Song of the day: “Mr Rock & Roll” by Amy MacDonald. Good one to have in my head for most of the day. And while I was hanging laundry Paul Young featuring Clannad with “Both Sides Now”, which is a wonderful song that I first heard at the end of the motion picture “Switch”.
I am right on time this morning, as planned and head down to the house posthaste, so I have time for a quick dip in the pool, some breakfast and coffee, of course. Big brother and I need to head to the bank to arrange for the payment that needs to be cancelled before it is too late.
The village is busy as heck with tourists, milling about, so when we finally arrive at the bank, it is only 45 minutes ‘till closing time…a nasty side effect from living in Spain, in the villages, and even most towns, everything except the major supermarkets, is closed during the hottest hours of the day.
Luckily, the bank’s director is a nice guy, and he immediately helps us set the problem straight, and then assists big brother to set up an Internet profile so we can check his account on-line as well.
Less than an hour later, we’re back home. I take another dive, and hang laundry; head inside and start up the computer. Rather than begin on the edit the way we usually do, I take a while to work on a new scene for “Commanding Morgan” and manage to write two pages before we start on the edit.
Only an hour is left and since we get sort of stuck on a particular paragraph (seriously we got into a full-blown discussion of where the punctuation had to be, which words were more appropriate and didn’t manage to get it “just right” until forty minutes have passed. Aaargh!) but then our time for editing is up and we head outside.
First another dip in the pool. Hah. Next, I go to the carport to prepare a batch of cement for some more masonry on the wall. While little brother and sister continue with the paintjob, middle sister and I add thin layers to the top of the wall, and then finish up the last bit of cement on the fourth plant container that really needs to be finish at some point, but now only gets about eight rocks added to the whole.
Big brother and I head into the courtyard then, where we remove leftovers of the metal construction that held the roof, back in the day when we still had the entire courtyard covered up.
It takes some heavy machinery, but in the end, we get the metal away, and thus a much less cluttered area. Since we’re busy here anyway, I decide to remove some old paneling as well, and then remove the pile of towels from the pool for washing.
I’m just about done fixing the fence on top of it, when big brother decides that we’re going for a run after all.
Okay, that got me by surprise for a bit. We had planned to go, but then it turned out that the younger sibs wanted to play soccer tonight, so I had reset my mind to do without…which I now have to change again. Grrr.
But anyway, the run goes grand. I do the first stretch at the same pace as big brother, yay. And on the way back I manage to do in two quick top-speed sprints. Awesome! After about twenty minutes of stretches and other exercises we head back home where I quickly hang two more loads of laundry, try to calm down my INSANE dogs, and then head inside to have a very late dinner.
Phew. I’m a wee bit…ehm exhausted, but other than that, I would say that the day worked out just fine.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Some pics of the new banister...great edit!
Song of the day: “Sing, sing, sing” by an unknown artist, I would say, since I looked it up and got to hear the original voice that I didn’t recognize at all. Hah. But anyway, it’s a cool song, very cheerful, very SWING, so I guess that put me in a good mood.
Like yesterday I was about half an hour late waking up. Forgot to reset my alarm on my usual time, and left it where it stood. Ah well, I could use the extra sleep, so it was not necessarily a bad thing.
After the morning rituals, doing a quick cleaning of Bommel’s ears (poor bobtails, their ears are always a horror) and getting through the morning chores we have to postpone the day’s edit, and head for town instead. Yesterday we noticed that a payment was made to the Ford Ranger’s insurance, so now we head for our insurance agent to inquire after it.
Upon arrival, it turns out that it is an automatic payment and that we have to go to my bank to cancel it, while, on the other hand, the new insurance bounced for some reason, darn it, so that means that tomorrow we have to go out again to look into the matter, darn it.
It is not a huge problem, but it does eat into editing time when it really shouldn’t, darn it.
But, since we’re out anyway, we decide to drop by the supermarket to get a batch of veggies for the next few days, so with a little luck we should be able to stretch the groceries, ‘till at least Friday, and hopefully even Saturday.
Once we get home, I take a quick dip in the pool and then we dive into the edit for the next couple of hours, before the time to work outside arrives again.
