R.I.P. Chaos

2005/20013

Today, while I was in Marbella, visiting tenant in the home, I got a call from middle sister informing me that Chaos, my Gorgeous, was completely bloated in the gut and that she was bringing him to the vet. I sped there as fast as I could, got stuck behind a big loader, a CAT, but did make it in forty minutes. At first it seemed not so bad, just a case of overeating (he did love eating really badly)because nothing was really visible on the x-ray. So the vet tried a catheter, to get him to vomit, no luck, so she would have to crack him open, meaning it was decision time.

I hate decision time, in particular when it comes to the Gorgeous. A life of eating several tiny meals a day while he can barely stand eating less than his usual masses. Him going through a heavy operation that has a relatively big chance of failing. Then having to stay at the vet for at least five days. The last time I tried that with him he almost perished from being in a cage and away from me. Added to that, I wouldn't be able to visit him twice a day, not with all the messes going on. And then, two days after he gets home, I'd have to leave him home while I travel out of the country for five days. What with big brother having to work those days, and little sister, too, the care of him would be a tremendous burden on grandpa and middle sister, not to mention that he would be sleeping alone in my cabin, because he would refuse to sleep anywhere else.

It wasn't really a choice, but for a moment I wanted to just be that selfish and just go for it, regardless of the consequences.

As it is, the Chaos is no more...but he was loved.

Can't be helped

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A jog! Finally!

Song of the day: “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” Tight Fit. Incredibly retro the clip that goes with it…it’s been a while since I saw it, but it could have been college kids messing around. Hah.

So yesterday was bad. I had a wee bit of a nervous breakdown, for some peculiar reason. I’d gotten bad news about Knight (the other paw was swollen badly too) I had to do Spanish, which at the moment isn’t making any sense to me. I think my brain is a little overloaded with all the carp going on. There is the stuff I need to do to get the photography rolling, the new revisions of the book, the friggin’ market, and in-between there are all the little things that need to be taken care of…not least of that being Sally and tenant. Had to finish that dratted bathroom (which we did, thankfully) and then go to tenant at the hospital. Arrived there, finding her shouting because she was most dissatisfied. First thing she said when we got in was “Goddammit, guys, get me out of here. I can’t stand it anymore.” Took us about fifteen minutes to calm her down.
She was allowed to go home, so all was well in that department at least. It took a while to get her discharged. Dressing thankfully only took about fifteen minutes, but then we had to wait for a friggin’ chair so we were wiling away the time for more than an hour. Then, when it finally arrived, suddenly the nurses started to complain about hospital policy that wouldn’t allow for us to go down without a medical escort, to which I was like, “What? Since when?” In the end, when said escort didn’t turn up, we just left and headed for the parking area where big brother was waiting for us with the car.

But I get ahead of myself. I was still telling about my temporary mental disintegration. *sigh* I ended up exploding at big brother, and then retreated to my cabin until I was suitable for company again. The pouting took a while, but I did overcome in the end, end managed to get back to my Spanish lessons without losing it again. (Good Sammie)

Luckily I was myself again this morning after a solid six and a half hours during the night. Not enough yet, but better than the past week where I was lucky to hit six full hours. Went to work early this morning. Rushed through the morning chores and then settled at my computer to get to work on the book. Rearranged scenes like a fiend, sorted through the new ones that have to be inserted, and got about two thirds of the storyline set in place. It’ll take time and effort, but we’ll get there.

Couldn’t finish, considering today was Spanish lesson day, and added to that I had to drop Knight off at the vet, which made us late, again, darn it. Luckily Maria wasn’t at her best either, seeing as she’d had a party yesterday and I think she was a little hungover. Not a bad lesson, though. Got to work on subjuntivo, which is mighty complicated. I couldn’t do anything with it during last week’s homework so she reassured me that it was a common problem for foreigners. Learned some, got frustrated some, but we somehow muddled through. Hah.

Afterward there was a pick up in town. A waste of the ride, but you gotta check anyway, and then back home where I thought to lie down for just a minute and get my foot to stop pounding, only to wake up an hour later. That was an unexpected nap for sure. Hah.

Cut the dog food while Cousin Ed prepared stuff for our own supper, and then got changed in my jogging outfit. Yay. Finally. Since we had to go fetch Knight anyway, and had to go past the vegetable distribution center, we decided we might as well go for a jog. Did it, too, which was splendid after all this time. I soooooo needed that. I don’t even care that I was once again in poor shape. I ran, that’s what matters. Heck, I even lifted some weights, which was awesome. It’s been way too long.

Got home to quickly cook supper, which worked out well, despite the fact that we were out of cheese AND cream. Drat. Managed to salvage the food, however, so supper was edible at least. Gonna have to go past the supermarket tomorrow.

Also, Knight has to go back to the vet again tomorrow too, so it’s going to be busy once more, in particular since we also need to do a pickup in town later in the day. Luckily we can mix that with the groceries. *sigh*

With a little luck I’ll be able to get a new scene down, and, since big brother is now working on it, maybe get some of my photography business cards printed. Then, well, we’ll see how it goes. Now, I’m going to get ready for bed. It’s been a long day regardless of the nap. Hah.

Tats

Song of the day: “Coconut” by Harry Wilson. Cool song, but been there before, haven’t I?

Soooooo, long weekend. Lots of stuff happened, and yet it was very much the same as always.

First off, I slept horribly on Saturday night. For some reason I just wouldn’t drift off, meaning that I was less than my charming self Saturday morning. Not a good day not to be in good spirits, since it promised to be a late evening at the market.

First thing we did after the morning chores was work on a story line for the revision. I wasn’t all that gracious about it. I know that today’s market is very different from what I like to see in books, but I’m trying, and that’s what counts. Had some massive discussions with big brother about the possibilities, in particular because we had different ideas as to how to interpret the “suggestions”. I do know that if they say no to this round, I’m going to publish both versions and do a competition asking readers to tell me what idea they like better. Hah. But anyway, I am working hard on enjoying the challenge, am almost there despite the massive headache I had this afternoon from working on the concept for five straight hours. Seriously, there is nothing that exhausts me as much as twisting and turning a story that is already set in my head, into something someone else wants. Old versions pop up in my head, new pieces crowd into the mix, and at a certain point my head just wants to explode. Luckily it’s still on there, kinda, and after doing some serious relaxing (worked on making a wooden bench for the new bathroom, and cooked supper) I am back to normal, kinda. Hah.

But let’s get to the market. Around two in the afternoon we started loading up the Land Rover and trailer, and left on time, right after supper and a quick dip in the pool.
Most folks would say it was a disaster, seeing as there were only four or five stands, but I actually kind of liked it. We arrived early, around five, despite the fact that we had way less products with it, for no other reason than the fact that we didn’t want to be late getting the stand set up. (7 PM deadline) Got set up in a hour and a half, thankfully, so I could leave Cousin Ed to it, and go visit with tenant.

She’s still at the hospital, of course, mainly because she’s on a special antibiotic, which she has to finish with a drip. She was in reasonably good spirits, even though she is getting sick and tired of the mushy porridge like meals she’s eating there. I had to promise her that we were going to get her some chicken paws for when she gets home, because she really likes that, and is even longing for it. Regretfully I couldn’t stay too long, and was heading back after an hour or so to get my bag and settle in the restaurant with a coffee to do some writing. Got a good start on the new scene that started in my head that morning. Managed about three pages in the next couple of hours.

