This tree bore witness to the raising of the eastern wall to the shed project. This was all Brandt’s work.
I was pretty lazy today. There was some work on the map servers that I tried to do, but even that didn’t really progress as hoped.
This tree bore witness to the raising of the eastern wall to the shed project. This was all Brandt’s work.
I was pretty lazy today. There was some work on the map servers that I tried to do, but even that didn’t really progress as hoped.
This tree got to watch as neighbor Brandt and I (mostly Brandt) installed the framing for west wall of my shed project over on Lot 73.
After working in the morning, Brandt needed some help lifting that assembled frame of 2 x 6’s – it was quite heavy. We ended up using a come-along.
This tree is the tallest tree on lot 73. This time, each year, if the sky isn’t overcast, it meets the sun again after our 3 months exile in the mountain’s shadow.
This tree observed passing traffic during the morning rush hour.
This tree was frosty, just like all the others.
A woman came into the gift store this morning, looking for a Valantine’s Day card. Unfortunately, we had some issues with our card supplier, and we don’t have any Valentine’s Day cards this year. She was disappointed, of course. She moped about the store looking at some of the other stuff we have. But then she brightened. “I suppose I could use a sympathy card, instead,” she announced.
She did not, in fact, buy a sympathy card for her Valentine. I think it was a joke. But it was well executed and I was laughing about it all day.
This tree was outside a window where I often sit and look out.
This tree saw a light dusting of snow in the far western suburbs of Rockpit.
Art and I went to town for Thursday shopping. I had a lot of gift-store-related extra errands (banks, etc.). Arthur just dozes in the car while I do these.
In fact I felt pretty under-the-weather, today. I’m not sleeping well these days. Worrying about store tax preparation and stuff like that.
This tree saw a blueish sky as the car thawed its windshield for the commute to town.
This tree was by the sea as a proper winter finally arrived.
This tree saw rain shifting to snow, out by the little greenhouse with a moldy heart.
Arthur forgot how to pay at the store yesterday. Just stood there, while the cashier got frustrated. It was a bit stressful, but I stepped in and pulled the levers – helped him dig out his credit card, sort of gave directions.
It’s always doubly frustrating because half the time he’ll deny there was a problem minutes later. It’s just like this temporary glitch in the operating system.
This tree was adjacent to a nice view toward downtown Rockpit, out there across the water.
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I like this tree. I took this picture in April, 2014, walking near my place of work in Goyang City, South Korea. I was only 6 months out from the end of my radiation treatment after my previous cancer surgery. I remember feeling quite terrible, but slogging along with job and life.
Today was a long, unprofitable day at the gift store. I had to go buy a new tank of helium at Tyler, for our balloon operation. As a side note, a tank of helium is a very heavy thing – not what you’d expect from helium, to be frank.
I learned that our local competitor in helium retailing, the monopoly grocery store, sells their helium at less than half what we do. If they pay the same for a tank of helium that we do (and I’m confident they do – they’re an obvious customer at Tyler, the only place that sells helium on the island), they’re selling at a steep loss. I pondered the economics of being a monopoly grocery store in a small, remote Alaskan town. Maybe there’s some weird philanthropic helium subsidy from some “Keep Rural Alaska Balloony” foundation. Or maybe they’re just incompetent and forgot to raise their prices over the last decade.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 9hr; helium-tank-loading-unloading, 10min]
This tree experienced wind and rain.
I ran across an interesting one-line take-down of Pascal’s Wager: “I don’t believe in gambling, either.”
This tree saw substantial precipitation.
I finally had 2 days off from work in a row. And tomorrow too. I was feeling burnt out.
This tree was our Christmas tree. I put it outside again a few weeks ago and gifted it with a pink flamingo to keep it entertained.
This tree was alongside our potholy road.
Art and I both had dental exam appointments scheduled this morning, but the the appointments were cancelled because the dentist couldn’t make it to the clinic (he comes from Sitka, he’s not local). They didn’t tell us about this cancellation until we got there, though. So we had a much earlier “shopping day in town” than we normally do, every Thursday.
Then, the moment we got home, around 11 AM, I got a call from the the gift store and had to go back in, to complete a framing project that I had been led to understand was “no hurry” but in fact the customer wanted promptly.
So I did a lot of driving back and forth on our potholy road.
This tree oversaw a stubborn, slick patch of ice despite unexpectedly warm (relatively speaking).
This tree was near an ancestor’s grave in South Korea. I have no idea when I took this picture, but it was before 2014, and it was in Korea.
I had a very exhausting day. Morning at the dentist (always stressful, and I will always stand by my declaration that fighting mouth cancer is more pleasant than the dentist), then a full day at work, moving around mat board (heavy 32″ x 40″ sheets of cardboard) to rearrange my frame shop area at the store.
This tree was covered in snow. Note that this is not a recent picture – it’s 3 years old. This year, the local trees haven’t experienced being covered with snow.
This tree was down along the treehouse trail.
I had to work today, Saturday, though it’s normally a day off.
This tree witnessed that some snow had fallen. Ice on the road: winter is finally here.