Rainy weekends...slow!

Song of the day: “If I were a boy” by Reba McIntire. Wonderful cover of this song, and though Beyonce doesn’t do it bad, I think I like Reba’s version best.

This is going to be a boring blog, seeing as it has been raining rather badly, off and on for about two whole days and there really isn’t all that much to tell…except maybe during the biggest downpour yesterday afternoon where it came clear that we hadn’t finished grandpa’s little roof in time. There was so much of it that it filled up the roof and came pouring down on all sides. This meant that big brother had to pretend being support beam while I ran back and forth through the rain getting supports and slats to keep the lot up. The water came up to my ankles, thank you very much.

Did have an eye-roll moment during the entire thing. I went to the carport to get grandpa, and when I told him what was going on, he kept repeating: “I told you, told you, told you,” in that annoying tone that has absolutely no use in moments like that, and when we full well knew that, but simply didn’t have the time to finish it, prior to the rain. Hah. Ah well, we got the supports up now, so it’ll hold until the weather dries out again.

Workout yesterday morning (none today, thank you very much. Too cold and wet) was a chilly venture, where standing still wasn’t wise, since it would cool you off in five seconds flat, getting goosebumps to break out all over. Despite that, workout didn’t go bad at all.

Checking the garden was oddly reassuring, considering this kind of weather makes me want to crawl up the walls and howl at the moon, or something…or am I now just messing up my metaphors? Well, whatever. I’ve had enough water for now, thank you very much. The weather Gods can take a bloody vacation and give me back my sunshine. Grrr.

The dogs are not enjoying the wetness either. By the time the wood stove goes on, they will cluster around it (like us whiners) and literally go up to it with only an inch to spare. Seriously, you should see Sitabah. She is sitting in front of it right now, her eyes drooping and her body tight and languid at the same time while she lets the waves of heat roll over her. Same goes for the others who are lying on their blankets, fully enjoying the rolling heat.

I worked on tenant’s embroidery frame yesterday, seeing as there wasn’t much we could do outside once I got into dry clothes. Sanded the wood, made the metal clamp around it, and put an old blouse in it, with a patch to see if tenant wanted to fiddle with it. I’m not sure she’s going to try it much, but we’ll see. Gotta try it anyway. Besides, if she doesn’t like working with it, I’ll have a frame myself. Hah.

Started the edit early in the afternoon, and got into a heated argument about sentence structure again. Big brother likes to go the well-travelled road when it concerns writing, while I like to take a bit of risk every now and then, hah. It can lead to fierce conflicts…luckily I didn’t feel the need to conk him on the head this time.

Decided to finish the day with a movie. “The final cut” with Sam Elliot. Such a cute little movie, and it keeps being nice. They don’t make ‘m like that anymore, do they?
It did make me late getting to bed, so I slept little over five hours last night, darn it. Knew I needed a nap today, even as I got up to start on the day.

So what was today? Making zucchini soup over breakfast of course, which followed the usual session of laundry hanging and hot coffee. Laundry is a science in this kind of weather. What with laundry for seven people, you gotta fill every single line to full capacity to get everything hung in hopes that it will dry enough for your to rotate the new batches. Luckily I’ve had lots of practice. Hah.

That done, I did some sorting in the storage area. Would have liked to haul stuff around, but since the rain kept going, that didn’t happen. Instead I went down to the greenhouse to check the plants for bugs, and water the raised seedbed. Knight II took the opportunity to run around like a lunatic and almost bowled right over me in his enthusiasm. Seriously, you do not get in the way of a Great Dane when he’s enthusiastic. Strangely enough, it gets Dax excited as well, and he’ll get Knight II riled up even more, making being around them a tad dangerous.
Luckily Gada knows this, and stays carefully out of the way in these moments.

