Category Archives: Engineering

Bible study, C.S. Lewis, Church History Novels, Engineering, Health, poetry, reading, Writing

An Enjoyable Loss of Sleep

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Will this be my only poetry book, or will inspiration to write more ever return?

This morning I awoke at about 4:30 a.m., did a restroom break, went back to bed, and couldn’t sleep. This has happened before. Normally I go right back to sleep after being up in the night, but sometimes, only on the later in the night awakenings, I don’t fall asleep. At 5:30 I decided lying there with disjointed thoughts was silly and got up. Throwing on a long sleeve shirt, slipping my feet into my aging and almost done-for slippers, I took my mug of water and headed for the sun room to read.

No coffee, you ask? No, I don’t like to take coffee before I weigh and take my blood sugar, and I wasn’t ready for the latter. So I went to the sun room and started to read in Jack, a life of C.S. Lewis by George Sayer. I had loaned this book to a friend and asked for it back recently, as I wanted to read it again. I say “again” as I’m not 100 percent sure I read it before. I think I did, well over ten years ago, about the time our Life Group was studying The Screwtape Letters. I’ll know if I read it before if, in the last chapter, I find a certain scene there. If this is my second time through it, it’s quite fresh and enjoyable, given the time lapse since the first reading.

The windows in the sun room were still open, and it was cold. I regretted not pulling on jeans and my inside jacket. The temperature was to get down to 40 overnight, and I was sure it was that low. Outside, the air was stirring. Breezes came and went. The rustling in the adjacent wood was almost constant, though never strong. Occasionally it came through the open window before me. Why didn’t I shut the window? And the one to my side? Why didn’t I go back to the bedroom and get dressed more properly? For one, I didn’t want to risk waking Lynda. Also, I much enjoy being slightly cold. It was easier to pull a blanket over my legs and chest and enjoy the coolness.

I read with good concentration and made much progress. Shortly after 6:00 a.m., Lynda opened the door. We had a brief conversation. I got up, weighed, took my sugar, got dressed, got coffee, and went back to the sunroom and reading, while Lynda went back to bed for a while. I returned to my reading, but with a little less concentration. Thoughts of poetry began to take some brain space away from the words on the page. Oh, my comprehension was still fine. It’s just that I’d like to be able to write poetry again.

Poetry is probably an affectation for me, not something I should spend time on. When I wrote quite a bit of poetry over a decade ago, I enjoyed it. I don’t know whether I produced good poetry, but it was the type of poetry I like to read, so it was good for me. In my mind I’ve outlined six additional poetry books, and have listed their potential titles on the page. I know the order I’d like to write them in. Yet, I have no inspiration beyond that.

I’m not going to force it. I have too much else to write, both works-in-progress and planned, to devote time to poetry without inspiration. I like to say that poetry comes either by inspiration or perspiration, and probably requires both. I’m going to wait, however, and not apply the perspiration in hopes that the inspiration follows. I think the opposite order of things is better.

I need to get the Leader’s Guide for this done, but it’s progressing painfully slowly. More perspiration needed, I think.

So what will my day consist of, now that the sun has risen enough behind the dense cloud cover to show light through the trees outside The Dungeon windows? I hope to finish a chapter in the Leader’s Guide to Acts Of Faith. I made some progress on it last night. I hope to write a scene in “Tango Delta Foxtrot”, and get that to the halfway point. I have a few short-term stock trades on, a couple of which will come to a conclusion today; I’ll have to pay attention to them, though all looks good right now.

I have some engineering work to do. I went by the office of my old company yesterday and picked up two project for review. One, I’m fairly sure, is small and I can possibly complete in less than two hours. The other may be larger; I won’t know for sure till I get into it. Plus I have construction reports to review. I anticipate spending three or four hours today, and as much as needed tomorrow to complete these tasks. It will cut into my writing time, but the money is good, and it’s also good for me to keep my mind engaged in engineering work.

One other thing I may do today, time permitting. II might create the computer folder and files for my next book. Tentatively titled The Sayings, it is book 3 in my Church History novels series. I plan on starting it next month, but it, too, is taking up gray cells. I need to get a few things on “paper” so that I don’t lose them. Plot threads are coming to mind. Specific scenes are coming to mind as I read for research. I’m not sure I’ll do this, but perhaps it’s better to get it done and see if I can free up that brain power for the real tasks at hand.

