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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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| In our last episode, we looked at how things went from semi-serene to constant chaos; stay tuned to see how things are progressing... It's been almost a week since my last entry, so I guess this page is an indication that things have mellowed a bit. But, they haven't mellowed much, trust you me! Where we left off was track, vehicle problems, and a lot to do around the place. Track is still going, and will keep going until school is out, possibly a bit longer. Yes, I know, I'm the parent, I should know when it stops. But, two weeks in, and I still have not gotten a schedule. In fact, our track star who now is doing either discus or shock-put instead of sprinting informed us that practice ended between five and five-thirty, depending on the weather. This was also confirmed by a handful of other students via their parents waiting to pick them up. The coach told me, when I asked, that it would be between four-thirty and five, depending on how quickly they changed after practice. He also informed me that once it was nicer out, they would practice outside until five. So, I started waiting at four-thirty. They were practicing outside, the runners running around the school, uptown, and anywhere they wanted to run. I even found a small group behind the supermarket having a smoke break. The coach was working with a few of them in the gym and I politely asked him again, as it was almost five now, what time I should pick up our student. He informed me that they were done between four-thirty and six, depending on the weather. No, I didn't say anything! I didn't have to, a half dozen other parents had come in and they went off on the guy. Now, practice is done at five, or so it was decided before a full-out brawl erupted in the gym. We will see. It turned colder, so not a lot to do outside, but it has provided me time to go through the car we bought when our's broke. It's an older Buick my mother-in-law sold us and has been kept up well, or at least that's the story. I know she took good care of it, but her boyfriend drove it on occasion, and I think some other family members may have taken it out without her knowledge. I assume this because of food, candy wrappers, cigarette ashes and butts, and food/beverage spills in the front and back seats of the car. Since mom-in-law doesn't smoke, or drive for that matter, and since the car has been parked in her garage since last November, I have to suspect someone else has driven it. It's been good so far, great mileage, comfortable, rides nice, and once cleaned up, in very good shape. However, it developed a glitch two days ago. First, the Service Engine Light came on, I find nothing wrong, but I had just gone through a car wash, so maybe something got wet. This morning, the Low Coolant light came on, then after about one, maybe two minutes went back off. I've checked all the fluids, they are good. Even so, I checked the coolant again after it had cooled down; it was full. I'm thinking something did, in fact, get wet, but it may also be a faulty connection someplace. Hopefully, it works itself out, but then again, do these things ever work out? I know the last thing I need is another vehicle in need of repairs. I hope to get the HHR fixed this week, then we will have, I hope, two vehicles again. That makes room for me to take the pickup in and have the transmission checked and get an estimate of what that's going to cost. With camping season coming up quickly, I need the truck to pull the camper and haul camping/kayaking stuff. But, I suspect it may be a bit before I have it fixed, and it's also possible it will cost more than I want to stick into it. So, we are also looking at purchasing a new vehicle. This week isn't good for looking, however, because my wife decided she would work some overtime. Yea, the extra money will be nice, but with only one vehicle and her now having to be at work by five in the morning, it's almost impossible for me to get up and give her a ride and still be up at night to get the kids off to bed. Let's remember, with the colder weather we have right now, I have not been able to get everything done outside that needs doing, but it's going to be warmer by tomorrow and through the next ten days, or so the Weather Bug tells me. So, as you can see, things may have mellowed a bit, but it's just a little bit. I should update my Keto blog, but who's got the time? |
