The journey continues...

Brian Bilbrey August 8, 2026

8 August 2026

THappy Birthday, Barbara Today is my sister's birthday, and while I thoughtfully didn't call her early from three time zones ahead, we did chat today, which was nice. While I don't have trouble finding the words to describe my situation, I'm continuing to struggle with the loss. I'm still motivationally challenged, for sure. The things that must be done are getting done, but not much else is. I still have to finish cleaning out the basement, and move the woodshop gear over, and I guess that will happen whenever it does. My sleeping patterns are still pretty broken, I'm awake…

Brian Bilbrey July 15, 2026

15 July 2026

Busy Week So far this week, I've been fishing, gone to the dentist, and had my fuel oil topped up for the following year. Mostly everything went okay. The fishing was fun. I caught a couple of bass each at a couple of spots where I'd expect them to be at this warm time of year. But it was a windy day, and got windier as the day progressed. As little white caps started appearing, I decided it was time to stop fighting for my balance on the front of the boat. The dentist visit was okay, except they found…

Brian Bilbrey July 9, 2026

10 July 2026

Best By Date Rule number ... I've lost count. But always look for the best by date on the packaged food. I didn't even think about it, but it turns out that eating Uncle Ben's Original Recipe more than five years after the best by date is contraindicated. I'll omit the details, but think colonoscopy prep. Not recommended. We're having a hot summer this year, several days in the (low) 90's already. That doesn't mean that the outdoor work stops. Yesterday, after walking the dog 3.5 miles, I spent five hours doing yard maintenance, including moving the boat trailer back…

Brian Bilbrey June 26, 2026

26 June 2026

Chores and Electrical Excitement After a couple of days of fishing this week, I thought it was time to get on with more of the deferred maintenance around this joint. One of the things I've been putting of is re-stocking the firewood in the basement from the sub-garage. I started by coating the pertinent basement wall with a moisture barrier paint, something that's been on the list for four years. I used up a gallon of the paint, then measured the square footage of the completed painting, and how much wall remains to be painted. Now I know that I'll…

Brian Bilbrey June 23, 2026

23 June 2026

Fishing Days While it's been a fairly rainy month, leading to some progress with indoor chores (mixed in with calculated procrastination), I have made it out fishing a few times. To be honest, it's been mostly fishing, and precious little catching. And those have mostly been what professional anglers refer to as "just like a bass, but smaller". Sigh. Last Wednesday was the first "good" fish, two and one half pounds of large mouth bass. Yesterday I made it out again and my second landed fish in a different part of the lake was about the same size. But the…