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Friday, March 31, 2000

Off To An Early Start

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5:30 a.m. I was off to an early start this morning as I awoke at 5:30 a.m. There was no reason to open my eyes at that time in the morning; the first light was just starting to seep into the bare branches of the trees. Perhaps a noise caught the attention of my sleeping psyche or a disturbing thought caught on a branch as it drifted down my internal river and required attention to untangle. Whatever the reason, I watched the first rays of the sun reach this part of the planet, sipped the last of my coffee, and started into my day before 6:30 a.m.

7:30 a.m. I am writing in front of the desktop computer in my office. As I looked up just now a Canada Goose flew by at eye level over the ravine that slopes down at the back of our yard. Only the trees, the sky and any wildlife that passes by are visible from where I sit. Usually my visual field includes only common birds and squirrels. Occasionally I spot owls, cranes, geese, hawks and raccoons. I have a fervent desire to replace this high squat window with a sliding glass door. But then again, I wonder if the site of the groundhogs eating my garden will please me all that much.

8:00 a.m. I managed to obtain an organically raised chicken yesterday. I have decided to place it in the large crockpot and cook it whole. I coated it with a mixture of olive oil, basil, garlic and salt before placing it in the crock. There was a quantity of the oil/herb mixture left; I broke the last of a loaf of home baked bread into small pieces, combined them with the mixture and placed them in the cavity of the chicken. The results are as yet untested, I will know at dinnertime if the recipe is a success.

10:30 a.m. I was busy with my computers today. The Macintosh SE/30 decided to swallow a diskette whole. I tried patting it on the back and various other means to extricate the disk, without luck. Finally I resorted to the Mac-Heimlich Maneuver; I applied paper clip and pliers. Voila! My eleven-year-old computer is as good as new. This little unit has been in use at my house since 1989 without any hardware problems that I could not fix myself.

12:30 p.m. While shopping last week I persuaded Attila to accompany me to the computer store. Attila has no interest in computers; I can not make this statement too emphatically. In a computer store he yawns, he fidgets and he paces until I am ready to leave. Our visit was mercifully short due to a terrific bargain. I purchased a refurbished color printer, my very first color printer.

I set the printer up in a few minutes and proceeded with my first color print. The results were very disappointing. In fact, I worried that I had wasted my money. I immediately found an email list focused on printers made by this company, perused the archives and posted a message explaining my dilemma. I received many responses from a variety of knowledgeable and helpful people. I am always amazed at the generosity of strangers and by how much I do not know. I have been following all the advice given, calibrating my monitor, configuring my printer and PhotoShop. Today I felt brave enough to put the special paper in the tray, right side up, and click on the print command. I was so pleased with the result that I put the print in a frame and hung it on the wall.

2:30 p.m. The afternoon sun persuaded me out of doors. I raked leaves onto a tarp in the back garden and dragged them to the compost area. Two hours went by very quickly and I was surprised at how little I accomplished. Not to worry, there should be many more days of sunshine this spring. I am hoping to at least finish gathering the dead leaves from the gardens before the tree buds burst with this year's offering. I am very glad to have my own little piece of dirt to play in.

9:30 p.m. The chicken was moist and flavorful; the stuffing was delicious. After dinner I removed all the meat, placed the bones etc. in the crockpot, covered them with water, added a bay leaf and turned it on low for the night. By tomorrow evening we will have delicious chicken soup.

Life is good.