1st week lockdown COVID 19

Song of the day: "The end of the world" by REM. It's as good a song as any at this point in time, I guess.

Time for an update. Not the best of times, I fear, but strange times for sure, what with the Corona Virus outbreak that has been sweeping over the world for several weeks. The Netherlands has gone into a tentative shutdown (social distancing), after the virus has started raging through especially Italy and Spain, where it has been the worst in Europe, so far.

So how has the virus affected us...well, no zombies yet, so that is definitely a plus. The way I figure, as long as the zombie's don't come shambling through the streets, we'll do just fine. Other than that, work has shut down until at least the 6th of April, just like all non-essential businesses through-out the country.

Although I can manage just fine to keep busy, in fact, in regards to location, this house is more luxurious for a lockdown than most. Heck, I've stayed in worse places than this myself. It might not be fun, but I can survive a month or two with this quarantine without losing my mind. It won't be fun, it won't be nice, or anything, but I'll be fine in the end.
That doesn't take away that the atmosphere in general isn't completely whacky. I mean, there are hoarders, there are those who don't believe that the virus is as bad, some don't care one way or other, and there are those who are scared out of their minds. I can get my head around most of them, of course, but considering we, the people in general, are not in charge of how things are handled, it doesn't matter one way or other how I feel about the matter, I suppose. Most of us are just along for the ride for now.

Well, guess it is time to catch you up a little on how life has been progressing lately. Work and school had been going pretty well...well, a little bit more of the first and less of the latter, which had made me behind on my studies up until the latest disaster hit.

Before the outbreak we had started looking for a permanent place to live, rather than the anti-squatting gig, but that is now starting to look like we'll have to put that on hold for the time being...especially because we have no idea about how things are going to go. For now we're going to be paid one way or other, but that won't hold indefinitely, of course. The company is not made of money, and if this is going to continue on as long as everyone fears...well, then we have a problem.

School, regretfully has not been completely cancelled. Last Tuesday was supposed to be my first theory test, but this was cancelled, of course, because this was the third of fourth day after the lockdown  and everyone was scrambling. Now, it turns out lessons are going to continue digitally. On the one hand that is great, on the other I am trying to find the rest inside my head to pick up writing again. Bad enough the world at large is hammering at me to pay attention to reality, having to worry about school in the meantime is not exactly my idea of fun. But we'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll be grateful for the distraction.

Unlike me, big brother gets to work still, for now. Despite the sauna being closed for guests, behind the scenes folks are putting in a lot of effort to catch up on maintenance that has been postponed time and again due it being too busy. So in that regard big brother is happy, because he can finally get to stuff that he's been forced to put off over and over again.

Personally I will be spending a morning at work, too, because the kitchen staff have been asked to volunteer with the cleanup of the big filters and such above the cooking areas. The other half of the chefs are going to tackle the big fridges on a different day, so we won't exceed the numbers that are allowed to get together. Nice to be able to catch up with everyone, and since quite a few are going stir-crazy sitting at home, it's also a necessary measure. It will be nice to go out for something other than basic groceries.

But back to before the outbreak: It's been a sad period actually. A very good friend died...the one I mentioned with Acute Leukemia. Regretfully he passed away before I was able to see him again. He kept postponing the visit, saying he wanted to wait until he felt a little stronger, a little better. Alas it never came to that. About three weeks ago the doctors told him there was nothing left to do for him, and a few days later he passed away in his home. His death hit me harder than I expected. Especially because I got the news at work, and of course had to ask for time off so I could go to his memorial. Almost burst out in tears right before my chef, and that is just friggin' unprofessional and embarrassing.

Be that as it may, we did go to the memorial, which was a very bohemian affair, much like he would have loved. Spoke and hugged a long time with his girlfriend of thirty plus years, and listened to the performance of his band involving, (brace yourselves, he was a sound artist) vacuum cleaners. A special evening on the cusp of the Corona outbreak.

