I never really thought of it till just now. I guess it was back in February that this blog turned twenty years old. Twenty years I have been writing about the mundane and recording the tiny events that have made up my life, for nobody to read, and nobody to respond to but the Russian Bots that respond to every post. Are they somebody? They are never relevant to the topic of the post, so no. Sadly, they are not.
So, here it is, an hour before time to get up, and I am awake and writing. I was just thinking about how I used to hear coyotes in the field to the north of our house in the late-night darkness. I have not heard them in years now. I think they used to cross the field on the way from one hunting ground to another, going east and west as they transported. I have seen little evidence that deer use that field. I have seen a moose once, but not in that field, but in the field to the southeast of our house, about a half mile out. Yesterday I saw something over on State Street that I have only seen once before, and that was a red fox. The one I saw yesterday was dead on the side of the road. The one I saw before was just north of the field north of us, on the route to the bust stop.
a few months ago, I made the decision to try our accidental bought roosters out of the coop and let them have range in the yard. Something found out and promptly took them out over as many nights as there were roosters. Suggests that it was something like a racoon. Though I am still not sure. I have suspected it was the neighbor’s dogs that they allow to roam freely. But I think they would have done the job in one night.
So, the state of things has changed, but in many ways, it is still the same around here. This summer is sizing up to be a dry one in the creeks and riverbed, and maybe even the ground water. I’ll watch that in the swale at the bottom of the pasture. Utah is only a mile away, and they have a state of emergency declared by their governor for drought. Of course, that only being a mile suggests to the mind that it could be just as easily a disaster here where I live. It also suggests that this is the first time their governor has ever taken notice of their environment down there and made a wise decision.
I am going to be taking my daughter to her school this morning, then going in to work to chase pennies. It is Friday, so that is normally promising. Yesterday was not so great, especially for the time I spent in. But maybe today I will get a better hourly.
I was wondering yesterday if it would be worth me getting a brush hog and offering services, especially with the increased fire risk due to the dryness. It seems a good average rate is about $100 an hour, which is right in the middle of the range, fifty dollars up and down from there. So, let’s say $100. Now, it would be an absolute dream to get paid for 15 hours a week to do it. I could live with that, I think. Especially in my cab with the air running. It is dusty work and would put the air filters out of service fast. That would need sorting. And I would have to service the air-con, and the engine filter. The tractor is due for an oil change, too. And obviously, it does not all have to be brush hogging as I could be doing a little other work at that rate, too. But that, in addition to Dashing, and photography, would be excellent. A little of all three in the week would help keep us and could maybe raise our standard of living. The hog would cost anywhere from $1,600 to $2,600 or so. Higher and with a clutch rather than a shear bolt would be best. AND! I could use it to keep up on our damned lawn from hell! Just saying!
I have been carrying my D300 in the car with me these past couple of days. I have messed with the settings on the picture control, done some in low saturation, some in color, but mostly done them in monochromatic. I am shooting in J-peg, so that setting is permanent. I could just shoot in color and edit later, but I want the intention to be set into the photograph, not an after-thought. The files of the D300 are smaller, and I will likely be able to put them up here easier. So, you might see some. I am keeping the 850 aside for hired work. That is some serious photography right there, where the D300 is serving as my Polaroid, or point and shoot. Crazy to think that I got that camera three years into this blog, or so, and it was my serious camera. I wonder what will come next? I mean, in my mind, the D850 is the pinnacle. But you never know. I may get a digital back for the Hasselblad still! One day. But I’ll have to earn that, that’s for sure!
So, today I need to go in and focus on working and earning. Not photographing and recording and all that. I still have not recorded the Bridge video for my YouTube channel. I am still not quite sure I want to get that thing going. I mean, it could earn some money. But I expect that from what I hear from others, I could work all month and if I am lucky, a channel like mine could be bringing in about $1,500 a month after a year or two. That is far too little. I need closer to that much a week, in less than a year. I don’t want to commit to foolishness for that. And I am not sure there is any other content I could come up with. Foolishness. That word scares me. I don’t want to be foolish in public like that.
I know this much. In the name of eliminating foolishness from my life, I need to earn more money. I need to earn a fairly serious amount per week before the year is out. I need to get rid of the foolishness and bring in money, for money’s sake. I have been foolish for too long. I don’t want it to change who I am, which is as always, a bit of a fool. But I need it. My family needs it. And that is the crux of it all. I see deficiencies in myself affecting them in ways I don’t like. I am not happy about it. I need billable hours doing something. I know what I can do. I just need to market myself and do it. Door-Dashing can be a backup plan, or a sort of gap filler to keep things going on the down weeks. I could rent a dump trailer if a job needs one for the tractor work. I think a hog would be a sound purchase, but I need to see the actual demand for it. Line me up a few jobs, and there I go. I know how I can rate the work, and what to base estimates on. So far, the tractor has been reliable. Mostly. That fan belt sure likes to come apart fast, to my thinking. I wonder if it is just a fluke that it has separated a bit right away, and a new one would run better.
So, these are my ponderings right now. I just saw a cat do a crazy run through the grass across the street and then turn around at the edge it was parallel to and run into and alongside the road. It was one of our calicos. Suitable distraction in lieu of a squirrel.
I am a little tired still. I have been since that lawn mowing the other day. So, I don’t give it much mind, though I think some of my meal choices yesterday have contributed to today’s feeling. Then again, it could also be the midnight till 5AM sleep I got. But I am going to have to do the usual and push through. I need to earn $200 today. No messing about. I did not even come close yesterday. And things were falling apart by the end of the day. Earnings were low, I lost focus. I forgot to give a gut his shake and had to go back to deliver it after being sent on a pick-up at a place that was just closed. It threw me. So, I quit for the day and get my wife some cheeses and went home. It was coming up on 10PM when I got home. What was being out that late for so little earning all about?
Must focus today. Get the other plans figured out on Tuesday, when it is my day off. Or this evening, when I have given up on today’s work. But for the next several hours, it is time to go earn.
Meanwhile, Happy Anniversary to the bots, and the blog here that they keep pestering. And if anyone actually ever reads this, there are twenty years of this shit for you to catch up on. I’ll get started now on the next twenty.
Oh, good God! I almost forgot. My oldest daughter solved my “Where’s Matt’s house” problem. Every time I would go down to Hyrum, I would try to remember where his house was. Of course, he has been dead for some time now, so I have been out of touch with him. I have tried and tried, and my daughter comes along and casually Google’s it, and finds the address that sounded so damned familiar. I drove past this week. It seems like the trees in front have been severely reduced from what I thought I remembered, and the condition of the house has gone down. But I’d say that yes, that was it! It was harder to judge the size of the place from what I remember because there were so many trees in my mind. Seeing it whole from the street, it was not as big as I thought I remembered it. The paint is lighter, too. But that determination to find the place has finally been satisfied. I have been able to fill the discombobulation of my memory and restore my orientation in it. I have reconciled the discrepancies! Finally! Thanks daughter! Spoiled brat with her Google device! I tried searching it again yesterday, and I could not find the damned address then. But it was still in my Maps search history. So, I took a moment and found it. Naturally, that is the kind of crap that I mean by distracted yesterday. None of that while working today!
Right! Tally ho! Time to put the garbage bins across the road, and take my kid up to her school, then get to work! Twenty-years! And beyond!
