Author: Steve

Thursday. Bright and beautiful. Not too hot. I worked “at home” today. Judy did
morning chores, fed me lunch, then headed out to check on the local hot
springs. Later, a very relaxed Judy pronounced them to be just fine. Steam train. Be careful today. Friday the 13th falls on a Thursday this month. Met with Jan Milburn, of the Milburn Foundation here in Durango. He spends
most of his time in the Copper Canyon in Mexico, working with the indigenous
Indians there. He doesn’t need an audit yet, but we’ll do some work with
him in the meantime to help him get everything in order. Afternoon birds:
Crows
Ravens
Magpies
Unidentified hawk
Turkey vultures
Red winged blackbirds
Brewer’s blackbirds
White breasted nuthatch
Black-headed grosbeak
Black-chinned hummingbirds
Stellar’s jay
Brown headed cowbirds
Red-naped sapsucker
Cliff swallows
Barn swallows
Yellow warbler
No house finches
No sparrows. That’s odd. Gave up and called David at our Wild Birds Unlimited store in Denver. He’ll
send some new binoculars to meet us at our next stop in Pagosa Springs.
Nice new birding binoculars. They will have a lifetime guarantee against
droppage.

Friday Judy went to check out the “spa services” at the hot springs. Hot oil
massage. Last day of fieldwork on this job. Spent a fair amount of time discussing
options with the client about how to deal with the $100,000 problem, and the
$50,000 problem. They both belong in previous years, but only partially in
the year immediately prior to my work. We can either: ignore them and
issue a one-year report, or we can deal with them. We decided to deal with
them. That requires more work, but ultimately, is more satisfying. You know, sometimes you can’t always get what you want. I don’t find myself
saying that much, but it is true for this job. I want to do the entire job
in one week, wrap it, and deliver a completed product to the client before I
go, but it just can’t be done this time around. Too much to sort out. With
some follow-up work, however, we’ll make this job make a lot more sense for
the next time around. A very flushed, relaxed, and limp Judy reports that the spa services at the
local hot springs are just fine. A little more racquetball therapy was in order tonight. Got in some good
work on the backhand. No new victims, though. Michael the local RV repair guy came by tonight. He took a look at the
furnace controls for us. They both still work, but the back furnace
controls aren’t quite as responsive as the front furnace. Sometimes it will
stall out before it gets all the way up to temperature. He figures there is
nothing really wrong with the thermostat controls. He thinks it’s more
likely that it is a voltage thing. He went straight to the outside battery
compartment. The water in the batteries was a little low. We had the
beginning of a little corrosion on the terminals. He said that was enough
to disrupt the digital systems. He says I need to clean and fill the
batteries once a month. I pointed out that we weren’t even using the
batteries; we’re plugged into shore power. No matter. He says everything
goes through the batteries and the inverter. I didn’t know that! We topped off the water in the batteries. We hosed them down. He sprayed
some battery cleaner on the terminals. We hosed them down again. He said
that would fix the furnace thermostat. Yeah. Right. Tomorrow, the steam train. We’ve been watching it go by all week. Tomorrow
we won’t be able to see it because we’ll be on it. We’ll be right there,
watching all the scenery go by. We reserved space in a parlor car. That
could be good.

The Parlor Car.

Wednesday More work. Steam train. $100,000 problem resurfaced. It just won’t go
away. Something the prior auditors didn’t get right. $50,000 problem
surfaced. Different issue. Same source. Had a weather front roar through. It happened while I was at work, so I
didn’t see much of it, but Judy did. Impressive wind. It turned the sky
dark. It snapped a cottonwood tree in two at the park. It knocked down
some stockade fence. It flipped a glider and broke it at the glider port
across the street.

Tuesday Today they found a different room for me to work in. Judy took her work
back to the motorhome and worked all day there. The $100,000 problem
resurfaced. I’ll have to find another place to put it. I think it will
have to go to the income statement. Watched the steam train go by again. Racquetball therapy. Judy fixed me up with a court at the new rec center in
Durango. Very nice courts. Got to go hit for half an hour. Then I got
lucky. A guy showed up to play before his partner did and agreed to let me
warm him up. Young guy, twenty-five or so, with a smooth relaxed swing. We
played a few points. His buddy showed up and I thanked him and turned to
leave, and he objected: “He can wait. Let’s finish this game.” Oh cool!
It took awhile. I got to play him for another fifteen minutes. Good pace.
It was great fun. And I can guarantee he was fully warm for his opponent by
the time I left him.