On A Wonderful Trip To An Unusual Angle

 Yesterday I went on an unusual, unexpected trip to the floor. All had been going okay, if not wonderfully well, when I got up from my desk, turned, and suddenly found that my left leg was locked and unresponsive. After a moment or two of struggling to make a movement, I found myself slowly but inexorably headed to the floor, where I landed with a sickening shock right on my ass. 

Luckily my nephew Kameron was in the house with me, so I did not have to summon help. Not that he could help me physically (his strength is no match for my weight) but he could, in the best Lassie tradition, go for help. Unluckily his parents weren't at home. While we waited for one or the other to arrive, he kept me company and did what he could to keep me comfortable and run little chores.

Eventually my sister Susan got home, and together she and I managed to wrangle my inert corpse up onto the bed (which is not far from the desk), from where I was able to once more gain control of the puppet strings. Andy (having just got home from being on a job) stuck his head in, ready to help, only to find to his relief that I was doing alright, Kameron hung around another hour to make sure all was well.

One thing being on the floor reminded me of, was how much a part of my life was lived down there when I was little. A part that now in normal circumstances is another world. I was somehow reminded of how, when I was little, I could sit on the floor, bow my legs apart, and put the soles of my feet together, a feat that is now unthinkable in my condition. I thought of how little kids exist on this different plane, which is like another world, and how when adults descend to this level they are meeting them in their own world. I thought sadly how I would never meet our little ones in this parralel province, but remain like a distant gray promentary, a being that could never descend into epiphany in their youthful eyes.

My little trip to the floor was a bugger in more than obvious ways. It got me thinking, and that is rarely a comfortable thing. As it is, it also put me a little behind schedule in my blogging goal, so I thought it could make up a little bit for its unpleasantness as grist for a post.

Still Sunday

Well, here it is, STILL Sunday, and I haven't accomplished all the stuff I had hoped to this weekend. Part of it, of course, is recuperating from the family holiday gathering, which, as little as are my duties and even participation is these days, still takes it out of me a wee bit too much in this brutal heat. I wanted to do stuff, creative stuff today, and barely had the gumption to achieve 'in real life' goals. I contrast 'in real life' to 'real life' goals, where my inner life is fed and exercised, where I feel a true sense of satisfaction.

The first thing facing me was the need to clean and reorganize the kitchen closet, much disrupted from digging the Ancestors out yesterday. This was closely followed by hustling the grocery delivery in (which is still quite a lug, even with the aid of brother-in-law Andy) and getting them sorted and put away. These simple efforts left me faded even so, and after some posting both here and on Power of Babel and a quick meal (pantry being replenished), I slumped off to sleep again.

Only to awake at 2:30 PM, thinking confusedly that it was the middle of the night. I was not feeling refreshed either, only dull-witted and lazy (Sloth is my besetting sin); my acedia leading me to pointless hours fribbled away on the internet to little or no point. I even napped again at one point. So here it is, a little after 10 PM, and I've still not done many simple everyday duties yet.

Which I must sign off and do. Perhaps if I get them done and out of the way I can start tomorrow anew without old business overhanging me. then I can get back to 'real life.'

College Knowledge?

Primed and Ready to Fail

This is the picture of me on my college ID when I started going to South-West Texas State University (now Texas State University since 2003) in Fall of 1981. I left after the summer of 1985. Those numbers should tell you something before I even say it: I never graduated. Here’s the whole sad tale.

For starters, I never wanted to start that fall anyway. When I graduated from high school, I was still seventeen. What I wanted to do was to spend some time working and saving up money, going in better prepared. As it was, even though I had no guidance and no financial provision from my parents, by the end of summer I was hustled into college, like they couldn’t wait to get rid of me. The only advantage I can see now was that I hadn’t lost what little mathematical skills I had yet and was able to place out of having to take any math courses.

In the end I did have to get a student loan, which I promptly spent half of on getting a VCR player, then going for the enormous sum of $500 (or was it $700?). “The surest way to ruin someone who has never handled any money is to give him some.” – George Bernard Shaw. Still, with living in my grandmother’s storage room, walking several blocks to catch the shuttle bus, and coming home to work from Friday evening to Sunday evening, when Mike would drive us back (from Seguin to San Marcos, about 30 miles), I managed to scratch by, even using the university bookstore to order books that I’d had no access to before.

For it was in reading that I think I got most of my education in my college years. There was a good library that I haunted in the hours between classes, and I had at least three very good college professors: Dr. Walz in Shakespeare, Dr. Rosenbaum in Modern Poetry, and Dr. Laird in Middle English Literature. They all sharpened my reading skills, and my best hours in college were spent in their classes.

In the end, I was only lacking two credits to graduate, but for me they were tough nuts to crack. One was a Language credit. I took German, as I had no affinity for Spanish. I did so poorly in my first semester I was too discouraged to try it again. The other was for Speech Communications; with my crippling shyness I had special difficulties with that, but for a teaching degree, which seemed to be where I was heading, it was absolutely essential. I must have taken that class no less than five times over the years; twice I never showed up from the first day.

As I say, by the end of the summer of 1985 I gave it up as a bad job. By that time, they really needed me full time at home base anyway; Mom’s health had deteriorated greatly. I was stuck with making the minimum payments on that one student loan for years until one freak Bingo win allowed me to close it out. Since then, I’ve seldom given college a second thought, though they still occasionally try to stick me with Mike’s student loan bills.

I sometimes wonder what sort of sad alternative life I might have had if I had graduated, as opposed to the sad actual life I did and do lead. And I think about buying Lance Rye and Cheese Crackers (since largely discontinued) at the snack cart, of the abortive Writer’s Club we tried to get started, and of the time I accidentally wandered into the Women’s Residence looking to buy a pet rat. But that’s all I have to say on the subject of college for now.

