The News From Here

I was very happy to have a response to my email barrage (see previous post about “grid bike” station) before 9:00 AM this morning PLUS the news that the response conveyed – The bike rental station is going in across Center street in front of the city offices. I’ll admit I’m a touch paranoid about “Old #5” stemming from a number of reasons- or self justifications OR just plain excuses. Interesting, probably just to me but yet interesting. After typing the previous sentence I was compelled to examine my thoughts/feelings that prompted it. The sense of “Old #5” being in my care, trust & responsibility re-enforced that sense but just a touch of vanity about the place exists also, (chuckle). I AM quite happy to relax about that issue though. Like I SHOULD have immediately after I did all I could do about it. SO if I use that pent up aggression toward some projects today – LOOK OUT World!

Número Uno - should be eating breakfast, followed by some “policing” of the front areas. Some trash has mysteriously appeared and a little trimming & raking would be appropriate. My problem with that is – stopping and moving on other priorities - Yeah when I get going with those kind of tasks I DO tend to get carried away- That may well originate from sometimes liking “no brainer” jobs. Jobs that don’t require decisions about finding places for stuff and pitching of stuff – That is a tough one for me. . . It IS time for adjusting my past tendencies of retaining stuff excessively. Maybe if I type that a hundred times (without /using “copy & paste”) it’ll sink in a little ? Ya Think?

6:00PM
Imagine me as a real prophet - OK maybe not a REAL prophet but. . .I got started in front and got carried away. Oh nothing that didn't NEED doing and no trimming just leaves and debris. I used the yard blower and rake and thought I had everything going "my way". I had the leaves blown out into the curb and was ready to start vacuuming them up. It was s still day and that really helps herding leaves to a good spot to vacuum/mulch all the accumulation. It WAS a still day till then. One small dust devil succeeded by a nice (any other time) breeze. My row of leaves became less of a row and more of a wide moving area. Add to that - they chip sealed the street a week or so ago. They did a very poor job and I've been sweeping tiny tar coated stones up from the patios and inside ever since. My, always alert, problem solving mind (chuckle)immediately struck on a plan. Get the leaves that I can and let the rest travel West with the breeze and blow the tiny tar coated stones out into the lane of traffic and hope that the vehicles driving over them will compress them into the surface. Hey! It still SOUNDS reasonable to me. I don't know that it will actually help but it was an excellent plan. It isn't hard to understand why the chip seal process is not always successful- My observation is- they don't clean the streets well before. They sent a contract street sweeper over them and declare them ready. In my experience street sweepers don't clean anything - they re-arrange the dirt into a even distribution that isn't conspicuous. My normal electric residential yard blower is more than enough to peal off the week old "chip & seal" in large sheets. I was so tempted to demonstrate how easily I could strip the new surface off - actually I couldn't, totally, help doing it to some degree but I was careful to minimize it. Oh WOW - it's past my shower time.