The weather is still remarkably mild, all things considered; a wonderful 27 degrees and a cool sea breeze still blowing land inward. I don’t get it, but I do appreciate it. This particular effect of climate change sure helps our electric bill. Hah. Heck, during the nights it’s downright chilly.
I make a batch of cement by hand…as I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks…and for the next few hours we work on doing some touch-ups to the wall, where the fence floats. We attach the last bit of the fence to the banister and then admire the end-result since the sibs have spent their time painting the wood in the same color as the cabin and the carport.
Things are definitely starting to look great…though I gotta admit that it has a zoo-ish overall style. I swear I wouldn’t be one bit surprised at seeing a giraffe, or an elephant behind that fence. Hah.
Here, have a look/see:
The view from the pool. It's a little blurry, 'cause it was really late, but I do love the way it looks. This was prior to painting.
This is the new terrace in front of my cabin. Oh my, I can actually walk there now. It's just so...flat! Hah. Chaos in front, Bommel in the back, and Gadah on the right with Amri's butt.
Banister on the side of the tower. It may have come out a little higher than intended, thus the Zoo-like look.
Banister on the opposite side under the Mimosa tree we had to mutilate.
The short section on which we worked today. It needs to be painted still, but it's solid at least.
The small wall by my cabin. So handy to have a tap there now, and I thought the rather peculiar pattern looks quirky.
The middle of the banister. Knight II, right there in the middle, surrounded by Amos (on the right) and Planni (on the left). Our big lug!
But anyway, as we have promised ourselves, once we finish up nailing the last piece of fence to the poles, we get in the car (little sister comes along) and drive farther up the mountain to get in a quick run before the end of the day. So it’s a good run, downhill at the start and up going back, so I’m seriously out of breath when we return to the car and spend the next thirty minutes or so doing the cool down exercises.
That done, and dusk almost there, we head home in time for a late dinner that mom prepared, and watch an episode of “Bones”. It’s a rerun, but since we never saw the beginning of the show, this isn’t a bad thing for a change. I try to trim Touri’s ears, which are a disaster areas, but the cocker spaniel acts like I’m going to ritually slaughter him, so I finally release him and resign in the knowledge that I need to get tranquilizers from the vet in order to get the task done soon.
Before I know it the evening has come to an end, and I head up to my cabin. We manage a solid edit of five pages, yay! Okay, I could barely keep my eyes open, throughout the procedure, but it was grand.
By the time we bring up the day’s quota to, not five, six, or seven, which would have been grand on any day, but NINE. Count them, 9! Yay. But then it’s time to get to bed. I’m definitely feeling the full day, but that’s a good thing; it’s the ol’ bod letting me know that it gave everything it could on this day. Hah.
Like yesterday I was about half an hour late waking up. Forgot to reset my alarm on my usual time, and left it where it stood. Ah well, I could use the extra sleep, so it was not necessarily a bad thing.
After the morning rituals, doing a quick cleaning of Bommel’s ears (poor bobtails, their ears are always a horror) and getting through the morning chores we have to postpone the day’s edit, and head for town instead. Yesterday we noticed that a payment was made to the Ford Ranger’s insurance, so now we head for our insurance agent to inquire after it.
Upon arrival, it turns out that it is an automatic payment and that we have to go to my bank to cancel it, while, on the other hand, the new insurance bounced for some reason, darn it, so that means that tomorrow we have to go out again to look into the matter, darn it.
It is not a huge problem, but it does eat into editing time when it really shouldn’t, darn it.
But, since we’re out anyway, we decide to drop by the supermarket to get a batch of veggies for the next few days, so with a little luck we should be able to stretch the groceries, ‘till at least Friday, and hopefully even Saturday.
Once we get home, I take a quick dip in the pool and then we dive into the edit for the next couple of hours, before the time to work outside arrives again.
The weather is still remarkably mild, all things considered; a wonderful 27 degrees and a cool sea breeze still blowing land inward. I don’t get it, but I do appreciate it. This particular effect of climate change sure helps our electric bill. Hah. Heck, during the nights it’s downright chilly.
