Saturday, December 31, 2016

Showers are a wonderful invention.

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Not an invention?  Oh yes they were.  Heck, there are moderns (in both sense of the term) who do not bath (or shower) regularly.  Some are just... well... primitive moderns.  Others are merely alive in our times, but have never been and probably never will be modern, or civil, as we see it.  Water has to be available, and plentiful enough for the population.  The temperature has to be warm enough, or the society has to be modern enough to regulate temperatures where bathing (or showering) could take place.  We live an easier life, in some ways, than any emperor, caesar, king, nobility, or wealthy merchant in history.  Anyway, just because I have access doesn't mean I can always take advantage of it.  I do appreciate it when I can.

I am trying a trick with laundry.  True?  I'll know soon enough.  It was suggested that balling up a couple of rounds of aluminum foil and putting them in with the clothes in the dryer would keep static cling at bay.  True?  I am about to find out.  And, what was put through is terrible about static cling.  Even if it works, will it work on everything?  Time will tell.  I need to deal with a lot of laundry.  I can't find that stupid folding board, so will just have to do it by hand.  Bleh.

I think I'll make something easy to eat.  Popcorn?  Sure.  It's not the best of foods but it will have to do. Buttered popcorn.  I'll watch a show, eat, then hit the trash, cat litter, and then deal with the laundry that needs put up.  Breaks as needed, but I am going to attempt to push through.

It is sort of frustrating.  My goal is to change towels after up to two uses or two/three days.  As well, laundry is on a schedule of events, and has a process.  Same with several things.  However, when something gets backed up, or several things as now, I can't go ahead with everything.  I am getting there, but it will take a while to get things settled, sorted, given a place and time, and then be kept up on.  I have been doing what I can, of what is available, such as making the bed... even after a nap.  But the towels are backed up.  I can change them out, once dry, but I have to be cautious.  I only have so many towels.  Hmm... I'm working on it.

Later.

Well, I am getting at it.

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Beside making the bed, I have started on laundry.  Next a shower.  I should be able to get the few remaining dirty dishes rounded up, though I might collect and remove trash first.  I think I'll do a cat litter change while I am at that.  I have been doing very well at keeping the litter cleaned out and mixed.  Litter lasts a very long time if you can keep up on it.  Oh, and I cleaned the toilet because it needed it.  Now, just a bit off, and I hit it... but only if I don't hit it before it gets a bit off.  I am improving.  It's just, when I am trying to do too many things, some things simply get lost in the shuffle... for a bit.

I am still off, no pain pill today but I am thinking about it.  I probably will.  I want to do these chores, perhaps a few more, and still good with the snow does, in or out.  It's dark but I have flashlights, headlamps, and little concern.  I just don't get hurt by falling, yet, all that much.  I suppose, at some age, that will become a concern.  I handled a really bad spill last winter, I think.  flat out on my back on a sheet of ice.  Meh.

The girls have been fed.  I probably will eat something after the shower and dishes.  I have turned the heat up, sometimes that can help.  Not a bad day so far.  Late, but I'll use what time I have, when I have it.  I think I can get it today, now that I know what the problem is.  All of it?  When have I ever promised that.  And, even so, some days I do all and more.  I'll just have to see.  Later.

Yeah, well...

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The plan is to work.  Although, I just realized what is probably the problem, and will be for a bit.  The last time I set my medicines up, I added carvedilol.  That stuff is like taking thirty pounds of buckshot in the derriere.  Until it is up to speed, it... is a loadstone.  I am at half dose, currently.  I can go up in portions or just double in a couple weeks to a month.  It is like shifting gears, only the results take weeks to months.  In the intervening time, I don't just stall always, more often than not I drop... a little to a lot.

I was wondering what I was caught up on.  I was sure I should have been back to things by now.  I set up my medicines, but didn't start them, in part I think with this in mind.  Then when I did start, I had conveniently forgotten what might happen.  Even the aches.  I don't know if the stuff makes me sleep harder, but my neck and shoulders are out.  That is where most of the pain is derived, and minor headaches from those.  At least I know now.

Even so, I'm keeping my list going.  Haven't done a thing on it, and am adding more.  I would like to clean the place back up to where I was at it's peak.  Oh, I am losing days while I am at it.  Yes, this medicine, while cycling on and then up, will destroy my regularity, in the short run.  My life was never easy.  It has just become more complicated and difficult.  And, yet, what I have is what I have.  I'll keep going.

Today?  To be honest there are only four things I'd like to work out.  First is a shower.  Second is getting the dishes collected one final time and get those going.  Then some time on the snow shoes, first right here in the cave.  If I feel I can walk in them well enough on flat and level, I'll go outside.  If I have energy after that, I may either attempt to level the dryer, collect trash and get it out, or maybe both.  There is no guarantee on any of it.  Still, that is where I am at.  Now that I know what one of the major catches is, I might just be able to sidle around that roadblock.  It really does help to know.

A little waking first.  Oh, yeah, I did make my bed already.  Trying to do that first thing so that I don't have to drag back to it.  Processes are as important to change as items, spaces, and else.  More important, probably.  Hey, that bed won't win any prizes for being pretty, but it is neat enough that even my mother would, generally, given my nature, give it a gold star.  Still hate, because, you know, she wants it right and ready and... but she finally knows.  Boys will never be girls, and never be her.  Though I don't think she is her, just closer than most.  :p

Good day.

Friday, December 30, 2016

A couple of calls.

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My mortgage handler is being a problem.  They, to my knowledge, have refused to send the paperwork I need to set up automatic payments.  Every time I have, on good faith, made payments to catch up on the promise that the paperwork was on the way, I got scratch... sometimes forgetting to pay because I was waiting on the paperwork, as a ticker, and it never arrived.  They have been gouging the crap out of me with late fees, and over-the-phone debit card fees, and not keeping their word.

