GO ABOUT IT IN AN ORDERLY FASHION COME HELL AND HIGH WATER

UFFDA

Surprisingly, the timing couldn't have ended up any better.

At any rate, I've been working on the research for COME HELL AND HIGH WATER and it's time to begin the actual writing of the book.

Because I want easy access to a lot of the results of that research, it's gone into GO ABOUT IT IN AN ORDERLY FASHION.

As far as being orderly goes, no it really isn't all that orderly. It does, however have a Table of Contents so we're making progress here, right?

One last edit, mainly on the photos, a cover chosen, and WHEW. I'll have a handy dandy book of reminders at my fingertips. 59,857 words but at least halfway organized.

You want to see the list for the Table of Contents? Okay.

‘The Essays’

Character Introductions in (general) order of appearance

Aduan and the Sidhe of the Ages, etc.

Mamm of Phi

Ullin of Iona

Danann of Phi

Dan of Southisle

Clara of Morocco

Etan of Andorra

Ellae of Andorra

Maggie the Magdalean

Birchta and Lann of Northeast

Alianora and Drustann of Dunnottar, etc.

The Circles of Dunnottar

The Voices of SONG

Hell and High Water : Initial Thoughts and Development

Phi

The Before People

The Before World

Arts and Sciences

As Above So Below

Choice

Clothing

Commerce and Currency

Communication

Cultures

Education

Escape

Miscellaneous Stuff

PHI

The 'Plan A' Post is lagging a bit behind the 'Sometimes You Feel Like A Nutt' Post

I have absolutely no idea in this world why those two posts get more hits than the rest, but am giving them this new little boost just to see if it makes any difference.

So here are links to the two of them. Maybe you can figure it out.

http://shielabranson.blogspot.com/2011/11/plan-moving-along-in-orderly-fashion.html


http://shielabranson.blogspot.com/2011/12/sometimes-you-feel-like-nutt.html

Sometimes you have to do things just for the fun of it, to see what will happen.

THEN THERE ARE THE TRENCHCOATS-RAINCOATS

I flat can NOT part with them. 

Not the black traditional one.

Not the tried and true khaki one that can go everywhere I go. 

Not the light blue one that's for light wear.

And most certainly not the purple one that I got when I decided I wanted COLOR in my life! 

I had a pinkish one too, but I already threw that one away.

So there.

SORTING AND FILING COUNT AS PROGRESS TOO!

Feeling a bit on the guilty side because I'm not roofing, or wiring, or plumbing, or yard-mowing, or branch-trimming, or moving my washing machine and dryer down to the basement, or un-burying the north end of my front porch so I can get at that big propane heater to move IT down to the basement ... among a hundred other 'major things I ought to be taking care of right this minute' ...

All I've been doing is sorting and filing my clothes on this not-so-fine day. 

It seems a little lazy compared to the rest of it. 

HOWEVER ...

I look at the divisions and have to smile. 

The OUT pile is twice the size of the KEEP pile. 

I have been RUTHLESS, I tell you.  RUTHLESS. 

I have had NO business keeping three times as many clothes as I have the space to store them. 

Do I need an entire dresser full of sweaters? 

No. 

I do not. 

OUT they go, most of them. 

And onward I go. 

The trash pick-up guys are gonna faint. 

Plan A: Still Proceeding In An Orderly Fashion, Thank You Very Much !!

Okay, let's define "orderly fashion" here. 

To me, an orderly fashion includes setting some priorities. 

Although my personal priorities may not conform with what society at large may agree with, they are MY priorities. 

For example, in my own little world, the one I live in here in my Tumble Down Cottage on Main Street of Small Town USA, books and artwork are a priority.  According to most people I ought not to be sitting and reading a book when I've got plumbing and wiring to do.  According to ME, that's exactly what I ought to be doing.  The plumbing and wiring will get done, have no fear, and it will be done exceptionally well - in my own good time.  So will everything else. 

At the moment I'm multi-tasking. 

In between paragraphs, I'm painting a picture (not the recalcitrant child one; this is a different one I'm working on while that one's in Time Out to contemplate its evil ways until it agrees that I'm the boss here - it might be a long time out), putting things into place in my kitchen, sweeping the floor, telling Duke that no he can't go outside because it's the middle of the night, reading a book about Maine just before the Revolution, and working on a sculpture for one of my daughters. 