But anyway, the soup ready, macaroni was boiled for supper, while I chatted a little with tenant and then headed down to my cabin for some cleaning up. My bathroom needed a scrubbing, and since big brother was busy with the computers (one of the fans gave the spirit, blasted things! Can’t even handle an inch or two of dust) I put away the piles and piles of clean laundry that I’d been stacking on top of my horizontal surfaces for the past month or so. *sigh* Glad to be able to see those surfaces again, even though they are dirty, meaning that I’ll have to spend another few hours in there cleaning them in the near future. *double sigh*

That done I did some sewing. First my jeans. The dogs got their teeth in it, so I had to fix the waistband and one of the belt loops. I had also wanted to fix one of my bed sheets, but Knight II and Chaos ruined that one good by removing a square foot or so. Mom is going to see if she can put a new piece of fabric in it. She and the younger sibs came back from a successful market day, and she sat in the carport with us for a bit while the sibs put away what couldn’t stay out in the rain. Those dog baskets are going like fresh bread, really.

There was supper made by big brother, and then some more sorting in the carport followed by that much anticipated nap. Didn’t drop off well, however, seeing it was so nippy. The temperature dropped below 45 in fact, and I wasn’t appreciative of that fact. My fingers and toes felt frozen, despite my ski boots…by now I’ve warmed up a little from the stove though. Yay.

Well, this will be it for today, I guess. Sorry that I have nothing scintillating to tell, but life is just that, life. Nothing glamorous, it just IS.

Making a new roof...sorta

Song of the day: “Never no more” by Patsy Cline. I’m having a lot of classics in my head these days. Like yesterday, I had Jackie Wilson’s “Reet Petite” which is hilarious, not to mention infectious. It’ll just keep going, and going and going.

Right. Let’s get to it. It’s been a long day and I’m tired, and I still have to edit. It’s not going as fast as I want to, but at least we’re making progress, in particular for a first edit. I mean really, have you ever read a rough draft of any story? Like the completely unedited stream of consciousness of an author. Well, let me tell you. It’s like making a sword. The first draft is like that first stick of metal hot from the coals. Once that’s there, you’ve got a hone it, hammer it, and hammer it some more. Then you gotta shape it, sharpen it, polish it and then, in the end, after months and months of work, maybe, just maybe you might have something nice to look at.

Ooh, I like that analogy. I’m going to save it. Hah.

So okay, yesterday: I had a dream, and it was in fact quite apocalyptic. By now I don’t remember all that much of it anymore...if I don’t jot it down immediately, I won’t be able to remember it at all. Which was the case in this instance. It was impressive, however. I wouldn’t mind seeing that in a movie...or at least that is the impression the dream left me with.

Before starting on the day...that is, after workout, a shower, and laundry, of course...I first had to send out a message that I just couldn’t postpone any longer. That done there was breakfast, followed by starting to get together stuff for grandpa’s new porch roof. He’s been complaining somewhat fierce about getting wet when it rains (his connection to kitchen and bathroom is through the outside) so we figured we might as well change plans a little and put that transparent roof up.

While we were at it, we decided to also get the replacement beam ready for the one that’s infested with termites. Got a good start by the end of the day, and the new beam (had to get a replacement for the replacement because oddly enough it had the same problem) was ready for painting.

The weather is slowly turning, by the way. We’ve been having heavy clouds rolling in constantly and a rolling thunder in the distance about twice a day. Did manage to work a bit on the embroidery frame I’m trying to make for tenant. I do hope that it works and that she can do something with it. Sometimes I worry about her wanting to feel more useful.

Had to go to town for some groceries and hardware store supplies. It is rather disturbing to see prices rise practically everywhere. Makes me worry about the future for sure. Ah well, nothing to do about it, is there. We’ll just have to wait and see what the future brings.

Got home for a late edit, which didn’t go all that bad except for the fact that I was so friggin’ tired I could barely keep my eyes open. Hah. Finally got to bed (didn’t manage to do much good around midnight anyway) and conked out long enough to feel refreshed this morning when it was time to get up for today’s workout.

It went well. Time passed really fast, and by the time I was done I had developed a nice sweat, which is what counts when you’re doing a workout. Hah.

What followed was the morning chores and then working on grandpa’s roof again. Replaced the beam...and found another infested one, darn it. Will have to replace that soon too...after finishing with wood filler and paint, and put the last roof sections up.

Since the sibs already loaded up the car for the market on Sunday, I had to improvise with the repair job for mom’s purse stand. Rather than make the replacements the same as the last ones, I made singular sticks they can put in, hoping that it will stay in place. If not, I’ll have to figure something else out.

