Having Fun and Getting Organized

I’ve been trying to make time to write this article for days and days, and just can’t seem to make it happen. It isn’t that I don’t have ideas about what to write. It isn’t that I don’t have the time. The problem is that my ideas are not well developed and I can’t seem to make myself sit down and work things out in my brain and put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, which doesn’t sound as elegant as the old cursive method). This issue of not being able to complete a desired project repeats itself in many guises in my life at the moment, resulting in a feeling of indecision and noncompletion (is that even a word?) rather than motivated progress.

Sound familiar to anyone? So today is the day!!

…

Immediately after I wrote the above opening paragraph, I decided it was a perfect time to tackle the weeding in my front yard. This is another project that never stops begging me to work on it but which inexplicably keeps getting moved to the bottom of my priority list. Of course, the bottom of my priority list keeps changing as I continue to add things to the bottom when I don’t feel like doing them. Like switching from the blog to weeding a mere five minutes after I started writing.

*This is the “after” picture, so you can try to imagine what it looked like before I filled the compost bin.*

Here is my rationale for the switch: (those who know me well know that I can rationalize anything - it’s what we lawyers spend three years in law school learning how to do, with the rest of our careers spent honing and fine-tuning the skill). The weeds can only wait for so long. This is springtime, prime growing season when the seeds that got disbursed by wind, birds and other critters throughout my yard in late summer and fall, finally got their chance to burst out of the ground and take over. They are not shy about doing battle with the all the perennials I paid for and which are strategically planted around my yard. My need to tackle the onslaught of weeds has developed an urgency that I can no longer ignore. My peonies were getting crowded out. I couldn’t see my hibiscus, which won’t try to send any shoots out for another few weeks, and needs me to rescue it now. Daylilies are hardy but no match for the daisies, which completely take over any available crevice. I could go on, but it’s too disheartening to talk about. My efforts to hire weeding helpers has not borne any fruit as yet, and the more time that passes the less likely it is that I will find the perfect person (or even a “good enough” person who won’t pull out the flowering weeds I want to keep).

The good news is that I managed to fill my compost bin to overflowing. Looking at the “after” photo above, most of you are probably unable to identify what might be different between the “before” and “after” but my full compost bin sitting in front of my house is proof that I did make some progress. And my neighbor across the street can attest to this fact as well because she was out at the same time I was and saw me working (when I wasn’t standing there chatting). As any skilled procrastinator or avoider would do, as soon as the bin was as full as I could make it, I declared myself done for the day and came inside.

And now here I am working on this blog. Let’s see how far I get this time…

Part of my frustration with my inability to complete projects at home is the fact that I’ve been traveling, an activity I am loathe to reduce as long as my health and stamina hold out. Besides the gardening, there is general spring cleaning and sprucing up, uncluttering various shelves and storage areas (which I didn’t do last fall, telling myself I would no doubt get to it when the weather warmed up again - a classic and highly successful procrastination tactic), and other small and large tasks. None of these individually would sap that much time or energy, but when added up and put on a list my eyes begin to glaze over. Where to start?? So I choose not to start at all, which seems easier in the short run but definitely does not solve the problem in the long run.

Of course, my petty problems that result from being a homeowner are exactly the types of things one signs up for when purchasing a home. There is a never-ending cycle of seasonal tasks and various repairs that need attending, whether one feels like it or not. I accept all that and have no intention of giving up my home which I love. That said, I do claim the right to complain from time to time at the amount of effort it takes to make my home cozy and inviting, not only to me but to any passersby or visitors. There will inevitably come a day when I (or someone on my behalf) will have to make the difficult decision about whether or not I can stay here by myself. Hopefully that is far off. In the meantime, I suck it up and sometimes pay for the help I need and sometimes take it on myself. I tell myself that weeding is good for the soul and good for the body. Right??

But the challenge is always finding the right balance between doing the things that need to be done to maintain the home and lifestyle that I can afford, and doing the things that bring me joy and fulfillment. If I’m weeding (which some people actually enjoy - I am not one of those people), then I can’t be out riding my bicycle, for instance. Or painting and drawing. Or taking Sadie for a walk. etc. etc.

