Projects

Some people blog daily. I fear that were I to blog daily, the blog would become dribble, typed out of a sense of duty, void of substance, and a waste of time for people who do check in here.

Some people blog after every run. If I were to do that, I wouldn't blog but once a week. Well, the week after Afton, I would have blogged 3 times. But each of those runs were no longer than 2 miles.

Some people blog when inspired. My wife waits to blog until a thought makes her laugh. Then, she relishes in the whole writing process and usually can't wait for me to read what she's written. It's almost always time well spent to read one of her blog posts.

Realizing that I have not written in some time, I am at a loss for a reason to blog tonight. I'm not inspired, I didn't run today, or the day before, and I certainly have not bound myself to blogging as a daily ritual. So, what's on my mind?

I've a longish run tomorrow. Voyageur 50 is next weekend, so it can't be too long. Just enough to loosen up and remind my legs what a trail is. But that's tomorrow. I've only once before written about a run I have yet to do.

Here's what's on my mind: projects. I've got lots of projects that are in some stage of projectness. Here they are:
1. building a wood stove contraption to heat the swimming pool. For the past month, I've been sweating 1" copper tubing around a cast iron wood stove (purchased on Craigslist). When finished, I'll connect the pool filter hose to the copper tubing. Water will flow from the pool, through the pump and filter, then through the copper and back into the pool. When the stove is stoked, the fire should heat the copper tubing. So many variables that will effect whether it actually works: will the soder hold up (I used lead-free soder), is 1" to narrow and will the water flow too quickly to effectively heat, will the copper tubing cause the chemical balance in the pool water to change, and so on.

2. back hallway laundry room and pantry. I tore this apart last summer while waiting for the MN bar results. I was a little nervous and had lots of energy. Since then, we've been toying with various designs for putting it back together. I'm afraid to move forward on this until we've got the perfect idea. Yes, it might be years.

3. crawl space reinsulating. I began this project in the winter of 2006-2007. The kids' rooms were cold. I went under the floor to see why. The vents to their rooms had been shut off. In figuring this out, I saw that the insulation between the joists was mouse infested and gross. So, I began replacing it. Wow, is that messy. So messy, that I've put off finishing ever since.

4. clearing the forest of wood piles. There must be nearly 3000 stacked piles of cut tree trunks left by the previous owner throughout the woods. They jsut sit there and really don't do anything but rot. However, I really dislike how they look. It just isn't natural. Since 2005, we've been hauling them out and burning them. We're about 1/20 of the way done. It's kind of like running an ultra.

In fact, all my projects are like running an ultra.

"It's not a hill, it's a mountain
As you start out the climb
Do you believe me, or are you doubting
We're gonna make it all the way to the light
But I know I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight"