Door Dash

Posted on January 25, 2025 by Kelsey

Door Dash is difficult. I have to set up a schedule and where I am going to work. That seems simple enough. Time and location. Nothing more to it. Then it seems like it should be telling me when there are deliveries to make in that area during that time, and I can accept the deliveries and earn money. So simple. But when it comes time, I have to log in. The trouble is, I can only log in for about half an hour before the app loge me back out again. It logs out because of inactivity. How am I supposed to know of activity if I am logged out? So I have to keep it logged in, which means battery eating babysitting of the app. Not that I have better things to do. Then it argues with me about logging in and being IN the area that I am trying to log in to work in. I live a few miles out of town, and do not have the time to sit up there in town waiting for hope’s sake that an order will come through. I have things to do. I can drop and go from home if I need to. And I will. But to hang about in town is not even an option. Yet that’s what Dash wants me to do. So I get it logged in, and so far after three days, I have had two deliveries. One of which was very problematic, but that’s a different story. Another problem is that the area they want to have deliveries in barely covers town. There are a little over five thousand people in town, and 12,000 in the county. Why don’t they cover more area? I wish I had the code and could set up a Dash for the whole county and deliver to the whole county. It is not that big of a space, and if everyone in this county could order food, I think they would.

I reached out to the help desk and got the runaround that I needed to go to town and wait there for orders, I also got that I understand how the app works and need to use that knowledge to make it work rather than a solution to the problems. I think that is what they were telling me. It was plenty useless. It sure made no sense. I gave up after two people and finally being promised I needed to be put on with a supervisor then dropped from the chat. It was pretty stupid. I have got to say, I have made about $12 in the last three days. On the other hand, it was a pain in the butt. So that’s where I am at.

I am trying the Uber app, but it seems to think it is a standalone app that does not have any information in it.

So far nothing there.

Okay, that is my report. I cannot even say I will still be doing this at all this time next week.

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Dash and Uber

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Kelsey

Well, we did the Meet and Greet. How disappointing. Lovely that two of the guys who live in the neighborhood came by and visited a bit. They both arrived at near the same time. So it was a good chat, and Missus came out for a bit then went in finished her lunch. Otherwise, nobody showed up. I need to figure this out. There has got to be a better way to advertise the shop. I hate seeing Missus going through the effort and nothing coming of it. It really hurts to her hurt.

I did my first ever Dash today. I took a run from Burger King to a house about a block and a half from Burger King. I drove over five miles to do that. Oh well. It was a little different from doing the pizza joint I used to do back in the day. I had to get drinks and such. I would like to have a way of doing it without being so clumsy. So I need to work that out, and I would like to be sure I am getting the food to the customer hot.

This one run may be all I get this whole weekend, but I do think that tomorrow and Saturday will actually come up with some drives. I’d like to see how it goes, but just in case, I did go ahead and start the sign up for Uber Eats. I may go ahead and taxi with them, too. It is the right pace for my old body.

So there we go. I got some wood chopped up today. I also tried to jump the two trucks, but I got one running, then tried to jump the other, and it immediately killed the first one, and then neither one of them would start. I will have to try to start the first one again tomorrow. Maybe it just still had a dead battery. I dunno.

I will see how this whole thing goes. It is not a job in the practical sense, especially where I am working as a contractor at the whim of an app. No idea of it will produce enough work for me to earn enough to live on.

I am trying to keep my head around what all is going on with the new political situation now. Honestly, I don’t have a clue. Nothing makes sense. Well, maybe tomorrow.

Spoke to my oldest friend today. The one who lost his mother recently. Hopefully he is doing well. They have arranged her service. I wish I could go and be there. She was such a good lady. And he is a good friend.

The cold is here still. Looks like it will be warm again by a week from this weekend. Temps are meant to hit the 40’s. Well, this I have got to see! Off to bed for now. Goodnight! Or, good day, if that is when you are reading this. Or good morning.

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The Open House – Tomorrow

Posted on January 22, 2025 by Kelsey

Tomorrow we are opening up for a Meet and Greet. That is just a fancy way of saying we are open as normal, but we are really wanting to have people come by and say hello, and to talk about the things we have on sale, or the things we can make bespoke for them or their event. I’ll do a proper Open House on the Saturday following. But for now, I would just like to see if we can get someone through the door and to meet up with us and see that we are here. We have been opening up for ages with nobody coming by. So, since we are offering items for sale for everyday and for events, maybe we need to have events. Maybe we need to have them every day. But this business of opening up for nothing is really, really old!

