I'm driving down the Deerfoot this morning when I see a 20 year old Ford pickup rattling down the center lane. The paint is badly faded from its original silver color, the fenders are dented with spots of rust along the bottoms of the panels and randomly blemishing the upper half of the vehicle. It looks like attempts have been made to keep this truck running. Someone has even tried to stay some of the more serious body damage with Bondo and primer paint, so it takes me a while to notice that three letters and an exclamation mark have been spray-painted on the tailgate of the Ford.



L O E !

The letters intrigue me, as I can't figure out what they mean. I look and ponder, running acronyms through my head until I finally realize that each of the spray-painted letters is in between one of the letters on the vehicle's logo, sending a message to everyone who's stuck behind this piece of rolling junk that's only going 100 km/hour down the highway.

Today's fortune cookie reads:

Now, If I could just figure out which path I'm supposed to be on, I'd be OK.

Har har! Ho ho! Fencepost holes are done, and not a minute too soon. The family returns to the house after a five day trip to the Okanagan, and my goal was to be done. I find I get so much more done when I'm the only family member around. Don't get me wrong - I *do* enjoy their company, but as Barbara Coloroso has mentioned, parenting is not an efficient profession.

It wasn't all work, though - heat exhaustion sets in pretty fast when you are using a hand-auger in 30+ heat. I spent some of the week relaxing as it was my vacation, too. I've started a few paperback novels, watched some trashy primetime TV and did some laying around.

Doing nothing isn't as bad as most people make it out to be. Our society focuses so much on "accomplishing" something in every waking hour. Even when someone takes a vacation, it is assumed that they are taking time off to work on a project (as I did) or to travel. You don't need to do anything specific to rejuvenate yourself. Sometimes quiet reflection is enough.

Twenty-one fenceposts done, seven to go.

When my neighbor, Mr. G., came to me with the idea of replacing the fence between us, it sounded like such a good summer project. He, being an older gentleman in failing health, offered to pay the lion's share of the materials if I would do the manual labour. The old fence was definitely in need of replacement (being 40 years old) and the new fence would be the same location, size and colour as the existing fence. Tear down the old one, put up a new one.

Doesn't sound like a Herculean task, does it?

Somehow, this little project has stretched from late June until now, almost 2 months after lumber was purchased. Mr. G., who is normally a patient and kind man, is starting to run out of patience. He phoned me a few days ago and mentioned that he had asked a landscaper to give him a quote on finishing the project for me (I've got the old fence disassembled and disposed of, as well as half of the post holes cleared out) and wanted to know if I wanted to hire them instead. I assured him that I had plans to finish, and that I would somehow delay the other things that were keeping me from the fence.

I've taken this week off work and have sent the family to the Okanagan so that I am free of job, parental and all other obligations, so that I might focus on the fence. So far, the weather hasn't been co-operating. Yesterday (Saturday) was rainy and today's not much better. I am resting and recharging my energy. When I changed my business voicemail tonight, I realized that I haven't taken a work break since November of last year. Even that break was a busy one, filled with parental responsibility and the general hubbub of international travel (we went to Greece so The Missus could compete in a marathon). It wasn't what I'd call a restful vacation.

So, in between digging posts and hand-mixing concrete, I plan to enjoy the solitude that an empty house holds.

I washed my hands nine times today, and the day is not even over.

And no, all nine times weren't for the reason that you are thinking. Ewww!

• Washing hands and face just after waking up
• brushing teeth after breakfast
• morning shower after workout
• pre-work pee
• going to eat an apple at my desk, wanted clean hands
• Late morning bathroom "visit"
• prior to lunch, wanted clean hands
• post lunch pee
• afternoon face wash, helping to wake me up

Does this seem obsessive?

Went out for a nice bike ride with Bob and The Torpedo this morning. I can kick both their butts on the bicycle.

I had a flat for the first time in 1300 kms (accourding to my trusty, dusty bike computer). I was certainly envying the lovely carbon fibre that my two riding mates were on. My bike is 18 years old this summer, and though it has carried my for tens of thousands of kilometres and endured all sorts of abuse by me, I am considering getting a new one some day. 12 gears just doesn't cut it, nevermind the non-indexed shifting levers on the downtube. I *could* upgrade components, but that's just going to require more cash than a new purchase.

What's a fella to do?

The Windermere Triathlon is done for another year. The race was a bit of a dissapointment as I haven't trained as throughly as I would have liked. The day was glorious, as usual for that location. I was staying with a friend who has a second home in Invermere (he refers to it as 'the cottage') and enjoyed the hospitality and vacation time.