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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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| Last day of the month, last day of the year, and my last day off for this year, this month, and this week. That's a lot of lasts, but I don't mind, I'm looking forward to a lot of starts, like a new week, new month, and especially a new year. Hopefully I will also have a new employee starting soon, and can start having some time off with my wife, again. We had very little of that last year, so I hope this year starts a new routine of us having time off to enjoy the things we love. I also started a new goal this week; getting to bed on time. It may not have been the best week to start it, with New Years Eve, and New Years Day, after all, it has a lot of changes in my work schedule as well as the desire to stay up and greet the new year. But, why not start it right away? I have been needing to do this for some time now, and I keep putting it off because of this or that. I stated in my goal, I wanted to be in bed by 8:30 at night, even if it meant reading until I can get to sleep. But, I should have explained that is on nights when I get up at 3:00 in the morning. It would be silly to go to bed that early on my days off, when I don't get up until three or four hours later. In fact, we have not quite decided on what time we do want to get up on my days off. Right now, Rhonda works my days off, so six would be great, but then, seven is good, too. So, the goal is to get enough sleep each night, and to go to bed by a decent time. For example, last night we went to bed about 9:30 and got up at 7:00. That was ample time to sleep and get rested up.Tonight, I may just stay up until midnight, since it is New Years Eve, and I don't have to be to work until 8:00 tomorrow. Also, Rhonda has the day off, so we can always slip a nice little nap in together. Of course, since I do have to work, there won't be any heavy celebrating, but then, we seldom do drink very much anymore. I suppose I should go revamp my goal and clear things up in there. But, I want to get my novel transferred over to the site, too. In fact, I think I'll do that right now, since I have this wonderful Premium membership now and have plenty of room to post a lot of my work. |
| Well, it's not so late today. It's about time for Rhonda to get home, but I think I should have enough time to get this written before she get's here. I've been very late getting in here to write lately -- again. There just are not enough hours in a day for all the things I want to get done. It's kind of like my paycheck, there's never enough dollars in my check for all the things I want, either. Hmm, I wonder if there is some kind of a link. I bet there is... I bet if I had more money I would find I have more time, too. Of course, they are not related, but one does seem to tie in with the other. At least, more money would mean more time to do more things. How is that? Because if I had more money I could afford to have more done and then I would not have to take time to do it myself. For instance, with more money, I could hire someone to work on my vehicles and then I would not need to take the time to do so much of the work myself. I could also hire more work done around the house, etc... So, how do I go about increasing my income? A raise would be nice, but even if I did get one, it would not be a large increase, and would not make much of a difference. I could work more hours, but then I would have even less time; I did that all summer, and in the end, I really did not have much more money anyway. I spent more, since there was no time to cook, there was more expense for work, more gas consumed, and like I said, there wasn't any time to enjoy the little bit more I had. No, there has got to be a better way. I know, I could write. Sure, that's it, I could write some stories and sell them. Hey, that would be awesome, getting paid to do something I enjoy doing. But, to sell stories, I have to learn to edit them and present them. That again takes time, and time is something I find I have little of. Like I said, they seem to be tied together. I do want to take some classes, but that takes money and time, so I have to try and find an alternative approach. I think I did, too. It's right here on WdC, and it costs gift points instead of money, and the time is not so demanding. There will still be deadlines for work to be done, but I think I can handle the pace. It's the New Horizons Academy, and I'm interested in giving it a try. It can't hurt, right? Well, I should go check on dinner, get ready for Rhonda to get home, and then relax with her over a nice meal. But first, I think I will swing over to the Academy and see when class sign up is. Guess I won't be signing up for winter classes after all. The Academy is closed for the winter, and no classes until spring. I don't know why, but that's what the message was when I went to sign up; kind of bummed me out, I was pretty excited to take some winter classes. Oh well, not much that can be done about it. Hopefully I will have enough time in the spring to take the classes then. On a brighter note -- much, much brighter, I received a gift tonight. I should start at the beginning, though. I have been using an upgraded membership that was set to expire tomorrow at noon. I had planned on upgrading to a Premium membership, and getting it for an entire year, earlier this month. Then, the vehicle broke down and there just wasn't any money to pay for a membership at all. In fact, it left me so broke, I couldn't pay for the phone/internet bill. I will be able to get it paid in time with my next check, but it's going to be close. So, it wasn't