Weather Gone Mad...

Twenty days of rain and one a hurricane... 

...or, at least, The Dogs & I thought it was a Katrina savaging Codiponte in the early hours of this Tuesday in late April. The rush, the whine, the roar!!! of the Wind & Rain was...? Was...? Well, it was frightening. Really. Nina jump into bed with me. Moses elected to stay curled in his poltrana. Smart boy. If he had relinquished the soft cushion of the wing-back chair, Nina would've jumped on it. Nope. He stayed put. A well placed paw covered his Weimaraner face. The Dog gave me a look of imminent DOOM!!! when I walked in to check on him. The Appt. Azzurro shook. It rattled. It rocked. It heaved with every blast of W & R. So much for Our Morning Constitutional. 

The Good News is Our Goddess remained at Her Post. This will lighten the heart of You. He called me several times for a Codiponte Weather Update. He had sun over in Savona. We will all have sun tomorrow!!! A Heat-wave is due in. They have already given it a name... Hannibal. I've heard of A Wind Named Mariah. But, a Heat-wave named Hannibal? Well, it's an export from the nearest North African Hot Spot to Italy... Tunisia. Thanks, guys. This is one revolt that could've stayed on your turf.

I need not care. I will be off to Amsterdam on My 60th Birthday Trip 2012. The Five-day Forecast is for showers. Fine. I'm used to the rain. All I ask is for the DDA DC-3 gets airborne long enough for me to enjoy the rumble of its two Wright Cyclone engines. They may be Pratt-Whitney. Yet, why quibble? Sorry though. The noise of a B-747 just ISN'T music to My Ears like a piston engine.

While aloft... hopefully... You will be bringing Order & Style to La Casa Grande. Can't say what kind of fun he'll have with all Our Stuff piled high in the two large rooms. He's so used to Pointing & Commanding, My Absence may diminish the exercise. But, Hell! Instead, he can bag-it and sunbathe in a deck chair in the Garden warmed by the Hannibal Heat. Gads.

Never How You Imagined...

I must admit to an acute case of House-Renovation-Exhaustion. The major symptom of this disease, in all its discombobulating manifestations, is an overwhelming Desire... and we are talking way beyond a Greek-pull-your-hair-out-flail-your-body-and-throw-yourself-on-the-ground sort of Despair... to just have anything/everything/all-of-it Finished & Done-with, kicking to the winds any worry of what The World... OR, Dr. You!!!... might hazard to say regarding the End Result!!!

Before we venture to Our Main Drama, let's first turn to La Nostra Cucina... isn't the A+++ frig nice? Very Silver AND energy efficient. Uses nearly ZILCH electricity. You & I love it!!! I could not imagine how much the half-walls to support the marble counters would eat-up the Kitchen's space. Glad I did not buy that haus-frau table from Our Esteemed Antiques Dealer. Forced to take one of those Crucial Choices... It's either The Table OR the Kitchen!!! Fine. You & I opted for La Cucina. But still, seems to be much less space than what appeared on Kitchen Drawing #478-C!!!

OK... I feel brave enough now. Notice anything different? Yes, a darn door!!! Not the Official Front Door to La Casa Grande but, it will be the one we'll use the most to get inside La Casa Grande. So, are you all up for it? Let's go inside...

Oh... My... God!!! The windows are so dinky. Something copied from the Dwarf's Lodge in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Gosh. Well, Our Windows are in. Moving on...

let's dance out to the Garden to see if they look dinky from the outside. Golly, they appear almost quaint. I hope quaint in Italian is something like carino for Dr. You. It's A Concept he can understand.

Yep. Pretty darn quaint. And funny-looking too!!!

Ohhh! Real quaint. Yet, it's kind-of cute. Cute is nearer to carino than quaint. No sense in scaring the Poor You that... suddenly... Our Poggiolo looks like a Hobbits hutch. He's an Italian. They do NOT understand Our English Sense of Quaint Design alla Middle Ages. You does not vibrate over thatched roofs. Brick & Stone & Terra-cotta, yes. Hay to keep the rain out, no. 

