Nineteen days since the last post. I feel like I have been swimming a never-ending relay. Getting my head above water just long enough to get a gulp of air and pile into the next stroke. What’s been going on? Well, there’s final exams, which are today (and thankfully half done. The Dean’s list is in the hands of the gods now.) I have finalized my trip data, had surgery, started planning summer stuff and poking at the list of yard projects.
Let’s start off with school. I’m wrapping up my second semester of the AS-HVACR degree at GRCC. Technically, it’s a four semester program, but thanks to Tom Boris Ivan, we’ve had to ramp up and push harder each semester, making this probably a five or six semester deal. I feel like I have most of the stuff under control, but the concepts behind chillers are still a bit iffy. We don’t get much time on those and they are really complex machines in some regards while being simple in others. They also don’t seem to follow the ‘rules’ of refrigeration in the same manner other systems do. (They do, but they go about it like aliens.) I’m taking the summer off. I need a break and time to reset. I’ll be back next fall but my classes will all be at night. (because of the way that stuff lined up, and the classes I haven’t had yet.) This will be interesting as most of the stuff I have been doing is more morning oriented, up until this point.
The surgery was to remove the screws that were put in in October. The screws themselves were lucenting (hollowing out the bone around them, in a simple explanation,) and every step was a pain at about a 7. I was also getting knots in the muscles in my foot around the metatarsals, which jacked pain up to a 8 or 9 and when worked out were at close to a 10. Since the surgery, I have had mild incision pain, and some swelling but most of the negative effects are gone, which is a relief. The incision continues to heal and this week we will be getting the stitches out.
It’s finally getting warm enough to start poking at yard work. The ice storm over the winter damaged the snowball bush, and a subsequent wind storm made it worse. I wound up trimming it back, but I think we’re going to have to dig it up and fill in the stump. We have a support pillar on the porch going wonky, the back boards on the porch stairs, and the retaining wall project along the drive. I am strongly considering getting the large maple taken out, as it has been getting a bit more decrepit every year. It makes me sad to lose that much cooling, but I don’t think there’s much else we can do.
On the trip front, I will be headed out in the wee hours of May 9th, with the first stop being St. Louis, MO. I will then be heading to Denver via Kansas, and then to Albuquerque via Pike’s Peak. I’ll be in Albuquerque for several days, using it as a home base to visit places like Chaco Canyon, Sky City, and such. I’ll decamp from there for an overnight in Lincoln NM, before heading back via Oklahoma City and Memphis. My intent is to be taking pictures and blogging daily on this trip. I’ve also opted for AirBnB stays, as they seem to provide opportunities to stage close to things I want to see or do. (Also, the one in Albuquerque seems to be an attraction all its own.). I will go more into the prep and stuff as I get closer and have more clock cycles to work on it. I will be setting up a page to track me via GPS using a SpotX tracker, so folks can play the home game.
Finally, I done volunteered myself to help get the Rockford Legion’s Memorial Day parade up and running for the Legion Riders post as the main post was going to abandon it. The post is going through a hard time and morale is pretty low, so I understand the initial response. I have been helped by two very capable Legion Rider officers, and I look forward to getting this done and having a project successfully complete.