Big, bad, dozer man


Mr. Frank Palmer arrived this morning with a smile on his face and a bounce in his step to begin the two day odyssey to create a new driveway with new crush and run, and a new place for my team to park (also crush and run). With him he brought a big dump truck and two big dozers (one a bucket truck) and the great earth moving and digging begins. And they are at it...to every ones delight! The ground is still very pliable as the freeze has not set in...only two nights of cold--albeit we will not have a good shot at growing grass before the snow. But, I could be wrong. Grass seed can surprise you. Mr. Palmer was effusive about the soil he had "back at the office" which we could use to supplement ours if we needed it. Given how jazzed he was about this dirt, I would like to say bring it on...just to see what good really is.

Am on a mission to write a lot today. I've got some proposals to put out which I have been mulling over as each new idea or job is distinct and demands its own approach. I used to think that if you had a nice boilerplate that you could plug numbers into--that would be the solution. But it never is. This document will have a verbal description of what we would like to do along with a diagram with decision diamonds etc. to graphically make a snapshot of our thinking. I don't know if I will personally be able to propose this, so the document needs to do all the work. Plus, another toughy is that the folks interested in the work may not have a good handle on how much this stuff really costs. I want to propose a value solution without going so cheap I devalue my own work before I even start. I often end up feeling this was as I want to price according to minimum, and to some degree invest in a possible long term relationship. Urg. The stuff they don't teach you. Onward. I think I will start with the chart. Seems like the simplest thing to do first.

Was at the House of Health this morning with all the Russian ladies. What are Russian ladies? They are the stocky ladies in dark swim suits that wear entire head covering bathing caps, dark swimming goggles and all assume this stance when observing the pool. They are ageless and all the same in this rig..and they get in the pool and swim like maniacs. I call them Russian ladies as a bow to the National Geographic articles I read growing up about Russia and what the Russian people are like and what they do. Inevitably, there were pictures of ladies at public pools, outside swimming in the rivers in the winter or something of that ilk...and they all had the Russian lady look. Dourly sizing up the situation with arms akimbo, legs apart, with no expression and the headgear/suit combo that doesn't let any of us know who she is...a swimming version of the burka. I love watching them. Who knows...I might become them.

More later>> must get to my charts.