Although we didn't have a particularly hard winter in the Catskills, I'm still thrilled that spring has arrived. (The poor guy who plows my road and driveway only picked up two checks all winter!) In honor of spring, here's a little spring doodle!
Next week is spring break for my daughter from her teaching schedule, so I'll have very light babysitting duties.
I'll get my bicycle into the shop so they can tune it up and I'll be taking my regular 15 mile ride!
Goodbye fat ass!
The winter of no winter continues here in the Catskills. No snow cover! Not the first time this has happened. I've been here for 35 years, and the local weather moves through a wet to dry cycle over a period of 10 or more years. It's warm enough to think about pulling out the Road King and looking for a buyer!
That was a very funny movie! We've all gone through the total breakdown in life, haven't we? And, once we recover, we try to purge the memory and never let on that it happened.
My life broke down totally for a few years after Myrna died. That was a black empty period in my life. I continued to force myself to go to work, although the reason for doing so no longer existed. (I was pretty well off with savings and an insurance payout.)
Anyway, I'm putting the house in the Catskills up for sale as soon as spring arrives. I'm going to be pretty tough on price because I've got a 2 or 3 year period to hold out for what I want. And, the profit on the house will be the down payment for the property I'll buy with my daughter and son-in-law. Whatever is left over will be my savings for the remainder of my life.
How do you sell a motorcycle? You can't let every jackass who wants to take a look ride the damned thing. Navigating out of my dirt road onto the highway is a tough slog for anybody unfamiliar with riding a heavy weight cruiser. I'm gonna be pretty firm on price with the Harley, too, because I don't have to be in a hurry to sell. The proceeds from the Harley will wipe out what few small credit bills I have remaining.
I'll start cleaning out the attic and the garage once spring arrives, and I'll put the salable items up on craigslist. I've never enjoyed buying and selling stuff. My son-in-law loves that shit. He buys and sell ATVs and small motorcycles... really, anything small with a motor. He seems to enjoy the hassling with strangers over price, and he often makes a huge profit in the process.
Can't wait for spring. The twins should be walking soon, so I'll be able to take them and their toddler sister outdoors for play periods. Everybody has been stuck inside. Chasing after the boy twin should be hilarious... not to mention good exercise.
The grandkids made life worth living again. Took me a very long time to accept that things would never be the same again after Myrna's death. Indeed, as George Harrison said, "All Things Must Pass."
I'm preparing for my own passing by slowly getting rid of all the unnecessary material possessions. I want very little to be left at the end. My kids are financially set and need nothing from me, and that means that I did something right, doesn't it?
Spozed to be dark by 5 p.m. Funny how that happens so fast in the fall, huh? Change in time on Sunday changed perception, too. I feel somewhat sad... another part of my life slipping away, and I don't have that much time left.
So much time has passed. I've become an Old Dawg and a grandpa. So much romance, adventure, excitement, drama, tragedy and comedy here.
Winters are hard up here in the mountains. But, I think that I only have a few more years of that. So, I'm going to enjoy my last few runs through the mountain seasons. When and if I move down into the valley, the average temperature will be 5 to 10 degrees higher year round.
Woke up at about 4 a.m. yesterday to a dark house. Lights out. No electricity. I hadn't realized that it had been raining that hard. Doesn't take much to kill the juice out at my house. I'm at the end of a dirt road in the middle of the forest. I lose my electricity before any of my neighbors and get it back last.
So, I decided to do a little doodle/sketch in honor of the deluge.
I leafed back through my sketch books and discovered that I've been sketching frequently for over two years... longer and more often than I had imagined. Still doesn't seem like enough. I want to embed a daily habit.
Rather than sit in the dark or go back to sleep, I drove to Kingston to hang out for a while in Panera and the gym. That's been my pattern throughout my retirement when the lights go out.
Local creeks and rivers ran hard and fast and flooded at various points, particularly along Sawkill Road. Various fire departments blocked off roads and redirected me. At one point, I drove through flood water up to the floorboards of my pickup truck. I enjoy stormy and violent weather. Breaks things up. Makes the air electric and ominous.
The emergency squad and fire department guys love violent weather, too. They get to dress up in full gear, drive around in their fire and emergency vehicles, set up flares and order people around... a good old boy dream!
During weather emergencies, retired old farts gather at Panera to yak. During most normal weather days everybody just burrows into their newspapers or electronic devices. True to form, an old gent new to the region struck up a conversation with me, and I regaled him with stories about goofy characters and events in Woodstock.
Babysat the grandkids for a few hours. By the time I returned home, the electricity was on and life returned to normal. The heavy rains signaled a dramatic change in the weather. Today's high is predicted to be less than 60°. Even lower temperatures for the rest of the weak with overnight highs dipping into the upper 40s. Fall has arrived!
The question about a doodle is always... is it done? It is done, of course, when the doodler decides it is done. This is my Official Spring Doodle. Spring might already be over here in the Catskills. It's supposed to be in the mid 80s today! Oh, well...
Always feels good to get something done in the morning! Even if it is just a colored doodle. My tasks, in retirement, are all self-prescribed. Now, I also have a blog post completed. It's a red lettuce day!
I ran my doodle through a few FX thingees in Photoshop, and came up with this negative version:
Yesterday, I took a trip to the batting cages along Sawkill Road in Saugerties and tried my skill against the pitching machines. My left handed stroke is much better than my right handed stroke, which is surprising since I am right handed. I see the ball better and feel more comfortable from the left side.
I'm still looking for some softball mates.
