Spring is here, however in no way related to the weather. It’s cold and rainy here in Portland – standard for the course this time of year. Yesterday, I heard a loud crash in the house and searched everywhere for the source. It wasn’t until I took the dogs out and hit the switch to open the garage door that I realized what happened. One of the two springs had snapped in two, so there was no access in or out. Spring has Sprung! It’s a heavier commercial door, installed by the former owner to allow him enough clearance to park a Hummer inside. As a result, even after releasing the tension cord I didn’t have enough strength to lift the door, and my wife had to park her car outside for the night.

It’s a costly repair to start the New Year, but it could have happened during our recent travels and put the problem in the hands of our pet sitter. As it is, I’m usually home all day to wait for a repairman, as opposed to my working days when I would have to make arrangements to meet them. They arrived promptly this morning along with the Spring, and we’re now back in business. I wrote a check for $325 that made a painful dent in my retirement budget. At this stage of life, every dollar spent on expenses and repairs means less for travel.

I spent some time copying some Banister files from my newly found half-sisters. We now have a shared file to exchange information on the family. It will help us all stay in touch. I have no current plans to contact my birth-mother or her family again as yet. She continues to avoid my relationship claims, but now presumably knowing the birth-father’s identity there seems to be less curiosity about her at this point. It seems there is only so much I can absorb at one time, so I’ll remain patient about solving the adoption puzzle.

In the meantime, I will remain in my fantasy cable TV world of treasure hunting (Curse of Oak Island), time travel (Outlander), conquering the world (Vikings), and gangsters (Narcos). It’s a good combination of history and nonsense to keep my mind occupied between travel dates. Today, I’ll actually leave the house other than frequent walks with our dogs to watch an I.U. basketball game at our regular hangout Buffalo Wild Wings. Tomorrow is another “Leadership Meeting” meeting at the same place. Maybe I’ll order some “Spring” Rolls?