Archive for February 2012
Helpless Feeling
Waiting, powerless, for nature to take its course and drape our trees with heavy burdens of ice and then snow, is a real exercise, but not one that is very rewarding. I am always fascinated with dramatic weather events, but when a storm involves the slow stress of accumulating ice on otherwise innocent tree branches, my fascination becomes tumbled with a bit of anxiety. Presently, this region is beset with an ugly, grumbling winter storm. Trees are drooping big time.
What can I do? I binged on a few extra Girl Scout cookies last night that were left as gifts by guests of our weekend event. It doesn’t quite solve the helpless feeling, but it massages the pleasure centers of taste and texture, providing a temporary distraction. (All those good intentions of last week, where I walked and exercised every day, diminished, by a moment of weakness.)
We have lived in the house on this lot for about 25 years. Just 3 days ago, Cyndie and I met with a realtor to begin the process of selling this home, and buying a horse farm. It would be a shame to lose trees any time, but right now would be very unfortunate timing. I won’t be available to clean up downed timber. I am tasked with removing wallpaper.
What is the deal with wallpaper? When it was installed during our remodel, it was the crowning achievement. It finished the rooms beautifully. All the comments we received were positive.
Now that it is time to sell, wallpaper has got to go. Out with it before somebody sees it!
What changed?
Why do people even bother putting wallpaper up if they are going to have to take it back down again, and it is such a pain to remove? I don’t understand “decorating.”
Drooping tree limbs. Wallpaper that has fallen out of favor. They both give me a helpless feeling.
Sleep Well
One thing I have discovered, after having had a couple of months on my own… I sleep really well when I am alone. ‘Nuff said.
Today dawns sunny and relatively calm, despite days of forecast that we would get snowfall. I expect it is now scheduled to happen later in the day. I remember taking note about Sunday’s weather, because this is the day that Cyndie will be flying back to Boston. We have had a wonderful few days back together again, but our time together now is limited.
Last night we played hosts to a gathering of family, friends and neighbors who took advantage of Cyndie’s brief visit home and stopped by to hear some of her stories. I suggested people come find out if she is developing a Boston accent, but I don’t think anyone really thought for a second that she would have been so influenced.
Having people come to her was a great treat for Cyndie and she had a wonderful time, thanking me over and over for suggesting the idea. It pays off for me, because, instead of her running off to see all her friends when she gets home for a visit (leaving me alone, even though she is here in town), I am still with her. Not to mention, I have a windfall of a variety of leftover foods to eat after everything is over and Cyndie leaves again.
I will be sad to see her go, but it won’t be too distressing, as she has already purchased 5 more flights home in the coming months. Knowing we have regular visits scheduled each month will make the weeks between, much easier for me to manage.
In the mean time, I will make an extra effort to pay attention to the blessings of an uninterrupted night’s sleep.
Glorious Day
I had a grand time yesterday, together with my wife again! Since I took the day off work, it felt like a holiday for me. We picked up this week’s Birdsong Soup, went out for breakfast at The Original Pancake House in Eden Prairie, then had a nice walk in a local park. We did a couple of shopping errands, had soup for lunch, and then went out to visit the horses. After that, we enjoyed a couples massage appointment, followed by take-out Chinese dinner from Dragon Jade restaurant in Glen Lake. We ordered the movie, “Tower Heist” on demand from cable TV and laughed our way through it. Finished off the day watching Foo Fighters: Back and Forth documentary online at Hulu. The day was so nice, I felt pangs of regret that it would make me feel reeeally lonely on Monday after she heads back to Boston again. Knowing that I should be living in the moment, I quickly dashed the thought and got back to enjoying the heck out of a totally glorious day!
Special Visitor
She’s home! What better way to celebrate than with a slice of her favorite Gina Maria’s pizza. Enough said.
Night Snow
Snow fall is so rare around here this winter, it becomes a major happening. The other night, as inches actually accumulated, I was drawn to step out into the darkness to experience the thrill.
Now I must go and prepare the house for a visit from Cyndie. I will go directly from work this afternoon to pick her up at the airport. I had the pleasure of speaking with her on the phone last night and I explained that I needed to go around the house and take down the pin-up girl posters and get the beer out of the refrigerator and get rid of all the cigars and ashtrays. She laughed.
Perfect. She doesn’t suspect a thing. 🙂
More Randomness
mirror all fogged up!
