The "Great Eight"

Written on 9-5-15.

    I am in “my spot” on the deck up at the cabin home.  “My spot” is around the corner of the deck on the far side of the homestead where the deck is narrow.  Oh, What a Beautiful Morning is playing on my iPod, and it’s so appropriate.  Misty is with me.  She’s whining and wandering back and forth around the corner.  I just asked her to come lie down beside me, and she did. 
    It’s cloudy today, more cloudy than clear, but the blue is peeking out over my left shoulder.  It’s so pleasant, because it’s not too hot or too cool.  I am wearing my oversized, slightly faded, grape purple sweater.  It protects me from the occasional brisk breeze.  So happy with “my spot,” my laptop, and my coffee. 
    Belinda and Amanda are here with me, and Eric is coming up later this afternoon to join us for dinner.  Danielle is here this Labor Day weekend due to a...

The Worst Storm We Have Ever Seen in Aztec

Written on 8-29-15.
   
    Tiger didn’t make it.  His season is over.  I don’t admire some of the things he has done (mostly his infidelity and his cussing), but I am admiring his perseverance right now.  No matter how badly he plays, he keeps going.  He knows how difficult this sport is.  He has a healthy respect for it, and I believe that’s a requirement for the proper demeanor in order to play.  Some people have it; some don’t. 
    Today I spent two hours using a blower on the practice greens at Hidden Valley.  We had the worst storm this area has seen since we’ve lived here.  It was a...

Teachers Report; Belinda and I Do Not

8-22-15

     I have not written for far too long.  It’s a Saturday and Eric has just helped us get our swamp cooler up to speed.  It needed a new pump and new pads, and it also needed the spiders with the bearings on both sides of the thing so it would be smooth and quiet again.  It was getting squeaky.  It’s fixed now, but it wasn’t without a battle.  It’s a long story, but we eventually replaced the spiders, the pump, and the pads.  I had to return three of the spider bearing thingamajigs, one to Aztec Hardware and two to Lowe’s.  We had the worst time with the spider bearing on the west side; we needed to sand down the shaft to get it to work properly.  Either way, it’s done now.  I am feeling cool air as I sit in my living room to write this. 
    These past two weeks have been surreal.  Teachers had to report last Wednesday.  B and I did not.  Everyone had to attend the “pep assembly” on Friday.  Belinda and I did not.  This past Monday was Meet and Greet.  Teachers had to be “on” most of the day, meeting and greeting parents and new students to get them comfortable and ready for the the first day of school on Tuesday.  Belinda and I, once again, did not.  Instead, we did what we wanted.  We did some work, but it was work we wanted to do.  I played golf, of course.  I played nine holes last Wednesday, and I played nine holes this past Monday and Tuesday.  It felt surreal (and wonderful) to be able to play golf on those days, the days that are typically the most stressful and sweat-producing.
    I have two...

A Different Type of Summer and Four More Birdies

Written on 8-4-15.

    Summer is coming to a close quickly, but it doesn’t matter this year because Belinda and I are “rewired.”  We do not have to set up our classrooms, or attend meetings, or…freak out.  We won’t have to go get our keys early only to sit in our classrooms and stressfully space out, reconstructing in our minds the lengthy “to do” lists with items that must be done before that all-important first day of school. 
    Instead, we are working on our summer “to do” list, one that we generate on our own and rarely has an item that with a time limit.  Lately, to adjust to this new lifestyle, I’ve found it very beneficial to set aside three hours a day to get things done related to my new businesses.  9:00 to 12:00 works pretty well, but today it was 1:30 to 4:30 since we had other work to do this morning (weed work for Eric’s mobile home park).  I have two more days of Santa Fe technology trainings coming up early next week, and I am close and hopeful for possible Time to Teach trainings at either Ruidoso or San Juan College.  We’ll see how that all pans out by the end of this week.
    After the weeding, Belinda and I stopped to...

Rei Returns, Danielle Leaves, and Two Birdies

Written on 7-31-15.

    We chose to go inside soon after I wrote that because of the bugs and the colder air.  Today, we are driving Danielle back to Las Cruces.  Well, actually she’s the one driving right now, but we are all headed that way.  It’s 3:57 PM, usually my nap time, even though I hardly ever take naps; I just feel nappy at this time of the day…every day. I’m in the passenger seat, and we are just on the other side of Albuquerque.  We just passed Isleta Boulevard.      
    B is behind Danielle, and the rest of the vehicle is filled with Danielle’s stuff: make-up, bags of clothes, her bridesmaid dress for Daryl and Katie’s wedding, speakers, a bamboo plant that used to belong to Belinda, pillows, a sewing kit, a plastic dresser with three drawers, and a bunch of other stuff she’ll want and need this year, her sophomore year. 
    Oh, and my golf clubs are directly behind me buried under all of that stuff.  It was a bit of an issue/controversy whether I should bring them or not.  Belinda and Danielle chose to love and allow it, though.  We are making this trip more of a vacation compared to the last time we came and brought the bulkier items like the box springs, mattresses, dressers, and shelves.
    Reilly is back.  He and Bruce went to play nine holes today at 11:00.  He had a successful surgery to repair his collapsed lung.  When Belinda saw Diane yesterday at the hair place, Diane said that he is only on oxygen at night, so that’s an improvement.  I’m excited to play with them again now that he has returned.  If we weren’t going down south, I would have played with them today.
    I earned two more birdies when Bruce and I...