Something something.

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Yeah, I got salt out and spread it.  That's a lot of drive and a bit of sidewalk... did what I could.  It had stopped raining while I was doing that, which was right after that last post.  I should buy sand, too, to mix with it.  Or a salt and sand mix?  I'll keep pure salt on hand as well, but a mix might be better sometimes.  Especially if, as I suspect, this rain over snow will turn into a sheet of ice.

After that I boiled a dozen eggs.  I cut several minutes off the cooking time and almost half off the unheated cook time.  If the whites are done, and they were, I suspected the centers would be done.  I'll find out in a bit.  I ate the first batch, which was too much I think.  Now I have a belly ache as a child who ate too many sweets might.

I don't know if I will get much more done.  I would like to get the trash collected and out.  To be honest though, I don't have much trash.  I haven't been eating or tinkering or cleaning or... anything.  I simply, in truth, only have, perhaps, a single bag to go out, all told.  I may get that out but I don't know that it's worth the bother to hike it to the curb.  Actually, I am sure it isn't.  I will clean out the fridge while I am at it though.

Doh, that stomach is really giving me fits.  Too much food, or is it just eggs?  They were good, just...  I haven't been eating much at all.  Eggs are a weird food and I overdid to boot.  Bleh.  Later.

I think, when I work to much, or am healing, I drop.

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I don't drop a bit, I can drop like a rock.  It isn't just physical.  My mind is still working, but only on the inside.  I did figure out my egg boiling problem.  It simply takes a lot longer to cook in the winter.  Look, duh, but also, not so much.  It was a lot longer, not a bit longer... going from getting the pan to a boil, then shutting it off for about ten minutes, to boiling for ten minutes, shutting it off and then letting it sit for twenty minutes.  That is a massive difference, both in heat output over time, and time itself.  Now, I wasn't able to get the eggs to be soft boiled, so I can back the time off... maybe to ten minutes steam time?  Ugh.

I was starting to think the eggs were all just bad.  For whatever reason, I decided, to day, to just push all parameters and see if it really was just me, or the technique/timing, or if it was the eggs somehow.  In part, cracking an egg open and having it not be boiled leaves something that is... horror inducing.  Or to me.  Fixed.  Now I will do up a dozen and an half eggs for simple eating.  And, next time I get to town, I'll buy fresh(tm) eggs to make homemade mayo.  I want to make a plate of deviled eggs.  It's... sort of thematic here.  *grins*  It's not the notion that souls equate to souls, for me, it's that the devil loves souls, and I like helping stealing them from his plate.  The devil's devil, since God just doesn't go there?  Mayhap, Paddywhack, give the dog... a deviled egg?

Yeah.  Oh, a nasty thing with weather.  It snowed not long ago.  Yesterday?  Today?  I've been fuzzy lately, of mind and time.  Anyway, I kept meaning to get out, when I could remember the need, but it didn't happen.  Guess what it is doing now?  Raining!  Oh, crap.  It's going to get nasty out there.  Hmm...  Might just grab some salt, sprinkle that around, if I can do that before it freezes again.  GAH!  I am so baked, I just can't... figure it out.  I'll keep trying to try?  Later.

I'm simply not functioning.

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I'm not tired, physically.  I don't hurt.  I simply can't focus, again.  I am keeping water at bay.  I eat from time to time.  I am sleeping well.  I am keeping warm enough.  I just can't get to things.

I am motivated.  I want milk and cream, and am running out of butter.  I want to get out just to get out.  I want to work.  I like working.  I am getting bottlenosed at several points in my upkeep plans around here.  Gah!  It isn't a matter of not trying, it's more not even being able to realize... I'm not realizing.  Or... something close to that.

Oh well.  I'll... keep trying to keep it all on my mind.  It's all I can do for now.  Later.

Hmm? Just healing I think.

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Because the tip of the finger seemed so much bigger, I didn't really think the middle section had been hit.  As I am seeing things more clearly, I now believe it was.  I, essentually, crushed that finger down to the second knuckle.  It is all, now, down to about twice the size of the other pinky.  But it is working, without fuss.  I use it gingerly, but that is nearly automated now, done without thought, and will change back on it's own.  I never did feel great pains, just a few stabbing jolts.  Though I think I needed the heat, which means... there was probably more going on.

I think I am on the other side of the hidden pain, and even shock.  I woke warm enough, with the furnace at 68 (higher than usual, but needed lately) so warm that I had to turn a fan on low to get back to sleep for the last quarter to half of my sleep cycle.  Even with the outside being extremely cold, and having been so for a while now.

