A Trench Runs Through It.


My Dad used to sing the song about being in the Army which said “You’ll never get rich by digging a ditch” I dug a lot of little ditches today and I’m poorer not richer because I rented a trencher to help with the job.


This is the first time I’ve used a trencher and it works really well. The trencher cuts a 2 inch wide trough using what looks like a huge saw blade. You pull the machine backwards to make the trench and it isn’t that difficult to pull. Every so often it would hit a root. Small roots – up to about an inch – get chomped with no sweat. Bigger roots have to be worn through. I cut through one root that was about 3 inches thick.


The hardest part about using the trencher is rolling it into position. It rides on 3 wheels and the heavy cutter blade’s weight is off-center so it doesn’t push easily.


As luck would have it (or as Murphy’s Law predicts) The pile of fill dirt we had delivered sat right over where I needed a trench. I had to dig away one side of the pile of dirt to allow the trencher to do its job. This proved to be a lot more work than I expected. Each time I got most of the path cleared some of the dirt would avalanche and refill the area I just cleared. I was beginning to feel like Sisyphus. After I moved about a quarter of the pile it stabilized and I was able to create a clear path. Here is the result.

I did a lot of work and used my back and shoulders a lot. I’m sore, but it is a normal soreness. I didn’t overdo anything. I thank those thoughtful people who cautioned me to take it easy. Meme wrote me an E-mail suggesting I use a trencher and not do it all manually. Kathy Scott told me to take it easy. Kathy Little pulled over as she was driving by and told me not to hurt my shoulders. (and if you have any dirt left over they could use it.)

I still have some trenching to do manually. I couldn't use the machine where the phone lines ran underground and there were some places the machine wouldn't fit. After seeing how much work the machine did (and saved me from doing) I'm sure glad I rented the thing.

Tonight I’m taking it easy. I stretched out my back, cold soaked my shoulder and back and after I write this I’m going to soak in a hot tub – which seems to work well for my aches and pains from working.

Exploring the Attic


We don’t have an attic or a basement here in Northwest FL. When I see a movie where young kids go up into the attic and find neat stuff I wish we had an attic.. I’m finding that the process of filling the storage area of the shed and even cleaning out the yard from my 30 years of mismanagement has been similar to exploring an attic.


Each day I’ve been finding things that were tucked away years ago and forgotten. Tools, electronic gadgets, books, old letters and more keep showing up. I even discovered that I had a bunch of fence slats buried under some wood I had beside the house.


I also disturbed a number of lizards, a couple toads and a whole colony of ants that were living in the wood. Within minutes of my scattering the ants all sorts of birds showed up to feast on them. How did they know they were there? Another bird mystery for me to solve.

After 3 days of yard work I am finally ready to lay out the sprinkler system on the lawn and start digging trenches.


The only unexplored storage left in the house now are the garage lofts and closet shelves. Who knows what will be found there? That's where all of Karen and Christy's old school papers are.

Pizza Again


Our quest for Fairfield Pizza continues. This time we went to the internet and got some Scamorz Mozzarella cheese delivered to the house. The package it came in was great. Inside the cardboard box was a cube shaped Styrofoam cooler. Inside was the cheese, packing peanuts and 1 frozen gel-pack (about the size of your hand) for each hunk of cheese. All the packaging is re-usable.

The pizza was good. The cheese has great flavor. It is chewy and a little stringy but not the same as the Scamotz we got in CT.

So our quest continues. Today we tried a blend of Scamorz and provolone - good but still not there..

Small Wonder


It’s gotten so that if I’m not listening to a book while I’m working – in the shed, in the yard and even doing housework sometimes, I feel like I’m not making full use of my time. I’ve “read" 5 books in the last month ranging from Hemmingway to Stephen King to Barbara Kingsolver. The one I finished today while digging roots out of the yard was Small Wonder a collection of 23 essays by Barbara Kingsolver. These essays express her thoughts about the world immediately after 9/11. The author is a bleeding heart liberal environmentalist but her writing is well researched, well reasoned, and full of insight into what is wrong and what is right about our country.


I started this book 3 years ago on our trip to Alaska but the subject mater was not one that lent itself to vacation reading. Her writing bothers me because her views are so far to the left and so different from what I have been conditioned to believe. I have to admit that she has affected my thinking on a number of issues. She is by no means simplistic in her views. She backs her arguments with logic, statistics and just good common sense. If everyone in the world had her insight there would be no war and we would all display all those human characteristics that are good and life giving.