Another bit of bad news, it's in the air, I'm telling ya, is that Tenant has taken a turn for the worse. Back when she had her stroke in Spain, the swallowing mechanism in her throat started to have trouble. Over the years this has gotten worse, but lately it got so bad she got a pneumonia due to getting stuff in her lungs, like food and drink. This meaning that she'd have terrible coughing fits. This, in the end, has led to her no longer being able to drink or eat, and since she finds a probe tube straight into her stomach so very irritating that she keeps pulling it out, she is slowly dying. What a horrible way to go! So strange to imagine that with everything moderns science can do these days, there is no solution for something like this. It baffles me at times.
Now if all that isn't bad enough, due to the Corona virus senior homes and nursing homes are in a complete shutdown. Hers included, so rather than have many, many people coming over to visit her in these final stages of her life, there are only a handful that are only allowed to enter one at a time, wearing full protective gear like gloves and such. So horrible if you really thing about it. Luckily they have started her on morphine now, so that should make her less aware of it all...I hope.

On the nicer part, had a visit with my dad last week. He and my stepmom had a lot of leftover tree trunks and such lying about in their yard, which needed to be dragged out to the curb so they could be picked up. A nice afternoon in the sunshine, dragging some odd 3000 lbs of wood while big brother attacked the trunks with the rented chainsaw. Poor thing practically gave the spirit in the end. So much wiry wood. Was good to see dad, although his appearances worry me a little. He's looking tired, and grayish almost. Poor guy really works too hard. Just hope that he doesn't get the virus, because that just might be too much for him.

Studying: Well, I had gotten nicely up to date due to the fact that my chef was trying to bring my hours down a little so they could work in new people, but now with the virus in full swing I am feeling distracted and completely not in the mood to focus on those studies. Coming tuesday we were supposed to have had our first practical exam, which would have involved making a 3 course lunch at school, but I'm not sure if that is going to happen anytime soon if our troubles are going to follow the example of Italy even remotely. Today they had their highest death-tole of almost 800. This means that the Netherlands is bracing itself. So surreal.
It doesn't mean that I won't try, of course, I'm just complaining a little here.

Still working on two individual manuscripts. Commanding Morgan, the prequel to Girl in the Mist, and tentatively called Girl from the Past for now, has its proposal practically done. And Lost Soul is practically through its first edit, meaning that big brother and I can both start reading through it, working out the kinks and such. I am looking forward to this, and if the quarantine is going to happen, that is definitely going to help to get us to sit down and get it done.

The house, well, I got that pretty much in order now. haha Would be weird if it wouldn't be, after more than 8 days into self-isolating. Embarrassing too. Is nice to have it all sorted, though. Though I tend to keep things up, having been busy so much that past few months, I had gotten a little bit behind. Added to that, i have completely thrown around the living room, which led to a hilarious moment later in the evening, two hours after big brother arrived, walking around, eating his dinner, when he suddenly said, "hey you changed it." Seriously, I almost peed my pants, laughing so hard. I'd deliberately not said anything, wondering how long it would take, but no way did I expect it would take him that long. Gawd, I haven't laughed that hard in ages...felt good. As to why I changed it? Well, I figured with the present situation being this severe, a change would be a good thing for my state of mind, at least.

Well, that' it for now, I guess. I will try to keep you posted, and if I can't feel free to look me up on Facebook.

Back in January

Song of the day: “Someone you loved” by Lewis Capaldi, such a gorgeous song, although it is incredibly sad. Sometimes I find it really relatable, for some reason…but then, admittedly those are my bad days.

Well, life has been busy as usual. The time gets away from me more often than not, and the fact that I work, usually, a minimum of four days a week doesn’t help much in that regard. It seems at the moment that I am only working and going to school, which is ridiculous, of course. There are still two days, off (even though I usually spend some time of those on homework) and infrequent attempts at working on the books. It doesn’t always work, and we are not going fast, but steady and slow at least.

The book, Lost Soul has been finished. At least the writing has. Did that a while ago, despite everything going on. It felt good to finish the story, especially because it is so dark and sad. That certainly didn’t improve my overall mood, despite loving the story. The character is just such a tortured soul, which makes the title rather fitting, in my opinion. It was high intensity, dark and painful, which makes for an excellent combo, when we’re talking psychological thrillers, right?

