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My thoughts released; a mind set free |
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These pages contain my thoughts, from meandering ideas and persuasions to deep cerebrations and serious mentations. Why, for what purpose? To release my mind and set creativity free. Somewhere inside the constraints of my mind dwells a writer, a poet, an artist who paints with words. In here, I release those constraints and set the artist free. Perhaps, lost somewhere in the depths of thought, is a story or a poem, waiting to be written. |
| Yesterday was lazy, but today not so much. It's barely into the twenties here, but the sun is shining and that seems to be enough to motivate just as yesterdays gloomy, drieriness seemed to suck the energy right out of me. Today, after fixing our lunch and enjoying our noontime meal before my wife headed off to work, a package arrived that contained a five foot by seven foot exercise mat. But, it's not for exercise, although I suppose it could be used for that as well. My wife likes an antifatigue mat in the kitchen in front of the stove and she also has a big rug infront of the sink. I do fine with the rug, but the mat is a hazzard to my neourologicily damaged feet. I tend to get snagged and tripped up on it because I can't feel things properly; my feet tend to feel asleep. So, I thought I would look around for a bigger mat for the kitchen, but through my searches in stores and online, I found very little for big kitchen mats. Rugs, yes, but not mats—the problem with rugs is they get nasty so fast, between cooking, food prep, and washing dishes, our kitchen rug ends up lasting only a few months. Being a stubborn determined man, I didn't let my lack of finding a large kitchen mat deter me, and then a few days ago, I had an epiphany. "What's that?" You ask. "Well, in this context, it was a moment of sudden revelation. Oh, you mean what was my sudden revelation?" It was an exercise mat, like a person would use to do yoga, stretches, pilates, etc., so I did an online search for one that would fit our kitchen; the area I wanted to cover measured seven foot by five foot. I thought, "If needed, I could go bigger and cut the mat, but one of the first ones I found came in a few different sizes, including five foot by seven foot. Since it was here, I wanted to get it put down. It came rolled up, so the first step was unpackaging it and unrolling it so it would warm up and lie flat. This was done before we ate and with a few weights placed on the corners, it flattened out nicely. The next step came after we ate, putting it in place by the stove, in front of the sink, and alongside the breakfast bar. I thought I may have to trim it a little where the stove sits, but my measurments where spot on and it fit fine. I decided as long as I was working in the vacinity of the stove and had removed the drawer to make it easier to fit the mat in place (in case I needed to cut for the pads on the stove) I woul level the stove. I had leveled it when we put it in, but it settled a bit and liquids tended to move to the right side of the pans. It wasn't off much, but I adjusted the pads a half a turn on the right side, checked the level bubble, and it was perfect, or at least close to perfect.  |
| Today is warmer, in the twenties, but kind of dreary. We were supposed to get a few more inches of snow last night and today, and it was also supposed to be windy. Instead, we have low clouds making the day gloomy, and a bit of a breeze, but not what I'd call windy by a long shot. I suppose it's Murphy's Law being applied; we purchased snowshoes so we could enjoy the snow, so now we're not getting any. That's alright. If the snow goes, we can get our camper out of storage and start setting it up. On the other hand, if we get more snow, we can actually try out our snowshoes. We've been out a few times, but the snow is crusted and has melted down to the point where we don't need snowshoes. All in all, it's just a lazy day. Even Max thinks so, as you can see. I settled in to spend a bit of time here, and he climbed up to assist me but fell asleep. Bellah is currently sleeping on my feet, but I couldn't get a picture of her without moving my lap desk and computer. I should go work on my office, but I hate to disturb them. It's days like these when they are my partners in procrastination.  |
| I didn't get a blog entry written yesterday. I had every intention of writing one, but when it came down to it, it was like the song, "I got stoned, and I missed it." I have never been a big participant in the "herbs' as one coworker called it. I tried wacky tobaccy from time to time over the years, but it was always with the same results: an asthma attack. It's difficult to enjoy anything that ends up stealing your breath away, so I never really pursued a stoner's life, even though I did live on Stoner Avenue for a spell. When I started my chemo, I had a lot of digestive problems. Pain and loss of appetite were high on the list, and my oncologist told me that marijuana could help with both of these problems. But, he also told me that it was a pain in the ass to get it, and most