Over-doing It

 There are many forms of the same advice:

There is only one way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time.

The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

Take it bird by bird.

And in general, I try to live my life that way, acknowledging that any small offering is better than none. But on a perfect summer day in June, with sSY2021in the rear view and the windows wide open? It was hard not to gorge on the elephant, run a thousand miles, and fly with all the birds.

So, boy! Are my wings tired.

For a Rainy Day

Today, for the first time since March of 2020, I... 

wait for it... 

went to the gym!

It was cool and rainy, and with no comfortable outdoor options, I drove on over, scanned my key tag, and had a pretty decent workout.

Can the movies be far behind?

Please Forward

Since we moved into our cozy little condo in 1999, it's been mostly us and our pets. (The pets? Well... That's another blog post, but there have been many: 5 cats, 2 dogs, 3 turtles, 2 hamsters, 2 gerbils, and countless fish.) There have been periods, though, when we have had a couple of temporary co-residents, first our godson, Josh, and then my cousin Elaine. Both moved on years ago, though, so imagine our surprise this afternoon when, turning the key on the mailbox, we found correspondence addressed to both.

Door Number Two

When the FaceTime ringtone jangled my phone last night at around 9:30, Heidi and I exchanged glances. "It's Bill!" I said. "He's calling both me and Courtney." I shook my head and tapped join. "This is going to be either really bad or really random."

When the call connected, the screen was dark and jerky, like a scene from the Blair Witch Project. "Hello? Hello?" I called.

"Tracey?" my brother's voice answered, and I could just make out his shadowy figure somewhere in the night, surrounded by trees. "I'm crossing a swaying bridge at Gary's farm, and the bouncing must have butt dialed you. Sorry!"

"No problem!" I replied. "As long as everything is okay, I'll talk to you soon."

"Really random," I reported to Heidi.

"Much better than really bad," she agreed.

Setting the Tone

In their enthusiasm and love of the outdoors, our cats have scratched the hell out of the screen doors leading out to the decks. In recent weeks I have been on the hunt for a replacement, without much luck. It seems that all the local hardware and big box home improvement stores are out of stock on the item we need. 

And so, in a spurt of handiness, I decided to order a repair kit instead, and try to replace the screen myself. The first day of summer vacation dawned quiet and warm, and when I stepped outside to water the plants, I knew that the time was right to DIM. 

Flathead screwdriver, razor knife, and roller tool in hand, I pried a corner of the old screen up and zipped out the 35-year-old spline and torn aluminum netting. Then I rolled out my new, fiberglass pet-proof mesh and pushed it into the channel at the top. Heidi came over to assist as I stretched and rolled the new spline into place, then trimmed the extra screen with my utility knife. 

Unlike so many superficially simple but practically complicated projects, this one went off without a hitch, and it turned out great! Every time I look out and see the perfect expanse completely unmarred by claws, I am as pleased and proud as can be. 

Call me overly optimistic, but I have to think that's a sign-- it's going to be a very good summer.

What I Learned in School Today

1.  How to draw an English muffin:

2. How to draw a cat:

3. It was harder than I thought it would be to say good bye to these kids. 

What a year!

Traditional Learner

 In case anyone needed any confirmation that my learning style is old school, here ya go: 

The teacher for a day pulled up his slides. "The only things you will need for this lesson are a piece of paper and a pencil to take notes."

I was on it! In no time every in-person student, the teaching assistant, and me all had our materials on the desk and ready to go. What followed was an extremely detailed presentation on Sonic the Hedgehog, a topic upon which I know virtually nothing. But, although the teacher moved quickly through the dense material, my pen moved even faster as I evaluated information, created bullet lists, and made connections, using arrows and boxes to organize the facts. 

When I turned my loose leaf paper over, the kids in the room with me looked up surprised. They had already given up, and their notes were sparse. "C'mon you guys!" I encouraged them. "I bet the assessment is open note. The more you have, the better you can do!"

What followed was a 30 question Kahoot! With mics muted, our little group joined forces. I pointedly referred to my noted throughout, and in the end? Our team won the day! But the real prize was when one of the in-person kids shook his head and said with a bit of disbelief, "I gotta start taking better notes!"