Angels, Morning Priorities, Knives

 I left off last post with needed a visit to the dentist.  My big fear with the toothache was that the problem of deterioration under the crown was happening again, like it happened to the tooth I lost.  And it's the tooth next to the gap (someday I'll get the implant but for now the bone graft is still healing).  Good news - no deterioration.  Dr. McSoley thought that without the neighboring tooth this was was shifting slightly, which meant that I was biting it differently.  He did some filing and it's feeling better.

On the not so good news - partway there I started hearing  scraping sound under the car.  I didn't know if I had gotten a branch caught, or if something was coming loose.  I didn't want to be late to my appoint so I just white knuckled it in and prayed.  I looked after my appointment - the sound seemed to be coming from the left rear side, and I found that some of the underskirting had come loose a little and sometimes hit the tire.  OK - that's something that won't do damage and I could deal with it when I got home.

But the sound was really annoying me.  I had to stop for gas, and this is where my belief that "God sends you angels when you need them" was again justified.  The guy in the truck at the next pump (I would say "typical Highway 20 redneck" but they're some of the nicest guys you'll ever meet) said "Ma'am - your underskirting is about to fall fall."  Sure enough - that damned underskirting had come loose in the front again.  But he continued "I bet that place down the road could fix it for you, and not charge much."  "That place down the road" was what is sometimes referred to as a "shade tree mechanic" -I thought they just did tires, but what the heck  - it was just a half mile away.

10 minutes and $20 later, problem solved.

I've been handling my mornings differently. I've had a bad habit for years now - I get up, feed all the animals, then sit down with breakfast and the laptop.  And get up about two hours later.  I usually have a list of chores to do, starting with cleaning the litterboxes (which is not a lot of motivation to get off the couch).  And I've been feeling frustrated about the Rocky Puppet - by the time I get around to it in the afternoon, I'm in my 3:00 afternoon slump and it's hard to feel creative.

So I've reprioritized.  Now that the weather is hot, and we've had some rains, the underbrush is taking over.  For three mornings I headed out right after feeding the cats and chickens and tackle an area.  I don't working long (because even a 7:00 a.m. it's muggy) but it's amazing how much I can get done in even 45 minutes.  Come in, shower, then have breakfast.  So even if I sit on my butt with the laptop, I've already accomplished something.

The second thing I'm doing is to put the puppet first.  I finish my breakfast and head to the cottage for an hour or two.  The world isn't going to stop revolving if the litterboxes are cleaned a little later.  The laundry in the basket isn't going to go anywhere.  Between these two things, my head seems to be clearing.

Of course, I haven't done either for the past two days.  They've been my museum days, and now that the heat indices are over 100 degrees, by the time I've done my four hours, come home, showered, and had lunch - I crash.

Yesterday I got a text from Christy at the feed store to stop by on my way home.  I've mentioned their friend Bobby, who I've met there a couple of time, and whose hobby is making knives.  Well, he made me one, and it's a beauty:

He's actually making me a set of three knives.  On one hand - it's a little odd to get such a generous gift from someone I barely know.  But I understand where he's coming from.  He just really enjoys making knives as a hobby.  He's not interested in selling because then it would be a job, and he would feel the need to work faster or more efficiently.  So he likes to give them away to people who will appreciate them - and use them, and take proper care of them.  Which I will, because I do love a good knife.

I've had yet another situation of "take something off the things-to-do list" and then replace it with something else.  I have cable for internet only, and it's a bit expensive at $115 a month.  But I must have internet.  Let's hear it for social media - people on the Tallahassee page were talking about internet, and something called Xfininity Now (Xfininity is my cable company) which was internet for $45 a month.  What the hell?  So "Call Xfinity" was on the list.  Apparently the difference is that it's a digital signal rather than cable - but the service is the same.  And yes, I can switch.  "Call Xfininity" is off the list, but "figure out how to set up the new box and service" is now on the list (that's for tomorrow).  Also "take old router back to Xfinity" has been added to the list.

But, for this evening, time for reading.  The library book club book this month is "James" which is the Huckleberry Finn story told from Jim's point of view.  But it occurred to me that I haven't read Huckleberry Finn since high school, and I honestly don't remember a thing about it, so I'd rather read that first.  The book club meets in 12 days - can I read two rather longish books by then?  We'll see.