Retirement

The temp. this morning is -13C/9F and windchill is -20C/-2F. So that wind makes it really cold. When I see windchill, I'm reminded of weather forcasts that mention the coldest day in history at such and such a place. It makes me wonder what the temp. was with the windchill.

Well, the newspaper didn't have much today. The headline said, "Auditor General says he can go deeper into MLA's expenses." I guess he liked the cartoon yesterday.

Another item that caught my eye. The Government says it is spending too much on consultants. Well, yes! Imagine paying someone a $100,000. to come in and tell you you're doing this wrong. Most people in the office probably know what is wrong. I sometimes believe, consultant payments is a slush fund for relatives. "We need an opinion on what broom to buy. I can hire my cousin for $50,000 as a consultant. He works as a cleaner."

I see Billy Cryus is moaning up a storm. He is complaining his daughter's Hannah Montana gig was responsible for his marriage breakup and the reason his daughter is going all crazy. Don't recall much complaining when she started raking in the cash.

The Egyptians are still at it. Freedom? I think they are in for a nasty surprise. On top of that, they want freedom like Americans! I don't know if I would be wishing for that. They should be able to do better. Americans don't take care of their people, it's every man for himself.

I looked out the window at 7 am and saw a neighbour scraping the ice off his car window, so he could go to work. Glad I'm retired. Just found a great cartoon to add on. My pyjamis have long legs and I have slippers on.

Bed Bugs and Politicans

I had to laugh this morning, when I saw the political cartoon. It seems like the article is about bedbugs, but actually refers to four politicans, who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. I'll have to scan and put it up.

As I look out the window, it is snowing like a bugger. I was not expecting that. We had two snow stormes last week. Two days in a row. Got to use my snow blower on my driveway and five others. Neighbours sick or working. Next time there will be one less. The house across the street now belongs to the bank. The wife thought the husband was paying off the morgage, but he wasn't.

Read this article about a guy in Ontario, on his computer, watching a webcam of ten guys working on building the new Bluenose. (That's a sailing ship. You have to look it up.) He called up the nearest Tim Hortons to them and sent over coffee and donuts.

In Halifax, we are busy with the Canada Games. So I guess the snow and cold is good for that.

I was at the hospital for something yesterday, and while I was there, I bought postage stamps. No tax on stamps, so it is like saving 13%. Usually you get ten stamps, and it costs six$ something. Bought two books, paid 12$ something. When I came home, I noticed the books had thirty stamps. So I will have to go back and pay the difference. It's run by little old ladies volunteers and I wouldn't want them to have to pay out of pocket. I'll phone them today and tell them to stop selling cheap stamps.

Coyotes Abound

I've mentioned coyotes before and they are in the newspaper again today. A few streets away from here, a coyote was hit by a car, and the police had to be called to put him down. This is not like the countryside. This is in the city and the other street is even closer to the downtown area. Scarey to go for a walk. I also read about a woman, in Point Pleasant Park, which is in Halifax, had a coyote run in front of he.

Of course there is my own experience, while driving to work at the airport one morning, I smucked one. He put a small hole in my bumper. On the way home in the evening, someone was throwing him into the back of a truck. Trapper, perhaps.

Just went outside to stack up on firewood. Temp. is -10C/14F and with windchill is -17C/1F. There is a snowstorm coming, either Tue. or Wed. or both. There seems to be two heading this way. Have to go and gas up the snow blower. We had a couple of inches of snow last night, which I wasn't expecting.

Chaos

Sunday morning and chaos in Egypt. I suppose this has no where to go but downhill. Countries have to be careful which side they line up with. A wrong choice could be a disaster for their foreign policy. And what happens afterwards. Perhaps a government of hard line Islamics, which spells nothing but trouble foe us, I suppose I mean us Christians.
Today it's 30C/32F. The word on the street is that we will have a snow storm on Wed. Supposed to be 20cm/8ins. That's not really bad, unless the wind gets rough. It's a long time between now and Wed. It could be rain, as it has been for almost every storm this year.
I'm writing a horror short story this time around. Midnight shift at the hospital. But I can't seem to be able to get enough blood flying. Not enough experience with hospitals I guess. Somehow I need a chainsaw in there.
I just noticed I have one follower. Thank you Regge from Cal. I've been there, and you don't worry about snow. I must say, I'm interested in the Blogs you follow.

