Song of the day: “Mr. Sandman” by...I’m not entirely sure. The one that goes through my mind is the one sung by that girl in “Cry Baby” with Johnny Depp.
As usual, I’m running way behind, but who’s counting...well, I am, but what the heck. Can’t change that now.
Edit-wise things are going well. The in-between project is halfway done, making it a bit of rush job since this burst of inspiration is bound to be over soon. Almost done, though, so I take comfort in that. The fun part is that I've been able to ad a whole scene...which ended up being too long for the required word count. It means that I'm going to have to scratch over five hundred words, darn it. But I might be able to hold it up until it’s completely done. The research on itself has been tremendous fun, in particular because I don’t often visit the nineteen twenties in my head.
And yes, this was a story based on a dream, so if you’re ever interested in it, you’ll have to read it some time. Hmmm. Maybe I’ll post the original version some time.
So what’s been going on these days past. On the most part yard stuff, which is great since, even though there has been a bit of rain in the mornings, the weather has been really good for it. Over the course of three days we’ve been working on the lowest section of the yard, digging through years of biological debris to find wonderfully usable humus. With the use of multiple Eucalypti tree trunks we have created a total eight small terraces that will soon be holding this year’s produce. It amazes me that with every addiction the yard appears to be getting bigger and yes, I will soon post more pictures of it.
Which reminds me, due to too much growth over the past few years, we also had to cut of several eucalypti (and alter dig out the roots. Yikes!) which we thankfully used in the project. What with the new terraces going, we’ve been gradually planting melons, pumpkins and some more peppers and tomatoes. Yesterday and the today was also used to take out our first harvest of potatoes, which had been bothered considerable by a well-known potato disease that ate their leaves. Still, despite that, the harvest was good, I think that the total (once we have it all out. Now we’re halfway through) we’ll have about three crates full.
The nicest part about it all is the teeny baby potatoes that came from the plants. Cutting them in half and baking them raw in herbs, onion and butter is absolutely delicious. We’ve already had two meals from it and another one coming. Same goes for the cabbages, which are huge. One cabbage will take us through two meals, for crying out loud.
There were some trips to town, including Grocery shopping day which was particularly harrowing because we had to visit three more stores than usual. Tenant needed some things, so there we went. *sigh* Other than that nothing really interesting happened during the most dreaded day of the month, so let’s leave it at this, eh.
Bad news of the week is that Bakti, little brother’s oldest and (I think) dearest dog died today. He was old, we got him at four months old some odd thirteen years ago, and he was the replacement of Bakti one who’d been with little brother since he was a little boy. A sad day, to say the least. Such an old and familiar companion gone. He was good dog, calm, patient and never had a single sick day in his life until just a few months ago when age caught up with him. Always hard to say goodbye to a good friend, but such is life. Right?
Okay, let’s not dwell on the bad stuff. If we did, we’d be “dwelling” every single day and not get anything done, darn it. There was (of course) laundry to do, weeds to pull and meals to be made...all in a day’s work, naturally. Along with watering the newly sowed seeds and transplanted seedlings.
This morning, seeing as we had to head out into the yard for watering anyway, we worked on the wall again. Got a good section going, in fact, and big brother has got the new stairs between them up to three steps now. Things are starting to look pretty darn good, if you must know. Tomorrow, or soon anyway, I’m going to have to start digging the foundation for what, in the near future, will be the septic tank. This means that before I can start with the digging, grandpa and I are also going to need to start hauling down concrete slabs for that particular wall, which is going to be...hmmm...interesting I hope. Hah. Whatever it is going to be, it will be good exercise, eh? Hah.
I do have to admit to feeling a bit daunted by the prospect of lifting a hundred or so of those 60 pound slabs again, but what the hey. It’ll be good for my biceps.
Am reading a particularly frustrating book at the moment. I am not liking the characters at all, and there are seriously moments that I want to rip the book apart, or throttle the lead with my bare hands. I would review it, but it would be way too mean to share that with anyone, seeing as it is just personal taste anyway.
Well, that’s about all my brain can come up with, so I’m going to leave it at this, if you don’t mind.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
You never guess...
A picture update, yay.
First of all, song of the day: "Can't stop loving you" by Phil Collins.