For the last... while... it's been under 20.  And, when I looked recently, it was between fifteen and twenty below, if I caught it right, outside.  I don't know, it just seems a stronger longer colder cold snap than I remember.  But then I don't go out daily, and I don't keep absolute track.  Even then reports are just as often wrong as right, so unless you just take your own readings, and log them, then do some minor stats, knowing isn't really truly possible.  Besides, felt is different from practical, as I know well myself.  We don't live in a perfectly digital reality where what is is being also what is felt.  It's... odd that way.

Relying on your guts is good, right up until it isn't.  Relying on your instruments is good, right up until it isn't.  Both can and will fail you.  Instruments, usually, are a final resource... right up until failure which... requires your guts.  Ugh!  Still, I am alive.  I am guessing I have, or had, a very keen nose for these things.

Oh, right.  I am almost beginning to feel better, and ready.  I am looking around, as if hungry, but for work.  I have some clothes in the dryer that got lost in the blizzard of messy life.  I'll dampen a towel and... wait.  I want to deal with the laundry that is clean but out in baskets.  THEN, after a break, I'll hit those.  Then a shower, setting up dishes, and maybe begin cycling laundry through, now that I have the folding board out and operational.  After waking.

If all that foes forward?  I will either hit the dryer or range, and get it leveled.  Or both?  Depending on what the oats do for my breakfast.  Hmm...  I haven't soaked any, but I might... nah, no milk or cream.  Blasted!  I could check the eggs.  A few eggs would be okay, I suppose.  Especially if I have an onion.  I do have a bit of cheese.  Hmm...  We'll see.  I just... think it might be possible.

The real goal this week, however, is to catch the house back up to where it was at peak, in the first few days, then to hit the bedroom for the last three or four days.  Laundry and dishes are side details, but I wish to keep them going.  Hmm, I think Monday will be my linens day.  And, since I will be having laundry ongoing... all good.  With linens on Monday, perhaps that would be the day for all cottons, from jeans to polos to towels.  Or... something.  Maybe it will just be laundry day?  I'm... just figuring things out.

Oh, I now have 5k followers on gab.  I did recruiting these last x number of days.  Something to do while all else failed.  Next, to double that.  It'd be cool to have 10k~20k when I check out.  No, not that kind of checking out.  After the first 100 days, I am considering it.  It's... not really my thing, I guess.  Too... what's another word for needy...  Too... CHATTY!  :p

On to waking.  Have a great evening.  Yeah, days and nights are inverted.  Later.

So strange.

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My finger is healing well.  It is no longer three times it's normal size, but it's still a good double the size.  The purple part has faded but the red bloom at the end is still in solid form.  The black mark down the center of the nail has remained constant to date.  As for pain, there hasn't been more.  I type with it, but somewhat gingerly, just in case.  It sort of feels like that waking body part 'pins and needles' when I use it, more so if it use it a bit heavily.  I think I got, for the most part, off very luckily.

I turned up the heat, really high, through "yesterday".  I thought it would help me get to things.  I looks like, between the bit of snow I did, the finger, the lasting deeper cold, and some other such, I simply wasn't able to get going.  It was a good day off though, I won't complain.  I want to get back to it, but if my body isn't ready...  And I enjoyed just mopping up rest in warmth.  I can't even quite get to pushing, or even looking for, windows of opportunity.  I am probably going to heat the place up again today.  Even if I am not pushing, I am hoping that warmth will... open something up.

I have no idea when I went to sleep, or even when I woke.  I've been awake, maybe, an hour or two?  Ugh.  Whatever.  Later.

The worst didn't happen, or hasn't happened yet.

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I honestly expected to wake to agony.  From the finger.  I also worried that the swelling would continue until something really bad happened.  I must admit, there were some ringing flutters of pain, aches though, not drumming waves of pain.  And, if I am doing so gently, I can still use it to type and other light duties.  Further, the swelling has decreased.  Oh, and the nail?  The black 'cat's eye' sort of black mark, which developed so quickly I thought it would going to explode, stopped almost after it started, if that was some time after the incident.  I think, think I say, it will be okay.

Another neighbor came by with a scoop and got my frontage area.  I truly appreciate.  Even if he might have been a part of a story not so long ago.  *grins*  I would like to get to town tonight, don't know if I will.  Or tomorrow.  I am a bit under.  Between the cold, and the little bit of snow work I did, and the finger, I... just...  If I had to, sure, but I don't.  I would like to though.  Milk, butter, cream, oyster crackers, salad makings, cabbage... you know.  Stuff.  If I can find fruit that looks good I'd like some of that.

Sleep and wake are simply off.  I suspect any major efforts or pains will always end up throwing my schedule off in both the short and mid term, until things settle again.  I'm on and off medicine... not from recalcitrance so much as minor, short term, fugue, from exhaustion.  I think, at one time, I suffered a truer form of fugue.  People knew me, and seemed to like me well, people I did not know.  Unless I have always been secretly famous?  Don't think so though.  Now it is more that I... stop being me, or anyone, for short bits.  I still function, but more on autopilot, I think.