 

Wish Fulfillment: Five Years of the Wish List (Celebrities)

Real History of Ortha

Well, I say a history, but it is more in the nature of a memoir, if not somehow a fiction, for Friday Fiction. It started forty-three or maybe forty-four years ago. John and I, always big fans of Tolkien – and hence Fantasy – dreamed up a project of our own. Another Epic Fantasy, as was all the rage at the time, what with Donaldson and Brooks and so on grinding out their Tolkien clones. We hoped – somehow – to write a tale of our own, and that it would be an ace more original than the others.

We gathered various elements we had been creating through middle and high school. For examples: I had a drawing of an Ogre, and I know John came up with Dunwolf as a name for a wizard. I’m not sure how we came up with the concept of the Morgs, possibly something we did together; we certainly developed them together. I want to say they were based on a Brothers Hildebrandt picture of an Orc, and the concept was of a ‘good Orc’ as one of our Fantasy races.

We had to have a variety of ‘races’ for the tale of course (we were enough of a clone for that), but they didn’t have to be as humanoid as Elves, Men, Dwarves, and Hobbits. The Morgs and the Ghamen were unusual enough to provide more variety, with the Woses (the name snitched from Tolkien, of course, but much different in character and appearance) were a more ‘human’ variant.

We developed the story and the world together, but it was John who did all the writing. I want to say that he began it when I was off in my first year of college, and that he presented chapters to the high school club, Writer’s Roundtable. I drew pictures and maps and tried to make a mythology for the background a la The Silmarillion with rather mediocre results. We would have bull sessions when we got together on the weekends. Our childhood ‘swingings’ and ‘playings’ had pretty much given way to ‘revolutions’: endless walks around the front yard, often in the dark hours of the evening. Endless walks with endless talks under the stars and past the rustling trees.  Sometimes we even acted out proposed scenes; I recall in particular personating Korm (whom I always considered being closest to myself in character) on one wild and windy evening.

There were, of course, a false start or two.  I remember (mainly because I drew a picture of it) that at first the hero was a small Hobbit-like character called Apokka whose adventure was heralded by an ominous ‘raven of Barek’. Apokka then split into two human brothers (me and John?), Apokka and Koppa, and eventually Koppa became the main hero.

The name Apokka highlights one of our little problems; we suffered a certain paucity of mythopoetic naming skills. We couldn’t always come up with good ones and often had to settle on a temporary placeholder. ‘Apokka’ was shortened from ‘apocalypse’ (we even had a running joke that eventually we would have the line ‘Apokka’s lips were now dry and cracked’ somewhere in the tale). The world became ‘Ortha’ (Earth) and the realm ‘Forlan’ (Four Lands). We were constantly muttering “Rewrites, rewrites” to each other, and even in our notes, “Something happens here.”

I am only sure of one verifiable fact about Goldfire (the working title we came up with for the tale), and that was that the first draft ended on January 1^st, 1983. John had written twenty-two chapters, and by our calculations it wasn’t even halfway through. Life was getting busier, and perhaps he was getting weary of the interminable slog with no end in sight. We boxed it up in an unusual eggplant-purple binder with one of my ragged maps on front. And there it lay for thousands of years.

Put away, but not forgotten. We would often discuss its ‘lore’, mourn its unfinished state, consider reviving it, and grind our teeth when other franchises somewhat reproduced elements (especially names) from the tale. “Admiral Thrawn” in Star Wars (we had King Thron); Gildenfire for the tile of a slim book in the Thomas Covenant series (we had Goldfire). And then one day …

It was November 2017. I was finishing the first draft of A Grave on Deacon’s Peak but wanted to continue writing for John every two weeks, especially now that I was in the rhythm of it. I wrote Mighty Mikku as sort of an origin story for Roth, who was always one of the most vibrant of the Goldfire characters. I was so pleased with the result (and with John’s reaction to it) that it began pulling other ‘Morg’ stories out of the nowhere into the here. I even went back and typed up all those inky old chapters of Goldfire, just to remember what it was like. Having it all for backstory and thickening and refining what we ‘knew’ about it all and deepening it in new stories with new lore that seemed to emerge effortlessly, as if it been stewing on the back burner for years.

And now John and I are working on a new Ortha project, a series of scripts for a possible animated show. Our roles are a little reversed; he came up with the idea and I’m doing most of the writing now. I couldn’t do it without his encouragement and ideas. I am enjoying it immensely. I have finished a couple of episodes already; but even if it comes to nothing, in the end it is all worth it just for the fun of it, and to continue and perhaps recapture something of that undertaking of long, long ago.

2020 Diary: Cricket, Covid, and St. Roch

7/17/2020: Kelsey’s party. The day went as usual with prayers, Bible, rosary. Found out that the rest of Magic Mountain was there after all; they had just transposed the author’s note into the middle! Talked to John about 1 PM. Blogged thrice on the Niche of Time. Not-Ginger (can’t think of her name; it is late. Oh yes, Cricket) in very poor shape today. I’m afraid she’s on her way out. Worked on my SSA forms from 8 PM to 10:30 PM and finished them. Watched Rules of the Game on and off. Now 12:30 AM and I think I should try to sleep. Tomorrow to the postal box and DG.

 

7/15/2020: Up, short prayers, and dressed. Wrote dream. Left for town about 7:45 AM. Mailed SSA forms, went and got ticket, and then to DG. They finally had corn chips and iced oatmeal cookies, but no spaghetti! Got Cosmic Brownies, too. Home about 8:30 AM. Stripped and sanitized. Went in at 9:20 AM and Kam asked for bacon and eggs, so made that, then ramen. Posted on NOT. Now about 10:40 AM, and I feel like nap. I’m tearing through the brownies.

