Waking up in the middle of the night. again

Unfortunately one of the problems with growing older is the aches and pains that come from a life lived hard or as my Daddy used to say “rode hard and put a way wet one too many times.”

For me that translate in to arthritis and other health problems that keep me from sleeping a full eight hours. Usually after about 4 hours of sleep I start waking and trying to shift my body around to relieve the pressure points at the hips knees and shoulders. I usually try not to get my mind too thinking other than “O” so as not to find myself wide awake. But sometimes it just happens. That is when I start thinking about everything and nothing. Usually this will last until about an hour before the alarm goes off and I will drift off back to sleep.

This is what happen last night but that is ok because the aches were not too serious and I woke from a pleasant dream that left me feeling relaxed and not fretting about not going back to sleep. Instead I started to think about projects I working on. How I might do things differently or try a new method or a different design that might work.  I thought about the next purchase in tools I want to make and should be a priority. 

Of course I thought about my small shop and since we will be relocating to another rent house I could not help but wonder if I shouldn’t wait until we had moved to see what kind of work space I was going to have.  That led me to thinking about how portable my shop should be not just for the move but also for me to move around to make space to work and assemble the projects I undertake.

Then I started to think about my youngest son and wondering what I should do if anything about his seeming inability to know when to run and when to fight. Recently he was mugged for the second time in about a year and a half, or I should say attempted to mug.

While investigating for a bid on a emergency repair to a column and cap on a bridge that cross the Trintiy River in Dallas County he was accousted by a man carrying a knife demanding his camera he was using to photograph the cap for documentation. My youngest told him to get lost he wasn’t getting his camera the guy came at him and they fought.

He was able to get the knife away from the mugger and that was when the mugger pulled a gun and tried to shoot him. He pushed the gun away used the guys knife to stab him in the thigh and then he finally ran behind a column to hide as the mugger fired two more shots at him before running away with the knife still sticking out of his thigh. My son finished taking the photos he needed then made his way back to his truck and called the police who also had a ambulance come out to look at the cuts he had sustained before he had been able to get the knife away from the guy. They were not serious apparently the knife was really dull. Thank “God”.

Know you might say interesting story about why you should not go underneath bridges alone but that is not it.

Points I tried to make with him was he should not of been out there as he was recovering from Pneumonia was in no shape or up to paying attention to his surroundings  or he would not of allowed the guy to get that close before challenging him. Second he should of just given the camera to the mugger as cameras can be replaced but he can’t be.

But the part that got me was the second call he got from the police. One was to let him know that there might be a few calls to his employer and family references to see if he was at the scene because he was a drug user or something of the sort for this to happen to him in little more than a year apart. The second was did they want them to continue to look for the guy. Finally the comment of how it would have been easier for them if my son had just killed the guy as that would have been self-defense.

That last comment got me and reminded me as to why I so often had such little use for the police. To me they are mostly tools of the powerful and wealthy and are used mostly to clean up the mess we make of our lives. This belief based on association with PD offices and personal observation. Most of the time they do not prevent crime but respond to the aftermath of a crime that has been committed.

As to my son he promises me he will be more attuned to his surroundings. But unfortunately the type of construction he does takes place in river bottoms and under bridges hangouts for the homeless and drug users that might see him either as a threat or as a potential for money. As to getting a concealed weapons permit he told me that it would not be a good ideal for to do that as carrying a weapon might make him too cocky and ready and he has a quick temper and availability might make too easy of a means to a end. Until he gets control of his temper it is the last thing he says he needs.

At least he has the common sense to realize this even if he doesn’t know when to walk away.

Projects, books, and movies.

Completed a temporary stand for the bench top drill press from scrap that will work of until I am able to do a more permanent stand. Basically built a modified or shorten saw horse for it.  I also started to rethink the kitchen island after finding a nice piece of pine that would make a nice 20X30 inch top so back to the drawing board.

Getting in to “Fever Dream” by Preston and Childs as good and fun of a read as I expected from these two story tellers. If you get a chance you should read Popular Mechanics  January 2012 issue about digital spies. It definitely gets you rethinking about security of your on line stuff. Let’s simply say that Russia and China should not be trusted to act in good faith.

Watched the season finale of “Hell on Wheels” last night on AMC. The ending left you with a lot of what if’s. If you get a chance watch it there are not very many westerns around anymore to enjoy. I also re-watched “Star Trac”  the last movie that came out with beginnings of the characters that made the orginal TV show. They did a excellent job as far as I am concern.

I also watched a documentary called “The Age of Stupid” watch this if you can. I found it on Netfix as one of the movies they stream and they did a excellent job of summoning up how we got to where we are now with global warming and the “me first” attitude that is taking us down this bad road of possible no return.