Thrills of a Geek Week

I kind of like the shorter workweek someone proposed to create jobs for more people. Would that mean I need to hire someone to help reduce the workload around here? Karen's the only one who knows how many hours I put in. Many acquaintances think I'm retired. Perhaps they don't know you can wander around listless quite a bit if you throw in a few hours after dinner.

This week I neglected the homestead, focusing on two things -- the Arrowhead Trio concert Wednesday night and a major book update -- although I did visit the greenhouse first thing every morning and ran at least 4 miles each day (usually around our field, accompanied by Lex and Rosie, who dashed circles when they thought I was heading out the door). I tumbled down the stairs, fixed my apple cider vinegar tea (with the "mother"), and wandered out to see how the 10 varieties of lettuce were doing. Two more breeds haven't sprouted yet. Each day I microwaved oatmeal, squeezed an orange and grapefruit and filled the rest of the glass with grape juice, read my breakfast, then headed back upstairs to research and write about the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Or maybe I went to Arrowhead Lodge to practice piano for a couple hours first, not that it did much good for Hans Gal. Poor fellow, I'd bet he turned over in his grave, especially on the night of the concert.

I tried to prepare the audience for his trio, calling him a twentieth century Bach who wove melodies back and forth among the instruments. One of our responsibilities as musicians is always to know who in our group is "on first" and to convey that to the audience, sort of like a game of musical chairs, lacrosse or soccer. I warned them that, if they were like me watching hockey, they might have trouble keeping their eyes on the puck. Maybe it's my fault I saw quite a few heads nodding. I think it's safe to say we've put that trio to bed.

Likewise, tonight I sent the book update to my co-author for his review. He'll probably invest his free time tomorrow (Sunday) looking for the jokes I've hidden among its 70 pages.

"I bet they're hilarious," says Virginia.

Definitely hard to find, definitely.

Oh, a couple days ago I set about building a couple coldframes, but we're out of screws even though quite a few are loose around here.