I'm also congratulating myself for the fact that there are NO boxes of stuff in 1) the dining room, 2) the kitchen (WHOO-HOO!), or 3) the bathroom.  And no it's NOT because there are boxes of stuff that go in those rooms sitting in OTHER rooms.  It's because everything is put AWAY.  Thank the Good Lord that I build sturdy shelving units! 

As I empty out the boxes I toss them (the empty boxes) into the morning room, which is getting mighty full.  Pretty soon I'm going to have to flatten out all those boxes, bind them up with baling twine, and haul them out to the dump.  I've got at least two loads of filled boxes (clothes and other burnable stuff) to haul out, so I hope the boxes flatten out well. 

In a little bit I'll head for a bath in my 100 year old clawfoot bathtub, which is in incredible shape for its age, I have to say. 

Considering it IS the middle of the night, I've been busy. 

I tell ya - I'm gonna get through this Dakota Winter in FINE shape this year!

Good thing I work the 3-11 shifts at work!

Plan A: Still Working Full Speed Ahead

I really ought to have been taking photos all along here ... sigh ... but I'm making good progress, although undocumented by pictures! 

As items find their homes, the chaos diminishes only to crop in yet another room as one begins to take shape. 

Boxes get moved from one room to another in a kind of rotation.  While I'm putting things away in one room, the boxes that don't belong there get moved to another room.  If there's no space in the room they SHOULD go into, they get moved yet again when I advance to the room they're currently in. 

Eventually they will all at least get into the rooms they'll be unpacked in.  I hope. 

Today I brought my freezer over so am now well stocked with food.  My sister helped me get it into place and then I helped her move some things from town out to her farm, so it's a wash on the helping each other thing this time. 

Also tonight I did a mite of wiring.  It was no big deal and took all of a few minutes, but what an enormous difference it makes to have a stove.  Luckily for me the new breaker box I put in some time back came with a 220 breaker.  All I had to do was hook the wiring up, and I had the 220 from before when I bought like ten times more than I needed. 

An update on the CLEANING HOUSE HERE end of things.  I've filled another five boxes of clothes I haven't worn or even looked at in years!  I've also designated another two chairs for the dump and begun filling the front porch with the stuff that will be heading for the burn pile. 

In between there's a lot more sorting and filing. 

I have a LOT of art-related supplies and need to build myself some shelves SOON so I can unpack all the boxes and get an inventory of sorts made. 

My find of the day are boxes I'd forgotten I had - filled with 100 year old cedar shakes from when part of the roof got re-done!  I salvaged them and use them to paint on.  One of these days I'll post some photos of some, but not right this minute.

Right this minute I'm whupped and am going to read and listen to some Celtic Serenity and then GO TO SLEEP!

Refining Plan A - Electrical

Of my four daughters (by location they are GF, F, B, and TC) the one I most often brainstorm with is TC and it's always a joy, often provoking laughter as we wend our way toward solutions. 

On the topic of electrical ideas for the studio, she came up with a truly great solution to the question of how to light the front room (which will one day be the main studio work room) effectively and efficiently. 

The original light fixture is antique; while I love the aesthetics of it, it's not practical.  The same applies to the dining room. 

Given the need for good lighting, flexibility, and a desire to be able to spotlight different areas at different times (for showcasing a work and/or for various work stations) I was stymied.  Using lamps is only a stop-gap method of getting the effects I want. 

TC, bless her forever, suggested track lighting in an eight foot square. 

Now that's something I can get my head around. 

It serves the purpose, isn't 'invasive' in the sense of being an irreversible change to the 100 Year Old Home, and is something I'm fully capable of getting done my own self. 

The height of the old ceilings means the lighting isn't going to be the first thing you notice when you walk in.  It will be up high enough to not intrude on anyone's line of vision.  It won't, unlike the antique light fixture, hang down so far that it's in the way (low enough for some to bump their heads on).  And it's not pretty enough to detract attention from what is SUPPOSED to be the focus.  Namely (someday) works of art, either finished pieces or works in progress. 

As the dining room will be a secondary work room, it will have the same requirements; the same solution will work.  It's a smaller room so the tracks won't be as long, but the same principle is in play and the track lighting will definitely be a good move. 

I don't know what I'm going to do with the original hanging light fixtures; maybe when I get to the attic part of the studio projects I'll put them up there where I can put the center of the ceiling as high as I want so they'll hang up out of everyone's way while providing their own 100 year old beauty. 

Otherwise it's just a matter of adding more outlets and maybe another circuit or two, which is a cake-walk. 