A little after 1 PM I went in and got the leftover cabbage and taters for lunch. When I went in at about 3 PM to start supper, I noticed Cricket was having great difficulty breathing; her lungs were going like a bellows. Whenever she got tired and would begin to lie down her breathing was worse, and she had to drag herself up again. I tried to hold her up but that didn’t help. Finally, I had Kam text Susan about the situation, and she and Andy called to vet and then came home to be with Cricket for a while before they had to put her down. The whole process was done by 5 PM; the clock chimed almost simultaneously with the vet pronouncing the operation done. Everybody pretty broken up as you can imagine. Andy went out to dig the grave. I went over a gave her a last pat and a gentle nose beep, then went in and prayed a rosary, partly for her and partly for all who loved her. St. Roch, patron saint of dogs, of those sick with plague, and of bachelors, pray for us all. Rosary. Rest of the evening mainly devoted to Shadow Library mania.

 

7/16/2020: Got up and almost immediately into Shadow Library stuff. But first, a dream, prayers, and Bible (I skipped ahead into doing Psalms now). Fried eggs and bacon for Kam’s breakfast, ramen for me. Worked on Shadow Library [that is, books I no longer have]. Called John about 1 PM. Kam called me at 3 PM because of knocking on front door; I went out, and Walmart had delivered an empty box! Called Susan and reported to her. Corn on cob, chili, rotini for supper. Ate cookies and corn chips all day. The heat. My God, the heat! Rosary about 10:30 PM. I keep remembering more books to put on the SL list. Up till 1 AM working on SL.

 

7/17/2020: No, up until 4:30 AM working on SL; I could not turn it off. I was up by 6:30 AM again. Prayers, Bible, and MORE work on SL. Went in a little after 9:30 AM; Kam up. Made him eggs and bacon and made my ramen; he came in with me and visited all morning! My S key got stuck for a while. At lunch S&A came in. She is working on Kam’s application for SSA, and wanted to ask me a few questions, for which my memory was already rusty. Ate chicken salad for lunch. I laid down for a little nap and Kam did too. I was up about 2 PM and started frying taters and brought Ginger in with me. Fried till about 5 PM when I woke Kam up and brought him into the house. Fed the pets. Supper: fish and taters. Spent the evening with MORE SL; forgot to even pray rosary.

 

7/18/2020: Yen’s Birthday. Up about 5:30 AM. Cleaned up, prayers and Bible, dressed, and out the door at 6:40 AM. Got lottery ticket and home by 7:25 AM. Made ramen, took medicine, showered, dressed. Made blog posts. Now 9:30 AM, and I feel ready for another nap.

About 10:30 AM Andy comes around and tells me to help myself to leftover chili, rice, fish, and cucumber salad. Puttered around, made some more notes on SL. About 1 PM I went in and got some cucumber salad. Listened to music, watched some Kill Bill, read some Mark Twain biography (his last years). Rosary for Yen’s birthday. About 5:30 PM (just after I had gone in and got the chili) Andy comes again and says we’ve got Chicken Express. I go in: spicy chicken, biscuits, gravy, corn nuggets, hush puppies, and sweet tea, and dining with the family. The Maltese Falcon on at 7 PM and I sleep through most of it. Up about 8:45 PM. Post SL. Finish off chili.

 

7/19/2020: Up about 4 AM and felt compelled to write down expansions of my notes on ‘The Fellowfeel’ series. Prayers, Bible, Mass. More writing. Nap. About 10:30 AM Andy brings me in bananas and chicken rice. More writing. At 12 finish FF notes and send them off, suggesting round-robin effort to the boys. Went in at 1 PM to find S&A working on changing the living room rug. Got some Chicken Express chicken. Posted on NOT. Worked on list of stuff I could get with birthday money. The Subject Was Roses on today. About 5 PM prayed rosary. Went in a little before 7 PM to get paper towels and a ramen and was told that I had failed to put macaroni on the list (apparently, I’m supposed to write on the list – except when I’m not). I had been doing OK; this bummed me out. 9 PM and no answer from Kenny or John.

 

7/20/2020: Up about 6:20 AM from a dream about being at Loop Drive; the rooms were full of the worst hoarding garbage. I sometimes have dreams like that, where I’m wandering around a trash heap that might contain treasures that have been carelessly neglected or mislaid. They are only too true of some periods at the old house and might be taken as emblematic of my life. Prayers, Bible. Spent the morning sweeping and dusting. Figured out how to pin my dark blue bathing suit so it would stay up. Kam called me about 8:50 AM; Susan had left, and he was ready for breakfast. I started the wash (decided not to do the towels today). Kam had taquitos with sour cream and some chicken strips; I had a few strips too, and the last corn nuggets. Came in and lay down and started to listen to GGACP and almost fell asleep; sat bolt upright when I suddenly realized I had forgotten to boil eggs and make egg salad. Rushed out, started eggs, changed laundry, then made salad. At 11 AM wash was done. Rosary. About 1 PM I went in and started making the broccoli salad; Susan came home with Kam from taking him to the SocSec office. Finished salad about 2 PM and Kam came out with me and read me some game reviews. We went in at 4 PM and I started supper (fish patties and couscous), and Kam went to take a nap. I ate broccoli salad and couscous with ramen. Still no reply from the boys about FF, so I suppose that fell dead from the branches. Going in at 8 PM to wash up. Reading early parts of Mark Twain biography (Jumping Frog, Innocents Abroad, lectures).

 

7/21/2020: Short Summation of the day: got up, prayers, Bible. Went in at 9 AM and made Kam taquitos; made me cup ramen, eggs, and bread. Worked on Omichon. At lunch packet ramen and eggs and a peanut butter sandwich. About 3:30 PM started taters, cabbage, and sausage. Finished by 4:40 PM. Went in and washed up; Susan said there were roller skaters down in the ditch. Rather sleepy rosary. Read MT. Finally got an answer from John about the Fellowfeels. “Sounds like fun - I remember thinking those chapter names were mighty evocative.  I think counting on me to write anything right now would be a pretty iffy proposition, but who knows?” Bed. 