Time Travel

Does everyone know what a continental breakfast is? It's a dinner roll, butter and jam. Learned that on my first trip tp England. "Continental breakfast provided." You do get a lot more than one dinner roll.

Freezing cold the last two days and right now it's not so warm. -9C/16F. Tomorrow is supposed to be a scorcher 3C/38F. Boston is supposed to be getting snow, which means rain for us tomorrow. I think the rest of N.S. is getting snow.

The Canada games start in three weeks, in Halifax. Every day, in the newspaper, there is an article about the skating oval. After the games are over, they want to keep it, which is a good idea. It's not like the city has ponds to go skating on. Lots of companies are coming forward wanting to lay ads under the ice and around the barriers. Good chance for the mayor to score points.

Joined a writing group at Echelon Press to provide stories for children/youth. Just finished the paperwork this morning, now to send it off. We have to provide six stories for six months. Mine is about time travel.

Brass Monkey Weather

The temperature here this morning is -11C/12F. The windchill makes it feel like -19C/3F. Not any weather, I will be walking around in. I'm glad I went to mass yesterday evening.

Every morning, my habit is to read the newspaper. There are usually not many articles I don't already know about. Newspapers are usually a few days behind my computer. So I need the paper to keep me informed of local matters. Thursday was the exception, where I found a large number of articles, to fill the empty grey spots between ones ears.

On the front page, the first item really shocked me. "Web surfers have eye on shoplifters." What it turns out to be is, convenience stores in the area have webcams to keep an eye on shoplifters, but the web surfers are in England. It seems a company in England charges subscribers $15. a month to join. They can have four feeds open on their screen, for different stores in Halifax. If they see a thief stealing, they press a button, the store owner gets a phone call and voila. The store owner pays $190. a month for this service and they figure it's worth it. The surfers get cash prizes.

Scarey eh? I know England is camera crazy and this is taking it to a new level. Shades of 1984. So watch where you pee next time, someone may be watching. When I worked at the airport, my job was watching the cameras. For practice, I would watch a car leave the highway and I could track the passangers all the way through the process till they boarded the aircraft.

Another article involved a woman and her new husband stuck in his country because he can't get a visa. Seen this played out many times. Dumb blond is usually at least twenty years older. I don't think I have to explain farther.

As far as I am concerned, people who go to Mexico are naive. That's a dangerous place. In the last two days, there have been two  instances of a Canadian getting raped and another shot. After something happens, you go crying to the government. The government didn't tell you to go to Mexico.

♫ Happy Trails To You ♫

Lets talk trails, walking paths, you find throughout the city. I'm all for walking paths, I use part of one on my daily stroll. When I read this mornings paper and saw they provided $800,00. for upgrades, I thought it could be a bit much. Do these paths, trails have to be paved? Apparently so. I think this would classify it as a road, which allows everything but autos. To me, a trail conjures up visions of roughing it in the bush, at least walking on dirt.

You have to be careful walking on these trails, as you can get run over by just about anything, including bikes, roller blades, skateboards and anything else with wheels.

Another article involved the Cole Hbr. Museum, a place where I pat the goats on the head, after finishing my walk on the trail. They were given $14,400. for upgrades. What did they do with the money? Well you may ask, they gave the money to a consultant, who would tell them what they could use the money for. Isn't it strange the price tag is $14,400.

I wondered if naive and dumb could mean the same thing? I guess not, but they are first cousins. This word came up because of the "Dire Straits" and "faggot" noise. When I was young, a fag was a cigarette. "Gimme a fag". The bottom line is, all dumb and naive chip on the shoulder people, made a lot of money for "Dire Straits." If you read this, you are already smarter, you know another name for a cigarette.

Sunday Morning

♫ Sunday morning coming down ♫ and that's exactly what it is doing. A few inches of snow last night and a few more today.

I saw this cartoon in the paper yesterday and had to add it to my blog. This is the way most of the world picture Americans. Americans probably wouldn't like it, but it does appear to have an element of truth. A popular saying in the U.S. is, three strikes - you're out. When I think of that saying, I think of the U.S. as a whole. First strike - gun crazy, second strike - drug crazy and the third strike - may be the crazy political rhetoric. Those three together seem to be a lethal mix. Put on top of it, the reality show arrived at from a shooting, which stays as the top story for at least a week, going at it from every angle. They come up with a host of solutions which do not address the problem, and then life goes on till the next shooting.