I make a batch of cement by hand…as I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks…and for the next few hours we work on doing some touch-ups to the wall, where the fence floats. We attach the last bit of the fence to the banister and then admire the end-result since the sibs have spent their time painting the wood in the same color as the cabin and the carport.
Things are definitely starting to look great…though I gotta admit that it has a zoo-ish overall style. I swear I wouldn’t be one bit surprised at seeing a giraffe, or an elephant behind that fence. Hah.
Here, have a look/see:
The view from the pool. It's a little blurry, 'cause it was really late, but I do love the way it looks. This was prior to painting.
This is the new terrace in front of my cabin. Oh my, I can actually walk there now. It's just so...flat! Hah. Chaos in front, Bommel in the back, and Gadah on the right with Amri's butt.
Banister on the side of the tower. It may have come out a little higher than intended, thus the Zoo-like look.
Banister on the opposite side under the Mimosa tree we had to mutilate.
The short section on which we worked today. It needs to be painted still, but it's solid at least.
The small wall by my cabin. So handy to have a tap there now, and I thought the rather peculiar pattern looks quirky.
The middle of the banister. Knight II, right there in the middle, surrounded by Amos (on the right) and Planni (on the left). Our big lug!
But anyway, as we have promised ourselves, once we finish up nailing the last piece of fence to the poles, we get in the car (little sister comes along) and drive farther up the mountain to get in a quick run before the end of the day. So it’s a good run, downhill at the start and up going back, so I’m seriously out of breath when we return to the car and spend the next thirty minutes or so doing the cool down exercises.
That done, and dusk almost there, we head home in time for a late dinner that mom prepared, and watch an episode of “Bones”. It’s a rerun, but since we never saw the beginning of the show, this isn’t a bad thing for a change. I try to trim Touri’s ears, which are a disaster areas, but the cocker spaniel acts like I’m going to ritually slaughter him, so I finally release him and resign in the knowledge that I need to get tranquilizers from the vet in order to get the task done soon.
Before I know it the evening has come to an end, and I head up to my cabin. We manage a solid edit of five pages, yay! Okay, I could barely keep my eyes open, throughout the procedure, but it was grand.
By the time we bring up the day’s quota to, not five, six, or seven, which would have been grand on any day, but NINE. Count them, 9! Yay. But then it’s time to get to bed. I’m definitely feeling the full day, but that’s a good thing; it’s the ol’ bod letting me know that it gave everything it could on this day. Hah.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Another beautiful day.
Song of the day: “Try” by Nelly Furtado. There was also another one that kept returning, but for some reason it slipped my mind during the course of the day.
I overslept at least half an hour, which wasn’t too bad considering I have been getting way too little sleep these past few weeks. I think I dreamed about “Lost” in that last half hour, but I really can’t be sure, it flittered from my mind to fast after I got up.
Once at the house, after the chores and a quick breakfast, it is time to start with the edit. For the next few hours, big brother and I delve into the manuscript of “Commanding Morgan” and manage to add another four pages to the whole. Today we tackle a complicated scene, one that requires a lot of concentration and that has my mind numb after three hours. It isn’t so much the actions in it, or even the dialogue, just the information it needs to hold, and while we go through the re-write, we’re skipping through the book constantly to verify that it is all correct.
As is usual after an edit, I am more than happy when it is time to start on today’s outside work. Some actual physical movement is always the best cure for a meltdown of the brain.
The weather is wonderful again, the sun is shining, but there is a fresh breeze still, rumbling in from the sea, and making the temperature downright pleasant. No more than thirty degrees: I really don’t know what to think about that, for this time of year. Almost as if we’re in spring time or fall.
Today I add a piece of wall for the ramp beside the stairs, making an incline that should do the trick for us later on. Next I go down to the courtyard room, in the tool room, to put the cabinet upon building blocks so the floor is free for cleaning. That done I head up to the balustrade of the terrace where grandpa, big brother and I spend the next few hours attaching fencing to the wooden structure, and adding the last bit of wood to the section beside the courtyard gate.