Work. Well, I seem to be doing it right. Takes effort and time, and there are times that my friggin’ feet kill me at the end of the day, but I get satisfaction from doing it right. The challenge is to get all the parts done proper without forgetting the important stuff, keeping track and basically make things run smoothly. But that’s okay. I know the importance of a good atmosphere, and work hard at that, which pays off most times. I have been doing a lot of sushi (a rather new skill, still) which means I get to practise new tastes, styles and basically anything that I hadn’t thought of before, simply because personally I am not a sushi person. Still, it’s a good challenge.

Christmas came and went, and though I worked from the second day of Christmas, almost straight through to the new year, it was a quiet time, without much, if any obligations. Instead we visited family on the 28^th, so we could celebrate big brother’s birthday too.

Also joined in the catering of a big event at a dolphinarium for a day. This meant prepping food for more than 1100 people. Very interesting, if tiring, and a good experience to have. There was a nice bunch of kids working there, needing some calming experienced guidance, which we managed to supply. It was long day, and I didn’t get to see any dolphins, which I would have liked. Alas, only work.

My birthday came and went. The actual day was spent at work, meaning that folks sang happy birthday, of course, which felt a tad awkward, yet sweet at the same time. Instead of celebrating on the day, I did a dinner party a week later, which was a big success. Had about a dozen people come over, and we had this big Italian style, big table dinner, with everyone talking and laughing. I enjoyed that tremendously.

There was family, there were friends…what more can you ask for, right? Had a lovely four course menu that involved a nice zucchini cream soup, an Asian style spinach, grilled vegetable, satay salad, followed by stuffed peppers, pastry zucchini roses, linguini with a parmesan, cream and lemon sauce, with a dessert of real hung yogurt with saffron and mango. It was absolutely awesome, and I had just  enough for everyone, meaning we weren’t left with a massive amount of leftovers, which I had feared…of course that meant that I hardly had any food for the following workdays,  but in such cases grilled cheese sandwiches with veggies did the trick.

Heard that a very good friend of mine has been diagnosed with acute, malignant leukaemia, for which he has been hospitalized. He is now going through his second round of aggressive chem therapy, but the prognosis is very bleak. This saddens me. This friend always reminds me of grandpa, so that is doubly sad. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that something awesome happens for him, right.

I have not been liking winter. Despite a lack of snow, I’ve been finding it cold, and yes, I have bagged my first sickness with a bad nose cold, that followed up a just as bad throat ache that went straight up my nose two days later. The only thing I am grateful for is that it didn’t sink into my lungs this time.

Studies are…elaborate. I’m not sure if they’re supposed to be, just that I seem to take a lot of time with them. The assignments, the reading. I hadn’t realized the extent of them until this who experience. Did quite a few already, and I did my first tests, several of which I passed already, thankfully. The dutch seems to be less of a problem, but I’m pretty sure I flunked math…but we’ll see. Maybe I did better than I expected…I doubt it, but hope springs eternal, I guess.

The big wall in the living room is finally painted. So much better now. So much more light, and so much prettier to boot. I might alter more there in the near future, but for now it is rather comfy…and looking good, because we passed two house inspection, maybe even three, since the last blog. A relief that, even though the inspections are more frequent these days. I think the company has changed its policies.

Went to the cinema recently. The Joker. Considering we had gotten a cinema gift certificate it seemed like the right thing to do. A fascinating movie. A little slow maybe, and dark, but the acting was incredibly powerful. Also, it was a fun night out. We don’t get many of those.

Although there have been some cooking sprees of late, for the most part cooking is something I do at work and in bulk for the days that I work. This means that I don’t have a lot of pretty images to post. Instead they have been sustenance, which is important too.

There are some changes coming, but they are not as such that I can share them yet, regretfully. Still, they ought to be interesting, or at least I hope so.

And this makes for today’s blog. It is late, and I have an appointment in the morning. Added to that I had school today and that took longer than usual since I was chef de partie for desserts today. It went well enough from my perspective. All the guests were content, and that’s what counts.

But now it is time for bed. I’ll be back.