Today's newspaper, maybe in honor of Sunday, but probably because it's a slow news week, is filled with items pertaining to religion. Two articles are about the sale of churches, which appear to be on the rise. Selling churches for a dollar or tearing them down, seems to be the road to go, with the supermarket, to be the new church on Sunday.

Another article showed three Anglican Bishops becoming Catholic priests. I don't know about pay, but it is quite a drop in prestige. In the end, your conscience has to dictate the way and it all comes out in the wash.

What I Saw Today

Most people think everyday has basically the same routine. We think this way because we don’t pay attention to what goes on around us. We concentrate on the things we always do, and the rest slips right on by.

At the supermarket yesterday, I saw a man and a woman. They didn’t strike me as a couple, more like a pair, as brother and sister. He appeared about fifty years of age, and she, slightly older. A man with good stature, a graying beard, and a face showing resignation to his fate, more years of sadness.

The woman, prone to obesity, with the appearance of limited finances, wore an angry face, which seemed a permanent feature.

The man pushed the grocery cart, while the woman barked commands.

“Over here. Don’t go there. Don’t touch that.”

And the most revealing.

“You’re lucky you’re with me.”

He said nothing, slowing pushing the cart from aisle to aisle, perhaps listening with unhearing ears. I wonder, when he awakes in the morning, does he roll over and think, “Yes, it’s still me. It’s not all a dream.

We Have Snow, Again

Another Christmas, come and gone. Another turkey already gone. It was one of those turkey already stuffed. I think there was more stuffing than turkey. It was all gone by yesterday and I only had one sandwich.

On Sunday night it snowed. Along the coast, we only received a little. Nothing like the eastern U.S. Saw an article from Philadelphia (one of my favourite cities) where they had garbage trucks used as snowplows. I think that is a great idea for a city. Instead of buying a horde of snowplows, to be used whenever, when they buy a garbage truck, it should have a blade attachment. Easy enough to store and a lot cheaper. Thumbs up to Philly.

Even thought it was warm yesterday, we still had to shovel a little. Don't want a buildup of ice. Good idea it was because it snowed a little last night and we would have had ice covered snow.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve has finally arrived. I'm sure the mad rush for presents will go full steam till closing at supper time. I don't have the excitement of opening my presents to see what I have. For me the rush is when my wife opens her presents and I see what I bought her. She has a system of buying her own presents, wrapping them and putting my name on them. This works out well for me as I don't have to go shopping. For her, she can buy what she wants and I can't say anything. After all, it's her Christmas presents.

The forecast is for snow on Monday. Since I just came home from the hospital three weeks ago, there won't be any heavy lifting, which means no snow blower for me. Snow flurries outside right now, at least that's what they call it. In Europe they would call it a disaster.

The doctor called yesterday and made an appointment for my daughter for this morning. Has to check out the foot again, so my son gets to do the lifting. He has taken her for more appointments in three weeks than I've done in a year. This included a trip to the supermarket for her and she even got snowed on. Big excitement. Also, no more bandage on the foot.

Went continental this morning and had a cheese croissant for breakfast. During my European and African continent travelling days, I never had a croissant. Bed and breakfast consisted of dinner rolls with cheese and jam.
♫ Tea, a drink with jam and bread.♫  From "The King And I." Had to put it in there.

We Have Snow?

Yes, it snowed yesterday. I wasn't expecting it. Looked like about four inches. My doctor says no shoveling snow or heavy lifting for six weeks. Four weeks to go. After two weeks, I am allowed to drive, so I did that. Wouldn't you know, the roads turned to a sheet of ice. Took a few back roads to get home. Braking at a stop sign was slide time. I heard there were a lot of accidents.

Things are a little more painful with me today. Must have run around a little too much yesterday. Better settle down for a few days.

Pulled back the patio door curtains this morning and there was a fur face staring at me. The neighbours cat. Pretended I didn't see him. He has a very bad habit of climbing on the counter, opening one of the doors and licking the butter/margarine.

Later on as I was having my breakfast, my wife says " I let the cat in, you better put a lid on the margarine on the counter." At the word margarine, he tore off to the kitchen. I had to make a mad dash to get the cover on. Who says cats don't understand, they understand just fine, they just don't listen.