Let's start right off with a view I'm presently enjoying a lot. Our neighbor's horse, grazing just down from our property.
Knight II, in the car, impatient to go for his run in "the wild"...also known as asphalt, since the weenie refuses to walk on dirt. *sigh*
The blooming eucalyptus over the seedbed. Ain't it pretty?
My Chaos. Cold so fast, the Gorgeous. He has no shame, seriously. He was posing for this one.
Sonia (L) and Chamea (R) two bitches who can't stand each other, but also refuse to leave each other's side. Exhausting!
The yard view from the top. New fencing and everything.
Little Kenneth. So pretty, our blind little girl.
From left to right: Abacara, Knight II, Dax and Sitabah. They were watching the neighbor's dog, Maya. Sometimes I fear they'd eat her if they ever got out of the yard. *sigh*
Okay, now I'm going to have to keep track. White one is Fortuyn. Crazy as a loon!
Thorgal (middle) Amri (behind)Fortuyn (white) and Arthur (head front).
Indigo. Fat as a cow, but sooooo sweet. We need to put her on a diet, but seriously, it is difficult.
Arthur. So scared, but sweet nonetheless.
Old Tridatu...he's got a brother (blind as a bat, and fat) called Chiuma. They used to be identical, but time has had it's effect.
Part of the pack, waiting for big brother to head on up. Front brown one is Rammi (half Rotweiler).
I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this. Sitabah (gray) lying on top of Chaos. Equal opportunity that they alway make use of, I assure you. She wants something soft to lie on, he likes the heat. *sigh* Have I ever told that my dogs are bonkers? They are!
Knight II, in his favorite chair. Nuts too, but who's counting?
The Greenhouse at night. Ain't it gorgeous?
Knight II lounging in the sun in front of the new fence part near the berry bushes.
Little Carla on top of my table in front of my cabin. He was just too cute.
The new pergola with Mosha (RIP, sweetie. Miss you still) in it.
Again part of the pack while I was walking down to the veggie garden.
The view of the veggie garden from the west on the main terrace.
Same terrace but then from the bottom of the property. Hah.
My new bed with Knight II on it. He loves it high. The others can't get up. Hah.
My new bed. I kind of like the end result. Very light and easy to clean. Not to mention that it goes splendidly with the new floor.
My laundry corner. I kinda love the tiling and the dark woodwork. Not to mention that it is all finally on an easy (for me) accessible height. Yay.
The laundry baskets which are working absolutely splendidly. No more dirty laundry lying about in full view, thank you very much.
And the last one: The yard a couple of weeks ago. See those cabbages? Well, they're bigger than heads now. Hah.
I decided not to post pics of the wall yet, because I want to do a before, during and after row. Hah.
Other than this, there was just the usual stuff that I'll undoubtedly blab about two days from now, so...Bye, bye.
First of all, song of the day: "Can't stop loving you" by Phil Collins.
Let's start right off with a view I'm presently enjoying a lot. Our neighbor's horse, grazing just down from our property.
Knight II, in the car, impatient to go for his run in "the wild"...also known as asphalt, since the weenie refuses to walk on dirt. *sigh*
The blooming eucalyptus over the seedbed. Ain't it pretty?
My Chaos. Cold so fast, the Gorgeous. He has no shame, seriously. He was posing for this one.
Sonia (L) and Chamea (R) two bitches who can't stand each other, but also refuse to leave each other's side. Exhausting!
The yard view from the top. New fencing and everything.
Little Kenneth. So pretty, our blind little girl.
From left to right: Abacara, Knight II, Dax and Sitabah. They were watching the neighbor's dog, Maya. Sometimes I fear they'd eat her if they ever got out of the yard. *sigh*
Okay, now I'm going to have to keep track. White one is Fortuyn. Crazy as a loon!
Thorgal (middle) Amri (behind)Fortuyn (white) and Arthur (head front).
Indigo. Fat as a cow, but sooooo sweet. We need to put her on a diet, but seriously, it is difficult.
Arthur. So scared, but sweet nonetheless.
Old Tridatu...he's got a brother (blind as a bat, and fat) called Chiuma. They used to be identical, but time has had it's effect.
Part of the pack, waiting for big brother to head on up. Front brown one is Rammi (half Rotweiler).