There was the yard, of course, checking the plants for caterpillars (buggers are still there, darn it) watering some things, and generally just enjoying being out in the yard for a bit. Found three more pumpkins, yay, one of which was used for today’s supper.

Did a wonderful experiment with my vegie patties, with slices of baked pumpkin on them, covered by a cream and cheese sauce with mushrooms, peppers and onions. It was yummy, even though I am once again hungry. *sigh* My stomach is just a bottomless pit these days. Hah.

Last bit would be a dog tidbit. First of all we shaved Carla, whose hair has been matting for a while now. Also, we discovered he had a bad ear infection, meaning we had to clean it...which drove him absolutely bonkers for a while, I felt forced to give him an anti-inflammatory, ‘cause I was afraid he was going to give himself a heart attack. Poor Carla. He’s quiet now.

Chaos wanted on the bed again...he really doesn’t like the cold. When I checked on him earlier he barely even raised his head and this eyelids were all wrinkled around his eyes in his attempt to keep them open and look at me. In the end he gave up, and dropped his head back on the bed, rubbing into it and promptly falling back to sleep. Lazy effing Basset. Hah.

Knight II, and most of my other dogs have discovered the pleasure of the wood-stove. Seriously, we’ve got about twenty dogs clustered around it at the moment, all of them as close as they can possibly get so the heat rolls over them in waves. It’s quite a sight in fact...not to mention difficult to navigate through for us poor bipedal creatures.

Well, I better see about something to eat, and then it’s edit time, again. Aaah.

This and that

Song of the day: “Perhaps perhaps perhaps” by Doris Day. Had no idea that Doris sang it, but it’s such a fun song.

I’m feeling a blank coming up again, so I’ll be doing this with my diary/journal beside me once more. It’s cheating, I know, not to mention lazy, but what the heck. Gotta be accurate, don’t I?

As before there was an excellent workout yesterday morning, went through all the usual reps and even added a few new ones…which is something you have to do sometimes, if for no other reason than to keep the workout fun. It was friggin’ chilly that early in the morning, no more than fifty degrees, in fact. Had to move fast and a lot to keep warm a little. My foot didn’t agree with it all, but then, it hardly ever does anyway, so who cares, right?

Afterwards there were the usual chores in the house, followed by hanging that shelving unit I mentioned the last time, which fitted well enough over mom’s work table. It took only a short time to hang, really, which allowed us to head on out into the yard immediately afterward.

There was some watering to be done, bugs to be annihilated, and plants to talk to. I doubt the plants actually need it, but I like doing it. I always get the best songs in my head when I’m working in the greenhouse, hah. For some reason Harry Belafonte’s “Shake Shake Sehnora” always comes up.

Don’t know what kind of bug we got this time, but two tomato plants got snapped off. I’m thinking it was some big arse snail that hides during the day, but you can just never know. Guess I’ll have to do a nightly trip down there one of these days.
Some plants in the yard itself got killed as well, and I replaced them while big brother harvested peppers for supper.

That done we finished the chimney by installing the metal roof we designed for it. It looks a little strange, really. I think we’re going to have to make something new in the future. Maybe bigger paws that will make it look more solid. Don’t like the spindly little legs at all. Ah well, it’ll work and for now that’s all that matters.

For the remainder of the day we worked on the storage thingy by the wall, putting in shelves of sturdy wooden boards, and roofing that we masoned in, rather than screwed. The latter was a possibility, but the masonry was easier and better to keep out rodents and such. Now all we need to add is plating over the wooden ceilings and some doors, and then we’ll be all done.

What’s up next, is expanding the roof in front of grandpa’s bungalow a bit. What with all the rain, he would prefer to stay dry on his way to the kitchen, so we’ll fit that in sometime tomorrow, or the day after.

There was a tap replacement up by the bungalow, too. We had to place it over grandpa’s new outside counter. Since we will have to work on his kitchen floor in the near future anyway, that has to happen too.

Cooked supper of the veggies tenant chopped. Good thing she likes being helpful. Cutting stuff up keeps her busy, and saves me fifteen minutes to half an hour of work when it’s time to cook. Made a nice veggie spaghetti mix and devoured it prior to heading out to get wood for the stove.