The remainder of the rather quiet evening was spent trying to get the few customers to pose for my pictures. Got a few after all, two utterly adorable girls (sisters) who were shy at first, and then more than willing to pose for me. The youngest one in particular was quite enthusiastic. So much so, in fact that every time I tried to snap a picture of her, she moved a fraction. Did end up with several nice shots of them, though.
Then, after ten, the jetsetters started arriving. Yep. Genuine jetsetters in linens and silks, all primped up and ready to party. There was this lady, for instance, dressed to the nines in peacock print leggings and top, heels higher than stilts, and blonde. We couldn’t resist, we had to ask if she wanted to pose for a picture…which startled her for some reason. She started demanding what for, and if she looked strange, or something, and who would see the pictures, and all that. Explained it, of course, but it was a little sad that her first thought was that she looked strange. We (cousin Ed, me and her male date) all assured her she looked beautiful and in the end she agreed to pose. Even gave her one of my pamphlets, so let’s hope she looks at the photo blog and checks it out. So, I snapped two quick shots, after which she and her escort discovered our merchandise and ended up buying a nice dog bed for his dog.

Packing up started at eleven thirty, meaning we were on our way at one, heading home where big brother was waiting with a very late meal. Gawd, was more than ready to head for bed by then. Didn’t drop in until two thirty, meaning a way too short night for me, with not a lot of sleep because I couldn’t drop off into REM for some peculiar reason.

More writing for me in the morning, after the usual chores. I wasn’t happy with Knight’s paw, in particular since yesterday afternoon it started exuding a particularly nasty smell, but I didn’t dare take of the bandage from fear of not being able to apply a new one in that particular way.

Also worked on my pics from the market, getting the lighting right, the coloring until everything showed to the best advantage. Will be posting three or four of the pics from the evening.

Once the writing of the day was done, we headed up to work on the bathroom, but it was too late already and I had to make lunch before big brother and I had to head out for a pick up, and to visit tenant. She was more than happy to see us, in particular since I remembered to bring her old reading glasses, which thankfully work better than the new ones. She immediately dove into the plant book we brought along, at which time I promptly fell asleep in my chair.
Don’t know what happened during that time, but when I woke up I felt physically ill. Almost didn’t make it to the car, for crying out loud. Luckily, after about half an hour, I started perking up a little, so maybe I’d just woken up from too deep a sleep too fast, or something.

More cooking once I got home, mushrooms with cream and a nice chili on the side, so we got all the nutritional stuff in once more, yay.

Thought still difficult, Sally is much better since we brought the dosage of her unnecessary painkiller down. Sure, she’s an opinionated senior, but at least she’s coherent at the moment, and more or less cooperative. There are ups and downs, but that’s to be expected, I suppose.

More writing this morning, feeding the dogs bread, which is so incredibly good for their teeth, already we have less odor coming from several of them. Yay. Chaos was getting to be pretty bad, and so were Arthur, Kollosus and Carla. No more though, except for maybe Kollosus, who can still be a little on the pungent side. Hah.

Have a possible construction job coming up this month. Setting up a pool and cleaning out a yard, so, Yay! If it works out. Hah.

Had cops at our gate again this evening. Two cars no less, because someone had called them due to the smell of smoke of our stove, again. *sigh* We went through the whole song and dance again of showing the stove and telling why we were using it. There was this really cute cop with them this time, so I used my wiles on him a little. He had a five o’clock shadow and thick arms covered in tattoos. So I asked what kind they were, at which point he started showing them off, throwing cautious looks in the direction of his superiors talking by the cars. I asked him how long it took to get them, and he said “long enough” (hah) and that he had to go several times before they were done. He jotted down our information and number and then quickly beat a path back to the car while we went back inside. Gawd, that was fun. Seriously, a little more time and he’d probably have yanked off his top to show the rest of his tats off.

BTW. Visited the vet this morning, and it took quite some time. She cleaned the paw, took and X-Ray and discovered that he has severe osteoporosis, probably due to his continuing infection. Poor darling. It would sure explain why the digit is so swollen. He's going on antibiotics for the next two months to see if it can be helped.

Well, this will have to be it for now. It’s almost one in the morning and I need to get to bed if I want to get up on time tomorrow morning. Let’s hope there’s something a little more interesting to share the next time round, eh?

Goodbye Bambi

Song of the day: “Follow me” by Uncle cracker.

Well, let’s start with the bad news, and take it from there, shall we. Yesterday the dreaded decision was upon us once more. We postponed it as long as possible, but Bambi, a shepherd mix that came to live with us somewhere between 2001 and 2003 (he was this adorable little puppy of about six weeks old with ears bigger than his head. The Vet had found him by the side of the road and needed a home for him. We were the suckers who went for it. Hah) and has been a pack member ever since.


Bambi 2001/2003-2013

He was strange dog, not all that attached, but last year his hearing went, and the past year his eyes were rapidly going, too, and for the past few months he seemed to have convinced himself that he had no idea who we were and would fight us ‘till the bitter end if we so much as tried to pet him. Poor thing. So much fear, which had always been a problem for him but not this much, it was sad to see…not to mention unpleasant since we had to make his fear come true.
Yesterday afternoon we gave him a big sausage filled with sleep pills, basically had to wrestle him down until big brother had him in a headlock, and put the muzzle on him. Still he tried to bite, trying to fight us off. From the way he acted, you never would have guess that he was tranked to the limit, not even when we arrived at the vet.
They were waiting for us, and did offer to do the deed in the car, if that was more comfortable for him. It wouldn’t be, so big brother, murmuring reassurances all the time, carried him inside, and set him on the exam table.
It didn’t take long. Most of him stopped within thirty seconds of the injections, it was just his heart we had to wait for. Despite it all, it was good to see him that relaxed after such a long time, albeit terribly sad.

Tenant is still at the hospital. Again, luckily she doesn’t mind being there too much, so she coping, for the moment. We had hoped to be able to take her home today, but regretfully that wasn’t possible.

But enough depressive stuff. Let’s get the past couple days sorted out so I can go to bed. I’m totally running on fumes again. Okay…Let’s do this…Gawd. I am drawing a complete blank here. For the the life of me I can’t remember what I did today and yesterday. This is so frustrating. Okay, gotta go get my diary…

Right. Did get up early, both today and yesterday, which was hard, in particular since the evening before yesterday I didn’t manage to get to bed until after two in the morning. *sigh* Changing your daily rhythm is the pits, I tell ya. For me it means headaches and exhaustion. Always. Ah well, it’s necessary, so there really isn’t anything that I can change about it.

Breakfast at the moment is done right after the morning chores over edits, before I head on out to the vet to drop poor Knight off for the day. Poor darling is spending way too much time there now. I bring him in the morning and pick him up in the evening, which is getting harder every time because he hates it so much. Seriously, this morning was worse than ever since yesterday they tried something new. They took off his collar cone and put a muzzle on him so they wouldn’t have to put bandage on him and let the wound heal faster. Didn’t work. I could have told them that, but what the hey. They went out for lunch at three, only to come back to Knight minus the muzzle, licking his paw. *sigh*
But anyway, the muzzle debacle left such an impression that he got to be downright nasty this morning when I brought him to the back where he was supposed to stay for the rest of the day. Scratched my arm open before I got firm with him and told him to lie the f**k down and be quiet. He did, looking miserable all the while. If all goes well, this was the last time he had to stay.
Poor, poor darling, in particular since today Paqui shared her concern with me about his paw. Apparently she hears a grinding sound when she handles his paw, and if she didn’t know better she’d think his bones are shattered. That would be really bad. If not impossible, since he is walking on it. I can’t imagine that it’s shattered. I mean, how would it get that way, for crying out loud?
Gawd, we’ll have to see what the x-ray says.

Did catch a semi-nap yesterday afternoon, which was, quality wise, very unimpressive. If I dropped off for more than fifteen minutes it was a lot. Didn’t help much either. Hah.

