The box of photographs in your mind
You never quite know which event, sound, thought, smell will be captured by your mind and placed into the box of photographs living inside your head. The other day on youtube I stumbled upon an old music video. Seeing the images triggered an opening of my photo box and I was transported back to 1989 in the living room/dining room of my small condo. It was a crazy day – I was stressed out from too much work, and volumes of homework from my night school class (Systems Engineering with models solved by differential equations – I get tired just thinking about it). Papers were strewn about the kitchen table. My brain and my house were both a big mess.
The TV was blabbing at nothing, tuned to VH1 just to have some music in the background. Something new came on – lots of cool guitar strumming. My head just sort of lifted from my textbook and I was glued to the TV watching two women playing the heck out of their guitars, singing a folkie but energetic song. I was mesmerized throughout the whole thing. Those women were singers/songwriters who knew how to proudly wear boots, t-shirts, and jeans with ripped out knees. They were talented and confident, slightly younger than I but seemingly more full of life and in charge of their destiny. Through that music I felt strong, happy and in charge. Indeed, a burden was lifted off of me for the rest of the day.
I bought their CD that week and now have quite a bit of their music. It has been nearly 20 years and they just released another (their 11th?) CD. They are still great, still singing tight harmonies and pulling a zillion notes out of their guitars.
To this day, whenever I hear “Closer to Fine” it makes me feel like an invincible 28 year old. It seems like someone placed the video on youtube just so I would have an excuse to open my photo box and pull out a simple, wonderful memory. Thanks, Indigo Girls. “The best thing you’ve ever done for me, was help me take my life less seriously. It’s only life, after all.”
Owning your home – better learn some handy skills
Fortunately, I am not afraid to learn something new and give it a try when something needs fixing. I say “fortunately” because if you own a home, you know that stuff needs fixing constantly.
Yesterday D & I decided to replace the exterior door to the kitchen. We could then use the old one, which is super crappy construction anyway, as a door to the tack room in the barn. The new door would have one of those “blinds inside of glass” designs so we could let in a lot more light to the kitchen. Replacing an exterior door would be a little bit of a challenge for us, but we figured we’d give it a shot.
Things went pretty well until we got the old door out and inspected around the sill. Rot. Everywhere. This house is only 8 years old, but I’ll swear, it is contructed with chewing gum and spit. It looks like at least some of the subsiding and subflooring, and maybe even a couple of framing pieces, will need replacement. But we figured we would hold off on that until the day we replace the siding (which is being held together on one corner with, literally, duct tape). For this weekend, we just dug out as much rot as possible, stabilized with a wood stabilizer, then filled it will a putty/resin. When all that dries we’ll caulk the hell out of it, put the new door in, and make sure we have a good storm door over that.
All told, this “little” project will probably cost us about $700 and that is with us doing it ourselves.
I have come to the conclusion that the people who manufacture these things just absolutely do not give a crap. Or they do not think about what they are doing. Or both.
I look forward to the day we can put a sunroom on the back, if for nothing else, to keep the elements (wind/rain) away from the subsiding. Of course, the builders will need to flash the new hip roof well or that will leak and rot too. Too bad I am not a carpenter – I can see where that is a pretty good business now.
What was it that Dorothy said?
It’s 4am and I am up, fretting about getting out some work to a customer today. Don’t wanna miss that deadline. I am getting quite a love-hate relationship with computers and computer work now, desiring more and more to be sitting on the tractor or cleaning up the horses. I suppose it is that time of life when you really start to reevaluate your priorities. And boy, I am so sick of a desk job.
Anyhow, I seem to be reading more and more about things like organic farming, energy conservation, homesteading, hobby farms, alternative fuels, woodworking and lutherie, yadda yadda. Becoming quite the granola bar! As such I stumbled upon a book called “Simple Living”, which I have just started and think I will enjoy. Turns out that the authors are the folks who run Levering Orchard – a local business, familiar to me since I was a pretty little kid. Levering Orchard is just up the mountain from my parent’s house. We drive by there almost any time we are on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Also last weekend I went to see the new Blue Ridge Music Hall at about milepost 212 on the Parkway. Dang that place is impressive! Who knew that right there in Caroll County Virginia there are authors, playwrights, artists and musicians who are well-known, talented, and incredibly giving of their time. All these things I love – and I have been surrounded by them much of my life without even knowing it. Geez, I gotta get out more!
What was it Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz” said? Something about looking all over for happiness, only to find it was always there, in your own back yard?
