egg. 3-4
Cheese. (Gouda or Edam) 1-2 pounds grated.

Mix milk and eggs until it’s a light cream color. Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg and the grated cheese and put it aside.

Parmesan. 1-2 teacup grated.
Cottage cheese. 1-2 teacups.

Take an oven dish, or two, spread out the boiled potatoes and carrots. Add the raw veggies, mix them up and spread out the Parmesan with cottage cheese, through, or on top of it.

Now evenly disperse the base over the mix, put it in a preheated oven (approx. 260 degrees (c)) for about an hour…just keep track of it, once the cheese starts to form a nice golden crust, you’re set to go.

Just writing about it now makes me salivate all over again. Gotta have another lunch. Hah.

But enough of that. The remainder of yesterday was spent with small tasks throughout the house. While big brother and grandpa went out to get replacement gaskets, little sister and I did some cleaning in the kitchen and then hung a new lamp in the patio. The old one had lost its cover last year, so it was definitely time. The new one looks absolutely adorable.

Next little brother and I hung a shelf in his room, right beside his new closet, and it worked out without any trouble, so, yay!
There was loads of laundry again, of course. I still cannot say if we have more of that in the winter or summer, but it is a lot, always. Hah.

And the evening was spent doing some more writing. Yeah! It’s is going rather splendidly at the moment: I’m putting out an average of six pages a day now and it feels downright awesome…just as soon as I count them and realize that I’ve written more than my mind categorized. It still remains to be seen if the pages (added 20 pages in the past four days, hah) are any good, but that will come once the read/edit starts. It’s too raw to ponder such things at this point; for now I’m just focusing on the creative process, seeing as I need a completely different part of the brain for it. I’ve found that writing and editing absolutely do NOT go together. It’s like a complete gear shift that I seriously do not want to make while the story is still liquid inside my head. Once the time comes for editing, it’ll all come together and become solid, so to speak.

Which brings us back to today: The night wasn’t as cold as the ones of the past week, but still I was a tad chilled when I woke around sunrise and found myself balancing precariously on the edge of the mattress…Knight II had stretched out completely and was pushing us off, aaargh…feeling particularly sore for some “unfathomable” reason. Hah. I so did not want to get up to this miserable weather, but the new day had arrived and it was time to face it.

The morning was mostly used for minor chores inside the house (such as laundry, grrr) fixing up an old closet that we put in the pantry for storage, and then starting on the courtyard storage room, which is an absolute mess. It really needs a proper cleaning, and seeing as I should get to it, I better wrap this up and call it a day for blogging.

A little vague.

Song of the day: “Haven’t met you yet,” Michael Buble. I know, I never would have thought I’d like his songs but this one stuck around for some reason. Hah.

Regretfully I don’t remember yesterday’s song, darn it. Ah well, never mind.
Let’s see if my memory works better for the activities…I doubt it. Hah.

Yesterday the weather was downright marvellous, I do remember that. Our tenant had a lovely (warm) time on my porch, and her ascend onto the stairs went rather well. She rather enjoys the buzz going on around her.

Middle sister and I worked on her desk, both yesterday and today (today was miserably cold the moment I stepped out of the sunshine, by the way. Gawd I hate that northern wind) and minus a few little cosmetic touches that still need to be done, she should be able to start painting by tomorrow. The new drawers are sturdy, finished and in, yay. The delicately worked finishing slats are up, and minus one little construction error that we corrected today (in a rather cute fashion, I’ll admit) it all worked out splendidly.

It still needs the back cover, and a lick of paint, but what with the new bottom I put in and the sturdy legs, it should hold for at least another decade, or so. It’ll be fun to find out. Hah.

At the same time big brother has put in the drain under the carport, which should be ready in time because the weather forecasts are predicting heavy rains later this week. Oh my Gawd. Please no…though, admittedly it would be great for nature around here. It was a rather dry summer, so it really is necessary, darn it. That doesn’t mean I gotta like it, though.

Little sister reached a milestone today, she put in her first shelve on her own. It looks great, and what with the new doors in front of the cabinet in the kitchen, for which she made it, the kitchen is finally completed. Yay.

