New digs and old craters

The only computer time I've had over the past few days is on the work computer. I haven't had a lot of time to write anything, and my work load is piling up. I'm still getting settled and it will take a while before I get all the boxes unpacked, but I have made a considerable dent, and a big pile of broken down boxes stuffed into a bigger box that will go to the recycling dumpster down the block.

When I moved in on Friday I suddenly realized I didn't have a mail box. I know this place had to have one and I found it after much searching, all the way down at the sidewalk hidden in a bunch of forsythia bushes. It's pink. I don't particularly care for the color, but at least it's big enough to hold most of my mail and a few of the packages that arrive here most days. I received an email this afternoon that one package sent at the beginning of May was returned as undeliverable because the forwarding address had expired, which is strange since the forwarding address hadn't gone into effect yet. I suspect that someone sent the package back since the mail dwindled sharply the last few days I lived at the other apartment and was probably part of the general unpleasantness, an unpleasantness that followed me here and knocked on my front door. I have since decided that it's not worth the effort or the energy to continue to meet that particularly unpleasantness head on and have since installed a call rejection feature on my phone and input that particular number. I'll have to dig up the cell phone and put that number into the system, too. I can't avoid the unpleasantness coming to the door but I can, and will, ask it to leave or file harassment charges, something I am reluctant to do. I want to put all unpleasantness from that quarter behind me.

In the meantime, I am getting used to a different schedule and layout. The bathroom has a low flow toilet that is absolutely wonderful and I am embarrassingly pleased at being able to get into the shower every morning and relax. It's also nice not to have to wear a coat in the house and to open the windows and let the breeze blow through laden with the fragrant scent of lilac and rain. I'm still trying to figure out where to put the washer (it's a portable) so that it doesn't interfere with everything else, but I'm getting there. The quiet is a balm to my ragged nerves and I feel myself unwinding and the tension leaving my body with every passing moment. I still hear the traffic in the streets and the kids when they're getting out of school, but they are faint sounds and not obnoxious in the least. It's so quiet most of the time that I didn't hear the UPS guy knock on the door this morning. I did have my noise canceling ear phones in at the time and was focusing on typing dictations at the time, so that may be part of it, but it's also a matter of this house being soundproofed. I find I'm even more productive here and there are fewer distractions. I like that.

There is still a lot of work to do but I'm looking forward to it. Some of my friends have called and asked about a house warming, so that is something else to put on the schedule, along with the last two issues of the ham club newsletter and personal appearances filling my summer calendar and stretching into the fall. I feel almost as relaxed and hopeful as I did when I lived in the cabin, and a whole lot less stressed.

There have been other things to keep me busy as well, like helping Carol find information on grants and companies to install wind turbines and passive solar heating in her house and condo. I found a wonderful site that offers tours all over Ohio, some of which include lunch, to see what is being done and has been done with alternative energy sources. I almost envy her since she will be putting into reality what I've been dreaming about for quite some time. It's fun and I get to share a little of what I've learned over the past few years. I only wish I could do that here, but I don't think the landlord would approve me altering the cottage -- at least not yet -- but I can still dream. I even saw the latest in composting toilets for the modern home, but I can't say I'm ready for that yet. I like the low flow toilet and not having to flush 2 or 3x just to get a little bit of paper to go down, and I am enjoying the low flow shower head, too. With a garbage disposal and an energy efficient dishwasher, I feel more in control of things.

One thing I have learned with this whole experience is that it is best not to bottle up anger and frustration or it will explode at the worst possible time. I am convinced the crater in Arizona was not caused by a meteor or comet as some scientists believe, but by a dinosaur that had taken so much crap and bottled up so much anger and frustration that it finally exploded, taking most of the local dinosaur population with it and sending a plume of dust and ash and debris into the atmosphere that blotted out the sun and created the ice age. I would prefer that not happen to me. I would hate to damage the Rocky Mountains or put a crater in the middle of Colorado any time soon. Anger is a good thing, in moderation, and it is even better when it hasn't been pressurized over time.

That is all. Disperse.