Posts Tagged ‘planning’
Uncertain Outcome
And then there is the plot twist where something is expected to happen, but nothing happens.
Now what? Carry on as usual? That feels like such an injustice to all the energy that was put into anticipating the future that didn’t quite materialize as planned. I resort to making a list.
the periodic ticking of the hot fireplace
pecking of a bird breaking open seeds outside on the ledge of one of our log wall ends
clacking of keys on her laptop keyboard
gusting wind against the house and through the pine tree branches
radio songs from 1983
furnace fan cycling on and off
crunching dry food that a cat is munching
iPhone text message received alarm
distant whine, felt more than heard, rising from the base of the neck to between two ears
What’s happenin’? The unexpected non-event, that’s what.
Extend hibernation for a little longer. The explosion of spring will not be denied, but it can be delayed.
We’ll be patient. What choice do we have?
More Posts
Monday is the weekday I don’t drive to the day-job, with my 4-day work week, and yesterday provided me the opportunity to witness the process of fence posts installation. I discovered there is a lot more to the task than just digging a hole and dropping a post down into it.
I am very grateful to see the crew we hired are very particular about getting the posts precise, to assure we end up with not just a functional fence, but one that will look good, too.
With each post, they have to watch multiple things, simultaneously: first, that it is the right distance from the previous post, but then also that it’s set to the right depth, level in two directions, square to the line which the cross-boards will run, and ultimately, in line with the rest of the posts.
When they finally achieve all of those parameters, they need to back-fill the hole, packing the dirt tight as they go, without allowing the post to move out of position. When you are setting a lot of posts in a line, one bad one can really stand out of the bunch. They have to repeat this series of steps over and over, with sustained vigilance to meet each goal, for every post. I think it’s pretty impressive.
They also agreed to create a radius, which I didn’t think they wanted to do, so the fence by the new driveway will follow the arc of the loop.
While that work was happening, we received one more truckload of sand for the driveway, and then the trusses for the hay shed. The dump truck driver informed us it would be the last load for now, as he discovered the route has been posted with road restrictions for reduced weight limits, due to the spring thaw. That restriction will likely last into May. We got close, but we were intending to put at least one more load than was delivered yesterday. Luckily, we have the fill we need for work on the shed to commence.
Here is a wide shot that shows how the fence line will arc with the driveway, and where the hay shed will be located beside the driveway loop:
Practicing Action
It is no surprise to me that our recent period of stasis is arousing urges, in both Cyndie and me, for renewed action toward the pursuit of our dreams for Wintervale. It seems like we have come a long way from that life we had in the suburbs not so long ago. We have gotten too far to turn back now. Moments like this are opportunities to push on toward fulfilling the potential that our long term dream might hold.
Yesterday, when Cyndie got home from work, we quickly discovered we were having some of the very same feelings. Lately, we have been doing a lot of talking about things we are thinking about doing, but neither of us has taken any action toward actually getting anything to happen. I attribute part of it to the fact that the weather has been putting the fence project on hold for months.
Last night, we finally made a decision, and then purchased a ticket to fly me down to Arizona to participate in her last session of equine assisted leadership training. We also did some fresh research, and came another step closer to getting her car listed for sale.
Today, the fencing contractor is scheduled to get back to work on our project here, and Cyndie is going to be able to come home early to supervise. I am now planning to take Wednesday off to be here for the expansion of the driveway loop in front of the barn.
We are rallying to act on the energy that seems to have hit both of us at the same time, in hopes of maintaining progress in a positive direction. We aim to avoid a trap that is easy to fall into, given a little inattention; one I find is way too easy for me to be comfortable with: living in general acceptance of the situation that surrounds you, however stagnant or messy it becomes.
Cyndie is pondering new ways to put her knowledge about leadership into more effective practice. We are both looking to bolster our methods of collaboration. We are practicing taking action.
Snow Accumulating
Melting snow, slowly making its way off the barn’s steel roof.
I’ve never had much luck interpreting what the weather was going to do next, but I have always had a keen interest in what’s happening in our skies. That is, I’m interested when the weather presents us with something dramatic, like storms, or record-setting extremes. I think meteorology is fascinating.
