From January to May…
May 22nd, 2009Wow! What a helluva 2009 so far.
I lost my part time job at the feedstore on the last day of January.
And I thought I would have been back to work by April. Didn’t
happen! So, I put together a list of all the things I wanted to do
around the house, both inside and out. Elly and I had some money
in savings, and we got started.
With the addition of other projects added on at a whim, I have
been a busy boy! Had to chop down four trees and cut them up
with the new chainsaw. That was fun! Elly wanted to replace
the pool, so we took care of that. That was a project in itself.
Hint: If you buy a pool over the winter, you might be able to
get one at half price, like we did! Then the day of disaster came!
Half of the instructions missing, and what writing was there
was so hideous that I could have done better with a half of a
dozen chimpanzee’s with a bag of hand grenades! We had to
call the pool company in South Carolina several times to send
us items that were missing so we could finish. We had to rely
on Elly’s memory on the last pool she set up 12 years ago!
We may still need to take off the top rail and add some of the
items that were missing….but its ok for now.
One of the things I had to take care of was something that
we didnt see until March. The side deck to the house was
sinking at it’s outside edges! The people who put the pool in
never put concrete at the posts they put in the ground! So,
of course both sides had dipped 3 inches over a 12 foot span!
Thank God, I have a friend who is an engineer! After running
through four different scenarios in his mind, he came up with
a great solution, and we have been working on and off on
that since the beginning of April. Everything is all jacked up
to the right place, and blocked up. Now, we just need to
finish pouring new concrete footers and finish up underneath
with the new 24 foot beams. Thanks to Paul and Joshua for
their manual labor. Party on the deck coming soon!
April 16th came. The day the doctor called and told me
that I was a diabetic. Right in the middle of the damn deck
project. This was the result of a blood test where I went to
the VA Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. This might
explain why I have been in “running around the walls for
the last three years (or longer)”. Mentally and emotionally
it has taken about six weeks to finally snap out of the denial,
disbelief, and shock. The medication is doing it’s job, and it
appears that my mind has slowed down to only about mach
two right now. OK, now what?
With my mind clearing up, I can see new opportunities
in writing, although nothing is paying any money right now.
The list for the house and the mountain is nearly completed.
I have enough fire wood for two winters now, as long as Elly
doesn’t go on a fireplace burning spree anytime soon. My
thought processes are much more defined and I can take
the time to let something develop instead of charging right
into something and running into brick walls (something I
used to do often). Let’s see if the ability to slow down now
can yeild some benefits.
One of the things you may be wondering is how all this
effects “On The Horizon”. I have no idea how to answer that
yet. Elly and I are still trying to work everyday life out with my
not flying around the house …..while making the dogs a nervous
wreck collectively.
One thing I can say is that the development for new ideas
as far as the show is concerned is that I can allow those ideas to
work themselves through. You folks have probably noticed some
changes already over the last few months, and I still have one or
two ideas to tinker with yet.
One of the goals I have in this process is to re-establish the
column which I began last year before everything (and I mean
everything), went to hell in a hand basket. I also want to
re-establish “On The Horizon” as the number one show in all
of independent music (a lofty vision, but one that can be done).
The program has always been a “thinking man’s” program, or
one that does not have to subjegate itself to insulting the
intelligence of the audience. That is something I do not want to
change.
You will probably hear me in the future making fun of
diabetes, but not diabetics who suffer from the disease. I figure
that if I can insult it, and ridicule it, maybe it will go away (like
that will happen)! I realize that I cannot do what I would do in
the physical realm, which would lead to the next action:
1) Find who gave it to me,
2) Find out how he did it,
and
3) How I can get him back for it!
Elly and I have undertaken the process of taking notes about
what we were thinking and what we thought about different
aspects of this in regards to the Diabetes diagnosis, and maybe
you will see a small book come out about this later. Some of it
was sad, but some of it was drop-dead hilarious! Especially on
my eating habits, but more on that in another post.
I have three writing projects going on simultaneously, which
I will get into that in another post as well.
College is still College. I am progressing nicely, and by the end
of next year I hope to graduate. Imagine that….giving ME a College
degree! The world will never be the same! hehehe
OK that is all the news that is fit to print….and that is the update.
Now I need to find out what I did with the latest newsletter. Where
did I put that damned thing…
John