Here is one critic’s description of the book:

"The 23 essays in this sterling collection tug at the heart and soul with their searing truths about the American way of life, the meaning of patriotism, the culture's acceptance of violence as a way to solve problems, the inherent global dangers of conspicuous consumption and the ravaging of the earth. "

I consider myself a conservative. Although I had to force myself to listen to a couple of these essays without screaming at her about her naivety, by the time she was done I at least understood why she believed what she did. If you want to read something different and thought provoking I would recommend this book(in the audio version). Small Wonder was read by the author. Her reading is a special bonus because of the emotion she adds to the reading.

I had sufficient time to listen to this book because of the nasty set of roots I ran into on the west side of the yard. Of course they are right where I need to run one of the sprinkler lines.

Here are the before pictures.

And here is the after. I gave my back and shoulders a good test. I'm sore, but I think it is OK.

Time will tell.

Time Management


When I decided to really retire, that is, leave federal service and not take a job with a contractor many people said,”What are you going to do?” They seemed to think that without work life would be dull. I’m happy to report there is no lack of things to do. The biggest problem is my body allowing me to do them.


I currently have 3 major tasks on my plate.


One is the crib – I’m ready to start cutting wood on this one after much preparation.. I actually made some practice cuts today to check that my saw is square. I also cleaned and sharpened my hand planes – one of which I got from my Dad - and did a little practice planing to determine that they worked OK. I can remember playing with my Dad’s plane in the garage when we lived in Connecticut.


The second task is installing a sprinkler system in the yard. This task includes major time investment because it involves clearing out 30 years of yard mismanagement. I need to clear out and throw away all the crap I have stashed here and there so I can dig trenches for the sprinkler piping. I also want to set up this years garden and have an irrigation line to it. (Christy suggested I grow okra, squash and of course, lots of herbs.) The biggest part of the task is the front yard. We are ripping out any existing grass and going to resod the front. Right now we have a full truck-load of sand sitting in our front yard and multi-colored flags and spray paint lines marking the locations of phone lines, water lines and gas lines.. We went by a couple of irrigation places today and are getting estimates for the parts we need. I’ve only got a month to finish the front yard or I have to get an extension from the “call before you dig” folks..


Task number 3 is physical fittness. So far the shoulders ar holding out. It is an amazing feeling to be able to lift a jug of milk or even throw a trash bag into the trash can or shake out a rug without pain. I have to make sure I keep the shoulders strong. My back is easing some so I also need to keep it getting better. Fittness stuff including walking, cold and hot soaks can easilly take 2 hours each day.


I haven’t even gotten into the recreational activities like beachwalks, kayaking and photography. Of course there is some travel mixed in here, too. Jacksonville at least twice in the next month and Texas to see DeDe. I can’t leave Penny out of the mix. We need our time togeter, too. The recreational stuff we do together. There also is a lot of time devoted to shopping that we do together and some TV watching. I will probably blog less.

I’m actually beginning to feel there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done in time. I’m hoping once I actually get into these tasks I can accomplish a lot each day. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I hear the dinner bell ringing.

Old Dogs


Sister Kathy and I had a discussion tonight on the telephone about training your brain. She thinks that just about everyone would have a better mind if they were trained properly when they were young. In particular they could have a better memory.


It turns out she may be right. This month’s Discovery magazine reviews 2 books on neuroscience and both of them claim that the mind is much more resilient, malleable and morphable than we have been led to believe. They refer to the brain as “plastic” and use the term neuroplasticity.


These books claim that the theory that only infants brains had this neuroplasticity and that it fades steadily as the brain congeals into its adult configuration is spectacularly wrong. One book claims, “much of the neural dynamism remains active all through life (It just needs a little help to manifest fully).


If they are right victims of strokes, learning disorders, senility, post traumatic stress syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression can find hope and relief in neuroplasticity and proper training.

So Kathy, it appears you are right except that the training does not have to happen when you are young. If old dogs haven’t been able to learn new tricks, maybe that’s because no one has learned to teach them properly.