So, it’s going to be a full day for sure. Some exercise would be good as well. I would say that this is a day when I have truly “awakened the dawn”.

Engineering

This Year In Engineering

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The pond being rebuilt in Minnesota looked good once it was done.

While I am retired, I’m under contract to my former company, CEI Engineering Associates, Inc., to provide services when called upon. These haven’t been too many, as for the most part they are getting by just fine without the old man.

I left two things hanging when I retired January 1st. They were both Children’s Learning Adventure facilities, one in Minnesota and one in Missouri, outside St. Louis. These were projects started by another project manager at the company. They bogged down in construction, each having problems with the storm water treatment pond. The other project manager, who was very good, wasn’t an engineer and couldn’t deal with the issues that arose. She was significantly over-loaded with many projects. To help off-load her, I got these two projects in November 2017, along with three others that weren’t as critical.

Turning an infiltration pond, which didn’t infiltrate, into a filtering pond. A significant rain shortly after it was completed showed it worked well.

For the last year of my fulltime career, this work took up a lot of my time. The project in Minnesota came together first. The issues were clear. Two ponds had to be redesigned and reconstructed. Of course, it included working with the City and the Watershed District, both of which had jurisdiction. We received approval from them, and moved forward with construction in Sept-Oct 2018. As this was a working childcare facility, the work had to be done on the weekends. I spent three weekends in Minnesota, overseeing the work and doing some facilitating to keep it from stretching out to a fourth weekend. We had a final inspection in November, and all that was left was a warrantee period inspection this summer, which another man with the company handled.

The St. Louis area project was tougher. We fought the contractor over that. He said the pond was designed incorrectly, that it didn’t account for adjacent groundwater flow, etc., etc. I had data that showed some layers of the pond were the wrong material, or perhaps contaminated material. The contractor finally said he would rebuilt the pond, but winter season was upon us by then. When I retired, the other man at our company was up-to-speed on this, but planned on bringing me in to visit the site while the rework was going on.

The contractor said he’d rebuilt the pond, but that it wouldn’t make any difference in performance since it was our error. Well, in May-June of this year, while I was away in Texas and unable to go to the site, they did rebuild it. I talked with the other engineer recently, and he said the pond is now working perfectly. It wasn’t a design error at all, but a construction problem. While I would have liked to have seen it during construction, I’m glad it all was done.

Meanwhile, back in the real world of 2019, the company continues to call on me from time to time, mainly for City of Centerton work. The engineer I trained and mentored for two years to take over this work has been promoted to department head, and is very busy as a result. More and more she is calling on me. I spent over four hours on that work on Tuesday, going into the office for it. We had a conference call with FEMA on one project, then I spent close to two hours going through accumulated construction reports for several developer projects for which we serve as city engineer. I filed the reports and photographs, and prepared the e-mails for archiving. Next time I’m in the office I’ll do the archiving.

In my reviews, I found items that will have to be put in a change order by the design engineer (another firm). I also found a couple of failing tests, which the geotechnical engineer acknowledged and addressed. Still, it’s something our construction folks will need to be aware of. I sent an e-mail to all of them so they are aware of the problems. I also sent an engineer to that other firm about preparing the needed change order.

The department head has asked me to be that main one to review the reports going forward. That means when I check company e-mail on my cell phone and see emails come through with attachments, I’ll have to drag out the company laptop and deal with them. It will be a daily 5 minute task, the time for which I will accumulate and bill in 15 minute increments. It’s good money, good enough to pay a bill or two every month, but shouldn’t be so much that I get dinged by the IRS for making too much. Now, if one of my books catches fire and begins selling, that will be a different story.

I still have my engineering licenses in Arkansas and Missouri, my Kansas license being retired last April. Missouri comes up for renewal the end of this year, and I will most likely retire it at that point. Arkansas is good until December 2020. We’ll see what happens then. They may finally have weaned themselves from the old man.

Documenting America, Engineering, Life Group lessons, miscellaneous, Writing

Days of Accomplishment

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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.

Caught this little guy on camera this week. It’s always so nice to see the blue color on the deck.

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.

The amount of wild blueberries in the woods across from our house is massive. It’s no where near being fully picked, no where near all being ripe. And, blackberry season is about to begin.