I called them.  I asked if they wanted me to settle today.  Oh, he got excited.  I told him if I could get on auto-pay today, I'd do it.  *gulp*  Right.  I can catch up, completely, but refuse.  Not one more nickel will they get until I get the paperwork, and it goes through.  Even if I get it, and return it (they won't send more than one copy, if I am doubting that), I won't settle until their system has a go for auto-pay, or they will simply find a technicality for denying the process and start me on this all over again.  I told him if he/they am/will steal my house, they are going to have to do it without sips of late fees and other forms of robbery.

Some V.A. rep called earlier.  I wanted to talk to the mortgage holder first.  It's 15:00 here, but they close at 16:00 and are closed, or something.  Must be nice.  Whatevs.  I left a message.  He says 24 hour turnaround, but... that won't happen.  Still, Monday will do, probably.  I'll tell him the same thing I told them.  I think they want to make us, or some of us, homeless.  This admin and all their flying monkeys... if the flying monkeys are just that regardless of the admin.  In it for themselves, and above the law.  Or, worse, destroyers of real law.

Yeah...  Seven to ten days?  When have I heard that before, before, before.  Maybe, if the V.A. rep has a hard on for not losing their portion, he will get me the paperwork.  Doubt it, he's probably just a glorified cheerleader (for the companies that are screwing vets).  We'll see.

Stiff and sore but for a different reason.

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Inactivity, at least after a long bought of heavy function, also leaves a mark.  I keep making lists and not getting to most of it.  Basically because I am still exhausted.  I just wish I could do just enough more to kick over whatever is needed to cause my body to rest right.  Or, maybe, there isn't a way out of this side of things but through time and rest?  I just can't be certain.

The neck and shoulders are cranky.  I wake with the feeling that I haven't slept enough. --  I wrote this much earlier, say at 10:30, then just started crashing so hard I could barely manage to crawl back to bed.  Here it is, 13:50 or so, and I've just been awake for a little less than an hour.  Brutal.  I think, in spite of myself, I will take some pain pills.  No more until next week, if I begin working, then a limit of just two days... say Tuesday and Friday?  Just a rough goal.

I have done three things already this "morning".  I folded up most of the clothes to be folded, and paired socks.  There is a shirt I need to figure out, but the rest is managed, and a load of laundry has gone in.  I meant to do this the other day, then earlier, but finally put salt in a smaller, more portable, bag then hit the drive.  Just a few spots.  The sun is out, I wanted to use it.  It isn't all that warm, but the sun, even without too much heat, really works well with salt.  If it is both cloudy and cold, nada, de nada... nothing, thank you, I believe.  Finally, I made my bed.  Small, but I think just a start.

I am hoping to collect the dishes, take a shower, deal with the trash and recycling, doing laundry between this and that.  Oh, and I'd like to pick up and put down and get the place sort of back to where it was at it's peak.  It was never super, but if I maintain, then when I go to move on I am on having to work up to stepping up.  Or... something.  I need to make some things more habit than a later duty.  Though, when I am pushing myself beyond the edge, habits are... they fall down.  I can do 80%, 100%, even one and a quarter.  If I do that last, there simply isn't anything left for good habits.  Wives don't tend to understand that, until it's their turn.  But the push can be good.  I guess she thinks if she should stretch, so should you.  That'll leave a mark.  :p

Yeah.  I bit off, and on, but I'll try to push on through.  I might see if there is something to fix for a meal.  It's... been a while.  Working past the drop zone means there isn't anyone left with anything in them to cook or even toss much together.  Hmm, I think I have some oranges.  Meant to make an orange sauce, but it just didn't, couldn't, happen.  Later.

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Hmm?

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A strange set of dreams lately.  Some yesterday night, some last night.  One was the notion that a dream I had regarding a woman not too long ago... wasn't my dream, mostly.  It was hers.  I was somehow crossed and was seeing as if it were my own.  Of course, interpretations would have been different.  While I... understood that dream, a bit, mostly, I think, it didn't make sense with me as the target, not fully.  I wonder if she had the dream, or remembers it.  It wasn't my dream.  Strange to dream about another dream though.  I've done that a few times perhaps, but it is quite rare.

The other dreams have been telling me that the 'great houses' are in trouble.  Money, political friends, access, and some other things are nice.  If that is your way.  But that is only part of it.  If you get too greedy, wake those you are engorging upon, cause more problems than what you are worth, heaven, earth, and hell will come to end you.  Some of the houses are in terrible danger.  I don't even think some of them know it.  Some do.  Though they seem to be just trying to bull their way through.  If you have the numbers, sure.  But in a world where money and much else related to wealth has become a fiction, money doesn't spend like true wealth, or as it used to spend.  Though there have been many ages felled by the corruption of wealth.  And a few hundred thousand, all told, and maximum, butting heads with the rest... it's going to get ugly.

The EU is falling, the UN is about to be put on trial, at least, old alliances are being questioned, new ones are being sought.  Chaos has come to town.  Is chaos evil?  Is life evil.  There is no life without chaos.  It is neither, has it's place, as with order.  Satan was all for order, absolute order, and no choice.  See where that got him.  Yes.  If the wealthy wish to maintain, I would recommend they do what gave them success and access to start... begin to serve again.  Failing that, and even so, some houses will have to go.  Satan might be their friends, but Lucifer is not king, not here, not always.  He merely influences.  Men can still choose, for now.  And there are more than just men involved.  Man's last choice hasn't been made, and it won't be made by the elites.  Take your choice, or prepare to receive your final rewards.

More rest is needed.

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I do have a short list of things to do today.  I am still pretty beat up from what I have done, and I have so much more to do, that I do wonder.  I can only hope that a week off will do.  And then I can only hope that will have been enough to get back to heavier work, that while trying to keep fed, clean, and all.  Then I can only hope I can finish all, then keep up on things after that.

Even though I have been doing little the last few days, and sleeping well, and as wanted, I am still a bundle of soreness and pain.  More from being so tight, at this point, and being unable to loosen up.  I keep doing little things in an attempt to keep from simply freezing up, or rusting shut?  Food goes in, which helps.  But cooking gear and other dirty dishes pile up behind.  Ugh.

