A few Measly Steps a Day

I wish it were warmer outside. I need to prune bushes. (Hopefully without hurting mt stupid shoulder.

D, bummer on the cover art shuffle. Breathe and sense who to approach next.

Today is my last day (maybe) attending an in-person meeting of my career. It's a moving post. So, I think this is it, but ready for one, maybe 2, more.

Oh, man, am I ready for this. Closes out my intuition from my 20's to 30's that my willful disregard for career development would mean I'd work past standard retirement ages. I'm living mere blocks for the center of gay life in NY. My friends are getting sick, some had died already. The governments of the world were doing the chest pounding routines and it looked like they might nuke it out. NY has a lot of angry, easily ticked off people and I might find myself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I accepted the offer. Heya, has it played out. The past 8 years have been the busiest of my life. From 62 to 70.

To follow the song from Hamilton, One Last Time. Today, one last time I show myself, and this organization, how it's done.
So be it.
And so it is.

Hi, R.

I think you'll do okay with retirement. You have a lot of interests. Still, it's an adjustment. And i hate it when friends die. My two cents worth - Don't go nuts about it, but do the thinks you want to do now. Be grateful for everything from a knowledge of the internet to good eyesight (or good glasses.) to people you love.

Me. I'm coming out of the bad mood of yesterday. I think I can do the cover art using Kindle's Cover Creator. Another AFLE (another stupid learning experience)

As for wars, tornados, politics, and other global issues - they suck. I help if I can (not enough) and i send out prayers or good vibes to victims and perpetrators.

Happy Holidays.

Here's hoping my next post includes goo news about my book.

Hi, R.

I think you'll do okay with retirement. You have a lot of interests. Still, it's an adjustment. And i hate it when friends die. My two cents worth - Don't go nuts about it, but do the thinks you want to do now. Be grateful for everything from a knowledge of the internet to good eyesight (or good glasses.) to people you love.

Me. I'm coming out of the bad mood of yesterday. I think I can do the cover art using Kindle's Cover Creator. Another AFLE (another stupid learning experience)

As for wars, tornados, politics, and other global issues - they suck. I help if I can (not enough) and i send out prayers or good vibes to victims and perpetrators.

Happy Holidays.

Here's hoping my next post includes goo news about my book.

Hi threaders.

Anticipated last ditch oblique or obvious tries at getting me to work more. Haha. Nothing doing. Even the exec said "we have an agreement. John's going to work on the next grant. It's not due till the spring." Like I was taking a break or vacation. Nope. "I'm done! D-U-N!"

Time has always been a tussle with me: there's too little of it. Really want retirement from the feelings of work: pressure to perform, the chronic hustle of being self-employed, forms, taxes, insurance, reports, applications, grants to write, dealing with the people sleepwalking while at work.

The idea of this release keep me energized and not-quite-sleeping last nite. Think I'll do better tonite.

G'nite.

I hope you slept well.

My news for the day is the cover art. I found a template that I liked on Kindle's Cover Creator. It had three spaces fore photos - One on the cover and two on the back. I ended up with a great cover except that one of the photo spaces on the back remained blue. The computer showed that it had accepted my photo, but it didn't show on the cover. It's like if you have a photo in word and you position it behind another photo. I tried multiple times to get the photo to the front. I chatted with Kindle, and the tech suggested using a different template. I didn't like any of the other templates, so i finally published it without anything in that space on the back cover. Not professional looking but the best I could do. I'd hire someone, except that after my experience hiring someone to create my website, I'm nervous about hiring someone.
I asked for a proof, and I'll review it first, but it looks like I'll get to publish "Refuge and Warm Tea " in a few days.

That's the interesting part of my day. I'll go spray some weeds and find something to wrap Tom's (husband) present. And maybe hit a couple of other chores. My house looks a shambles. Well, one step shy of a shambles maybe. I'd like to get a few Christmas decorations up but I probably won't get to them today.

Okay, on to the next measly steps.

Congrats on submitting the book, D!

Congrats on starting retirement, R! I am 60 years old, and I'm contemplating what you wrote, "The past 8 years have been the busiest of my life. From 62 to 70." Goodness gracious!

I'm feeling very robust, for the most part. My life and work the past 8 years stressed, tested, confused, and baffled me. Having devoted most of my restorative time to learning about dreams, sleep, natural remedies, and such, I found that deep understanding really helpful and why I was able to endure this marathon.

For example, several areas of my body signal my driver/striver side with an ache, itch, cough, or pain at a mild level when my body had been driven to the brink of illness. I've learned to respond, usually by looking at my calendar and negotiating the minimum time I would need to wrap up enough commitments. I would draw a big circle on my calendar (my symbol for "protect this time"), and sincerely ask if I had the strength to hold on till then. If I didn't, I repeated the process with an earlier time.

That's an excellent strategy, Revu2! I get over four weeks paid leave (160+ hours) every year. I usually take one day every one to three months just to fast and sleep. Then I usually take off nearly all the time that's left over at the end of the year at the end of December. Unused vacation time doesn't carry over into the next year.

Hi, Guys,

Well, the cover looks good, but I found a few errors on the inside. So . . . Hopefully, I'll have it finished - finally - in a day or two. Good luck with your retirements. Happy Holidays, and Merry Ho Ho.

Hey measlies! Joining the ranks of the retired, unofficially. Last planned meeting was Wed, filed my invoices on Thurs, and one project wanted a wrap-up feedback form submitted. All donesville, daddy-o!