looking very good for me to get any membership paid, but I didn't want to lose my portfolio, so I purchased three months Upgraded membership to get me by while I get ahead a little. My plan was to keep going at my current membership level for another three months and then upgrade to Premium. I was a little disappointed, but what else could I do. Besides, I was thankful I could manage to get the three months paid in time. So, I get a letter a little while ago that says I have been gifted six months at the Premium membership level. I was very surprised -- to the point of shock! This is one of the best gifts I have received this holiday season, and it is the most unexpected. I have to admit, I got teary-eyed when I seen this act of kindness. What a wonderful gift, and what a wonderful way to finish the year. Even more, what a spectacular way to start 2014! 2013 wasn't the best year for me and my wife. It wasn't real bad, but it was very trying. It started out bad, with an employee not showing up for work, no call in, nothing. Then another started needing more and more time off. By spring, she had quit, and shortly after, another walked out. We were already short one person, we had just started double coverage and were trying to get someone hired, when she walked. I know she expected me to plead for her not to leave, but she was already working on getting herself fired. In fact, I should have fired her that day, but instead I gave her another warning, and she decided she wanted to quit instead. Of course, like I said, she expected me to chase after her and plead, but that did not happen. Then, the guy that worked weekends had to resign, do to health reasons. I had just hired another person when he found out he had cancer and would not be able to work. Then, another person decided not to do their job and had to be removed because of security risks. I did get another person hired shortly after this, so we ended up with four people to do what we should have had six people doing. On top of that, one of these new people could only work very limited days and hours, the other only wanted to work part-time. I ended up working seven days a week all spring, summer, and into the early fall. Then we finally got another person hired, but one of the other's resigned right when the double coverage ended. We did finish the fall with just enough people so Rhonda and I could get a couple of days off each week, and even on the same days. But that was too good to last, and another person resigned, leaving us short again. We are still getting a couple of days off each week, but not the same days. I get Monday and Tuesday, my wife gets Wednesday and Thursday. Hopefully we get someone hired soon so we can enjoy a couple of days off each week together. On top of work problems, the original crew was constantly causing problems, so the stress was high, sleep was scares, and the weather wouldn't even cooperate. Then, there were problems with vehicles, an aged pet began to fade quickly, and I had no time to do anything, working seven days a week. That's the way the year went; it seemed to work constantly against us, and anything we planned, just wouldn't work out. But, I'm happy to say that for a tough year, it did not defeat us. It was stressful, yes, and there were problems, but we confronted them and persevered -- together. Now, as the year winds down, we find ourselves missing a beloved pet, but we also have the company of a new, and very wonderful pet. We weren't able to make the trip we had planned for Christmas, but we enjoyed a very wonderful day at home. The vehicle problems that prevented us from traveling worked out, Rhonda found me a used part, and the local mechanic installed it the same afternoon I found the part. It took more than he expected, and he had to work an hour after closing to get the job done, but he did it and did not even charge any extra. A wonderful gift from him, for no reason other than to be kind. Now, I receive this Premium membership and see that this year is going out very nicely, and it raises my hopes that 2014 is going to be a much better year~ |
| First day of the week, last day of work for a few days, and a very busy and very cold day. I worked until three, then came home got things packed up for fishing, took the dogs out and then set them up for the afternoon and took off for the lake. It's the first time Mr. Bugoo has been home without one of us here since Klarissa passed away on the first, and the first time Hanna has been left home since we got her on the second. They both did fine, but Rhonda and I got mauled when we finally got home around nine. I fished while she worked; I went out with my younger brother until about six-thirty, then we went to his place and watch a little football. Halftime was my time to go get Rhonda from work, go put some gas in, and then get home. No fish to clean, which is nice, and I had a good time even if they weren't biting tonight. After we got home we had to spend some time with the dogs, eat, and relax, not it's past my bed time and I'm scrambling to get this done. Next it's a bowl of ice cream and then bed. My last few entries have been short, but hopefully I can get more time in here again real soon. |
