Rumination

Hi Internet. How are you today?

Been a while, sorry. Guess I’m not gonna make NaBloPoMo after all … D’OH!

I’m on vacation and ruminating. I mean the kind of ruminating where one runs a partially unconscious, lengthy, considered meditation on a given topic. Not the cow or sheep kind of rumination where you burp up some of your lunch, chew it a bit more, then gulp it back down. Ewwww.

Rumination has other meanings too, and (of course) there’s a nifty web site called “Ruminations” (check their archives) where average folks can dispense their common wisdom and humor in form of unconcise aphorisms. Let me just share one that I found amusing …

In our discussion of the inevitability of time,
I brought up the fact that the students’ parents
would all eventually die. However, I certainly
didn’t expect them to whine and cry and act like
babies. Friggin’ kindergarteners — grow up!

(Lori Petterson)

My wife is on a trip to South Carolina, where she and her friend Sue are attending a 3-day competitive driving event at Katydid Farm.  I take my vacations during these trips of hers so that I can take care of the small and giant pets at our mini-farm without having to rush off for work.  Plus I get to have all the me-time I need. Anyway, she took the digital camera with her and as I like to include photographs in my posts, I am forced to post “blind”. You’ll just have to picture these things for yourself.

I planted all the garlic that was harvested back in August, completely filling bed #1. Added lots of manure and compost.

I took the whole bushel basket of apples that my wife gathered from one of our larger apple trees and made 9 half-pints of apple butter. It took like 12 hours of cooking, with lots of stirring, a pot transfer when it almost burned, and one pass through a coarse sieve to get the peels out. It’s yummy!

I called the guy who put the vinyl siding on our house like 10 years ago to see if he still did that sort of thing. He came the next day (yesterday) and by the end of today he’d gotten all the siding put back on. And the entry room is all sided too. I mostly worked on getting the entry room insulated and sheetrocked. Almost there.

So what am I ruminating about? You know. Just the usual stuff. Work mostly. It’s been a difficult summer and fall so far, with lots of changes in my department. I so need this break from it all. Not even checking my email. Much.

A good old friend (who actually helped re-introduce me to bicycling like 12 years ago) came over to ride mountain bikes yesterday and listened patiently to my tales of work-related woes. She’s a very good listener. We rode on the railroad bed that runs from South Newbury up to Lake Sunapee. It was a little chilly, and we didn’t have much time before dusk, but it was very helpful.

So I have another 5 days to ruminate. Then I have to return to work. I think I may need to reinvent myself. Again.