When we did finally settle down for the edit my focus (well, both of us, really) was so shot, we didn’t manage more than four pages in the end. By then I was so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open, let alone write in my journal/diary. Hah.

Chaos is insisting more and more to sleep on the bed during the day now (lazy idiot) and when I come in to check if he's ready to go out yet, he would raise his head to look at me, all perturbed and stretch out, rubbing his snout into the blankets with total abandon. Not ready to get out, apparently. Hah.

Still, it was a late night, because we forgot the time while editing, and I passed out in five seconds flat.

No workout this morning, which is good since there was a lot to do again. First of course the morning chores, and trimming the olive tree in the center of the courtyard. I don’t like the chore all that much, since it feels as if I’m mutilating the poor thing, but then, it’s got to be done, and at least I’ll be able to guide it a little.

Then there was breakfast and making a batch of dough for my patties. Did a new recipe experiment, chickpea with white beans and garlic through the broth. Made enough so mom could have some for dinner as well, and then started working in the carport, putting together the wooden cover for the pipe of the stove. First there was the lid, which was part metal work, part carpentry on my part.

That done, big brother and I started putting it in place. It took some time, and we didn’t manage to finish it completely, but it’s getting there. I took some pics, so when it’s done I’ll post them…I hope. Hah.

Some more metal work to be done, to protect the ceiling, wiring, and the beams. Am starting to get good at it too. Know how to cut it now, clean it up, bend it into the shape I need. I love stainless steel for this sort of thing.

We had paddies on sandwiches for supper today. A lot like a hamburger, only then vegetarian. It tasted rather well, and this one is definitely going in the cookbook. By then big brother no longer needed my help and continued with the cover on his own.

So I got to work on the embroidery frame I’ve been mulling over for more than a week now. Since tenant so clearly wants to be helpful, I figured I would make her a frame so she can do some sewing. Don’t know if it ‘ll work yet, but we’ll see. If she doesn’t like it, I’ll have an embroidery frame myself. Hah.

There was another trip for wood after I sanded the disk, and then we settled down for the day’s edit. So much to do, and so little time, darn it. I still think the day should be 28 hours, rather than 24. Grrr.

Pumping Iron. Hah.

Song of the day: “When I’m 64” by the Beatles, of course. Gawd, I memorized those lines back in ‘89/’90. Can’t believe they stuck after all this time.

Yesterday it was back to the grind, workout wise. Had one right on the dot, and though I was totally out of shwung, I did go through the entire session, bar none, and was pleasantly sweaty by the end. I punched, kicked and pounded, crunched, pulled and pushed and have been properly sore ever since. Hah. As for pumping iron after a week of going without, that went splendidly. That’s always the case with weightlifting, really. Pump some serious iron, don’t for several days, et voila, suddenly you’re pulling that weight with barely an effort. Awesome. Of course today I paid for it in spades, but what the heck.

So what happened after the workout…my memory is shot again, but I’ve got my diary lying beside me, so that should take care of the details at least.

First off we went to the house to re-hang the shelving unit that we’d needed to take off prior to hanging the stovepipes. This time in a different spot, and measuring the empty spot left so I could make another closet for it. It won’t be pretty, but at least mom will be able to store more of her fabrics. Hah.

So I wasn’t entirely there yesterday morning, meaning that at some point, while I was supposed to be getting that shelving unit, big brother found me standing in the doorway, staring at the dratted thing, still wondering what the heck I’d come in the round room for.

Big brother: “You know, that thing is not going walk itself inside.”
That shook me awake a little, and I watched him head into the room to grab one side of the big unit.
Me: “Yeah. I know. I was just trying to, you know…” I clapped my hands in a very ‘bewitced’ kind of way and sighed dramatically. “Nope. It just won’t listen.” And then, with big brother’s chuckle, joined him to haul the thing into the house.

We got into a slight argument about how to carry it into the working area and get it over the table, but then we got it there, me going first and climbing over the table, and him following behind. Within half an hour it hung back in place as if it had always been there. *sigh*

After the usual chores such as laundry, and then having breakfast, we got to work on the small storage that needed an overhaul up by the wall. There was this little section for car oil, a spare tank of diesel, etc, and since it was gradually falling apart we decided to replace the wooden walls with brick ones, while taking the time to pour a concrete floor as well.