| Saturday is gone, and once again I'm about an hour and a half late at getting to bed. At least I'm consistent, though. I'm just feeling burned out and needing some restful, non-stressful time to myself. One more day of work and then two days off, but already things are starting to get set for my days off. I just can't seem to get a day off without something pressing. That's the part that's getting to me, the stress of always having something I need to do. It's been like this for the last year, and I sure hope that 2014 gives me a break. For now, it's off to bed, right after I slip out and plug the vehicle in so it will start for work in the morning. It's now just beginning to dip below zero for a temperature, but by morning it should be bottomed out at about minus twenty. Of course, the wind is blowing at about twenty five mph and gusting as high as forty. I don't know how long the wind is suppose to blow like this, but I hope it slows some for tomorrow since it's only suppose to warm up to a minus ten degrees; if one can call that warming. Well, that's that, good night~ |
| Friday's about wrapped up and I should be in bed, but I need to get this entry done first. It's been a nice day, warm, and some sunshine -- even though the wind picked up, it was warm enough not to make a big difference. In fact, it helped melt a lot of snow and ice, as well as to dry it up some. Tomorrow will be pretty nice, too. It's still 27 degrees out, and the wind has died down some. That will change soon enough, though. By tomorrow afternoon the temperature will begin to drop and we will plunge below zero once again. Also, the winds are going to pick up sometime tomorrow, and drop the windchill factor into dangerous temperatures. They are saying by tomorrow evening it will be about 40 below zero windchill. I haven't checked the weather online yet, but that's the story coming over the radio, so I'm sure it's going to be about the same online. Of course, being South Dakota, it can change dramatically in a few hours. Chances are, however, it will not change for the better, just get here sooner or later. Now, it's time for me to have a light snack and then hit the sheets. Three o'clock in the morning comes pretty damn early and I'm still trying to get caught up on my sleep. |
| Another day shot to hell. At least it was a productive day for us, I worked this morning, picked up parts for the GMC after work, and had it in the shop for repairs this afternoon, and have it back tonight. I should add here that I am very thankful for my wonderful wife's help. She called around to find the part we needed, then let me know where to pick it up at. She also called the garage here in our little town, and the mechanic was nice enough to let us bring it in to have the part installed. He had quoted her $65.00 over the phone if we supplied the part. It wasn't looking too good at first, but with her help things fell into place. I left work and picked up the part, then drove to the garage which is about a block from our house. He confirmed that he could get it in this afternoon and have it done by closing time. This was important, since I need to be back to work tomorrow morning at 5:00. As it turned out, the part was similar but not quite the same, so he had some extra work to get things switched around so it would work. It was also a bigger job than he thought it was going to be. He had not looked to see what was involved, since I had the vehicle at work, and had only talked to Rhonda over the phone. Also, besides being more work, it took him longer, so he stayed an hour late just to get the job finished for us, and then charged the quoted price anyway. We thanked him, but I would like to do a little more. Especially since he stayed the extra hour and had more work than he anticipated. I'm thinking a gift certificate for Applebees would be nice. He has helped us out a couple of times and always given us a good deal on work and parts. This time was a real blessing for us to have it fixed. We need to use it everyday, and for now, it's our only source of transportation. We did have one little problem after we picked it up, but I'm not even going to say anything. We took it for a test drive and it seemed to work fine, but the lights didn't shine very bright. I should have known something was wrong, but I was too excited to have it back and fixed. We drove out of town a ways, then turned around and came home. As we neared town, the engine missed and I thought it very odd since it had never done anything like that before. As I turned into our driveway, it died and after stopping, it would not restart. I couldn't imagine what could have gone wrong, but I was anticipating it to be bad. It's just the way things have been going for us lately. Lately? Hell, all year. Anyway, I took out the trouble light and looked to see if I could see something wrong, and there it was. He had been working late, rushing to get it done for us, and had missed one plug on the alternator. The battery had gone dead while we drove it. I pluged it back in, put the charger on it, and it should be fully charged and ready for me in the morning. Nothing serious at all, and a good thing Rhonda had suggested going for a test drive or we would have been stranded tomorrow morning on our way to work. I have to say, it's looking like things are starting to turn around. Now I just need to balance my check book and hopefully I have enough money left to pay my membership in here. Merry Christmas -- to all! |
