Just some grump rumblings from the pit.

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Sometimes I literally can't get to what I plan, attempt, want, even need.  Bits of me don't work.  The gates that allow the mind and body to coordinate are closed.  For all I know they die but are rebuilt.  I wasn't made to be caged, or more I was made to find the way through.  In time I do.  But with so much damage, I am forced to be too slow to be useful and my path has been incoherent.  Even still, when barred by dead doors and the screams of warning I push on, sometimes possibly wasting time trying to go through where it is barred.  Stubborn, intent, forceful, sometimes wrongheadedly.  It's better than giving up.

Pieces of the Mind

walking through the halls

barred ~ dead flesh, wails of dying-

warrior's heart forward

Life has improved but I still run into roadblocks, I am still slow.  Memories to broken body to even dead flesh bar the way yet.  Closer, though, to being whole, or as whole as mortals can get.  Aging while I heal, the race is more heated than ever if it is more a turtle than hound race.

Home made tool?

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For the pipe fitting holer?  How about a  piece of 2x4, split, then drill a 1/2" hole in it, put a hinge on it, then get a nail through deep enough to pierce only one side off the hose...  Hmm, that might just work.  Save me some ducks, I have the tools and wood remnants, and I could say I did it myself.  Wouldn't be pretty, but then... tools aren't, mostly.  Yeah, then I wouldn't have to wait to get to town or mess with poking and praying...  it doesn't work well that way anyway.  Trust me.  Ha! 

Cooled off very quickly.

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Now that is something new.  And, yes, it is still hot.  It says it is 93, though it says the high was only 97 here.  Maybe here, but not over there.  No, they are saying "there" was only 97 as well.  Believe them or my lying eyes?  I don't need a coin for this one.  They are wrong.  I do wonder if, for a little advertising money their way, they can cut a few degrees off to make it look better.  This is a summer tourist area.  Yeah...  Anyway, it is often a few degrees cooler here.  Not always, but I believe it today.  Anyway, my health must be better.  Just a few hours and I got to a few things.  I went out and looked over the garden.  Some tomatoes have leaves that are curling, but right beside tomato plants that look like the ideal plants.  I don't know why.  Some pepper plants look healthy, hale, and happy.  Plants right next to them simply aren't doing anything or have leaves yellowing.  More water for them all tonight, regardless.  Corn is almost up to my waist, right at 3 1/2 to four feet, give or take.  I generally like what I am seeing, save for about a third of the plants and of course the weeds.

I won't be doing a thing more in the garden until the plumbing is done, save to make sure it gets water.  The next thing I will do out there is attempt to set up the drip irrigation.  After that, back to weeding like a fool.  Hopefully the weeds will mostly die out due to water starvation, not even making it to the seedling stage.  I ought to, at some point, get the weed whacker out there and trim the edges back a foot or two as well.  Just to give some space between the weeds and the garden, for when the rest of the area goes to seed.  I'm not sure that will be enough, I'll be thinking on it.  But up front it would provide a little room for my conscience or something.

After messing in the garden, I filled the jug to water the indoor plants.  I ought to get to the planters outdoors as well.  I haven't been watering them.  Some of them have died.  But they really weren't the right flowers to go together.  I wanted the big bloomers to flower, but they wouldn't with as much water as I was putting in.  I kept an eye on them.  When it got dry enough, they came back into bloom, the big ones.  The little ones simply died.  I didn't care because the little ones simply stopped blooming.  While they were all very green, they weren't blooming.  Not worth my time to water as is, but without blooms, even less so.  And, so, I didn't.  But... I suppose I could put some in now.  Just to thank them for the blossoms coming back on. 

Finally, I crossed the water lines with one of the flexible copper pipes.  I think my brazing held, but the copper pipe, at the f-m connection, failed.  I have two spare, and I might put in some plumbers gunk and give it some time to cure.  It won't lock it but it might help seal the water.  I had hoped not to have to do that, this being a temporary thing, but...  I need to know if that was the only problem, the only leak.  Gah!  But first I have to let it all dry out a bit again.  Damned things.  It's always what I don't expect to fail that fails.  At least this time I have back ups, and a trick or two, to deal with a failure.  I could say more, but much of it would, even if incorrectly, require that I ask forgiveness for my French.  But I'm not in the mood to seek forgiveness, and don't feel it would be warranted even if I employed "French".  So... I'll just speak it on this side. 

Later.

Bing, bang, clash, fung, boom.

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No, that wasn't the crew members of the downed air Asiana.  I think.  It was my day.  I didn't wake until 11:30 so getting anything done before I left was out of the question.  Getting out on time was out of the question.  I did make it with 20 minutes to spare though, with pick up and at the bank, give or take.  My friend was nonplussed, this time.  He's... getting used to me, or feeling a bit more generous.  Now, he wanted to go shooting though.  I thought it was too hot, I wasn't prepped, and I am out of target ammunition anyway.  I really didn't want to go.  Even in the mountains I knew it was going to be hot.  At 17:30, in town, as I was returning home, it read 104.  Too hot for playing.  I won't do that again.  If it's too hot it is too hot, that's that.

While in town, on my way home, I stopped in and grabbed enough stuff to start a drip line.  I may create it backwards, as they only had 200' of 1/2 pipe.  For all I know that is plenty, since I am not doing my row crops on this line.  But it might not be enough to run to the hydrant and do the rows.  So... rows first.  I can always run a hose to the connector, figuring out the other parts as I go.  I bought a filter, a one-way inline "valve", a pressure regulator, a hookup, a bunch of tees, a bunch of drips, some smaller hose for the few irregular plants, a few dummies in case I make a hole I don't want... ah, but I forgot something to punch the holes with.  There is a simple push device, which is essentially a plastic handle with a nail.  If I get a tool for that, I would rather the clamp and puncture type.  Or I will just see if I have the right sized nail and find a piece of wood for the handle... or maybe create something fancier on my own.  I also bought another drain connection for the water heater.  My mother either tossed it or hid it well, too well for me to find.  I've been looking for it since she left, off and on.  Women and neatness sometimes!

Ah, right, as I was filling up before heading back to my cave a call.  I had no idea who would be calling me, probably a wrong number?  It was the sewing machine shop.  They loved the machine I brought in, by the way.  Repair and fiddling, $49.  Perhaps a few more dollars for the right bobbins and... something else.  Deal!  Yes, fix it, do it, order the bobbin (I'll see if they have/will order another dozen bobbins... keep three or four loaded with the basics and have a bundle of them open and ready).  Yum!  Now I don't have to buy the Bernini right away, though it probably is on the menu.  Right behind a solid grain grinder.  Yeah, but I am actually getting there.  I am amazed what a few short years, even through heavier illness from time to time, has yielded.  Yeah, I've needed, and still lean on, many.  But... I did what I could, I sought out what I couldn't do, I did ask, and I am eminently grateful.  A lot of horsetrading and outright gifting.  But I do have some... returns I need to make...  Just so people know they are appreciated.  Like everything I am planning, it just takes time.

I've already switched the water heater drain valve for the copper.  I think that will be about it today.  The heat just beat the living tar out of me.  No, I won't be doing things like this on days like this again.  Period.

Some of it.