Little brother has been tackling the patio inside door, which was looking wretched from intense use for ten years, and lots of dogs trying to get through on a daily basis. Considering that we’re going to put in thick glass this time, it should hold for a bit this time.

The laundry machine is still giving me a lot of grieve. It just doesn’t want to turn on for me, so I’m resorting to calling big brother at ever occasion, who then somehow manages to get the machine on. It’s just freaky. It’s like the bloody machine just doesn’t like me, or something. Hah,

Oh my, how could I have forgotten, we had a flat tire on the Land Rover, so we had our first experience in changing it the other day. It wasn’t all that hard, really, and now we’ve got the spare on, because we need to take the tire to the shop, to see if they can repair it. We would have done it already if the shops weren’t closed again due to a local Holiday, involving Saint Nicholas.

My shiner is…oh wait, I forgot to write about that the other day, didn’t I. Well, I was experiencing a freaky day of clumsiness, that’s a fact. First I got in the car and bumped my head on the ceiling, like, hard. Yikes. Then several hours later, I bent over while we were hanging this humongous board on the ceiling of the carport, and at the same time big brother lifted a chair…which then slammed me right in the noggin’ (forehead, this time) with the stick end of the back. Crap!
And then, last but not least, I was just about recovering from the long day, stretching out on my bed, when Sitabah (Weimaraner) decided she wanted on the bed too and tried to jump over the others to get there. I was only in time to see a flurry of gray coming towards me, and wham: Her friggin’ bony knee slams into my right cheekbone, sending me backwards, wondering whether to throttle her, or just keep quiet until pounding sensation subsided a little. I decided on the latter.
But anyway, the shiner is almost gone again, so it was minor to say the least, and though the other spots are a little tender, all things considered it wasn’t all that bad.

As for today, the fire barrel was burning cheerily most of the day, of course. That wind was a genuine pain in the butt, I tell ya.
I made dinner this afternoon, because let’s face it, when working in the cold a warm meal is detrimental for all concerned.
The dogs would have loved a bite too, but I persevered, and kept them at bay until I had finished my share. They too like the burning barrel, by the way. I swear, if we don’t watch them closely, some of the dogs will actually try to lie against it while the metal is literally scorching their fut.

…And considering I can’t think of another thing to write about, other than that we’re making good progress with the proofreading. Managed to do a total of forty pages in the past couple of days, yay. Which reminds me, I need to get to it, like, right now…

Pouring Concrete. Yay.

So yeah, it’s been a busy couple of days, and I’m really roughhousing my way through this thing, but what has to be done, has to be done.

Let’s start off with the bit of news of the fire that raged across the valley where we live. Big brother and I were working on the manuscript in my cabin, when suddenly we noticed a bright orange glow in the distance. It was a rather huge fire that swept across the mountains that face ours. It was all rather impressive. There were lights of helicopters swarming over it. Emergency services lights flashed, and for the duration we kept a close eye on the matter. Considering that the winds were sweeping down full force, (bad for the fire and those poor firefighters, good for us, ‘cause it went in the direction of the sea rather than our place) we really didn’t want to get caught unprepared, but come morning the fire had been extinguished and the yellow alert (ours that is) turned off, so to speak. Hah.

Yesterday pretty much involved preparing for today. There were only a couple of hours of editing for big brother and me…my focus was really shot after a dream where I was late for everything, including a flight to the U.S…for some reason I couldn’t manage to get my bags packed. And there you have it the ultimate nightmare for me. Give me zombies, werewolves, vampires and monsters: No prob. But dreaming that I’m late for something will have me in a genuine tizzy when I wake up. And to think that in real life I can just go with the flow and don’t mind such a “disaster”. In regard to that I’ve really got the Spanish mentality of, “Mañana”.
Go figure, it just makes no sense whatsoever.

But I got distracted. Where was I? Oh yes, preparations. So yeah, after I made some adjustments to my new drawers…made a slight error during construction that had to be fixed…and then it was up the mountain. Considering that we want to pour the concrete gutter before the winter rains start, it is a job we have to get done in proper time, so we start weighing the options.

