The horns still do get me, every time. And it’s difficult to not just have an extra spring in my step, whenever I listen to this song. It would be interesting to come up with a list, but as far as this one goes: this is a song that always seems to make me feel happier, every time I listen to it.
Today, Liz and I tackled work inside and outside the house. I mowed the lawn one last time, and focused on clearing all the leaves/debris from our sidewalk. While I was doing that, Liz went through our closet and separated out summer/winter clothes.
Something crazy happened this morning. I decided not to set the alarm (Saturday), and opted on sleeping in. I woke up at 10:30 AM.
As I sat, I became more and more frustrated. The people I spoke with were blandly helpful, but didn’t seem to really care about my situation. I had shown up early, was going to be late to my job, all because someone else hadn’t even shown up to their job. Why state that the office opens at 8:30 AM if people can’t get the services they need at that time?
We got glasses of chai, glasses of hot cider, there was chili available, and we also got cookies! And at one point, my neighbor Mark came over with a bottle of scotch (and some plastic shot glasses in his pocket).
While I was on “vacation” this last week, my main focus was to get work done on the house (and the outside driveway work). When I did have some downtime, I spent it… surprise, surprise… on the computer, coding on a personal project.
For those of you who remember my posts from the early Emmis days, there was a spate of food-related bets from about 2005 – 2007.
The biggest one though, was the Vending Machine Challenge, undertaken by the fearless Anthony DeMoon.
After finalizing our prep, it got to be around 11:00 AM when we started the pour. An hour or so into it, guess what: we realized Lowe’s didn’t delivery all 32 bags. They only gave us 25.
Did some prep work today with Bob, getting ready for a large slab/pour tomorrow. Frame in place, and we should be ready for a lot of mixing and pouring tomorrow.
We were talking about politics some time ago, and Bob mentioned to me how a very specific speech left a strong impression on him. It was a speech that Jesse Jackson gave, when he was running for President back in the 80’s. Bob explained to me how profoundly that speech changed his way of thinking. It was a big deal, and really shaped how he then started to look at the world.
This is a photo of the column we were pouring today. Unfortunately, soon after this the bottom gave out on the frame, and the concrete came pouring out of the bottom.
Did a bit of concrete mixing and pouring today with Bob.
This stuff was actually harder to get out than the driveway concrete, believe it or not.
Bob and I worked a lot this afternoon, clearing out a ton of soil and debris so we could work on repairing and re-enforcing the foundation a bit, near the kitchen. We’re also building out the wall a bit more (and creating a storage area where the trash bins will eventually live).
The last few weeks leading up to this weekend have been pretty hectic and quite busy. It’s been a blur of activity.