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My wife and I keep reminding me to act my age. That is easier said than done. On the other hand, FEELING MY AGE is a piece of cake. The theory is “I will do little bits per day” – therefore not abusing my 69-year-old body. Unfortunately, my ability to correctly estimate, or properly plan just what A Little Bit IS appears to be a weakness of mine. Somewhat understandable when I am doing things I have almost no experience doing. Take tiny concrete jobs for example. I was in my mid-20s the last time I fed an electric cement mixer with a shovel. It is not much harder today, but numerous body parts of mine complain afterwards. They didn’t […]
Thursday was our final Hamilton Band Shell performance of the 2018 season. We play together once more this year at the Ravalli County Fair Saturday September 1st at 3:00pm. We don’t know the composition of the band until the director strikes the downbeat. Last week was a record for the low brass section … not quite 76 trombones, but closer than I have ever seen us to it. Missy shot some videos of our tunes until the battery in my camera insisted she quit… part-way through the fourth song. My Canon point-n-shoot does not bill itself as a movie camera, and certainly has a low-end microphone, but you can get the gist of what we were up to last Thursday. […]
I combined my projects requiring polyeurethane finishes to minimize use of paint brushes or brush cleaning. It was hard waiting for all of them, but this batch size was just about right for the sanding and painting phases. A new shelf over Missy’s kitchen window is sturdy, expansive and takes up virtually no space physically or visually. The mug rack fit neatly in, freeing up a little bit of shelf space, displaying some of our mug collection with a look I like. An interesting touch I put in was tipping the pegs up so gravity would help keep the mugs on them. The print on Missy’s monthly calendar has been too small for me to read unaided. I bought a […]
Bosco was born Tuesday, February 6th. He came home at 8 weeks old … small. I took to weighing him every Tuesday. At 10 weeks he was 22.3 pounds. I climb on the scale with him in my arms, note our weight, then climb on without him and subtract the difference. It is not important, but a curiosity that somehow interests me. I log his weight on the calendar, then plug it in to http://www.puppychart.com/ for their projection of his likely adult weight. In April they were estimating just over 90 pounds when full grown. Today I picked him up for the last time. For one, he does not like it. He resists. That makes it harder. Then there’s the […]
I measure, speak, write and calculate in inch-foot as well as metric. Of course when I am purchasing materials at the hardware and building supply stores I have to use feet, inches and fractions thereof. But when it comes to working on my own, metric is typically easier to use. Finding the middle of a piece three feet eight and a quarter inches long is not as easy as dividing 112 centimeters in half. Millimeters handsomely split centimeters into tenths. 52.5 is easy to remember, repeat and work with compared to 1 foot 8 and 3/16 inches. I am much more likely to get the right number working with metrics than “a bit over 18 3/4”. Changing scales is also […]
I have been driving since I was about four years old. I am not talking about holding a steering wheel in order to get from one place to another, but actively, purposefully, concetrating on the art and science of really driving two, four and more wheeled vehicles. A real joy to me is getting 10 10ths of the capability out of the motor vehicle I am piloting. I have raced with many who think they are running the course at full chat, then give me a go in their car. Not occasionally, but every time, my first run in a car I have never driven before beats their best lap time. It is likely the only thing I am exceptional […]
I celebrated mostly by taking a break from my established PRIORITY ORDER for the infinite ToDo list. Today, if it wasn’t particularly fun or really bugging me, it was off for the day. Last autumn I had the evergreens shading our high-value, warming, southern exposure removed – or in three cases, turned into naked poles for future ham radio antennas. Several people have mentioned my “flag pole(s)” wondering what I am going to fly from it/them and when. That particular idea has been churning around in my subconscious for quite some time. What flag would I like to hoist at the entrance to our homestead? Ideally, it would be the flag I designed and produced representing the Thomas Jefferson […]
There is a peculiar disease running rampant in the USofA. A huge percentage of the two-car garages in this country are so stuffed full of … uh, belongings … that the cars park outside. Hundreds of thousands of HoneyDo lists have “clean up the garage” on them. Of course one answer is the ubiquitous Storage Unit. There are probably one of those for every fifty people in every town from coast to coast. Exceptional people actually park two cars in their two car garage. A couple weeks prior to my first year anniversary of living in the new homestead, I achieved that level of exceptionalism. It feels GREAT! —————————————————————————- That actually came to fruition Sunday. Today I imagined, engineered, fabricated […]
I took a break from metaspace and spent the week in meat space. Among other things, a major shelving project delivered a two car garage instead of a 400-square-foot waist-deep pile of crap that had no good home yet. Before that was an electrical wiring project to put our irrigation pump on an actual switch instead of plugging and unplugging a heavy-duty 50-foot extension cord. Side effects included a couple of useful outlets. About a week ago I came outside in the morning to immediately notice an abnormal quiet. Really quiet. Huh? Where is the sound of the creek? So I walked down to it and WHOA! It was a trickle. Oh crap. Some telephone calls later, I ended up […]
We have a unique opportunity coming to the Bitterroot. It is a big deal to have this particular North Carolina based trainer offering these classes here. For me, traveling there will never happen no matter how high-value the training is. The timing of next month’s classes does not suit my personal needs, but I am adjusting to fit the offering. Opportunity doesn’t always knock at the moment you are prepared to open the door. Take it on its terms and schedule … or miss it. The local sponsoring organization looks credible, possibly excellent. You can do your own research on The Order of the White Rose. The Hamilton, Montana classes may well include a number of people I will prize […]
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