Bommel, the poor boy, is feeling a tad lost these days; age is getting to him, I think. He’ll be going up and down the mountain, obviously in search of me. It takes him a while, but when he does finally reaches my side, he sniffs my leg for a moment and then settles in the shadow of the carport, to snooze the afternoon away.
By the time dusk arrives, I’ve got sawdust all over my body, orange paint on my arms and hands, but it is looking mighty fine, if I do say so myself. The dogs are a tad restless today, and I have to keep an extra eye on Knight II all day. He’s got something up his craw, that’s a fact. I can’t explain why, either, it’s just a little strange.
A quick in the pool follows...rather nice after all the dust and paint stuff.
Dinner consists out of pasta and sauce with veggies on the side, which goes down really well after such a day. I’m a little weary, I’ll admit, so I’m looking forward to getting to bed soon…right after another edit, if we manage it. Hah.
I overslept at least half an hour, which wasn’t too bad considering I have been getting way too little sleep these past few weeks. I think I dreamed about “Lost” in that last half hour, but I really can’t be sure, it flittered from my mind to fast after I got up.
Once at the house, after the chores and a quick breakfast, it is time to start with the edit. For the next few hours, big brother and I delve into the manuscript of “Commanding Morgan” and manage to add another four pages to the whole. Today we tackle a complicated scene, one that requires a lot of concentration and that has my mind numb after three hours. It isn’t so much the actions in it, or even the dialogue, just the information it needs to hold, and while we go through the re-write, we’re skipping through the book constantly to verify that it is all correct.
As is usual after an edit, I am more than happy when it is time to start on today’s outside work. Some actual physical movement is always the best cure for a meltdown of the brain.
The weather is wonderful again, the sun is shining, but there is a fresh breeze still, rumbling in from the sea, and making the temperature downright pleasant. No more than thirty degrees: I really don’t know what to think about that, for this time of year. Almost as if we’re in spring time or fall.
Today I add a piece of wall for the ramp beside the stairs, making an incline that should do the trick for us later on. Next I go down to the courtyard room, in the tool room, to put the cabinet upon building blocks so the floor is free for cleaning. That done I head up to the balustrade of the terrace where grandpa, big brother and I spend the next few hours attaching fencing to the wooden structure, and adding the last bit of wood to the section beside the courtyard gate.
Bommel, the poor boy, is feeling a tad lost these days; age is getting to him, I think. He’ll be going up and down the mountain, obviously in search of me. It takes him a while, but when he does finally reaches my side, he sniffs my leg for a moment and then settles in the shadow of the carport, to snooze the afternoon away.
By the time dusk arrives, I’ve got sawdust all over my body, orange paint on my arms and hands, but it is looking mighty fine, if I do say so myself. The dogs are a tad restless today, and I have to keep an extra eye on Knight II all day. He’s got something up his craw, that’s a fact. I can’t explain why, either, it’s just a little strange.
A quick in the pool follows...rather nice after all the dust and paint stuff.
Dinner consists out of pasta and sauce with veggies on the side, which goes down really well after such a day. I’m a little weary, I’ll admit, so I’m looking forward to getting to bed soon…right after another edit, if we manage it. Hah.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
A good day, lots of stuff.
Song of the day: “Ayo Technology” by Milow…not the Justin Timberlake version. Hah.
It was an interesting day, to say the least. The monster Boxer wakes me up three hours prior to waking time, and when I throw her out into the backyard and see her bouncing up and down in front of the door, I see it: The sky is completely and utterly overcast with thick clouds that have rolled in from the sea. It’s downright chilly, so I dig out a blanket and crawl under it for the necessary remaining hours of sleep.
When it is time to get up, the clouds are still there but I doubt they’ll stick much longer, so I dress in shorts and a top suited for an average summer day. Man, do I regret that when I’ve finished my chores and sit down for the day’s edit. I’m literally freezing and realize that the temperature is as low as 23 degrees, which is outrageous for this time of year.
I pull on my workout sweats; pour myself another coffee and dive back into the edit. Our brains are numb faster than we expected, and an hour before usual we head outside where the clouds are just about to dissipate under the relentless summer sun. The wind is still remarkably fresh, however so we head on out into the yard to tackle the vines once more.