Hit by the muse...

Song of the day: “You don’t own me” by Grace. Very cool version of the old song, I’ve gotta admit. Sure, the movie it was for was pretty much carpy, but that doesn’t change that the song was good.

So, yeah, not a lot has happened since the last blog. Been pretty busy with studying, naturally, which regretfully takes a lot of time. Had some frustrating moments there, since this particular part of the material involves law, which is convoluted, boring, confusing and whatnot. It takes time, discussion (and boy do we discuss stuff, because on more than one occasion we get stuck on a part in the lesson books that just doesn’t make sense. Grrrr) and more time if for no reason than that often I need to go back and reread stuff. Seriously, law books need a proper editor! Jeez.

Still working on the edit. In all honesty we are taking our time in that regard, wanting it to be good before we risk sending it out as well. There are some scenes where get snag on, meaning more discussions, but this time the old familiar one that involves fierce debates about sentence structure, punctuation, grammar. Like the other day we were seriously arguing about a sentence that went like this: “the guard’s nod assured her that he would keep an eye out.” Or something along those lines. It was downright ridiculous. We argued for more than twenty minutes before I finally decided to just erase the sentence and put something else down. Darn it. Very frustrating, if a tad funny in hind sight. Personally I’m rather glad that no one needs to witness such arguments, because they are of course completely silly.

I do have a job interview next week, as a driver for shuttle busses at a hotel, which should be interesting to do at least. It’s not a enough hours for sufficient earnings, but it is something at least. I’ll let you know how that works out. I like driving, so in that regard it would be fun. And the earnings would be good.

Got a call from a temp agency the other day, but apparently that was still from when I had filled it in at our previous place, so it was of no use. Pity too, since my application at the temp agency was focussed on the whole cooking bit. That would have been very nice, darn it, but can’t be helped. Too far away.

Big brother had a job interview today (he’ll also have one at the hotel as a driver but this one was for full time) at a big company supplying home appliances to people’s homes. It would require him to deliver and install, which should at least be interesting for him. The only thing we have to figure out is the logistics of it, since both of us will need to get at work a considerable distance from home. Don’t know how that is going to work, so yeah, I’ll have to keep you posted about that too.

Had a wonderful cooking experiment with chickpeas that other day. Very yummy. Perfect finger food too, and easy to serve with a nice dip like garlic sauce, mustard or a sweet ‘n sour chilli. They’re fried little balls, so they went well with a salad, or beside fried rice, or with a very hot chilli beans stew. Definitely worthy of repeating, and very easy to make…not to mention healthy.

Been eating a lot of salads lately, which is unusual for me. I don’t mind salads, but I’ve never actually had that I was in the mood for them, only in the height of summer, but lately I’ve got a hankering for them, so I’ve been overdosing on raw stufsies. Loads of carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes and spinach, the latter because I was at the doctor’s for a blood test and the basic test shows that my blood is still off. It sure explains why I am often still tired, despite having caught up on my sleep shortage from the last work year. This of course means that I’ll have to be back to get a more thorough test to see where the problem lies this time. Not looking forward to that. It is starting to look like my severe anemia in the past has become somewhat chronic and which is now  reluctant to be solved with good nutrition. Grrrr. Can I just say for a moment that I seriously dislike that, so I am definitely going to work on that in the near future. Again, I’ll keep you posted.

Went on a nice bike ride the or two the past few weeks. First one into the country, rather than go to the gym, now that weather still permits such outings. And just a few days ago we headed on into the city to have look around for the first time, which was nice. Didn’t get home until twilight (yikes)  with my bum hurting like heck because a thirty minute ride stretched out into a two hour trip that did an excellent job of providing exercise. Had been inside for several days, and really needed some fresh air, so it did us good. Added to that we had a couple, or three trips to the gym, and that was nice too.

What else…gawd, I had a sleepless night sometime last week because I had this rather splendid idea for a short story that I just had to write down before I managed to stop thinking about it and could go to sleep. I’m thinking a demon hunter, set in Atlantic City, contemporary with, of course, a hint of romance in it. Got most of it worked out in my head, along with the story which is supposed to happen all in one night. I’m rather excited about writing it, if you must know, because it has been a while since I have been hit by an idea like this out of the blue. For the past few years writing has been very much like work. Work that I love, but work still, and this was different; this was a muse hitting me right he between the eyes. Yay!