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I didn't get started until later.  Why?  Because.  The first thing I hit, as planned, was the sink.  A bit of tinkering fixed one of the problems.  A very little tinkering, and finding a gasket to allow the nut to seal/tighten on the pipe allowed for a rather quick fix.  The guy who installed the reverse osmosis system didn't see fit to install, or ask if I had, a gasket.  Idiot.  I only had it installed because I had mistakenly thought an electric outlet had to be run.  I'll keep checking for leaks this next week.  But from a bit of testing it seems to be holding.  It is wonderful to have the kitchen sink back, save that now I'm going to have to use it!  Bleh.  I was also thinking... if I really am going to do the drip irrigation thing... I might as well look more seriously into a house wide water prefilter.  I just need it to be easy to install and maintain.  If I get that going then I will take the faucet that is giving me trouble apart and see if there is sand in there, or rust, or... just what is blocking the flow.  No use doing it until then though.  But... done, with that part of that part.

Next I hit the plumbing in the bathroom.  I have everything soldered that needs it, assuming it will all hold.  I have to wait for a bit to let it cool before trying it out.  For now I can just do a closed loop, using one of the flexible hoses to bypass the water heater and just send cold water on through.  If the soldering holds, then I can, and might yet tonight, install the new toilet.  Or not, it is getting late.  Still, it would be nice not to have to traipse through the cave to the far side just to empty my bladder in the morning.  I wonder how many times I will do that while still half asleep anyway?  Ha!  Well, and I am watering the garden a bit tonight.  Simply put, even watering yesterday, it needed it again.

As for tomorrow?  Depends on when I wake.  I have to be to town... or really leave here by 11:00, or that's the plan.  If I am up early enough to wake a bit, I might at least attempt to figure out how to check the voltage and or ground status on the various wires coming in through the w.heater wiring.  Maybe, maybe not.  Or if I decided not to install the toilet tonight I might do that.

It wasn't much but it was as much as I could get to.  Oh, one thing, when working with pipe, trying to get fittings to depth so as to solder, gloves, and leather gloves really, sure had a lot of positive grip and seemingly added strength to the process.  I was really having trouble with it barehanded.  Then again the pieces are so tiny in my hands, and copper pipe and fittings aren't always all that exact.  I wonder if there are higher quality fittings, or more sure fittings, or tools that allow for a little correcting, or if it is always pot luck?  I'm amazed what I put together up to this point has soldered solidly. Yeah, this is it for the night as to blogging.  I'll update you on any progress, problems, or such in the morning.

Good night.

Yeah, slow day, but it isn't over.

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My friend called today.  He was hoping to get to the bank, I was hoping to stay home.  I asked about tomorrow.  That will work, so long as it is before 13:00.  He actually wanted to go to Ogden.  I told him I am going Tuesday.  If he can wait until then it would save me some money on gas.  Plus it's 100 out there.  I've been out to let Sam know I love her, give her some treats, and look over the garden.  But I'm glad today is an indoor work day.  Even driving, with the ac, is a harsh prospect today.  The news says 97 today, 99 tomorrow.  Aye, but a trip to town isn't as bad as a trip to Ogden.

I've not been very functional today as with yesterday.  This time, however, I saw it coming.  Rather than just sitting, goofing, I decided to even tinker using the brain.  So I have been exploring drip irrigation.  Looking over the options and prices, just for the plants that would need dripped, the cost would be about $80.  Now that includes 500' of 1/2 pipe which is far more than is immediately needed.  However, it could also cover row dripping the corn and such (or mister if I wanted to go that way), plus cover mistakes, and on top of those things provide extra hose for next year as I consider what to do with the rest of the garden space.  The only thing I am not sure about is how flexible the hose is.  If it isn't flexible enough I would have to figure out how to branch the system for the rows.  I found elbows and other things, but no t-connectors.  If I had to do lines for each row that would require at least 9 t-connectors, 8 for the rows (not including row crops like corn) plus one for the incoming hose.  The most reliable way to do that would be to center the supply line and hope for the best. 

The system I am considering consists of a 3/4" adapter, a screen filter (155, but would prefer 200), a pressure maintenance device (25 psi), and a one-way adapter to keep my drinking water clean since it is connected before my house water of course.  I thought about the pressure control, and... yeah.  The water pressure here can be extremely high to rather low, which would mean I would have no idea, otherwise, how much water was really going out.  What I am missing is whether I need t-connectors, how much they would cost, and where to get them.  I am a bit worried about pressure with that many lines, especially with four more lines needed for the row crops.  I could run two different lines out, but that would still be six lines per adapter, which is split from a single faucet on top of it.  I've been looking and deciding, then digging a bit more, as I try to wake enough to get to plumbing.  Oh, and I might just bury the line from the hydrant to the garden, if not deeply.  It would have to be shallow enough, probably, to remove/drain for winter.  Just enough that I don't have to tinker with it regarding mowing.

Yeah, I'm thinking about the kitchen plumbing.  I've been thinking about it all day.  I just haven't gotten to it.  I think I will though, and rather shortly.  then an hour break as I won't quit until it is done, then on to the water in the bathroom.  If I get that, and it all works, then on to installing the toilet.  If all that goes forward, and I still have some poop left in the hopper, I'll tinker with the electrical.  I don't want to mess with that if I am really tired, or even mostly tired.  I want to be on my game for that, just like with fire.  *poof* 

It might not be a pretty day.  It is hot.  I feel ugly.  I'm not getting to things quickly.  But I think it will turn out just fine.  Sometimes I have to push, sometimes I see the need to back off and let it happen, sometimes I don't have a choice.  Which of those last today has been I can't quite tell, if I'm pretty sure it is the latter.  I don't have to like reality to realize it.  Later.

Up. Almost on time, just need to wake.

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We will see.  I can feel a bit tired when I wake and still go on to a successful day.  An hour or two to wake, minimum, is my usual as well (if that has generally, with the rest, been improving lately).  Stats have been taken, medicines went down.  Weight is coming back down a few pounds a day, bp is staying on the very low end.  It is lower than it was before the trial medicines.  Diabetes hasn't changed.  Actually, after over a week of the new diabetes medicine, I am one point higher, never having gone lower, often going up to a hundred points higher.  Yes, I am adding a cc per day.  I'm starting to wonder about it.

Oddly, the little work projects I have been doing are tightening me up.  Not quite as well as swimming but certainly better than nothing.  That also might be the simple reason I needed a day off.  If my body needs time to repair and I am not giving it that time it will take it.  Just as my mind, should I have to do hard things but not want to or not be getting to it fast enough will take over and shove "me" in a closet, my body will as well.  I really am just a renter, or another and minor tenant in this mound of flesh.  None of us play well with each other.  I really am just the narrator.  I still wonder if it is as the Lakota man suggested, as he choked out a warning, due to my mixed blood.  Being Lakota, Navajo, Spaniard, and French, he thought with having that many enemies in my blood I should get to a medicine man posthaste.  He was serious, should have seen the look on his face.  He was worried.  He suggested my blood would tear itself apart.  I actually did visit a Navajo medicine man once, as a lark.  Like you would visit a fortune teller.  He read for my friends but called me a trickster and would not even talk to me when my turn came up, not for any amount of money, he actually fled.  He said I was a trickster before turning heel in a hurry.  He left and when I tried to follow his body guard blocked my way, my size plus and not with a happy face.  Yeah, all true, if to just part of the story.