There are really only two ways to get to the area in question: The roof, which would mean hauling buckets onto the roof, then walking across the expanse of it (probably damaging a lot of the tiles in the process) to pour the stuff down behind the house until the gutter is filled.
Second option is hauling it down the mountain on rope and then fill it up. Not a fun way either, so we put our heads together and designed and apparatus of sorts made of sewer tubes and a large piece of metal shaped into a rather large funnel that fit into the connecting corner that we put on the end of the twenty yard tube we stuck down the mountain.
Using a handful of metal bars, which we drove into the ground, we tied the entire thing up and gave it a test run with a bucket of water. The test went well, so with that done we went off on different ventures.

Little sister and I set out cut metal bars to put in the section where the concrete will be poured, and then put it all in place for today. By nightfall, what could be prepared in advance was done, and we headed inside for dinner and another edit. It went well, considering that we actually managed to get to our daily quota of doing four pages a day.

But, since nightfall is coming fast now, big brother and I decide to make the leap, and change our usual routine completely. Chores and projects first and then in the dark hours of the evening editing. It is going to take some getting used to, but once we do it should work out fine.

With that in mind we made it an early night and got up early so we could start today fresh and new. It work rather well to declare as much in the evening, it really works when you say: I give up today, and start fresh and new in the morning.
I like it.

So today (song of the day: practically any song I know that has a yodel in it. Downright weird, I tell ya) it was going through the usual chores, such as laundry and cleaning, and then doing some repairs. There’s a section of the ceiling that got damaged during the floor project that needs to be fixed and two lamp fittings have to be replaced in the kitchen and then we get to work on the kitchen furnace.

As it turns out, a rat got into it, decided to nest inside…yep, we saw it sitting in there while we were taking the dratted device apart, and the dogs were going bonkers…and messed up the wiring completely. It took a couple of hours, but we got it all cleaned out (the dogs didn’t manage to get the rat in question, though they tried with a passion) and put it all back together again. Phew. Works like a charm again.

That done we had a quick lunch, after which we were running slightly behind. No matter, though, the sibs were ready and together we all headed up the mountain, out the gate (leaving the dogs inside…making them go bonkers for a bit, of course. The dog’s really don’t appreciate being left out.) and then towards where the tubing had been set up.

We hauled the concrete mixer up, buckets, water hose, shovels and of course wheelbarrows full of sand and cement bags. Oh my God, it’s a good thing we has so much practice with the rock walls, ‘cause it was a doozy of a day. We succeeded, however. We managed to get the entire gutter in, which meant mixing over fifteen batches of concrete and lifting over a hundred buckets to pour it down the tubing.

The first hour or so was downright splendid, what with the sun shining warmly and the wind having died down for the first time in days. Really, it was like sunbathing. Lovely. Just lovely. It makes working outside absolutely wonderful.

Good cooperation today. The sisters and I were doing the cement mixing and pouring it down, while little brother hauled sand towards us, and big brother kept an eye on the progress (and spreading of the stuff, of course) behind the house. In the end we got it all done in four hours, which is excellent. The evening was about to fall when we started cleanup. The entire mess was hosed down, the tubing removed, empty bags gathered (wind had started up again, so debris wanted to scatter) buckets and mixer cleaned out, and before you know it, the sun disappeared behind the mountain.

The dogs were ecstatic when we finally returned within the property fences, and after capturing Knight II by his collar (he attempted to bowl me over more than once) I took a few minutes to calm them down and pet them all, crooning approval to them, for having been so brave as to stay behind the fences. Hah.

With a successful day behind us, we headed down to the house for dinner and an attempt at editing (we really were too tired; no surprise to it, really, since we managed to finish a task we’d thought to spread out over two days) after about an hour of basically staring at three paragraphs we decided to give up and went on to different ventures which were a little less energy consuming.

Which concludes the update of the past couple of days. On to the next.

Unexpected surprises.

Song of the day: “The animal song” by Savage Garden. I really love this song. I hadn’t heard it for years and the little brother suddenly put it on the house Itunes yesterday, and wham, I got it stuck in my head. I don’t mind. Hah.

