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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. 
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Didn't I just write about this in "Question of the Day!"  ? I did, just yesterday. The question was, "What’s an essential part of your daily routine?"My mornings! Actually, it's having some peace and quiet in the morning to gather my thoughts as I sip a couple of cups of coffee. A typical morning would go like this. I get up and visit with my wife for a half hour while she gets ready for work, and I enjoy my first cup of coffee. Then, she is gone, I take Max out for a few minutes, then we wake the girls for school. Max and I pack their lunches while they get ready. Shortly after seven, they emerge from their lairs and all hell breaks loose as they try and find stuff, get shoes on, and I get them out the door without (most days) forgetting something. Some days that's it, they are on the bus and off to school, other days I'm running something out or they are running back in, but by seven-thirty, the bus is hauling them off to school and my day begins. I take Max out to do his thing, then we go in and he gets his breakfast. After, he does a few tricks and gets a treat, and takes his morning nap. I do my devotions and log into WdC. But, that routine is anything but routine. Once again, we are getting dumped on with a lot of snow, it's colder than petrified penguin poop, and school is closed. Because of blizzard conditions, my wife didn't leave for work until shortly after nine, and I'm trying to squeeze a few minutes in here before the kids wake up. I did try and have my normal routine this morning; I really did. But, try as I might, it just won't happen if anyone is home. I don't understand it, I really don't. Maybe instead of joining the two units of our duplex together into one dwelling, I should move into the other apartment. Yep, just me and Max; no one to disrupt our daily routines. No, that won't work, they will be over knocking on the door, banging on the walls, calling my phone, or finding some way to disrupt the peace and quiet. It's kind of like "Sleepless In Seatle", only different. For me, it's "Out Of My Wits in Ottertail". |
| It's been an interesting day. I got a call shortly after eight about them coming out to change a power cable on the boiler. I got everything moved and ready, then at about ten they called back, the part was for someone else, mine wasn't there yet. Noon, they called again, it was here. One cord, two wires in it, factory sized with connectors on one side, a four-prong plug on the other. How long could it take to change it? Instead of removing the old one and installing the new one, they cut the end off of the old one and spliced the plug from the new one with wire nuts, and it still took them a half hour. It's a boiler, you know, high heat, water, steam. Not the best idea for an open wire connection; it's why they sent an entire cable instead of just the plug. It wasn't the regular guy, it was a couple of young guys (kids to me). After, it would not ignite. They pulled out phones and started looking for reasons, what the error code meant, and so on. I already knew what the code meant, it indicated the connector they put on wasn't working, and the regulator wasn't opening. But would they listen to me? The new cord had a red wire and a green wire in it, the old one was black and white. they hooked the red to the black and the green to the white, which I knew was wrong, the schematic plainly showed the black wire was ground and the white was power. Again, even after showing them the schematic, they insisted I was wrong. They ended up calling the tech number for the boiler. I didn't say anything, even though they had the phone on speaker and the tech informed them that they shouldn't have spliced the plug to the wire, as it will corrode, he also explained that the green wire should attach to ground and the red to the white power wire from the old cord. They switched them around and guess what? Yeah, it works again. It took those clowns all afternoon, but hey, at least we have heat. Just in time, too. It's snowing and it's cold. We are in a severe winter storm watch with possibilities of blizzard conditions until Thursday afternoon, and the temperature will barely get above zero with lows near fifteen below. As they were leaving, the dopey one tells me to keep the electric heaters until after the storm, just in case we lose power...  |
| I was trying to think of something to write about today, then I stopped over at "Question of the Day!" and I knew what I would like to blite about today. Hopefully, I get this done before all Hell breaks loose. The question was about quiet time. It's simple, really, when everyone is gone, I have quiet time. Except, right now, there is a lot of crap going on. The boiler system in here is junk and has been acting up all winter, so we have repairmen in and out a few times a week it seems trying to get this thing fixed. They replace a part, another goes out. Then the whole thing quit working completely during a very cold spell (below 0 Fahrenheit). They worked on it for two days and we ended up using electric space heaters to keep the place kind of comfortable. In the end, I became frustrated and went after the boiler myself, now it's back to working