 Today?  As soon as I can wake and muster, the kitchen plumbing will get it's dues, then the other bathroom water lines, then whatever else progresses from there.  I do feel good.  Just a bit more tired than general of late.  I really have felt great for the last few weeks at least.  And, if this is an off day, and I could and did wake at a regular time, plus if I get to a few things today...  I will be "winning", but in the real way.  Can't lose if you play the game straight even if you don't exactly, or perfectly, succeed.  It's only when you can't even get to the craps table of life.  Yeah, you are going to lose.  You will decline, you will fail, you will sin, you will die.  But that isn't all, or even most of it.  It isn't even the end, regardless of your faith or lack thereof.  I really want to get back into the game.  This isn't it, it is just on the path, baby steps.  Look at it this way, I wore diapers for years and had to be spoon fed everything, and that is after I was forced to not be a sucker for food.  :p

Later.

I'm not giving in.

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A dead duck day but no more.  I have plans for tomorrow, and actually yet tonight.  First, to be to bed within the hour, setting the alarm for 9:00.  Then, up and at it.  The first thing I want to hit is the sink.  I would do my bathroom to start things but I will need to be dealing with flames.  I just don't want to do that until I am more securely awake.  Most people have a bit of an edge around waking and sleeping, taking a bit of time to get on their game, both ways.  I have a margin that can be as much as four hours between waking and actually being functionally awake.  Even now, if the depth in that thickness, if you follow me, has lessened.  I'm honestly surprised I haven't killed myself, purely by accident, in that period.  It can, had been for decades, severe enough that I honestly could have made a very serious mistake... with medicine, with gravity, with any number of things.  Anyway, no fire early on!

I think I can kick the sink out in pretty short order.  I am not sure what the problem is.  I do know it all fits, and it worked well for about two years.  Why it would suddenly simply drop though?  Perhaps something came loose.  I haven't really investigated all that much yet.  It was fine after I replaced the faucet.  I checked for leaks all under there for a week before putting things back, and still checked once a week after that until I felt sure of things.  Bleh.

The other night while working on the screen I didn't, initially, wish to go find the knee pads.  Bad idea.  No permanent damage, and the pain is pretty much gone, and I still ended up having to find and employ the pads so I lost double, triple if you count that even with them on, since I had mushed my knees, even with the pads the floor hurt.  Not the point, but I decided to check something online about my knees.  There is a huge knot on my right knee.  I didn't have it in high school.  It must have been created in the Navy.  I remember it in my early 20's but never knew what it was.  But... what is it?  It's called Osgood-Schlatter disease, and is created through heavy exertion.  I did play three sports plus was active on the side, in many ways, in high school.  But I am sure I didn't have a knot on my knee then.  I was particular about my appearance, and such a thing would have horrified me.  Hey, I was a kid, mostly.  A slightly self conscious one.  Anyway now I know.  By the way, the bone shield offers no comfort on hardwood floors, quite the sorrowful contrary.  That's the area that still hurts.

With Sassy back, a meal in my belly (the hamburgers mixed with onion (good choice by the way) and cheese in the center), plus a plan for tomorrow, I am feeling a bit better.  Oh, about stuffing cheese into a hamburger though?  My technique needs... practice... and a bit of tweaking.  It wasn't horrible, it just wasn't what it could/should have been.  As to today?  I may never know the exact specifics of why I go down.  I know that will happen from time to time though.  What I do know is that, if I can get back up by tomorrow, perhaps things are truly improving.  That will be one of the fastest turnarounds in my history.  I really was down today.  Not depressed just not functional.  I know I will add that to my prayers, with an understanding that it be His will, not mine.  I... understand.  I do.

Good night.

No work today.

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I've probably been overdoing things.  It isn't so much that I was tired as that I could not focus to do a thing.  I did move the hoses around to water certain parts of the back yard.  I had to adjust one of the sprinklers in the front yard.  I will check on the garden sprinklers when they kick in.  Other than that and a perpetual search for Sassy, when I think about it, nothing else has gone forward.  Hmm, hamburgers for supper I think.  I will chop up some onion and mix it into the patties.  I might even cut cheese to put in the center.  Hmm, yeah, sounds good.  I can't figure out how I can do so well and then suddenly... stop?  At least I know it has little to do with willpower.  Something just isn't working.  There is tomorrow.

Still no Sassy.  There are three choices.  The least hoped for is that she bit a cord or found something poisonous to eat, or something else odd, and has died.  But where?  Unlikely thought still somehow possible.  The next would be that she is hiding from me.  She has never done that before.  If I say "food", "hungry", or "treat", she is right here no matter where she may be.  Oh, and rattling the treat bag gets her, and Sam (who does hide out), to come right out of wherever they are.  The last option is that she went outside when I let Sam out, and snuck around and off before I could notice.  While I am good, cats are sneaky.  However she never goes outside during the day.  She rarely goes outside at night.  I simply don't know.  I have all the fans off, just in case she is stuck somewhere.  When stuck she naps, then wakes and begs to be let out, then I presume naps more if she doesn't get let out.  It's not like I live in a mansion either.  I simply have no idea what is up with her.  It's driving me to distraction... and the heat is getting to me.  Fans are going back on.

Later.
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I can't believe it, she was outside.  First, as I have mentioned, I have never seen her go outside during the day.  Second, she snuck past me.  I'm not saying I am the best, and I wasn't particularly keen today.  I must be getting old and soft though.  Although there was a bit when I had the front doors open for just a bit... Hmm... I'll never know.  Pets and dead men tell no tales. 

Where in the world...

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My youngest cat, Sassy, has gone missing.  The problem?  She wouldn't have gone outside, I wasn't in any of the odd rooms, though I have checked just in case, and I have looked everywhere.  She is not in any of her regular spots, not in any of the windows, not in any of the spare rooms.  I simply cannot figure out where she is or could have gone.  I've looked behind the couches and furniture, under my bed, in the closets, calling to her the whole time.  I have physically looked as well as I can in as many places as are possible in case she is sick.  She didn't even have breakfast this morning, she disappeared before that.    She has never disappeared like this.  She has been left in a room before, but when I call she meows her little head off to be let out.  I am not even sure what to do.  I've looked several times through the day.  Crazy.  I'm a bit worried.

Yeah, a bit grumpy but...

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Sleep was good.  I didn't go down until about 2:00.  The long day and... yeah, the screen.  I did get to that before sleeping.  Replacing screen isn't rocket science but it isn't as easy to do perfectly as it looks.  getting the spline to go in, without rolling the spline tool out and tearing screening is a trick.  A trick I don't have down yet.  There is nothing major wrong, I don't need new screen or to repair what I put in.  There is just enough irregularity that it irritates me.  Yes, yes, I even put it back into the door.  I wanted air flow through it and no more bugs.  I had been stalling because I wasn't sure how to cut the screen.  Being aluminum I wasn't sure the suggested method would work.  It did.  It wasn't as clean as I like cuts, but it worked.