Think about this: when you look yourself in the eye, in the reflection of your mirror, which eye do you naturally default to looking at?
It’s one or the other.
When you are doing tasks in front of the bathroom mirror, say, like brushing your teeth, gazing at yourself because that is what is there in front of you, (discounting you are one to wander off and walk around during the process like some people I know), do you look into your own eyes and not just at your general appearance?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I was listening to my iTunes music library on shuffle last night. Just like how I enjoy the random images that my screen saver pulls out of the collection of jpeg images on the hard drive, I discover music anew when the random mix pulls up something I haven’t heard for what feels like lifetimes. One out of the many that gave me a kick last night was, Pat Benatar’s 1984 song “We Belong” with the chorus of children’s voices singing in the background. It’s the kind of song that I would have been driven mad from hearing it too often, and acquired a particular distaste for, but from the distance of almost 30 years… fun to hear again! Like magic!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I’m a big fan of live recordings, but there is one thing that goofs up my shuffle mode of the digital era: introductions to songs that get coded as a separate cut. I hear the setup for the song by the artist, and then shuffle whisks away to a completely different artist/song. It just doesn’t work.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I saw the movie, “Safe House” last night and got what I was expecting out of it, which was good. I was entertained. But… I tend to struggle with suspending my disbelief for details in movie scenes. It is distracting if something illogical is allowed to play out without acknowledgement. If you are going to have your main characters drive right up to a very large gathering of people at a major event, at least make up a reason why they would be able to pull into an open parking spot right in front with no delay in traffic. There was too much movie to make for them to worry about details like that. They had a story to tell, and that was just a piddly detail I was supposed to ignore.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
There is no denying that I am growing increasingly excited for the pending visit of my lovely wife this coming weekend. It will be an exercise of managing expectations, I am sure. Managing my expectations is an exercise I could use some work on lately, in a variety of areas of my life. I seem to be off target, because certain ones just aren’t being met.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Speaking of exercise, I’m on a roll for the half-hour daily walk and series of therapeutic exercises for my back ever since Sunday’s unpleasant return of lumbar disk pain. So far, so good, for preventing any further discomfort. Was this a warning shot to help me realize these steps aren’t going to be just occasional projects for me, but a lifelong mode of operation?
Sunny Cycling
Yesterday was another warm and sunny February day in Minnesota! I achieved my goal of getting out and doing a little cycling, but not before being totally surprised by a sudden twinge in my lower back. I was standing flat-footed and pulling a shirt on over my head, with one arm up in the air when I felt, *ping!* It literally felt like a disk burst and my spine compressed. Could it really be that obviously palpable? Seriously, there was a sensation of suddenly being shorter, or like I had just landed a little jump off of a step. I definitely and immediately recognized the location and tenor of the pain as similar to what led me to seek treatment back in May of last year. Doctors diagnosed me as experiencing the initial onset of degenerative disk disease.
The one blessing I have been graced by thus far is that I have not been having any pain down my legs. If there is a bulge, it doesn’t appear to be pressing on a nerve yet. Other than a dull ache in my lower back, I felt fine. It may have been an unwise decision, but I was getting dressed to go biking, so I decided to carry out my plan. If it was uncomfortable to ride, I could always turn back.
The crushed limestone trail that I chose to explore was about 30-40% snow-packed. Most of the areas on either side of the spots with snow were pretty muddy, so I was meandering all across the width of the trail, trying to pick the least messy route. Still, it was a very pleasant outing, my back didn’t really bother me, and I exchanged friendly greetings with the many other folks who were out enjoying the nice weather. I stopped by my brother-in-law’s house and had a nice visit with my nephew, Alec.
By the time I neared home, I was grateful for the early planning I had done to check the wind direction. I used that to determine which way I would head out and rode into the wind at the start, while I was fresh, so that it would be at my back upon my return. After 15 miles, I was ready to be done, because my body was tired. I have not ridden a bike for many months and my legs were not used to this level of exercise. My butt was not used to a saddle, either. Equally noticeable to my leg fatigue, the muscles in my shoulders and neck were telling me they were ready to be done.
Now the pain in my back is not so obvious, because it is mixed in with a lot of tired and stiff muscles. Before I showered after my ride, I made sure to do all of the exercises that were prescribed to me during the therapy for my back pain last summer. Guess who is going to get back (get it, “back”) into a routine of a therapeutic half-hour walk everyday again?
Relative Something 