intermittently, but at least it's comfortable. We are also combining both sides of the duplex into one unit if the person up front ever gets fully moved out and turns the keys over. So, the landlord is over at least once a week. All this has the neighbor visiting a few times a week, for hours on end, because he wants to know and put his two cents in, Then there's school. the kids are home as much as at school, between holidays, special days off, and snow days. Then, my wife gets a sinus infection so she was home most of last week. So much for peace and quiet. Now, for a lot of people, this wouldn't be so bad, but for me, it's disastrous. I'm an introvert, so I need my alone time. I also get very lost in my work, reading, and especially my writing. I can handle a minor interruption or distraction, maybe two, but if there's more, I may as well throw in the towel. This is the problem. With outside people, I can see it, but with family, they know. I've explained it to them numerous times. But, as soon as I get lost in something, they sense it and poof, there they are. The kids won't say anything seeing as I'm really lost in something, they just stand right in front of me and do whatever it takes to get my attention. My wife will actually say, "I know you're doing something, but if you have a minute or two, I have a question. Most of the time, it's something she already knows the answer to or something that really doesn't need answering at all. If I'm not lost in something, making myself available for them, the kids vanish "POOF" into their rooms for hours, possibly days. My wife is busy doing this or that, and I sit, pace, or fumble with something as I wait for them. But, if I see that it's quiet, they're all busy, and I have a few minutes to read, write, or get lost in something... "POOF" they are back! |
| I know, I have not been very active here for a few days, mayhaps even about a week, or at least about seven days. I can explain. The weekend was chaos! Our oldest daughter/granddaughter turned 18 on Sunday. There was a lot of fuss and stuff over the weekend for her, of course. Add to that, her boyfriend was over, and that was even more hubbub for me to deal with. Don't get me wrong, he seems pretty nice and I like him just fine, but with Max, the birthday stuff, and a guest over, it was a bit more to deal with. Our youngest also had a birthday party to attend on Saturday, with a sleepover. So, it was trying to get her to clean up her room, get her to the party, and more mumble-jumble. Our landlord also stopped by on Saturday to let us know that we would be getting the front apartment on March first now instead of February first. He refunded what we had paid for the difference and apologized that Dingbat didn't get moved when she was supposed to. All in all, it made for a hectic weekend, lots of running around, busy, and not much time to get online. Then, Monday arrived. I was excited, kids back in school, wife at work, and just me and Max to enjoy peace and quiet and get caught up in here. At least, that was the plan. Those plans got flushed right down the crapper as soon as my phone went off. We've been having trouble with the boiler heat all winter, but with a bit of tinkering and jumping past a sensor, it's running and working fine. However, Monday the people came out to fix it right and replace the defective part. They arrived at about ten and didn't leave until after five. Nothing went right for them, they couldn't get the old sensor to come off without tearing up the pipe it's attached to, the bleeder valve didn't fit, and so on. A little past noon, they had done as much as possible with it, with the sensor still bypassed, the old bleeder back on, and not much accomplished. They closed it up, turned on the power, pushed the button, and... You likely guessed it, no heat. The boiler is now defunct completely, and by the time they left, it was determined that the circuit board, much like a motherboard in a computer, had fried up as crispy as over-cooked bacon. They removed it and took it with them, with hopes of having it fixed by Tuesday. They did bring us some electric heaters. But since we did not get the keys for the front, we had no way to put any on that side. Luckily, the temperature was staying above freezing. Tuesday they put the repairs board back in first thing in the morning. They turned on the power and pushed the button. Nothing. The ignitor was not igniting. He again removed the board and checked the fuses; one had blown. He changed this and turned the power back on, the fuse blew again. It seems there is something shorting out in the board, so one was ordered with overnight delivery. The plan was to have it by Wednesday afternoon and put it in right away and get us some heat. But, Tuesday it began with rain, then freezing rain, and by eleven that night, we had blizzard conditions. The temperature also started to drop, but we did get keys to the front and set up heaters over there, as well as the ones we have here. It has not gotten over ten degrees yesterday or today, and has dropped below zero at night, and will again tonight. The delivery was delayed by the storm, the landlord is in Texas (he drives truck) and we are trying to keep warm with space heaters as we run up a horrible electric bill. Meanwhile, we have a crew of three people trying daily to get this boiler up and running. It's been a crazy weekend, a crazy week, and some crazy weather. It's almost enough to drive me sane! |
