No posting lately because there's Stuff To Do, and also I keep sleeping badly at night and then napping during the day.
Sleeping badly... maybe I mentioned that I'd injured my right arm a couple of weeks back? Kinda the same thing I did to my left arm back in April, only not as badly this time: lifted a heavy object from an awkward angle, causing damage to a muscle in the forearm. It's now at the stage where the original damaged muscle seems to be healing, but the entire arm tends to hurt, all the way from shoulder to fingertips - especially when I'm lying down and/or the arm gets slightly cold. This'll likely continue for another fortnight at least.
Despite this, I've been attempting to do manual labor in small doses; I can use the strimmer or the hedge trimmer for a little while before getting overly sore. While there aren't real trimmable hedges around here, there is rather a lot of giant jungle grass hanging over the footpaths, so going after that with the trimmer is somewhat productive. I guess I really ought to give the hay guy a call to coordinate schedules; once he does the fall mowing, there's a bunch of stuff I can get back to doing around the yard (not all of which requires both arms in working order).
Yesterday, we made a much-overdue recycling run with a truckload of cardboard, cans'n'bottles, and mixed paper. Still got a bunch more cardboard and paper, so we'll have to make another run, probably tomorrow. At least there's now a bunch more usable floor space in the garage!
Maybe today I'll make a start on building a sturdy workbench whereon to place the Sherline mill, once it gets here, plus various other power tools (some bolted down, some just set there are needed). Bits for power-cord management are either on hand or coming soon; I figure to have two or three holes with cable grommets out in the middle, and an outlet strip underneath (well away from metal chips, and inverted to boot). Got a cord cover so's the long cord from outlet strip to wall outlet won't be a trip hazard.
Our absentee ballots showed up. Getting an absentee ballot here is a little like California... back when I was in college. You're supposed to have a reason for needing one. (Yes, we'd been very much looking forward to voting in person, with polling places run the way they ought to be, ID and all, but then 2020 happened. (The poll workers back in Sunnyvale were OK, but were operating under absurd state rules.))
The ballot... things are simpler here, out in unincorporated Sevier County. We have:
- POTUS: Nine, count 'em, nine candidates, including Kanye o'er frae France, plus a line for a write-in. (All the offices have the write-in line.)
- U.S. Senate: Eleven candidates. The Republican's name is familiar, and I may have encountered the names of a couple of the independents somewhere before.
- U.S. Representative: Three candidates.
- State Senate: Just the Republican; I guess the Democrats in this district are about as motivated as the Republicans in many parts of California.
- State Representative: Two candidates, one from each major party.
That's it. No initiatives, referenda, legislation requiring voter approval, nor any other sort of ballot measures. No candidates for school board, judge, district attorney, keeper of the royal keys, dogcatcher, and so on. (I think there are a bunch of local elected officials, but maybe those elections are in off years, or in summer with the primary election? Things may be simpler out here, but I still have a lot to learn. And we don't get a flood of political mail here.)
Oh, and speaking of politics: last couple of trips into Seymour, we've seen a largish lonely BID≡N/HARRIS lawn sign along the lesser highway. Seems to remain unmolested, unlike Trump signs in some Blue zones. (I'm waiting the the campaign to pivot to folksy and print up a bunch of JO≡/KAMALA signs, maybe with a cartoon mascot.)
Back in the real world, the lawn is sprouting many mushrooms, some of them rather large:
No sign of the Woolly Bear nor a hookah.
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