As for today, it’s opera…or at least I think it is. Remember that song from “The Shawshank Redemption” where Tim Robbins locks himself up in the director’s office and puts this opera piece on the speakers throughout the prison? That one. Pretty song, but much like Morgan Freeman in the movie…I have not a clue what they’re singing about. Hah.

I’ve discovered that it is really hard to remember stuff from yesterday, so I hope that I can touch the highlights in a fashion that they’ll make sense.

First of all, (yesterday) we had a really good proofreading session, checking out alterations we put in during the last edit, crawling two chapters closer to the end. Yay. Excellent scenes, making us want to read on even after the allotted time came to an end and we had to head outside, to start planting the fourteen aralias we found and the four others-that I don’t remember the name of.

It took a few hours digging up to 18 holes in the ground, but they do look pretty grand within the courtyard garden, over the old pool and down by the old bus. I love green shrubs like that, especially since, according to the Internet, they can grow up to nine feet high and spread underground. Marvelous.

Who knows, at some point we might actually get the entire yard filled with green…it’s not that farfetched really. With two thirds of the property already greenery, we’re by far the greenest patch in the neighborhood. Hah.

After the gardening, I had fully intended to head inside to continue with the office, but since middle sister told me that her wardrobe closet is slowly falling apart, I decided to take her up to the old horse stable. There we went through the large supplies of wood we have been gathering for the past few months, and came up with a nice selection of what will soon be a really solid closet. Added to a dresser we’re going to scrape bare and the paint into the same color, she’ll be all set.

We’d just about finished gathering everything we needed, when little brother informs me that we forgot to return the DVDS yesterday, meaning that big brother and I headed for town to see to the task. Since there was another load of garbage to dispose of, we headed for the landfill as well and were absolutely stunned at what we found.

I mean, seriously; I was agog. Some store with artisan furniture and knickknacks must have gone bankrupt, or something, because the enclosed area was filled with (slightly damaged but still) beautiful small cabinets, artfully inlaid picture frames, CD racks, drawers, heck there were even a lot of those African Giraffe art pieces, cats and horses. And lamps, absolutely gorgeous lamps that I couldn’t have left behind if my life had depended on it. Whicker with leather tubes, some of reed and metal, beautiful. We took just about everything that we managed to fit in, and even tied three of those lamps to the top of the car.

Once everything is repaired…’cause somebody obviously had a field day wrecking it all while unloading…I think that everything combined would have set us back 1K. And someone just threw it away. I don’t get it. I mean, okay, you lost your shop (I think this is a shop I’ve actually shopped at, at times, but found to expensive to return to) why throw anything that gorgeous away? Seriously, put it for sale for 50 cents and you’ll save on the gas costs, for crying out loud.

Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Due to this I can pretty much redecorate the house, hah.
But anyway. We were pretty much stuffed to full capacity…I barely fit in there at all and by the time we got home I was feeling a tad claustrophobic and more than a little achy from having twisted into a rather extreme angle, Hah.

Once at home, we immediately unloaded the stuff, because early this morning the car had to go to the garage to have the windshield replaced, and then headed into the house for a very late dinner and then another quick reading session up at my cabin.

Which brings us to today:
Not much computer work today, considering big brother had to go to the dentist. While he was there I went to the hardware store to get another bucket of paint, (middle sister’s room needs to be redone, ‘cause the paint is peeling everywhere…saw as much yesterday when I took measurements for her closet…, a roll of fencing (due to all the wood we’ve been gathering these days we really want to put a fence around the last part of our property. There’s a problem with theft ‘round here) and another gas stove for the office. What with winter rapidly approaching, we’re going to need it in the office.

Once we got home, I made the cheesecakes for little sister’s B-day tomorrow. It only took an
Hour or so, but still it left me only half an hour to do some more reading on the manuscript. Then it was time to go outside again…it was another gorgeously sunny day, loved it…to start on middle sister’s closet.

While we were doing this, little brother and sister started on the repairs of the new finds, completing two wonderfully old-looking Chinese cabinets that are going to look gorgeous in the new office.

