Good weekend

September 24, 2007 (4:56am)

47º F, Clear, ESE Wind, 3 mph.

Good morning,

A pretty lazy day yesterday - good church, good brunch, good nap, good NASCAR race, good documentary, good weather, and a good Woman. There was some frustration too. Mostly dealing with this machine.

It really was a beautiful day yesterday. When I woke up, it was 34º F, but as we went out the door on the way to church there was evidence of frost, so was a bit cooler sometime during the night. But the sun was out and the day warmed up nicely. A perfect fall day. It was a good service at church yesterday too. What was weird though, seemed most of the folks sat on the left side pews, very few on the right. Almost felt like the building was leaning left and everyone kind of slide to that side. The organist was not there, so the pastor got out his git-fiddle and CD’s instead. Everything worked well, but the pastor got a workout for sure. He also was the EMT of the month for the county.

On the way home from church, we managed to find a place to sit and eat at Barb’s Café this week. I had a hard time hearing, lots of chatter with the folks there, so misinterpreted what the waitress said when it was time for placing our order. She asked if our order had been taken and I thought she asked if we were ready to order. We had a chance to drink an extra cup of cooffee! After a huge and delicious brunch (actually breakfast) we headed home for the rest of the day. I ate too much so a nap was in the offing for me. A really good one too!

The frustration came late in the day when I tried to connect the large monitor to this laptop. I have been using the screen on it since getting the laptop and finally decided it was time to use a normal monitor again. Getting tired of leaning my head back to use the bottom of the bifocal to see with. Could not and still haven’t got it connected and operating. I can’t get the driver to load for some reason and just gave up finally. Might try again today and see if I can get it to function as it should.

During most of the afternoon, I spent watching a very good NASCAR race. They have a new car design and have been running some races with the new design with some interesting results, especially the first couple of time they were in races. As the season has progressed, the mechanics and drivers have been getting the cars figured out, so the races have become more competitive and more fun to watch. There were a couple of crashes, especially at the end a big one, I think mostly because the cars are so new yet. Wonder what ever happened to the days of “you run what you brung” racing? These are a lot safer, but the old kind were a lot more interesting I think.

While the race was on, I came across a couple of websites dedicated to the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, of the 1930's. Not too sure how or why I found them, but the were very interesting to me. It was one of FDR’s better ideas, and very needed at the time. I still marvel at some of the work those kids did and how much of the results of their work is still in use today. It also was a “training” for a lot of guys who used their new skills during WWII and then afterwards in civilian life again. Especially up here in the woods and mines.

The Ken Burns documentary, “The War,” began on PBS last night. It was/is a fascinating piece of work. One of those things you just can’t stop watching, at least for me. I have a lot of memories of the time, but being so young, didn’t really know what was going on. Much of the material presented, lots of folks didn’t know happened either, but because it was suppressed by the government at the time. Things were much more grim than we knew. There is much more of the documentary yet to come and I hope I don’t miss much of it.

Bear season opened a couple of weeks ago and there are starting to be pictures in the paper of successful hunts. One bear shot was 588# and 92" long. That is one mighty big animal - of any kind. It too six men to drag it out of the woods! There will be a few steaks and roasts coming from it for some big tasty meals I think. One elderly hunter fell from his tree stand, breaking his hip and pelvis in the process, and hung from his safety harness from Monday when he fell until Saturday when his Grandson found him. Very hungry and very weak, but will be OK eventually. He apparently lived alone and no one knew he went out hunting. While he was hanging there, at least on bear came to the bait he had set out to feed. The guy was able to chance him off by yelling a couple of times, but eventually the bear saw he was not a threat to him, so dined at will. I wondered why the guy apparently didn’t have a knife with him to cut himself free of the harness. At least he would not have been hanging and could have defended himself possibly with his rifle. Old guys do strange things!

I did manage to get the stovepipe installed on the woodstove Saturday. Also burned a couple of sheets of newspaper in it to see if it would draw. It does so we should have some heat this winter. After completing the reducer, with some difficulty, I could see an easier way to have done it. Never fails! Everything is solid and shouldn’t cause any problems this winter at least. I almost forgot to put the damper in the stovepipe, so had to separate part of it to put it in. Glad everything wasn’t together permanently when I discovered the missing part.

During the day on Saturday, I also had a chance to chat with Onno. It was really nice. He was at work at his store and I a was working on the woodstove, so neither of us were at our computers all of the time. When ever we passed them it seems we would add something and held a conversation for several hours that way. Really cool! He and I did manage to solve many of the world’s problems, at least in our small parts of the world. We have connected a couple other Saturdays the same way, but not for as long. Maybe it is something that can become a habit.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><