As a result, and since I am lousy at predicting on my own, I make frequent use of weather web sites. As I write this, we are currently under a winter storm warning, and I have been checking the radar frequently. I started checking on Sunday. The storm was predicted to start in the early morning hours of Monday.
When I was rudely awakened, several times, by the crashing and banging activity of raccoons on the deck in those wee hours of the a.m., I took advantage of the motion-light which had triggered, to find out the deck was still bone dry. That just added suspense to what daylight would reveal, at the break of dawn.
Daylight revealed nothing. Still dry as could be. I checked with folks at work, on the other side of the Twin Cities, and learned they were getting accumulating snow. I immediately checked the radar, to see how far off it was, and what I found was pretty useless. The radar looked as if it was already on top of us and snow was falling over Beldenville. Maybe, but just not at my house. Or, maybe it was one of those situations where snow falling from the clouds was drying up before it could reach the ground. Whatever.
Finally, by 12:10 p.m. yesterday afternoon, I started to see some falling flakes. However, by 12:18 p.m., it had already stopped. By the end of yesterday, all we had received was a trace of snow. What was going on?
I checked Minnesota Public Radio’s Updraft weather blog. The post said they knew all along that the snow accumulation from this event would come in two waves, and the second wave would be the heavier amount. It also indicated that their computer model “insisted” that the area of greatest accumulation remained directly over the metro area, into western Wisconsin.
The prediction for the timing of the heaviest snowfall was now the early morning hours of Tuesday. I made an advance decision to stay home from the day-job today, based on the warning of the ‘insisting’ computer model.
I don’t dare hold ill feelings for the discrepancies between meteorologist’s predictions, and what really takes place. I certainly am not able to do any better.
If all goes as planned (hoped), I will wake up (from a full night’s sleep), to find a massive accumulation of beautiful white snow, and then snuggle back under the covers to sleep in, giving the storm more time to move out of the area, toward the east. The afternoon will then be spent plowing and shoveling.
That is, if the weather doesn’t deviate from what the computer model insists should happen.
New View
Not long ago, I posted a picture of what our planned hay shed might look like, situated by the barn, and with the new loop of driveway around it. Creating it had been a rather quick effort to find a shed that looks like what we have in mind, and paste it onto the existing image. A little while after that effort, I was walking down our driveway and experienced a moment of clarity. The hay shed in that image was in the wrong orientation.
We have been mulling over how it might look, and I suddenly realized that, when coming up our driveway, the view won’t be directly in at the stored hay, you will see the side of the shed. So, I spent some time last night doctoring up another photo image.
In trying to correct for the scale, I may have overdone it a bit, and made it too big this time, I’m not sure. I also darkened the new portion of driveway, to make it more visible. However, then I went and covered it up by adding some fence for the paddock that will be going in. Here’s a representation of the current plan we have in mind:
The fence line isn’t quite right, as we haven’t exactly determined where we will be putting gates, and what route it will ultimately follow, but it helps to see it there, to envision the impact it makes on the look of the new shed in that location.
I’m feeling encouraged that it might end up to be a logical and coordinated layout, and hopefully won’t look as disjointed as I originally feared it might. Now, if the weather would just cooperate, we could start making some actual physical progress on the project, not just image-manipulated simulations of progress (even though simulations are a lot easier and a heck of a lot cheaper).
In Case
Just in case you are following my saga of solving the problem with my beloved hand plow, I have progress to report. The best thing I did thus far is write about it, and talk with as many people as possible about it. My ideas for ways to add support to prevent future bending, have expanded significantly with the input I have received from a wide variety of sources.
The solution that thrilled me the most, and was much easier than fabricating a bracket, is simply attaching a length of angle iron and using ring clamps to secure it.
I drew my idea for a brace, on this image, in red: 
It was suggested that a bracket underneath, in the area I was considering, should be much longer, to reach further up the handle. Here it is with the suggested bracing:
Laying a piece of angle iron over the top and clamping it seemed like a much easier plan. I stopped by the hardware store on my way home yesterday, and picked up parts. It didn’t take me long to realize an oversight. There is a plastic piece that needs to float back and forth for adjustment of the blade angle. I won’t be able to clamp the angle iron over that. Unfortunately, it is in the exact area that most needs to be braced.