| Christmas day is coming to an end, and has passed by way to fast. It's been a difficult Christmas for us, first we lost the van right before Thanksgiving and were down to one vehicle, then Klarissa passed away December 1st, which has made this month and Christmas very difficult for us. For any who don't know, she was our Golden Retriever, but more a family member than a pet. In fact, she was born shortly before Christmas in 2001, and was a big part of our Christmas routine. We had planned on going to some relatives for the day. We had planned on just driving over early today and coming back this evening, since Rhonda worked yesterday and I work tomorrow. It's been a while since we have been back and it would have made it a little easier for us since we usually do Christmas with the two Golden Retrievers here at home. I know Rhonda would have really enjoyed it, and it would have kept my mind off my loss some. But, two days ago I blew out a hose for the power steering. I got our lone vehicle back home and was able to make the repair myself, luckily. I was filled with hope that I could tell Rhonda the trip was still on for Christmas as I finished the repair, filled the power steering reservoir, and started our 1993 GMC Jimmy. My hope soon fades as I realized there still wasn't any power steering. As I looked over the system, my faded hope turned to despair as I seen the fluid leaking out of the pump around the pulley; driving with the pump empty had wrecked the seal, and now the pump was out. Christmas -- good luck looking for parts. Not that many places would even stock a power steering pump, especially for an older vehicle like ours. So much for our plans, but we could still enjoy a nice Christmas at home. We stopped and got some fixings for a nice dinner and came home. By the time we got here, the pump was now chattering and squealing and I find myself wondering how we will get back and forth to work. It's a twenty five mile trip, each way. I can try and find a pump tomorrow after work, and Rhonda is going to check into the one repair station in town and see if he can do the work. But, if no one stocks the part, it could take a few days to order one. We need the vehicle for work, and it's driven every day. Monday through Thursday, it's one round trip a day. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we each work, so it's multiple trips on these days. I don't know how long the pump will hold together with no oil in it, and if it goes out the rest of the way, it's going to do even more damage. I'm hoping for good news tomorrow, but it's looking kind of doubtful. That's the problem with not having any money, and a destroyed credit rating. It goes back to my divorce, and the same with Rhonda. What credit we had has been obliviated, and we each only work part time, so money is tight, especially in the winter. We really don't know many people around here, and the few we do know are in similar situations, so there isn't much chance for help, either. I also have bills that are due, and my membership here is up at the end of the month. I don't know about the rest of you, but 2013 has been a terrible year for us, and I hope that with the new year, things will start to look up for us again. Even so, we had a wonderful day. We enjoyed exchanging gifts, spoiling our pets, and a wonderful dinner. Now we are relaxing for a little while before retiring for the night. Rhonda has tomorrow off, and I will be done work before noon, and the rest of the day will be ours to enjoy. Now, if we can just get some good news on getting this vehicle repaired, so I can focus on making repairs to the van and get us a second vehicle going, again. Merry Christmas and good night~ |
| Christmas eve and almost time for me to head off to bed. It's been kind of a difficult day for me; I'm not feeling the best, again, and I'm missing Klarissa a lot. She was born right before Christmas, and she was always so enthusiastic over Christmas. She may have not been able to fully understand, but for a Golden Retriever she seemed to understand more than she should have. I will really miss not seeing her shredding paper tomorrow morning as she opens her gifts. She always made a huge mess of the wrapping paper, and sometimes it seemed like she enjoyed opening the gifts more than anything else. On the other side, we have a new member of the family to teach the joys of Christmas this year, so there is the trade off. I hope Hanna catches on quickly to opening her gifts, and being rescued from the pound, this will be her first Christmas with a family. She already seems to be excited and doesn't even know why. Well, sometime tomorrow I'll post in here about our first Christmas with Hanna. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas... |
| What a day! It started out fine; I slept in since it's my day off, then got up and enjoyed coffee with Rhonda. After, she got ready for work, I got ready to take her to work, since it was so cold out today. I also wanted to pick up a few things and needed to go into town for that anyway. While in town, I got some power steering fluid then set about trying to research what I would need to work on the power steering. That's when things really started to go bad. Well, when I dropped Rhonda off, they started to go bad. I could hear the power steering pump chattering. I had a hose blow yesterday, and today it was making terrible noises. So that's when things started to go down hill. But they hit bottom when I tried to do some online research, and discovered that my laptop was acting up. I had installed Weatherbug, didn't like it, and removed it. Somehow, it had messed up everything. I tried doing a system restore to a point right before I put Weatherbug on, but it wouldn't work. So, I disabled my anti-virus and tried it again. It still did not work, so I had to give up on it and go see what I could do with the blown hose. I thought luck was with me when I found the hose and seen it was a return line. I could work on this easy enough, all I needed was to get the part. So I called, and no one had the parts, but could order them. They may be in by Friday, but not for sure. That wasn't going to help me in time to go to Rhonda's mom's for Christmas, so I set about removing the damaged part to see if I could get it fixed here in town. He repairs hydraulic lines for tractors, maybe he can fix this line. Only in the process of removing it, I found it wasn't damaged, it had just blown off. I cleaned it all