Category: off the cuff

Coming Up for Air

Posted on by D. L. Keur

So, after a whirlwind WWW rescue project for a beleaguered friend, suffering through a failed video-recording session where nothing worked the way it was supposed to (It happens.), getting husband off for another week on the road, then spending the entirety of Monday dealing with Mom’s cardiologist appointments — yes, that’s plural, there were two of them which ate the entire day — I managed to get six hours of much-needed sleep.

Today, though, it was hit the ground running to try to catch up with all the rolling balls that had to be let go in order to do all of the above. The industrial-sized kitchen sinks (yes, plural) were stacked to the rim with dishes to be washed, the sideboards cluttered with pots, pans, cutting boards, carving knives, and food processing paraphernalia. There were two loads of laundry to run though the wash, feed bins and troughs to clean, mucking out to do, never mind vacuuming, scrubbing, mopping, and the like.

No. It’s not all done. I did what needed doing first and foremost. The rest will wait until tomorrow, because, honestly, if I don’t get a bit of time for myself, I’m apt to just go into melt-down. I am in dire need of some time off for good behavior and some much needed R&R.

Finished, I Think

Posted on by D. L. Keur

I believe I’m done with site revisions, now. The new music, art, author, and videography pages are up, things linked in and not breaking. Now to finish up work on zentao.com and zentao7.com. (I’m working on it.)

Meanwhile, in other news, we’ve been without water here for over 24 hours for a second time since last Friday because Avista keeps breaking the water main as they try (and repeatedly fail) to get their new, improved, giant metal poles put up. They’ve destroyed my fences, they’ve destroyed the front of the property (it’s caving into their trench), and we’re suffering having to haul water, something I haven’t had to do in years and am ill-prepared for. There’s my pond, of course, and so at least toilets can be flushed…manually. Such joy to endure in the name of somebody else’s idea of progress.

 

Vieno, my Norse Name.

Posted on by D. L. Keur

Marva Dasef, a friend of mine, and my editor, shared a link that selected your Norse name. I was given “Vieno.” which means ‘gentle.’ “Your soft heart and quiet nature bring peace to those around you.” That was a surprise. I chose things like lightning, dragons, flying horses, but also deep forest, no noise, kindness, mischief-makers, and…well. Here, try it for yourself: What is Your Old Norse Name?.

The Sound of Paper Flying and Rising Temper

Posted on by D. L. Keur

It’s Monday. Mondays mean bookkeeping. Mondays mean sorting through all the junk mail they send to my and Mom’s addresses.

I check mail once a week. On Fridays, usually.  It isn’t sorted and worked through till Monday, so Mondays mean filling up a 13 gallon garbage can stashed outside my office, lined with a heavy-duty, extra-hefty garbage bag in which to toss all the wasted dead tree paper that charities, political groups, and businesses begging for attention mail to everybody who has the fortune to own a mailing address. And, of course, that means that every two weeks when I go to the dump, I get to load these heavy bags of paper to the recycler.  I wish there was some way to get on a no-unsolicited-mail list.

New System Engaged, But There’s a Miffed Wet Hornet

Posted on by D. L. Keur

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So, after a lot of hard work and even more patience, the new phone system is working, now, throughout the house as well as in the office, with wireless, LAN, and DSL all working seamlessly together along with FAX and landline phone WITH the plus that, if and when the DSL goes down (something that happens about once a week here in North Idaho), I can still get on the Net via another wireless option.

This has taken almost an act of Congress to get functioning, but, finally, as of yesterday, all systems are stable and working within optimum parameters.  The entire project took remodeling the whole system from a patched together one. It also required a great deal of coordination between disparate companies, plus some remodeling in the office and other parts of the house structurally connected to that office.

Whew.

Of course, just when you think that you’ve got everything back under control, all hell breaks loose somewhere else, in this case, at the two shops where my husband’s trucks are sitting. The first truck is his relatively new KW heavy haul…which needs a new wiring harness…which isn’t in stock (of course) and the second one is a loaner that, upon start-up, is throwing engine errors and is rife with air leaks.  Lucky for me, I’m sitting safely home, nowhere near a husband who is about as happy as a wet hornet.

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