When I’m looking for the ultimate procrastination tactic, I hit the road.

Road Trip Reflections

I returned recently from a week at the beach - Emerald Isle, North Carolina, to be exact. I didn’t take the camper, but I did make it a road trip, getting off the highway and finding some places to explore along the way when Google (once again) decided to direct me onto a side trip. I’m really not sure how Google knows what I need to spark interest and intrigue but this time around I was rewarded by entering a new part of West Virginia and Virginia I had not spent any time in before. At the moment it diverted me off of the main route I usually take to North Carolina, it promised to save me five minutes overall for the trip. I looked at the suggested route and decided I would take the recommendation because I was being sent to a part of the country I was unfamiliar with. No regrets, but my adventuresome urges along the way totally erased that five minutes and probably added several hours to the overall trip.

I stayed near Roanoke, Virginia, which is located just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, and can highly recommend it for a visit. It was an important railroad center back in the day and I had a great time exploring the area and its rich history. One of the claims to fame is the extensive tradition of moonshine in the Franklin County area, which calls itself the moonshine capital of the world. Another is the birth of American bluegrass and folk music, which developed along the Crooked Road (Google figured out I would be interested in this part of Virginia’s history and sent me to explore a section of this interesting trail).

Overall, the week was blissful, especially once I settled into my room at the beachside house we rented. There is just something about walking a desolate beach, listening to the waves crashing while picking up shells, or watching the international space station cross the clear, open sky over the ocean right in front of you, or sharing space, making music and having communal meals with friends and relatives. I offer you a few highlights and lessons learned:

*We had some windy days which were perfect for kite-flying.*

Excessive Automation

This isn’t really about my experience at the beach, but is instead a reflection I had on my way home when I stopped for a snack at a fast food joint. (why is it here? no clue, it just happened to be the first thing I thought of so I figured I better just get it out and move on - such is the prerogative of the blog owner…) I don’t know about anyone else, but I am increasingly annoyed when I go into an establishment and find no living person who is interested in the fact that I’m there. In this case it was a Taco Bell. While driving, I began to crave a crunchy taco, which I convinced myself would be healthier than a Big Mac and fries. I exited the highway and when I got to the place, the first thing I noticed was that there was no door on the side where the parking lot was. I could see the drive-thru window, but there was no door. The nearest door I could see was on the end of the building where there was a small patio with tables. I had to go from the parking lot through some grass and around a fence to access the patio and door, only to discover that the door was locked. I continued through the grass (there was no sidewalk or even a path from the parking lot to the actual door) to the opposite side of the building from the parking lot, and was finally able to get in.

You’d think that my problems would be solved by this point, but no. There was no one to greet me or take my order at the small counter. I waited a few minutes while being totally ignored by the two people I saw in the kitchen moving around. Behind me were two kiosks, which I decided were my only options at that point. What would have taken 30 seconds with a live person turned into at least 10 minutes as I worked my way through the menu options and screens on the kiosk and put in my order and paid.

I turned back to the counter and waited. No one acknowledged my presence, and I had no idea if my order had been accepted or was being worked on. Finally, someone approached the counter and without looking at me, put (or did she toss?) the bag with my food on the counter. She did not make eye contact but instead hurried back to the nether reaches of the kitchen. Fortunately, I thought to grab some napkins on my way out because she did not put any in the bag.

Is this what we’ve come to???

Drain Debacle

Back to the beach.

Question: how many people does it take to fish a toothpaste cap out of a bathroom sink drain?

One of the nice things about renting a house is that when something goes wrong, the solution is only a phone call away. The owners who rent out their beach houses want satisfied customers, so they are very responsive to requests for help.

That said, occasionally the problem seems so minor that it doesn’t merit a phone call.