Sally is doing marginally better. She answers when you talk to her, actually interacts and listens to what is going on, and yesterday she even asked to help cutting veggies for supper. I call that progress to say the least.

Supper involved potato veggie salad both yesterday and today. It was easy, nourishing, and…well, I didn’t feel like cooking. Hah.

As for the bathroom. The boiler is hanging there, the plumbing is working, and the walls are covered. With a little luck Sally and Tenant can shower there on Monday. I gotta say it doesn’t look all that bad. Very eighties, if that means anything to you. Hah. It also has a bit of a public camping ground idea to it, which isn’t a bad thing, necessarily. I should not forget to take a few pictures.

We have once again come on a crossing point in writing, where we’re going to have to make a tough decision writing wise. Either we take a chance with a “maybe, if you do this” opportunity with a publisher, or continue working on Earth Drawn, the non-romantic novel. We’d have about six months to take a rather big risk. It is a difficult choice, in particular since it would mean fundamental changes to a story that is very close to my heart. I haven’t made a decision yet, heck, I haven’t even spoken about it with friends and family (so hard to do that because you get the “you should do it” or the “how dare they” response, which doesn’t help at all) only big brother who says we should take the chance because at least it is some feedback. But for him it is just altering stuff, while for me it is messing with one of my babies. The only way I can see myself do this is basically rewriting the story and starting the characters from scratch. I liked those characters the way they were, darn it. Innocent, kind, sweet, only to have that called unrealistic, not gritty enough, and to “unflawed”. I can get the gritty part in most cases, I like gritty as much as the next person, but that was not the point of this story.
The only plus from the whole thing is that no one has complained about my writing style, or grammar, which was always my biggest concern. This is more about taste, and what is sellable. I get it, it’s just that it’s a daunting task with absolutely not guarantees. I need to give this some serious thought before I make a decision.
I think my biggest issue is that I don’t so much want to publish “a book” but that I want to be “a writer” because I love creating worlds, any world.
*sigh*

I’ll let you know what I decide.

Finally managed to get some cleaning done in my cabin. Put away clean laundry, swept the floors, cleaned my sheets and all those little luxuries that make sleep so very pleasant. Hah.

We were out for a donation again, of course, so we were kept nicely busy loading and unloading…speaking of unloading, tomorrow is market day. Yep. Our first evening market, where I’ll be heading for the hospital as soon as we’ve got our stand set up. It’ll be late, but I don’t think Tenant will mind being kept from sleep for a bit. Let’s see how the evening goes, shall we. The weather will be pleasant, according to the predictions. We’ll see.

Well, it’s half past eleven, so it’s time for me to call it a day.

What the heck

Song of the day: “Rotterdam” by the Beautiful South.

Didn’t get to bed until four on Friday night, so it was a bit of a short night, all things considered.

Lucky for Sally she only had to stay the night in hospital, not so lucky for Sally we were one car short and couldn’t pick her up from the hospital, meaning that she had to be brought home by an ambulance, which took all day. Lucky for Sally, when asked how the ride was, she answered blithely, “oh, very short” So all was well in Sally’s world. Phew. Due to her behavior today, we are starting to suspect that she might be this way due to her medication. Something that happened this weekend (I’ll get to that later) made me wonder, so we’re going to check that out. It just ain’t right that she’s acting so completely uncooperative. I’ll let you know how it worked out.

No market this Saturday, so in that regard everyone had a day off…not that there was much off involved, but what the hey it’s the thought that counts.

Every free minute was spent working on the new bathroom, which is slowly, but steadily, coming to completion. We’ll need at least two more days (let’s hope we can get those one of these days) but then the ladies should be able to shower just fine.

Cooking was basically only something we had time for on Saturday, meaning yellow zucchini, a fresh tomato sauce and spaghetti. It was delicious, and did the trick the next day too. Today, I regretfully forgot lunch, so luckily I ate meat yesterday (good Sammie…in case you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to work with positive reinforcement here. If I say that often enough, I might end up liking the stuff…I hope…it’s not working yet. Hah) which made up for some of the lack of nutritional stuff today.

Then yesterday the next disaster struck, grandpa was feeling rather poorly so we went to the village to see his doctor. There wasn’t all that much he could do, only prescribe some stuff, one of which was a painkiller he took round the time we got home. We did some work on the bathroom, and then after grandpa had gone inside to have his lunch, he began to complain that he couldn’t get his dentures in…which was when we discovered that his tongue had swollen to about twice its normal size. We scrambled a little, called the doctor if he could be having an allergic to something. It was very rare, but to be sure we’d better get him some prednisone. We have those, the injectable kind for the dogs, and injected him with the stuff. It didn’t appear to be helping, and his tongue swelled to three times the size, so we packed him up in the car and drove him to the small emergency hospital in town. He was immediately put on a drip with more prednisone. The doctor there immediately started clucking that he wasn’t supposed to take the medication he’d received and basically told us to toss the box asap. Spent about three hours at the ER *sigh* but grandpa quickly recovered and was allowed to go home. Gawd, that was a big scare.

Only got a modicum of editing done, regretfully, and even less writing. Grrrr. How one earth am I going to get this friggin’ book finished if so much keeps getting in the way, huh.

Added to that, big brother and I have been busy printing pamphlets for my photography, but also for construction, because let’s face it, the way things are going we’re going to have to find a way to supplement our funds soon.

Had to get up early while big brother went to the village to pick up the nurse who would take care of tenant and Sally this morning. Tenant was already ready in her bed, but Sally hadn’t prepared at all, so I had to do that while the nurse took care of tenant, and then turned up once I’d put her in clean clothes. It wasn’t easy, I tell ya. Luckily her wounds are doing a lot better.

Knight’s friggin’ paw is doing poorly, still swollen, so keeping it clean and drenched in iodine, I managed to hold out ‘till this morning before bringing him to the vet. (Otherwise you pay double the fee, ya know) Did exactly that, and the paw hadn’t improved yet. The vet insisted on keeping him there, which I couldn’t really agree with because the last time I had to leave him there for several days, he ended up with a two week depression afterward, darn it. So in the end we agreed he’d stay there during the day, and I would pick him up for the nights. It will have to do. He was indeed psyched when I came to pick him up, took him for a walk, then waited for a bit while they prepared to put a new pressure bandage on his paw.

In-between when I came home from dropping Knight off, only to drive off again with Jane this time, who had to get home after taking care of tenant this morning. Dropped her off at the village, rushed back home to discover that tenant wasn’t feeling well at all. Gave her a bit of anti-nausea medication, and then went down to try and get a little work done while caregiver took care of tenant.

Turns out tenant had a fever, so once again we had to call the ambulance, and despite the fact that some paracetemol brought her fever down a little, it was decided that she would have to be checked out at the hospital. Another urine tract infection, of course, so that means she’s going to have to spend a few days at the hospital again. Aaaaargh.

Spent the majority of the day diverting attention between Sally who needed care, writing, and working on the bathroom…then we had to go pick up Knight, and caregiver who had managed to catch a bus at the hospital and was already halfway home where we could pick her up. Also had to get some plumbing supplies at the hardware store, but regretfully didn’t get home until ten. *sigh*

Which brings us to the end of the today’s blog. I need to drop Knight off at the vet again, then head straight on to the hospital to look in on tenant, and then, maybe, just maybe I’ll manage a bit more work on the book.

Whacky dream again

Song of the day: “Disturbia” by Rihanna. Nicely whacky song, and it has been stuck in my head for several hours, thank you very much.