The Tale of the Ruby Top Hat

I’ve told this story before, but I thought I’d go into it in a little more detail. Why? Grampa’s rambling again.

I was in Third Grade, so it was probably the fall of 1972. We were having a school fair for all the families; besides an enchilada plate there were a variety of activities, like clothespin fishing for prizes and tossing games. Also on the agenda was a ‘country store’, where donated items were on sale to raise funds for the school. The table was set up for it during the school day, so we all had a chance to spy out the goods ahead of the evening festivities. There was one thing I became fixated on: a red glass top hat.

When the time came around, I begged Mom for the money. All of us kids were giving a certain amount to spend; as I remember it the hat cost a little more than my budget. That meant no other activities for me, but I thought that worth it. I knew there was a girl who had her eye on the hat, so the first thing I did was I sped to the ‘store’ and snatched it up. I had to carry the glass item the rest of the evening. I’m sure my parents must have thought I was an odd duck, but Mom did indulge me.

I learned much, much later that it was made by a company called Fenton, that produced a wide variety of glass top hats for table settings. Most of the smaller ones seemed designated as toothpick holders; my red one was a bigger example. I’ve seen them described as everything from candy dishes to candle holders. So why did I want one?

Well, as I’ve stated before, top hats were part what might be called my ‘pop cultural relics obsession.’ The hats used to be everywhere, symbols of authority, from rich men to reverends. Perhaps because of the care needed to preserve them. ‘Broken’ examples could appear on carthorses, scarecrows, and snowmen. Or on bums with some pretension, especially after the Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression. They persisted for a while as a necessary accoutrement for solemn occasions: bridegrooms and presidents were expected to wear them on their way to take their oaths. John F. Kennedy was the last president to be inaugurated wearing a top hat. By the time I was growing up they were again relegated to ‘bums’: hippies might wear them as well as retro ‘granny glasses’ for a cultural statement.  Oh, and glittering Broadway musicals. I wanted a top hat, and this was the only example I’d seen in the wild, as it were. If only for playing purposes, I had to snatch it up.

Of course, for playing purposes it uses proved to be limited. While it would be a proportionate fit for say, Chester the Chimp, it couldn’t stay on, and be top-heavy at that. Eventually I settled down on it as a nest for our Formulette toy owl, Owlie, who snuggled down into it as just the right size. 

When I was past a certain playing stage the hat should have been stored or displayed somewhere appropriate; instead, it resided in the regular toybox where, despite its thick glass, it inevitably broke and was thrown away.

But I was always on the lookout for top hat replacements. There was one up in the garage rafters, a little black plastic one, in a batch of parental memorabilia, apparently a party favor from a wedding or something.

 We decided we couldn’t extract that one; not from any respect for our parents’ memories, but just for fear that we’d be caught. Wonder what ever happened to that. Eventually we got a red plastic top hat, attached to a velvet -flocked toy bank.

 It was just the right size (if not a perfect fit) for another squeaky, ‘Professor Worm.’ Over the years we got several action figures with their own little top hats.

 

Susan and John both found me a couple of smaller examples of Fenton glass hats at various sales. One was clear, the other as red as my remembered one.

With Aughra for Scale

Then Steampunk rolled around, and top hats became fashionable again (for a certain factor of fashion) and much more available. I remember our cousin Kirby (our great-aunt Maggie’s son) started wearing a brown top hat during the last months of his life. He was dying, and no longer gave a hoot what people might think of him in our little Texas town. It might help people remember him when he was gone; I got the impression that he, too, always wanted one, and was ready to let his freak flag fly. I wonder whatever happened to his hat when he passed away. I’m not saying I exactly wanted it. But I wonder.

2020 July Diary: Fifth Year Anniversary Tomorrow

7/8/2020: So after a nice cool slumber I got up about 6:25 AM and said my prayers and read my Bible (Since I finished Exodus, I decided I’d jump to Psalms for a while). Decided I’m not going for a Lottery ticket today. Wrote down dream and now time to get dressed. Started a new blog: Niche of Time. The usual Wednesday stuff.

 

7/9/2020: Up about 5:30 AM and decided to get ready. Dream about a storm-wreathed mountain with four glowing white towers. Prayers, dressed and off to TX Cooler a bit before 7 AM; no one on the road or in the store but me; got a TX Lotto ticket. Showered when I got home, finished prayers, Bible. During the day I posted on Niche of Time again then told Yen on Messenger that I had started a new blog; later he told me it was great. S&A brought me some mail; forms for medicine crap again. I prayed the rosary about 2:30 PM. Today passed by very slowly; I guess it’s because I’m not working on a big project at the moment. Meals: ramen with eggs and bread; cabbage and taters; chili with tortilla chips (that’s for me; corn on the cob and rotini for the Shanafelt’s chili). In at 7:45 PM to make Kam’s supper and wash up.

 

7/10/2020: Up way too early. Prayers, Bible. Posted on Power of Babel and Niche of Time. Wrote a tiny bit on Omichon and stopped, unable to go on. Ordinary stuff all day, then wrote to John:

“Good Grief. I have at least three [writing] projects staring me in the face, and today I cannot stir up an ounce of enthusiasm for any of them. I partially blame the summer doldrums, and the sort of flapping suspense I always feel when my birthday is on the horizon. I don't know why, except as a childhood holdover of a sentimental significance and the vague idea that it is a time of reckoning.

“The three projects are 1) finish "Omichon", 2) finish fleshing out "King Korm", and 3) flesh out what I've written in 'film script' for Bob's Book 2 and finish Chapter 4. The whole of (2) and parts of (3) are, one might say, of a more mechanical nature. "Omichon" could be finished in five pages or so but is all new writing. I believe the solution might be to try to do one page on each project a day, as early in the day as I can. Perhaps one will catch fire and I can fly away with it then; what is certain is that, by this method, over time they will get finished.