Feb 18


Penny and I watched this weeks Grey’s Anatomy and enjoyed it. You can tell it’s sweeps. CSI killed off one of its stars – even had the doctor call the time of death at the end of the show. Then the next show began with an injection of adrenalin directly into his heart and voila! He’s alive again. I’m assuming there can be no Grey’s Anatomy without Grey so we will see how they miraculously revive Meridith next week. Now it is not only the soap operas that can resurect the dead.


I was watching Wheel of Fourtune and started thinking about how long that show’s been on. I think it began with Pat and Vana around 1985. That made me wonder about how old Vana White is. I did a little research and found that Vana was born on Feb 18, 1957. Yep, good ol’ Vana Turns 50 today. Other people born today:

1931 - Toni Morrison, American writer, Nobel laureate
1933 - Yoko Ono, Japanese-born singer
1950 - John Hughes, American director
1950 - Cybill Shepherd, American actress
1954 - John Travolta, American actor
1964 - Matt Dillon, American actor
1965 - Dr. Dre, American rapper
1968 - Molly Ringwald, American actress

This is also the time of year that for some reason a lot of people who were good friends with me were born. Robert Mathewson, my college roomate and friend after graduation was born Feb 10th. Rick Mcclure my surrogate family brother was born Feb 13th. Anne Taylor, my Niece and Godchild have always had a special connection. Robert Moore, a friend I had when I lived in Cape Canaveral, also was born in Mid February.

You may also have picked up on another trend in my life. For most of my life someone with the initials RM was a friend or helper.

Robert Mester – best friend growing up
Robert Mathewson – college roomate and friend
Robert Moore – friend , Summer ‘69
Rick McClure – almost a brother beginning in 1974

And the clincher – I earned my rocket scientist living as an expert in Reliability and Maintainability (R&M).


I don’ really belive there is anything to this other than coincidence. My sister sent me a web site that calculated the date of your conception. Mine was – Mid-February. Maybe someone should do some research on the date of conception and compatability. Only kidding but I do have fun with this. When I meet someone I usually check their initials and whenever possible their birthdate. There have been a number of co-workers and aquaintances who were mid-February babies that I did get along well with. By the way, these tests dont apply to my love relationships. Penny’s real initials are CD and I Know I get along with her. She was, however, born in early March which is close to mid-Feb (h-m-m-m-).

I wonder if I would get along with John Travolta or Matt Dillon?

Graying Grey’s


I think my favorite show, Grey’s Anatomy, has lost its edge. With the engagement of Christina and Burke and the marriage of George and Callie O’Malley the writers seem to have gotten confused about where to go. We haven’t watched this week’s episode yet but last week I thought I was watching ER rather than Grey’s. The show has thrived on the personalities, their quirkiness and interactions – especially with regards to sex. Somewhere in the background there was a plot with some outrageous medical situation with people stuck together or having unexploded ordnance inside them.


Now they are turning away from the quirkiness and sexual tensions and opening free clinics, childishly vying for the chief of surgery’s job and responding to boating disasters. It’s just not that interesting. I hope I’m reacting too fast to this but if it keeps up I’ll have to find a new favorite show. I hate it when this happens to a show. Grey’s was about the only show out there that I looked forward to and didn’t want to miss. I hope they at least keep the music good.

Feb 15


I went to see the doctor for a shoulder check-up and this may be the last time I see her. My right shoulder is just about pain-free but there still is crepidation. I may still be enjoying the effect of the cortisone shot, that can last as long as 6 months. If the inflammation returns she will “scope” the area and clean it up.


My body won’t let me be pain-free, however. Since my arms got better I’ve been gradually increasing my level of activity. Now I have fairly severe pain in my lower back (sacroiliac not spine). I’ve had some pain in that area for a long time. One day 2 weeks ago I did my normal hour on the treadmill with 30 minutes at a 6 degree slope and followed it by sitting at the computer for a long time paying bills, balancing the checkbook and catching up on budget tracking. The next morning I had trouble straightening up and walking with my right foot. I laid off all my exercise for a week to see if it would calm down but it didn’t. It’s bad for about 3 hours in the morning and then kicks in again about 6 PM. The doctor prescribed a 6-day Prednisone treatment to see if that will settle it and then a routine of stretching and proper walking to strengthen the area. I’m going to quit sloping the treadmill for a while.