It’s been a somewhat strange weekend, at least out of the ordinary since there was no market day for me. That will be next week where the Funny Beach market will be on Saturday night for the next two months or so. Good. I love the evening market. It leaves the day free for other, more important stuff…or in this case, loading. Hah.

Had a rather wonky dream about driving down a country road in the Land Rover, and then when I rounded a curve, there was this steep moss covered incline with two massive trees growing against it. They were majestic and curved in elegant arches on their way up into the golden sunlight. They were gorgeous, I tell you…and the best part was on a small terrace somewhere mid-height, this cute little house was built. It was really like one of those old rounded buildings with black beams crisscrossing through salmon-colored plaster, and a thatched roof.
Then suddenly, I heard the sound of an engine from around the curb. The next moment a small-ish woman in black Mary-Janes dark blue skirt, and a maroon cardigan over a fluffy white blouse. She was wearing a dark blue helmet, and sat on a bright cherry red moped that sounded way too loud for its type. The lady drove right past us, chin up, shoulders back, and seemed to be heading straight for the steep incline.
I could only stare, and yes, while I watched, she pulled the steer up, rearing the moped like a horse and started driving right up the incline. Up and up she went, literally vertical then, and when she reached the terrace went right on, taking the moped to air. I was quite stunned, despite the fact that by then I was starting to suspect I was dreaming. Hah. She flew right off.
Then, we were driving away, and I was all frustrated because I wanted to take a picture of the trees, but we rounded a curve, and then the beauty of the shot seemed to be gone, and I woke up all frustrated because I hadn’t been able to get that shot.
I don’t understand why it stayed with me when I was awake either, since I would not have been able to actually have the picture, you know. Hah.

But anyway, the past couple of days involved working on the new bathroom, of course. The floor is completely in, two walls, the tab and despite the fact that today was ridiculously busy, we did manage to do a bit more for it.

This morning was most unpleasant for Caregiver and grandpa who had to take both tenant and Sally to the health center. Sally is doing so bad at the moment, that she’s practically unmanageable. Angry, stubborn, and making things worse for herself by doing things against doctor’s orders that do nothing to improve her health. Regretfully she has stuff so stuck in her head, she won’t be swayed. Added to that, tenant wasn’t in the best of moods either, and she was resentful for having to wait for Sally. Those two don’t get along well at the moment.

There was of course writing this weekend. Almost got the manuscript up to 50,000 words now. Yay.

Laundry, feeding the dogs, cooking and all that glamorous stuff got done as usual, and I worried somewhat fierce yesterday about Knight, who decided to develop a fever. I didn’t like the look of him yesterday morning, a somewhat pale impression, if you know what I mean, so I checked his bandage, his stitches, but couldn’t find anything despite the fact that he had a fever.

This morning was an early start for us as well, since the car had to be brought to the garage. Dropped it off there on the dot (had Knight along because I had to go to the vet straight after. Fever was still there), told them of the trouble, and left our little darling for repairs. *sigh* It’s going to be expensive, I’m sure.

Went to the vet, but she wasn’t there, regretfully. And I didn’t have time to wait due to that appointment of Sally and tenant. So I went home…and discovered about an hour later that Knight’s paw was about double the size. Called the vet and she promised me she would see us at five…arrived there on time, and she couldn’t find anything wrong, so it is one of those freak things. They applied this big pressure bandage, so he looks even more wonky than usual now. *sigh* Poor darling.

That’s about it. I’m sure I’m missing one or two events, but who cares, right? Time to go to bed because I have to be up tomorrow to go to the bank and town hall to pay taxes. Little brother will be going along, since he wants to open one at my bank too, so I’m guessing that it will take a bit of time. Darn it. Time. If only we had more of it. *sigh*

Gotta go.

Vaccination stuff

Song of the day: "Dream a little dream" by the Beautiful South. Love this song, and I have it my head a lot, but I don't mind.

So, yesterday was vaccination day, meaning we rushed through the morning rituals, fed the dogs quick as possible, and then waited for the vet to arrive. It went on without a hitch, and we did the whole vaccination bit in no time at all. Went well, we'd prepared properly, the vet was relaxed, and we processed the lot, and had her quickly check those we thought who might not be in a well enough state for their shots. In the end she decided that the shots wouldn't harm them, so we got them all done, as planned.

Here are a few shots throughout the thing. I didn't do them all, don't worry. Hah
The Vet. Paqui Torrico from the veterinary in the village. She was nice enough to pose for me.

The poor four-legged ones waiting for the vet.

The intended spot of the coming event...regretfully it didn't work out that way. Hah.

Tiny Atma went first, trying to be brave, and managing really well. I was afraid she would scream instead.

Olivier, looking as if he's going to be slaughtered, naturally.

Chamea, all brave with big brother right behind her.

Tadaika, aware that something is going to happen, and wary of it.

Ama, giving moral support to Sita III. She didn't like it.

"Okay, they've killed me, I'm sure of it" Tammi seemed to think. *sigh*

I had little Manni on here as well, but he was acting like an energy bunny once again, and disappeared from view the moment I took the shot.

She also looked at Knight II's ear, but it looks like she's going to have to add another stitch, or two, but it will be tomorrow.

Did some writing, of course, both today and yesterday. Along with edits of the stuff that Big Brother already worked his way through. It took several hours, but it had to be done. Had to go to the veggie center, yesterday and today, in particular because yesterday there wasn't enough for more than one dog meal. *sigh* Luckily we got a good batch today.

Today was Spanish lesson day of course, meaning we got up a little early this morning so we'd have some time to practice our Spanish before leaving. Arrived only a few minutes late, more because I forgot to check my watch along the way. No matter, though. Got there, did our lessons, and then made an appointment for next week where we'll meet after lessons with the lady who is willing to pose for me, and our teacher and her daughter, which should make for an interesting session at the very least. Let's hope nothing gets between that...and that the car will be back around that time. *sigh*

After lessons big brother and I went up to the hospital to see tenant, and hopefully take her home, but regretfully her infection hasn't been brought under control yet, so she has to stay another day...maybe even too. She was a bit down from the news, but it couldn't be helped. She's hanging in there.

There was cooking to be done, ratatouille with patties yesterday, and chili with bread today. Went down just fine, thank you very much. Didn't have time to do anything in the kitchen, heck, didn't have much time for anything, but what the hey. Well, this will just have to be a short blog, because I am going to call it a day.

Pic update

Song of the day: “Grenade” by Bruno Mars. Embarrassingly I am still a sucker for romantic songs. Hah.

So another weekend over and done with, right? Lots has happened, and just because of that I’m going to do a bit of a picture blog to boot.
I got several folks to pose for me, and since a couple of them have their own sites, I figure I do some networking and help them out by posting their links right here for y’all to see.

First Lynn, who organizes the market. So pretty, but terribly shy. Like me she prefers to be behind the camera, rather than in front of it. First she only wanted to be on it with cousin Ed, but then I explained that I really wanted a portrait, at which points she got all self conscious. So we laughed some, talked a bit, and then, in a moment of relaxation I shot this one.

It shows off her splendid smile, eh? If I ever get her to pose properly, I’m going to do her more justice, though.

Then there is this lady, who I’d really would have liked to make a portrait off, but when I explained what I wanted, she was adamant that I couldn’t do a facial shot, only of her with her products, and her cause.
So hereby…

And the link to her cause. http://mujeresenlasveredas.blogspot.com.es/ Apparently it is some sort of effort by (mostly) women who head on up in the mountains to open up old paths for hikers, and re-educate them about the flora and fauna of the area, and letting folks find pleasure in walking the paths that folks walked for necessity in the past. Sounds like fun, and if I actually had time for such things, I’d probably join up occasionally. Hah.