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.

Documenting America, Engineering, travel, Writing

Not Quite Back to Normal

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The grandkids found a wild blueberry patch in the woods across the street from our house. How many years has that been there and I didn’t know it?

After 2,700 miles in the last 24 days, consisting of two round trips from home to West Texas, first to pick up grandchildren to stay with us then to return them, things are back to normal today. That also includes our special bug infestation earlier in May, something I haven’t written about here.

I took the grandkids to a Wednesday evening service project at our church, packing meals for the food challenged.

Well, not quite back to normal. This afternoon we have our quarterly pest treatment. We always have some prep work to do for that and putting things back afterwards. Then there’s the question of groceries and whether we have enough or if we need to make a quick trip to the store. Then there’s getting the checkbook and budget up to date for all the debits on the trip, and filing the receipts. The latter isn’t critical, but I like to have finances up to date always.

Then, there’s my speaking engagement tomorrow, to the Village Lake Writers and Poets. This was supposed to have been in April, but I got bumped when another speaker was booked over me. I’m mostly prepared, but would like to run through it a couple of times today and tomorrow morning. My topic is “Genre Focus Disorder: Is Poetry the Cure?”

One other thing is an assignment from my former company to write a construction spec. I’ll need to look at that a little today, consider the deadlines, and decide how much time I’ll need to put into it. It isn’t huge, but it’s the first “major” assignment they’ve given me since I retired on January 1st this year.

Couldn’t let them be on screens all day. Chores were assigned, and done cheerfully—for the most part.

As for blog post, I have nothing planned. I’ll be thinking about them over the next few days. I hope to quickly get back into my rhythm of Monday and Friday blog posts. I normally try to plan ahead for those, knowing a week or two out what I’ll be posting about.

Trips aren’t over yet for the summer. We will soon make an overnight trip to Oklahoma City for a church event. Back to Texas a little later to help the kids out, and maybe one more time for the oldest grandchild to come stay with us for a week. It’s all good. I enjoy long distance driving, as does the wife. A road trip us usually a joy.

Now, will I be able to accomplish a little writing today? Documenting America waits. Stay tuned.

construction, Documenting America, Engineering, reading, self-publishing, stock market, Writing

Random Friday Thoughts

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Can a graphics duffer create the print-book cover to go with this? Enquiring minds want to know.

As I look out from The Dungeon windows at 06:47 a.m., the sun is hidden by the tall trees at the rear of our backyard. But enough sun gets through I can tell it will be a sunny day, at least to start. Storms are predicted for tomorrow, and might start in a small way sometime today.

Yesterday was a busy day. In addition to stock trading in the morning, I did a few writer things. I’m trying to create the print book cover for my friend’s book. I made a good start on it despite the fact that it’s been a year since I created a cover. Using G.I.M.P., a no-cost alternative to Photoshop, I managed to get the overall sizes of each part of the cover in place. I found some good notes I wrote on that. Alas, I’ve forgotten enough that I didn’t get it done in the time I had. Hopefully I will this morning.

I then at a quick lunch, hopped in the van, and went to do some engineering work, final inspection of one site and monthly inspections on three other sites. I completed the final inspection, with a little arguing with the contractor thrown in. Not bad arguing, just them obviously not appreciating the things I found. I got a little testy at one point when they gave new information about a structure I’ve been trying to get them to modify. Why they didn’t give me that info months ago is a mystery.

I went to the first monthly inspection, walked the site, saw only one or two things out of the ordinary. This has been a problem site, with me constantly finding things they are doing in violation of City codes. They’ve started to get much better. They had installed almost all the handicapped ramps incorrectly. I decided to let the first few go, but I found a new one wrongly constructed. They will have to change that. They also had one where they attempted to construct it correctly, but came up short. Fortunately the correction is inexpensive.

The engineering work to that point took me from 12:30 p.m. to about 3:30 p.m., with two more sites to go. I was beat and dehydrated, as I hadn’t taken water with me. I decided not to do the other two inspections, leaving them to the employee of my former company who joined me yesterday for training purposes. I came home, rested an hour, then wrote the reports for the two inspections.

Then I took it easy in the evening. We had plenty of leftover chili to use for taco salad, so had that for supper, and a slice of turtle pie for dessert. I spent much of the evening on the computer working on the reports as well as trying to find some photos in the company files to prove the point I tried to make on site.