up, put a new clamp on it, and had it back together in about an hour. By this time, I thought my fingers would be froze, since it was a balmy negative seven degrees out, and I was working outside bare handed, not to mention drenched in cold power steering fluid. That's when it dawned on me, my hands were not cold. In fact, they felt pretty darn good. That was all I needed to know, they had started to freeze. I couldn't see how badly, since they were covered in oils and grease; black and filthy. I came in and warmed them up slowly while I washed some of the grease off, then after a cup of coffee and still no luck getting the computer working right, I went back out and finished up. I filled the reservoir up and started the motor. Nothing! The steering still was not right. I shut it off and opened the hood, then restarted it to see what was going on. The pump itself was leaking now, shot from driving with it empty, I suppose. The oil was leaking out by the pulley, hitting the belts and fan, and I was covered in the stuff. Looks like we will be staying home for the holiday. It also looks like I'll be taking it in for repairs and hoping it does not cost too damn much to get the pump replaced. I suppose I could work on it myself, but I don't have a garage and working with stuff like this outside in sub-zero weather has already given me frostbite on both hands. Not severe, but enough to be painful. I hope it's just mild enough to clear up overnight, but I doubt it. I suppose it will take a while to recover, and hopefully I don't freeze them more now, at work. I spent my entire afternoon accomplishing nilch. I am happy to report that I was able to get my computer working right again this evening. I managed to get a system restore to work and then had to repair my antivirus program, but it's working right and hopefully I won't have to mess with too many things to get it all back again. |
| In a little earlier today, and that's always a good thing. I did work today, but being Sunday, I didn't have to be there until eight. I was a little late getting home after stopping by work with some paperwork and talking to Rhonda for a little while. I ate and took care of a few things, then it was online to check a couple of sites, then in here to get this written before it's time to go get Rhonda. Sundays are bad in that way, she works the shift after me, and since there are only two shifts, we have little time together. I open and work half the day, she works the other half and closes. But, It's my Friday night and that makes it a lot better. I have tomorrow and Tuesday off, then Rhonda has Wednesday and Thursday off. Of course, this Wednesday is Christmas so we both have it off. We are planning on running over to her relatives for the day, but it's going to be a lot of driving. It's a couple of hours over, then back again since I have to be at work Thursday morning at five. At least it's suppose to be warmer by Christmas. It's minus seven here now, and only made it up to about three degrees today. It's suppose to drop to minus seventeen tonight, and stay cold through Tuesday morning. It takes a lot out of a person working in the cold, and it doesn't do vehicles any good, either. I blew power steering hose coming home from work tonight, and with it so cold, there's no way to work on outside. We don't have a garage to work in, so I'll have to see if I can use my brother's garage to try and find which hose blew a leak. Then, if it's not too difficult, I may be able to change it out myself. The other option is to take it in to the local garage and see how much he wants to repair it. I like the second option best, but with money being tight, I don't know if it's feasible. I just hope nothing else goes wrong with it. We are still down to one vehicle after Rhonda hit a deer with the van. We can't afford to lose this one now, and I really can't afford to put money into this one when I should be working on the van to get that going again. It's been that kind of a year, and hopefully the New Year will bring some much desired relief from all the stress and problems we had this year. |
| Just under the wire tonight; well by WdC time anyway. It's 10:53 here, but 11:53 there and almost tomorrow. I just didn't have time to get in here until now, I worked this morning so I was up at three and didn't get home till about noon. I grabbed a bite to eat and then took a nice power nap, then went into Watertown to pick up Rhonda. We have been shopping and making merry since. Now, it's time for me to head off to bed, since I have to be up at six tomorrow for work. Compared to three, six is like sleeping in, but I still need to get to bed early enough to get a decent nights sleep. That's been my biggest problem since switching to the morning shift, getting to bed early enough. I tend to stay up late, even when I'm exhausted; I can nap if I'm tired, but if I skip the nap and plan on going to bed early, I find myself just as awake and ready to go as if I napped. I don't get it; I used to be a morning person and enjoyed getting up early. Of course, I never been much for going to bed, but this is hitting new records for me. |