Then there is Monty Monteros who sings Spanish flamencos, some pop and basically entertains the folks at Funny beach, always ready with this big grin. Here’s a pic.

He didn’t mind posing at all. Makes all too clear why his chosen profession is performing, right? Being able to pose without a prob is an excellent talent then. Hah.
And his link is. http://www.montymontero.com so if you’re in need of an entertainer at a party, or some such in the Marbella area, he’s the one you have to contact.

Alright, enough advertising. I picked several of the portraits of the market for the Photoblog, but some will do splendid over here. So here we go.

The stand:

One of our fellow stand holders, who was kind enough to pose for me. Maria Carmen

So kind always, and talking a mile a minute, whether I understand her or not. Hah. I took a rather great pic of her mum, who’s in her nineties, nearly completely blind, but proud as a fiddle that she’s allowed to go along to the market. She really enjoys it, and gotall aflutter when I asked her to pose. She’ll be going up on the photoblog, so you’ll see soon.

Also this cutie, the kid of a young couple who were nice enough to let me take a pic or two. She was smiling soooooo sweetly.

Market wise the day was a bust. The only thing that saved our earnings was an order for three yoga mats at the end of the day, which need to be delivered two weeks from yesterday…which is fine. We’ll be there anyway. If I understood it right, the guy wanted them for the loft playroom he has for his grandchildren, which they are perfect for, naturally. Hah.

Did get some writing done, and some reading. Had planned on a dip, but didn’t go for it since it turned out that the weather was turning. Twice during the course of the day, a strange fog came rolling in from the sea. A Stephen King moment waiting to happen, I tell ya. Hah. Had some nice chats, and the day passed fast as you please. Was friggin’ starving at the end, an oftentimes occurrence these past few days…which reminds me that I should still mention Saturday.

I slept terribly. I mean it. I was out like a light, woke up at five and then was unable to fall back to sleep. Grrrr. Added to that, when I came up it turned out that grandpa was sick and wasn’t able to do any of the preparations he usually does. Like bake pancakes. Meaning no breakfast, and what’s worse, I had not time to make anything for lunch either. Meaning I was starving twice in a row. *sigh* (Poor Sammie)

I also had shots of the other the market but it’s getting late so I’m not going to put them up. Let’s just say I took some really nice shots, a few of which were these. LOL
The rest I’m keeping for the photo blog. *winks*

Our neighbors.

Very well…had low sales there, which is partly due to the fact that the weather was just too nice for people to bother with the market when the sea was only a few hundred yards away. *sigh* Didn’t mean that I didn’t have some nice chats with folks, or that mom and little brother turned up with the money purse I forgot in the mess of the morning.

Afterward we did have to do a pick up, and then, once home, there was the potato veggie salad to put together…which wasn’t half as nice as big brother’s mac & cheese that was waiting for us when we got home after seven in the afternoon yesterday. Hah.

A bit of good news for today was that tenant finally agreed to let me help her onto the toilet. Yep. The first time in months, which is one step on the way back to recovery, at least. Went really well, meaning that I can actually help her more if she keeps it up, freeing some of caregiver’s time now that Sally needs so much help…Sally being terribly confused still, mixing up locations from the past, events, not to mention things that haven’t actually happened at all, just in her head. It is rather disturbing. If she gets any worse, we’re going to have to make sure that the gates are locked, or else she might head out thinking she needs to be somewhere. A scary thought, what with the busy road up there.

Today was a busy one, once more. You know, right, the chores, the dogs (had to take Sitabah back to the vet, and Tadaika too, who had a swollen toe, which we feared was broken). Knight II’s ear is on the mend, but he’s making a pest of himself by constantly trying to get rid of his cone collar, the sneaky eejit. He was bleeding somewhat fierce yesterday. Definite plusses of the day would be that I managed to wrap my teeth around a small piece of meat (good Sammie) and practiced my Spanish.

Well, this is it for me today. Time to start getting ready for bed.

4 in one

Song of the day: “Coconut” by Larry Nilsson. Awesome song, right.

Now how on earth am I going to get four friggin’ days into a single blog, for crying out loud. I’m just going to have to hit the highlights and leave it at that, what do you think?

Well, like I mentioned the last time, there was the whole tie dye session. Yep. Treated about fifteen items of clothing, which improved on our slowly dwindling selection somewhat at least. Had some really nice specimens this time round…and I ended up seriously sunburned for my efforts. Added to that we spent at least an hour in the yard, taking out a field of broccoli because disaster struck the evening before.

Did I mention that before, or did I forget? Well, whatever the case, the tap of the basin didn’t close, meaning we lost our entire supply during the night. Aaaaargh. You should have heard big brother swear a blue streak. I didn’t know what was wrong, of course, so I pretty much ignored it until he came up to tell me. I did my own swearing then. Hah. But anyway, due to that we headed out into the yard the next morning to yank out anything that was excess in the garden. Got a nice big batch of broccoli plants that we’ve steadily been mixing through the dog food ever since.

Also, since the whole thing with the pie for middle sister’s birthday went wrong (I’d given it to mom to give it to her, only to have the dogs eat it, grrr) I decided to make her a top. I’d planned one for her, but when she came up I of course let her look through the lot to pick one herself…I found it tremendously funny that she picked the one I’d done with her in mind. Another one I gave to little sister, there was this tiny little hole in the side that made it impossible for me to sell it. I think she liked it, so it was an excellent solution.

There was a session of making patties, which took me a couple of hours. Again the three basic flavors, beans, chickpeas and lentils. Had about ninety of them, which explains for the time, doesn’t it? Got the packing down pat now, though. Works too, since those of last week unwrapped perfectly when I used them for supper the other day.
Though I made a small error salt-wise they didn’t do bad at the market this Sunday. Sold ten patties again, paying for the expenses, and had several requests for my sauces. Am going to have to think of something for that. This was the first time that I only took a little along, and yet there were three or four people who wanted the sauce with the patties.

Sent Saving Nina out queries to a couple of publishers. We needed a break from the editing before we start on the last round, so we decided to start on a last round of sending it out. Gawd, sometimes I think about what it would be like, to have a publisher, or whatever, interested for real and then being able to resume working on the series, because let’s face it, not only are the four wips just begging for attention, there are two more stories in the series somewhere in the back burner of my mind demanding for a voice. *sigh* If only, if only.
Sent out another package this very morning. Can’t know what the answer will be until you ask, so you have to ask.

Bad thing that happened was that Ollie, tenant’s dog somehow ended up outside when I got there with my dogs, and he got grabbed pretty bad. The disadvantage of him being tiny and my big ones, Knight, Sitabah and pesky little Dax is that whenever I got one off, the others would pounce enthusiastically. Ended up with Knight held by the scruff of his neck, Sitabah kicked aside with the flat of my foot, and Cousin Ed scooping Ollie up before they ripped him apart. Phew. Stuff like that gets your adrenaline flowing for sure. Luckily he didn’t have any major holes or tears, so all is relatively well.
Didn’t need to do the Saturday market this week, and considering Cousin Ed and big brother loaded the car for Sunday while I was making the patties, was able to focus properly on my task of the evening.

Sunday market day started a little on the late side for us. Not because we got up late, or anything, nope, it was because the preparation of the taster patties took longer than expected. Luckily we’ve got the unloading down pat these days, meaning we were set up proper at 11. Had quite a bit of takers for the taster patties, chatted with folks, but didn’t have time to write because in the middle of the day we got a call from home telling us that Sally had a massive infection on her leg and that big brother was driving her to the hospital. That meant that Cousin Ed had to leave to help her out at the ER while big brother joined me, and later helped me pack up for the day…I burnt even more skin there, seeing as I was wearing a sleeveless, and stood in the full sunshine most of the day. It was wonderful. There was a cool breeze from the sea, so my day was swell.

