Don't, just don't...

Ended the day at the preschool, boys strapped into their seats, the Jeep dead of--what? despair? Got a ride home in the tow truck.

Rest of the day wasn’t much to write home about either. Crabby baby. Fits and starts at the keyboard. No gym.

Christ.

Won’t start the list of people and things I’m sick of, because, well, what would be the point. In fact, is there a point? Ever? To anything?

Gotta get this long piece out of my hair. Move on to something new. Even if it’s the same shit on a different day, at least it’ll be a different day. F-all!

Circadian rhythm & blues...

Wild night with the boys yesterday. Big sleep-over. Early morning mayhem over pancakes and sausage.

Hit the keyboard later than usual, but it probably didn’t make much difference given the evening that preceded it. Hardly slept and woke up tired, and knew I was going to slip a bit in production and did. Even so, progress. Small but detectable.

Young M comes back early tomorrow, which means I need to get an early start on a good night’s sleep. Was hoping for a trip to the park in the morning, but the weather folks say cold and wet. So we’ll see. Was hoping for a clear weekend to get out and fish, but might have to shelve that as well, given the forecast.

Heard from a couple of old friends tonight.

Pretty evening.

Another one gone...

Thought myself out of bed and down to the cottage by 5:00 this morning. Still slogging through revisions, though most of them are small now and before long the piece is going to have to stand on its own merits, one way or another.

Pretty day, today. Cool and fallish. Wish I would have gotten out for a walk, but was at least able to make it to the gym for a quick workout. Need some new bag gloves. Opened up the second knuckle on my left hand last week.

Been ruminating on two new drafts. Maybe I’ll pick one of them up tomorrow and try to make a run to the end. Something different.

J dropped by this afternoon to help with the garage lift. Not sure how far he made it in his troubleshooting, but as far as I can tell the thing still doesn’t work. Man, what a drag that thing’s become. Like to set it on fire. Or better yet, take an axe to it.

Boys are spending the night tomorrow. That’ll liven things up.

No hurry...

Easing back into normal. Quiet day without many goings on. Wrote until noon, went to a movie, picked up some RX at the grocery store, and came home. Pretty day. Gotta find a way to do some fishing this week. Wednesday or maybe Friday. Will take whatever comes.

Looking forward to some R&R...

Mornings keep getting darker. Thought I was out of bed before five, but was off by an hour. No matter. Did some good work at the keyboard, then cooked breakfast for mom and ran a few errands.

Day went pretty quickly. Managed a quick trip to the gym, a few more errands, a long spin around the neighborhood, and some overdue correspondence. Hard to believe we’ve been entertaining for the past ten days, but there it is. Be good to get back to the old routine tomorrow. Tonight, grilled pork tenderloin, baked squashed and roasted Brussels sprouts.

Saw Raisin the Sun last night. Nice performances all around. Good to get out and away from politics.

Figure to settle in and take it easy tonight. Regroup in the morning.

So dawn goes down to day...

Up early again. Not a tough time getting started, but slower than usual.

Read an essay today for N, and was kindly taken with its subtlety. Very nice piece. Some wonderful language.

Somehow managed a quick (and much needed) trip to the gym early this afternoon, and a nice late walk around the neighborhood with Mom. Enjoying the visit, but looking forward to the weekend and the old schedule. A lot of work ahead, and windows are closing left and right. Need to punch things into high gear if I hope to meet any of my ridiculous, self-imposed deadlines.

Thinking about a trip into the mountains this weekend. Catch a second look at the leaves. Might toss the flyrod in the back and see if I can get in a few casts along the way.

Young M tomorrow. Looks like a trip to Green Mountain Falls to try out the musical swings. Weather should be great. A Raisin the Sun tomorrow night.

Never get out of the boat...

Woke at four. Couldn’t get back to sleep, so went out to the cottage to write. Put in some good revision time. Mornings are getting cooler, more like fall.

Left for the zoo just before ten. Had a good time with Bobbie and the baby. Fed the giraffes, checked out the new elephant compound, played with the wallaby, and ate lunch. Young M fell asleep on the way back and took a long nap. Did the same when I had the chance.

Made a pot of mushroom soup for dinner.

Still working through the tough news dropped on us. Sometimes I just want to pack up and leave. Disappear into the mountains and never come home again.

Beautiful fall day...

Sunday evening.

Up at five revising. Got in some good work before mom came downstairs. Took care of some mid-morning shopping, missed the movies we were scheduled to see, and ended up taking a nice long walk around the block instead.

Lots of conversation. Lots of good weather.

Grilling salmon tonight. Figure to turn in early.

Oh, yeah. I get it...

Sideways sort of day. One nice conversation with an old buddy, followed by two bits of sad news on other fronts.

Trudged ahead with work. Progress here and there, setbacks here and there. A lot that didn’t get started, and even more that didn’t get accomplished.

Not sure if another fire’s broken out, but the air went bad late in the afternoon, and the sky’s turned an ugly blue-gray.

Mom coming tomorrow for a ten day visit. Plumber coming, too, for a pro-active rooting. Coincidence, or fate!

