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dragonlady7Oof i am so tired.
On the drive here I had time to ponder my new novel idea, based off my vague concept of a Goblin Emperor a/u. I definitely want to worldbuild differently, and I have a ton of ideas I need to workshop to get it to fit what I want. Basically all I want to keep from TGE is the notion of an aristocracy, the concept of an unwanted relative "relegated" to exile and raised in isolation, and then a change in regime causing the relegated person who has spent his whole life in exile and not even really knowing from what he was exiled to be brought to the capital, and then you get a great fish out of water story with tons of whump backstory. I also want to keep the idea of the messenger sent to bring him out of exile being his guide, with the associated necessary distance between the formerly-exiled noble and the baseborn messenger, and all the delicious power differentials in both directions and tensions that would cause.
So with a more solarpunk setting, and in this case a few cyberpunk/post-dystopia elements in it, and not straight gender inversion but definitely a scrambling of gender roles, it's really going to end up going in a different direction, I think. So, I've written up the outline of the TGE AU I thought of, and I'll post that at some point as a consolation prize, because it won't be spoilery for the new thing at all anyway.
But, I'm at the farm now, so there's precious little time to think about much. I'm going to write down what I actually did today, because I'm so tired and otherwise I won't remember.
Arose and post-breakfast, did dishes and cleaned the kitchen: the dishwasher is broken, here, and it is A Fucking Tragedy. Talked to BIL a little bit last night and got the rundown-- turns out it's an expensive dishwasher, and it last broke 2 years ago, so we just have to try to get the part. BIL is actually handy, and will actually be able to repair it, so, great, except, in what time??
After that I went out to look at my flax bed, which is all sprouted, nice and thickly! I'm delighted. Pulled a couple of weeds, but the weeds aren't really up yet. Fantastic.
It's 20 degrees below average around here, and has been consistently, and it's also well above average rainfall, and we're in trouble for almost everything, but-- flax likes cold and damp, so it's delighted. Good for it.
I then spent a while labeling the flats for the plant sale. They start extra of a bunch of the seeds for the plants they grow anyway, and sell those extras as transplants for a week in May, and that's this coming week. I wrote the word "parsley" correctly 15 times and then on the 16th as I was saying to Farmsister that if you write a word enough it loses all meaning, I sounded it out and, with her watching, wrote "parsely" and we both about died laughing. Maybe you had to be there.
(Immediately afterward I had to write "nasturtium" 16 times but for some reason that one was easier.)
Then I made a bunch of laminated labels to go on the tables next to the flats, so people know what the plants actually are besides the tiny labels on popsicle sticks we stick into the flats.
Arranged five dried bouquets for next week's market, then took inventory and realized I need to make 20 more. Well... it's a start. Stopped for lunch, and was prepared to take over caring for Farmkid (who'd spent the morning at school), but she wanted to go help her mother plant, which was very cute. So I did all the lunch dishes, so Veg Manager could get outside to get some work done before the rain, and then I went back to flower arranging, and knocked out five more plus a couple of wreaths to give out as door prizes at the farm open house this weekend.
Farmkid eventually came inside to watch TV, so I watched the time and went in just about as she was supposed to be finishing up (she gets an hour, carefully measured out, per day). A close family friend stopped by, then-- Farmsister's bestie, who graduated kindergarten beside her and attended the same school straight through all four years of university-- with her 3-month-old, and Farmkid was enchanted to be allowed to hold him, very responsibly. He's basically a cousin, so that was cool.
After that, though, Farmkid wanted me to play, and that'd be fine except that her idea of "play" is that she sets everything up and then stands there and feeds you your lines and bosses you around, and I'm just not very... amused by that. "No, you have to not know that the whirlwind on the sidewalk is really a cat! So you have to say what is that and come over here!" *resumes yelling "MEOW" and spinning in circles on all fours*
*eyeroll*
I did my best, but I am not naturally a takes-orders kind of person.
Farmsister came inside long enough to pass along what she'd planned on making for dinner, so I could get started (there's always stuff I don't know about, like oh a tote full of about twelve pounds of spinach that we gotta get through) and then she vanished and it turns out she was giving the new large animal vet's husband a tour of the farm, which was great, we want them to be friends, it is absolutely fantastic to know a vet that will do reasonably-priced housecalls for large livestock. Anyway, I got the water boiling and all the ingredients I could find ready, and then she cooked dinner in a tearing hurry because BIL had a meeting he had to get to.
After dinner, she looked at the tote of spinach and sighed that she wasn't going to be able to get through it or freeze it before it went off, so I looked up how to freeze spinach and set myself up and did that for the rest of the evening. I don't even want to think about how many batches it was, and at the end?
Five 1-quart bags. Spinach cooks down a lot. (I steam-blanched it and then threw it in an ice bath and then put it through the salad spinner before packaging it, but. Yeah.)
It was really good spinach, though, and I saved out a couple bags to cook with the rest of this week. It was planted last fall, and overwintered, and came through so sweet and so green, it's just been lovely.
Then I did yet more dishes. Not having the dishwasher is exactly the worst.
I've made it to bed now and am making myself write this instead of just scrolling various social media feeds endlessly, because I know it'll help me collect my thoughts, but I'm just. I'm so tired. I didn't even work that hard today! Gotta ease into the season.
It is absolutely pouring rain out there and has been for hours. If only we needed the water. It's so cold. I'm really glad I didn't get the yurt set up early this year. I was going to try to do it this week but there's at least a 30% chance of rain every day and it's never going to get above 50 degrees, not one time, so uh? I'm not in a hurry?
