the fifth week of teaching is over

I am sitting in the Salem Starbucks after a very comfortable day of hiking in the hollow, driving up to Olde Monterey and playing about 14 holes of golf (47 on my real nine), then going shopping at Gander Mountain and getting another pair of North Face pants that actually fit, along with some fluorocarbon tippet in 6x and 7x. I went for dinner at Carraba’s and then for a walk in the Valley View mall, where I picked up the first season of Game of Thrones. Yesterday, I purchased an inexpensive microwave ($59) and this morning I baked a potato, which was quite good even though it took 8 and ½ minutes instead of 5 and ½. It will be nice to have some variety in my food and I really don’t use the oven much. David Richert came out on Thursday at 7Am and he is going to work on the road, on the ailanthus, and on the smooth coneflower habitat. It shouldn’t cost more than $1500. I also saw Robbie and he is going to e-mail me a bid for the cleaning and staining of the house. My aunt Marie is doing better, back at home and eating a little better. Pat has kept me updated and I appreciate that. My classes are going well (five weeks done) although my last 321 class was kind of slow and I think some of the students aren’t doing the readings. I started to talk to people about the Joan Wulff museum article for Kaatskill Life and I got a call from Jim Cruel to see if I could do a piece for Fly Fisherman. I am annoyed at Gyorgyi response to my helpful offer concerning her kitchen project. Her message was quite rude and I hope she understands that the proper response would have been, “Thanks for your offer but I am going to let my two realtor friends take care of things.”

my road is finally fixed

It is Saturday and I am sipping coffee at Barnes and Noble, hoping the weather will stay okay at least until the evening when sleet and snow are predicted. I took a hike this morning up to the orchard, started the lawn tractor, trimmed the orchard trees, and then took the farm tractor out and worked on the road again. I scraped more fill from the sides and now the road is in pretty good shape. My week at RU went well and my classes were fine. I got my evaluations for last semester and they were very decent, all over 4. I now don’t really have to be evaluated this semester and I may not. I got an EQIP grant and when I went to fill out the final documentation I think it was for the wrong project since they were giving me over 8 thousand dollars. I think mine should be for a few hundred. I wrote to Tom Greene and he should fix it next week. My aunt Marie is pretty sick. She was operated on yesterday for liver stones and she is not answering my phone calls. Her daughter Patty updated me on her condition and I am worried. My greenhouse is still growing things although I haven’t been picking anything for a while because of the cold and the fact I have covered everything with hay to protect things from freezing. I had to bring the appraisal and the deed to Will Vance yesterday but I hope that is all I need. Diane Green really screwed things up for me but I am just glad to be done with her unprofessional behavior. I am now thinking about driving to Alaska this summer since I will have a lot more money when I sell my excess tax credits. It would be about a 40 day trip with a stop in the Big Horns on the way back.

back to Charlotte

It is Saturday night, the 9th of February and I am at the Wingate in Charlotte. I spent a leisurely day, working some on my grading (I have 16 poems due back on Tuesday), walking around the 4th ward, riding the stationary bike for 35 minutes, doing my yoga, and finally having dinner at Rockbottom Brewery, very good vegetarian pizza and salad. I walked around downtown for 25 minutes then headed back to the room for more schoolwork and eventually to watch the Louisville/Notre Dame game. I talked to David Richert today and he is going to meet me on the 21st and give me a price on the ailanthus problem. I think it won’t cost me over a thousand, and if so I will get him to clear a few trees where the endangered smooth coneflower is. I haven’t heard from Robbie at Transformation Painting but I am hoping to hear soon and I hope is estimate is around 2500. I talked to Gloria today and told her I will be coming out to Fremont this summer so that will be fun and I will get to see the redwoods, one of my favorite places to hike in. Paul Witkowsky’s stroke, though minor, is scaring me and I am going to try to get my weight down to 210 and keep it there. My aunt Marie may be very sick with liver concerns. She had an MRI two days ago and is scheduled for a CT scan. I am worried and I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. Yesterday I played golf at Regent Park and it was an interesting outing. I haven’t played in three weeks so I was pretty inconsistent. My driver was mixed and I played two balls since the foursome in front of me was very slow. I came to the last hole needing a twelve to break 100 (my first ball score ended up a 45), and I screwed up big time on my second ball, finally landing it about 8 feet from the cup on my sixth shot. Fortunately I was on on 3 with first ball, though I had a 25 foot, slightly downhill putt. If I could get a 5 on that ball and make the 8 foot putt on the second I would break 100. I decided to hit the 25 foot putt first and hit it wonderfully, within six inches, so I had my 5. I had basically given up on the 8 footer but I stroked it solidly and it curved right into the cup for a 99.