While at the pharmacy waiting for them to prepare my prescription, I wandered around the store. I noticed that the rack that held Valentine’s cards was 80% empty. It was evidently a good year for the greeting card industry. On my way out of the store I passed the book section. An older woman (70s) was standing there looking at a paperback trying to decide whether to buy it. She was also there when I arrived at the store. The pink-colored paperback was titled “Satin Sheets”.

The rest of today will be spent cutting some headboard curve guides for the crib and making a temporary worktable to hold wood for gluing, sanding and assembly.

VALENTINE’S DAY – Feb 13th


Penny and I usually do not celebrate holidays like Valentines Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day on the actual day. We usually celebrate the day before when restaurants are not as crowded. That’s what we did today. So we made Feb 13th our Valentines day.


The day began with egg-in-a-basket. Instead of a circle cut in the bread I used a heart-shape. The weather was threatening and we were under a tornado watch all morning. Our plan was to go to lunch at Copeland’s in Pensacola and just explore the rest of the day. We haven’t spent much time in Pensacola for the past few years. Almost everything we used to go over there for is now available here or out in Destin. There has been a lot of change over there, too, so exploring made sense.


We rode over on Hwy 98 and noted how it was unusual now to find a stretch of road with no development on it. It used to be that except for Navarre there was very little on that drive. Now there is a Publix a couple Wal-Marts, Lowes, and every bank and fast food joint. There are a good number of Churches, too.


We got over there well before the 11 o’clock opening time of Copeland’s so we checked out a couple of likely hardwood sites. We found a place with a decent selection – not as much as in Quincy. They also had some interesting plywoods and even had hardwood veneers on MDF (medium density fiberboard). Penny did all the legwork on finding this place. I appreciate her help and support with my new hobby. We also found we hadn’t lost our touch in steaming up the car windows! When we came out of the first hardwood place – one that had no wood – we dashed to the car in the rain. Then we sat there as I punched in the address of the next place in the GPS. Ours is a low-end GPS and putting in a location takes a few minutes. When we got through we found the windows all fogged up from the evaporation off our clothes.


We got to Copeland’s at 11:10 in a downpour. We were pleased to get a parking place right by the door. We sat for a couple of minutes until the rain let up a little and then dashed for the door. That’s where we read the hand-written note “We will open at 1200 today”. So we dashed back to the car and went off in search of some Quilting shops.


We found out when we got back to Copeland’s that the kitchen was behind in preparation and the wait staff was undermanned. So they moved opening time to noon. We both enjoyed our meals and we had good service. When we came out the Sun was beginning to poke through the clouds. We ended up going to Lowes, Pet Supermarket, Office Max, Hobby Lobby, Beals, Ross, Shoe Station, and JoAnne’s, By then Penny had had it so we joined the bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic to get to I-10 and head home. We stopped at a Wendy's and had a small dinner while we watched the traffic finally thin out. Then it was home to relax, watch TV and play with Brie.


Penny and I enjoy spending a day together like this. We celebrated Valentine’s, did a little exploring and shopping in places we had interest in. The key to the enjoyment was just spending time together.

MARRIAGE PREPARATION.


Today, Sunday, is the day we do Pre-Cana. This is a church-sponsored marriage preparation program and fulfils a couple’s mandatory requirement to attend a marriage preparation program. We do this each quarter and our part of the 6 1/2 hour day is a 25-minute talk on communication, facilitating small group discussions on the various topics and helping out where needed. We’ve been doing this for a long time, something in the range of 20 years.


Today there are 20 couples attending. This is a fairly large group and we attribute that to the June “rush”. Usually there are 10-15 couples. Besides communication there are also talks on marriage as a sacrament, family of origin, money and finance, and sexuality/intimacy.


A room full of people planning to be married has a unique atmosphere. The room is full of the joy the couples have in finding that one special person to spend their lives with. Many still glow the way young people in love do. The couples are older than we used to see and understand themselves and their partner better. Of course there are those few we see that cause us to wonder if they will make it.


The program usually starts with the Pre-Cana team being introduced. Then each of the couples is asked to tell us where they met, when they get married and what they like best about their partner. Through the years we’ve heard some interesting stories. Some met at bars, others were introduced by friends or were interested in the friend of the person they are marrying but somehow ended up together. The one that sticks with me is the couple that met on the interstate. He passed her and she thought he was cute so she passed him and smiled a lot. He passed her again and they signaled to meet at the next rest stop. It is not unusual to have at least one couple in each group that has met on the Internet.


