Shed Update Redux

Well, I've been fussing inside some and have some pics to show. Here goes:

 New recliner (couch is gone). New bamboo blinds. Bed moved so I can get at the windows more easily.

 New folding table and folding chairs—pretty spiffy, I think.

 This is just opposite the front door. Eventually, the stepladder and chairs will be hung on the ends on the bookcase/stair.

 New blind on South window (where tv antenna is). Other than that, the fridge and tansu w/tv etc are all in the same places.

This shows the small tansu piece under the window with my oil heater beside it. We had a cold spell a couple of weeks ago and I dragged it out to take the chill off 49 deg. nights.

So far, this arrangement is working well. The blinds really help with making the room really dark so I'm sleeping well. I think moving the bed away from the windows helps with sleeping, too. Plans are to rearrange the dressing area (again) which should cut down on its size somewhat.

And then I'll be done! Right? ahahaha

Holidays RIP etc Update

Brrr. It's 16F outside and my little heaters are doing their best but it's pretty chilly in my shed, so I have a lap blanket and fingerless gloves on. We got about six inches of snow yesterday and it's all nicely frozen (went down to 6F last night).

So it's been a while since I blogged about anything, which means this post will be a hodgepodge.

My brother is safe so far and has moved from Fiji to New Zealand. Future plans are uncertain.

My holidays were nice and quiet. Amy and I joined Mary-Anne and family for Thanksgiving, so there were 12 of us around the table. Somehow, over the years, I've become the designated turkey-carver person. Not sure at all how that happened but I do my best. Xmas was very quiet as Amy was in Dallas for the week and Mateo visited his parents. Also, Tillman was in Florida.

Somewhere along the line, I bought a recliner, a big mother with a side lever, and the footrest is big enough that my heels don't hang off. This was important.

Not much else has happened around here. Last night, we were up till 2am playing Phase 10, and Tillman and Sam stayed over. I can now (11:30am) hear Tillman trying to get his truck out and make it work on the icy road, much cursing and shouting and spinning tires. He keeps trying to gun it. He'd do better to wait a couple of hours.

Well, let's do some RIPs.

Nat Hentoff: jazz writer and critic. When I was in college back in the 60s and had to write a paper on the history of jazz, Hentoff was the authority.

Ron Glass: actor, especially on "Barney Miller" but also as Shepherd Book on "Firefly." He had a fine sarcastic tone.

Richard Adams: writer, best-known for "Watership Down." His death on xmas eve was overshadowed by George Michael the next day and then Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, and the year ended with William Christopher (Fr. Mulcahey of MASH) leaving us.

So far so good with all my friends amongst the living, hale and hearty. I am grateful for them. Considering the impending doom, I'm hoping we all can get through it all with our sanity intact. Best wishes.

RIP

Sheri Tepper has left us. A sadly overlooked writer, much of her writing is out of print, but she will repay hunting for and reading her books. Probably my favorite of hers is The Gate to Women's Country but the one that stuck in my head the most is Grass, which is both creepy and mind-blowing. There's lots more. Check her out.

She also wrote mysteries under two pseudonyms: A.J. Orde, about a rare book dealer (male); and B.J. Oliphant, about a retired FBI analyst (female). I especially like the Oliphant books.

Also:
Edward Albee
Gene Wilder
Pete Fountain
Elie Wiesel
Muhammad Ali

Shed Update

Six, count 'em: six pictures!

 Just added these panels to the front of the deck. Trying to unrustify the shed a bit. I think this works.

 So there's the big piece of the tansu with the TV in it. You can see the small tansu piece is the rear by the window.'

 This is the glass desk you see right as you walk in, but it's so covered in papers that I'm working on getting filed, you can't tell it's glass. Behind it are the bookshelves.

 Just left of the door, and facing the tansu/tv is the blue couch, which now has a twin bed behind it in the corner by the windows. The couch is going to be replaced with a couple of chairs (one a recliner) that will be less visually massive.

 Standing by the couch/door and looking diagonally across, you can see the desk, tansu, cabinet, fridge, small tansu at window.

The "kitchen," which contains a Breville Oven, pots/pans on pegboard, a very small dish drainer (from the RV), shopping totes on pegboard, slop pail. If I get something really messy when cooking or eating, I just haul it over to the big house for serious washing.

So that's the outside with deck and panels. And the inside, which has been newly arranged into the current configuration (who knows how long it'll stay that way). I'll take more pics  when I get everything filed and lots of stuff sorted and put away up in the loft.

End of an Era

My trusty Toyota RV has been sold and is being picked up tomorrow. It'll be very odd not to have it around anymore. We've been though a lot in the past eight years. I'll miss it.

RIP

Morley Safer, last of the larger-than-life journalists. Starting in Vietnam, he helped create the reporting of the 60s 70s 80s, and was a mainstay of 60 Minutes. There won't be any more like him.

Survival of the Brother

I may or may not have mentioned that my brother Harland has set off on a long-term sailing adventure. He bought a 41ft ketch, named it Paladino, and finally set off.

He sailed from San Francisco to Acapulco, mostly in day trips. Starting out he had a crew of two, a couple. However, somewhere in Mexico (maybe Zihuatenejo) they bailed on him and went to crew on a much bigger boat. So he decided to just go on alone. He talked to a lot of solo sailors, one of whom was 10 years older, and they all assured him he could do it. After all, it was only a 35-day crossing. And about 3500 miles.

And he did. He made landfall in Fatu Hiva island in the Marquesas yesterday (29 March). I got a text at 2:30am edt. This is officially the middle of nowhere.

Text at 1:30am edt Wed. -- there's going to be a celebratory roast pig pickin' tomorrow with poisson cru (Tahitian lime-marinated tuna salad), poulet salad (chicken), banana pamplemousse (grapefruit). Sounds good to me.

I'm very proud of him.