Days off.

Before starting my post, I want to mention that Twila is chagrined at having missed her recent scheduled Odd Days post. The reasons for her failure to write will appear soon. Meanwhile, I just noticed that all of her Odd Days posts in August were posted on even days, except for the August 1 post. Even I think that's odd.


For almost all of my life I beat myself up regularly for "not getting enough done". Even when I was working full time, I was upset with myself for not cleaning the garage, writing a letter to an editor, keeping my budget up to date, or whatever else was on my list. I gave myself more leeway after I retired, but I thought I was living a lazy and useless life. When I started working for NuSTAR, I decided that 6 days a week in the lab, even though they were only half days, would suffice to satisfy my accomplishment needs, so I'd arrive home at 8:30 AM and was perfectly happy to take the rest of the day off doing non-productive but enjoyable things. There were some necessary chores, of course, and I learned that by focusing on what needed to be done I could finish those jobs quickly and effectively. That was a huge improvement in my life, and I've been refining it. I recently read a great article about lists and mental lint that I think will also be very useful.


Anyway, on August 3 Twila went to Washington for 9 days and I was a bachelor. I had a list of things I wanted to do while she was away, and most days I worked on them. There were a few days I took off, though, because I had all that time to myself. I suppose I should include the couple of days I was too hung over to get out of my chair.


As the time neared for Twila to arrive home, there were some things that I really wanted or needed to finish before she arrived, so I got really busy. Before leaving for NY I'd torn our boat apart to install a new depth finder - running the wires was the hard part, and I was a bit queasy about drilling holes in the transom below the water line. I also replaced one of the batteries. When I put the windshield back on, I realized that the previous owner had stripped the screw holes in the fiberglass that held the windshield, so I had to devise a temporary fix, while obtaining a fiberglass repair kit for a permanent fix later. That all worked out well, though it took longer than expected. (Everything always does, it seems.)


Something else I wanted to get done was the installation of a garage door opener in our detached garage. It wasn't really necessary to finish that before Twila came home (I had to finish the boat because we'd have guests who wanted to go for a boat ride), but the thought of a solar-powered garage door opener was too cool to resist. Because of the construction and installation of our garage door I had to modify the opener installation, but it worked out well.


By spending a few days with very little time off, I managed to finish those and other necessary jobs. I was tired, but it was satisfying.


Friday evening Twila arrived home with two of our friends who would be staying with us for a couple of days. I'd gotten things together for dinner, and we had an enjoyable evening. The next day, Saturday, they wanted to climb Round Mountain. I was actually looking forward to it. I was thinking, "Hey, I climbed Pikes Peak. Round Mountain is going to be easy this time."


We started climbing Saturday morning and for the first mile I did think it was easier than my previous climbs. But the temperature was in the 80s and that took a toll. We reached the summit in 3 hours and it had been a struggle. I gratefully flopped down on the ground to rest.


After lingering for a half hour, we started back down. It was a lot easier than going up, of course, but it was still 4 1/2 miles of often rugged trail, and it was hot. Everyone ran out of water with two miles to go, and I couldn't help but long desperately to get back to the trailhead and head home for a beer. It seemed like forever, but finally we made it.


I know I'm repeating part of an earlier post, but after we all were in the car, two people said, "Wow, that was fun." My brain could not compute that. Yes, we'd successfully completed a difficult hike, which no doubt had both physical and mental benefits. But fun? I'm not a damn masochist. At least 3/4 of the hike I was laboring in near-misery. I asked how anyone could say the hike was "fun". One of our guests offered that it felt great to be done and that we soon could sit down and enjoy a cold beer. I responded that it would be just as satisfying to get up in the morning and sit down with a cold beer, leaving out all the agony. I don't think anyone was convinced. They actually seem to like torturing themselves.


Our guests are still here, and Twila took them to the annual Loveland Sculpture Fair, an event that attracts sculptors from all over the world. I decided to stay home - I'd suffered enough yesterday. I thought I might have a day off.


Alas, that was not to be. All the work with the boat, etc., had left me behind in some essential areas, like paying bills and answering important email. So I'm doing that, but at least it's quiet.


Postscript: Twila and I bought a lawn tractor in Spring 2010, before we knew we'd be moving to Tarrytown. It's really useful, since we have a 1 acre lot. Mowing it wasn't particularly difficult, but it took a very long time, whereas the tractor finishes the job in a couple of hours. My next garage project is to attach a snowplow to the tractor, since winter happens really quickly here. One week it's hot, the next week it's cold, and then it stays cold. I think it will be fun attaching the plow, especially since I can now get in the garage by using the opener.