Today... plumbing.  I am a bit tired today.  I've been doing a lot, it has been at least warm, fair enough.  Oh, I'll still get to some work today.  Not as fast as yesterday perhaps.  Maybe I won't get to as much as I had hoped.  But, it's not a terrible thing.  I'm just not worried.  I'll get to it.  I ought to check the rest of the screens.  I think they are all good though.  I usually note little things like that, as they rub me wrong, even if I don't have any intention of doing a thing about the problem at the time.

Yeah, a slower day.  Good day.

All town all day.

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Yeah, but I did get it all done.  I set my plans, started late, had to return to the cave for a bit, and assumed I would forget something.  I didn't have a list and I was getting pretty screwy toward the end.  Nope, got it all and even remembered to price a drip system.  Wow, I think, depending on what components are needed, that I could create a drip system for my needs below $60, and probably well below.  Further, if I wanted to make my garden watering system all one unit, I could get raised misters in there for the water intense crops for no more than $100 sum total, if I had to guess.  I would just need enough to cover four rows of crops.  I could set the timer to run that later in the night, leaving more water pressure for the lawn watering hoses earlier, when I could tinker with them in the light but after the sun is off the grass.  Yeah... 

It wouldn't even just be to save money.  It would be simply to save water, socially, as we are in a drought.  My payoff would be less weed work.  I'm not sure if that will really work but it is economically a small enough risk to take the chance.  Now, I didn't really have time to ask about specialty tools, or figure out which fittings would be required, or maybe a main pipe to feed the lines off so as to maintain water pressure cohesion if that would be necessary.  There is a lot that is unknown, but...  Just roughly... it is feasible.  So, yeah, D.C., you could be right on the money.

I also had another thought tonight, while driving back.  I love to drive.  The man whose family feeds me primarily has to drive nights.  It's two to four hours, I think.  Mosquito abatement.  However, it is a late drive and he works all day.  Why I didn't think about it before I can't be sure.  Perhaps I was afraid of the task.  And it is just two nights a week, though if in a crunch I could probably fill in on other nights.  They have done me more than enough favors.  I have a good driving record.  No criminal record.  And if I can learn calculus I can probably learn anything else needed.  I'll... have to talk to him about it, go on the various paths a few times, probably as passenger and driver, if he thinks it would work.  But...  I can easily adjust my sleep, he has no choice.  Yeah, I'll call him tomorrow or Friday.

Tomorrow?  All plumbing all day, and plumbing until plumbing is done.  I did by bone meal, and blood meal, plus exchanged the sprayer for the right one.  So, if on a break I decide to read the instructions, I might do a bit of that while on a break from plumbing.  Or if I finish much quicker than I had thought.  After the plumbing... weeding, weeding, and more weeding.  But I am loving being at things, getting things done, things that have been in the queue for far too long.  Oh, the screen?  Actually that was a spur of the moment thing that I noticed long ago but hadn't really settled on doing.  It just hit me today and... Well...  It might be done yet tonight. 

Later or good night.

A late start messed things up just a bit.

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I was able to get the time sensitive projects completed.  The checks into the bank, the sewing machine into the shop, and the cable dealt with.  I went ahead and kept cable, for $5 with no eventual spikes.  I do enjoy watching EWTN, the Catholic channel, from time to time.  And it is good to have access to "local news" for a few things.  The channels being kept are pretty much all I had watched anyway.  Why bother with "History" or most other channels?  Junk, plus commercials.  And I don't have to redo this every time my mother visits.  While I was in the sewing shop I looked at a machine that would match everything I have on my list for a sewing machine.  Pricey, even at the lower end, but strong enough for what I need, should they not be able to fix my machine.  No where near mfsr though.  That machine alone might trigger my mother to try to move in though.  :p

I ran out of time.  I needed to be back this afternoon.  And I am.  But I will be going back to town a bit later, to finish my shopping.  Then I'll see if my friend wants to tag along.  I had planned to do those things solo, and first, anyway.

Just a few things left.  And it will be cooler when I get back into town, if perhaps busier as well.  I did figure out how to remove the screen.  It is a stock door but it looks like a D.C. type had to tinker with it.  Getting the screen out was easy enough with a tool or two and a little patience.  I took the measurements which I wrote on an envelope,  a sample of the screen and of the spline, both of which went inside the envelope, which then went into one of the cargo pockets.  I will be looking at the costs for 150 foot of bleader hose, sixty tricklers, fittings, and tools, just a pricing for now.  If it is less than $100 I might go for it next month, maybe, if everything looks doable.  Yeah, I have at least sixty plants that would need trickling, what's it to you?  *laughs*

Well... just in case you wanted to know.  Which, if you are reading here, might be presumed?  Later. 

A shower and almost ready.

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My legs are rather rubbery from the garden.  The rising and lowering, the kneeling, the stretching out to get a weed a bit out of normal range.  Loving it though.  I wish I could have gotten back in this morning.  Until the plumbing is done, or until I hit a stoppage that requires me to put the project on hold, I am on the plumbing.  The garden will just have to survive or die on it's own for a day or two.  Then back to that with a vengeance.  Three heavy days in the garden and every day but Sunday I plan to put at least a one to three hour session in on top of it.  I told you I enjoyed working, it is just that it sort of has to be light enough and flexible enough.  Well, and I did have to ease into it, create the hook, soothe the rub, and... here I am.

Yeah, I finally got everything stacked by the back door that needs to go.  The sprayer, sewing machine, and cable box.  Good riddance on that last.  I have games for when I want to waste my time, and a few movies.  I ought to watch Fight Club again.  Some shows are less story, more memory, if none quite get it exactly right.

I've been showering at least every other day, now that health is better, and for quite some time.  It is wonderful.  Being caged by flesh so that even taking a shower is a large, sometimes undoable, imposition is not fun.  It sure puts work out of the realm of possibilities.  Unchained, unlocked, and maybe on the way to overclocking.  It means there is a chance that I won't die unjustly on my knees.  It isn't about pride, it is about... a human need, a want as well...  The need to do, to please, to create, to... be through active participation.  Being means being creative, as Father.  We were made in His image, no doubts.  In this way and in flesh and spirit.  This part of my life is subject to that.  And I am loving it.  And getting a tan for the first time in decades as a reward.  A little ego play isn't bad.  Maybe I'm not a vampire... or as I might have suggested, vampires aren't what they seem.  *grins*

Never mind, time to get going.  Looks like I have a little bio inconvenience to deal with, then to dress and finish grooming, THEN on the way.  Hmm, as usual, it's taking more time... say it together... than expected.  Booyeah!
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To bed and thus up late.

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I try to keep in the six to eight hour range for sleep.  Sleep is precious to me.  So long as I don't push it too hard and stay up way too long, I can... modulate with a later wake.  The hope, of course, is to get back on schedule as soon as possible.  I just couldn't come down.  If I do things too late in the afternoon I can end up in trouble.  With the work yesterday, then the trip to town...  Working up to get out seems to really gear me up.  Still, it was pleasing to be able to be on point in getting my friend a bit of food.  I know that feeling, of having nothing, and having no way out.  Hate that.  Pure empathy.

