Reading and Writing

 

Since we were grounded in March, I thought this would be a perfect time to finish my last book in the Turkey Grove Series.  Not only have I not finished it, but I’ve also barely worked on it.  I have people contacting me asking when it will be complete.  I should be motivated, but I’m just not writing.

 My goal is to write a blog every seven to ten days, but that’s not happening either.  I’m way behind my goal.

 So what’s the problem?  I tell Aloma that I’m too busy.  I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow; I’m going to Costco the next day and Lowe’s the day after and then have to pay the bills.  Years ago, I left for work at 6:00 a.m., got home at 5:30 p.m., did the yard work, paid bills and still had time to do some Kodak work in the evening.  I wonder what has changed.

 Now I do have time for reading.  I record the title and author of books I’ve read and have completed 62 books so far this year, 90% fiction.  I love to read and visualize the scenes, feeling the emotions of the characters.  For me, a good book is better than a movie.  It’s interesting that my selection of books has changed (topic for another blog).

 I have to stop writing now.  I need to walk to the mailbox and get the mail.  But that would be doing two things today.  The mail will still be there tomorrow.

 Seasoned Man

stevelem117@gmail.com

More Landscapping

 

Since we are staying at home, I’ve started a new landscaping project for our backyard--an irrigation system.

 We spend a lot of time watering our plants during the summer so I mentioned to Aloma what she thought about an irrigation system.  She encouraged me from the get-go.

 I diagramed our back area to place sprinklers and soak hoses where I thought they should go.  I bought sprinkler heads and valves, tested them, and bought a controller that would control six zones independently.  I built a complicated manifold for them out of PVC pipe, which I had never worked with before.  I finally got everything to work including an App on my phone to program and control each zone, even when we are away.

 When everything worked, I then had to dig trenches and a hole for the valves and manifold.  I had to take the connections and wiring apart to install the final system (and mixed the wires up so now the zones are different than before).  But, it works and I’m Aloma’s hero--again.

 This project took three weeks because I didn’t know what I was doing and for every

30 minutes of work, I sat in a chair and looked at it for 45 minutes.  Testing everything before installing it caused a lot of extra work.  I struggled making connections tight because my old hands don’t work so well. 

 In any case, I’m glad that I took the project on and I’m grateful that it works. 

 The last item I'm going to work on is so Aloma can say, “Alexa, turn on Zone 4 for 30 minutes.”

 

Seasoned Man

stevelem117@gmail.com