January 10, 2006
Yesterday was one of “those” days. Two pickups broke down and the dump truck we’ve been using here at the house to move dirt quit at the Texaco mini-mart down the road towards Lemon Cove. Three men essentially afoot chasing parts, spending money while damn-little got accomplished.
Clarence’s pickup spent Sunday night up in Greasy where he and his wife had gone to cut some firewood, relax and barbeque with relatives. Chuck roll-started his pickup Monday morning to get to work. The backhoe/dump truck operator called about 10:00 looking for Chuck to help solve his problems, but Chuck was on the skid-steer pushing Clarence’s pickup out of Greasy and over the creek-crossing that had washed-out in the rains. In order to get a tow-truck up to Clarence’s rig, Chuck had to spend several hours clearing the boulders and loose rock that had fallen into the “bluff” road. A new starter for Chuck and fuse for Clarence, both up an running this morning, Longfellow echoes “all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”
Weather’s been nice, mid-sixties during the day, fog in the Valley. The cattle we can see are on the upswing and scattered, bulls still playing musical fields.
I, on the other hand, about half-afraid to go anywhere while Robbin chased parts for Chuck, spent most of the day answering the phone and cussing this moveable type software trying to get the “lost issue” formatted.
Space. Indentions. Mid-line spacing. Gary Snyder’s poem, that I really wanted to use because it ties so well with Udall’s speech and offers a broader view of our language and culture, was beyond the capability of the software, or perhaps my ability to use it. One poem by Errol Miller, I couldn’t use at all – fairly frustrating day altogether.
I woke-up about 11:00 last night with a solution to linking Dry Crik Review to the blog site without covering-up the recent entries with the issue. I couldn’t sleep unless I tried it and got a couple of restless hours under the blankets before Chuck and Clarence showed up for work this morning. Still editing typos, but I think it will work.
I share the above with you only to affirm that it’s not always “sweetness and light” around here. But when I visit with friends from harsher climates this time of year, I know we’ve got it pretty good.