Well, that’s it for now. Time to hit the sheets and catch some Zzzzzs. Need them, if you must know. Had too little of it last night.

Never enough time

Song of the day: “Flashlight” by Jessie J…I know, a tad embarrassing to have this little ditty in my head, but it is incredibly sweet. Hah.

Well, life has changed dramatically, but oddly enough it is still incredibly busy, regardless of the sudden lack of a job. Guess I’m just not any good at not having anything to do except what I chose to do. When I chose to do something, it is simply just as time consuming as a job. Hah. Am still looking, so keep yer fingers crossed.

Anyways, the study is going steadily. Gotta admit that the book of law that is covered in the beginning is both frustrating and fascinating. The latter because knowledge in any shape or form always is, and the first because there are typos in the lesson material, and several of the test questions that I had to answer in my first test, were not covered adequately in the material. I checked. In fact, I had to go online to find explanations of the material, because it wasn’t there. Grrrrr. Contacted my course source, conferring with them about this particular problem, and they suggested that I keep checking online until they have looked into the matter. Hah. This made me laugh, not only because it was funny. But no matter, I’ll muddle my way through, I assure you.

Sent out manuscripts to 11 different publishers, so I’ve been pretty busy with that, and yes, we’re still editing A.I.L. which is a serious source of frustration to both of us. I remember this part of the editing process well, I tell ya. We had it with NERFS:SN, CH and ATOL, and now we have it with this one too. Some of the texts just don’t flow to both our satisfaction, meaning that we get into heated debates that have either of us walking away to cool off at the drop of a hat. It has no use to get so frustrated with it, really, since experience has taught us that after we struggle through this stage the improvement will be noticeable, but still it is difficult time for both of us. Nothing gets your spirits down as a few pages that you get stuck on for an average of 1-2 hour per page. Grrrrr.

Been to the gym a few times since the last blog. Yay. Didn’t have much time for it in-between study and editing time, cooking meals, normal daily chores, the inspection of our house yesterday (all is fine. We made the place look good, so we won’t be seeing much of our handler. Yay! No matter how friendly he is, it is a stressful idea that someone is checking up on you) and working the yard, as we’re semi-obligated to do every now and then. Considering we’re often short on time, we went for a walk into town the other day after we discovered that we were too late for the gym, and yesterday evening for a nice long bike-ride so we’d have at least some movement. The problem is, we have a cheap membership with the gym, which limits our arrival time to five in the afternoon, this doesn’t always work out when we are elbow-deep into an edit.

Had a cozy get-together at and with the neighbors. Six adults, two kids and a handful of cats. Was a nice afternoon-evening with beer, wine, finger food and soup where we all got to know each other a little better, because, let’s face it, there is not much time for that with everyone being incredibly busy. We got the busy parents, both working on our left, and the young couple, a professional drummer and a waitress-looking-for-work-in-the-neuropsychology-branch behind us. Add the brother and sister writers, looking for work too, and you’ve got an interesting bunch. Hah. Was a nice evening, though, which resulted in coffee later in the week with the mum and dad while we discussed the chores that had to be organized around the yard on the rather splendid autumn day.

Weather-wise things are looking bleak. We had a few sunny days, but on the overall things are starting to look gray, gray and…well, you guessed it, gray. Not that much rain yet, but I’m guessing that will come soon enough. Also, trees are starting to lose their leaves, and by now we need central heating because the temps are rapidly dropping, especially up north here, where the ground is flat and the wind comes rushing in off the sea. It’ll be interesting to see how winter will be, eh?

Lately I’ve had a serious case of the nibbles later in the day, so I’ve made a nice healthy batch of oatmeal cookies with raisins nuts and the likes, rather than risk buying cookies of undetermined origin. Works well, and it’s healthy at least. Also made lasagna the other day, loads of veggies, for visiting a friend. Otherwise I’ve been making lots of soups, which work rather well in this weather and a rather nice red cabbage risotto last week. Was surprised how well it worked, actually.

