August 2021 Newsletter Edition
The month of August has been a time of transformation. I've been able to begin shifting my attention and efforts.
The month of August started with the celebration of life service for my aunt. She died from cancer as July came to an end. It was a very touching. One of my cousins interviewed my aunt while she was still lucid for the eulogy. It was very personalized. One of her sons read the questions and the minister (a woman) read my aunt's responses. I learned more about my aunt. I didn't know my aunt got married in my Grandma's backyard. Some of the questions were about growing up during world war 2. Overall I learned some new things about my aunt. Very graciously her son organized that the funeral service was streamed so I didn't have to travel.
Over the past two years I spent increasing amounts of time with my aunt. As her cancer treatment wasn't proving successful I spent more time with her letting some of my own goals go so I wouldn't have regret if and when she died. I would do this again for someone else dying of cancer. It is a very unique skill set providing support for someone in such a vulnerable position. I am able to now use the time I was putting into my aunt on my own goals. I have a lot to complete that got shelved while caring for her.
I have had some routine maintenance with my physical disability to do. I applied for and voted by mail in the Federal Government of Canada general election. After my mortgage payout payment processed my disability case worker asked me to provide my up to date cost of housing (utility bills, property tax and house insurance) as well as assets. This was routine. It wasn't in any way punishment. It brings my profile current. As well one of my friends encouraged me by cutting my grass.
I've been undertaking maintenance to my weather station as my big 2021 project. It has gone horribly wrong. The main 6" x 6" x 16' post is no longer structurally sound. Wood typically "checks". This is to say small surface cracks form as the wood dries. It is abundantly clear that the post wasn't property dried before I purchased it. Instead of typical checking it is ripping itself apart with very deep cracking. I am in the position of deciding what I do now. We are in August. The year 2021 has been a physical marathon for me. I need a break. The best path forward is to simply get it up and running with the power wire and Ethernet wire buried. Then I will have to think about this in 2022 or 2023. It is best to simply have the weather station running as my 2021 goal. I can't feasibly put all the effort this needs to happen into the weather station right now and be completed before the snow arrives. Even more than this I need to decide what form "done" looks like. For this to happen I first need aggressive tree pruning to occur and then observe the weather patterns in my yard to figure out how to get the best quality data.