Today is starting late.  I just don't think I can get into the garden.  It is blazing out there again.  It says it is 81, with a high of 94 today.  But the sun is out and that makes a world of difference.  Today will be about getting a shower and to town, seeing if my friend wants to go with, dealing with the refund check and some others, an exchange of fertilizer sprayers and getting some new stuff, and taking the sewing machine in and the cable tv box back.  I've wanted to do that for a while, it's just not been the highest priority. If all goes well and I have some juice left, I will try to tend a few plumbing issues. 

I am feeling fantastic.  Only six and change hours of sleep and a late night, adding to that I have been tinkering in the garden in the heat and doing other things here and there.  This is a life, if a minimal one.  It sure beats just living for the next breath, the life I lead for decades, a living death really.  There is so much more that needs to be, and could be done.  But man isn't supposed to try to tame all things on his own.  Something has to give, and it does.  Even if I kept life at my top pace, assuming I can hit the high gear from time to time, I can't keep hearth, home, and the rest in check solo. 

Even a man and wife, working together, can't do that.  It's a continuing struggle, a wife often adding more complication and demand than what she tends.  The most finicky of devices!  And yet, for men who can deal with the imperfections, manage that "system", and keep it all on track, life is much smoother even with occasional hiccups.  Assuming he will give to get and can negotiate well.  It really comes down to salesmanship.  Not just with a wife, with life in general.  Well, and some bull tenacity, learning which battles to fight at home and afar, and some other things.  As is I limp through life on my own and that is that, for now at the very least.  Then again, I don't have to reorganize or negotiate my plans, save by literal necessity.  If I can't get to the water heater, I simply have to deal with cold showers... no cold shoulder to add to the impetus.  I'm a fence sitter with a lean toward finding a wife.  Or, as I like to put it, a neutral negotiator on this point.  The price has to be right, the product has to be tight and understand the laws beyond what is on modern books to include being completely open to natural fertility, and not be a couch potato.  I am not even sure such women exist these days.  They literally don't make them like they used to, if their are more options open to a women, like college debt which few men can afford to pay on top of other expenses a home wife brings to a household.

Hmm... right... Now to get to what I can today.  Imma put the sewing machine and sprayer in the way of opening the back door, right now, or they will be forgotten.  Hmm, and the cable box.  Yeah... then wake a bit better and... a shower before long... then... whatever.  Gah!  Too much but I am not going to let that stop me.  Good day.

Bedtime.

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Yeah, sure, I made it to town.  My friend got what he needed but I forgot what I needed to exchange.  I checked the mail on my way to town and the check I have been awaiting is in.  So, tomorrow, back to town to get that into the account, pick my friend up for an extra day out if just to Walmart, an exchange and a bit of shopping, the back in time to fertilize I hope.  Yeah, but maybe a morning session in the garden.  Just an hour or two to try to get a step closer to being ahead regarding weeds.

It was too late by the time I returned.  Eating a large meal didn't help much on the score of getting to anything when I got home.  Yes, I did call and let them know not to bring dinner.  Which worked out since "mom" was ooc and "dad" had no clue.  See, I like that I am not the only one.  Never de who.  So... I guess I get what of the plumbing I end up getting done tomorrow, but the following day should be good.  Friday or Saturday, weather allowing, another day of shooting.  I am out of ammunition, but I will gladly take my friend.  Hmm, I ought to find my slingshot and practice with that.  It's something, and would work for small game.  I wonder if Zero has locked down ammo for that, to?

Feeling my oats tonight.  Yeah.  It's good to be back on track and really putting in some sweat and time.  Things are coming together, if seemingly too slowly.  I'll have to pick up the pace.  When I am in town tomorrow I will be taking my sewing machine in to see if they can fix a few things and tighten up the device sum total while they are at it.  I won't just give them a green light.  If they find something too big (expensive) I will either have to look for another machine or wait for repairs.  Yeah...  Getting to things, slowly.

Haiku Monday - Road

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Hmm, friend wants a bit of shopping.

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My friend called earlier, when I was in the garden.  I don't always have my phone out there, today was one of those days.  If it is too muddy, or there is the possibility of getting wet otherwise, I leave the phone in.  Both were in play today.  Oh, I saw the call a bit ago but needed to 'catch my breath'.  Which I did.  I almost forgot to call back.  Almost.

It seems my friend is plumb out of food.  So, he needs a ride to go shopping.  His sister is otherwise indisposed, so that leaves me.  Luckily for all I am doing well enough.  And I remembered to call.  I am merely waiting on dinner before heading out.  I may give them a call and see what is what, perhaps skipping dinner tonight.  While in town I will exchange the fertilizer sprayer, finally, and look over what else they have, specifically going for bone meal.  Every plant, I think, has had the dirt opened up around it again, weeds pushed back, or a bit more, perhaps even had their stems braced and buried a bit more.  They are just waiting on fertilizer.

Hmm, yeah.  I might not get to plumbing due to this.  Then again I might.  It depends on how much the trip takes out of me.  If not, then tomorrow is plumbing all day, all the way, and I will try to get it all done.  It isn't as hard as gardening, save for under-the-sink gymnastics at times.  Still, it does take time and I never have the notion of time correct with any job.  They all seem to always take longer than suspected.  Still, that is the plan.  Well, and maybe one session in the garden as well.  Plans... Yum!

Later.

Four hours or close enough, perhaps a bit more?

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I still don't know if that should officially be called work.  I have to think that if I were well there wouldn't be any true effort involved?  Then again I may be mistaken.  The soil is rich, with a touch of clay but not a whole clay.  Loam, really, thick, hearty, dark to nearly black, heavy, and clingy.  It does take just a bit, with shovel or rake, to open up the soil to any depth.  Kneeling is a new thing for me as well.  I am sore in odd places.  Little muscle groups used to maintain balance in the kneeling position, small little places that power rising and lowering that haven't been used, and a general sense that I have been up to something non-specific.  No major muscle groups are tender, just the little bits of muscle between here and there... except for my upper leg muscles as a general regional, if mild, complaint.  Then again, as I have suggested, I like that.  It isn't up to "burn" status.  The soreness, generally, has more the feel of having pulled muscles rather than worked them, mostly.

Never mind.  Four hours, if it was clouded over most of the time I worked.  I reset the side hoses, and reset the front lawn hoses yesterday.  The garden hoses are good as is.  I am ready for watering tonight.  At 18:00, if I remember and if the sun isn't one the side hose spray pattern, I'll start them.  Otherwise I might move them one more time.

If I can, though, after dinner I do believe, I may begin in the bathroom.  I think I will try to complete the water lines.  If that works, then I will install the new toilet.  If I have enough after that I will reinstall the main kitchen plumbing that simply seems to have fallen out.  I know I won't get to it, but the final thing in the en suite and regarding plumbing will be to figure out the electrical.  Tomorrow?  Probably, unless I collapse from today and need a rest.  But if I am that close I think I can push on.  Time will tell.

Oh I am loving this.  Back to doing little bits and pieces.  Getting things done and planning to do more.  Being able to lift my butt out of the chair and go do it, and... perhaps reliably again.  If so, I have a ton of things to do this week, and really right up until Burning Man.  Tree trimming, keeping up on the garden, exercising, hiking and biking, swimming, Church if I can get timing and focus down again, a spook suit to produce, perhaps even canning if the garden gets that far.  Oh, and I best get my bedroom cleaned pretty quickly too, then start on the rest of the place.  Wouldn't want D.C. to think he popped into hell.

