What’s up, gang? Besides the thermostat, I mean. Sheesh it’s HOT this summer. We don’t typically see temps like this until August. Makes me cringe to think what August is gonna be like this year. 120 degrees probably, with more wildfires raging across the country. Usually we’ve taken at least one backpacking trip this far into the year. Not so this year. We had planned a trip in mid-June, but a) we were still recovering from Covid and just plain didn’t have the energy to carry thirty pound packs around for a week in the woods, and b) it was just too freaking hot outside. We’ll try again in mid-August, but I suspect it’ll still be too hot. Our last and only chance after that will be mid-September. Hopefully things will have cooled off by then. I think we’re trying to head to Indiana or Illinois this year.
I finally felt well enough after Covid to start running again! And when I say *running*, what I really mean is too fast for a walk and too slow for a jog. I’m really feeling my age (52 this year) and my slugabed body, which all-out refuses to let me whip it into shape. But just look at those pace times! I don’t think I’ll ever get back down to a nine-minute mile again, but I’m about to break through the eleven-minute mark, and I’ll be very happy about that. Ultimately, I’d just like to *run* a 5K straight through without stopping to walk. That sounds like a legitimate goal for this old man.
What else…
The house! We’re finally slapping some siding on the outside and finishing off the exterior. Woot woot! It’s only been *checks watch* four years since we started building. The place has always looked like a construction zone. I come down the driveway after getting home from work, and the first thing I see is the giant gaping mouth of the unfinished garage waiting to swallow my car. It’s always been an eye-sore. Not anymore! Wendy and I are frantically trying to finish the garage, install some windows, and shore up the rest of the outside before the contractors arrive next week to put on the steel siding. I can’t wait. The house will finally look like a house, at least from the outside. Still a butt-ton of work to do on the inside. But that’s a project for another year. (Sidenote: the phrase “butt-ton” comes from Philip K. Farnsworth of Fort Hooker, South Dakota, who had to give up soybean farming back in 1873 after a nematode infection led to elephantiasis in his butt, and he could no longer fit in his horse’s saddle. That’s a sad but true story, kids. That’s fact.)
I figure in another few years, we’ll finally have this place looking great and feeling comfortable. Projects for this year include the siding, finishing off the septic system (it’s been a bear finding someone to actually come out and do the work — freaking supply chain and backlog of workers!), getting all the exterior windows installed, hooking up the whole-house water filtration system, creating a working laundry room (yay! no more laundromats!) and, possibly, getting the master bath in — at least the toilet and shower, because all three of us sharing a single bathroom for the last couple of years has been doable but, at times, terribly inconvenient.
Wendy bought me a new writing book. I was hopeful and grateful, but dubious. A non-writer buying a writer a book about writing? I dunno. Seemed kinda like a vegan giving a carnivore a book about hunting lions. “No, really, you’ll love it; and you totally won’t get eaten out on the Serengeti … I swear.” I can see the corners of her lips twitching, and I’m not sure if she’s holding in a sneeze or stifling a laugh.
Turns out she was right though, and I do really love it!
The biggest thing I’m learning in this book is the difference between plot and story. Also the difference between a plot-driven story and a character-driven story. Also, how to create a story that is driven by character choices/consequences rather than a story that’s been shoe-horned into a pre-defined plot structure. (I suppose that’s actually three things, but they’re all related so whatever.) As Ferris Bueller would say, “It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.”
That’s pretty much all the news that’s fit to print. Still trucking along. Still tryna stay healthy. Oh! I almost forgot! I submitted another story to Writers of the Future at the end of June for the third quarter. Also working on a story for 4th quarter. The deadline is September 30th. So there’s that. Wish me luck!