On the other hand, whether Our New Windows are cute, quaint or carino, they will keep out the heavy rains due in tonight. Big storms are in the immediate Forecast. Day 20 of incessant O2. Gads.

Hands-on...

My Left Hand...

and, My Right Hand.

Yesterday, both were an earthy Green from pulling out sodden cut grass out from underneath the lawn-mower. It was the cause of the machine from stalling regularly. Touching sodden & stuck grass is an unsettling sensation. It's akin to coming into contact with what one fears lives at the bottom of fresh-water ponds & lakes. Euw... yuck!!! for starters. I had to scrub both hands with one of those probably-dangerous-to-Our-Health corrosive sponges and lots of dish-soap. That for its Grease & Grime Action. Seemed to work. They ain't green no mo'!!!

But, look at all those lines! The creases!! The wrinkles... for cryin' out loud!!! Many are newly made, thanks to the 5,000 square feet of garden at il Poggiolo. I HATE to wear gloves. Prefer to get My Hands dirty. I don't ever wear a watch, rings or bracelets... except the sterling silver one I bought in Denver, CO to celebrate one of my birthdays... so, it's paar for the course NOT to slip on even gardening gloves. I also dislike the sensation of being separated from what I am yanking, pulling, extracting, gathering, clipping, digging, moving and so on and so forth. I'm Hands-on. But, not anymore. I inadvertently grabbed a snake!!! while picking up a pile of cut grass from the stone & grassy path around My Garden on its way up to il Castello yesterday. The thin, long thing slithered away, more shocked than I was. For a second though, I thought it was a dreaded viper!!! Instead, it was an ordinary garden snake. How appropriate. Nonetheless, handling a snake merited much more than a sedate... Euw... yuck!!! No. More like... Euw-[0q89375bfv197y3 f4!#$##p8q23!!!@####bcr088tqw-987-yuck!!! That will be the last time I ever go ungloved, when preforming A Task in My Garden. Gads.

Un-cut Or Cut...

Un-cut grass...

Yesterday, Saturday, it... did... NOT... rain!!! Managed post-haste to start the lawn-mower to cut the Garden's grass. Damned if it wasn't nearly 9 inches high, so well nourished from 19 days of incessant O2. Normally, I can knock-off from My Task List The Cutting of the Grass in an hour + something. Saturday's adventure took me three hours!!! The machine kept conking-out. So, I... had... to... go... very... slowly... and, I also had to jack the machine up to its tallest setting. A strangely hillbilly looking sight... like a FORD truck with an enormous basket on the back. Though I sweated up a storm from the exertions, I am always well satisfied by the result...

cut grass!!! Love the uniformity of it. Don't you? So orderly too. Gads. 

Hail, Mary?...

Poor, forlorn Goddess of il Poggiolo. Pitiably treated by the local Elements. In this latest case, hail. It's all that white stuff at the base of Her Column. The frozen stuff even chipped-off a bit of her terra-cotta veneer. Now, a poor AND flawed Goddess. Gads.

Roaring River...

Some late Thursday afternoon shots of the Aulella River. It is due to rise considerably in the evening & night-time hours. As You says... Eeets beeen raynningg!!! I and The Dogs, however, will be High & Dry up in the Apartment Azzurro in front of a warm fire. The weather can do whatever it wants to. Gads.

Downpours...

The ONLY weather phenomenon not seen today has been a tornado... Thank God!!!

We have a near-infinite run of thunderstorms from sunrise to now, a late Thursday afternoon.

Besides lots of O2, hail, snow, sleet, cold AND wind have assaulted My Little World of Codiponte. Even the sun showed itself for brief intervals. Very brief. Under a minute each... darn it!!!

Look!!! Even the poor lilacs are drooping heavily from an over-dose of rain. Good crop of flowers though.

I think I can survive another few days of this. The Rai-TV Weather Colonel said we are to be socked-in with rain, etc. until Sunday. Then, vamoose the Crappy-weather, please. I've got a ton of yard-work to do. Starting with cutting... The... Grass!!! Gads. 

The Moving Chronicles...

Three days to move all Our Accumulated Stuff to La Casa Grande. Three days I will not EVER, EVER, EVER care to repeat again...

Day One... I was in You's beat-up & old AUDI by 8:30 AM. Destination? Codiponte naturalmente!!! May I say? You says I've reduced His Car to such a shameful state with My Crack Driving Skills. He never misses an opportunity to remind me of several well placed scrapes My Driving has left on the AUDI's dingy grey body-work. Well, of course, You, I hit that column at the Garage's exit. Why did you have to call me when I was trying to make the darn turn out of the place? This is how I see it... I don't remind Him of His Errors. Why must He do Mine? Is that at all Fair? The Crappy Car was packed full of pictures, antlers, pillows, sheets, carpets, incidental pieces of furniture, etc. The Light Stuff. Got to Codiponte promptly at 10 AM. Unloaded all into the Apartment Azzurro in less than an hour and was back on the autostrada for Genoa. Once home, the rest of the afternoon was spent preparing AND worrying about Move Days Two & Three... moving Our Accumulated Stuff in a rented van. More like a semi-truck as you will learn.  

Day Two... woke-up at 5:30 in Absolute Fright. Had walked The Dogs and was at The Van Rental Office... at the frigging airport!!!... at 7:30 AM. MAJOR VAN. HUGE. ENORMOUS. XXL. Tall enough to put Our Five-and-a-half-foot-tall Refrigerator upright inside. Picked up Our Housekeeper's son... 27 years old & built like Hay-stack Calhoon.. hired to help me move, at 8:30 AM. By 8:45 AM, I had already crashed The Van into the iron gate opening of Our Garage Complex. The Van was too damn tall to make it through unhurt. Took us over an hour to load up Our Accumulated Stuff. May I say? Our Collective Garages... thankfully, side-by-side... are on another level. There, the ceilings are only seven feet high. So, all had to be hand-trucked down to where The Van got stuck. There, the ceilings are 30+ feet high EXCEPT... damn-it... for The Entrance Gate. There, it was 3 inches too low for The Van's height. The Stuff was heavy & unwieldy... tables, chairs, a sofa and a fake fireplace You wanted to have placed in the Apartment Azzurro. The fake part is light. Wood. The mirror, however, weighs a ton. Then, had to back out The Loaded Van up a narrow ramp. Left my mark on the walls, naturalmente!!! Noticed that the clutch was smoking too. Ignored it due to impatience of My Mission. Took 30 minutes of screaming, swearing and back 'n forthing The Loaded Van to be Free & Away from the ramp. Then, we headed to Codiponte. At the exit for the Big City of Aulla, right before stopping to pay the toll, the clutch went out... damn-it!!! Police showed up. THEY WERE HELPFUL!!! One even spoke with The Van Rental Office to get them to make the telephone call to Assistance to have pronto another van. Four long & boring hours later, and listening to a series of lies from Assistance,  a driver and A New Van appeared. Our Helper & I unloaded and re-loaded The Heavy Stuff into The New Van. A smaller one. Made the man who had brought us The New Van, drive us to Codiponte. I was over hitting things. The three of us unloaded The Heavy Stuff into La Casa Grande. The Winner for Weight & Inconvenience was the washing machine. Do you know the manufacturers put frigging stones in their guts to keep them steady when the centrifuge hits? By 5:45 PM, we were on Our Way to Lavagna to drop off The Driver before we could arrive in Genoa for Load Number Two. Spent an hour searching a parking space for The New Van. One requiring no backing up. Had to park The New Van half a mile away. You... Thank God!!!... arrived to help us cart More Heavy Stuff down six floors to the street. Then, walked back the half mile to get The New Van, bring it to the apartment building's entrance, where all The Heavy Stuff was piled waiting to be loaded. You took Our Helper home. I went home to shower & cook Our Dinner. We ate at 11:30 PM. Bed. Nightmares till morning.