In the weeks that have passed since we last did some gardening, AKA hacking, the purple flowered vines have been raging through the bushes and trees like mad once more, creating a thick carpet all over the place that needs to be removed. It takes us about two hours to get the job done…thankfully the younger sibs decide to join in on the “fun”, so it gets done faster than I anticipated.
Next we head up to the terrace under my cabin where the ground needs to be lowered three inches, and large rocks moved partially down the mountain. Then we tackle the ground, meaning chop, shovel and moving the dirt down into the path that we’re intending to put beside the short stairs near the carport. It is starting to get there, by the time the sun is starting to lower behind the mountain, but unwilling to call it a day I get out the power tools.
I round the corners of my new banister, sand them, and then help big brother and grandpa with the new balustrade on top of the wall. It takes some sawing, painting, and drilling holes in the small metal corners where the wooden beams will be attached. We get five out of six beams up, and basically have to mutilate the mimosa tree beside it, just to get it all up, darn it. That tree was so pretty, but it will grow again, I’m sure, so it is not a disaster in the end.
After we’re done, I take a quick dip in the pool and then head inside to have a quick dinner. What with the balustrade taking so long, and then cleaning up the mess, there really isn’t any time left to do more than another quick edit.
I take a moment to trim some of Bommel’s (Bobtail) hair, since he’s able to see even less without it and then head up to my room for the evening. Beautiful lanterns now light my way as I make my way up, their light sparkling rather merrily, giving the atmosphere a somewhat picturesque appearance.
The evening is still rather cool when I arrive up at my cabin, and settle down on my porch for the remaining hours of my day.
It was an interesting day, to say the least. The monster Boxer wakes me up three hours prior to waking time, and when I throw her out into the backyard and see her bouncing up and down in front of the door, I see it: The sky is completely and utterly overcast with thick clouds that have rolled in from the sea. It’s downright chilly, so I dig out a blanket and crawl under it for the necessary remaining hours of sleep.
When it is time to get up, the clouds are still there but I doubt they’ll stick much longer, so I dress in shorts and a top suited for an average summer day. Man, do I regret that when I’ve finished my chores and sit down for the day’s edit. I’m literally freezing and realize that the temperature is as low as 23 degrees, which is outrageous for this time of year.
I pull on my workout sweats; pour myself another coffee and dive back into the edit. Our brains are numb faster than we expected, and an hour before usual we head outside where the clouds are just about to dissipate under the relentless summer sun. The wind is still remarkably fresh, however so we head on out into the yard to tackle the vines once more.
In the weeks that have passed since we last did some gardening, AKA hacking, the purple flowered vines have been raging through the bushes and trees like mad once more, creating a thick carpet all over the place that needs to be removed. It takes us about two hours to get the job done…thankfully the younger sibs decide to join in on the “fun”, so it gets done faster than I anticipated.
Next we head up to the terrace under my cabin where the ground needs to be lowered three inches, and large rocks moved partially down the mountain. Then we tackle the ground, meaning chop, shovel and moving the dirt down into the path that we’re intending to put beside the short stairs near the carport. It is starting to get there, by the time the sun is starting to lower behind the mountain, but unwilling to call it a day I get out the power tools.
I round the corners of my new banister, sand them, and then help big brother and grandpa with the new balustrade on top of the wall. It takes some sawing, painting, and drilling holes in the small metal corners where the wooden beams will be attached. We get five out of six beams up, and basically have to mutilate the mimosa tree beside it, just to get it all up, darn it. That tree was so pretty, but it will grow again, I’m sure, so it is not a disaster in the end.
After we’re done, I take a quick dip in the pool and then head inside to have a quick dinner. What with the balustrade taking so long, and then cleaning up the mess, there really isn’t any time left to do more than another quick edit.
I take a moment to trim some of Bommel’s (Bobtail) hair, since he’s able to see even less without it and then head up to my room for the evening. Beautiful lanterns now light my way as I make my way up, their light sparkling rather merrily, giving the atmosphere a somewhat picturesque appearance.
The evening is still rather cool when I arrive up at my cabin, and settle down on my porch for the remaining hours of my day.
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