insurance companies wouldn't pay for it. However, since Minnesota legalized it, he recommended I try edibles or a tincture, if I was interested. I didn't see any reason to spend money on the stuff without knowing if it would help, so I didn't get any. Money was tight as it was, medical bills were already in double digits in the thousands, and things like food and gas held precedence. But when my children asked why I didn't seek out medical marijuana, and I explained the cost issues and it not being covered by my insurance, they decided to help me out and got me a bottle of tincture with a low THC content. It worked wonders, and I didn't feel "high". Of course, I was only taking a quarter teaspoon three times a day. The tincture was expensive, and one of my children decided to make the tincture to keep costs down. Soon, I had a quart jar of homemade tincture, and it worked just as well, maybe even better than the purchased product. I stayed on the same dosage, but only took it twice a day, in the morning and before bed. Not only did it help with my appetite and digestive pain, it also helped with my back pain, and most nights I sleep all night long. Over time, it seemed a half teaspoon wasn't always enough, so I increased to a full teaspoon. After my chemo symptoms improved, I took the tincture before bed, but on occasion, I would take half a teaspoon in the afternoon if needed. Yesterday was one such day. For some reason, I was having a lot of abdominal pain after eating, so I took out the jar of tincture. I noticed I had another jar that was almost gone behind it. I took down the old jar and took the rest (there was only a teaspoon left, maybe two). The first thing I noticed was that it was stronger than the new jar, and it was full of particulate material. I also noticed it was a lot more potent, but this didn't hit until about half an hour after taking it. As the afternoon progressed, so did the effects of the tincture, and soon enough, I was buzzing like the fly in the song by America, "A Horse With No Name". In my weakened and sickly state of health from the chemo, my wife did the honors of tracking and administering my medications. Now, I'm able to do that task myself and have been for over a month. But, somewhere during the transition, I missed something or just forgot that the tincture needs to be stirred or shaken up before using, or it separates, and the good stuff settles to the bottom. It explains why I had to increase my dosage from a half teaspoon to a full teaspoon over the last month. I wasn't getting all the good stuff; it was building up on the bottom. Yesterday, however, I got a good dose, and my wife, when she got home from work and discovered my condition, got a good laugh. This song came to mind: |
| It was either Husky Run or Pooped Pups, I decided on the former. "But, what are you talking about?" You ask. It all started when I went out to get a bit of fresh air and sunshine. With the weather colder again, I didn't get much sunshine because I was bundled up in warm clothing, but that's not relevant to this entry. Normally, Max, my Husky and good friend, does his part to help out. At least, he thinks he's helping. But today, he didn't grab the shovel and pull; he just watched and did his own thing. After I finished shoveling, I decided to play with both Max and Bellah so they would burn off some energy. Bellah is easy to play with since she loves to play fetch. Max, being a Husky, isn't really geared to playing fetch. He will, on occasion, but he only brings back the object once or twice, then gives me that look that says, "I'm not falling for this again. I brought the damn thing back twice, and each time you just threw it away again. Go get it yourself." No, being a Husky, he has his own game he likes to play. We call it Husky Run; actually, Max named the game. He will get right up close and say, "Run!" Today, he didn't tell me he wanted to play; he's been a bit depressed since my wife is working. Huskies can really be temperamental and moody. This is likely the reason he didn't help shovel, too. So, while he was lying in the snow sulking, I snuck up on him, then charged him when he turned his head and looked at me. He jumped up and took off. He ran across the yard, turned, and charged back at me. I waited until he was close, then tried to catch him, but he twisted and turned and circled the garage. Again, I tried to intercept him, but he's fast, and he has some moves that would make any football player jealous. Max stopped playing "Run" with me when I was dying sick from chemo. Only recently has he let me play with him, and then it's been pretty limited, so I wouldn't overdo it. Today, however, he gave me a clean bill of health, and we played until we were both pooped pups. |
