Well. I did get the logs moved over from the saw pile to the firewood pile, ready to be cut down and split. I am supposed to go get more wood tomorrow with one of the boys, and hopefully that will work out. But I still have not got the gear together for gathering. I have not got a lot of time to work on that today if I am going to go into town to do some earning. I have got a fair total running for this week so far, but today is the last day to top it off and top it off I need to. The bank wants more money in it all the time to cover the bills, and to try to get a little bit ahead so I can afford some food. It is a struggle on the method we are on right now, but it will have to do till something better comes along. Living in America is expensive right now.
Our youngest went along to work with me yesterday. It was nice. She will open the doors for me when she can, and we have lots to talk about. I have also learned about some of her frustrations on living with her sister and the mess that exists in her room, and how she cannot get to her bed at night or out in the morning without dealing directly with confronting that mess. Sister has always got excuses but does not just get it done, and that is causing her problems. I observed that neither of them will find their way off their spot in the family area and go to work on it. It sounds like it is getting time for an ultimatum. I hate to have to get involved like that. I’ll be talking to mom about it first, and then she will likely offer it with me looming in the background with a truck, trailer, open window, and directions to the city dump. My mother taught me the value of a snow shovel in house cleaning.
Time with the kids while working is wonderful. I have had both along during the last few days. It is a good time for me to gauge their sanity, listen to what they talk about, what their problems are and how they address them, then offer anything I can. I am happy to say, there is not a lot in the sense that they are levelheaded and largely see the world as it is. That’s important to me. They are both kind and generous people and are not out to hurt others in any way, but will offer themselves when they can, while recognizing that it is not always mutual, and that others are not always right in the head themselves. They are not perfect, as the previous paragraph indicated, but I don’t think I could ask for more. They are both wonderful!
I took a moment out last night before coming home and parked in Center Street and fired off a couple of photos. I will share one of them, but the power of a modern DSLR really showed what it can do these days as I took this photo, which is posted unretouched at all, and uncropped, taken handheld with a telephoto lens. If you grew up on film, you know this as basically impossible. But a quick flip of the ISO which doesn’t muddy up so much, and we get this.
I will say, this is a max – 2MB downsized copy of the original 12MB file, so there is that to consider. It was shot at f/4, 1/800th, ISO 12800, handheld at 70mm. While I was checking the file info, it said this one is down to 811KB. So yeah, I have a much better copy in the camera still. That will be a good file to offer to the printer if required. I am just so glad to see this kind of result that I think I will be back down sometime to do some different crops and shoot more downtown. I also have a much wider-angle lens or two who might have something else to offer. I think the liminal might give more when there are no cars around and such. Time to turn it into art.
The sun is coming along, and I can hear its light from around the corner of the Earth. By the time it peaks, I can see myself sipping a coffee downstairs or lay here asleep again. Either way, I need to prepare to get wood tomorrow before going in to work. We’ll get the kids to school, then go dump out the trailer of his stuff at the local city dump, then drive down to Logan to pick up wood there. There are logistical problems, especially now with the stupid battery charger on the fritz. I am not sure how else I can power the winch that has to be mounted on the back of the truck. Do I put the deep cycle battery into the extra bay in the truck and run jumper cables to it from the truck battery while we drive down there to top it off? I don’t know. I can’t really think of anything else till I can afford a trickle charger or whatnot. The new models look so overly complicated, and like there is so much to break on them. I wonder if I can fix the old one and get it running again?
Oh, tomorrow is when autumn begins! I guess I am just not one of those summer-loving people. Autumn is my season, followed by spring. I love the transitions. Winter and summer get to be too much. But these shoulder seasons are where it is at. It is also so much easier to work in the workshop during the seasons of change. Well, everywhere, really. I will even be putting the wax melter on again in the couple of weeks. Time availability depending, of course.