Luckily, it was also suggested to me that if the fit was right, the angle iron could be inserted inside the tube. Walaa! That will work nicely! So, that is the avenue I am pursuing. I think I am close to succeeding, but I still need to work out a problem in one spot where the angle iron is interfering with my getting a bolt through.
I have some work-arounds in mind for that, and hope to be back in business by the next snowfall.
Wish me luck!
New Ideas
We have a new idea about a way to make a hay shed fit in optimal orientation in the space we have available. We are considering creating a roundabout driveway to the barn. I have updated our planning image to show how it might look. It would allow a delivery of hay to pull in without needing to back up or turn around. After unloading, the route out would be straight ahead around the loop.
It is going to alter the perimeter of the paddock on that side, but we think it will be a worthy compromise. Determining the route of the fencing is important because the first batch of fence wood has been delivered. When weather permits, we would like to have paddock construction begin.
I have a new inspiration about possibilities here. We enjoyed a dinner date with Larry and Nancy, the wonderful people we purchased this property from, and during conversation, the word “spring” came up, and not in reference to the season of the year. I was pondering the fact that we still have so much to discover here, not having yet experienced the wet season after the snow thaws. I’m not sure what to expect.
Larry pointed out that it can happen that there will be areas that will be dry, but others not. One time he unexpectedly got the tractor stuck in a wet spot and needed to have a neighbor pull it out. Nancy mentioned the possibility of there being springs that are the source of wet spots.
I will be keeping a close eye on any areas that remain unusually damp after the snow melts, the seasons change, and the heat of summer begins to dry out the land. I would be thrilled to discover we have a spring. There is so much yet to learn, simply by being here for a full year of nature’s changes. It is a great thrill.
Today we are snugged in, having run errands yesterday, and we intend to enjoy a predicted winter storm from the vantage point of our living room. There is a fire in the fireplace, and plenty of indoor work to consume our attention. It is a downright dreamy Wintervale day.
We’re Off!
We are off to a walloping start for the new year at our place. We took care of some details that have been lingering unaddressed during the time we were overly focused on our open house/party, and the Christmas and New Year holidays. Cyndie now has Wisconsin license plates for her car, and I learned that our energy company does the billing for electric and propane, independently. I applied for auto-pay, but it only went into effect for the electric bill. I was past due on the propane, because I needed to apply for that separately. Who knew? It’s all taken care of now.
We made some great progress in designing the layout of our future horse spaces, and the fencing that will define it. Our special friends, Barb and Mike, were here to ring in the new year, and helped us identify a miscalculation (confusing ‘feet’ for ‘yards’ in our numbers), which allowed us to move past a stumbling block that was truly foiling our attempts to plan. Then they graciously accompanied us in trudging through the snow to ‘test’ our layout in real scale.
I remain pleasantly encouraged that we have plenty of space to accommodate what we currently have in mind. It’s not a perfect science, since we don’t know which of our potential plans will actually be achieved, in the long run, but the possibilities appear to allow room for us to fit any of the variety of visions that are floating in and out of our dreams.
The owners of the fencing company came to our house on the afternoon of the New Year holiday, to consult on the current status and future planning. We came a couple of steps closer to choosing the type of fence, and are now leaning toward a vinyl-coated high tensile wire strung between wood posts. It will help keep the total cost of this phase of our project down in a range that almost fits our budget.
They will be pounding some stakes and stringing temporary lines to help us visualize how the fences for two paddocks around the barn will look.
These are significant steps for us. In the month-plus since we started talking with this company about our wishes, the progress has felt rather hobbled. There is a very good aspect to the delay of progress, in that, we have had time to adjust our perceptions and work on our imaginings of what we wish to create.
I take it as a good sign, that none of the changes that have evolved are very significant. Overall, it is pretty much on plan with our combined visions.
On top of the energy we felt from working on that project, our inspirations were led to spend some time together exploring the possibilities for a dog, or dogs, that will be good companions for horses, and visitors, and our cats, and us! We share a feeling of attraction to certain, but not all, herders, for our situation. We like the Belgian Shepherd, Australian Shepherd, Sheltie, and Great Pyrenees. All tend to have similar benefits/challenges. It will be a tough choice.