| I know, it's supposed to be out of the frying pan and into the fire; something like that, anyway. Here, just south of Canada, it's cold and will be for at least another month, maybe two. When it's above freezing, it's a fridge, and when it drops below freezing, it's a freezer, of course. Recently, we enjoyed a period of refrigerator weather, although it did drop below freezing at night; we're just going with daytime, alright? But for the next week or so, we won't see any temperatures above freezing, so now it's back into the freezer. Now, it's not the deep freeze, mind you. We had a period of that shit too. I don't mind the freezer, but I do not like the deep freeze, Sam-I-Am; let's not get me started with boats and goats or even clogs and hogs. We did get a couple of inches of snow from the six plus they forecast. If it had all come down as snow, we'd have gotten a foot or more, but a lot of the precipitation arrived as rain first, then turned to snow. So yeah, a couple of inches of snow and a nice coating of ice under it. Not that I'm bummed about it, since we just got snowshoes, I can enjoy the new snow as long as it's not too cold. And, if by chance the snow melts and it turns warmer, I can handle that, too. For the next day or two, it's going to be pretty cold, but it's supposed to be back up near the freezing point by Monday. That makes me think of a song: Come Monday, it'll be alright, come Monday I'll snowshoe till night... |
| I really didn't have anything planned for today except for spending some time here. I have plenty of other things I can put some time into, but I just planned on winging it today. Starting out this morning, things were going according to my plans to not have plans. I slept in till almost ten, then spent a quiet, relaxing morning with my coffee, wife, and two dogs snoozing on my feet. So far, so good. Then it was time to make lunch; my wife volunteered me for that duty because she needed to start getting ready for work. I scanned the fridge to see what was available to use. In a few minutes, I had the fixings out to make tacos. I got the beef cooking while I prepped the veggies and got everything else ready. I had found some leftover bacon from yesterday in the fridge, so I chopped that up and added it to the beef, tossed in some onion and garlic, spices, and let it all cook together. We didn't have any taco shells on hand, but we did have some tortilla shells, so we had soft-shell tacos. After we ate, I was informed that we needed to fill up all our water bottles and pick up some milk, butter, and a few other items from the grocery store. But, since it was time for my wife to go to work, she didn't have time. So, she volunteered to give her a ride to work, stop at the store, and then come back to pick her up after work. I went out and got the vehicle out of the garage, put the empty water bottles inside, and took my wife to work. Then I went to the store and did my shopping, drove to the gas station and filled up the tank, and then drove back home and unloaded the vehicle. The guy who plows us out hadn't shown up yet, so I shoveled out in front of the house. We have about two inches of new snow. After, I was going to start dinner, but when I came in, my phone was ringing. It was my wife; she had forgotten her cell phone in the vehicle and needed it to clock in and out of work. So I loaded the dogs back up, and we drove back into town, dropped off her phone, then returned home. By this time, I didn't feel like cooking anything, so I've been snacking and spending my time in here. I guess it's a good thing I hadn't planned anything for today. |
| Today is humpday; at least many people refer to it as humpday. Maybe it's because of the hump, but it seems like things just kind of stalled today. It's been busy for at least a week with little time to spare. Today kind of just crashed. Not in a bad way; everything just came to a standstill. We are under a winter storm watch, or warning, or expectation; something wintery anyway. As of last night, we were to expect about six inches. As of this morning, there was barely enough of the white stuff to cover the sidewalk. As of this afternoon, it was snowing harder, and as of now, it's stopped again with maybe an inch of new snow. The National Weather Service people say we could get two to four inches by tomorrow afternoon, but then they have issues with their pants catching fire. Just in case they are right, however, we decided it's a good day to just stay home and take it easy. As for more snow, it doesn't matter to me; both my wife and I are ready for spring, but we also have a new hobby, snowshoeing. We've only been out a few times, and so far we haven't had any deep snow; we've hiked packed trails and a snow-packed back road. With the possibility of bad weather today, I didn't do much, but it's kind of nice to have a relaxing day. I guess you could say, I'm just humping it today. |