| Home from work and getting in here a little earlier today. We didn't get the five to six inches of snow they said, but did end up with about three. The wind didn't pick up as much as it was predicted, either. There was some drifting on the highway this morning, but nothing too bad. I cleaned up snow at work, and it wasn't bad out. It was cold, only about five degrees, but with no wind it didn't feel bad at all. I had the guardhouse and slab all cleaned up by the time the snow removal crew showed up; about an hour and a half of shoveling. I picked up a couple of gifts for Rhonda before coming home, and need to get them wrapped up before I go pick her up from work. I still have to get a few things more for her, and we need to get some gifts for the dogs. Hyko will open his own presents, just like Klarissa used to do, but I don't know about Hanna. This will be her first Christmas spent with someone. As far as the Humane Society knows, she was never worked with or interacted with much at all. It's kind of sad, she didn't even know how to play with toys. But, she is learning fast, and I think she will pick up on opening her gifts pretty quickly. The guy at the Humane Society claimed she was two and a half years old, but she has her puppy looks, hasn't quite grown into her feet, and acts like she is about a year old. They also claimed the person who had her was moving and didn't have room for her. But, they also said she had never been worked with, trained or interacted with by people. I don't understand how she could have spent two years as a pet without interacting with anyone. Also, she does not act like she has been isolated for long. No, I'm not buying it. I have a hunch she is actually about a year old, and was a mistake between two breeds of hunting dogs. There are a few places around here that breed and sell both Labs and Spaniels. I suspect that one got in with the other and that's how she ended up with us. She's half Lab and half Spaniel, and has her tail chopped off. I think that someones dogs interbred and Hanna is the result. She has many qualities of the Spaniel, but she looks like a Lab. I think as a young pup, she looked more like a Spaniel, and they chopped her tail and tried to sell her. But, she is kind of high spirited and probably got picked over. As time passed, she began to look more like a Lab, and there was no possibility of selling her by this time, so they took her to the Humane Society. Of course, they couldn't tell anyone they had a mistaken litter come along when the Lab and the Spaniel got together. How ever it came to be that she was born and ended up with us doesn't matter; what does is that we found her and she is now a part of our family. She's smart, very well behaved, and very loved. Of course, she returns as much as she gets, and that makes it all even better. |
| It got kind of late again tonight, but I'm in here for a quick entry. I worked today, then came home, ate lunch and took a nap. After, I spent some time learning my way around my new notebook; it came with Windows 8 and I'm completely new to it, and a touch screen. Now, it's just past my bedtime so a short entry and hope to get a longer one in tomorrow. I work again, and it's snowing so I know I'll be doing some shoveling in the morning. That's alright, it passes the time quickly and I enjoy the fresh air and exercise. I just wish it wouldn't be so cold. It's going to be below zero again in the morning, and windy. I wish we would have twenties and calm instead. Especially after it snows. Well, it's off to bed... |
| I made it in before it was too late, but it's still late. I worked this morning, then came home, ate lunch and got my stuff ready, then headed out to the lake for an afternoon of ice fishing. That's all I got, too. Ice! Oh well, I still had fun, but it burned up most of my day. Now, I have a few minutes to write in here before I go to bed. Actually, I should have been in bed a couple of hours ago. Not only that, but my new dog is giving me the cold shoulder for being gone all day. Funny how they can act so much like young children. She's upset with me, so she won't listen, won't pay any attention to me, and I can't even get her to sit on my lap. She will, however, listen to Rhonda, pays attention to Rhonda, and will sit on her lap. Now, who's training who? Well, I'm going to cut this short, so I can take her out again and see if she will go potty so we can go to bed. |
| Tuesday 12/16/2013 It got late on me again, and now it's after eleven here, so after midnight at WdC land. That means it will post as tomorrows not today's. I'm doing awesome at missing my entries on Tuesdays this month, although I don't know why. I missed every Tuesday so far, either by being late or forgetting entirely. Go figure? It's been a good day, just busy. I got up with Rhonda; I was off again today, but return to work tomorrow. We had coffee, then she had to get ready for work while I made us some lunch. After she left, I worked on a schedule, then created an Excel spreadsheet in the format of the two week schedule I use. It took about three or four hours to create, since I am no pro at Excel, and have not done much with spreadsheets for many years. I had to figure out formulas as well as formatting, so that it would not only look nice, but be functionable, as well. It turned out nice, almost the same in looks as the schedule I have been using. That one was created in a word processor with a table inserted, but I could not get the formulas to work right; it was just too limited. It did the trick, but I had to use a time card calculator to total up individual hours, then switch over to a time calculator to total up all the times and make sure I didn't go over. It was kind of a pain, and a lot of messing around. But now, I have the format almost the same, with one addition, I have everyone's daily hours as well as weekly hours. The best part is, all I have to do is enter start times and end times, and the spreadsheet gives me their daily totals and weekly totals. I also included the grand total of all hours worked, per week. It took a while to figure out, but it should save me a lot of time in the long run. I also rounded up my ice fishing gear and have that ready to go. The plan is to get out for a while tomorrow after work, since it's going to be in the mid thirties. I'm going out with my brother, who has been out a couple times already. This is my first time out on the ice this year, but with fifteen inches it should be plenty safe now. I also took Hyko and Hanna out for some playtime and exercise. After I washed up some cloths and fed them both. Rhonda brought home the information I needed to send my e-report off and I also faxed and made copies of the next schedule so I can post them tomorrow. So, a very constructive day, and a very busy one. I'm feeling much better than I have in a long time, and hope I'm on the recovery side of whatever bug I had caught. Now, it's time to head off to bed, three in the morning comes way too early. |
