Whiling Away The Hours

All I have gotten done on the kitchen is getting the frame for the oven built.  It is amazing how long it can take me to get things done.  Of course, since I figured out the easiest way to handle the power would be just to re-run the existing line I won't be able to power up the oven until we are done with the old one.  Oh well.  The task for today is to rerun the heating duct that now has to go around where the oven is.

As we were walking this morning Charlie found something he wanted to roll in.  I never want to know what it is.  Except that he basically just laid down, and when I got to the end of the leash he just stayed laying rather passively as I dragged him onto the sidewalk and then along the sidewalk.  Sometimes I really wonder what is going on in that little brain of his.  He got up before we had gone too much farther.

And... I just looked out the window to notice big, fluffy snow flakes coming down.  I don't know if they will amount to anything, but it is nice to watch them fall.  It's still 34° out there, so it is either going to have to snow harder or the temperature will need to drop more for anything to accumulate.  Oh - as if on command, it is snowing harder.

More Snow

So this is what the back looks like this morning:

 And incidentally, this is what the thermometer looked like this morning:

So overall, life is good!

Also, our new double oven was delivered this morning.  I have been working on getting the space prepared for it, but I did not make it, so it is sitting in the middle of where the wall used to be.

SNOW!!

I suppose that anybody who reads this already knows that I am something of a fan of snow.  However, this winter we have had little snow.  This morning when I got up to leave for the temple I was very excited to discover a skiff of snow on the ground.  It was little enough, but after so long with no snow I was pretty excited.

When I came out of the temple it was still snowing lightly, and although there was still no accumulation, I was glad it was at least still falling.  However, in the last half hour or so the snow started falling much harder, and look what has happened:

OK, it still does not count as one of the greatest blizzards ever, but there is over half an inch of snow out there!  I am happy.

Alright, back to destroying the kitchen.

Cut and Paste

I have worked my morning shift at the temple, now I get to try to do a little kitchen work before the afternoon shift.  However, I am not doing battle with the soffit today.  Since we have ordered the oven I know exactly the dimensions I need, so it is time to prepare its final resting pace, so to speak.  The opening "may be" a little slim, so I "may" have to trim some 2x4's to make enough room.  Sigh.  Well, at least I know its not a load bearing wall, since it is right next to the load bearing wall I just replaced.

This is a heading

As Charlie and I were out walking this morning we got into a neighborhood we have never traversed before, and I was trying to find a trail back into the greenbelt.  I got thinking about what direction I was actually going, and realized that with the sun up I could figure it out easily enough.  I had to think a couple of seconds because ... hmm ... I was going approximately 180° different than what I thought.  Still, that is rather comforting.  No matter how confused I think I am about my heading, I am actually never more than 180° off.

So, traveling is bad for my adherence to most habits.  I only did my regular scripture study twice, only wrote here once, and a few other things suffered.  But I got to see my mother and grandkids (oh, and children), so that was good.

One classic moment was when I tried to adjust a blind, and the whole thing came crashing down.  My 4-year old grandson looked rather shocked and said "Gramps, you shouldn't do that!"  Of course, he's the same one that tried to convince his parents he should come home with us.  I thought we had explained to him that, tempting as that was, it was not realistic.  However, when we actually got in the car and backed out of the driveway he dissolved into tears.

On the drive home last night we encountered one patch of ice on the freeway.  It was only 10 or 15 feet long, but it was on a gentle curve, and that whole thing about 0 centripetal force means you go in a straight line tangential to the circle kicked in, and for just a moment it was alarming.  Physics is nice, but every now and then it can be a bother.

Well, back home, and back to the old grind.  I have to admit that I am not disappointed that the old grind does not include work.

Some Better News

I have been up in Northern Idaho visiting my mother the last few days.  Last Saturday she went in for an MRI to help the doctor assess the progress of her Parkinson's disease.  After reviewing the MRI the doctor said that she does not have Parkinson's, only some other less serious problem.  It will be possibly two weeks before he will have time to explain things fully to her, but apparently he is not gravely concerned.  So overall this is good news.

Being away from home and removed from such routine as I had developed has caused me to be even less productive than normal.  I have gotten a few things done here, but mostly I have enjoyed talking with my Mom.  It is not uncommon to discover that we have spent two or three hours just reminiscing.

Egging on the Dog

I have to admit that summer is beautiful.  There, I said it.  However, this is February, and it is not supposed to be summer out there!  I think it was 75° as I was coming back from errands.  Wonderful.

Just as Charlie and I were finishing our walk this morning someone called on the phone, so I ended up setting his leash down on the front porch as I opened the door.  Just now I got back from running several errands, noticed the leash, and picked it up to put it away.  Of course, as soon as I opened the door there was Charlie, who was desperate anyway after having been abandoned at home for 2 whole hours.  When he saw the leash in my hand he immediately knew I was going to walk him again, so he went completely crazy.  The message that I just put the leash away in the closet was not received as clearly as the message about us walking again.

While I was out I happened to buy three Cadbury Eggs (local grocery store always has them "buy two, get one free" this time of year).  I tried to find some that did not have goo leaking out of the wrapping, but was unsuccessful.  I said something to the cashier about it, and he said it was the elevation here that causes them to leak.  I had never thought of that.  Oh well.  Makes sense.  Oh, and as far as the eggs themselves, don't worry - I'm buying them for ... umm, ... For a science experiment!  Yeah, that's it, a science experiment.