Went to visit tenant, who seems to be doing well at the senior home. She is starting to notice that her stubbornness is not doing her any good, because her memory is not as good as it used to be. Had several instances where she threw up a lot of fuss about certain subjects, only to realize later that she remembered wrong, which startled her. I found it a little sad to see, especially her confusion about it but it can’t be helped. Can’t protect anyone from reality, can you. Anyway, the place is good for her. She gets stimulated to be creative, as in drawing and painting and the likes, meaning that her motor skills in her good hand have improved, and because she always has to wait her turn if she wants to get around the building, and can’t stand that, she has started using her own feet as propulsion when she’s in her wheelchair, hah. In fact, she is basically going from one room to the next in the home, and that is really good for her.

She was very excited about her granddaughter’s 18^th birthday coming up this week, wanting to give the girl a present, but not knowing where to get it, so I found a rather nice bracelet for her, with a card that she can give as a present the next time she sees her.

Yard work has been rather wonderful, despite the scary amount of nettles all over the place. Yikes. Had one slither its way under my sweater and doing its worst on my belly. Hah.  But we did quite a bit. Cut away lots of dead stuff, revealing loads of little treasures underneath the piling masses. Found bushes, flowers and whatnot, which made it very satisfying. Will have to get our hands on some better garden tools soon…especially since we’re going to have to cut back the pollard Willows somewhat desperately. Poor things haven’t had a proper trim in years, so that’ll take some time.

Also filled the potholes in our drive sweep, for which our car is tremendously grateful, and had a repair done on the car, which, thankfully wasn’t so expensive that I had to sell my kidney, or something. Hah

Well, that about sums it up for today. Gotta bet busy.

Sick as a dog.

Song of the day: “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne. And boy was it appropriate.

I don’t know what the heck happened last night but for some reason I got sick as a dog after we got home from grocery shopping. Seriously, there was bowel movement going God knows where, vomiting and then, basically, passing out an hour before my bedtime.

The fun continued through the night, and then persisted during the morning where I woke (beyond being able to snooze some more) still feeling “the love” so to speak. I went down to the house under a cloudy sky, had several trips to you-know-where during the course of the morning.

We did some proofreading, and when big brother and grandpa left for the village to get a wheelbarrow (it’s been driving us daft to have only two what with all the projects going on) and cement for today’s outside work, and I dozed off in my chair for ‘bout half an hour. Afterwards I did some more proofreading, studied the Chicago manual thing, and then went out to start for the day.

The project of the day is pouring concrete, but instead of being able to just haul sand down from our supply I have to scrape the majority off the ground (it’s a collection of the spills from the last few weeks) sieve it clean of dirt and then use it for mixing concrete.

It’s a slow process, what with me still feeling poorly, but luckily after an hour or two, I’m deep enough into the project not to mind. With the younger sibs coming at the usual time, we manage to put down the path rather well. We finish at least and hour before sundown, and by then we have one wheelbarrow of concrete left.

Big brother and grandpa have worked by the old stable, finishing up the roof and walls, in case the predicted rains come. Though big brother is supposed to finish up the last bit of concrete, middle sister and I end up laying in a small concrete ditch by the lower gate, so the water won’t erode the ground.

Strangely enough the stomach ache doesn’t return until we’re done, so I take a long hot shower, which does improve my condition enough for me to have dinner - big brother made mac ‘n cheese - and start on the Blog. Hmmm. So now, I’ve recounted the day and I’ve not a clue as to what else to…oh yeah.

A bit of good news: Since the day before yesterday I’m officially under the triple digits (kilo wise, of course) with my weight.
Oh my, who’d have thought that I’d ever see the day that I’m going under the weight I haven’t been under since I was twelve years old; I sure didn’t.
But I gotta admit I’m noticing the weight loss more and more, heck, almost every day I’m finding bones in my body I never thought I had.