| I've been known to say, "It's exactly the same, only different." Today it's stated about the day, as compared to yesterday. Yesterday was warm, in the lower fifties, calm breeze, and sunny. Today it was almost as warm, in the upper forties, but windy, gusting to almost fifty miles per hour. It was also overcast today, with a feeling and a smell of bad weather coming. Yes, I can sometimes feel a storm brewing, and sometimes I can smell it on the wind. I slept in this morning; I've been really tired lately. I think a lot of my tiredness is from all the fresh air and exercise this past week. It was the same again today, only different. Instead of going to the park, we just drove a few miles and snowshoed down a closed-for-the-winter road. It's heavily shaded, so there was still snow to snowshoe in. There's a small campground at the end of this road, so it does get plowed out, but not regularly and not right down to the gravel. We just got our snowshoes, and already we are lacking snow. For a while, it was looking like we may end up doing as much mudshoing as snowshoing, but today was the last day we will be above thawing for a while adnd the forecast is for three to six inches of new snow. After a mile trek through the woods, we took the scenic, long way home. Then it was dinner (we call it supper, but not sure where that term came from. Both my family and my wife's family refer to the last meal of the day as supper; dinner is reserved for fancy meals with friends and family.) I baked up a couple of yams and a couple of the pork chops I smoked the other day. Now, it's time to sit back and relax with a little brandy, some CSI Los Vegas, and then bed. |
| I had a terrific weekend, even if it was too short. Saturday, I enjoyed a wonderful visit from our daughter. I had smoked a ham (double smoked) on Wednesday, and decided to have it for dinner on Saturday. It went into the slow cooker so we could eat whenever we decided. On Sunday, we went to the state park and tried out our snowshoes. The dogs had a blast romping around. We did three-quarters of a mile on a trail that goes around a small lake. It wasn't very far, but for our first day snowshoeing, it was enough. Of course, we stayed and enjoyed a nice afternoon in the park, then took the scenic ride home. I was surprised by how little snow was left. In the open areas where the sun hits, there's not much left at all, but even in the trees where it's shaded, there's little snow left. Not that I'm complaining, I'm loving this nice weather; it was in the lower fifties today. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the forties with rain, but then it turns to snow tomorrow night with up to three inches possible; we'll see. |
| As Mr. Quincy Magoo often said, "Oh, Magoo, you've done it again." Only it wasn't Quincy, it was TJ who did it again. "And what has Mr. Magoo TJ done again?" You ask. "What, you didn't ask? Well, I'm going to tell you anyway." I did my smoking today and was content with just kicking back in here while I waited on the smoker. I also thought about working on my office; I think I've procrastinated on the task long enough. But things didn't work out quite like they were supposed to. My wife informed me that we needed to refill our water bottles. Our water is high in iron, and even with a softener, it isn't ideal for making coffee or drinking, so we get water in three and five-gallon refillable bottles. She suggested that I drive her to work, get the bottles filled, and then bring them home. Not only did this mess up my plans, but she also didn't have to work until five this afternoon instead of the regular time, two o'clock, so my afternoon wasn't going quite as planned; life has a way of messing things up from time to time, and today was one of those times. I had stuff in the smoker, so before leaving, I made sure it was full of pellets. We left early so she could fill the bottles, which we did, then I dropped her off at work. I stopped and filled the fuel tank before coming home since we have to drive to Fergus Falls tomorrow for a medical appointment, and decided that it was a good time to go through the car wash as well; the vehicle was filthy with road grime and salt. So, by the time I got home, it was time to make dinner. Actually, it was a bit past time, but we adjust, right? While dinner was cooking, I brought the pork roast in from the smoker, bagged it, wrapped it in freezer paper, and put it in the fridge. Then I ate, cleaned up my dishes, and the kitchen. By this time, it was sunset and getting dark out, so I had to turn off the smoker and bring the ham and beef inside and get them in the fridge. (Tomorrow I'll slice the beef into thin strips and put them in our convection oven to dry, after we get back home. At least that's the plan. After finishing up with the meat, I had to bring the smoker back inside and put away my stuff. Finally, I had a bit of time to sit and relax. I settled into my recliner and almost instantly dozed off. I only dozed for a minute or two, but somehow during that doze, it became time to go pick my wife up from work. In other words, I didn't get in here until after we got home. I thought I would have time to write in my blog, do some kind of forum post, and finish up my four. I had forgotten, however, that WdC time is an hour later than my time, and since it was after eleven here, it was already tomorrow there. Yes, I did not get my blog post or forum post in today because today here was already tomorrow there. |