Luckily, Sally didn’t need to be admitted. Instead they did tests, took photos and allowed her to go home at the end of the day…more or less by the time big brother and I went home and started unloading. Since big brother offered to do the cooking, I was able to take a couple of minutes in my room to put up my feet. That was so nice. Seriously, the blood was pounding for several minutes, and then slowly subsided. Such a relief that.

Four nights in a row now, I have not slept enough, nor well, in the case of Saturday onto Sunday. Hardly slept a wink that night, in fact, which didn’t do me well by the time we got back. Was friggin’ ass tired at the end of the day.

Grandpa finished grouting the pool, and filled it up yesterday. Now if only the mornings start being a little less nippy, I might actually get around to taking a dip, for crying out loud. It would be so nice to wake up like that again.

There were the normal chores of course. Laundry, cleaning, feeding the dogs. Nothing all that fascinating, as you know. Heck, at the moment I can’t even complain about edits, since we’re not doing one at the moment. Don’t you just hate that limbo time between two edits. They pass way slow.

Cooking was all about rice and red beets today. Worked out well too. I love beets baked in cheese. It’s the best way to eat the darn things.

Practiced a little with tenant. Not much, though, considering she is complaining about exhaustion. Lots of folks don’t seem to understand that doing less only makes things worse. If you chip away at your abilities bit by bit for long periods of time, you’re going to end up with less ability. That is fact.

Had to take Sonia to the vet again. She’s doing poorly. She’s bloaty, losing gas, and is once again constantly going through her hind legs. The vet is not entirely sure about the cause. At least not without a battery of tests. Instead she suggested an anti inflammatory, which seems to do it’s thing a little tonight. Pool Sonia.

Then tonight when we got back from a small donation, we unloaded, at which point big brother closed the door and had Dax scream at the top of hi lungs. Poor darling. Once again he lost a small strip of his ear. *sigh*

Gawd, I can’t keep my eyes open anymore. Looks like my bad four days caught up with me.
And here I had wanted do some Spanish tonight. Grrr. Gotta go.

"Things"

Song of the day: “Things” by (originally anyway) Dean Martin and Nancy Sinatra. My head is alternating between that one and the one Robbie Williams did with Jane Harrick’s. Both are awesome.

Bad news first. Sonia, big brother’s Cocker Spaniel is not well as of yesterday. She didn’t get up during the course of the evening, was shaking, and when she finally did get up, she went straight through her legs, held her head at an odd angle, and seemed unable to hear us. This morning, it was only worse, so we left early and went right over to the hospital. The vet is ambivalent between a problem that can be caused by ticks, and a hernia of sorts, something for which she prescribed antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory. I doubt this is it. In fact, I think she either had a spike in fever, or had some sort of stroke, but who am I, right?
Anyway, she’s not actually doing better now, but also not worse, so we’re just going to have to wait and see how it goes. We have agreed, however, that if she gets worse, we’re not going to drag this out for her. She’s and old girl, and she deserves to go without long days filled with pain, and with some dignity.

But alright. Time to get to yesterday. I woke on the late side, partly due to the fact that I’m constantly busy on the computer until way too late. It didn’t help that it was a restless night, with Knight II constantly pushing himself up against me. He is such a baby.

Had a wonderful panic attach that lasted through most of the day, yesterday. It’s been a while since I had that. Heck, except for the few incidents, it’s been years, in fact. I can’t say I liked it. From sheer frustration I decided to pound the kickboxing bag for a few minutes, to get rid of some of the tension at least. It calmed me down a little, at least.

I see you wondering. What the heck’s she been worrying about? I don’t really know, actually. The usual, maybe. Getting on in years and still not having achieved some of my goals? Could be. Money toils? Heck, who hasn’t got those. No reason to get a panic attack about that, darn it. The dogs getting on in years? Sure. But I worry ‘bout that a lot, and try to be realistic about that by seeing it as a good thing that the pack is slowly getting to be less in numbers. Let’s face it, if finances get worse, it is not a good idea to have as many dogs as we used to. I have to remind myself that it is a good thing that they are passing on, in particular since they have all led a wonderfully full life, and enjoyed it to the fullest…on the most part. No. this is not a good reason to have a panic attack either. I’m just going to dismiss is it as silly fears that have no place bothering me at this point in my life. I am doing the best I can, in the only way I know how, and that is all anyone can ever do. Right?

Had to go out for a small donation yesterday (that was after the usual chores, of course) and go over to a specific bazaar where we needed to get clamps for mom’s market stand. You know what I mean, right? One of those metal contraptions with fabric over it? All very professional, and most likely giving a rather quaint image. Hah. We’ll see how it goes on Saturday, when big brother and I use it in town for the new market we’re going to be trying out…if all goes as planned. We still have to hear from the person who owns the spot how and when we can use it.

Tomorrow, or the day after is going to be busy for me. I’ll be doing some experimenting in the kitchen. First of, I need to make that pumpkin chutney for Sunday. The lady who really liked it basically ordered a pot (let’s hope she turns up), and I’m going to try some others out as well. You never know, I might be onto something here. I’m going to try to just experiment and see if there is a market for it.

Had a talk with Sally yesterday. She’s having her ups and downs, being bothered by all sorts of discomforts, and is understandably concerned. There’s very painful cramping, for which we decided to try alcohol free beer. Since cramping is mostly caused by shortages in calcium (which she should have more than enough of due to milk products) and magnesium, it won’t hurt to try. Added to that, since grandpa is now regulating her medication (she can’t keep track of it herself anymore) he noticed that she is holding back on painkillers. It worried us a little, but she volunteered an explanation by telling me that when she’s not in pain she will postpone taking it until she really needs it. Phew.

Tenant has, it seems, reverted a little to her old ways now that her family is gone. Eating is a bigger problem again. In fact, she will say that she wants to eat pieces, but then when you give it, she doesn’t finish her plate. I’m afraid we’re going to have to go back to mashing it all.

Cooking these past two days involved mashed potatoes with baked carrots and broccoli today, and chili sin carne yesterday (I know, I should have added meat, but I couldn’t make myself, darn it) which went down well with a bunch of lentil burgers. Yay. Today’s desert was yogurt with cream. Hah.

Today was Spanish lesson day, of course. It didn’t go bad, despite the fact that I slept way too little (big brother was out and about with Sonia, and once I heard she was still doing bad, I couldn’t go back to sleep anyway). Didn’t get to bed until three, and was up before nine, darn it.
But anyway, Spanish didn’t go bad. We talked with our teacher (she works on a new technique that is based on what works best for her students. It is very intuitive, and unstructured, which works for big brother and me, I think.
Were a little late arriving at her place (due to Sonia) and had Knight along. It was rather hot, so he was more than a little fussy. With a little luck I’ll be able to leave him home again next week, because he disrupts lessons quite a bit. And what with the heat, I couldn’t leave him in the car.

Summer appears to have arrived, by the way. The clouds are pretty much gone, and the temps have peaked well into the eighties. Yay. With a little luck I’ll be cleaning the pool tomorrow morning, but it’ll depend on how things work out.

Once we got home today (which was late because we had to go to town for another pickup) I was so friggin tired, I decided to take a nap and literally passed out for an hour. Seriously, when Cousin Ed called me awake, I felt like I had to drag myself out of a near coma, for crying out loud. Jeez.

Edits. I did quite a bit on the paper edit, actually. I’m almost at a quarter now, so, Yay! Which reminds me. I better wrap this up so we can get started on applying the paper changes on the computer. Gotta go.