Two hours in the heat, garden, and sometimes sun.

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I don't know if  crawling around on my knees, getting up and down, shoveling and raking, and messing with dirt counts as exercise exactly, but I can do it and it does make me sweat.  Then again when the sun comes out full blast even a pig would be wishing he could sweat.  Hot!  I powdered the root type vegetables again, and will probably do that in two days again, then every third day until the holes go away/stop being made on the leaves.  I am sure watering washes it all off.  I ought to powder after watering, come to think of it.  It would have to be by flashlight but that shouldn't be a problem.

I trenched and weeded, aerated, and with some of the weaker plants I stacked dirt up higher on the stem.  I weeded generally a bit, and randomly where some weeds just caught my attention as I was moving about.  The spade doesn't really help.  The garden claw is the best at loosening the soil without moving the weeds so far that I might not find them.  Not bad, really.  I did take a ten minute break in there.  Two hours and one break are both records.  A short break at that.  I am hoping to put another two hours in, if maybe not in one go.  The garden isn't that big, either.  Perhaps 20'x40'?  Well, the half I am using this year.  And of that I am only, really, using about a quarter of that.  Still, the weeds are everywhere.  The closer you look the more you see.  Some of them are tiny.  All are easy to root out except the dandelions.  Those can be tricky, often with a root bulb deep down in, around a rock if they can get to it.  Right now I am simply trying to clear about a foot around the crop plants.  I may use the hoe, but more for the bigger plants that are in larger groups, assuming I can even keep up on my short term goal enough to get to them.

I'm loving having the clouds, when they will provide cover.  It seems like a 20 degree difference, or more.  If I keep this up I should be acclimated to summer heat enough to deal with BMan, in my opinion.  Of course, I am hoping to add to it with at least a weekly swim and more if the V.A. comes across and hiking/biking before long.  Yeah, time is short, but...  I do what I can as I am.  Can't do anything else.  Plus, this is the best shape I have been in to even think about doing things, naturally, since I became ill.  I'm simply amazed at what all I am doing.  And, tonight, I am putting a 50-60% chance of plumbing going forward.  Either the kitchen sink or the water and maybe electrical for the en suite.  There is even a 10% chance of both if I keep my wind and get some spit and attitude to go with it.  Something.

Stretch, pull, push, climb, lift, tow, haul, do.  It is what I was made to do.  Later.
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While cooling off I kept digging on the blog.  I'm trying to put music and a few other categories together for easier reviewing.  Far from perfect, and there are a lot of posts to look through, straighten up, attempt to check the links while I am at it.  I can't check every link, and some links I find that are bad there is no way to fix.  Still...  I went back to December 31st of 2011.  I think the further I go back the easier it will be, as I write much more often and use music and videos far more frequently than when I began.  Still, that's a lot of blogging to go through.  It is about time to do that though.

Odd stats.

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I'm feeling good.  I woke slightly before 8:00 this morning, which is about perfect as midnight and change seems to be my bedtime lately.  I am feeling just a bit better than even yesterday morning.  I am back on the regular doses of medicine.  My bp is way down, 106/70, with a pulse back to stock regular at 68.  That blood pressure is way low.  I don't really have a way to bring it up, other than cutting medicine.  For now I will simply stay on the original dose and watch.  Then again, I don't really care as long as I can still function.  I popped out of bed like I knew what I was doing, have done some minor tinkering already as well, and really it's all going rather well.  Blood sugars remain very high, they simply aren't coming down.  That doesn't make sense.  Weight is also staying up.  That extra dose really jacked my system in a number of very odd ways.

It's another cool morning.  Being partly cloudy has kept the heat in check.  I didn't go to town last night, as much to save gas and just do it my next visit to town as much as I wasn't really into it.  After an hour or two of waking I plan to hit the garden again today.  Weeding, of course.  Aerating a bit again while I do that.  Just... making a mess and enjoying doing so I suppose.  I am really hoping the various fertilizers will work, I want to get some serious fruit for the labor.  It's becoming a bit of an ego thing on top of the larder issue.  Making and jarring my own salsa would be fantastic, doing it my way, and hotter than most can take.  I bet I can even can simple hot sauces, and if they are acidic enough, I won't actually have to pressure can them.  Uhrm, assuming I get enough peppers to do that.  But having a bushel or two of corn, roots, tomatoes, and peppers would be killer.  Just to be able to say I did it.  Actually more to simply have done it.

Yeah, well...  Today?  Work in the garden.  I set up the hoses, mostly, for watering the lawn and garden.  I simply have to move the side hoses, or check on them.  I used one for the garden last night, not sure where the other is.  The way the shadow hits as the sun is going down allows me to start those two hours earlier than the main sprinklers if I am careful about where I put them.  Generally I don't like to water anything that is getting direct sun while it is getting it or if it will soon be in the sun.  One area of my lawn, along the drive way, may simply always end up brown.  No matter how careful I am to get it water, and extra water.  I think it cooks from the tar driveway?  I do put out salt, but I don't think that is it or it would be a problem everywhere along the walks and driveway but it's not.  Just one patch along one part of the drive.  I wonder if cutting a separation there, just a half inch, might help? 

I actually feel like I'm getting into home owning.  Learning to fix things, a garden, green grass, watering.  Little things, but that is most of what life is.  Even the big things are often a combination of really little things.  Very few simply have a meteor land on them or their property, or like events.  On to waking a bit better then on to whatever the day has in store.  Later.

A fine cool dinner.

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A cold sliced meat salad.  Perfect for the day, the heat.  And it was mixed, various greens, cucumber, cherry tomato...  Just a touch of blue cheese dressing and it was off to the races.  I am spoiled this way.

The garden is getting watered.  It is about time to turn that off, take a shower, and head to town.  I looked over advice regarding peppers and what I kept running into was the notion that a mix of fertilizers was best.  The big tomatoes will get bonemeal, the peppers and smaller tomatoes will get a mix of fertilizers.  I am guessing Miracle Grow will be fine for almost everything, along with an extra dose of bone meal for the big plants.  I just recently aerated, so that should help.  Though I think I will continue to split my time in the garden between aerating and weeding.  Along with fertilizing and keeping up on watering I am hoping to get something going.

On the good side, it looks like my rookie year of seedling production, other than maybe it being later than it could have been, was stellar.  The only plants I had some trouble with were the habanero plants, but that is not only typical, what I did get was fantastic.  So, what was my trick?  Other than soaking the seeds overnight, there was no trick.  The room might have been too cool though, which might have stunted the plants.  Then again, I am not really sure about that.  I am not sure they would have even germinated if it was too cool?  Next year I will be planting earlier, and in the spare bedroom, with lights on a timer, and probably with some sort of heating pad for at least some of the day, possibly on it's own timer.  I want this to work, I want to get vegetables, especially peppers and tomatoes.  Next year I will use the other part of the garden for cucumbers and squash.  Personally I think watermelon, pumpkins, and other large items would take too much water, so I will be skipping that sort.  Carrots require daily watering too, but then so do the turnips and kohlrabi I suspect, which they are now getting.