| It's another nice day, sunny, a light breeze, and almost 40oF. If it weren't so icy and slippery, it would be a nice day to walk around the loop. But the road is terribly slippery, so I'll pass. Besides, it's supposed to be even warmer for the next slew of days (if those who profess to forecast the weather aren't lying and risking their pants catching fire again). Instead of risking a slip and a fall, I've decided to do a bit more smoking out back. Not today, today I'm preparing the meats for the smoker, which will be ready to go tomorrow. One item that doesn't need much preparation is a small ham from the pork we purchased. The local butcher shop sells double-smoked hams that are so damn good it's almost scary. What's scary about them is the price, and that's why I decided to try double-smoking one of the hams we received with our pork. I'm also going to smoke another pork roast from the same fresh pork. I did a couple back in December, and they turned out awesome. I still have one from the other day when I went out to smoke, but since they are so good, I want more. (My wife also wants me to make more.) So, what about the title, "Jerk", you ask? At least, I'm pretending you're asking. It's like this: We take beef jerky along when we hike and use it as a special treat for our dogs (as well as for ourselves). But the store-bought stuff is very expensive, full of unwanted chemicals, and not as good as homemade. So, I decided it's time I taught myself how to make beef jerky. There are plenty of recipes to pick from, and I'm sure they are good, but I want something basic, old-style, and easy; something similar to what people made a century ago, cured with salt, sugar, and smoke. I came across a recipe in my Mom's old cookbook for jerky that she had written down on paper. It's a simple recipe that consists of salt, brown sugar, black pepper, and coriander. This is mixed together and rubbed on chunks of meat cut one inch thick, then wrapped in waxed paper (I used plastic wrap) and aged for two days. The meat is then rinsed and placed on racks in the smokehouse (I'll use my pellet smoker) and cured with low heat for eight hours. After, they are left to cool overnight, then sliced to a thickness of a nickel, placed on racks, and dried in the oven. |
| Yesterday, my wife and I were trying to decide whether to go to Glendalough State Park with the dogs or do a bit of shopping and visit her mom. The forecast was a major influencer, with rain and snow supposedly arriving in the afternoon and lasting into the evening. By the time we finished lunch, the forecasted weather looked like it was going to stay south of us, so we loaded up the truck and headed to Glendalough to do a bit of hiking and to let the dogs get some exercise. But, since my wife returned to work today, we also decided to visit her mom for a bit, too. And since we would be in Wadena to visit mom, we may as well stop and pick up a few groceries. Because my mother-in-law doesn't tend to eat very well (she's in her nineties), I like to make up extra soup and freeze some for her in single-serving containers. We put these in an insulated shopping bag and then put that in the cooler we keep in the back of the truck. Then we headed off to the park. Being a nice day, there were quite a few people out on the trails, so we parked by the picnic area road. It's closed off through the winter, and nobody tends to go down there. We walked the road, but since it's unplowed, it was a good hike. But in some places the snow was quite deep, and it made hiking difficult, not to mention we got snow in our boots. We decided that winter hiking requires snowshoes, and this morning we shopped online and ordered some. After a few hours in the park, we went to visit my mom-in-law. She was excited to see us, and we had a nice visit. We did learn that she had taken a fall about a week ago and cracked a couple of ribs. She had woken during the night to use the bathroom, stepped on her dog's ball, and fell as a result. Other than that, she was doing well. After, we did a bit of grocery shopping. We didn't need a lot, so it went pretty fast, but by the time we were ready to drive home, it was getting kind of late. It would be about forty-five minutes to drive home, then to put stuff away and fix dinner, well, it just made sense to get something to eat before we went home. We decided to stop at Burger King, get some chicken tenders and fries, and eat on the drive home. But when we got there, the menu had changed, they didn't have chicken tenders anymore, they had chicken fries. We ordered them along with an order of fries and an order of onion rings. Soon enough, the food was ready, and we took off for home, waiting to dig into the food once we were outside of town. What a disappointment! The chicken was ground and formed, mostly tasteless, and very salty. The fries were alright, but not as good as they used to be, and the onion rings didn't have rings of onion in them; they had onion filler in them; they weren't even crispy, but soggy from the mashed-up onion inside the batter shell. At least the dogs enjoyed the rooster-dicks chicken fries. It seems it's getting harder to find decent food when eating out, or maybe I've gotten a lot pickier. I tend to think it's a bit of both. Luckily, we had gotten some healthy snack foods while shopping and enjoyed them after we got home. |