Mom, spend her time painting the two identical mirrors we found the other day, and by now they are ready to be hung in the hallway. Big brother and grandpa headed out to the horse stable, where the started digging the holes for the new fence poles.

By the time the evening drew to an end…I spent most of the afternoon diverting my attention between the younger sibs, helping them with the repairs, and working on the closet with middle sister…finished the basis of the closet and were more than ready to call it a day. Oh boy, there’s nothing more exhausting than doing three to four things at the same time. My brain feels as if my skull is cracked, letting air in, hah.

Little sister made red beets with rice and cheese, which fell really well on my empty stomach by the end of the evening. I was so friggin’ hungry, my stomach must have thought my throat was cut, haha…don’t remember where that quote comes from, but I always thought it was hilarious.

Well, that just about sums up the past couple of days, I guess. Time to finish up and get to my messages.

No time.

Song of the day: “Barbie girl” by Aqua. Oh my gawd, it’s been ages, and it is such a silly song that I was almost embarrassed to sing it. But since that is the only way for the song to get out of my head, I did it anyway…of course I had “Dr. Jones” the song’s sequel in my head afterwards, but what the hey; by now my brain is amazingly empty.

Let’s see what I did today, ‘cause I need to get to bed early (have to drive our tenant to a doctor’s appointment) so I’m just going to rush through it a little.

I had some trouble sleeping last night, so I got way too little sleep. Not that it matters, but it was annoying. My mind just wouldn’t stop spinning. Anyway, finally I got to sleep and then didn’t go into R.E.M., which made the night a jumble of dreams.

When the alarm goes of I’m reasonably coherent, and I quickly go through the morning rituals before heading down to the house. The dogs are rather restless – I was obliged to lock Trin Trin up in the back yard until I was ready to go down, lest she attack one of the others - and make quite a racket. No mishaps, gratefully, and soon big brother and I are working on the proofreading corrections.

That done, we head outside and considering it is way too hot (hotter than it has been in weeks) for hard labor, like building walls of rocks. Our guest has arrived this morning and she joins us while we start working. So, the younger sibs start on weaving reed mats, while big brother, grandpa and I start with the carpentry project that is going to be a balustrade on the terrace surrounding the old pool.

Since the wood comes from the pallets we recently found, so long steel nails get removed, the wood sanded, and sawed. After a couple of hours, the temperatures have dropped enough to start making cement, and I do it so big brother can begin with the last step on the stairs. Before I join him, to make a low rock wall beside it, I go to the courtyard to make repairs on the plateau for the washing machine.

With that done, I worked on the small walls surrounding the stairs, and a small elevation where the next stairs will be, and finished the last bit of daylight sweeping the terrace of the terrace under my porch. There’s a really quick dip in the pool, I’m such a whiner, I find a pool of 24 degrees too cold these days. Hah.

But anyway, after hanging laundry, dinner and a quick surf on the Net, the day is over, with another proofreading. Yep, that’s about it.

Strange, frustrating stuff.

Song of the day: “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton. Hah. Perky song, but it came really out of the blue, and I really have no idea why this particular one came by; I don’t even have it on my Itunes, for crying out loud.

Nothing of great interest today either; no dreams…oh wait, I had one…but I can’t just write it down it was like seriously X-rated, so we’ll just skip that, shall we.

When I arrive at the house this morning, I falter a little when I pass the washing machine, which for some peculiar reason is standing on the ground rather than the perch I created for it just a couple of months ago. Considering I’m just barely awake, I shake my head and walk on, only distantly wondering what the hell happened before start with the morning chores.

As it turns out, last night while the machine was running with a blanket in it, something (I seriously have no idea what) made it topple over and drop face-first (if you can call it such) on the floor. It’s a miracle it was still running, but except for a broken tube and some loose hooks, it appears that big brother will be able to repair it…I hope.

Next, we read through our query letter. We’re going to have to start another round of sending out letters to publishers…I know, it’s a total bore, but what has to be done, has to be done. Darn.
This was then followed by an editing session, you know, putting the changes of the proofreading in. Kinda fun, ‘cause it appeared as if there were some major errors, which then could easily corrected by just shifting words around. Phew, such a relief.