It all started when one of our group (who shall remain nameless) dropped the toothpaste cap down the sink drain. It was evening, and rather than call for help right away, she decided to try to get it out herself. After all, she could see it, so how hard could it be? When she realized it was too far down to reach by herself, she called in reinforcements. First my sister, who is a primo problem solver extraordinaire. She had an idea for a convoluted solution that involved elongating wooden kabob skewers by taping them together end to end with something sticky at the bottom that would stick to the cap, enabling them to bring it right up. Sounds deceptively simple, right? Like something out of a movie or TV show. What she needed was something sticky (no one in our group was a gum chewer), and that’s where I came in. I got the duct tape from my car and they were back in business. Now we had three people involved in seeing this through to the end (this was much more interesting than whatever I had been working on before being tagged to find tape and something sticky).

The end-to-end taped skewer sticks were long enough to reach the cap but the tape wadded at the bottom didn’t seem to be sticky enough. Also, it was a very delicate operation, requiring great care to avoid breaking off one of the skewers, which would then be lodged too far down to retrieve. Another of our group (who shall also remain nameless) wandered over to see what was going when she heard us laughing and carrying on as we went back and forth from the kitchen counter to fashion the perfect tool (which inevitably turned out to be anything but) to the bathroom sink to try it out (which inevitably failed). This new problem solver (we are now up to 4) offered a fresh perspective and willingness to jump in, saying, “Mind if I give it a try?” I stepped out to make room for her and the next thing I hear are shrieks of uncontrolled laughter as the worst case scenario unfolded. Yes, you might have guessed it: the skewer broke off, lodging itself with the wad of tape on its end just on top of the toothpaste cap, and just out of reach of fingers and tweezers.

We were beside ourselves with the absurdity and hilarity of our situation. Determined not to invite any of the men to come to our rescue (all of which are pretty handy and excellent problem-solvers in their own right), we independent and resourceful women resolved to keep trying. At this point, we decided that going from the bottom up might have better results than going from the top down. Using all our womanly strength, we managed to unscrew the cap to the elbow joint that runs under the sink and pull it off. Voila! We got the toothpaste cap! But then: Horrors! We still couldn’t grab hold of the skewer and tape.

After several attempts to fish it out, we decided to call in one (and only one) of the men in our group (this makes 5 people now involved). They had all been enjoying themselves out on the deck overlooking the ocean, blissfully unaware of what we were doing (some later said they wondered what the occasional shrieking and laughing was about, but no one was curious enough to check it out). My brother-in-law always travels with a full tool kit, so he was the obvious choice to invite into our cabal. He proceeded to lay out every imaginable tool he thought he might need, then came into the bathroom to take a closer look. He pulled apart other pipes trying to get access to the space where the skewer was, and suddenly I heard shouting from the bathroom: TURN OFF THE DISHWASHER! TURN OFF THE DISHWASHER!

Apparently, somehow the water line running to the kitchen was connected to the water line running to the bathroom. They share a wall so I guess it made some sense, although we were never sure why the water suddenly started spewing nonstop into the bathroom. In any case, after stopping the flood we were still unable to retrieve the skewer and tape and decided to leave it until the next morning, at which point we called for professional assistance. The hilarious nightmare was not completely over, however. There was also a bathroom located directly below the one we were all working in, and the water that spilled onto the floor from the dishwasher eventually made its way through the floorboards and then through the ceiling into the lower level bathroom. There was much sopping up to be done, requiring all of us to sacrifice our towels to the cause. Fortunately, the house came with a full size washer and dryer.

It took about twenty minutes the following day for all to be resolved. When we asked how it went, the workman said something to the effect: “Oh man, you won’t believe what some people put down a drain. We found a skewer, some tape, and other junk.” My friend (who was the one who had the misfortune of losing the skewer), simply said, “Huh, that’s interesting.” We chose not to correct the assumption that it was previous guests who had caused the mess in the drain.

So counting the two workmen who arrived the next day, it took 7 people to solve this particular little problem.

Lessons from Hotels

I stayed in two different hotels on this trip. One on the way to North Carolina, and then a week later on the trip back to Michigan. I discovered that when you are simply looking for a quick overnight stop on the way somewhere and don’t need a lot of amenities, there isn’t really much difference between the $80 room and the $180 room. I had decided that since I was traveling on Mother’s Day I would spring for a nicer accommodation. Really didn’t get anything extra that I didn’t have at the less expensive hotel a week earlier. Won’t make that mistake again.

