cow

So, I'm working on the bow and stern lines for the canoe in the garage when the faithful dog starts barking. I come out from behind the car in the driveway to see a large black cow being chased across the front lawn by our small (comparatively) black dog. And there is a small Amish boy in the driveway, of course dressed all in black. I call the dog- Really Reliable Recall still works- and the Amish kid chases the cow back down the driveway. This was a really little kid too, and he was scared of the dog but was perfectly comfortable chasing a large cow around. Technically, I think it was a steer, which to me is a sub-set of cow, not being a farmer. I must admit I didn't examine it sufficiently to determine exactly what it was. The Marks raise their male calves as steers for beef, so I think that was what it was. They can run fast, too, not just lumber along like the milk cows do. This is certainly the Enchanted Forest!

I had a little discomfort last night, and I'm in the "nap during the day, lay awake at night" cycle again. I've dealt with this before, of course, and will deal again. I took an oxycodone in the middle of the night and opened the window. "Change a variable- it's what you people do!" It worked! Finally got to sleep sometime after 2.

I picked up a pair of steel sawhorses at Lowes yesterday to put the boats on when working on them. I've used wood sawhorses, where you buy a set of brackets and use your own 2x4, but they tend to self-destruct in a few months. These should last longer and are height adjustable. I'm at a point in my life where I can't work standing up with my head lower than my body for more than a few minutes- get dizzy. And I can't kneel for more than a few minutes without pain, so I need to support a boat at approximately waist height to work on it. So I got the bow and stern lines on the canoe, which involved putting it on the car to determine lengths. It was easy to put it on and off- it only weighs 18 lbs! Now I need a piece of pipe insulation to put on the cross bars to protect the gunwales of the canoe. And I need to make some tether lines to attach water bottles etc. inside the boats. I've got the hardware; it's just a matter of doing it. I would have done it yesterday, but I got delayed with the cow incident and then dinner was ready.

The bad taste is from the new antibiotic. I've found I get the taste when I take one with water if I don't swallow fast. When I got the bad taste the other day with the wine, I was washing down the med tab with the wine. So I think it'll be OK if I take the med with water and have the wine separately. Close call there- I was kinda scared that I might loose my taste for red wine, which of course would have been a disaster.