The Stuff You Do...

Woke up to an unusually gray morning. Here at the leading edge of the monsoon (still haven't had any rain) the clouds don't roll in till sometime in the afternoon, complete with wind, lightning, thunder, and showers in the distance that never quite seem to hit the ground. It's like watching a pot of water start to boil, where the bubbles don't quite get to the surface. Except upside-down. Then the clouds go away sometime during the night.

Except this morning they were still here, which indicates that maybe the storm gods are starting to get a little more serious and we'll have some rain.

I've got things to do this morning, and have spent the past half-hour casting around for something to post that will get the blog off my conscience so I can go do them. Nothing very exciting is happening here or apparently anywhere in the world, but I got to thinking about the stuff I do, when I'm doing stuff. Life has changed so radically for me in the past four years that I've grown quite casual about things that once never would have crossed my mind on the weirdest of days.

Never mind the building project. I am, as even the slightly astute among you will have noted, not anything like a builder. I've spent years now, planning and building a house that's only a little more elaborate than a large utility shed and it's nowhere near done. I've got neighbors who could have cranked my house out in a couple of busy weekends, but I'm not one of those people. So for me, everything cabin-related is pretty weird. That's why it's taking me so long.

I'm not talking about stuff like that. I'm talking about the quotidian chores that keep the plant in operation. Things like:

• Check the water cistern daily (well, almost daily) to keep it from giving you unpleasant surprises.
• Keep the generator in running order.
• Engage in round #400-something to make your axe work as well as your neighbor's axe. (Who knew there was an art to that?)
• Wonder why the solar panels on the tower have suddenly decided to face west for a while, and how you're going to re-orient them without having the rack slide down on your head.
• Clean out the horse trough the dogs use.
• Speaking of dogs and water, finally get that automatic waterer working.
• Empty, and more-or-less clean, the black-water tank. (One my very favorite chores.)
• Those apparently abandoned solar panels at an old desert cattle-watering station: Scrounging or theft? Discuss.
• Negotiate with Kenny the Kingsnake (who's been hanging around the Big Doghouse lately) that there are places he's welcome and places I'd much rather he didn't go. Conclusion: Snakes don't negotiate.
  
• Used motor oil: Future resource or landfill fodder? Discuss.
• Determine what sort of rodent actually carries oatmeal containers out into the yard to consume the contents. Am I carrying a big enough gun?
• Where the hell are the air fittings for the compressor? I need to clean my chainsaw. (Oh, happy dilemma!)

There are lots more, of course, but those are the ones that come immediately to mind and aren't common to any suburban house-dweller, like the constant battle to keep Little Bear happily in the yard.