Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The results from my tests were fine. I didn’t even call to get them so I am glad I have gotten a healthy distance from the terror I felt three years ago.
I had to reseal my camper top because it soaked everything inside during the day and a half of rain we had. I hope all the work will pay off since it is a pain taking everything out and drying it.
My left shoulder is making progress and I think by next week I will be able to play golf again. I would love to hit a few balls but I don’t want to reinjure my shoulder.
Justin Craig and I are going to work on Light My Fire, a song we both love. It will be a nice break from straight jazz.
More spinach from my greenhouse and the lettuce is almost ready.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Things are going very well even though my shoulder is slow to heal.
I did a very good performance at Gillie’s on Friday, and it was fun to play with Bobby the bassist. I haven’t played with him in a year or so and it makes it much easier for me since he keeps a steady rhythm going. My solo on Black Coffee was my best ever, and the overall audience reaction was first rate, lots of clapping.
I finished staining the entire back porch, just before the wonderful rains that came today.
I also took some of the runners from the strawberries and planted them in the one remaining box. I hope they take. I also cleaned out the greenhouse and did some cleaning up in the cabin.
I went to see Maddie Gallo perform at the Chilhowie marching band competition and it was a lot of fun. She was very good and her band won all the awards.
I e-mailed the vet up in Rocky Mount, but I almost wonder why I want to be involved with someone. I do like living by myself and I am not sure I would be a good partner right now.
I survived another blood test and flu shot and I am not too worried about the results since I am feeling so good.
Things are going very well even though my shoulder is slow to heal.
I did a very good performance at Gillie’s on Friday, and it was fun to play with Bobby the bassist. I haven’t played with him in a year or so and it makes it much easier for me since he keeps a steady rhythm going. My solo on Black Coffee was my best ever, and the overall audience reaction was first rate, lots of clapping.
I finished staining the entire back porch, just before the wonderful rains that came today.
I also took some of the runners from the strawberries and planted them in the one remaining box. I hope they take. I also cleaned out the greenhouse and did some cleaning up in the cabin.
I went to see Maddie Gallo perform at the Chilhowie marching band competition and it was a lot of fun. She was very good and her band won all the awards.
I e-mailed the vet up in Rocky Mount, but I almost wonder why I want to be involved with someone. I do like living by myself and I am not sure I would be a good partner right now.
I survived another blood test and flu shot and I am not too worried about the results since I am feeling so good.

Friday, September 24, 2010

I have had to take a break from golf because my left shoulder is killing me. I hurt it fixing the holes in the porch from the hot tub and it isn’t healing. Jeff, the massage therapist, worked on it and that helped but I really strained something in the shoulder so rest it is.
I have put in my research grant proposal for Freda Creek but I don’t have any great hopes. I didn’t get one last year and my proposal is the same.
I keep hiking every morning and that is a great joy. It is almost October and today will be 95. We really need rain or the leaves are just going to turn brown.
A couple of days ago a pack of coyotes woke me just at dawn and they seemed to be right outside the window. They make quite a racket but it’s their world out there so I will just enjoy the wildness.
My solar is still working very well, with sunny days producing from 3.5 to 5 kilowatts and my usage is between 1.8 and 2.5 kilowatts.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Still plenty of wildflowers on my morning walk, with horse balm still around, white snakeroot, great lobelia, orange touch me not, wingstem, asters and goldenrods. It is wonderful to live in the hollow, especialy in the spring and fall.
My greenhouse is doing well and the sugar snap peas and the spinach in two new planters have emerged. The first three planters are full of spinach, lettuce and sugar snap peas and I should be eating spinach in a few days.
I stained the small shed with thompson’s and all the major stuff is taken care of but we could use some rain. I would like to see how the new ditching and waterbars work. It is so dry I watered the trees in the orchard.
I haven’t used the generator in weeks and the solar is at 1225, which is fine. I hope to keep the refrigerator going until December if possible. Right now on a sunny day I am bringing in about 3.5 kilowatts and using about 2.
I got a very high evaluation from my chair and I also turned in my research proposal for Freda Creek. It would be a big help to get some funding for my trip out west this summer.
I also signed up for a 5 day cruise in late December. I hope it will be fun and I hope it leads to another cruise.