Oh, today?  Collecting dirty dishes, collecting trash and recycling and getting it out, tinkering with the laundry, and leveling the dryer.  That's the goal.  If I get a shower in, the dishes can go in for a soak... if, or when, I have them in the bin.  Along with the trash I will be thinking about cat litter.  It will be changed out for the new month, but today?  I am sure I will have another bag of trash to go before the pick-up day.  So whether I change it today, or sometime between now and then, will depend on whether I have it going, have the time, and this time since it isn't time critical whether I feel like it.

Now, I keep saying, it isn't about feelings.  And yet feelings are only to be completely ignored when real things have to be done.  If there is time or room or other considerations, then feelings can be brought in.  Though too, in this case, how I feel is more of a physical than emotional state.  Though, with time, both can be tendered.  Though too, in some cases, half dead or just feeling blue will mean nothing.  When the mission is critical, do or die.  I don't think many people have had to go there.  Not military or civilian, not directly.  I have been, in some ways, living that for the last 30 years.  I didn't "just" survive.  I must have been doing the right things, and right over a dead body tripping me up, a mind without enough oxygen, organs on the perpetual verge of failure.  That is assuming nothing else.  Been treated for ptsd but... according to them, without reason.  So there is probably more in it then that.

Oh, sudoku?  I have only been able to get to 9 seconds lately.  I haven't been playing twice daily, or even daily, lately.  Had so much else going on.  And, I think, when I take my body to physical exhaustion, it trips up my speed a bit.  I think I hit 12 seconds today.  Then again, 32 seconds was still in the 100% zone yesterday, compared to others who play.  Still, I'd like to hit 3 seconds, because I really think I can.  Then again, the latency and some other things on the phone and in the programming might be the limiting factor.  It might not be me.  I'm not a techy, I don't know how to test such things, or fix them.

Hmm?  Lunch, of some sort.  Then trash.  Oh, I'll find out how best to dispose of the fluorescent tubes.  If memory serves, from working as a janitor at school my freshman and sophomore years, you just take them out, put them in the trash barrel/bin/cart, then break them, from a distance.  Yeah, I was also a janitor at the church, with my foster family.  I think it's good honest starting work.  And... even I learned some things.  Still, I want to see if that is still the advised way.

Later.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

I just couldn't get to much.

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I slowly took care of the last blanket and the socks that had been with it.  The socks dried, finally, but the blanket got a fluff tumble until it was finished.  Then I put the last of the wools through and have them hanging or draped to dry.  As well, food.  A couple of meals.  I can't eat as much as I would seem to like, just can't taste food.  That maybe the gum or it might be ketosis.  Both can do that.

On the good side, even with little done, I suspect I will be able to sleep shortly.  Tomorrow I'll work with the laundry that is out drying, but no more.  If I do some work, it will be tending trash, including cleaning out the fridge, food, and maybe prepping dishes.  If I get a shower in, I may set the dishes to soak.  I really don't want to do much more than that.  A chore more might be fine.  Just... not too much more.

I haven't been visiting youtube.  I will probably only visit for specific requests or possible understanding.  The problem is, even on the simple things, I think youtube is falling down.  Even to the point where the only tech stuff they offer is... incorrect.  I am starting to think they are being forced to not put up good information.  Unions, people who want you to spend, SJW's who work there purposefully misguiding the searches... maybe other reasons or problems.

There was something going on with my blog.  It seemed as if I was being viewed hundreds of times a day.  I was pretty sure I wasn't.  I can't prove it.  I'm not sure if it was on purpose, through this or that company or group.  Or, maybe, just some flaw in the system, causing my ISP to bounce connections to my blog, artificially tallying.  Or, very slim chance, maybe I really have had many views.  There have been more verifiable views that usual, by a large amount.  But there is more massive unverifiable number.  I just can't be sure.

Well, later.  Probably good night.  I might have a bowl of popcorn and finish off a show.  I've seen it before, but from back when my memory sucked.  I have a good idea what will happen, just not all the details.  Yeah, good night.

So much for doing much.

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The blanket and socks are taking longer than expected to dry.  I am prepping food.  I suppose I could put them in on fluff, as they are nearly finished... see if that works.  All good though, I really don't think I am going to fight through and do too much today.

My mother called but I missed it.  No message, so it must have just been an hello and welfare check.  It might be a work day so I am waiting until a bit later to call.  I try to give her enough time to get home, get comfortable, maybe have a bite to eat, then bug her.  Or... I just don't call.

I thought I might have hurt myself yesterday.  I was using a All-Clad saucier in which to heat a cut of prime rib.  It has very heavy stainless handles, and is a stainless pan.  It had been in at 350 for half an hour when I pulled it out, by hand.  Yeah.  I didn't want to drop it, by the time I realized the mess I was closer to the top.  Glass top so I couldn't just drop it.  It didn't seem bad, at first, but sometimes the damage shows up later.  I was busy with dinner, should have put something cold, to draw out the heat, on it.  Ice, or ice covered in a rag, or wet rag with ice, or even a cold jar of tea from the fridge... or just run cold water on it.  No need, as it turns out.  Not even a blister.  Not even a red mark.  Yeah, I am different.  Solid whole grip on that thick heavy metal handle, 350 F, not even a blister.  Weird.

I'm making just such a meal again today.  Though this time I didn't grab it out without a mitt.  Heating potatoes, then I'll finish one of the cuts of meat, and... all good.  If the meat is too much, or I need change, I might have some salad.  I could save the leftovers for a beef salad.  Yeah, I suppose.  Later.

An easing of the flesh.

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The pain, tautness, and such remains.  It is simply far milder.  Some time off is really helping.  If even when I take time off I sometimes take large bites of work, too large.  The load of socks last night, along with the blanket, ended up being a lot of work.  I have a drying rack with six bars per level and four levels... full.  Not including the blanket, which is draped over the machines.  Ugh but that was a lot of work to mess with.  Trust me, I need some down time.  So pushing it, especially more accidentally than on purpose, can be a bit of a bad surprise.

