Sunday, March 29, 2015

Spring is really finally almost here

This has been a fine Sunday. I went for a walk with Rob, went bike riding for an hour at the CRC, played 13 holes of golf, graded a bit, had dinner at Applebees in Radford and watched Duke advance to the final 4 and got to see Brittany, my favorite hostess, then went for another bike ride of 40 minutes along the new. I had to cover my plants the last two days but the cold snap is over and all of them are doing well. I don’t have much to do around the hollow, but there are always little things to do and the road needs some work as soon as it dries out enough. The Louisiana waterthrush has been calling along with perhaps the Worm Eating Warbler. I have seen juncos and chickadees and the coltsfoot is almost finished. There is a cress in the pasture and speedwells but next week should bring a flood of flowers. My classes are going pretty well and the poetry writing class has stabilized after I put my foot down on sloppy poems. The other classes are going well, and I will evaluate the 443 on Tuesday. My finances are looking fine and I should be able to retire in 2 and a half years. I am looking into Freighter Expeditions for a trip to New Zealand and Australia and that is a possibility.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

getting back to teaching

I am doing pretty well, but my knees are not so good. I did a hike this morning and I felt tired and both my knees ached. I got home took a nap, and decided to rest my knees and not go fishing in the north fork or do my weights and yoga. I did practice piano for about 20 minutes and then I headed off to get rid of the stuff I cleaned out of the tractor barn. I may have done too much biking and hiking lately and also working outside, fixing the road, changing the generator oil, some greenhouse work (the lettuce is up and the broccoli is doing well and I expect the peas up soon). Coltfoot has been out for a week and speedwell is flowering. I heard the Louisiana waterthrush, Carolina chickadee, the meadow lark, cardinals, and perhaps the worm eating warbler. I have to do something about the culvert leading into the pond but I think I’ll wait for my knees to recover. Talking to Gloria and she had a restful time in Florida. She is not going to collect SS yet even though I think she should. Of course, that is her choice. Kelly called me about the holly trees in front of the house and I wasn’t sure if she should cut them down. She choose to and I think the house does look better. My classes are going fine although my last 200-05 class was not very good. I am pretty tired but I only have six weeks left. My commentary did appear in the Roanoke paper but I’m not sure if it was only in the online edition. I got the info from Will about future taxes and I think I can retire after 5 more semesters. That is a comfort.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

spring break

A very productive day, with two hikes, trimming the road, clearing the asparagus patch, charging the batteries with over 260 amp hours (still much left to be done). I may have a little trouble since when I switched to equalize this evening, the charging rate went down to around 12, much below the 40 I am used to. I hope tomorrow will be better. Over break, I cleaned out a couple more big garbage bags of trash in the cabin and organized the guest room, consolidating all my found golf balls (which are several hundred at least), practiced a lot on the piano, walked a lot, cut myself a new walking stick (to replace the one I lost up in Catonsville). I played golf a couple of times and shot okay. I had one nice walk with Rob and may see him tomorrow if he has time and has recovered from his cold. I have also planted 12 broccoli plants along with my two kinds of lettuce and sugar peas. I did write a commentary about Ferguson for the Roanoke paper and I will find out soon if they are going to use it. It doesn’t matter much but I think it is a well written effort. The trip to Kelly’s was very productive and with Alfredo’s help I accomplished a great deal, fixing a couple of broken drawers, spackling and painting the cat claw damage, fixing the molding around the attic door and in the kitchen, running a trip to the dump. I had a nice time with Lucia after I talked with her about how she wanted to play (basically she was fine with doing anything she wanted to me but she is 6 and I can live with that). I start teaching on Monday and I am ready for the final 7 weeks. It has been a decent semester so far and I hope it continues this way.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

one week to spring break

I had a productive weekend, getting ahead on my grading, hiking and walking quite a bit, doing the bike indoors and weights and yoga. My weight is 212 and it seems stable at that but I do want to get it steady at 210. I am eating a little too much and that has had a bad effect on my number. Classes continue pretty well and this week should be relatively easy, with three movie classes and three midterms. I am ready for spring break and it should be fun to see Kelly and Lucia and help Alfredo. I hope I can get some golf in soon but it might not be till the following week. Gyorgyi and I went to the Still Alice after dinner at Nawab, and that was fun. She seems to be doing well and I advised her to at least check her TIAA account to see how much is in stocks. No word from Dolores or Marina and I am not going to do anything at this point. Gyorgyi agreed that what Marina said was terribly unfair but she thought I shouldn’t reveal what Marina did (I had promised her I wouldn’t) but I think all bets are off after her outrageous behavior. My finances are okay and my planning will depend on what Will says I will have to pay in taxes after I move out of the hollow. 10K will pinch me but 8K would be fine. I talked to Sandra at Union and she said I can get a 5 year arm, which would get me to 69 before the rate could rise. The payment would be 860 a month, which is doable.