Monday, November 7, 2016

Mostly Bowling . . .

Several people have pointed out that it has been a while since my last update and folks are wondering how I am doing. I am sorry for the gap between updates, but I was feeling a bit guilty about subjecting my faithful readers to all these updates when nothing really had changed. But, apparently, people want to be updated anyway.

So, the answer is that I am doing pretty well. I am about to start "Cycle 41" on Wednesday. Side effects seem to be very manageable and have actually been less bad over the last two cycles. I have not been drinking much and this poses a real challenge for Barbara, since she is now drinking for two, but she does not seem to mind. It seems that my energy level has been a bit better. It turns out that I am now grand champion for my current protocol. Nobody has been on it longer than me. Let's hope it continues.

As you may recall, my last report was mostly involved with "The Free Trailer". It is still parked up in my "meadow". I spent a good bit of time climbing around in the dirt underneath it soon after it arrived. I found that the water supply system had been ripped out as had the heating system. Also, the fresh water tank had pulled free from where it was bolted under the floor. I managed to re-secure the water tank and it appears that it will not be too difficult to purchase a water pump and get the water system working again. I also managed to get the "glide room" to deploy, but only by connecting an electric drill to the backup system. Next step is to wait for Spring when it is a bit warmer.

Another major accomplishment had to do with our boat. For the first time in three years, we managed to drive the boat to the loading ramp under its own power. Hooray! It started right up and ran all the way to the launch ramp a half mile away. Now admittedly, I did have to recharge the battery before attempting this navigational challenge, but I am highly optimistic about getting the boat into the water relatively early next year. Hopefully it will even be running. This year we took the boat out twice. I am hoping to use it at least 3 or 4 times next year.

Barbara went on a business trip last week - sort of. She has been a key member of the Long Term Plan Committee for Fox Hill Village and the Managing Director invited her and two others to attend the LeadingAge Annual Meeting and Expo in Indianapolis. It sounded very exciting to me and Barbara enjoyed the trip and learned a great deal.

Meanwhile, "back at the ranch", I have been spending a great deal of time in my workshop - primarily on my "bowling". A major incentive was that the "Segmented Woodturners of America" held their annual symposium in the Boston area at the end of October. For me as a relative newbie, this was a great event and I learned a tremendous amount.

Previously, I had been making my bowls from a large chunk of wood - typically from a fallen tree. With segmented turning, I will be gluing together small wooden segments and then putting that on the lathe.

I managed to make one of these bowls before the symposium, just so that I would not go in with total ignorance. It came out pretty well and I am anxious to do more of them. Even more importantly, it did not explode into a jillion or so pieces while I was working on it. Here is a photo:


Tomorrow is a big day for us. It is "Cat Day". It is the day that the cats move to Fox Hill Village. This is always a struggle since it is an understatement to say that they "do not travel well". They will travel in the back of the (covered) pickup truck. No - they do NOT ride in Barbara's new car. 

Tomorrow is also election day. I guess that is enough said about this election . . . 

The only other thing going on is the "Free Hot Tub". That I managed to obtain - not for us, but rather for my brother, Ken - the one who talked me into getting the "free" trailer and helped me move it up here. He is very excited about this. Me too, but for different reasons. I view it as "retaliation". But the report on this will have to wait until the next update.