Friday, August 31, 2012

No word from the bank but I do expect something from them soon.
My first week of classes went pretty well and I think all but the 200 class started off very well. I like the graduate students and I think that class will be fun. The Literature and the Environment course also looks pretty good. My 203 class has a lot of conspiracy theorists in it and they are very lively. I started preparing for next week today and I was a little uneasy at first but I got a lot done and I relaxed.
Everything else at RU is going well and I continue to entertain Kate with my e-mails and she appreciates the humor.
At home I changed the oil in the generator and took the screens off the trays in the greenhouse. A few peas are coming up but nothing else. I will probably have to reseed with the new seeds from Seeds of Change. I am going to treat the porch with Thompson’s and there is not much else to do. I still have over 30% left in the propane tank and that should last till the November delivery. I fixed the brake light on the camper top and put some guides in for the brake light wires.
I rode my bike for 6 miles at Tech and I intend to go fish Big Stony at 6:15.
I was very tired today but perhaps the pollen and the heat were the problem.




Saturday, August 25, 2012

I have certainly settled back in to living in the hollow. I had the guy from Lowe’s come out and replace the ceiling fan, I scraped the road three times and it is in good shape, I fixed the water bars, cut the grass, I finished the gate (though working with barbed wire is never fun), checked the tractor battery water, fueled the tractor, and cleaned up the house pretty good. I am back playing my sax every day and I am back to bike riding almost every day (mainly along the new river in Radford). I finished reading Cathy Gallo’s novel and it is very, very good. I hope I can help her get it published. I volunteered for Friday’s Move Students In day and I helped quite a bit. I delofted several beds and made at least ten trips up into Muse with students stuff. The parents and the student workers seemed to appreciate my efforts. Things with Maria didn’t work out: she never called me back but that doesn’t hurt me too much. I think I may be better off alone with all my friends. I played golf today and shot a 47 on the back nine from the white tees, which is a pretty good accomplishment.
I don’t think I am going to get my increase in my equity line (I was going to increase it from 120K to 160K but Stellar One wants me to do the conservation easement appraisal again at a cost of 3-4K and that is ridiculous. I wanted the increase so I could pay off my truck loan and my axa equitable loan (total of 22K) and then have them at a lower rate and deductible but I can survive without and increase. I may have to take out 6K in December from the 403B but I will stilI have almost 100K in the account and 260K in the TIAA one (which is almost 5K ahead of my plan) so I will be fine.


Friday, August 17, 2012

Not much has happened since I have returned home on Thursday, the 9th. I had a nice lunch with Maria Bowling and Kate rejected the poem I wrote for her. That was a little frustrating but there is nothing I can do.
I saw Jeff, Rachel and Benjamin and I had a good dinner that Rachel cooked for me. I will see them again on Sunday and Benjamin’s 2nd birthday party.
The house was in good shape except that someone crashed into my gate and destroyed it. I was going to have Mike help me put in a new post and hang the gate but I put in the new post this morning and I think I can finish the job myself (nice to be able to handle it myself).
I had a great dinner with Cathy Gallo on Monday night and we discussed the usual. She did give me a copy of her novel and I have read up to page 85 and like it a lot.
Today (Friday) I recorded my chocolate essay in Roanoke, and then treated Jeff Saperstein to nine holes of golf at the Meadows. He made a handful of very good shots and could become a decent player pretty quickly. I’m not sure he cares to.
I have my FAR pretty much done and I am ready for my courses although I am going to wait to talk to the Graduate class before I decide what to do with them.
Rob is doing fine and I am so glad. He really deserves some peace and happiness.
I talked with John O’Brien and I will see him on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012