| I slept in this morning and didn't wake until ten; my app to remind me to take my meds was going off, or I may have slept even longer. But I woke up to sunshine and above-freezing temps, took my morning meds, and settled in with a cup of hot coffee. My wife has the day off, but is currently at physical therapy, so I thought I would log in here and get some stuff done. I have my four complete or will when I finish this entry. Then it's time for lunch; my wife should be home in time to join me. After lunch, we are thinking of either doing a bit of grocery shopping and visiting my mother-in-law, or taking the dogs on an adventure (that's what we tell them when we go to the state park to hike and let them run and play.) What we do depends on the weather. The forecast is saying a mix of rain and snow this afternoon, but the temperature is warm enough that I don't think we'll see any snow. Not unless the precipitation continues into the night; it is currently 40oF, too warm for snow. Why did I title this "This or That"? Partly because of the choice of Mom's or the park, do we do this or do we do that? It's a result of the weather forecast: is it going to rain or is it going to snow? Is it this or is it that? And finally, it's the weather itself: the radar forecast shows the rain/snow staying south of us. Is it going to rain here, or is it going to miss us? Is it this, or is it that? I'm hoping for the park, but if it rains, there's the cold and wet, not to mention how slippery the hard-packed snow will get. But if we bring a thermos of hot chocolate? There's always "that". But if it's rainy, a visit with mom would be nice, and she would enjoy "this". I guess it's just a matter of time and the weather to determine if we do this, or that. |
| I was a smoker, but I quit just about a year ago. I used nicotine pouches, tobacco-free, to help with the cravings, but when I went in for surgery, I stopped using the pouches as well. All in all, I did well, but I still have the desire to enjoy a cigar now and then. Today it was almost 40oF outside, but a bit windy. Behind the house, on the patio, the wind was blocked pretty well, so I decided to go out and smoke. I had prepped a nice pork roast and four pork chops yesterday, just lightly seasoning them with salt and pepper. I set up my camp-shower to block the wind, then fired up my portable wood pellet smoker, put the fresh pork on the rack, and let the smoking commence. I let them smoke at 225 degrees for three hours, then turned the heat down to 180 degrees for another three hours. While the pork was in the smoker, I put some beef short ribs in the slow cooker. These were purchased at the local meat market back in December. I purchased one package because I didn't know how good they would be. Once home, I used my own seasoning rub on them, then slow-smoked them. Once they were well smoked, I put them in the freezer for a later date; today was that day. I wish I had purchased a few more packages; they turned out terrific. So, to wrap up this entry, it was nice out today, so I went out on the patio and smoked. I smoked a pork shoulder roast and four pork chops. They are currently in the refrigerator. If we don't cook any of the smoked pork up tomorrow, I'll put it in the freezer for another day. |
| As the late, great Tom Petty sang, "The waiting is the hardest part". Although his song is far different from my waiting right now—waiting is waiting. I'm waiting for our camper to be delivered, which won't happen until the snow melts and the door tracks where it's in storage unfreeze. It's not a new camper, but it's new to us and our first (usable without needing work) hardshell camper. It's all set up to go camping, but we need to put our camping things in it. My wife will want to give it a thorough cleaning, despite it having been cleaned by the previous owner before storing it. I'd be happy with their cleaning, but she's pickier than I am, and that's a good thing. There are some things I want to check out and possibly change that fall into my area of being picky. I want to know what kind and how powerful is the battery in it. I want to relocate one outlet from inside the cupboard to under it (why they put an outlet inside the cupboard above the stove is beyond me), and I want to set it up for remote camping at sites that do not have electric power available. This means setting it up to use solar power when needed. We don't need a lot of power available, but enough to recharge the battery, as well as to run fans and lights. I recently purchased a 200-watt solar starter kit that has most of what we will need. Now I just need the camper to see what else I will require to install everything. I want to be able to place the solar panels in full sun, since many times we can park the camper in shaded areas; the panels need to be mobile. Since the majority of our camping is at campgrounds with electric hook-ups, the solar side needs to be switched on or off as needed, and I'll also want to be able to run a small 110 volt converter. I have the converter already, a portable unit that has one 110v outlet that we use for a few different things. In the past, we've run it off the vehicle battery, but I want to install it inside the camper and run it off the camper battery/solar panels. So this also will need to be fused and switched. I also want to put a