| Getting in here a little earlier today. Alright, make that a lot earlier than normal. It's kind of funny, in a way. I was doing pretty good at getting in here earlier for a while, but then lost it again. I was barely making it in here and even missing a few days as a result, but then I set a goal and did pretty good at sticking to the plan. Then NaNo month came and I started writing my novel. I still did pretty good at keeping up my journaling and even getting in here early. Of course there were a few days when things came up, and if I remember, I completely spaced writing here a couple times. Then Klarissa took a turn for the worse and everything became discombobulated. Now, it's time to get things back on track and push on. It's difficult, she was a big part of my life for twelve years. Seldom a day went by without interacting with her. In fact, out of twelve years, there was maybe five to seven days we did not spend at least part of the day together. Today, things are going a little better. It's nice out, almost thawing, no wind to speak of, and I didn't have to work. I took Hyko and Hanna out for some romping in the snow, and they did pretty good. Hyko does great, he loves to play Frisbee, but Hanna hasn't figured it out yet. She shows zero interest in a Frisbee, but did run and get the duck a few times; maybe half a dozen. I have to keep her on a lead line, since she is still learning some obedience and loves to chase little animals. But, I had her with plenty of line so she could run a bit and stretch her legs. The duck is a canvas stuffed toy with a rope attached to it. She has one wing and the bill chewed off, because she likes playing with it. I threw it and she would run and get it, bring it back, and with a little coaxing, give it to me. After, we did some walking around the yard and then after they both pottied, we returned to the house and here I am, getting my journal entry in with Mr. Hyko lying at me feet and Miss Hanna curled up in the chair beside me. It's just like it was before Klarissa got old and couldn't play anymore. Oh, she would try, and she would go get her Frisbee or ball a couple of times. Of course I didn't throw it far, and two or three times was it for her. Hyko would be chasing down his Frisbee and even catching it most times while I took my time with Klarissa. This way he would be tuckered out when she was, and they would both be ready to come in. Then, they would carry their toys in, then give them up so we could clean them and put them away. After they gave them up, we would give them each a treat and they would get a drink of water, then come in and lie by us. If it was just me, Hyko would be at my feet and Klarissa would be in the chair next to me. Just like today. Well, I have lots to do yet, I want to put a copy of my novel in here and I need to make some chili, then do up the dishes. I want to copy my novel from NaNo in here, unedited, so that I can look at my accomplishment and see that I did it. It will also be my reminder to write and get the story done before editing it. Since it was both my first novel and my first attempt at NaNo, I want to keep a copy as is, as well as editing a copy. Now, it's off to make some Chili, then do up my dishes and maybe get some of my novel copied over. |
| I better get this done before it switches over to the 16th. It's an hour later at WdC than in SD, so I don't have a lot of time on the site before it's tomorrow, but here in SD it's only 10:30. That's plenty late for me, anyway. So, I won't be writing much because it's about time for me to head off to bed. Actually, its past time, but I don't have to get up before time starts tomorrow. I worked with Hanna again this afternoon and she learned another trick. She isn't real good at it yet, but she knows how and will do it with a little coaxing. She learns fast, a new trick everyday if I pushed it. But, I want it to be fun for her, so we don't push it. Even so, she's learning some stuff in one day, and eager to learn more. I think I'll teach her how to play fetch next, so we can get some playtime in outside. Of course, I go over all her tricks and reinforce them with her. She is quite the young pup! Well, I'm falling asleep typing so it's time to go to bed. |