Still, it was mild enough, and the only stretch.  No blood, this time, no foul.  I will continue with laundry today.  Smaller loads, and loads which I don't mind using the dryer or fluff or low.  In winter I think I am required to use low, to be honest.  Fluff just truly never gets dry.  Beside laundry, I would like to look for any lost dishes, as well as collecting trash and getting it out to the bin.  I won't do these things at speed, just... do them.  Food and a shower might top off the effort.  The goal is to do things, but do them as effortlessly as possible.  I don't want to bang around and torment body and world in thrashing effort.  Just... a mild semi-continuous group of efforts.  Beside getting things done, it is about trying to use up some energy without hurting or driving.  A middle way, while I recoup.

Good good, I can't complain.  I have been enjoying the work and all.  I am also really looking forward to finishing the cave and then just keeping up.  I really think I'll get there this time.  If I find an area that isn't working, I will figure it out.  More storage?  Get rid of some things?  Organize the spaces I have?  Whatever it takes.  I am aiming to create a ship shape ship of which I may be the proud captain.  It's in the details and processes.  Oh, right, and part of that, I think, means making the bed daily.  I'll do that pretty quickly.  Besides, who doesn't love getting into a made bed every night, or even napping, with just a coverlet, on a made bed?  And, it is visually good for the mind.

Yeah, okay, moms and mom types have been trying to tell me this for... a while.  Even when I could hear I could not understand, and when I could understand I could not do.  Of course, there is much else women could teach that I will not, now or ever, understand or be able to do.  Those are the jedi sergeant mom things of the world, that none but they can really see, understand to do, or do.  Still, this, perhaps, I can do.

I'll go do the bed, then check on the socks and blanket.  I didn't go down until well after 4:00 and I got up a bit after 11:00?  I'll try to work off some steam today, to get to bed earlier tonight.  Way earlier if I can.  Trick, though, too?  Don't work for four to six hours before target bedtime, at least for me.  Nothing strenuous or even medium but fast.  I get too excited then need to cool down.  Good day.

No work, no sleep.

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After pumping heartblood across the finish line at a hellhound's pace, when I slow down my body has too much energy pent up to sleep well.

Fine, I'll use the time I have.  Not on heavy stuff.  I finally did collect most, if not all, the remains of laundry, separated woolens from synth and silk, color from white from natural.  Yeah.  I then ran the blanket through.  But that was pretty sparse by itself, to be honest, so I added about half of my wool socks with it.  When it is finished I will hang the socks on the rack and put the blanket over the machines.  That seems to have worked well.  Yeah, I folded the other two wool army blankets and put them up.  I really should get a cedar, or at least cedar lined, chest for the wools.  I really hate the smell of mothballs... not sure if they make them anymore either.  Cedar planks, or chips or such might work?  I should look into that.

I have enough tools to produce such a piece, but even just making a chest is quite a bit of money.  Maybe some cedar planks/chips/etc and larger plastic bins?  That would be the cheaper, even more portable, means.  Use them for socks, blankets, sweaters, and the rest?  I'll... do a little research.  For everything, something else, and maybe something else and some other things.  It seems to never end.  That, I think, at this point, is how we learn... even on a cosmic scale.  Whether of soul or spirit, if we end up believing in God, learning to manage the impossible is... it's what we are supposed to do, or try.  Can't win.  If we don't surrender, we can't lose?  I suspect so.  Best to sweat it then just let go, too.  No problems there, for me.

Yeah, but I think this will be it.  I'll sleep when I can, as I am able, nap when possible, and just nickel and dime the chores.  *pew - pew - pew*  Or snipe them with my future-o-rama ray rifle!  Good night, or morning.

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

A good day.

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Yes, I still have tightness, soreness, and a sense of having gone a bit... way... too far.  Oh, it won't kill me.  I think, once I recover, it will have done a marvelous good to me.  My world is changing.  It has taken years, on and off medicine, to finally be to a point where I can really hit it.  Even that is only comparative, the present to the past, in my life.  Most people do these things AFTER work.  Or, the people I have known and respected.  I knew some who did that, after work, from a very young age on until they died, one man was still going into his early 90's... played squash with his grandson and drove a courtesy van for my dealership.  I saw him a few times a year for four years.  Some people you... just remember.  Not names, that's not my gig.  Anyway, I am doing more and more and more often.  There is a price, if I think the price offers greater returns than costs.

Then again, when you are trying to eat right, work, keep up on the cleaning to some degree, and everything else, while messing with appliances, house cleaning over maintenance, and plumbing, blogging, and even some reading and gaming on the side, I suppose I could say that is... doing something.  Still, a week off and maybe I can really hit it next week, again, for another month or two.  Maybe even getting in some outdoor enjoyment.

I did wonder if my health would fail.  There have been little... things... here and there.  I just don't think so, now.  I wasn't trying to force it, I was more seeing what I could get away with.  If I could work the mostly dead slab of meat in the middle of my chest without it stopping for good.  You know, even those things I thought I might have felt?  I don't think that was that.  I don't think my heart cares.  It's mostly that I am out of shape, just my body catching up.  For as bad as my heart is, at it's level of function it seems to be a rock.  Probably.  *grins*

Oh, and work seems to iron out some of my grump, taking the bitter pill out, of what of that I have.  Too tired to fuss, or something like that.  Well, and working off the steam, rather than bottling it.  Though, in my opinion, I am not always really that grumpy.  I have strong solid opinions, but that isn't the same.  Women, especially, think a strong opinion is a man being harsh.  It's just an understanding of reality.  Well, and metros and other moderns also have difficulty with men who say, do, and believe along the lines of simple and sometimes more complex reality.  But, yeah, working does... modify, ease, relax, and other such things.

Later, or maybe good night.

Resting is doing fine.

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It is and has been that grungy winter dark that sometimes sets it.  I don't think the temp has gotten much over 20 since the sun went down last, and the temps dropped.  That is a part of winter, if not always.  It has been, to my mind, a good winter so far... if you like mild winters.  I only like them for the convenience of getting out, to the stores, and all, more often and with less risk.  I can't always get out when I wish it, so having milder weather gives me a better chance to getting out.