Today’s outside work was basically the same as yesterday, small chores that are a tad boring, but need to be done. Big brother and grandpa work on the bungalow roof, and the younger sibs and I start putting in the sansevierias (remember, we found those really big plants at the landfill recently) also known as snake plants, on the hill over the old swimming pool.

Once we were done with that, we decided to start on taking away old fencing, which was a royal pain in the butt to do, cause there was like a mile of dirt, rocks and…stuff on it, so we end up cutting most of it off, rather than out.

So yeah, we haven’t got the car back, and according to the garage, which just fixed the problem of the clutch, we’re going to need a whole new clutch cylinder kind of thing. Yep, that’s gonna cost us another 600 bucks, darn it. It’s going to have to be ordered, installed, yadayadayada. Crap. I hate it when that happens. And yeah, what with the washing machine damaged (please don’t let it be broken) and now this…well, looks like we’re going to have to cut down even more on luxuries like food and stuff. Okay, not thinking about this, let’s go on with the day, shall we.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the removed fence.
The evening is still young, so since we’re on a roll anyway and managed to get the first one away, we figure we might as well continue with the piece of fencing that’s still standing up by my cabin. In the meantime, big brother is using the small jackhammer to prepare cutting out the rock where the stairs are going to be in the near future.

We really intended to do some more, but by then nightfall has arrived, and since we end up planning for the remaining projects, it is really too late to do anything else.
Dinner comes next, followed by the blog and then the day has blissfully come to an end.

Yep, another edit to go, and then I’m gonna pass out, I think.

Nothing special, just a day.

Song of the day: “I’m in love” by Maria Mena still. I don’t know what the heck’s going on. I think this is the first time that I’ve got one single song going ‘round and ‘round in my head, even while I’m still half asleep.

Be that as it may, let’s get to the day:
It was strange. Around 7 AM, I woke up and it was ridiculous, ludicrous since it couldn’t have been less than 24 degrees around dawn, when my body decided to wake up completely chilled. I was almost chattering my teeth for crying out loud, and stumbled to my bathroom to grab my robe. I wrapped it around me, crawled back under my sheet and didn’t even mind when Knight II draped himself over me.

I wake right on the dot, of course: the alarm went off after all. Not much chance oversleeping with that annoying bleep going off beside my head. Hah.
The morning rituals done, I head down to the house, the dogs storming back and forth around me while the Monster Boxer pounces on the tube, doing her very best to tear it from my hands.

The day is remarkably fresh today; the sun is shining brightly, but the air doesn’t feel at all hot, just pleasantly warm. The thermometer actually doesn’t go above 35, which is nothing short of a miracle this time of year. I’m thrilled.

There are chores waiting, however, and though I’m really starving, I get to them before actually heading for the kitchen. Breakfast over; the day’s edit gets worked through and works out pretty well. We added a rather enjoyable scene, giving more depth to the villain in the story. Gawd, I actually burst out laughing…loudly.

But anyways, today we’re determined to get some physical work done as well, and head out five hours after commencing the edit to continue with the pillar. More rocks need to be hauled, and cement mixed to a manageable paste. Another sixth gets added before the rocks start floating again (I’ll post some pics as soon as it’s done) and we prudently embed a hook; it is a necessary thing, especially for Knight II, who tends to snap at dogs when they come rushing past.

Next…yes the day isn’t over yet, hah…we decide to take the moped to the carport, so we can see if we can repair the dratted thing. Here we were - last year - spending more than a week repairing the thing, and then it gets hit by the car several months ago, needing another one. Drat. Luckily, it doesn’t take all that long today, just a couple of hours, and since big brother does most of it, I have the opportunity to do some other maintenance chores as well.

I’ve got two lamps that broke down during the course of the last few months, that need to be fixed, and afterwards I put up frameworks for the jasmine vines so they’ll be able to climb up to the roof of both the carport and my cabin. Afterwards, pleased with the progress of the day, I have a quick dip to wash off the dust and then head inside to have a rather late dinner.

Another short edit follows, the dogs lounging around us in the courtyard, enjoying the cool evening that, for the first time in weeks, allows for actual relaxation.
After the edit I take the dogs up and settle on my porch for the night’s session…where I find that another miracle has happened: today’s Blog is under one page. Yay.

The cabin's clean at last!

Song of the day: “I’m in love” by Maria Mena again. No matter, great song and now I’ve read them I actually know the lyrics. Hah.

So let’s see if I can wrap the day up in a nice compact little package. It’ll be hard for me, but it is something I do need to teach myself. Hmmm.
There were the morning rituals, chores, breakfast and coffee, followed by a six hour edit that took us through a rather complicated fight scene. It took ages to do five pages, but still we managed to improve the first half of the chapter rather well, if I do say so myself.

The edit was followed by a slight deviation of the daily routine. Rather than do any building, I took the opportunity to do some cleaning in my cabin, along with the much-needed repairs. During the “week of edit hell” somehow we bounced to hard on my couch (we’ve always been interactive in our reading *snort*) when the scene got to be good. Hah.

I put in a new support beam under the one that broke; put in some new, solid screws and set the couch back to realize that it’s less shaky and noisy than it was when I bought it. Marvelous. Next, the floors and other flat surfaces (I was amazed I even had them. It’s been ages since I last saw them, hah) are scrubbed clean until the cabin is once again clean and comfortable. I really postponed it too long, though. It took over four hours in the end.

After a quick dip in the pool…I took Knight II in with me and he actually enjoyed it…to wash of the grime and then quickly hung a couple of batches of laundry. Then we headed inside to have dinner. Mom made it, and since it was baked potatoes with a salad, I was rather looking forward to it. I was just about to dig into it too when the phone rang. Our tenant’s caretaker was worried about her dog, which appeared to be hurting somewhere and refused to get up.

So I headed over to check the mutt out. She was her usual snappish self when I arrived though, causing relief to her owner while we took the dogs temperature, checked her gums, eyes and limbs. Nothing appeared wrong, just a slight limp that could have been caused by a variety of events that I do not even want to contemplate at this point.

Once in the house, I quickly devour my now cold meal and then head out to do another quick edit in the final hour of the day. Not the most auspicious edit we’ve had but another couple of pages gets added to the whole, so all’s fine.

Around midnight I head to my cabin…my clean and organized cabin for a change…feed the dogs and set up on my porch for the another few hours behind the computer.

Strange day; it had a bit of a surreal feel to it, really.

Splendid edit and maintenance.

Apparently I was a little absentminded yesterday. I forgot to mention several things during the day’s description, one of which being that we moved Tika (our parrot) to a better vantage point in the room. The poor dear was feeling neglected now that we’re working outside so much, so we decided to hang her cage beside the other birds, giving her a bit of company during the days.

Of course I’ve now forgotten what else I failed to mention, but no one is likely to mind. Hah. So let’s move on to today and leave it at that.

I’m a tad lazy again this morning. After the alarm goes off for a good three minutes, I reset it for another twenty and quickly snooze off into sweet oblivion. When it screeches for the second time I can’t deny it any longer. The day has begun.

Getting out of bed, I first let the dogs out and then start on the morning rituals on this rather bleak, yet not cloudy morning. During the night we’ve been cloaked in a thick mist that didn’t allow me to see past the courtyard, and though it has cleared a little, fragments of that same mist are still present in the higher layers of the atmosphere.

The dogs don’t mind, of course, not with the temperatures as pleasant as they are, and storm down to the courtyard with their usual jubilance while I follow at a more sedate pace. Trin Trin is trying to grab the stick I’m holding up to keep her distracted. If I don’t she’s bound to try to use my ankles as toys, so with her dangling from the stick once more, I make it to the house.

There’s laundry to do…something is wrong with the washing machine. There seems to be a leak somewhere so we’re going to need to fix it later today…and with grandpa’s help I take down the old and hang the new before I head into the house to fold what’s been taken from the lines.