Breakfast

It seems the storm was for everyone else except around here. We had some wind and rain, nothing to get exiceted about. I wrote a story about breakfast and will post it on my other blog. http://originalmagazineads.com/flashfiction/
Since it is so close to the truth, I'll post it here also.

Raisin Bread Toast

Mmm! Morning again. At least I'm on the right side of the grass. With my head still a bit foggy, I hear the sounds of my wife busy making her breakfast. I smell raisin bread toasting. Since we don't climb out of bed at the same time, we have the habit to make our own breakfast. This works out well as no one has to wait for someone and each of us may sleep in if desired.

Today I have been sleeping late. Though I could say, I am not sleeping late; this is just my usual time to get up. Christmas is close so it is probably cold outside. Then I remember, the weatherman calls for a very cold day. My mind toys with the idea I could stay in bed longer. Being retired, I can't exactly say my dance card is full. But no, that's the formula for a bad habit so I best get up.

With this decision the door is opened to my first chore, decide on breakfast. I think breakfast comes off as the worse time in the day. Not breakfast itself, but the chore of having to decide what to eat for breakfast. There are too many choices. I could have a bagel, with many assorted toppings. Maybe cereal, but the choices seem endless. Not bacon and eggs, that's my Sunday treat. Then there's the old standby. Toast, and the jams and jellies for spreading on it.

Obviously my wife has decided on raisin bread toast. I like raisin bread toast, but it doesn't like me. The great taste is replaced with the not so great heartburn and indigestion taste. So, pass on the raisin bread. This disappoints me, as I like raisin bread, especially with coffee. I need another choice and I am starting to lean towards a bagel. At this point I could cheat and have a raisin bagel. But why fool myself; the result would be the same.

I wonder if rich people have this same problem. Do they decide what to have or does someone else make the decision for them? Perhaps all the choices have been prepared and laid out on a table. All they do is pick out what they want. I wonder how many choices they would have. Would they just pick at everything? Would they show concern about all the waste?

What about the predictions I heard when I was growing up? Looking ahead fifty years, they convinced us food would no longer remain as it is now. A roast beef meal they affirmed,would be replaced by a pill. Sure, I take a pill every day, but it's Lipitor, followed by a dessert, like Vitamin C and Omega oil. They were partly right, we do take pills.

Feet planted firmly on the floor, I sit on the mattress edge, pondering my naval and the breakfast menu. My mind is yet to be made up. Still rolling the choices, I walk downstairs and see my wife at the kitchen counter making toast. Easy for her. She doesn't seem to have the same problem as I do.

She greets me with a smile. "Good morning dear. I've made you coffee and raisin bread toast for breakfast."

Sunny And Crisp

Sunday afternoon, beautiful outside. Temp is 1C/34F. No wind. Nine days since my prostate operation, so I'm allowed to go out as far as the patio. It still stings like a bugger.
The operation went well until it came to the part of removing the catherer, at 6:oo AM. It's supposed to be a grab and pull. The grab and pull happened but it didn't come out. The nurse was surprised but not as much as I was. All apologetic, she said we have to do it again. So a harder pull resulted in much more pain and no removal. At this point, she called another nurse for advice. The other nurse says,"Oh, that's the new type. It has a lock on it so it doesn't come out. You have to push, turn it and then pull." Pain worse than the last two tries put together. I laid on the bed, rigid for awhile. The nurse then took my blood pressure to see if I was OK. So, men, some advice. Make sure they know which catherer they're working with.  I'm assuming the fiasco at the end is why it's taking a longer to heal.
When I arrived home, I was first talking in the kitchen. Then I went around the corner to see my daughter in the wheelchair. She had a smile from ear to ear, so happy to see me home.

Cold And Crisp

I told my wife this morning the temp. was -2FC/30F. She said,"Yes, but it's going up to 0C/32F." I guess it's a case of half full or half empty.
I'm house bound for two weeks so it doesn't really matter. I get to put the stamps on my wife's Christmas cards.
Wrote another short story for my other blog. I titled it,"I Told You So." And I have a feeling this has happened to people.
Afterwards I put some more ads into my ads libraries. Yesterday, the Blogger site received 1080 visitors and WordPress received 306. WordPress hasn't been there as long.
Off to spend a glorious evening of TV watching.