I’ll soon be creating a cover for “Documenting America: Making the Constitution Edition”. It will be a simple re-creation of this one.

I wrote an e-mail to the CEI project manager, telling her my inability to do the two other inspections was “most likely a combination of too much sun, frustration with [the other] engineer and developer and contractor, age, and perhaps a creeping retirement-starting-to-care-a-little-less each month.” I haven’t heard back from her yet. I have trained the other man to do these inspections and had no doubt he could do the remaining two and write acceptable reports.

I spent no time in the sunroom, didn’t work on my own books at all, didn’t make much progress on my to-do list. My wife and I did a little reading aloud, and we took a very pleasant call from our oldest grandson and had evening devotions with him. Our reading carried us after normal bed time.

So, up this morning after sleeping through the night, ready to “awaken the dawn” that I see unfolding out the window. It’s fully light out, though the trees still obscure direct rays. On to other things for a couple of hours, then back to the book cover work.

Engineering, Genealogy, Life Group lessons, reading, Writing

Retirement: The First Three Days

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My first official day of retirement was January 1, 2019. Having gone into the office the day before, and actually having done some meaningful work that day, Tuesday the 1st seemed more like the holiday I would have as a working man rather than a retirement day. We saw our daughter’s family off around 10:30 a.m., then we alternated resting and cleaning the rest of the day. We said we wouldn’t clean until Tuesday, but a few things were obviously easy, so we did it. That night we watched episodes of our favorite show, The Curse of Oak Island on the History Channel.

So Wednesday the 2nd was the first true retirement day. I was up around 6:15 a.m., got coffee, and headed to The Dungeon. I opened my brokerage programs, and realized I hadn’t set up my trading spreadsheet for 2019. I did that in a little more than an hour, and was ready when the market opened. After that, what to do? I read e-mails, Facebook, checked 23andMe, got breakfast, and watched the market.

I decided to work on my genealogy pursuits, and began better assimilation of data I’ve accumulated on the Penson family. Florence Elizabeth Penson married William Henry Foreman and gave birth to Bert Foreman, my new-found birth grandfather. That became my work for the rest of the day—along with watching the market. I took time to clean up Christmas stuff strewn across the work table in the storeroom. The evening was devoted to TV and reading. Thus ended a first, delightful day of retirement.

And, through the day, I had some e-mails for CEI Engineering. Since I have a contract with them for limited work, I still have my CEI phone and computer. The phone will soon be mine, but the computer will some day go back to them. One e-mail, from my former supervisor, included a request to do something, so I get to charge a little time to them. Just a 1/4 hour, but I’ll get paid for it. The extra income is something I’m looking forward to.

Yesterday, Thursday, wasn’t much different, except that I slept until almost 7:30 a.m. I watched the market and made one trade. I kept working on the Penson genealogy data. We did more clean-up, and Lynda did some laundry. She’s still not over the flu she caught just after Christmas, and her cough is terrible. We continued to eat leftovers, and the refrigerators are more or less back to normal. I cleaned out several things yesterday.

In the evening I worked on the outline for a series of Life Group lessons titled A Walk Through Holy Week. My co-teacher suggested this as something he’d like to do someday. A couple of months ago I looked into it, and realized we would never be able to teach it all in one Spring season. Last night I divided it into six parts, and planned the lessons for Part 1, which we will begin teaching in February this year. I still have some planning to do into two or three of the lessons, and will do so tonight.

So here it is, Friday January 4. I got up just after 7:00 a.m., which I think I’ll try to make my regular time. I made coffee, sat with Lynda a bit (she’s still coughing much and hard), called in one of her prescriptions, made a grocery list, and went to The Dungeon. Market futures are up, so it looks like a good opening. A Word document concerning the Penson family is open, and I’ve made some entries into it. And here I am, working on my regular Friday blog.

Truth is, I don’t yet know what my retirement routine will be. I have so many things I want to accomplish. My main January task is supposed to be inventorying my trunkful of Stars and Stripes, passed down to me from my dad. Perhaps I’ll get to that today. I’m going to make a grocery run, help out with more laundry, finish this Penson genealogy for now, finish the Life Group lessons work, and then, who knows? Maybe some reading. Oh, yes, I’ve been doing some of that in the evenings, in magazines I’ve collected but intend to read and not keep.