I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this. Sitabah (gray) lying on top of Chaos. Equal opportunity that they alway make use of, I assure you. She wants something soft to lie on, he likes the heat. *sigh* Have I ever told that my dogs are bonkers? They are!
Knight II, in his favorite chair. Nuts too, but who's counting?
The Greenhouse at night. Ain't it gorgeous?
Knight II lounging in the sun in front of the new fence part near the berry bushes.
Little Carla on top of my table in front of my cabin. He was just too cute.
The new pergola with Mosha (RIP, sweetie. Miss you still) in it.
Again part of the pack while I was walking down to the veggie garden.
The view of the veggie garden from the west on the main terrace.
Same terrace but then from the bottom of the property. Hah.
My new bed with Knight II on it. He loves it high. The others can't get up. Hah.
My new bed. I kind of like the end result. Very light and easy to clean. Not to mention that it goes splendidly with the new floor.
My laundry corner. I kinda love the tiling and the dark woodwork. Not to mention that it is all finally on an easy (for me) accessible height. Yay.
The laundry baskets which are working absolutely splendidly. No more dirty laundry lying about in full view, thank you very much.
And the last one: The yard a couple of weeks ago. See those cabbages? Well, they're bigger than heads now. Hah.
I decided not to post pics of the wall yet, because I want to do a before, during and after row. Hah.
Other than this, there was just the usual stuff that I'll undoubtedly blab about two days from now, so...Bye, bye.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Back to foundations
Song of the day: “Halo” by Beyonce, interspersed with the occasional “Crazy” by Patsy Cline. Weird combination, I know, but there you have it. Hah.
As expected not all that much happened since the day evening before yesterday, seeing as life is blissfully boring at the moment allowing for lots of outside work in the veggie garden. We've been doing quite a bit of that, of course. Working on turning more earth, planting seedlings and sowing. The yard is starting to look splendid and I have the pictures to prove it. Regretfully I'm too friggin lazy to actually post them today. Hah
What with having to protect all those little ones against the occasional dog, there was also reed hauling involved. Luckily we still had several bundles standing in the lower yard, they are now being put to good use. Even yesterday afternoon we put up a “constellations” around two cherry tomatoes...of which one Fortuyn wrecked. There we were, just done putting them in the ground, and snap! I kid you not. He pounced on it as if it was meat, and was gone before we realized what had happened, little bastard. Grrr. Luckily we had another (albeit smaller) one in the greenhouse, so we immediately replaced it...after threatening Fortuyn bodily harm if he dared to do that again. Hah.
There was a clay hauling trip...which is really necessary, seeing as we're going to have to fill up a lot of space once the new terrace is ready. Seriously. That wall will be nine feet high and about 45 feet long. Imagine filling the empty space behind it.
Deciding to do it slightly different yesterday, we started early digging out the foundation of another section of the wall. While big brother worked on getting an old tree root-system out of the way, I dug up nine, by two, by two feet of mud. Then, together with grandpa, hauled nine BIG rocks to the location and started putting them in.
The first section is no done, and big brother put up the first step of the new stairs. So definitely not bad for one morning's work.
Today, after the usual chores of...yeah, yeah, laundry and such, big brother and I headed for town. We had an option for cheaper car insurance, and as soon as we've made our payment around next week, it will be a done deal, saving us about 250 a year. Yay.
Now all we have to do is wait for summer and then we might be able to shave some off the Daewoo's insurance as well, which would be a big relief, to say the least.
While we were out we also had to go to a big chain-store to get a portable hard disk drive. It is just to be on the safe side, really, what with big brother's computer giving him some serious problems these days. We're afraid it's going to give the spirit one of these days, and what with all the stuff on it, that would be disastrous, rather than just incredibly unhandy.
Also went to several appliance stores to search for a new fridge for grandpa. That's going to be a bitch, really, seeing as even the smallest are over 170 wherever I look. We'll just have to be patient, I guess...added to that, the washing machine still hasn't been repaired. The repair dude has ordered the part, but it still hasn't arrived. He said he'd get back to me later today, but we'll have to wait and see.
The knee is still bummed, and climbing all over the mountain (rocky slopes and everything) yesterday evening, didn't do it much good. Ah well, time does heal everything, or so they say. *sigh*
Still working on the in-between project, by the way. Well past half, though, and the new scene is working out very well. Yay.