On the drive here I had time to ponder my new novel idea, based off my vague concept of a Goblin Emperor a/u. I definitely want to worldbuild differently, and I have a ton of ideas I need to workshop to get it to fit what I want. Basically all I want to keep from TGE is the notion of an aristocracy, the concept of an unwanted relative "relegated" to exile and raised in isolation, and then a change in regime causing the relegated person who has spent his whole life in exile and not even really knowing from what he was exiled to be brought to the capital, and then you get a great fish out of water story with tons of whump backstory. I also want to keep the idea of the messenger sent to bring him out of exile being his guide, with the associated necessary distance between the formerly-exiled noble and the baseborn messenger, and all the delicious power differentials in both directions and tensions that would cause.
So with a more solarpunk setting, and in this case a few cyberpunk/post-dystopia elements in it, and not straight gender inversion but definitely a scrambling of gender roles, it's really going to end up going in a different direction, I think. So, I've written up the outline of the TGE AU I thought of, and I'll post that at some point as a consolation prize, because it won't be spoilery for the new thing at all anyway.
But, I'm at the farm now, so there's precious little time to think about much. I'm going to write down what I actually did today, because I'm so tired and otherwise I won't remember.
Arose and post-breakfast, did dishes and cleaned the kitchen: the dishwasher is broken, here, and it is A Fucking Tragedy. Talked to BIL a little bit last night and got the rundown-- turns out it's an expensive dishwasher, and it last broke 2 years ago, so we just have to try to get the part. BIL is actually handy, and will actually be able to repair it, so, great, except, in what time??
After that I went out to look at my flax bed, which is all sprouted, nice and thickly! I'm delighted. Pulled a couple of weeds, but the weeds aren't really up yet. Fantastic.
It's 20 degrees below average around here, and has been consistently, and it's also well above average rainfall, and we're in trouble for almost everything, but-- flax likes cold and damp, so it's delighted. Good for it.
I then spent a while labeling the flats for the plant sale. They start extra of a bunch of the seeds for the plants they grow anyway, and sell those extras as transplants for a week in May, and that's this coming week. I wrote the word "parsley" correctly 15 times and then on the 16th as I was saying to Farmsister that if you write a word enough it loses all meaning, I sounded it out and, with her watching, wrote "parsely" and we both about died laughing. Maybe you had to be there.
(Immediately afterward I had to write "nasturtium" 16 times but for some reason that one was easier.)
Then I made a bunch of laminated labels to go on the tables next to the flats, so people know what the plants actually are besides the tiny labels on popsicle sticks we stick into the flats.
Arranged five dried bouquets for next week's market, then took inventory and realized I need to make 20 more. Well... it's a start. Stopped for lunch, and was prepared to take over caring for Farmkid (who'd spent the morning at school), but she wanted to go help her mother plant, which was very cute. So I did all the lunch dishes, so Veg Manager could get outside to get some work done before the rain, and then I went back to flower arranging, and knocked out five more plus a couple of wreaths to give out as door prizes at the farm open house this weekend.
Farmkid eventually came inside to watch TV, so I watched the time and went in just about as she was supposed to be finishing up (she gets an hour, carefully measured out, per day). A close family friend stopped by, then-- Farmsister's bestie, who graduated kindergarten beside her and attended the same school straight through all four years of university-- with her 3-month-old, and Farmkid was enchanted to be allowed to hold him, very responsibly. He's basically a cousin, so that was cool.
After that, though, Farmkid wanted me to play, and that'd be fine except that her idea of "play" is that she sets everything up and then stands there and feeds you your lines and bosses you around, and I'm just not very... amused by that. "No, you have to not know that the whirlwind on the sidewalk is really a cat! So you have to say what is that and come over here!" *resumes yelling "MEOW" and spinning in circles on all fours*
*eyeroll*
I did my best, but I am not naturally a takes-orders kind of person.
Farmsister came inside long enough to pass along what she'd planned on making for dinner, so I could get started (there's always stuff I don't know about, like oh a tote full of about twelve pounds of spinach that we gotta get through) and then she vanished and it turns out she was giving the new large animal vet's husband a tour of the farm, which was great, we want them to be friends, it is absolutely fantastic to know a vet that will do reasonably-priced housecalls for large livestock. Anyway, I got the water boiling and all the ingredients I could find ready, and then she cooked dinner in a tearing hurry because BIL had a meeting he had to get to.
After dinner, she looked at the tote of spinach and sighed that she wasn't going to be able to get through it or freeze it before it went off, so I looked up how to freeze spinach and set myself up and did that for the rest of the evening. I don't even want to think about how many batches it was, and at the end?
Five 1-quart bags. Spinach cooks down a lot. (I steam-blanched it and then threw it in an ice bath and then put it through the salad spinner before packaging it, but. Yeah.)
It was really good spinach, though, and I saved out a couple bags to cook with the rest of this week. It was planted last fall, and overwintered, and came through so sweet and so green, it's just been lovely.
Then I did yet more dishes. Not having the dishwasher is exactly the worst.
I've made it to bed now and am making myself write this instead of just scrolling various social media feeds endlessly, because I know it'll help me collect my thoughts, but I'm just. I'm so tired. I didn't even work that hard today! Gotta ease into the season.
It is absolutely pouring rain out there and has been for hours. If only we needed the water. It's so cold. I'm really glad I didn't get the yurt set up early this year. I was going to try to do it this week but there's at least a 30% chance of rain every day and it's never going to get above 50 degrees, not one time, so uh? I'm not in a hurry?
no subject
Date: 2019-05-14 01:42 am (UTC)Everything is squishy and gross.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-14 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-05-14 11:18 am (UTC)