The kayak trip on the Poudre was a lot of fun. We floated the Bridges section (about 3 miles) and though it was a little bony (and I should have fully inflated my floor) I really enjoyed myself, glad that I could still do class 2-3 water. I didn’t flip over but I really needed to follow the rafts because the water was so low (1.4 and 1.5 is usually the lowest they run).
After the trip I drove on to Limon where I stayed in a pretty bad Quality Inn which cost 16000 points, half of which I hope to get back. The next day I drove to Junction City, Kansas, and then the next day to St. Louis, where I walked along the Mississippi, then by the Arch, then at dinner at the 360 restaurant atop the Hilton. The food was very good and the view down into the Cardinals’ stadium was terrific. The next day found me biking in Louisville along the Ohio River and then staying in Lexington and walking a little on the closed down UK campus. The next morning I was off and in the early afternoon I made it home, the end of another successful journey.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

My trip to Denver had its difficult moments. I decided not to stop at Arches so I could make it to the Roaring Fork in Glenwood Springs so I could fish. By the time I got my license (which took almost an hour) and by the time I finally got to the campground I was staying at, it was already pretty later. I couldn’t find the trail down to the river (it was actually the bike path) but I finally got directions and made it there. The river was pretty big (I had to fish from the side) and I got one small fish to hit a big yellow stonefly (but I didn’t hook it). I was exhausted and was going to go to Chili’s for dessert but I decided to walk through downtown Glenwood Springs and that was fun. It is a touristy place and after you cross the Colorado (which seemed very low) and see the Colorado Hotel (circa 1893) you seen the hot springs, a huge pool about the size of a football field. I stopped for a non-alcoholic beer at one of the taverns and the place seemed pretty hopping.
My night was a disaster because along with the altitude (which causes real problems with my sleep), the party diagonally across from me kept playing music until past midnight and then wouldn’t turn it off but did turn it down. I finally had to move to a different place and I was fully exhausted.
Since I had driven so far the day before I only had about 160 miles to Denver, so I drove slowly and stopped twice to fish. Both spots looked great but the first one gave me no hits and the second gave me one fish after a lot of hard fishing with grasshoppers, nymphs and finally a Royal Wulff.
The visit to Denver went well, having a nice sushi lunch at a restaurant just off the 16th Street Mall, then walking along 16th for eight blocks. There were buskers and a street festival with performances and it was quite pleasant. I knew I need to ride my bike (which I hadn’t done in two days) so I found the Cherry Creek bike path and rode for 45 minutes on it. The creek was very low but there were plenty of cyclists and part of the path is only for cyclists (peds are on the other side). Biking was a very good idea. On the drive up to Fort Collins I found a golf course right off the highway and played there, shooting a very hard fought 49 with a great final 5 on a long par 4 after a mediocre tee shot that just bounced over a hazard.
I was certainly tired and my stomach was killing me with all the exercise, so I went to dinner at Bisetti’s a decent enough Italian restaurant downtown on College, and then walked a little before having an ice cream sundae for dessert.
This morning I did work on my outline and then drove out to sign up for the kayak trip. That worked fine and I will be done by 4 so I should be able to drive for perhaps 4 hours this evening.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

I left Bakersfield not too early and drove to I-5 for the dreaded encounter with LA. Actually it wasn’t too bad although I did get lost briefly where 10 met 5 but I was back on track in five minutes. Driving the whole day was very busy and slower through most of LA but when I finally got to San Clemente I was delighted. I took a nap then went for a swim in the pretty rough ocean, then went for a bike ride along the bike trail just above the beach. That was a lot of fun and the beach was pretty crowded. After that I drove on and in a pretty short period I saw the Camp Pendleton exit and Dave’s blue and white building. I went to have lunch at the Monterey Cannery restaurant and Dave called do we had lunch together and then went to more formal restaurant for dinner. We chatted well into the night and Dave is getting divorced. I had problems with residual cat dander so I ended up sleeping in my truck. The next day we ent kayaking (I paddled out into the ocean but Dave’s back and shoulders were bothering him so he didn’t paddle much. After that Dave treated me to lunch and after a nap we walked along the lovely beach at low tide and then I went for a long bike ride on the trail along route 76. The evening found us at Jolly Roger’s and then we stayed up chatting till 12.
I am now in Barstow after playing golf at Tees and Trees, the marine corps golf course, shooting a 49 and working for it. I am going up to Fort Collins and I hope I can kayak some of the Poudre then I will start back for the final 1500 miles with a stop in St. Louis.