I am mildly sore, and still a bit weary.  Those things are under all else.  Just below conscious threshold, waiting to be stirred back into action.  My goal, to truly rest, is to keep from stirring the hornets' nests.  I don't think it's a danger to my health anymore.  I see it, more likely, as a risk to how long I would have to be down.  The goal is to keep it to just this week.  And I still hope, maybe Saturday, to be out snowshoeing.  An hour, three, twenty minutes, whatever I can do.  The cold isn't a problem, the energy use is.  The goal isn't to get to exhaustion, or beyond, if that might be a result.  The real goal is simply to become familiar with them, to learn to use them, and maybe how to use them.  Until then I want, maybe need, to rest.

It is the perfect whether for resting.  Now that I understand my health issues, and why I am how I am, I really don't get down.  Not without a secondary causation, such as being unable to do something on my list, visit, get out as I want, or such.  Even then, mostly, I can live with it.  Just, once in a while, it all gangs up and hits me really hard, or even softly but noticeably.  Depression?  Of course, just not in a major way, or probably even any more than most of you.  It's an ongoing condition associated with life, failure, even success sometimes.  All good, wouldn't know joy if not for moments of sadness.  All things, emotional states as well, in moderation... if we don't always have that full measure of choice.

Hmm... gaming or a show?  I don't know.  I wish I had something else, like maybe legos, or other construction toys, mechanical motorized and other driven models, things any grown child might enjoy.  Hmm, perhaps reading?  I might make something to eat, more than a salad or popcorn, before long.  Or a nap.  I'll... figure it out.  Good day though.  Have no worries, I'm doing fine.  I just hate resting after having gotten so far.  Oh?  I might throw a load of laundry in though, just the bigger wool blanket.

To think I made it all the way through my laundry, of normal sorts, and will finish the special stuff too.  So much has been done.  So much more to do, but I have done a minor miracle so far, and then more.  I'll get to it.  Later.

The problem with resting.

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It is boring.  Gaming or watching a video.  Perhaps seeing if there is anything, anywhere in youtube, that I haven't seen but might wish to see.  Fighting their employees and algorithms to find a video is beyond tedious at this point.  I could nap, if I could, but I can't.  I'm not even hungry, so digging around for something tasty, even though I really still can't taste food is... unlikely.

What is worse, I am on the edge of several of those things.  I would love to go back to sleep, in a way.  I would enjoy something to eat, if it was easy to make.  But those things make concentrating on a game or movie more difficult.  I'm in a bit of a pickle.  Oh well.

Hmm...  I could check the blankets.  If they are dry, or close, I could put another blanket through.  I could hit the bigger items, slowly, rather than the small items which need folding and all.  I mean, you still have to fold blankets, wool or other.  But that is easy enough, especially for guys my size.  My arms, outspread, handle almost all blankets.  All I have anyway.  Then a show, I suppose.  Just not feeling like gaming quite yet.

UGH!

Later.

Too much.

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Well, on a normal day, yesterday would not have been considered too much work.  I, however, need rest and to recoup.  It seems the muscles are overworked, and they may be.  But there is something inside, something deeper, that simply has to rest.  Call it the spirit, or the mojo generator, or whatever you like.  It is only parallel to the physical, perhaps with aspect of or related to the physique.  But it has been ground down to an open wound all about.  Only time will fix it.  So I will be taking the week off.

Oh, showers ever other day, maybe a bath on a few of the of off days...  Cooking and keeping up with that and dishes, but simple food.  Long sleeps, naps, and such as needed.  The only thing I will keep up with is snow.  No new snow yet to this point this morning.  But it's beginning to feel a lot like Custer.  Still, shoveling isn't too bad.  And if I really can't, I just won't.  Hand tipping the washing machine from the floor, on my back and knees at times, didn't seem all that bad, but I think it probably was.  Though that was just another add of another insult to an existing injury.

The sun is not up today.  I really hoped it would be.  Adding salt when it will be shining all day, as weak as that is in the winter, seems to really crack through any ice, help melt even the snow, and let it evaporate swiftly.  Beside that, when tired, cold, weakened, and sore the sun is good for the spirit.  Yeah, this week off, mostly.  Oh, well, I might do a few small loads of laundry per day, at least once I find my folding board.  I suspect, for it to lead to fast folding, I'll have to practice.  Though it may never be as promised, maybe it is just junk.  Time will tell.

Good morning, day, and later.

Hmm? Oh, right, snowshoeing?

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I went into the main bedroom, that is in disrepair as it was half taken apart and already in bad shape which is why it was being dismantled.  I was looking for the folding device, which, alas, I did not find.  But I did see something, as the title suggests, that might be about to see it's first use.  The snow shoes, boots just for those, and trekking poles, are all in single carry-all.  Well, not the boots.  I have never quite gotten to using them.

I truly hope, as I get things squared, and rest up, that maybe I can get them fitted, then take them into the back acre... especially as snow piles on.  If I do well enough, then maybe take them out for field trials.  I may not need them on the road, or I may if I have to get a bit out from the road, or make an attempt to take and off-road track, or really break a trail.  Really, just around the yard, and town, until I have some idea what these things can do, what I can do in and with them, and all such.

If I take chores a few at a time, as today... and work up to a rested weekend and am enjoying that, without too much pain, and if the snow remains, I may go for a short tour on Saturday.  Just around out back.  At first just with the snow shoes, then, in time, with a pack.  A pack with food, a way to warm it, a way to light a small fire, a spare, and extra, warm clothes and perhaps a blanket... just enough for a day, and maybe an over-night, if sparsely that way, if caught out or otherwise choosing to stay out.  No need for fishing gear, I don't believe.  No need for most other gear, though some safety stuff like a whistle and reflector would be good.  Just... a basic kit.  And, initially, more just to have weight, and perhaps to try some things while trouncing around as if I owned the place.

