Perpetual Ruminations

Friday

I'm in here kind of early again tonight, it's only five thirty here. It's a good thing I did come in here this early, too, since I'm already dead tired. My first day back to work is usually like that. I get to sleep in for a few days then have to get up before time and this is the result. Not so much the getting up so early, but being up kind of late last night. Of course, ten is late when the alarm goes off at three in the morning.

It was a nice day, and everyone said it was seventy degrees this afternoon, but it didn't feel quite that warm to me. The wind was blowing some, and maybe that was the reason it felt cooler. Even so, lots of sunshine, and the wind wasn't blowing very hard. It was wet this morning from rain last night, but none today. Tonight and tomorrow we will more wind, but no rain until tomorrow night, or at least the last time I checked.

After work, I stopped and talked to the local mechanic about the van. He didn't sound very sure of the fuel filter problem, but said it may cause the problems we are having. He did say it was a cheap fix, and wouldn't hurt anything. It's probably past time to change it anyway. So, I'll pick up a filter and either change it myself, or more than likely have him change it Monday. It just depends on what the weather will be like. It seems like we have rain and wind on my days off, so it's kind of difficult to work on the vehicles for me. We don't have a garage I can put them in, and the driveway was filled in with rock, so it's hard to sit, kneel, and lie on, and if something falls, it's likely lost for ever.

I had me a little pause there, Rhonda called, she's on her way home form work, so I need to get this done and posted, then get ready to spend a little time with her before bed. I resisted taking a nap today after I got home, and did some work instead. My job requires me to do some of my work from home, since we cannot have electronics while working. I still need to send the weekly report, but finished up just about everything else. I do need to make some copies, but I'll do that after work tomorrow, from the stores copier. We don't work for the store itself, but provide security service to them. Even so, they let me use their copier to run off stuff for work, which saves me a lot of paper and ink.

On a non related topic, the grass sure did turn green fast after we had some rain. Of  course it's growing fast, too, and I'll have to get some mowing done on my next day off. I may get a chance to mow on Sunday or Monday, time wise, but it's suppose to rain on Sunday and Monday, so no mowing until my day off Tuesday. If, by chance, I'm home before the rain I will mow what I can, but I expect it to be busy tomorrow and Sunday.

I expected it to be busy today, too. But it was pretty slow for a Friday, and especially with the nice weather. We have been a bit busier on Fridays and weekends, but maybe things have mellowed a bit. I know part of the reason we were so busy the last few weekends was the fact that we had a long and cold winter. People just want to get out and get something done. Maybe now that we have been having some nice weather, they have settled down a bit. I also think a lot of them went out fishing since the lakes are open now. Here, in South Dakota, they don't have a spring opening to fishing.

We get to fish all year long, and only a few areas are closed in the spring, like streams and rivers. Other than that, if the lakes open, you can fish. I don't fully agree with this, since the fish are in spawn yet, and they are easy to catch while sitting on their beds and spawning. I also believe they should be protected until they have finished the spawn, so they can repopulate the lakes. The state says it doesn't hurt the fish population to take them in the spring however.

Of course, they have a few fisheries to raise game fish and restock the lakes, so it must have an impact. It is my opinion that it's not a matter of what's best for the fish, or the lakes, but what's best for the local economy. South Dakota is a farming state, and the only other source of revenue is tourists and sportsman from other states. They don't practice conservation, but instead practice economics by having spring hunts and no closed fishing season. It does bring a lot of people into the area and I suppose that's good for business, but if they have to restock the lakes I would think the benefits would be diminished by the cost of breeding and stocking fish all over the state.

Maybe I'm wrong, and then again, maybe not. I know most other states practice much firmer conservation practices. Time will tell, it always does.