Thursday, February 23, 2012

I had an exciting Sunday and Monday. After a wonderful Saturday of hiking and golf, the first real snow of the winter came on Sunday. I went out in the morning and I returned by early afternoon and the snow started. After it reaching about two inches, I went out on the tractor (with the scraper blade angled) and realized I was about a half hour late. The snow built up behind the tractor and though I was able to make it down the road, I had to do two more runs to get things clear. On the third run, I looked up at the trees and realized that many of the big branches were loaded with snow and that one of them could easily break and kill me so I drove very quickly back to the house and called it quits.
In the morning I knew I was going to have to cut some trees so I tested the chainsaw and headed down on the tractor (with the chainsaw in the bucket) and started my work. I had all my chainsaw gear on (my Kevlar pants, my helmet with visor, my Kevlar gloves) and I had to cut up four downed trees. There were dozens of branches down but the scraper blade got rid of most of them. It wasn’t too hard to do, but I am not the chainsawer I used to be so I have to be very careful.
This morning (Thursday), I went for a hike and I saw that the waterbars were completely washed out so I had to work on them. The one by the cattle guard let in a lot of mud in the guard so I will have to clean that out this weekend. The bars are fine now but I will put more crusher run on them when I work on the road again.
I got my federal income tax refund so I don’t have to worry about maxing out the equity line.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Today was another good day (high 50s) of hiking in the morning with Rob, fishing Wolf Creek (not a hit), and shooting a 49 on the back nine at Castle Rock. That happened mainly because I made a great shot on number 17 after I had blocked a direct shot and had to bank it off a slight hill and it bounced right on the green, and then I hit a 200 yard drive on 18 which left me about 100 yards away.
I sent Kate a funny e-mail and she had a good laugh. My earlier one wasn’t very funny.
Raechel is still a big concern but I hope things will go better for her.
I spoke with Dolores and she is doing fine and she and Jeff are doing very well with Marina. D is still planning to come out in May.
I got the last of the black plastic out of the orchard and everything looks good there. I have seen bitter cress and speedwells flowers.
My CPA Diane continues to mess things up but at least my state and federal tax returns are in and I should have some money within two weeks. When I get the money I am going to give Second Harvest another thousand.
I played golf a couple of times during the week and the weather has been fine, although snow is expected tomorrow. It should melt quickly but I may be out on the tractor tomorrow.
The green house piping has sprung another leak but I won’t fix it right now. I do have to get it fixed because the water spilling inside the house makes it more prone to fungus.
My classes are going well, and my problem class (American Lit) is responding well to O Pioneers.
My energy is better and I hope I have positive results on the blood test in 4 weeks. My rash is completely gone.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Friday was much better. My complete body rash, caused by the last blood pressure med, is much improved, and I only took 20 mg of prednisone after taking 100 the day before.
I also got a positive response to my e-mail to Diane Green, and I will see her tomorrow at two and I should have most of my tax preparation done. I should get at least 4k back on the federal and if I can mail that next week, I should have enough money to cover my March visa bill.
Rob and I had a nice walk tonight, just beating the rain, and he was in a very good mood. I will be taking Raechel to Appleby’s on Sunday around 3 and I hope George will give her a hostess job.
I did a good hike this morning, and went back up to the orchard three times and my breathing was good. I also did 25 minutes on the bike and I hope that will help with the blood pressure.
I had a good conversation with Kelly last night about her mom and today things went very well. Liz had the pacemaker installed and she should be released tomorrow. It sounds like Kelly can get back home on Saturday as planned.
I treated the wheelbarrow with Thompson’s and filled the tire to 30 pounds so that task is finished. I do have some lettuce in the green house but the cold may freeze it down again.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Today I was very tired again, even though I did a lot of things, hiking in the morning, trimming half of the asparagus patch, charging the solar batteries, weights and yoga, practicing my saxophone, reading and grading for class. I had to take three fairly short naps but it bothers me after I had two good days last week. I have dropped one of the new meds and I hope my energy will return and I won’t get a rash, like I did with the last new medication.

Friday, February 3, 2012

I had a good Friday, February 3rd, hiking in the morning and pruning the orchard since the trees look like the leaves could come out in a few weeks. Having treated the two bridges with Thompson’s waterseal a few days ago, my hollow list is temporarily empty. I played golf in the afternoon and shot a 49 with a three putt on the last hole to make it dramatic. Then I went over Rob’s for food and a walk before I headed off to see Claire. I chatted with her a little and I think she was glad I came over. When Cathy came I chatted with her and her headache is still bad and Maddie is sick.
My teaching is going pretty well although I want to get my 203 class speaking up more.
My finances are a little better so I should be able to wait for April to get my tax refunds. I did cancel my March trip to save some money. The real problem will come in August when I have to pay for the summer trip which will cost me about 6500. I may have to take a few thousand out of my 403B and I don’t really want to do that. I will also probably replace my truck in the fall and that is going to have to be completely financed unless I pull some from the 403B.