“Another brick in the road is that I got several new forms in the mail that need filling out. Nothing that plod can't accomplish, but it is Friday, horrible, horrible Friday, and I don't feel like doing anything, not even pleasant things, much less - ugh - paperwork. All I feel like doing is sleeping, and even that seems to be more than I can do. I lie in an uneasy haze full of vague tormenting wishes. Tomorrow when I get up, who knows? But right now, it's one of those patches I just must endure.

“I miss the Inventory. It was something simple I could DO. Have you checked Niche of Time yet? Yen's revue declared it "FANTASTIC".

“Do not take this e-mail as being dreary as it sounds. It's SUMMER, and I simmer. I'm just at the bottom of the trough and waiting for the climb out. This letter is more about analyzing my situation out loud to my friendly shrink than anything. Hope your trip around the courthouses is a nice little odyssey of fun. Kameron wants to tell you "Happy Birthday".

Called in my prescriptions; about 12 dollars. Started frying taters about 2 PM. Both my legs hurt. Feels vascular. Done by 5 PM. Went in about 5:30 PM to tell Susan I had ordered my medicine and that it would be ready tomorrow and that my medicine was ineligible for the medical assistance program. I offered to pay at least part but Susan said nay. Rosary about 9 PM.

 

7/11/2020: Sometime during the night I busted the little toe on my right foot when I went to the restroom. I didn’t notice it had bled till I got up in the morning. Prayers, Bible. Shower. I guess I have to watch that toe for a while till it heals. Made new post on Chesterton on NOT (Niche of Time). About 1 PM Andy took me to get medicine at HEB. Didn’t do much of anything but worry about my toe (my whole right side, in fact) and read more MM [The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann], and watched bits of the John Adams mini-series. At 6 PM a ramen with bread. Very late (about 10:30 PM) prayed rosary. Did not win lottery. Went to bed.

 

7/12/2020: Up about 6 AM, prayers, Bible, medicined my toe, then YT Mass. Posted on NOT, then cooked some rice to take my pills with and watched the end of Blithe Spirit. A day of doing nothing much, and it seemed to stretch on forever. At about 6 PM went in and got a ramen and some eggs, and Andy gave me a couple of Taco Bell tacos as well. Rosary.

 

7/13/2020: Prayers, Bible. Toe looks alright. At 9 AM started the wash and finished at 11:20 AM. Made chicken salad and boiled eggs and had ramen for breakfast. No GGACP or DW today. Read in MM and found my Kindle copy was missing a big swath right after the death of Mynheer Peeperkorn. Have to read it online. About 2 PM went in and made cucumber salad and Kam gave me an old bean and bacon taco. Had a couple of tomato sandwiches as well. A very hot day and not a cloud in the sky. Andy called and asked me to move a box from the front porch to the side porch. Made supper at 4 PM (fish patties and tomato-and-basil couscous) and let the dogs out. Two enormous feathers by the carport. Went in just weak and prostrate (heat? health?). Must work on my [medical application] forms tonight. Rosary at 8:30 PM. Halfway through the new American Dad when Kam calls me to make him supper, so didn’t see the end of that. Can I catch up on MM?

Notes

So we have come to the establishment and beginning of this blog. It's odd; if I hadn't kept a diary, I wouldn't be aware of just how much time had passed for so many things. 

2020 Diary: The First Week of July

7/1/2020: First day of July. The year is half-over already. Up about 6 AM, and thought, “Today, I must take it easy.” Prayers, Bible. Wrapped my knee and dressed. Sat down to start Book Inventory for the day and saw John had e-mailed me (see above) and promises to call later. Now about 7:15 AM. Worked on BI, then went in at 9:15 AM for breakfast, getting not only ramen, eggs and bread, but cabbage for later. Ate, then worked on BI until 11:20 AM. Time for a break. About 12:30 PM picked up BI again. At 2 PM John called and we yakked for about an hour, about the fragility of weed-whackers, Joey’s hearing problems, the Inventory, the nature of perception leading into the stupidity of the civil unrest and cultural change going on. A little after 3 PM I went inside to grass dogs and see what to make for lunch, when Andy called to talk about groceries and Susan said to make chicken breasts, which I’d forgotten we had. Made chicken breasts, rice with mushrooms, and squash. Came back in and worked on BI until 6 PM, when I finished the bottom shelf of the [Tolkien] Shrine. Ready to post. Posted. Rosary at 7 PM, then cleaned up kitchen. Was watching a pinch of “Singing in the Rain” when I realized that the tune that had come to me in a dream was “All I do/ is dream of you/ all night through …” So that solves that mystery. Kam called about 9:40 PM for supper. I had already kind of drifted off, and after I got up and did that, I was in bed by 10 PM.

 

7/2/2020: Up at 5 AM. Prayers & Bible. Started BI at 5:40 AM. Went in at 9 AM for chicken soup. Back out and back on BI. Finished glass case in [Tolkien] Shrine, onto a drawer of lesser books so I can get them out of the way and end on a higher note later. At 12:40 PM ready to take a break and think about lunch. When I went in Kylo’s green ball was right in front of the back door. I kicked it out of my way … and it rolled to right in front of my door. Made ramen with eggs; it’s now 1:30 PM and I think I’ll try 2 or 3 entries then see if I can nap.

Napped for maybe half an hour then up and working. Basically, finished one drawer then went in to cook at 3:30 PM; back at 4:30 PM, ate, then back to the books. Finished the other drawer (not so many books), cleaned up and posted and done for the day about 7 PM. At 1,996 books. Have less than 40 to go; tomorrow, God willing, I will be done. Rest, rest. Went in at 7:30 PM to clean up early, but Andy had a wrecker call, and they hadn’t eaten yet; Susan tells me the AC is out. It must have just happened, because I didn’t notice anything, but then I was cooking, so I might not have noticed the heat.

