A Review of "Embracing My Multipotentiality for 2018" and Additional Plans for 2019

It's been almost a year since my last post and a very busy first year it was of "Embracing My Multipotentiality". So how did I do?

Regarding:

"Text Coding the New Testament of the Bible for communications relevant to Jonathan Haidt's 'moral foundations'; i.e. Care/Harm, Loyalty/Betrayal, Fairness/Cheating, Authority/Subversion, Sanctity/Degradation and Liberty/Oppression."

I started out wanting to do five chapters a week, and kept up pretty well in the early part of the year, but then work picked-up during the summer and I got behind. I managed to cover those five chapters a week for 16 weeks from January to about mid-April which added up to 80 chapters. As I found that five chapter load a bit too heavy, I dropped back to one chapter per week and restarted in late November 2018. Now I'm at the 16 week mark again (so, 96 chapters total). I hope to maintain this one chapter per week schedule to the completion of the roughly 260 chapters in the New Testament, which means it will take me another three years or so! It feels good though to have this goal and to be persevering to achieve it, even if it is going to take quite a bit longer than I first imagined. Engaging the process of deep, verse by verse consideration has had its own rewards. I know at the end of this journey I will have a fairly unique perspective of the New Testament and who knows how that will evolve out into the rest of my life and the world?

 "Keeping up with my personal yoga exercising three times a week."

This has been off and on a bit throughout the year, but I'm back "on" as of now, squeezing in between three and six yoga sessions/week. I'm pushing to make it six, but the fall-back is three sessions/week.

"Sewing monthly basket liners and preparing cookie samples and recipes for the five people/families I gave baskets to this past Christmas (with any left-over cookies going to my co-workers)."

I managed to keep up with my sewing and cookie baking, although, I did get behind once in a while. As you can see by the photo, there's a lot that went into the "Year 1" baskets.

Furthermore, it got really intense towards Christmas time as I was concluding the "Year 1" baskets while also starting "Year 2". I finally gave up on trying to find the right size and quality of baskets I'm looking for "out there" in thrift stores and the general market, and instead found a source for materials to Make My Own!

Consequently, there were four baskets in the "Year 2" collection that I made myself and I intend to refine my pattern and make all of the baskets for the "Year 3" collection.

Furthermore, I am now creating reusable, coordinating, draw-string closures for the cookie bags using hand-painted mini-button cord locks and 2mm Rattail Cord.

That means for the "Artistic/Creative" potential of my "multipotentialite" life I am (so far): weaving baskets, sewing liners and bows, miniature painting, cooking/baking, and desk-top publishing (for the recipes). And...I just discovered this fabric/wall paper/wrapping paper printing service, Spoonflower.com, which means I have the option now to design my own fabrics as well! All very, very exciting!

Oh, and as if all that weren't enough, as one more challenge for my baskets this year...I'm preparing vegan and gluten free recipes drawn from two main sources: Easy Flourless Muffins, Bars, & Cookies by Amanda Drozdz, and Energy Balls by Christal Sczebel. I feel the former recipes have been a bit "mixed" as far as results go. The "energy balls" have all been pretty good though, at least to me! I'm also trying to convert one more conventional recipe to vegan/gluten free for my offerings each month.

"Taking care of my cat and all the other critters in the neighborhood - birds, squirrels, chipmunks, ground hogs, raccoons, deer, etc...."

Funny story...

As spring rolled in this year, though haltingly, "O.K." (short for "Outside Kitty") disappeared for an extended period of time and I feared the worst. Sure enough, as I was driving to work one afternoon I glanced over to the side of the road to see the white hind paws and grey tabby body of a dead cat, and my heart sank. I couldn't stop though as I was pushed to get to work on-time (as usual) so I waited until I was on my way home to circle the car back around and determine if it was "O.K.". It was dark by then, and rainy, but the dark-tipped tail was the "give-away" for me. So I placed the cold, stiff body of "O.K." in the trunk of the car and took him back home. I laid him on the ground in front of the office door so KiKi and Chloe could sniff him, and know that he was "gone". Cold temperatures persisted, along with rain for the next few days so I left "O.K." lying on "his" chair, resting peacefully. Three or four days later, we finally got a break in the weather. I found a nice little sun-drenched, moss-covered hillock in the woods, and buried "O.K." there with due ceremony, and a couple of sticks of "Holy Cat" incense to send him on his way.

