The water transfer project has been going well, and I got the van back from the shop last night-- including not only my scooter in the back but the several midsize jugs that had been set there for the fetch we had planned. Because it went to the shop and had a protracted stay, we ended up fetching instead with Hardi's smaller but 4WD car... so before another boatload of snow falls on our freezing flooded yard I slickered up to grab those last empty jugs, while the gittin' was good. That gives me the total I need to pour off from a friend's borrowed jugs-- and get his back to him when he's ready, because I leave a week from today for a trip that might overlap his timeframe to get them back. So now he and Hardi will be able to handle the swap-back.

===

The next task will be to get the van road-ready while we flounder in the week's snow and ice and rain, which will be REAL fun. While I was out there in my slicker, I eyeballed the van's back end to fix firmly in my mind's eye: what will need to be removed/added before I set out? So I can use the next weather window of opportunity to do it all in one shot. I brought in the one bag that would need some re-packing-- the always-onboard toiletries bag I use whether we are gone for a month or a daytrip. (It has saved my dignity during many the IBS event!!!) I am thinking of extending the trip by a few days to see my son.

===

Made and began to implement a tough decision last night backed by discernment and certainty-- been wallowing thru shifting sands in the desert of this awful winter, with the pieces of it. The result is a well-planned, phased-in resumption of a ministry I've missed very much, with as many win/win features as possible built in for the other folks affected. I am very much at peace with the decision-- and the waiting to make it till the clarity about the details kicked in.How it will affect ongoing home improvements is that I am going to use my two autoharps, this time around, for awhile, for my own music. Sounds simple-- isn't.

===

After mud season here (and it's gonna be a bad one), I'm gonna ask Adrian to cut up the kitchen rug I despise-- into pieces to replace the rug (walk-off mat from mudville) in the dogs' corner. I have a template of the odd shape.

It was a free carpet. It is NOT working in the kitchen, but it will work handily for that purpose... and then be thrown out when too nasty to use! That carpet will have had more than nine lives by the time I let it go, and my health is the priority-- not trying to wring 12 lives out of 9 in a rug worth, at most, 2! Those pieces will be ready and waiting for next year's mud season, and be swapped in as needed!!! (I might not wait till the end of mud season to do it!)

~Susan