The answers will come...

This computer is one keystroke away from a bullet in the hard drive. Not sure what its problem is, and don’t care anymore.

Up at 6:00 for an early coffee with my pal, George. Had a good time swapping stories. Drank a couple of cups on the front porch when I got home, updated a few submissions, and spent the next hour and half at the gym pushing things around.

Coming close to the end of Dispatches. Also re-reading a number of R. Carver stories. Despite my having dedicated a lifetime to understanding literature, I’m not sure I’m any further ahead than I was in my twenties.

Wanted to do some fishing today, but the weather had gone south before I ever got up and stayed that way the entire day.

Driving to Leadville tomorrow. Be good to get out of town again. Don’t know why, but it will.

Closing in...

Felt like fall today. Crisp, overcast, trees shedding their leaves. Slept pretty well last night, despite the neck, and even woke a little later than usual.

Made decent progress on the new story, then headed off to gym, which mysteriously empties itself whenever it knows I’m coming. Only two other people there when I arrived.

Rode the bike, lifted, worked the heavy bag. It was all good.

Might go fishing tomorrow after my coffee with George O. We’ll see. It isn’t supposed to rain until later in the afternoon, and the temps ought to be perfect. If I do go, I’ll be heading back down to the Arkansas.

Took a short nap this afternoon. Naps have been the best sleep I’ve been getting in a while.

Finished with the Steinbeck Vietnam book. Did a comparative read alongside M. Herr’s Dispatches, and found it to be a terrible disappointment in many, many ways. Had to steep myself in Ray Carver and Denis Johnson afterward to try and cleanse the palate.

Good talk with my old friend, S, this morning. Nice, as always, catching up.

What? It's only Tuesday?

Still learning to navigate the new operating system. Don’t want to step on any land mines.

Had a good morning at the keyboard, making decent progress on the new short. Got up later than expected, so didn’t get as far as I’d hoped, but happy just the same.

Hit the gym around noon, came home and sat in on Jack’s chess lesson. Afterward, spent some time catching up. Had a brief conversation with Matt, too. Wish they still lived down the street so we could connect up more often, but thank god for FaceTime. At least I get to see them.

A solar panel salesman came to the house around four. Spent two hours listening to his pitch. Tomorrow, I see the doc. Lessons to be learned all around, I’m betting.

Three N stories appeared in the queue today. Feels good to be back at it.

Good end to a troubled day...

Computer badness for two days. J was kind enough to come over and install a new operating system. We’ll see if it helps. If not, time to pull out the hand cannon and pump six into the hard drive.

Can’t seem to get around the neck issues at the moment. Another rough night’s sleep. Looking more ad more forward to my doc appointment on Wednesday morning. Made some progress on the new short, though not as much as I’d have liked, so here’s hoping the tech fix holds and I can get back to it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, cleaned the house up and down, got in some decent reading, and a brief workout at the gym, which was all but empty again.

Hear some rumblings. Maybe we’ll see some rain. Wouldn’t mind it, and neither would the grass seed I laid down.

A day of wanderings...

Best day in a while.

Up late with an aching neck, but still managed to put in some solid time at the keyboard. Began drafting a new story, and unstumped myself on how to proceed with the longer piece I started two weeks ago.

Took a break mid-morning and drove up to Victor. Aspens have begun to turn, but aren’t quite at their peak so who knows, maybe we’ll get away for a longer trip next weekend. Anyway, a beautiful afternoon. The sky was blue with high clouds, the sun was warm, and the temps stayed right around seventy degrees. Did some sight-seeing and window shopping, but stayed masked and out of the way of the tourists.

Skipped rope and lifted when I got home.

Think I’ll sleep well tonight. Hope so.

Small good things...

Early rise to drop the Jeep off at the detail center.

Spent the rest of the day dinking around. Didn’t get much done in the way of writing, but sometimes that’s just the way it goes.

Managed a trip to the gym, and a light cardio workout. After that a trip to the grocery. Pretty, pretty day. More blue skies, sunshine, and easy breezes.

Have a new story in the making. Happy about that. Laying back a couple of days made all the difference.

Taking a road trip tomorrow to see the aspens. Not sure where we’re going yet, but it’ll be a nice time just getting up into the mountains.

Tonight? Grilled trout.

On the comeback trail...

I’d say ‘crazy day’ if we hadn’t already established a new standard of that earlier this week.

Up to work early, but knocked off early too, to do some fishing down on the Arkansas.

Worked the river pretty hard, and was paid back when I hit a stretch of water a couple of miles west of Cotopaxi. Caught one nice rainbow and two nice brown, the biggest measuring fourteen inches.

Listened to Joe Williams on the ride down. (Man, the guy could sing.) Bobby Darin on the way home. (Ditto with the singing chops.) Couldn’t have had a better time.

Beautiful day on the water. Sunny, but not hot. Breezy, but light and energizing. Not sure what’s in store tomorrow, but today made up for a roundly shitty week.

Some of this, some of that...

Computer issues continue to dog me. Some kind of virus that will not let go. Just as well I’m having them now, I suppose, as all sorts of interesting things have been sidetracking me. That said, didn’t get any writing done this morning, but I did get a cracked tooth repaired, took a nap, found a nice chunk of reading time, and got a pleasant walk around the neighborhood.

Gonna try and get away for some fishing tomorrow. Clear the head, drain the anxiety reservoir, and see about some attitude readjustment.

6:02 and time to reset.

Looking to take it easy tonight.

Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you...

More like a sideshow than a day.

Walked downstairs this morning to brew the coffee and saunter out to the cottage only to glance out the window and see that the Jeep had been stolen. Many calls and much anxiety later, the locks had been changed on the front door and the police had located the car a block north of us. No damage—not that we could see, anyway—and still in good running order.