Well, on to... something... waking, maybe reheating something, whatevs.  Later.

We'll see.

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The pinky is very swollen now.  It's the top knuckle area that got hit.  The top, scull cap or polar top, of the finger is blush blood red.  The rest of the fingreprint area is now like a purple grape, and quite swollen.  It is numb, mostly.  Oh, and the fingernail is showing a dark and enlarging stain.  I don't think I will lose it, but... at this stage...  I'll know more tomorrow.  I haven't gone through any more shock, and was able to work, and can type so far.  Though typing on that finger is like using a 'peg' finger, or a finger that has 'fallen asleep'.  So typing is a bit slower.  If pain ever really sets in, I might not post for a day or... whatever.  Or just have to use the hunt-and-peck method and go much slower.  Beats having the whole hand, or hand and arm, out of commission.  Done that been there twice that I can remember.  Just going to the bathroom was a hassle.  Then again, back then?  No computers, cellphones, and all that other jazz.  Yeah.

It does seem to have stopped snowing, last I looked.  I check about every other time I get up for something.  Even if no snow falls, I will probably hit it again tomorrow.  The wind seems to be drifting it in, or might.  I really want to stay ahead, if I can, as much as I can.  If I hit it wrong, and it is sensitive, I see now that a short or even long break will allow me to get over shock and get back to it, if need be.  A good thing to know.

If the work isn't too much, and so long as I do some other chores, I'll also get the snowshoes out again as well.  I definitely have enough snow now.  Of course, I am looking at bigger snowshoes.  I really don't think these work for me as well as I would like.  Certainly not for packing in.  I have heard that traditional might be better, but I'm not sure about that.  I need to get someone on the horn to discuss it.  I suppose, just for paths, and maybe just a day pack, these might be okay.  Anything more and they begin to fail quickly.  Just not large enough.  And, while looking, I may see about a tow sled.  That would transfer weight and make these more useful as is, or allow bigger snowshoes even more capacity for deeper snow.  Just... thinking.

Later, or good night.

The last ten yards.

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My neighbor had called, to let me know he was coming over.  Shoveling by hand.  Unpossible!  I didn't get the memo.  I wasn't expecting a call, so had carelessly set my phone... somewhere.  While getting ready to go out, I saw the call.  I didn't know what all it was about.  So I called back.  After a minute or two, I realized... he was talking to me from my driveway!  Even then, I kept talking.  Just knowing something doesn't mean the mind had come around to a full understanding, or a means of dealing, with a strange notion.  Finally I suggested I'd hang up and be right out.

Oh my.  I felt like a total heel.  So I started in.  Now I feel like a worse heel, as I think he was going to stop where he was, but my coming out... caused him to stay longer and help with that end bit.  Can't win for losing or winning or... Yeah.  I'll tell you though, that last ten was a bear, even with help.  It's what comes in off the road.  Salt, slush, grime, muck.  Thankfully it hadn't frozen into a solid mass.  That is brutal.

I may not have a frontage, again, but I do have a way out.  Even in 4x4 low, low, low, with all the bells and whistles going, could I have driven through that last bit though.  It was soft set concrete, and would have been worse by morning.  They say, probably, that the snow is mostly finished.  As such, after I helped with the finish, I did just a bit more cleanup.  It had been snowing, a bit, and blowing, behind the work.  Impossible to keep up.  But at the end, it looked to have stopped, so I figured it couldn't hurt.  The snow blower is fine, for the first two thirds of the drive, useless in the last ten yards and on the frontage.  If there is a next time, I will keep that in mind, and simply change my routine.  Use the machine out to the twenty yard line, then shovel three scoop widths, split at that point, and used the machine for those areas... then hand shovel the rest.  Brutal lot of work.

While shock took me out of the game, how many people can go into shock, then get back to work on the same day?  I might not have done all that much, one either side, but it... was some serious work, what I did.  I told neighbor we would be going for pizza next month, to celebrate work.  He said he doesn't do this for that, or pay.  I just told him I knew.  I couldn't afford that much work anyway.  Grateful.  For many things.  Later or good night.

Well... better. So back to it.

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The symptoms of shock have passed.  The pinky tip turned from dark blue/black to a red bloom.  It'st still numb, but... it seems to be doing okay.  After resting a bit, just on my butt not on my back, I think... I might be ready to go out and try to do a bit more work.  How much can I get done?  I don't know.  The hand might get worse, and the work is brutally hard.  A foot of snow, or more, is... even with the snow blower... a lot of lot of snow, weight, resistance.  I'll do what I can.  Might not be much.

