The Ups, The Downs

"I Get Up, I Get Down.....I Get Up, I Get Down...."
Jon Anderson from "Close to the Edge" by Yes

And on it goes. I think we're into Week 7 or so of the lockdown. Yes, Week 7...I just checked. A weird thing about it all, and Michelle and I have both been feeling this, is that it doesn't seem that long. Maybe four weeks at most. Seems like that last (maybe?) Honky show was just that long ago, but it was almost twice that.

We're staying healthy and active. The amount that we've both been working out is amazing. I finally added the 410-lb. upgrade to the Bowflex, as well as a nifty rod rejuvenator/organizer that makes using the Bowflex even easier. I had been threatening to add this piece for years, but when my right leg went bad for awhile, I didn't think about it much. Now that I seem to have a mostly functional righty again, it was time to add that. Glad I did. Michelle does all kinds of ab work on the Bowflex now; she just started in January. She was doing something like 500 crunches a day on the floor, so she's well adjusted to this kind of work. And I'm getting back into the full body thing as well. And I can certainly push the leg work once again. Good for us.

But damn, do I miss playing with my bandmates. I've been keeping up drumming on the electric kit, usually every day. So, I think if we were to suddenly get a gig, I'd be able to pull it off. But we all know that ain't happening. Smitty sent us Hickoids all a text asking how we feel about shows if things open up in May. It's been two days, and I still haven't responded. I guess I do feel some trepidation. Rice is the only one who's responded, and he answered in the affirmative...which would be surprising normally, but he's been burning the candle at both ends slaving for HEB Curbside. Anything outside of that might sound good now. Marcello reached out to me a couple of weeks ago about Pocket FishRmen playing one of the streaming shows the Lost Well's been putting on from a warehouse of John Petri's. It would have been the third week it happened, but the guys voted it down. Not sure how I would have voted, anyway. I feel healthy (other than the seasonal allergies), but I have my hesitation. Mainly because of my age and history with respiratory problems.

Work continues along, although I called in today due to extreme allergy issues this morning. Might call in tomorrow, too...we'll see. There's another reason, too. I ordered a new lawn mower from Home Depot and received it via FedEx today....and the control that sets the rear wheel height is bent against the wheel. I'm going to try to return it to Home Depot tomorrow, and they're only open until 6. Glad I hadn't put any oil or gasoline in it before discovering that. It's a pain in the ass, though. I had to take the handle apart again, put it back in the box, and I'll have to dolly that over to my car tomorrow. Ugh. Still, first world problem.

There's probably more to write about, but I'll stop here. Maybe the next post will go back to movie reviews.....cheers, y'all.

The Never-Ending Quary

Oh, now that's a clever title, eh? Thought about that one for 40 seconds or so.

So, here we sit. Although, I'm doing more than sitting, for sure. Maybe more than in a while. Of course I'm not playing with my friends in musical settings, but I'm still practicing at home on the trusty electro-kit. Not as much as I probably should, but I have a feeling I'll be ramping that up soon.

House/property projects are in the works and on the horizon, for sure. I finally, after Michelle's been casually mentioning it for, oh, ten years or so, began dismantling the large wooden swing set and play structure that's at the back side of our property. So far, it's been surprisingly easy. Bolts and nuts that I thought certainly would be rusted through are coming loose fairly easily. Once nails are out, it's coming apart. I have a little over half of that done. The drawback so far has been almost constant rain on the weekends; I'm still working during the week.

Yes, still working the government training job. Nothing different there, except that I don't have to go into the office at all right now. Hoping that will continue once the virus issue has abated...whenever that is. I am having trouble concentrating on my job, though - that's for certain. I was just given a narration project, though, so I'll be busy early next week. And another long-term project (not really a project, but a problem that needs solving) is coming more into focus. So, I'm still a 40-hour-a-week dude. And I'm counting my lucky stars.

All we can do is wait this out. We do go get take-out food on occasion, but Michelle upped HelloFresh's meal kits to five a week. The only issue with that has been that HelloFresh, probably through sheer overwhelmedness, only sent us three this week. Supposedly, we'll be back to five by next week. We'll see. I've managed to get a couple of HEB Curbsides and Deliveries, and one Walmart Pickup, but that's been all. I've started ordering a few things through Amazon (coffee, trash bags); I don't want to go that route, but these are different times.

That's about it for now.