Another monday...

On the mend for the millionth time this year. At least enough to write a few lines and make it to the gym for a quick workout. Was a pretty day, if hot, and it felt good to get outside for a while.

Young M tomorrow.

Gotta get a good night’s sleep.

Fast and furious...

Computer issues. Or, rather, software issues. Lost the morning’s revisions—not all, but more than I care to think about. Abandoned all hope, and went to the Caboose train shop in Denver. Great store! Come home with enough goodies to pull a test run tomorrow. Hit the gym late afternoon, got a haircut afterward. After that, mowed my lawns. Out to dinner with J & K tonight. Brother Luck’s new restaurant.

Two out of three ain't bad...

Stinking post self-deleted.

Won’t bother to rehash except to say brick wall was finished today, Wyoming door was hung (and looks amazing), the rolling motors for the hydraulic lift were reinstalled (to no avail) and the electricians who’d promised on three occasions to stop by and troubleshoot, bagged the appointment without a call, text, or email. (Looks like it’s on to someone else.)

Didn’t get as far with the long piece as I’d hoped, but there you go. Sometimes you eat the bar, sometimes the bar eats you.

Met my three associate editors for the Below 30 Contest. Look forward to seeing what we can scare up. Also received two new pieces for critique, and proofs from Whisky Island for “Dancing with the Devil.” Guess I’ve got my work cut out for me.

September 11, Seventeen years later...

Full day. Up early and at the keyboard a little after six. Revisions started out slowly, but picked up after the first cup of coffee. Young M arrived a little before eight, which put the brakes to the writing, but we had a good day together, and I managed a quick trip to the gym while he was down for his nap.

Surprise visit from Vern the bricklayer. He and his crew showed up mid-morning and started in on the south wall. They’ll finish tomorrow and hang the Wyoming door, and that should put an end to the big outside projects forever. (I’m knocking wood as I write this.)

About six pages from the end of the long work, and hope to reach it sometime tomorrow. Been keeping notes along the way and, with the exception of noodling on the last ten or fifteen pages, may have played things as far as I’m able. Still needs polishing, but the story is what it is and there’re no substantive changes I can think of that are going to make it any stronger. Revisions I made on the early end seem to have held up. That’s a good sign. Now if I can make the back end to the same.

Hope to get to sleep early and get a head start. Coming at it fresh always helps. Be nice if we have another day as beautiful as this one.

Travelin' man...

Many goings on after an early rise. Put in at the keyboard around 6:15 and got in a good morning's revisions. Took off early afternoon for a drive up to Green Mountain Falls to scout the fishing. Hoped to take young J out tomorrow, but the water didn't look too encouraging. Think I'll hold off for another week or so.

Did some grocery shopping on the way down the mountain, then came home and went to work on the train set. Again, made some nice progress. Still a lot of work ahead, but off to a good start. Happy about that. The more familiar the process becomes, the easier it should be to troubleshoot. Or at least I hope that's the way it'll go.

Great looking day again, weatherwise. More blue skies, more sunshine, more cool temps. Didn't get to the gym, but maybe that's okay. Yesterday's workout left me pretty sore and pretty tired. Guess I'm not as over the crud as I imagined I was.

Yeah, it's back...

Suddenly, it looks the fall I remember. Blue skies, easy breezes, lots of sunshine. Should have made a better effort to get out today, but no complaints the way it shook down. 

Spent the morning juggling commercial work with the long piece and made pretty good progress with both, despite the fact I didn't make it to the keyboard until 6:30.

Hit the gym mid-afternoon. Got in a nice workout, caught up with a couple of guys I hadn't talked to in a while. Grocery store after, the home for the night.

Wow. What weather. It's like the west forgot what wildfires were. There's almost nothing a blue sky can't fix.

Feels like fall...

Cool this morning. Rainy this afternoon.

Woke early, hit the commercial work, and made a brief run to the gym early afternoon.

Spent the afternoon with young M. 

Mom coming in on the 20th. Gotta start making plans.

Not much else to say.

Melancholy afternoon.

Feels like Monday...

Put in some good time at the keyboard today. New commercial work. Nice change of pace.

Feeling better, too, though still kind of tired from the crud.

Had my first workout at the gym in a week. Wasn't too bad. Looking forward to a repeat performance tomorrow.

Might work on young J's train layout tonight. We'll see. 

The Comeback trail...

Woke up feeling a little better today. Took a while to get to sleep after a big dose of cough syrup, but once I went down, that was it.

Got in some decent edits before I ran out of steam. Did a little window shopping this afternoon trying to hunt down parts for young J's train set. A lot of work ahead to get it ready for Christmas. Put down the track layout this evening and did a little reading about risers and inclines.

Mom ought to be leaving Phoenix tomorrow, which means she'll be up here again before long. Expecting some new project work to float through in the meantime, along with a hatful of mss. from N. Figure it to be a pretty busy month. 

Haven't been to the gym since last Thursday. Longest dry spell I've had in a while. Can't wait to jump back in. Meanwhile early coffee with my buddy G, tomorrow.