Yeah, it's still snowing.  Or was the last time I looked.  It wouldn't surprise me, if this keeps up any at all, if they close the week.  This is the sort of time where I fear the loss of electricity.  I have other means, but they are weak, untried, and would have to be sorted out on the fly.  A prepper?  Sure, but a crippled one.  Yeah, okay, so I need to begin practicing with these things.  Then again, that is part of the purpose of camping.  The two go together quite well.

I have some things that would more easily be ready.  I have plenty of blankest.  I have several ways of heating and cooking, if those would take a bit more to prep.  Although the grill, even if outside, could be put into use quickly and easily, just not sustained for all that long.  Ugh...

Anyway... I'll see if I can clear the bits I had cleared, then begin from there.  If I can add another level to the middle path... which has two swipes, mostly, already, I might be able to use the snow blower to go from that middle section and cut swaths to the side.  I'm not sure, really, if anything will work well.  It will probably have to be a bit of machine and shove.  It... is a lot of snow out there.  What doesn't kill you is supposed to make you stronger.  Later.

Snow, and lots of it.

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An Inch, three?  No, more like a foot, give or take a bit.  I got the shovel out.  No matter how deep, it has to start with that, just to get the snow blower out.  Oh my word was that some effort.  Three or four shovel widths to open up the area in front of the garage, and then shoveling some light snow, after moving trash and recycling barrels, to get into the door.  I need the room in front of the garage for starting, and then turning on the return loop, the snow blower.  Room, need it.  The side way is how I get the snow machine out.  That was a lot of work right there.

Next is getting the machine out and getting her lit.  Getting her out was easy, but lighting her, this time, was becoming difficult.  Ah, right!  I have started emptying the gas tank, or burning it dry.  A little gas and she popped about as well as could be hoped.  Oh, Lord, though... the first row was murder.  And then, out near the road, I suppose from ice and slurry being kicked over from the road as it is cleared, she just kept bogging down.  The first time, I brought her back to the garage, grabbed a small breaker bar, and loosened it all.  It wasn't ice, just hard packing snow, which is much easier.

The next time, since it sounded and felt like the bar went in without being dinged or shook, I put my hand down the shoot.  Urhm, no, there is a live auger in there.  Hurt?  Oh, well, yes.  Very thick new winter gloves probably saved the pinky from the top knuckle on, and perhaps part of the next finger... if not whole hand if it had been pulled in wet.

At first I thought it just bruised, nothing big.  But then I started getting nauseous, sweats, and some other things.  Shock.  I know it anywhere.  Man, I must be getting old.  I used to be able to handle fairly decent trauma without this much fuss.  Not anymore.  I was nearing passing out, but I didn't want to waste the trip back, so I did some light clean up, if I did hurry.  In, boots off, resting.  It seems, for now, I can type with the finger.  Shock symptoms persist, and the pinky is numb, and blackening.  I'm going to take anacin and lay down for a bit.

Oh, and by the way?  Even with the snow blower, that is brutal.  I am not sure I can do it.  Not in anything like a timely fashion.  If my hand ends up gimp...  *shrug*

Sleep just isn't in the cards.

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Not yet anyway.  I did try to kick it over and push through the day... no try about it actually.  I missed the cutoff and ended up just... right back where I had been.

I made it, then some.

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I actually had hoped to be in bed by now.  I... had some things on my mind, and thought about doing a few things, then just drifted.  Hmm, I did start, and finish, laundry.  I need to either roll loads through, or maybe set that in the washer to go again and deal with what is in the dryer.  Oh, and I used the folding device on several t-shirts.  I tried it their way, which was just a bit off.  Tweaking their system, I have it down.  Now, everything I was folding has wrinkles.  Next time they won't.  I had held off dealing with the laundry until I could find the board and... yeah.  I may clear off the table back there.  But with my bed always being made now, it works too.  Plus, folding on the bed mean I am closer to where they will be put up.  The device is quite handy.  I think I am going to enjoy it.  Even without practice, I can fold shirts much more quickly.

I need to get to town, groceries for one thing.  Milk, cream, and some other things.  I am, sometimes now, ordering some foods through amazon.  Why?  Because they are items I eat regularly, items I have difficulty finding regularly, in any quantity, or at a reasonable price.  Sardines in extra virgin olive oil, canned oyster, and such.  Seems strange, but it helps.  I simply cannot always find what I am looking for locally, and I just won't push and shove through many stores for one or two packets, at most.  Buy in bulk, reorder when half way through, and don't worry.  Admittedly, I am a lousy shopper but I don't think stores are really good for some types.

Then again, I am sort of comparing brands.  If I find brands I like, I may see if the local stores would offer a discount for bulk purchases, and whether they would be willing to order in bulk in the first place.  Ugh, one thing at a time though.