Written in pink for "Invalid Item" It's Valentine's Day and it's been a while since I made an entry, so if you put them together, it's time to write something. I have been adding a lot of posts about Max, and if you've read through them, you know, he's my (our) new Husky puppy. If you haven't kept up with my blog, Max is my (our) new Husky puppy. He's a handful at times but doing well. His training is going well, but we still have a long way to go. He's four months old now and weighs in at a whopping 32 pounds; he's growing so fast, but that's normal for his breed. We still need to work a lot with him coming to his name. He does well if he's hungry and the treats are wanted, but if he's not, it's a bit of a challenge. If anyone has any tips for this, please comment. Thank you. Max and I did a bit of shopping today, since it's Valentine's Day, and he is getting better at riding in the car. He still fights it a little, but then gives up and hops in. When the weather gets a bit nicer, we'll be going to the lake and the park, which should persuade him that car rides are for fun. Today it was to pick up a Valentine's gift for my wife, he waited in the car, but I'm sure he would have picked something nice; red meat most likely. Anyway, I don't do much for Valentine's, and before meeting her, didn't do anything. Like some, I figured it was just a money-maker for mid-winter sales. But, she enjoys the day and always gets me a little something, so this year I went beyond my normal card and purchased her a very beautiful, live orchid, a box of chocolates, and a nice card. I figured if I can do the Secret Valentine's in here, I better not get cheap with my favorite Valentine. I know the surprise will likely get her crying. Yes, I'd make my wife cry on Valentine's Day, just like I do on her birthday, our anniversary, Christmas, and just whenever I get the urge to surprise her with something thoughtful. |
| With three more days to go to complete the challenge over at "Invalid Item" I better get hustling. I've been keeping up pretty well but I would like to browse through and read more of the other entries in the challenge. At the same time, I seem to have less time. I'm not sure if it's a result of the Earth spinning faster, the core stopping and possibly reversing, or the chunk of the sun breaking off. Actually, I think it's because Max has stopped taking as many naps, that boy is growing so fast, and maturing quicker than expected. Whatever the reasons, possibly a combination of all of these, more likely just less time to spend in W.C, I'm running a bit behind. But, this entry will help and hopefully, I can get another done later, or tomorrow. But, the weekend is looking kind of busy, our oldest is having her 18 birthday on Sunday, with friends over tomorrow. The younger one has a birthday party tomorrow and a sleepover after, so yeah, a lot going on this weekend. Weekends are tough for me to write anyway, since I like peace, quiet, and no one bothering me when I write. If all goes well, I'll get things finished up this weekend, if not, I'll have to finish up on Monday. I've already explained to Max that I may need him to mellow out for me on Monday, but talking to him is like talking to a four-month-old Husky, well he is, so yeah. |
| We are six days into February now and still waiting on the dingbat to get moved out. I know, one should never resort to name-calling. I'm not! She is a friend of our landlord and he avows she is indeed a dingbat, from the bat family Ding-a-lingoptera. Like Charlie Brown in discussion with Lucy, I tend to get a headache and an upset stomach when I converse with the woman, so my wife, sweet and patient as she is, went over to find out how much longer she would take in moving out. She returned with a headache and an upset stomach but no precise or even guessed date. She had informed the landlord that she would be out by the first of February. He informed us that we should be getting a new neighbor shortly after since he just purchased the property from his Dad and is taking things over. Since we are a bit cramped for space with just half the house, I asked if we could rent the entire house and connect the two apartments. He agreed, knowing we have been good renters and since it was originally a single-unit home would take very little to open them up again. So, now we wait, he waits and she contemplates what items to take now and which to take later. I'm serious, she has actually carried out boxes, then carried them back in because she wanted to take something else first. She also has items in her side of the garage, which is now technically ours. Items she moved from her apartment into the garage because she was locked out of her Rush Lake Storage Unit. Being a member of the Ding-a-lingoptera order of batty, she was not locked out, she was at the wrong storage unit. Her's is St. Lorance Storage on the other side of the road. Seems she got confused and made a wrong turn, despite the fact that she had her unit about half full; yes she had taken multiple loads over a few days before. Like I said, it's not name-calling, she's a dingbat. |
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I wear a jacket when it falls below 70.