| I haven't been around much since last week. Saturday, we had a birthday party for our niece in a small town hall. Since it was on my wife's side of the family, we have learned that if something starts at four, they are usually starting by three or three-thirty. So, we got a few things done around the house and set out for our hour drive to the party, arriving right at three. Saturday proved to be the exception to the previously stated fact, and hardly anyone was there. In fact, so many guests were late, they didn't start until five, instead of four. Since we had plans for that day, we had originally planned on leaving by six. Still possible, but instead of them starting the Sweet-Sixteen party, all the adults spent about an hour socializing and visiting. Please note, they all live within a half-hour drive and visit quite frequently. To make things worse for us, my brother-in-law decided he wanted to park his SUV on the grass away from everyone else. We all parked on the paved parking area, but he drove past it and parked in the grass. With the snow melting, the ground was soft and he buried the front end, up to the bumper, in mud. Being stuck, he needed someone to help push him out. No one had a tow strap, so I and another tried our best to push him back out. We gained a foot and almost had him clear of the muck, but needed him to pull forward a bit and gain some momentum going back while we pushed. He did come forward, but before we could start pushing, stuck it in reverse and floored it, driving the tires even deeper and splattering us with mud. He got pissed and started bellowing and cussing, which we are all used to, but decided it was stuck too bad now, he would need to get a tow truck to pull him out. He stormed off and his wife came over and asked if we thought we could push it out. I said we could try, so she got in, started it, and asked if it would push out easier if she put it in four-wheel drive! Once she engaged the four-wheel drive, she backed right out without any assistance! Pushing the heavy vehicle had my back aching. The fact that the guy didn't even try four-wheel drive had me in a not-so-good mood, and being splattered with mud didn't improve it any. but, I took a few minutes and then rejoined the party, now just getting going. It was for a sweet girl, so why spoil her day? We finally made it out of there about seven and tried to get our plans adjusted. We had thought they would serve something to eat other than cake and junk food, but that was not the case. Since I'm doing Keto and my wife is also on a diet, we had nothing we could eat for sustenance. I did try a small piece of cake that another niece had made, but it was unedible. It was tough, dry, and tasted like plaster! The frosting was even more disgusting, I think it was just shortening and food coloring. Since we had not eaten much all day, we decided to go out for Chinese, the highlight of the day. But, there were limited foods I could eat and stay in Keto, so I ended up going off my regiment. It was good, and I figured I could fast on Sunday and get back into Keto, no problem. That was when it all began! It was late Saturday when we finally got back home. My wife took the clothes from the dryer and was hanging them in our closet when the shelf broke loose and hit her pretty hard on the head. Luckily, she wasn't badly injured. Even so, it made for a very late night for us to get to bed. Sunday I was up early, I don't know why, but I woke at four-fifteen and could not get back to sleep. I worked on the closet mess for a while, and then was going to go to a local hardware store to get parts. But when I started driving, the rear of the car started thumping and would not trail straight. I returned home and ended up jacking it up to see what was wrong. The rear stabilizer was shifting on the rubber grommets that hold it to the frame. I left it parked and jumped in the pickup to get the parts I needed. I pulled onto the highway and noticed it wasn't shifting right! Now, it's an older pickup, and it doesn't shift properly until it gets warmed up but it had now gotten worse. I checked the transmission fluid; full. Now it was looking like we needed a vehicle to use until we could get the car fixed. I was undecided if I would take the truck in or not. My wife talked to her mom, to see if we could borrow her car for a few days. Her mom is getting up there in years and doesn't drive anymore, so it wouldn't put her out. She said she would let us use it, but when we went to pick it up, she wanted to sell it. Well, we had been thinking of getting another vehicle, something we could pull the camper with, and something newer than the pickup. Instead, we are now the happy owners of a 2001 Buick. She bought it in 2003 and has always taken real good care of it. It's in good shape and the price was great. It also gave me time to look more at what it would take to fix our other ca. The repairs are a bit beyond my ability, so I talked to a couple of places and they both gave the same price. Five hundred bucks to change out two twenty-dollar parts. They are pressed in, and it's going to be an all-day job. After getting prices, I picked up the parts I needed to fix the closet, but once I started on that yesterday, I discovered that there was no fixing it, it needed all new hardware, shelf, and brackets. So, I spent the day rebuilding the closet. I have one side, the busted side finished. But, since I could not find anything to match what was originally in there, I now have to do the other side. I was going to work on it today, but instead spent some time with my pickup. After I decided I wanted to write this blog out and if nothing else, just get things off my mind. |
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