Tomorrow going to have it checked out mechanically, then detailed. Can’t express how relieved I am to have it back. Will be sleeping with one eye open tonight.

Exhausted, man. Just exhausted.

Let's review just this much...

Abbreviated morning. Lots going on. Managed some decent composition time before going off to get the teeth cleaned, but lost steam going into the afternoon. Had a brief workout at the gym. Made a pot of tomato soup when I got home, and was able to FaceTime with both the boys before their bedtime. I suspect a whole bunch of important things happened in the interim, but for the life of me I can’t recall what they were. Lots swimming around in my head. Looking forward to the same good night’s sleep that’s been eluding me for days now. Meanwhile, enjoying the nice cool weather.

Reconciled...

Bad night’s sleep. Neck sore. Seeing the doc next week and hoping for a new PT prescription. Feels like it’s a referral from the surgically repaired shoulder. Anyway, up later than usual, though not too late, and off to the cottage for some drafting.

Worked out at home, skipping rope and lifting, then went ahead and planted the new burning bush and privet shrubs. Also got the lawn aerated, cut, and reseeded.

Spent the afternoon working through some family matters. After, finished my yard cleanup and showered.

Cool day, tempwise. I think it only made it into the seventies. Hope that’s a harbinger of things to come, though don’t want to be looking at any snow or hard freezes until I get the trees pruned and maybe see the grass seeds sprout.

Looking forward to a productive tomorrow. Teeth cleaning late in the afternoon, so I guess I’ll have to make the most of whatever the morning gives me.

Tonight, home-made bean soup.

Blowing with the wind...

Big winds came up last night. Big winds. Woke up around 3:30 and never really got back to sleep. Looked for a while like we might have another nice day, early on, but the front blew in all kinds of smoke from the new California fire.

Finished my reader draft of the new short. Calling it “Eyes Wide Open.” Tomorrow, on to bigger things.

Stayed home today and worked out in the garage. Skipped rope and lifted. It went pretty well, and I’m beginning to think I might migrate back there every other day just to keep out the way of the non-maskers at the gym. There aren’t many of them at the moment, but as soon as the weather turns they’ll be back in droves.

Not sure what’s up for tomorrow. Might go fishing, might not. Need to think about getting the shrubs the ground and picking up top soil for next week’s seeding.

Tonight, kicking back and watching the last episode of G’s series. Maybe get in a little reading later.

I've got my own back, thank you...

No complaints.

Day went well.

Up early, wrote well, didn’t hurt myself at the gym, and enjoyed more warm but pleasantly fallish weather.

Been thinking about fishing this weekend and just might if I get the chance. Can’t seed the lawn until Monday, after the aeration guy stops by, and finished most of the trimming and pruning of the bushes a couple of days ago, so except for planting the three shrubs out back there isn’t much holding me down. At least I don’t think so.

Talked to my buddy S earlier this morning. Wish we could’ve spoken longer. Nothing from the rest of the world.

Not bad for mid-week...

Straightforward day. Up a little later than usual, but did a lot of good work at the keyboard and think I’m maybe a day, two days, from having a reader draft of a new story.

Left for the gym around home. Had a nice workout. Wasn’t as crowded as yesterday, so got in some lifting as well as a good bit of cardio.

Weather today’s been textbook perfect, if a little warm for September. Blue skies, a nice breeze to push the air around, and almost no smoke at all.

Got to FaceTime with Matty for about an hour when I got home. Haven’t had that much solo time with him for a while. Not sure where Jack was, but figure I’ll catch up with him before long, too.

Cooking shish kebab tonight. Nothing special, just veggies and kielbasa.

Finding the Steinbeck Viet Nam book lacking. Hope to move on from it soon.

Taking it as it comes...

Woke to cool temps and a clear sky. Nice way to start the day.

Wrote hard and fast on the new piece, then took some time off to help my buddy S. load landscaping stone from the back alley.

Worked out afterward, but stopped after the cardio set and came home to lift when the gym started filling up.

Read for a while when I got home and loafed otherwise, letting the afternoon slip by. Also put in some time cleaning the garage. Didn’t finish, but made some definite headway.

Was supposed to catch up with young Jack for a chess lesson tonight, but it didn’t happen owing to unexpected changes in schedule.

S. had her shingles shot today. Not feeling too bad. Arm’s sore, but doing well otherwise. Guess I’ll get mine later in the week.

Sent out a couple more queries tonight. We’ll see what happens.

Monday, 6:30 pm...

Quiet Monday, for sure.

Put in some solid time at the keyboard, then went off to the gym. Went to work in the yard when I got home, uprooting old dead plants and trimming the live ones. Had a quiet afternoon while John came and noodled with the tech problems.

Finished In Dubious Battle.

That’s it. The sum total of my day—give or take a few, unremembered details.

Sounds like it’s raining.

Hope so.

Yawn...

Geez. Slept-walked through this one. Started with a bad night’s sleep and continued on throughout the day. Did manage to get some reading done, so that was nice. But stalled out writing even though I pushed myself to get something done.

In short, no yard work, no gym, no nap, no nothing. Just an ordinary day sitting around the house. And all of it on me.

One a happy note, the sky cleared and we even saw a bit of rain.

Move over Bacchus...

Ran out of ambition somewhere between getting out of bed and heading off to the gym.

Made some revisions on the short piece, but not many and not enough to call it a reader draft yet. Nothing on the new long piece.

Temps climbed well into the nineties while I watched my beloved lawn wilt and frazzle.

Took a short nap, but even that didn’t live up to expectations.

Thought I might pull a few dead plants from the yard, but meh, got too lazy for that as well.

Did manage some decent reading time with Mr. Steinbeck.

Tonight, wine and revelry.