As for today, I am reminded of the value of our Amazon Prime account with its promised two-day delivery. We are waiting on the fourth day now for a battery delivery for the alarm that sounds every time someone opens the door to the shop. Ours seem to have died, and we have not been minding it because we have no way of knowing when someone is there. That needs to be fixed, soon. But if I have to, I suppose I can put my new work bench outside and work through the day. After all, that kind of mobility is what it’s for. Also, I need people to see what I can make visa vie the workbench, and with my own mill and such.

Whatever the case, we need this to amount to something, and hopefully more than just a person or two coming by. But honestly, we would take that with a certain amount of overwhelming joy!

Speaking of the workbench, I don’t know if I want to put in dogholes, or just a couple of channels I can insert a square stick into as a stop to work against while running knives and the like, or should I build custom jigs for spoon carving? So many options! I need to see this able to work in the front porch where it is much warmer, so I can get a profit turned from it in these cold winter days. And again, being able to build it myself gives me the options! And I can offer such options to clients! I would think I could do it for $400 or $500 or so custom made, but I may look at it after and decide the fit and finish is not what it should be, then give a discount of $50 to $100. There are a lot of variables. Some to do with the wood, some with the final product and how it turns out, and then the cost could go up again based on moving parts or specialty work holding pieces. The more dogs and jigs included, then obviously the price would go up, too. I am talking the base price of a simple bench like the one in the pictures. But bear in mind, that one has a removable tabletop, and can be used with or without it.

Well, six AM is rolling up on me. I got up twenty minutes ago and put wood in the stove to warm it up downstairs. I best plan on getting up out of bed here real soon!

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Remembering When

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Kelsey

I remember going through the shop my great-great-grandparents had in West Virginia. It was an old-time gas station and local shop. As I remember it, it was complete with soda fountain. The building was pretty old when I was there in about 1978, and unbelievably, it seems it still stands. The gas pumps are long gone, of course, and now it is attached to a greenhouse in front of Erma’s old house. It was Erma Foor that owned it, and if the current owners were to go into the cemetery behind the house, I think they would find her grave there. Talk about a small world that Erma lived and died in! Work and home and a grave all within maybe 300 feet of each other or so! The place was called The Plant Cult when the more recent people had it, and I don’t know if it is still. I am relying on Google Earth to find this out. The cemetery is Mount Calvary. And the house is now hidden behind the old greenhouses that are in what once was the front yard to Erma’s house. I wonder if that closet next to the front door still has the pull chain flap in the floor where the laundry can be dropped down next to the washer and dryer in the basement? When I was a little kid and visited there, I thought that was the coolest thing ever. What a convenience!

It was not the only place I visited around Morgantown back then. Go up northwest to Black’s Run Road and there just before the Pennsylvania State line you will find Willa and Lester’ Raber’s house on the left side of the road. There was a hutch built-in in the dining room and to the right of it was a door that opened to a very steep set of stairs that lead upstairs. There was also a screened in porch on the back of the house and in it was a glider rocker that would sit three or so. That old thing is still out in my back yard now, 47 years later. Their kitchen table is in pieces out in my shop. Ask me why. Anyway, I will have to get it back together someday, maybe this summer. That would be nice. (I started to restore it to use for myself, and the minute I did, my grandmother suddenly went from not interested in it to wanting it for herself the moment I was done. I stopped work immediately, because that was not the first time I had been through that shit-show with her.) When I was there with my grandparents, granddad and I did something remarkable. He took me for a walk up the road so we could have a piss on the Mason-Dixon Line. What a momentous occasion! Still sticks with me till this day as one of the most amazing trips we ever took, and we took a lot of them together when I was a kid.

All this came back to me again tonight. I am sure I wrote about it before. But it is there, lingering in my mind, wishing I could grab it all and pull it out and walk my kids into that world at that time, and let them see somethings that belonged to people who were born more than 100 years before them. Hell, Lester was 92 in ’78! That would have put him as born in 1886 or so. Do these kids realize I have known people born that far back? Do they know how close history really is to them? If the people we met were simply neighbors in the next house, that would put the late 1800’s right next door to us. They don’t know. I mean, we have a picture that comes up in a digital frame every now and then of the guy who assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. When was that? June 28th, 1914? That means Lester was about 28? It’s crazy. If my math is correct.

I am off to get some wood on the fire and find a light meal for supper. I wanted to leave this here though. Who knows? Maybe the people who live in the old houses will find it one day and get in touch. I wonder how things are that way. I have always had a place in my heart for that part of West Virginia.