First round!!!

Song of the day: “Gold forever” by The Wanted. It’s a little embarrassing, really. It is soooo boy band that I feel thirteen again. But anyway, despite the complete tackiness of the song, it’s cute enough to stick in my head.

So let’s get to the important stuff first. Yesterday one of the publisher packages went out in the mail. A.T.O.L. (the PNR novel), which had to go with a query letter, synopsis and the manuscript. Won’t hear anything until 12 weeks from now, but what the hey. Ya gotta start somewhere, right?

Then this morning a query letter went on the mail with A.I.L. (category romance), which has about the same time stamp on a response, if there will be any at all. So frustrating, eh, the time it takes to hear anything, and most of ‘m don’t allow for multiple submissions, so imagine how long it takes to try to sell a novel. *sigh* Such are the foibles of the poor writer. Hah.

Fun news that had me bouncing was that I got through the first round at ABNA. How’s that, eh? We worked on the pitch so long that it made it through this round at least, which is a wonderful confirmation that that was good. Yay! Was rather thrilling to go through the whole list (alphabetically) trying to find my name…and next to read the very excited “spoiler” from some palls on the discussion for a, who knew before I did. Hah. Phew. What a relief that we made it this far. Right now I can act semi-dignified, but don’t be fooled, I did some serious bouncing when I found out. Did a bunny hop through the carport and everything. Hah. I kept looking out to see what was taking big brother so long, muttering time and again, “Dude! Come on. Dude!” until about half an hour later he finally showed up and I said, semi cool, “Dude. We got through.”
Big brother: “Huh?”
Me: “We got through.”
Big brother: “Through where?” *I rolled my eyes*
Me: “The thirteenth. Saving Nina. Competition. We got through the first round.”
Big brother gets a clue, grins, and says: “Cool.”
We high five and head on over to check out the pitch one last time. Hah.
Now we’re back to…yes, you know what I’m going to say now, right? WE’LL SEE!

First let’s handle yesterday. I started the day about fifteen minutes later than usual, and then headed out to the top of the mountain to fix the sideview mirror of the Opel. Which had fallen off again, for the gazillionth time, and I couldn’t face the horror of the sibs fixing it, again, with duck tape. Seriously. Duck tape? *shivers*

There was the whole preparing session of the stuff that needed to go out in the mail, which took forever, and then, because my feet had turned to ice because of it, I went up to the storage, to help grandpa put a new constellation together for the wood stacks. The last one succumbed under the weight, so it really was time…and boy was it cold! Really. The temps have been incredibly nippy these past few weeks.

Managed to choke down some beef again *pats self on shoulder*. I think I’m starting to get used to it. At least the structure when the taste is completely smothered by satay sauce. I don’t have the gagging reflex anymore, so yay for me.

News about tenant. It’s official, she’s got a kidney stone of about nine millimeters in diameter. A painful, annoying and downright time-consuming ailment, which’s healing is being hampered by her tendency to forget to drink. Despite the fact that it is painful for her, we are vastly relieved that it is something relatively harmless now that she’s under the doctor’s care. She still is not home, though, partly because of the drinking, and partly because it hurts.

Big brother and I have been preparing for the new job. We picked up the tankless water heater yesterday afternoon, only to discover that we’re going to have to build something around the thing anyway, despite the fact that it’s an outside machine. The place where we’re installing it is in the open air, and bugs are always looking for a spot to crawl and nest into. Since we were in the village anyway, we also picked up the fixed chainsaw. The young man working there warned that we should be careful with it, because it was difficult for him to get parts for this particular brand.

Finished writing the extra scene for V.L. I think it works, but we’ll have to edit it some, tweak it, I’m sure. We’ll see, maybe it will turn out that we’ll remove it completely again, and put something else in there after all.

Am getting too little sleep again. Just don’t manage to get to bed before two in the morning, and that isn’t smart. In particular not since we’re trying to build a rhythm of starting the days around eight in the morning. Let’s see if I can manage earlier tonight.

As to today. I was pretty much KO during the night. What with the cold I dug deep under the blankets and it was so blissfully warm that I just didn’t want to wake up. Hah.

After the morning chores and writing, big brother and I started on planning for the kitchen roof. Yay. We gathered materials, such as roof beams, plating and all that. Considering that the beams were still set in an older construction, we spent more than an hour taking that apart with tire iron and hammer, but they’re loose now, and we should be able to get some of it done by tomorrow.

But then, I also need to take Knight II to the vet, because I don’t like how his ear looks. The swelling appears to be worse again, so I want the vet to look at that. Poor darling is really pained by it, and I don’t like it.

Had to head on out to the job site today to check what all we’d need to install the water heater, including its protection. It should be doable, considering the old one is of the same brand and has all the same connections. It’ll be interesting to see how fast we can do it, in particular since the owner would like us to work on her trees a bit as well, if at all possible within the day. Another we’ll see moment there.

As for what else we did today…well, there was a quick trip to town, which included running into the store to get some French bread for the pumpkin soup Cousin Ed offered to make for supper because I didn’t have time.

Which brings me to the end of today’s blog, really, considering that for the life of me I can’t remember what else we did today. *sigh* What on earth is wrong with my memory, darn it. You’d think that there were enough brain cells left for me to remember two friggin’ days. Hah.

Project pics

Song of the day: "I hope you dance" by Leann Womack. Splendid song to have tumbling through your head, thank you very much.

Today was utterly boring. Was in the car most of the day, went to town twice, and the village too, so let's do something fun and do a pic update. Yay!

The project.

Day one:
Clearing the ground and starting on the pillar.


Pillar done. Cute, right?


Day two:
Doing the woodwork at home.


Day three:
Putting the beam up.


Then the whole lot.


Day four:
Putting on the ceramic plating.


And then pouring the first layer.


Day five:
Putting on the mold.


Pouring the floor and smoothening it.


Day six:
Et voila! There was a massive cleanup involved on this one


Day seven:
The future terrace. Digging out the square and pouring a layer of concrete.


Day eight:
Putting in the tiles. Only managed halfway due to planning bits that took more time than anticipated. Killed my knees despite the pillow. Hah.


Day nine:
*sigh* This was yesterday, where we finished the project and cleaned the whole lot up. Long day, yet not as long as I feared.


To be on the safe side we'd taken an extra load of sand but luckily we didn't need it.

I kinda like the end result. Very rustic, fitted in a way that makes it seem like it's been there always, which is the best thing of construction for as far as I'm concerned. On the most part I even like to use 2nd hand materials that date back to the same time as when the building was constructed, but you can't have everything, I guess. Hah.


What do you think? He makes it look like art, doesn't he? Hah.


Well, that's that. Not a bad job, I gotta say. Nothing like standing there at the end of it and seeing what it turned into. Went back a gazillion times to check that we got all the tools, all the mess, but you just never know if you missed something. We'll find out, I'm sure.

What else? Well, Knight II went to the vet today, and she declared that I was no longer under any obligation to bring him. What's left of the wound will just take time, and until it is completely shut, he'll have to continue carrying the sock. *sigh* The bugger got rid of one yesterday and within half an hour he had licked up blood again. I could strangle that dog sometimes. *sob* It'll take time, according to the vet, and regretfully he'll make sure that it'll take as long as possible. Grrr. It's a good thing I love him to pieces, otherwise I might strangle him. Hah.

Manni, little sister's Cocker Spaniel had to be operated on his underdeveloped eye today. Poor doggie had an infection (we were warned for that when little sister adopted him with the bad eye)that made the eye bug, so it had to be removed.