Tomorrow I am hoping to level the dryer as well.  And fiddle with laundry.  Maybe pick up the last of the dishes and straight the kitchen back up a bit.  Or not.  Whatever I can do.  It's still a week of rest.  I pushed a bit too much up to Christmas.  But I don't want the engine to go clean down to cold either.  I'll keep at it.  Good night and... well, yeah, just that.  Weird to be going to bed at night again.

Dreams, and such dreams.

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Ah, something... dreams...  I haven't been writing about all of them.  I know.  Some of your are curious, some are terrified, and there are reasons for such.  I can't change much, or not some things.  I cannot alter the track of the sun or the cycle of the moon.  I can't change the road outside my home.  If I damaged it, or even destroyed it, guess what?  They'd just rebuild it.  Some things are not in my hands to change.  The question is, should I discuss it?

Well... first?  This blog is not a discussion site.  Or you, dear reader, would be discussing things.  You aren't, you don't.  This is a site for consumption, only, sadly, for my part.  I'd love to chatter.  I think I frighten or anger, if none do much about it.  So, next?  I write to get things out of my mind.  Not to inform, not to discuss though I would be open to that, not to change necessarily.  Happy to learn, which might bring about change, however.  So, if you are here?  You are here, by choice, to consume.  Don't judge if you have an option to leave.  Door, ass, etc.  Anyway...

Finally!

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I can't remember how long ago it was that I purchased snowshoes, poles, boots for that, and a carryall for those things.  Years, I think.  And I had the purchase on my mind for much longer.  For all that, today, I... finally got out there, in them, and?  And without any issue, other then being on the last vapors or less of fuel.  I did the circumference, of, say, two acres... maybe a bit more just goofing.  I didn't have any stability issues.  I realized something though.  Women should be able to do these things more naturally.  I went heavy pigeon-toe at the beginning, to acclimate.  My body just knew how to adjust, and I tweaked even that by over-adjusting after I realized what my body was saying.

Now, I have to admit, I am not... sure how much these things really help.  Some, I suppose.  But I would be cautious with these in deeper snow.  They are the biggest I could find.  They are supposed to handle up to 350, which should give me at least 70 pounds of leeway, and maybe more like 80 to 100 now.  Even so the efficiency over walking in... 8 inch snow?... was not all that much.  Though, who knows.

It is some solid effort to mobilize in those things.  Though, almost no matter what you do, even skiing, snow costs energy to transport through.  I hope to get out enough times in the next... while... to upgrade my skills and perhaps my endurance.  Then add a pack, and learn how to heat water and cook food, maybe set up a hammock or bivy, and if that gets going, then find a place to hike a bit.  If I try an overnighter, it won't be so far from the vehicle, or at such an incline, that getting back, in the dark, won't be impossible.  Maybe just a few hundred yards in, or such.  If that goes well?  I might go away for a while.

Hmm?  Oh, I might do a few other things yet.  And I'll keep at shoving bedtime into the evening.  Later.

What can I do today?

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Truth?  Not much.  Rolling out at my "midnight" in order to get to the post WAS both the dog and the pony show.  Still, I might have a minor trick up my sleeve... staying awake until this evening.  It's not so much that I am sore, hurt, or anything else, it's just that bring the mind to bear on any chore, or focusing just to get going, seems unlikely.  Oh, some chores might be done, little things.  Maybe.  More accidental than on purpose.  I just happen to think of something, or notice something, while I am doing something I have to do.

It is very bright out, but not for the sun.  The world seems to have been frosted a bit.  The little light coming through the clouds is amplified.  It is a wonderful thing, although it also seems a bit unfulfilling.  The sun recharges, and this light almost has that sort of brightness.  But it fails to... I don't know... provide vitamin d?  I'll take it though.  I think I would call this the best of the worst?  With the snow and being overcast it's as pretty and bright as winter gets.  Actually, it sure makes me want to get out in it.  Hmm...  Hmm???  I'm thinking.

I don't know how or why things are working at they are.  For example, I received a "bill" from HD, with a statement as to the 20th which suggested I owed nothing.  I just got another one saying I owe $125.  I haven't used the card since buying the appliances.  Something really screwy is going on with them, and many other companies.  Did they outsource billing to China or India too?  Someone needs too look into these companies, from doctors and credit cards to banks, they are all really going screwy.  Watch your billing closely, very closely.  Something is really wrong.  I just notice, from the side, too busy, tired, or ill to do more.

I'd nap if I could.  What could I do?  Yeah, I am thinking of trying on the snow shoes.  That is what that earlier bit was about.  I'm not writing well, or editing, too tired of mind for that sort of thing.  No worries, just letting you know, if you see problems.  Later.

Had to argue.