Our talk is the 3rd one of the day and we give it right after lunch. This audience is so much more attentive that the 7th graders I used to teach religious education. In our talk we explain communication, the differences between men and women, listening, communication roadblocks, and fighting fair. We use a clip from the movie “Forget Paris” and some quotes of Morrie (from Tuesdays with Morrie) about marriage. We also share some positive quotes about marriage. There is so much negative spin put on married life in every type of media. We end our talk with these positive quotes to try to balance things out.


I know 6 hours; 4 times a year is not a lot of time to give. We’ve been doing it so long there is essentially no preparation time beyond gathering our materials together the night before. But I want to know how they always pick the Sunday with the best weather to have Pre-Cana.


We get a lot out of each session. For me it is some vital social contact in retirement. It also is nice to see the new crop of engaged couples starting their lives together. We don’t track any couples to see how they make out so we have no firm idea about what influence we may have had on them. It is nonetheless rewarding to share our knowledge and experience with them and to see them working with their partner planning a life together.
We like to think we helped some marriages in our work here.


In the past the evening after Pre-Cana was usually pretty hectic. We had to feed the kids and get ready for school and work. Now we can just come home and relax. We don't even take the Pre-Cana stuff out of the car. This is one of the benefits of retiring. The downside is we had to get old to be here!

Wood


We went on a lumber adventure today to pick up project lumber to build the 3-in-1 bed and dresser/changing table for our first grandchild. Wood magazine had very nice plans for the project but I soon discovered that finding the right size lumber was not possible here locally. That’s another disadvantage to living in this relatively small town. Penny took an evening and searched the internet for the nearest locations that might have the lumber. The closest places were in Mobile and Quincy. Quincy seemed to be the better choice so today we dragged the trailer there and back and got all the lumber we will need for the project.


Not much noteworthy about the drive, but the experience at Quincy Hardwood was rather pleasant. The lumber warehouse (a large metal building) is essentially worked by 1 man and the office by 1 lady. The warehouse guy was a typical southern good-ole-boy. A family man and very helpful. We told him what we were looking for and he walked us around and showed us what he had. Since we don’t know yet whether the furniture will be painted, light wood or dark wood we compromised and got the least expensive hardwood that would do all 3, Ash. That’s the same type of wood baseball bats are made of. We can paint it or clear coat it for light wood or stain it for dark wood. The lumber guy devoted all his time while we were there to us. He said that’s his job but I think he went over and above his duties. He sifted through all of his ash boards selecting the best of what he had for us. We found just enough lumber to do the job and leave some margin for errors. I know there will be errors.

After selecting all the boards and plywood we needed we loaded up the trailer, again with lots of help from our friendly lumber man. He also made sure everything was secure before we headed out. We gave him a tip for his service.


On the drive back a big flatbed truck passed me. As he pulled away from me I saw that he had signs on his truck. An arrow pointing to the left side said El Paso meaning that was the side to pass on. An arrow pointing to the right side said El Masho – I think that is self-explanatory.

We got back home around 2:30, we had left about 7 AM. Penny helped me unload and put it into the shop’s wood storage. All of the wood on the top rack in the picture is for the project along with 5 sheets of plywood and some boards on the floor (2nd picture).

This is an ambitious project for me and will supply plenty of challenge to my woodworking skills. We’ve got about 6 months or more before it is needed so I don’t have to rush this. I’ve still got a little bit of shop setup to do before I start, but that is only a day or 2 of work. So I should actually start cutting soon.


There is good news in all this for my shoulders. With all the driving, lifting and carrying wood I did today my shoulders don’t hurt at all. The scar on my left shoulder hurts a little because the seat belt rubs it. I didn’t feel any crepitation either. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Pizza Pizza

A few years back Penny and I had a deep-dish pizza at Guglielmo’s Ciao Bella restaurant. When I tasted it I flashed back to Fairfield Pizza and the “Scamotz” cheese they had on it.

We asked what they used an they just said it was a good mozzarella cheese.


We did some research and found that scamorze (the real spelling of scamotz)was simply smoked mozzarella. We found some smoked mozzarella in Winn Dixie last weekend and we tried it on a pizza yesterday. It made a good pizza, but not like Fairfield pizza.

Our next try will be to use buffalo mozzarella.