Another update entry

I have access to the internet again, so here's another mass update on my life. :)

Preface: A guy down the road charges very reasonable rates for doing clearing, digging holes, etc., with his backhoe/bulldozer and dumptruck. I refer to him as ''Scoopy Guy'', which is how the rest of The Lady's family now refers to him as well.


Today is Friday.

On Tuesday of this week, the Scoopy Guy down the road was scheduled to come by and demolish the Old Homestead, the two-bedroom cabin (formerly a chicken coop) that my wife lived in during the first year or two of her life. For sentimental reasons, I wanted to pry up the floorboards -- at least, the ones that weren't rotten from a leaky roof and piles of soggy junk on the floor. Saturday and Sunday I spent sorting through the miscellanea in the two rooms, saving the good stuff and moving it to a safe location, and tossing the junk out the end window. By late afternoon Sunday the floor was cleared enough that I could start prying up the floorboards.

Wasn't sure how easy or hard it would be, but -- proof of concept -- I managed to do five or six before it got dark. Averaged around seven minutes per floorboard.

Sunday night, realized I'd caught a stomach bug. Stayed up until about 1 a.m., nauseous. Very minor vomitage (one dry heave, then one serving spoon full), and felt somewhat better.

Had originally intended to get an early start on Monday on the floorboards, but upon waking up, decided I could do with a lie-in. Dozed until about 10:30am, then got up and got dressed. By the time I was over next door, it was around 11:30, and I was moving at about three-quarters speed -- **not** feeling well, but not horrible enough that I could go back to bed, given that I had a deadline: Anything not salvaged by Tuesday morning would be demolished by the Scoopy Guy and sent to the tip. ((For the Yanks: ''the dump''.)) Could have asked next-door BrotherDave to help, but I didn't feel quite horrible enough to ask for help. Besides, he was already involved in his own around-the-house project, adding a covered area to the front and side of his storage shed.

Managed to slog thru the day, driving the pry bar with the eight-pound hammer, over and over. Picked up The Kid from Mum (across the road) around 4:30pm. (Later, Mum told my wife that I'd looked unwell -- very ''one foot in front of the other''.)

Finished half of the front room, and the center one-third of the back room. Still had two-thirds of the back room to go, plus the remaining non-rotten one-fourth of the front room. Knew I'd have to get up bright and early to finish in time.

Tried going to bed early, but The Kid was squirrelly, kept me up. The next morning (Tuesday), got up at 5:30 a.m., before the sun. By the time I had my oatmeal -- actually felt like eating!!! -- and suited up, it was around 6:30 a.m. and had already been light for a little bit. Dang!

Scoopy guy showed up earlier than he'd suggested -- about 7:45am -- and I was still trying to pry up the last 20% or so. He cleared another area, and made two trips to the dump, each trip keeping him away for maybe a half hour (I kept forgetting to time it).

Wednesday, I put away some of my lumber that I'd salvaged.

Thursday, spent the whole day doing marking ((for the Yanks: ''grading term papers and final exams'').


Today (Friday), in at Uni, finishing up marking and submitting final grades.


Saturday there's a independently owned drum shop holding their grand opening at a nearby shopping plaza. There's a few Drummer's Warehouse branches on the other side of Brisbane, but over here on the east side there ain't nuthin'. Free pizza.

I forget the name of the place, but supposedly the're going to carry new **and** used gear. (Bargains...?) And probably a good place to post ''drummer wanted'' signs, when I'm finally in a position to resume fishing for bandmates. (Bought a ''White Stripes'' documentary DVD for five bucks. Inspired me that I could get by -- at least short-term -- with just a drummer. **Could** go the drum machine route [a la Sisters of Mercy], but I'm not sure if I still have the patience to program a drum machine... at the level of complexity that I'd require.)

Now that the old sheds (cabins; whatever...) have been knocked down, it's much easier to envision our house being built in that location. Looking forward to the house being built -- so we can **finally** unpack all our boxes of books and video tapes -- and my music gear -- and I'll have room to set up, and (hopefully) start recording again. And start planting trees and shrubs, and building permanent structures like a woodshed for me, and a potting shed for The Lady. And some sort of playground/climbing structure for The Kid.

And maybe a hut for Tall Guy? ;)


Ayep!


--GG