a day in the life

I was busy today and it seemed a typical day, at least for the last week or so. Here's how it went. I woke around 7am to the sound of birdsong. The sun was shining; it was about 28 degrees outside. I checked my email; no real messages, just spam. We're out of bagels so I had two pieces of toast with peanut butter and jelly and about three cups of coffee.

I went to the fire dept office and uploaded some fire reports. In order to receive federal grants all fire departments, even the smallest rural ones, have to send their fire reports to the national data base. So I spent about three hours doing that and talking to the state fire marshall's office making sure I was doing everything right.

Then I stopped at the Dawson's Creek store, a little country convenience store between the fire station and our house. It's become the nerve center of the fire department. We have a lot of impromptu meetings there while we sip coffee or soda pop. Anytime you stop in there's bound to be at least one firefighter there, especially since the owner, James Rector, is a member. I bought a powerball ticket and then went home.

When I arrived home and checked my email I noticed I had sold a book on Amazon. I packaged it and took off for the Proctor post office to send it on its way. I always visit with the postmaster, Kathleen. I worked with her on the job and we've been friends for twenty years.

Back home, I worked on my roto tiller for awhile. It will start but won't run for very long. I'm afraid I forgot to drain the fuel tank last fall and now the carburetor is gummed up. Tomorrow I'll take it apart and clean it. Maybe that will work.

This afternoon I joined James Rector and Mike Wolf and helped them to build some concrete forms for the new helipad. At 4:30 I told them that if I wanted to eat dinner while it was still hot I'd better get home. Dorothy made barbecued meatloaf with twice baked potatoes and green beans. We had banana chocolate cake for dessert. After dinner I've just been watching tv and playing on the computer.

All these activities were done at a leisurely pace. I remind myself often how lucky I am; retired, yet active at things I like to do, but without the stress and strain of working for a dysfunctional organization. Yes, life is good.