Right now, tenant is out with mom and little sister. She was kinda looking forward to going to the city and the promised visit to a nice little café. She does love that, and since she appears to be feeling out of sorts these days, the time OUT might do her some good.
Personally, I am not looking forward to tomorrow, which is silly, but there you have it, because tomorrow is, of course, grocery shopping day. Aaaaargh. Darn it. I couldn't help myself. I said it again.
As expected not all that much happened since the day evening before yesterday, seeing as life is blissfully boring at the moment allowing for lots of outside work in the veggie garden. We've been doing quite a bit of that, of course. Working on turning more earth, planting seedlings and sowing. The yard is starting to look splendid and I have the pictures to prove it. Regretfully I'm too friggin lazy to actually post them today. Hah
What with having to protect all those little ones against the occasional dog, there was also reed hauling involved. Luckily we still had several bundles standing in the lower yard, they are now being put to good use. Even yesterday afternoon we put up a “constellations” around two cherry tomatoes...of which one Fortuyn wrecked. There we were, just done putting them in the ground, and snap! I kid you not. He pounced on it as if it was meat, and was gone before we realized what had happened, little bastard. Grrr. Luckily we had another (albeit smaller) one in the greenhouse, so we immediately replaced it...after threatening Fortuyn bodily harm if he dared to do that again. Hah.
There was a clay hauling trip...which is really necessary, seeing as we're going to have to fill up a lot of space once the new terrace is ready. Seriously. That wall will be nine feet high and about 45 feet long. Imagine filling the empty space behind it.
Deciding to do it slightly different yesterday, we started early digging out the foundation of another section of the wall. While big brother worked on getting an old tree root-system out of the way, I dug up nine, by two, by two feet of mud. Then, together with grandpa, hauled nine BIG rocks to the location and started putting them in.
The first section is no done, and big brother put up the first step of the new stairs. So definitely not bad for one morning's work.
Today, after the usual chores of...yeah, yeah, laundry and such, big brother and I headed for town. We had an option for cheaper car insurance, and as soon as we've made our payment around next week, it will be a done deal, saving us about 250 a year. Yay.
Now all we have to do is wait for summer and then we might be able to shave some off the Daewoo's insurance as well, which would be a big relief, to say the least.
While we were out we also had to go to a big chain-store to get a portable hard disk drive. It is just to be on the safe side, really, what with big brother's computer giving him some serious problems these days. We're afraid it's going to give the spirit one of these days, and what with all the stuff on it, that would be disastrous, rather than just incredibly unhandy.
Also went to several appliance stores to search for a new fridge for grandpa. That's going to be a bitch, really, seeing as even the smallest are over 170 wherever I look. We'll just have to be patient, I guess...added to that, the washing machine still hasn't been repaired. The repair dude has ordered the part, but it still hasn't arrived. He said he'd get back to me later today, but we'll have to wait and see.
The knee is still bummed, and climbing all over the mountain (rocky slopes and everything) yesterday evening, didn't do it much good. Ah well, time does heal everything, or so they say. *sigh*
Still working on the in-between project, by the way. Well past half, though, and the new scene is working out very well. Yay.
Right now, tenant is out with mom and little sister. She was kinda looking forward to going to the city and the promised visit to a nice little café. She does love that, and since she appears to be feeling out of sorts these days, the time OUT might do her some good.
Personally, I am not looking forward to tomorrow, which is silly, but there you have it, because tomorrow is, of course, grocery shopping day. Aaaaargh. Darn it. I couldn't help myself. I said it again.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
MS Word crash *sigh*
Song of the day: “I cried for you” by Katie Melua. I've had it before, and will probably have it again. *Sigh*
I know, I'm runing behind terribly again. My only excuse is that the weather has been absolutely divine these past few days and we've been just so busy outside, that I've barely had time to sit down for writing, let alone to do my blog.
Talking about writing. I managed to put down a couple of pages last night, after work was done, and since we went through it today, I realized that it worked out well. Thankfully. The story is coming together nicely, and we've already past the halfway through mark, so, yay!
