Blue Light Special

Monday was a big day for Entropy, in the realm of home improvement, or more appropriately, home completion. As mentioned in the previous post, our two year old home is not yet complete in the way of trim and landscaping.

Kmart, last week, had a 75% off special for trees. I guess these are the trees no one wanted from the spring. I know pretty much nothing about horticulture (or is it silviculture?) when it comes to trees, so I just went down to K-mart and go a bunch of trees. I didn't even know what they were till I got home and googled images of them. Some of the trees weren't even labeled so I still don't know what they are.

For all I know, the trees are sick, or are inappropriate for this climate zone. And I know that the soil out here may be good for agriculture, but it's not the most hospitable for trees. But what the heck, for $20 for a 10 foot tree, I'll take the chance. So in the ground 20 K-mart trees went. I post this entry mostly for my own records. I'm gonna try to outline what these trees are and where they are planted so that in five years, when someone asks "what's that tree?" I'll search my blog and know.

Here is a *hideous* 2 minute MS Paint layout of the new trees. Yikes! I really need to do it up in cadd or something. And I guess it was 22 trees. Anyway here it is and below will be the key.



1,2,3,4 - Either willow oaks or willowleaf oaks... might be the same thing, Quercos phellos

5, 6 - are... dammit, I forgot!!!

7, 8 -- again, don't remember

9 - Autumn Purple Ash

10 - Autumn Purple Ash

11 - Showbiz rose tree

12,13 - some kind of crabapple tree

14 - whip raywood ash

15 - not sure

16 - not sure

17, 20 - fantasy maple

18, 19 -

21 -

22 -

I can't remember anything!!! Hopefully some have tags on them that I'll go look at when I water today...

Wasted day & drilling wells

What is a wasted day? I often feel that I have wasted a day, but upon closer inspection, I did do something productive on that day. Perhaps I feel the day is wasted because I wasn't doing something I felt was more important.

This may seem like a menial inner conflict, but it's important because this perception easily sets a tone for the following day or even the week. Two examples are this past Sunday and Monday.
On Sunday, I spent most of the day moving some water well drilling equipment from Mountainaire to Santa Fe. The machines are older and slow moving on the road (at times going a whopping 20mph), so it really did take all day.

At the end of the day, I mourned the day, for I felt it was a waste, monkey-wrenching on equipment and driving for 5 hours in a hot, stuffy cab. However, in really thinking about it, this was an important day for Career. In addition to the construction venture, I want to carry on the water well drilling legacy my father began with his brother. The construction venture, in addition to general contracting, will drill water wells, with my father as qualifying party for the company and me becoming a qualifying party in the future.

Thus the move was important for two reasons. First, it needed to be done for two wells I'll be drilling with my dad in the next couple months. Second, it motivated me to pursue the well drilling venture.

Yesterday (Monday), I spent the entire day planting trees. 20 of them. I'll create another blog entry about that, but anyway, i sort of felt it was a lost Monday as I have much paperwork, bill paying, website (business) updates, and business planning to do. However, I do realize it was an important day for Entropy. We've been living out here for two and a half years. There are many aspects of the home that are incomplete, landscaping being a big part. These 20 trees made a big impact in progressing the landscaping agenda and bringing us a step closer to a complete home.

In all, these two days weren't wastes at all.

Work Ethic

I started to read Total Recall by Sara Paretsky, and in the prologue, I found something speaking to work ethic. As usual, and as it should be, a mind pursuit positively affects one of the other life categories, here being entropy and career. Read the AG Anthology blog entry about it, but here's what I've taken from it:

I need to create a work ethic. I've always had a tremendous work ethic. Showing up to work and working hard. That was when I had a clearly defined job to do. Now, my work is entrepreneurial and of a creative development nature. If a day goes by with me not doing anything work related, nobody notices, but it does negatively affect my progress. It requires a new type of work ethic.

This is a challenge. How do I make sure that every work day, I get up and advance my career? I have my home office, but it often turns into a place to escape the kids and check out youtube. I've gone so far as to consider renting an office in town so that I can 'go to work.' I'd hate to waste that money if I can create a work environment in my home.

Check out the entropy page to see what I'm trying to establish insofar as scheduling my life is concerned. I hope to create a routine of work ethic. But I need some inspiration or a kick in the pants to carry it out. Any suggestions?

Entropy, thy name is mud

First, where does that saying "thy name is mud" come from? Google, amazingly, failed me. I had to turn to yahoo via alltheweb.com to find this somewhat placating explanation.

Anyway, I tore into entropy today. Not the best entropy-ripping day I've had in recent memory, but a good one none-the-less. What is 'entropy' anyway? Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it. Check out the AG Entropy Page for more, but basically 'entropy' is a measure of disorder.

In my life, at least, disorder reigns. It threatens to consume me and my environment. Some people are very good at creating order, it comes natural. I, however, must try very hard. And I must try hard because I am inefficient in a chaotic environment. I helped for a week or so in the Katrina disaster recovery effort near New Orleans. I was in an animal rescue base outside of Gonzalez, LA. It appeared to be chaos, but it was managed chaos. And my sole job there was that of a structural conduit, to reign and control the chaos. It was amazing, and I did well.

So in my personal life, there is much energy, but that energy easily leads toward disorder. In this project, I strive to apply this energy constructively and in an orderly fashion.

Today, I attacked several home projects, and it felt great. I put up a pool, a trampoline, barn roof rafters. I created order on my homestead. I spent time with family and friends (who helped me accomplish these tasks), spent time talking and connecting. I also rode (a horse) for the first time in a very long while. This last activity was full of meaning. It established a baseline for entropy-busting, by exciting me about working with the horses again. It was physical exercise. Most importantly, it rekindled a spiritual exhilaration. See this Musings entry to get a feeling for what riding means to me. Good day. I also gave myself some points for mind... perhaps that was for reading the New Yorker... ha!