UTIME WITH A U-TURN

You know what cuts into my uTime?

Answering eMails on my iPhone.

There’re are more cuts, and that’s expected, but how can you tell when you achieve full and complete uTime?

What are the signals for the reaching the whole meTime?

It all begins with a good idea, then moves on from there.

This one was based on an observation a few years ago.

Me: That fence needs help.

Them: Yeah, I talked to the neighbor about sharing the cost. But he thought the labor was free. When I brought it up he stormed out of my house and slammed the door behind him.

Me: Door slamming is never a good sign. That’s red flag shit. This isn’t a movie. He’s being aggressive with a twist of little bitch at the end.

 

While we talked about the fence we dug a four foot post hole for a 4 X 6 twelve foot beam.

Nothing to do with fencing, but a good warm up dig.

The pole is about twenty-five feet away from the Big Oak Tree. (Hey Mandy)

They are the anchors for a slack line.

Slack line?

A slack line is another level of ‘What’s next?’

I’ve never built a slack line, but I’ve seen YouTube instructions.

Today is slack line day, but for who?

The link shows a process to build one out of existing materials like tow lines rated at 2000 lbs, and the sort of strap truckers use to secure their load on a flat bed trailer.

If you don’t weigh over 2000 lbs this is looking good.

If you have kids in your life, then you have the answer for ‘who is it for?’

It’s for kids, moms and dads, grandparents, and maybe a circus dog.

Sounds like fun so far?

 

 

Step By Step uTime

It started with a slack line kit and the oak tree.

We needed another anchor pole and found it on a top shelf at Lowe’s that needed a forklift to take down, along with four bags of cement.

More important, we needed a deep hole for the pole and cement.

Dig, Dig, Dig.

Me: This is hard ground.

Them: Why so hard?

Me: I don’t know, summer water table? Use the pick.

Them: The pick’s not going four feet down.

Me: Then we dig. Imagine being an old time coal miner with five kids taking a shitty train into a cave to chip rock a mile underground.

Them:

Me: Or a logger getting up at four every morning to ride the crummy into the woods and cut trees down.

Them:

Me: Or a commercial fisherman going out of the harbor to an uncertain day on the ocean.

Them: Or two guys with an auger? Why don’t we have an auger.

Me: We need an auger, but not today. Your turn to dig, I’ll get a beer.

 

We dug dirt the hard way, drank beer the cold way, and heard crackling thunder over head.

We felt a tropical moment in a suburban backyard.

A warm rain fell on a warm day sweating over a hole we tag teamed with shovels and iron bars and a thin two-foot long auger that churned up the bottom final foot.

Lightning flashed like traffic cameras up and down Hwy99 followed by the boom.

We tipped the 12ft pole into the hole, mixed two bags of cement, and leveled up.

The wind whipped through the oak tree and a small branch fell while my kid checked his kid.

That’s when it occurred to me: uTime.

This is one of two places in the universe where I can dig a hole with my men and their babies in the warm Northwest rain.

 

famTime = ourTime

The storm that blew through brought severe weather warning on TV and radio.

Thunder and lightning, very very frightening.

Me: Man, this is great. Rain without shivering. In Oregon.

Kid: I wouldn’t t stand out in the open with all the lightning.

Me: Good call. Maybe we ought to move the fire pit from last night. I’ll bring it with me.

Kid: Oh, no.

Me: Jesus, that’s scary looking.

Kid: She’s going to be pissed.

Me: Unless we tell her it was a lightning strike. We rub charcoal on us and tell her we got caught in the blast.

Kid: Would you believe that?

Me: Or tell her you found a piccolo Pete and made that firework that melted the street when you touched it off.

Kid: That thing had a shock wave.

Me: Didn’t you have plywood under the fire pit?

Kid: I did. And it started smoking differently after you left.

Me: I think we’ve solved this one.

Kid: Lightning?

Me: For now, yes.

Kid: I’ll get the charcoal.

Me: Here’s some.