Monday, July 29, 2013

I Love the Smell of Diesel Fuel in the Morning

Yes, just a play on words from Robert Duvall's iconic character in Apocolypse Now. However, it's pertinent in my little world these days.

So naturally you remember the trees that were downed in my yard in June. How could you forget? Well, we worked on them for quite some time, but then the weather (which none of us in the contintental US could escape from) turned rather warm. So all labor ceased on the removal of the trees.

But then came the monsoons. Which flooded my basement. And my mother's. So, more work there to deal with. 26 straight days of rain. I kid you not.

And then, because I had nothing to do one morning, (big fat HA!) I decided to rip up the rug in my bathroom. Yes, I know, EWWWW, but I did not put the rug there, the previous owner did and I decided to take it out because, well, EWWWW.

But what I found when I ripped up the rug (which by the way was very nice and only a few years old) was that the bolts on the bottom of the toilet that were hinged on the floor, were loose. So much so, the toilet was barely hanging on to the drain. Needless to say, there was a puddle of water on the floor under the toilet, the rug was moldy, and damp, and just EWWWW.

So, I had to scrape the linoleum up to allow the floor to dry, which means that I need to put a new floor in my bathroom. (Which was my intention of ripping up the rug in the first place, but now I need to figure out how to make the floor level.)

Let this be a lesson to all of you. Make sure the bolts are tight under your toilet. (You know those little cap things under the bowl, well, lift those up, the bolts are under there.)

And then, after all that, the weather finally gave way and my father decided it was time to move the big stumps the boys couldn't break or saw, up to the last remaining pile on the street. He fired up the John Deere and I pushed, rolled, fulcrumed, heaved, and hefted (how's that for action words) those ##%^&*#$ stumps into the bucket and he took them up to the street. Needless to say, I breathed in a lot of diesel fumes and was very ill for the remainder of the day.

Fun times in North Carolina this summer. (I bet you all thought I was living a charmed life down here, didn't you? Sitting on the couch, eating bonbons, watching the soap opera channel.)

As for other news, writing news that is, I wrote a short story. I'm very happy with it (well, I will be after revisions) however, I'm not sure I'm going to publish it. I mean, I will, eventually, but it's not my usual short story. It deals with religion of all things, and the supernatural, and why I wrote it, I'll never know, but it got stuck in my craw and I had to write it. So there.

I've also been working on the Not So Secret Project Story for the winners of the auction at my daughter's school. It's coming along, after how many needless hours of research into the French persecution of the Catholics and the Nobility during the Reign of Terror (1789 - 1795 or so). I can't tell you how many hours I logged and then I barely used any of it.

BUT, big but here, no matter how much I say it was needless and useless, it was still worth it. What little I did use, added value to the story because it's true. And the facts were valid. I even went into the Lithuanian side of the whole thing (because there are two Lithuanian princesses in the story) so hopefully, this will all be worth it when it's done.

As I said, it's not my usual Regency romance, but there is a romance embedded within it, and I'm hoping it turns out the way they want it to. I'm not really sure what they expect because neither of the women read Regency romance, so who knows. I'm just writing what they dictated to me. Pirates, kittens, handkerchiefs up sleeves, and teaching.

Hey, I'm thinking that would be a great meme. Pirates, kittens, handkerchiefs up sleeves, and teaching. Anyone want to play?

I also had the astounding revelation of the opening to another story I'm going to start working on this fall. I mean, I had the idea for the story, but really nothing else. But then, just as I was going to sleep one night, the first four lines came to me, so I jumped out of bed and wrote them down. For once, I did the right thing instead of trying to remember it the next morning. So yay for me.

So, that's it for me. Work, work, and more work. But the trees are gone now, we can finally cut the grass, the basements are dry, the laundry is done, and I'm sitting in my little writer cave pounding away at the keyboard.

I'm not sure when I'll be coming back to this blog full time, or even IF I'll come back full time, but if you want to read other things I'm babbling about, I post every Thursday on my Robynne Rand blog and every Sunday on my Anne Gallagher Regency blog.

How about you? What have you been doing this summer? And if you're going to tell me you spent a month at the beach -- listen, you know I love you, but I really don't want to hear it. You'll just make me cry.

Anne Gallagher (c) 2013

10 comments:

Maria Zannini said...

Ha! Don't worry. No beaches for me. There's always something to do around the homestead.

I feel for you about the bathroom. Every time we think we have one little thing to fix in there, it always turns out to be some major renovation.

Karen Baldwin said...

OK, I won't tell you I've been on the beach. You sure have a full plate this summer.Hope you get some well deserved rest. If you ever want to getaway, come out and visit. Mi casa es su casa.

Anne Gallagher said...

Maria -- The bathroom was supposed to be easy, rip up the rug, lay the new floor. Now I find I'm up to my ears in tiles and paint and wallpaper hanging from where I tore it down. Why can't I just learn to leave things alone?

Leigh -- Believe me, when I read your post about yoga in the pool, I wanted to fly right out there. I think I need to sell a few more books before I can though. But thanks for the invitation.

Bish Denham said...

Good lord! Sorry to hear about the flooding, but that's what you get for keeping all that rain to yourself. I mean, you could have shared some of it...

Anyway, no beach for me this year. I'm doing edits and minor revisions on my WIP and am actually rather pleased with it. I too did tons and tons of research for it which I never used, but it did immerse me in the time and place, which was important.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Ewww on the rug in the bathroom. I mean, why?
In our cabin there's carpet in the kitchen, which is a pain in the ass. We already dropped a bowl of scrambled eggs. Carpet does not belong in kitchens or bathrooms!

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

Well hey there! Nice to see you back on this blog again. Nope, no laying around on the beach for me either. Still haven't made progress on my next book yet, but I've got some great ideas for a couple twists at the end. Too bad I can't download those ideas right into the computer via the USB port. Biggest news is our newest grandchild (a boy!) made his grand entrance into the world last Friday. Life is good.

Take care. Don't work too hard! Those bathroom domino jobs stink.

Stina said...

I'm afraid to see what I'm find under our flooring, but there will be a lot of ewwwww going on too.

We had massive floods in my city (missed my house). A month later, people are still trying to salvage their homes. And the mold has not been kind. :(

Eric W. Trant said...

Really, you had to tell us about your unbolted potty! Thanks for that visual. Now I have to go check my toilets, so thanks again!

As for that short story, see this post:

http://bookworm66.wordpress.com/2013/08/03/guest-post-author-eric-trant/

It's about how a faith-based person can write supernatural fantasy. Sort of jives with your religious/supernatural short.

- Eric

Nicki Elson said...

Ohhhh, so that's what's under those little nubbin thingies on the toilet.

Busy, busy girl you are, rolling with the punches as always. I want to find the person who coined the phrase "lazy days of summer" and do some really nasty things to them.

And now I'm off to your author blogs to see which one will tell me more about your angel story...

Unknown said...

I believe that I need to run and check my toilets now. I'm a bit frightened to do so, not so much because of what I might find, but for how long it would take the maintenance men to actually come out and deal with it.

I'm sorry about the flooding and all of the damage, though!