31 August 2017

Notes - cleaning house /


       You deleted yesterday's post after Carol told you to leave 'buying a house' out. Perhaps later in the year or early next. In any case, you are focused on cleaning the basement because Kim, Paul and the boys are down this weekend to help clean up the house as you will be having it painted in a month or so -- most of the interior plus the garage. The master and hall bathrooms were painted earlier as was the master bedroom.

       1500 hours. If we sell, it will be in the Spring. Until then we have work to do getting the house and grounds up to par for showing. I have spent several hours in the basement going through old drafts, notes, etc. and through out at least four reams worth of papers for recycle on Monday morning.

       You found several old newspaper clippings that brought back memories of living in earlier times of your life and the lives of your parents and grandparents. You were surprised on an article on your father-in-law working for the military and the CIA when he was with USAID in Vietnam. - Amorella

       1505 hours. I was surprised because although I knew this from personal conversations with Dad H. I did not expect to see it mentioned in an Ohio city newspaper. Dad was almost killed by a hand grenade while giving a speech at a university and he missed a flight to another part of Vietnam because of scheduling and that flight crashed in the mountains. Originally he was listed as killed because he was on the flight manifest. This was while Carol was a Freshman at Otterbein. Mostly his focus was higher education for the instruction for curriculum and personnel development for elementary and secondary school teachers in Vietnam at the time. I did find a full page article on my own father too, but it was for the best ways to hunt for killing deer and wild turkey with bow and arrow in the greater Ohio region.

       How about your own writings? - Amorella

       1518 hours. Lots of old drafts were tossed, all notes were repositioned to new sturdier folders and placed in one box for storage. This had been three to four file cabinet’s worth of material deleted down to about half a file's worth. It  doesn't sound like much but it takes time when you are reading, at least, skimming everything. I almost threw out three years of poetry (1984, '85 and '86). That was the height of my poetic flowering from my perspective anyway. I also found old rejection letters for novels and poetry. All those went out. Why did I ever keep those letters anyway? My mind was a packrat, finally I am letting go.

       One article about you said that in your youth you had twenty-six invisible friends, one for each letter of the alphabet, was that true? - Amorella

       1528 hours. I was as surprised to see that as you were Amorella. I think I told the school reporter that I had some invisible childhood friends named for letters in the alphabet and she decided, I guess, to create one for each letter. I don't remember ever noticing that before. This was some time ago, in the 1990's.

       You created a poem and framed it -- a tribute to your cocker spaniel named "Lady" 1990 to 1999. - Amorella

       1532 hours. Carol found it in another pile, the tribute had been wrapped for safe-keeping and also had two photos of Lady. I'll give it to Kim this weekend if she wants it. I also found a book I wrote and dedicated to Kim when I think she was in seventh or eighth grade. I had forgotten all about it. I'll give her that too -- about 250 pages if I remember right.

       This has been a sample of how it will probably be several days a month until Spring. Cleaning house. - Amorella

       1537 hours. I feel responsible for picking up my own mess before departing this planet. I do want to move so in our older aging we do not leave a mess for daughter and son-in-law to clean up after.

       Post. - Amorella

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