Doing my softball drills is a fascinating exercise in perception. Years of being a sedentary adult has made me wary of quick movement and reaction of the sort that was easy and natural when I was young. I've had to overcome my fear, in my dotage, that my body will collapse if I engage in these quick reaction movements.
But, my body is fine! I'm still taking it a step at a time, building confidence and endurance. Might be time to look for a sandlot game.
How is softball related to doodling? Softball is another of my self-appointed tasks. Here's a detail from my Spring Doodle, worked up with a little FX in Photoshop:
Yes, I am a big Picasso fan. That should be obvious.
Half my garden is already planted. Beefsteak and Roma tomatoes and lettuce. Great day for planting today. Temperature dropped down into the mid 60s and it's mostly overcast. The cool, damp air lessens the transplantation stress on the plants.
Above, a nice pic of temperature zones. Woodstock, in the Catskill Mountains is in a pretty cold zone. Spring arrives a week later than down in the valley. Fall arrives a week earlier.
Myrna applied her Chinese peasant understanding of vegetable gardening to our plot, building 14" raised beds. I pumped in 1,100 lbs. of composted manure this spring. Last year, I let the garden go fallow.
Still quite a bit of dried cow manure matted in straw in the soil. I'm keeping those clumps as far away as possible from the roots of the garden plants. That stuff is too hot. Hope the clumps work as side dressing!
Gardening is a humble, prayer-like practice. Down on my knees in the dirt! My little granddaughter loves to play in the dirt, too! So, gardening helps in my struggle to revert to childhood.
God, hear my prayers! May my garden be beautiful and productive!
Another big day of retirement stretching out before me! Cool sunny day. No boss. I can do as I please. So, what to do?
As you can see from the pic above, I'm already set up for sketching.
Temp in Jersey this morning is in the mid 30s. By 1 p.m., it will be in the low 60s... just about right for my bicycle ride along the Duck Pond in Ridgefield Park.
I have an audition with a band in Rockland County coming up. They play out a lot. Big band with a horn section. The leader of the band also wants to start a Billy Joel tribute band. Tribute bands seem to be in demand.
A full day of exercise and artistic work ahead of me. Who could ask for more?
Cubs vs. Reds at 7:10 p.m. on MLB.TV!
Spent the past 5 days working on my garden. I left it fallow last year, so it was covered with deeply rooted grass and clover. Perfect for nitrogen fixing in the soil! But... that quilted cover of grass and clover proved to be difficult to break up.
Took a trip back to the farm by the Ashokan Reservoir to pick up six more bags of composted manure. I worked 24 bags of this mix into the garden soil in total. I figure about 1,100 pounds. So, I've really built up the soil.
Tough hack working the compost in. I had to use a pointed hoe to tear up the surface. Every year I think about having the small engine repair guy blow out the carburetor in Myrna's Mantis tiller. Then, I think:
"Shit... might as well get the exercise and spend the time outdoors."
What a back breaking job! Also, great exercise. After tearing apart the surface with the pointed hoe, I had to use a pitchfork to turn over the soil. Finally, a metal rake to smooth out the surface.
Still a lot of grass and clover roots in the soil that will try to take hold. I'll be picking those out of the soil by hand over the next couple of weeks before planting. If the manure produces weeds, I'll have to pull those out, too.
My girlfriend asked me whether the compost smells. It does, but not like poop. The overwhelming odor is ammonia from pee. So, lots more nitrogen.
I've worked in an especially heavy dose of the manure in the area where I'll plant tomatoes. Tomatoes are the ultimate goal of any garden. Gotta have lots of big, ripe beefsteak, plum and cherry tomatoes.
I spent the last five days in silence and solitude. Stopped all the whirling of the gears. I hibernated in my house in the woods in the Catskills and cranked up the wood pellet stove.
I bought enough groceries five days ago, so I had no reason to leave the house. The incredible cold spell also made staying inside just seem... sensible. So long as I didn't open the door, the house stayed toasty.
For the past five days, I've had only minimal, essential conversations with other people on the phone. Went out to eat a couple of times and talked with the waiter. Haven't even listened to the radio when I drive... not even the classical station. Prefer silence.
Yes, I have slept a lot. But, there has been a purpose to that. I'm trying to stop chattering and arguing on social media. It's so easy to focus on an internet enemy and to become paranoid. I'm trying to let go of all the controversy and all the kerfluffles. Inner peace takes precedence.
I watched TV during my period of hibernation... mostly movies and documentaries. The only program that stands out in my memory is a movie based on a Stephen King novel, The Good Marriage. Funny, but claustrophobic and annoying in the best King manner.
I traveled to Kingston a couple of times during my hermitage. Mostly to go to the gym. I enjoyed being among people, but I didn't seek or find conversation. Just watched them go about their routines. I'm building up my wind on the stationary bicycle so that I'm ready when the weather breaks and I'm able to bicycle outdoors.
To my slight dismay, writing and recording songs did not happen. Nor did drawing and animation. I'm trying to re-orient myself toward creative production... away from the political crap and the background noise on Facebook.
At least, I've succeeding in quieting down the internal storm and the shrieking from the Tower of Babel. Now, perhaps I can become productive.
Huge snowstorm underway in the Catskills. I don't dare try to drive into Woodstock because I'll never make it back up the mountain to my house. Fingers crossed hoping that the power doesn't go out.
Good thing I shopped for groceries yesterday. Crossing my fingers and hoping that the power doesn't go out.
Oh well... good day for woodshedding on the guitar and keyboards and for sketching.
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