There is plenty ahead for us in 2013. It feels like we have picked up right where we left off in 2012, and we got a pretty good start on day one. Hang on for another wild ride!
Looping Loops
Cyndie and I are growing loopy over the topsy-turvy world of uncertainty we find ourselves trapped in lately.
None of our possessions have a known location, and we can’t keep straight where we have put anything down at any given moment.
Yesterday was supposed to be the day Cyndie started her new job, but we have been forced to push back our plans by two business days to finally accomplish the second step in our 3-step plan to transition from old house to new.
We have already finished the third step, which was to get our possessions moved into the new house. Now we need to go back and complete the second step: signing closing documents, finally making this all legal and proper.
Yesterday, we set out on our half-hour therapeutic walk, and just up the road, met our first neighbor as she was headed to put something in her mailbox. Her husband eventually wandered out and there we stood, on the side of the road, getting up to speed on all the neighborhood tales. It was one of those wonderful conversations that seems to have no end. A little bit like some of my posts… So, no sooner than we had shared one last parting ‘nice-to-meet-you’ to set off on our walk, we found ourselves back in the depths of neighborly gab. It was a treat!
We learned there had been a tornado that moved through the area two years ago, just behind our property, which took out one of their sheds from behind the barn. They said it was 30-years, to the day, after an earlier tornado took the same path.
Later in the day, Cyndie and I heard our first rumbles of thunder here. It sounded GREAT! I’m gonna love watching the weather from our new perch.
It took half the day to determine any signing of closing documents wasn’t going to happen until Tuesday (today!!), so by the time we knew we were free to run errands, it was getting late. We made it to our new bank to make some deposits and get cash, then made a run to hardware and home improvement stores for things piling up on our shopping list.
This really got me spinning. There is so much for us to do, it is hard to figure out where to start. Of course, I like to start at a beginning, (any beginning!) , and proceed in a sequence. Cyndie likes to start everything at once and proceed in every direction, simultaneously. Shopping with her is a real trip for me.
I ended up bringing home things I was considering should probably be on my ‘future wants’ list, but hadn’t even begun shopping for. At the same time, we knocked off a few valuable items that we can put into service immediately, like a set-back thermostat, new shower head, push brooms, boot mats for our entry ways, and anti-fatigue pads for the kitchen floor.
To Cyndie’s credit, I was able to forestall a couple other uncertain decisions until we are able to spend a bit more time to be sure what we want. I do wield some calming influence on the shopping front.
By the time we headed home, it was dark, and I almost got us stuck in a looping round-about. Then I entered a turn lane, one turn too soon, and quickly ran out of pavement, making a last minute correction with too much speed. It was past dinner hour and I was loopy from too much shopping and too many days of disorientation.
We hope to get the last (previously, second), most critical step, wrapped up today. That will give me a solid beginning to plot my next step(s) toward our new orientation on our “Wintervale Ranch.”
Masterful Planning
We are eking out progress, one day at a time. When our buyers make one more request of us, to appease their insurance company’s needs for in-depth documentation, we scour our files and produce the goods, from 16-years ago! Full speed ahead.
When I come home from the day-job, it is a relief for me to hear Cyndie report the variety of places in our house that she has vanquished. Closets packed, basement storage, down to the last few things. I am making progress, vicariously through Cyndie.
Our lovely children have both checked in, preparing to navigate the final days, and stop over to pick up the last of their stuff. We have received clearance from Cyndie’s parents to store some of our delicate and valuable items at their house during the transition.
We still haven’t found a home for the extra refrigerator in the basement, but what’s the worst that could happen? We take it with us. I’m not too worried.
We didn’t have a master plan when we moved into our house in Eden Prairie 25 years ago. Over the span of time that we have lived here, we shaped it into the home we wanted. I have every confidence we will be able to accomplish the same thing at our new home. The secret ingredient is time.
We don’t need to have it perfectly (whatever that is) figured out in time to tell the movers where to put everything. Get our stuff from here to there, place it somewhere safe and dry, and we’ll eventually figure out what will work best for us.
Seriously. That’s not just my struggles with planning talking. That’s my knowledge that we’ve done it before, and we will be able to do it again, and more!
Relative Something 