Friday Evening Musings

We met with Bob and Julie last week to talk about a stained glass project they'd like us to do for them. They're not sure what they want so we brought over some books of stained glass designs that they can look through to get some ideas. Julie had also downloaded some images off our website that she liked. I don't know if we'll be able to get their project done before I close up the shop for the warmer months but we'll see if we can at least get some sketches made so we can be ready to move on it when the time comes.

We're slowly making progress on the project we're working on for our entertainment center. There's no way to speed this up. It's just going to take some time; lots of time. I'm getting into a bit of a rhythm with it though as I manage to spend a couple nights a week down in the shop cutting, grinding and foiling pieces and then positioning them on the work table.

I very much enjoy my time working the craft as I find it a relaxing way to forget about whatever worries I may have. The pups keep me company as does the CD player which is currently stocked with an assortment of some older stuff: The Alan Parsons Project, Eve; The Sweet, Level Headed; Heart, Little Queen; Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume 2 and David Baerwald, Triage. I was in a bit of a '70s mood when I chose them.

Charlie has had a rough couple of days. Tammy took him on Wednesday morning to have him neutered. They gave her the option of sending him home with or without pain medication. Our concern was that if the pain was masked he may overexert himself and cause the healing process to take longer. The vet assured her that he wouldn't be in too much pain. He seems to be doing a lot better today. He has a difficult time getting up the stairs with his collar/hoodie on so he'll sit and whine until somebody comes to help him.

Allie has bonded with Charlie so much so that she wouldn't eat Wednesday morning when she awoke to find that he wasn't there after Tammy had taken him to the vet. Ever since Tammy began making their dog food a few months ago Allie never turns her nose up at her daily feeding in the morning. Tammy figures she was stressed about Charlie being gone.

Toby hasn't done so well in terms of bonding with Charlie. He's gotten much better at putting up with him but he's still reluctant to play with him as Allie does. Charlie is getting better at giving Toby his space but he'll still make small attempts to engage Toby. Both Allie and Toby have found that they can get away from Charlie when they need to by jumping up on the furniture where Charlie is still too small to follow—for maybe the next couple months anyway.

I had such a good ride today. I'd considered going 'long' down in the basement on my rollers but I opted for taking advantage of dry roads and temps in the mid-20s for a little over 42 miles. I focused on keeping my heart rate elevated a bit more than usual and keeping my cadence high as well. Any time my heart rate dropped below 140 I'd push on the pedals a bit harder to bring it back up nearer to 150. By the time I'd finished the ride, my quads were feeling the burn and I was in need of fuel.

I'd had some Oreo cookies and a tall glass of Cytomax before the ride in addition to a water bottle of Cytomax I brought along but I should've had more. I didn't bonk but had I had another ten miles to go I may have.

It was a cleansing ride. The burning in my quads and my heartbeat slowly returning to normal left me with a euphoric feeling as I leaned my bike against my truck before negotiating our icy driveway in my cycling shoes to retrieve the mail. I felt so good. Unless you workout and really push your body you can't know what I'm talking about. There's no question that it's addictive. As I write this several hours later that euphoric feeling isn't deep beneath the surface.

Tammy invited Mom over for dinner tonight. I picked her up at 5:00 and we had a nice Walleye dinner with Rachel and Josh. Tammy, Mom and I sat around the table after dinner and talked for an hour before I brought her home. She was very tired. She hasn't been sleeping well but refuses to try and take a nap during the day. We don't do enough with her and that's my fault. I need to change that. We're not that busy.

Josh is pretty comfortable around us. I came home from work on Tuesday afternoon to find him here alone cooking a microwave dinner while totally making himself at home. I have to admit that I was a bit surprised to find him here without Rachel. He's a good kid. Rachel was going to be home a little later as she had some Mock Trial stuff to work on.

I was in the basement today when Josh came down and began to look through the cupboards of the entertainment center. I turned the lights on for him and he told me he was looking for the Homer Simpson puzzle head. It's sort of like a Rubik's Cube where you have to twist the pieces to get them to line up correctly. He said he'd recently studied and learned how to do the Rubik's Cube and felt he could now do Homer's head as well. It's remained unsolved for a long time. He was right. It couldn't have taken him more than five minutes. He said there were some algorithms to work through in order to solve it. Gosh, nobody ever told me about the algorithms. I'd have had it figured out a long time ago had I known that!