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Somethings Special

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Kelsey

It’s a Sunday morning. The fire is going in the stove, and I have a lovely cup of tea next to me as I type this. It is from a teapot. If you know your English teas, then you know that brewing in a pot is better than in a cup. I woke up to the briefest of mentions of some exciting news today. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law may be out come July. Nothing in stone yet, but at least it is being thought of. That would be really cool. I have not seen mum since 2012, just before we moved up here to Idaho! Ans sis is always wonderful to see. She has been out a couple of times since we moved up here, and I love having her about. She gets involved with things and is always helpful. But if they both come for a visit, I think it would be wonderful to see them. The English think of themselves as world travelers. It would be lovely to see them more, then.

It is a Sunday morning. The fire is going in the stove, and I have a lovely cup of tea next to me. The cups and pot are ceramic. Nothing too fancy, but fancy for us. I am thinking of how else I can market the open house I set up for my wife’s business. It would be great to get some people through the door. It has been so frustrating for her to open her shop up most days then have nobody come by. I want that to change for her. I want it changed now. The ringers on the doors have died, and we have to sort her out so they will ring again. The shop is small, and no place to plan to hang around for a whole day waiting to see if someone comes. Se we have a fix in the works, batteries to arrive on Tuesday. Till then, we are closed. But if we can get people coming over on Thursday, and even just a little traffic that she can manage, then even that could be worth opening for.

I am also thinking on building an outdoor workbench. I could work under the willow tree and then watch for customers there in the good weather. I would not mind so much working outside. that could be really nice. It could also serve as a means of advertising. What could be better than building primitive furniture with primitive tools under a tree? Fresh pile of lumber close at hand. I think it could make a lovely picture.

I am excited to see what becomes of our lavender that we put in in the autumn. I can see some ideas in my head if we can get that to grow. I know Missus has ideas, too. But I would like to see a little larger shop in for her, and she could make the trailer one she can transport to venues. I think it would be lovely to have a little lavender field in front of a little shop. I know there was the concern before about a shop that side being too far back. But visibility is always going to be a problem for her. It is now, with the trailer. I think we could make it a space that is more accommodating year-round though! If we can get some money coming in, then we can set up properly on a last building. Of course, the county will oppose us having anyone through the doors. Maybe the shop itself can be outdoors? I don’t know. I have to admit, the ‘rules’ are opposed to anything for small business. It’s like how the state’s SEC rules don’t allow a person to do peer to peer lending unless they are basically millionaire’s then only a small amount. They are protecting us from risk, they say. They are Republicans, I say! What the Hell?

Okay, I think I better get up and moving and go get something done. Anything! IT is a fine time of a day to have a day.

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Trying to Knock Off for a Mid-winter’s Nap

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Kelsey

Nothing like waking up only minutes after falling asleep and finding oneself a pretty darned sight not sleepy anymore. Boy! So, Garrison Keillor is telling the News from Lake Woebegone. and I have been trying to focus on that and go back to sleep. But I gave in and ate some carbs before bed, and now I am feeling hungry. Had I not, I would no doubt be sleeping peacefully by now, or if not, at least I’d be more comfortable, and could think of something else. But the carbs leave a pain the belly, and that gets interpreted as hunger pains. Be it or not, I sure feel it. So, I will try to ignore it and go back to sleep here again in a few minutes.

I put together an event in my wife’s webpage today with a plug-in that allows free and paid events with ticket sales. I then put that on Facebook, and I have a half a dozen responses for it so far with Interested and Going responses together. That is more than I have been able to get to reply to anything else I have put up on the Facebook page. I have little confidence in Facebook because I have posted information for the businesses before and got nothing. So this is significant. I’ll see how it goes and if I can figure out a way to keep pushing the Open House for her and get someone to show up to it on Thursday. Just look up Antiquary Artisan on Facebook and see the Open House next Thursday to know what I am on about.

I cut up some more firewood today and put some on the woodpile and some in the tractor bucket. It is set to be wintery cold tonight and for four nights in total before it should come back up again. I was not even in bed yet before the alarm went off to tell me about the freezing temperatures getting extreme enough to solidify the pipes leading to the kitchen tap. It’s 11:30 in the evening and the temperature is already down to 7.4F. That’s pretty cold to you and me.

So I have heat pouring off the woodstove and will be able to put some more in later tonight if I wake again later. If no, then Missus can, as I have a few pieces on the rack next to the stove. The rest is out in the bucket still, and I will have to go out and get it when the wood on the rack is gone. There are worms on the wood outside, and the pieces I put in were from a piece that has been lay around here for quite some time now. I think it is Russian Olive. That stuff cuts up and looks like maple but is quite a bit darker. But it tends to show the same rays across the medullary splits. It is quite hard, too. I might have to work with it sometime in the shop. But not this piece. It is going to keep the house warm while the temperatures drop tonight to an anticipated 0F. Tomorrow it is meant to drop to -2F. Cold! What a thing it is to have proper winter temperatures here again! It’ll be warmer again by Thursday. But still chilly like it was today. Not summer. Just laughably cool like it has been so far this winter. I have so often said it would not be so bad if the winters here were like Denver when I was growing up, and now it almost is. Yet, it could still warm more. I am nervous for what summer will bring, though.

