Song: “Thank God And Greyhound” by Roy Clark
Mood: 6
Nightmares: 1
J had a tough time getting to sleep last night so we hung out in the dining room. She did some colouring while I played some more STO. It didn’t take too long before we were both feeling like we were ready to go to sleep, and once my head hit the pillow I was out. Woke up a couple of times worrying about one thing or another, and woke up from a nightmare at 4:17AM. It was another one of the same thing (the tent one this time) and I went out to the living room to sit in the light and watch the fish as they went about their nighttime routine. No panic attack, though, and for that I am grateful.
Checked the thermometer and then went for my walk this morning. There were a LOT of crows out. I’m one of those weirdos who likes crows… everything except their call. It’s annoying. I saw two blue and white flashes as bluejays swooped by, which was nice to see.
Didn’t do my exercises again. Went and started working on the stuff for DA very shortly after I got home from my walk. FA left me a comment yesterday mentioning that I don’t need to solder the wire on, I could use a nut and bolt. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. I found some round stock in the garage (1/4”? 3/8”?), chopped a piece off, then brought it inside to drill a hole in it and shine it up some. I have bolts that are the perfect size for the hole and I think it’s going to work very well, so thanks FA!
I’m also debating with myself whether I should stick with the smoke detector sound – they’re pretty loud after all… or whether I should put in a marine air horn. Now THAT’s loud.
Anyway, so I spent quite a while working on that stuff again. I had the music cranked up and the afternoon reminded me a lot of what I used to do when I would get interested or excited about a project – hole up in our basement laboratory and enjoy putting things together in such a fashion that they do something interesting or useful. Of course, I had to drop what I was doing to run around the house too much again, but ghost chasing aside, it felt good to immerse myself in DOING something.
I remember back… twelve? Maybe fifteen? Anyway, quite a long time ago, DA was having trouble with flooding in his back yard every spring. He had an electric pump and would turn it on when he left for work, then go back to his house and check it at lunch to make sure it was still pumping water (otherwise it would burn itself out). He would get worried when the water level got low. He had a camera looking at his back yard, and he said he wished he could control the pump over the Internet. I figured out how the camera output signal pins worked, and built him a circuit board that listened to the camera and turned the pump on or off. No more having to rush home at lunch. DA has done some landscaping since then so flooding isn’t a problem anymore but he still uses the circuit board today to turn lights on and off with the camera. It makes me happy when I make something for someone and they like it and it’s useful to them.
When I went out to the garage, I startled our yard bunny. We haven’t seen him for a while and were wondering if he’d met an unfortunate end, but he was flopped out at the bottom of the deck stairs. When I went outside, we both jumped a bit. I’m glad he’s back, I always liked it when he would laze about under the spruce tree with a leg kicked out.
My sister called today for our weekly chat. She had a crazy weekend, with relatives visiting, a function at their church, and the kids have their various sports and activities to get to and from. Since the weekend was over, though, things have calmed down and she’s doing pretty well. It was good to talk to her.
Got a text from FA this evening and it sounds like we’re tentatively scheduled to do lunch and possibly some more Carcassonne or Sequence this coming Monday. It will be very good to see her again!
[Whup – looks like J can’t sleep again. She’s started colouring. I hope she can get to sleep soon, it’s not fun being stuck wide awake]
J and I watched some more Parks & Rec this evening. Watching a good show with my favourite person in the world is a good way to end the day.
My plan for tomorrow is to keep working on stuff downstairs and see if I can get on a roll again. I should probably also throw in another load of laundry. But who knows – anything can happen…
Stay safe.