Or...at least I thought...until the REAL "O.K." showed up at the door that night!!!!

In other words...I buried the "wrong" cat!

Although the Real O.K. was favoring his left front paw, he was otherwise alive and well and has continued to show back up at the house more or less regularly (although I still worry about him when he goes "missing" for more than 24 hours). There's a big shaggy dog, one coyote I've seen, and who knows what else he has to avoid to survive, but I'm doing what I can to make sure he has food and water to keep his strength up.

Of Note: I feel kind of bad now that I "sacrificed" one really nice burial spot in the woods, and if I should have to bury the Real O.K., I'll have to find yet another spot! Either way, feral or domestic, the Other Cat got a very nice burial, courtesy of yours truly! (And thanks to the Trail Cam my brother-in-law Ted gave me for Christmas, I have some better photos with which to identify the Real O.K. in the future, if necessary!)

"...while also continuing to broaden my knowledge of primitive skills and wild edibles and sharing those skills whenever possible via Longhunter and other local events."

Only made it to two major events this past year, one being the 2018 Homeplace Fall Heritage Festival  where I was welcomed again to share tent space with Ken Hill. I put a new and improved display together of wild edible and utilitarian plants and demonstrated how to make cordage. I received quite abit of attention from the crowd and look forward to doing it again this next year. (Photo courtesy of Ken Hill)

The second major event was the annual Lakeshore Clean-up on September 15th. I decided to purchase an inflatable kayak and took my time paddling around the western shoreline north of the Site 1 Boat Ramp, retrieving trash with a "grabber" tool and an extendable pole with a paint roller hook on the end of it. The roller hook did not want to stay on my pole so I was retrieving it about as much as I was retrieving trash (!) but, I at least proved to myself that it was a workable idea.

Unfortunately, by the time I got out of the water at the end of the point behind the Visitors Center, everyone had already headed over to the State Park for lunch. So...no boats available to transport me there. I had to deflate the kayak and haul it and my other gear all the way up the hill to the parking lot. My friend Starr, who had also come to volunteer, picked me up. Thank goodness I was at least able to reach her, as I was pretty exhausted after the morning paddling and the hike up the hill. However, it taught me what was possible, and that was a good lesson for sure!

"Taking care of my aging father."

After a very busy Christmas, both with work and family, Dad became weak and lost his balance a couple of times, and falling, while I was away at work on December 26th. Luckily, our next door neighbor was home and was able to help him in both cases. It was a bit disturbing, but I was able to reach out through one of my contacts I'd made at the Chamber of Commerce luncheons, and get some home-health care set-up fairly quickly. My step-sister, Connie Hayse, also pitched in to help early on, staying at the house while I went to work. Dad has since recovered and is pretty much back to "normal" for him.

However, given that bit of a "scare" after Christmas, my sisters and their families made an extra effort to come to visit in February to celebrate Dad's 86th birthday.

While they were in town, Ted, Connie (Dickerson), and I went with my niece, Rhylli, to hike three of the trails around Green River Lake. The weather cooperated with clear skies and relatively warm temperatures giving all of us an opportunity to get some fresh air, sunshine, and exercise! We were on a mission as Rhylli had a "Hiking Pin" to earn, being a recent inductee, and one of the first girls to join the (Boy) Scouts of America.(Photos courtesy Ted Dickerson)

All-in-all it was a really great weekend spent with my immediate family, and Ted got some nice, "rare" photos of me and my sisters together with my dad. (Photos courtesy of Ted Dickerson)

 "Working at Lowe's part-time in the flooring department."