Well, let’s see if a couple of melatonin tablets will just knock me over to sleep now. I hope so! They usually keep me till around two or three in the morning. It is easy to wake though, and a good night’s sleep is to be or not based on my bladder.

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Middle of the Night

Posted on January 18, 2025 by Kelsey

Here I am awake at 4 in the morning again. I have been awake for an hour already! Where did that go? I went to the loo about an hour ago. While I was up, I shut off the alarm that sets off beeping on the weather station receivers whenever the temperature drops to 20F. That is an important alarm. Below that temperature the pipes that lead to the kitchen tap are susceptible to freezing. So I have to be sure the water is running ever so slightly to prevent that. I put it on last night before I went to bed, so that was not so important tonight, but there was other waterworks that needed to be run, so I went downstairs to sort that out. While I was there, I noticed there was a very good bed of charcoals in the woodstove, so I put more wood in to keep it going till morning. But the wood is outside in the tractor bucket so none of the bugs wake up and crawl into the house. Keep them cold, keep them dormant. Bring them in and, well. First thing I noticed when I opened the door was the little layer of snow on the ground. Not much. Maybe a half an inch or so. Just enough to make me with I had brought my slippers down with me. But I didn’t. It was a good reason to put my feet up in front of that fire a bit before coming back up to bed.

With the water run, and the alarms shut off on both weather station receivers, I came back up the stairs. A quick scour of YouTube revealed to me a channel I have never seen before. It is from an optimistic fellow who put a few videos up 13 years ago and has now apparently decided to put some work into the channel again. I have not watched any of the old videos yet, but of the three or four I watched from his new ones, it looks like there is some serious potential there. The channel had beautiful cine work, and symbols styling. It deals with the woods in his hiking and in his woodworking in Canada. It is called Woodlore.

Reminds me. I proposed an idea to Missus that I build an outdoor bench and put it in the newly formed room under the tree in the front yard and use it as a space to do some woodworking in the warmer months. I could use it as a vantage point to watch her shop from. But I also could maybe draw some attention from passersby and use it as a space for shop visitors to observe the building of furniture and such for sale. I am thinking that it is nice working outdoors but, in the shade, too. So that might be a good workspace for me, a piece of wood or two, and a few hand tools. I like the idea of the natural setting for the work, under a tree.

This summer I would like to finish the final push on my weight loss. I am doing good, but I need to drop a few more pounds. I have no idea what my weight is, but I could love to see me a bit thinner. I am already happier with where I am at so far. I’ll bet that will turn to euphoria if I can get rid of the rest of my belly.

And now you know, again, what kinds of thoughts I entertain in the middle of the night. I am going to go watch a few more of the videos from that channel and see what the old ones look like. There are some interesting thumbnails and titles about making a wood screw. I have ideas for what I can do with that skill.

You know? Maybe a fire ring out from under the tree, but also in the front yard, would be a good place to do some outdoor cooking? Make supper and do woodworking all at once. What a life!

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Lost An Old Friend’s Mom Today

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Kelsey

Got a message from an old friend today. His mom passed. Such sad news. It’s a tough thing to go through. I have good memories of the lady. She was nice, and very likeable. I wish the whole family well.

It’s been a busy day. I took the kids to their bus, came home and did the dishes, then had a little time to relax. Soon I was up and cleaning up the cast iron shelf and all the iron on it. It was a bundle of work. After that, I got to work on the firewood pile. While out there I put the chainsaw to the willow tree and trimmed it down some along the bottom. I think it will have a nice little room under it next year so long as I keep the new starts from intruding.

Okay, it did not take long to write about the day, but it was a lot of work.

The bummer of the wood is that it is from the tree that was out back of the house. I can see why a woodpecker was going to town on it. There were a lot of worms up there. That tree was in pretty bad shape. I am keeping the wood outside on the tractor bucket. I don’t want to bring any of it inside till it is time to burn it. Don’t want the insect life crawling around the house.

I need to put some of the cast iron out in storage. The iron shelf is much cleaner and clearer now. It is nice. It sure makes me happy.

Anyway, it is time for bed.