Yeah... just... thinking... or dreaming.  Good night.

Monday, December 26, 2016

Done.

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Well, mostly.  I have to fold some clothes before going to bed.  I went with two wool blankets through the wash, smaller ones.  The drying tower will handle one, the other I simply draped over the washer and dryer.  I thought, perhaps, the longer remnant of the abs pipe might work, but I just couldn't find the right way to set it without more fuss than I thought it was worth.  I will be trying out the folding device, if I can find it easily.  It is supposed to work for shirts, slacks, perhaps jeans.  Yeah, I... like the idea.  If it works, and is faster, it will become a habit.

I checked after each load.  The drain seems to be holding up just fine.  The sink drain keeps dripping, if only a small portion of what it used to spill out, but I cannot for the life of me find where it is escaping.  It doesn't make sense.  All of it is hitting the small waste basket I have under there, but nothing above it seems wet.  Could the drip be exactly that, without any running or wetting of the pipe?  Hmm... I know... I'll cut up an old t-shirt, duct tape a strap in, and see if a spot shows up.  Crazy.  But I'll keep at it.

Have you ever had the feeling that the whole world knows something it can't or won't tell you?  Sometimes almost literally, at least the world you know.  The question is, is it a good something, or a bad one?  It seems to be... bigger than what even I might have suspected in my grandest of paranoia.  It isn't just them, those, or these.  It's... many.  Most seem pleasant about it, but... that... doesn't always mean what it might seem.  Have you watched as an old man or woman is coddled, rightly or wrongly?  The ones who know it often do get upset.  Perhaps fairly, on that side, or not.  The others, well... they are distracted, isolated, perhaps sedated, and know no more about what or why than a blind man at a visual color show.

I am not upset, either way.  I also doubt if they have any more power over how things will work out than I do.  I can't tell if they are more sure things will go one way or another, or if they simply aren't worried.  Many seem intently interested, but always on the same side?  I don't think it matters.  Whether they believe or else, I can walk, run, or stand still as needed, for as long as needed, and... will do so as I see fit.  Such a strange thing.  Then again, perhaps they all just keep thinking I am about to die.

A little sore, tight, and tired.  Not that the work, any of it or in sum, was all that stressing.  It is just the sum altogether, perhaps even the stress of knowing that I have much to do and, perhaps, I may be coming to a point where I don't get to rest like I have been for the last three decades.  It's a frightening thought, especially if it isn't death that I face, but life.  Death is easier, really.  Life is hard.  And, yet, it is my choice if that choice is mine to make.  I dream of even more, in life, but...  And, that is what I think the conspiracy concerns.  Impossible.  Of course.  If that seems to have been my job for the last thirty years, and perhaps for another thirty, forty, perhaps more.

Good night.

Oh, yes.

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It wasn't as difficult as I thought, leveling the washing machine that is.  However, it isn't quite finished either.  I will read up a bit more, perhaps I am placing the level at the wrong spot.  The 'hood' has an arch in it.  But if my level best basic approach is true, then the fore to aft is a quarter bubble heavy in the aft end.  Say that too fast and you might end up on a slippery slope?  I figure a 2x4, cut to the right length, then with a slat chipped out or holes cut then chipped to the right depth, and it'll work.

I have a load of underwear, and a few other normal clothes, going right now.  To see if there are leaks, if it all works, and such.  If that load goes well, I might do another, something I can hang to air dry over night, or however long it takes.  I just don't want to wait on the dryer for two loads yet tonight.  Hmm... I suppose I best check on the wash.  A wool blanket, or two, on cold, will be my next run.  Hmm... best make it just one.  Not sure the wrack will hold two.  It's fairly delicate, even one might be a bit of a test.  Bleh.

If after all, I might try to level the dryer.  No promises.  It is getting late, I have done my work, I am not sure I want to keep pushing.  It is still a light day, but I may wish to keep it that way.  For the rest of the week I probably should take it slow.  Who knows how many more times I may need to shovel the driveway on top of all else.  Yeah... I'll leave it for tomorrow.

Tomorrow?  Just two, maybe three, things.  I would like to level the dryer and the stove, and do dishes if need be.  As well, though this I don't count as an actual job, I would like to collect tools and materials for crafting the leveling plank(s) and the magnet splitter.  Yeah.  The third possible job would be if it snows again.  Even if it doesn't, with the salt down... if it does some work... I may attempt to clear a bit more and salt again in any icky sticky slick spots.  I really hate ice.

Later or good night.

Why is youtube failing?

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I can't speak for all.  I can only say that, when I search for something, trying to weed through the black and other types that should be obvious I have zero interest regarding, I still have to go through more and more pages to find less and less of interest.  I don't know if lawyers have finally killed relevance in that medium, for me, or if political correctness has done that job.  Perhaps a bit of both.  Maybe record labels, movie makers, actors, and singers have also mashed the process.

All I know is that it seems as if, when I am not purposefully being redirected away from my search criteria into multicultural crap, or worse, I am still finding nothing of use.  I am looking over other video formats, but most likely they will become, or are, just as bad.  I guess that is what you get when everyone you hire is a snowflake, and everyone wants to think they can squeeze a nickel out of every viewing of everything they have ever been in, produced, financed, or etc.  This is not going to work.

In some ways it is my problem.  In some ways it is not.  I seem to do better without the music.  The thing is, the music is for me, or was.  I can easily survive without them.  They... can't survive without us.  Perhaps this is the way it had to go.  Perhaps the music and movie industries have to die and be reborn, with more reasonable expectations and such.  You just can't own things forever, shouldn't try.  Then again, at least half of that is trying to push us into the next or new album, movie, game, etc.  Erasing the past cuts down on competition.  Whatever.  They are wondering why they are dying.  I really can't see the big picture, but I can describe the picture I am seeing.  I am looking at options but wouldn't really mind just cleaning cutting these services either.  I'm almost there anyway.