 

Engineering, Genealogy, Writing

14 Days, 6 Workdays

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As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I’m soon to retire: at the end of the month, the end of the year, the day I turn 67. That will be my last day in the office. To say I’m looking forward to retirement would be the understatement of the last decade.

But, during this last month or two, I find myself very unsettled. What will my retirement look like? I’ll write more books, study more genealogy, write those family histories I’ve been gathering, write the Bible studies I’ve developed and taught, and work on the clutter accumulated during 45 years of adulthood, almost 43 years of marriage. There’s no doubt I’ll keep busy. Plus, my company has asked me to enter into a contract with them for limited services, averaging not more than 10 hours per week. So I’ll keep my hand in civil engineering.

My unsettledness has come from not knowing what to do in my last two months as a fulltime employee. And, my problem hasn’t been at work, where I’ve stayed busy. The problem has been at home. A year ago, in the evenings, after supper and a little conversation with Lynda, I would head to The Dungeon, and would work on one of my avocational pursuits for a couple of hours, coming upstairs to leave a little time to read before going to bed.

The last two months, however, I decided to forego my time in The Dungeon and just sit upstairs with Lynda, watching television, talking, and perhaps doing a few things. Actually, now that I think about it, this has been going on for at least four months. My reasoning: It won’t be long before I’ll have the daytime hours to do these things. Let them go for a while. Whether retirement really gives me all the time I need for all the things I’d like to do is yet to be seen

So, I was only able to do one editing pass through my novel, taking it from first draft to second draft. I’ve done some genealogy work upstairs, including filing or discarding loose papers. To multitask while watching TV, I’ve been doing crossword puzzles, clipped years ago from newspapers (when we still took the paper) by Lynda for my use. They are coming in handy now. I’ve done quite a few, and have many more to do as well.

This will all change. Today I’m working my 5th-to-last day. I work all this week, take next week off as a combo of holidays and vacation, then work Monday Dec 31. at 5:00 p.m. I will walk out in triumph, thinking back on a career well-spent, and thinking ahead to a retirement full of creative and fulfilling pursuits.

Adam Of Jerusalem, Engineering, miscellaneous, Writing

Needing Discipline

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Turning an infiltration pond, which didn’t infiltrate, into a filtering pond.

My last post was on September 11. At that time, I was planning for trips to Minnesota to oversee a construction project. That the trips would happen was sure, but the timing was unknown. The first one could happen in a day; it could wait a week or more. I couldn’t order tickets, couldn’t plan my schedule.

During this waiting period, I let blogging go. I even let most of my writing go. Otherwise, I kept to my normal schedule and tasks.

Finally the schedule became clear. I made three trips to Minneapolis and watched the re-construction of two stormwater ponds. The main work was on Saturdays (since it was at an active childcare facility) with prep work done on Thursday and Friday. Each time I flew up for the prep work and flew back on Sunday. I decided I’m too old to rush to get to the airport, return a rental car, and rush to a plane.

Sometimes it got messy.

It’s almost over. I have one trip next week, on election day, for a final inspection. That should be it, unless they pay me to go up next summer to check on how the vegetation is doing.

That’s over. But getting back to the disciplines I set aside for a while has been hard. My weight is up, my blood sugar is up, and my writing time is down. I’m also getting closer to that magic last day of work, December 31st this year, knowing I’ll have oodles of writing time on the flip side. That’s made my motivation lag.

It looked good once it was done.

The one good thing I did was write in hotel rooms while I was out of town. I was able to finish my novel-in-progress, Adam Of Jerusalem. That was a good thing. I’m now reading it aloud and editing as I go. It’s clunky, and will need significant editing. I don’t believe I’ll publish it this year.

So, hopefully you’ll see me back to my regular Monday and Friday posting. Hopefully my posts will be meaningful. And hopefully I’ll hang on to writing in the 1 month and 29 days of working life I have left.

Adam Of Jerusalem, book reviews, Engineering, Writing

A Quiet Evening

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I’m writing this Thursday evening, and will schedule it to post on Friday, my normal blogging day.

Although, if you’ve missed four consecutive, normal blogging days, can you say you have a regular blogging day? I hope so, and I hope to be back on a more-or-less normal schedule going forward.