Friday, September 17, 2010

The road looks good and today I scraped it a bit, and added another water bar where Ronnie finished ditching the road. I rebuilt the other two and took the tractor up to the orchard and cleared the last space around the perimeter so now I can run the lawn tractor around the whole orchard. I also seeded the new spot so I should have grass there soon after we get some rain. It does look rather nice.
Nothing new on Match.com but I certainly am not in a hurry to meet anyone. If the right person comes up, then I will contact them.
The house is in very good shape right now and I want to treat the small shed with Thompson’s when I get a chance. Every time I take a walk I find something else to do.
The wildflowers are still quite lovely, with New York Ironweed, mistflower, white snakeroot, great lobelia, orange touch me not, round leaved white aster and several goldenrods to name a few.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

I lucked out with the weather today. I got the grass cut just before it started raining.
After the grass cutting, I decided to work on the holes in the porch from the hot tub since the rain prevented me from working outside or doing a hike. I finished cutting out all the rectangles and then I prepared the patches that will fit underneath. I was a bit worried about whether I could place then without help but I got all four of them fastened with the screwgun with little trouble. Next I had to cut the pieces of 2 by 6 that will fit in the holes and that also went pretty well and it was easy to secure them. Now the porch is all fixed and looks very good.
I really like how the road is coming out. It should be a lot safer this winter.
Last night I went to the Radford High School Football game mainly to see Maddie Gallo perform in the marching band and she was quite good, as was the game, won by Radford with a final second field goal.
I still have some of the orchard road to trim and I wonder if I should just close the whole thing down. It would save me a lot of work and the orchard was not my idea. I may wait till the following year to decide.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Ronnie has started work on the road and it looks much better already. If we get a lot of snow, I shouldn’t have a lot of trouble getting up to the house.
I did some cleaning in the orchard shed, and I found a black widow spider with web right by the doorway. I don’t mind black widows (one lived in my outhouse many years ago, and I did examine things a bit before I sat down) so I left it alone.
I cleared up by the solar panels and after I spent a good hour up there, I got over 5 kilowatts in for the day, up from 4. That is a big difference and may mean I can keep the refrigerator going for an extra month.
I started clearing the stuff left from the hot tub. I removed the piping and cut out the holes into even rectangles, easier to match. I have to put some plywood pieces underneath so the flooring pieces will have some support.
My greenhouse is going very well, and the peas are over four inches tall. I took out the tomato and bean plants and I will put in some more things this weekend.
My classes continue to go well, and I want to keep them going smoothly. Usually I will get one or two disruptive students but so far things are calm.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The fall wildflowers are a lot of fun to study. I have identified at least twenty and a couple still have me baffled. I have been walking regularly in the morning and it is such a joy to be in such a lovely spot.
My teaching is going well, and I think I have gotten the Literature and the Environment course back on track. My other courses are going quite well, so that always makes me feel better.
Rob Solomon and I took a second walk to Deerfield and we identified perhaps twenty plants, including mistflower and New York Ironweed. It is very near his house and the flora is much more interesting than in his neighborhood.
Justin won’t be able to play this weekend so I won’t be performing till next week. In our lesson today we worked mainly on new stuff.
The woman I e-mailed didn’t respond so I will wait till another promising candidate appears. I am really in no rush, as my life is reasonably calm and very productive.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Things are going well. My performance last night was pretty good even though my horn gave me some trouble.
I took out the rock near the cabin solar, sprayed the cistern locks, cut more of the road to the orchard, cleaned the orchard shed a little, treated the steps with Thompson’s, put the kayaks back in the tractor barn, cleaned up the greenhouse a little, practiced my horn, wrote a poem for Noah Solomon, and started preparing my classes for next week. I also copied my poetry manuscript to a disk so I can send it to Finishing Line.
I sent my first Match.com e-mail out to a woman in Roanoke who seemed interesting and attractive.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

It’s Thursday, September 2, and I have just finished my first week of classes. My only concern is with the Literature and the Environment class where I might have been a little preachy. I know I should avoid that but nature still remains my passion.
I have finished my Faculty Annual Report and set up a reading for October for Jim Minick and his new book. I will try to set up at least one more reading this semester.
I have everything under control in the hollow and I have been hiking to the orchard regularly. There are quite a few flowers out, horse balm, thin-leaved coneflower, white snakeroot, great lobelia, orange touch-me-not, a couple of species of tick trefoil, oxeye daisies, fleabane, goldenrod, and some asters are starting. I carry my 22 in my pack when I hike and it does give me a feeling of security.
I have planted the greenhouse with spinach, lettuce, and sugar snap peas and all have come up. I still have an occasional tomato and some string beans.
I have also joined Match.com. I contacted my ex when I returned from my western trip and she declined to see me so it is definitely time to move on. I have had a number of women interested in me on Match.com but none have sparked my interest so far.
I am hard at work to get my poetry manuscript ready for Finishing Line Press, and that is going okay. I hate to do this kind of thing, but having a chapbook out is a positive thing.