Confusing the Weather Gods

"Chance of showers" - To Tar or Not to Tar, that is the question. My world, this about guarantees rain, so after tarring around the leaking vent, I pretended it was going to rain 'just in case'. I covered the unattached entrance with plastic and stuffed the garbage-to-go in my car (from Val's ceiling tear-out) before calling it a day. Usually if I plan for rain, it won't.

I imagine somewhere above the Rain God sat with his bucket of water labeled "Elaine's" and couldn't figure out if he (assumed gender) should slosh it, thereby watering the late-starting cukes and fresh tar, or withhold it since I'd prepped for rain. I believe I heard a bit of grumbling in the skies, but nary a drop fell.

Same time, I may just be a little more 'naturally high' than usual. Leaping from tar fumes to soggy-ceiling mold to bleach to ant-icide and topping it all off with a round of Deep Woods Off... Handy hint, after spraying oneself, it is unwise to put one's finger in one's mouth. And I have not yet decided if mixing screen-opener (commercial use in print industry), Windex and Goop is recommended - I was just trying to get a blob of ink off my good jeans when I cleaned out Printer #1.

Hindsight, right - I shouldn't have been wearing my good jeans. Once again proving hindsight is mostly useless.

Stays interesting here? Val's stuff is in the living room while her room gets a much-needed makeover. I insisted the damaged ceiling had to come out, because I knew it was b-a-d. Sunny days, I've targeted working outside on a multitude of projects, but evenings or rain I could work inside.

Weirdly enough, I became fixated on making Nettle Wine, but it has such a bland flavor I wanted to add chokecherry to it. Sera was complaining of the fermenting smell in the kitchen, but that was only for a week (like there's room for this with Val's stuff everywhere - a few paths through the living room and dogs invariably exactly where you're walking). Either I have about 4 gallons of wine setting up or I have 4 gallons of vinegar; we won't know which for awhile. I think the most interesting one may be the nettle / ginger root / orange. I didn't say palatable, I said 'interesting'. :)

Today Sera added to the chaos at 6:30 a.m. Neighbors have a pup in a kennel close to our house (and distant from theirs). No real shelter and alone a good 23 hours a day in it, and whines pathetically. Three out of three females in this house have suffered along with the pup, so today Sera brought it in to visit 'while it's raining' - she left a note on the kennel.

You can visualize for yourself what it looks like around here then.

But if you'd rather play...

Coolest thing on PBS - fractal geometry? Like I ever thought this would attract me, hm? Once it's applied to art, one has the most marvelous images! If they'd teach this in school, they would have had my full attention. An excellent visual is at http://www.fractalarts.com/ASF/galleries.html - wonderful images to just view. It has a link in the tutorial for a free download of 'Tiera-zon' which is pretty simple or Sterling2. No real instructions, just go play with it. Excellent fun, no math knowledge required! Created my new screensaver this way...

Let me know if you dabble a bit with this, say on a rainy day. :)

Self-analysis: Chaos everywhere, but a shot of 'cool playing' balances the insanity here. One cannot be enchanted and disheartened at the same time. Who'd've ever thought math would inspire me?? Certainly not my Algebra instructor!

A few weeks pass...

I don't remember what-all's been going on? I managed to seal off the roof around the vents, I think. We'll see.

I started a new class, and the first week has been 'internet hell' - had to download some massive programs (SQL stuff, which I know nothing about) and it didn't go well. I'm still not sure if I have it all functioning, but the last round of downloading took me about 6 hours... another 3 a.m. night, even though I started late afternoon (I said 'the last round took about 6 hours' - previous attempts failed).

So, yes, classes started last Wednesday "at 12 p.m.". Now we all know I'm nothing but logical, and in my world, 12 p.m. follows 11 p.m., and my class was scheduled for 8 p.m., therefore it meant we didn't have seminar last week. Of course, in the screwy 'real world', some durn fool thought it'd be great if we counted "9 p.m., 10 p.m, 11 p.m., 12... a.m. 1 a.m..." Idiot! Logically, the proper breaker would be "11 p.m., 12 p.m. - 1 a.m., do it again".

So my logic was in perfect working order and I missed the first seminar. 'Par for the course' so to speak.