valve on the kitchen sink so that when drained, it will either go into the camper gray water tank or can be switched to go into our portable waste water holding tank. Why? Because when the temperature drops below freezing, we can't use the camper's holding tanks for fear of them freezing up. Instead, we use portable water tanks (refillable 5-gallon water bottles), a rechargeable water pump that fits the bottles, and a portable gray water tank. We heat the water on the stove for washing ourselves and the dishes. When we drain the sink, however, we have to divert the water from the camper's gray water tank to the portable tank. We also have a portable toilet that we use when temperatures drop below freezing. Both the portable gray tank and the portable toilet can be easily dumped into one fo the vault toilets since the dump station is also closed once the temperatures drop below freezing. Yes, we've camped in below-freezing temperatures before, as you can see. But the pop-up camper is too difficult to keep warm when the temperature drops that low, unless we have electricity available and use a couple of space heaters to assist the LP furnace in the camper. The canvas just did not hold the heat, and despite using foam and weather stripping, there just wasn't any way to keep the wind from finding places to blow through where the canvas attaches to the camper roof and sides, so we would quickly burn through both twenty-pound LP fuel tanks. Now, with a hardshell camper, it will be much easier to keep the inside warm. We will still utilize the space heaters to save on LP fuel, since electricity is provided at the campsite. But without the drafts and canvas, we shouldn't need to use the camper furnace very much. As you can tell, I'm excited about the new (to us) camper and being able to camp earlier in the spring and later in the fall. Hell, if the weather isn't too cold, I'll be camping right into the winter. With that said, maybe I should start looking for a little Christmas tree and some solar Christmas lights just in case we're still camping through December. |
| I was up early this morning and was able to enjoy watching the sun chase away the night with an awesome display of gold, orange, and crimson reflecting off some low wisps of clouds. The reflection off the white snow cover only added to the beauty; yesterday's thaw has given the snow an icy, reflective surface that mirrored this morning's colorful sunrise. It's nice being up early, as long as it's not too early, like my four o'clock wake-up the other day. Most days, I'm not awake until after eight, but I usually don't go to bed until about twelve-thirty or later because my wife doesn't get home from work until about eleven-thirty. Even though I enjoy being up early and seeing a beautiful sunrise, getting to enjoy the early morning peace, and later, when the weather gets hotter, the coolness of the morning, I also enjoy being up later and watching the beauty of the sunsets and sitting around a fire watching the fireflies and stars. What I don't enjoy, however, is being tired from lack of sleep. In times past, it didn't seem to bother me, but now I need at least seven hours of sleep. So do I stay up late or do I get up early? My internal clock seems to want me to get up early despite being up late, so perhaps that's the direction I should go. But, there's no sense in trying to go to bed until after my wife gets home from work, not with the dogs getting all excited, barking, and raising a ruckus when they hear her pull into the driveway and not letting up until after she's in the house and they've chewed her out for being gone so long. There's a solution; go to bed around midnight and get up around seven. Easy peasy! No, it's not; it's gotten to be a habit to stay up late, and once summer arrives, it's going to be even harder. As much as I enjoy being up early, I also enjoy being up late and enjoying a fire and the coolness of the night. Maybe I'll do both, I'll get up early, I'll stay up late, and I'll just take a nap in the afternoon. |
| We finally get to see some snow melt; it got above the freezing point today. It was a great day to be outside, and I spent much of it doing just that. I had the dogs out as well, of course. I shoveled out around the car and started it up for a bit before taking it for a drive. It's parked for the winter since it needs some work on the front end, but I still like to run it once in a while to keep it charged and everything working. I also started my pickup and drove it. It doesn't have a block heater, so I haven't started it or driven it for almost a month, since the evil cold attacked. Both started just fine. While I had the pickup out of the garage, I figured it was a good time to fix the garage door. It had frozen down and when the opener engaged, it bent the center support. I had to switch it with the one below it, as I did on the other garage door a few weeks ago. The supports are the same, but the holes are a bit different; it only took a few minutes to drill new holes in the right locations. I also shoveled a bit of snow and cleaned the snow off the mobile tent (pop-up). I didn't work hard on anything, but just stayed busy while I enjoyed the nice day. The dogs ran and played; Max had to help me work on the garage door and took off with my screwdriver. I tracked him down and retrieved it, but then he swiped my hat. He thinks he's helping. The next two days are forecast to be cooler, but still in the twenties, then by Sunday, we will again be above freezing. Currently monday is predicted to be in the forties, I may have to dig out my swimming trunks and sun bath for a while. Okay, I won't go that far, not yet. |
