I've mentioned often that, when I have to wake up early in the morning, I usually wake up a few minutes before my alarm goes off. I sit up, fart, and go back to sleep. Today was no exception. I got up, got dressed, showered, then changed into dry clothes, and loaded up my car with the things that needed to go to the cabin, and discovered that it had rained during the night and then blown dust all over my car, so I quickly hosed it down before driving to my brother's house (he lives two towns south of here, and I have never, ever found his house on the first try--I ALWAYS miss it, or go in the wrong direction, or both). I arrived late, but only because of the time I was delayed trying to fit boxes of supplies in a car filled to the brim with junk, and washing the dust off the windows and hood.
We drove down, and I asked my brother questions about his job, which I did the last time we did this, and he told horrifying stories of people driving into electric poles and setting their cars on fire, a worker getting just enough of a zap for his heart to stop and his partner having to do CPR on him because they couldn't get down from the lift they were on to use the defibrillator, and an older worker who accidentally touched an electrified power box (just two months ago) and his head fused to it until he was a charred husk . . . all in front of his son, who he'd brought to the job with him that week.
And I think it is hard to come up with a title for a story about twins who no longer are identical.
Sit-ups Today: 50
Sit-ups In June: 583
We got to the cabin, and not only was there no badger around, but the woodchuck we caught was neither still alive in the trap nor dead in it. Nobody knew what happened--somehow, the trap was open now, and the animal was nowhere to be seen. Everybody denied any knowledge. I thought I had an imagination, but I couldn't figure out how this could be, unless a neighbor heard the animal yelping, and came over . . .
My sister eventually told me that Cathexis felt sorry for the woodchuck and had her boyfriend let it go free, but nobody was admitting to it because my brother sets the traps to get rid of the rodents that burrow and climb and poop on our deck (which we were there to re-stain, but not in THAT way).
I mentioned Bill Finger the other day, the creator of Batman, who died in 1974 and went unrecognized for that until, like 2015, and decided, because I love to feel bad, to read his Wikipedia entry. And beyond creating Batman and his rogues gallery, and the original Green Lantern (Alan Scott), he also wrote the 1968 "classic" THE GREEN SLIME. I simply have to ask Marshal Latham to watch that with me sometime.
Push-ups Today: 66
Push-ups In June: 548
My brother wanted to go home as soon as he was done painting, and I managed to delay him a half hour or so, because I was talking to my niece and writing. Everybody else that was there was spending another night at the cabin (like I normally do), and it was weird to be the one leaving early.
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| There's nothing of interest in this picture, but I took it and now you have to look at it. |
Back home, it had been the hottest day of the year, reaching around (or just over) a hundred degrees. At the cabin, it did get up to the eighties, but even that was pretty agreeable, even with sanding and painting. My brother had brought up two electric sanders, tools I had never handled before, and he gave me one to work on the top deck on, rubbing off bits of flaking paint or uneven bits. The machine was much more fun to use than I would've guessed, with the only difficult bit being being down on my hands and knees for so long. As soon as I was done, it was time to stain the deck, which my sister, my brother-in-law's oldest kid, and I did in about fifteen minutes. We left the coat to dry for next week, and moved on to the lower deck, where others had been sanding and painting at the same time. A bit amazing how a large group can make a large job seem small.
We drove home without incident, except that, all traffic stopped at the mouth of the canyon when the barrier came down on a railroad crossing, along with lights and ringing to let us know a train was coming. But one didn't come. Finally, the first brave car (I think he was three from the head of the line) just forged ahead, driving in between the lowered arms and through the other side. All the other vehicles followed (I wonder what a semi truck or a RV would do, though, if they were too long to weave through the barrier.
I asked my brother what would set off the train tracks if there was no train, and he said it could be any number of things. Then he told me of a guy that got hit by a train in his town a couple of weeks ago and how long it took the train to come to a stop after hitting him and what the cleanup was like. He really has the most colorful stories.
Because I got up so early, and then did my exercise, I was pretty much beat by the time the sun went down. I meant to do some recording, write a little bit more, but I didn't manage it. I went to sleep early, and we'll have to call it a day.
Words Today: 385
Words In June: 3565
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