| Saturday is about shot, time for me to head off to bed. This extra running sure does bite into my time for doing things, as well as into my bank account to pay for the extra gas. We went through this most of the summer, and finally had it working good for us. But it didn't last long. First of all, we are down to one vehicle, so we are putting a lot of extra miles on. Rhonda drives me in to work in the morning then comes home until it's time to pick me up. Her shift is right after mine, so she goes to work and I come home for the afternoon, then have to run back in to pick her up after her shift is done. This takes just over an hour, round trip. That alone bites a chunk of my time off, but I have to watch the clock so I can be there on time, and that prevents me from starting a lot of things. Then, besides the time it takes to drive in, there is the wait for her to get done and out of work. This can take up to a half an hour, and often does. Hopefully we can get the van back on the road again pretty soon, but money is tight right now, and it's going to be kind of expensive to fix it right. I may just have to rig up some temporary running lights and Jerry rig things so we can get it back on the road. Then, I can pick up the parts here and there as we can afford them, and when I have them all I can instal them so it looks a little better. I still haven't even looked at it to see just how sever the damage is. I know the grill and both headlight assemblies are gone. I think the radiator is intact, but the A/C is wiped out, and there could be some other damage to fans and items mounted on the front of the engine. I was going to look it over and get things started, but it turned so cold and hasn't really warmed back up. Also, we had an old Golden Retriever who was nearing her end, so I didn't want to take any time away that I could spend with her. Then, after she passed away, we adopted another dog to help our other Golden Retriever deal with his loneliness. He had never been alone before; ever since he came to live with us at six weeks old, he has been around Klarissa. The few times he stayed home when she came with me, he went bonkers. Even then, he was not alone, he had human companionship. But, even with someone with him, he would pace and look for his friend. Now, she is gone and we have to work, so he would be all alone for the first time in his life; we couldn't put him through that, so we adopted a young female to keep him company. They get along alright, but he doesn't have much to do with her. He interacts a little with her, but very little. He is grieving, and still trying to get over his loss, we all are. I do think as time passes, he will become better friends with this newest member of the family. |
| Friday evening; I got in here a little earlier tonight. We are just about to eat supper, then it's a little television and off to bed. I have to work early again tomorrow and I'm already feeling kind of under the weather. I'm not sure if it's lack of sleep, or just coming down with something. Friday night -- in times past, I would be out on the town having a blast. Of course Saturday mornings usually reflected the damage of the blast I had the night before. It's been a long time since I went out on a Friday night, or any night for that matter. I can't say that, though, we do go out for dinner from time to time. Maybe it's time to start thinking about doing a movie or something once in a while. Part of the problem is the cost to go out. It's just cheaper to rent movies or watch something on Netflix. Another problem is I just don't care to go out drinking, and most of the places that have a band are more geared to the younger generation and don't play anything I really care to listen to. The biggest problem has been work; getting up at three in the morning really puts a damper on doing much of anything the evening before. This past spring, summer, and fall it was work every day, too. Now, we are short one person so Rhonda and I do not get days off together, again. We at least get a couple of days off each week, but not the same days. Hopefully we will have another hired soon, so we can get back to having a couple of days off to enjoy together. The final problem we had was Klarissa. She had gotten old fast this last year and a half, and after the wonderful years she gave so much of herself to us, it tore my heart out to leave her at home for any reason. She would sit and look, waiting to come with, but too old to wait in the vehicle when the weather would permit, and of course, when it was hot out, or cold out, she just couldn't come with if it meant waiting for us. We did get a nice trip to Itasca State Park, and enjoyed a nice fall outing. We also made it to Oak Wood Park about mid November, and Klarissa really enjoyed the afternoon there. That was the last good week we had, and I'm glad I had a full crew so I could take most of that week off. Now, we have Hanna, a new dog, and we are working on obedience training and getting her settled in. I'm not sure how she will do staying home with Hyko, our Golden Retriever, but hope they will do alright. Hyko is still grieving Klarissa, they had been best friends ever since we brought him home. Supper is ready, time to eat and then a movie or something before bed. |
| Thursday is all shot to hell now. It's actually past my bedtime, but I was watching a movie with a good looking brunette and just did not have it in me to stop. That's the problem, you see. I enjoy my time and just hate to see it run out, so I end up staying up later than I should so I can try and enjoy a couple more minutes before bed. I have been like this for a long time; ever since I can remember, I hated to have my time run out. Now, if I didn't have to work in the morning, it would be different. As a kid it was school, I hated to go to bed when I had school the next day, preferring to stay up and enjoy every last minute I had left. Oh well, I suppose I will stay this way, at least until something major happens. If I had a job I looked forward to and enjoyed fully, I would probably be able to break this part of me. Say for instance if I was writing from home. Then, things would be so different, and I would not have to stay up to enjoy every last minute. In fact, I may even find myself wanting to go to bed so I could get a fresh start the next morning. Well, maybe someday, but for this day, I have to get up in a few hours, so I reckon I better make myself go to bed. |
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