It Is What It Is

Had my prostate operation last Friday, came home on Saturday. Enough said about that.
Have to wear pyjamis for a week. Next week, I can go as far as my patio. Third week, I can drive but still limited walking. No heavy lifting for six weeks.
Today it's 2C/34F. At least we don't have the snow they have in Ontario. That's another thing the doctor mentioned, no shoveling snow.
This morning I changed the theme on my Flash Fiction blog. I have another story in mind. Have to get at it.
My daughter had hospital appointments for yesterday and today. I can't lift her in and out of the wheelchair, so my son is taking my place. We're lucky he is here.
Time for lunch. Have to be careful with that. I could gain weight quickly since I do nothing. Oh well, it is what it is.

Wooden Hearts (Fiction)

"Hi Grandma," Stacey waved at her grandmother sitting in the sunroom near a window."How are you?"

"I'm fine dear," the grandmother replied, as her face lit up to see her grand-daughter."It's so nice of you to come and visit me."

"I'm glad to see you Grandma. Have you enjoyed your week?"

"Yes dear."

"What would you like to do Grandma? Would you like me to read you a story or would you rather look at your photo album?"

"I'd like to look at the photo album dear" the grandmother said, wearing a slight smile.

Stacey took out the album and started going over the photos with her grandmother, as she had done so many times before. She recalled for her people and places, hoping to spark some memory. Her grandmother would ask who this was or where was this place. Stacey always gave her an answer, not always correct, since some photos were taken before Stacey was born and not all of the faces were familiar.

They happened upon grandpa's photo and Stacey said," There's your true love Grandma."

"Yes, that's Bill, but he's not my true love."

"What do you mean Grandma? Not your true love?"

"My true love's Roy," the grandmother replied, "Roy Smith. We had planned to get married, but he had to go away to war. Before he left, he carved two hearts on a tree for our initials, L.R. and R.S. He said when he returned, we would be married and he would carve an arrow through the hearts to show them joined. But he never returned."

"I'm sorry to hear he never came back Grandma."

"I don't know if he ever came back. I had to go away?"

"Why did you have to go away."

"Well, my parents sent me away to have the baby. It would cause too much shame on the family for me to stay there. A few years later my parents died. I went back a few times but never saw Roy. The tree was still there with the two hearts. A year later, I met Bill and we were married. He thought my husband had been killed in the war."

"Grandpa Bill is not my grandfather?"

~~~                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
Roy Smith returned after the war to search for Laura. But the family had moved away and no one knew where. He went to the tree and carved an arrow through the two hearts. At the arrow's tip, he carved his phone number.

~~~                                                

Stacey walked home, turning over in her mind what her grandmother had said. "No, that can't be true" she thought out loud. "Bill's not my grandfather. Grandma must be mixed up. She is always getting mixed up. I read her a story and a week later, she is the person in the story. Someone must have told her about the two lovers and now she thinks she is one of them. I am sure that's what's happened."

Arriving at a crosswalk, Stacey stopped to check traffic, first to the left and then to the right. Her vision to the right was obscured by a wooden electric pole, on which she saw carved two hearts with an arrow going through them. At the arrow's tip was a phone number.

Life Goes On And Gets Shorter

0C/32F outside. Also in my neighbours house next door. She didn't pay her taxes, house was auctioned off. Whole situation is a mess. Not getting involved.
Bought a new van a couple of weeks ago. It's a 2009 Grand Caravan SE Plus. A friend asked if it had lots of bells and whistles on it. Told him it was a van, not Santa's sleigh. Went to Canadian Tire to get an undercoating the other day. The machine was broke, so got an appointment for Tue. If I lived in Florida for the winter, I wouldn't need it.
My son checked out which one was best. The Canadian military says the stuff which Cdn.Tire uses is the best. So that's the one. Of course it all depends on the person who puts it on. You have no control over that. On my other van, my mechanic checked it out and it wasn't done on the part where the hoist was. Got it redone.
On Monday I have to go to the hospital for a pre-operation check. That is because I'm getting my prostate removed next Fri. Get to stay in the hospital one night.
On Wed. I have to take my daughter to the hospital for an x-ray of her foot.
Thursday has no obligations. Maybe I should take my wife out to lunch. A last supper, sort of. Well, hopefully not the last,last supper.
The day after I got my van, I got a letter from my insurance co. telling me that I need a new oil tank. Ten years old, that's it. Ordered a new one with fiberglass, good for twenty-five years. So that will be the last one of those I will buy. I seem to be saying that a lot in the last few years. Last roof replaced, last furnace, last driveway paving, last oil tank, but hopefully not last van.
A few days after that, got a bill for my licence plates that will expire in Jan. $199.00 for two years.
Haven't written much in this blog lately. Devoting my time to writing in my other blog called Flash Fiction.
http://originalmagazineads.com/flashfiction/