Bad news is that my Word program crashed, making me lose a couple of paragraphs since it was an irreversible error. Seriously, I almost had a heart-attack. I don't like it when my computer acts funny, and definitely not while I am working. Jeez. I often have nightmares about my computer crashing, falling, or just giving up the spirit for some unexplainable reason, and when it starts screwing around on me, I am not a happy person.
But anyway, I salvaged what I could and am now learning to work on OpenOffice, which is not all that different, just...well, different. I hate change in that regard, even though I shouldn't. Change, on the most part is good no matter which way you turn it, but it just feels uncomfortable. Like I'm working on someone else's computer. I've been working with word she 1998 and back then I had similar problems since I was a loyal Word Perfect user. But anyway, I will complain a bit, whine some, and then I'll just have to cowboy the heck up and just continue on writing.
Enough of that, let's get to the projects: For the most part the past two/three days have revolved around garden work. There is always earth to turn, reed barriers to keep the dogs out to put up, and planting stuff. More peppers went in, along with lettuce and the long rows of beets, green beans and carrots that I sowed. Yesterday I worked on creating a small terrace for my herbsies, which are now sweltering in the full sun during the day (poor things).
Fortuyn (pointer) has been going bonkers, by the way. He loves it when we work in the yard, and will be flying back and forth every time we throw a root, rock or leaf out of the way. Seriously, he sails through the air. Absolutely insane! Hah.
While yesterday lunch consisted of mashed potatoes with red cabbage, today I went into the yard early to cut off loads of chard. Half was used for lunch (with macaroni) while the remainder went into the fridge.
Tenant also came down today, which was nice. She sat in a mix of shade and sunshine, which is her favorite, I'm thinking. There was a cool breeze, and after the morning clouds dissipated, we had sun all day long...the same couldn't be said about yesterday, where the sky was overcast 'till late in the afternoon. Heck, yesterday morning it was even cold, which I didn't appreciate at all.
Laundry of course. The day wouldn't be complete without it. Hah. Several of the plants that I've put aside for underneath the future porch are really bursting from the seams. They can't wait to get into the soil...or that's how it looks, in particular the bushes, which are starting to get lush for sure. As for the vines they are all over the place. Soon they'll literally be lying in the basin.
Though there was some rain, we did have to water some of the new stuff during the course of the day, in particular because of the wind...which reminds me, there was a rather magnificent storm last night. Not here with us, but over the sea. From east to west clouds lay massively in the air, lighting sparking wherever the eye could see. Very impressive.
We did one last sand hauling trip, which should bring us up to the minimum we'll need to finish the wall. Sure it took some effort, loading, unloading and hauling it in ourselves, but it was worth it in the end. Saved quite a mint there.
Now all that remains are the trips for clay, rocks and cement...which should keep us busy for a while yet.
What else? Well, big brother had to fix the stand of grandpa's moped. The stupid thing just fell off. There was a trip to town to figure something out about our phone bill, which was a tad high again. Luckily the weirdness of my phone having an internet connection (without me asking for it) has been put straight. Phew. Now it remains to be seen if we get to have a refund somehow, but I'm not holding my breath. We also had to get a new piece of fence for grandpa, seeing as we kept forgetting these past two weeks.
For a while we were basically prisoners in our own home (not that I minded, mind you. I kinda like it that way, hah) due to a rally. From mid-afternoon to late in the evening rally cars were screaming past with exploding exhausts, roaring engines, and an audience all the way along the road, shouting, laughing and applauding. I don't see the attraction, really. If I want to cars flying past I can side beside the road on any given day. Not much difference. Hah.
Added to the fun of the roaring cars during the day, there was also a party of sorts going on in the valley, filling the air with music and shouting of what I guess to be inebriated people having fun. Luckily getting my hands dirty is much to nice for me to mind either way. Hah.
Well, that's going to have to do for today. I'm beat and, well, I should do some work yet...maybe I'll do some kick boxing yet. Oh, I forgot to mention that, didn't I. I had a thorough workout the day before yesterday and wasn't half as sore as I was the last time.
Going.
I know, I'm runing behind terribly again. My only excuse is that the weather has been absolutely divine these past few days and we've been just so busy outside, that I've barely had time to sit down for writing, let alone to do my blog.
