Home Life
Historical category no longer used.
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Last week I made my annual inspection of trees, bushes, and plants growing on our property. The large ones continue to deteriorate after the 2020 derecho damage. My rule is as long as they leaf out, I will leave them for another year. There will be an all-day project of cutting dead branches and making… Read more
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Ambient temperature reached 87 degrees on Saturday in Big Grove. On Sunday it dropped to the 50s, and Monday, it was below freezing. Not really Spring, is it? The lilacs appear to be surviving the temperature fluctuation… so far. It is hard to know what will hold. While it’s still cold, I’ve been working on… Read more
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It’s hard to believe half of winter is gone. Ambient temperature pushed toward freezing Wednesday afternoon, yet it didn’t quite make it. The lake remains frozen. While I planned for it, political work on Sunday and Monday took a lot of energy. I’ve been recovering ever since. I finished the work by writing a personal… Read more
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With holiday season schedule deviations, I have a difficult time remembering what day it is. My spouse will be away at least for a week, and that makes daily life even more detached from society’s time line. I know I need to get to work and am doing so, despite the weekend. It’s Saturday, by… Read more
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After a 25-years of work in transportation and logistics, I accumulated a lot of baseball-style caps. The one in the photo is commemorative of a project where Amoco Oil Company consolidated business information under a single platform. The oil company operated in more than 100 countries when I worked there in the early 1990s. It… Read more
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If I’d have known the Emerald Ash Borer would take out our two ash trees, I would not have planted them. Yesterday I described the process of removing them. The sparrows didn’t notice they had been felled. They continued to perch as a flock on the leafless branches. I saw a squirrel checking out the… Read more
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Despite the lack of rain, this has been one of the best autumns I remember. It is a pleasure each time I step outdoors and take it all in. With everything going on in the world, we need that type of solace. Autumn is the time to get the chainsaw out and clear dead trees… Read more
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We have been expecting the first hard frost. I was awake when it hit in the wee hours of Friday morning. The average date is Oct. 13, so we are 11 days behind. Nothing to say about that other than that is where the day began. It was chilly indoors so I turned on the… Read more
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The gutter clogged during a Saturday afternoon rainstorm. I looked at the forecast and rain was expected, on and off, for the next six hours. I decided to get the extension ladder and climb on the roof to clear the blockage so water wouldn’t overflow into the lower level of the house. I waited until… Read more
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I was sidetracked by being a grease monkey for 90 minutes at the beginning of my outdoors shift. When I removed the wheel to replace the tractor tire, I did not realize the role the key plays. It uses friction to to keep the wheel turning as gears engage and turn the axle. No key,… Read more
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