I managed to whack off a huge chunk of printing, then my Olde Faithful printer sputtered. I haven't figured it out yet, the flashing lights indicate "professional service required" and no clues on the internet on what this particular sequence (green - orange - green - orange, continual) means. I know what the other coded flashing sequences mean and how to deal with most of them, but this one seems to be a whole lot more iffy. Sigh. We'll see.

(I even downloaded a service manual for $10, but I don't understand it.)

Luckily I had the gifted laser jet, hmm? It got me through the printing I needed... then sputtered. I don't know this machine at all, and certainly not intimately! At least my Canon I've seen the guts of. I previously downloaded the user's manual for this newbie, but it's the size of a small book. Sigh. We'll see.

Same time the Canon choked, the hamster died. I don't think there's a connection, but I did have Val in tears for a bit. She switched from tears to wondering if she could now get a ferret, in that we did give away the guinea pigs so she can find her room again - it had a barn-y smell about it often enough, wood chips strewn around, and the mice were finding her room a wonderful source of easy feeding. (Suffice it to say she's no neat-nik. - sigh.) Answer to the ferret: NO.

I did spend Saturday with my supervisor on observation, and the strangest thing -- it went well? So, skeptical that I may be, I did "EFT" my defensive attitude (www.emofree.com) and figured it was only 6 hours. That it went well was a pleasant surprise.

Oh, that reminds me - I didn't fill out my notes or set up transmission yet for today... I wonder if I skip it if someone in Kansas Regional Office will have alarms going off... probably. Best just spend the half-hour or so on it and keep the peace.

Peace, hmm? I pressed some new buttons for the peace group this morning, one of the last printing jobs before LJ printer sputtered. "Peace is a Cosmic Concept." I now have a new link to explore one day when I have time - 'A Course in Cosmic Consciousness' at http://www.hscti.com/coscons/ - I found it when I searched to make sure I was spelling 'consciousness' right, as in "Peace is a Higher Consciousness". Well, that seems true, in that Peace in this consciousness seems not-yet-evolved. 'Par for the course'... as I was driving to deliver the buttons, "Gimme Shelter" was on the radio. Which generation was that?

And had the slightly unusual, in that a freecycle post was for garden plants (and rocks and deck boards). The owners are moving rapidly because of employment and their realtor told them to plow their garden under and plant grass -- what a sick realtor! We saved tomatoes and peas and chives and flowers and raspberries and more from being tilled under. I did use Matt's truck to fetch home the deck boards & rocks, and while I was at it, tossed on a 7-foot tall, 8-foot wide A-frame 'arbor'. They had pole beans previously on it, and I thought it'd be cool to grow grapes up it. As soon as I get some grapes. But I have an arbor.

And I also have a pretty good-sized pile of dirt outside my room where I poured some concete to put the free-standing entrance that will eventually be built from leftover Menard's pallets (the ones Pete donated last fall / winter) and the door that will be a window. What's odd is that I have not yet saw-zalled the front steps off the house.

Val wants to redo her room, and I'm insisting we tear out the old ceiling since it's shot. I have the insulation to replace the old, and there's no sense in painting over 'the old ugly' - ugly as in damaged. She wants me to take out her closet - it's not a supporting wall and would make the room bigger for living in. I'm okay with that, but the electric panel is in 'the short wall'. She thinks I should just move it, but --- I'm not tampering with major electrical!! Enough juice in that box to run the whole house, and I'm not messing with it! Some things are best left alone, and this is one of them?

On the universal-insane side, David Long (Chicago relative, they hosted the last family reunion, nice people) took his dog out for a walk and never came home. Both of them - David and the dog - lost their lives to a hit-and-run driver. Whoever's in charge of the universe, I want them to know this is just wrong. I'm sure David's okay where he's at, but a lot of people aren't okay, especially his family. I sympathize with his wife and family. Things like this are beyond comprehension, and that's how easily Life can change in flash.

This does serve as a reminder for the rest of us to not take each other for granted. Jim, once again, give Laurie a hug 'just because' she's with you and you're glad she is! I know already you're one of the wise ones, but get all the hugs in you can while you can? Eventually, this is all that really matters, isn't it?

Now that I've served myself my own dose of humility, I can handle 'my world' a little more gently. Kind of like the other button: Peace - Be Amazing Together. I simply don't have time to fight with anyone when there's better things to do, and I think this should be true of everybody.

Hugs to all.