another week of teaching and a big rain

My second week of teaching is over and I am in Barnes and Noble, sipping coffee and getting ready to shop for groceries and some miscellaneous items. It is in the twenties so I did not walk this morning. I did do some grading, rode the bike for 30 minutes, cleaned up some and then drove to get my package from the PO. I stopped by to see Mr. Sisson and he was out driving his Kabota, which was good to see. He was busy so I just said hello and went on. My classes are going very well and all of them are talkative. I have three with about 20 students and one with 15 so this is another relatively easy semester. I have sent out the Coleman contest stuff and I already have my 6 judges. My finances remain pretty good and I am over 10K ahead of my projections on the 403B and the TIAA accounts. My debt is higher but certainly not a problem. I went for a walk with Rob last night (we have walked three times this week) and things are going well for him. He is sad about Noah not being in touch but there isn’t much he can do right now. Gloria is doing well, as is Dolores, and I will have dinner with Cathy on Saturday and hopefully with Gyorgyi next week. The big rainstorm a couple of days ago ruined my road but I was able to get in and I used the tractor in the morning to fix the road a little. It is too cold to do anything else right now.

back to school and one snow is past

I am at my office and the big snow yesterday wasn’t as bad as expected. I drove into town to go to Barnes and Noble and when the snow began to fall heavily I started home. It looked very ominous and when I got home I got ready and went to work with the tractor. I got down the road fine but on the way up, about three hundred yards from the house and on the steepest section, the tractor began to slip. The rut on the right was filled with smooth ice and I very carefully backed down and turned around. I got to bottom and decided to try to get around the ice and at first on the right side the tractor kept slipping. I was pretty nervous but I backed down and then was able to go slowly up the left side (which is the side the ravine is on). I was about a foot and a half from the edge so that wasn’t too bad and thankfully I was able to steer straight. I went back down as the snow continued to fall and with my new method was able to get back up with no problem. The snow calmed after that so I was able to stop scraping the road and spent the most of the rest of the day inside watching Tiger take the lead in the Farmers Insurance Open. I did walk up to the cabin a couple of times to take more books out since I now have a lot more space in the house due to more culling of books I won’t read. My courses have started well and I am in pretty good shape for Monday even though it is only Saturday. This afternoon Rob and I had a nice walk around the neighborhood and he showed me another one of Fay’s hateful letters, which mentioned me twice in a false and very negative way. I wish she would just leave Rob and Becky alone.

ready to start the spring semester

It is Monday, the 21st of January and I start teaching tomorrow. I have sent out all my outlines and rules and posted them on D2L. I came home to 4 or 5 inches of snow and some downed trees but I was able to walk up to the house, get the tractor and chainsaw, and clear everything up in a couple of hours. I wore my chainsaw pants and worked very slowly. The tractor worked fine especially with the blade at an angle. Two up and down passes and the road was pretty clear and today I ran the tractor with a straight blade and have a very good road right now. The humidity with the fan off has stayed around 50 so I am going to wait to put it on again. I had the refrigerator on for the evening but this morning I had enough ice and turned it off. I have plenty of snow and it is going to be very cold for the next four of five days so I can make plenty of ice outside. I changed the oil in the generator today so that is good till the spring. The solar was 80% when I got home and today it got up to 86 so I shouldn’t have to use the generator until at least Friday, which I looks like some snow is coming. I watering the greenhouse today even though it is going to get very cold tonight. The plants hadn’t been watered for ten days so I figured I’d better water some. The lettuce and spinach are doing okay and the peas have flowers which is pretty amazing. I did some weights and yoga today and my strained left shoulder felt it. I may just do the yoga tomorrow. I am glad I am done traveling for awhile and I hope I can stay on budget for a few months. I can’t give out any more money until I get my income tax check back and then I would like to give 2K to charity. I am certainly ready to get back to teaching. Maddie is better but not fully better so Cathy is still worried about her and may bring her to a stomach specialist. I haven’t heard back from John about the salary issue but I guess he will contact me at some point. While I was down in SC I played nine holes with Joyce and Marv and we also played on Saturday, which turned into a very special occasion: Marv got a hole in one on the 16th hole at Legends Oaks. It was a lot of fun and I do enjoy seeing them both. In a few minutes I will be heading over to Rob’s for dinner with Becky and her children. I am looking forward to that.

Wild Dunes

It is Wednesday, the 16th of January, and my trip to Wild Dunes has gone very well. I had dinner on Sunday and Monday at P.F. Chang’s and played golf for the first time in two weeks at Charleston National, a beautiful course with a lot of sand. I have been bike riding every day for eight miles and I have almost finished cleaning up my computer, finding that I have written about eight decent poems in the past year or so, and that I have a number of decent essays. My main folder was cluttered and now it is pretty slim. Today I make my visit to my Aunt Theresa and then I will play nine holes with Marv and Joyce. I e-mailed Rosemary about my retirement plans so I guess it will be 6 or 7 more semesters unless things really change. 7 seems very far away but I also realize that I am easily bored and teaching may be a better choice. I do think I would like to do volunteer work but since my energy level is pretty low after I do my exercise, I am not sure I can do any during the semester.