For today’s blog post, I had originally planned on a book review. I’m not sure which. I recently finished two books and will review both. I’ve been debating which would be first. As late as Wednesday I was still debating that, unsure. This isn’t a critical decision, but I just wanted to let you all know what’s going on with me.

Then came Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Actually, I could lump Monday in with that. All four days were days of incredible accomplishment. I got a lot of stuff done. Not only me: Lynda accomplished much decluttering, sorting through piles of children’s books to find duplicates, the unused/unread, and prepare to give away many and organize the rest. That’s on-going. The house is a mess, but it won’t be long before it looks much, much better.

As for me, each day I kept up with my routine things. I did my devotions first thing. I kept up with writing and publishing news. I did my stock trading, entering into a number of trades on Monday and seeing some success. And, I resumed my workouts on the elliptical—nothing major, but after a month layoff, it felt good to get back to that routine.

I then shifted to working on Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition. One day I edited the final three source documents. One day I wrote my part of a chapter, then next day on two chapters, and then yesterday did the last chapter. So, the first draft is now done, excepting whatever I choose to do for an Introduction. This is a very good feeling.

In the afternoons I worked on a construction specification for my former employer. This was the first major work I had for them. It’s major not because it will require a lot of hours (it’s a small construction project), but because it’s something other than random site inspections and correspondence. I had to remember again how to put a spec together. Strange how much you forget in not quite six months of retirement.

The spec was also good because the work of the project is unusual, the widening of a ditch, which requires a farm pond to be moved, both of which require some heavy-duty erosion control (temporary and permanent). I had to write one new spec section and significantly modify another. It’s always good to create something.

Despite this busyness, I was able to do some things for enjoyment. I picked blueberries one day. Started reading two new books on consecutive days, and they both look like good ones that I’ll read through to completion.

In the evenings, I began work on a Bible study. I’m planning on it being part of our Life Group curriculum at church, probably this fall. I had the outline done for over a month, but hadn’t started work on it. On Tuesday evening I tweaked the outline and wrote it out anew. On Wednesday evening I began putting a Word document together, only to end the night finding the file had major corruption issues, about the strangest I’ve ever seen. On Thursday evening (actually some during the day) I started the document over and made major progress with it.

Now it’s Friday. I plan on writing the Introduction to Documenting America. I might pick some more blueberries. I’ll read some more in the two books. I’ll begin one book review for Monday’s blog post. I’ll do some decluttering work of my own, perhaps split between my closet, the garage, and my writing papers. Hopefully, four days of great accomplishment will become five.