At 8 PM, prayed the Rosary. Now 8:20 PM. Kam came out to finish watching a MST3K, then went in. Andy was home and working on the AC. Poor guy, when I went in at 10:30 PM, he was just getting to have supper. I hung around and we talked a bit, then I washed up and helped Kam grass the Chis. Tis now 11 PM, and maybe I’ll take a shower and hit the hay. Boy, is my right leg sore.

 

7/3/2020: Prayers, Bible. Got an early 6 AM start on the BI; the last shelf of Tolkien. Did not go in until 10 AM to get the chicken soup for breakfast, and found Susan was staying home today. She barked at me because she thought I dragged mud in, but since it was totally dry and my shoes were clean, I think it must have been something (like dogfood) that the chis trailed. But try telling her that; she seemed convinced to be snappy. When I went in at 1 PM to get the leftover chili for lunch, she was still brisk, but when I went in to get the stuff to start supper at 2:30 PM she seemed to have settled down. Finished BI at 3:30 AM. Supper ready at 5PM; fish and fried taters. Cleaned up at 7. Found out Amy had dropped off $20 for me. To John:

Put my last entry to the Inventory at 3:30 PM. Not included are softcover blank journals, Gold Key Digests, random skinny softcover graphic novels (fat ones count; the others are just comics), comic paperbacks (Peanuts, Wizard of Id, etc.). The final number? 2,049. You know me; that one book away from an even number bugs me. I probably have a tome or two tucked away, but where? This is good for now. Er - you don't have a book I might have loaned you, do you? I don't think so, but - that number! 

Reread BI on Kindle (rather obsessive, I know – and found things that need correcting) then rosary at 11 PM. Caught up diary and ready for bed at 11:30 PM. Tomorrow: Independence Day.

 

7/4/2020: Awake at 5:20 AM and I’m up. Prayers and Bible. Shaved my beard and mustache (not off, just down). Add Encyclopedia of Fairies to BI, making it 2050. At 7:40 AM I mean to go to town, even though my leg – and my chest, a little – are still hurting. “Live while you live, and then die and be done with it” – rather glib words at the moment, but one can’t simply cower away. Anyway, if I fall (by which I mean have a stroke) in public there’s more of a chance of somebody noticing than if I were hiding in the house – on Saturdays, unless I intrude into the house, nobody takes the least interest in my existence, and quite rightly too. But I have often thought how long my corpse could go unnoticed over the weekend. My leg will not thank me, whatever happens. Later, TMC has their annual showing of 1776. No parade, no fireworks today, all canceled because of Covid-19. Did the trip, and it was not too bad. I was the first in the store, the first at checkout, and all the other customers were wearing masks too. Home at 8:30, with cookies, candy, and tea. Did some reviewing on BI.

Got a ramen and eggs after 12 PM. At 1:30 PM watched 1776. Afterwards (4:30 PM), I called John and we yakked for about 40 minutes about what a strange July 4^th it was: no parade, no city fireworks, no big family get togethers. A little after 7 PM I went into the big house to get the last of the cucumber salad for supper; S&A asked me to make dips [tomato sauce noodles] and gave me the old bananas. I went in again to clean up at 9 PM and polished off the dips. When it really started to get dark began hearing fireworks going off all around, so some celebration going on. Read more The Magic Mountain (MM from here on; I had started Mann’s book a few days ago) and looking at BI again with an eye to revisions. A late and sleepy Rosary, then bed.

All day I had been nibbling coconut macaroon cookies.

 

7/5/2020: Awake about 5:30 AM; said prayers in bed. Then up for Bible reading, got dressed, and watched the Sunday Mass from St. James, with the new pastor, Fr. Stan, who has a very thick Polish accent (he has been serving in the United States for many years, but apparently in Spanish, so his English is a still a little rusty). Afterwards looked on Facebook and saw a film of an explosion of cheap Chinese fireworks last night at Babeloth; thank goodness there was no one hurt, and they were well prepared for fire control. Laid down again for a bit (it is easier to sleep in the cool of the morning) then up at 10 AM refreshed and bursting with ideas. I would really like a printer/scanner for my birthday; I want to learn to merge documents to compare them; I want to print books of my poems and short stories; I need to finish “Omichon”, the revisions of “King Korm”, revise the BI and maybe publish it with pictures on “Niche of Time”, and of course finish “American Prometheus” and get on with Bob’s Book Two. That being said, today is Sunday, and there is no rush.

Went in at 1 PM for a couple of boiled eggs for lunch (with chocolate chip cookies I’d been nibbling all day, it was enough). After an afternoon nap, I got up feeling inspired, and worked on proof-reading BI off and on until about 9 PM (supper – a ramen and bread – at 7 PM). With the Kindle down to 15%, I finally gave it a rest, prayed my rosary, and so on. I’m about 2/3 through BI; the corrections are mostly rewriting sentences for clarity, working on commas and spaces, sweeping away leftover ‘artifacts’, and changing typeface from bold or italics to normal. It’s now 9:44 PM; if the Kindle is done recharging in an hour or so and I’m awake, I may continue.

 

7/6/2020: Everything that usually happens, happened today. Only things different: S&A have some guys building a carport over the driveway next to the storage buildings, and after I was up at about 2:30 AM I worked on the Revised BI (now the BIB, Biographical Inventory of Books) and put the final touches on it at about 3 PM. And the adaptor on the AC cord got all scorchy, so I threw it away and have to do without AC until I can get a new one. The night is hot but not unbearable.

 

7/7/2020: Up at 5:30 AM with my right leg hurting a lot. Prayers, Bible, and ready for a walk into town. Must go early for the relative ‘cool’.