Throwback to the lingo of the 50s, when I first crawled this earth. For the past 2 weeks, I've enjoyed a state I would call satori, nirvana, bliss, mellow joy, samadhi, I dunno.

?

So, to dull and dampen this flowering of feelings of deliverance, relief, and freedom, I'll draw up a yuck list and start in, or maybe not.

Revu2

Glad you experienced the good vibes!

Finally! "Refuge and Warm Tea" is available in kindle and paperback.

Congrats Ms D on getting your book done and ready to be out there.

Big Whew?

I just did one for you.

Congratulations, delightful! I do like the cover -- that's the cutest moose I've ever seen!

Oh, it's part of a series -- I can get all of them!

Hey D, the books show up in this order on Amazon:

Temporary Address
Through Unfamiliar Waters
Refuge and Warm Tea

Is this the correct order to read them in? Or does it matter?

Thanks!

Oh, regarding "Distance is nothing; friendship is everything," you're very welcome!

So many steps have been taken to deal with the following...

Are you ready?

Cat Piss.

Long story made short:

Pissing contests are a very real thing, and cats are the experts. The LR curtains bore the worst of it -- they're at least one foot too long.

My wife wanted to find someone to come in and do a thorough clean up. But one service provider after another had some excuse for not doing it. (It's a biohazard so we need $2000 before we walk in; we only do carpets; dry cleaning doesn't get rid of urine; etc)

So I took matters into my own hands. I fired up our old carpet shampooer and did the LR carpet, and I dismantled the huge curtains and washed the panels separately. The curtains came out completely clean and free of smell. However, the sun-facing edges have tore apart. They are over 30 years old. But when I re-mount them I think I can fold them over and secure them with safety pins.

But every so often I still smell it, even when I'm out of the house! It's like my nose (or brain) has been damaged. LOL

Hi, Guys,

Yes, "Refuge is part of series." The best order is "Temporary Address" "Refuge and Warm Tea'" and Through Unfamiliar Waters." The last two overlap. My writing has improved over the years. I'm editing "Temporary Address" and "Through Unfamiliar Waters." hoping for better second editions. Thanks for buying "Refuge", Square Peg. And it stands alone, so you don't have to read the books in order. I hope you like it. Both of you are thanked in the acknowledgements.

R, Good wishes on retirement. Yes, the first step in retirement is putting your feet up and relaxing.

Square Peg, I don't know if this helps with cat pee - There are products at pet stores designed to discourage peeing in certain areas like on the curtains. I'm pretty sure there are some for indoor use. I don't know if they work on cats. They're meant for housetraining puppies. I do feel your pain. I had a long stretch where our neighbors' dogs did not poop in front of my house. Alas, that time is over. I'm using "No Go" in front of the house. Hopefully, it will help.

Happy New Year.

p.s. Did I ever tell you guys about my next-door neighbor from Brazil? The overly friendly one? The one I turned the hose on? He just got two adorable pit bull puppies. What's a pleasant way to say, "you should walk them on a leash and clean up their poop"?

Growing up on Long Island (pronounced "Long Guyland") I'd see little "Curb Your Dog" signs on some lawns. In Portuguese, that's "Limite seu cachorro," according to Lingvanex. Seeing that in his native tongue might get the message across to your neighbor.

An old guy I worked with was pissed off at some dog that would piss on one of his bushes. One day he somehow added bare wire to the bush and electrified it and then watched with glee how the dog jumped and whelped and never returned. Such a scheme would not work on poop unless it's a long steady stream of diarrhea, and even then I'm not sure the electrical conductivity of diarrhea is anywhere near as high as urine, which, actually, has been characterized.

My wife and I both started "Temporary Address" -- we're really enjoying it.

I did find two missing open quote marks; otherwise it's perfect so far. I can start an errata, no charge, of course!

I'm going out to get more Nature's Miracle, Urine Destroyer, which also repels cats. It contains some essential oils. I've already sprayed my shoes with the small amount left in the old bottle.

I'm looking for a new year in a home that's smells a lot less like pee!

Thanks for buying my books. I'll look for typos and other goofs as I go for a second edition. And there are other improvements I hope to make.
Good luck with getting rid of the cat urine problem. If I come across anything that's supposed to work, I'll pass it on. Oh and thanks for the Portuguese translation. I'll whip up an attractive sign with "leash your dog and clean up it's poop" in three different languages.

Happy New Year.

Hi, Guys,

Square Peg, if you want to tell me about errors you find, I'd love it, but no pressure. People pay good money for that service.. I'm redoing "Unfamiliar Waters" right now, but I plan to give TA another try.
I wrote the guy next door a letter in English and Portuguese. I hope it makes a difference. On my street, there are pipes in front of our driveways through which rainwater can flow. These pipes are covered with concrete, so that we can get out of our driveways without our cars getting scraped on the bottom. The pipes get clogged up. The same neighbor decided to clear out these pipes for me. I told him, "Don't bother," but I didn't say it assertively enough. So he cleared out the pipes. In doing this, he destroyed half of the concrete covering the pipe in front of my other neighbor's driveway. He cleverly left all his tools in front of my house, and he tucked the broken up concrete into my bushes. I'm not a Buddhist, but I think the lesson here is that I need to learn to be assertive without being combative.

I hope all this doesn't bode poorly for the new year.

Here's to a house free of cat pee and good relations with neighbors, and an assertive me.