Once breakfast is dealt with, big brother and I settle behind our computers, resuming the seemingly endless task of “the Edit”. After several hours of rearranging sentences, shuffling commas and periods we finally reach the 50 % marker we’ve worked so hard for, and are pleased to realize that we’ve managed to add a total of four pages throughout the edit.

Though bolstered with the realization that we’re now officially halfway through, and willing to continue with the task a bit longer, outside work is waiting, calling for us to start, so to speak.

Today we work in the central yard, the messy path that connects the three parts of the property, the trail that goes from the carport to the patio entrance…and in effect my cabin…and the roof.

Another load of rocks were hauled in this morning, so the first thing we need to do is get them from the truck bed, and carry them over to the steadily growing pile against the rock wall overlooking the courtyard entrance.

The top step of my porch broke in two several months ago, so when we finish with the rocks, I get out the wonderful power tools to make a new one. While I start with this, little brother climbs on the roof to start with the weeds that grow on, and between, the roof tiles. Middle sister takes up the task of cleaning the main path while little sister sets out to help me with the stairs.

In the mean time, big brother and grandpa head on out with the truck to get another load of rocks. We are going to need quite a lot in the future, so an extra trip will certainly speed things up, if just a little.

In order to make the step to my porch strong enough for the wide expanse that it has to cross, I cut a strip of heavy metal and attach it to the underside of the step before putting the board in place. I’m just about to screw it too, when grandpa and big brother return. The two sisters help him unload while I put the step up and then get to work on the rocky ground leading to the patio.

Over the years, erosion has been scraping away at the ground, creating a jagged surface that no longer hold the steps of the brick stairs that lead to the patio. Since mom’s hernia makes it hard for her to mount even normal steps, I chop out rock and clay alike, creating a wide path that will make her passage a lot easier. I also make steps from stones and bricks that will considerably lower the risk of crossing this way.

It’s close to dusk when we decide that we’ve done enough for the day. Half the roof is done. Middle sister has vigorously attacked the center path, which now looks beautifully even, and the new rock path from the patio is sound enough to see us through the next few months, until we start on the project of building a new wall on the north side of the courtyard…and in effect the proper stairs leading all around.

Though properly weary from the work, we return to the house in good spirits, and eat the meal little sister has prepared. Once dinner has settled and we’ve watched the latest episode of “Medium” I get Bommel on top of the table for a much-needed trim.

It takes a few minutes to prepare the electric trimmer, but once it works properly the job progresses satisfyingly. The Bobtail, well familiar with the procedure, stretches out on the tabletop, moaning his appreciation as his thick fur is removed. Inch after inch of the gray and white hair comes off, allowing his skin to breathe, and showing me his eyes for the first time in months.

Though the cataract disease hazes both pupils, he does notice movement, and appears genuinely pleased when I finally finish the task and carefully set him back on the floor. He spends several minutes scratching himself (obviously delighted) and then actually manages to follow my progress around the room as I clean up the mess I made and then move to the pantry to help big brother.

While I worked on Bommel, he decided to check out the washing machine. Apparently there’s a hole in one of the rubber tubes underneath and we remove it so grandpa can go to the village in the morning to see if he can find glue to fix it, or otherwise a new tube.

I start on the blog a little early, figuring that I’ll get distracted again later on and then switch over to “Saving Nina” when big brother joins me for our last edit of the day.
It’s midnight when we wrap things up, delighted with the fact that we managed at least eight pages during the course of the day. It is getting to be pretty darn good, and I don’t even mind that I’m saying as much myself, hah.

Of course we get distracted while discussing future plans. Once we’ve edited this one and it’s prequel, we have to decide on a different story, so we’re leaning towards a horror story I started back in ‘01. The way we figure we’ll be up to a challenge after all the mind-numbing edits, so something exciting and chilling is definitely in order.

Just the thought of actual writing thrills me, and my fingers literally itch with the prospect. After two romances, two thrillers, and the W.I.’s a genuine horror is just what I need.

Well after midnight I force myself to stop thinking about all the possibilities of the upcoming project…if I allowed it, I’d be writing the night away…and take my dogs up for the night’s feeding and sleep.