Apparently, I’ve got hipbones, shoulder blades, knees and even tendons…and I can actually just look down and see them, go figure! Hah. Big brother is warning me that a handful of pounds more and I’m going to have to be careful that I don’t get to skinny. Seriously, if someone had told me that I would need to watch out for weighing too little, I would have laughed in his or her faces.

Arctic winds.

I wake up from a vivid dream that is going to be an absolute perfect setting for the next vampire short story that’s a fact. It was in the Bayou, honeyed speech, dark nights, and creepy creatures all ‘round. Perfect! I’m determined to write it down the moment I get down to the house, so I hurry through the morning rituals because I know I won’t have time for much of anything before we need to get ready for the day’s schedule.

Heading to the house isn’t a pleasure today, though. It doesn’t matter that the sun is shining brightly when an icy wind blows mightily down the mountain. According to the weather reports it comes straight from the Arctic, literally chilling me to the bone as I lug my bag down and try to tone the dogs a bit so they won’t bowl right over me.

My hands are literally numb by the time I enter the house and stand in front of the heater big brother has already lit, in order to seep some heat into my bones.
The night wasn’t any better either. I’ve slept under three blankets, dogs piled around and on top of me, with only my nose exposed to the air and still I wasn’t warm enough to stand those fifty yards to the house without ending up feeling frozen.

There’s too little time for me to do the laundry today, but what with the chill working so “marvelously” on my limbs, I don’t particularly mind. My stomach’s upset too, so I only some cereal with yogurt in hopes that it’ll stay down well enough.
It does, just barely, so with a hot drink between my hands I switch on the computer and go over the day’s messages.

With big brother opposite of me, babbling about…I can’t really say what since by that time I am writing down my idea for the new vamp story, which is to be our next project. Getting the beginning just write is always a must for me, if I have the scene set, so to speak, the rest will come with little effort most of the time.
While I chuckle and grin in a silly fashion, I shush curious big brother on occasion, urging him to be patient as I write down the images I remember so clearly from the dream, for him to read, just as soon as the first scene’s finished.

He LIKES! Which is an author’s greatest pleasure for sure. It’s rough, it’s filled with little inconsistencies, but no matter, the first page is here and with it the rest of the story is bound to follow soon enough.
All around us the dogs are piled in front of the single heater that’s on, what with only one gas keg left to use. Like me they don’t appreciate the cold at all, and is noticeable when Ahmbah, one of our older, frailer and almost blind cockers comes up behind me seriously wanting to get on the seat behind me. He’ll squeeze himself between my back and the chair if I let him, just to be warm. Instead I pile my long woolen vest on the table and deposit him there, barely pausing in the frantic write.

I’m most annoyed by the time the sibs come down, announcing our departure now that everyone is up and the dogs have human company for when we’re gone for the afternoon.
Quickly I head to my cabin, this time leaving the dogs in the house, and change into something descent, before heading out to the car where five fully-grown adults squeeze into the truck cab and start on our way to the village.

The Vet’s is our first stop. Clue’s bill needs to be paid and with a bit of dread in our stomach’s we head inside to receive it. We’ve been warned about the bill going well into the hundreds of Euros. Somewhere around three or so the younger vet had mused on the day we got Clue to take him home, but much to our surprise a bill well below two hundred faces us. The regular vet had promised to give us a discount due to the fact that he had found the case so interesting, but this was a lot more discount than we’d anticipated. I wonder if a mistake was made, but until we hear something, I’m going to cheer our good fortune on that matter.

Next, a new supply of butane gas needs to be bought, and full ones soon replace four empty kegs in the truck-bed, before we head for town instead. Our first stop there is the telephone shop, where, upon arrival we realize that big brother has forgotten the necessary forms to get the new phone.
A quick call to the house sets that straight, though, as he gets the numbers we need…after the second try…and the real hassle starts.

For some reason the saleswoman is unable to get things working–I think she’s new–and it takes us a good hour before we finally leave with the new phone packed and bagged. We’re about to drive off, too, when suddenly the new phone rings. Somewhat taken aback by this–what with no one knowing the number–I answer the call; only to hear the saleswoman ask, very apologetically, if we could possibly return, because she forgot to activate the thing for outgoing calls. Go figure! It is only because she was nice about it, and somewhat embarrassed that we aren’t annoyed when we finally head further into town.