There was cooking, there was laundry, there was editing and writing to be done and dogs to pet. I know, fascinating, right? No matter, though. Such is life as I know it, and I better darn well enjoy it.

Well, this should suffice for today's blog, right?

Down for the count

Song of the day: “Bruises” again, by Train and Ashley Munroe. Cute song, but since I’m a bit feverish, it comes across as a bit freaky.

Not a good day, and I am not in a good mood at this particular moment. I am still sick, and so is Knight II, who’s at the moment in a worse state then me. He’s got a fever, hasn’t eaten in three days now, and, well, let’s just say I’m pretty worried. The fact that I’m sick as a dog myself, and not all that clear in the head, makes that I’m having some serious emotional shit going on with the trouble about Knight. He might very well just have some sort of doggie flu, and nothing scary, the way my feverish mind is imagining.

Sally is going to be staying in the hospital for the next few days. At least until Monday because her bacterial infection is severe enough for her to need observation, and treatment for that long.

As to yesterday, big brother and I spent the day up in the mountains, tiling underneath the balcony we built. It was cold over there, windy, and the day was really too short to finish it in one day. By the time the day drew to an end, we were over half, but I’d done three tiles wrong, meaning I had to take those out again, and start over before we gave up half an hour before twilight.

At that time we had to rush, because Knight II really wasn’t well by then, and I wanted to visit the vet. They couldn’t find anything wrong, and when we got into the car, he ate a piece of bread at least. But it didn’t improve, and this morning I took him to the vet again, only to have his antibiotics changed. Now, in the evening, he has a temperature going up and down. He’s still shivering and I…well, I want him to get the heck better, darn it. I don’t like him like this at all. Earlier he startled awake from dozing, jumped up and basically ran off, backwards, of all things. Poor darling.

Today, despite the illness, and having been to the vet, I did very little…I’ve decided to focus on getting well first (well, with Knight) because I’m not worth carp like this.
Signing off.

An emergency.

Song of the day: “Painters” by Jewel. Don’t think I’ve ever had this for a song of the day.

So yeah, I’m bushed again. It’s been a long day that started at seven thirty so we could load up the Land Rover for the balcony job. It took us some odd three hours to get everything in and tied up, which, along with the fact that we had to stop at the gas station to inflate our tires, made us more than half an hour late.

Had a big load, meaning we had to drive extremely slow all the way because the trailer was so heavy. Was a bit iffy going up the narrow mountain road, which was muddy and covered with rocks in various spots. The good news is we managed to reach the goal of the day, so it was a good one, despite the fact that while were loading up in the morning and after three in the afternoon the temps were abysmal, mostly due to the icy wind from the north. Seriously, I had my turtleneck up to my ears in an attempt keep warm.

But anyway, I hauled bricks today, lots of them, (while big brother did the measuring and such) hauled and shoveled sand, hauled cement, and hauled wooden beams, did masonry and did carpentry. But all in all, my day was mostly about hauling. Hah. Good exercise. It’s looking good, though. The wooden beams are in place, the holes that big brother cut are closed around the wood, and we cleaned up the mess we created. The evening was ended with unloading the trailer of sand and the last bit of bricks.

We didn’t finish until after nightfall, and then we had to hurry to make it to the village in time to get to the vet before closing time. Managed just barely. She’d already closed up, but when I knocked she opened up and said it was fine to get Knight inside so she could change his bandage. The stitches are out and we won’t have to go back until Thursday.

As for yesterday…well, that was market day, right? Not a lot of sales, but still an interesting day. Knight II was still a hit, drawing loads of attention to himself by sitting in a chair fully enjoying the sunshine we were treated to late in the morning and early afternoon. He behaved like a gentleman once more, and endured with little complaint.

Funniest part of the day were definitely these two kids of about ten years old who considered themselves to be professional dog walkers and dedicated dog lovers. They were fascinated by Knight and spent more than half an hour cooing over him, while peppering me with questions about our pack. Boy was determined that, when he grew up he was going to have three types of dogs. German Shephard, Pitbull, and Rotweiler. They were his favorites. I’m sure, because he told me no less than five times. Cute kid. Girl loved any kind, and whichever dog I mentioned from our pack, she gasped and looked blissful about. First off they offered to take Knight for a walk for me, and when I explained that he wasn’t likely to enjoy that due to his many fears, they were more than happy to accept a walk with me. Since Knight needed some exercise anyway, I figured it wouldn’t do any harm.
We walked on the beach a bit, the boy talking a mile a minute while continuing to pepper me with questions and translating for his friend, tried to jog a little so they could see Knight run (there was much disappointment when they discovered Knight doesn’t do balls, sticks, or any throwing objects for that matter) and then let them have Knight on the leash for a bit. At some point the girl decided that it was a good idea to start running with him, which almost caused Knight to have heart palpitations when he realized that I wasn’t right behind him. When I did catch up, the first thing he did was press his head into my side and shiver.
There were pictures taken, chats exchanged with the girl’s mother and grandpa, and then it was back to “the grind”…

Well, a short interruption here. Got a call from mom at the house if I could take middle sister and her Basset Hound Angie to the vet, because Angie was really sick and had a distended stomach. So we rushed to the vet, the poor Basset whimpering in the back, only to head straight for the X-rays. Twisted stomach, is what the vet called it, and Angie needed to go into surgery immediately. First was anesthetic, then a large needle in the side of her stomach where air spewed out (Angie promptly started wagging her tail at that) before we moved her on to the surgery room where I helped in-tubate, prior to us leaving for the night. Regardless what (if it was just the stomach or also the spleen) she was going to have to stay for the night. I’ll hear tomorrow how the Basset is doing, but it’s a big operation, apparently.

But anyway, where was prior to the problem. The market. Well, I had lots of nice chats. I spoke with a Spanish man (he’s in real estate) who spoke English really well. Turns out he lived in the States for several years, Michigan, Utah, etc. His wife is one of the vendors at the market, and he hangs out there with their young baby girl, while their other two kids were…well, elsewhere, this time. Hmmm.

Also chatted with a young Argentinean woman, who, as it turns out, also lived in the States (Ohio) for several years while she studied chemistry. She appeared to be somewhat sad, not to mention worried, for some reason. I think times were tight. I asked her if she liked Ohio, and she said she liked it well enough. When I asked her if folks were nice over there, she said, meh, but nicer than here, anyway. Hah. By the time I (curiously) asked if she ever thought of going back to Argentina, she said she doubted it. Instead she wanted to stay in Spain, but in one of the bigger cities like Barcelona or Bilbao.
All the talking does help to pass the time, I’ll admit.

We did sell one of the big dog beds. There was some haggling, but nothing too bad, or annoying. It is all in the way it is done, I guess. The folks who had reserved that big basket, didn’t turn up, regretfully.

There was a bit of rain early in the afternoon, so we tossed everything under the tarp, and then after four the rain really hit, leaving us, and lots of the merchandise wet. Darn it. Cousin Ed spent most of today drying it all.

Had two donation trips, one of which was at a charity drug rehab center where we got overdue food that we could use for the dogs. And I spoke with a lady who wondered if we also do clearance, because she was planning to clear out her garage and wondered if we would be interested. I told her, sure and gave her my phone number. We’ll see how that goes.

Saturday was mostly about preparing to go to market. Nothing grand, nothing really interesting, which is good, because, let’s face it, it’s almost one in the morning, and the new day is rapidly approaching. It’s been a long day, thirteen of which I spent on my feet (my left one is not appreciative, by the way) hauling stuff.

We’re having another wind storm at the moment, by the way. It’s blowing light mad overhead. I better get to bed before I get blown off. Hah.