Part 5-Outside Nears Completion

A month passes....

October 13, 2007

    
  The Optimists Creed - from Optimists International
   Promise Yourself- 
   
  To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. 
   
  To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. 
   
  To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.  
   
  To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.  
   
  To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
   
  To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. 
   
  To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. 
   
  To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. 
   
  To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. 
   
  To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
	
	 
	  October 28, 2007
     
Smile, I says to myself, remember that creed!
This could mark the winter of my discontent (if the blue meanies was speaking)....
What a mess.  The place has been torn up now for over 4 months.  The siding 
which estimated at $1200 (not including labor) instead cost three 
times as much and took four weeks to show up. The prospect of Holiday 
guests and the interior work now looms with no electricity, no heating, 
no sunporch, and the possibility that the back yard will be ruined by back- 
hoe work.  In the meantime I have been putting off things like gardening,
mowing, housework, and cleaning the garage and carpet hoping desparately 
that this madness would end soon and hoping that we would have a secure 
place to put all the tools and work supplies.

Sarcoplasty: that sarcastic bandaid that you throw over the truth
in dire emergencies. I never put off things or blame it on the leaping Labrador, 
for I am all things at once- a master optimist, a world class teacher/
thesbian (never using my talents to be a blamer or prevaricator), and a 
dedicated on time, "Yes sir, it can be done sir" maintainer of the great
intergalactic clock!! (Bologna aside, I recommend Microsoft Project if you
really want to slide those time lines to the wall and procrastinate on
a world class scale :) !!) !!! 
	 
	To add to the confusion look at the gable on the workshop.  It was meant
to protect the greenhouse roof and provide an overhang to protect the 
entrance.  Instead it is a false gable and I am going to have to spend
hours doing delicate surgery with a sawsall and hammer to fix the problem.
I've begun the process, see bottom picture but I guess it could take a few
extra thousand years.

	If I was a procrastinating pessimist this is how things might work: 
ITT moves from Coldwater to Dupont Road about 4 years ago.  When they moved 
they had about 30 locks, brand new, left over in the repair crib.  The dean 
offered them to us.Dave Mingle, a fellow instructor, and I got about 12 of 
them.  Six sat in my old garage for 3 years waiting for a use.  When I
finished cleaning out the garage this summer I ran across them and then when
the doors appeared on the shop I thought, wow, I can save some money. I have
no idea whether they will work as outdoor locks.  But to rekey them I would 
need keys (who knew).  But, everybody gave back their keys and after two days 
of asking the embarrassing questions, now I find when trolling for keys that 
the locks were meant to stay at our old facility. 
    Note we didn't take them, they were offered but still..  
no keys, all returned or destroyed.  Several days pass then I remember that
the keys in the milling machine in the lab just happen to have the old 
keys dangling about.  So me tries 'em on the new locks. 6 doors, six locks,
four keys, five locks are opened with two of the keys, but one key was 
never found. One lock is keyed for who knows what and will cost a fortune 
to rekey.  Rekeying a lock without a key, American Express (and an eighty
year old locksmith that likes to pick locks).  Installing locks 
with a Dremel tool and a helping leaping Labrador, priceless. 

P.S. OK, and by the way, the first rule of trying to encompass the 
general notions of optimism, & being nice, etc., is to 
try to be just a little optimistic and maybe nice once in a while!!
Sorry Tony.
Less pepper spray more cobbler. Hmm. &I think I may need a personal
 trainer.  Hmm....  
	 
     
I wonder if this guy is available?