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!