That took most of the day, seeing as there were three little walls to build, and quite a bit of concrete to pour. Did most of it with grandpa since big brother was working in the carport to weld the braces for the pipe cover in the house that we’re designing.
By the time we were ready to pour the concrete however, he joined in and finished it up.

Supper consisted of mashed potatoes with fresh beets from the yard. The first ones this winter, and they were absolutely divine. So happy that they worked out. Not a lot of underground veggies work in out hard-packed clay soil, but the beets don’t mind at all. Hah.

There was getting the wheelbarrow of wood for the stove, followed by a nice, albeit very short archery session on the stretch of land that got cleared by the fire, and then it was time to head on out for a new batch of sand. We’ve been using quite a bit of the stuff of late, meaning that we have to replenish the pile.

Since big brother and grandpa did the loading, I volunteered to do the unloading once we got home, and took the time to take Knight II for a short walk. He behaved mighty fine, even when we came across another walking couple with a leashed dog, reminding me that I hadn’t taken one for Knight. Luckily he’s well behaved and I only needed to grab hold of his collar as we walked on, his gaze nervously shifting back to the people and the other dog, dribbling like a horse and pressing himself against me like the sissy he really is. Seriously, I think he’ll be ferocious when he needs to be, but until that time, he just hide behind my proverbial skirts. Hah.

While big brother went down to attempt at least a few pages for the new edit of V.L. (the manuscript I want to start sending out to publishers within three months if we can manage it) I tackled unloading and made a wager with myself to see how fast I could unload the 1400 or so pounds of sand. Took me less than fifteen minutes with that massive shovel big brother prefers, the one that makes my arms burn from strain, hah.
I was properly exhausted afterwards and went for a short nap of less than an hour, only to have big brother forget to wake me, making it a solid 90 minutes instead.

Well, much like the words with which big brother excused his forgetfulness, “at least I slept” hah.
Considering that after the edit we still had to head out for a donation, I needed it. This is the first edit (only half a reread), so it’s going to be a close call, I think, to get it done in time, but we’ll try.

Chaos managed to get his snout into Knight’s food yesterday evening. He ate so much of it that through the night he looked like he was going to burst. In fact, when it was time to go to bed, he could barely get his front paws up against the bed, let alone assist while I hauled him up. The bloated gut was still there this morning, and afternoon, and through out the day he kept farting. For Gawd’s sake, that’s foul! Chemical waste in nothing compared with that stink. I sure hope he gets rid of that stuff fast. Hah.

Which brings us to today then. Another workout done…and yes, I felt yesterday’s session in every movement. Hah. Did bust my friggin’ knee again, which just goes to show that I wasn’t relaxing enough during the jumps. Silly body just doesn’t do stuff like that on automatic anymore, eh? I gotta learn to just relax and let my body do it on its own, without interference. *sigh* Ah well, only one way to learn, right?

After workout it was all about breakfast, unloading the car and preparing stuff so tenant could cut pumpkin for our lunch which would consist of soup. We had some stems and leafs from yesterday’s beets left and they went well in the soup. Made it lighter somehow.

Activity wise, stuff today mostly evolved around the carport. It was pouring rain several times during the day. Painted the braces for the pipe cover, then bent metal for the chimney roof, attaching paws, which will allow us to screw it in place later on. That got painted too, followed by woodwork, seeing as I might as well get mom’s closet done. Since all the necessities were there it only took me a couple of hours to get a nice shelving unit together.

Grandpa plastered the walls I built yesterday, and later big brother and I joined him to put on the first pieces of roof. Wood first, then corrugated glass fibre. There was quite a bit of walking for me involved, seeing as big brother was doing the building and I the hauling, but it allowed me to go through the motions of keeping my foot, and knee in the right position to prevent further discomfort.

Since pumpkin soup lunch was several hours ago big brother and I snacked on the noodle/satay leftovers after getting another load of wood down, and started on computer work at last. I gotta say that I was more than ready for some feet-in-the-air action. Nothing like using the brain after a day full of physical activity.