at home – the neoscenes/tech-no-mad (b)log ::

5 : August : 201411 : June : 2023

place: Prescott, Arizona

imprisoned

Imprisoned by my own lack of imagination…

These words popped out of an interview between two people on the radio. It resonated: driving, I grabbed a red Sharpie from the glove box and the old spiral notebook I keep for just such instances, and scrawled it down, further endangering other drivers, the ones chatting on their phones.

Arriving home on another day, I remember to grab this scrap of paper torn from the notebook and bring it inside. Putting it on the top of the pile of papers on the desk initiates a reverie:

Is imagination, imagining, a liberation? Is it something possessed? And is its loss akin to being locked up in a cell in Soledad? And what does it mean to once have it and lose it? Mon dieu! Such things to muse about, on the outside world’s Monday morning. While I bide the moments:

Waiting for. enLightenment to arrive with a slamming door and a pine-cone falling on the roof.

Imagining the effect of imagination’s potential for, what, seeing the path that brings us here and now to imagine upon?

2 : July : 201427 : August : 2014

Day 3 – estimates

Started out at 0800, continuing on the garage. The seamless gutter guy comes by at 1030 to give an estimate on the front and deck-side gutter replacement; then Justin comes by at 1130 to confirm the estimate on the tree removal. It’s a pity to take out three decent Ponderosas, but the one in the middle of the deck is causing such foundation issues it should never have been allowed to grow so large since when the cabin was first built 50 years ago. The other two are disturbing other areas of foundation or water shedding.

So, 4 hours in the morning, cleaning the garage, walls, ceiling, and floor and the shelving and other objects in there. Moving things around, cleaning: moving tiny loose particles of pulverized rock (dust!) from a wide-spread range to the vacuum cleaner or to a dustpan, and thence to the dumpster. I want to use the garage as a staging point for the rest of the house occupation. So, with another 6 hours of random juggling (clearing the slots between deck timbers (this should lengthen the life of the deck by 5 years at least); cleaning one gutter (that will be replaced in a couple weeks, but the Monsoons may start as early as Thursday); start to organize shelves for working; remove metal bunk beds to the garden shed (craigslist sale!); get cleaning supplies staged in the master bedroom; and other things. Hot as hell, although the garage stays cool. So, the working pattern: garage summer, flipped direction part of house (to collect winter sun) for winter.

Another 6 hours in the afternoon and evening, probably longer. Talk to Neil and his wife, the most proximal neighbors, about water drainage issues.

1 : July : 201411 : October : 2024

Day 2 – hard at it

The seller filled two dumpsters (skips) full of stuff. The first was removed on Friday, the second sat from Saturday through Monday. So on Sunday after it appeared that the seller and her family had finished up and left the house, I did a bit of diving and among a number of items, I filled half the back of my truck with clothing to take to Goodwill, as I said yesterday. There were tools, CDs, blankets, and all kinds of stuff. Just because I have a house now doesn’t mean I need to acquire stuff, but there were some useful things, along with a fair amount taken to charity. It’s a pity I didn’t get to the first dumpster.

At any rate, the seller arranged for a third dumpster to be left after the second was removed — I guess she felt there were things left that I might not want. Good deal. So today I spent:

12 hours – cleaning the garden shed and clearing its gutters, fixing some of the back yard water drainage, trimming large single branches, removing some stumps of rotted ponderosa, separating out reusable cinder blocks and bricks; beginning to dissemble the fence. With the dumpster here, I have a free opportunity to get rid of large items that wouldn’t easily fit in a garbage bin. Started cleaning the garage so that I can use that space as a staging area.

1 trip to Home Depot – drain pipe extenders, except I got the wrong adapter sizes, so will have to go back. Monsoon season has begun and there were thunderheads towards the Rim. It got overcast here which broke the heat.

30 : June : 201411 : October : 2024

place: Prescott, Arizona

Day 1 – today I bought a …

… house. good lord, what does this mean, how does this affect the trajectory of the future path? Thank god for breakfast yesterday with Todd and Amy to keep some semblance of perspective on a thoroughly normal process (replete with a thousand hitches) that can be a big positive adventure.

Start cleaning right off. The seller left a full dumpster that I dove deeply into last evening and this morning; pity I didn’t get to dive the previous one from last weekend, lotsa good stuff in this one! She also (thoughtfully) arranged to have an other empty one delivered as there was some stuff left that she figured I might need to get rid of. This is a good deal as I will be able to get rid of a bunch of the more obvious branches and detritus in the yard. They left some very usable items, a small dining room table, several single beds, many square feet of cheapish flooring with backing, several terrariums, a storm door, some yard implements, shelving in the garage, quite a bit of tiling, and so on.

I filled half the back of my truck with clothing they had discarded along with a few other items to take to Goodwill this afternoon when I go out to pick up the Title and Closing paperwork.

(on ma knees, what have ah dun?)

Now to get back to the TO Do list that is expanding by the minute…