The two original light fixtures I want to keep are the ones in the morning room and the kitchen.  I'll have to rewire them so they're up to code of course, but I want to keep and use them as they are so much a part of the rooms they are in. 

While I'm putting in track lighting I may as well give what will be the new kitchen the same treatment and be done with it.  My bedroom can have all the lamps I want. 

Having better than adequate lighting, during the long dark of Dakota Winters, makes an incredible difference.  Using energy efficient bulbs makes you feel okay about it. 

One thing about using wiring that exceeds industry standards is that I don't have to worry about overload. 

That too shows that I'm proceeding in an orderly fashion.

Plan A Moving Along In An Orderly Fashion

The Box Piles Grow - and I've already taken two loads over!



Excitement is tempered with dismay as I take a good look at all of the boxes and furniture that I'm going to be moving by myself.

The living room and dining room and front porch and kitchen of my 'good' house are stacked sky high with packed boxes which bury most of the furniture.

YIKES!

Then I just have to laugh at myself because after all, what the heck.  It's not like I can't DO this thing, you know. 

When the 'Buyer' officially said YES the first thing I wanted to do was start carting the boxes out to my little pick up truck and begin hauling them the half block to my studio.  I was getting ready to do just exactly that when it struck me that it was DARK outside.  It was COLD outside.  It was WINDY outside.  Plus I'd had a long day and was more tired than wired, AND a weekend of night shifts is staring me in the face.  

Through my mind meander the words, "Just do it in an orderly fashion."

There's nothing orderly about deliberately zapping my strength when I know full well I'll need every ounce of it to get through a challenging weekend.  There's nothing orderly about choosing to lug a houseful of stuff out into the cold and dark and wind when it's possible that milder days are right around the corner. 

I checked the extended forecast. 

Well skippity doo dah day, imagine that.  Next week, when I have some days OFF, is supposed to bring better weather! 

Hallelujah! 

By the end of next week I'll be happily and contentedly sorting through all my stuff, taking inventory of what I have to work with in terms of both artwork and project materials. 

And THAT, my friend, is something to look forward to!

Amid the chaos I will seek and find the quiet peace that has always pervaded that place, and it will calm me while I methodically, in an orderly fashion, battle the long dark of this coming Dakota Winter and transform chaos into tranquility. 

That's the plan.

Plan A Progress: The Contract for Deed is Ready

It's exciting and a little strange-feeling to have written another legal document. 

This one is definitely WAY less heart-wrenching than the divorce I wrote for my husband and myself lo these many years ago. 

There's a bittersweet feeling to the process and I'm having a hard time trying to define it to myself, let alone getting the words right here. 

The fact that it's basically a legal requirement means that I had it to do and so do it I have.  And it wasn't all that hard once I found one on line that I could modify to meet our specific needs.  The principles are simple and I simplified the wording without losing any of the pertinent necessities. 

Anyway, it's done.  All we have to do is take it to a Notary and sign it.  That part feels distinctly satisfying. 

In a very few hours now the 'Buyer' will be here to look at the 'Property' in the company of the 'Seller' (that would be me!) and we'll take it from there. 

If she doesn't like it after all, or chickens out, it's not really going to be a great big deal as I have Plan B all ready to roll. 

If she DOES like it and wants to go for it, we can get the 'Agreement' signed and notarized tomorrow and begin the moving!  Needless to say, that is what I'm hoping for. 

The thought of actually being able to live in my studio for the duration of this long dark Dakota Winter makes me happy.  The thought of being able to work on the projects that will turn that 100 Year Old Home into one that I will spend my later years in is exciting. 

AND, I'll have you know, I'm doing this in an ORDERLY FASHION.

Go About It In An Orderly Fashion

I ran into a dear friend at the post office and asked him if he thinks I'm too old to have a life, as in a REAL life, not just a job and home, work and sleep, ad nauseum. 

As we walked to our respective vehicles on packed snow and ice, I told him, "I think I want to expand my horizons, you know?"

He responded that he thought that was a great idea, paused as he was getting into his vehicle, and added, "Just go about it in an orderly fashion!" 

I answered, "Well you know me!  I always do!" and let go with a big belly laugh because he does know me and I NEVER do, apparently. 

Even so, there is almost always a method to my madness, which I cleverly conceal behind seemingly random and irrational behaviors. 

For instance, at the moment I am in the process of essentially giving away my 'good' house so that I can move half a block away into my 'tumble down cottage', which is quite truthfully a literal wreck of a place.  It's one of those apparently irrational behaviors that reinforce the idea that I am indeed a bonified lunatic. 

