Multiconstruct

Life continues at a pretty fast pace. Been rolling hard since 5:00 am and its a Sunday. Feel good though and found time for some fun. I woke up bolt awake pretty early and didn’t fight it but just got up. Made my first batch of the new batch of coffees and started with a Light Roast Sumatran. It was pretty good but made it a little weak. I didn’t have much gave 1/2  the batch to Jane for coming to my house yesterday for another photo shoot. We did some torso shots and got some with me with the dog. We have plans for the dog photo but I want it to be a surprise. Jane also brought Ursula her Pyrenees 11 month old puppy and she plays good with Fido. He led her on a merry game of chase being his home turf and he practices his routes. He enjoyed that more then photos.

I did some busy work on the computer and emailing photos took a lot of time and effort because the file size was so large. Watched some Laurel and Hardy while I was doing that and This Week with George Stephanopolis. Bout the best thing on the handful of channels I get. Read the paper too but selectively, reading the whole thing cover to cover is a luxury I can no longer afford.

I also made stew so I would have food to eat this week. I took some stew meat and rolled it in whole wheat flour and browned in olive oil. Cooked a couple of local onions in the drippings and scraped all that in the slow cooker. Added a can of green enchilada sauce, maybe a 1/4 of jar of spaghetti sauce and the rinse water from the containers. Chunked in 3 russet potatoes, 4 smallish local turnips and 4 carrots plus some dried tomatoes I got from the Sellmeyers. Added 4 big cloves of Michigan garlic, going to be sad when that is gone. Its a ways until fresh garlic comes in. Added some Braggs, Worcestershire sauce, Oregano and fresh ground pepper and let that cook a few hours. Then I added a can of green beans and some frozen peas and corn. and let that cook while Ann and I hit some doors for a few hours.

I’ve been doing the Vanderveen neighborhood and finished that today. Its been interesting hitting a high poverty area. People just look really flattered that a politician would come and ask them about what they want in the city. Few of them have complaints or issues. I come back with that’s OK they were’nt planning on a pop quiz on their front porch and tell them a little about my approach of focusing on neighborhoods. Did two trailer parks, the projects and a former trailer park that was brought into the city. Found a number of folks who don’t speak English. They’re is a Rising Sun social club in the neighborhood and they must facilitate civic engagement. Seems worth reaching out to. There is also a Hindu Temple. I love Columbia.

Still struggling to find hosts for yard signs. Its hard to go from I’ve never heard of you to I’ll advertise for you in 5 minutes. Had a couple long conversations and still couldn’t win a yard sign commitment. The burly guy with no pants on I thought was a shoe in. I came in when he invited me but stayed close to the door. It was a trailer so I knew he didn’t have a cage in the basement. He had some issues though and seemed like a player in his neighborhood so it was worth taking the risk and the time to make a connection.

Anne was outside, started calling me after 5 minutes so I would have an excuse to step out but I didn’t notice. Finally gave up on vibrate and am going to learn to live with the phone ringing. Doesn’t do much good to have a cell phone if I never know when I get a call.

Worked hard to get maybe 80 doors. There is no concentration of April voters, a house here and a house there. Plus we took a break for stew and coffee. Made the damn coffee week again and gave the rest to Ann. I roasted a Rwandan this morning when I did laundry. Hung it out to dry even though the weather was calling for not getting above freezing. It was breezy and sunny and ended up being kind of nice. Though 2 days outside and my skin is dry and my face feels warm from being wind blown. I skipped a shower, starting to get dry skin. Will try to move to every other day showering but I’ve got appearances this week. Labor Club Meet and Greet, Valentine’s Date. At least two other meetings to go to possibly a third tomorrow.

Knocked off just a tad early, wasn’t worth going out to start a new neighborhood. Allowed me to get my clothes while it was still light. Then I did some follow up calls. Still back on last weeks. Gotta get caught up, maybe a 1/2 hour after the Labor Club, maybe I can get some in before that if I don’t have to go to the transit public meeting. Only got a half hour of calls in before I went over to Harry’s for dinner and The Walking Dead. The second part of season 2 is off to a strong start. Impressive stuff. It was nice to relax and do something like what I used to.