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With myself.  I altogether, at first, forgot to set the alarm.  I woke, or sort of.  I didn't think I could wake fully.  I had this depressing notion that I was too late.  One side of me told me to just roll over and dig in.  Go back to sleep, you bum, it cooed.  I ignored, if with some sting, then mustered enough strength to twist and roll and look at the time.  The alarm clock read 9:00.  That is the alarm clock that is right on time.  I... think I want to change that.  At least while I am sleeping in there.  Anyway...

I knew the voice was part right.  There was no way I was going to do more than do a bathroom break.  Want, will, or things of fortitude, had no bearing.  It was a pure mechanical fact of my physique.  Mostly dead things, sometimes, can't do what they want.  However, I saw a shimmer of hope.  Being 9:00 gave me three hours.  I might be able to get up in time to make it to the post.  I might even get up in time to get a shower in before heading out.  If you must aim high, aim really high?  Yeah.

I don't think I went to the bathroom, though maybe.  Memory is a blur.  I am almost sure I didn't.  I did twist and roll more so as to get to the alarm, and set it for 10:00.  That was a heck of a struggle.  Seems so easy.  If you have ever had dream paralysis, you... have a better idea.  Not quite fully paralyzed, in this instance, but it was something similar against which I struggled.

When the alarm sounded, then I think I headed to the bathroom?  I just can't be sure.  One of those times, or maybe later, I went.  I know I could not wake then, though did not reset the alarm.  I woke, thinking I had missed everything.  Again, I had to struggle with flesh, will, and a recalcitrant body.  It was 11:03, or so it seemed.  I struggled through all, for some time, to wake.  I tried to go fast enough for a shower but realized that would not happen.  So, and even so barely, I finally made it out.

That is what it takes when I successfully push my schedule around in order to do something at a time I would normally be asleep.  It will probably mess everything up for a bit.  My body currently wants to sleep but can't.  It's going to get messy, and not much will be done until I figure out the next sleep queue and get into it.  And it might end up hurting.  Even so, this is better than every before.  The heart must be better, if probably topping out in the 20% range, up from 15%.  Though the body is becoming more useful, there is probably a pretty serious limit, upon which I am trouncing.  Sort of like thrashing to metal music on this ice, but... I have things to do.  Back to resting until I get sleep reorganized though.

Good morning and day.

Yeah, well, some things.

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I can't even remember what was done, only that some things got done.  And I ate a bit.  I am crashing though.  I will take a long nap, hopefully waking in time to make it to the post office.  No new snow, so far tonight anyway.  Hopefully none until I can get out.  The goal is to shower before I head out.  Love those showers.  Hopefully with enough time to cool and air dry my feet.  More chores tomorrow.  I'm dragging though.  Still, I'll do what I can.

Oh, I have it on good authority that I did not miss recycling... it isn't this week.  I did see a truck turn onto a side street, fine.  It seems that just wasn't what it seemed.  Which is good.  I am sure I had the trash out in time, as it wasn't picked up at a neighbors until later morning or early afternoon, 12:00 to 13:00 or something, memory isn't exact.  All good.  Hmm, I'll bring those in when I go to the post office.  I am trying to remember to not leave them out.  I always try, I suppose.  But I have been doing better.

Oh, something else?  I am, beyond getting things fixed, arranged, clean, ordered, and with processes to maintain those things... working on some interior decoration.  No, my poor-witted friend, not as in purple, or paisley, or pastels.  Think dark, wood, steel, weapons, brass, holy or storied, perhaps gothic, maybe a bit on the old or archaic side, with a strong hint of the manly.  It may not be really enjoyed by all others, but men without their own man-caves might... appreciate.  I wonder if there is room somewhere for a smaller fight club?  *grins*  OH!  I'm not using the upstairs!  That would do.  And, if cops, or cops who hadn't joined, or miscreant wife-types with no appreciation, became problems... Perhaps a back, covered, pseudo hidden step entrance could be created.  Nothing like a functional dojo of one sort or anther to... fill the man-cave bill.  I probably should next begin working on less lethal arms, such as staves, nunchukas, etc.

Later.

A bit cranky.

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Just of body.  I slept well, but I don't think I moved enough.  Sleeping is somewhere between an art, a trick, and a science.  The pillow, or head rest, has to be just right.  The temperature needs to be stable.  I need to move some, but not too much.  I have gotten used to waking frequently, but it would be better not to wake.  Then again, I have always waken through the night, even when I didn't get out of bed.  Periods where I was mostly awake.  Sounds from quite some distance can sometimes wake me, the cats, local domestic animals, wild animals and birds... a barn owl I think, from time to time, and perhaps a hawk of some sort.  Sometimes their calls, sometimes just their movements.  If anything is off, or if I sleep too much or too little, my body can be cranky.