Day Three... Our Helper was waiting by The New Van with Bad News. Someone... some clever, frustrated & repressed delinquent person... had bashed The Shit out of one of the side-view mirrors. Good that I had Our Helper. He helped by jamming the side-view mirror back into its smashed plastic home. Off to Codiponte. The trip to Carcare to pick up two HUGE pieces of furniture... an armoire & credenza... was cancelled due to the reduced dimensions of The New Van. Managed to get almost to Codiponte before I unconsciously side-swiped a wall at the local hardware store. I wanted to buy plastic sheets to cover the furniture. The Owner of the wall wanted a word with me. I DID NOT WANT a word with him. I fled. May I say? Vans are a bitch to drive. Avoiding an object, like walls, stanchions, trees, bushes, cars even, you just effortlessly turn around them and you're on Your Way. NOT SO WITH A VAN. You have to go beyond the darn object and then turn. However, it becomes real tricky, if you are suddenly blocked by another object... normally, another wall, stanchion, tree, or car... for cryin' out loud!!! Managed to arrive in Codiponte without further damages. We unloaded The New Van and were on Our Way Home by Noon. I thought I was going to have a heart-attack from The Stress. I felt faint. I had pains. I wanted to throw-up. By 2 PM, however, we had tanked The New Van up to Full, bent back a few dents, checked that the side-view mirror would pass muster in its ad hoc home and had dealt with The Van Rental Office. Due to the Disasters of the Previous Day, I only had to pay for one. At least that!!! I took Our Helper home. Payed him A Substantial Amount of Money for His Permanent Silence. And, was at home, drinking & dunking tranquilizers by 3:30 PM. Yet, by 5 PM... No Rest for the Weary, or The Mad, as they say... You was dragging me to shop the stores. More Stuff. Gads.  

Watch Out...

Who invented... Watch out what you wish for? 

As many of you know, I belly-ached about the abject absence of sufficient O2 in Codiponte AND what has it done? Rained. It has rained every day... BUT ONE... since four days before Easter. Naturally, that was right when I began to be overly grumpy for WATER.  

However... and may I reiterate The Kind Request?... I asked... very nicely on this blog... for rain one day a week. One day a week. Not all at once to cover all of Spring AND Summer 2012... for cryin' out loud!!! The forecast is for O2 until that Commie Holiday of May 1st AND before I can EVEN think to cut the grass. By then, it will be up to my Anglo-Saxon crotch!!! Gads.

We've Come A Long Way...

This photograph of il Poggiolo was taken back in February of 2009. It is now mid-April 2012.

We've come a long way since that time. The end of Our Road is near. I'd say by That Commie Holiday of May 1st, You & I will be able to safely say Arrivederci to the Builder, Our Wood-worker AND the Electricians. We are more than ready!!! 

So, just few more blogs to pester you with and we can close this one down. Thought I would give Fair Warning. Gads. 

My Task List...

for the coming days...

1. Must call Our Esteemed Wood-worker tomorrow to find out when he can install the windows & doors in La Casa Grande. No Sense filling-up 800 square feet of house with Stuff when the Winds, Rain AND Cats can blow through. Would you NOT agree? 

2. If The Answer is a Go! for this week, then... YIPPEE!!!... I can organize Our Moves... and may I say? I CANNOT WAIT to clear all The Stuff out of both Our Garages & Storage Rooms after three years of gainful accumulation. Deer horns, are tops on The List. However, there is A Substantial Quantity of Furniture too!!! You-know-who's decorative fireplace heads That List.

3. Must then rent a van... taller than 6 feet & longer than 9... 'cause there is a refrigerator to transport al Poggiolo... for three days of Back 'n Forth between Genoa & Codiponte. This WILL BE the most arduous of The Moves. Previous ones were accomplished in a day. I am facing three days of Lug & Tug!!! Lots of Stuff.
4. Got to book our Housekeeper's son to help with the Lug & Tug. He's already reserved for Saturday & Sunday next, however, if I can get going on Thursday, all the better. The Five-day Forecast says rain from today, Sunday, to Wednesday and, again, on through the weekend. As Things typically go in Italy, two weeks ago I was belly-aching about NO RAIN. Now, I am praying for SUN!!! Friends, please pray for Sunshine too? Thank you. Gads.

The Kitchen's Color...

I've got news... Our New Blue, now old by nearly a week... WILL NOT GO in the Kitchen of La Casa Grande!!! You-know-who made this decision, throwing us into another Color Pot we experienced to get to Our Now-old Blue. Gads. Here's the play-by-play so far... 

