What was your day like?

[crisipicada]

Very busy at work. Many back logs. Some of the signed and approved business permit applications were brought to the office for tomorrow's work and give priority.

[Edwin]

We have a saying, "When it rains it pours," meaning that everything happens at once. Also we have another saying, "Either feast or famine," which somewhat means the same. Crisi, you have crunch times, don't you, when it seems like everything happens at once, and you have to do a lot of work in a short period of time, and it seems sometimes that you have almost more than you can do, and that is when you pray a lot while you work, huh? When things are like that it is nice to have kind understanding customers, huh? It is very nice after those crunch times are over than you can relax and enjoy a slower routine, huh?

[Edwin]

We live at 2800 feet elevation, so it is a quite a steep climb up to the platau where we live. We can go 3 different directions to 3 different towns in the valley, or 3 different valleys. 2 of the towns are on the edge of the Cascade Mountains, the Mountains between us and Seattle, Washington. Actually the Okanogan Valley is the dividing valley between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascades. One of the towns is Southwest a ways, on the way to the passes that we go over when we go to Seattle. The other town is just north of there, and actually goes into that valley. The other town is towards the Rocky Mountains going towards Spokane, Washington, the States of Idaho and Montana. This time of the year whenever we go to any one of these towns I always wonder how hard it will be to pull the hills on the slick roads coming back. There are 3 places after pulling a steep hill that there is a sharp corner which keeps a person from getting enough speed, and I always worry until I make it past them. We went down 2 days in a row. Yesterday it was just beginning to snow and really cold, and we made it fine. During the night it snowed a quite a bit in places, and I was a little worried about how coming back would be. It was very warm almost ice melting temperatures. They didn't plough the roads until the pavement started, so there were two tire tracks to drive in, and especially on the one steep pitch I had to keep the tires in the tracks so I could keep the car moving, and it turned out okay.

[Edwin]

Well, this is the day for hauling for hauling water. We don't have running water yet. It would be easy to get the running water in the house, but I have to finish digging my cellar so that there will be a place for the water equipment, like the pressure tank, hot water heater, the pump, the pipes so that they will not freeze. It is a really hard job with hardpan mixed with rocks and gravel, which makes digging extremely difficult, but not impossible. I use a rock bar to loosen the ground, then I shovel the dirt first out of the hole which is 9 or 10 feet deep, then I shovel it away, and it is very time consuming for any amount of progress I make. I was sick last summer, so I lost almost the entire summer for that project, and then as soon as the ground started freezing and the snow and ice came I had to stop. May this summer I will be able to enough accomplished to get the water running in the house. Anyway I haul a lot of water, but then after a few days I have to haul it again, and that time has come. Our water lasts us approximately one week until it is gone, and I have to haul it again, so this is that day!

[red]

I read a news on yahoo about solar flare, reminds me of a movie Armageddon. Then i read this comment : "Need to send the Space Shuttle to go fix it !!! Have all the politicians ride along." I thought that is crazy comment

[Edwin]

Carol has been on insulin for her diabetes since last November. The diabetic nurse had her start out at 5 units, and increase them 2 units at a time, keeping track of her blood glucose readings. She is up to 61 units now, and that amount appears to be taking care of her problem, because blood glucose readings are down near normal most of the time. Insulin is really expensive, so when she started taking that much we had to purchase insulin 2 times that cost about $230.00 each time. We are retired and not rich, so it was a real drain on our finances. Medicare will pay for the pump and insulin, but they will not pay for the pens and insulin which Carol feels more comfortable using. So, I went online, and found a company that will help pay for insulin in the pens, for people who are not rich. This company just today sent us insulin for Carol. They sent it to us free, not charging any money at all. I figured the value of the insulin they sent today is $1150.00. Carol can take insulin without worrying about what it is costing. She takes a lot of other medications also, and the cost adds up. So to add the cost of the insulin on top of that makes it difficult. Well, anyway, Carol went with a few friends from where we used to live to Vashon Island over by Seattle, Washington to enjoy a few days of spinning yarn, and of course others of the ladies do other crafty works, like knitting, crocheting, weaving, and so on. Anyway her insulin was supposed to come in by 4:30 p.m. today, and without it she would not have had enough, so it was really neat that it did come today just in time. It is like God was helping us. We went down town mid-morning, and did a few things we needed to accomplish. We then picked up our daughter and did a few more things. Then we picked up her daughter, our granddaughter, and we headed for the town where Carol was going to meet these ladies. Carol and I ate popcorn shrimp at the Dairy Queen, then we ate fish and chips for senior citizens at Chelan, the place we were meeting these people. The waitress questioned me about whether I wanted 4 fish instead of 2, and I questioned her about the cost. For 2 more fishes, it would have cost an extra $4.00, and I said, "No, 2 fish will be fine, and Carol and I ate the same thing, and I think we both had as much food as we wanted to eat. I ate 2 lemon wedges too, as Carol didn't want her's. I also ate the lettuce under the fish, and everyone at the table didn't think I should eat that lettuce, but it is food too!

[crisipicada]

My day was so busy. So much work to do, and so much concerns to look into. Many memorandums and circulars coming from National Head Quarters regarding guidelines on Fire Safety Inspection. About Admin Matter, so much concern regarding personnel management. I do not know how to figure out how to become a good admin to my officemates who are senior to me. Just doing my job and that is all. So much adjustment lately.

[Edwin]

Yes, Crisi, change and adjustments are difficult, and especially when we have added responsibilities that make us almost feel overwhelmed. I have had the opposite experience in the last few years. I went from being a very busy person, not only just being busy, but with responsibities, and things that had to be accomplished in a timely fashion, so that I was hurrying, and working hard to make things happen as they should and when they should, to where I don't have any schedule that I have to keep. I still have things that I need to accomplish, but it is different now in that I am not working for anyone else, just doing my own projects at my own speed. Now it is not like I need to be productive to get a pay check, it is that I need to do things for my own accomplishments. Through the winter when it has been cold I have just played the piano, played on here, tried to keep warm, split some firewood, done a few other things, and walked the doggies for 2 hours each day when I was able to, but when spring comes which is just around the corner I will be working on my cellar, and I have to get running water in the house this summer, and the Lord willing I will remain healthy so that I can accomplish that. I was not able to play the piano much at all for about a month while our daughter was with us because of facial injuries she had that made listening to piano music painful for her, so I elected not to play, But, now she is moved down town, down the hill from us, and I am back to playing the piano again. The dog wants me to play with him, instead of playing the piano, and more so when Carol is gone, but I get in my time on it.

[red]

Day is great so far. Did cook lumpia for visitors and groceries shopping.

[Smiley]

I delivered and set up a double deck pizza oven,a couple deep fryers and a 60quart Hobart mixer.The agreement was that the restaurant owner would supply 4 able bodies to help.He had 3 mouthy teenagers,and his 70 year old father with a bad back,I adjusted his bill accordingly.