Hmm, I think it was too little movement, perhaps too deep of a sleep, and... maybe my pillow being a bit off?  It is strange to think of how many things have to be just right, that we, or just me?, needs to attend while I am also supposed to be sleeping.  Some think it is all natural.  I suspect, for the healthy, it might be... or it might be closer to that.  But for folk such as myself, we don't have the natural overhead of energy reserves.  If we burn off what we have, we end up sort of on our own or s.o.l. and just having to suffer or fuss enough consciously to get it right.  No worries, just an understanding.

Ah, the fellas, after while clearing other driveways, hit mine a second time and... it really helped.  I couldn't go back over it.  I was finished when I was done.  But that slushy underlayer was annoying.  I noted, sometime, that they had hit it again.  Fantastic.  I may still get some salt out there and on things again.  Especially with the main of the slush and slush material gone.  It ended up being sunny, at least for the part of the morning I was awake to see.  That and salt, and maybe a bit of more warmth, and she'll stay in tipper shape.

I realize that while I can do some work in the cool, or in the home with access to cool, fans, and such, I will always have to struggle greatly with work in higher temps.  That is simply outside of my parameters, almost ever.  If I do it, from time to time, it generally takes me down hard.  Too hard to keep going.  Spring is okay, fall and winter are good usually, but summer is out.  I may see about some things next summer.

Oh, the second from the last sudoku, I did get to 5 seconds again.  It's been a while.  I hadn't been playing as regularly, what with how much work I have been doing since fall, and maybe a bit of the last of summer?  I am trying to do it more regularly, again.  At least while I am resting.  I still want to hit 3 seconds.  It is only slightly more impossible than 5 seconds and will give me a grin from ear to ear.  I think I can, possible, too.

I am working on increasing my gab following, just for kicks.  I am up to... nearly 4k.  I'd like to hit 20k.  Yeah, I may be going away, it's not really my thing.  But there is no reason not to go away from something will on top.  As I suggested, I'd like to stick with it through Trump's first 100 days, which won't start for nearly a month.  I'd like to get better news sources, and news checks, than what I can get elsewhere.  Plus, increasing the numbers is... something mindless to do while resting.

Work?  Yes, tonight.  Gathering more dishes, a shower, setting up the dishes, some laundry, and a bit of picking up just to get back to where I was when all this started.  Oh, and perhaps leveling at least the dryer, and maybe beginning that on the range.  I HATE having the stove be slightly off kilter.  If I can't do it myself, or if I get stuck, I may see about help soon.  I'll probably still be taking it, mostly, easy this week too.  Then, if I can get caught up with the house, and take care of the appliances while maintaining snow removal, I'll take the weekend down hard, then start tearing into my main bedroom next week.  I really think I can kick that out in a week, max... save for maybe steam vacuuming that cold room and the carpet drying...  Well, I suppose I could use the electric heat in there for a few days.  Still, drying carpets is always what seems to take the longest.

It's a beautiful thing, to have the home coming together... mechanically, functionally, materially, and in cleanliness.  I may make one more shot at the plumbing under the sink... which will require new p-trap parts.  I think that is the problem.  Though I did find another part that is a problem and will be adjusting the bolts, and perhaps seeing what sort of glue might work.  The rubber gasket is leaking, for whatever reason.  Might not be tight enough, and might not even be able to be tightened?  I'll... figure it out.  If my efforts fail, though, if not this month as I have costs accumulating, I may call a plumber next month... for that, the faucet install, and a general round of advice and/or quotes on other work.  Hmm... I'd like to try to change out the washers for the shower and tub handles before he arrives.  That way, if I mess that up, I'll... see if he'll give me a learning for a job.

Later.

Three for four, or so.

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It wasn't as much of a push as I had thought.  It was a lot of work, as things go.  Shoveling first.  The back half was four to five inches, the fore half was more like two to three inches.  The salt may have helped.  Still, even a bit wet, more than I would like is trying to stick.  I'd like to salt again but it has already started to snow again.  Ah well.  Not only had they been working and helping doing my drive, they brought something in and cleaned my frontage areas.  Awesome!  That makes it a lot easier for backing in, for trash and recycling, for packages, and just because.  If that melts it becomes a lake, if not moved out a bit, which then becomes plate ice.  Very happy thing to see that opened up this morning.  Yeah, I was going to hit it.  I hadn't even bothered looking until I had pushed a mainline shovel through to near there.  Just looked up, took a happy step back to clear and make sure, then just grinned.