Ah, and another thing.  They seem to randomly stop random pops, and history listings.  It's probably an attempt to get people off what they watch and push them to search.  But with the problem with searches it simply doesn't work.  On top of that, they seem to dump some of my viewings from my account memory.  Do "artists" have the ability to cause that dump?  Or is it just the punky little SJW's, sniping from behind?  Fix this or go away.  You are not a necessity and are quickly becoming useless and a hassle.


Go ahead, kick your audience in the teeth, for ideological, agenda driven, or economic reasons while cutting value and function and you get what you get.  If you have a choice between billionaires, artists, and customers?  You best pick customers.  Billionaires never buy, artists are eminently replaceable, but when customers walk you are finished.  Speak with the other tech giants, watch as they begin to fall... being replaced or just ignored.  We owe you nothing.  You don't owe us, but if you like your cushy jobs and easy money, best figure out which hand is feeding you and treat it nice.

Ask and you shall... be told.

Wow, that was some work.

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Shoveling the snow, then salting the drive and walk.  The snow must have been wet, and some of it froze to the drive.  A couple of inches of snow, maybe, as well.  Pushing through ice can be a bear.  And the snow seemed a bit heavier.  Still, all in one go.  The sun is still shining, so with the salt it might clear things up even better.  I could not touch that bottom layer... or three.  Not thick but thick enough to be slick.  I really should find a bucket for the ice, waltzing with a forty pounder, on the wet rocks, well...  Still, all good.  Now I'll need to rest for an hour or two before, I hope, taking a shot at balancing the washing machine.

I really want that done, so I can check the pipe.  And I am really hoping that is good so that I can do a load or two tonight.  And begin digging through that whole ether clothing pile.  Well, and underwear.  I used to keep a month supply of unders but I have been getting rid of the Mogladishu type.  There is a certain age, for underwear, when they just... Gandhi comes to mind.  Just... not right, Western, civil, and I don't care if they happened to be hand spun.  Just... no.  So, I'm down to half that.  I keep looking for cheap, thick cotton, boxer briefs, that are good by product minus the cost of branding.  Most cheap are too cheap, most mid to pricey are trash too.  China doesn't fuck around with quality and price cutting.  They do both, save for branding.  They just don't seem to even know how to make quality garments.  Then again, one pair of true quality cotton boxer-briefs in America might be like, what, a weeks wages there?  Even their billionaires where the cheapest whitey-tighties, just tossing them after use.  Or using them somehow, they don't waste anything, not if cheap human labor is all that stands between making or saving a nickel.  There are things to be said for that, but not a whole life paradigm based on it.  Nasty.

Huh?  Right.  Yeah, a rest.  Maybe a show or gaming.  Then on to a bit more, or more and more, or maybe a lot more, work.  I may not be interested in frugality to a fault, or am I always able to do much work, but... I'm not a complete slouch.  Less so for War on wheels in a mostly dead body.  Heck, I am still hoping to kick out a light squad.  To it all?  I say...  Amen.  To you I say "later".

A problem solved.

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Some time ago, I purchased powerful magnets.  Most are fine, either being used or safely stored.  However, two of them became attached.  The two I actually like to have around for a specific function... finding studs and joists.  So long as the nails or screws involved are magnetic, and they seem to be in my home, these help.  More, these have a hole in the center.  Now, I can't drive anything through that hole, if for absolutely no other reason than the center will be centered on the metal screw or nail.  What I can do is put a little mark there, and go on down the beam, making a line if needed, on which to attempt putting in an anchor screw or nail.  Yes, wonderful.  The thing is, I like having two on hand and even if I just left them as is, making a good mark is more difficult through two magnets.

How to get them apart.  It's been on my mind.  I had hoped to find my own way.  I am actually lucky, when they snapped together, that they didn't chip, or even put out an eye.  I have been trying to think up a way on my own.  I had so many other things going that I just didn't get to it.  The goal was to figure out several possible methods, then look up what others had done.  Comparing notes.  As mentioned, I just didn't get to it.  And, with some reason to want the magnets, I went looking.  I not only look at other solutions, I also look at reasons why not to use that, do a belief metering to see if I think it is bunk, and maybe mix and match solutions to my taste, liking, or belief.  In this case, this solution seems like it will do.  Sure, I'll have to tinker.  But the tinkering is very simple.  I probably have everything I need.  I will look at a few other options, but I like this one, and believe it will work.  Worst case scenario, if my magnets are bigger or more powerful, I will simply need to make the lever longer, which would take a bit more wood and longer wood screws, which are in supply aplenty, I do believe.

Oh, but first things first.  I need to change into warmer wear then hit the snow.  I did call my mother back.  She suggested I not, that a snow storm will be coming through Idaho, so maybe here.  I told her I just don't want to leave this for additions to that.  Plus, I shouldn't be sitting around like a big baby.  I ought to do some work.  Then, after a break, I'll attempt to level the washing machine, then run it and see how well the drain works.  If it runs dry, I can begin hitting the laundry... but in small loads.  That and a shower and I will be done for the day.  Tomorrow, leveling the dryer, perhaps the stove, and maybe shoveling if it is again needed, if I can.  Leveling first though.  If I can do that.  Ugh.

Later.

Took all morning to wake.

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It wasn't that I simply slept late.  The first time I woke and thought I had a chance at getting up was around 5:30, then 6:30.  It simply hurt a bit too much.  Yes, there are pain pills, but remember I am trying to go without those for a while.  And longer.  I don't want it to be a daily.  Once or twice a week, if I am putting in heavy work, fine.  More than that is a slippery slope, as I see it.  Either I harden, or I back off the work.  Pills aren't really a long term option.  This was a special case.  Anyway, I tried to sleep it off.

My mother called right as I was deciding whether to get up this last time.  I had no idea what time it was.  I was willing to talk, but she seemed to think, by my voice or words, that now was not the time to talk.  She just told me to call back later, when I am more awake.  Okies.  Which, to be honest, even awake, will take an hour or two.  I don't cut that time out, my body simply needs it, more on days like today, sometimes on regular days.  Though on regular days, sometimes, I can push on through at wake-up.  I don't like it, but can do.  Today is not a regular day at all.