Yep! Still doing that. Have made many improvements, such as creating a new system for organizing trim top-stock, as well as making sure carpet samples are labeled with their respective item numbers, as well as keeping inventory "maps" updated on a more-or-less regular basis. (Of late, as I have not had as many hours in that department specifically, it's been "less".)

BEFORE

AFTER

Either way, it's all about creating as much efficiency as possible, so the specialists have enough time to use the "new" sales system that was "supposed" to free up more of their time and energy to engage with customers. Not so sure that's happening as planned! We'll see what's ahead with a new CEO in place...At least we have more functional hand-held phones/scanners to work with now!

"Meeting regularly with friends (many of them professors/instructors at Campbellsville University) for weekly breakfast meetings, monthly book club meetings, weekly walks on Saturday mornings, monthly panel discussions, etc."

I have managed to keep up with my Book Club meetings, and the rare meeting or phone call with a close friend, but I'm sad to say, I have not been able to keep this going in my life as much as I would like. It's not just me, though, all of my close friends here and "abroad" lead very busy lives as well. I am truly grateful for all of them though, and I thoroughly enjoy the times we do get to spend together.

"...as well as continuing to volunteer for the Friends of Green River Lake."

This Year...I've got extra duties as President of the Friends of Green River Lake as we support the Corps in putting on probably one of the Biggest Events the park has ever done: The 50th Anniversary Celebration of Green River Lake, June 15th, 2019. Prior to that we will also be holding a "Dinner on the Dam" on June 8th, 2019.

These events involve multiple committees, lots of logisitical planning, publicity and fundraising, hiring vendors, crafters, entertainment and educational participants. I'm taking the lead to oversee all of it! So I'm glad I've been, literally, "doing my homework," reading books like, Extreme Ownership... and The Dichotomy of Leadership... by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin! With two large group meetings already on the books, I feel confident we can make this event a success!

And...right after the main event on June 15th...I'm off to my old stomping grounds of Cookeville, Tennessee, for the National Speleological Society Convention 2019. I hope to link-up with some of these guys, and many more. (Photos courtesy Frank Bogle)

The last time we all got together was about mid-way through "Stage I" of my cross-country journey, "Pedaling for Peace", in 2012. (You can read more about that here and here.)

 I expect equally good times to come during the week of the NSS Convention! (And I may even have some "cave themed" fabric from Spoonflower by then as well...We'll see!?)

 "Broadening my influence as a 'medium-sized fish' in this relatively 'small pond' of Campbellsville, KY. (There's some background to understanding the import of that, which may show up in another blog post one of these days!)"

Okay...So I never got to that hinted-at blog post. Eh! Doesn't really matter!

Otherwise, I think my leadership of the 50th Anniversary Event is going to be a real test. And, if all goes well, it will probably influence the confidence others have in my abilities as well as the confidence I have in myself! Keep in mind, it's all volunteer work, but sometimes, that's where we have even more opportunities to grow and discover our true capabilities!

So that's how the past year has gone and how I'm continuing to "embrace my multipotentiality" in 2019! It gets to be pretty intense sometimes, especially since, in reality, I'm not that good at keeping myself organized, or managing my time, or staying focused, but somehow I manage to find the time to do everything I'm doing (although I do sometimes run late on one thing or another, and/or bury the wrong cat!). Take today, for instance, I thought I'd spend it sewing basket liners and yet here I am writing this blog post instead! I have to keep reminding myself that I am choosing this life and all these activities to give my energy and attention to. It doesn't make it any easier, but it does keep me from feeling sorry for myself when things get tougher than usual!

And, of course, I continue to dream of being better organized, managing my time better, and staying focused. And I take small steps here and there towards those goals. So, maybe, someday, I will get "there", but, in the mean time, I'm not going to let my weaknesses stop me from persevering and being productive in all these areas of my life, one way or another!

As it has been said, "Where there's a will, there's a way!"

So far...so good!

We'll see what the rest of 2019 has to bring!?

Yours All-Ways in Love and Peace!