I’ve been so involved in completing my second book, which I began in 2014, that I have stopped posting. This story is totally the opposite of the one I submitted to a publisher last month. The first called Space Rod is loaded with sex, while BAC doesn’t spend any time on sexual matters at all. Space Rod deals with grief and impersonal sexual relationships. This new story is based on the premise that George Washington was killed during the Revolutionary War and the thirteen colonies which extended to the Mississippi River never got any larger.
The world was very different because there wasn’t a United States of America. Consequently, there was never a Louisiana Purchase, and Texas remained its own country. Texas expanded into the Mexican domain and stretched up to Canada. Spain was left with Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Oregon, and Washington, and Hitler won the war in Europe. My head spins with all the possibilities that exist in storytelling. Hopefully, I’ll complete the manuscript before the end of Summer, and return to Blogging.
I am obsessed with finishing this goal because my time on this earth is shortening rapidly, and there is so much I still want to do. I first began writing Space Rod in 2013 and then switched to BAC-British American Colonies in 2014, thinking I’d finish them both. Then Peggy developed dementia, and my life turned into taking care of her. Peggy has been gone for five years already and I don’t have that as an excuse any longer. It is time to put on my big boy pants and do the job.
I have pledged not to do any Intarsia or gardening until I submit BAC to a publisher. If one, both, or none get published, my goals will change accordingly based on my desire to sell stories.
For several years now, I have wanted to build a piece of folk art known as the whirligig. I began the year by telling myself I would not stop writing until my book is finished. Then, the words slowed to a crawl. It was time to begin building a whirligig. For the past two months, I have taken a multitude of baby steps to complete my first piece of folk art. I call it Spenser and Mary. It actually works but requires a pretty stiff wind to drive. I tested it with a house fan in my shop and am satisfied that it will also work in the outside atmosphere.
I am disappointed that I could not attach a working video of the whirligig to this BLOG post. Each time I tried to transfer the short video, an error message appeared telling me “Sorry, but this file type is not allowed.” I think Apple has a major problem.
Today, I completed my third session in physical therapy. It was somewhat disappointing to have two sessions within three days. The therapist gave me homework in the form of exercises. With so little time between, I did the homework just once. That is not nearly enough time for a muscle to get stronger. Today, I did the warm-ups, stretches and then the five new exercises. By the time I left, my right shoulder hurt (8). I felt like I was going back wards, but I wasn’t. On the pain level I hurt just as bad as I had before I started a week ago. On a range of motion level, I have improved significantly., and that is what limits me from many activities. Simple things like, clicking the seat belt into the socket has been torturous. Now that move is easier. Sleeping is also better. Before, I was constantly being awakened by my right side. There were nights when I’d sleep like a rock for three hours and then spend the remaining hours seeking a comfortable position to lessen the pain. A simple ibuprofen tablet and a topical spray of CBD seemed to help that go away. Now, I skip the ibuprofen.
I have four more weeks of treatments and exercises left, so I might be back to normal by the end of May.
This afternoon, after my visit for physical therapy, I came home to read my e-mails. My glasses caused a sharp pain on the bridge of my nose. I pulled the dang things off my face to learn that one of the nose pads was missing, and the metal thingy that holds the nose pad was sticking its sharp edges into my skin. Darn! That means a trip to the eye doctor to get it fixed. No, wait, I’m an engineer. I can fix it.
The first thing I did was to look into the glass case for clues. There in the case was the nose pad, but the screw that holds it on was missing. I looked further into the case but could not find the screw. It is a small thing, too tiny to estimate its size. My mind went into high gear to design a workable solution. I did not have any replacement that small, so I thought I would wire it together with a single strand of copper wire. I pondered a bit longer and went to the Amazon site to find a replacement screw. I didn’t realize there were so many options available. I finally picked one that looked like mine and bought it for $4.95. There are enough pads and screws to fix five pairs of glasses, and it comes with a miniature screw driver that fits the screw. Delivery is free, and they will arrive tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll suffer a bit while I wait for delivery of said parts.
It is hard to believe that the month of April is almost over. The days seem to be flying past, and it is like looking out a high-speed train window and watching the scenery blur past. Our weather here in the Midwest is finally becoming civilized. Yesterday, I actually had to turn on the air conditioner when it became an uncomfortable 79 degrees in the house. Yikes, what a creature of comfort I have become. Not to mention, what a blob of mushy muscleless fat has overtaken any muscle I had left. I should go into a discussion of weight loss here, but the subject bores me. Not only that, but thinking about weight loss only gives me a guilt trip.
Version 1.0.0
Right now, there is a fabulous race going on in nature. Who will win? The weeds or the flowers? A week ago, a friend offered me a contact who is willing to pull weeds for cash. I held up my hand saying that it was still too early to be pulling weeds. Here I am five days later ready to call him to go to work. I knew this would happen when I designed my garden which I labeled the Monet Vision. A very complicated densely planted annual garden takes a lot of maintenance. At that time, I still had the energy and flexibility to bend, kneel, and yank weeds. Today, it is a much different story. What amazes me is how quickly the body has adapted to sitting, and how quickly the muscles forget their duty. When I do finally get on my knees to do something, like pick up something that has fallen out of hand, It takes a front end loader to get me back up again. I am finally beginning to understand what my father always told us, “Don’t get old.” Mentally, I’m still twenty-five, but physically I may be around 110.
As a preteen, I admired old guys like my Gramps and his buddies. They were so cool. They sat under the shade of the giant willow tree while smoking, sippng a beer, and trying to outdo themselves with tales from the ‘Old Country.’ Now, I am the old guy, but I don’t smoke, and I don’t drink beer, and my old country is this country. Even worse, my grandkids are too far away from me to be telling them tall tales. At least I have the memories. I have however recorded many of my memories in a series of books under the title of Jun-e-or. The mistake I made was assuming that these kids would like to read. In today’s world if it isn’t a video they don’t seem to be interested. I’d love to make them into videos, but there isn’t enough time in a day to learn how to do that kind of stuff. I just hope they will find the time to read these stories to their grand children. I learned how to make videos’ back in 1968. Back then they were called movies. Taking super-eight movies was my passion and I even joined a movie club to help me learn how to make interesting films. I know what it takes to make films with interest. I converted some of my films to video and posted them on my Youtube channel. Search for Joseph Rohaly on youtube to find these gems. (see list below)
My biography won’t interest anyone, not even me. That is one reason I keep doing new things and learning new skills: in the hope that one day I’ll strike oil and offer the world something of value. With my luck, by the time I strike oil, the world will have been forced to electrify, and oil will be a dirty, slippery substance that no one will know what to do with.
I look forward to global warming. All my life, I have longed to live in a warmer climate without snow, ice, and blustery cold wind. According to sleepy Joe Biden, global warming is upon us, and I may be too late to enjoy it. The reality of that happening within this century is remote at best. Maybe if Earth experiences a hundred or more volcanic eruptions within a year, the temperature will rise. Except, there will be a period of global cooling after the eruptions. Earth will warm up. again, but no one will be around to know it is warmer because we will have all starved or froze to death during the cooling period.
Well, I have succeeded in ending this fantasy with the same lack of excitement as I had at the beginning, and It’s time to change chairs and find something more interesting to do.
