Category Archives: miscellaneous

Adam Of Jerusalem, Bible study, Genealogy, Life Group lessons, miscellaneous, research, Writing

Writing In Retirement

Leave a comment

Well, you would think that, after almost a week of retirement (five days, actually, today being the beginning of the sixth), I would have accomplished much on writing. You would be wrong.

I actually started the year spending more time on genealogy and stock trading than anything else. Stock trading because it’s a new year, I needed new spreadsheets, and I needed to be active in it and try to make some money. Genealogy because I love to do it so much, and I had some new leads—or rather a little bit older leads I’d been holding off on until retirement. Following those leads now.

I’ve been holding off on writing also because I had much to do in life, and I knew retirement was coming. But retirement came, and I felt that I needed to get a few other things done first. Lynda is ill, with the flue, and it doesn’t seem to be going away quickly. Perhaps she had bronchitis as well. So I’m having to do some things for her. It’s not a burden, however. I’m glad the family sickness passed me by and I’m able to pick up the load.

I haven’t been totally absent on writing, however. A few days ago I saw a notice in a Bella Vista Facebook page about a new writing critique group someone want to form. I contacted her, and it looks as if it will happen, a once-a-month group at her house. I’m looking forward to that.

Last night I pulled out the manuscript of Adam Of Jerusalem, and began going through it looking for places where I’d marked I needed to add Adam’s backstory. Found them, and began to work on that backstory. I have the notebook next to me, in The Dungeon, and will work on it today.

These are somewhat feeble efforts, however. I wanted to get some other things done first. I felt that writing time would come shortly, and I needed to get my family budget up to date first, then file receipts, then clean up certain clutter stacks, then start a jigsaw puzzle (yes, did that yesterday). Saturday I made wonderful progress on all of these, which gave me freedom of mind to do a little on writing yesterday. Oh, yes, somewhere along the way I knew I needed to start doing some more healthy things. I’ve been doing that, though I need to ramp it up some still. Over time, over time.

Another thing I did was work some (on Saturday, I think it was), on the outline/programming of a Life Group lesson series my co-teacher and I had discussed. I like the way it’s coming together. It concerns Jesus’ activities during Holy Week. Three of the planned lessons might be a little thin on teachable/discussable material, so I’m doing a little more research on them. I should finish that today.

The last thing I’ve done is try to plan out what exactly I’m going to write in 2019. I have a list of things. I don’t know if it’s complete yet, and it’s certainly not prioritized. It reflects my Genre Focus Disorder; it reflect the fact that I have much I want to write; it also reflects that I now see myself with more time to write than I ever had before. I intend to work on that list this week, and maybe have it in shape to report it on my Friday blog.

Planning is fine, but doing is better. Time to leave this and post it, and get to my other work. See you all on Friday.

Adam Of Jerusalem, Engineering, miscellaneous, Writing

Needing Discipline

Leave a comment
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.

family, memories, miscellaneous

What’s Up With August?

Leave a comment

About a week ago I remembered that I was right about the time of an anniversary—within a day or two of it. It got me thinking about all the things that have happened in the Augusts of my life. That’s not to say all momentous things happened in August. I met the woman I would marry in May, and we were married in January. Our children were born in January and April. All but one of our various moves happened in other months. Yes, the entire calendar is filled with important things, spread out.

But, it seems to me that August has claimed more than its fair share. Several of these events are wrapped around my genealogy research, so are not really a result of outside causes.

Here they are, in the order they occurred.

  • August 19, 1965: My mom died. I was 13.
  • August 2, 1990: Iraq invaded Kuwait, which was my expatriate home. We were in the USA on vacation at the time, and couldn’t go back as a family, though both Lynda and I got to go back, recover some things of our life there, and say goodbye.
  • August 26, 1997: My dad died, at age 81.
  • August 1998: I don’t remember the exact date of this one; it was toward the end of the month. Using clues I found when we cleaned out Dad’s house after his death, I made contact with my mom’s family. She was an only child and supposedly had no cousins. In fact, on her mom’s side, she was one of 11 first cousins plus 5 step-first cousins. I had my first phone calls with them in August, and met the first ones in November.
  • August 13, 2005: I was contacted by one of Lynda’s cousins, a first cousin once removed, to share genealogy information. I had this woman’s name in a file based on what Lynda’s dad left behind, but had no idea how to contact her. She found me based on my posts on various genealogy internet sites. This was a branch of the family I had little information on. Now I have it complete.
  • My half-sister and me in Branson, MO; Oct 2014

    August 11, 2014: A cousin in New York—one of those 11 first cousins of my mom discovered in 1998—contacted me, saying she had been contacted by a woman who had been adopted at birth but who, DNA testing revealed, was related. Looking at the data, it appeared my mother was her mother. I talked with the woman the next day and we began the process of confirming what the data suggested. Sure enough, DNA confirmed she was my half-sister. That confirmation came on September 1, 2014. Missed August by a day.

  • August 2015: No longer able to live on her own, my mother-in-law came to live with us.
  • August 2017: I’m not sure the exact date, but probably before August 10, using DNA triangulation, I was able to determine with great certainty who my mother’s father was. Before that I had a name, given me by my not-always-truthful grandmother, but had reached a dead end confirming it. That confirmation came when three of us had certain common relatives on 23andme. That allowed me to know what to search for, and in a matter of two hours I had found many official documents about my grandfather, including his World War 1 Canadian military record. That gave me 13 new first cousins (well, half-first-cousins, but let’s not be picky) and numerous other relatives. I haven’t put together the full list of my mom’s first cousins. DNA confirmation of this information came several months later.

So there’s the list. I don’t know how they strike you, but to me they are all momentous events.

But, am I over-thinking this? Might I not find, if I searched my life, that each month would have it’s collection of momentous events? Perhaps. For now, however, I’ll stick with August as the pivotal month in many of the years of my life.

miscellaneous, Writing

Late—Just Staying Busy

Leave a comment

Yes, I’m late for my Monday post. I like to post around 7:30 a.m., yet here it is after 8:30 p.m. Hey, at least it’s still my posting day. Except, of course, I didn’t post anything for Friday. So maybe someone could say this is very late for Friday’s post.

What keeps me from making my posts regular and on time? Up until a few months back I would write my Monday post on Sunday afternoon, and schedule it to post on Monday. I didn’t do that yesterday, as I wanted to get back to work on my novel. Then, Monday morning before work, I continued to work on a certain writing project, the research for it, which I do a little on every morning before I start my day. That keeps me from writing before I start work, and getting to a post during the day isn’t always possible. I’m laying that research project aside after this week, so maybe I’ll have mornings for blogging.

I suppose I have some lethargy and brain tiredness. Now only 4 months and 17 days from retirement, I find myself busier at work than I’ve been in a dozen years. Our engineering group is short handed and they need me to step away from training and do some work on projects. Plus the intensity of the work leaves me mostly brain dead at the end of the day. There’s no way I can come home on Thursday and write a post and schedule it for the next day. My brain power isn’t there.

I’m not sure what it would take to get back to a regular blogging schedule, which I was able to do fairly well in 2017. 2018 isn’t working for me, however. 2019 will be my first year of retirement. Hopefully I’ll find the time and brain power coming together at the same time, and will blog twice a week. Plus work simultaneously on two works-in-progress; plus pick up old abandoned projects and see what to do with them; plus start a newsletter and try to build a mailing list.

We’ll just have to see. Stay tuned.

miscellaneous

Major Tasks Done – Minor Tasks Pending

Leave a comment

May 1st arrived this year, with me overwhelmed by several major tasks that needed to be taken care of. These were sapping my brain power, even making me unable to concentrate on many other things needed.

One task was finding a new family car. We decided to do this almost a year ago, but had trouble finding the one we wanted. We finally found something close, though at a dealer in Oklahoma City. Since we have multiple trips there to help our daughter’s family move, that worked out well. We bought the new van on May 18. Our oldest grandson named it the Silver Dragon, a name that I guess will stick. One main task out of the way. The actual completion of this task was held up in a paperwork mix-up by the dealership. That was completed the week before last, and the vehicle is legal.

A second main task was selling my now-not-needed pick-up. I didn’t want to advertise it until we had the new car. Even then I was slow to do so. But I mentioned to a colleague in another engineering company it was for sale. He spread the word, and one of his co-workers wanted it for his son. The deal was concluded, then he moved out of state and said he didn’t need it. I was getting ready to advertise it when his daughter contacted me, saying she wanted it based on her dad’s recommendation. She picked it up two weeks ago. Task #2 out of the way.

The biggest task was finding a new living situation for my mother-in-law. She’s lived with us for 2 1/2 years. Her care was beginning to increase, and she and my wife didn’t get along all that well. For her sake, we needed to find her a place to live—not a nursing home, though, as she wasn’t in need of that much care.  My wife looked around, and found a room available at an assisted living facility just a little over a mile from our house. She moved there around May 15, and seems to be happy and acclimating well. Task #3 out of the way. Obviously my numbering scheme is in relation to the order of them in this post, not in terms of importance or of completion.

Scheduling a trip to see our son in Chicago, and actually doing that, which we hadn’t done in many years was another major task. We did that last weekend, taking six days including drive time and a day in Springfield IL on the return trip. We had a great time, and our son seemed to as well. Another major task completed, but I don’t want it to appears it was a “task”, as the word carries negative connotations. It was something we wanted to do and did it, something that, once done, allowed me to concentrate on other things.

One other task was the paperwork following my auto accident in February. That’s not actually complete, but the main work of it is. I settled with the other guy’s insurance company for an amount (less than I hoped for). We’re just waiting for some late medical bills to come in, after which it will all be settled.

Which brings me to minor tasks. One of those is semi-major, working out a dispute between my company and a client, on a project I took over for someone else who has since left the company. The negotiations are about over. Now we’re at the point where we have to have the corrections constructed at the site. That will require me to travel to Minneapolis once or twice. That’s a significant task, but is doable, and I have help within the company.

I have a few maintenance tasks around our property, and tasks related to de-cluttering. I’m pleased, in general, with how they’re going. Still plenty to do, but I see progress being made.

Which brings me down to today. Yesterday afternoon I went to The Dungeon after church and lunch. It had been over ten days since I’d written a blog post. I decided that, rather than work on my novel, I should take time to write a real post. So I worked on this. I hope this is the first step in getting back to regular blogging. Monday and Friday are my posting days. See you on Friday, I hope, with a substantial post.

miscellaneous

Once Again, Busyness Descends

Leave a comment

It’s Friday, my normal day for posting. Yet here I am with nothing prepared. I lost time last night to having to run to the pharmacy to get a new prescription for my mother-in-law, who was supposed to start on it last night. I wanted to spend a half hour blackberry picking, which I did. In that half hour I probably could have pulled together a post, but the exercise and solitude did me good.

I hope the weekend gives me some time to prepare a real post for Monday. I hope.

America, holidays, miscellaneous

Lunch on Memorial Day

Leave a comment
Proud to have had a dad who served his country in a war.

I just got home from going to the nearby assisted living facility where my mother-in-law now lives. With the wife out of town, I’d be the only visitor she would have. They had a Memorial Day “picnic”: inside the dining room, but with picnic fare of either hot dogs or hamburger, baked beans, potato salad, past salad, Fritos, and simple desserts. A tasty meal and I felt satisfied when done.

The company at the table was the best part, however. Across from my mother-in-law was Harriet. I didn’t catch her last name. I asked her where she was from, and where she’d lived, and she replied “all over the world.” She and her husband were farmers, but took assignments on the mission field for the Reformed Church of America. He did maintenance work at mission stations. When I mentioned we had a couple in our church who did the same thing in Papua New Guinea, she said they also had been in PNG.

Across from me, and arriving late, was a woman who introduced herself as Rosemary Mondale. A hundred years old, but looking much younger, I asked if she was related to the former vice president. She said her husband was Walter Mondale’s brother. She then told us about the inauguration in 1977, how they were on the platform with the Supreme Court justices. I didn’t ask Rosemary which of Mondale’s three brothers she was married to, but I suspect it was Lester Mondale. I’ll ask her if I see her on my next trip there.

To my right, arriving a little later, was Rich, wearing his Vietnam Veteran hat. After thanking him for his service, we had a good conversation about his time in Vietnam and his life. He said he was glad he went. He was one of the early USA personnel in Vietnam. He said he was in Saigon on a three-day pass when the overthrow of Diem happened. That event was November 1, 1963. Rich and his companions barely made it to the hotel in downtown Saigon being used for military staging. A 50 mm shell came through the wall near where he was. Otherwise, they were safe, and from there made it back to base with no problem.

I told Rich my dad’s story of service in WW2. This was a point of connection between us. When we first introduced and I noted his Vietnam service, he asked me if I was in the military, Vietnam era. I told him how I was just a little too young to have served.

I was back home about two hours after I’d left, adequately fed (but not overfed), and feeling blessed to have eaten with these three interesting people—and with my mother-in-law, of course.

Adam Of Jerusalem, Church History Novels, Doctor Luke's Assistant, Mark Twain, miscellaneous, reading, Short Stories, Writing

Writing, Blogging, and Cleaning, Oh My!

