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Damn Birds and Memories of Tractors
Our master bath has a power fan that vents to the outside. The fan near the shower is connected to a long aluminum flex pipe that snakes through what I’ll call the attic to a vent on the outside of our house. Every spring these damn birds decide it’s a great place to build a nest. The make all kinds of noise trying to get through the little flappy slats then skitch around in the pipe. Annoying to say the least.
Last year they were doing this to the vent on the other side of our house which connects to the fan in our guest bathroom. To remedy this, I donned a mask, stuck an old pair of my wifes pantyhose in my pocket, strapped on a headlamp and set off to cover the end of the vent hose. To get to the upper part of my house I have to climb a ladder into the sealed upper part of my garage, climb through a small area into the main part of my “attic” and wade carefully through a couple feet of pink fluffy stuff. It isn’t really an attic though. From the pink blown in insulation to the roof itself is probably 30 or 40 feet at the highest point. There are two levels and no platforms to walk on. It’s basically a big set of monkey bars and I’m the monkey. And it’s hot up there. Hot enough that after about 15 minutes I’m dripping sweat.
Anyway, I climbed up there after work tonight and engineered some critter screen over the end of the pipe and nailed in back in place in a totally hacked way. I think it is sturdy enough though. The birds are going to be pissed tomorrow morning.
A coworker of mine, a number of years my senior, was telling me about his “shop” today. He drew the floor plan on my white-board and told me how he has various tractors and such in one part of it. This brought to mind the many barns and tractors of my diary farmer friend and I told the story of spreading manure with the bucket tractor for a number of hours one afternoon. This had to be about 11 to 12 years ago. I sure enjoyed driving that tractor and working the bucket. The familiarity you develop with the machine is difficult to describe. Riding with the dairy farmer in the tractor while he speared and stacked round bails on hay wagons made me appreciate the mastery over machinery gained by years of practice. I call it “expertise.” The tractor was an extension of his arms and he barely gave it any thought while guiding it through complex motions.
In some respects I’ve developed that sort of closeness with keyboards. Mainly because it is the primary means of interfacing with a computer…at least at this time. When I sit down to type on a computer my fingers are so familiar with typing, hot-key commands and general economy of motion that I hardly have to think about what my hands are doing. In fact, if I think too much I slow down and make more mistakes.
It’s getting to be about time that I pay a visit to Central Michigan. See how the cows are doing. Find out if they remember me. Find out how my two teachers of old are doing. Sometimes time just moves too fast.
No Classwork
Sure is nice not to be worrying about having to read a chapter or two. I don’t have any homework to work on or papers to write. A nice change of pace for sure.
The wife and I went to dinner at a new restaurant here in our small town tonight. I give it a 7.8/10.0 overall.
Tomorrow I fertilize the backyard. The dandelions are growing in force and need to be dealt with. I might even sweep out the garage after that. Oh the list.
First Grade and the Reverend
The class that weighted the midterm and the final at 30% and 40% is done. According to information announced this evening, I got an A-. Go figure. The curve is my friend.
My grade from the other class has yet to be determined. Seeing how the exam was yesterday, that’s not a surprise. I’ll know sometime next week. I’m with Dawn and think it will definitely be a B-something. I hope at least. You never know until you know, you know?
I talked to my nephew tonight. He turned 15 today. I hardly recognized him when he called me back because his voice has changed so much. Puberty will do that of course. He doesn’t know me that well though I suppose his Dad keeps him apprised of things seeing how we chat from time to time. I miss my brother’s boys and look forward to seeing them this summer. Both my brother’s boys for that matter…though I’ve never met my other brother’s boys. Maybe someday. I’m not ruling it out. Plane tickets are pretty cheap these days. My wife has always wanted to see Vegas.
Another interesting bit of news, my brother is now “ordained” thanks to the internet and a 5 minute form (so he tells me). He’ll be performing a wedding for his wife’s sister this summer. Reverend Randy at your service. He has a card to prove it. Randall, come on now. Watch out for the lightning.
Pareto Dominated
So the exam today didn’t go as well as I had hoped. While I don’t know how I did yet…I’ll bet it wasn’t all that great. At seventeen pages there wasn’t enough time to finish it. Just about everybody in the class was there right up to the last minute. That should tell you something.
Bygones.
I’ll post my grades when I learn them, which will be in about a week or two. I’m going to guess, B-, and B. I’ll take a C but that would be like a punch in the stomach.
It is what it is, you are what you it, there are no mistakes.
Wrapping it up
I took some time off work today to study for my last exam. The exam is tomorrow afternoon. I’ve attended all the offered study session, reviewed the lecture slides and section review sheets, and scanned the weekly assigned readings. Some of the math might trip me up, but overall I shouldn’t be in terrible shape. You never know though…the exam is in a strange room in a building I’ve never been in. Encoding specificity could bite me in the ass.
Had a nice dinner with my wife’s Aunt and Uncle this evening. They are passing through town and were nice enough to stop in to visit. Both were high school teachers, now retired, that sold their house, bought an RV and have been living here and there for a couple years now. They have interesting stories and seem to be enjoying themselves. Both are very smart and enjoyable to talk with. I know the wife loves seeing them.
After this exam tomorrow I will be done with classes until the fall. I’m hoping to get involved in some research projects over the summer but that really has to do with word-of-mouth and who knows who. I’ve been planting seeds and casting nets and am bound to stir up some interest eventually.
Golf league starts a week from tomorrow. I’m looking forward to that…and how. It’s been a long day. Time for me to crash.