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At Bedtime

Posted on January 16, 2025 by Kelsey

I got out and worked in the tractor today moving long narrow-ish logs from the back by the sawmill to the Service Yard ready for me to cut down to burning length. It went pretty good sorting the ones big enough to use from the smaller stuff that I think would work well to burn outside. I left those on the dirt pile so I can pull them away next, and burin them and cook outside. Anyway, I will fill up the little chainsaw tomorrow and cut the big ones down and stack them tomorrow and clear them out of the yard.

After some working outside, I took Missus up to sort out her 4H course schedule. While she was in, I called and found out that Dominos is not hiring here. So that’s off the table for a quick fix on money. So, I will try again elsewhere. Meanwhile, she got months’ worth of courses sorted out, especially where the book club goes.

After we returned home, we soon had visitors and got to entertain all of the grandkids and their parents at once! The only one missing was our oldest who is at work in the oilfields. That was a great time, as it always is! We really enjoyed the lot of them.

Tomorrow, as I said, I will be cutting some wood down, and I plan on working on the chandelier, and searching the job market and putting in applications. I would also like to see about putting in some ads for tractor work such as spring tilling when the ground is thawed. I also need to get a firewood sales rack put together. That could help a bit. Then there is photography.

So, there is where I am as of tonight at bedtime.

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I made it to 4AM

Posted on January 15, 2025 by Kelsey

Up at 4AM to hit the loo, and put some wood on the fire to keep the house warm. That old woodstove is the heart of the house, I swear. Everyone genuinely gathers around it. I have come to understand how the hearth truly once was the heart of the home, historically. Perhaps that is why the words hearth and heart are so close a match to one another. If our house was better arranged and appointed, there would be two two-seaters in front of it with space for the whole family to sit comfortably. But doing that would put a little settee right in front of the door to the kitchen and the front door of the house. Who wants to come in the main entry and be blocked out by a big chair with its back to you?

To be fair, it was an alarm that woke me up this morning. I have one that goes off when the temperature outside drops to 20F. Below that temperature the pipe to the kitchen sink will freeze. If that happens, well, it’s anybody’s guess when it thaws again. It usually has to get above 45F in the day for that to happen. In a typical winter setting that can be anywhere from three or four days to a few weeks till that happens. And it could come with devastating consequences. I one had to pay a plumber $219 to come out and install $6 worth of PEX piping and two couplers. It was embarrassing because that was after talking the price down with him. But, if I obey my temperature alarms and get up and put a very slight trickle of hot and cold water on at that sink, it will not freeze, and I can sleep soundly. The trick is to put it on before I go to sleep, but that alarm will still wake me, because who knows when that temperature will be reached, and who wants to risk it? There is no way to turn it off easily, and I wouldn’t because it would have to be manually put back on, and who knows if I would remember to before the next freeze? All chances I would not want to take. So, I wake up once in the night once in a while! Better than not being able to wash the dishes in the kitchen sink easily. Better than replacing pipes. All these things in consideration and easily avoided by having an alarm connected to the thermometer outside.

I feel a little rough right now. Nothing on the joints, but on the tummy, for having eaten corn chips last night at bedtime. Yes, I had chips y salsa. I was craving the stuff after having not had it for some six months now. A staple of my former pallet, chips and salsa was a defining part of me, and I could normally eat nearly a whole bag of chips at one sitting. I finished a bit more than half of one last night before I could not. So my capacity is still shrunk, but I needed this. I just needed it. I am satisfied now, and satiated for hopefully the next six months so I can continue on with losing weight. It has been good to lose some, and I do feel better for it. I wonder how much better I could feel if I lose more. I mean, I think I am a lot healthier now, but I could be doing better, I am sure! It is a worthy goal!

Perhaps I can get some more sleep now before waking up to take the kids to school. I need to get out in the slightly warmer weather today to cut and spilt some firewood. I assumed by the warmer forecast that the sun will be shining a bit today. And tomorrow. And the next day. Sunshine makes a big difference in warming a fellow while he works in the winter days. Anyway. I have a bit of wood out there still, but the temperatures are forecast to drop in the next week or so and look more like a normal winter around here, finally. It seems we are on shortened winters now. That is not all that bad for this place. I think we could use more snowfall for the sake of the water supply. I also think the summers are getting a bit on the hot side, and I will have to adapt to working outside in the heat. Maybe that is something the diet will help me accomplish! Does a thinner man work better in hot weather? Does he tolerate it better? I have no idea! I have always been suseptable to heat stroke.

Oh, one last thought. That woodshed I stopped working on really could use finishing. That thing would have been sure handy to put the firewood into! I do not like working with the tarps, and it is not even snowy out! It is much worse with snow on them.

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