Recycling next.  I noticed it was coming through.  I didn't have all that much, but enough.  Then trash and cat litter.  That stuff weighs a bit after a bit of use and just as is.  I start with three sacks of the stuff between three boxes, then add another sack to fresh and help keep it going... at least if I am keeping up on clearing poop and mixing in pee.  If not it is just better to cut my losses.  Once cat litter goes to far south there just isn't much to be done for it.  Yeah, I really do keep up.  Nearly daily.  Slowly, through the year, I have been adding items to my daily to-do list.  And I do well, save when I have way to much other.  Even then I don't do too badly... two days instead of one, between cleanings... and that's good enough for a short term.  Yes, I made my bed this morning.

I may put some salt out as I prepare to go to the post office.  I just need a little break.  I did all that work all in one go.  Perhaps not a man's man's day job, but not bad.  And I'm not done.  I might be able to compile another bag of bureaucrat loot as well as make it to the post office.

I'll be able to sleep with a mostly clear conscience.  If it took all night to finally do some things, I did get to them.  Not even too late for pickup, I don't think.  But to salt or not?  Hmm... might check the forecast.  Not always right but it's what there is.  Later or good day, and night.
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It STILL counts!  I did get to the post office.  There was mail, but the business portion is closed.  I am still counting it, even if I have to figure out how to be up, and out, tomorrow.  Packages, probably, will only be returned by business days in, though... maybe not.  I need to get what I can as soon as possible.  Bleh.  Oh, and it looks like I still missed recycling.  Double bleh.  Good night, and day.

Enjoying the rest.

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And, yet, wanting to get back into the game.  I did cook the beans.  Instead of making a hamburger mash with them, I simply added ham again.  *boop*  When oxygen was produced on submarines, hydrogen had to be be trickled out and off-board, simply allowed to dissipate into the ocean.  I seem to be doing that too.  I don't remember it being so loud or... odoriferous.  Beans... do have their purpose.  I won't complain.

We have been snowed upon again.  It looks like a decent pile of it out there.  Nothing extreme, just enough that it will be some real work.  Three, five, seven inches?  I'm guessing four to six but can't really tell without digging in.  It might, really, just be two.  I'm never really sure.  Besides, how much fell and how much is still on the ground, in any one particular place, is another thing.

If I can do the driveway, which I am hoping, I would like to get to the post office today.  Packages.  Yeah, more of those.  Always more.  Other than that, if that, only getting to bed is left to my abilities.  I will leave the phone on, in case someone tries to call for business.  Not sure I will be able to answer in time, though it is possible if I keep the phone close enough.

Oh, wait.  I best get the trash together and out!  Yeah, it really needs out, and cat litter too.  I reallllly don't want to.  If I can squeeze and push ans shove, I will do these things.  Ugh!

I'll tell you, something is just off.  Even with the furnace cranked a bit, I am a bit cool.  Not sure why.  Though I think it has been colder than usual, and for longer than usual.  It just... settles in and that is that.  A warm spell, or maybe even just some sun might help.  Both would really help.  Then again, I might well not see it as I am sleeping.  But warming up a bit, sometimes, lasts through the night.  A warming, then cloud cover, and we can be at or above freezing for days.

I best get on to some of these things.  I really need to shovel at least a space for trash to go out, if I want that.  But definitely the whole drive if I want to drive out.  I just won't, save emergencies, drive pack the snow down.  Already having trouble getting through some hard packed snow/ice as is.  Yeah, I best hit it.  Later or good night... and good morning.

Another day.

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What was done, was done.  I didn't do more after what was written.  I do suspect carvedilol.  It just... does that.  At least, at this start, and so far, other then pains from sleeping a bit to hard for that first bit, the medicine isn't causing other pains... so far.

I have meat thawed for today.  I also soaked beans, which will be drained and set to cook shortly.  Just small white beans and hamburger, but the two, together, will make a meal that should last three or four days.  Nothing fancy, but for one of several reasons, I don't taste much anyway.  Yeah, white beans are carb heavy, but also potassium heavy.  I like adding potassium heavy stuff from time to time, just the better forms of it.  I'm not sure if the pills really add that much.  Time will tell.  Though, too, I am not very good at taking medicine.  I miss, day, or night, or both med times, fairly often.  I'm out of the habit and was never good at the habit.

Oh, well, actually, I did get out and put more salt on the driveway.  It just isn't thawing well.  Then again, it seems as if the cold has set in.  Last night, and often when I have been checking, it has been hovering around 20 or a bit below.  The sun doesn't seem to be out much, either.  In the 30's, or with some good sun at the right times, or better both, the salt should bust through.  Then again, this is a bit of an unusual cold snap.  Not quite a deep freeze, just... a bit deeper and longer than usual?  It seems so, though I could be mistaken.  I'm just going by a rough memory and how that equates to today.

I'll try to get a few of those things on the list that remain.  Hmm, the furnace needs tuned, I might get another shower as well.  Oh, and I best drain and reset the beans with fresh water and heat themselves... and check the burger.  Should be thawed.  Later.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.