How Did I Ever...

Of course, the continuation for the title is "...find time to work?"  It's a cliche, but I really don't know where I found the time to spend 9 or 10 hours at work each day.

Yesterday and today are pretty much consumed by grading exams for my class, so the cabinets haven't progressed at all.  I am substituting at the temple this evening, and tomorrow I fly up to see my mother.

Let me be clear, however, I am not complaining.  I love being retired!

Slight Soffit Hope

Well, after ripping off about half the soffit on the side where I wanted to put the cabinet there is a slight improvement - the drain from the bathroom actually does not extend down into the soffit.  That is at least one thing I don't have to worry about.

I took down all the upper cabinets in the kitchen yesterday as preparation for tearing out the soffit.  It is amazing how much stuff was in some of those cabinets.  My body is telling me that I could have eased into this exercise a little more gently.

The interesting part about taking down the cabinets is that after removing the screws they still wouldn't budge - every single one was held to the wall by the paint behind it.  In general that meant I really had to pry them off the wall, but the largest one (the corner cabinet) came loose all at once and crashed down onto the counter top.  That was exciting.

Great Soffitin' Succotash

Sorry, Charlie - we only walked 54 minutes this morning.

Yesterday I decided to install the first cabinet in the kitchen.  It is kind of off to one side by itself, so I figured it would be pretty straight-forward.  Right.

We decided we wanted to get rid of the soffit so that our cabinets could go up to the ceiling.  When we were ordering the cabinets I even cut into one part of the soffit to make sure there was nothing inside.

As it turns out, there are soffits on two sides of the kitchen.  The one I cut into had nothing in it.  However, I am installing the cabinet on the other wall.  Maybe a picture is worth a few words:

That is looking straight up from where I cut out a section of the soffit covering.  Yes - lots of electrical wires, water pipes, and ... Wait, what is that 1.5" PVC pipe?  I have no idea.  To the left of the picture you can see the joist for the ceiling - it would have taken the builders a lot of work to run everything 6" higher so it was within the joists instead of the soffit, but Noooo!  Also, if we could pivot and look behind where this picture is taken we would see the drain from the upstairs bathroom which also extends down into the soffit.  So this job went from a couple of hours of destruction to days of rerouting things.

Well, it's not like I don't have the time...

New Week, New Walk

Delkys is not feeling well, so she stayed home from school, and I slept in so I got a really late start.  Charlie and I walked for an hour and a half because we went quite a ways from home and, while not lost, didn't know exactly where we were.  When we got back into an area we knew we discovered the trail was closed for work on a bridge, so we had to detour onto some smaller trails that turned out to be very muddy.  It was 60° and I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, but it still got rather hot.

Primary was wonderful yesterday.  The kids are so enthusiastic, and we have a lot of fun.  Yesterday we were talking about the restored gospel, and we had a discussion about what it means to restore something.  I had them pass around an interesting crystal decoration we have, and then told one of the kids to hide it behind his back.  When the others wanted their turn to see it I explained it was lost, and needed to be restored.  Maybe a little corny, but I figure they'll remember what the word means.

Not All Time Is My Own

Friday illustrated another truth about retired life - sometimes being retired means being available for things that others simply cannot do.  A friend needed someone to provide transportation to and from the hospital for some "minor" surgery.  So most of Friday was spent at the hospital.  Hopefully I can always remember to make myself available to help.

My mother also called to tell me she has Parkinson's disease.  After accompanying my father on his way down the Parkinson's trail she knows what she is in for, but is trying to keep herself on an even keel anyway.  She is a remarkable example of a good person.  She will have to make a number of decisions in a fairly short time, which is not her style, but no matter what she chooses I know she will do well.

Freezing Rain

It is not very common in Denver to get freezing rain, but we got some last night.  When I went out to walk Charlie I quickly realized it was very slippery.  I had my vibram-soled boots on, but before I made it two houses down the street I slipped and fell.  Ouch.  So we walked our full hour, but what Charlie noticed was that we didn't go as far as normal because I was walking on the grass or whatever next to the sidewalk the whole way.  He has 4-wheel drive, so he really does not understand the limitations under which I labor.

Being in the temple yesterday was wonderful.  There are plenty of things to remind me how human and fallible I am, but I also enjoy the opportunity to give service.  At one point I was talking with a young couple who were there, and he told me that I taught him in Primary many years ago - for three weeks before the ward was divided.  I was amazed that he would remember.

I have just had two phone calls from people needing help at odd times, and it is really wonderful to be able to say "Sure, I can do that!"  Being retired is a really good thing.

Temple Day

For quite a while I have officiated at the 6:30 a.m. session at the temple on the first Wednesday of the month.  This month I asked the coordinator if I could stay and work the entire shift.  Once he learned about my employment status he asked if I could work every Wednesday morning, which was what I was planning anyway.  For the moment I am not working the second shift on Wednesday so that I can come home and do a little during the day, but even that might change.

Yesterday I undid what I had done the previous day in connecting the island cabinets together because I realized I didn't like the way I had done it.  I made some improvements to my technique, and now the island is all joined together in one giant block of cabinets.  Still need to attach it to the floor, but first I need to decide exactly where it is going to be located.

I got a USB disk enclosure yesterday so I was able to remove the hard drive from my (water damaged) computer, but for some reason I can't get it to mount correctly, so I still haven't recovered any data from the drive.  I will work on that more as I get time.