Alternate Universe - The File Theory (Essay)

Our alternate universe perception comes from T.V. and movies. Although I have seen these shows, they have never satisfied me with an explanation. So I had to personally come up with one viable theory to this puzzle which I could live with. Enter my File Theory. My idea tells how an alternate universe could actually work.

This theory came around 2 am, my hair all askew, giving me an Albert Einstein appearance. This point alone should have enough merit to validate my theory. Wonder if Albert had the same problem? Would he be solving the world’s puzzles when he should have slept? When I awoke in the morning, I still remembered all I had imagined.

Christianity, the basis for my theory, states God has three persons, Father, Holy Spirit and Son, known as the source, the force and the word. Made in God’s likeness, we also have the source, the force and the word, namely our mind, our heart and our body. God the Father, the source, contains us in his infinite universes. Our mind contains one universe.

From our age of reason we understand God knows the future. We interpret this to mean God knows exactly what we will do, from our birth, on one stream to our death. We forget one thing, our free will. We have to make our own choices. Since we haven’t made a choice, God doesn’t know our future exactly.

So what’s God’s secret? The secret is he knows every possible alternative to the choices we make and what their outcome will be. He sees how our choices affect everything and everybody for all time. Any change, no matter how small will affect all outcomes. But God sees no only our actions, but the actions from every living and non-living thing and sees the subsequent outcomes.

God is a giant filing cabinet. Open up the cabinet and you find a separate file for everyone and everything. Pick out a file and change one item, then every file in the cabinet changes. Every living and non-living thing involved with this item changes. Take a step to the left and everything in all the alternate universes or streams, involved with you, will change. Streams are added or dropped off.

How do you describe a voice echo? You have a sound reflection. How about time echoes? Here, you see something from the past, like a person. Places exist where you always hear your echo. In the same way places exist where you always see your echo, or someone’s echo. Sounds like a ghost, doesn’t it?

What about dreaming? Could this also be an echo? That comes to us from an alternate universe? In your sleep you follow one of these streams. This universe itself no longer exists but the echo remains. The echo you see as a dream. When you dream, you don’t stand on the sidelines and watch. You are the person in the stream. At times this can be very frightening because your streams don’t just show the good results, it also includes the terrible results; this alternate universe or stream is your nightmare.

What about people who can tell the future? Perhaps they grab on to the very first echo, the most likely scenario, the most imagined sequence of possible events. In the dream, they don’t have choices to make. They only follow one stream and once awake they remember where the stream had taken them.

The last thing to cover is death. It goes without saying, when you die in real life, all your streams cease. If the stream predicts your death, the stream will end there. Perhaps dying in your sleep is the result of dying in a dream. The dream may have brought on a heart attack.

An alternate universe isa place you may visit every time you fall asleep but not like a vacation. You don’t decide on the route you will take or the destination. Sometimes you won’t even remember where you have been

Packing The Wood

Just looking at the airport radar and the big rain is on the way. It's supposed to last for four days. Hearing that yesterday, I decided to mow the back yard. Going at it and when I looked behind me, there was my son with the other mower. So with the two of us, it only took twenty minutes. Hardly any leaves visible now.

My daughter had a doctor's appointment this morning to check out that heel. I was already to go when my wife said she was going to walk over. So, to and fro it was. My daughter will need ex-rays later on this month.

After lunch I went at the front lawn. I use a bag with that mower so it took a lot longer. That bag filled fast with those leaves. Dump out the bag, back and forth. My next job was to clean out the gutters. Got my son to help. There wasn't too much to clean out. If I was doing it, each drain would have been full of leaves.

After that I had my son help me set up a rack on the patio for firewood. Told him I would put the wood there next week. After awhile, I changed my mind and did it anyway. My reward for that is a sore back.