Decided not to go to town. Guys were working on building carport from about 8 AM to 3 PM. I had gone in to lunch at 1 PM and S&A were just there. I asked about if they had an adapter for the AC, and S got a little annoyed (they were running late).

Made sausage and cabbage for supper. A little after 6 PM A came in with the wrong sort of adapter and S came in right behind him, breathing fire. They went out again (Kam called me, worried about a wasp that wasn’t there) and later came back with the adapter and we got it set up and emotions were soothed all round. I was able to tell S I had talked to the medical center about assistance with my medicine. So, the AC’s on and everyone seems happy again. Time for a rosary, then bed, I guess.

Notes

I don’t remember any details of Magic Mountain (appropriate reading for plague times), though I do remember enjoying it. I also vaguely remember watching some adaptation of it (a mini-series?) and there’s a section in The Wind Rises at a tubercular sanatorium that reminds me of it.

Long summer days often make for short diary entries. I was still struggling to get my SSI set up, gasping toward the end of the Book Inventory, and swinging uncertainly from meal to meal. Speaking of food, I was getting quite a bunch of snacky stuff (since stricken off the menu) to fill in the spaces between the ‘meals’ (all too often ramen).

Don’t get lottery tickets so much any more; not so desperate, I guess. Also don’t read on Kindle so much; hard to keep it charged since the cord is too loose these days. Still haven’t finished writing “American Prometheus” much less Bob’s Book 2.

Ah, Covid. What a bad dream that was. Will the kids ever believe us?

2020 Diary: Building the Book Inventory

6/20/2020: Up about 5:30 AM from dreams that scattered as I woke. Prayers, Bible. A little rain before sunrise. Finished cataloguing the end shelves on the right over the TV, after reading in the Gahan Wilson books a while. After a bit I got out the end table and pulled down the Lewis books in preparation; the shelf needs much dusting. A little after 10 AM Kam came in to watch Gravity Falls; it has new special puppet interstices. Got broccoli salad for breakfast. I began to fall asleep at about 11 AM, and he went back in. Got ramen about 12:30 PM. Worked on Book Inventory and got a brainwave.

E-mail to John: But what I really wanted to talk about was the Book Inventory. This morning I hauled down my Lewis books off their high shelf, and besides noting that this exercise was good for giving the shelves a good dust off, perhaps this would be a fine opportunity to move them to a more accessible spot. They would lose their pride of display, of course, but that would be balanced by them being easier to get to. Some second-stringers (Samuel Johnson, Gore Vidal) would be just as nice looking. It would of course throw off my process (which has just been shelf by shelf, as they come), but would be worth it in the long run. I am of course talking it out here to myself, but I would appreciate your thoughts. At the moment, I have made entries for 1392 books; when I am finished, I may be allowed to die.

Wiped off the shelf and shuffled books around, going up and down on the table several times. Worked on Johnson and Vidal and Sherlock Holmes. It is 9:14 PM and I am very tired. Rosary and bed, I think, although all is at sixes and sevens.

While I was praying a dying roach crawling around on the bed shocked me awake again. When I had finished the rosary, I made short BI entries which I can flesh out later for books to fill the high left shelf. Then I moved the books from the two bottom shelves next to the door over to the bottom of the other side, in preparation to receive the Lewis books. Things look better, and I think now (10:42 PM) I am more ready to hit the hay. John e-mailed and said he’d phone me tomorrow if he gets a chance.

 

6/21/2020: Up about 5:30 AM. Prayers and Bible, then a shower and got dressed. Watched St. James service. Went out for my turns (which I skipped yesterday because of my stepping exercise up and down on the table) about 7:10 AM, then came in and expanded my entries from yesterday evening and posted them on Finder’s Keep. Put up a picture of Pop on FB for Father’s Day. Gargoyles on Comet this morning. Sorted my Lewis books by type, and now with a deep breath, I’m ready to plunge in at 9:30 AM.

Work, work, work, till a little before noon, when Andy brings me in boiled eggs, fried potatoes, and bananas. About 12:30 PM get soup and bread. Some Phineas and Ferb, a special on Star Wars on in the background as I work, and I fill in one shelf of the bookcase by the door. About 7 PM out for my turns; heard, then saw a crane flying over the house. In again, and back to work, oh so close to being done with Lewis.

Andy brought me in a bunch of burritos, half a burger, and some fries at about 8 PM. I realized that my copy of Jack’s Life was signed by Douglas Gresham; that puts me only 2 degrees away from Lewis himself. At 9 PM I was basically done with Lewis books. Hurrah! Now I must see about fitting them on the shelf.

Well, that worked out well, and a prettier shelving I’ve seldom done. Posted the BI (81 this batch), then e-mailed John. Rosary at 10 PM, swept the house, and now, if I wish, I can go to bed.

 

6/22/2020: Kameron’s 20^th birthday. Up about 5:30 AM again. Prayers, Bible. Turns at 7 AM. Found another gigantic roll of shed snakeskin, near the path where I found the other, close to the woodpile. At 9 AM I started my wash, boiled eggs, made egg salad, and started my chicken soup. Spent much of the morning talking to Kam, watching my soup, and changing the wash. Did a few books, from the lower shelf on the right side over the TV but was not very active; felt a little blah all day. The few times I tried to take a nap though, I didn’t succeed. Lungs a little wheezing, probably from book dust or seasonal allergies, but unease about Covid-19 haunts every breath. Went in about 2 PM and made cupcakes and picked the chicken. About 5 PM I made hot cheese dip, and Aunt Janet dropped by to see Kam and wish him a happy birthday and give him a card with $50 in it. A little before 6 PM I went in again and the pizzas Susan had ordered had arrived, but Andy was a little delayed at work. Susan and I sat around talking for a while, and I showed her the snake skins and she told me about a woodpecker she saw pecking at the house, and a little grass snake that had found its way into their bedroom! Andy got home and we gathered and had pizza and soda and dip; afterward we sang Happy Birthday and had cupcakes and Kam opened his presents and cards. $50 from Fred and Joanne, and some interactive toys he’d been wanting from S&A. I went in at about 8 PM and thanks to my full stomach was able to conk out asleep; woke up about 10:30 PM, prayed my Rosary, then fell asleep again.