Leave a comment

Lots of activity going on in my household right now, considering I’m the only one there right now. My mother-in-law is now in an assisted living facility near us, and my wife is away for a couple of weeks, helping our daughter and her family move. I was there the last couple of weekends with her. Their truck loading days are today and tomorrow. I would go and help, but with my shoulder not yet fully healed, I decided not to.

So, batching it, what have I been up to?

Writing, for one thing. I’m back on Adam Of Jerusalem, first book in my church history novel series, and the prequel to Doctor Luke’s Assistant. I wrote three evenings this week, adding about 4,000 words to what I had before, and last night getting to the first plot point. While I’ve known for quite a while the story I want to tell with this book, I wasn’t sure what scenes I would have, or how I would get that story told. Despite that, my writing speed is good. Well, last night was a little slower. I added only 1,000 words, possibly because I wasn’t feeling well. Went to bed early.

Another thing occupying my time—so far in just a small way—is blog maintenance. By that I mean I want to go back to old posts and clean up the categories those posts are tagged with. Some I didn’t tag at all, while others were tagged in a way that doesn’t make sense given how my blog has progressed. This is busywork, but I think needed. I have way too many categories and would like to trim it some. Hopefully after this work, the number will be.

Third, I’m doing cleaning in the house. This has been the slowest of the three things in the post title. I’m getting a little done every day. I ironed some shirts that came out of the wash a month or more ago with wrinkled areas, but I haven’t yet put the iron and ironing board away. I disposed of a pile of mail, but haven’t yet filed the things that need filing. I’ve cleaned one or two things off the kitchen table each day, but it’s still a mess. I’ve made a good start on decluttering all my paper, and have tossed many, many sheets, yet still have piles of paper where there shouldn’t be.

Through all of this, I’m still trying to lose weight, and have spent a lot of time walking, most days at noon and some in the evenings at home. I’m at my lowest weight for three or four years, though still have 35 pounds to go to get to the upper end of my target weight range. Ate properly Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week, then kind of lost it last night. Back on track today, I think.

So what do I have in store for this Memorial Day weekend? Writing for sure. By the end of the day Monday I’d like to be a minimum of 7,500 words further along. I believe that’s achievable.

I have more cleaning to do. I’ll progress through that slowly, but by the end of the day Monday: the kitchen table will be clean; the kitchen floor will be mopped; the unfinished piles of decluttering remainders will be gone through and trashed or stowed. Also, all the oak pollen strings will be swept, raked, blown, or by hand put into a pile, and moved to the compost pile. A few weeds will be pulled as well.

I also hope to go through a minimum of 100 of my oldest blog posts not yet touched and clean-up the categories. I did 25 the other day. I believe 100 should be no problem.

For what it’s worth, I plan on some reading for relaxation. I’m on the last 70 pages of Mark Twain’s short stories. I hope to finish that this weekend as well. I believe that’s possible.

I’ll report back with a blog post, probably on Tuesday instead of Monday, and let you know how I did.

miscellaneous, Writing

Overwhelmed and Late

Leave a comment

Yes, that’s how to describe me of late: overwhelmed by life events, and late making posts to this blog. I won’t go into details; they wouldn’t interest you anyway. Let’s just say that, until several major life decisions or events take place, being regular with my blog appears to be difficult. Such as missing posts yesterday and last Friday.

At the same time, I’m not finding much time to write. I’ll get back to it eventually, but for right now, writing has to take back stage to simply living.

At the moment, I can’t see the trees for the forest.

miscellaneous, technology woes

And Maybe Again

Leave a comment

Yes, I just logged on to write a blog post to go live on Monday (writing on Sunday afternoon), and I couldn’t. It didn’t recognize my new password. So I tried a password reset using the WordPress link, and I was able to reset it and gain access. This is different from the last two times, when I couldn’t change it.

I don’t know why some bad guy out there has decided mine is a good site to steal. It’s non-commercial, so they won’t hijack ad revenue. It’s not a popular site, so they won’t be able to make money off it. It’s not anything that should interest anybody.

We’ll see what happens. I’m going to let this post sit a day, and then decide if it’s worth saving this website or not.

Edit April 30, 2018: I now think I’m wrong about being hacked again. I checked my password list at home, and the password I had for that site was different than what I typed. I don’t remember changing it to this other password, but I must have. No matter. Now I have a very, very hard password, something I won’t be able to memorize.