| Today was my monthly infusion day for immunotherapy. I was scheduled to be there at seven this morning, but for some unknown reason, both my wife and I completely forgot we had to be up early. We remembered the appointment yesterday, just forgot to set the alarm. As can be expected, we both overslept and missed the appointment. Luckily, she called, and they were able to get me in at noon-thirty. My blood work and labs came back looking terrific; everything was right where it's supposed to be, except my blood sugar was a little on the high side. Of course, the three cups of coffee with honey this morning were the reason behind this. After finishing up with the infusion, we picked up some broasted chicken and some potato salad and headed to Maplewood State Park, and had a picnic. It was a bit chilly, but enjoyable. The dogs loved running and playing in the snow, and we all had a great day. |
| Some of you probably remember the phrase, "here comes the fuzz," and know it refers to the police. But that's not the reference I'm making. I'm referring to my hair growth; it's finally growing back after the chemo infusions. I was informed that it was highly likely it would grow back, but no one could tell me if it would return as it was before; I was told it could come back fine or thick, straight or curly, and that there was even a slight chance of it being a different color. My hair has always been very fine, straight, and dark brown. Well, until just these last few years, when gray/silver started coming in more. I've also always had a very thick head of hair, but that also changes as it became thinner and thinner on top. Then I started chemo and lost 90% or so of my body hair. I did retain some on my legs, but it was very scraggly; other than that, there was no hair. But now it's growing back again. It's extremely fine now, like a newborn's. My facial hair is pretty scraggly and reminds me of my teenage years when I first started growing facial hair. Also, it's difficult to tell the color because it's so fine and thin. Nonetheless, it's exciting to see hair growing back. I know it's going to take time for it to get thicker, and that's fine (pun intended) with me. I'm eager to have my beard, mustache, and ponytail once again. |
| Is the block broken? We can only hope. Blockage is a terrible thing. In the digestive system, blockage means you can't poop and, over time, will start to have crappy ideas. For us who write, blockage means there aren't any ideas flowing, not even crappy ones. That's right, a writer can sit and grunt, push, and turn redder than ever and not get a single crappy thing out. That's been my case for a while now. It's been years since I wrote a story, and it's been almost a year since I pumped out any poems, I think. No matter how long, it's been a while, and it seems the more I try to write, the more difficult it becomes; that is the way of writer's block. But today it seems the blockage broke. "For how long?" you ask. "Who knows?" I answer. I hope it's gone forever, it was terrible wanting needing to write but not being able to. For a writer, there's not much worse than sitting and staring at a blank page, except for sitting and staring at a blank screen. As I was saying before, you interrupted me with your question, this morning I broke the block. I woke up at four o'clock and could not get back to sleep. I tried, but after a few minutes of lying there with all sorts of gobbledygook running through my head, I decided I may as well get up. And so I did; I got up and started coffee. As I waited for the coffee, I scrambled a couple of eggs for my extra-early breakfast. After, I took my coffee to the living room, got comfortable in my recliner, and logged into WdC. This time of day (still night in my book), there's not a lot going on, as most normal people are still sleeping. But, as I wandered the site, I started to have this idea brewing about groundhogs and woodchucks, which are the same critter, so today could be referred to as either Groundhog or Woodchuck Day. As the idea continued to brew in my half-asleep brain, I knew I needed to write it out before it faded away into yet another ghost of a story unwritten. I was concerned that once I started to write this short tale, it would fade away as so many other stories did as a result of the blockage, but this morning, the idea continued to flow, and soon, I had an entertaining little tale written. It may not seem like much, but for me it's hope the blockage is broken and I'll be writing again. I'm excited and feeling a bit giddy. And, if you're interested, you can find my tale here: "Woodchuck Day"  |
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