You ask “What has kept you too busy to blog?” A number of things, which have taken both body and brain power. Around the time of my last blog I was assigned to help with a quick turnaround project at work. It was right up my alley: writing the scope of a water and wastewater masterplan for a downtown district, and us getting paid to do it. This was made more difficult, however, when a key player in the larger project of which this forms a part turned in his resignation. He’s still here, but a greater burden fell on his main assistant, and other work she was doing for which I was assisting fell back to me. So that tied me up.

Then, I’m managing our project manager training program, which is being taught mostly by others. But I’ve had to do a lot of paperwork with it, juggling class schedules and teachers. I wouldn’t quite say it’s a nightmare, but definitely a bad dream.

Time outside the office has been taken up by yardwork and moving my mother-in-law into her permanent assisted living quarters (from a temporary, respite one). That included helping my wife through quite an adventure of buying a used table. Perhaps someday that will be a story to tell. I might even adapt it for the next volume of The Gutter Chronicles.

Speaking of books, I continue to make progress on my work-in-progress, Adam Of Jerusalem. Two weekends ago, after helping my wife get on the road to visit the daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids, I managed to add just over 3,100 words on one long day. Then, last weekend, Labor Day weekend, I set a goal of adding 10,000 over Friday to Monday. I did that. Sticking to my chair, minimizing breaks, and working through previously uncertain plot lines, I quit at 3:00 p.m. Monday having added 10,100 in four days. That puts me at 48,400 words. The book is running a little short, so I have only 22,000 to go.

All these things have left me quite brain dead in the evenings. Two evenings recently I had evening meetings, and didn’t get home in time to do much.

So, what does the near future look like? This weekend I hope to add 6,000 words. That will take me about through the sagging middle and at the brink of the ending action. Rain is forecast for Friday-Saturday, so I think I’ll have fewer distractions.

Alas, I have trips scheduled. A warranty project requires me to be in Minneapolis two consecutive Thursday-Saturdays. That may be next week and the week after, or it may delay a week. At least one time I’ll fly up on Wednesday and back on Sunday. Plus, I’m supposed to fly to West Texas next weekend for a family thing and drive back with my wife on Monday or Tuesday. That part is a little iffy right now, due to the Minnesota thing.

That means lots of distractions, lots of body and brain energy that might keep me away from my self-appointed blog duties. I have a book review to do, two writer interviews I’m waiting on, and a handful of other things to write about. No shortage of topics; just shortage of energy and gumption.

We’ll see, though. Tonight, I feel much better in both body and mind. Maybe I can power through this and get some things done on the road. That would be really nice. I’d love to get AOJ published before the end of the year. That window is slowly closing, but I’ll keep hoping for now. And hope for the future is what keeps us busy today.

Engineering, Writing

Can’t See the Trees for the Forest

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You usually see that statement turned the other way: Can’t see the forest for the trees. I take that to mean the tasks that must be done are keeping you from seeing the larger, strategic picture.

I put it the other way: Can’t see the trees for the forest. My meaning is the strategic picture is so solid, so dominating, that it’s hard to see the individual tasks necessary to be completed so as to reach that strategic goal.

I don’t really want to get into the specifics, the tasks that I have to do. Most of them have nothing to do with writing or my specific work-in-progress, although that writing project, as well as research beginning for the next project, are in the mix. I have all these tasks to do. Together they make a forest. I can’t tell which one needs to be chopped down first. I can’t see the trees for the forest.

Retirement from my day job, the career of civil engineering I’ve spent over 44 years in, is just 6 months and 2 days away. I am so looking forward to that. No, it won’t be difficult to lay my “tools” down after so long. I have other tools I’ve already picked up, and will be quite happy spending time writing that I currently spend dealing with careless contractors, trying to transfer knowledge to the youngin’s, and tying up an hour or more of time just getting from point a to point b every morning and evening.

But, until then, the forest will continue to overwhelm me. I have resigned myself to that. The two additional books I had hoped to publish this year may not even be one book. I hate that, but have to live with it. I just hope I don’t become like Charles Lamb, who couldn’t wait to retire from his clerk’s job so he could write full time, but then, after retirement, wrote very little. Was it the clerk’s job that kept him going? Is it my civil engineering job that keeps me going, focused on the competing quest?

I’ll know soon.