Tonight is our study night, and even though I’m not looking forward to it with my iffy nerves jumping around in my stomach, it goes well enough. It’s a quiet evening in the computer room, only three other students, quietly working at their computer while we dig in for an hour of tests.
I’m pretty pleased when by the end of the hour we’ve covered six of the tests, two flawlessly and the others with an average of two errors. Passed…at least we would have if these questions were to come up in the exams looming somewhere in the near future. Hah.

That done, we can go back home, much to our relief: In town the temperatures were low too, but still when we get out of the car icy winds tug at us, once more, making me hurry through getting out of my neat close and into the casual ones, before I hurry to the house and the ecstatic dogs.

As is their habit, I am physically assaulted by my personal pack of nine, what with Knight II locked in the pantry with Trin Trin, as I take a few minutes to dodge Mosha’s happy teeth–she likes to grab my wrists in her enthusiasm–Sitabah and the Labs jumping all around me, and Chaos throwing his considerable weight against me. He perches up on his hind legs and stabs his snout into my stomach while I try to keep my balance under the eighty pounds of his huge body.

When they finally calm down, and I’m working on putting some extra veggie toppings on a Margarita pizza from the freezer, Knight II and Trin Trin are released. Another bout of evading the enthusiasts ensues, but it’s doable, what with there being only two of them now.

Thirty minutes later, with the pizza divided between mom, and me, I settle into a seat and have my dinner while keeping an eager Knight at bay with my foot. I’ve got to say one thing for the Dane; he is nothing if not persistent. No matter how often I push him back from slobbering all over my dinner, he’ll keep trying time and again until at last nothing is left for him to take.

I know the meal’s not going to stay put once I’m done–my stomach’s rolling even more by now–but I valiantly try, sitting very quietly throughout another rented DVD. Edward Norton as the Hulk this time.

We’re disappointed by it, really, finding it a poor substitute for the Ang Lee version a few years back, even though that one wasn’t brilliant by any means. Norton played it well enough, but the special effects were a little…I don’t know, less pretty I guess. The previous Hulk moved with a certain grace, while this one appears unrealistic, and ugly, no matter how silly that sounds.

William Hurt’s General Ross isn’t as grand as Sam Elliot–who played the grumpy military officer marvelously–nor did Liv Tyler do justice to the role of Betty. She’s a great actress, but there was definitely something lacking here. A pity really.
But who knows, perhaps yesterday’s screamy/headbangy/ichy feeling is still lingering a bit, not allowing for much pleasure when watching TV. Lord knows nothing seems to be able to hold my attention for long these days.

The stomach’s still upset by the time credits roll over the screen and by then it becomes painfully clear that it’s all for naught. I hurry for the bathroom to hug the porcelain bowl for a bit.

Being pretty used to the entire procedure, I feel empty in the stomach afterwards, but not necessarily worse when I settle behind my computer with a cup of tea and a glass of water, to resume this morning’s writing.

Not much of the actual story gets written, what with big brother, and me brainstorming about locations, settings and names that will be necessary for the story. Louisiana we’re thinking. The vampire born and raised in that area while the heroine comes from the north, NY probably. Dates are discussed, and details jotted down until at last midnight passes and the day has come to an end.

Plans that had been made for today, were only partially covered, but I suppose that tomorrow’s another day for such things as cleaning the parrot cage, hanging some more kitchen drawers and of course the laundry. Heck, I might even be able to squeeze in an exercise session. Hah.

By the time I get to my room, feed the dogs that are always quite hungry in the winter months, and settle down with a packet of salty crackers, I’m yawning constantly…as expected bedtime last night was late again, bringing me close to dawn by the time I finally crawled under a pile of blankets and dogs.

I’ll be doing the same tonight that’s a fact. I can barely feel my fingers and toes, something for which warm canine bodies are excellent heaters. This is definitely an advantage when being in the company of so many dogs. They’ll crawl forever closer when the temperatures drop, and today I can hardly wait for that to happen!