Explaining the method behind this madness here on my blog is not likely to blow my cover, as nobody even knows about it, let alone reads it! 

Nobody knows about me giving my house away except a few people at work (one of whom is the buyer) and none of them are confidants of any of my family or people who know me here in my Small Town USA.  The first indication they'll have is when they see my furniture being carted halfway down the block to my studio and the buyer's furniture being carted across the street into my house.  Since all three places are right on Main Street in the first block as you come into town, it's likely to be noticed by all and sundry.  We might get a couple of comments but more people will just shake their heads, maybe smile, and drive on by.  That's just the way it is.  People get used to the strangest things around here and don't bother themselves about it. 

As for the method behind the madness, to get back to the point here, that has to do with being ready, willing, and able to do whatever it takes to get through a Dakota Winter. 

In this case, the factor under consideration is 'happiness'. 

If I'm going to make it through this Dakota Winter intact I'm going to need every vestive of an edge that I can find and hang on to.  For me, the peace and serenity that envelopes me at my studio is more than a vestige of an edge; it's vital, a necessity.  I barely made it through the last couple of winters.  The prospect of this one frightens me in an elemental way.  The long dark of a Dakota Winter must be countered with something more powerful than a listless and vague hope for survival.  While the instinct for survival is a force in and of itself, it is not undauntable.  Dakota Winters are bloody well DAUNTING. 

Happiness is perhaps the most powerful weapon at our disposal with which to battle forces beyond our control.  Part of my edge right now is knowing what I need to do and, perhaps more important, the ability to DO it.  The studio is haunted; I'd much rather be haunted than daunted, so part of Plan A is for me to put that haunting to good use and exorcise the daunting darkness of this Dakota Winter.  That's the happiness factor. 

It's not that I'm UNhappy here at my 'good' house.  It's that I'm MORE COMPLETELY happy at my studio, and I'm going to be needing that feeling of serenity with which the studio is haunted.  It's a tool I want, and need, to put to use this winter. 

Hence giving my 'good' house away to a young mother with two little ones.  I was in her boat once upon a time and God saw fit to bless my little family with a home of our own - the studio.  I've kept it all these years, empty for a good many of them, and perhaps this is the reason.  Perhaps it's another turn of the wheel as things come full circle.  Who am I to question the mysterious ways of things?  All I know is that it feels right, it feels good, and that's enough to guide me. 

There are other parts of Plan A which are also parts of every other plan of any letter of the alphabet.  These are the tea and vitamins, sleep and eat patterns, using my brain (what's left of it) to the best of my ability, etc. 

The thing is that all the parts have to fit together right or nothing will work right. 

The factor that concerns me at the moment is the sleep/eat factor. 

Because I have to work some nights at my job, and 3-11 pm on other days, my systems are all mixed up.  I can't do nights only (which would presumably provide a stable schedule) because I can't get my systems to settle into that schedule.  For months I tried doing nights only.  It didn't work.  The schedule person at work then finally gave me SOME 3-11 shifts, but with the nights still mixed into the equation.  That definitely does NOT work.  My systems are so screwed up and confused I can't think straight half the time and the other half of the time I'm either sleeping or feel comatose. 

I hate to be the one to break the news here, but THAT is not LIFE.  It's barely survival.  If I've been barely surviving my scheudule during the good part of the Dakota year, what does that say about my chances during the long dark of a Dakota Winter? 

See what I mean? 

As soon as my friend with the little ones says the word (the word is 'yes'), I can get my things and myself moved, removing that stressor completely from the equation and replacing it with its antithesis.  Out with worry and stress, in with peace and serenity - for both of us as a matter of fact.  Well, I'm not sure how much peace and serenity she's liable to have with two little kids running around, but they're darned sure to enjoy the running room and playing room.  At any rate, both of us will be getting what we want and what else really matters?  It's a win-win. 

As soon as I'm sure this house is going into caring and loving hands, and my stuff and I are securely settled in the studio, I can address the work schedule issue. 

It may well be that the happiness factor of the studio will balance the negative of the schedule.  Plus the fact that I do have a Plan B ready to implement on a moment's notice may well provide the needed incentive for the scheduling person to get me off nights, in which case Plan A will work wonderfully well. 

At this point I'm willing to give it my best shot, with the stipulation that if my best shot proves to be insufficient I'll go immediately to Plan B. 

So that's where it stands at the moment.  The next few days will have a lot to say I believe. 

If that's not an orderly fashion I don't know what is.