Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Where did the time go?

This morning's snowfall brought me up sharp with the thought that its WINTERY...not the summer of the SO recent thoughts and the Oh SO too busy life.

On the slippery commute, interupted by those who cannot seem to drive with a slip of snow and slickness (its NOT dry pavement folks), punctuated by red and blue flashing lights, I had some time to reflect on the whirlwind that the last 8 months have been.

Off time, firewood permits and woodcutting, stacking the little blue S-10 to its capacity with firewood, cut off the slash piles, unloaded and stacked for splitting down to stove size later.



Turkey hunting on a friend's ground and very successfully to boot! Some time in the hills with a rifle, around trips to the Land of the Rising Sun, but no deer to fill the freezer with.


 The occasional peek into the woods that soothe my soul and refresh my mind.  Even ONE trip out on the water...very short trip...mostly spent playing tug boat captain with my old boat for another boaters broken boat.



All of those things rammed into and around an incredibly heavy, every expanding workload...hiring 5 folks wasn't enough, 15 more followed and STILL the workload climbs past capacity.  As it turns out...various minor models are NOT Red, Blue and Green Legos...and do NOT fit together that way.  Integration is the watchword, the curse and the muttered password, said with rolling eyes.

My boys and I spent the last few evenings checking out the trucks and preparing them for the forecast foul weather...shovels, tire chains, flashlights, gloves (axes, chainsaws, ropes, logging chains, peavy and safety gear in mine) sandbags and raingear.  Its seldom that we cannot get where we need to go, in spite of the conditions of the roads and other drivers.

Ah well... such is life, today will pass, safely one hopes and tomorrow will come.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Blargh...but life goes on. (Shaking the rust off...)

Well, I am sort of back in the saddle, a bit the worse for wear but doing OK.  I'm told that getting back on the horse is the remedy for being tossed off.

Life has a been a multitude of twists and turns over the last year, some good, some bad.  This too shall pass, or so I am told.   This year's celebration of my arrival in this world reminded me that I have a cadre of good friends as fine wishes and thoughts brightened the day.

The wild wintery weather has given way to spring-like bouts of rain (toad-strangler variety), blustery wind (branch and tree carpets on the ground) and brief bouts of a blinding light emanating from the glowing yellow orb in the sky. Its still chilly enough on most days to need a jacket or at least an extra shirt.

Its firewood gathering season again...wood cutting permits, chainsaws and splitting axes.  Also to include the occasional stuck truck or blown tire due to arrowhead rocks in the roadway. Pictures to follow soon of the magificent views in the woods of the great Pacific North'Wet, the slash piles that get converted to firewood and other things of note in the woods.

Its also spring turkey season, an opportunity to hit the hills and match wits with a tasty bird.  Friends have graciously offered the use of their land for the search.  I'll be taking them up on it. I'm looking quite forward to that!

The Himalayan blackberry, the scourge of the open lands up here, is also growing but with a good coating of  last winter's snow to smash it flat...it is vulnerable to the blade of the Billy Goat brush mower and later the torch.  Land is getting cleared, next will be rototilling and gardening.

Work, that thing that pays the bills, is starting to slow down long enough for me to take a breath.  I have managed to hire 6 folks so far, more to follow, which will help reduce the workload to something that only requires 8-10 hour days...and maybe only 5-6 days a week.  GAH...thought that a new program would have alleviated that. 

We are well into the process of designing one of the world's finest flying machines for the USAF to replace the now-long-in-the-tooth craft by the same company nearly 50 years ago that are being flown by crews young enough to be the children of the original crews.  Its a fun and CHALLENGING job, fraught with pitfalls, surprises and the usual churn of taking a design and reworking it to do something very different from what was originally intended.

Back to work!