 

6/23/2020: Up about 8 AM after waking up several times and forcing myself to lay down again. Prayers, Bible, and BI. Just before 9 AM a heavy rain started up; it has settled to a steady rain now (9:30 AM), and I think I may go in to get some breakfast.

Went in and Kam was up. We sat around and talked while I made the broccoli salad and heated up some soup for breakfast. Went in about 11 AM and we watched the end of Prince of Space 

and the beginning of The Magic Sword [MST3K movies]. Took a nap and went it about 1 PM and had a slice of pizza and some dip and chips and another cupcake. Kam also had lunch then went to play games with Joey. John called about 3 PM and we talked till about 4 PM, much about life and some about him working on a movie script for AGODP. Went in, grassed dogs, brought in the bins, then made salmon patties and couscous. About 6:30 PM I prayed rosary, then went out for my turns. Washed up and took Kam some dip sandwiches at 8 PM, then came out and worked on BI. Almost done with the shelf: Lovecraft and T. H. White only ones left. Now almost 10 PM, and I’m ready for bed, I think.

 

6/24/2020: Up about 5:30 AM after a series of dreams (in one of which I was cataloging a pair of books that should have gone right on the shelf that I’m working on, but don’t exist). Prayers, Bible. Onto the BI and Lovecraft. A little after 7:10 AM went out for turns; only did 2 because the Chis got interested. At 9 AM went in for breakfast (ramen, eggs, bread); Kam let me in, and he’d already eaten! Continued with BI and finished with shelf and put on Power of Babel by 12:30 PM. Went it a 1 PM for chicken soup and made list of Will and Ariel Durant books in Susan’s bookcase. Watched House. At 1:45 PM prayed rosary, then swept off the kitchen porch (that makes up for the missed round). Wondering whether to start another shelf – but then John called me back about 2:30 PM (I had called him earlier to ask the name of Mrs. Rector’s elective class – it was ‘Ghost Stories’). For supper made sausage and taters and cabbage. Take the rest of the day as read, with BI and a couple of pages on Omichon.

 

6/25/2020: Finished shelf with Charles Williams and Mervyn Peake today. All the other incidents apply. Kam came in in the evening and we finished The Magic Sword 

and started a Hercules MST3K. Been feeling rather low and lethargic all day. Volcanic dust? Air pressure? Still, I press on. Bed before 10 PM.

 

6/26/2020: Up about 4:15 AM from dreams. Prayed, wrote one dream up, then caught up diary. I guess I’m awake. Worked on BI and finished Madelaine L’Engle. Went out to do turns a little before 7 AM; rescued a toad out of the dog’s pool. Did one turn and it started to rain so hurried in.

Worked through Robertson Davies in the BI. For breakfast had chicken soup with dumplings, and ramen with eggs. For ‘lunch’ at about 4 PM had leftover chili and broccoli salad; did not have to make supper. After Kameron came in at about 7:30 PM I canceled my evening turns and we watched MST3Ks about Hercules. We finished off the dip. Rosary and bed about 9:30 PM.

My e-mail to John: I don't know if it's the air pressure or mold or just the rain in the air, but I've slowed down. Slowed down but not quit. Part of it might be that I'm getting to some rather complicated, deeply felt books, where it's: how can you say enough without maundering on forever? I must keep the length down, so I'm using more and more the best summations I can find (the ones that emphasize what I want), and then trimming it with my own notes. Right now, it's Robertson Davies. On TV this morning on the Comet Channel, it's War of the Gargantuas and Gargoyles. A more Babellian childhood summerfest you couldn't hardly choose. All I want to do right now is hang everything up, eat a lot, and grab as much sleep as I can.”

 

6/27/2020: Up about 4:30 AM. Prayers, Bible. Started BI work on GK Chesterton. Very stimulating. Went out for turns about 6:45 AM and it was already almost too warm. Continued work, fueled by tea and hard candy and enthusiasm. Paused at 9:30 AM to catch a few things up, like this diary.

Went in at 12:10 PM for a ramen and eggs. Finished Chesterton at about 1:30 PM. Turned the AC on. Swiped up Hilaire Belloc and church history by 2:30 PM. Time for a break, and after Dorothy Sayers, that’s all the BI for today, I think.

Finished my goal with Sayers at 4:30 PM. Now I’ll put it on FK, total it up, and be done for the day. Next goal: supper.

Rosary at 5 PM, the last of the broccoli salad (and some bananas) at 5:30 PM. Turns at 6:30 PM, then the 7th Voyage at Sinbad on Svengoolie. Bed about 10 PM.

 

Notes

Just a reminder: a turn is a revolution around the circular driveway, a respectable distance, especially on a bad leg.

Intense activity making the Book Inventory, especially because of the subjects of the batches. I’d recorded 1392 books and was not nearly done. I suppose if I get really compulsive, I could make a count of the current number; easier with the blog, but still a daunting task.

It’s odd looking over the daily routine after five years. You don’t think anything is changing, but you look back and a lot of the little details are done. We don’t watch Mystery Science Theater as compulsively as we did, the dogs are gone, and it’s been long enough that I think I could eat broccoli salad again.

Sandhill crane or great blue heron? About once a year (if I'm lucky) I'll see a great blue heron passing through. At this distance of time, I'm thinking I saw a heron; not even sure I could identify a crane, or quite tell the difference between them on the wing.