Yes, turn off the water, take a quick shower, then head to town for just a bit more shopping... and to get out.  It's been a weak day.  I didn't have much to put in.  I became tired easily and yet kept at it.  Medicines, stats, the garden, and the girls, have all been tended.  A little sun was had as well.  I'm pleased, if I am hoping for a bit more tomorrow.  I need to hit the weeding hard, and I could apply fertilizer in the evening before officially watering, which means I can cut back on the regular watering time a bit.  I am doing what I can.

Hmm, looking at SiteMeter and...  Not sure how that is possible, but I do believe it.  It's looking like a lot of visits.  The high this week was last Friday, with 140 and perhaps change.  The low was Thursday and yesterday, with only 42-44.  Sure, I don't write to be read, almost literally.  And yet it is fascinating to see that I have a few readers.  Odd.

Later, perhaps good night.

Still hot, but workable.

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That isn't the most work I have ever done.  But having taken the extra dose of medicine last night I'll take what I can get.  A full row of kohlrabi thinned, weeded, transplanted where needed, firmed up, soil loosened, and powdered along with the other half row with diatomaceous earth.  I also rerigged the hoses for watering later this evening.  Now to cool down a bit until dinner arrives.  After dinner and a little time to let food settle I am thinking I will head into town for a few things.  Well, and just to get out for a drive... uhrm, and check the mail.

While I cool down waiting for dinner, perhaps a shower, and a little research on what will help peppers set on.  The bushes might not be the biggest, but some of them are hugely foliated for their sizes.  I am not sure if trying to size them up a bit better first would be wise, or simply aim to get peppers going.  Four of the tomato plants are big enough, the others could still use a lot more growth.  So that will be by plant.  As for weeding?  I don't even know.  Those weeds have simply taken off.  I may just use the spade to uproot chunks of dirt, break up the dirt a bit, then speed through weed removal.  Simply pull them isn't fast enough.  I can get the roots out as is, save for dandelions which always need digging and even then there is no guarantee the root bulb will be brought up.  The thing is, without the soil well loosened I have to go slow and be careful not to break off the root.  Then I have to try to dig down and get a stronger part of the root to pull out.  Anyway...  Way too many weeds to try to manage the way I have been working them.

I still have a number of plants in here.  They aren't hurting anything, I have something to water and enjoy, and I hate the idea of just tossing them.  Some are for replacements in case of failure.  They all might go out to the garden at some point.  I don't think they can produce in here.  Some are even now still to small.  Hmm, they may get fertilized as well, with various things, just to see what is what a bit. 

Later.

Slow but I've definitely had worse.

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Nothing fancy.  I did get the duster loaded and used it for what of my bulb vegetables are appearing.  I also thinned/transplanted half of the final row, dusting it as a final insult to the injury.  I looked through the peppers and tomatoes.  I did find a few tomatoes on one of the plants, but that was it.  I have one plant that looks more like a bush and still has no tomatoes on it.  I also only found the one pepper plant with a few peppers coming in.  I am wondering if I am watering too much?  No, until recently, and even then only once or twice, I have only been watering every other day.  Although I am considering watering only one half of my garden on the off days.  Some of my peppers don't seem to like that much water.  Luckily, the peppers that are near the tomatoes, corn, and tubers seems to really be liking whatever I throw at them in the way of water.  So, I can simply put the sprinkler near the tomatoes, limit the spray to the that row and head it east and it should work out well for off-day watering.  The turnips and kohlrabi, corn, and tomatoes I think, plus the Serrano peppers, are just loving the extra water.  I hope to see the kohlrabi do what the turnips did after I thinned those and maybe with the extra watering.  *B U S H*

I worked in the heat, but today was a relatively cool day, or I tolerated it well?  Hmm, let me check.  It says the high was 91 while showing that it is now 93.  Stupid weathermen.  Anyway, I was in and out just slightly before they tagged the high (and in spite of the current temp being higher).  Well, I may have answered one of my questions.  It looks like, after the "high" of the day, the temp can and does still climb, or possibly begin dipping then climb again.  I've seen that before, or more felt it, but I didn't know if that was me or if there really was a double rise in temperatures.  Looks like I was catching it.  A good thing, really.  It might mean what I had thought was health related temp problems weren't what I feared.

Yeah.  After a bit I may take another run at the last part of the full row... or not.  I'm not cooling down well.  Then again that may not matter as I am tolerating the felt heat really well.  To finish that, then set the water up for an half hour run later tonight would be good.  After that, perhaps a run into town to exchange the fertilizer system and perhaps look for bonemeal or such...  Yeah, but best look over the fertilizer I have, to make sure another purchase is actually needed.  Might as well check the mail to see if the refund check is in while I am at it.  A lot of things are on hold as I wait for that.  It's been almost a month, I think.  Irritating.  Later.

Good plans.

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Poor implementation.

Yeah, sure, no more higher night doses.  Sure.  I can do that.  Super!  Uhrm, but yeah.  Last night, at about bed time, a bit tired even from the little I had done and a long warmish day, I remembered to take my medicines.  Just in time, to, as I almost just went on to bed.  So, down the hatch without a second thought.  Right as the pills hit my gullet I realized I hadn't take the extra doses out yet.  Damn!  Another down day, maybe.  We will see.

The girls have been waking me up too early.  So, I slept a little longer just to spite them.  I have them trained regarding food.  Now it seems Sam is trying to bang on my door to be let out early.  That isn't going to fly.  If I do what she wants she will keep doing it earlier and earlier.  I had this problem with feeding, and broke them of it by feeding them later, two hours after I wake.  They understand how this works on that now.  So, now I have to teach Sam about being let out.  It's annoying but...  I'll teach her, again, again.  Yeah, she will learn.

I'm feeling okay, in spite of the extra dose.  That doesn't mean I will continue.  Right after I realized my mistake I stripped the extra doses.  I just can't handle that.  All goofy all the time in dealing with medicine, but I won't be locked down and shut up by a pill, not that hard and heavy, not right now.  I simply have too much to do and too little time, as is.  Not yet, at the very least.

It's a delicious morning.  I may have figured out how to cool the house overnight.  It doesn't happen quickly, and I still need ac in my room so as to sleep and wake in more like a typical day/night gig, but this seems to really set the cave for a cooler start.  I've been doing it for about a week now, and mostly it works really well.  Strategically placed fans, a few open windows and the door in which the screen locks, and then closing it all up as soon as I wake.

Stats, vitals, medicine, all done.  A morning snack as well.  My blood sugar just is not coming down.  Not sure what that is about.  The last time I was on this stuff it spiraled down at a very fast pace and on less than I am taking now.  Dosing that up a notch every day it is above 100.  Oh well, it just takes more time I suppose.

The goal, today, is to load the powder device and treat the leaves, do a bit of thinning and weeding, and go slow and take it somewhat easy but still push on to what I can do.  Nothing fancy.  While I am out there I also plan to look a little more closely for peppers, now that I know what I am looking for.  And go through the tomatoes.  With so many blooms on I would have thought to see at least some small tomatoes forming somewhere.  I am not sure if I should trim the bottom leaves, since they are touching the ground.  That seems like it would be an invitation to rot, bugs, and maybe other things?  I hope that extra dose last night doesn't collapse my system.  Ugh but that is horrid. 

