Well, it seems that another week in life is passing us by, as is testified by these very ink stains we call words, all arranged in neat order as they are pressed and spread across the printed page.

I can't say I accomplished anything of historical significance this week, but I seldom do. I did, however, manage to reinstall the back steps on my porch and put up a handrail, the lattice trim work and some other necessary improvements. The steps had been jutting out into the yard, directly in the way of everything, especially my lawnmowing.

While this wasn't much of a problem for the pushmower, with the riding mower it was almost dangerous. The new design is somewhat better, moving them alongside the house into an area that isn't so often traveled. Well, it wasn't often traveled before I put the steps there, anyway.

The placement also allows room for some deck space on the end of the porch, where I might yet decide to place a bench or some similar item for seating enjoyment. The porch is shaded in the evening hours, which happens to be the time when I am home for the most part. I wouldn't mind having one of those swing things with the little canvas cover over it.

Now all that remains is for me to finish staining the remaining boards and lattice, a job I feel sure I will get to in the next few decades. Soon after finishing the new back porch, I was leaning on the rail in the morning sunshine and looking out at nothing. Sometimes I can look at something and still see nothing, my mind loses the images imported by my eyes as it turns over various stones of thought.

I usually don't get to spend very much quiet time outdoors. When I am outside, I am usually doing something. Most of the time, I only go indoors to eat or rest in the late evening.

I like to go outside in the mornings early when the dew is still sparkling on the grass to feed the animals. There used to be more animals than there are now, but since I found a new home for all the rabbits and their cages, I only have the cat and the dog and the bees. I'm not complaining, mind you. I don't really want anything else to feed with winter coming on, that's for sure.

That's one thing I like about weekends when I don't have events to cover for the newspaper, I can take things at my own pace for the most part. This particular weekend, I had to go out to my parents' church for a fundraising event they were having. Anyway, during the week, I never get to do as much as I would like in the mornings. It always seems like I am in a rush soon after I awake.

Most Saturdays and Sundays need not be that way. I can usually just take my time and enjoy life on those two mornings. Unless, of course, I wake up late for church, but that's another story.

I used to be a night person. My body's clock worked in such a way that I could generally stay awake until around 1 a.m. and get up around 8 a.m. This was especially true when I was going to high school and college. Then, on weekends I often stayed up much later and slept until I awoke at some unforeseen daytime hour.

Now I tend to be more of a morning person. I like to get up fairly early and turn in fairly early. I seldom ever stay up past 11 p.m. and I arise around 6 a.m. most days. I'm almost always up by 7 a.m., even on weekends when I don't set the alarm clock.

I got to spend some time Saturday in my favorite place, my workshop. While I was there, I noticed that the squirrel cage fan I planned on installing was still inside my former furnace box. I pulled it out of the box after zipping out the screws and remounted it on the furnace's discarded cover. I soon learned that I needed to re-drill the holes that mount the electric motor inside the fan cage, which was easy enough to take care of. I then placed it on the floor and wired on a plug. Soon it was blowing up all the dust that was in the floor and in the fan, making a cloud like fog.

Having demonstrated that it works, I now am wondering if I can help keep my little workshop cool if I place the fan outside under my little lean-to storage area, where I park my lawnmower, and install a wooden duct system in the roof. It is always shaded there and the air would have to be cooler than inside.

This winter I might put a woodstove out there and use the fan to pull the heat inside the shop, I decided. That way, if it gets too hot, I can turn the fan off. The last time I had a woodstove in the shop, I always kept it stoked up so high that I constantly had to open the door to cool it off inside. There definitely is something about a man that makes it very difficult for him to stop putting wood in a stove, even when it is already hot enough. Who knows, maybe I can even figure out a way to rig up a thermostat. Of course, with what junk I already have lying around, I feel sure I can get it done with little or no associated costs.

That is the kind of work that really doesn't need to be done, but it is the kind of thing I like to ponder. Some folks dream up the mysteries of the universe, I am content with making up plans for a junk-utilizing heating system for my workshop.

Sometimes I think I might be spending my time in the wrong ways. I continued pondering this thought as I started up the riding mower. The one thing I don't think about while mowing the grass is mowing the grass. Everything else is fair game.

My lawnmower has a drink holder. Does anyone really need a drink holder or any other creature comforts on a utilitarian object like a mower? Having just graduated from the push mower, I find it comforting enough just to be able to mow the grass in an hour and a half instead of four hours.

I decided that I can find lots of reasons for a self-made busy schedule. For instance, idle minds die even faster than an idle bodies. And tasks can help add a tangible sense of purpose in life; even a negligible purpose is better than no purpose at all.

Get more tongue in cheek commentary this week's issue of the Alleghany News!

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