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Didn't mean to leave you all hanging! When I take a hiatus - I take one... I now stand accused. Please forgive me for I have sinned.
I haven't written for over a year and now I'm back... so if you haven't read the archives from the previous journal, please do. It'll give you a better idea of who in the hell I am.
So much has happened since I spoke to you last... hmmmmm... now how could I possibly catch up?
The fact is that maybe I can't... BUT I can give you a few details of things that transpired over the past year plus... be patient because it's gonna take me some time...
The most notable difference in my life today is that I have a new girlfriend < ! > and she is quite the compliment to my life... need I say more? < yeah... probably should, eh? Well then, I probably will later! > Now lets see... I'll call her Cassandra. Cass for brevity.
Oh... no doubt I get around to explaining my side of the story regarding my breakup with "L" < aka Laura earlier in this journal > but, frankly I don't feel like digressing and regurgitating any part of that crap yet. Although - you can bet I will publish some details at a later date... as I had been feverishly writing before, during and a little after that time.
THAT is the main reason I stopped writing in this forum - because of L.
She hated that I wrote and that some of you even wrote back... her jealousy was capable of reaching the most ridiculous proportions...BUT - since I was writing for a time I wouldn't have dared to have revealed the bullshit she was giving me on any level... why? Because I was willing to do whatever I should do to keep my relationship. As you can see... even that didn't work. And somewhere in my heart, I must have known that it wouldn't.
Drama. Drama. High drama...
...I'll get to that later. You know - when I have a slow day. ;^)
That said, how about moving along?
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GAWD! Another month slips by...
...after noticing this, I feel somewhat unprepared for it, although I can't say why.
The inception of this first day celebrating itself with a gloomy gray overhead can only mean one thing: rain. The flowers and the garden asked for it. Why? Because last evening I decided to agonize all growing things in the yard by a decision to be entirely lethargic. The appearance of the ungrateful keeper of plant life, none other than myself, refusing to acknowledge the bright blue cast of the garden hose coiled upon the arm of the wooden post and all the screaming vegetation < Martha would not be proud >.
My last thought before I fell asleep last night was guilt driven plant abuse.
Ahhhhhh! I awoke this morning to find that it had rained last night. As I looked out the window into the fairly foggy yard, I could see that the garden soil had been blackened by rain. The plants were quiet again.
Par for the mad handyma'am course, I have a million thought march going on in my cranium.
Right now I'm trying to get together a list of materials to build a fence that is already built in my mind. Of course, this is no ordinary fence. This fence is part of the overall conceptual plan in the compound that is better known as the house I gutted and rebuilt and added extensively on to.
The fence in question is going to be used to make what I refer to as the courtyard project. The big project in the summer of 2000. While I realize that it might sound rather snotty to say you have a courtyard, but the project is actually going to tie the whole house together.
Why am I doing this? Well, the additions gave the house 4 exterior doors. The two newest doors are in the rear of the original house, one door in the 12x24 wing off the kitchen and another in the 10x14 master bath addition. I had decided to put a door on the bathroom addition for a couple of reasons. The first being that < finally > I got smart and decided that I wouldn't be ripping a hole through the old window on the original part of the house to replace it with a door until the majority of the construction dirt was done flying. Another reason was that it would be much easier to bring the whirlpool tub I want directly into the room instead of trying to carry it through the entire house. Lastly, when completed, the bathroom would be readily accessible from the courtyard/backyard. It makes perfect sense to me...
I fret therefore I am
Now I'm at that fretting stage again. Checking and re-checking all of my plans to make sure that I haven't forgotten anything. And while I'm at it, getting another load of lumber delivered, I may as well get the trim materials I need for the house yet, too. Oh shit. Will I want to build planters? Benches? An outdoor potting area? An outdoor table, booth and/or - an outdoor bar? Oh shit again - I need to change the oil in the lawnmower. I need to remove and sharpen the blades, too. I need to change the spark plugs in the old truck. I need to get a new chain saw blade. I need to clean the barn. I need to get my tools in a group. Some trees out back require staking. More raspberries want to be transplanted. The house windows need to be washed. Grapevines need to be trimmed. The car needs to be waxed as well as the kitchen floor. The picnic table needs to be repaired. Old annoying rust stains must be removed from the driveway concrete. The Outback Inn needs a spider bomb before I'll sleep in the loft again. The firepit needs to be shoveled out from last years bonfires. The dog has that damn chronic ear infection again. What size screws do I get for the courtyard fence project and how damn many? Do I have enough chicken wire for a garden fence to keep the rabbits out? Do I have to go to the bank today? OHMYGOD! Am I getting carpal tunnel symptoms? Is that why my elbow is throbbing?
Sheesh. Make it stop will ya? Turn OFF the neurons!
I'm laughing. Yes I am........
Must be squirrel mating season. As I drove toward work this morning, I couldn't help but notice at least 10 dead squirrels on or near the road. That's an amazing amount of mini-carcasses in a 15-20 minute commute. I hate gut piles of any type but these were downright weird. They visually ranged from the traditional hairy innard piles to what resembled bloody tortillas... ewwwwwwwwww. These things should not be witnessed prior to coffee. Hell, not even after.
Yucky. Enough of that... let's move along:
Ahhhhhh! The courtyard/fence project is going full-tilt. The hardest part of the project was putting in the posts. The holes were dug with a manual post hole digger. The 13 - count ‘em... thirteen 4x6x12 posts were trimmed, leveled and buried with concrete 3 ½ feet deep.
Let me tell you - this is some fence. Not ordinary < of course not >. 7 and a half feet tall on the south side and, over 6 feet on the north. This sucker is built for armeggedon. The differences in fence height described are due to the contour of the ground, it's not because the fence is zig-zagging. The top of this baby is straight on the level bubble... hmmmmmm... this could be my favorite project to date!
Now why in the hell would this be my fave project? OK... I'll tell ya... it's because of the work involved and the payoff. I'm not trying to undermine the fact that the fence isn't a pile of work because it is... BUT - it's not as much work as either of the additions that have been built already. AND... when it's done it's like an instant "room" without < of course > a roof... but it's still a room to me! As of today we have the boards on the north side to finish... if we're lucky < which we are! > we'll complete that within a week. Then, the remaining work will be for me to build and install a gate.
I swear that one of these days I'm gonna sit down. I might learn to do nothing for a change of pace...
...but then, maybe not.
Sacrifice and discipline. Is to go without while indulging in intense concentration.
Slight suffering for a reason.
Hey?! Does this mean I have masochistic tendencies?
The fretting paid off! Cass and I are proud of our hard work - the fence looks exactly how I had imagined... and that doesn't happen too often. But it's WAAAAAAAAAAY easier when you have enthusiastic help!
So what's next on the agenda? How about an outdoor bar for the fenced in courtyard...
Now, do you wanna build a fence? Here's a great link for help in calculating it...
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