Talking about writing. I managed to put down a couple of pages last night, after work was done, and since we went through it today, I realized that it worked out well. Thankfully. The story is coming together nicely, and we've already past the halfway through mark, so, yay!
Bad news is that my Word program crashed, making me lose a couple of paragraphs since it was an irreversible error. Seriously, I almost had a heart-attack. I don't like it when my computer acts funny, and definitely not while I am working. Jeez. I often have nightmares about my computer crashing, falling, or just giving up the spirit for some unexplainable reason, and when it starts screwing around on me, I am not a happy person.
But anyway, I salvaged what I could and am now learning to work on OpenOffice, which is not all that different, just...well, different. I hate change in that regard, even though I shouldn't. Change, on the most part is good no matter which way you turn it, but it just feels uncomfortable. Like I'm working on someone else's computer. I've been working with word she 1998 and back then I had similar problems since I was a loyal Word Perfect user. But anyway, I will complain a bit, whine some, and then I'll just have to cowboy the heck up and just continue on writing.
Enough of that, let's get to the projects: For the most part the past two/three days have revolved around garden work. There is always earth to turn, reed barriers to keep the dogs out to put up, and planting stuff. More peppers went in, along with lettuce and the long rows of beets, green beans and carrots that I sowed. Yesterday I worked on creating a small terrace for my herbsies, which are now sweltering in the full sun during the day (poor things).
Fortuyn (pointer) has been going bonkers, by the way. He loves it when we work in the yard, and will be flying back and forth every time we throw a root, rock or leaf out of the way. Seriously, he sails through the air. Absolutely insane! Hah.
While yesterday lunch consisted of mashed potatoes with red cabbage, today I went into the yard early to cut off loads of chard. Half was used for lunch (with macaroni) while the remainder went into the fridge.
Tenant also came down today, which was nice. She sat in a mix of shade and sunshine, which is her favorite, I'm thinking. There was a cool breeze, and after the morning clouds dissipated, we had sun all day long...the same couldn't be said about yesterday, where the sky was overcast 'till late in the afternoon. Heck, yesterday morning it was even cold, which I didn't appreciate at all.
Laundry of course. The day wouldn't be complete without it. Hah. Several of the plants that I've put aside for underneath the future porch are really bursting from the seams. They can't wait to get into the soil...or that's how it looks, in particular the bushes, which are starting to get lush for sure. As for the vines they are all over the place. Soon they'll literally be lying in the basin.
Though there was some rain, we did have to water some of the new stuff during the course of the day, in particular because of the wind...which reminds me, there was a rather magnificent storm last night. Not here with us, but over the sea. From east to west clouds lay massively in the air, lighting sparking wherever the eye could see. Very impressive.
We did one last sand hauling trip, which should bring us up to the minimum we'll need to finish the wall. Sure it took some effort, loading, unloading and hauling it in ourselves, but it was worth it in the end. Saved quite a mint there.
Now all that remains are the trips for clay, rocks and cement...which should keep us busy for a while yet.
What else? Well, big brother had to fix the stand of grandpa's moped. The stupid thing just fell off. There was a trip to town to figure something out about our phone bill, which was a tad high again. Luckily the weirdness of my phone having an internet connection (without me asking for it) has been put straight. Phew. Now it remains to be seen if we get to have a refund somehow, but I'm not holding my breath. We also had to get a new piece of fence for grandpa, seeing as we kept forgetting these past two weeks.
For a while we were basically prisoners in our own home (not that I minded, mind you. I kinda like it that way, hah) due to a rally. From mid-afternoon to late in the evening rally cars were screaming past with exploding exhausts, roaring engines, and an audience all the way along the road, shouting, laughing and applauding. I don't see the attraction, really. If I want to cars flying past I can side beside the road on any given day. Not much difference. Hah.
Added to the fun of the roaring cars during the day, there was also a party of sorts going on in the valley, filling the air with music and shouting of what I guess to be inebriated people having fun. Luckily getting my hands dirty is much to nice for me to mind either way. Hah.
Well, that's going to have to do for today. I'm beat and, well, I should do some work yet...maybe I'll do some kick boxing yet. Oh, I forgot to mention that, didn't I. I had a thorough workout the day before yesterday and wasn't half as sore as I was the last time.
Going.
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