Day 18,518 give or take a few

For those of you who wonder 'now what the heck is she up to?' - this blog's for you! I've been time-challenged on emails, and if you know me, you know they get a bit bizarre (for anyone with two feet on the planet, anyway). This way, you can check in when you have a moment or when your life is ho-hum, and soon be glad "you're not here."

What am I up to? Well, I'm thinking I should psyche myself up and mail out the seasonal (approximately, tend to miss a few years between) letter I wrote. I optimistically purchased stamps before Christmas, but "life got busy". It would have been an A+ on my personal score if they were mailed in 2008, I figure I rank a B if they're out before February, a C if anyone receives them in March... and after that, they're out of date, anyway, and I may as well wait for the few months until Christmas comes again. (For a few of my relatives, I'll keep trying - could happen yet.)

I'm trying to remember what Life got Busy With - aside from snow, cold, classes, dogs, getting a few goldfish, bringing home a tub to redo the bathroom (again) one day in the future, and the usual. Living does seem to take most of my time. Trying to stay that way takes the rest of it?

Like having a small heater under my computer by the cold outer wall that I turn on and off, but the last time something went 'clink' and something smelled 'hot' so I turned it off and now wonder - should I turn it on again? Keep in mind, if it blows the breaker, my computer will lose whatever I haven't saved... I suppose I could circumvent this by simply plugging the heat-pad in under my feet. :)

Non-critical elements will be part of this blog as I figure out my own answers. It'd be rather a nuisance if I burned the house down right now - "I'm busy."

I have to explain my grocery list for this weekend (I don't 'have' to, but I will anyway) - apologies to my veg-friends for the bologna, but I did grow up on a beef farm for some years; I had to 'make peace' with my dinner at an early age. I don't normally bother with much meat - takes too long to cook, and peanut butter is protein. And I did buy tea, if that helps balance the junk. Mostly I went to the store to buy dog rawhides to keep them busy while Sera & Val are in the cities. They took one dog with them, so I have 3 large ones hanging out with me.

I've been challenging the computer for hours on end the last few weeks, and managed to "not" get my assignments done? - I was working on a bigger picture associated to the assignments, but not sure that qualifies. Soon... I'll have this major project done - then on to the next, whatever It may consist of. That It rather worries me, as if I should start high-dosing on mega-vitamins, because I haven't torn out any ceilings yet or moved a wall lately.

I did get the sigh of a leak in my room again, part of the lack-of-slope on the addition combined with poor insulation, no air space, and ice buildup (gads, I'm learning more than I ever wanted to know about this stuff). The repair last year was intended to keep it from falling in, and since this is where I live, seemed like a good idea. I didn't have time to do much more on this portion... If the universe opens up a source of good-wood, one never knows what I may do with it! I can't put a deck on, in that it might be frowned upon, but if I just happen to sit on 'a flat roof' I defy anyone to tell me it's not a roof. :)

Anyway... took me a fair amount of effort to chisel off the ice. About 3 feet wide, 2 - 4 inches thick, and despite this seemingly piddly amount --. While I was up there chuck-chuck-chuck-crunk-ing with the ice chisel (for those who want a visual, it's about 5 feet long, heavy wood handle, and beats using the butcher knife), I felt an insane kindred spirit with an Eskimo named Next-Time-I'm-Reincarnated-It'll-Be-Someplace-Warm, but I also sensed NTIRIBSW laughing at me. Sheer desperation, my brain went off to calculate my progress, rather than listen to the whining of my arms and back. As in, 20 feet long by 3 feet wide for 4 hours, or if one wants to simplify, that'd be 5 feet long by 3 feet per hour, which is 15 square feet (correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd appreciate it more if you just brought a chisel over) which neatly fits into an hour and led me to conclude it was taking me about 4 minutes per square foot. Chuck-chuck-chuck-chink, chuck-chuck-chuck-chink. That was after I shoveled the whole thing off - guess the universe figured I needed fresh air and exercise.

If the small leak had been on the porch, I could have easily ignored it for now. But it was dangerously close to my computer and panic set in. I already know leaks appear in one place, but it doesn't mean that's where water is entering the roof - it's sneaky that way. ONCE I was about 3/4 done, I realized I could have simply put an umbrella up over my computer and called it a day. On the plus side, at least these two days were over 25 degrees out! We're back in the -20's now, and Death is, like, 2 feet away from me on the other side of the wall. (Think spring, think spring, think spring -- I hear it's worse in Alaska?)

My days just happen that way. I planned to sweep the floor, take a shower, and get on schoolwork, but between 'sweep' and 'shower' I chiseled instead. I can't explain the craving for ice cream then - maybe it takes the place of heat-producing blubber in other cultures? If I start craving anti-freeze, I'll seek professional help.

Now we all understand why I haven't emailed recently, right? Not quite, hmm? Then I'll add few more unsavory details, like the less-bright dog that decided to eat some carpeting on the porch - seriously not good for their guts. I called the vet, and learned: for a large dog, a few tablespooons of hydrogen peroxide (I had syringes for refilling printer ink, so used one of them minus needle) will cause them to regurgitate. Works quickly, and that's all I have to say about that! The other not-so-bright one then chewed on my pin cushion, but luckily I caught him at it in time. Same one who seemed to have injured his tail shortly thereafter, but it's okay, too. Did I mention Val broke her toe last month? It's totally normal here!

What I want to know is - are all cells about the same size? Do elephants have cells about the size of ours, just more of them, or are they larger? And vice versa, do mosquitoes have cells the same size as ours, just fewer, or are they smaller? For some reason, I was thinking about a mosquito dining on a red blood cell, and wondered if their cells were smaller. If anyone has ideas on this, share. It's just another one of those useless things I like to know and obviously not critical to my well-being.

Truth of it, I was thinking about all the space between atoms and protons and such, and quantum physics, and pondered if all time and space weren't neatly arranged in these (multiple universes, too). It'd be like those 3-D pics with different pictures, depending on where you were looking from. (There's a thought to contemplate!) It'd explain the quantum question of "where" things are when they're "not here" - they're here, just not in our view. I won't share how far down this rabbit-hole one can travel. Now I'm trying to literally be 'beside myself'. :)

Hey, if I can figure that one out, then I'm going to try for Mexico next 'while I'm still here'. :)

There is method to my madness, you just can't see it head-on. You have to kind of twist sideways for it to make perfect sense. "Humans are the biggest threat to humans", and that's what worries me. I think we're designed for so much more, if we just 'knock off the nit-picking' as my dad used to say to us kids. (okay, so who was picking nits, anyway, and doesn't this saying kind of remind you of the monkey-clan?)

I know... I could have been doing school work, but my brain is obviously dysfunctional right now.

End -- Day 18,518 give or take a few