You expressed interest in using the Base Color for Our Now-old Blue... seen below. He thinks it is A Sweet Color. Personally, I don't think two men... irrespective of nationality OR height!!!... should EVER be involved with such a hue of blue. Would you NOT agree?

Soon thereafter, I proposed using a Mustard-seed-yellow... one of several Yellow-greens for the Kitchen in La Casetta. Please direct Your Fine Attention to the Color... second from the left... in the photo below. Thank you. None of you will be surprised to learn... all were NIXED by You-know-who. However, I am grateful You consented to give me two seconds of His Valuable Time to consider My View that a strong Yellow-green could better withstand the intensity of Our Now-old Blue. That the Yellow-green is a Food Color for a Food Making Location, apparently, was An Irrelevant Point to Our You.  

You was not so gracious, however, for My Option B of a Geranium-pink. Friends, he came very, very close to invoking... for the third time in as many years... His Un-alterable Law of... Over My Dead Body!!! He didn't. Destiny, instead, steered him to suggest the burnt-toast color in the colored fan-deck below... the top one. Still alive, Hmmm, I said.

And, that is where we stand to date. Gads.

Another Good Hard Rain...

Easter morning, a copy of yesterday's... another substantial rain during the night and a thunderstorm at Dawn. Ms. Nina again tried to convince me to make the thunder STOP by hopping into bed with me.

The surrounding mountains are covered in fresh snow. Kind-of chilly outside too.

I've had enough, Thank You. I'm satisfied. More than satisfied. My Wish came true. 

However, as the saying goes... Watch out what you wish for. The Five-day Forecast calls for more O2 in the next week. I now feel like Mickey Mouse messing around with abracadabra and a wand, a bucket of water and that darn broom!!! Help? Gads.

A Rainy Update...

No Right to Complain. More rain than I actually expected has come to Codiponte. Three days of clouds with a spray-like rain... which doesn't count on My Water-the-Garden Meter... until Thursday night, when we had a solid, six hour down-pour. What a gorgeous sound pouring rain makes!!! And, last night too... Friday... another good dousing of O2 accompanied by a rumbling thunderstorm. Our Newest Dog jump into bed with me from fright. The other buried his head under his synthetic-pile blanket. I LOVE thunderstorms!!! They are so cathartic. Especially, when abundant rain comes with it. Too much noise for The Dogs, however.

When the sun comes out... Pasqua, said the Rai-TV Weather-man... and dries out what-all, I will have to tackle cutting the grass, already very shaggy. Gads.

P.S. Finito...

Our New Blue is so rich/strong/bold, the people who live in the Commie House... way on the other side of the river... have noticed it from one of the Salotto's windows. I wonder if the Space Lab has noticed... or Sir Richard Branson ZOOOMING around Mother Earth in his space-ship? Gads.

Finito!!!...

Painters have come & gone. Their work is done. Three coats. Time to pay up. In the meantime, let's admire Our New Blue... the color rendered slightly harmless by the ham-fisted charm of my digital camera with such an intense hue... & cry. In reality, Our New Blue... IS EVEN MORE BLUE!!! Anyway, nel Salotto...

and nella Sala da Pranzo.

Terra-cotta flooring looks a bit pale in comparison. Would that be due to the flash? Gads.

Still More...

...BLUE!!!!!!! 

Gads-zooks.

Ever More...

...BLUE!!!!! First coat of Our New Blue nel Salotto. Great choice, no? Gads, I am excited!!!

First Coat...

Yesterday, I renounced any idea of balancing on a ladder 30 feet above the newly installed terra-cotta flooring to paint Our New Blue in the two largest rooms. So yesterday, I called Our Painter, a nice fellow, who promptly gave me a digestible quote and confirmed The Job would be DONE before the Easter Weekend. Great!!!

Relax, please... what you see below ain't Our New Blue. It's the first coat to get to Our New Blue. But be ready, the two rooms are going to be very New Blue shortly. Gads.

A Light Misty...

...rain. A lot more mist than rain. Better not complain. The O2 might disappear completely from the Five-day Forecast if I belly-ache any more. Gads.