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!

NOT 24 anymore.

Dang I'm SORE...you wouldn't think that a single trailer of rack would be too much to unload. Heck it even looks like a spot of work, but nothing too strenuous.

HAAH...just unloading this one load, mostly the STANDARDS, which are heavier than they look, ...left me sore and feeling way closer to my age. They will support 3000 pounds per shelf...and 10,000 total per pair of standards which PROBABLY exceeds the floor's capacity.

Next is getting Long-term College Friend's shop ready to receive those pumpkin beauties, bolt them to the floor and start filling them and clearing the floor space.

That of course means moving the ammo cans again. My back is already cringing. Full of nuts and bolts, screws, washers and clips...they are heavy. A few even have ammo in them.

Jobs, work and steady employment!

Having been at the same Salt Mine for just shy of two decades, I sometimes regard management, managers and the whole idea of direction a bit askance. ( Lots of !WHAT! were they THINKING????)

After the last 6 years of extreme stress and unending toil, dismaying new discoveries, incessant globe trotting and not nearly enough sleep, I've suddenly found myself doing something I hadn't chosen to do. Apparently several of the management types decided that they needed an experienced Sr Manufacturing Engineer to attempt to side-step some of the hassles that have befallen the previous program.

I was shanghaied.

Much to my surprise things are much better, while not by any means laid back, I have some control of the trajectory short of turning in my badge and I get to choose the folks who will be working on my assigned work-package.

Per the last visit with the Doc, the BP is down 20 points or so...I'm sleeping again (well sorta) and I see daylight NOT through a window but actually walking about in it producing Vitamin D the old fashioned way. At least I will as soon as the Deluge ends.

It appears that there MIGHT be something TO this gig after all!

While the financial strictures of the program tell me that we will be doing anything and everything with very little resources, I'm confident that we DO know how to make THIS project work and be a moneymaker in spite of a very Scotch bid to get the work.

I'm working on the initial estimates to get the workload, to spec out and hire a crew and get down to doing what we are known the world over for... making flying machines. This time for the USAF, a very demanding customer.

I've even been told that a smile has crossed my visage in the last few weeks.

What next, Sunshine?

SLOG, Splut and splash...

Splash, slip and slide.

THAT is what happens when the Rain Gods decide that the Deluge needs to be repeated 10 times over 15 days.

Took the Brown Dinosaur (my 1981 Chevy 4x4) and new-to-me car trailer up to Longtime College Friend's place so he could move some heavy duty warehouse racks. In order that I not need a ride back home, I strapped my trusty S-10 to the trailer and ventured off into the miasma.

Evidently, even with a constant supply of rain, SOME folks cannot remember how to DRIVE in it. You know its bad when the evasive maneuvers move the S-10 around on the trailer such that it requires shuffling and repositioning prior to chaining it back down even MORE snugly. A yahoo cut me off in traffic, braked heavily, flew me the #1 sign and changed lanes again and departed into Warp Drive. Once my heart rate assumed something less than a vibration and more resembled beating, I slowed to the widest shoulder i could find and repositioned the S-10 on the trailer and continued on my way.

Once at LCF's place I discovered that continuous rain also makes his back 40 more closely resemble a swamp than a driveway. Time for four wheel drive and GENTLE applications of the Loud Pedal - instead of my more normal use - to coax the truck and trailer back to solid, if not dry, ground.

The Brown Dinosaur and trailer are awaiting his venturing out. The drive HOME was not nearly as exciting.

I want to go shooting on a not-raining day. It appears I'll be waiting a bit more...

Life in the PNW.

Stretch...

Cracking knuckles.

Back, on a new project, hopefully a bit more time...as the saying goes...Miles to go before I sleep.

Have a few waiting in the wings, some good days, some funny things.

More to follow SOON.

Life and busy-ness

There are some times that there are just NOT enough hours in the day... It will be that I'll be back. Just might take a bit. sleep(a bit), work, drive between the two. That about covers the daily activities.

I'll be back (as a semi-famous actor/governator once said).

Still raining....RAINING.

Holy COW its been a WET past month or so...we are verging on several records for rainy streaks in the "Dry Season"! There is a 5 gallon bucket on the back porch that is my unofficial rain gauge, one that I have had to empty twice in the last 3 weeks...that is a LOT of water.

OTOH, I don't have to water the grass, not even the new re-seed which may drown before it sprouts. Some of it is growing nicely as i walked through it with bare feet this AM while checking the mailbox that no-one thought to get yesterday.

YESTERDAY was really nice, a few puffy clouds, sun and a light breeze, not even enough to loft a good sized kite. Of Course, I was WORKING again...and today, when I'm OFF...its RAINING.

Fah.