Later.  Oh, but first, a tune that... is pleasing in odd ways.  Especially when you know more about the song.  Contrary to my nature but...  Never mind.  Hmm, and another?  Yeah, something I remember from long ago.  A narcotic downer for the ears but...  Aye, but it covers the mood and pace today.

Not bad, hopefully just the start.

. . My recovery is rather slow. Which actually surprises me. Then again, the days I miss medicine altogether and feel better it is because I have missed all of it. Just cutting the extra means I am still dosing, which means feeling better is slower. Although, when I miss for more than, say, a day or two in a week, I end up beginning to feel bad. I won't have the sheer cliff to face either. I did find the diatomaceous earth, I did find the applicator, I did move the hose, but dinner arriving early, and being big and quite good, knocked my legs out from under me. Or, that is the excuse I will use. And, no, that... wasn't a problem at all. I was hungry. Full now, even hours later. As for gaining weight, I think the meds were knocking my so hard I wasn't voiding as often or as well. I sat nearly the whole time I managed to be awake. It wasn't food, that's for sure.

The garden and yard are getting watered. It looks like some of my peppers are setting on. They were not what I was... or, actually, I simply didn't know what I was supposed to see. I don't see any tomatoes though. And only one type of pepper seems to be setting on, either the Tai or the Serrano. The rest? I will have to hope fertilizer helps. Oh, and I really need to get back in and weed. Everything I knocked down invited ten friends to replace them. That and thinning. I think thinking first. And... I may have to resort to the hoe just to try and battle to some kind of even score before going back to hand weeding. Perhaps that is that for that at this point though. Ugh... Preen didn't really seem to help. I am thinking another application, though I ought to check on it. My mother suggested only applying it once, but... it seems to have worn off.

I am hoping I am more fully back to normal tomorrow. The goal is to get into the garden, thinning and applying diatomaceous earth, weeding, and whatever else I see the need to do, in short little work periods throughout the day as I am able. That will be the extent of my work tomorrow. I am pretty much done today. Want is there, body is not. My friend will be doing all day testing regarding his heart. He'll call me with any results, and hopefully we will plan for another day out when he is feeling up to it. I'll take the fertilizer applicator back at that time, for exchange hopefully. So many little things one has to keep on their mind, then do. And I'm retired! Ugh.

Later, perhaps good night. Not going to bed soon, just... not sure I will by blogging more. Sleep well.

Life flows again.

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Last night I forgot to take the night dose, meaning the extra dose didn't get taken either.  My blood pressure was still excessively low this morning anyway.  And, inexplicably, I gained five pounds since yesterday morning.  My pulse is also still elevated by over 10 points.  That is some serious stuff they are giving me.  Looks like I am at the exact limit to what I can take.  So, I have definitively decided to scrap the increase, at least for now.  But I can't live like that, not living on my own.  So, yeah... probably not.

I am still a bit weak today but some vitality is returning.  I had wanted to find the diatomaceous earth, and put that on the root vegetables the other day but I couldn't keep with even the task of finding the stuff.  After a couple of rounds of looking, though, today, with the notion that I wasn't quitting until I found it, I found it.  Duh.  And I then found the applicator that I had found just recently but then lost in the haze, along with the rest of the project.  Yes, I am going to fill that up, use it where needed, and do some more thinning of the other bulbing ground fruits, perhaps more if I can stick with it.  Of course, I have a full row to go this time so I am not sure I will get to other weeding.  I'm not even sure I will be able to finish the whole row as is.  While I was doing better, and am doing a bit better, even at my recent prime I have serious limits.  Still, it is wonderful to be back in the garden and to be able to see seemingly simple tasks, such as tracking something down, back on the menu.

I still get hit with a shot of lightheadedness from time to time, while doing things, but it is very mild, quite temporary, and becoming rarer.  Hmm, best make sure the water is ready to go again tonight.  Even numbered day, so it all gets watered.  I had it set up for 21:00, but I think I am going earlier tonight, 20:00, maybe 19:30.  And I will try to get the side hoses started before that, stop them for the water automated water times, then finish off after they finish.  I'm not quite getting enough water, and reasonably, through one faucet for the whole works.  Hmm, I'll set up the side hoses as well, all of them actually.  Yeah, feeling my oats again and wanting to get to it.  If all goes well, I am hoping to get into the bathroom some time.  Not sure that part is possible but there is a 20% chance, from now on.  I want it done this week.

Well... to it.  Later.

Ah, dinner is coming early.  Well, okay, I can happily deal with that.  The thing is I needed a shower and to dress properly.  Done.  Loverly to back in the game and to just do what I think, rather than have to sit about it trying to think about maybe doing it and hoping it happens in time.  Showered, dressed, and ready, in less than five.  Hells yeah.  No more extra doses.  Yum!

Let freedom ring.

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Zimmerman walks, at least so far.  And well he should.  That case wasn't about singular self defense, it was about being proactive in defending one's neighborhood, among other things.  It was a question about whether "white" people can defend themselves from black people.  It was about everything except any real legal question that the prosecutor was supposed to negotiate.  It was about the morality of a generalized notion of pushing crime and criminals out and dealing with the backtalk from that.  Evil doesn't just go away, it has to be pushed out.  Cops not only can't do it, they won't.  Quite often evil doesn't want to leave an area that is easy pickings.  It has to be shoved.  From what I have read, Zimmerman didn't even shove.  He merely tagged and followed.  The criminal seeming behavior of the dead one isn't a freedom.  If I skulked around this neighborhood I live in, peaceable as it is, at night, between houses, regardless my intent, I would be confronted.  And If I gave lip, or more attacked, I would be shot.  That is what you do to rabid animals.  I have no complaints.  If he had been in the right, simply identifying himself and apologizing for behaving like a criminal would have been enough.  My guess is he really was skulking, looking for anything easy.  Good riddance.

The justice system has proven to be unmistakably unreliable and just plain wrong.  It is what is on trial, and it lost.  It could not have won that case, either way.  Just that the case came to trial means the system needs to be gutted and fixed.  I still remember a case in Omaha, where a woman, alone with her three small children, shot an intruder, who died.  Actually I think there were two intruders, the other fled.  They tried her, and they went after her for civil and criminal.  They lost but they hounded her, and last I heard are still after her, for a decade and change.  Gut the system, disbar prosecutors who favor evil, strip courts of jurisdiction when they are this blatantly wrong, and file civil grievances against the media that supports the tyranny of the "minority".  It's time.  With a black president there is no more game in the quota systems.  Besides, if they are truly worth having as citizens, and have any chance at being welcomed by a civil society, they aren't going to get there by being defended, protected, coddled, and supported even, or especially, when they do the most heinous of things or get killed trying to do so.  Attacking while acting criminal is evil.  The hammer needs to come down hard and sure.  Equality?  Show me quality first.

Loverly.  So far.  But if Zimmerman isn't wise, and doesn't proactively go after the criminals in the DoJ, Prosecutor's office, White House, and media, they will come after him.  He best lay down the law with suits and a full barrage of offensive tactics or he may yet end up in prison for defending himself and his neighborhood.  Go, go, go.  Get the fuckers.  Nail them.  Tie them up with so much of their own red tape and court defenses that they don't have the time, money, energy, or civil support to do anything but run like the shits they are.  Get em'!