Hurt?  The broken finger sort of hurt.  Only, it really isn't the ginger.  Back, arms, legs, hands, neck, shoulders, and bruises and bumps here and there.  A headache is considering brewing, from the ache in the neck and shoulders.  Perhaps a but of a massage in those areas will help.  No anacin today.

I have some minor plans for today.  I won't swear I will get to them.  I think I can, and believe I will, that is all.  I won't even consider when I will start, or finish.  I won't worry about it.  These things will be done, or not.

Oh, if the bill I got from the big-box company card is right?  Was it just Dec. 20, 2016 or is that an old one... just can't... believe...  Then, I don't owe them anything.  Actually, I am $300 ahead.  I need to check my phone, too.  Though, usually, if I am behind by that much they cut off my phone, so... I suspect that is another ~$500 ahead.  The other half of the appliances were paid, essentially, in cash so there is nothing coming out more on those.  Yeah...  I actually might save these up for a new floor in the kitchen, if this is accurate.  For sure, the one is good news, the other is either great news or a minor pest.  Later.
Later.

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Good night and a final Merry Christmas.

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I mostly rested.  Other than the nap, I was awake all day.  Christmas, for me, was double extra special this year, and I am grateful for it and to the birthday Boy.  Perhaps next holiday, I can be caught up and well enough to get out.

Still sore, but not too terribly.  It'll take a bit to catch my breath and really dig back in, but I am hoping to do some work in the next few days.  The sink is still dripping, but much less than before.  I keep trying to find the leak and failing.  It is all going into the bucket but I am not finding a drip.  For every, say, gallon and an half through the r.osmosis I am losing about a cup into the bucket.  No drip, not even a wet spot.  Annoying.  But it does mean it is rather close. to being fixed, and the water must be coming from a very limited area.

Tomorrow?  Hopefully I can level the washing machine then test that drain.  Being cemented, with a solvent type glue, I am expecting that to be good.  Not only did I glue the pieces, I held them together, tightly, for 30 seconds.  As well, I'd like to hit the driveway and sidewalk.  It keeps snowing, so I best try to keep up.  It could get really deep in a real hurry.

Other than that, not much.  Tuesday I will either level the dryer or the stove, or try.  Depending on how back into trim I am.  Snow?  Maybe, if able and necessary.  I have meat thawing.  Nothing fancy, just food.  Still, mostly resting, and perhaps through the rest of the week.  A job or two a day, keeping up on things, eating, resting, and sleeping, the latter two being the focus, as needed or even wanted.

See you tomorrow.

Whoa. Sleep is a good thing.

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As we celebrate the birth of Christ, a day I will suggest he rested mightily, I to am resting in kind if more from the beginning of a rebirth.  Oh, it's not a race, merely the reality of the cost of doing what it takes.  I think Him mightily for this day of rest, and His many other gifts, grants, graces, teachings, and such.  While He didn't have a marathon, only a sprint as men measure time in life, it was a brutal sprint.  And, should He have had the choice outside of Father's will, he would have chosen the longer line.  Imagine, to be one of the probably only two who could understand and live life rightly, and to have had to surrender that.  But so that the others could, in time, come to know it?  I understand why, I just am not sure...  I am grateful.

I wasn't awake all that long, perhaps until 10:00?  I woke somewhere around 13:00.  Someone cleared the drive again.  It continues to snow, I believe, but just... so I don't face a foot or three when it is time is quite a good gift.  I didn't think the sleep would help all that much but it actually did.  Even if it wasn't Christmas, I really wouldn't quite feel like working, but as I have said, it is not about feelings.  I might actually be able to do some work.  Not a lot, perhaps, but enough if need be.  I could probably hit the snow, for example.  Maybe do a load of dishes too.  Get a shower in and drive to town on top, or such.  I just wouldn't really want to do all that.

When I am not sleeping today, I will be resting.  I may look for something to read and mostly just lay down, resting, reading, then sleeping, as need be.  I bought chicken to go yesterday, so I wouldn't have to cook today.  I had some last night, and needed it.  I might have the last portion today, or half of it for now?  A glass of milk, an orange, and half sounds good.  It is good to be resting.


Christmas day?

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Even knowing, I was a bit surprised to wake to it.  My sleep was more than just a rest period.  I think some of the heavy systems went offline in the process.  Probably from pushing.  So this morning was more of a hard reboot than a soft refresh of many of my data and intellectual faculty bases.  It was probably the only way to decouple from pain sensors for long enough to get sleep in.

Up at 6:00, an half hour either way if I am thinking probably a bit earlier.  It took nearly an hour to actually exit the bed though.  Muscles are are drying concrete, some bones are rusting steel, and I can feel the rust as pain.  Something is wrong with my stomach.  Ate too much?  Not enough?  Too fast when I ate?  My shoulders feel as if I flew from heaven in a single flight.  Yeah, they get sore, more if you are out of practice.  I said I wouldn't take anacin this morning.  I was wrong.  And I still may go back to sleep for a bit, in a bit.  Oh, and it snowed.  On the good side, I don't have to go anywhere today.

While waking I started thinking about Jesus, as a child.  They traveled a bit, and weren't really back home until later.  I know not having a home.  I suspect, however, it was different for Him.  I have a suspicion that He always knew this was His Father's... hmm... property.  That no matter where He was, He was always home.  I have thought that since I was a child... or more I knew it.  How?  Why?  Doesn't much matter.

Jealous?  Yes, of course.  If not in a covetous manner.  I would not have at the expense of another, Jesus or another.  And, while I do understand that it IS the same for me, it is the same but in a different way.  He came with the keys, with full understanding, and with blessings.  Or of a sort that is truly unique to Him.  Though, in time, I have come to more of an understanding of these things.  Even so, I will always be a stranger until my final return home.  If too, I am less of a stranger anywhere than most are other than right where they were raised.  There are trade-offs to everything.  And, for every curse a blessing... if one chooses to see it.  I make the effort, if often I may fail.