The carpenter has been plugging away at repairing the Chinese chippendale fence my husband built. The only problem is that one of the sections that got bashed was the one the the guy wires for the utility pole goes through, and it takes quite a bit of finagling. I think he's on that last section now. He's also probably losing gallons of water in sweat, but people who work outdoors know to take care of themselves on hydration. He's been using the hose that goes in the dog bucket--the bucket wasn't nearly as full this morning.

Other than that, it's been a fairly ordinary day. I got an old sheet mended with Bondex and lots of stitching. I got a load of wash done AND out of the dryer. I even got the clothes into the dresser and closet, instead of sitting on the bed. And I looked at the maroon sheet I bought the other day for use on the couch and decided it needed to be washed before using it--I strongly suspected that it would run. I was right--the tag on it is now about the color of the rest of the sheet. I'll make sure the next couple of washings of the sheet are also solo until I'm sure it's done bleeding.

As long as I had the sewing machine out this morning I decided to mend the crotch seam in some cropped pants. Couldn't find a decent colored bobbin, and was too lazy to fill another one, so I hand sewed it.

And then I got at the mid-monthly bookkeeping stuff. About three the carpenter took a break and I went off to the post office to mail the bills etc. and then on to Arby's. He's now within an hour of completing the fence repair. I think I am his friend forever because I put a bottle of water into the freezer (in the garage) as well as several bottles of completely frozen water.

I'm almost done reading Gender Archaeology. Some of it is above me but most of it is thought-provoking. I am buckling down mentally to planning out this proposal when I'm not doing much of anything. Or rather, about half the time. And I have put the topic very high on the "think about subconsciously" list.

One thing I MUST do this weekend is write a recommendation letter for a former student. He didn't make it to med school on his first try, and apparently didn't make it on his second either. So this one is for a research-oriented grad school. Best of all, I can submit it electronically. The only problem is that when I write rec letters for med school (they have to have one from a non-science teacher) I emphasize the personality and whether the student seems comfortable conversing. And whether I might feel comfortable talking to her/him if s/he was my physician. (A sign of galloping old age is running into more and more doctors significantly younger than your kids!) This topic gets sent to the subliminal top spot for the next 24 hours.

No rain today, in fact not even any particularly threatening clouds. Maybe tomorrow. And that seems like a good reason to get going early on the grocery shopping.