John's Blog

Worry not, I can still fog a mirror.

I’m still working on something, as I do the world seems to slowly slide past me. I’ve had to press the ‘Pause’ button for a few things lately and I suppose I should summarize those things for you.
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I’m repairing my workstation. That’s the thing. The ’something’. The ‘project’. It’s not a hardware problem (although the box is past due for de-dusting). It’s a software problem of my own creation. If you can imagine jumping off a cliff for the first time with just a parachute strapped to your back and no training, well, that’s me right now. I didn’t know if the ‘chute would open but I squeezed my eyes shut, took a deep breath, and jumped.
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Well, the ‘chute’ opened thank goodness. It’s a long way to the scenery below but at least I have time to learn how to steer the ‘chute and survey the scenery for a nice place to land.
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Kyle continues to feel oh so very much better. ‘Something basic has changed’ is what Kim and I heard yesterday. For now at least, his head is in the game called life and he’s planning his next few moves.
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Kim’s current creative media is fabric and thread. Making handbags of various shapes and sizes. She’s a bit more engaged with the Prairie Queen Quilt Club in Bishop Hill, Illinois.
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You now know what I’m up to lately. Learning how to parachute. But that’s not all. I put that aside from time to time so that the world doesn’t leave me too far behind. I frequently take the dogs to Vander Veer. The girls are so well behaved and enjoy the visits soooo much, as does their owner.
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I’ve mowed lawns more than a few times. It’s always good to do outside stuff even if it’s yard work. Yesterday I helped the neighbor empty an overstocked bedroom, then I drove the full van to the landfill. I learned that glass used to create items we drink from (think mugs and cups) is chemically different from glass used to create jars that store food (think pickles, mayonnaise, etc.), and that only one of those types should be recycled. It’s the food storage ones. So a small collection of glass beer mugs and cups went into the landfill.
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While I was carefully loading glass into the van I dropped a beer mug that smashed to bits in the gutter between the van and the curb. Right where you don’t want glass to be. I carefully picked up the pieces (not carefully enough it turns out, I put a few small holes in a fingertip). I put those pieces into another glass beer mug which I promptly dropped into the space between the van and the curb where IT shattered. Judas H. Priest (I miss you, Aunt Betty).
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I think this ‘dropping of things’ might be becoming a thing. Lately I’ve dropped a dog lead while walking them in the park. Nxt thing I know the dog lead is no longer in my hand. Always my left hand as were the beer mugs. I don’t panic because the lucky dog does nothing more than wander ahead of us, dragging their lead, nose to the ground, looking for the next smell to smell. We soon catch up to her, no bid deal. I stare at my hand and wonder what has gotten into it. I can make a really tight fist so I don’t know.
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Today will be busy. Kyle is going to call me when he’s ready to go. I’ll drive the van over to his place so he and I can load it with a bunch of stuff he hauled out of his garage. Yup. He felt good enough to tackle that project. Now he and Sami can walk around the garage and not have to step over stuff. He said his basement is next. There’s three kayaks down there where we stored them over the winter. Yesterday we talked about where and when we might go. Sami has mentioned interest in such stuff. Awesome.
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Thursday I may take the trike to coffee. It’s been nice and cool the last few days but the temps are (finally) ratcheting up. That’ll cut down on trips to Vandy and triking to coffee. We’ll see. Cheees.
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Wait. That’s not all. Kim recently suggested we ‘finish a room’. The bathroom. There’s some sheetrock that needs repair. And paint. The sheet rock got damaged by melted snow running down a corner. of the room Two days ago I hauled the 27′ ladder out of the basement and climbed up into the clouds to investigate where snow might be melting and getting past the flashing where one of Ellen’s dormer windows meets the concave Mansard roof. I imagined I was snow and how I might melt and leak in. I applied liberal amounts of caulking here and there. Maybe I solved the problem, maybe not. We’ll see.

• Posted by john at 08:35:45 AM in Update
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