Go-Karts and Mini-Golf

I hadn’t done either one in years, so took the opportunity that was offered when some of our group were looking for a little more action than simply strolling the beach and admiring the waves. Two things happened:

I beat six other people and won the mini-golf tournament. Yay me!!!

The gas cap came off of my go-kart. I was at full throttle racing around and around the small track, oblivious that I was spewing smoke to anyone behind me. Apparently gas was also sputtering and flying out of the back of my kart, again without any knowledge on my part. I was intent on catching and passing the person in front of me, who kept evading my advances and fancy moves. Suddenly all the vehicles were turned off by the track master, forcing us to stop. The attendant approached my vehicle, replaced the cap, and we were off again. I’m certain I would have won if we hadn’t had the interruption…

Boats and Wild Horses

Emerald Isle is one of many barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina. We took a boat ride through the sound and learned a number of interesting things about the area. For instance, Blackbeard, the infamous pirate, used this area as his base of operations in the 1700’s and met his demise in these waters. Beaufort, a beautiful, quaint and historic coastal town, is the major stopping off point for any ship or million-dollar yacht heading north or south along the coast.

The area is also home to Shackleford Island, which is just off the coast and visible from Beaufort. It is uninhabited except for wildlife, which includes a herd of wild horses. We were privileged to see horses on the island as well as dolphins swimming while on the boat ride around the bay. Dolphins were also visible from time to time from the deck of our rented house, part of the serene seascape that greeted us each morning as we sipped our coffee and readied ourselves for the day.

*It was just a horse, but in this context it was mesmerizing. We also saw several others, including a mother and new foal.*

The Baseball Game That Wasn’t

This is actually not accurate. The game was in fact played, just not when it was scheduled, and I didn’t see it. The day before Mother’s Day we packed up and left Emerald Isle and went our separate ways. I ended up back in Chapel Hill at my brother’s house for the night, intending to go to the Durham Bulls minor league baseball game the next day before heading home. The Bulls are one of my favorite minor league teams, and it had been quite a few years since I was at a game. Our German friends (who are actually more like family - you can get their story by perusing the newsletters in the Lebold Connections tab at the top of this page) Mike and Sabine are big sports fans and specifically requested a baseball game during their visit to Chapel Hill.

We all got there early, found our ticketed seats, moved our seats to a dry spot under the canopy (minor league games are rarely sold out, especially on rainy days), and settled in. The tarp was over the field, but we were optimistic. We bided our time by perusing the food stands, buying our favorite ballpark treats (loaded hot dogs, of course!) and shopping for Durham Bulls merch. Two hours later we were still waiting for them to remove the tarp. At that point I bailed and started for home. I decided I had all the joys of being at the game (food, merch, good company, the excitement of the moment, the crowd, the mascot, lots of kids and families) but in the end I didn’t need to actually see the game. With all the waiting around, I was itchy to get on the road. I did miss out on the seventh inning stretch and the traditional singing of Take Me Out To The Ball Game, but in retrospect I made the right decision. The others of our group stayed to the bitter end of the game that eventually did happen, about three hours after the original start time. Sadly, after all that, the Bulls went on to lose the game. Oh well, maybe next time!

Next Steps

I guess that’s enough for today. I’ve been home for almost a week and am still basking in the glow of the gathering at the beach while also trying to get myself into some sort of routine here at home. One of my tasks for myself is to review my priorities and set up some sort of (realistic) schedule (that I will stick to, maybe…) for the summer. In between the traveling, I am trying to find a way to work on several projects simultaneously for my personal fulfillment and joy while also trying to fit in all the home-improvement projects (some of which are mentioned above). Wish me luck. I’ll report back when I have something else to report.

In the meantime, I hope all of you are well and enjoying the late spring as we get ready for summer. Which reminds me, I really need to buy some tomato plants and other vegetables that I might actually be able to harvest later in the year… need to add that to my list of projects and get on it!

Stay tuned!